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Why we love it: A boutique property with a strong sense of place

The Highlights:
- Cleanly designed rooms hung with local art
- A prime location in one of Duluth’s coolest neighborhoods
- Friendly owners who are ready with restaurant suggestions

The Review:
Opened in the fall of 2018, Hotel Pikku has quickly become one of Duluth’s most sought-after stays. With a name that means Little in Finnish, the boutique property has just three suites, decorated in clean, Scandinavian style with vintage couches, brass side tables, and paintings by local artist Patricia Canelake. Bathrooms feature walk-in showers and cedar-and-citrus-scented bath products, and suites 1 and 3 come with kitchens, which the hotel owners suggest stocking with snacks from the Dovetail Cafe or the Corktown Deli, across the street.

While there’s no permanent on-site staff at Hotel Pikku, the owners are available by text or telephone from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. Rooms are bookable on Airbnb and guests check in themselves, making for a seamless stay. Out the front door, the burgeoning Lincoln Park Craft District is home to some of Duluth’s best restaurants and breweries. The hotel is surrounded by several studios and galleries, and is within easy walking distance of the Superior Hiking Trail, Lincoln Park, and entrances to the Duluth Traverse mountain biking trail system.

A warren of rooms make up this cozy restaurant that some claim is the oldest on the island. The building itself was originally a private waterside home constructed in 1652—some 40 years after the first English settlers arrived to Bermuda—and it has operated as restaurant for more than a century. The name comes from the married Irish poet who lived here and spent his days on Bermuda composing love poems to local women. However, don’t let the tavern in the name fool you: The cuisine and vibe here is haute, and the menu showcases French influences on island favorites, as well as traditional Bermuda fish chowder and grilled meats; if they’re listed on the day’s menu, the soufflés are a must-try. There’s no longer exactly a dress code (the emphasis is on “elegant casual”), but like everything in Bermuda, it is best to err on the side of formal.

Somewhere between a luxury yacht and a royal residence, the Hotel Lungarno seems like the sort of place where Audrey Hepburn’s Princess Ann, of Roman Holiday, would have felt right at home. A 16th-century private residence on the southern banks of the Arno, next to the iconic Ponte Vecchio, the hotel was the first entry into the Ferragamo family’s Lungarno hotel collection, lovingly restored by renowned Florentine architect/designer Michele Bönan. With rich navy carpets, stained-wood furnishings, crisp white linens, and as many large, river-facing windows as he could get away with. It comes as no surprise, either, that the house restaurant is considered among the best in the city. Even if the food and the atmosphere weren’t top-notch (and they are), the sunset views of the city lights reflected in the river would be worth it.

There comes a time for everyone on a Cambodia trip when, no matter how much you’re enjoying sampling the local food, you’ll get a craving you need to satisfy. Fortunately, Siem Reap has an abundance of restaurants serving cuisines from around the globe, and many of them are very good. Filling pastas are fantastic if you’ve been cycling or scrambling the temples all day and a plain Margarita pizza is a terrific choice if you’ve been a tad sick in the tummy. Of Siem Reap’s handful of Italian restaurants, I love Il Forno, on a narrow alley off Pub Street, just down the lane from Asana and around the corner from Miss Wong.

The pizzas come piping hot from the traditional Neapolitan wood-fired oven and many of the handmade pastas are made fresh daily on the premises. While some of the products, such as the Parma ham, are imported from Italy (as you’d hope!), others are local and seasonal, like the beautiful fragrant basil. They also offer decent Italian wines by the glass and carafe. Check the blackboard for daily specials. If you can’t get a table, I also like Little Italy on the parallel lane on the other side of Pub Street. The specialty there is their excellent carpaccio and house-made charcuterie.

In addition to providing a peaceful green space, this remarkable terraced garden near the Ponte Vecchio offers terrific views of the city. Its scale—much smaller than that of the Boboli Gardens—gives it a more intimate feel. In spite of its size, it includes an incredible diversity of garden styles. Climb the grand central staircase and wander from woodlands to an Anglo-Chinese garden, with fountains and sculptures in the mix, as well as visible fragments of the garden’s original medieval walls. The famed 19th-century art dealer Stefano Bardini lived in the Villa Mozzi (now the Villa Bardini) and it is his unique taste and vision that continues to shape this ornate attraction.

Cavell’s Cook Shop hides in plain sight along the road that hugs the shore on Antigua’s southwestern coast. Its humble, nondescript outward appearance bears every likeness of a simple storage shed or roadside workshop. Thick, encroaching foliage on either side further suggest its owner might prefer his or her place to maintain a low profile. The long line of cars regularly parked astride the road outside Cavell’s at all hours of the day, however, tells a different story. So too do the savory aromas emanating from beneath her galvanize roof, and the smiles on the faces of her steady stream of people filing in and out of here. You see, small and simple though it may be, Cavell’s is the prime spot for real local food in Antigua. The sun pounding down on the galvanize roof combined with the heat put forth by the various cooking apparatuses maKe standing inside Cavell’s feel like limin’ in an oven. No one was complaining, though. Cold Wadadli’s and good company have a way of keeping things cool here. Come to Cavell’s with a smile, some patience, and an open mind and you’ll make friends of the broad swath of local Antiguans, representing all walks of life, easily.

Located across the Tiber River from the Centro Storico, Trastevere is a kaleidoscope of ivy-covered buildings, complicated Italian history, and bombastic nightlife. The heart of the neighborhood is Piazza Santa Maria, a large square where street performers show off their stuff, and Porta Portese’s massive Sunday flea market. Film buffs can take a walk through the maze-like side streets for a glimpse of director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s early life before heading off to one of the neighborhood’s many bars for a craft beer or aperitivo.

