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Design and Art

Design and Art Europe Inspiration Life of Luxury Romance Switching The Thinking Traveller

Lake Como? Affordable?

Italy’s most famous lake has appealed to second-home owners for hundreds of years, reports Liz Rowlinson. But where can you bag a bargain? Its deep, mirror-like waters beneath dramatic mountains, the tropical gardens flourishing in the balmy microclimate, have beguiled artists, writers and royals for centuries and, in recent years, Arab princes, wealthy footballers, Hollywood…
2020-04-280Comments

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Design and Art Europe Food and Drink For Women Only History Lifestyle Nature & the Environment Outdoors Relaxation Romance The Thinking Traveller Travel Solo

Unencumbered Umbria

The gentler, less gilded neighbour of Tuscany, Umbria enjoys a lower profile and seems less troubled by tourism. The “green heart of Italy” doesn’t have an endless stream of visitors plying between their checklist of big-drawer Tuscan Renaissance cities, just miles of undulating hills carpeted in sunflowers, tobacco or untamed bosco (woodland). Read more courtesy…
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Design and Art Do Something Different History Meditation Middle East Relaxation Special Interest The Thinking Traveller World Culture

Modest mosque

Centrally located in the Iranian capital Tehran, the Vali-e-Asr Mosque’s most distinguishing aspect is the fact that it does not look like a mosque. Designed by Iranian architects Reza Daneshmir and Catherine Spiridonoff of Fluid Motion Architects, the building eschews the stereotypical typology of large domes and tall minarets in favour of a modest horizontality…
2020-04-270Comments

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Central & South America Design and Art History Special Interest The Thinking Traveller World Culture

Brasilia!

Few places in the world offer such an expansive, extraordinary composition of Modernist architecture as the Brazilian capital. Part of a handful of Modernist clusters around the world – such as, for example, Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh in India – Brasilia combines the gravitas, drama and scale of the International Style with the glamour and power…
2020-04-260Comments

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Asia Design and Art Do Something Different History Meditation Mindfulness Pacific Relaxation Special Interest The Thinking Traveller

Stay at a traditional Japanese house

It had been a packed afternoon of exploring the charming city of Tamba Sasayama, where the vibrant energy of young businesses ran hot through the city. But it was also a relentlessly cold and rainy day. so I was already fantasizing about hot baths and steaming hot pots when we arrived at the 100-year-old traditional Japanese house.…
2020-04-240Comments

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Adventure Asia Design and Art Fun History Inspiration Meditation Mindfulness Special Interest The Thinking Traveller Volunteering

Let’s rock!

Rock art, that is paintings and carvings on natural rock formations, is one of the earliest forms of creative expression and a universal phenomenon among prehistoric societies, in this case, Indian. An instrument of communication rather than simply art, it is an assemblage of material culture which provides a glimpse into the lives of people…
2020-03-190Comments

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Adventure Central & South America Design and Art Do Something Different Fun The Thinking Traveller

Márquez’s magical realist universe

Colombia’s most famous writer, the inimitable Gabriel García Márquez, once said in a press interview that he could never have written his books if he had not been a journalist – because all of his material was extracted from reality. Wandering between the pastel-coloured colonial structures of Cartagena’s labyrinthine cobbled streets, one could be forgiven…
2020-03-140Comments

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