SOUTH KOREA
Northwest Arkansas, USA
Wanderlust’s Jacqui Agate reports back from the Natural State, where its north-west cultural scene now rivals even the wilds of the Ozarks for our attention
Over the past decade, I’ve returned year-on-year to the American South, relishing the cocktail of music, food and history that the region is famous for. But Arkansas, parcelled between Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri, had always been something of an enigma to me. I was determined to change that on a trip to the state’s Northwest Arkansas region: a bucolic enclave in the Ozark Mountains that I’d been told offered art and nature in spades. I began in Bentonville, a creative city whose astonishing recent growth means it has more cranes per capita than anywhere else in the US. This is Walmart Country (the superstore was founded by Sam Walton just a few kilometres down the road), and the construction of a new 140-hectare campus is grabbing national attention and attracting newcomers, who are making their mark on the region. My final stop – reached via quaint small cities and state parks along the way – was Fayetteville, a funky college town with a liberal, artsy vibe. Happily, I found this under-the-radar pocket of the South to be every bit as rich in culture and outdoor adventure as I’d hoped.
HIGHLIGHT
The region’s crown jewel is the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, an already mighty institution in the throes of a major expansion that should be completed by 2026. This Bentonville museum is just one marker of the Walton family’s defining impact on this area. It was opened back in 2011 by Sam Walton’s daughter, Alice, whose own glittering art reserve formed the foundations of the museum’s original collection. Today the museum represents an incredibly diverse and comprehensive snapshot of American art through the ages. Highlights include Precious jewels by the sea by Amy Sherald (best known for her official portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama)
and Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed. On my visit, the galleries displayed a striking installation entitled We the People, in which rainbow-coloured shoe laces were arranged to spell out the opening three words of the US Constitution’s preamble. Traditional portraiture of the Founding Fathers shared space with poignant works by Indigenous artists. The most striking was The Cost of Removal by Titus Kaphar, in which an equestrian painting of seventh-president Andrew Jackson (who signed the Indian Removal Act into law in 1830) is partly hidden by strips of canvas pinned with rusted nails.
The museum building is a feast for the eyes too. Designed by architect Moshe Safdie to blend into the natural surroundings, it spreads out in a series of shell-like structures clad in glass and floating above glistening reflection pools. It’s purposefully low-rise, becoming almost lost in a lush tree canopy, which was an eye-popping green during my spring visit. Looming outside the entrance is Maman, one of artist Louise Bourgeois’ giant bronze spider sculptures; this one includes a nest of delicate marble eggs.
Be sure to book a free ticket to explore Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson House (reservations are essential given the small space), which is on-site at the museum. It was acquired and reconstructed here due to flood risks at its original New Jersey location, and its nature-forward, mid-century Modern design – all mahogany
A work of art (left to right) The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art has an impressive permanent collection that spans five centuries; one of the first fiveand-dime stores opened by Sam Walton, founder of the Walmart chain, is now the site of the Walmart Museum in Bentonville, a quirky attraction that looks at the chain’s impact on the region and beyond – though it is currently undergoing a huge renovation
Alamy
Written in the STARS
While millions come to Peru’s Andean highlands for the Inca ruins and festivals, there are other stories here. Time your visit for the solstice to explore an ancient region where even the streets are shaped by the heavens
Words & photographs Mark Stratton
“Slow down,” I chided myself, sucking in the rarefied Cusco air and hurrying over the cobblestones of Peru’s Quechua-language capital. I needed to be on Calle Siete Culebras (Seven Snakes Street) at 7.05am to witness the southern hemisphere’s winter solstice on 21 June, an eternal timestamp on Peru’s pre-Columbian architecture. Thankfully, I had just about made it.
The street, both narrow and steep, still glistened from the earlier rain and the solstice sunbeam arrowed in on a south-west course with unerring timing, bathing me in light. By design, the sun’s rays filter through Cusco’s central plaza, the beating heart of the city, where they cut across the axis formed during the summer solstice. Nothing here is by accident.
