Palace Hotel and Spa is a beautiful 5 stars luxury hotel in Anacapri , the village on the island of Capri, Italy.  The hotel stands 300 meters above sea level, overlooking the open Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Naples. The hotel is stylish and exudes modern Italian charm and is located in a quieter part of the island far from the crowds of Capri.

The Capri Palace has 85 rooms, four with their own private gardens and heated swimming pool and 5 luxuriously furnished suites.

Guest rooms are opulent in gleaming white, with chandeliers, tile and marble baths and canopy beds.

Amenities: Bar, Childcare, Cleaning Service Available, Concierge, Gym, High Speed Internet, Pool, Restaurant, Room Service and Spa.

The outdoor pool is heated and the beauty farm is just the place to indulge. 

The Capri Beauty Farm’s personalized and state-of-the-art treatments are the product of ongoing medical research.

L’Olivo, La Terrazza, La Piscina: The Palace Hotel Restaurants continue the long-established family tradition for Mediterranean food, homemade bread, pasta and desserts. In addition to the poolside terrace, a number of intimate areas have been created within the restaurant featuring fire places, book cases and easy armchairs.

This installation is created by the american artist Jeffrey Inaba, in collaboration with Luca Peralta Studio, Rome, Italy, at Rome’s Policlinico Umberto I, the most important hospital in the Italian capital and one of the largest in Europe. 

The structure is focused on the waiting and transit areas, used every day by large numbers of people. Within the delicate and complex social context that a hospital represents, the artist offers different kinds of space where patients, passers-by, visitors and doctors can enjoy moments of relaxation.

Colors, lights, geometric shapes and various environmentally friendly elements give the hospital a new, dynamic energy. Through art, waiting becomes potential energy, transmitting positivity and bringing an element of comfort to an architectural space normally seen as a temporary and highly emotional environment.  The solar PV system generates more than the energy needed for the electricity to run the lights and the monitors and DVD player inside the sphere.

There really is no way to describe the uniqueness of this island – very romantic and picturesque. Burano is a little, very pretty island, located about 30 minutes by ferry from Venice. It’s famous for its lace making and the colorful fishermen’s houses. No cars, just boats, clothes hanging out on lines from the windows…

It is very interesting to see the older women working on the lace and visiting the lace museum. There is very little business or shopping here, as it’s almost all residential. On the main street, you will find a shop filled with masks.

The duoMo Hotel is a design hotel in the historic centre of Rimini – one of Italy’s popular seaside resorts with gorgeous beaches and an amazing night life. The hotel is close to the most important cultural places of the city, 400m from the train station, boutiques, authentic restaurants and exclusive clubs. Its future-forward design provides an ultra cool setting to unwind, meet people and conduct business, making the Duomo the trendiest design hotel around.   

The duoMo hotel is the perfect place to hold a meeting, provides guests with first-class business facilities in its meeting room and hi-tech business centre.

Its designers – Ron Arad Associates have integrated the original facade into the interior by wrapping it all in new “skin” which meanders its way to attract a younger clientele. The private “noMi club” offers only the highest quality meals, excellent Italian wine list and a large selection of cocktails and often hosts international artists and DJs. With its live DJs is a hotspot for guests and locals – the Sunday party is not to be missed.

Capraia is a wild and hilly island, the only volcanic one in the Tuscan Archipelago, Italy. A 300 to 400 m ridge divides it into two unequal slopes. On the west, sheer walls of rock are cracked into ravines and riddled with caves, to the east the slopes are in a series of shallow valleys down to the sea. Photo by: Ravello1

One part of the island is covered in brush with a few small villas and old farm buildings used barely in the summer. A Roman fortress overlooks the town, crumbling watchtowers dot the landscape, and ruined villas recall the Romans’ long romance with the island. The network of trails that hikers used today are 2,000 year-old Etruscan logging trails. Photo by: wenzday01

