Ellie Bamber | Why Latvia is Underrated!

0:00You're listening to Travel Secrets with Tanya Rose, the podcast that shares wisdom for fellow travelers.

0:09Welcome to Travel Secrets with me, Tanya Rose, the podcast sharing wisdom for fellow travelers. Each week, I ask my guests to reveal their six travel secrets and the holidays and adventures that surround them. I would just like to say thank you to Mason Rose, the sales and communication agency that represents some of the finest hotels around the world for partnering with Travel Secrets the podcast. Today my guest is the lovely Ellie Bamba famed for so many of her roles from the serpent to up-and-coming Kate Moss chosen by Kate herself. How exciting and Les Mis with the wonderful Dominic West who's also been on the podcast.

0:51I cannot wait to hear your travel secrets. Welcome lovely Ellie. Thank you I'm so excited to chat about traveling. Before we actually get into the travel secrets perhaps you can just tell us a bit about yourself and how travel has impacted the person that you've become yeah absolutely so um I am from uh a place called Finch Hampstead which is near um Windsor and um I think that I always kind of knew from quite a young age that I wanted to travel because I had a strong sense at a young age that I wanted to go and live in London so it was immediately like I kind of wanted to move somewhere and go somewhere and then I think um really amazingly with work I I get the um the privilege of actually traveling around the world and and that's one of the things about my job that I enjoy really greatly because I actually get to experience living in different places each time I work somewhere because you know even if it's three or four months to me that feels like I'm living there and I'm getting to experience the place in a different way um so yeah I travel means a lot to me and you know it's something that I think is the best experience that you can have with friends and family and to kind of make lasting memories that you know you treasure and did you you went straight from school into acting didn't you yeah I did and did so much theater yeah I left school early so I didn't actually do my A-levels.

2:19And yeah, I got a role in the West End. And I kind of decided at the time that I wasn't giving my all to school and I wanted to give my all to acting really. And so I left school early and I worked in the theatre. And that's how I kind of began my journey through acting, I guess. Well, I'm sure all the stories will come out about where you filmed and what you've done. But let's start with the travel secrets. What is the number one destination that you think everyone should go to once in their lifetime? I would probably say Rome just because I recently actually lived there for four months or so filming a film called William Tell and to experience that city I think that it has everything all in one place you know the food is incredible the music scene the wine the the art I mean going on a Caravaggio tour from you know church to church is like one of those really beautiful things that you can do and it's you know that's like a free experience to be able to go from one church to the other to see his works of art I remember I saw like a a Benigni exhibition there and I was like blown away and to be able to kind of like walk through that city or you know I cycled a lot through the city is is so exciting and then nearby you have like incredible beaches that have you know these kind of wine bars and kiosks on the beach that I just enjoyed so much.

3:49And actually just walking around is like a museum, isn't it? Literally. It really is. It's amazing. And also, you know, when I was there recently, the thing that I was realizing is there's so much amazing architecture, like old, but there's also new. And to kind of see the contrast of the old and new alongside each other is really quite like spectacular and quite, yeah, it's quite an experience. There's a really lovely new hotel called Portrait. Did you see that when you were there? I didn't, no. It's at the top of the Spanish Steps and it's very small, but it's really fantastic. If you go back, you might stay there.

