Date of publication 04/11/2019
Alternative trips Cultural tourism: experiences to feed your soul
From temples in Riviera Maya, as well as great art museums in New York and Madrid
Travelling is a wonderful adventure: it allows you to get to know other cultures, experiment with new flavors, admire the beauty of inspirational destinations.
In addition to discovering hotels that preserve their architecture and essence through time, and that are part of its history forever.
The same historic richness is preserved by marvels such as the ruins in Riviera Maya, or the monuments in Tunisia, heir of ancient Cartago, or the museums in Madrid, or the history of Perast, Montenegro, on the shores of the Adriatic sea, examples of World Heritage sites throughout time.
Practicing cultural tourism, you will be able to feel the sensation of living two trips in one. On the one hand, it will allow you to discover historic, cultural, artistic and sociological marvels located in your destination. On the other, you will be able to enjoy the comforts of the 5-star hotels in which you can stay, hotels with spa, or walk around its surroundings, may it be an urban destination, or a resort right next to the sea, surrounded by lush nature.
Do you want to discover some of the trendiest cultural destinations and others that are less known which, precisely because of their status, will surprise you? Start packing and prepare to increase your knowledge and feed your soul!
Mayan ruins, the most impressive monuments in Mexico
Taking a trip to Riviera Maya is a clear example of what it means to travel to two places in one, as the natural paradise that the Mexican Caribbean comprises allows you to indulge and walk around some of the most beautiful beaches on the planet, and take a cultural tourism trip to some of the most interesting landmarks with a historic value.
If you are interested in the great civilizations, here you will be able to soak into Mayan history, one of the most important civilizations of pre-Columbian America. Starting with the city of Chichen Itzá, declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO and considered one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
The most fascinating thing about Chichen Itzá is that, as the city has been preserved in close to its entirety, you will be able to visit the whole site, from its playing courts to play ball games to temples and sacrifice mounds.
The archaeological site of Tulum is in the heart of Riviera Maya, just 60 kilometers away from Playa del Carmen and 180 from Cancun. The show is so impressive that if you suffer from Stendhal syndrome you should be careful! The beauty of this place is overwhelming.
The ruins of ancient Zamá, “dawn” in Mayan, is found within the National Park of Tulum, a natural space with a beach where the cliff that holds the walled monument is located.
Can you imagine taking a dip in the sea while you have a clear view of all these marvels?
Although the ruins are just 9 kilometers away from Playa del Carmen and 75 kilometers away from Cancún, the best area for hotels in Riviera Maya, Xaman’há, ‘Northern Water’ in Maya, are the closest. It is a very symbolic city for the Mayans, as this is the place where their pilgrimages towards Cozumel used to begin. They used to go on this trip to worship the Mayan goddess of love, Ixchel. A really romantic story!
If you are passionate about archaeology and cultural trips, your stay in Riviera Maya will surely be a safe bet.
New York and Miami: the artistic party
Traveling to the Big Apple promises to become an exciting adventure, may it be to go to the top of the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty, attending a Broadway musical, watching a Yankees game, taking a calm cycling route around Central Park or discovering the city on a helicopter, among the many original plans in New York.
Did you know that there are more than 60 museums only on the island of Manhattan? And more than 100 if we count all the neighborhoods in New York?
If you are passionate about art, these are the five museums in New York that you cannot miss!
1. Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA). It houses the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in the world, with more than one hundred thousand works, among them Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, by Pablo Picasso, or The Persistence of Memory, by Salvador Dalí.
Artists such as Cézanne, Van Gogh, Matisse, Miró, Mondrian, Warhol or Duchamp share space with American expressionists.
2. Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). Rembrandt and Monet's masterpieces, among other great artists, hang from the walls at the headquarters of this museum on Fifth Avenue in New York.
3. Whitney Museum of American Art. Are you a fan of 20th-century American art? Then this is your place! The five floors of this museum exhibit work by Edward Hopper, Willem De Kooning, Charles Demuth and Andy Warhol, among other art geniuses.
4. Brooklyn Museum. Its collection of antiques is one of the most important in the world. Without underestimating the magnificent representation of American art with paintings by Mark Rothko, Edward Hopper, Norman Rockwell, Winslow Homer, Edgar Degas, Georgia O'Keeffe and Max Weber, among others.
