Kotor in Montenegro is drop-dead gorgeous from every angle. Within the city walls, locals sip strong coffee at pavement cafes and queue for warm bread at the bakers amid a dreamy maze of alleys and plazas; beyond them, the mountain-encircled, fjordlike bay of the same name is one of the most photogenic spots in all of Europe. Better still, the cruise ships have yet to overwhelm this marvel of the Med – get here before they drop anchor.
Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2016 is the highly anticipated collection of the world’s hottest trends, destinations and experiences for the year ahead.
How can you describe a city? With words, or poems, or pictures? Istanbul is an ancient city, which has been a subject of all of the above, but never before has Istanbul had such a video. READ MORE
Freedom Sculpture – GlaxoSmithKline World Headquarters, Philadelphia. 20 feet long, 8 feet high
“I wanted to create a sculpture almost anyone, regardless of their background, could look at and instantly recognize that it is about the idea of struggling to break free. This sculpture is about the struggle for achievement of freedom through the creative process.” – Zenos Frudakis
This will make you want to grab hold of that dance partner of yours and sway!
The lovely pair in the video is dancing the sensual and romantic Kizomba dance – one of the most popular dance forms from Angola. Kizomba is a dance that was born in Angola in the late ’70s and the music is based on the Antillean Zouk and dance the Argentine tango. It is a sensual dance that allows you maximum freedom of expression. READ MORE
As legend has it, Rome, Italy, was founded by the twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, in 700 B.C. The former Caput Mundi, or Capital of the World, sits beneath Palatine Hill, where the ruins of its original incarnation are open for exploration.
Following Transport for London’s (TfL) tender for proposals to improve pedestrian links across the river, Heatherwick Studio and actor and campaigner Joanna Lumley have developed an idea for a new pedestrian ‘Garden Bridge’ across the River Thames; a scheme to connect North and South London with a garden. READ MORE
978 km from mainland Portugal and 608 km from the African coast lies an island that is said to be part of the lost continent of Atlantis.
High mountains, deep valleys, tranquil lakes, waterfalls and an immensity of green. The vivacity of the Madeiran landscape is the result of an authentic subtropical climate that keeps the chill off the seawater and the climate mild all year round. READ MORE
November 9, 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall. On this day the world’s eyes will look at Berlin once again.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the LICHTGRENZE (The Border of Lights), an extraordinary light installation, is produced, following the former route of the so-called Berliner Mauer. READ MORE
Last week, London unveiled the new cars to the public for the first time, and when the trains finally hit the tracks starting in the mid-2020s, they’ll bring an appreciable list of improvements to riders.
With the new design, you’ll be able to walk the entire length of the train, which frees up lots of space that was wasted just from closing off individual cars in the past. The entrances are now all evenly spaced and feature double-wide doors, which means it should be a lot faster to get on and off the trains. And you won’t have to “mind the gap” anymore: the cars are all shorter, which makes the trains more flexible and able to come much closer to the platform edge. READ MORE
Alibaba’s blockbuster $25 billion stock offering has made Jack Ma the wealthiest man in China, according to a new survey, as investor enthusiasm for Chinese technology names enriches a new generation of Internet moguls.
Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, and his family have a net worth of about $25 billion following last week’s initial public offering.
The shift reflects a flood of dollars into China’s rapidly growing Internet sector, as investors bet on firms such as Alibaba growing at a fast clip at home and becoming more globally competitive. China has seen a record 15 Internet IPOs so far this year.
On Phillip Island, right off the Australian coast, there is a population of little penguins wearing original hand-knitted jumpers. And this is not a fashion statement!
Knitted penguin jumpers play an important role in saving little penguins affected by oil pollution. A patch of oil the size of a thumb nail can kill a little penguin. Oiled penguins often die from exposure and starvation. Oil separates and mats feathers, allowing water to get in which makes a penguin very cold, heavy and less able to successfully hunt for food.
In response to these recurring events, the Knits for Nature programme was initiated. It aims to involve all knitter volunteers out there in the creation of jumpers that could help these little penguins survive the catastrophic effects of oil spills.
A penguin could be killed by a patch of oil the size of a thumb nail
a Superpenguin jumper
When oiled penguins are admitted to the Wildlife Clinic at Phillip Island Nature Parks, a knitted jumper is placed on the penguins to prevent them from preening and swallowing the toxic oil before they are washed and the oil removed by staff. By using them, the conservation centre was able to save 96% of the 453 penguins affected by the big 2001 oil spill.