4:23I stayed at the Rhinocherus or Rhinoceros, which is a hotel that actually the Fendi family designed. And it's really, really incredible. And I loved staying there. Kind of a lot of stainless steel, very, really nice rooftop. bar. Yeah they've got some amazing rooftop bars the Eden Hotel has a fantastic rooftop bar. That one was amazing as well and then obviously Rocheoli is my favorite place to eat. Oh where's that? It's like it was like probably a 10 minute walk from my hotel I can't remember the exact location but what I do remember is that it was so funny because we were such a tight-knit cast and we going off for dinners together which was so exciting but I in the meantime was on my phone always waiting for a Roscioli cancellation and if it was for two people that was great I could go with like you know one of the cast but if it was for one I was gonna take it and I was gonna tell everyone that I was like I can't I cannot do dinner tonight because I just loved it there so much I mean it has all of the kind of like traditional Roman dishes like you know Amatriciana Carbonara um but then it has like some amazing like fish dishes it does like courgette flowers and um but it's all like oh god it's delicious I do love her and I haven't been for so long the first time I went there I wanted to do Roman Holiday I wanted to be Audrey Hepburn so I ran to the Vesper and a man to take me around and I literally wrapped my arms around him and I did exactly what she does in Roman Holiday so I went to the place where you put your hand in then the trevi found it and it sounds so touristy but it's so wonderful loved it absolutely wonderful there's also like a cool like the thing that i was realizing when i was there is there's a cool like underground like natural wine bar scene so we went to this place called chow roma that's run um by some really cool guys who get in amazing natural wine but then they also make sandwiches and then they also have like a kiosk which is like kind of further away in rome that does natural wine and you're basically spills out onto the side of the streets throughout summer and so everyone is just kind of you know hanging out on the side of the street drinking like amazing amazing natural wine oh how wonderful well Rome non for fatto non giorno it wasn't built in a day but it was very beautiful um let's go on to the next travel secret what is your most unexpected travel experience I think my most unexpected travel experience was going to New Zealand um it wasn't really on my radar is somewhere to go and um which is crazy really but I went there to shoot again and um I was mainly in Auckland and I remember kind of driving from the airport and kind of looking at the scenery around me and being a bit stuck because I couldn't really place it like it wasn't in any way there were parts of it that reminded me of like the British countryside which is really bizarre and then the rest of it was incredibly kind of you know lush and not anything like that at all um but then Auckland for me was really surprising like their brunch culture is really amazing and I got really stuck into that but then a very close friend of mine actually happens to have a place on Waiickey Island yes yeah and her family are from there so um it just meant that on the weekends when I wasn't working I would basically go across with two of my friends and we'd get the ferry there and it was like paradise I'd never seen anything like it and you know the shutters just open onto this like glorious beach it's so amazing have you been before I haven't my husband wants to go and live on Wajike Island he either wants to live in Wales or in Wajike and I said well Wales is too cold and rains all the time and Wajike is the other side of the world I think they're quite similar though but no everyone I know that goes there the wine is fantastic it's amazing yeah we went to an amazing like italian vineyard there um but it you know my and also this like you know my friend's dad is a sailor and apparently like this i we didn't actually get the chance who we're going to but apparently sailing around the island is just like really really exquisite um but i'm i've been kind of you know pestering her because i'm like i really want to go back what did you film over there um it was actually part of the the kate moss film So, yeah, we shot mainly in the UK, but we did some shooting in New Zealand.

8:50When is that coming out? It will come out, I think, this year. I'm pretty sure. Excellent. I can't wait to see it. How exciting. So what is your most overrated or underrated? OK, my most underrated was actually visiting Latvia for filming. I really loved Latvia. it was it's so alive it was it was freezing cold when I was there because it was kind of during the winter months but you know there are karaoke bars everywhere which is so fun because you know I just I never really been I never really been into karaoke it was so wild but I'd never really been into it but that that's kind of their night well I hope I'm right in saying this but it was the nightlife scene that I saw there um and it was so fun and it got me into karaoke and then And also like surprisingly that the sushi there is unreal.

9:44I couldn't, yeah, it was so, so good. There was this one restaurant and I think, I mean, I think I went there like four times in a row. Like four times in a row because I was obsessed with it. You could think you were in Japan with the karaoke and the sushi. It was just, it was like, I mean, it was, yeah, delicious. And there's so much to see. And I didn't actually manage to go, but apparently there were amazing beaches. Like not so far. Let's go on to food and drink. Food and drink is so important in our lives, but in the whole life of travel, it's so much part of what we do. What do you like eating?

