In the Marquesas Islands, the inhabitants live to the rhythm of nature and plants. From the day he is born to the day he dies, the plant kingdom accompanies the Enana: the human being. Flowers, bark, roots, leaves, fruit, juices... bathe him, perfume him, adorn him,...
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The Marquesans developed a monumental habitat and very specific sculptures, the tikis. More than 700 archaeological and legendary sites have been recorded in the archipelago, and the inventory is far from complete. They bear witness to a large Polynesian population before...
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Floating on the River Cher, this slate-capped tufa chateau raises its turrets and square chimneys to the sky? It rises up from a large avenue of trees, light, luminous and transparent. The château is not by the water...
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The Hôtel Caumont-Centre d?Art d?Aix-en-Provence is bringing together for the first time the influence of Japanese prints on the work of Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947). It is an original theme, and one that is particularly appealing in terms of the prints selected. Nearly 130 works from private and public collections in Europe...
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At the crossroads of Touraine, Anjou and Poitou, the town of Richelieu is a unique example of 17th-century town planning in France. Located in the Indre-et-Loire department, the town, or rather the market town (1,700 inhabitants), surrounded by ramparts...
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Nestled in the wild coves of Les Goudes in Marseille, Baie des Singes offers a captivating blend of history, stunning scenery and exceptional cuisine, making it a must-visit destination for those seeking an authentic Mediterranean experience....
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In La Riche, 3 km from Tours, St Cosme priory was founded in the 11th century to welcome pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. It was the home of Ronsard, prior from 1565 to 1585. The dwelling...
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"Beautiful as a fairy palace, grand as a king?s palace", said Victor Hugo. "A monument of pride", according to Flaubert. François 1st was the creator of Chambord, a symbol of the Renaissance, on the edge of the Val...
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A privileged witness of the Renaissance, Pierre de Ronsard, leader of the Pléiade along with Joachim du Bellay (1522-1560), was a great poet, a good Christian and even a good religious. This year marks the 500th anniversary of his...
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The old town of Le Mans. A Gallo-Roman city wall, a soaring cathedral, an old quarter worthy of the Plantagenets, rillettes, poulardes and capons: it's well worth including it in the twenty-four hours of a discovery tour....
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Les Sources de Caudalie is a 5-star hotel-spa nestling in the vineyards of Château Smith Haut Lafitte, a Graves Grand Cru Classé. Alice and Jérôme Tourbier have designed a complex in total harmony with the surrounding environment, combining art and...
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In the Loir-et-Cher region, close to Cheverny and the château that inspired Hergé's Moulinsart, Les Sources de Cheverny echoes Caudalie. Visitors come here to discover a luxury hotel and beauty products based on...
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Situated in the Bouches du Rhône region, between the Alpilles, Pays d'Aix, Luberon and Camargue, Salon-de-Provence is surrounded by countryside where the olive tree is king. Its history is reflected in the architectural heritage of the old town centre and the quartier des savonniers, in the...
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Just a 5-minute walk from the Musée Nostradamus, the 4-star Hotel La Réserve is the ideal place to explore the treasures of Salon-de-Provence, such as the Château de l'Empéri, the Marius Fabre soap factory and the charming streets of the old town.
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In the Southern Vosges, Alsace and Franche-Comté meet and invite us to share a little of their rich history. With its cultural, gastronomic and architectural heritage, as well as its military legacy, the Vosges Massif is a generous place to visit in any season....
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The Italia Veloce exhibition offers a panorama of Italian art in the 20th century. Through paintings, advertising posters, cinema, photography and furniture. Futurism is the main theme. Collecting modern art Juliette Faivre-Preda,...
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Nestled in a magnificent 2,500-hectare reserve in the south-west of Mauritius, in the heart of the former sugar estate of Bel Ombre, the luxurious Heritage Resorts Le Telfair complex stretches from the hilltops to the turquoise lagoon, in a...
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Aboard a legendary steamer, the SS Sudan, we'll be following the course of this royal river and that of Egyptian history. From Luxor to Aswan, the last paddlewheel steamer takes us on a journey through the history of Egypt.
