Culture clashes (and culture connections) have produced in the Mediterranean such wonders as Gothic architecture and Moroccan couscous. Like colored threads in a tapestry, the traces of civilizations in continuous contact and exchange are a woven part of the fabric of Mediterranean life, and fundamental to its beauty. Mediterranean Lifestyles is a digest of culture at its richest and most inspired. Encompassing the historical, the philosophical, the artistic, and the everyday, this site is your virtual window on the Mediterranean.

Anyone who has ever been to this part of the world knows that the Mediterranean is a state of mind. No one image or attempt to describe the region can truly capture its essence. Nothing can substitute for being there, for the feeling one gets when there. The Mediterranean is an emotion - an emotion one senses only when under Mediterranean sun and sky, when one feels its warmth and breathes its air.

In the words of English novelist Paul Scott, the past is “a texture, an ambience to our present.” The history of a place characterizes its present. It bestows charm and personality in a way that no amount of vacuous wealth and technological advancement can ever hope to match.

Mediterranean lands have for centuries been linked through cultural exchange in the form of empire and trade. The Mediterranean Sea was once an active trade route, carrying ideas and tastes along with ships and people across the whole of the region. The Greeks, the Romans, the Persians, the Carthaginians, the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the Ottomans, and the Arabs - each of these cultures contributed its part in the cultural mix, each having been among the region’s leading protagonists for a time.

Courtesy, polite regard, refinement in style and manner, these are perhaps the attributes that are thought to define "civilization." In Mediterranean lands, however, warmth, hospitality, and the unparalleled beauty of a richly textured culture are the things which characterize it. Here, one could not find themselves in closer quarters to mankind’s highest achievements.

By comparison to the “commercial culture” of the “Far West,” the Mediterranean is a place where, quite a bit more often, a smile given is a smile meant. It is also a place where prosperity achieved is prosperity enjoyed, the pace and general rhythm here being more properly conducive to life, dignity, and humanity. That said, it should be no wonder that those with means so often seek out the warmth of these lands – and those without, dream about them.