Eight Paintings Every Traveler Should See (And Where to See Them)
Posted October 17, 2009 , comments closedEight Paintings Every Traveler Should See (And Where to See Them)
Many travelers have a bucket list of places they want to go before they, well, kick the bucket. They want to see new sights, scale soaring mountains and tap their toes in exotic seas … and slowing down for a museum tour isn’t always high on that list. But sometimes it should be.
Here are eight classic paintings every traveler needs to add to their list before it is too late.
The Mona Lisa in the Musée du Louvre – Paris, France
Some experts speculate that the Mona Lisa is a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci
So maybe you’ve heard Leonardo’s leading lady is a disappointment. The painting is small, it is hard to see and the crowds are overwhelming. Well, it is all true. The painting is small and the crowds are big, but few paintings in the world have stirred as much mystery as this 16th century portrait. And even if she is a tad tiny, the Louvre is the largest national museum in France, the most visited museum in the world and is a 12th century landmark in the City of Lights … it can’t all be disappointing, right?
Starry Night in the Museum of Modern Art – New York City, New York, USA
Don McLean’s song “Starry, Starry Night” is based on this painting
Although he only sold one painting in his lifetime, Vincent van Gogh is a big star in the artistic world. Arguably his most famous painting, Starry Night is one of the most replicated prints in the world and is a must-see masterpiece for vacationers heading to the Big Apple. Located in Midtown Manhattan, The Museum of Modern Art has been called the most influential museum of modern art in the world.
Guernica in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía – Madrid, Spain
The painting revealed Picasso’s horror at Nazi soldiers in Spain
Pablo Picasso’s Guernica painting depicts the bombing of Guernica, Spain by German and Italian planes during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. The mural was commissioned by the Spanish Republican government to adorn the Spanish Pavilion during the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris. It is currently on display at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid where it serves as global reminder of the sobering catastrophes of war.
The Birth of Venus in the Uffizi Gallery – Florence, Italy
Botticelli’s political connections saved his painting from fires that destroyed other “pagan” art
The Italian Renaissance was born in Florence and thus, it is only fitting one of the most famous Italian paintings, the Birth of Venus, is housed in Florence’s oldest, and most famous, museum-The Uffizi Gallery. There is much speculation in the art world as to when and why Sandro Botticelli created his masterpiece-which depicts Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, emerging from a seashell and being handed a flowered cloak by the Horae, the goddesses of the seasons. However, there is no denying The Birth of Venus should be added to every art-loving traveler’s list of must-see paintings.
The Kiss in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere – Vienna, Austria
Klimt liked closeness-similarly nestled couples appear in two of his other paintings
Gustav Klimt’s Der Kuss, or The Kiss, shows a couple in varying hues of gold mosaic-like colors sharing … that’s right, a kiss. Painted during Klimt’s golden period, The Kiss is considered his most famous painting and it is believed that Klimt himself, along with his longtime partner, Emilie Flöge, modeled for the painting. In 2003, a €100 Painting Coin, was issued with The Kiss on one side and a studio-bound Klimt on the reverse. The painting is currently housed in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna.
The Scream in The Munch Museum – Oslo, Norway
This painting has also been referred to as “The Cry”
If one is good, then four is better … or at least Norway-native Edvard Munch thought so. He created not one, but four versions of his most-famous painting, The Scream, which portrays a tormented sexless figure against a blood-red landscape of Oslofjord. One version of the painting is housed in the National Gallery in Oslo, another is owned by Norwegian billionaire, Petter Olsen and the remaining two paintings are property of the Munch Museum. However, one of the most famous versions, a 32 inch X 30 inch tempera on cardboard, was stolen from the museum in 2004 and has yet to be returned. Now that is something to scream about.
American Gothic in the Art Institute of Chicago – Chicago, Illinois, USA
Notice how the pitchfork is echoed in the farmer’s overalls
Every traveler has seen a parody of this painting in some form or another, whether it was Kermit and Piggy, Mickey and Minnie or Homer and Marge. But Grant Wood’s original American Gothic masterpiece-who was modeled by his spinster sister and his dentist is proudly displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago. Interestingly enough, this famous Iowan couple never modeled together for the painting and neither of them ever stood in front of the Carpenter Gothic house that sits in the background.
Water Lilies in the Musée Marmottan – Paris France
Monet suffered from cataracts when he completed many of the Water Lilies paintings
Claude Monet’s Water Lilies series is a compilation of 250 oil paintings from the flower gardens at his home in Giverny, in northern France. The paintings are dispersed throughout the world in major museums in France, the United States and Japan. The largest collection of Monet’s work is housed in a 19th Century mansion, the Museè Marmottan, that was the beneficiary of more than 130 paintings, watercolors, pastels and drawings when Monet’s son left them to the museum in his will.
