A pilot who has flown more than 750 times has revealed there’s one European city which is a ‘tremendous destination’ that’s well worth visiting – and flights start from £26.99
A beautiful European city has been hailed as a lesser-known gem by a pilot(Image: Getty Images)
A pilot who has flown more than 750 times and visited more than 50 countries in just four years has revealed the European city that holidaymakers miss.
When it comes to booking a sun-soaked getaway, many of us are on the lookout for those destinations that go a little under the radar. Whether it’s to escape the onslaught of tourist crowds, packed attractions and lengthy queues, or to simply wander around a quieter location and explore somewhere new.
There’s a catalogue of beautiful European cities, brimming with charm and character, that are well worth venturing beyond the typical holiday hotspots. Yet, it’s not always easy to know where to go. But luckily for us, Wizz Air pilot Tom Copestake knows exactly what destination he’d recommend to holidaymakers.
Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Tom said: “I flew into Bilbao about two weeks ago – it’s a tremendous destination on the north coast. It was surrounded by what looked like amazing mountains or hills for hiking. I think there’s a lot of good walking in northern Spain.”
He continued: “I spoke to the ground handling agent in Bilbao, and he said how beautiful the area was and how we needed to stay and go exploring. There’s a place called San Sebastiá just down the road from Bilbao, which is apparently an amazing place to go and have a look at.”
Bilbao is a vibrant and colourful port city in northern Spain, with towering green mountains and a winding river valley running through its core. It’s known for its Basque heritage, innovative architecture, and world-class art.
Its most famous landmark is the curved Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Gehry, known for its contemporary art exhibitions and the ‘Puppy’ statue that towers over the city. Yet, against its ultramodern architecture, there’s the historic old town of Casco Viejo, which is made up of ancient medieval streets, the grand Santiago Cathedral, and Mercado de la Ribera – one of Europe’s largest covered food markets.
The city has a renowned food scene, with its local tapas, known as pintxos, being a notable highlight, alongside its selection of fresh seafood. Bilbao is also packed with lively bars, buzzing restaurants and cafés, so visitors can savour the flavours of its incredible cuisine, and soak up its vibrant atmosphere.
Aside from visiting the Guggenheim Museum, notable attractions include the Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao, Zubizuri Bridge, also known as the ‘White Bridge’, and Artxanda Funicular, a mountain cable car offering breathtaking views. Nearby is also the Bizkaia Bridge, the world’s first to carry people and traffic on a high suspended gondola, and it’s also a UNESCO World Heritage site.
And it might just be the perfect time to visit, as Wizz Air launched new routes from London Luton to Bilbao this year, with flights starting from £26.99. They also welcomed a flurry of new Spanish routes, including to Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Alicante and Seville.
Sharing a closer insight into his job as a pilot, after recommending Bilbao, Tom acknowledged: “This is a customer service job that happens to be in the aviation industry, and I love the fact that each of the thousands of passengers I’ve flown has a story and a reason to travel.
“It might be for fun, to see family, or we have people who might be working in different countries. It’s really cool, and I love that so much.” He humbly added: “This job is a privilege”.
For more information on Wizz Air flights, or to book your next getaway, visit their website.
Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com
United States President Donald Trump has described the Iranian leadership as “seriously fractured” as he announced an extension to a ceasefire.
Trump said on Tuesday that the ceasefire would be extended to allow more time for negotiations and appeared to be suggesting that Iran’s leadership is in disarray.
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He added that the US naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian ports would remain in place.
Three weeks ago, Trump claimed the US military campaign had succeeded in its goal of forcing a change in Iran’s government and the US was now dealing with “a whole new set of people” in charge of the country.
On April 11, Iran sent a delegation led by parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf to Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, to begin talks with the US.
So is Iran’s government “fractured”? We take a look at the key Iranian stakeholders and power centres in Iran and how their approach to US negotiations may differ.
Who are the key figures in Iran, and are they ‘fractured’ over talks with the US?
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei
Khamenei is the second son of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli air strikes on Tehran on the first day of the war on February 28. Mojtaba Khamenei was selected as Iran’s new supreme leader on March 8, according to state media reports.
