Lanzarote, Canary Islands

To César Manrique what is César Manrique's


Acrobatic macro photography
Two visitors try to photograph the endemic crabs of Jameos del Agua.
The usual selfie
Visitors to Fundación César Manrique with the Tahíche volcano in the background.
el jameo
Symbolic work of the Jameos del Água, inspired by the small crabs endemic to these caves.
unusual path
Panoramic view of Fundación César Manrique, at the edge of the lava released by the Tahíche volcano.
Magma Decor
Underground room at Fundación César Manrique.
dazzle for two
Visitors explore one of the trails of the Jardin del Cactus.
Vulcano-Pool
The tropical pool at Jameos del Água.
light tunnel
Magical light play inside the Jameos del Água.
A Centennial Foundation
Fundación César Manrique building, with the Tahíche volcano in the background.
magma vapors
PN Timanfaya employee conducts a volcanic experience in front of the El Diablo restaurant, designed by César Manrique.
Looped ascent
Visitors go up the stairs to the Museo del Campesino restaurant.
duo rides
Panoramic view of the Museo del Campesino, in the heart of the island of Lanzarote.
cactus forest
One of the most exuberant sections of the Jardin del Cactus, one of César Manrique's works.
Jardin-casa-Saramago-and-pilar-Lanzarote-Canarias-Spain
Mother and daughter visiting Saramago and Pilar's house in Lanzarote walk through the garden.
over the abyss
Photograph on the northern edge of Lanzarote, with the silhouette of Graciosa Island in the background. A place on the island loved by Manrique and where he built his Mirador del Rio.
Crowd in the depths
A group of visitors inside the Cueva de los Verdes, illuminated by Jesús Soto, a friend of Manrique's.
colors in the wind
A windmill by César Manrique, at the entrance to its foundation.
rich wall
Creative corner of the César Manrique Foundation, adorned with visual elements from the island.
By itself, Lanzarote would always be a Canaria by itself, but it is almost impossible to explore it without discovering the restless and activist genius of one of its prodigal sons. César Manrique passed away nearly thirty years ago. The prolific work he left shines on the lava of the volcanic island that saw him born.

There's no failing, it's as simple as that.

Those who, like us, seek out the unmissable places of Lanzarote, end up listing them all on an itinerary to discover the island: the Jardin de Cactus, in Guatiza, the Jameos del Água, the Mirador del Rio on the island of La Graciosa, the Casa-Museo del Campesino and the Monumento Al Campesino, the Restaurant El Diablo de la Montanhas del Fuego, the LagOmar Museum.

Without forgetting the Casa-Museo and the César Manrique Foundation. All of these, among others less popular. Not really to ignore.

Jardin del Cactus, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Visitors explore one of the trails of the Jardin del Cactus.

During the days we spent in Lanzarote we visited, of course, what was the refuge of José Saramago of the hypocrisy and pious intolerance of too many Portuguese dignitaries and institutions towards his person and his work.

Two Genius Authors Forever in the History of Lanzarote

Saramago's presence in Lanzarote from 1992 to 2010 (the year of his death) focused media attention on the writer's exiled life, especially in the period following the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1998.

Today, Saramago's legacy is immortalized on a universal scale in every page of the books he wrote.

After his death, in tangible terms, real estate-wise, whatever that may be, Lanzarote preserved little more than Saramago and Pilar's house, with their library, the writer's office and other common spaces, including a balcony overlooking a lush garden with views over the Atlantic.

This heritage does not compete with the one left by César Manrique, in such an abundant and diversified way that, at a certain point, it gives us the sensation of blending in with the island.

Visitors in the garden of Saramago and Pilar's house in Lanzarote, Canary Islands

Mother and daughter visiting Saramago and Pilar's house in Lanzarote walk through the garden.

On the supposedly spring days that we spend in Lanzarote, the days dawn over cloudy and cool. Only towards the end of the morning does the sun get away from the dense cloud cover that forms during the night and then make the scenery shine.

