Instagram alert: the newsroom's favorite travel photos
We all remember that trip that changed us forever, that landscape that left us breathless, that little village lost in the mountains, that summer on the shores of the Mediterranean or that winter in the Alps. And, of course, we all have that image captured in our memory and in our galleries. The editorial staff of Condé Nast Traveler reveals to us which is their favorite photograph.
DAVID MORALEJO (DIRECTOR OF CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER: LAKE BISCARROSSE
For me, traveling is getting lost, it's not looking for anything, it's suddenly finding everything. That means this photo, taken during a trip to the Landes, one of those trips that are made aimlessly, without haste, without maps; only with happiness. It is about Lake Biscarrosse in a silent sunset after an autumn storm and it also represents my passion-obsession for rivers and lakes as (sweet) alternatives to the always so photogenic and boastful sea.
ÁNGEL PEREA (ART DIRECTOR) : YELLOWSTONE
As a fan of Hanna-Barbera and Yoggi Bear, I was late going to the yellowstone national park . I was very shocked to visit its 9,000 square kilometers, being aware that it is a place with volcanic activity and feeling what insignificant we are before nature.
ANDREA MORÁN (HEAD OF PRODUCTION AND GRAPHIC EDITING) : LOS ALPES
This photo makes me feel big and small at the same time. When we arrived at the Zervreilasee my heart skipped a beat, we were in the middle of the Swiss Alps doing a report with Waris Ahluwalia for our January 2018 cover, perhaps one of my most important moments at Condé Nast Traveler and at the same time I realized that we have to be humble and grateful and that taking care of our environment and those around us is the most important thing.
PAULA MÓVIL (TODAY HEAD) : GUATEMALA
I like this photo because it reminds me of my childhood: I took it this summer in Guatemala when I went to visit my family. What you see is a chocobanano (banana covered in chocolate and nuts), my favorite snack and the whim that took away my bad moods as a child (My mother always used sweets to make me smile, that is the beginning of my "romance" with food). This, of course, she bought me. For that of not losing customs.MARÍA SANZ (EDITORIAL TRAVELER.ES: HONTANGAS
Why is my favorite photo of a small town in Castilla y León, instead of the fascinating beaches of Crete, the captivating light of Collioure, the nature of Madeira or the delicacies that have paraded before me this year? Because Hontangas (Burgos), with its few hundred inhabitants, It is a place to retreat to gather strength and breathe fresh air when the pollution beret of the big cities does not make it easy.
It is that place where vacations are dedicated to (surprise!) resting, and not returning to our computer screen more exhausted than usual after having to cross off all the items on a list of essential travelers. Hontangas is a destination of good, very good, food; and an Orfidal in vein with the ability to make you slow down and sleep for hours the most pleasant of naps. It is, in short, the town where the summers of my childhood passed on the two wheels of my bicycle; the place I go whenever I can and never as much as I would like.
**MARÍA CASBAS (EDITORIAL) : FIRA (SANTORINI) **
My favorite Instagram photo was taken by my boyfriend in Fira while he was gawking at the volcanic caldera bathed by the Aegean Sea. Every time I return to this image, a feeling of peace and vertigo invades me at the same time, remembering that cliff, where the houses look out into the void almost vertically forming a white stain with blue touches as if a brush had slid across the island.
CLARA LAGUNA (HEAD OF FASHION AND BEAUTY) : LOS ANGELES
Some tried to convince me that I was not going to like Los Angeles, so I enjoyed it twice as much when I saw that the city was so much fun for me. This image of the Ace Hotel in Downtown reminds me that it is better to discover things for oneself than to get carried away by what others say , that the stars (even those of the cinema) are there at our fingertips and that fortune smiles on the bold!
LIDIA GONZÁLEZ (EDITORIAL) : MADRID
I don't know if it's the best photo in my gallery, but it is one of the best memories. El Pardo is a neighborhood in Madrid located in the middle of the mountain, a real privilege. I love going there when I want to disconnect from traffic, noise, overcrowding and all those things that are typical of a big city. Sometimes I ride a bike, take walks along the river while I watch the swans leave their wake in the water, or just lay down in the garden and take a deep breath.
On May 21, the sky surprised me with one of the most incredible sunsets this year. Everyone who knows me knows that I am passionate about watching the sun go down, it is my zen moment of the day. So I captured the moment to share it and thought: how lucky I am. There is nothing like surrounding yourself with people who love you and doing things that excite you. And if it's spring, why do I want more?
JAVIER ZORI DEL AMO (COLLABORATOR) : NAPLES
I think it will take me a long time to find a city that I connect with on such a deep level as I did last March with Naples. And it wasn't because of Maradona, because of Sofia Loren, because of his passion for cafes or because of his genuine pizzas. It was because of that desire to locate the future in the most unexpected places, to hide some of its greatest beauties in a subway station (Toledo) where thousands of people pass every day. After all, without art there is no city.
IRENE CRESPO (COLLABORATOR) : BLACK ROCK CITY DESERT, NEVADA
Last sunrise of my first Burning Man. From the Temple, where all the madness of the festival nights calms down. It was the end of eight days in which I finally learned to disconnect, to forget about the real world (mobile, computer, email, deadlines...) . Everything can wait. I arrived as the most skeptical about the effects of a week in the desert, and I came back convinced.
MARTA SADER (COLLABORATOR) : MALAGA
My Instagram profile this year has photos from everywhere: Morocco, Italy, Finland, Greece, Denmark... And yet, I keep a photo of Malaga, which is where I live. It is an ordinary afternoon on the beach, one of those in September, when almost all the tourists have gone home and there are lonely coves left to dedicate themselves to nothing more than existing. In which the sun stretches as it only does here and, between pinkish and orange tones, stretches the day to impossible limits before gently turning it into night.
Iñaki and I were there, sleepy from the warm heat of late summer, laughing and playing with Cosmo and Mecha, our dogs. A few months later, Mecha would miss a morning, never to return.
SARA ANDRADE (COLLABORATOR): CADIZ
The breeze from the Bay of Cádiz reaches this balcony of Zahara de la Sierra where you can see its lake and the Algodonales in the background. Here we spent the last night of a trip to rediscover my past and that of my grandmother. That night, August 11, the town of Zahara dressed in white and lit up only with the fire of many candles to say goodbye. A magical experience!
Cádiz has that, which always leaves you breathless. Cádiz is a return to the roots, it is a walk through its Jerez to buy some coupons because that is what tradition dictates . It is a flamenco tablao and the ringing of heels that does not stop, a white street, a hidden patio and its endless beaches; It's a balcony overflowing with geraniums, those red ones that sprout so hard you can't stand it.