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Never underestimate the power of shocking pink. The intimate but lively dining room at Dulce Patria—the smash hit by celebrity chef Martha Ortiz—feels not unlike a stage set. Soon after 2 p.m., it starts to fill with high-powered ladies-who-lunch types, cooing over a menu of updated Mexican classics with extravagant, architectural presentations that are at least half the fun. That said, chef Ortiz’s flavorful sculptures really deliver: Tastes are delicate, authentic, and quite delicious. The well-balanced offering presents ample choices without overwhelming, in favorites like the corn-kernel soup, a full portfolio of quesadillas, duck mole, and an extravagant dessert list (gelatin lovers rejoice) that really does drive home the dulce part. A recent seating included telenovela stars and a former Señor Presidente. And who knew there were so many edible flowers?

Bến Thành market has been around Saigon in one form or another for over 300 years. At some points it neighbored bodies of water including a small lake. It is a monster, overwhelming at first. If you come to Saigon and you love to shop, this is the one-stop shop you are looking for. Personally nothing is more thrilling at Bến Thành than the art of “The Barter.” It’s a strategic game of wits of where you pit product desire against pocketbook ability and the house always wins. It’s not always easy, in fact it’s never easy. Hot, stagnant air ripe with the smell of fish and squid always seems to hang in the air right over that gift you can’t live without. You’re constantly walking that fine line between feeling like you got ripped off or feeling you’re further oppressing the local population. Bến Thành is the stadium packed with hundreds of thousands of pieces of clothing, jewelry, and art- and they’re all yours to play for.

Located about an hour northeast from Reykjavík and part of the famed Golden Circle tour (along with Gullfoss), the Geysir hot springs area consists of around a dozen hot water blowholes, including the eponymous Geysir. The Strokkur blowhole is the most popular, principally because it regularly (every few minutes, usually) spouts its boiling water up to 100 feet into the air. It’s still worth looking around at the other pools, even if they haven’t erupted for years or even decades, since they usually offer interesting colors and bubbling geothermal activity. The site also has a hotel, souvenir shop, café, and a related exhibition.

Because of its unusual tree branches frame, the massive halls and its gigantic whimsical spider, The Qatar National Convention Center is a worthwhile place visiting in Qatar. Not only does it have unique, if not playful, architectural features, but it also is the largest exhibition center in the Middle East with capacity to hold up to 7000 people in its three main halls. From the outside all you see is it’s overhanging roof supported by two intertwined tree-like columns. The gigantic branches are a monument to the Sidra tree of great significance in the Islamic faith. And if the massive trees don’t capture your attention, the colossal spider in the lobby will. A 30ft high and 33ft wide bronze cast of a spider dominates the space. You can walk under the insect and take pictures from every possible angle. At night, the center is lit with a blue light that makes the black spider all the more striking.

When the French created their plan for Casablanca they wanted the city to embody the best of modern Western architecture and traditional Moroccan design. The result is a style called architecture mauresque, blending the facades of French Art Deco with Islamic arches and tile work. Casablanca’s post office, palace of justice and Al-Maghrib Bank are all beautiful examples, best explored on a walking tour of the city center.

Rockefeller Center was one of the great construction projects of the Great Depression, a complex of 14 buildings between Fifth and Sixth avenues and 48th and 51st streets built over the 1930s. It’s also one of America’s grandest examples of Art Deco design, from the Indiana-limestone-clad buildings themselves to its interior murals and allegorical figures in panels above the entries to the various buildings. (Daniel Okrent recounts the fascinating history of the complex in detail in his acclaimed Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center.) For many travelers to New York, the center is a favorite destination even if they aren’t students of architecture or urban planning. It’s the home of Radio City Music Hall, where the Rockettes perform; its 70th-floor observation deck offers sweeping views of the city; and every morning tourists gather outside the windows of the NBC studios during the broadcast of The Today Show.