“Six huacas once existed along this solstice line; they were all demolished for churches”
I’d come to Peru’s Andes not to obsess about Machu Picchu, the citadel associated with the Inca whose 2 million-plus visitors a year are taking a toll on its ruins, but to discover the cosmological secrets behind the region’s fanciful archaeological heritage. Square in my gaze were the megaliths of pre-Inca civilisations, which appeared to my uneducated eye to be uncannily extraterrestrial in appearance. My astral guide was Andres Adasme, a 50-year-old Chilean archaeoastronomer and a resident of the Andes for two decades. He promised that
during our seven days together he would “squeeze knowledge from ancient stones” as we headed off the tourist routes to gain a new perspective on just how ingenious and mathematical these ancient cultures were. However, even wannabe archaeoastronomers need to breath. After travelling from Lima (161m) to Cusco (3,400m), I descended into the lower-altitude Sacred Valley to acclimatise. Down here, between Pisac and Ollantaytambo, the flat-bottomed farmland hid a breadbasket of maize and hundreds of potato varieties. But this was also dry season, so the land was coloured a russetbrown and the stubble of cut maize resembled brushed mohair.
I reoxygenated in a stone-built casita at the transcendentally calm Hotel Sol y Luna. Each morning, I sank into my bath and watched gossamer-green hummingbirds levitate around flower-filled gardens. At night, the Milky Way sparkled magnificently overhead. Having acclimatised, I returned to Qusqu (in Quechuan), better known as Cusco –a name the invading conquistadors could more easily wrap their tongues around – to meet Andres. Fate had surely directed him towards archaeoastronomy, which looks at how past civilisations used the sun and the stars to design their temples and guide their lives. His ex-wife was born on the summer solstice, while their daughter, named after the constellation Lyra, arrived on the
winter solstice. During our time together, his energetic, inquisitive mind constantly challenged an Inca architectural orthodoxy that understates the prowess of earlier civilisations, and being in his company was a little like living inside a Dan Brown novel.
OLDER THAN YOU THINK
On our first morning together, Andres and I stuck to the ancient stone streets of Cusco, a town I’d consistently read was founded by the Inca – a heritage it theatrically plays up to. Quechua women cuddling baby alpacas traded photographs for cash while street sellers sold knitted toy llamas and scarves with bright motifs. But Andres is convinced that Cusco’s lineage is far, far older than the Inca.
We headed to the main plaza, which was filled with musicians and dancers warming up for the forthcoming Inti Raymi festival of the sun. Here we saw a mid-17th-century basilica sat above a destroyed huaca (temple) that was once dedicated to the Andean creator god Viracocha.This name is also given to an ancient civilisation from around Lake Titicaca, Andres told me, who spread north into the Andes and likely founded Cusco long before the Inca.
We followed a processional route through the city from north-east to south-west, aligned with the winter solstice line (also known as the secondary axis). Six huacas once existed along this line, I was told, all subsequently demolished for churches. The cathedral plaza also intersects with the south-east/north-west summer solstice axis (the primary), thus quartering the city into the four corners of the Inca Empire. ⊲
All that
glitters
Hit the road to explore Australia’s Sapphire Coast and beyond, and discover how its Aboriginal history and small communities put the sparkle into New South Wales
Words Jessica Reid
“Iwant to pay our respects to the land, the ocean and the river that we’ll be paddling today,” said my guide Nathan Lygon. His words hung in the orderly silence that followed as I hunkered down in my kayak in contemplation. I peered across the whitesand beach to where the turquoise waters of the Pambula River empty into the Tasman Sea, then over to where moss-speckled rocks stood camouflaged against a forest of eucalyptus. Everything was calm and serene.
Moments like this are what you long for as a traveller: nature in all its nameless, unknowable mystery. Yet I had come here to learn a different way of seeing. For the people of the Yuin Nation, the original custodians of these lands, this was all part of an ancient story that continues to this day. As I would soon discover, it was just one tale among many in Australia’s South Coast region.
beaches, neighbourhoods and First Nations history that not many visitors to New South Wales ever see, and I was taking them all in on a sun-soaked 166km road trip.
