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One traveler discovers a tradition even richer than the cuisine.

Born free, today’s post-apartheid generation asks, what’s next?

There’s a lot more to the San Fermín festival than the running of the bulls. In Pamplona, a skeptic learns what it’s really like to attend the biggest summer fiesta in Basque country.

If all you know about Toronto is hockey and the CN Tower, you are in for an eye-opening visit. Groundbreaking film festivals, fantastic architecture, a design community so strong that the city’s become a destination for innovators and buyers, art and cultural museums, unique neighborhoods and industrial districts that have been transformed—you won’t be able to leave without planning a second visit.

Uncorking Switzerland’s Secret

Tourism is down, prices are up, social services are disappearing, and the government is bankrupt. Which means it’s a good time to get to know Seychelles.

Not surprisingly, this chain of more than 7,000 islands holds a million wonders—wildlife, mountains, jungles, and the white sand beaches of your dreams. With so many places to go, you’ll have to make some tough choices. What can wait for the next trip? Will you go island hopping or stay put on one of the larger islands? Will you head for the Chocolate Hills and the chance to see tiny primates with giant eyes? Or will you swim with whale sharks and go scuba diving off the low-key island of Palawan? There are no wrong answers.

Founder’s Note: Uncommon Travels

Telluride’s literary mecca, this beloved store is stacked with more than 10,000 books at any given time. The expertly curated regional books section is a fount of the Wild West’s writing prowess, with illustrative tomes on the town’s lurid backstory (you’ll want to peruse Tomboy Bride: A Woman’s Personal Account of Life in Mining Camps of the West). When your eyelids get heavy, head to the tiny coffee bar—squirreled away at the back of the shop—for a caffeine jolt to bolster an afternoon of reading.

Debre Birhan Selassie is a small church located in the heart of Gondar, Ethiopia. The original church was was built by Emperor Eyasu II, grandson of the great Emperor Fasilides, in the 17th century. The present day church was rebuilt in the 1880s following damage by marauding Sudanese Dervishes. I found the exterior of the church to be rather unassuming but once inside, I understood why this little church is one of Ethiopia’s top tourist attractions. Every inch of wall and ceiling space is covered with painted images. The beamed, painted ceiling will immediately grab your attention. Look up and you’ll see the faces of 123 winged cherubs representing the omnipresence of God and the walls depict biblical scenes and saints. On one end of the chapel, two curtain covered doors lead to Holy of Holies where the church’s copy of the Ark of the Convenant is housed. Above the two doors are icons of the Holy Trinity (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as represented by three identical men with halos) and the Crucifixion. There’s a lot of significance to the murals and this is the one place where having someone explain them to you makes sense. The priests do offer tours – just be sure to leave a small contribution behind when you leave.

Open to the public since the middle of the 18th century—and subsequently expanded by various Saxon Electors and museum curators—this celebrated museum contains one of Germany’s finest collections of Old Master works. Housed in the magnificent Dresden Zwinger, the museum spans three floors, focusing mainly on European painting (specifically the Italian Renaissance) but also featuring Dutch and Flemish masters like Van Eyck, Dürer, Holbein, Rubens, and Rembrandt. Highlights include Raphael’s Sistine Madonna, Vermeer’s Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, and Bellotto’s depictions of Dresden’s historic city center. Also worth checking out is the collection of Cranach paintings—the largest of its kind in the world.

Art-lovers should not miss the Museum of Fine Arts (Museum voor Schone Kunsten) or MSK, in Ghent, Belgium. This bite-sized museum offers a great overview of of European art, particularly Belgian, from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. Currently, the MSK is undertaking the restoration of Ghent’s most famous artwork, the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, by the Van Eyck brothers. Visitors can watch the entire process as it takes place behind glass. The architecture of the building is as lovely as the art contained inside, as seen in the photo above. The Mub’art Brasserie has a lovely terrace and is a great place for a bite to eat when you tire of admiring the art.

A couple of years ago, on Black Friday, my wife and I headed away from the malls of Tucson and into the mountains: Chiricahua National Monument, just west of the New Mexico border in SE Arizona, was one of the last strongholds of the Chiricahua Apaches, who called this area “the land of standing-up rocks.” This particular mountain peak is Cochise Head (elev. 8087'); cock your head to the right and it resembles a man’s profile. The ‘eyelash’ is formed by a tall Douglas fir tree. The volcanic formation is named after Chief Cochise, who died in 1874. About a decade after his death, several hundred of his surviving fellow Apaches were deported to Florida, never to return to their homeland again... The history of the American Southwest is a sobering mix of people on the move with conflicting labels: pioneers/invaders, defenders/terrorists, war/genocide, natives/aliens...It still hasn’t been all sorted out.

The Habsburgs were, generally speaking, lovers of art and many of the works of the Kunsthistorisches Museum come from their collections. While the grandiose interior alone may be reason enough to visit, the collections here are outstanding. The Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection, Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities and Coin Library are just a few of the collections to get lost inside. The Picture Gallery includes works by Albrecht Dürer, Jan van Eyck, Pieter Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens.

Founder’s Note: Travel Like an American