The Shapes and Colors of Lanzarote

Under the clouds, Lanzarote looks like an island in black and white with a hint of green. As soon as the big star breaks through the nebulosity, this tricolor gains a dimension and complexity of tones and shapes that were difficult to predict before. Many of Lanzarote's humanized forms – among the eccentric ones, at least – are the contours, mannerisms and grimaces of César Manrique's unsatisfied mind.

The first ones we notice, we find them in the vicinity of San Bartolomé, in the heart of the island. We follow the Tinajo road when we glimpse a kind of modernist totem that stands out above the asphalt and surrounding fields.

The sculpture “Fertility”, from 1968, serves as a beacon for us. It guides us to the surrounding Museo del Campesino.

Generation after generation, the natives of Lanzarote have found themselves in the grip of a grueling rural life, whether local or emigrant, made even more ungrateful in Lanzarote by the difficulty of cultivating and obtaining produce from the harsh volcanic soil.

With the monument and the museum, Manrique has given his descendants a work that dignifies and celebrates the era of their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.

There we find a conglomeration of small white buildings with green windows and balconies that contrast with the surrounding volcanic blackness.

Campesino Museum, Lanzarote,

Panoramic view of the Museo del Campesino, in the heart of the island of Lanzarote.

César Manrique endowed them with some of the unavoidable expressions of the peasant culture of Lanzarote: the vineyards on the lava, protected by basaltic stone walls, similar to those on the island of Pico. Installations with the most used instruments in land mining and livestock. Small weaving and pottery workshops, picturesque examples of the art that the people of Lanzarote have perfected over the centuries and shops that sell specimens in the form of Recuerdos.

Madrid, New York. From Lanzarote to… Lanzarote.

Manrique lived what he could in Lanzarote. In his teens, he moved to Tenerife. There he studied architecture without having completed his degree. Between 1936 and 1939, he enlisted as a volunteer in an army artillery unit serving Franco. In 1945, he moved to Madrid.

In the Spanish capital, he received a scholarship to attend the San Fernando School of Fine Arts. At this school, he graduated as an art and painting teacher. Manrique lived and exhibited his non-figurative works of art in Madrid for the next 19 years.

At that time, he was associated with the “informalist” movement that was gaining prominence in Spain at the time, seen as a committed abstractionist, obsessed with the properties and specificities of matter.

In particular, with those of the diverse volcanic material that Lanzarote was and is made of. In 1964, Manrique moved to New York. On arrival at Big Apple, returned to see the world with new eyes.

Fundación César Manrique Room, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Underground room at Fundación César Manrique.

The Multifaceted Author and Artist

In permanent contact with North American Abstract Expressionism, with the pop and kinetic art that dawned, Manrique enriched his own style, ventured body and soul into various disciplines.

In such a way that, nowadays, no one dares to catalog him as a sculptor, painter or architect. Not even as belonging to one of these forms of art.

In New York, he was awarded a Rockefeller grant that allowed him to rent a studio and live in the city. He met and dealt with other renowned artists and personalities, including Andy Warhol.

His growing status and that of the works he created in the city have earned him three solo exhibitions at the renowned Catherine Viviano gallery. And growing financial relief.

The Raw and Unsurpassed Beauty of Lanzarote

In his mind, New York was, however, New York. No matter how cosmopolitan and artistic fascination the North American megalopolis aroused in him, no place could come close to his Lanzarote.

Manrique even uttered "For me, (Lanzarote) was the most beautiful place on Earth and I realized that if people could see it through my eyes, they would think the same thing." More than a declaration, these words of yours soon sounded like the mission. The New York adventure lasted two years.

In 1966, Manrique returned and gave himself heart and soul to his island. Around this time, tourism began to take over the most seductive towns in Spain and, in particular, the Canary Islands.

With its scenarios resulting from an eccentric volcanism, Lanzarote had the destiny shaped by an army of civil construction investors that proliferated out of control in Franco's Spain: being inundated with cement hotels and resorts that would welcome thousands of outsiders and encourage similar new constructions .

From an early age, Manrique fought for his ecological awareness of the landscape, for the preservation of his island and the Canaries. Despite the inexorable growth of local tourism, at least in Lanzarote, several of their requests to the authorities and the population continue to be met.

are rare the outdoors advertising and fences infest the roadsides, tall buildings prove non-existent and residents captivated by Manrique's philosophy add harmonious pastel tones to the traditionally white walls of the houses.

