Blogs

                 Bob Dass


Corporate art collections have been with us for generations (indeed, in some sense for centuries), but in recent years, an increasing number of hotels – both indies and entire chains – have been focusing on art as both a guest perk and a point of prestige (and some have even been theming themselves completely with art – I fondly recall staying in Berlin as far back as the early 1990s at the Art Hotel Sorat). If you’re an art lover, there are an increasing number of o

There are a number of tourist attractions around Vietnam's capital to domestic and international tourists, especially backpackers who use motorbike to explore their own pace. If you have never been to these below places, pack your luggage and prepare a plan for interesting experiences of sightseeing around Hanoi. 

Bat Trang Pottery Village

Some 20 kilometers outside Hanoi on the left side of Red River, you can drive motorcycle or take a bus to

Argentina's rich winemaking heritage dates back to the early 16th century, putting it in an entirely different league than neighboring new world producers Chile and Brazil. Spanish settlers planted the first specimens of vitis vinifera in monastic vineyards throughout Argentina's central, western, and northeastern regions.

Soon an extensive agricultural irrigation system of ditches and canals modeled after those of the Incas drew water from melting Andes snow caps into reservoirs, utilized to th

Ana Clara Tito


In my time living in Brazil, perhaps the greatest lesson I have taken from Brazilian culture is to be quiet on the inside despite the chaos happening on the outside. Rio de Janeiro residents, Cariocas, spend a lot of time at the beach. This greatly contributes to their peaceful ways, their constant smiles, fit lifestyles and the abundance of tropical fruit and açai in their diets. Rio is quickly coming up in South America as a wellness destination. It is no longer a challenge to

“I am basically a finance professional,” said Arun Nanda, founder of Club Mahindra Holidays, a collection of nearly 50 family-oriented properties throughout India as well as four internationally, in Austria, Dubai, Malaysia, and Thailand). We had met Arun, (who is also one of the principals of automobile manufacturing and tractor sales company Mahindra and Mahindra) in Israel the year before when he was delivering a series of lectures at Tel Aviv University. And now, in the manner in which way l

GGtimeshares


Despite the fact that the industry having a bad reputation in some quarters, many people are still signing up to timeshares as they’re led to believe that they’re a worthwhile holiday option.

However, this is simply not the case and a large portion of these misguided holidaymakers find themselves with a money sponge which they can’t shake off.

In case you’re thinking of signing up to a timeshare contract, we’re going to take a look at whether or not they’re still a good summer hol

Elemaki 

When it comes to tourism in Central America’s largest country, the city that tends to get most of the attention is Granada (while ironically, capital Managua is pretty much avoided by all but business people). But in many ways I find its traditional – and less tarted up for tourists/expats – rival Santiago de los Caballeros de León, even more fascinating, beginning with the fact that despite its somewhat lower contemporary profile among foreigners, Nicaragua's second largest city (aft

            aphotostory

The world’s third most populous city (18½ million, metro area 25 million) is one of those places which are of course home to some of the most iconic historic sights on the planet, and now a heady mix of the old and the new China. Though compared to when I first visited back in 1993 swathes of Beijing (which to this day I often prefer to call by its traditional English name Peking) I found strikingly different  on my most recent visit this year - awash in the cutting-edg

                      Astronomie Populaire 1879/Camille Flammarion



Today, many across the USA are watching in fascination a rare solar eclipse as the moon's shadow makes its way across the country this afternoon. These days that fascination is astronomical, but before astronomy, for much of the world it was apocalyptic. And the terror it inspired is at the root of a curious incident in 1502. Often lost in the grand saga of the conquest and colonization of the Western Hemisphere by Spain and P

Sunset at the Palms, an all-inclusive, adults-only resort in Negril, Jamaica, garnered a lot of attention this spring when its staff expanded to include Betty, a female goat who became an instant hit when she was adopted by the hotel’s grounds keeping crew.

