D E S T I N AT I O N O F T H E Y E A R
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EDITOR’S NOTE
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DESTINATION OF THE YEAR
Canada’s striking natural beauty, first-class cities, and more reasons to love our neighbor to the north.
The Atlantic view from Sea-U Guest House, in Barbados, page 114.
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THE PRIMER
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AMERICAN VOICES
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New development with a freespirited soul in Ubud, Bali.
Rolando Herrera’s journey from dishwasher to Napa Valley vintner. WHY WE TRAVEL An adventure-seeker and a cautious vacationer navigate love and compromise. TRENDING A fresh wave of Japanese influences in San Francisco. EMERGING A crop of new lodges in Namibia’s rugged backcountry.
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A NIGHT OUT
Drink and be merry in the best wine, beer, and cocktail hot spots around the globe today.
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TOP GIFTS
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UPGRADE
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SNOW DAZE In the ski town of Telluride, Colorado, hanging with the locals is an essential part of the experience.
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ENDLESS SUMMER
Editorapproved holiday finds for every traveler. Unpacking the experiential-travel trend with resources for immersive itineraries.
Barbados is an island of pristine resorts, windswept surf towns, and bottomless hospitality. 122
LA MIL ANO MODERNA
With new restaurants, museums, and even whole neighborhoods, Italy’s financial capital is rushing headlong into the future.
DECEMBER 2017
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Cabaret Tropicana, in Havana.
WORTH FLYING FOR
ON THE COVER The Capilano Suspension Bridge, in North Vancouver, British Columbia (page 17). Photograph by Grant Harder.
MA R C U S N I LSSO N
Contents
128 THE GIFTS OF EARTH AND SEA Tasmania, Australia’s lush, mountainous island state, comes into its own.
T+L Digital
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DECEMBER 2017
Vienna’s Christmas market.
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CHRISTMAS-MARKET CRUISES
READERS’ CHOICE
HOLIDAY GIFTING
2018 TRAVEL
T+L’s editors chose Canada as the Destination of the Year (see the package beginning on page 17), but we also conducted an online poll to get your opinions. Discover which hot spot readers named as their favorite place to visit in 2017. tandl.me/readerschoice
Find the perfect items for every member of your family with T+L’s holiday gift guides. Our editor-curated lists have hundreds of ideas to make your shopping easier than ever. (We even share the optimal last-minute presents to order via Amazon Prime.) tandl.me/gift-guides
Whether you’re a surfer dreaming of a beachy paradise or a skier looking to hit the slopes, we have suggestions for where to go on your first trip of the new year. Check out our roundup of the best places to head to in January, when airfare is generally cheap. tandl.me/january
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MO N I KA HO E FL E R
Many river-cruise lines offer seasonal itineraries that visit the top holiday markets in Europe. With plenty of festive experiences, from tree-trimming and caroling to cookie baking, these 12 voyages are sure to get you in a merry spirit. tandl.me/xmas-markets
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Operation Vacation DECEMBER 2017
53% OF AMERICANS
say they haven’t taken a vacation in more than a year.
THE DEALS Operation Vacation offers are always discounted at least 20 percent from published rates. The editor-curated list is updated regularly, so sign up for T+L’s Deals newsletter at tandl.me/newsletters and be the first to know when new offers have been added.
T+L readers can get 30 percent off stays at the Hotel William Gray (above, and featured in Destination of the Year, page 17), which is housed in two beautifully restored 18th-century buildings near the Old Port of Montreal. The exclusive Operation Vacation offer includes two nights in a Alcôve queen room, daily breakfast for two at the on-site Maggie Oakes restaurant, overnight parking, and tasting dinners for two at Olivier Vigneault’s Asian-influenced hot spots Kozu and Jatoba (alcohol not included). Reservations must be made at least a week in advance by calling 514-6565600. $600 for two nights; valid for travel through May 2018. hotelwilliamgray.com.