Instead of the outdoors advertising, many roundabouts have been embellished with intriguing wind-powered devices.

Windmill, César Manrique Foundation, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

A windmill by César Manrique, at the entrance to its foundation.

César Manrique Foundation: the gradual and pivotal project that Manrique never saw finished

It's one of those bizarre but mesmerizing mills that welcomes us and fixes our gaze when we reach the entrance to the César Manrique Foundation, a real experimental base and art gallery expanded from the house he used to live in Tahíche.

This, even before he moved to his beloved Haría, a village full of palm trees, green to match, located in the north of the island.

At the Manrique Foundation, we unveil, half-believers, what the open home he settled in after his return from New York, a lot with 3000 has become.2 much of it on lava from an XNUMXth-century eruption of the Tahiche volcano.

Visitors to a section of the César Manrique Foundation, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Visitors to Fundación César Manrique with the Tahíche volcano in the background.

As we progress through white-grey space lava, speckled with teasels thorns and an improbable assortment of works of art: the artists' studios occupying the former rooms on the upper floor.

The basement arranged to group five large lava chambers bequeathed by the solidification of magma, each decorated in its own unusual style, one of them opening onto a garden bordering the lava tide itself, embellished with a swimming pool, an area of barbecues and even a dance floor.

Works by Manrique but Not Only

Back in the context that took us there, the Foundation also houses a gallery that exhibits several of the works by Manrique, others obtained by him throughout his life, including original sketches by Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró.

Starting in 1982, the Foundation was expanded by Manrique and a group of friends. It would only be opened to the public ten years later, after a road accident that occurred in the vicinity of the foundation that would shorten its life.

The César Manrique foundation turned out to be a gradual project. Also because Manrique and his colleagues developed it simultaneously with parallel interventions that forever shaped the island of Lanzarote and helped it to conquer the protective classification of Biosphere Reserve, the second to be awarded by the UNESCO to the Canary Islands in 1993, ten years after the classification of La Palma.

Corner of the César Manrique Foundation, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Creative corner of the César Manrique Foundation, adorned with visual elements from the island.

A Fascinating Tour through Others of Manrique's Interventions

As Manrique himself defined "I try to be the free hand that shapes geology." And, in fact, his mind and hands forever shaped Lanzarote and other Canary Islands.

After the short visit to the restaurant “The Devil"To PN Timanfaya and the sensory adventures of the Museu del Campesino and the Foundation, we progress north.

Thermal experience in front of the El Diablo restaurant, PN Timafaya, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

PN Timanfaya employee conducts a volcanic experience in front of the El Diablo restaurant, designed by César Manrique.

We enter the Jameos de Água and Cueva de los Verdes, both located in a vast tunnel produced by the eruptions of the Corona volcano, in the heart of the Natural Monument of Malpaís de la Corona.

The first appears on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, the last, further inland, with a concert hall that, with mere chairs and a stage, takes advantage of the magnificence and special acoustics of the chamber.

There, we are dazzled by the decoration, landscaping and light play borrowed by Manrique and his ally Jesús Soto.

As we enter the depths of the Jameos, the colorful and luxuriant elegance of the chamber adapted to the dining room insinuates itself as a harbinger of the unusual underground that follows.

We walked down the steps to the edge of a blue lake. Some visitors arriving before us squat for minutes at a time.

Visitors in Jameos del Água, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Visitors try to photograph the endemic crabs of the Jameos del Água.

We took a while but we realized that they make an effort to photograph the albino and blind crabs (munidopsis polyorpha) endemic to the cave, on a background painted red by the artificial light concealed there and which contrasts with the oil blue of the lagoon.

We crossed to the other side. From the opposite bank, as if by magic, we see the red staircase mirror and double in the water. Back on the surface, we are open-mouthed to contemplate the kind of tropical-volcanic and sunken beach with which Manrique continues to captivate visitors.

Jameos del Agua, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Magical light play inside the Jameos del Água.

