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The picture-perfect Provençal market Cours Saleya in Nice is a visual bouquet of regional bounty, with colorful floral displays, golden zucchini blossoms, red tomatoes, and green greens. Camargue sea salt, pressed olive oils, and flower-infused jams make souvenirs to remember (and devour), and there’s also a charming antiques flea market on Mondays for more lasting mementos.

A recent refurbishment has brought larger tents, Moroccan rugs, and four-poster campaign beds to this woodland property near the Makgadikgadi salt pans. A visit to the nearby meerkat conservation project is a must.


From $430. 27/(0) 11-447- 1605. This appeared in the August/September 2013 issue. Image courtesy of Uncharted Africa Safari Co.

Just through the heavy wooden doors of this Sichuan pop-up-turned-brick-and-mortar is the Pour House, an always-busy music venue where early evening soundchecks often fill the dining room with drum and bass noise. Even louder are the explosive flavors on the plate—the kitchen is unrepentant about not toning down the spice on the Sichuan beef and Yu Xiang pork slivers. For the full lip-numbing cocaine-face experience, start with the dry-rubbed Shaoxing chicken wings, which balance sweet, salty, savory, and spice with plenty of crunch. A few noodle bowls are adaptable for the more spice averse, but this is a place for adventurous fire hounds. On Sundays, brunch offers one of Charleston’s only dim sum experiences, including plenty of dumplings, scallion pancakes, and turnip cakes. After a meal, head to the Pour House deck for free daily concerts by local bands, before bigger-name bands take the indoor stage at night.

Opulent is the word that may occur to you as you stroll into this split-level steakhouse. The art deco-inspired main dining room features oak pillars, camel-colored banquettes, and a jaw-dropping six-tiered brass and crystal chandelier. Upstairs, diners sit on a teak terrace with views of the San Diego skyline. A meal here often includes a show: Many dishes from caesar salad to Tournedos Rossini are prepared and served tableside from custom-made carts. The star of the menu is the Creekstone Farms Beef which has been dry-aged in a glass-enclosed meat locker for more than 25 days. Dry-aged duck and lamb, vegan tartares, and vegetable side dishes like leeks roasted over coals, or broccoli with salty bagna cauda round out the menu. Executive Chef Jason McCleod earned two Michelin stars working at Ria at the Elysian in Chicago. While Born & Raised is a high-end venue, the service is friendly and laid back with suit-clad servers sporting sneakers.

Cocktails are not a huge part of the Italian culture, especially not those involving tequila. But at Bar Les Rouges, the three brothers who own the bar mix up one amazing margarita (They even come to your table asking you to sample which salt you want on the rim. Go for the smoked one, it’s perfection!). Housed in a dimly lit and slightly crumbling 16th-century palace, this is one of the most romantic spots in town—a perfect date night out.

Siwa is a desert oasis in the heart of Egypt’s Great Sand Sea, just 30km east of the Libyan border. Traditionally constructed of sand, salt and mud, many of the town’s buildings literally melted away in the torrential rains of 1926, leaving behind eerily beautiful ruins amidst this lush enclave in the middle of nowhere. The buildings were reconstructed with more modern day materials, but some of the original town structures remain, and can be explored with the aid of helpful local guides.

The Cayo District is home to many of Belize’s ancient Maya sites, including one of the largest, Xunantunich. Located atop a ridge near the Mopan River and the Guatemala border, Xunantunich’s “El Castillo,” the main pyramid, is certainly the most impressive. Visitors who brave the steep steps to the top are rewarded with unsurpassed views into Guatemala and neighboring areas of Belize. While the climb up can be pretty steep and rough, there are other routes to get down along the backside that make the descent a little easier. It took me multiple visits to finally gather the courage to climb to the top, but I’m grateful I did, as the views were absolutely worth it! Organized tours to Xunantunich often combine with other activities like zip-lining, cave tubing, or even trips to the Belize Zoo. Travelers who wish to explore all of Xunantunich’s six plazas, which contain more than 26 temples and palaces, should plan to book a private tour or visit on their own.

It was the fifth of seven food stops on our Jordaan Food Tour (http://www.eatingamsterdamtours.com/jordaan-food-tour/), a four-hour gastronomic adventure through one of Amsterdam‘s most scenic and historic neighborhoods. We’d already devoured apple pie, Indonesian sandwiches, ossenworst, raw herring and lightly fried kibbeling. But could we find room for something sweet? Enter Mariska Schaefer, owner of Het Oud-Hollandsch Snoepwinkeltje, an old-fashioned candy boutique that harks back to a simpler time, when kids saved pennies for a trip to the local candy store. As we might have expected, a child about ten was using his birthday money to buy a bag filled with his favorite sweets on the day we visited. “No pictures of children,” ordered Mariska, then turned her attention to the kid’s selections. “I opened the candy shop because I really like Dutch old-fashioned shops; they have so much more atmosphere than the big chain stores,” she reflects. Inspired by her grandmother, she stocks drop, the national sweet, in dozens of flavors in her small shop—some sweet, others salty, still others downright inedible for some.

