Just outside this former outpost of the Venetian empire, Kate Lough makes herself at home among the creative scene of Crete’s Chania. Along the way she discovers a more intimate Crete, where generous hosts, fertile landscapes, creative characters and wild southern beaches reveal the enduring spirit of the island.

In this series, we travel the world's great museums through the eyes and minds of selected curators, asking just one question: if you only had an hour to spare, what would you see? This week, Sara Pierdonà speaks to the director of Lisbon's Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Xavier Salomon.

In the wild landscape of Greece’s Mani peninsula, a soulful guesthouse makes an idyllic base for discovering the olive-grove paths, crystalline coves, mountain villages and family-run tavernas. Travel writer Kate Lough shares her favorite haunts for the perfect weekend in Kardamyli.

On the quietly compelling Cycladic island of Kéa, where ancient footpaths wind through oak forests and stone villages and few tourists tread, a new kind of luxury has arrived. Cabana checks into a hotel that takes its cues from the island’s rugged landscape, with villas cascading towards a secluded bay, architecture rooted in local materials and a spectacular spa devoted to the ancient Greek art of balance.

Fashion and accessories designer Rebecca de Ravenel is known for her vibrant colour, playful forms and a distinctly tropical sensibility. Having spent her childhood between the Bahamas and Paris, she developed an innate aesthetic informed by the vibrant elegance of the tropics, tempered by a touch of urban flair. Now based in Cascais, she shares her favourite places to eat, shop and wander in Lisbon and along the Portuguese coast.

Much of Lazio is often eclipsed by the grandeur of Rome, but beyond it lies a region of abundant treasures, perhaps none more compelling than Viterbo, just north of the capital. With its utterly unspoiled countryside, cozy trattorias and natural thermal springs, it's a much-loved escape for Romans. Victoria Locke shares an insider's guide.

Stockholm-based travel and design writer Nicole Kavander shares her favorite places in the Swedish capital, where historic streets, contemporary design and easy access to nature sit side by side. From neighborhood cafés and classic Swedish lunches to candlelit jazz bars, galleries and archipelago escapes, Nicole's hyperlocal insider's guide captures a personal side of Stockholm.

A century after the Bauhaus transformed the language of art, design and architecture, Anthea Gerrie follows its radical legacy back to Germany. From sleeping in the original Dessau school to tracing its origins in Weimar, she explores the buildings, objects and ideas that changed modern life — and discovers how a new generation is carrying its pioneering vision into the future.

Global event planner Michelle Rago has spent her career travelling the world in pursuit of beauty, atmosphere and decorative objects. But in the Delaware River Valley, where she now lives, she enjoys finding inspiration closer to home. Here, Michelle shares her favourite antiquing haunts across this quietly rich corner of the American Northeast, from river towns and historic homes to farms, studios and hidden treasures.

American architect Thomas A. Kligerman is celebrated for his classically inspired houses that draw on the architectural traditions of the American Coast. The author of Summer by the Sea, he has long championed a timeless approach to design rooted in craftsmanship, landscape and place. Here, he shares his favourite corners of Rhode Island, from historic inns and antique shops, to coastal gardens and beloved local restaurants.

Sophie Goodwin arrives in Rome for the Orient Express experience, checking-in to its brand new landmark hotel, the Hugo Toro-designed La Minerva, mere steps from the Pantheon. Inspired by the all-Italian itineraries on board La Dolce Vita, the 17th-century palazzo has, like its moving counterparts, been designed to evoke the golden age of travel.

Athens-based travel writer Kate Lough slips into the slower, wilder side of the Greek island of Folegandros while staying at Spina, an off-grid osteria-with-rooms on the island's remote south-western coast.

To treasure-hunting author of The Art of Antiquing in France, Sharon Santoni, speaks with Cabana about decades spent exploring the country's bustling brocantes, the objects that have filled her home and the enduring thrill of the search.

It's a big year for Matisse with shows in Barcelona, Chicago and Paris. The latter is a landmark exhibition, which spotlights the industrious last years of the artist's life when he moved to the small Provençal village of Saint Paul de Vence. Elizabeth Bennett shares a postcard from this pocket of Provence, where the art scene is still thriving.

Just an hour from Athens, Aegina is a quieter, lesser-known counterpoint to the Greek Summer, but no less special. Athens-based travel writer Kate Lough explores its pistachio groves, neoclassical harbour life, ancient ruins, and hidden swimming coves. A place of soft light and slower rhythms, she finds Greece at its most intimate, tactile, and unexpectedly timeless.

Sophie Goodwin visits Paris when it sizzles during a hot July weekend, resting at her favorite writer's final crime scene: L'Hotel, the famed left bank legend beloved by Oscar Wilde. She discovers a stay that's every bit as as decadent as Wilde would have wanted.