From Jameos del Água to Mirador del Rio

A few kilometers further north, we pass his house in Haría, located in the middle of a palm grove and where furniture and belongings are preserved, as well as the new studio in which he worked until his death.

Arrived at the northern and abysmal threshold of Lanzarote, under furious trades, we let ourselves be dazzled by the royal mirage of the small neighboring island of La Graciosa and the Chinijo archipelago. This has always been one of the sights that generated the most admiration in Manrique.

Unsurprisingly, Manrique raised the Mirador del Rio, a building that blends in with the nature on the border and, through shapes and light, makes it richer and more welcoming.

César Manrique also said loudly and in good tone that “Lanzarote was like a work of art without a frame and unassembled, which he hung and held for all to admire”.

Couple on the northern edge of Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Photograph on the northern edge of Lanzarote, with the silhouette of Isla Graciosa in the background. A place on the island adored by Manrique and where he built his Mirador del Rio.

We could have spent another week exploring and praising the artistic-naturalist empire he bequeathed to his island.

PN Timanfaya, Lanzarote, Canary Islands

PN Timanfaya and the Fire Mountains of Lanzarote

Between 1730 and 1736, out of nowhere, dozens of volcanoes in Lanzarote erupted successively. The massive amount of lava they released buried several villages and forced almost half of the inhabitants to emigrate. The legacy of this cataclysm is the current Martian setting of the exuberant PN Timanfaya.
La Graciosa, Canary Islands

The Most Graceful of the Canary Islands

Until 2018, the smallest of the inhabited Canaries did not count for the archipelago. Arriving in La Graciosa, we discover the insular charm of the now eighth island.
El Hierro, Canary Islands

The Volcanic Rim of the Canaries and the Old World

Until Columbus arrived in the Americas, El Hierro was seen as the threshold of the known world and, for a time, the Meridian that delimited it. Half a millennium later, the last western island of the Canaries is teeming with exuberant volcanism.
Tenerife, Canary Islands

The Volcano that Haunts the Atlantic

At 3718m, El Teide is the roof of the Canaries and Spain. Not only. If measured from the ocean floor (7500 m), only two mountains are more pronounced. The Guanche natives considered it the home of Guayota, their devil. Anyone traveling to Tenerife knows that old Teide is everywhere.
La Palma, Canary Islands

The "Isla Bonita" of the Canary Islands

In 1986 Madonna Louise Ciccone launched a hit that popularized the attraction exerted by a island imaginary. Ambergris Caye, in Belize, reaped benefits. On this side of the Atlantic, the palmeros that's how they see their real and stunning Canaria.
Tenerife, Canary Islands

East of White Mountain Island

The almost triangular Tenerife has its center dominated by the majestic volcano Teide. At its eastern end, there is another rugged domain, even so, the place of the island's capital and other unavoidable villages, with mysterious forests and incredible abrupt coastlines.
Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands

A Journey into the History of Santa Cruz de La Palma

It began as a mere Villa del Apurón. Come the century. XVI, the town had not only overcome its difficulties, it was already the third port city in Europe. Heir to this blessed prosperity, Santa Cruz de La Palma has become one of the most elegant capitals in the Canaries.
Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

Fuerteventura - Canary Island and Jangada do Tempo

A short ferry crossing and we disembark in Corralejo, at the top northeast of Fuerteventura. With Morocco and Africa a mere 100km away, we get lost in the wonders of unique desert, volcanic and post-colonial sceneries.
Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

Grand Canary Islands

It is only the third largest island in the archipelago. It so impressed European navigators and settlers that they got used to treating it as the supreme.
Brasilia, Brazil

Brasília: from Utopia to the Capital and Political Arena of Brazil

Since the days of the Marquis of Pombal, there has been talk of transferring the capital to the interior. Today, the chimera city continues to look surreal but dictates the rules of Brazilian development.
napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s - Calhambeque Tour

In a city rebuilt in Art Deco and with an atmosphere of the "crazy years" and beyond, the adequate means of transportation are the elegant classic automobiles of that era. In Napier, they are everywhere.
Helsinki, Finland

The Design that Came from the Cold

With much of the territory above the Arctic Circle, Finns respond to the climate with efficient solutions and an obsession with art, aesthetics and modernism inspired by neighboring Scandinavia.