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In the gentleness of its lakes and well-watered hills, history and nature live side by side in harmony. Here's a snapshot of a tranquil countryside. Confolens, the abbey of Saint-Amant-de-Boixe and the Longeville estate are all worth a visit....
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With its white stone facades, arcaded streets, Grosse Horloge, Renaissance Town Hall and beautiful 17th and 18th century shipowners? residences, La Rochelle boasts a remarkable architectural heritage. It is also the 2nd largest port...
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The capital of the Charente region has many treasures to offer visitors: Saint-Pierre cathedral, the resurgence of the river Touvre, Romanesque buildings... not forgetting the annual International Comic Strip Festival. Lovers of heritage, culture and...
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In Japan, the tradition of tattooing is reserved for the yakuza, the Japanese mafia. Still frowned upon by the population, tattooing is tolerated by Westerners and tourists, but remains a negative connotation in the Archipelago. Generally speaking, tattooed people are...
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Nine white villages, a few colourful harbours, soft light and a 2.9km bridge that rises above the waves and has linked the island to the mainland since 1988, the Ile de Ré boasts a natural heritage of exceptional beauty. Not forgetting, in summer...
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In Deauville, in the magnificent Franciscan convent, a remarkable exhibition brings together thirty years of creative work by the immense painter Zao Wou-Ki (1920-2013). The exhibition, entitled "The alleys of another world", reveals for the first time the breadth of the artist's...
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In the melting pot of Basque culture that is Saint-Jean-de-Luz and its famous bay opening out onto the Atlantic Ocean, the Grand Hôtel is a chic and elegant establishment for a stay of leisure and relaxation. Corsairs and Pirates Olivier Fréchet, who lives in Urrugne...
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In Japan, it is known as chanoyu or sad? Chanoyu literally means "hot water for tea" and usually refers to the ceremony itself. The tea ceremony is a moment of sharing that forms part of the wider philosophy of...
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Near Saumur, we invite you to discover three emblematic sites in the Loire Valley: the remarkable garden of Puygirault, the tufa sculptures of Pierre et Lumière and the Mushroom Museum with the largest collection of mushrooms in the world.
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The first Mission Dress Day was celebrated on 15 March. Imposed at the end of the 18th century to cover the body in accordance with Christian morality, this dress is for some a symbol of Oceanic cultures and for others a symbol of...
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The art of arranging flowers originated in China and developed in Japan under the influence of Buddhism, which was introduced there in the 6th century. It was customary for monks to offer flowers as part of their rituals, and to place them...
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A landmark in Budapest city centre, the Párisi Udvar welcomed us for a few days, during a family celebration. This historic jewel houses one of the most refined five-star hotels in the Unbound Collection by Hyatt. Unquestionably one of the most beautiful...
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More than just a stopover in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, the town of Cognac, birthplace of François 1er and Jean Monnet, one of the fathers of modern Europe, gave its name to the famous eau-de-vie made from the region's white wine,...
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In Zermatt, the highest resort in Europe (3883 m), the 4-star Schweizerhof, in the style of a family home, is within walking distance, just a few minutes from the cable car and the station. You can also get there by horse-drawn carriage or electric taxi...
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Every year in February, the classic mimosa festival in Mandelieu, in the Alpes-Maritimes, maintains the tradition of floral floats, each one telling a story. This year, the theme was "The Olympics gone wild". Ah! the...
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In January, Peru recovered more than two hundred pre-Hispanic archaeological objects - ceramics, sculptures, textiles and objects of indigenous art - from collectors and institutions in several countries. A few weeks earlier, forty-one archaeological pieces were recovered from...
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Since 6 December 2023, a reform of federal legislation on the protection of American Indian heritage has required establishments to obtain the agreement of the tribes concerned before exhibiting their heritage. The December update of the regulations governing the...
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Buto is a contemporary dance form founded in the 1960s by the Japanese dancers Tatsumi Hijikata (1928-1986) and Kazuo Ono (1906-2010). Hijikata created a form of expression that was transcultural, transgressive and revolutionary, rejecting institutionalised artistic styles but sometimes making reference to...