EDITOR’S PICK: Montreal
NEW YORK CITY Get 30 percent off at the new Hotel Hayden, a stylish property with a buzzy rooftop bar in Chelsea. Includes a stay in a Superior king room (with upgrade if available), plus breakfast and dinner for two at the on-site restaurant Mykonos Blue Rooftop. Doubles from $209 per night; use code HHTL when booking at hotelhayden nyc.com; valid through December 31.
MEXICO Stay three nights at the Thompson Playa del Carmen in the heart of the Riviera Maya and receive 30 percent off rates. Daily breakfast and welcome cocktails on the rooftop are also included. Doubles from $202 in the 5th Avenue building and from $272 in the Beach House; use code TL30 at thompsonhotels.com; valid through January 31, 2018.
CALIFORNIA Stay a minimum of two nights at the Paséa Hotel & Spa, a luxe, surf-inspired property in Huntington Beach, and receive 30 percent off nightly rates, beach butler service, and a couples massage at Aarna, the resort’s Bali-themed spa. Doubles from $350 per night; use code TRAVEL when booking at meritage collection.com/ paseahotel; valid through December 31.
NEW MEXICO Receive 30 percent off rates for a Studio suite at the Hilton Santa Fe Buffalo Thunder, a sprawling resort in the Pojoaque Valley. Includes daily breakfast for two, complimentary parking, and a 20 percent discount at the Wo’ P’in Spa. Doubles from $119; use code TL30 when booking at hiltonbuffalothunder. com; reserve by January 31 for travel through March 31.
SCOTLAND The Dunstane Houses, a pair of Victorian mansions in Edinburgh, is offering a 30 percent discount on stays of at least three nights in a Luxury king room. Offer includes a bottle of champagne upon arrival. Doubles from $190; use code TRAVEL when booking at thedunstane.com; valid through April 30, 2018; blackout dates include Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
PORTUGAL Emerald Waterways is offering 45 percent off all Douro River cruises in 2018. Travelers will stay in a Premium Balcony cabin, visit the historic city of Guimarães for a tour of the palace, and get a one-night stay in Porto pre- or post-cruise. From $2,985 per person; use code TNLOPVACAC when calling 844889-8223; book by December 31. emerald waterways.com.
SHARE Join our movement and tell your friends how you’re using your vacation days with the hashtag #operationvacation.
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K A RO LI N A J E Z . DATA S OU RC E : A L LI A N Z TR AVE L IN S U R AN C E VACAT I ON C ONF ID E NCE IND EX
Last year, U.S. workers forfeited an astounding 662 million vacation days, according to Project: Time Off, a research initiative headed up by the U.S. Travel Association. In response, T+L launched Operation Vacation, making it our mission to encourage everyone to use their much-needed days off to get away and recharge. As the end of the year approaches, be sure you’re not leaving behind any vacation days. Visit travelandleisure.com/ operation-vacation to find more than 50 of the best discounts on flights, hotels, cruises, and vacation packages.
©2017 Crystal Cruises, LLC. Ships’ registry: The Bahamas and Malta.
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By sea, river, land and air, we have redefined the way the world views luxury travel. Call 877-465-5698 or your travel professional. CrystalCruises.com OCEAN | RIVER | YACHT EXPEDITION | PRIVATE JET JOURNEYS | LUXURY RESIDENCES
C RYS TA L
Editor’s Note DECEMBER 2017
@nathanlump nathan@travelandleisure.com
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From my travels Last winter, I discovered the Eastern Townships of Quebec, a collection of rural communities about two hours’ drive from Montreal. I based myself at Manoir Hovey (manoirhovey.com; doubles from $166), a 37-room Relais & Châteaux property in a turn-of-the-century estate on Lake Massawippi. I loved the ice fishing on the lake, the cozy fires to curl up beside, and the refined farm-to-table fare from Québécois chef Francis Wolf in Le Hatley Restaurant (above left; prix fixe $60). There is much to do in the area: visit Abbaye St.-Benoît-du-Lac (above right; abbaye.ca), a working monastery where you can hear Gregorian chants; stop at Savon des Cantons (savondescantons.com) for soaps and the adjoining Gourmet par Nature for jams, both made from local ingredients like sea buckthorn; tour the artisanal cheese maker La Station de Compton (fromagerielastation.com); and alternate sessions in the saunas at Spa Nordic Station with icy dips in a nearby creek (spanordicstation.com; packages from $36). All in all, it’s a wonderful spot for a long weekend of simple pleasures.
