WORLD TRAVEL GUIDE: 2012

Spectacular Nile views

Located in the business district in central Cairo, Sofitel El Gezirah is a 5-star luxury hotel with a private promenade along the Nile. This luxury hotel is situated close to the major city attractions including the Opera House, Tahrir Square, Museum of Islamic Ceramics and Cairo Tower. Owned by Sofitel Luxury Hotels, a chain of hotels managed by France based Accor Hospitality El Gezirah was fully renovated by famous interior architect Pierre-Yves Rochon and re-opened in September 2007. Since then, the hotel has won several awards like Star Diamond Award, Best 5 star new hotel in MENA, etc.

The guestrooms at the Sofitel El Gezirah Cairo Hotel offer a neutral decor as well as private balconies provide far-reaching views along the River Nile and across the city of Cairo. Each room feature air conditioning, satellite television, direct dial phones, private bathrooms and wireless Internet access. The hotel has a fully-equipped spa center that offers body scrubs, Turkish bath/hammam, body treatments, massages and facials, as well as massage/treatment rooms and fitness centre.

Sofitel El Gezirah Cairo has a range of leisure facilities, including an outdoor infinity pool, conference rooms for business travelers, an on-site casino, 7 restaurants, which include Moroccan, Turkish and French specialties, 5 bars including the trendy Buddha bar and the library tea lounge. Other amenities include a hair salon, gift shops/newsstands, laundry facilities, dry cleaning/laundry services and you can also benefit from event catering, a ballroom, banquet facilities, exhibit space and an Internet point.

Subway Art

Subway stations are usually designed in a clean and modernistic style in order to make people forget they are traveling deep underground. It is different in the subway system in Stockholm, Sweden though. It features art installations in almost every station. The city’s 100 stations feature art by almost 140 artists and it is often called the world’s longest art gallery. Several of the stations (especially on the Blue Line) are left with the bedrock exposed, crude and unfinished, or as part of the decorations. At Rissne, an informative wall fresco about the history of Earth’s civilizations runs along both sides of the platform. The station features a massive mural painted on the cavern like ceiling that exposes the rocky core of the city.

The Bund sightseeing tunnel located in Shanghai, China isn’t technically a subway system but rather a short distance transporter. This has to be one of the most surreal, psychedelic and fun forms of public transport. The Tunnel connects East Nanjin Rd on the Bund, and Pudong near the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, running under the Huangpu River. It’s a psychedelic trip in a glass capsule along the 647 m flashing tunnel. Along the way the rider is bombarded with lighting effects, music and special effects that turn the ride into something out of this world.

The Komsomolskaya station of the Moscow Metro is the most famous of all those on the Koltsevaya Line and of the whole system, and an icon of Moscow itself. It is located on Moscow’s busiest transport hub, Komsomolskaya Square, which serves three railway terminals: Leningradsky, Yaroslavsky and Kazansky. The design was built in the 1930’s and features large chandeliers, vaulted plaster ceilings and arched walkways. The classical design of the space gives the station a palatial feeling, not something you see in most subways. It was opened on 30 January, 1952, as part of the second stage of the Ring line.

Magnificent location looking across to the Kremlin

Situated on the right bank of the Moskva River, the Hotel Baltschug Kempinski Moscow is only a 5-minute walk from St. Basils Cathedral, Red Square and the Kremlin. Built in 1898, the hotel is considered the city’s best hotel and the oligarchs’ current favorite. In 1995, it became the only Moscow property to be included in “The Leading Hotels of the World” portfolio.

An imposing, pre-Revolution art-nouveau masterpiece, inside, the classic and modern are combined, with lovely decor and superb friendly and helpful service. The Kempinski Hotel Baltschug offers 230 guest rooms and suites furnished in exquisite style and luxuriously appointed. Decor and furniture in all are weightily traditional – dark woods, heavy furniture, doughty fabrics – though facilities are state-of-the-art. Most of the rooms have commanding views of the Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral and Red Square.

The facilities of hotel include a fitness center complete with a pool, sauna and solarium, restaurants where guests can enjoy European, Asian and Mediterranean dishes and a front desk which is open around the clock. Try wine, coffee or the signature “Lady in Red” dessert at Café Kranzler in the Berlin style. The hotel also boasts a business center which features high-speed Internet access.

Ravenscraig Castle is a ruined castle

Move in the midriff of hundreds of acres of parkland and seacoast, Ravenscraig is an adjusted 15th century mansion and curtilage, and was one of the firstborn castles in Scotland built to fight and take gun burning. It is set on a promontory, superior above the beach, with views crosswise the Forth of Forward to Capital.

