Monocle Weekend
Edition: Saturday

This week, we slip into sandals made for sand and surf, and get into the groove with a selection of summer’s hottest tracks. We also drop anchor on the Mediterranean coast of Antalya, before cooling off in Singapore’s shady climes. But first, Andrew Tuck reports on a week spent at the top of the game…

1
It has been a stalled summer in London. After a few days of blue in June, the skies have almost consistently been sullen grey and the rainfall far too ambitious for my liking. In the evening you cycle home past bars and restaurants that should be fringed with alfresco drinkers and diners but look more like furniture showrooms with their displays of empty chairs and tables. On Thursday, however, there was some sunshine and the city transformed in minutes. Streets suddenly thronged; the previous day’s raincoats and gilets were replaced by shorts and summer dresses. Do people carry around alternative outfits in their bags?

2
On Wednesday night there was a party in east London for the launch of a handsome new cookbook produced by Spanish media house Apartamento for LVMH-owned luxury leisure group Belmond. The book is called Liguria: Recipes & Wanderings Along the Italian Riviera and is mostly filled with recipes from the company’s hotels in Portofino. It’s interesting that the brand chose Café Cecilia in the heart of hipster Hackney for the launch and also that it’s stretching into more book publishing. We’ll have to keep an eye on it. Anyway, it didn’t rain too much that night, so the crowd spread onto the pavement. The only threat to proceedings? Somehow, England was still in the Euros and playing the Dutch. Who would stay and who would leave the party? I wonder how many organisers with events scheduled for the night had been secretly hoping that England would have been knocked out by then. The negronis seemed to keep most people anchored, though there was a lot of furtive score-checking on phones.

3
My day at Wimbledon on Tuesday was less dry but, in possession of tickets for the covered Centre and No 1 courts, I had little fear of those tempestuous skies. Indeed, under that glass-roofed canopy, it was rather toasty; definitely jackets-off time for many of the gents. It was, of course, sublime. It’s the intimacy of the set-up that strikes you, your closeness to the players, and the hush that descends as they do battle. We watched Carlos Alcaraz versus Tommy Paul on Court No 1 and you could hear them breathing, see their muscles tensing. The psychological strength that goes into playing at this level is extraordinary to witness. I who would struggle to whip up a salad with someone watching over my shoulder but these players are able to ignore all the stares and glares, the cheers and silences, to just do battle. This focus was something to think about as the car edged out of a rain-clogged car park, where several vehicles were marooned in the mud, wheels spinning. London needs an emergency roof.

4
Collective moments are another theme to consider. I made it home on Wednesday in time to see the second half of the match. Yes, even I was watching. When Ollie Watkins scored the winning goal in the game’s 91st minute, you could hear the screams and cheers emanating from the houses and apartments that surround where I live. The next day colleagues had similar stories of car horns being blasted, of pubs erupting in celebration, of a city caught in a moment. Though I’d still like the sun to come out too.

Espadrilles are great for strolling along waterfront promenades but they aren’t much help when it comes to getting your feet wet (writes Gregory Scruggs). Find yourself approaching a sandy shore and you can easily slip off your kicks. But not every attractive beach comes with sugar sand to caress your feet. Exploring the jagged inlets of Parc National de Calanques near Marseille, traversing the rocky trail leading to Santorini’s Red Sand Beach or ambling across gravely Botanical Beach on Vancouver Island all require something to protect tender soles. Enter the waterproof sandal, which allows rubber to boldly go where jute rope dare not tread. The most democratic option is surely the humble flip-flop. Havaianas are the gold standard, making up almost half of Brazil’s footwear exports. I have witnessed cariocas in Brazil walk absurd distances up remarkable inclines in them. Alas, my arch can no longer tolerate such feats.

At the other end of the spectrum, US rafting guides along the Colorado River invented strap-in sport sandals in the 1980s. Leading brands such as Teva were once snubbed but later embraced by the fashionable, while devoted wearers of Chaco Z/Sandals consider their telltale tan lines a badge of honour. For a rugged hike that culminates in a plunge, they can’t be beaten, though styling them is a challenge. The best compromise between form and function is the tried-and-true Birkenstock. I scored a pair of dark blue Arizonas in a busy Athens shoe shop two years ago and hardly wear anything else during the summer. With a palette of both neutral and pastel colours, as well as an increasing number of styles, the heritage German sandal-maker has cornered the beach season.

In discussions about urban policy, much is made of the importance of the “third place”, somewhere outside of the home and the office where people can congregate and socialise (writes Naomi Xu Elegant). In Singapore, where it’s often too hot to spend time in a park during the day, malls have long served as gathering spots where people can wander, sit and chat without feeling obliged to buy something or vacate a table for the next customer.