It is believed that ‘The President’ is the hugest tree in the world when judged on bio-mass. “The President” is located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in the United States.
click on photos to enlarge
The tree is 75 metres tall. That’s a 20 storey building! It boasts a circumference of 28 metres at the base and at over 3,200 years old pre-dates the Iron Age. It’s so huge, it’s impossible to look at in one go. So no one has ever taken a proper photograph of its entirety until a team of photographers from National Geographic worked with scientists from California’s Sequoia National Park to take 126 separate photos of ‘the President’. The final photograph, which represented a mosaic of 126 images, appeared in the December 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine.
This Sunday, Venice’s Grand Canal will be transported back to its glorious past at the Regata Storica, the main event in the annual “Voga alla Veneta” rowing calendar. 16th-Century-style boats carry local dignitaries along the Grand Canal surrounded by gondoliers in colourful period costumes, followed by four boat races.
Every first Sunday in September, the spectacular Regata Storica parades down the Grand Canal, the main waterway in Venice. The Regata Storica is one of the great Italian traditions that has deep roots in Venice’s history.
This unique sport has been practised in the Venetian lagoon for thousands of years and today it is particularly well-known for the spectacular historical water pageant that precedes the race. An unforgettable sight and a true reconstruction of the glorious past of one of most the powerful and influential Maritime Republics in the Mediterranean. Check out our favourite photos of the water pageant.
The Venetian regatta has always consisted of various races with different kinds of boat (originally these included galleys, peatoni, and barges, as well as lighter boats rowed by two or more oarsmen). The historical water festival departs from Punta della Dogana, and includes several typical 16th century boats rowing down the Canal with the Doge, his wife, and dignitaries dressed in period costume. After the pageant and in keeping with the ancient Venice seafaring tradition, follows a series of regatta races divided into categories by age, gender and boat typology. The last race is the speed race, campionissimi or great champioins’ on twin-oared gondolini, the most anticipated race and unique in the world. To purchase tickets for this annual event, visit www.regatastoricavenezia.it.
The World is a private residential cruise ship serving as a residential community, owned by its residents who live on board as the ship travels the globe.
It has 165 residences (106 apartments, 19 studio apartments, and 40 studios), all owned by the ship’s residents who can decorate with their own furniture, art, books and personal touches. There’s a deli and supermarket onboard and six restaurants if you didn’t feel like doing the washing up in your own kitchen. At 644 feet, The World is the largest privately owned yacht on the planet.
Niaqornat in North West Greenland has a population of 59, if the population falls below 50 then the village loses its Danish subsidies and there is a danger of the entire village being relocated to the nearest town.
In summer, the villagers live in perpetual light and in winter, permanent darkness. During the seasonal gloom, people get depressed, medically known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and while in the past when villagers would gather together in the dark and be entertained by storytellers, they now watch television instead.
The Wave is a multi-colored chute that has been cut into a sandstone mountain. It is beautiful indeed. It makes a great destination for a short, moderately difficult day hike.
Swirled bands of color run through the sandstone, which has eroded into interesting shapes. The colors and shapes change with the light as the day progresses. Red, pink, yellow and green rock has been blended together to form castles, beehives, chutes and other structures.
The best hiking conditions are found in spring and fall. Summer temperatures get very hot, sometimes reaching 100 F. Winter nights are cold but days are often mild. Hiking can be pleasant during warm periods in winter.
Before highways and railways, before pioneers, even before Columbus…the land we know as the United States was truly a vast wilderness. To protect these last remaining areas, in 1984, Congress created the Paria Canyon/Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. Coyote Buttes’ outstanding scenery, desert wildlife, colorful history, and opportunities for primitive recreation will remain free from the influence of man and are protected in this condition for future generations. Its 112,000 acres beckon adventurers who yearn for solitude, scenic splendor, and the chance to explore one of the most beautiful geologic formations in the world.
Paro Taktsang (spa phro stag tshang) is the popular name of Taktsang Palphug Monastery (also known as Tiger’s Nest), a prominent Himalayan Buddhist temple complex consisting of seven monasteries. Taktsang can be dated back to 1692 and is one of the most important religious sites of pilgrimage in the entire Himalayan region. The name Taktsang means “The Tiger’s Nest”.
The monastery is located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the north of Paro and hangs on a precipitous cliff at 3,120 metres (10,240 ft), about 900 metres (3,000 ft) above the Paro valley, on the right side of the Paro Chu (‘chu’ Bhutanese means ”river or water”). The rock slopes are very steep (almost vertical) and the monastery buildings are built into the rock face. The monastery is surrounded by scenic woodland with amazing blue pine trees and rhododendrons. The view from the temple is absolutely breathtaking.
