Search results for

San Juan Cemetery lies on the coast adjacent to El Morro (San Juan’s beloved fort) and nestled in the district La Perla, a rougher part of town. Its statues and tombs make it as beautiful as a New Orleans cemetery. Exiting El Morro, head down the grassy field to your left to catch this flustering overhead view. On this day, a powerful storm was rolling in, casting everything in gray.

Just about every aspect of the farm experience comes to life at Long Meadow Ranch’s public-facing facility in St. Helena. The relaxed destination includes an outdoor café, a restaurant named Farmstead, and a general store with wine- and olive oil–tasting bars—as well as an open-air pavilion that is perfect for events. Start mornings at the café, where you can enjoy a cup of Stumptown coffee and freshly baked goods at picnic tables in the shade of a giant blue spruce. Later in the day, hit Farmstead for a lunch of salads made with vegetables grown on-site or for a rack of the restaurant’s signature Heritage St. Louis ribs. (Pro tip: The “brick chicken,” or chicken cooked beneath a brick, can’t be beat.) If you’re visiting in the early afternoon, go to the general store to sample flights of Long Meadow Ranch wines or olive oils or to stock up on such artisan provisions as locally made cheese and salumi. Executive Chef Stephen Barber also hosts regular lunches and dinners at a chef’s table inside the property’s historic Logan Ives House. These meals can include a walk through the culinary garden, followed by a multi-course meal paired with Long Meadow Ranch wines.

If there are ghosts haunting the Historic Bar—which was rebuilt in 1895 after a fire decimated the original building—we don’t blame them for wanting to stay for eternity. Tucked within the New Sheridan Hotel, the tin-ceilinged space is what Rocky Mountain dreams are made of, from the carved mahogany bar to the affordable prices. Don’t miss the leaded glass panels and brass chandeliers, both of which are original to the 1895 space.

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.

Nothing is a more powerful symbol of the City of Light than the Eiffel Tower. Designed by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Paris Exposition, it’s one of the world’s most-visited monuments, with nearly 7 million people ascending the 1,062-foot wrought-iron structure each year. Glass elevators spirit you to the top—hardy souls can take the stairs part of way—where in addition to unparalleled panoramic views of Paris, you can toast your arrival with a glass of bubbly at the Champagne bar. Evenings there’s a grand light show: every hour on the hour, the tower sparkles for five minutes with 20,000 bulbs.

No visit to Antigua is complete without taking in the sunset atop Shirley Heights Lookout at its weekly Sunday sundowner party. The view from Shirley Heights is without a doubt the most famous, most photographed, most celebrated vista gracing Antigua. Immediately below, English and Falmouth Harbours clutch their bays. On clear days you can see Guadeloupe to the south and Montserrat with it’s still active volcano to the south west. It does get busy, so expect a crowd and while there might be a couple locals sprinkled in here and there, it’s mostly visitors. Around 7ish, the tunes crank up with either some reggae classics, some pumping soca, or even live a steelpan band. Smoke from a collection of barbecues compete with the music to fill the air and stimulate your senses. Expect chicken and ribs slathered in local flavors, plus burgers for the less adventurous. I did have some trouble getting grilled fish on my last visit, but once I found some, it was charred to perfection.

Checking out the famously preserved mummies at the world’s oldest public museum is on many London wish lists, but there’s much more to the British Museum than ancient Egypt. Other must-sees include the Elgin Marbles and the African masks, both part of an enormous collection that spans ancient Iran to modern Sweden. The Great Court, which was cleverly revamped with a geometric glass roof by Foster + Partners in 2000, is a spacious gathering area with a shop and a café—and a sight worth seeing in itself.

Washington Square Park is only a fraction of the size of Central Park, but it is as almost as much of an icon of New York as its much larger counterpart uptown. It’s likely because it sits in the heart of Greenwich Village, and has thus served as a backdrop for many events in the city’s history. In the late 19th century, it was one of New York’s most fashionable addresses (that period was captured by Henry James in his 1880 novella Washington Square, later the basis for The Heiress, a play that was also adapted into a movie). The arch along its northern side dates to 1892 and was designed by Stanford White to replace an earlier one, in wood and plaster, erected in 1889 to mark the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration. When Greenwich Village became the haunt of artists and writers, the park was a green space for the city’s counterculture; folk singers and street performers are still a common sight, and the park is also frequently used for political protests and rallies. On sunny days, especially during the academic year, the park is filled with NYU students, neighborhood residents, and tourists taking in the scene.

