The hill town of Assisi in Umbria is one of Italy’s best preserved medieval villages. The ancient buildings are constructed from a local stone that has slightly pink color enhancing the visual beauty of this special place with a lovely network of pedestrian lanes to explore, some of them so steep they are staircases rather than streets. The main reason that most people visit the town is because it was the home of St. Francis, one of the Catholic Church’s most important saints, who is buried here under the great basilica that was constructed two years after his death in the early 13th century.
Category Archives: Views
Front Page Views: Wall Street Journal – Aug 20
Walks: Obernai – Alsace Region Of France (4K)
Obernai commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It lies on the eastern slopes of the Vosges mountains. Obernai is a rapidly growing city, its number of inhabitants having gone up from 6,304 in 1968 to 11,279 in 2017.
The Obernai region, which was the property of the dukes of Alsace in the 7th century, is the birthplace of St. Odile, daughter of the Duke, who would become the Patron Saint of Alsace. The Obernai name first appears in 1240, when the village acquires the status of town under the tutelage of the Hohenstaufen family. The town then prospered. It became a member of the Décapole in 1354, an alliance of ten towns of the Holy Roman Empire in Alsace. Obernai’s status reaches its apex in the 15th and 16th century. In 1562, Emperor Ferdinand I visited the prosperous town of Obernai.
Views: A Postcard From Venice (Condé Nast Video)
Experience Venice from afar with the latest instalment in our Postcard series. Cruise down the Grand Canal on a vaporetto water bus or gondola; wander the rustic calles and around palazzos, stopping off at some of our favourite insider spots including the Royal Gardens; and marvel at the magnificent architecture of the Basilica di Santa Maria Della Salute and Basilica di San Marco. Plus, see snippets of breakfast at The Gritti Palace, lunch at Terrazza Danieli and aperitivi at The St Regis. Watch now and be transported to Italy’s City of Water.
Infographic: 40 Years Of Camera Sales Growth Ended By Smartphones
Coastal Walks: Nessebar – Black Sea, Bulgaria (4K)
Nessebar is a town in Burgas Province, on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. The cobbled streets of the old town, which sits on a promontory, are lined with ruins such as Byzantine-era fortifications and baths. The ruins of the 5th-century Church of St. Sofia include stone columns and large arched windows. The 11th-century Church of St. Stephen houses hundreds of mural paintings and a huge, richly decorated altarpiece.
Summer Walks: Gstaad – Switzerland (4K Video)
Gstaad is an upscale resort town in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps. Its soaring mountains and prestigious international boarding schools have long made it a holiday destination for royalty and celebrities. Cable cars connect surrounding ski areas such as Wispile and Rinderberg, with hundreds of kilometers of all-level pistes and cross-country trails. Glacier 3000 offers nearly year-round skiing.
Walking Tour: Palace Of Versailles In Paris, France
The Palace of Versailles has been listed as a World Heritage Site for 30 years and is one of the greatest achievements in French 17th century art. Louis XIII‘s old hunting pavilion was transformed and extended by his son, Louis XIV, when he installed the Court and government there in 1682. A succession of kings continued to embellish the Palace up until the French Revolution.
Today the Palace contains 2,300 rooms spread over 63,154 m2.
Front Page Views: Wall Street Journal – Aug 19
Travel Views: Seville – Soutwestern Spain (4K)
Seville is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula.