Search results for

I’m not sure at what age humans develop the skill to stand still and appreciate scenery, but based on a scientific survey of kids who live in my house, it’s not age seven. (On a trip to the Canadian Rockies, as my wife and I snapped photos of the relentlessly picturesque mountains, my son, Luke, investigated how quickly he could break his toy helicopter.) Luke expects Mother Nature to be his playmate. At Bandelier National Monument, about an hour’s drive from Santa Fe, New Mexico, she is. The visitor center offers kids a booklet of activities that, when completed, earn them a Junior Ranger patch. (You could call it a bribe. We prefer the term incentive.) The scavenger hunt sent us off on the Main Loop Trail in search of birds, trees, and bugs, as well as the feature that sets Bandelier apart and makes it perfect for kids: cave dwellings. Ladders of salvaged wood lead to rooms that the Pueblo people carved out of the cliffs here over 800 years ago. “I don’t want to go up, Daddy,” Luke said. “It’s too steep.” “You’ve got this, buddy,” I said. “Just take it slow.” There were no lines of impatient parents pushing their children to race up the ladder. (We saw no more than 20 people on the trail.) Luke could climb the rungs at his own pace. He paused in triumph at the top, then set off to wander the caves. While Mom and Dad squatted—“Watch out for your bald head, Daddy”—Luke could explore without even hunching. After about 45 minutes, we were walking back toward the visitor center. We crossed a nearly dry creek by hopping hand in hand from one downed log to another and were back in time for lunch, before hunger, fatigue, or boredom could set in. It was a parent’s—and child’s—dream hike. This appeared in the August/September 2014 issue.

Want to know more about Taoism? About 70km west of Xi’an, in Tayu Village, is the Louguantai Temple, where it’s said that Lao Tze, the founder of Taoism, wrote the Tao Te Ching and set the fundamentals for the religion. Built over two thousand years ago, the temple is located within a park, with numerous structures inside, and a statue of Lao Tze nestles among beautiful greenery, so expect so spend a day—if not more—wandering around to take it all in.

With its domed greenhouses of epic proportions dotted across some 100 hectares (250 acres), the sustainable Gardens by the Bay are educational and fun. The Cloud Forest is a misty, 42-meter-high (138-foot-high) “mountain” that re-creates tropical highlands; visitors use ramps to explore around and through them. A biosphere of Mediterranean and desert plants, including huge baobab trees, makes up the Flower Dome. Outdoors, guests walk on suspended walkways between steel-frame “Supertrees” that are covered in solar-powered lights.

We picked up some gyros to-go during our stroll through the historic Plaka neighborhood below the Acropolis. Thespidos street was particularly memorable for the cafe we stopped at and discovering Brettos bar, which we decided to come back to enjoy as the end a lovely evening.

English explorer and draftsman Frederick Catherwood and American adventurer John Lloyd Stephens were the first foreigners to rediscover Copán and numerous other Maya cities. Catherwood’s extraordinary lithographs, on view at the Catherwood House Museum, portray those monuments as they appeared when the pair first witnessed them; the institution’s Belle Époque setting transports visitors to Catherwood’s day and conjures the wonder he experienced as he wandered the Maya world of Mexico and Central America. A coffee enjoyed in the courtyard and a poke through the elegant gift shop are icing on the cake.

Opened in 1880 as Canada‘s first natural history museum, the Redpath Museum has a charmingly old-school Victorian quality to it. The collection of artifacts assembled by intrepid explorers ranges from taxidermy and Egyptian mummies to geological samples and—one of its most prized possessions—a handwritten letter from Charles Darwin. The museum is located at the heart of McGill University, long one of Canada‘s most important institutions of higher learning. Most of the buildings on campus, all in a handsome gray stone on a lovely bit of green in downtown Montréal at the base of Mount Royal, date from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Tin Shed is probably nowhere near wherever you might be in Portland but that matters not. Get a cab and go over there because the biscuits are so good they’ll make you wanna slap yo mama! You serve yourself coffee while you wait under the covered patio seating, they welcome dogs and their bloody mary is spectacular. This place rocks. Go check it out.

The Washington National Cathedral stands high over D.C. as a beacon of faith for the nation. The impressive Gothic architecture evokes comparisons to Notre-Dame (despite being built more than half a millennium later). Flying buttresses, spires, and stained glass windows inspire heavenly awe, while statues of modern missionary and civil rights figures such as Mother Teresa, Helen Keller, and Martin Luther King, Jr., ground us in earthly good works. The stained glass Space Window includes a lunar rock donated by the crew of Apollo 11, reminding us of our small place in the universe. Bring binoculars to scan the gargoyles for a Star Wars surprise, and climb the steps to the towers for panoramic city views. While overseen by the Episcopalian church, the cathedral welcomes all people.

As you enter Barcelona‘s famous Mercat de Sant Josep de La Boqueria from La Rambla, one of the first stalls you encounter is Tocineria Marcos, purveyors of Iberico ham and a stunning array of other cured, cooked, and fresh meats. It’s just one of the dazzling displays of delicacies in this, the most famous of Barcelona‘s 40 or so food markets. (Another favorite, and slightly less touristed, is the beautifully remodeled Mercat de Santa Caterina, short walk away.) La Boqueria dates back to 1217; a pig market was conducted here starting in 1470; and the current metal roof was built in 1914. There’s no better place to shop for a taste of Catalan culture.

Including more than 500 different vendors, the Santa Marta Market (Mercado Público) is a lively and colorful experience. You can wander among the exotic fruits and vegetables in one row of stores, see meat and poultry vendors in another and find gifts and clothing in a third section of the market. Even if you don’t find the perfect souvenir, exploring the market provides a glimpse into daily life in Santa Marta.

For those seeking the thrill of paragliding at a much lower altitude, the Grindelwald ZipRider (known locally as the First Fleiger) provides the desired adrenaline rush. At 847 yards long, the zip-line hurtles visitors down the mountainside and over ski runs at speeds of up to 55 miles per hour. The attraction gets incredibly busy during the summer so arrive early to avoid long lines—dash, and don’t forget your camera. The views of Grindelwald village, surrounded by Alpine mountains and wandering cows, are unforgettable.

As its name suggests, the Bespoke Inn is one of the more eccentric accommodations in downtown Scottsdale. This compact bed-and-breakfast, opened in 2013, has just 10 rooms. Each is decorated with homey, eclectic details that reflect the creativity of the hotel’s previous owners, who designed and built most of the inn’s furnishings themselves. The current owners, Jeremy Ferris and Robert Marchetti, brought in elements of Marchetti’s Italian heritage, which are evident in the updated courtyard and six new rooms. The result is a surprising blend of style and comfort, reinforced by the hotel’s ability to make guests feel they have all become friends. There are other surprises, too. In 2013 Esquire magazine called the café—which has its own odd appellation, Virtù Honest Craft—one of the 20 best new restaurants in America. And the hotel provides Pashley bicycles for guests to use during their stays.

Museum cafes are often depressing affairs, white formica boxes where you grab a curling sandwich on your way to the next piece of tourism. But the main cafe’s trio of rooms are nothing like that. Designed, respectively, by William Morris, Henry Cole, and Edward Poynter in glorious Victorian excess, were the first museum cafe in the world, and they are today a rare example of a museum restaurant where you would be happy to spend time, revelling in the gorgeous details and stained glass windows. And the food’s pretty good too; you can get all sorts of hot and cold meals, and it’s a great stop for lunch or cakes, if you’re doing the museum trail at South Kensington.

Hong Kong has been one of the world’s most important ports for eons. This museum, an especially great destination for families with children, has more than a dozen galleries with exhibits highlighting the importance of the port of Hong Kong to China’s role in world trade throughout history. There are exhibits on sea bandits and on the development of Victoria Harbour. Explore collections of navigation equipment, ship models, nautical paintings, and photographs of traditional Chinese junks. There’s a cool gallery showcasing the sounds of the sea—whistles, bells, horns, the crash of waves, the clank of halyards, the thrum of engines—and another on passenger ships, whether they carry poor immigrants or leisure cruisers. A very realistic bridge simulator will give you a feel for maneuvering a range of vessels, from huge container barges to high-speed boats and even Hong Kong’s famous Star Ferry.

A visit to John Watling’s Distillery offers both a tour of a historic estate in downtown Nassau and the opportunity to sample locally made John Watling’s rum. The distillery, the only locally owned one on the island, is housed in the Buena Vista Estate, which began construction in 1789. The estate grounds encompass tropical gardens and a 200-year-old water well. Visitors can also take a free tour of the museum and distillery, where you can see the aged white oak barrels filled with rum. Finish the tour with a cocktail from the on-site Red Turtle Tavern, or pick a bottle of John Watling’s rum from the store.