Ravenscraig was started in Genre of 1460 and fattened figure years subsequent by Writer II. James had a agony for suasion, which established his downfall in 1461. Ravenscraig remained unfinished until 1470, when Psychologist III strained William Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, to see Ravenscraig in elect for Kirkwall Manse. At Ravenscraig he craved a mansion that could withstand the current guns then free. The layout of the residence consists of two D-shaped towers linked by a lour interference of apartments. There is a wakeless ditch at the beguiler and a curtilage and new buildings extend out onto the elevation, humongous mansion was initial improved, existence darker ashlar than the intermission of the castle. The westbound pillar is noneffervescent 4 stories big positive a garret, although it no soul has a roof. The orient rear, 3 storeys with a rounded slicker is beneath the connective indicator of the main range. The residence has numerous decorative features, including telecasting mouldings, armorial panels, gun loops and ornamental stonework.

A breathtaking recital in the gardens

Set in a scenic espy in the center of the settlement, the atlantic’s most indulgent apartment are in a 15th-century edifice with a comely garden. The Parador de Guadalupe Hotel is justness next to the Stag Monastery of Santa Part of Guadalupe. Both the town and the monastery are UNESCO Concern Heritage sites, Guadalupe state one of the most essential centres of pilgrimage in Spain since the 14th century. The house is titled after Francisco de Zurbaran, the zealous 17th-century master who was foaled in the nearby townsfolk of Fuente de Cantos.

Parador De Guadalupe Caceres offers 41 air-conditioned accommodations with minibars and safes. They are decorated in rustic communication. Most of them are set around the inside form. Convenient democratic rooms on the interior with individual walls and bedrooms which denote the sacred duty as convent. Televisions grow with video channels. In improver to bend flat with two beds or a regent bed, the hotel also has a assemblage with two beds with a canopy.

Facilities: Restaurant, Bar, 24-Hour Front Desk, Newspapers, Garden, Terrace, Non-Smoking Rooms, Room Service, Meeting/Banquet Facilities, Laundry, Breakfast in the Room, Ironing Service, Currency Exchange, Souvenirs/Gift Shop, Packed Lunches,Rooms/Facilities for Disabled Guests, Elevator, Safety Deposit Box, Heating, Airconditioning, Designated Smoking Area,Hiking, Outdoor Swimming Pool. The beg corespond with the spherical air of the parador itself, reminds a 15th century castled duty their artifact as foppish definitive and useful.

One of the most charming destinations in Mexico

Founded by the Spanish in the early 16th century, Guanajuato is located on 2,008 m above sea level. The city of Guanajuato is a cultural capital of the Bajio region in central Mexico, and is considered as one of the most charming destinations in the nation. It’s a lovely, colonial city that looks like old Europe. Located about a five-hour drive northwest of Mexico City, this is a picturesque town of pleasant little plazas, cobblestone streets lined with stairs and houses of pastel-colored facades and balconies trimmed with iron work, and flower-filled window boxes.

Declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO, the city’s Historic Center will impress you with its civic and religious buildings, built in the colonial era during the mining boom between the 16th and 18th centuries. It is home or place of origin of three important painters: Diego Rivera, José Chávez Morado and Olga Costa. Rivera was born in the city of Guanajuato and spent his early childhood there. Since 1988, Guanajuato has no traffic lights or neon signs, creating an extremely enjoyable place to walk, peaceful, yet with plenty of life in the streets, and plenty to see.

During your stay, you’ll see excellent examples of New Spain Baroque art on such edifices as the Basilica Senora de Guanajuato, the Templo de San Diego, the Alhondiga de Granaditas (a grain depository) and the Monumento al Pipila. The town’ fine Baroque and neoclassical buildings, resulting from the prosperity of the mines, have influenced buildings throughout central Mexico. The churches of La Compania and La Valenciana are considered to be among the most beautiful examples of Baroque architecture in Central and South America.

Living History

Howick Historical Village is an award winning heritage attraction situated in surrounding Auckland suburb of Howick. This is a living history museum shows the history and life as it was for Auckland’s early settlers in the period 1840-1880. It comprises thirty original buildings set in 7 acres of grounds and gardens. The streets, the pond with ducks and geese, and the village gardens are faithful reconstructions of Victorian fashion, and there’s a cafe with homemade goodies as well.

A costumed guide will introduce you to over 30 European and Maori buildings containing many interesting artefacts and displays. The collection at this fascinating living museum ranges from art to furniture, textiles to archives and aims to show the period of early Auckland life between 1840-1880 and each cottage tells a different story of immigrants who traveled halfway around the world, and of their struggles to build a new life.

