Tag Archives: Travel & Culture

Travel & Culture Books: “Marrakech Flair” By Marisa Berenson (2020)

August 15, 2020 boomersdaily Leave a comment

It has been said that Marrakech awakens all of the senses. Whether it is seeing the intricate zellige tilework; smelling the various spices sold at the souks; hearing the call to prayer emanate from the nearby mosques; touching the supple leather used to make a pair of babouches (leather sandals); tasting a flavorful tagine, Marrakech never fails to excite.

Located just west of the Atlas Mountains, the city has been inhabited by Berber farmers for centuries. It has been dubbed the “Ochre City” because of the proliferation of red sandstone buildings and the red city walls, which now enclose the Medina, home to Jemaa el-Fnaa, one of the busiest squares in Africa.

Marrakech overflows with culture and has been inspiring visitors for decades. From Yves Saint Laurent to Talitha Getty, Winston Churchill to Mick Jagger, Marrakech has attracted great icons inspired by its eternal spirit as well as its sweet, beautiful life. Yves Saint Laurent’s intimate relationship to this city lead to the opening of a museum dedicated to his legendary work.

The annual Marrakech International Film Festival draws a prominent crowd. Museums abound, exhibiting Moroccan arts, photography, carpets, and the Andalusian design aesthetic that permeates the city’s architecture. La Mamounia hotel, opened in 1923, offers a storied history, which includes hosting guests such as Winston Churchill.

Vanessa Branson’s El Fenn is a collection of traditional riads that form a stunning boutique hotel. There are countless ways to be immersed in the culture of Marrakech, but perhaps the best place to start is with a simple glass of mint tea.

Dubbed the “It Girl” by Yves Saint Laurent in the early 1970s, Marisa Berenson is the original modern muse. Berenson transitioned into acting and delivered dazzling performances in iconic films including Cabaret directed by Bob Fosse and Stanley Kubrick’s production of Barry Lyndon. She has written several books, including Moments intimes, A Life in Pictures and Elsa Schiaparelli’s Private Album. Berenson fell in love with Marrakech eight years ago and once she found the perfect riad, she decided to call it home.

New Photography Books: “Paris Chic” (Assouline)

August 3, 2020 boomersdaily Leave a comment

Paris is the city of chic—and as such, its innate style shines throughout the city, even in the simplest spaces. Quaint bistros, picturesque alleyways, artists’ studios and unique characters are elevated to a modern-day genre painting when set in Paris. From skateboarders to antiquarians, this volume is a glimpse into Parisian life, as if peering over the edge of the balcony at your own pied-a-terre.

Collaboratively, author Alexandra Senes and photographer Oliver Pilcher open the doors to some of the most sophisticated homes in Paris, sharing an intimate portrait of various families. The quiet, daily moments of Parisian life are eternalized through Pilcher’s lens. Monuments don’t make a city; the people do.

Authors

Born in Scotland, Oliver Pilcher studied sculpture at the Edinburgh College of Art before embarking on a photographic career that has taken him all around the world and given him the opportunity to shoot for some of the world’s finest brands. Oliver has been a contributing photographer at Condé Nast Traveler for over ten years. He currently divides his time between New York and Costa Rica with his wife, Abigail and their four children, Andalucia, Bianca, Constantina, and Herbie.

Alexandra Senes is a citizen of the world, as she feels at home anywhere; a real asteroid with no jet lag. Senes spent her childhood in her native Senegal after which she moved to New York and then Paris. She worked as a journalist for over 20 years, including 8 years as the founder and editor-in-chief of Jalouse Magazine. In 2015, Senes started her journey with Kilometre, a brand that makes our imaginations go wild, drifting into far-off and unexplored places-shirts and home goods adorned with hand embroidery inspired by up-and-coming travel destinations.

Travel & Culture Video: “Portrait Of A Place – Paradiso”, Italy (Nowness)

Video July 17, 2020 boomersdaily Leave a comment

Filmed and Directed by: Jan Vrhovnik

Written by: Ana Kerin
Music by: Nico Casal

Meet Giovanni Mancusou, a small-town Italian man who lives on Italy’s Mediterranean coast. The wisened Calabrian invites the viewer into his sun-washed world of bright orange sun umbrellas, cool blue seas, freshly baked pastries and fresh vegetables.

Directed by Jan Vrhovnik, written by Ana Kerin and music score by Oscar-winning Nico Casal, Paradiso is less story and more a poetic thought piece. Dipping into a snapshot of life for an aging man from Italy, whimsical moments like the swatting of a fly are interspersed with provocative thoughts on life that can only come with the wisdom of an older man who has seen it all.

Giovanni Mancusou was a chance meeting for the team who traveled to Calabria to seek out the very essence of nostalgia. They stumbled upon him in a corner shop and were taken by the poetic way in which he used language to convey a longing for simplicity. Completely improvised, his philosophical musings—weighing heavy with nostalgia and unexpected wisdom—are what punctuate the themes of this memory-inducing short.

