Syracuse began as an ancient Greek settlement nearly 3,000 years ago, and its beauty has beckoned both travelers and empires for centuries. Even the Roman orator, Cicero, referred to it as 'the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of all.'
Spain's new housing plan, worth 7 billion euros, triples government investment in public housing over the next four years, addressing rising rental and housing costs that have priced many out of the market.
Throughout its history, Spain has been shaped by a wide range of cultures and civilizations, including Muslim, Phoenician, Roman, Greek, Carthaginian, and Visigothic influences, which are reflected in its architecture and design.
We have deployed several types of cooling systems here, each one used depending on climatic conditions. The system, created millennia ago but updated for the 21st century, works by cooling water underground in the naturally low temperatures at night. To cool water more quickly, some is also sent to the roof via solar-powered pumps and sprayed out of nozzles in a thin layer through a method known as a falling film, before draining back down underground.
Oskar: We matched on Tinder in Bali the day before he left, so we didn't physically meet. He was living in Melbourne at the time, and I actually had plans to move there. Santi: A month later, I asked him on a date. We watched Bridesmaids at an outdoor cinema. Oskar: I was obsessed. But I didn't have a permanent place to live... Santi: ...which is when my friend and I found a three-bedroom and needed another roommate. Oskar: We moved in as friends. Santi: At least, that was the plan. But that first night, I was really cold and I found my way into his room.
Levante UD's Top Scorers With 12 shots on goal resulting in five goals, Etta Eyong is Levante's top scorer this season. With four goals in 21 games, Ivan Romero de Avila Araque is another major offensive player for Levante. Carlos Alvarez is the leading chance creator on Levante this season. He has created 26 chances while also scoring three goals.
Mercado Bom Sucesso has been serving a wide range of traditional Portuguese food since 1949. Its modern design is unmissable when walking around the heart of Porto, and it's absolutely worth a stop. While farmers' markets are usually held outdoors, food halls are primarily indoors, and Bom Sucesso is no different. This means that no matter when you're visiting - whether it be the dead of winter or the height of summer - you'll be able to enjoy local delicacies in a climate-controlled environment.
More than 30,000 hectares of land are covered in plastic, a geometric labyrinth five times the size of Manhattan, where 3.5m tons of vegetables are produced every year from tomatoes to cucumbers, peppers to courgettes, aubergines to melons, enough to feed half a billion people and generate a turnover of more than 3bn euros.
A new art fair with a distinctive approach and locale is joining the international art world for the spring calendar: Art Cologne Palma Mallorca. While Mallorca is often framed as an idyllic Mediterranean escape, it has quietly developed into a vibrant art hub, and the fair builds on that momentum, positioning the island as a crossroads for international and regional art scenes.
Dating to the 1st-2nd century A.D., the bronzes are about 20 inches long and mounted to rectangular bases. They capture the little girls in dynamic movement, frozen in the act of propelling themselves forward, their fingers splayed wide on each side of the partridges just about to catch them. The craftsmanship is superior, every detail on the toddlers and partridges realistically depicted with fine materials. The eyes are inlaid with white stones and one of the girls still has her metal irises.
Vy Chao chalks it up to 'user error,' pointing out how they would hunt after finishing work, during traditional American dinner hours. At the time, locals mainly ate paella for lunch; the versions served at dinner were usually made for tourists. But on a return trip last year they found better luck, and paella, noting that the city had adapted to tourists' dining habits.
The Reina Sofia's new rehang opens, quite pointedly, with a painting of a detained man sitting, head bowed and wrists shackled, as he waits for the arbitrary hand of institutional bureaucracy to decide his fate. The picture, Document No , was painted by Juan Genoves in 1975, the year Francisco Franco died and Spain began its transition to democracy after four decades of dictatorship.
The festival of Pailhasses is one of France's most ancient carnival traditions. Celebrating the end of a longstanding rivalry with a neighbouring village, it has for more than 700 years allowed villagers to release frustrations before Lent. Its rituals are about strength, chasing and some form of attack. It is also notoriously secretive.
MADRID - The most famous portrait of Maruja Mallo depicts the artist covered from head to toe in seaweed. She is crowned and draped with long, rope-like strands of kelp, her arms raised triumphantly like an all-powerful marine goddess. This unconventional photograph, snapped in 1945 by the poet Pablo Neruda on a Chilean beach, was no doubt carefully orchestrated by the Spanish artist, who viewed herself as an extension of her unique work, where female energy is a conduit for natural and even cosmic forces.
The event they're waiting for is the flowering of the valley's cherry trees, which number about two million. So far, only a handful—a variety called Royal Tioga—have dared to don their frilly spring frocks. The rest are still clutching their drab grey winter garb. Predicting the arrival of blossom is always tricky, but thanks to an unseasonably wet March the trees are three weeks late when I visit.
The design of this pantheon challenges the classic structures aiming to host the eternity. Unlike the traditional pantheons in the area, this project full of meaning and coherence balances unusual materials within the traditional enclave in the Requena cemetery.
The key find is a stretch of pavement made of slabs of Montjuic stone (rock extracted from the Montjuic mountain that overlooks Barcelona and has been the source of building material and infrastructure for the area since the pre-Roman Iron Age). It dates to between 15 and 10 B.C., the earliest founding years of the Roman city. It is made of precisely cut rectangular blocks, the largest of which are 1.48 long by 1.18 meters wide (approximately 5 by 4 feet).
A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes directly between the Sun and Earth, perfectly aligning to completely obscure the Sun, casting a dark shadow across the Earth. The event may be around five months away, but many are already planning their trips and accommodation is booking up fast.
Concéntrico is an urban innovation laboratory that invites reflection on the city through architecture and design. Since 2015, it has carried out more than 180 interventions in Logroño, Spain. The new 2025/2026 season of the festival expands on this experimental spirit with three international calls for proposals that bring the ideas in the book Concéntrico: Laboratorio de Innovación Urbana (Park Books, 2025) into action.
Ba-rro: "Our starting point is always the context and what already exists." We are interested in recognizing the value of things simply because they are there, without assuming that everything must be preserved as a matter of principle. The question isn't what can be kept, but what deserves to be kept in each specific project. The decision to preserve, reveal, or remove doesn't stem from universal values or a nostalgic impulse, but from a situated interpretation:
Saint-Jorioz in Haute-Savoie will provide a springtime lift for your spirits. On the shore of Lake Annecy, it's a short bus ride from the city of Annecy, but less busy and with superior lake and mountain views. Hike to the surrounding peaks, towards the lesser-known Col de l'Arpettaz, or cycle on the excellent greenways. Relax by the cool blue alpine water. Behind you lies the underrated Les Bauges Unesco Geopark. The department only joined France in 1860, and has its own Italian-influenced regional cuisine.
House prices in Spain rose by 1.8 percent month-on-month and 19.9 percent year-on-year, bringing the average price of homes February this year to 2,950/m, according to data from the Fotocasa Real Estate Index. Buying a home in Spain now costs 40,000 more than it did a year ago.