Last week I dropped by New Bahru, a new food and retail venue in a former high school. The design preserves much of the original structure, including open-air corridors and a large courtyard. Unlike most malls in Singapore, it’s filled with natural light and is far from a sealed, air-con-blasted container in which to forget the time of day. When I visited, it was especially humid and only a few shops were open; many windows still sported “Coming Soon” signs (the grand opening is not until September). But the place was packed. People ambled down the outdoor hallways, while dogs and children chased each other in the courtyard before collapsing in the shade of an awning to rest. There were benches to sit on and a couple of shops that you could step into if you wanted to cool off – but otherwise everyone was happy to stroll. Singaporeans might be famous for their love of air conditioning but New Bahru’s popularity shows that, as long as there’s space to shelter from the sun, nothing beats the fresh air.

The Monocle Concierge is our purveyor of top tips and delectable recommendations for your next trip. If you’re planning to go somewhere nice and would like some advice, click here. We will answer one question a week.

Dear Concierge,

We are planning a trip to Turkey in August to experience what the country has to offer in the summer. We will be visiting Antalya for a week. Any tips for sights, food and culture?

Michael Mancini
USA

Dear Michael,

Swerve the all-inclusives and head for Antalya’s recently revived old city. There you’ll find a rich selection of boutique hotels, ateliers and cafés. The district, centred around a Roman-era port (pictured, top right), is littered with antiquities including Hadrian’s Gate (pictured, bottom). Head to a meyhane (“alcohol house”) and spend a long evening sampling olive-oil-drenched mezzes, grilled fish and raki, Turkey’s potent aniseed spirit. Don’t be afraid to strike up conversations and share your bottle with the neighbouring table.

For a trip out of the city, make your way south to Cirali, a beach resort hidden in a lush valley about 90 minutes’ drive from the airport. It’s a protected turtle-nesting site so no large-scale development is allowed. As a result, the enchanting village feels charmingly old-school and intimate. Hire a bicycle to get around – the roads are safe and the scenery is stunning. Accommodation here tends to consist of well-kitted-out holiday bungalows and small hotels. If you want something more upmarket, try the Olympos Mountain Lodge, a hideaway in the peaks that serves exquisite local cuisine and offers yoga classes with views of the bay.

Oana Lungescu was Nato’s principal spokesperson from 2010 to 2023 and decorated by secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg with the military alliance’s Meritorious Service Medal. She was previously a journalist with the BBC World Service. She spoke to Monocle at the 2024 Nato summit in Washington.

You have had quite the journey. You grew up in communist Romania, raised to think of Nato as the enemy. Could you tell us about that?
That’s what we were taught in schools. We would do exercises such as hiding under the desk in case the US detonated a neutron bomb.

While you were hiding under that desk, you probably weren’t thinking that you would one day be the principal spokesperson of that organisation.
It was absolutely unimaginable. I come from a different world – a different planet, even. As a teenager I would hide under my covers and listen to foreign radio stations such as the BBC World Service, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Deutsche Welle. That opened a window to the outside world, though we were all afraid that the neighbours would hear us and report us to the secret police, the dreaded Securitate.

Do you feel as though Eastern European countries that have joined Nato since the Cold War appreciate the organisation more than their Western partners?
When the BBC sent me to Brussels in 1997, it asked me to check what stories the organisation wasn’t covering. I pointed out that we had not been covering the enlargement of Nato or the EU. They weren’t really on many people’s mental radar at the time and joining Nato and the EU was considered to be a long, complicated process. I made it my rather thankless task to cover these processes because I knew that they would change the lives of so many people across the continent. Having covered all of the negotiations, I found it very moving to see the flags being raised outside Nato’s headquarters in Brussels – those of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and other former communist countries such as Romania. Foreign ministers watching those flags go up were crying. Many of us were.

Has the tone of Nato summits changed since Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022?
The tone actually changed in 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Crimea. During my first summit in Lisbon as Nato spokesperson in 2010, the bloc described Russia as a strategic partner. But by the Madrid summit in 2022, Nato had replaced that description with “the most direct threat to the alliance and beyond”. Even China was described as “a challenge to our security interests and values”. That shows how the geostrategic landscape has changed.

For our full interview with Oana Lungescu, tune in to today’s episode of ‘The Foreign Desk’ at 12.00 London time on Monocle Radio.

Based in Melbourne, Kloke is a contemporary fashion label co-founded by partners Amy Gallagher and Adam Coombes. Its spring/summer 2024 collection features embroidered caps and lightweight seersucker shirts.

We have our eye on this khaki number: it’s a smarter alternative to the classic T-shirt and highlights Gallagher and Coombes’ flair for breathable, warm-weather-appropriate fabrics and loose silhouettes – ideal for long, hot days at the beach.
kloke.com.au

For more sunny styles and inspiration, pick up a copy of Monocle’s latest issue or subscribe today so that you never miss an issue. Have a great Saturday.