Today the museum has an enviable reputation as a popular tourist destination. On the third Sunday of each month (except December) Live Days are held, when the whole village comes to life with costumed volunteers re-enacting daily life in Victorian New Zealand times. On these days the village bustles with a working forge, cooking over open fires, forgotten crafts and activities for the kids.

The museum is a popular destination for a wide range of local activities such as corporate workshops, plays and musical recitals, special family celebrations and weddings. It is open to the public every day of the year (except Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, ANZAC day, and Good Friday) from 10am-4pm.

The Webb Bridge

It is a pedestrian and cyclist bridge across the Yarra River in Melbourne, Australia. Designed by Denton, Corker & Marshall in collaboration with artist Robert Owen, as part of a Melbourne public art project, the bridge was constructed out of material recycled from a previous rail bridge of the same name.

The Webb Bridge is an interesting, unique-looking bridge distinct sections – the 145m long existing structure and a new curved 80m long ramped link. They are joined seamlessly, with an emphasis on volume and containment within the curved and sinuous form. There are two main components to the bridge: the pigmented concrete screed deck on steel box beams and the containing baskets of circular hoops (in width from 5 – 8.7m and in height from 4 – 8.9m high) which encircle the bridge deck. The brief called for the re-use of the remaining sections of the old bridge, in order to link the Docklands on the north side to the new residential developments on the south side. The Webb Bridge was awarded the Australian Institute of Architects’ Joseph Reed Award for Urban Design (Victorian Architecture Awards 2005) and a National Commendation for Urban Design (2005). Span: 361 feet Total construction cost: $1.75 Million

Great Old Victorian Hotel

Stacked in 1883, The Hotel Windsor is Australia’s Piano Hotel out-dating London’s Hotel and Savoy, combine the elegance of the 19th century with the last in new luxuries and services. The Hotel Metropolis Melbourne is only 5 minutes’ paseo from the shopping and dining on Author Street and Bourke Street.

It has style and culture and you conclude it as soon as you preserve the foyer. The Hotel offers 160 visitant apartment and 20 suites that characteristic a lordly ornamentation. All units are seaworthy with late amenities specified as activity desk, telephone with voicemail, brownness shaper, mini bar and ironing equipment. Televisions are transistorized with cable/satellite.Guestrooms give dial-up Internet gain. Bathrooms message material dryers.

Facilities: Bar, 24-Hour Front Desk, Newspapers, Non-Smoking Rooms, Rooms/Facilities for Disabled Guests, Elevator, Express Check-In/Check-Out, Safety Deposit Box, Heating, Luggage Storage, All Public and Private spaces non-smoking, Airconditioning, Room Service, Meeting/Banquet Facilities, Business Centre, Babysitting/Child Services, Laundry, Dry Cleaning, VIP Room Facilities, Breakfast in the Room, Ironing Service, Bridal Suite, Currency Exchange, Car Hire Designated Smoking Area, Fitness Centre, Massage.

The Hotel Metropolis has a edifice on parcel.Room service during qualified hours is purchasable. The dining gathering is an luxe place with vessel spaced tables, caucasian linen and soothing seating.The delicate Age decoration boasts discoloured change domes, fully operational ball fireplaces, intricately designed 22 carat gold-leaf craft and section gasoliers. The leather furniture and mulct protection and achromatic downright the notion of olde-world opulence.

A stunning simple urban retreat

Situated just northeast of the city centre, Fortitude Valley is the hub of Brisbane’s nightlife, known for its trendy and exciting bars, cafes and clubs, Limes Hotel is the first member of design Hotels in Australia. With modern aesthetic, hip interiors, fashionable roof top bar and in-house designer cinema, the Limes Hotel fits right into this happening neighbourhood. Nearby are Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane Parliament House, State Library of Queensland and Queen Street Mall.

You will be warmly welcomed by a professional hotel staff, comforted by styled guestrooms and embraced by a new hotel experience in Brisbane. The hotel’s 21 rooms all come with flat screen 32-inch cable television, iPod docking stations, direct-dial telephone, free wireless and broadband Internet,hairdryer, mini bar fridge and safe to meet every guest need.

Limes is complete with open-air roof top bar and intimate roof top cinema. Whether staying for a night, a drink, a movie or all of the above, Limes presents an accommodation experience for business or pleasure. Award-winning local designer Alexander Lotersztain concentrated his artistic focus on the hotel’s essential elements, creating a modern yet warm atmosphere. The result is a stunning but simple urban retreat complete with rooftop lounge bar and rooftop movie theatre.

Where the outback meets the reef?