The center also hosts temporary large-scale art installations, like Jeff Koons’s enormous dancer and flower puppy in recent years, and the lighting of its Christmas tree marks the unofficial start of the holiday season. Another bucket-list experience here is taking a turn on the small sunken ice rink under the golden statue of Prometheus. Just across Fifth Avenue from Rockefeller Center is another New York landmark, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, looking better than ever after a multiyear renovation that included a thorough cleaning of the Gothic building’s facade.

The Sports Dome at Aspire Academy is not any sports facility; it holds a Guinness World Record for being the largest indoor multi-purpose sports dome in the world making the site a favorite with sports and architecture enthusiasts. The Aspire Dome, with its distinctive sloping roof, is an imposing free-standing, 46-meter-high structure that houses a football stadium, a track-and-field arena, a swimming stadium, eight fencing pistes, two sports halls, three martial arts arenas, 13 table tennis courts and two squash courts. The massive blue dome adjoins the Aspire academy and it’s located within walking distance to the Villaggio Mall. The dome’s architecture is so spectacular that the IOC/IAKS (the most important international architecture prizes for sports, leisure and recreational facilities) granted it a Distinction Award.

The ‘Village Artistique de la Croix de Bouquets’ is located in a northern suburb in the Port-Au-Prince metropolitan area, about 40mins by car from the Marriott Port-au-Prince. I began to hear the metal clanging way before arriving, and it became a constant background noise accompanying my visit here. The area is comprised of many different artists workshops, specializing in metal sculptures created from old, discarded oil drums. It’s a treat to walk around and accept the polite invitations to visit the various artists and their showrooms. The work is incredible, and the relaxed atmosphere meant a lot to me, as it allowed me to connect with my surroundings, the artists and of course their kids running around. Because I was on a tight schedule, I only spend an hour in the village and for me that wasn’t enough. There’s so much to see, and it felt good to explore on my own for a bit, it safe surroundings. If you buy anything, please don’t bargain to the bitter end, to get the best possible ‘deal’. Remember that your purchase feeds a family, or two. ___________________ A big thank you to JetBlue (http://www.jetblue.com) for flights to and from Haiti, and of course the Marriott Port-au-Prince (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/papmc-marriott-port-au-prince-hotel/) for accommodations.

On the southwest coast around Coral Group, Uncle Roddy’s is a fabulous solar-powered beach bar and restaurant that makes for a great spot to spend a lazy afternoon or come for sunset cocktails and dinner. If you want to eat – and you should, the grilled lobster and other seafood they cook up beachside is fresh and delicious – then you need to reserve 24 hours in advance, as they only buy enough ingredients for confirmed guests. The bar serves all the usual tropical cocktails including Roddy’s signature drink, the Barbuda Smash. Roddy’s does lunch and dinner (again only with reservations). Look for Roddy’s right next to the Barbuda Cottages, which is a locally run guesthouse. It is a 15-minute taxi ride from the main village.

Jutting out from the northern district of Mosman, just south of Taronga Zoo, Bradleys Head offers one of the best perspectives of the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Fort Denison, among other attractions. Whether you come for a picnic or New Year’s Eve, fishing or hiking—the popular Bradleys Head to Chowder Bay walk links up with the even more epic Manly to Split Bridge track—this is Sydney at its best. If the natural beauty isn’t enough, Bradleys Head is also a historic site where the mast of the HMAS Sydney, a relic from the Royal Australian Navy, is mounted proudly and an old military mess hall now serves as a cafe.

