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Famed for its elegant, French-inspired seafood cuisine, Torfan is set in a 19th-century building (the restaurant’s name refers to Bernhöftstorfa, a historical part of the town) that’s decorated with traditional paintings on the walls, ornate ceramics, and classic wooden floors. Aside from the lauded Icelandic lobster it serves, the restaurant also offers up game, beef, fish, and even horse as à la carte options; set menus such as the Langoustine Feast and the Surf and Turf Feast; and vegetarian items like mushroom risotto and broccoli with oyster mushrooms—all of which balance tradition with modern techniques and influences. Service is friendly and professional.

The Tiergarten might be Berlin’s most famous park, but the sprawling, 7,400-acre Grunewald wins the prize for the city’s most impressive forest. Fringed by the Havel River to the west, it contains a multitude of pleasant hiking and cycling paths, lakes and sand dunes, and a surprising number of cultural, historical, and architectural sights as well. Besides the Teufelsberg man-made hill and adjacent Teufelssee Lake, there are great forest views from the Grunewaldturm, which also has a beer garden. Jagdschloss Grunewald, a 16th-century hunting lodge, has a café and a collection of old masters paintings. Close to the S-Bahn you can see a touching memorial to the deportation of the city’s Jews, who were sent from this station to death camps during World War II.

The Viceroy Riviera Maya is a 41- villa resort set on the sugary-white-sand beach along the Riviera Maya. Surrounded by a lush jungle ambiance dotted with dense with ferns, palms and guava trees, it offers a luxurious retreat for guests 16 and older. Guests are treated to an ancient Maya blessing, performed by the onsite shaman - guaranteed to transform worries into a relaxed mindset to mesh with the tranquil resort. The spa employs Maya healing techniques and traditions, while a lagoon pool, fine-dining restaurant, seaside grill, private pier, fitness center and a library lounge are some of the many guest amenities. A menu of artisanal soaps offers a choice of scents. Once the selection is made, the Soap Concierge slices personalized bars from large blocks of soap for their use. Pet packages are available and include a blessing from the shaman, personalized, hand-made portable pet palapas and personalized menus designed by resort chefs.

Hotel de Russie’s fabulous courtyard bar is the place to live Rome‘s 21st-century dolce vita. The hotel itself is the preferred address for VIPs and celebrities, so it makes sense that the garden bar is a posh and private Eden. At any time of year, the city’s best-dressed hold court at the outdoor tables, while a seat at the indoor bar is akin to winning the Iron Throne. It’s important to note that, since the Stravinskij Bar single-handedly resurrected Rome’s cocktail scene, drinks will cost you royally. Try the signature martini, The Gibson.

Home to Mexico’s largest concentration of artisans, Tonalá—just 10 minutes from Tlaquepaque—is known for its pottery, hand-blown glassware, textiles, miniatures, and more. On Thursdays and Sundays, the town hosts an open-air market, or tianguis, in its main plaza—and has since Prehispanic times—during which visitors can shop stalls from more than 400 craftspeople. If you can’t make it on market day, you’ll miss the hustle and bustle but can still visit the stores and family-run workshops where the artisans produce their unique wares.

The most famous castle in Germany—and one of the best known in Europe—Neuschwanstein is renowned not just for its fairy-tale architecture (which directly inspired the Disney Castle) but also for its creator, “mad” King Ludwig II. Begun in 1868, it wasn’t completed until four years after Ludwig’s death, in 1892, but was very advanced for its time, with larger-than-usual windows, central heating, an elevator, telephones, and indoor plumbing. However, it’s the castle’s mountaintop setting and soaring towers that really impress. When visiting, be sure to check out the paintings inspired by the operas of Richard Wagner—Ludwig’s friend and the person to whom he dedicated the castle. Also take in the stellar views from the Marienbrücke, and if you want to visit in style, consider a horse-drawn carriage ride back to your car. There’s a restaurant on-site, but plenty of cheaper options are in the town below.

