Paradise Lost at the Moonhole Mansion: An Abandoned Crusoe Dream

At night, the rising moon peers through the natural volcanic arch, revealing the silhouettes of windows and doorways alluding to a crumbling fortress, guarding a paradise lost. It shares its walls with the rocks, built haphazardly into the Caribbean cliff on the western tail of the island of Bequia, but the rooms are empty, the whole structure eerily lifeless. Like the centrepiece of…

Here’s a Catalog of Secret Paris Filming Locations used by French Industry Scouts

I have a friend who works in the industry, who sent me a link to a website thanks to her very astute intuition telling her that it might interest me. MiRES is a Paris-based agency dedicated to finding the most beautiful, unique and unusual shooting locations in and outside of the French capital. A best-kept secret of the film, fashion…

Nearly 50 Years On, a Forbidden Seaside Ghost Town is about to Re-Open

Imagine a millionaire’s resort; one to rival St. Tropez, Italy’s Portofino, or Miami’s South Beach – abandoned overnight. Imagine the luxury hotels suddenly emptied of their guests and left to slowly decay, the boutiques, bars and nightclubs reclaimed by nature, sunbathers replaced by sea turtles nesting on the deserted beaches and the once vibrant holiday…

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Paris Summer Events & Inspiration Guide

Just when we thought we’d be spending the summer of 2020 suntanning from our windowsills, life has returned to the streets once again and Paris has been liberated. While social distancing measures remain in place for the safety of all Parisians, our beloved restaurants, bars, and museums have been given the go-ahead to reopen. For…

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12 Out-of-the-Box Architectural Oddities

1. A Storybook Tower by Friedensreich Hundertwasser AFP/ Timm Schamberger This might look like it was built once upon a time but the Hundertwasser Tower was actually completed in 2010. At thirty-five meters high and six meters in diameter, the observation tower in South Germany was originally intended to be three times its size but the…

The Bay of Abandoned Hotels

As summer winds down and holidaymakers swap the beach for their real lives, hotels will inevitably begin to empty of their guests and resorts will slowly become ghost towns until the next season. But very few resorts will get as ghostly as the Kupari luxury resort in Croatia, which hasn’t seen any paying guests since…

Wish You Were Here! The Golden Age of Holidays at Home on the English Riviera

Picture the scene: tricolour flags line the yacht-filled harbour, art-deco hotels dazzle the streets at night, celebrities flurry to villas hidden along the hillside that overlook lanes filled with chic cafés, where colourful tourists sip wine and smoke cigarettes at small bistro tables, while vintage cars are judged during the annual concours d’élégance and beautiful…

How Black Cowboys Built the American West: A Living History

You may hear it, before you see it. The gentle trotting of hooves backdropped by the sounds of New York City’s JFK Expressway. Even locals do a double take when they cross paths with a member of the Federation of Black Cowboys. When they ride, they tell the true story of the Wild, Wild West:…

8 Off-beat Museums in Paris (for people who don’t like museums)

I‘m not the kind of person you’re going to catch waiting in a museum queue that goes round the block to get my fix of history and culture. So here’s Nessy’s pick of museums off the beaten path in Paris… 1. Musée des Arts Forains (The Fairground Art Museum) Images by Julie Lefort Little-known even…

A Brief Compendium of Amazing African Architecture

You can probably clearly picture the architecture of Europe, Asia, the Middle East and India – but can you say the same for Africa? For thousands of years, Africa helped shape our modern world and yet, so much of it is underrepresented. We spent the day getting to know its architecture better, discovering just how…