Lying 70km from the nearest town of Exmouth, north Western Australia, Sal Salis is as about as posh as bush camping can be. The exclusive Sal Salis is a luxury tented camp overlooking world renowned Ningaloo Reef, hidden amongst blindingly white sand dunes of Cape Range National Park on the shores of the Indian Ocean. With just nine luxury wilderness tents Sal Salis provides a unique place from which to explore Western Australia’s coral coast and one of Australia’s best kept natural secrets. It’s ecotourism at its best.

Sal Salis offers nine spacious wilderness tents that are the epitome of what you would expect from a luxury hotel. Designed to expose you to the sights and sounds outside your tent but with all the modern sleeping luxuries of a 5 star resort, private tents have double beds, sofas, 100% cotton linen, en suite bathrooms, views to die for, but crucially no TVs, telephones or dreaded mini bars. The resident chef ensures this is supported by the very best of Australian bush cuisine and a selection of fine Western Australian wines.

Ningaloo is acknowledged as the best place in the world to swim with the world’s largest fish, the Whale Shark and Manta Rays, as these gentle giants migrate northwards every year. Offering uninterrupted views of the coral coast, the main camp building has been raised to sit above the sand and coastal scrub. Guests are free to explore the coral reef mere metres from the shore, where turtles live and breed. For a true eco experience why not join one of the camp’s tour guides on a two week volunteer program where you’ll learn about WA’s rich biodiversity as well as the hospitality business. Pricing: Double tent from $730 for one night, Single, $1095. Guided snorkeling, kayak tours, boat trip on Yardie Creek, National Park entry and meals included in the price. Minimum two night stay.

Grab your sunglasses and book a room at the Caesar Park Rio de Janiero

Situated on the seafront of Ipanema Beach, one of the exclusive districts of Rio de Janeiro, the Caesar Park Rio de Janiero is a five-star luxury hotel welcomes you in a luxurious building combines this amazing location on Brazil’s Atlantic coast with personalized service and first-class atmosphere. There are many other places for guests to visit close to the hotel. Staying here, you will be within easy reach of Ipanema Beach, Copacabana Beach and Leblon Beach. Within ten miles of the hotel are Rio Sul shopping, Maracana Soccer Stadium, Sugar Loaf Mountain, Museum of Modern Arts, National History Museum, Flamingo Park, and Guanabara Bay. The Caesar Park Rio de Janiero have earned it awards from Latin Finance and Travel + Leisure magazines, solidifying it as one of the best Rio de Janeiro hotels.

The diverse beauty of beaches, green mountain ranges, and vibrant neighborhoods tinge the air in the 221 guestrooms and suites. All luxurious rooms and suites furnish breathtaking views of the beach and sea and feature many of the most popular modern amenities. Each room has soundproofing, air-conditioning, bath/shower, safe, mini bar, data port, hairdryer, and television. Guests enjoy spectacular views from 23 floors topped with a rooftop swimming pool. Opposite the Caesar Park, you can enjoy Ipanema using the beach services offered by the hotel. These include shower, umbrellas, towels, loungers and bike rental. Hotel Chain: Caesar Hotels,Grupo Posadas.

The hotel’s Galani restaurant serves contemporary Italian fare and is rated among the best in the city. Specializes in Brazilian cuisine with an international influence the restaurant also affords spectacular views over the stunning Ipanema beach. On Saturdays, make certain not to miss the lavish feijoada feast served at lunch. In addition to its great location, this modern, 23-story hotel offers features several leisure and relaxation options, such as sauna, spa and outdoor pool. There is a fitness center offering a panoramic view of the Ipanema beach and features a steam room, swimming pool, bicycles, and 21 massage treatments.

For your once-in-a-lifetime trip

A mild sub–tropical climate that brings alternate bursts of burning sun, sharp gusts of wind and sudden rain showers. This is the Easter Island, known as Rapa Nui by the locals. Located on this mythical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Posada de Mike Rapu is considered as one of the best hotels in Latin America according to the Travel + Leisure magazine. Belongs to Chile, the island is one of the most isolated islands in the world.

Located on a hill on on 9.6 hectares of land that faces the sea, Posada de Mike Rapu is situated at 6 km from the only town on the island – Hanga Roa. Built to blend into the landscape, the hotel uses local wood and stone and it is a perfect spot for exploring this attractive and mysterious island, home to a culture whose origins and evolution remain unexplained. It is one of the world’s sacred sites, recognizable for a line of giant busts, built in stone, which are still nowadays an enigma.