The 56-year old has never run for office or been elected but has for decades been a highly influential figure in the inner circle of his father, cultivating deep ties with the the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Observers said the younger Khamenei’s ascension is a clear sign that more hardline factions in Iran’s establishment have retained power and could indicate that the government has little desire to agree to a deal or negotiations with the US in the short term.
Since his ascension, however, Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public. On March 13, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth claimed Iran’s new supreme leader had been wounded in US-Israeli strikes.
An April 11, a Reuters news agency report that quoted three people close to the supreme leader’s inner circle said Khamenei was still recovering from severe facial and leg injuries suffered in the air strike that killed his father. The sources were quoted as saying he was taking part in meetings with senior officials through audioconferencing.
Al Jazeera could not independently verify these claims.
According to state media reports, Khamenei has been active in making decisions on the war.
In a message read on Iranian state TV on April 18, Khamenei warned that the Iranian navy was ready to inflict “new bitter defeats” on the US and Israel as tensions escalated in the Strait of Hormuz.
Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf
Ghalibaf, 64, has served as Iran’s parliamentary speaker since 2020.
He was commander of the IRGC air force from 1997 to 2000. After that, he served as the country’s police chief. From 2005 to 2017, he was the mayor of Tehran.
Ghalibaf stood in elections for president in 2005, 2013, 2017 and 2024. He withdrew his bid for president before the election in 2017 when Hassan Rouhani won a second term.
Last month in the early days of the US-Israel war on Iran, it was suggested that Ghalibaf was the Trump administration’s “pick” to lead the country after the war ended. He has also been the main Iranian official leading negotiations with Washington since they began on April 11 in Pakistan.
In an overnight post on X on Tuesday, Ghalibaf wrote that Iran is “prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield” after Trump threatened Tehran with “problems like they’ve never seen before” if the two-week ceasefire ended this week without a deal.
Ghalibaf expressed anger at Trump for “imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire”.
“We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield,” he said.
The ceasefire was supposed to have ended on Wednesday, but shortly before its expiration, Trump extended it until Iran “can come up with a unified proposal”.
Within Iran, however, Ghalibaf’s willingness to engage in negotiations with the US has been criticised by some people who have accused him of “betrayal”.
According to a report on Monday by the Iran International TV channel, some critics of Ghalibaf have said on social media platforms in Iran that the parliamentary speaker’s suggestion that peace talks with the US were progressing was “worrying”.
“There is no good in negotiation except harm,” one critic said.
But Ghalibaf has defended undertaking negotiations with the US. In a televised interview on Saturday, he said diplomacy does not mean “a withdrawal from Iran’s demands” but is a way to “consolidate military gains and translate them into political outcomes and lasting peace”.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Iran’s military power structure is often described as opaque and complex.
The nation operates parallel armies, multiple intelligence services and layered command structures, all of which answer directly to the supreme leader, who serves as the commander in chief of all the armed forces.
The parallel armies comprise the Artesh, Iran’s regular army, which is responsible for territorial defence, defence of Iran’s airspace and conventional warfare, and the IRGC, whose role goes beyond defence and includes protecting Iran’s political structure.
The IRGC also controls Iran’s airspace and drone arsenal, which has become the backbone of Iran’s deterrence strategy against attacks by Israel and the US.
After the US and Israel struck Iran and killed Ali Khamenei, the IRGC promised revenge and launched what it called “the heaviest offensive operations in the history of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic against occupied lands [a reference to Israel] and the bases of American terrorists”. Since then, it has struck US military assets and infrastructure across the Gulf region.
Some experts said Iranian officials negotiating with the US are more closely aligned with the IRGC than other leaders and groups.
In an interview with Al Jazeera on March 25, Babak Vahdad, a political analyst specialising in Iran, noted that Iran’s appointment of Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr as secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council suggested Iranian negotiations would become more tightly aligned with the IRGC’s priorities. Zolghadr is a former IRGC commander and has been secretary of the advisory Expediency Council since 2023.