In response to popular demand, the resort has found a new way for guests to interact with the nanny goat, who delights in being petted and scratched and craves attention from passersby. Now guests can also enjoy a gourmet picnic with the frie

                            Clever Cupcakes




There are many places on Earth you simply must visit at least once in a lifetime. The sooner the better, naturally. In this article, we will list five places in Europe you need to see before you blow out those 50 candles on your cake:

Cappadocia

Cappadocia is located 200 km southeast of Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It is the land of beautiful horses, as its name claims in the original Persian, and is on the UNESCO heritage list. It is a picturesque regi

I love a garden, and I especially like one that’s been rescued from near dereliction. Cornwall’s ‘Lost Gardens of Heligan’ are probably the best-known example, Coincidentally, the Tremayne family, who owned the Heligan Gardens were related to the owners of Plas Cadnant , in Wales - another ‘recovered lost garden’.

The estate, and the gardens were established on the island of Anglesey in 1804, when John Price chose the site for his elegant Georgian house, and started work on the gardens surroundin

It's no closely guarded secret that the region surrounding Monterey and Santa Cruz has the longest season for whale watching in all of California. In fact, whale watching in these parts more or less goes on all year round. No matter what time you decide to watch for whales, you will most likely see one or even more whale species migrating or feeding in the bay. What you can't see is what attracts the whales to these parts. The underwater canyons run below the waves, and this area makes for some

Located in Mai Chau District, about 135 km from Hanoi, Mai Chau is a little valley surrounded by green mountains and dotted with lakes, paddy fields, rivers and houses on stilts of the Thai people.

Tourists can take a car following National Highway No6 from Hanoi to Hoa Binh City and then continue going about 60km to the first intersection behind the mountain range, then turn left onto Vang Street and go about 5 kilometers further to Lac Village in Mai Chau Valley.

From above Mai Chau looks like a

Miguel González Novo


A modest placard beside a storefront door announces the existence of the Beth Minzi Synagogue in Torrremolinos on Spain’s Costa del Sol. It is a Friday night in late February, and some twenty men, a few fathers with young sons, and three women assemble in the small sanctuary while the Moroccan-born rabbi/cantor, natty in a trim black beard, long gray coat, and black homburg, begins the Sephardic service. During the next two hours, men in the congregation ascend the altar o

Thanks to its innovative projects and programs, Vancouver is considered one of the five most beautiful cities in the world, along with San Francisco, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town.

It also has a great variety of sights both historic and cultural. Of the latter, here are my five favorite museums:

Science World

In 1986 there was an exhibition of international World's Fair here, and since then, the grounds have been home to one of the most fascinating museums in the world, Science World. Th

Malta is a group of islands in the Mediterranean between Sicily and North Africa. Its location means that it has been influenced by a variety of cultures, including the Roman, Moors, French, and British. When John and I visit a location for a week or more, we like to mix up our stays. While in Malta we stayed at a beach resort and also city location. The Corinthia Palace Hotel and Spa located in the capital city of Valetta was a wonderful choice.

While at the Corinthia we explored Valetta, in

unmillonedeelefantes


A fortunate few cities have the luxury of being identified with an internationally famous artist who inevitably ends up being an ambassador of sorts for his or her home town. Colombia‘s second largest city (and very up and coming destination) Medellín is a perfect example, because this is the stomping grounds of Latin America‘s best known living artist, Fernando Botero, whose double-wide work is instantly recognizable by many across the world. 

One of the prime visitor a

This legendary site tucked into the sandstone canyons of a valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba – one of those places, in fact, you could almost believe was invented as a set for an exotic Indiana Jones movie. And while Petra did in fact make a key and dramatic appearance in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, this is no film set. Instead, this fabled UNESCO World Heritage Site is a city hewn out of the living rock, with a history stretching back to the 2nd century CE but aband

Inverlochy Castle Management International (ICMI), the team behind some of Scotland’s best known luxury hotels, is swapping glens and lochs for sun and sea to launch a new hotel management company in the Caribbean – The Liming.

ICMI’s MD Norbert Lieder, Chairman Dr Chai and sales and marketing expert John Green have joined forces with landowner and developer Jonathan Milne of FM Group and Bequia-based businessman Kelly Glass of K-Group, who have each been named Entrepreneur of the Year in the