10:17Where do you like eating? Let's just talk about food and drink. Like food is so important to me. Like I think about like food, it's just, it's the way that I see any kind of city really. So I am all about the food and I think that that's how I really get to know a city is through the cuisine. um I love eating like so many like so many varieties things you know obviously I like Italian food I love Chinese food I love Japanese food I love Mexican food so I just have like such a a taste for it I guess lovely and when you filmed the serpent did you get into food over there of course because I mean basically on your doorstep was probably the best I know I was in yeah we were in bangkok for i think i was there for like 18 weeks or something and yeah i really got into i've always loved um thai food and it was it was incredible because we had a 24 7 supermarket that was outside our hotel and i think i went there the first night because i was really jet lagged and i was like i'll just eat there and i remember having like a guy padka prowl there which is you know like minced chicken with holy basil and um and chili and i it was a dish that i've always just loved and I remember thinking like I ate it and I was like this is unreal like I don't understand how I can get something it was incredible and then actually subsequently one of the actors on on the serpent happened to be really really good friends with someone who had won MasterChef in Thailand and he actually ended up giving me lessons within the hotel because we had um we had kitchens in the hotel and so he taught me how to to cook certain things so you came back as a professional thai chef not quite that's amazing i loved it and also randomly we we cooked uh well we didn't cook but we assembled tiramisu um which was something that i was so excited to learn to make so i didn't i didn't learn how to make it but he made this amazing tiramisu and it was yeah unreal so when you filmed the serpent was it mainly in bangkok or did you actually go to other places as well yeah it was mainly in um bangkok i we we kind of went to a couple of other places briefly to film but then i actually went on a trip to koh samet and with um my mum and dad um which is an island that isn't too far away from bangkok and we went to this amazing hotel that are called Hotel Parody it's called um and it was just it was really beautiful and just just gorgeous I mean I'm watching White Lotus at the moment so it like had had definitely got that kind of vibe yeah it's interesting with White Lotus actually how that has impacted the tourism of where it said the first one was in Hawaii then the last one was in Sicily and Taramina where that was filmed is it's impossible to get reservations almost it's unbelievable what that white lotus effect has so i'm sure in thailand the four seasons is going to be packed out yeah hopefully not your island though if you want to go back i know i'd love to go back yeah but learning thai food from the master chef i think that sounds very cool yeah it was excellent what is your top travel tip I would say um like you know kind of exploring a city through food or you know a country through food so I always kind of look extensively at what restaurants that I want to go to and I will like plan it out and I'll have lists like you know recently I was in Paris and my I went with my mom and I had this list of like I think it was like probably like 30 places on this list and she was like ellie we're going for like three days why have you got this list um so i would say that and then actually my um a friend of mine recently started this app called trotter um which is kind of like a concierge service but it also gives you kind of recommendations of where you might want to go in certain cities and it also has like a forum to chat with other travelers so you can you know you can rate and review restaurants or you can like talk to people and you can like talk to the concierge about you know recently when i went to uh valteren skiing you know i contacted the concierge and said do you have any recommendations and they come through with you know a list of oh that's fantastic so it's called trotter it's called trotter yeah i'm gonna definitely download yeah it's really cool so that helps you get under the skin of the destination and go where the locals go yeah totally that sounds very clever well done your friend yeah she's great she's I hope she'll do really well it's very very good if you get those sort of recommendations and if you know the person who's involved in it and they're sort of you can chat to other people and see what their vibe is yeah you know what it is totally it's nice because my friends are on there so it means that they can all have like and they do these like kind of you know monthly meetups at restaurants so you can like you can go and enjoy a restaurant with someone who's also on the trotter app so like 10 people will go to a restaurant is it a subscription or is there is Yeah, I think it's like a subscription service.

15:34So you get probably a little bit of information, but then if you want the other, you have to pay more for it. Yeah. That sounds fantastic. When we were talking just before we sat down and had our podcast about Tangiers, and I've just come back from the King of Morocco's new place, which is outside Tangiers, which is amazing. But you were saying that you know Drasper Conran's place because I didn't get there, unfortunately, but I'm dying to go. Tell us about that. You have to. You honestly have to go. And it's an incredible, incredible hotel that he's created in YSL's old, like San Aron's old house, Yves' old house.