What was supposed to be the first drawbridge in South America ended up as a monument to inefficiency and made laughingstocks of those involved when, just before construction finished, it was discovered that one of the bridge’s two spans had been installed upside down. The $42 million project was later featured in the Discovery Channel documentary “Horrors of Calculation” as an engineering mistake too expensive to fix. The bridge, which spans the Cau Cau River in the lovely city of Valdivia, is unusable except as a background for selfies and a caution to anyone whose mind wanders during calculus class.

The Larco Museum is the starting point of your visit to Peru. It has the largest collection of pre-Columbian pieces in the Americas and tells the history of Peru without being tiresome. That’s a feat in itself, because we’re talking about 10.000 years of history! Everything you’ll see in Lima and around the country will make sense after this visit. The quality and beauty of the pieces are amazing, showing all the complexity of the local cultures. It’s a beautiful museum, very well curated, the exhibits are simple and to the point and everything is explained in displays and videos. The museum offers also a super interesting guided visit for families with children. Other famous part of this museum is two private rooms dedicated to erotic pieces, showing the connection between erotic and fertility.

Before you even leave for Telluride, the staff at Madeline Hotel & Residences can help you arrange itineraries, transfers, and equipment rentals or book activities like snowmobile tours and alpine hikes. Once you arrive, however, you might be content to never leave the property. Guests can get acclimated with an altitude oxygen treatment at the spa, browse the 80 original paintings chosen by the in-house art curator, or find their Zen during a yoga class at the fitness center. There’s also an outdoor heated pool, a kids’ club with games and movies, and the Black Iron Kitchen and Bar, which serves local comfort food like Colorado bison chili and warm Camembert with honey and figs. Outdoor fire tables offer the perfect place for après-ski cocktails but the Madeline’s pièce de résistance is its Sky Terrace—a 9,500-square-foot outdoor lounge with fire pits and two hot tubs. Should you actually tear yourself away from the hotel, you can take the nearby gondola to Telluride’s nightlife and shopping, or use the slope-side valet to get on the mountain quicky and easily.

The Madeline is surrounded on three sides by the San Juan mountains, so many of the guest rooms offer stunning views. They also feature contemporary but comfortable furnishings, plus access to a “bath barista,” who will draw you a customized soak in your spacious tub. Suites have heated bathroom floors and a separate living area with a kitchenette and gas fireplace, while residences include full kitchens, laundry facilities, and balconies.

One of the most striking sights along the channel can be found in the shape of the so-called Glacier Alley. Described in detail by Charles Darwin during his five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle, the series of five glaciers—which are named Holanda, Italia, Francia, Alemania and Romanche (the latter located within Chile’s Alberto de Agostini National Park)—are nothing short of spectacular, summoning an aura of grace and quietude as well as reminding one of the majestic force of nature.

Forty miles from Zurich in the heart of central Switzerland, the Axenstrasse is a historic motorway that’s so achingly scenic it might even cure your vertigo. It winds for seven miles around the base of the Uri Alps hugging the verdant ridge of turquoise Lake Uri (a branch of the four-fingered Vierwaldstätter See—Four Forested Cantons Lake—more familiar to most tourists as Lake Lucerne). It occasionally careens through century-old mountain tunnels and past painted bell towers and Roman-era viaducts scattered around the region’s Alpine villages, where the legendary folk hero William Tell is supposed to have come from. There are numerous picnic areas along the older sections of the Axenstrasse, and the entire stretch of lake is swimmable in the summer. Hikers can find a variety of trails along the road that can take them to higher altitudes, where they can spot ibex, chamois, alpine orchids, purple gentian, and acrobatic alpine choughs, riding the thermals of the warm foehn winds, said by locals to cause madness.

Cobá holds what remains of a large pre-Colombian Maya civilization located on the Riviera Maya. Lesser known than Tulum, the name Cobá means turbid (cloudy) waters—probably having to do with the five cenotes (underground rivers) in the region, which played an important role in agriculture during the development of this region. At one time the city is believed to have had 50,000 inhabitants. Much of the area is still unexcavated, although recent excavations unearthed a stele, which is unique to the Maya world, as it is covered in hieroglyphics. A restored ball court confirms that the popular ball game was practiced here. Bloodletting rituals traditionally followed Maya ball games at Cobá and slaves were forced to participate. This differs from what was practiced at the later site of Chichen Itza, where the captain of the winning team was beheaded after the game.

