THE MORNING SUN was already high and hot, penetrating a blue sea haze that softened the forested islands on the horizon. The silhouette of a cargo ship inched north along the diffuse line between sky and sea, toward the frenetic cities on the mainland of Honshu. But where I was, all was peaceful.
In the milky blue below my Prestige stateroom balcony, two large Chrysaora jellyfish pulsed nonchalantly along the hull of Ponant's 466-foot Le Soléal. Just the night before, this luxury expedition ship had transported me from the bustle of Osaka's crowds and heavy industry to the mysterious and beautiful Seto Inland Sea, the body of water that separates Japan's main islands: Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu.
The Seto Inland Sea was Japan's most important trade route for centuries, before road and rail. Its port towns prospered, hosting seafarers as they waited for tides to propel them east toward the imperial capitals or west toward the Sea of Japan, which was the way I was headed on this eight-day cruise from Osaka to Fukuoka. Traveling by sea remains the best-though least utilized-way to explore this sleepy region, which most travelers bypass at 185 miles an hour aboard the Tokaido-Sanyo shinkansen.
Le Soléal, which turned 10 last year, is a sleek, small ship with cutting-edge tech to reduce its impact on the environment. On my first morning, I descended to the marina deck to board one of her 12 Zodiacs (Ponant is the first international company permitted to operate Zodiacs in these waters), bound for Inujima ("dog island"), our first port of call. Inujima is the smallest of the four islands that comprise Benesse Art Site Naoshima, a revolutionary art project that started on Naoshima in 1992 and expanded onto its neighbors. Its innovative proposition to use art to drive rural regeneration has put the Seto Inland Sea firmly on the global art map.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January - February 2024-Ausgabe von Condé Nast Traveler US.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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Sands of Time - Sculpted by millennia, Chad is a place of ancient geology and epic grandeur. Aminatta Forna finds her place in it all
The 15,000-square-mile Ennedi Massif, in north-eastern Chad, is a plateau the size of Switzerland. Between 350 million and 500 million years ago, this part of the globe was an ocean. Then the ocean disappeared, leaving the sandstone floor exposed. The climate shifted from rain-soaked to arid. Sun, wind, and water sculpted the sandstone into a dramatic, desolate, unearthly landscape of gorges and valleys, inselbergs and stacks, towering tassili and natural arches. In the desert the delicate threads of life become apparent in trails of tiny footprints scattered across the sands: here, the tear-shaped tracks of a lizard; there, the dimpled prints of a gerbil.
Antiques Road Show - After buying a second home, in France, the designer Claire Vivier called up fellow designer Kate Berry to go on the ultimate shopping spree
When Los Angeles-based designer Clare Vivier began decorating the 19th-century house she'd bought in her husband's hometown of Saint-Calais, in France's Loire Valley, she had a particular aesthetic in mind. I love color and patterns but wanted something peaceful, so the intention was to create a dialogue between those two things, she says. She wanted the house to have a blend of contemporary pieces, antiques, and textiles from heritage maisons to create a space that, much like her namesake handbag and fashion label, channeled both California fun and French sophistication. She also knew that she wanted her longtime friend Kate Berry, a designer and creative director, to help her make it happen.
The Slow Road - Rather than rush from Tokyo to Kyoto by train, as most visitors to Japan do, Tom Vanderbilt chose to bike - coasting down country roads, spying snow monkeys, and refueling with hearty bowls of soba
Rather than rush from Tokyo to Kyoto by train, as most visitors to Japan do, Tom Vanderbilt chose to bike - coasting down country roads, spying snow monkeys, and refueling with hearty bowls of soba. At the peak of the day's heat, I pulled into the tiny hamlet of Hirase, in Japan's Gifu Prefecture. I'd just climbed a twisting, waterfall-lined road several thousand feet through Hakusan National Park before descending into the shimmering fantasy landscape of Shirakawa-go, an almost Tolkien-esque village (and UNESCO World Heritage Site) comprising centuries-old farmhouses with peaked thatch roofs.
SHAILENE WOODLEY on FIJI
I was in Suva, the capital of Fiji, making a film, and our crew took over half of the Grand Pacific Hotel.
easy does it
Beyond the bubble of Queenstown, New Zealand's majestic Otago region offers the kinds of adventures you can truly appreciate only by slowing down
gather round
The secret ingredient in Philadelphia's lauded food scene? The empathy of the locals behind it
THE PAST IS PRESENT
Beguilingly complex Istanbul has done a lot of soul-searching in recent years. Lale Arikoglu digs into the city's modern identity - while tracing the roots of her own
Creation Story
Modern-day craftspeople are bringing back traditional Arabian arts in Jeddah's Old Town of Al-Balad
Continental Drift
For her first trip to Africa, aboard an HX Hurtigruten cruise ship, Sarah Greaves Gabbadon confronts her assumptions about what a homeland means
On the Rise
With new hotels, climbing routes, and biking trails, Colorado's low-key, high-elevation Western Slope is ripe for adventure