“Evidence of First Nation Australians in the South Coast region dates back some 20,000 years”
I’d arrived in New South Wales (NSW) as one of the 38 million or so travellers who land in Sydney, the continent’s busiest hub, each year. Many (about 10%) head to the Blue Mountains for their wilderness fix, but Australia is vast and empty, and there are so many options. This state alone is more than twice the size of Germany, with plenty of corners hiding little-heard stories. Even after catching an hour’s flight south of Sydney to Merimbula, 460km away, deep in the South Coast, I still hadn’t left NSW’s borders.
I was here to explore the small communities that scatter an area known as the Sapphire Coast and beyond. This is a landscape of river creeks, forests, oyster farms,
It was the Indigenous history of the region that I was most interested in. Beowa National Park (formerly Ben Boyd NP) recently had its Indigenous name restored to recognise the land’s original custodians. It is part of an ongoing movement across Australia to acknowledge the damage done during the colonial years. It also reinforces the idea that there are other ways of seeing these lands, and I was curious to explore the area through Indigenous eyes. This was how I came to be on a sheltered beach paying my respects to the land and the water, having joined Navigate Expeditions’ Cultural Kayaking tour to learn more about the people of the Yuin Nation – the Aboriginal community that inhabits the southern coast.
As we took to the Pambula River, Nathan wished the group “Walawaani”, meaning safe journey, and we followed the gentle wake of his kayak upstream. I stayed attuned to my surroundings, listening for the soft splashes of our paddles hitting the water and the bird calls that filled the air. Nathan pointed to the sky just as a set of brilliant-white belly feathers flashed over our heads.
“We call this one myangah, meaning sea eagle,” he shared, highlighting how the species has featured in Indigenous storytelling for millennia. “It’s one of the most important birds to our people.”
Evidence of First Nation Australians in the South Coast region dates back some 20,000 years, and this long history has led to a
A tale of two waters (left–right) Tathra Wharf was first built in 1862 to accommodate the passenger steam ships that linked the South Coast to the rest of Australia during the late 1800s – now it’s a popular hub for gourmands; Navigate Expeditions run tours to learn about the Indigenous heritage of the area; (previous spread) Pambula River’s name derives from a Yuin Aboriginal word meaning ‘two waters’
up close Borneo
Despite occupying just a fraction of Malaysian Borneo, tiny Sabah’s ancient rainforest and endemic wildlife make it a living nature documentary of epic proportions
Words Lyn Hughes
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A nine-day Galápagos expedition cruise for two, plus flights, courtesy of Hurtigruten Expeditions
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The land of the
Wild
While many explore the Pacific Northwest as part of one big road trip, it pays to slow down in Washington state, where the lush islands, windswept sea stacks and rainforest offer a wild hit of west-coast USA
Words Jacqui Agate
Istood on a gnarled bluff above the Haro Strait and watched a bald eagle soar overhead. It hovered a moment, mighty wings turned out as if deciding whether to dive for dinner, then it disappeared behind a lighthouse guarding the coast. A few beats later, another emerged. It swirled above a huddle of Douglas fir trees before spiriting away behind the same beacon. I’d been promised a natural bounty, and here it was on a silver platter.
Plenty of travellers rush through Washington state, parcelling it into an itinerary that explores parts of Oregon and southwest Canada too. But I was slowing things down with a full week in the Evergreen State, beginning with the San Juan Islands, a wildlife-rich archipelago in the Salish Sea that butts up against the Canadian border.
It’s no wonder that nature is king here. San Juan County – comprising 172 named islands carved by glacial erosion – has more marine shoreline than any other county in the US.The isles unfold in a bucolic jigsaw of wildflower-stitched meadows, bird-filled forests, wetlands and rugged coast. There are no fast-food chains, no traffic lights, no single-use plastic bags. The landscapes are unspoilt and the pace is slow.
What the islands do have is one of the highest densities of breeding bald eagles in the contiguous US. I even spied a third bird before tearing myself from a spot at Lime Kiln Point State Park on the eponymous San Juan Island. But now the water was calling.
Birdlife aside, this archipelago offers some of the finest orca watching on the planet. I ventured out with San Juan Safaris, based in Friday Harbor, in hope of a sighting.
