Little Tuscany in the Heart of Paris

As if plucked from a 17th century Mediterranean estate waiting to transport Parisians to the hills of Florence; tucked away in a corner of Paris’ Luxembourg gardens is one of the city’s most underrated beauty spots. The Medici Fountain, crowned with an Italian grotto and flanked by ivy drapes, is an impossibly romantic place alluding…

Cape Town’s Vanishing Red Coke Dens

Given you’re a determined adventurer, should you find yourself in Cape Town, we figured you might be interested in stepping off the beaten track on a quest to find a slice of kitschy nostalgia. In one of the oldest suburbs of the city (and becoming the hippest), we’re looking for the illustrious red-and-white watering holes that…

The Place Where World War One Planes Still Fly

Wander through the quaint, old fashioned town of Rhinebeck in New York’s Hudson Valley, and you may feel as though you’ve stepped back to another era. Especially when you look up into the sky: for its quite common to see vintage airplanes circling high above all day long, the distinctive sound of old, single propeller…

Meet the Italian Grandmothers Making the World’s Rarest Pasta

Pasta makes everything better. This we know. But in the ancient villages of Sardinia, where the art of handmade pasta is practically a sacred ritual, there are ancestral, mouth-watering secrets that even the finest fettuccine can’t hold a candle to. We’re talking about the most beautiful and intricate shapes you’ve never seen; braided, stretched, twisted…

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Vacation House Hunting in the South of France

It’s becoming an annual tradition to take a summer trip down south with my girlfriends and this year is no different. We’re six friends with a similar budget (around 65 euros a night per person), looking for somewhere charming for one week with a pool, a good kitchen for cooking and space to dance under…

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Some of Nature’s Best Work is Hidden Away in Siberia

We’re constantly looking for untapped corners of the globe. The road less travelled. Proof that tourism hasn’t conquered everything. Today that search took us to the Altai Mountains, in the least-populous republic of Russia, where the frontier meets China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. Genetic research has suggested this Siberian landscape was the birthplace of Native Americans. Settlements…

And how would you fare quarantined inside one of these things?

If you know us, you know we love weird architectural history from the height of the utopian design age, but the idea of spending lockdown inside a radical sci-fi social experiment might take some convincing. This odd cluster of spherical houses is known as Bolwoningen, built in 1984 by artist Dries Kreijkamp as part of…

Run Your Own Vintage Bistro in the South of France this Summer

Nope, sorry, I refuse to stop imagining that I live in the past. This time – inside Grandmère Léone’s village bistrot in Provence. It’s about that time of year when Parisians start looking south to plan a summer escape from the city, and on my annual holiday house hunt, I stumbled upon this little gem,…

Stop Everything and take a Virtual Visit of Catalonia’s Crown Jewel

Imagine building a house with an unlimited budget and dying before you have the chance to move in! That’s what happened to Joaquim Navàs, the patron of Casa Navas, located in Reus, Catalonia, Spain, a design masterpiece which has remained in remarkable condition. This house on the surface might look like Art Nouveau at its…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DXXXVIII)

1. Why The US Capitol Has a bunch of Mysterious Tiny Doors 2. ‘Free architecture’ Arquitectura libre is a long-term project that focuses primarily on the architecture of remittances; the fantastical houses being built in Mexico, India and Romania. Found via Present & Correct, discover the growing collection of photos by Adam Wiseman. 3. Old Quarry…