F ROM TOP : N AT HA N LUM P (2 ) ; BR I AN D OB E N
T
hree years ago at Travel + Leisure, we took inspiration from our colleagues at Time, whose annual Person of the Year signals much about the era we live in, and launched T+L’s Destination of the Year. The honor is our way of recognizing the place that most captured the attention of travelers (and our editors) over the previous 12 months. In 2014 and 2015 our choices, Myanmar and Cuba, had both gained standing among the international community, opening them to new visitors. In 2016, we recognized the energy bubbling up in Portugal, a pick that proved prescient: this past summer, the country was the place to be in Europe. Our choice in 2017 is Canada. Of course, the country celebrated its 150th birthday this year, but many other factors guided our decision: In a time of global uncertainty, the same national virtues that once earned Canada a reputation for being just a bit boring—evenhandedness, politeness, responsibility—now seem welcome. With borders hardening everywhere, Canada’s continued embrace of immigrants and refugees aligns with the inclusive spirit of travelers the world over. As environmental concerns mount, Canada’s natural beauty and pristine spaces look more attractive than ever. And at this moment when artists, journalists, and creative thinkers are so essential to democratic societies, Canada’s cities have nurtured thriving communities of such individuals, resulting in neighborhoods rich with the kinds of establishments—avant-garde galleries, lively cafés, leading-edge restaurants and bars—that travelers adore. As Canada assumes the mantle of a bigger global player it has a newfound swagger, and the rest of the world is taking notice. I personally have always loved visiting our neighbor to the north. From Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia, I’ve met talented and lovely people, while learning how much fun you can have—even in the depths of winter (see right). I’ve heard from many of my fellow travelers recently that Canada has made converts of them too, and that’s yet another reason why it’s our Destination of the Year. Coverage begins on page 17.
World’s Best Awards DECEMBER 2017
Take T+L’s Annual World’s Best Survey and You Could WIN A $10,000 DREAM TRIP FOR TWO [ OR ONE OF THREE OTHER PRIZES ]
Each year, we ask Travel + Leisure readers to share their opinions about the top hotels, resorts, cities, cruise ships, airlines, and more around the globe. Your votes determine some of the industry’s most important rankings and help fellow travelers decide where to go and what to do. So visit tlworldsbest.com now through March 5, 2018, to make your voice heard. To say thanks, we’ll enter you into our giveaway. GRAND PRIZE A $10,000 dream trip for two, to be planned by a Travel + Leisure A-List agent OTHER PRIZES Beats by Dr. Dre BeatsX Wireless Earphones for 15 winners Garnet Hill cashmere wrap for 2 winners Victorinox Lexicon hard-sided luggage set for 1 winner
C H RI ST I A N K E R BE R
Santorini, Greece, has won for best European island 14 times.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. The World’s Best Awards Giveaway is open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia age 18 or older at time of entry. To enter and view Sweepstakes Facts and complete Official Rules, which govern this Giveaway and provide alternate method of entry details, visit www.TLWorldsBest.com. Only one (1) online entry per person/email address. Giveaway begins at 12:01 AM (ET) on 11/6/17 and ends at 11:59 PM (ET) on 3/5/18. Void where prohibited by law. Sponsor: Time Inc. Affluent Media Group.
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Ă€
MILLION MILES AWAY.