A film of contrasts, Paradiso serves to distill the truth in Giovanni’s words. Though momentary, humble and mundane, flashes of true happiness must be savored. Paradiso outlines that to be rich in life, one need only look to nature, a table full of friends and good food: the very essence of a Mediterranean summer.

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Culture, Sports, Travel, Videos

Travel & Culture Videos: “The Hunt” – Calcio Storico In Florence By Tommaso Fontanella

Video June 22, 2020 boomersdaily Leave a comment

Director/Writer: Tommaso Fontanella

Producer: Oliver Gallini
Filmmaker: Logan Armstrong, Chris Shepherd

Once a year Firenze turns into a battleground. Four neighborhoods, artisans, craftsmen, bus drivers, butchers and tailors turn into warriors fighting for the “hunt”. Once it’s all over everyone comes back together united as one city.

This is the story of Calcio Storico, a tradition that goes back 500 years.

Travel, Videos

Travel & Culture Videos: “Ethiopia – Natural Utopia” By Florence Lepavec (2020)

Video May 10, 2020 boomersdaily Leave a comment

Filmed and Edited: Florence Lepavec

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Ethiopia, the ‘Roof of Africa’, the ’Cradle of Humanity’, the ‘Promised Land of Zion’…

It had been already given quite many designations.

Another one I also heard before going there for the first time, was ‘Ethiopia, the Africa for Beginners’. ??

Was it because, for the most part, Ethiopians are genuinely friendly, generous and rather naturally relax?
Was it because, as occidentals, we share a common religious identity, rooted in mutual values? Was it because
it is mainly safe for travellers?

For whatever reason it was, I did find the expression suiting me right down to the ground because apart
from Morocco, I had not yet stepped foot in deep Africa.

And actually, now that I am back, I could personally add another title: ‘Ethiopia, the Natural Utopia’.

Is that for its breath-taking Nature? For its colourful Spiritual Identity? For its beautiful People?
Or is that for all of these?

For this abundant land offering an incredible diversity of eco-systems and landscapes, going from arid
desert regions to Afroalpine up-lands breaking down into vertiginous abyss. A land combining peaks reaching
above 4000m and depressions as low as 125m below sea level. Mountains, forests, lakes, meadows, deserts and swamplands.

A diversity also found in the fauna, with some interesting endemic species like the Gelada, the red-hearted baboon
-a peaceful grass-heater with impressive canines.

Or either, for this fascinating primal religious form of Christianity, tinged with animist rituals and colourful arts.
A religious belief deeply infused into the People living according to spiritual principles and values. People trying
their best to give you their best. Everywhere I went, I left it with brothers and sisters. With a sense of home given
by their genuine gentleness and education and their natural sensitive and respectful nature, in deep connection with
Nature Itself. I left with lots of good memories and friends. Filled with Humanity.

The same Humanity our ancestor ‘Lucy’ and her siblings might have been creating some 3.2 million years ago, on the same lands.
On this antic land rich of a unique history and culture.

Those are all the reasons why I called my Ethiopia, ‘the Natural Utopia’: a land that potentially possesses
ideal (or perfect) qualities for People…

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Books, Culture, Photography, Travel

Travel & Culture Books: “Mykonos Muse” In The Greek Islands (Assouline)

April 14, 2020 boomersdaily Leave a comment

With such names as ‘Paradise’ and ‘Super Paradise,’ the sands of these shores have captured the imaginations and hearts of industry titans, artists, and party-goers alike from all around the globe, marking it as a stable cosmopolitan destination and as a paramount it haven on the jet-set circuit.

Located in the Cyclades and surrounded by the blue-green water of the Aegean sits whitewashed, windmill-strewn Mykonos, the island of the winds. This ancient island and those surrounding it, mythologized as the bodies of gods felled by Hercules in the time of antiquity, are older than legend and have played host to countless cultures for more than millennia. At forty-square-miles and boasting a population of only ten-thousand, the ‘Ibiza of Greece’ has become prized for gorgeous architecture, welcoming and open-minded locals, and fantastic beaches.

This book chronicles the culture and society that has defined Mykonos over the past century—from its days as a hideout for such luminaries and elites as Le Corbusier and Antonis Benakis, to its moment as a sanctuary for the gay community,to its predominant party scene—all the while indulging the reader with the ruins and myths hidden there.

Lizy Manola is a Greek photographer. A freelancer, her focus is on documentary photography. For more than fifteen years, she has traveled and shot in distant places, where culture and everyday life preserve their natural authenticity. She has published two books with Assouline, Certain Realities and Ethiopian Highlands. Her work has featured in solo and group exhibitions in Greece and worldwide. She lives and works in Athens and New York. Thirty years ago, she bought a house on Mykonos; she has spent endless summers holidays on the island ever since.