Category Archives: Travel

Travel & Culture Books: “St. Tropez Soleil” By Simon Liberati (Assouline)

The legend of St. Tropez starts with a dog, a rooster, and a martyr; and it leads to movie stars, world-renowned artists and distinguished writers. Located on the sparkling French Riviera, St. Tropez has enjoyed the spotlight for more than half a century, for better or worse, with celebrities flocking to this idyllic locale for its beaches and a dose of Mediterranean sun.

A picturesque oasis, St. Tropez has served as inspiration for a who’s who of notable writers from Françoise Sagan to Colette; as well as renowned artists Paul Signac and Henri Matisse; and even filmmakers. However, St. Tropez would not be the same without then belle du jour Brigitte Bardot, her films and lovers and many other famous couples including Annabel and Bernard Buffet and Bianca and Mick Jagger.

St. Tropez Soleil Assouline book

St. Tropez Soleil guides the reader through its storied past and ever-evolving present. Featuring annual mainstays such as Les Bravades and the Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez as well as exclusive events like a Chanel fashion show at the quintessentially Tropezian Sénéquier café and the White Party at Nikki Beach begun by Naomi Campbell. But despite all that changes, the spirit of St. Tropez remains the same and this volume is an ode to the unique joie de vivre that keeps everyone coming back.

Simon Liberati is an award-winning French writer and journalist. He has worked for publications such as PurpleNuméro, and 20 Ans and he frequently collaborates with Vogue. He has written ten books including Jayne Mansfield 1967 (2011), which won the prix Femina, and the best-selling Eva (2015).

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Destination Hotels: Parco Dei Principi In Sorrento, Italy – 1960’s “Infinite Blue”

From a Cereal Magazine online article (March 2, 2020):

Hotel Parco dei Principi di Sorrento facebookOf all Gio Ponti’s 100-odd buildings, Sorrento is the only hotel where you can still stay, fully immersed in his art — for as well as the building itself he designed every last detail. He was not just an architect, but a designer — of interiors, furniture, industry, cars — an artist and a ceramicist, a writer and a teacher; and at Parco dei Principi his passion for so many disciplines converged in one triumphant paean to modernity.

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The concept of infinite blue was architect Gio Ponti’s driving inspiration when he built Parco dei Principi, his slice of 1960s modernism on a coast of faded antiquity. When it opened in 1962, the hotel was something new for ancient Sorrento: a clean-lined, contemporary edifice on the tufa-stone cliff. Inside, the bright, wide-open spaces were pared down and decorated entirely in white and blue.

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New Travel Videos: “Dark Skies – Pure Michigan”

Director – Kurt Schneider
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Production Company – Eightfold
Executive Producer – Nick Stachurski
Producer – Rich Hutchins
DOP – Paul Theodoroff
Timelapse Photography – Shawn Malone
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What if we told you that magic existed, and you could see for yourself if you just kept going north? Northern Michigan is know as one of, if not the best place to experience the magic of the Northern Lights in the continental US. This piece for Pure Michigan and MRM//McCann tells the story of what we sacrifice to the city lights, and the journey to retrieve it.

Top New Travel Videos: “Aura – Images From The Kimberley” In Western Australia By Dan Proud

Filmed and Edited by: Dan Proud

The Kimberley is Western Australia’s sparsely settled northern region. It’s known for large swaths of wilderness defined by rugged ranges, dramatic gorges, semi-arid savanna and a largely isolated coastline. The mostly unsealed (unpaved) Gibb River Road runs 660km through the region’s heart, passing by Windjana Gorge National Park, which has towering limestone cliffs and pools where freshwater crocodiles gather.

The Kimberley was one of the earliest settled parts of Australia, with the first arrivals landing about 41,000 years ago.

In 1837, with support from the Royal Geographical Society, Lieutenants George Grey and Franklin Lushington and 12 men sailed on the schooner Lynher from Cape Town, reaching Hanover Bay on 2 December 1837. The party started inland on 19 January 1838.[4] Leaders and men were totally inexperienced, progress was delayed by flooded country, many stores were abandoned, and the party was constantly split up despite the presence of large numbers of hostile Aboriginals. On 11 February, Grey was speared and became critically ill, but after two weeks, continued the exploration. The party found and named the Gairdner River, the Glenelg River, the Stephen and Whately ranges and Mount Lyell before returning to Hanover Bay in April. There they were picked up by the Beagle and Lynher and taken to Mauritius to recuperate.

The region was named after John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley, who served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1870 to 1874 and 1880 to 1882.

From Wikipedia

Travel Videos: “Namibia” By Marcello Ercole (2020)

Directed, Filmed, Edited by: Marcello Ercole

Produced by Ercole / Ricci
Music by Ryan Taubert

Namibia, a suggestive country. Eroded cliffs by the wind, very deep canyons, boundless deserts, the cold ocean and wild animals makes Namibia an inhospitable and sublime land. A fragile ecosystem that we must preserve.

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Namibia officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean; it shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less than 200 metres of the Zambezi River separates the two countries. Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek, and it is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Namibia, the driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, was inhabited since early times by the San, Damara and Nama people. Around the 14th century, immigrating Bantu peoples arrived as part of the Bantu expansion. Since then, the Bantu groups, the largest being the Ovambo, have dominated the population of the country; since the late 19th century, they have constituted a majority.

From Wikipedia

New Video Travel Guides: Where To Go In “Vienna”

Our Vienna Travel Guide! So many layers to this wonderful Austrian city and we barely had time to scratch the surface. Vienna is one of those cities that offers something for everyone; culture, food, adventure.

Vienna is polished on the surface but dig a little deeper and there’s so much more to discover. Beyond the incredible museums, cathedrals, and markets, this Austrian city is an exciting year-round destination for all travelers.

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Top New Travel Books: “American Surfaces” By Stephen Shore – Road Trip Photos From Early 1970’s

Stephen Shore American Surfaces book April 2020Stephen Shore’s images from his travels across America in 1972-73 are considered the benchmark for documenting the extraordinary in the ordinary and continue to influence photographers today.

The original edition of American Surfaces, published by Phaidon in 2005, brought together 320 photographs sequenced in the order in which they were originally documented. Now, in the age of Instagram and nearly 50 years after Shore embarked on his cross-country journey, this revised and expanded edition will bring this seminal work back into focus.

Stephen Shore photo by Alec Soth May 10 2019
Stephen Shore

Stephen Shore is one of the most influential living photographers. His photographs from the 1970s, taken on road trips across America, established him as a pioneer in the use of color in art photography. He is director of the photography program at Bard College, New York.

Teju Cole is a novelist, photographer, critic, curator, and author. He is the Gore Vidal Professor of the Practice of Creative Writing at Harvard.

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