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Many friendly squirrels will greet you while walking through the Company’s Garden, a park and heritage site located in the heart of Cape Town’s City Bowl. This garden, along with Kirstenbosch and Arderne, are the most beautiful green spaces with historical significance in the Western Cape. These particular gardens date back to the 1650’s, when the Dutch utilized the natural spring water running down from Table Mountain to establish a small area for agriculture. Now, City Parks is re-establishing part of the garden as an educational tool. You can bring a picnic or grab a bite at the small Garden Tea Room. There are several museums set on the periphery of the garden, including two of the best rainy day museums: the South African National Gallery and Iziko South Africa Museum & Planetarium.

Fearing a British takeover of its ill-gotten trading post, the Dutch East India Company built this star-shaped castle (known as Kasteel de Goede Hoop) between 1666 and 1679 to defend its territory. Now the oldest building in South Africa, the castle served as the center of Cape Town‘s civilian, political, and military life. The austere facade opens up to a striking central lawn and commanding buildings that, in their restored form, represent Dutch, English, and French architectural styles. History buffs will go nuts here: Check out the William Fehr Collection, the African pottery exhibit, and the Castle Military Museum.

This charming Swabian town is deservedly popular for its vibrant atmosphere, handsome castle, and medieval center, which boasts winding, cobbled lanes and half-timbered town houses joined by narrow alleyways. The key sights include the Stiftskirche St. Georg, a late-Gothic church with stained glass windows and city views from its tower; the delightfully yellow Hölderlin Tower, which will reopen as a museum in 2020 and is best viewed from across the river; the striking 15th-century City Hall, with its painted facade and astronomical clock; and, of course, the turreted Hohentübingen Castle, set attractively on a hilltop and home to the Museum of Ancient Cultures. The town is also famous for its university, which is one of Europe’s oldest. It’s attended by a large number of students (about 20,000), who add to Tübingen’s lively spirit by filling the sidewalk cafés, restaurants, wine taverns, and pubs.

A short walk away from the center of the Old Town is the four-star Hotel Kossak; its rooftop Cafe Oranżeria has a fabulous panoramic view over the Wawel royal complex, the Vistula river, and the Old Town. It’s easy to spend an evening in the Oranżeria and barely notice the food, so spectacular is the view. Fortunately the quality of the cuisine is also first-class and it is rightly considered one of Krakow’s best restaurants.

The oldest winery in South Africa, Groot Constantia has a long history of producing some of the best wines in the world. Groot Constantia is also a rarity in its proximity to Cape Town itself. In the 19th century the European heads of state included wines from Groot Constantia in their cellars. Today the wine makers at this famous winery are still making their excellent wines and guests can visit for a full tasting. It’s also a great spot for a picnic, as long as you watch out for baboons. This is South Africa after all.

A breezy little beach hotel filled with rough wood, natural linen, and flea market finds, the Rose seems, to the uninitiated, like a pure product of quirky Venice’s hipsterfication. In fact, the historic, wood-and-stucco building was built by the beach town’s founder, Abbot Kinney, in the early days of the 20th century; rumor says it was his private brothel, frequented by such friends as Charlie Chaplin. By the 1970s, at the height of Venice’s drug culture, the building had become a flophouse of sorts, and neighbor Dennis Hopper was known to drop by. Before two British photographers discovered it, the house had turned into a mural-covered crash-pad for surfers, yogis, and beach bums of all kinds.

Looking at the low-key Rose now—the town’s first true boutique hotel, barely half a block from the beach—one would hardly know that the entire history of Venice had passed through it. The rooms are spare but stylish, with large windows, art photography, and vintage furniture. Some rooms are large enough to live in, whereas others share a hallway bathroom. Amenities are minimal—Stumptown coffee, bicycle rentals—but a relaxed beach house that attracts artists and creatives looking to delve into Venice’s eclectic, vibrant culture doesn’t need to try too hard to be cool.

Esperanza is located on the southern side of Vieques island with a laid-back vibe reminiscent of Key West. This small town has an main street that runs parallel to the ocean called “El Malecón” that is dotted with friendly guest houses, funky bars and even gourmet restaurants. It makes a great base for exploring the island’s treasures: it’s walking distance to Playa Esperanza and Sun Bay and only a 10-20 minute drive to the secluded beaches in the wildlife refuge.