Valencia to Xativa, Spain

Across Iberia

Leaving aside the modernity of Valencia, we explore the natural and historical settings that the "community" shares with the Mediterranean. The more we travel, the more its bright life seduces us.

Matarraña to Alcanar, Spain

A Medieval Spain

Traveling through the lands of Aragon and Valencia, we come across towers and detached battlements of houses that fill the slopes. Mile after kilometer, these visions prove to be as anachronistic as they are fascinating.

La Palma, Canary IslandsSpain

The Most Mediatic of the Cataclysms to Happen

The BBC reported that the collapse of a volcanic slope on the island of La Palma could generate a mega-tsunami. Whenever the area's volcanic activity increases, the media take the opportunity to scare the world.
Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain

Fuerteventura's Atlantic Ventura

The Romans knew the Canaries as the lucky islands. Fuerteventura, preserves many of the attributes of that time. Its perfect beaches for the windsurf and kite-surfing or just for bathing, they justify successive “invasions” by the sun-hungry northern peoples. In the volcanic and rugged interior, the bastion of the island's indigenous and colonial cultures remains. We started to unravel it along its long south.
Vegueta, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

Around the Heart of the Royal Canaries

The old and majestic Vegueta de Las Palmas district stands out in the long and complex Hispanization of the Canaries. After a long period of noble expeditions, the final conquest of Gran Canaria and the remaining islands of the archipelago began there, under the command of the monarchs of Castile and Aragon.
Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

José Saramago's Basalt Raft

In 1993, frustrated by the Portuguese government's disregard for his work “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ”, Saramago moved with his wife Pilar del Río to Lanzarote. Back on this somewhat extraterrestrial Canary Island, we visited his home. And the refuge from the portuguese censorship that haunted the writer.
Believers greet each other in the Bukhara region.
City
Bukhara, Uzbequistan

Among the Minarets of Old Turkestan

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bukhara has developed for at least two thousand years as an essential commercial, cultural and religious hub in Central Asia. It was Buddhist and then Muslim. It was part of the great Arab empire and that of Genghis Khan, the Turko-Mongol kingdoms and the Soviet Union, until it settled in the still young and peculiar Uzbekistan.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beaches
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Wildlife, lions
safari
NP Gorongosa, Mozambique

The Heart of Mozambique's Wildlife Shows Signs of Life

Gorongosa was home to one of the most exuberant ecosystems in Africa, but from 1980 to 1992 it succumbed to the Civil War waged between FRELIMO and RENAMO. Greg Carr, Voice Mail's millionaire inventor received a message from the Mozambican ambassador to the UN challenging him to support Mozambique. For the good of the country and humanity, Carr pledged to resurrect the stunning national park that the Portuguese colonial government had created there.
Prayer flags in Ghyaru, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 4th – Upper Banana to Ngawal, Nepal

From Nightmare to Dazzle

Unbeknownst to us, we are faced with an ascent that leads us to despair. We pulled our strength as far as possible and reached Ghyaru where we felt closer than ever to the Annapurnas. The rest of the way to Ngawal felt like a kind of extension of the reward.
Colonial Church of San Francisco de Assis, Taos, New Mexico, USA
Architecture & Design
Taos, USA

North America Ancestor of Taos

Traveling through New Mexico, we were dazzled by the two versions of Taos, that of the indigenous adobe hamlet of Taos Pueblo, one of the towns of the USA inhabited for longer and continuously. And that of Taos city that the Spanish conquerors bequeathed to the Mexico, Mexico gave in to United States and that a creative community of native descendants and migrated artists enhance and continue to praise.
lagoons and fumaroles, volcanoes, PN tongariro, new zealand
Aventura
Tongariro, New Zealand

