When the topic of Prague comes up, (and even by travel writer standards, it comes up relatively often for me, having spent four months studying abroad there) someone will inevitably make the comment that being in Prague is like walking through a quaint medieval town that’s right out of a … Read more
“Minutes from Cape Town, Miles from the World”. That’s the slogan of the Steenberg Hotel, a tagline that couldn’t be more fitting. Despite the fact that it’s a mere 20-minute drive from South Africa’s capital, you’ll feel like you’re in a completely different world as traffic disappears, cars become bicycles … Read more
Hong Kong should have seen the Spanish inquisition coming. While French, Italian, and European cuisines have been popular and served to a high standard for decades in this international city, good Iberian-influenced cuisine was scarce. The fairly new phenomenon began with a few Spanish restaurants opening up in the early … Read more
I first went to Prague ages ago, in 1977, motivated by a desire to see the birthplace of the first serious writers whose work meant the world to me as a young adult. Although Franz Kafka and Rainer Maria Rilke never wrote explicitly about Prague, the city’s literal darkness, Gothic … Read more
The Peninsula was one of the first luxury hotels to open in Beijing China and is still the epitome of class in a city that’s constantly changing. It was 1989, a year that ushered back the Western style hotel to China’s capital. This modern hotel tower rises out of a … Read more
Maine’s coast, lakes, woods, and mountains have inspired countless American artists including year-round residents like Winslow Homer and three generations of Wyeths. Even the list of artists who visited Maine or summered there reads like a Who’s Who: Frederic Church and Thomas Cole, Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent, Edward Hopper, … Read more
When I was a child, my yearly trips to Miami with my family were always filled with stories of the glamorous Miami of the past, a place where my grandparents used to take my mother and tío when they were little children. In the tales of my beloved Grandfather I could … Read more
Before there were hot stone massages and oxygen facials, Vichy showers and seaweed wraps, there were hot springs. For centuries, cultures around the globe turned to bubbling, mineral-rich natural springs to help heal a wide array of ailments, from joint pains to skin conditions. The ancient Romans in particular cultivated … Read more
You’re fooled as you step into a suite at André Fu-designed The Upper House in the heart of Hong Kong. The large, elegantly furnished accommodations at this boutique hotel were once serviced apartments that have been completely redesigned and refurbished. Transformed seamlessly to a chic city hotel exuding a modern … Read more