Ryan Shirley Films (June 11, 2023) – I recently returned from exploring the islands of French Polynesia and I want to share with you my favorite places & experiences, from the towering mountains of Mo’orea to the overwater bungalows in Bora Bora.
Andrew Lanxon Photography (June 10, 2023) – The Isle of Skye in Scotland is famous for being a playground for landscape photography and in this week’s video, I find out why.
I explored some of the island’s most famous landmarks, including the Old Man of Storr, Talisker Bay and Neist Point lighthouse, while venturing further to find more hidden gems like Loch Coruisk.
This video is a diary of my time on the island, aimed at being part travel documentary, part photo inspiration for those of you wanting to visit the island for yourself.
The Flying Dutchman (June 10, 2023) – Ghent, in the Flanders Region, northwestern Belgium. Ghent lies at the junction of the canalized Lys and Scheldt and is the centre of an urban complex that includes Ledeberg, Gentbrugge, and Sint-Amandsberg.
One of Belgium’s oldest cities and the historic capital of Flanders, Ghent was powerful, well-organized in its wealthy trade guilds, and virtually independent until 1584. Within its walls was signed the Pacification of Ghent (1576), an attempt to unite the Lowlands provinces against Spain. The Treaty of Ghent (December 24, 1814) marked the end of the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain.
Along with Brugge (Bruges) and Ypres, Ghent was one of the chief towns of the medieval county of Flanders. It owes its origin to the economic developments that occurred in Flanders in the 10th century, and the town sprang up on the banks of the Lys River at a spot under the protection of a nearby castle built by the counts of Flanders. Ghent grew rapidly in the 12th century, and by the 13th century it was one of the largest towns in northern Europe. Its astonishing prosperity was based on the manufacture of cloth; Ghent’s luxury cloths made from English wool were famous throughout Europe until the 15th century.
DW Travel (June 10, 2023) – TV-host KMJ guides you through his city, Accra — from the old fishing district of Jamestown to the hip Osu Oxford Street. Of course, KMJ also shares tips on where to eat delicious food and shows you the best place in Accra for chilling by the sea.
Video timeline: 00:00 Intro 00:25 Labadi Beach Hotel 01:25 Legon Botanical Gardens 02:23 Azmera restaurant 03:50 Jamestown with the arts center 04:22 Osu Oxford Street
Accra is the capital of Ghana, on the Atlantic coast of West Africa. Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park honors Ghana’s first president, who helped lead the country to independence. The park contains Nkrumah’s mausoleum and a museum charting his life. Makola Market is the city’s vast, colorful bazaar. Popular seafront spots Labadi Beach and Kokrobite Beach offer golden sand and high-energy nightlife.
Clairmont Films (June 10, 2023) – Armenia, landlocked country of Transcaucasia, lying just south of the great mountain range of the Caucasus and fronting the northwestern extremity of Asia. To the north and east Armenia is bounded by Georgia and Azerbaijan, while its neighbours to the southeast and west are, respectively, Iran and Turkey. Naxçıvan, an exclave of Azerbaijan, borders Armenia to the southwest. The capital is Yerevan (Erevan).
Modern Armenia comprises only a small portion of ancient Armenia, one of the world’s oldest centres of civilization. At its height, Armenia extended from the south-central Black Sea coast to the Caspian Sea and from the Mediterranean Sea to Lake Urmia in present-day Iran. Ancient Armenia was subjected to constant foreign incursions, finally losing its autonomy in the 14th century CE. The centuries-long rule of Ottoman and Persian conquerors imperiled the very existence of the Armenian people. Eastern Armenia was annexed by Russia during the 19th century, while western Armenia remained under Ottoman rule, and in 1894–96 and 1915 the Ottoman government perpetrated systematic massacres and forced deportations of Armenians.
Tourist Channel (June 9, 2023) – Since 1981 Moustiers Sainte-Marie has been listed as one of the most beautiful village of France. The church, the old village walls, the chapels, the aqueduct, the fountains represent an alliance of water and stone.
It lies at the western entrance to the Verdon Gorge (Gorges du Verdon). The village has been a centre of the pottery trade, especially faïence, for centuries. A spring flows out of the cliff and creates a waterfall in town, providing water power.
The New York Times Travel (June 9, 2023) – The Italian island, long in the shadow of its fashionable neighbor, Capri, is newly chic, but remains deeply authentic, with rocky harbors more likely to dock fishing boats than megayachts.
The Hotel Mezzatorre is perched on a finger of land with a view onto the bay of Naples and the beach of San Montano below.
Ischia is one of a trio of islands (known as the Phlegraeans) off Naples that also includes Capri and Procida. Capri’s size and popularity with day trippers means it can easily feel overrun and overexposed. Procida is the smallest of the three and has never gotten the attention of its siblings (although it too is worth a visit for its pastel villages and artisan workshops).