The Volcanoes of All Discords

In the late XNUMXth century, an indigenous chief ceded the PN Tongariro volcanoes to the British crown. Today, a significant part of the Maori people claim their mountains of fire from European settlers.
Dragon Dance, Moon Festival, Chinatown-San Francisco-United States of America
Ceremonies and Festivities
San Francisco, USA

with the head on the moon

September comes and Chinese people around the world celebrate harvests, abundance and unity. San Francisco's enormous Sino-Community gives itself body and soul to California's biggest Moon Festival.
Alaskan Lumberjack Show Competition, Ketchikan, Alaska, USA
Cities
Ketchikan, Alaska

Here begins Alaska

The reality goes unnoticed in most of the world, but there are two Alaskas. In urban terms, the state is inaugurated in the south of its hidden frying pan handle, a strip of land separated from the contiguous USA along the west coast of Canada. Ketchikan, is the southernmost of Alaskan cities, its Rain Capital and the Salmon Capital of the World.
Fogón de Lola, great food, Costa Rica, Guápiles
Lunch time
Fogón de Lola Costa Rica

The Costa Rica Flavour of El Fogón de Lola

As the name suggests, the Fogón de Lola de Guapiles serves dishes prepared on the stove and in the oven, according to Costa Rican family tradition. In particular, Tia Lola's.
Tatooine on Earth
Culture
Matmata Tataouine:  Tunisia

Star Wars Earth Base

For security reasons, the planet Tatooine from "The Force Awakens" was filmed in Abu Dhabi. We step back into the cosmic calendar and revisit some of the Tunisian places with the most impact in the saga.  
Swimming, Western Australia, Aussie Style, Sun rising in the eyes
Sport
Busselton, Australia

2000 meters in Aussie Style

In 1853, Busselton was equipped with one of the longest pontoons in the world. World. When the structure collapsed, the residents decided to turn the problem around. Since 1996 they have been doing it every year. Swimming.
Train Fianarantsoa to Manakara, Malagasy TGV, locomotive
Traveling
Fianarantsoa-Manakara, Madagascar

On board the Malagasy TGV

We depart Fianarantsoa at 7a.m. It wasn't until 3am the following morning that we completed the 170km to Manakara. The natives call this almost secular train Train Great Vibrations. During the long journey, we felt, very strongly, those of the heart of Madagascar.
Moa on a beach in Rapa Nui/Easter Island
Ethnic
Easter Island, Chile

The Take-off and Fall of the Bird-Man Cult

Until the XNUMXth century, the natives of Easter Island they carved and worshiped great stone gods. All of a sudden, they started to drop their moai. The veneration of tanatu manu, a half-human, half-sacred leader, decreed after a dramatic competition for an egg.
Portfolio, Got2Globe, Best Images, Photography, Images, Cleopatra, Dioscorides, Delos, Greece
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

The Earthly and the Celestial

Key West Wall, Florida Keys, United States
History
Key West, USA

The Tropical Wild West of the USA

We've come to the end of the Overseas Highway and the ultimate stronghold of propagandism Florida Keys. The continental United States here they surrender to a dazzling turquoise emerald marine vastness. And to a southern reverie fueled by a kind of Caribbean spell.
Moorea aerial view
Islands
Moorea, French Polynesia

The Polynesian Sister Any Island Would Like to Have

A mere 17km from Tahiti, Moorea does not have a single city and is home to a tenth of its inhabitants. Tahitians have long watched the sun go down and transform the island next door into a misty silhouette, only to return to its exuberant colors and shapes hours later. For those who visit these remote parts of the Pacific, getting to know Moorea is a double privilege.
Sampo Icebreaker, Kemi, Finland
Winter White
Kemi, Finland

It's No "Love Boat". Breaks the Ice since 1961

Built to maintain waterways through the most extreme arctic winter, the icebreaker Sampo” fulfilled its mission between Finland and Sweden for 30 years. In 1988, he reformed and dedicated himself to shorter trips that allow passengers to float in a newly opened channel in the Gulf of Bothnia, in clothes that, more than special, seem spacey.
Couple visiting Mikhaylovskoe, village where writer Alexander Pushkin had a home
Literature
Saint Petersburg e Mikhaylovkoe, Russia

The Writer Who Succumbed to His Own Plot

Alexander Pushkin is hailed by many as the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. But Pushkin also dictated an almost tragicomic epilogue to his prolific life.
savuti, botswana, elephant-eating lions
Nature
Savuti, Botswana