The waters stayed calm as the town’s crayon-coloured buildings melted behind our boat. Ahead, the shadow of the Cascade mountains decorated the horizon.The odd house peered out from the tree-lined beaches, but civilisation was otherwise forgotten.
The Salish Sea is home to both whale species and different populations of orca (southern and northern residents, as well as the transient Bigg’s), explained our naturalist guide, Kelly, who examined the water’s surface through a pair of binoculars. But while this remote sea should be a safe haven for marine mammals, orca populations here have plummeted over the decades.
“The San Juan Islands have one of the highest densities of breeding bald eagles in the contiguous US”
The problem was previously down to a booming marine park industry that began in the 1960s: breeding mothers were plucked from Pacific Northwest waters in great numbers and trained to do tricks for paying crowds.These days, dams on the Snake River – which provide substantial hydropower to the Pacific Northwest – are the issue, making it harder for the large, fatty Chinook salmon that the southern residents feed on to reach their spawning grounds, leaving the orca hungry and critically endangered. It’s estimated that today’s southern resident population numbers between just 70 and 76 orca.
Salmon are also of great cultural importance to the Indigenous Coast Salish
peoples, the San Juan Islands’ original inhabitants. I’d previously spotted a sign bearing the words ‘Snake River Dams’ with red protest marks plastered across it. Now I began to understand why.
An hour or so passed without any wildlife activity, though views of peaks and richly forested shores were rewarding enough. Then Kelly lowered her binoculars and told everyone to turn their attention to the threeo’clock position.There, in the distance, the mighty fins of four orcas broke through the water.They travelled in unison, their bodies moving in graceful arcs as they ploughed through seafoam-green surf. I realised I was holding my breath.
“Sightings never become less magical,” said Kelly as she raised the boat’s whale-warning flag, featuring a giant tail set against a yellow-and-red background.Time seemed to stop with our boat as we watched these mammals surface for air again and again before eventually disappearing into the deep. Our final journey shoreward gifted us views of Steller sea lions, harbour porpoises and a bounty of birdlife. I was decanted back into Friday Harbor in a daze.
GLIMPSING A GIANT
It’s hard to believe that Seattle shoots skyward just a 50-minute seaplane ride away. It was ranked as the nation’s fastest growing city in 2021/2022, and the metropolitan area is the birthplace of commercial heavyweights ranging from Amazon and Starbucks to Microsoft. But the Emerald City also anchors some of the USA’s greatest wildernesses.
I first glimpsed Mount Rainier from my hotel room window. The peak is
Air, land and sea (left to right) Bald eagles are a common sight in the skies above San Juan Island; the southern resident orca of the Salish Sea have been hit hard by the depletion of their preferred prey, Chinook salmon, thanks to the damming of major rivers in the Pacific Northwest; you can sometimes spot humpback whales from the rocky shores next to Lime Kiln Point Lighthouse on San Juan Island, where they have been known to indulge in a spot of ‘kelping’, frolicking wildly among the seaweed and bull kelp; (previous spread) the bleached wood and sea stacks of Ruby Beach have been sculpted by the elements
Toasting to the future
Moldova might be the ‘least visited country in Europe’, but in its restored monasteries, millennia-old wine culture and revitalised capital, something special is happening…
Words & photographs George Kipouros
As we drove, seemingly without direction, through a succession of dimly lit tunnels nearly 100m below ground, I became increasingly convinced that we were lost.
“Don’t worry, we know this place inside out,” assured resident guide Slavik. So on we ploughed, navigating a labyrinth of passageways totalling some 120km beneath a small town in central Moldova, pursued by the unmistakable woodsy scent of alcohol.
Reaching an intersection of sorts, I managed to catch a glimpse of a street sign written in Cyrillic: ‘Cabernet Street’. “Now you know what’s inside the casks all around us,” smiled Slavik.To the left and right of me were tens of thousands of barrels and bottles lining the tunnels of Cricova
Winery, the second largest wine cellar in the world.This really was the underground city I’d been promised at the start of my tour.