If you’re looking a place for wood-fired pizza topped with seasonal, artisanal ingredients, then We, The Pizza is not the spot for you. On the other hand, if you want a place to go to for a quick lunch of thick crust pizza, topped with simple, classic Italian American ingredients, then come here. The pizza crust is well made—chewy and slightly salty. Toppings are straightforward. I would recommend going with a simple pizza – sausage and peppers is a good introduction. If you’re not in the mood for a pizza, go for a sandwich—solid and flavorful. Wash it down with one of the housemade sodas; sarsaparilla is my favorite. After you place your order, you’ll be handed a pager. While you wait, you can watch the pizza makers work their magic. WE, THE PIZZA is the latest addition to celebrity chef, Spike Mendelsohn and his family’s roster of restaurants and the family touch shows up both in the food and in the décor. There’s counter and stools downstairs but head on upstairs where there’s a larger dining room and more comfortable banquette style seating. Metro stop: Eastern Market

With its gold-hued, Egyptian pyramid-inspired exterior—topped by a glass peak that lights up like a beacon at night—it’s easy to recognize the 19-story Raffles hotel among Dubai’s glittering skyline. Inside, distinguishing features include the spacious rooms and suites—the 252 options are among the largest in town, and come with private terraces, Arabic design touches, tubs and walk-in showers, and service from a Raffles butler. The seven dining options draw a mix of in-house guests, expat locals, and business people. Choose from restaurants for Italian, Japanese, Arabic, and international buffet fare, a tea salon for refined sweet and savory creations, a cabana-ringed garden for shared plates and weekly barbecues, a bar and café adjacent to the well-sized pool, and a cocktail bar that pairs drinks with telecasts of the latest sports matches. Global influences can also be felt at the well-appointed spa, where the treatments are inspired by Asian, European, and Middle Eastern techniques.

When it opened in 1969, the Fairmont Dallas set the bar high for luxury hotels, dazzling visitors with opulent interiors, a Neiman Marcus outpost in the lobby, and 11 separate kitchens. Its legendary Venetian Room hosted acts like Ella Fitzgerald, Jerry Lewis, and Ike & Tina Turner. Now an integral part of the downtown skyline, the hotel remains a favorite for a whole new generation. The 545 rooms are bright and sophisticated, with city views, marble bathrooms, and minibars stocked with organic options. In a nod to its Arts District location, the hotel hosts a unique local artist-in-residence program, and the Four Diamond–rated Pyramid Restaurant and Bar pulls ingredients from a 3,000-square-foot rooftop vegetable and herb garden for its “terrace-to-table” modern American fare. There’s no spa, but wellness is represented with a 24-hour gym and a Junior Olympic–size pool, where guests can also enjoy family-friendly “dive-in movies” and evening DJ sets in the summer.

Feldman’s—modeled on the classic Jewish deli one would expect to find in New York City—has landed and is thriving on the east side of Salt Lake City. The deli’s hot half-pound sandwiches include multiple variations on the Reuben (sauerkraut or slaw, pastrami or turkey, corned beef and pastrami, etc.) as well as items like beef tongue, which are hard to find in Utah. At breakfast, order a plate of eggs and salami, try a bagel with a schmear or one of the sandwiches for lunch, and go for a bowl of matzo ball soup with some pierogis for dinner. If you know New York delis, the available-all-day dessert selection will make you happy: rugelach (rolled pastry filled with cinnamon and nuts) or blintzes with fruit compote, or maybe a nice slice of Black Forest cake? Feldman’s also regularly offers live entertainment in the evenings.

Whether you’re an adventurous popcorn connoisseur or more of a kernel traditionalist, The Popcorn Colonel has a flavor for any craving. Kernel traditionalists will delight in butter, caramel and cheddar flavored popcorn made fresh daily. For the more adventurous popcorn connoisseurs, huckleberry, rocky road and jalapeno cheddar will certainly excite any taste buds. Form the troops and check out the Colonel’s new and innovative flavor of the month; the month of strawberry cheesecake and the previous month of salted caramel were particularly delicious times! Hours: Mon-Friday 10am-6pm, Saturday 10-4pm

Island Air Express stopped flying in April 2016.October through April, seaplane tours take you approximately 20 miles east of Scottsdale to the storied Superstition Mountains. Taking off from Scottsdale Airport, you’ll soar over the Salt River canyons and Roosevelt Dam before making water landing on the surface of Roosevelt Lake, one of Arizona’s largest bodies of water. If you can, schedule your tour for the second Sunday of the month because you’ll deplane for a picnic of Arizona food and wine.

After New Year’s, tomatoes become the king of vegetables and flood the markets with no end in sight (until March). Many of the shirt-soakers hail from a dusty country town near the coast called Limache. These tomatoes hold a place in most Santiaguinos’ hearts and nearly every restaurant, joint, and household will be making copious amounts of “Ensalada Chilena” (Chilean tomato salad) at this time of year. The ingredients are simple: perfectly ripe tomatoes cut into slices or wedges (no skin), tempered onions, chopped cilantro or basil, a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Heaven.