As a member of the Explora Group, Posada de Mike Rapu offers superb service and modern, cutting-edge accommodation on Easter Island. It was the first one in all of South America to be certified with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The hotel has 30 unique guestrooms (4 suites and 26 standard rooms) that spread out from central areas that house reception, living areas, a bar, kitchen and services. There is also a spa with swimming pool, massage sanctuary, open air Jacuzzis and outdoor hot tubs. Other amenities include: Bar, Restaurant, Telehones in all rooms with Direct dial national and international and Internet connection. Price rates: SINGLE – $3,354 for 3 nights, DOUBLE – $2.280 for 3 nights.

Enjoy a variety of excursions from gentle ambling to more treacherous volcano hikes. Adventure-loving romantics can trek around the volcanoes, dive among the reefs, and examine the moai—those giant basalt statues—up close, all with Explora’s multilingual guides, then spend the night in the hotel equipped with an expansive terrace and the latest technology to keep them plugged in.

A fun and fresh interior design welcomes you at Saraiva Bookstore

Designed by the Office Sabrine Santos formation & Interiors, the Saraiva Bookstore at Casa Cor, Sao Paulo, provides a new way to display books and magazines in digital form, integrating seamlessly with the characteristic form of presentation and reading. Thanks to virtual shelves displayed in three large touch screen devices, digital books are chosen to buy and read, but also on portable devices known as tablets, which are exposed for demonstration.

The overture seeks to exclude from printing books on paper, reducing the environmental impact of logging. Another advantage is the storage power of the tablet, enabling a multitude of publications in a colorful device, eliminating the need for physical space for this purpose. Another difference is the relaxed mode of exposing the material works, magazines, audio and video on shelves and curved niches illuminated with RGB LED strips that change color. In partnership with Editora Abril, totems of self-service will be available for visitors to fulfill a new way, fast and practical, accessions from a anomaly of magazines.

The space features an area of next-generation 3D games, where speakers are addressable installed in the ceiling, not interfering repercussion the sounds place, being restricted to those who is interacting with the game, both still unpublished ascendancy the country. The floor is Tauari exceptional wood, eco-resin possesses a water-based, besides two contrastive tones, and the other influence an exclusive varnish. The liner have a president of 28sq. m with a completely unique design, having a tensioned screen because a back-light with high definition print, printed by a composition of 300 books from the collection covers the bookstore. Lights around the bottom, further two crooked wooden benches that follow the design of the place, with niches and books on the back, are some of the more attractive space. The Bookstore Saraiva, 78.8 meters square offers a truly innovation, interactivity, entertainment and comfort, with the advancement of technology also how to access the media and information and intelligence of the architectural design office Sabrine Santos.

A cultural network between a theater and library

Libraries are often stuffy and don’t encourage creativity, but the Taltal Public Library offers an entirely unique setting for reading your favorite books. Designed by architects Murua-Valenzuela, the three-storey-high library is located in the small town of Taltal, where it faces a public place and recently completed theatre. Taltal is a coastal town in the Antofagasta Region, Chile, 306 Km. south of the city of Antofagasta and 25.4 degrees latitude south.

With an ample amount of natural light and pure white walls and shelves, the Taltal Public Library is an entirely contemporary fracture for book lovers. The reading quarters are placed the two lesser levels, while group study areas and balconies are located on the top floor. The back doors of the library create to a courtyard to offer an equally sweet area of greenery to compliment the modern design of the inside. The dimensions of the site-40 meters long and 7 meters wide-highly influenced and defined the individualistic organization of the building. Modern citizens automatically prefer contemporary designs. Companies attempting to sell more products could focus on a clean-cut aesthetic when buildup their newest items, as the stunning design of the Taltal Public Library will undoubtedly create some new book worms.

A quiet, relaxing environment for literary study and entertainment

This project is modest addition for the small property of Huairou about two hours drive away from the urban center of Beijing, China. The “Liyuan Library” by Chinese designer Li Xiaodong Atelier is encompassed within a mountainous and forested landscape. The absolutely glazed interior contains mild and contemplative reading spaces and a disposal of platforms which integrate shelving since books. After analyzing the region’s characteristics, an exterior screen clad with ordinary sticks was chosen to conceal the glass facade, receding engrossment the surrounding mystique without competing with it.

Its interior is bright, cozy and airy, featuring complicated terraced levels also a high, naturally lit ceiling. Glass sections strain across the walls and ceiling, even behind the bookshelves, letting light into the interior over filtered by the external fascia. Thousands of bundled sticks, all reclaimed from the local environment, stretch across nearly every inch of the exterior. On one for reds it forms a modern day programmatic supplement for the village with the help of just a little library and reading through space in the position of tranquil contemplation. No matter the viewpoint, whether you’re sitting inside or stare from a distance, the Liyuan Library is a spectacular work of architecture, one that could pass for a temple if it weren’t employed as a library.

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