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Jean-Pierre Nadir, founder of FairMoove, an online travel agency that reconciles travel, ecology and sustainable tourism, spoke at the Centre d?études des indépendants du voyage (Cediv) convention in Sicily at the end of November. Meet this entrepreneur...
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Situated in the south of Spain, crossed by the Guadalquivir, the old Moorish oued el Kebir that the navigator and discoverer of the New World once sailed along with his fleet, Seville is a unique combination of Mudéjar elegance, Iberian joie de vivre, fiery...
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Lithium is an essential metal in the manufacture of computers, smartphones and, above all, electric car batteries. Demand is exploding as sales of electric vehicles continue to rise (on average, a battery contains 10 kg of lithium)....
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From Naples to Taormina, from Capri to the villages of the Amalfi Coast, this maritime cruise offered by CroisiMer takes us on a voyage of discovery through southern Italy and north-eastern Sicily. An incursion into the spirals of time...
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This seemingly extravagant affair began with a revelation made in October 2016 to a French explorer, Thierry Jamin, founder of the Peruvian Institute Inkarri-Cusco, an NGO dedicated to archaeological research. This specialist in pre-Columbian civilisations...
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One hundred years after the death of Pierre Loti (1850-1923), Charente maritime, Rochefort and Oléron are paying tribute to the many facets of this exceptional naval lieutenant with a series of events and exhibitions. The Charente Maritime department, with its rich...
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Nicolas Dubreuil, explorer of the polar worlds, hunts with the Inuit. Whether by kayak or sled, hunting is the only way to survive.
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Famadihana, or turning of the bones, is a funeral custom found in the highlands of Madagascar. It is an important part of ancestor worship. Depending on the family and how much money they have, the dead may be turned over several times after burial. In theory, the turning takes place every seven years, unless in the meantime a deceased person visits a relative in a dream to ask him or her to look after him or her.
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It was in the Sôrak mountains in South Korea that we met Park Dong Jun, a member of the Simmani brotherhood of wild ginseng seekers. Photographer Pierre Bessard had the privilege of following him on his quest for this now extremely rare root. A plant so sacred and precious that only the "chosen" of Sansin (or Sanshin), the mountain spirit, can find her after dreamlike visions and ritual purification.
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The Hôtel de Caumont in Aix-en-Provence is presenting some sixty works by the great artist from Nice from an unprecedented angle: that of the intimate. Internationally renowned for his monochrome paintings and his famous IKB (International Klein Blue) pigment, which he patented in 1960...
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The giraffe women, Burmese refugees from the Padaung ethnic group, are confined to villages guarded by the Thai authorities.
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In Borneo, in Sarawak, we met an Iban tribe and spent a few days in a longhouse, a traditional "longhouse" sometimes described as a "village under one roof". A habitat perfectly adapted to the equatorial environment, but threatened...
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Criss-crossed by an extensive network of footpaths, the Mafate cirque, accessible only on foot, is one of the island's hiking myths. Wild and enchanting, Mafate has to be earned. But what a beauty! The noise of man does not affect it: you can even forget!
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Opening in Marseille in June 2022, Cosquer Méditerranée reproduces a major site in the history of Palaeolithic cave art. This underwater cave, the only one of its kind in the world, was listed as a historic monument in 1992. Dive into this jewel of humanity's heritage and relive the Cosquer adventure.
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Palaeontologist and professor at the Collège de France, Yves Coppens died on 22 June 2022. He was inextricably linked with Lucy, a small australopithecine aged 3.2 million years, discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia during an international mission that he co-directed with the American Donald Johanson and the geologist...
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Dogon mythology, revealed to ethnologist Marcel Griaule in 1946 by the old hunter-initiate Ogotemmêli, has been reconstructed in his book Dieu d?eau. A complex mythological universe, transmitted orally from generation to generation of initiates.