La Mortella gardens in Forio were created by the renowned garden designer Russell Page.
Ischia’s magic is that it’s suspended between the newly chic — with the recent overhaul of the Mezzatorre Hotel by the hotelier Marie-Louise Sció, who brought a crowd that had never heard of the island but were fans of her über-photogenic hotels — and the authentic. There are simple bars, beach clubs and harbors more likely to dock fishing boats than megayachts. With a surface area of almost 18 square miles, the island is home to a number of charming villages to explore like Forio, Ischia Ponte, Sant’Angelo and Casamicciola, among others. Add in natural thermal spas, lush vineyards and deserted coves, and it’s easy to see why Ischia is quickly become one of Italy’s rising destinations.
For centuries Sintra was the favoured summer retreat and hunting ground of Portuguese nobles, and their legacy is a veritable jewel box of palaces, castles and candy-coloured mansions.
The traditional retreat of Portuguese nobility provides the perfect mix of palaces and pastries
The Unesco-listed cultural landscape of domes and turrets seems to be straight out of a fairytale — no wonder it has fired the imaginations of literary luminaries from Hans Christian Andersen to Byron. Deserving of far more than a day trip from Lisbon, 20 miles away, Sintra is even more magical at the day’s end. Once the coach parties have departed, the few who linger have the run of all those lofty viewpoints and quaint pestico bars.
Casa Piriquita There’s more to Portuguese pastry craft than pasteis de nata, as this traditional bakery that dates from 1862 proves. Treat yourself to a signature queijada, a type of cheesecake, or the sugar-dusted puff pastry “cushions” called travesseiros, which are filled with almond cream.
Incomum by Luis Santos Incomum is one of Sintra’s smartest dinner spots, with a Mediterranean menu that ranges from carpaccio and truffle-laced risotto to Iberian pork filet mignon and lobster bisque — and a signature olive oil pudding to finish. Handily, there’s a wine bar next door for an aperitif or post-dinner glass of port.
DW Travel (June 7, 2023) – Did you know that Copenhagen is one of the greenest cities in the world? Transport, urban planning, food – the Danish capital is committed to sustainability in all areas. DW’s Aisha Sharipzan shows how your next trip to Copenhagen can be sustainable AND tons of fun.
Video timeline:00:00 Intro 00:40 Rent a bike 01:42 Public Transport 02:13 Free kajak tour at the harbour, collecting trash 04:19 Vesterbro and Nørrebro 04:48 BaneGaarden 05:40 Kødbyen 06:19 Harbour in Nordhavn 07:07 Danish Architecture Center 10:25 CopenHill 10:37 Park’N’Play 11:36 Reffen Street Food Market
Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital, sits on the coastal islands of Zealand and Amager. It’s linked to Malmo in southern Sweden by the Öresund Bridge. Indre By, the city’s historic center, contains Frederiksstaden, an 18th-century rococo district, home to the royal family’s Amalienborg Palace. Nearby is Christiansborg Palace and the Renaissance-era Rosenborg Castle, surrounded by gardens and home to the crown jewels
The New York Times (June 6, 2023) – Down beneath the tourist lodges and shops selling keychains and incense, past windswept arroyos and brown valleys speckled with agave, juniper and sagebrush, the rocks of the Grand Canyon seem untethered from time. The oldest ones date back 1.8 billion years, not just eons before humans laid eyes on them, but eons before evolution endowed any organism on this planet with eyes.
Written and photographed by Raymond Zhong, who joined scientists on a 90-mile raft expedition through the canyon.
Since 1963, the Glen Canyon Dam has been backing up the Colorado for nearly 200 miles, in the form of America’s second-largest reservoir, Lake Powell. Engineers constantly evaluate water and electricity needs to decide how much of the river to let through the dam’s works and out the other end, first into the Grand Canyon, then into Lake Mead and, eventually, into fields and homes in Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico.
Spend long enough in the canyon, and you might start feeling a little unmoored from time yourself.
North Canyon, and a spring at Vasey’s Paradise.
The immense walls form a kind of cocoon, sealing you off from the modern world, with its cell signal and light pollution and disappointments. They draw your eyes relentlessly upward, as in a cathedral.
You might think you are seeing all the way to the top. But up and above are more walls, and above them even more, out of sight except for the occasional glimpse. For the canyon is not just deep. It is broad, too — 18 miles, rim to rim, at its widest. This is no mere cathedral of stone. It is a kingdom: sprawling, self-contained, an alternate reality existing magnificently outside of our own.
And yet, the Grand Canyon remains yoked to the present in one key respect. The Colorado River, whose wild energy incised the canyon over millions of years, is in crisis.