To get a feel for Kerala’s rich and layered history, head to Fort Kochi. Once a small fishing village in pre-colonial times, this area—now the historic old town neighborhood of the city of Kochi—belonged to the Portuguese for much of the 16th and 17th centuries, then to the Dutch for a little over a century, then to the British until India’s independence in 1947. For all that time, the waterside spot served as an important port along the spice route, with Chinese and Arabian traders sailing through to pick up sandalwood, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, and other local goods. Today, Fort Kochi features myriad reminders of all who have lived and worked here: the Dutch cemetery, Koonan Kurish Old Syrian Church, and the 16th-century St. Francis Church, the Mattancherry Palace (aka the Dutch Palace), colonial Parade Grounds, still-in-use Chinese fishing nets, and the painted tiled-lined Paradesi Synagogue, built in 1567 and considered the oldest active synagogue in the commonwealth. The Indo-Portuguese Museum and Southern Naval Command Maritime Museum provide more context, while Fort Kochi Beach—with its colonial-era bungalows, Arabian Sea strand, and food stalls peddling the day’s fresh catch—draws both locals and tourists. Architecture buffs will love historic sites like Thakur House, Bastion Bungalow, and David Hall, many of which can be spotted from a stroll along breezy Church Road.

Café Latte | Quattro Sette is a great find if you’re in need for caffeine, tea, or a snack. It’s a fairly new addition to Merida, frequented by tons of expats, natives, and the occasional traveler. The coffee is delicious and strong, and the service super charming...as long as you play by the house rules below : ) REGALES DE LA CASA – House Rules No se permite hablar por teléfono dentro del Café. (No phone calls inside the Café.) El café Illy es elmejor del mundo: Si le gustaría un descafeinado, tome agua. (Illy coffee is the best in the world: if you’d like a decaf, drink water.) Los niños bien portados son bienvenidos. Los demás los convertimos en postres. (Well behaved children are welcome. The rest will be made into pies.) Hablando de postres: la gente flaca es mas fácil de secuestrar,acompag˜e su café con un pan. (Speaking of pies: skinny people are easier to kidnap, have a pastry.) Don’t bring anyone to Latte | Quattro Sette that you wouldn’t bring to your mother’s house on Sunday. (No triage a nadir a Latte | Quattro Sette que no traería a casa de su mamá el domingo.) OPEN: 8:00AM - 4:00PM +52 999 924 8895 >>>A heartfelt thank you to Yucatan Tourism for an unforgettable 4 days in the Yucatan, my new favorite place in Mexico! @YucatanTourism #TravelYucatan

In the 14th district of Paris are the Catacombs, also known as the underground ossuary (or l’Ossuaire Municipal) where 6 million skeletons are stacked in an orderly fashion and date back several centuries ago. This was done because Paris cemeteries were running out of space while the city itself was expanding, thus it was agreed to move each cemetery’s collection of skeletons underground.


It is an eerie place to visit and I wouldn’t recommend it is for the faint of heart. Still, not a sight to miss. People like Charles 10, François the 1st (Emperor of Austria), Napoleon III and his son all took a stroll through the long and ominous halls of the Catacombs to pay a visit. It really is a sight like no other, and is great to visit if you’ve already seen all the main tourist sites, or even a rainy afternoon to escape dreary weather.


It was interesting to discover the cause of death by looking at some of these skulls. In this particular picture I captured a skull which did not die of a natural cause. It had a perfect circle in the left cheek, indicating a gunshot wound. It was a scary discovery, but I felt compelled to photograph it.

Tickets are either 8 Euros full price, 4 Euros for youth tickets (age 14-26), and free 13 and under.



Learn more about the history of the Paris Catacombs in this article.