There’s a different way to see the African wildlife in their natural habitat than a safari and it’s called Boulder Beach. We ventured to the Eastern side of the Peninsula (Indian Ocean) to meet and spend time with the locals, Cape Town‘s penguin colony. Following the wooden boardwalks, you gain access to Foxy Beach, a sheltered cove with soft white sand, crystal clear water, massive granite boulders, and birds in butler-style tailcoats. Its nothing short of an Instagram-worthy photo op but I recommend climbing atop a boulder and spending time to take it all in. It’s impossible to capture how majestic this destination truly is.

While hiking in Cape Town, there are plenty of moments when you’ll stop for a water break, wipe the sweat from your brow, and ignore those voices inside yourself saying you can’t possibly take another uphill step. This moment is fleeting, however, and always superseded by the lasting memories of when you feel like you’re on top of the world at the end of your hike. Silvermine Nature Reserve is 20 minutes from the city center and the part of Table Mountain National Park that covers the Cape Peninsula near Kalk Bay and Muizenberg. The Echo Valley hike can be approached from the Silvermine entrance on top of Ou Kaapse Weg (one way), or, from the entrance on Boyes Drive in Kalk Bay.

The 6km range of mountains jutting out on the Atlantic Coast of Table Mountain are known as the “Twelve Apostles”. The 18 peaks located between Camps Bay and Llandudno make for a very scenic route by which you can travel from Cape Town to Hout Bay. If you have time, continue on all the way down to the Cape Peninsula. The 12 Apostles Hotel, an exclusive, five-star property, is nestled in these mountains. Dine at the on-site restaurant, Azure, where approximately 95% of their ingredients are sourced from the Western Cape. If a meal or overnight stay is beyond the reach of your budget, you can always stop by for a drink or book a spot at their afternoon “Tea by the Sea”.

If you don’t know that Korean beauty products are the Next Big Thing, chances are you’ve been living under a rock, you’re a non-Korean man, and/or you’re over age 50. For everyone else, K-Beauty is an of-the-moment trend that’s popping up everywhere from international cities like New York and Hong Kong, to the beauty section of Target in small Midwestern towns. Needless to say, it’s everywhere.

So of course it’s big business in Korea’s capital, where the streets of buzzy Myeongdong hum with a thousand beauty stores. Perhaps the most popular of all the products are mask sheets, made with ingredients to make one’s skin firmer, more moisturized, whiter, cleaner…you name it. Perhaps the best place to look for one’s ideal mask sheet is aptly named, Mask Sheet Story, a store that sells—you guessed it.

There are four outposts of All Mask Story. All Mask Story No. 1 is on the popular Myeongdong Shopping Street.

Among the several art galleries along Main Road in Kalk Bay, Kalk Bay Modern displays a variety of art, jewelry, fabric, photography, and pottery from several different African countries, as well as an exciting collection of the works of South African aboriginal San artists.

“When bands are in town, I send them to the instrument shop ST Music, which is a five-minute walk away from the calligraphy tool shop, Geng Yen Jai. They sell an instrument called the pipa, which is like a Chinese guitar, plus Chinese flutes and very tiny Chinese hand cymbals.” —KK Yeh

This appeared in the November/December 2017 issue.

Almost any time of day, the Sea Point Promenade is filled with walkers and joggers, many of them residents from the apartments nearby. Though named after Sea Point, the best known of the areas the walkway fronts, the three-mile promenade begins in Granger Bay, closer to the city, then goes past the red-and-white-striped lighthouse of Mouille Point and continues to Sea Point itself (don’t miss the Art Deco Pavilion, site of many international fashion shoots), before curving around to dramatic, Riviera-like Bantry Bay. A path high above the cliffside apartments of Clifton extends for several more miles to Camps Bay. All along the promenade’s way (except along the fairly long Clifton stretch), there are restaurants and coffee shops.

Port Royal, once known as the wickedest city on earth and the Sodom of the New World, revels in its pirate past. The once-great city, now a fishing port, was at its height in the 1600s, when numerous brothels and drinking establishments thrived on pirates’ plundered gold. In 1692, the effects of an earthquake submerged part of the port, a tragedy that has actually preserved the town from being torn down or built over. Entire buildings and streets are clearly visible just beneath the water. The town that remains on dry land offers visitors fascinating archaeological sites to explore, including fortified walls, cannons, and crumbling buildings.