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Cities, Reviews, Tourism, Travel, Views

Travel Guide: What To See & Eat In Sintra, Portugal

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ILLUSTRATION BY CLARE COLLINS

The Times and The Sunday Times (June 6, 2023) – Don’t be fooled by its modest size.

Sintra town square

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

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.

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News, Newspapers, Views

The New York Times – Thursday, June 8, 2023

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Prosecutors Tell Trump’s Legal Team He Is a Target of Investigation

A top adviser at the super PAC supporting former President Donald J. Trump’s candidacy appeared before a Florida grand jury on Wednesday.

The notice from the office of the special counsel Jack Smith suggested that an indictment was on the horizon in the investigation into the former president’s handling of classified documents.

Wildfires Spread Smoke, and Anxiety, Across Canada to the U.S.

An aircraft dropping a mixture of water and fire retardant over a wildfire in Barrington Lake, Nova Scotia, last week.

Massive plumes of smoke from hundreds of Canadian fires, enveloped millions in smoke, triggering dangerous air quality warnings in both countries and turning skies an ashen orange.

Chris Licht Is Out at CNN, Leaving Network at a Crossroads

Mr. Licht’s turbulent time running the 24-hour news organization lasted slightly more than a year.

With Migrant Flights, DeSantis Shows Stoking Outrage Is the Point

The flights to California illustrate the broader bet Gov. Ron DeSantis has made that the animating energy in the G.O.P. has shifted from conservatism to confrontationalism.

Cities, Sustainability, Tourism, Tours, Travel, Videos, Views

Travel: A Guided ‘Green City’ Tour Of Copenhagen

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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

#copenhagen #sustainabletravel #sustainability

Art, Arts & Literature, Museums, Poetry, Reviews, Views

Museum Stories: ‘Japanese Plate With Kintsugi Repair’

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Ashmolean Museum (June 7, 2023): Here, animator Charlie Black brings the poetic story behind this beautifully broken 17th-century Japanese plate to life.

JAPAN COLLECTION

Ashmolean Museum – Oxford University

The Japanese collection is now best known for its ceramics, in particular the collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century export porcelain which is one of the most comprehensive collections in the world. Ceramics for the Japanese market are also well represented, including fine examples of Arita, Nabeshima and Hirado porcelain, tea ceremony wares and Kyoto earthenwares.

Climate Change, Environment, Nature, Reviews, Travel, Views

Environment: The Grand Canyon Is Losing Its River

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Long shadows are in the foreground of a view of the reddish canyon walls, which loom on either side and ahead. The sky is blue with ribbed white clouds.

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.

The Grand Canyon, a Cathedral to Time, Is Losing Its River

Written and photographed by Raymond Zhong, who joined scientists on a 90-mile raft expedition through the canyon.

About half a dozen people with orange life jackets ride a blue raft on a murky, brownish and somewhat choppy Colorado River. Rust-colored canyon walls loom on either side and ahead of them. Three other rafts are in the distance.

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.

A spring that looks like a narrow waterfall cascades out of a hole in a canyon wall down into a calm part of the Colorado River. The canyon walls are rust-red.
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.

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News, Newspapers, Views

The New York Times – Wednesday, June 7, 2023

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Destroyed Ukrainian Dam Floods War Zone and Forces Residents to Flee

The Nova Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region of Ukraine was breached early Tuesday.

Experts suspect an explosion collapsed the dam on the Dnipro River. Kyiv and Moscow blamed each other, and residents downstream were forced to evacuate to escape the cascading waves.

PGA Tour and LIV Golf Agree to Alliance, Ending Golf’s Bitter Fight

LIV began play about a year ago, building its brand on big purses and big names.

In a stunning announcement, the tour, along with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, said the rivals had agreed to create a “new, collectively owned, for-profit entity.”

Wildfire Smoke Blots Sun and Prompts Health Alerts in Much of U.S.

The smoke was pouring across the border from Canada, where hundreds of wildfires remain unchecked, and the hazardous smoke conditions are expected to linger through Wednesday and perhaps until later in the week.

Prince Harry, in Dramatic Testimony, Says Journalists Have ‘Blood on Their Hands’

In a remarkable court scene, the prince took the stand for five hours to make his case that his phone was hacked by a newspaper group, as a lawyer for the defense grilled him about his claims.

Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos, Views

Modern Homes: Madison Desert Club In La Quinta

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The Local Project (June 6, 2023) – Inspired by the conventions of a boutique hotel, Kovac Design Studio administers an array of design elements that cater to its clients’ desires to have a modern house that celebrates the surrounds and can host friends and family.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction 00:43 – A Boutique Residence 01:07 – Enabling the Feeling of Secludedness 01:41 – The Organisation of the Building 02:12 – The Element of Surprise 02:38 – Built for 2 people or 200 people 02:54 – Covered in Glass 03:09 – Matching the Materials with the Surrounds 03:32 – The Glamorous Material Palette 03:57 – Giving Each Room its own Identity 04:33 – The Oculus 05:10 – The Canopy 05:28 – Designing a Concept from Start to Finish 05:57 – Proud Moments

From the first steps inside, Madison Desert Club is deliberately designed to offer the feeling of being outside when moving from room to room. Imbued with space for the owner to entertain and unwind, Madison Desert Club rejoices in the landscape of La Quinta with an open floor plan and floor-to-ceiling windows and doors.

Additionally, unique design elements are employed to enhance the home’s connection to the outdoors, beginning with a continuous canopy-style roof that is set over parts of the modern house, offering a change of light throughout the day. Another element seen upon arrival is the Oculus – a circular shape integrated into the roof, which allows for uninterrupted views of the sky above. Spanning all three levels, the modern house tour begins at the lower level, where a sauna, spa and gym are placed.

The above two levels hold the guestrooms, kitchen, living, dining areas and private cocktail bar. Expressed by its metal mesh curtain, the cocktail bar is imbued with warm colours that reference whiskey and give the impression of being inside a sophisticated space reserved for VIP clients. On the top level, a dedicated screening room offers a rare surprise when the screen wall opens up to the entire living space below.

#Modern #House #Design

Auto Racing, Events, History, Reviews, Sports, Videos, Views

Auto Racing: The ’24 Hours Of Le Mans’ At 100 Years

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FRANCE 24 (June 6, 2023) – It’s one of the most iconic motor races in the world. The “24 hours of Le Mans” race marks a centenary this year. Seven auto manufacturers will be fighting for overall victory with 16 teams represented.

The unique race tests its participants’ reliability and endurance and encourages innovation. The 13,626km track attracts hundreds of thousands of fans from around the world every year. The endurance classic is both a physical and mental challenge for the drivers; the car that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours wins.

News, Newspapers, Views

The New York Times – Tuesday, June 6, 2023

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As Ukrainian Attacks Surge, U.S. Officials See Signs of Counteroffensive

Soldiers from Ukraine’s 95th Air Assault Brigade, with a lightweight British howitzer, targeted Russian positions in eastern Ukraine on Friday.

Kyiv has not formally announced the start of operations. But on Tuesday, Ukraine said the Russians had blown up a dam on the Dnipro River, potentially imperiling residents and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Biden Administration Shrugs Off Ukraine’s Attacks in Russia

Ukrainian soldiers in the Donbas region of Ukraine on Friday.

For months, U.S. officials said cross-border operations risked a dangerous escalation. But those fears have ebbed.

Schools Received Billions in Stimulus Funds. It May Not Be Doing Enough.

Pandemic aid was supposed to help students recover from learning loss, but results have been mixed.

S.E.C. Accuses Binance of Mishandling Funds and Lying to Regulators

The S.E.C. said the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange mixed billions of dollars in customer funds and secretly sent them to a separate company controlled by Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao.

History, Landmarks, Reviews, Travel, Videos, Views

Africa Travel: The ‘Ksars’ Of Djado, Northern Niger

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FRANCE 24 (June 5, 2023) – A long trek across the desert of northeastern Niger brings visitors to one of the most astonishing and rewarding sights in the Sahel: fortified villages of salt and clay built on rocks, besieged by the Sahara sands.

Generations of travelers have stood before the “ksars” of Djado,  wandering their crenellated walls, watchtowers, secretive passages and wells, all of them testifying to a skilled but unknown hand.

The now ruined city Djado is located on the southern end of the Djado Pleateau in the Sahara in northern Niger. It is not clear who built the complex of fortified mud buildings (ksars). The city was a part Trans-Saharan trading network of the Kanuri people whose Kanem-Bornu Empire was founded before 1000 CE and at its greater extent covered what is now Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, southern Lybia and Eastern Niger.

It is not clear what caused the abandonment of the city after the 1860s: increased desertification, conflict or even a mosquito infestation have been proposed as possible causes. Since then it has been used by Toubou nomads for the cultivation of dates. The site also contains rock drawings and carvings from 12,000 to 6,000 BCE, depicting the fauna that roved the prehistoric Sahara. The Djado Plateau was added to the UNESCO Tenative List in 2006.

Niger or the Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria to the south, Benin and Burkina Faso to the southwest, Mali to the west, and Algeria to the northwest.

#Niger #lostcity #Sahara