But Javad Heiran-Nia, who directs the Persian Gulf Studies Group at the Center for Scientific Research and Middle East Strategic Studies in Iran, said a divide between the IRGC and Iran’s negotiating team was plain to see.
Iran has attacked three cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz since Trump announced the ceasefire on April 6 and said the US naval blockade will remain.
“The attack on tankers during the ceasefire demonstrates the IRGC’s dominance over the diplomatic team and its disregard for their positions,” he told Al Jazeera.
IRGC members attend an exercise in southern Iran on February 16, 2026 [Handout/IRGC via West Asia News Agency and Reuters]
Paydari Front
Heiran-Nia pointed to the role of the Paydari Front (Steadfastness Front), whose members are hardliners within Iran’s political structure who are deeply committed to preserving the original principles of the 1979 Islamic revolution and the absolute power of the supreme leader. This group, he said, has been using the negotiations to cement its position within the power structure and among its support base.
He added that the Paydari Front has also been questioning the negotiations.
“In Iran’s current political climate, various groups are trying to raise their weight, both within the power structure and in public opinion. Of course, the Paydari Front’s efforts are more meaningful in relation to their own support base rather than trying to influence other segments of society because their hardline approach holds no appeal for other social classes,” he said.
The influence this group could have over the progress of talks is debatable, however, he added.
“If a deal is reached, it will likely have a sovereign character. The establishment will impose its own narrative, and the IRGC will accept it. In the meantime, the hardliners will attack the administration of [President] Masoud Pezeshkian and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf over the deal. However, it is unlikely that this will spread to the decision-making body of the establishment,” he added.
When Southampton lost 2-1 at home to Hull on 17 January, they were marooned in 15th, winless in seven and four points behind Leicester City.
Relegation was only six points beneath them and the play-offs a distant 10 points off, as questions were raised about whether Tonda Eckert was really the man to take the team forward.
Three months on, Saints have not lost since and their run of 12 wins and three draws has propelled them up the table, while there is an FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City at Wembley on the calendar on Saturday, 25 April.
No question, they are the in-form team and with a match to come against Ipswich at home, people are no longer wondering if they will make the play-offs but instead if they could carry all this form into that second promotion spot.
“If Southampton are to go and get second, this would be one of the greatest stories ever in the EFL,” said McAnuff.
“They were down and out. Watching them as a group, they were gone.
“Now they’re still an outsider to get in the top two because of where they’ve come from, so they can attack every single game with freedom. That makes them dangerous.”
Having risen up the league and knocked Premier League pair Fulham and Arsenal out of the cup, confidence is flowing at St Mary’s.
Head coach Eckert has been able to tinker with his side in recent games, but his foot remains firmly on the accelerator.
“It sounds boring because I keep repeating myself but we need to keep our heads down and keep working. It’s the only way,” said the German.
“This squad is in a moment and a place where you can put on whoever you want to put on and they’re ready and well able to perform. That’s a big plus for us at this part of the season.
“That’s all it comes down to at this stage of the season. When you step on the grass you need to be ready to perform.”
Actor Peter Capaldi is the latest big name to reject the chance to appear on the next series of Celebrity Traitors after Alison Hammond said she is just too busy
Peter Capaldi said he has his reasons for saying no(Image: (Image: BBC))
Doctor Who legend Peter Capaldi turned down Celebrity Traitors because he did not want the “level of exposure” the game of trust and treachery brings with it.
We’re getting closer to knowing who will be the next instalment of the spin-off after the success of the first series in 2025, which was filmed last April. Presenter Amol Rajan has signed up, insiders claim, but who else will star in the BBC show? Danny Dyer is another of the big names linked – but Peter won’t be pulling the cloak over his head.
The Thick Of It actor told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme he was asked to take part in the all-star version of the reality TV show, but said no. He isn’t the only one to reject the chance after Alison Hammond confirmed she won’t be heading to the castle – and said she has also had to turn down the chance to host Strictly Come Dancing, too.
Asked why, 67-year-old Scottish actor Peter, who played the Twelfth Doctor from 2013 to 2017, said: “Because I think there’s a level of fame that… I think it propels you into the public eye, at a level of exposure that I don’t really want.