Read about author Cherrye Moore and check out her other BootsnAll articles
Additional photo credits:
Picasso by Mark Berry on Flickr, Botticelli by MrOmega on Flickr, American Gothic by Opacity on Flickr
Atlas Obscura: DYI Temples, Castles, Cathedrals
Posted September 30, 2009 , comments closedFor those of you anxiously awaiting this next installment of wonder-inspiring, off-the-beaten-path places that don’t make it into traditional guidebooks. This week’s Atlas Obscura theme is self-built temples (in Italy), castles (in the U.S.) and cathedrals (in Spain)!
Temple of Damanhur, Italy
Detail of a stained-glass windown at Temple of Damanhur
The Temple of Damanhur has come to be known as the Eighth Wonder of the World. Beneath a suburban house in northern Italy lies a massive underground temple built entirely in secret by a group of non-architects, working around the clock for 15 years.
Dug out of the rock without building or excavation plans, the Temple of Damanhur is a massive underground temple winding for “over 8,500 cubic metres on five different levels, connected to one another by hundreds of metres of corridor.”
And somewhat unbelievably, its creation was all overseen by a middle-aged, former insurance broker…
Bishop’s Castle, Colorado USA
They say a man’s house is his castle, and for Jim Bishop, this couldn’t be more true. A frontier spirit, when Jim decided it was time for him and his wife to get a house, he figured he would build it himself. What started as a one-room stone cottage in Colorado would soon grow to astounding proportions: Bishop’s Castle may be the largest one-man architecture project in the world.
Bishop’s Castle, Colorado
Today, Bishop’s Castle reaches over 16 stories high, has three large cathedral windows, wrought-iron walkways and a steel fire-breathing dragon. Jim Bishop is 63 and is still building. It is unlikely he will stop anytime soon.
Don Justo’s Self Built Cathedral
Don Justo in his self-built cathedral
Finally, the last of our self-built projects — though by no means the last of the self built projects, many more can be seen on the Atlas Outsider Architecture page — is a cathedral that can rival the great cathedrals of Rome, with one notable difference.
This one was built by a single, determined man.
It is, at its simplest, an ex-monk’s act of faith. After eight years in a Trappist order — and just prior to taking his vows — Don Justo Gallego Martinez was obliged to leave, considerably weakened by tuberculosis.
Out of the order but wanting to do right by God, Don Justo began laying the foundations of a great cathedral, without formal permission or permits and with his own hands on a plot of land bequeathed to him by his parents.
Today the frame of a large building, with a 40-meter-tall dome modeled on St. Peter’s in Rome, towers over the town of Mejorada del Campo, about 20km outside Madrid. Like the cathedrals of old, it will not reach completion during the lifetime of its 81-year-old architect.
What will happen to the building after Martinez’s death remains an open question. No one has yet stepped up to take over the project.
-The Atlas Obscura Team
Transavia pilot arrested over his role in Argentina’s Dirty War
Posted September 24, 2009 , comments closed- Brazilian airline GOL to sell at least 51.8 million shares
- GOL to raise $350 million from shares offer
- Billionaire Esteves named to TAM's board of directors
- Airline magnate released from house arrest
- Argentina government invests in modernization of national airline
- Judge orders arrest of Brazil airline magnate
- Artist 'tried to bite air crew'
- Chile's airline LAN to issue up to $200 mln in bonds
Sep 24, 2009
Argentina took another step towards confronting one of the darkest chapters in its history yesterday with the arrest of a pilot alleged to have played a direct role in “death flights” during the so-called Dirty War.
Julio Alberto Poch, 57, a retired naval pilot, is accused over the deaths of 1,000 people who were drugged and thrown from aircraft on the orders of the ruling junta between 1976 and 1983.
Mr Poch, a pilot for transavia.com, a Dutch budget airline, was arrested in front of passengers minutes before his Amsterdam-bound flight was about to take off from Manises airport in the Spanish city of Valencia on Tuesday.
Only one senior officer has been jailed for taking part in the notorious flights, in which left-wingers and other dissidents were “disappeared” by being dumped into rivers and the South Atlantic.
Mr Poch’s arrest is likely to renew controversy in Argentina over the way in which the country has pursued those who carried out crimes against humanity during the dictatorship.
After the fall of the military regime in 1983, Jorge Rafael Videla, head of the junta, was among the generals convicted of human rights crimes, including torture, murders and kidnappings, but, despite a series of trials, many “foot soldiers” remain at large.
Mr Poch is wanted in connection with four criminal investigations into “death flights”. He is alleged to have worked as a pilot attached to the notorious Naval Mechanics School in Buenos Aires, where the junta’s opponents were tortured and murdered.
After a year-long international investigation, an Argentine judge has alleged that Mr Poch boasted to colleagues about how he disposed of “terrorists” and was unrepentant about the military’s role during the dictatorship.
The pilot, who holds joint Dutch and Argentine nationality, was detained at the request of the Argentine Government by officers from Spain’s elite Fugitive Squad, which tracks down Nazi war criminals and mafia bosses. He is in custody in Spain but is expected to face proceedings for extradition to Argentina this week.
Mr Poch has worked for transavia since the early 1980s, when he fled Argentina after the fall of the dictatorship, according to sources close to the investigation in Argentina.
