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Academic travel articles, written by our expert tour leaders.
The Academy Journal
Written by our specialist tour leaders, these articles explore hidden gems, historical events and artistic masterpieces, enriching your upcoming travels with their unique perspectives.
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What is the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair?
Darwin hosts two very important cultural events in the same week: the largest and most important annual event for Indigenous Australian art, the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF); and Couture to Country, the leading space to highlight the rise of Indigenous fashion and textile design. It is a unique opportunity for over 1,500 artists from more than 70 Indigenous owned Art Centres to showcase
Insider’s Venice
The crowds in Venice are almost as famous as the gondolas. At the cruise port, in the height on the summer season, as many as five large ships can arrive in a day, bringing with them up to 20,000 fun-seeking day-trippers. An equal number can arrive by coach, arriving at the island car-park of Tronchetto and winding their way up the Grand Canal to St Mark’s. The itinerary of these day-trippers is
Tales of Trailblazing High-Country Women
Towards the end of last year, a book caught my eye called ‘Sheilas – Badass Women of Australian History’ by Eliza Reilly. Opening the front cover, I read the introductory paragraph, where Eliza starts by saying: Let’s be blunt. There aren’t enough women in our history books. There aren’t even enough we can name off the tops of our heads, compared to the blokes. The problem is, in our enthusiasm to
Ikara Flinders Ranges
The Flinders Ranges, as they are today, are the mere stubs of once majestic mountains, which hundreds of millions of years ago would have rivalled the Andes or the Himalayas. The original sediments were laid down over half a billion years ago before uplift, folding and faulting formed a massive mountainous range, followed by the weathering that has left us with the current landform
Tresco Abbey Gardens
This 19th-century garden is immersed in history and yet has a botanic twist, holding more than 20,000 plants from over 80 countries. Tresco, one of the Scilly Isles, lies 28 miles off the Cornish coast of England. A subtropical island, blessed with white sand and turquoise sea, it is home to just 150 people. Thanks to the Gulf Stream, the climate is unique in the UK and makes it possible to grow rare and exotic species
Gertrude Jekyll & Sir Edwin Lutyens
A special highlight for me personally in putting together our new tour Great Gardens of Britain: A Journey through Landscape has been the chance to revisit two of my great heroes, two of the most influential figures of the Arts & Crafts Movement, the garden designer Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) and her close friend and collaborator, the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944).
Unveiling the Enigma
Nestled in the heart of Italy, the Etruscans created Italy’s most fascinating and enigmatic culture prior to the emergence of Rome. Flourishing from the 9th down to the 3rd century BCE, they played a pivotal role in mediating the arrival of Greek and Eastern Mediterranean influence in the Italian peninsular and it was, above all, to them that the Romans looked in the early stages of their emergence as a
Sisters of India
All Academy Travel tours are special. Yet the ‘Fabric of India’ tour in December 2022 has a postscript that makes it even more special… Led by Judy Tenzing, just under one year ago, we took a group of textile-mad women, and one very patient gentleman, to the far reaches of Bengal and Gujarat in the north-east and north-west of India respectively. There were workshops in indigo dyeing, block-printing
Modernism on the Côte d'Azur
Ah, the French Riviera! An enviable sun-soaked stretch of coastline renowned for its sensational beauty, glorious white sand beaches and alluring glamour – this adult playground was the ultimate resort of the first half of the 20th century. But did you know that it’s also a Modernist art lover’s dream destination… Picasso, Chagall, Matisse, and dozens of other famous 20th-century artists vacationed, lived, and created
The Alhambra of Granada
Granada is southern Spain’s precious jewel, and for much of the Middle Ages it dangled – like the glowing pomegranate for which it is named – temptingly before the eyes of the Christian conquistadors, who hoped to recapture it from the Muslim dynasties that ruled the city from 711. While the Almohads, who reigned until 1228, were known for their orthodoxy and sometimes repressive regime, the Nasrids