“I like doing, you know, it’s like doing my music things – it’s very difficult for people in that business to understand that you want to keep it small.”
He added: “People keep saying to me, ‘Why don’t you do a bigger tour, or ‘ Why don’t you do a bigger release, or ‘ Why don’t you promote this more? I’m not doing it to be famous.”
On his previous leading role as the Doctor, the Glasgow-born star said he had “a little regret” when asked if he left the long-running BBC sci-fi show too early. He added: “It’s great fun being Doctor Who, but the pressure of it is quite intense.
“You’re sort of on all the time and you don’t want to disappoint anyone because even though I’m not Doctor Who, if people are meeting me they’d rather meet the version of me that is Doctor Who. So you try not to let them down, right?” Yeah, because I’m quite miserable and melancholic, really.
“And that was, that was one of the big changes in my life, I guess, which happened quite late, was I’m quite miserable really, but I thought you can’t be miserable if you’re Doctor Who. You can’t because you would disappoint people so I have to become cheerful all the time.”
The first series of The Celebrity Traitors aired on the BBC last autumn, with its nail-biting finale hitting a peak of 15.4 million viewers, according to the broadcaster.
It featured a star-studded cast including actors Celia Imrie and Nick Mohammed, singer Paloma Faith, author and actor Stephen Fry, broadcaster Jonathan Ross and comedian Alan Carr, who went on to win as a Traitor.
The spin-off series, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, brought in an average audience of 14.9 million people during its run – the biggest TV audience of 2025.
Coronation Street fans believe one of two characters could be secretly tormenting Sam Blakeman in an AI twist amid concern for his mental health as he continued to spiral
18:55, 08 Apr 2026Updated 18:56, 08 Apr 2026
Fans of Coronation Street believe someone is out to get Sam Blakeman(Image: ITV)
Fans of Coronation Street believe someone is out to get Sam Blakeman, but it’s not Will Driscoll.
Sam has accused Will of tormenting him with threats, menacing behaviour and a sinister phone call. He’s sparked concern about his mental health, with him clearly spiralling after recent stress.
Teen Sam had exposed athletics coach Megan Walsh for grooming her student Will for sex. She’s denied the entire thing, as has Will, but Will’s family know Sam is telling the truth.
Megan had been threatening Sam before he revealed all, and this along with his exam stress has sent him spiralling. This week we’ve seen him panicked, avoiding Will after Will appeared to threaten him over the phone, before charging at him in the street.
Viewers are wondering if most of it is in Sam’s head though, and he could be set for a worrying mental health storyline. But one scene left fans wondering if someone was targeting him.
They do not think it’s Will though, and believe Sam’s conviction that Will is out to get him has left him paranoid, and suffering from hallucinations. As for the phone call, fans do think someone called him, but maybe faked Will’s voice.
The suggestion is that it was Megan, wanting to get back at Sam for exposing her. They wonder if she is using an AI app to mimic Will’s voice to get to Sam, while some viewers also wondered if Hope Stape, who Sam has confided in, is pranking Sam in the same way.
One viewer said: “If it turns out the teacher is using an AI voice changer I will officially stop watching.” Another fan wrote: “I bet Megan called and used a AI program to sound like Will.
“She’s probably doing it to keep Sam scared and full on have a mental health crisis.” A third viewer said: “I don’t think it was him, the voice seems very strange, like robotic, could have it been AI or something like that?
“That was so strange.” A further post read: “It could’ve been AI,” as another said: “Wasn’t Megan messing with AI voices in an earlier episode or have I dreamt it?”
As for Hope, one fan suggested: “I think Hope has something to do with it I think she’s messing with his head with the calls and making him more paranoid.”
United States President Donald Trump is insistent that “productive” negotiations have taken place with Iran to end the war he launched with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu almost a month ago. The major problem with that narrative is that Iran’s top officials have repeatedly denied it.
Amid the fog of war and the propaganda being pushed by all sides, it is hard to know who to believe. But an analysis of what each side has to gain from any negotiations – and a potential end to the conflict – could bring more clarity.
