Departures Australia Autumn/Winter 2022

DEPARTURES TRAVEL THE

DEPARTURES TRAVEL THE HANDBOOK 30 “It’s like nowhere else,” says gallerist Lily Agius. “The innovation and spark here are really special” with enormous charm: the former has the rural charisma that seems almost impossible in the 21st century and has a few hotels and restaurants for longer visits. Dotted across the islands are Unesco-protected Megalithic temples (heritagemalta.org) which are among the oldest stone buildings on Earth. They reward a slow, contemplative pace, which is the opposite of what is happening in buzzy Valletta, where fashion brand Charles & Ron (charlesandron.com) has a destination boutique with global reach. The arts, too, are burgeoning here, with a few notable museums housed in former Knights of Malta From left: a sun-bathed street in Valletta; revealing a delectable dish at De Mondion at The Xara Palace buildings and a new museum of contemporary art, MICAS (micas.art), coming next year. Bursting with verve and style, creative galleries and gallerists, from Blitz (blitzvalletta.com) to Valletta Contemporary (vallettacontemporary.com), are everywhere. But there is one street in Sliema, a hip district, that captures the mood best: Helena Gore, a cosmopolitan polyglot who spent years at design firm Established & Sons in London, has recently opened an eclectic concept boutique, Cathedral (instagram.com/cathedralartdesign), offering up finds from her peripatetic wanderings. Right next door is Lily Agius Gallery (lilyagiusgallery.com), which stages exhibitions of exceptional foreign and local artists. The eponymous founder, who also publishes The Malta Artpaper, is part of a reverse brain drain: born in London to a Maltese father, she came back to Malta a decade ago to be part of the creative surge. “It’s like nowhere else,” says Agius. “The innovation and spark here are really special.” FROM LEFT: © MALTA TOURISM, © XARA PALACE

PROMOTION PONANT’S 2023 EUROPEAN VOYAGES The Art of Luxury Cruising During 2023, satisfy your artistic curiosity by joining one of Ponant’s luxurious small-ship voyages featuring many of Europe’s major and minor ports of architectural and artistic importance. With generous time ashore, become absorbed in the layers of cultural and artistic diversity exampled by Byzantine architecture, Greek and Roman sculptures, Hispano-Moresque palaces, Benedictine cloisters, numerous art galleries and museums. Endowed with layers of history, music, architecture, language and boundless culinary temptations every corner offers another perspective - ornate façades, elegant piazzas, spluttering fountains, exquisite mosaics, breathtaking paintings and murals, the sound of a violin carried on the breeze. The ancient ruins of Delos juxtapose with the multiple glories of Rome. Giotto and Tintoretto contrast with Jackson Pollock, Picasso and Dalí. Or perhaps seeking out Venice’s vibrant Murano glassware and the dramatic street art of Lisbon is your desire. The Parthenon in Athens; the Theatre of Epidaurus; the ancient city of Nessebar; the archaeological ruins of Delphi; the eclectic Modernista architecture of Gaudí in Barcelona; the historic centres of Valletta, Dubrovnik, Kotor and Syracuse; the relics of Pompeii; the intertwined layers of history art and architecture linking Istanbul and Venice. From Aegean to the Adriatic, Ionian to the Strait of Gibraltar, Ponant’s seven to 11-night luxury voyages include numerous Unesco World Heritage sites exampling the never ending panoply that is European art in all its guises. Evocative voyages providing opportunity to not just see art in a variety of forms but feel it in context. FIND OUT MORE AT AU.PONANT.COM