Savuti's Elephant-Eating Lions

A patch of the Kalahari Desert dries up or is irrigated depending on the region's tectonic whims. In Savuti, lions have become used to depending on themselves and prey on the largest animals in the savannah.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Impressions Lijiang Show, Yangshuo, China, Red Enthusiasm
Natural Parks
Lijiang e Yangshuo, China

An Impressive China

One of the most respected Asian filmmakers, Zhang Yimou dedicated himself to large outdoor productions and co-authored the media ceremonies of the Beijing OG. But Yimou is also responsible for “Impressions”, a series of no less controversial stagings with stages in emblematic places.
Ptolemaic Egypt, Edfu to Kom Ombo, Nile above, guide explains hieroglyphics
UNESCO World Heritage
Edfu to Kom Ombo, Egypt

Up the River Nile, through the Upper Ptolemaic Egypt

Having accomplished the unmissable embassy to Luxor, to old Thebes and to the Valley of the Kings, we proceed against the current of the Nile. In Edfu and Kom Ombo, we surrender to the historic magnificence bequeathed by successive Ptolemy monarchs.
Visitors to Ernest Hemingway's Home, Key West, Florida, United States
Characters
Key West, United States

Hemingway's Caribbean Playground

Effusive as ever, Ernest Hemingway called Key West "the best place I've ever been...". In the tropical depths of the contiguous US, he found evasion and crazy, drunken fun. And the inspiration to write with intensity to match.
The Dominican Republic Balnear de Barahona, Balneario Los Patos
Beaches
Barahona, Dominican Republic

The Bathing Dominican Republic of Barahona

Saturday after Saturday, the southwest corner of the Dominican Republic goes into decompression mode. Little by little, its seductive beaches and lagoons welcome a tide of euphoric people who indulge in a peculiar rumbear amphibian.
Christmas scene, Shillong, Meghalaya, India
Religion
Shillong, India

A Christmas Selfiestan at an India Christian Stronghold

December arrives. With a largely Christian population, the state of Meghalaya synchronizes its Nativity with that of the West and clashes with the overcrowded Hindu and Muslim subcontinent. Shillong, the capital, shines with faith, happiness, jingle bells and bright lighting. To dazzle Indian holidaymakers from other parts and creeds.
End of the World Train, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
On Rails
Ushuaia, Argentina

Last Station: End of the World

Until 1947, the Tren del Fin del Mundo made countless trips for the inmates of the Ushuaia prison to cut firewood. Today, passengers are different, but no other train goes further south.
A kind of portal
Society
Little Havana, USA

Little Havana of the Nonconformists

Over the decades and until today, thousands of Cubans have crossed the Florida Straits in search of the land of freedom and opportunity. With the US a mere 145 km away, many have gone no further. His Little Havana in Miami is today the most emblematic neighborhood of the Cuban diaspora.
Saksun, Faroe Islands, Streymoy, warning
Daily life
Saksun, streymoyFaroe Islands

The Faroese Village That Doesn't Want to be Disneyland

Saksun is one of several stunning small villages in the Faroe Islands that more and more outsiders visit. It is distinguished by the aversion to tourists of its main rural owner, author of repeated antipathies and attacks against the invaders of his land.
Maria Jacarés, Pantanal Brazil
Wildlife
Miranda, Brazil

Maria dos Jacarés: the Pantanal shelters such Creatures

Eurides Fátima de Barros was born in the interior of the Miranda region. 38 years ago, he settled in a small business on the side of BR262 that crosses the Pantanal and gained an affinity with the alligators that lived on his doorstep. Disgusted that once upon a time the creatures were being slaughtered there, she began to take care of them. Now known as Maria dos Jacarés, she named each of the animals after a soccer player or coach. It also makes sure they recognize your calls.
Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii Wrinkles
Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

Hawaii's Dazzling Wrinkles

Kauai is the greenest and rainiest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is also the oldest. As we explore its Napalo Coast by land, sea and air, we are amazed to see how the passage of millennia has only favored it.