16:11And it is spectacular. I mean, the design is unreal. And it also is all kind of centered around this incredible pool. I can, I'll show you a picture because it's like really breathtaking. And there are kind of, there are rooms within the main house and then rooms in kind of different outhouses. and the food is also just exquisite like it's so so good and he's also been doing these amazing things of um i can't remember what they're called there is a name for them but he fills um you know oranges with orange sorbet and you know bananas with banana kind of sort it's it's incredible um definitely have that on my list of places to go to i would love to do that yeah and as i said the king of morocco has just opened this place outside but have you been to marrakech i've never no i really want to go because the king has a hotel there called the royal mansour too which is the most beautiful hotel it's you have your own private riad so you go and you have your own sitting room then you have a bedroom then you have your own roof terrace with a pool and it is it's really but also the um gardens in marrakech were yves saint laurent's gardens the jardin marjorie and they're all blue and white like you know his colors and the shop there I know this sounds really ridiculous but the shop is fantastic because it's got all vintage photographs that he and somebody who worked for him collected so it's definitely worth you must go to Marrakesh yeah I will and also like being surrounded by that history that's what I felt at Jasper's place it's like it's incredible I mean there are so many wonderful places and Istanbul is another place have you been there yes I have yeah where did you stay when you went to Istanbul we actually stayed at the Soha House Hotel there oh that's great yeah which is really really great i loved it and we went there for christmas and it was yeah i absolutely loved it and actually the peninsula which is where we're recording this and you've been to um has just opened on the bosporus so it's right on the bosporus and it has the most amazing view and they have their own boat so my god so her house is fantastic but this is even better so amazing you must go to istanbul absolutely stay at the peninsula so I asked you to talk about your most poignant travel experience what is the most poignant travel experience you've ever had um can I have two is that right please um well I would say firstly I want to say I went actually on safari um with African bush camps um to Somalisa which is in huangi national park and i just it was the most amazing experience i mean being surrounded and being like you know really embedded in nature is just incredible it's a wonderful thing to do yeah totally and the early nights and like the early mornings and kind of following that that rhythm and cycle is is really extraordinary and i think that i had like many moments on that trip where I was just kind of looking out at the vastness in front of me and being like, wow, this is really incredible.

19:15And it really helped me to kind of reconnect in a different way and put my phone down, which is, you know, so nice to do. And actually see what's ahead of you instead of just wanting to have a photograph of it. Totally, yeah. And then the other poignant memories that I suppose I've had throughout my life is visiting the same fishing village on the northeast coast of Spain called Rosas. And I go there with family and friends almost every year. And, you know, I've seen my little brother, he's two years younger than me, I've seen him like grow up there and we've grown up there together. And to spend time with like family and now friends there has just been like, I don't know.

19:59It's been really beautiful and so special. Do you stay in a house or in a hotel? In a house, yeah. it's so wonderful to have somewhere you go back to time and time again we go to a hotel every year and in august actually and it's in the south of france it's called the colom d 'or oh my god it's one of my favorites oh wow so beautiful so my husband's been going there since 1969 and you know there's that little tiny bar but that is my favorite bar in the world and you're surrounded by like picasso's and stuff it's unreal menu is has been the same since he's been going since It's 1969. The prices have changed, but the place is the same.

