This year’s colour of the year Pantone Blue, couldn’t be more travel friendly. There are few other colours that arouse as much wanderlust as the Pantone Colour of the Year 2020. It’s often the colour that one most chases from skies to seas, a blue that simply takes your breath away.
According to Pantone, the “solid and dependable blue hue” was inspired by our need for calm and clarity and “re-centres our thoughts.” When better to identify our hotspots than January’s month of refreshing and reflecting.
So long Living Coral, hello Classic Blue. Here are 5 places around the world where you can experience this year’s Pantone Blue.
Jodhpur, India
Once an indicator of social class, the colour blue has come to define this city on the edge of the Thar Desert. Jodhpur, has also come to be known as the ‘Blue City’ with the houses blue-painted in the old area, creating a luscious blue sea in the arid Indian landscape.
A view from the top of the looming Mehrangarh Fort, one of India’s largest forts from the 15th century, lets visitors overlook the bountiful, striking blue for which the city is known.
Santorini, Greece
Whether it’s ocean blue, sky blue or the subtle shades of blue rooftops, every traveller knows that the spectacular island of Santorini offers the most beautiful hues of blue. Santorini is the supermodel of the Greek islands, a head-turner of an island which will provide you with dazzling panoramas, romantic sunsets and volcanic-sand beaches, from just about anywhere on the island.
This island was once circular (known as Strongili (the Round One)), but following a colossal volcanic eruption thousands of years ago, leaving a caldera (or crater) with towering cliffs along the east side – it became the Santorini we know now, and its trademark landscape ..
Situated above caldera walls, the iconic maze of white cave houses, blue-domed churches, and infinity pools (which are also filled with calm blue water) spilling over the horizon are sights to behold.
Chefchaouen, Morocco
It should be Pantone’s Colour of the Year 2020 aka Chefchaouen. Dubbed the “Blue Pearl of Morocco” for its striking sapphire-rinsed structures and alleyways, why is Chefchaouen so blue? There are several theories as to why the walls were painted blue. One popular theory is that the blue keeps mosquitos away, another is following the tradition of painting everything blue dating back to the Jewish community that settled there in the 15th century. The blue is said to symbolize the sky and heaven, and serve as a reminder to lead a spiritual life.
At the northern tip of Morocco, this Instagram heaven city is one one side, heaving with markets of boldly coloured textiles and spices cover the entire city, and a a hiker’s paradise in surrounding areas.
Grotta Azzurra, Italy
‘Twas said by Mark Twain, “the waters of this placid subterranean lake are the brightest, loveliest blue that can be imagined. They are as transparent as plate glass, and their colouring would shame the richest sky that ever bent over Italy. No tint could be more ravishing, no lustre more superb.”
And he was quite right. A natural sea cave on the island of Capri, gives thanks to its classic blue hue due to the way the light enters its water-filled cave, not from above, but through an underwater opening. Because the light passes through the water on its way into the cave, it fills the grotto with its famous deep blue glow.
Porto, Portugal
Look all around Porto and you’ll find the 2020 Pantone Colour of the Year is the signature shade in the lovely azulejo tiles. The tiles came from Seville, Spain, to Portugal in the 15th century and have since become a defining feature of Porto. The beautiful ceramic tiles embellish the facades of many buildings, benches, street signs and fountains. First stop? The picturesque lobby of the São Bento railway station.
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