5. American Museum of Natural History. Considered to be the best science museum in the world thanks to its collection of minerals and meteorites, reproductions of life-size dinosaurs and original fossils, in addition to a blue whale of 29 meters in length!
Very long white sand beaches, rows of palm trees that reach the sky, flocks of pink flamingos and neon lighting on pastel green buildings ... All of this is Miami. But, above all, Miami is art deco. The cultural movement born in Paris in the early twentieth century and was soon adopted as the style of the stars that lived between Hollywood and Miami.
Go for a relaxing walk in the late afternoon through the popular areas of Ocean Drive and South Beach and discover the great open-air art deco museum in Miami, with 960 cataloged historic buildings from this purely aesthetic and hedonistic school.
And if you plan to travel to this city in December, you can't miss Miami Art Week! A feast of art in which more than 20 fairs are held simultaneously, Art Basel being the heart of this fair, the American version of the prestigious Swiss fair.
Cultural trip to Madrid, the capital of museums
Traveling to Madrid, currently one of the most stimulating cities, is an opportunity to discover the triangle of art composed by three of the most important museums in the world: the Prado Museum, the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.
All three are very close to each other, in what is a most pleasant walk between gardens and majestic buildings of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The Prado Museum hosts some of the most important works in the history of art, such as Las meninas by Velázquez, La maja desnuda by Goya, The Three Graces by Rubens, or The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest by El Greco, among others.
Here you will have the opportunity to admire some of the paintings that have marked the future of art in Madrid and the rest of the world. You will get goosebumps when in front of them!
Did you know that Pablo Picasso painted his most famous painting, the Guernica, in memory of the bombing of this population in northern Spain during the Spanish Civil War?
Guernica is undoubtedly the great star of the Reina Sofía Museum, where you can also see some of the best works of other universal Spanish artists such as Salvador Dalí or Joan Miró.
The Villahermosa Palace, one of the most iconic buildings of the neoclassical architecture of Madrid, houses the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum collection, with works from the 17th to the 20th century and signed by universal artists such as Van Gogh, Caravaggio or Munch, among others.
Taking a walk through the nearby Retiro Park after visiting the museums or monuments of Madrid and taking a beer and creative tapas on one of its pleasant terraces by the lake, will make your cultural experience in Madrid complete.
Barcelona, at the vanguard of modernism
If you are planning a holiday in Barcelona, you will discover that this city can only count on art centers at the height of its vanguard.
The Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA), the Picasso Museum, the Joan Miró Foundation or the Museum of Modernism will allow you to approach the great artists of the 20th century. However, these are just some of the museums in Barcelona that you must visit, because there are many others!
Take a walk and visit the most iconic monuments of Barcelona such as the Sagrada Familia, the unfinished basilica designed by the architect Antoni Gaudí, or the incomparable Park Güell, a landmark of modernism, will broaden your desire for knowledge in this city with an unlimited offer of leisure and cultural tourism to enjoy art in Barcelona.
Cultural tourism in Lisbon, Budapest and some very special museums
If your intention is to discover two of the most exciting European cities, such as Lisbon and Budapest, in addition to enjoying their own traditions and gastronomy, you can also quench your cultural thirst by discovering some museums with deep-rooted themes in these places.
In the National Tile Museum of Lisbon, you will learn about the evolution of this type of pottery that is so characteristic of Portugal. And the Fado Museum, located in the popular Alfama neighborhood, will invite you to explore the history of this musical genre so ingrained in the Portuguese lands. Enjoy these and other museums in Lisbon!
As for the museums in Budapest, the Franz Liszt Museum reproduces the last house in which the famous musician and composer lived, between 1881 and 1886, located on the first floor of the former Academy of Music.
The Hungarian National Museum, the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts, the Budapest Opera House or the Hungarian National Gallery are other places that will undoubtedly amaze you with their works of art and the history of Budapest that contains each of its pieces.
So, have you already decided where you are going for your next cultural tourism trip to continue feeding your soul, while enjoying a well-deserved and relaxing holiday?
HAZLO REALIDAD