In Oporto, Portugal, you can take a river cruz if you want. There are several choices from 50 minute boat tours to several hours or even several days. I chose to go on the 50 minute “Six Bridges” river cruise. I started at the Cais da Ribeira where you purchase your ticket and board the boat. We passed under the six bridges of Oporto on a relaxing tour and took in the glorious view of the World Heritage site of Oporto up on the hills. The wine cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia were spread out on the opposite side of the river. The views were magnificent of many old historic buildings and old cathedrals and churches. At the mouth of the Douro, we viewed the waters beyond known as the “land of the fishermen”. The Douro River is a beautiful river that sparkles under the azure sky as the sun shines down on its pristine waters. I was rewarded with a serene and happy feeling as I disembarked from my short cruise. I definitely recommend cruising the Douro while in Oporto. The difficult part is choosing which boat cruise to enjoy. Of course, it depends on how long you are staying in Oporto. Plan ahead, of course, and work this adventure into your trip. You will be glad that you didn’t miss it. Info: www.portodouro.com/cruzeiro-das-seis-pontes-cidade-porto

This sprawling museum is located in four buildings near Battlefields Park—the most recent of them, the Pierre Lassonde pavilion, opened in 2016 and was designed by starchitect Rem Koolhaas’s OMA. The 25,000 works in its permanent collection cover the history of art in the province, beginning with the French colonial period and including artists who are still active today. The museum also holds one of the world’s most important collections of Inuit art, with some 100 pieces—mostly carvings in stone, whalebone, or ivory—on display at any one time. Temporary exhibitions focus on both local and international artists. If you have time for a sit-down meal, Tempéra Québecor—helmed by Marie-Chantal Lepage, one of Québec’s best-known chefs—is near the entrance of the new pavilion, with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the grounds and the Grande Allée.

The parish church of Fatima is in a little hamlet called Aljustrel. It is just down the road from the Cova da Iria, Fatima. The three shepherd children were baptized there and there attended Mass with their relatives and neighbors.The baptismal font in which the three shepherds were baptized is just inside the door on the left side. There are pictures and some history in the alcove. The interior has a good deal of marble and is surprisingly large. The parish cemetery is just across the street from the church and the Marto children were first buried there. In 1951 and 1952, Jacinta then Francisco were interred at the Cova da Iria in the new Basilica as it was being built. Lucia, the eldest seer, was buried there in 2005. She died at 98 years of age at a convent in Coimbra, Portugal. Family members are buried in the parish cemetery. One of the children’s brothers, Joao who died in 2000 at the age of 94, is interred there. When I walked inside the walls of the cemetery, I could feel a stillness and calm quiet. This is a stop that adds another layer of history to the story of the miracle of Fatima. One of the best restaurants in the Fatima area, Tia Alice, is just across the street on Rua do Adro. I enjoyed local dishes and local wines at Tia Alice...... Delicious.

Everyone in these parts eagerly awaits the Florida stone crab season, which runs from October through May. As soon as it starts, they flock to Joe’s Stone Crab, a South Beach institution that’s been cracking the sweet crustaceans for more than 100 years. Tuxedo-clad waiters serve claws ranging from medium to colossal, best eaten with a side of mustard sauce (while wearing a bib). Joe’s tangy Key lime pie is the way to end your meal. While the crab, sold at market price, never comes cheap, the fried chicken is a steal at $6.95.

Vacationing families and travelers looking to mix a little pleasure with their business will find plenty to love at the Four Seasons, which occupies 24 floors of a 45-story skyscraper downtown. First, there’s the location—across the street from the performing arts complex, a few blocks from the convention center, and next to the restaurants and shops around historic Larimer Square. But there’s more than enough to keep you on-property: Adjust to the altitude with a gemstone massage and deep-tissue treatment using local evergreen oils at the spa; practice laps in the heated saltwater pool; dine on meat sourced from Colorado ranches and grilled in a pecan-wood oven at EDGE steakhouse; or simply cozy up in a leather armchair by the double-sided fireplace in the lobby. Spacious guest rooms are decorated in tasteful neutrals with stone accent walls and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city skyline or nearby mountains; bathrooms have separate soaking tubs and in-mirror TV screens, and the hotel can provide humidifiers and air ionizers to combat Denver’s dry air. Kids can expect their own tailored amenities, from child-sized bathrobes to in-room tents.

Throughout Luzern, so many of the buildings have crazy, wild paintings all over them. Loving it! Wish more buildings in Brisbane were like this!

It all started when a Korean couple went on a craft beer trip to the US for their honeymoon, and became enchanted with the sleek, industrial-chic bar in San Francisco. When they returned to Seoul, it was only a matter of time before they decided to open a Mikkeller Bar of their own. With a simple and distinct Scandinavian design, combined with distinctly Korean touches, the Mikkeller Bar Seoul joins the growing global brand that proffers craft beers from over 30 different countries worldwide. Grab a sidewalk stool, order a frosty glass and watch the world go by. 33 Dosan-daero 17-gil, Gangnam-gu

Forget Google Maps: You’ll quickly locate this venerable tapas bar in El Poble-Sec by the line out the door. With standing-room-only space for just 20 people, this sliver of a spot fills up fast—and stays that way until closing time. In a room lined floor-to-ceiling with bottles of wine, liquor, and pricey vinegar, you can sample a dizzying variety of tapas and montaditos (small bites served atop slices of bread). Many of the ingredients—namely the mussels, sardines, and tuna—come from cans, which sounds suspect, but Spanish conservas (tinned food) is actually of the highest quality. The cheeses—all fresh—are also top-notch.