As it happens, Moldova also boasts the largest underground wine cellar too, Slavik told me, though he was at great pains to highlight the uniqueness of Cricova, host of the national wine collection.
We were navigating tunnels dating back to the 16th century, when the site was a mine; the limestone extracted here was used for building Moldova’s capital, Chișinău, a mere 15km to the south. Its conversion into an underground wine emporium came much later, in 1952, when the Soviet Union was in charge here (1940–91).
Around 80km of the tunnels are now used for wine production and storage, while 40km are still actively mined for limestone. Inside, it was a bracing 12 degrees Celsius, a temperature that barely fluctuates yearround; it felt even cooler thanks to the high humidity of 85%.
“Around 80km of Cricova’s tunnels are used for wine production and storage”
Cricova Winery is government owned, which is perhaps not surprising given its history and size.What is more remarkable is that little Moldova (a country of barely 2.6 million people) is currently the 14th largest wine producer in the world.
“During the Soviet era, we produced even more, as it was all about quantity back then,” explained Slavik. He quickly reassured
Scenes from the Nativity (this page) Chișinău’s Neoclassical Nativity Cathedral was built in 1830 and lies on the city’s main square, though like much of the capital it was badly damaged by the 1940 earthquake, and then again during the Second World War. Most of its interior and dome was rebuilt in the 1950s and later added to. It was also used as an exhibition hall during the Soviet era, and it was the site of the first-ever radio broadcast in Moldova; (opposite page) a mosaic at Cricova Winery of a Moldovan wine drinker dressed in national costume – there
TRIP PLANNER:
South Korea
From the painted eaves of mountain temples to the neon kaleidoscope of Seoul, we pick the best routes to sample all the regal history, culture and wilderness that South Korea has to offer
Words Paul Stafford
From Hanbok to Hallyu
Ride the wave of Korean culture, from past traditions to modern-day music and film
Best for: K-pop, TV and movie filming locations, traditional arts and cultural festivals
Why go: Soak up Hallyu, the popular cultural phenomenon also known as the Korean Wave, at live K-pop shows and modern art collections, and embrace Korean traditions at annual festivals
Route: Seoul; Yongin; Chuncheon; Busan; Yeosu
Much of South Korea’s traditional culture was forcibly wiped out during Japanese colonisation, surviving only in remote villages and temples ensconced in the mountains.Today, those customs are embraced with a national fervour, particularly at modern annual festivals such as Seoul Lantern Festival in winter, as well as lunar calendar celebrations such as Chuseok, the mid-autumn harvest festival that involves ancestral memorial services and rituals, which you can witness at Seoul’s National Folk Museum of Korea. A good place to catch traditional dance and music performances around Seoul are at folk villages such as Namsangol HanokVillage
on the lower slopes of Namsan, which is topped by a landmark tower. In the capital, performances of gugak (traditional Korean music) and various national dances are held throughout the year at Seoul Arts Center complex, which includes the National Gugak Center and Seoul Calligraphy Museum. You can still find stores selling seoye (Korean calligraphy) supplies alongside handmade hanji paper amid the teahouses and restaurants of the city’s Insadong neighbourhood. Next, visit Gangnam, the upscale district that inspired a different kind of dance (invented by superstar Psy),which opened the door for K-pop to gain greater global recognition. Major K-pop concerts often take place at Seoul’s KSPO Dome and Gocheok Sky Dome, as well as the Inspire Arena in Incheon. Head south to Yongin, a satellite city of Seoul whose Korean Folk Village has appeared in many localTV dramas.Throughout the year at folk villages and palaces across South Korea, you’ll see people dressed in traditional hanbok (Korean clothing), typically a two-part ensemble decorated with elaborate patterns. In fact, don hanbok to visit Gyeongbokgung or Changdeokgung palaces and you’ll be allowed to enter for free.This style of dress has even become well known globally, thanks to the meteoric rise of K-dramas.