Nature has largely reclaimed Capraia, and most of the island, and the sea for miles around it, is part of a huge National Park and Marine Reserve. There’s no nightlife, no neon and no marketing scam to exploit the pristine Mediterranean flora and fauna. For visitors, the symbiosis of land, sea and people is like stumbling on a blueprint of how you want the Mediterranean to be. Photo by: Boga85

When to go: April to October – but July to August are both the hottest months and the most crowded. Population: 366. Getting there: By ferry from Livorno, or by private yacht. You should know: If you come by boat, make sure you don’t land within the environmental reserve, or use a drag anchor. Photo by: Boga85

Pienza is a renaissance town near Siena, and it’s one of the beautiful hill top towns of the entire Tuscany. It was built by the order of Pope Enea Silvio Piccolomini in 1558 on top of the medieval castle of Corsignano, which marked the border between the possessions of Siena, Florence and Orvieto. Thanks to its position (in a panoramic position overlooking the Orcia river valley) Pienza was of great importance during the Middle Ages. 

The quite atmosphere of the center, the incredible landscapes of the countryside all around, a coffee sitting in the main square will be an unforgettable experience. In 1996 UNESCO designed Pienza as past of a World Heritage Site. The visit to the ancient hermitage of Pienza is probably one of the most fascinating and special experiences not included in the usual tourism routes in the area.

This charming hideaway on the Ligurian Sea is a favorite vacation spot of many Europeans tourists. Even back in Roman Times Portofino was called the world’s most charming port. It is one of the most photogenic fishing ports in the Mediterranean. Once a quiet fishing village, today Portofino is best known for beachside cliffs that are speckled with pastel-colored houses and its chic boutiques, fashionable resorts, luxurious hotels and first-rate sports facilities.

Most of the water along the coast is a protected area and it is forbidden to enter there. There are 20 dive sites and diving can be arranged through local dive agencies. Swimming is allowed only in certain areas and boating is restricted near some of the shoreline.

Tourists can enjoy with: windsurfing facilities, sailing, tennis, golf, hiking, and plenty of beach amenities. Take a relaxing walk through the unique beach or indulge yourself in the wonders of Ligurian gastronomy.

One of smallest regions in Italy, Liguria is also known as the Italian Riviera. It is a land of contrasts. Filled with romantic fishing villages, rock cliffs, and sandy beaches, Liguria is home to luxuries seaside resorts and the country’s largest commercial and naval port.

The spectacular journey along the Ligurian coast, near the border with France, goes through tunnel after tunnel, always bursting forth from darkness into warm sunlight, the aquamarine sea glimmering at your side. The region is used as the background area for movies about spies and sports car racing. 
 

Liguria is home to seventeen protected areas. The most famous of them – Marine Reserve attracts 5000 scuba divers to its waters every year. The climate makes it possible to practice many sports almost all year long. Water sports reign along the coast: sailing, windsurfing, kite-surfing, kayaking, scuba diving and water skiing. The inland area offers excellent options for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. All of this makes Liguria a major tourist spot…

Puglia (or Apulia, in English) is a long, narrow peninsula, offers more than 800 km of coastline, surrounded by vast wheat fields, olive groves, almond orchards and vineyards. Puglia produces one-tenth of the wine drunk in Europe. Many people don’t even know where it is, but if you visit, you’ll fall in love with it.

The area is called “Le Murge” and it’s the second largest plain in Italy. One of the major attractions that you will see only in Puglia is a “trulli”. They are unique structures to the area, which are whitewashed cones made of stones held together without mortar. Also there you will find an excellent archeological museum, a host of cathedrals dating back to the 10th century, Greek and Roman ruins and some of the very cleanest beaches and water in the Mediterranean.

You have the opportunity to experience this Mediterranean region by biking through the whitewashed cottages, or take of some cookery classes in the Cooking School, and of course, you can taste different types of wines in the Puglia’s wine tours.

It is located on the incredibly scenic Amalfi Coast, Italy. The extensive property is perches on the cliff above the sea, distribution in a series of natural terraces – from the coastal road cascades down to the water. Two elevators transport guests past citrus groves and lush Mediterranean gardens to the seaside level of the estate. About the views…I don’t say anything….

