Difference between revisions of "Gabran"

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==Tourism==
 
==Tourism==
(The following is an excerpt from the Looney Planet Guide to [[Rehochipe]], by the [[Watfordshire]] national 'Rough' Guido Hooley).
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(The following is an excerpt from the Looney Planet Guide to [[Rehochipe]], by the dissident [[Watfordshire|Shiree]] 'Rough' Guido Hooley).
  
 
Gabran, the administrative capital, lies at the southeastern edge of the Mokole Plateau at the fringes of the Atelskrust, hanging over the cliffs. The surrounding land, fed by the Krata, is cooler and damper than most of the country but only rarely suffers the winter cold spells suffered by Bakrata. It's also a lot more spread-out than Bakrata, and a great deal more verdant; even the city centre is riddled with good-sized parks. Despite this, it's pretty pleasant to get around; it's relatively cool, almost entirely flat and has a well-developed tram system.
 
Gabran, the administrative capital, lies at the southeastern edge of the Mokole Plateau at the fringes of the Atelskrust, hanging over the cliffs. The surrounding land, fed by the Krata, is cooler and damper than most of the country but only rarely suffers the winter cold spells suffered by Bakrata. It's also a lot more spread-out than Bakrata, and a great deal more verdant; even the city centre is riddled with good-sized parks. Despite this, it's pretty pleasant to get around; it's relatively cool, almost entirely flat and has a well-developed tram system.

Revision as of 06:38, 11 October 2004

Basics

Gabran is the capital city of ==Rehochipe==, housing the Cave of Reckoning and the Quinquates and Ministerial headquarters of all five Ministries, as well as virtually every international embassy.

Tourism

(The following is an excerpt from the Looney Planet Guide to Rehochipe, by the dissident Shiree 'Rough' Guido Hooley).

Gabran, the administrative capital, lies at the southeastern edge of the Mokole Plateau at the fringes of the Atelskrust, hanging over the cliffs. The surrounding land, fed by the Krata, is cooler and damper than most of the country but only rarely suffers the winter cold spells suffered by Bakrata. It's also a lot more spread-out than Bakrata, and a great deal more verdant; even the city centre is riddled with good-sized parks. Despite this, it's pretty pleasant to get around; it's relatively cool, almost entirely flat and has a well-developed tram system.

Gabran's heart is the Old City, a haphazard conglomerate of colonial architecture and recent building projects. Its nominal centre is the old Celdonian Fort Wafootoo, a sprawling combination of fortress, palace and government building in the Celdonian neoclassical style. Much of it is open to the public (the remainder mostly stores remnants of the colonial era). Facing it is the Great Market, a rowdy and labyrinthine affair that is about as vigorous as Rehochipe's economic activities get.

Surrounding this is the Circles Quarter, a sprawling system of circular parks ringed by housing and workplaces. There are entertainment and culture venues here, though Gabran still lags well behind Bakrata in this respect, and you'll have to search for them. Smaller, but one of the most picturesque districts of Gabran, is the Hang. The district lies within spitting distance of the Old City, in the worryingly steep cleft that the Ecker river, a tributary of the Krata, cut in the cliffs; originally settled as a way of escaping strict colonial zoning laws, it has one very wiggly road and a great many narrow alleyways entirely composed of steps. Its residents may be identified by their overdeveloped calf muscles. Apart from the incredible steepness and the pretty buildings, there's not a whole lot to do here, although hang-gliding enthusiasts have colonised a good chunk towards the lower end.

Eating is pretty good in Gabran. The city is riddled with tgana bars: well-reputed for food are the Shattered Fasces on Granite St, the Naughty Rodent on Zola, and the Pamphleteer on Efreet. The Gypped Knee (Sibylline) is also excellent, but tends to be overcrowded with hungry diplomats. For conventional restaurants, the area between Ambassador Road and Quintian Park has the highest density; Gabran is the best place in Rehochipe for international cuisine, and you should be able to find good Paristani, Xikuang and Ecopoeian restaurants with no problem at all. For Rehochipean gourmet stuff you're better off in Quon or (once again) Bakrata. Particularly useful to the tourist in a hurry is Sokane Street, which is almost entirely taken up by take-out places, including some of the best Hackneyite rat-kebabs you'll eat west of the Wall.

This is a good point to mention Rehochipean eating codes. While about 10% of Rehochipeans are vegetarian, roughly 60% more are hunt-ethos (briefly, they'll only eat animals they've personally killed one of, as well as a bunch of other strictures on animal and environmental welfare). In effect most hunt-ethosans are also veggie for the most part; on the other hand, Rehochipe has more livestock than agriculture, so even pretty good meat tends to be quite cheap, provided you're in a place that sells it. (The enthusiastic carnivore would do well to head to Edile, where Arcnovian cuisine centres largely around lumps of cow).

As far as galleries and museums go, Gabran is very much Bakrata's poor cousin, but there are still some respected spots: the National Gallery is worth it more for the adjoining 'experimental landscape' of the Atrapani Gardens as it is for the dreary portraits of national greats. (If you're into that kind of thing, the sculpture at Granite Square is far better stuff). Similarly, the National Museum is really just a showcase for the far greater collections of the Bakratan museums, though Gabran's Atelskrust Library is quite the equal of its highland twin.

Those sniffing after a red-light district will be disappointed to discover that the colonial Loosemarket is pretty much defunct; prostitution isn't really a last-resort profession in Rehochipe, and consequently operates on the prostitute's terms. Most work from home; the register is widely available. If you're expecting it to be cheap, however, prepare for a nasty shock. Outside the Atelskrust cities, red-light districts do exist; everything else is much the same.