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Half-female, half-fish, half-terrestrial, half-aquatic, Mami Wata is an African divinity, a legendary spirit linked to vodun. This cult is particularly prevalent among the Fon (Benin and Togo), Ashanti (Ghana) and Yoruba (mainly Nigeria) peoples. Meet this powerful mermaid, the object of so much...
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With population growth and changes in food consumption, the need for water is increasing, while the resource is being affected by climate change. What are the prospects for people living in the Amazon, in the deserts of Africa or in the...
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Among the tantras practised in Nepal and India, the Chandamahâroshana tantra remained a secret until 2015, when it was translated into French. Previously passed down only from master to disciple, this tantra was given by Dharma Guruji,...
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My first encounter with trance was during an ethnopsychiatric consultation I ran at the Centre Georges Devereux, a university center providing psychological assistance to migrant families.
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Part memoir, part historical novel, this is the life of an extravagant Nepalese king, a contemporary of Louis XIV. An extraordinary monarch, poet, magician, warrior, great builder and seducer, his life is a veritable Himalayan epic in which Éric Chazot, the...
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Every culture has its own predominant narrative about the world. So wherever we live, we inherit these narratives with which we all forge our identities. What do these stories tell? Do they have common origins? Are there universal myths?
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Its grandiose landscapes, its wild nature and the magnificent hiking trails that criss-cross it have made the reputation of this beautiful land of France emerged in the middle of the Indian Ocean. We are "in the perfumed land that the sun caresses", as Baudelaire wrote in his poem "À une dame créole".
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A megalopolis of almost 13 million inhabitants, a "high-tech" octopus of concrete and steel entangled in a tangle of motorways on piles, Seoul appears at first sight to be an ultra-modern city. But this cloak of neon lights and giant screens conceals an age-old culture that is still very much alive among the Koreans: shamanism. Meet these servants of the "formless".
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Perched at an altitude of 2,000 metres on the edge of a cliff, the Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort invites travellers to discover the magnificent mountain landscapes of the north of the Sultanate of Oman.
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A green oasis in the heart of Rio de Janeiro, the Botanical Gardens are a UNESCO World Heritage Biosphere Reserve, home to part of the Atlantic Forest.
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It is rare to see the gardens of the Château de Versailles in the snow. The stone and marble statues are wrapped in a green sheet, the foliage bends under the weight of the snowflakes and the topiaries are covered in white. Take a stroll through this setting so beloved of the Sun King, which has established itself as a masterpiece of 17th-century French art.
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Whether in the Pelourinho district or in more out-of-the-way parts of the capital of the state of Bahia and Brazil?s first capital, from 1548 to 1763, many artists are colouring the walls with frescoes inspired by Bahian culture, marked by its visceral attachment to Africa.
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During a trip with CroisiEurope, we discovered one of Africa's most beautiful nature reserves: the Chobé National Park in Bostwana. A water and land safari to penetrate a pristine wilderness where the only predators encountered are lions, leopards and crocodiles.
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Nearly 2,000 different plant species grow in Greenland. In order to survive the cold and the short summer season, they have developed survival strategies, such as dwarfism, that enable them to withstand difficult climatic conditions, in particular snow cover for much of the year and the cold.
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The Foz Côa archaeological park is located in the heart of the Upper Douro?s "terra quente" (warm lands), the largest known complex of cave paintings dating back to the Upper Palaeolithic period.
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Last October, aboard the MS Vivaldi belonging to the Strasbourg-based company CroisiEurope, we travelled up the Danube from its mouth on the Black Sea to Vienna in Austria.
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Launched in June with a first issue focusing on the call of the forest and the people who depend on it, Natives has just published its second issue, with a fine dossier on 'Elles' and the figures of the sacred feminine, the...
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Nestling in 35 hectares of parkland at the foot of Mont Ventoux, Château Martinay offers guests the elegance and charm of an 18th-century residence. A bucolic setting, ideal for an intimate break.
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An exceptional guest palace adjoining the Royal Palace in Marrakech, Villa Makassar is a double riad entirely designed and furnished in the art deco style of the 1920s and 1930s.