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Trump’s comments that there were “major points of agreement” after “very good” talks with an unnamed “top” Iranian figure came as stock markets opened in the US for the start of the trading week. The five-day deadline he gave for a positive response from Iran also happens to coincide with the end of the trading week.
Many have cynically noted that timing, especially as it comes after a two-week period in which oil prices have fluctuated in line with events in the Middle East, leading to a high of about $120 a barrel last week.
Trump’s talk of negotiations may also give time for more US troops to arrive in the Middle East, if Washington decides to conduct some form of ground invasion of Iranian territory.
Among those questioning Trump’s motives was the man believed by some to be the senior Iranian official Trump was referencing: the Iranian parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
“No negotiations have been held with the US, and fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped,” Ghalibaf wrote on social media.
The impact on stock markets and oil prices is not just relevant to the US and Trump, but also to Iran. However, for Tehran, the benefit comes in the damage the war is doing to the US and global economies.
The Iranian state wants the US to feel economic pain from the war, as a means of deterrence for any future Israeli or US attack on Iran.
Therefore, as much as it is in the US interest to play up talk of negotiations in order to calm the markets, it is also in Iran’s interest to downplay any talk to do the exact opposite, and not give the Trump administration any breathing space.
US benefits?
Consequently, both sides have their own narratives on negotiations, and public comments will do little to inform us as to whether those negotiations are really taking place, or in what form they may be.
That instead leads us into what each side has to gain from negotiations, and an actual end to the war at the current stage.
Trump appears to have underestimated the consequences of the conflict that he launched with Netanyahu on February 28, and the ability of the Iranian state to withstand the attacks against it without collapsing.
“They weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East … Nobody expected that,” he said last week, adding that even “the greatest experts” didn’t believe that.
Leaving aside that experts – including US intelligence officials – had repeatedly made those warnings, reality has now made Trump aware of the consequences he had previously ignored.
While some allies and supporters may continue to push him to plough on with the conflict, Trump has previously shown himself amenable to cutting deals to extricate himself from difficult situations, and it is not far-fetched to see the benefits of doing so in this instance.
The US president has already ordered his government to issue temporary sanctions waivers on some Iranian oil, in an effort to calm oil prices. This is the first time Iran has lifted sanctions on any Iranian oil since 2019, and it will not be lost on Iran that the waivers have come as a result of their policy to expand the conflict to the wider Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquified natural gas transits.
The war was already unpopular in the US – and now even more so, as consumers see the impact on petrol prices and potentially other areas of the economy, all in the run-up to congressional elections later this year, in which Trump’s Republicans are likely to do poorly.
Trump, therefore, has the options of extending this war – and suffering the economic and political cost, or ending it – and facing the criticism that he was unable to finish what he termed as a “short-term excursion”.
The Iranian perspective
But whatever Trump wants to do, the decision is not totally in his hands. Iran, attacked for the second time in less than a year, now appears to have less of an incentive to end the war without the establishment of an effective deterrent to another in the future.
Gone are the days of the telegraphed attacks on US assets and the slow climb up the escalation ladder. From the outset of the current war, it was clear that Iran had changed its tactics and was not as interested in restraint.
It is now arguably in the Iranian state’s benefit to drag out the conflict and inflict more suffering on the region, if it wants to ensure its survival.
There may also be a belief that interceptor stocks in Israel are running low, allowing Iran to strike targets more effectively. The thinking – particularly among the hardliners who now appear to be in the ascendancy in Iran – will be that now is not the time to stop, and allow those interceptor stocks to replenish.
And yet, Iran is suffering. More than 1,500 people have been killed across the country, according to the government. Infrastructure has been heavily damaged, and the power grid could be next. Relations with Gulf neighbours have nosedived, and, after repeated Iranian attacks, are unlikely to return to their previous levels after the conflict.
More moderate voices in Iran will look at that and think that things could easily get worse. They can argue that some form of deterrence has been achieved, and that the time is now ripe to talk. And if they can get some concessions – such as a promise of no future attacks, or greater authority in the Strait of Hormuz – they may decide that the time is right to make a deal.