Judge Sergio Torres, who is leading the investigation, flew to the Netherlands in December to take statements from Mr Poch’s colleagues. Mr Poch allegedly confessed to other airline staff that he had taken part in the “death flights”. “He related the way the prisoners were thrown into the sea,” said a source.
One pilot told investigators that Mr Poch told them “exactly how he threw out people who were still alive because the idea was to execute them.” Mr Poch allegedly justified the killings by saying “it was a war” and that the victims had been drugged.
In 2005 Adolfo Scilingo, 62, a retired Argentine naval officer, was jailed for 640 years by a Spanish court for crimes against humanity, including extrajudicial execution. He was convicted of 30 counts of murder relating to drugging political prisoners and throwing them out of jets.
A report for the Argentine Government said that more than 11,000 people died or disappeared during the “Dirty War” but human rights groups believe the real number is closer to 30,000. At least 13,000 are said to have been killed by left-wing guerrillas during the same period.
In 2005 the Argentine Supreme Court annulled two amnesties shielding hundreds of former officers from charges of human rights abuses. Courts have handed down severe prison sentences for members of the security forces convicted of kidnapping, torturing and killing dissidents.
Transavia, which is owned by Air France-KLM, is to review its checks on staff after the arrest.
Discover the world of animation at Animadrid 2009 - LateRooms.com
Posted August 21, 2009 , add a comment) LateRooms.co reveals that Brits heading to sunny Spain later this month will have the chance to attend one of Madrid’s most colourful and entertaining festivals.
Animadrid takes place from September 24th to October 2nd and is a celebration of cartoons and animated film for adults.
The event is held in the area of Pozuelo de Alarcon, which is situated in the north-west of the city. It is easily accessible by public transport and within easy reach of most Madrid hotels.
Organised by the ministry of culture and tourism for the community of Madrid, the festival showcases the very best in present day animated film and features productions from around the world.
Visitors can “enjoy innumerable films of great beauty and originality, learn new film languages, [discover] the contrast between hand-crafted animation techniques and techniques using high technology, and [be submerged] in the creative process”, according to the event organisers.
Films spanning all genres will be on show, with comedy, horror, suspense, drama, action, science fiction and children’s cartoon films all included in the festival line-up.
US feature film Idiots and Angels by Bill Plympton scooped last year’s top award, while the prize for best international short animation film went to Australian Dennis Tupicoff for Chainsaw.
You can also visit our Spanish hoteles Madrid page.
Bank Holiday Travellers Warned to Book Car Hire Early
Posted , add a comment) Bank Holiday travellers looking for car hire could face high prices or no availability according to leading car hire comparison site Carrentals.co.uk, which is already reporting shortages in key locations such as Alicante and Malaga this August.
With recession fears leading many rental companies to cut stock levels as they predicted falling demand in 2009, customers are now suffering the impact with hefty price rises and lack of availability over the peak summer months.
Gareth Robinson, managing director of Carrentals.co.uk, says: “Lack of car hire availability is proving to be a big problem for many travellers this summer. The car hire companies have scaled back in light of the credit crunch, but visitor numbers during peak periods have held up. It’s customers who are being let down, with some paying hundreds of pounds more for their car than they did a year ago.
“Travellers need to book early and look beyond the big brand names. We compare up to 50 rental companies on our site, meaning that if one supplier has sold out one of the smaller suppliers may still have some availability. It’s all about shopping around and booking in advance to avoid getting caught out.”
A week’s Bank Holiday car hire in Orlando currently starts from just £15* a day, with prices from £18* a day in Crete, from £17* a day in Newquay and from £23* a day in Malaga.
Gareth adds: “The popular Bank Holiday locations such as key resorts in Spain are already busy, so travellers may well find that any cars they can book are charged at a premium. If you’re desperate for a car, do try looking a little further afield - for example at a downtown location, rather than the airport ? it may be less convenient for pick up, but the price could be significantly less.”
Carrentals.co.uk compares car hire deals from up to 50 rental companies, including Alamo, Budget, EasyCar, Holiday Autos and Sixt in over 9,000 locations worldwide.
To compare the latest car hire deals visit www.carrentals.co.uk. *Prices based on a one week rental from 29 August and are subject to change.
About Carrentals.co.uk
Carrentals.co.uk was launched in February 2003 and grew to become one of the UK’s leading online car hire companies by 2006.
In 2007 the company re-launched its site to create the first major online price comparator in the travel industry. Using the latest technology the Carrentals.co.uk site now searches up to 35 different car hire websites, providing an impartial comparison of the best prices available in over 9,000 locations.
Websites searched include Alamo, Budget, EasyCar, Ebookers, Hertz, Holiday Autos, Opodo, Sixt and Thrifty, with the Carrentals.co.uk site quickly comparing prices and allowing customers to refine their search by car type.
The Carrentals.co.uk site also features over 5,000 pages of travel information in a mini-guide format.
In 2008 Carrentals.co.uk was voted Best Car Hire Website in the Travolution Awards. To book or for further information visit www.carrentals.co.uk
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