The luxury rooms are designed with original antiques furniture and offer to its guests five-star amenities. Each of the 62 rooms has a balcony with view on the Amalfi Coast and have interesting botanical name such as “Casa dell’Arancio” (House of the Orange), “Vite” (Grapevine), “Campanule” (Bell flowers) and “Limoni” (Lemons).

You can enjoy with a swimming pool, sunbathing decks, fitness area, bar and open-air restaurant with a large terrace for dining. The highly qualified SPA center offers a superb wellness facilities including Turkish Bath, Sauna, different types of massages, facial and full body treatments.

Les Bains des Docks is a 5′000 square-metre complex, recently opened in the historical Port of Le Havre. The complex offers wonderful atmosphere of tranquility with spectacular play of natural light soothing the eyes and masterful acoustics touching the soul, pools and treatment areas taking care of the rest of the body.

The main color of the complex is white, but each section has a flowing water curtains, colorful walls and different textures. Every pool-lap-pool, children’s pool, whirlpool is constructed to create a unique ”private space” for its individual users. The complex also offers saunas, a hammam, cold and hot baths, spa areas with hydro-massage and aquagym areas.

The Docks in the south end of the port city of La Havre are the oldest in France. The whole area is going through massive reformation with the goal of making it cultural and shopping neighborhood. When completed, the area will featured a large park, a tropical greenhouse, cinemas, bowling alleys and a shopping center plus Sea Centre in 2011.

This Sea Centre will be a display of shipping and sailing. It will be a 120-meter-high metallic structure with exhibit areas, an aquarium, a meteorological station and a restaurant with panoramic 360-degree views of Port of Le Havre.

The complex is designed by the 2008 Prtizker-prize winning architect Jean Nouvel. He also projected many well-known public buildings literally span the world from New York to Reykjavik, Dubai, Seoul and Tangiers. Recent interesting buildings include the bright-red research center for the maker of brakes for luxury cars, Brembo, in Italy.

]]> http://www.wayfaring.info/2009/06/15/les-bains-des-docks-complex/feed/ 0 http://www.wayfaring.info/2009/06/09/5-amazing-stars/ http://www.wayfaring.info/2009/06/09/5-amazing-stars/#comments Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:40:57 +0000 misha http://www.wayfaring.info/?p=10168

Star forts are amazing and really become visually stunning when you look down on them from above. This style of fortification design was adopted in the early 16th century as people realized that simpler, often circular forts were pretty crap when it came to the job in hand: defense. Photo: Bourtange Netherlands

Many of them still stand today in varying sizes. Some are empty, some contain ruins. some, as you’ll see below, contain entire villages. Here are 5 of the best star forts on Earth… Photos: Palmanova Italy

Photos: Goryokaku Japan

Photos: Almelda Portugal

Photo: Naarden Netherlands

Pescara – a city in the Abruzzo region of Italy, situated at sea level on the Atlantic coast. The coast is low and sandy and the beach extends untouched for some distance to both the north and the south of the river. The city has Mediterranean climate typical of Atlantic Sea with dry hot summers, rainy winters and high humidity all year round. Pescara is also city of culture, art and relax.

In this article I’m very pleased and attracted by one of the fountain in Pescara’s Della Rinascita, created by Japanese architect Toyo Ito and integrated on 14 December last year, cracked by itself. The celebration of the inauguration of Plaza Della Rinascita was attended by 10, 000 people with great expectation and participation in which citizenship has been waiting for the completion led.

The day in the square is continued with all the events planned and rebirth of Plaza Lounge has closed the concert with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Pescara with its 55 elements entertained the audience playing known opera arias.

The fountain itself comprises 20 cubic meters of transparent acrylic material dubbed in the huge wine glass, five meter high on the two meter-square base. Passers- by heard creaking noises and the water in the tremendous bowl appeared to freeze. The monument which costs more than one million euros has been cordoned off by the police.