Foodies, rejoice. Torvehallerne is a one-stop shop for several meals, snacks, and gourmet groceries or gastronomical gifts. It’s an airy, light-filled building with all kinds of purveyors, from fantastic coffee shops, chefs cooking fresh pasta and serving it hot to you at the counter, a farmers market outside, a tapas bar, you name it. If you’ve ever been to Florence, think of Mercato Centrale, but in a nicer setting and housing more variety. Ride your bike there to grab a bite or to spend the day enjoying its bounty.

How a complex of German-built factories became one of East Asia’s hottest art destinations is also the story of modern China. When construction on a number of electronics factories began in Dashanzi in 1956, the area was farmland. Joint Factory 718 was built and a decade later divided into smaller factories, including Factory 798. By the mid-’90s, the factories had shut down and Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts, lured by cheap space, had moved out to Dashanzi. Interest snowballed, and soon more artists were setting up shop in these abandoned industrial spaces. Today, 798 is a powerhouse of contemporary Chinese art, with major galleries like UCCA, Long March Space, and Pace Beijing, as well as a few restaurants, shops, and even hotels.

An active parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá remains a tranquil place of worship and reflection. Regardless of your religious beliefs, the first of California’s 21 missions is well worth a visit for its extensive history. It was originally constructed in Presidio Park in 1769 but moved inland to its current site just five years later. Records show that it was the first place in California to cultivate olives; tree cuttings from this mission would later be used to found olive groves at other missions around the state. It’s also home to the grave of Father Luis Jayme, the state’s first Catholic martyr; he was killed when American Indians stormed the mission in 1775 and is now buried next to the altar. Destroyed many times over, the mission was most recently rebuilt in the 1930s, but looks as it would have in the early 1800s.

The choice of whether to build a church following a Gothic Revival or neoclassical design involved more than just aesthetics in 19th-century Québec. The former tended to be associated with Protestantism, and so the construction of the Catholic Basilica of Notre-Dame in that style raised eyebrows. When the St-Jacques Cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1852, the architects who designed a new church for the site, the Mary Queen of the World Cathedral, opted for the neoclassical style that was more typical of Catholic buildings. Constructed from 1874 to 1895, it is a quarter-scale version of St. Peter’s in Rome, complete with coffered vaults and twisting columns in imitation of those of Lorenzo Bernini’s baldachin in the Eternal City. The building’s green copper dome makes a statement, too, looming as it does over the largely Protestant neighborhood. The stucco crucifix by sculptor Philippe Hébert is one of most important works of art in the church.

Looking like the graph of a boom-and-bust financial market, the Riverside Museum’s jagged tooth–like facade, designed by the late Iraqi-British “starchitect” Zaha Hadid, is an iconic bit of development on the banks of the River Clyde. Inside, you’ll find Glasgow’s extensive collection of all things related to transportation, from skateboards and locomotives to prams, cars, and an Imperial Stormtrooper. Wander through the interactive displays to visit city shops, bars, and subway stops, then climb aboard a train, tram, or bus and get a feel for old public transportation. Visitors can also discover Glasgow’s rich shipbuilding history, explore the car and motorbike walls, and help put out a blaze with an interactive fire engine. Before leaving, head outdoors to the quayside to see the Tall Ship Glenlee—one of only five Clyde-built sailing ships that’s still afloat.

On the North Shore of O‘ahu, Turtle Bay Resort is the only hotel of its caliber on this less developed part of the island. Set on a 1,300-acre property—half of which has been set aside permanently for conservation—the 408 rooms and suites all have ocean views and a neutral/blue palette inspired by the surrounding area. The resort’s commitment to environmental sustainability is palpable: Meals are prepared with leafy greens, beets, and other crops from the resort’s own Kuilima Farm, a plot of land five minutes from the hotel with a farm stand and “you-pick” self-harvesting days for locals. Meanwhile, the 18-hole golf course is maintained with gray water treated by the resort’s own plant.


The resort doubles as a wildlife sanctuary. A birding experience via electric golf cart led by Captain Scott Sundby, who runs Shaka Kayaks and has lived on the North Shore for 20 years, offers a glimpse at some of the wild residents. They include the ‘alae ‘ula, or Hawaiian common gallinule, which according to Hawaiian legend got its fiery red forehead from the gods, and Hawaiian monk seals, one of the world’s most endangered seal species. The coastline here is set within the Hawaiian Island Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, extending more than 1,200 nautical square miles; in the winter, it’s the site of humpback breeding, calving, and nursing.

A combination of train and bus, this three-hour tour weaves a fascinating route past some of the island’s most historic sights. Constructed from 1912 to 1926, the rail system originally carried sugar from St. Kitts’ estates to the factory in Basseterre, but today serves as a fun tourist attraction. Visitors ride in double-decker cars—the lower is air-conditioned, the upper open-air—past black-sand beaches, old plantations, and sugarcane fields, and then up a portion of Mount Liamuiga.