An exacting quest for boutique-hotels, farmhouses & period homes with an intimate, hidden dimension that ensures the utmost privacy; a selection of places chosen with a collector`s discrimination. This book is a journey to track down that side of Puglia that is nurtured by those who have sought & achieved excellence, purposefully choosing & offering the very best, & sharing it with their guests, each following their own particular course of different colours, scents & flavours. ...

Visit an extraordinary hill where the little angels are buried; discover remarkable forgotten Art Deco buildings; see a plane taking off at really close range, leftovers from the 1908 & 1922 Universal Expositions, a beautiful private palace open to visitors once a month, modernist ceramics hidden on the 15th-floor terrace of a former government building, a remarkable secret staircase; experience little-known walks & views of the city; find an Amazonian talisman at Copacabana, vestiges of the Carioca river, a rare statue of the great-grandmother of Jesus, a taxi nightclub, a work of art in a favela, a disused airship hangar... Far from the crowds & the usual beach & carnival cliches, Rio de Janeiro has countless treasures it reveals only to residents & travellers who wander off the beaten track. An indispensable guide for all those who thought they were familiar with Rio or would like to discover the other face of the city. ...

Visit palaces closed to the public, admire exceptional works of art away from the tourist circuit, listen to a concert in a magnificent hidden oratory, have your dog or car blessed, puzzle over a rare catoptric meridian or a wonderful anamorphic fresco, discover the remarkable motorized Rubens, enter into the secrets of the Vatican, rediscover a lost Bernini masterpiece, say a prayer before an image of the Holy Face of Jesus like that deposited on the moon in 1968, organize a dinner for two in a private palace, protect your throat from the rigors of winter. Far from the crowds & the usual cliches, Rome is still a reserve of well-concealed treasures only revealed to those who know how to wander off the beaten track, whether residents or visitors. An indispensable guide for those who thought they knew Rome well, or who would like to discover the hidden face of the city. ...

Visit palaces closed to the public, admire exceptional works of art away from the tourist circuit, listen to a concert in a magnificent hidden oratory, have your dog or car blessed, puzzle over a rare catoptric meridian or a wonderful anamorphic fresco, discover the remarkable motorized Rubens, enter into the secrets of the Vatican, rediscover a lost Bernini masterpiece, say a prayer before an image of the Holy Face of Jesus like that deposited on the moon in 1968, organize a dinner for two in a private palace, protect your throat from the rigors of winter.. . Far from the crowds & the usual cliches, Rome is still a reserve of well-concealed treasures only revealed to those who know how to wander off the beaten track, whether residents or visitors. An indispensable guide for those who thought they knew Rome well, or who would like to discover the hidden face of the city. ...

A br&-new book from the UK & Ireland`s best-loved comedian, Dara O Briain! So you think everyday life is boring?! WHAT?! Hoo-ee, are you wrong! No, seriously. There`s so much EXTRAORDINARY science going on right from the minute you wake up to when you go to sleep. Actually, while you`re asleep, too. Science is a non-stop EVERYWHERE, everything adventure with some incredibly cool stuff going on, too. You`ve got your incredible brain, which has worked out how to read these words & make playing a video game feel as EXCITING as real life; you`ve got aeroplanes that can somehow get from the ground into the sky with all those people & their luggage on board; you`ve got electricity & artificial intelligence & GPS & buses coming in threes (that`s science too) & LOADS more. In Secret Science, Dara O Briain takes you on a journey from the comfort of your favourite chair to the incredible science behind your everyday life & on into the future! ...

A startlingly original picture book about a little girl who creates a garden on a disused car park rooftop Funni loves the old, disused car park, & spends a lot of time there flying her kite & playing her recorder. But something is missing. Definitely. So Funni decides to create a garden in the neglected space & after weeks of careful nurture, her garden in the sky takes shape. One day, a little boy, Zoo, spots the square of colour amongst the grey from an incoming flight, & decides to try to find it. & slowly, not only do Funni`s flowers bloom, but a very special friendship blossoms too. Beautifully illustrated in line & watercolour by up-&-coming talent, Fiona Lumbers, this is a poignant & memorable story from award-winning author, Linda Sarah. ...

Casablanca’s stinking alleys are the only home that nineteen-year-old Youssef El-Mekki has ever known. Raised by his mother in a one-room home, the film stars flickering on the local cinema’s screen offer the only glimmer of hope to his frustrated dreams of escape. Until, that is, the father he thought dead turns out to be very much alive.A high profile businessman with wealth to burn, Nabil is disenchanted with his daughter & eager to take in the boy he never knew. Soon Youssef is installed in his penthouse & sampling the gold-plated luxuries enjoyed by Casablanca’s elite. But as he leaves the slums of his childhood behind him, he comes up against a starkly un-glittering reality… ...

Fosco Maraini looks back at the world he first unfolded nearly 50 years ago in his classic account of the visits he made to Tibet. He brings back to life a world which will never be seen again. In the tradition of Italian travellers from the days of Marco Polo, Maraini went to Tibet to learn, to underst&, to give & to receive. His encounter with the people of Tibet, from princesses to peasants, aided as he was by a good knowledge of the language, is a true meeting of minds. The text, which attests to the disciplines of the scholar allied to the sensitivity of the poet, is enriched by the narrative value of the author`s photographs, including many Buddhist temple artefacts now forever lost. ...

A building that acts as a giant firewall, a secret city center canyon, a statue that cures warts, ultra-modern designer toilets, an extraordinary tree that helps you quit smoking, an electronic sunflower, a spectacular modern temple hidden in the heart of Shinjuku, a street that gives Tokyo taxi drivers nightmares, a massive building that looks like a warship, forgotten rivers... Far from the crowds & the usual cliches, Tokyo swings between modernity & tradition, preservation of its heritage, sophisticated aestheticism & eccentricity, offering countless off-beat experiences. The Japanese capital is home to any number of well-hidden treasures that are revealed only to residents & travellers who find their way off the beaten track. An indispensable guide for those who thought they knew Tokyo well or would like to discover the other face of the city.” ...

Coinciding with the hotly anticipated British Museum exhibition Sunken Cities: Egypt`s Lost Worlds in May 2016, this is the sensational story of two magnificent ancient aquatic cities which once stood at the mouth of the river Nile. Gateways to the land of the pharaohs, Thonis-Heracleion & Canopus were thriving, busy ports
- until a catastrophe caused them to sink beneath the water. Now the ruins, & the objects & artefacts found among them, reveal how their inhabitants lived, worshipped & interacted with their foreign visitors.
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