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Monica Kapila joins Mark Lloyd as a guest DUBAI EYE 103.8 at 1.45pm every Friday

Missed the live broadcast on Dubai Eye? Just listen again here. We’ll upload it on Monday, here’s last week’s podcast till then.

Monica’s Weekend October 7th Beautiful dining at Belcanto, terrific trekking with ECC Adventures and the power of robots at Festival X.

We’re dining at beautiful Belcanto at the Dubai Opera House

This week we’re excited to bring you a beautiful new dining space at the Dubai Opera. It’s always helpful to have somewhere on site to eat and drink when seeing a performance, but I reckon the meal at Belcanto might just be part of the whole performance itself!

Belcanto is the newish restaurant offering at the top of the Dubai Opera building. It’s had a very comprehensive make over with a big budget spent on it’s design from a brand we know from Miami. That’s Paul Bishop design.

Think opulent textures like velvet, wood and leather in dark, grown up reds with striking crystal chandeliers so elements from a classic opera stage I think.

But with very modern, contemporary European furniture that’s mainly white. So definitely one for the design lovers.

Food is pretty posh Mediterranean fare including a selection of pizzas created by Neapolitan Pizza World Champion, Chef Vincenzo Palermo as well as desserts from Michelin starred chefs. Open from 6pm to 12pm every evening.

But there’s also a venue within the venue here, because there’s a sort of second space that’s got that beautiful open air roof and it’s filled with very lush, green foliage so a completely different adjoining section where you can just have a drink and a snack or a whole meal.

In keeping with the garden theme it’s called Eden and it’s opening with a special French DJ duo called The Blaze who’ve performed at international festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza, Pitchfork Paris, and the Reading and Leeds festivals.

The grand opening of Eden with The Blaze is on the 14th Of October, but Eden opened on 29th of September. Tables already booked for NYE 2022!

A terrific trek with ECC Adventures Let’s Go Outside!

We’re getting into a very outdoors state of mind and inspiring you to take advantage of the time we have in the UAE to explore the outdoors, be it on a hike, a trek, a boat trip or all 3 rolled in one trip.

I recommend you try a company called ECC Adventures headed by Chris Craver, who is the founder, Program Director and one of the Lead Guides for ECC Adventures.

The ethos of ECC Adventures is to showcase the diversity of the UAE landscape and help people learn the importance of conservation while they can get fit and get back in touch with nature but at the same time they want to instill some confidence in people to do these outings too so they’re quite unique in that regard.

The company runs a number of different outings for people of all levels starting from this weekend Saturday 8^th of October, I think they have a fair couple of months already scheduled in, so go to the ECC adventures website and book something now!

A lot of their hikes are for beginners but there are some aspects that can be a bit more challenging, but the levels are pretty well documented.

Most of their activities tend to be centred in the Emirate of Fujeirah so that’s an easy couple of hours away. People can choose from a day trek to a half day up to a 2 or 3 day trek.

One example of trek that’s happening a few times is the SIDR TRAIL. Expect quiet waterways, lot’s of shade, garra fish, toads, other tiny wildlife, you have the contrast of the waterways with the more rugged canyon walls so it’s cool contrast of environment. Duration is about 3 to 4 hours and suitable for beginners.

Half term is coming up so you could try the 7 Summits Al Bidya trail that begins at the Big Flag in Fujeirah and goes across the7 summits or forts that represent the 7 Emirates of the UAE.

And apparently you finish finish the loop where you started at the beautiful gardens, an ideal spot for a quick snack after the hike.

You’ll be very safe with Chris because not only is he qualified with a very well established and recognized outdoor instructor body, he’s also got a Wilderness First Responder certification too, as have all the guides who leads treks with ECCA, so that’s very reassuring.

Please have your audience use the code DUBAIEYE20 for 20% for all of our activities until November 30, 2022.

A cool new first for Festival X Dubai in Al Serkal

This week on the 7th, 8th and 9th of October, get down to Al Serkal avenue in Al Quoz and be part of a brand new festival focusing on art, science and technology all at once!

It’s aptly called Festival X and over the 3 days there a talks, workshops, events and shows happening, all of which I reckon are going to make you think about things in a whole new way. Happening across 3 different areas of Al Serkal.

So for example there’s a dj doing a musical set, so far, so normal, but he’s creating the music from computer code he’s writing at the same time!

And apparently you can see that happening on a screen and hear the music generated concurrently! That’s multi-sensory isn’t it!

There are sculptures made by artists from all over the world (also present) so it’s real tangible art, BUT apparently some of them move if you ask them to, so again it’s that how science and art inter act via technology to bring you something new.

ALL elements of Festival X are free including the workshop beautifully titled Things your Parents Don’t Tell You About Robots!

But do note the festival is aimed at over 18s I think because of the intellectual content in the talks.

This is going to be an inaugural festival of an annual event, so be one of the first to experience it! I think this idea of getting a community exploring how art, science and technology overlap and how one element feeds and informs the other is a really forward thinking idea.

And they want to make Dubai the main area, the hub if you like of this type of community and advanced tech to see what evolves, what collaborations happen etc.

I think making science more accessible via art as just an aspect of what they’re doing is a good thing. Even hosting the event in Al Serkal avenue is an example of using a very arty space to showcase something quite techy!

So Good Luck to all at Team Festival X. Don’t forget to check out that robotic dog and plant pot that moves to seek the light at the Museum of the Future!

Have a listen to our Museum of the Future podcast from an earlier Monica’s Weekend in the podcast below.