North of Tbilisi, you’ll find some of Georgia’s most iconic attractions: Jvari Monastery and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, both UNESCO World Heritage sites, located in Mtskheta, the former religious center of Georgia. Then drive along the stunningly scenic Georgian Military Highway to Stepantsminda, commonly known as Kazbegi, where neighboring Mount Kazbegi makes for great walking or biking. Stay at Rooms Hotel Kazbegi in the 6,000-mile high Kazbegi village. This improbably stylish mirage of a mountain lodge was the brainchild of a local gambling tycoon, Timur Ugulava. A minimalist Scandinavian aesthetic (and barely any closet space) dominates inside the serene 156 guestrooms, all with breathtaking views on snow-covered slopes. The public spaces are decorated with fascinating Georgian vintage film posters, old rugs, bookshelves, and leather couches that invite endless lingering. The restaurant does stylish takes on Georgian dishes; don’t miss the khachapuri (cheese pies). There’s also a cozy bar with its own fireplace and cigar menu, a sweeping sun deck, an almost Olympic-size indoor swimming pool, and mountain bikes for the guests. The building is fashioned from metal, glass, and local wood reclaimed from old buildings.

Walking up to the hotel, past the vodou sculptures in the garden, I remembered another visit, another lifetime, decades ago. Wandering around the hotel, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what, if anything, had changed since then. Time comes to a standstill at the iconic Oloffson. Graham Greene wrote ‘The Comedians’ here in the sixties, immortalizing the hotel under the fictional name ‘The Trianon’. Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis and Mike Jagger were regular guests in the seventies and early eighties. The 19th century Gothic gingerbread mansion has stood strong through Haiti’s turbulent history, housing travelers, artists, writers, diplomats, UN representatives and many others. The old lady is beginning to show her age, and although she only ‘danced’ in the massive earthquake that shook Haiti to the core in 2010, she’s in desperate need of restoration. The Hotel Oloffson, not far from the Hotel Marriott Port-au-Prince, is a must visit for anyone who wants to get close to Haiti. A rum sour on the terrace provides the perfect reprieve from Port-au-Prince, and most Thursday nights, there’s the hotel manager’s kick-ass band RAM playing totally infectuous ‘vodou rock’, an evening not to be missed! ___________________ A big thank you to JetBlue (http://www.jetblue.com) for flights to and from Haiti, and of course the Marriott Port-au-Prince (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/papmc-marriott-port-au-prince-hotel/) for accommodations.

Welcome to Middle Earth in the South Pacific, and an ideal stop for traveling fans of the author J.R.R. Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie trilogies. Near the rural town of Matamata—itself a destination for its LOTR-inspired visitor center and a selfie-ready statue of Gollum along the main street—the re-created sets of Hobbiton offer a detailed and fascinating glimpse of the hobbit holes, meadows, and gardens of Bilbo and Frodo. An essential conclusion to the tour is quaffing an only-available-in-Hobbiton Oatbarton Ale at the leafy lakeside Green Dragon Inn.

Mexico City’s mammoth cathedral was built across three centuries (1573–1813)—starting soon after Cortés and his allies vanquished the Aztec Empire—using stones taken from a destroyed indigenous temple. Today’s sanctuary serves up contrasts between unadorned neoclassical walls alongside exuberant gilt chapels and altarpieces as well as a massive pipe organ, with some baroque elements, that’s still dusted off and played from time to time. Be sure not to miss the high altar, and consider shelling out for a visit to the sacristy, with its glistening dome, grand canvases, and massive cabinets, fit to hold an archbishop’s entire stock of holy utensils. And for a queasy view of how much the ground beneath the city is sinking, note how chandeliers appear to list in comparison to the chapel’s vertical lines.

With the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire, Iberian overlords set about imposing their customs on the subdued populace, eliminating traces of pre-Hispanic religions they deemed heretical by demolishing major temples and building churches and other structures atop their ruins. Centuries later, in 1978, workers laying electrical lines happened upon the remains of the Templo Mayor, the Aztecs’ most important ceremonial center (and, yes, the location of their notorious human sacrifices). Subsequent excavations have revealed superimposed pyramid foundations and priceless artworks, many now displayed at the on-site museum. Thrillingly, treasures keep turning up—including the spring 2017 discovery of a stone box containing some of the finest Aztec gold ever found, just off the Templo Mayor’s steps.