Category Archives: Views

Travel, Videos, Views

Walking Tour: Murano Island In Venice, Italy (4K)

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The island of Murano is renowned for its long tradition of glass-making. Ferry-loads of visitors come to explore the Museo del Vetro, which tells the story of glass through the centuries, and to shop for locally crafted souvenirs. Built in the Romanesque style, the Church of Santa Maria and San Donato has a colorful mosaic floor and supposedly houses the bones of a slain dragon. 

Recorded On 01 August 2021

Video timeline: 0:00:00​ – Intro 0:01:25 – Murano Faro Vaporetto Station 0:11:46​ – Campo Santo Stefano 0:14:14​ – Ponte Longo 0:25:00​ – Campo San Donato 0:31:26​ – Ponte de le terese 0:35:21​ – Campo S. Bernardo 0:40:28​ – Ponte Longo 0:49:54​ – Murano Colonna Vaporetto Station

History, Reviews, Science, Travel, Views

Homes & History: ‘Down House’ – Charles Darwin’s Home In Kent, England

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Down House (confusingly, next to Downe village) was Darwin’s family home for nearly 40 years. In its rooms, gardens and grounds, he researched and refined the ideas for which he became famous. 

John Goodall, August 8, 2021

In origin, Down House was a plain Georgian property, a brick box with a main front five window bays wide built in about 1730. It was internally reconfigured and extended with a kitchen block by a wealthy businessman and landowner, George Butler, after he purchased the house in 1778.

At the same time, the main entrance was moved from the front to the side of the building. The house was then leased and sold again before coming into the possession of the Revd J. Drummond, vicar of Downe, in 1837. He employed the London-based architect Edward Cresy to make various improvements and also to render the house in conformity with the taste of the moment.

It was this house, with its 18 acres of land, that the Darwins occupied on September 24, 1842. Charles quickly settled into his new home, establishing a regular routine that distinguished his domestic arrangements. ‘My life goes on as clockwork,’ he wrote in 1843, ‘I am fixed in the place where I shall end it.’

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Reviews, Travel, Views

Coastal Views: The Top Beaches To visit In France

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Apart from anything else, the magnificent rocky coasts of Brittany bring forth oysters and other shellfish vital to proper seaside sustenance. Moving south, vast Atlantic beaches can accommodate all Europe’s towels with ample space left over for surfers. In the deep south, Biarritz was, incidentally, the Basque birthplace of European surfing in 1957.

Across on the Mediterranean coast, the Côte Vermeille (of Roussillon) takes up where the Pyrenees leave off, before ceding to the flat, unkempt littoral of Languedoc. And so, across the River Rhône, to Provence and the Côte-d’Azur, whose beaches, you will have heard, are overdeveloped and overcrowded. Certainly, their summers are busy — you couldn’t decently expect to have Europe’s most coveted coast to yourself. But much beauty persists and, anyway, there’s something bewitching about being in such a place when it’s at full throttle. That said, there are stretches where crowds and development thin and the elemental Riviera reasserts itself. We detail such spots below, along with hotel suggestions and self-catering options.

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Cities, Food & Drink, Leisure, Travel, Videos, Views

Travel: Top Places To Visit In Anchorage, Alaska

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Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, is in the south-central part of the state on the Cook Inlet. It’s known for its cultural sites, including the Alaska Native Heritage Center, which displays traditional crafts, stages dances, and presents replicas of dwellings from the area’s indigenous groups. The city is also a gateway to nearby wilderness areas and mountains including the Chugach, Kenai and Talkeetna.

Landscape, Travel, Videos, Views

Travel Views: Lake Baikal – Siberia, Eastern Russia (4K)

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Lake Baikal, Russian Ozero Baykal, also spelled Ozero Bajkal, lake located in the southern part of eastern Siberia within the republic of Buryatia and Irkutsk oblast (province) of Russia. It is the oldest existing freshwater lake on Earth (20 million–25 million years old), as well as the deepest continental body of water, having a maximum depth of 5,315 feet (1,620 metres). Its area is some 12,200 square miles (31,500 square km), with a length of 395 miles (636 km) and an average width of 30 miles (48 km). It is also the world’s largest freshwater lake by volume, containing about one-fifth of the fresh water on Earth’s surface, some 5,500 cubic miles (23,000 cubic km). Into Lake Baikal flow more than 330 rivers and streams, the largest of which include the Selenga, Barguzin, Upper (Verkhnyaya) Angara, Chikoy, and Uda.

History, Music, Travel, Videos, Views

Colorado Views: ‘Red Rocks’ Amphitheater

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Outside of Denver is one of America’s most iconic music venues: a naturally-formed amphitheatre, millions of years in the making, that is today a stunning setting for concerts and yoga sessions. Correspondent Luke Burbank visits Red Rocks, and talks with members of the band The String Cheese Incident about the intensity and acoustics of a Red Rocks set.