20:34And it's the same people who go every August. So unless somebody dies, you don't get a room. But it is, my son went three months old, one year, three months old. And it's the same friends that we go to every year. And we don't see them from one year to the next, but we're always there at the same time. Yeah. It's very special, I think. It's so special. Because I don't know, you also get to see that place grow as well at the same time and change and evolve. and obviously you're evolving and changing at the same time too so I think it's really will you go back to your place in Spain even when you're older do you think and your family absolutely yeah I really hope so I mean you know just this past year I went with a group of friends and you know some of them had never been before and we just had the most special time like so much fun well my son is 21 and I really was thinking at what age is he going to say he doesn't want to come on holiday with us anymore but there is no sign of that at the moment he absolutely says I have booked this time off and I'm coming to the column door so he's not giving that up lightly no absolutely not and talking about safari we would we had um David Gandhi on the podcast and Richard E Grant and they both said safari was their favorite thing but they were both really funny because they said you know you have to sit there with your arms in and you're not allowed to move and everything but then at six o 'clock they lay the table out and then you have drinks and sundowners and they think but hang on we've just been told not to move and not to stop and then other lions on you know are they sleeping at six o 'clock yeah it's really strange but that getting up very early in the morning and then having drinks later in the evening as the sun goes down is just magnificent isn't it and I'm not even very good at getting up early but for that it became I know it's so easy isn't it so finally I asked you to bring a photograph that or photographs that sum up travel can you show us the photograph and talk to us about it and just tell us why that sums up travel to you yeah of course um okay so this is a picture from the Maldives oh how beautiful yeah and we were on a sandbar and I'd just come off set of filming something called Willow and um on set we we kind of had this running joke oh you know like maybe we should because it was you know quite a long job and it was tough for different reasons but so so amazing and we had this running joke like you know let's leave Wales after this and go to the Maldives and slowly but surely this running joke kind of became more real and more of reality and suddenly we were on a plane to the Maldives and where did you go a hotel called the patina in the Maldives and um it was just a really beautiful place it's kind of well at the time it was brand new and they have kind of all different artists come in and at the time there was this amazing pavilion that kind of had almost like neon lights running through it that changed throughout the evening and it was really an incredible and they have exhibitions come through um and did you go with other members of the cast I did yeah so that chat became a real reality it became a reality and then my brother came with me as well which was so nice so for us to see that together I think was like honestly a trip well it's a beautiful photograph and what's your other photo my other photo is I was talking about that fishing village Rosas and right by that fishing village is a town called which is an artist town called Kadakes which is so beautiful yeah it's gorgeous so and we kind of we always go by boat because it's kind of easier to get there by boat and it's right next to where Dali lived and had his house so you can go and visit Dali's house which is of course an incredible experience but not only that obviously El Bully was like right around the bay from Kadake so all of the ex-elbowli chefs kind of split off and made their own restaurants that were either in Rossas or in Kadakay and we just go to some of the most amazing restaurants in Kadakay there's this place called Compartier that is just like unreal it's so good how wonderful that's going on my bucket list Waheke Island and that that's absolutely brilliant so before I let you go what's next for Elie Bamba and where are you going next um where am I going next uh well I I really really want to go back to Tokyo because I was there for like I think 48 hours for work or something and I was meant to stay for longer but unfortunately I got called back and um I'd really like to go and I'm gonna go with my friend and really experience Tokyo because I'd really really love to go there and see that and then also Burma I'd really like to go to Burma and you know experience the food there because you know of course there are restaurants in London that um have Burmese food but I'd really like to actually go and explore and explore the food properly and what are you doing work-wise I know you've got about four films coming out but what are you doing next and what it's what's coming out I've got I've got so at the moment William Tell is out um which comes out it's it's out in the UK already but it comes out in um America next month and it's a film a medieval action film um about the legend of William Tell who shot the apple from the sun his son's head and that kind of sparked a war between Austria and Switzerland so um yeah it's a kind of big historical epic and then after that I have this film Words of War with Maxine Peake um which is about Anna Politskowskaia who was a Russian journalist um it's an incredible story she won a Nobel Peace Prize and was just an incredible woman so it kind of tracks her journey fantastic and then you have Kate Moss coming out and where are you actually going filming next do you know where you're going filming I don't know where I'm going filming I think I might be going to Budapest oh wonderful yeah well if you've got some time between all of this promoting tours and filming the world is your oyster so please let me know where you want to go and where I can send you I will thank you so much it's been such a joy and delight thank you thank you thank you for sharing your travel secrets thank you so much for listening to this episode of travel secrets I'm loving making this podcast and want it to reach as many people as possible to build this community of fellow travelers so please do subscribe on your favorite podcast app and share with a friend I'll be back next week And remember, this podcast might not change your life, but it might just change your plans.