Known as Hallyu (aka the KoreanWave), Korea’s prodigious output ofWestern-influenced K-pop and K-dramas over the past decades has placed it in the global cultural zeitgeist.This phenomenon began in the early 2000s with series such as Winter Sonata (2002), filmed on Nami Island, near Chuncheon, which gained widespread popularity across Asia. Filming locations have put many areas on the tourism map, particularly in Busan, South Korea’s second city.
Thanks to its beach lifestyle, Busan is decidedly laid-back compared to Seoul, with trendy restaurants and a lively nightlife scene.This is especially true of the white sands of Haeundae Beach, which have featured in everything from The King: Eternal Monarch to Hollywood’s Black Panther
Around three hours east of Busan, Yeosu is the latest city to attract visitors on K-drama pilgrimages.Top cultural attractions include Arte MuseumYeosu, the street art of Angel Mural Village and AdmiralYi Sun-Shin Square. At the latter, you’ll find a statue of the Korean seafaring hero, subject of numerous period dramas, including The Admiral: Roaring Currents, plus a replica of one of his revered turtle ships (Joseon-era battleships).
Off screen (this page; clockwise from top) The TV series Squid Game is one of South Korea’s most popular cultural exports; one of the traditional buildings in Namsangol Hanok Village; a monument to the breakout success of the song Gangnam Style in Seoul; (opposite page; clockwise from top) a GangnamDol of BTS on Seoul’s K-Star Road; Jogyesa Temple’s Lantern Festival; the view from N Seoul Tower; K-Star Road is home to many of Korea’s biggest entertainment companies
Top three experiences
1Take in the view from N Seoul Tower
N Seoul Tower is a national landmark that has featured in many Korean dramas and movies. The mountain it crowns, Namsan (meaning South Mountain; 243m), lies at the core of the capital, and its parkland is covered in forest and bisected by parts of the old city wall. Cable cars run to the summit from Myeongdong, the commercial district synonymous with Hallyu and home to the Star Avenue tunnel, a local take on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame with walls boasting signed celebrity handprints.
The tower practically doubles the mountain’s elevation, giving you panoramic views of Seoul from the viewing platform. From here it’s possible to see the mountains cradling the city to the north and the broad sweep of the Han River to the south. If you’re feeling peckish after all that walking, pay a visit to Korea House, a traditional Korean restaurant in a heritage building just outside Namsangol Hanok Village. nseoultower.co.kr
FRANCE Active
With the Olympics taking over Paris and beyond this summer, we pick 20 ways to get outdoors in France –from riding a vintage moped through the vineyards of the Loire to sailing the gulf off southern Brittany
Compiled by Nicola Williams
1Wander contemporary art and historical sites in Nantes, Pays de la Loire
Explore the history and culture of the handsome city of Nantes, the Breton capital until 1532, by taking a 19km urban walk, following a pea-green line painted underfoot.
Known as LeVoyage à Nantes, this whimsical trail (levoyageanantes.fr) zips up staircases and alongside the Loire river, crossing café terraces and squares, wandering courtyards and the walls of Nantes’ mighty Château des Ducs de Bretagne (pictured below), and even pays a visit to a heritage biscuit factory.
Join the dots to explore 120 outdoor art works and dozens more ephemeral installations while dipping a toe in local history.To get started, pick up trail maps at the tourist office, go online or just look for the green line. Also try… Keep an eye out for urban walks in Lille, Grenoble and Clermont-Ferrand.
2Cruise through the vineyards of the Loire Valley on a vintage moped
Purring past vines on the back of an old Solex is exhilarating. At the Domaine de Pied Flond winery (piedflond.fr), near Angers, seventh-generation winegrowers Franck and Catherine Gourdon run moped tours of their estate.With no licence required to join, they’re open to anyone. Solex bikes were built between 1946 and 1988 in Normandy, and gained a certain cinematic cool in the ’70s when they were ridden by the likes of Brigitte Bardot and Steve McQueen. It’s a stylish way to explore the vineyard, with stops explaining how overripened chenin blanc grapes are made into naturally fermented AOC Coteaux du Layon wines, culminating in an all-important tasting session at the end. Also try… Head to the hilly Lubéron area of Provence for vineyard tours by Citroën 2CV or hot air balloon.