Crete, Greece: Crete's Culinary Sanctuaries Educational Network, 5-Day Seminars on Biodiversity and Gastronomy. Dates: May 2-7, 2022 or September 12-17, 2022 An experiential learning program with expert presentations at historic sites, nature reserves, and visits with award-winning organic farmers, olive oil producers and vintners. Discover the com...
The autumn or fall is the season of the year when the landscape in the Chitral valley presents breathtaking scenes with motley colors of foliage on the trees in Booni, the administrative headquarter of district Upper Chitral. Many of the traditional cultural festivals such as benisik, lashti korik, etc., are also associated with the autumn in the Chitral valley, northern Pakistan. It is the seasons of the year when changing foliage on the tree makes their preparation for winter. During this season in Booni, the autumn leaf color is a phenomenon that affects the green leaves of many trees and shrubs by which they take on shades of yellow, orange, red, and brown. This phenomenon is commonly called fall colors, fall foliage, or autumn colors. Fall colors engage our senses and stimulate our aesthetic vision via the warm tones, from the darkest brown and dark green to the most intense orange and yellow, passing through almost all shades of red. The main colors of this season are red, yellow, brown, and orange, warm colors often used in color therapy for their energizing effect.Looking at these colors provokes physical reactions related to the sphere of energy, let's see below what the main...
The current news about the latest reports of the IPCC state that climate change is man-made and the rise of temperature with an average of 1.5C° will be reached 10 years earlier than estimated. The latest news were quite frustrating and taking responsibilty with every little step we take during our exploration of the globe this article should give some hope and inspiration to have a positive impact. Read more: https://mygreenplanet.travel.blog/2021/10/27/the-latest-ipcc-report-and-first-steps-to-make-a-sustainable-travel-change/
I couldn't resist not to share with you my latest travel experience under the DestiMED Plus programme. For those of you who are not aware of this, DestiMED Plus is an Interreg Med Programme for sustainable tourism, aiming to improve integration between regional tourism and conservation policies in Mediterranean protected areas. A susta...
A simple celebratory event was organized in Chitral town to honor the successful climbing of the rocky massif of the Saraghrar Peak (4349m) for the first time by a Georgian Expedition led by Archi Badriashili with Mr. Baqar Gelashvili and Mr. Giorgi Tepnadze in his team. They also climbed Languta-e-Barfe (6,827m) in the Terich valley in three days times. They are prominent Georgian climbers, who have climbed many peaks in the Caucuses, the Swiss Alp, Tien Shen in Kyrgyzstan, Nanga Parbat in the Himalayan Range, besides Nepal and Eastern Europe. They reached the peak by 15:30hrs on September 10, 2021, and safely returned to the basecamp to celebrate the achievement and relax before continue traveling back to Chitral town. The team also made an ascent of Languta-e-Barfi (6,827m). The successful climb of the Georgian Expedition was possible because of their fitness, regular practice, and relevant experience in climbing difficult mountains. During an interview, the team leader informed: “the NW phase of the Saraghrar peak is a steep wall involving technical difficulties for climbers. It rises at 90 degrees from the ground, we are so glad that we made it to this unclimbed peak”. The team further informed that they had reached...
Plotting a path through 2020 and 2021 has been more than a little challenging for most involved in the travel sector. As per my previous post, in 2020 we saw a six month total lockdown, a 90 year drought, a cyclone and open warfare between the state governors and the president on how to navigate the storm. The politica...
The title "Utopia Inc" may be unfair, but it belongs to a well documented, critical article by Alexa Clay on Aeon. The author convincingly argues that intentional communities, including eco villages, are microcosms of our society, with the same problems of the society that they aim to replace or get away from. But they are ...
Often the discourse of sustainable development revolves around role of different stakeholders and their responsibilities in sustainable growth of tourism destinations. Although operations of each and every tourism practitioner and behavior of travellers hold significant importance, we at Mountain Homestays strongly believe that Tour Operators are t...
The Distortion of Hospitality - From Philoxenia to Philochrematia and back In Ancient Greece, strangers / visitors (the “xenoi”) were considered sacred (possibly gods undercover) and Philoxenia or ‘loving care towards strangers’ was a duty. This took the form of free hospitality and even gifts to the departing stranger, creating friendship bonds that would bind offsprings as well. Of course there were similar customs in many other regions and civilizations, until the industrial era. Beyond ethics, there were practical reasons for this too, as strangers (tradesmen, explorers, philosophers etc) were rare sources of information, knowledge and wisdom, not to mention that there were very few hotels! The above sounds surreal considering what today goes by the name of ‘tourism industry’, characterized by the luring of clients, who will never engage in any meaningful dialogue with their hosts, to small boxes where they will be offered fake care and attention in exchange for money (‘chrema’). We have moved from Philoxenia to Philochrematia (loving care of money) We also have what can be called the ‘Pasha syndrome’: the belief that a ‘hard-working’ global northerner is entitled (or was entitled until the recent crisis) to an annual or bi-annual installment of 2 weeks of...
If in Athens this summer, do not miss a rare Takis exhibition at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC, https://www.snfcc.org/en) in Kalithea, in itself a green attraction as a multi-award winning, public urban regeneration and cultural project with exciting happenings, olive groves, herb gardens and a breathtaking 3...