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Cuba is multiple, complex, mixed, heterogeneous and this reality is visible everywhere. In the streets, in the music, in the cults, in the culture, in the derelict buildings. A journey between beautiful American cars and horse-drawn carriages, between poetry and bitter beauty.
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As CroisiEurope prepares its summer resumption, combining safety and proximity, two new destinations - Corsica and the Canaries - and two interesting offers have just been proposed by the Strasbourg-based company, leader in river cruising.
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In Dongwe, on the south-east coast of Zanzibar, the luxurious 5-star Zawadi hotel is built on a coral reef, facing the Indian Ocean. Aesthetics and wonder guaranteed.
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Why are there erotic sculptures on the props of Kathmandu's pagodas? What is the relationship between sex and the sacred? This book - Tantra, Theology of Love and Freedom - is the fruit of decades of field research and provides answers to these questions. A journey to the heart of the cults of ecstasy.
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For centuries, its sublime landscapes, spices and precious stones have attracted sailors and adventurers. Today, as in the past, Ceylon continues to seduce its guests. A garden paradise in which to combine cultural discovery and relaxation.
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From 12 to 14 June 2020, Artrotters is taking you to see Bizet?s famous opera Carmen at one of the temples of Spanish opera, Barcelona?s Liceu, on La Rambla.
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It is along the south-east coast of the island of Zanzibar, bordering one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, that the Raguz family has planted its chain of intimate and discreet hotels, 'The Zanzibar Collection'. Facing the coral reef, the Baraza is one of those unspoilt retreats where the blue of the sky and sea are the only limits to our dreams.
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"From the sea we live" is the motto of this island, 4 km long and 1.5 km wide, located off the Gulf of Morbihan. A paradise for sailors, fishermen and nature lovers, Houat is the perfect place to discover its exceptional flora and fauna, go cycling or follow the coastal paths.
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In Istanbul?s Edinerkapi district, the church of Saint-Sauveur-in-Chora is home to some stunning mosaics and frescoes dating back to the Byzantine Empire.
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Approximately 1 hour from Nizwa, in the spectacular Ad-Dakhiliyah region, the Sahab by Al Nahda 4-star hotel is perched at an altitude of 2,000 metres, on the edge of gorges carved out of the Jebel Al Akhdar massif on the Sayq plateau.
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Illustrated with talent by photographer Guillaume de Laubier, Je viens d?ici is a book written by Hervé Morin, President of the Normandy Region since 2015, in which he presents the personalities, landscapes and remarkable sites that he loves.
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Introduced by the Russians near Murmansk in the 1960s to provide new fishing resources, the red king crab has invaded the coasts of Norway and Svalbard, the islands halfway between Norway and the Pole.
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In the south-west of Tunisia, in the oasis of Tozeur, the Anantara group has just opened its first resort in North Africa.
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On board the MS Vivaldi, operated by the Strasbourg-based company CroisiEurope, we will be travelling through Mitteleuropa. This is the Europe that, over the centuries, has been torn apart and built up in the Danube basin.
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A new brand from La Fugue, the specialist in exceptional cultural trips founded nearly 40 years ago by Frédéric Pfeffer, Artrotters is a creator of short-break cultural trips.
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Located on the edge of the Wadi Al Abiyad (or White Valley), the luxury Dunes by Al Nahda 5* camp has pitched its tents in the desert closest to Muscat.
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From Tokyo to Wakayama and its onsen.
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Located in the prestigious Renaissance Bourbon del Monte palace in Sansepolcro, Tuscany, the Aboca Museum tells the story of the age-old relationship between man and plants, and of herbal medicine over the centuries.
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It is a romantic city, bathed in lakes, where the palaces still rustle with the splendour of the Maharanas. We are in Udaïpur, capital of Rajasthan's oldest kingdom, Mewar.
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The MS Elbe Princesse II, the 55th ship in the CroisiEurope fleet, is meeting us at the port of Tegel, north of Berlin, for an inaugural cruise that will take us to Prague, along the River Havel,...
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