Steamboat is one of the most accessible ski resorts in the country. We’ve got 14 nonstop ights from major cities across the nation and over 300 more connecting from almost anywhere. We are proud to partner with Alaska, American, Delta, United and ViaAir to get you here. We invite you to come and share our passion for the season and this incredible place. S T E A M B O A T. C O M / P H : 8 7 7 . 4 6 2 . 4 6 8 1
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10:41AM
The moment you were convinced to see Canada from coast to coast to coast. Presiding over Victoria’s Inner Harbour. Lighting up the Toronto skyline. Looking out over the St. Lawrence River in Québec City. With Fairmont, the best of Canada— and Canadians—is always right at your doorstep. For the country’s 150th birthday, let its grandest hotels connect you to the essence of the True North, strong and free. Gateway to your indelibly Canadian moment. fairmont.com
December 2017
CANADA
LOR N E B RI D G MA N
DESTINATION OF THE YE AR
Selecting T+L’s Destination of the Year is not an exact science. Yes, we look at data like arrival statistics and poll our favorite travel agents for trends, but we also consider cultural relevance and that elusive quality known as buzz. In 2017, all signs pointed north. This was, of course, the year of Canada’s sesquicentennial. It was also clear to us that travelers have become fully aware of the country’s exceptional blend of world-class cities and epic natural wonders, its rich culture and eclectic cuisine. We also took into account Canada’s growing prominence as a global leader, a nation defined by tolerance and hope. For even more reasons to book your next trip to the Land of the Maple Leaf, read on.
travelandleisure.com
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D E S T I N AT I O N O F THE YEAR
The view of downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park.
O CANADA!
How much does Gary Shteyngart love our great northern neighbor? Let him count the ways.
A
fter the interesting turn of events last fall in the United States, I, like so many others, have been looking up real estate prices in MTV, as Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver—Canada’s three largest cities—are sometimes called. I am not, however, a hoser-come-lately to the charms of Canada. It is a country that has loomed large in my imagination since my family’s arrival in the United States from the Soviet Union in the 1970s. In fact, we could just as easily have come to Toronto as New York. I recall visiting my father’s best friend in that city in the 1980s and being shocked by the orderliness of the large housing estate in which he lived, the relative lack of aggression, and the patient lines for fried doughy Timbits at the local Tim Hortons, to say nothing of my own desperate Manhattan urge to mug someone on the spotless subway, since these folks were obviously not going to do it for themselves.
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Since then, Canada has been a place I often dream of when I find myself asleep at the keyboard. I fell in love with the work of Montreal’s late Mordecai Richler, a satirist who has influenced me as much as any other writer. I spent my 30th birthday with a dozen of my best friends at Montreal’s Restaurant L’Express slurping up bone marrow, just as the rascally Barney Panofsky, the hero of Richler’s masterwork Barney’s Version (turned a few years ago into a movie starring Paul Giamatti), would have done. My wife and I were married by a justice of the peace in the Arctic town of Grise Fiord, in the territory of Nunavut, the northernmost civilian settlement in Canada and one of the coldest inhabited places on the planet. She has always felt a special closeness to Arctic and Antarctic terrains, as well as to Inuit culture, and when she suggested we get married at the far end of Canada, with just a few people in attendance, I felt a great calm come over me. The coldest spot on earth would be the perfect place to join with another human being for a lifetime. Years have passed since our nuptials, but I still can’t accurately describe what happened on that trip, other than that I traveled to a brilliant northern planet where the night was as deep and dark and starry as any humanity has ever seen, and where the sun, an infrequent guest, sets entire mountain ranges of ice alight like a hazy, melancholy god paying her scattered worshippers a visit. Oh, yes, and there was also that time when I sat on a floor with a dozen villagers eating a raw caribou, with a small ax as my only implement. And then, a few years later, in Toronto, I got into serious Canadian trouble. After judging the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada’s most prestigious literary award, I got drunk at a dinner and was quoted as saying that Canadian writers “didn’t take the same damn risks” as writers from poorer, less culturally subsidized countries. The uproar was immediate, and soon I found myself quoted and reproached in the country’s biggest newspapers. As quickly as I could, I hightailed it back to Toronto, where I duly apologized in front of a large audience at the main library and was immediately forgiven by at least some of the country’s literati. I apologized on Twitter and in person to as many Canadians as possible. One reader I met told me, “You really apologize like a Canadian,” which I took to be the highest order of compliment imaginable. Once again, Canada, I’m sorry.
K A MI L BI A LOU S
CANADA
D E S T I N AT I O N O F THE YEAR
CANADA
NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDE
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This district of the Plateau Mont-Royal borough is one of the coolest in Canada. Come for the music, creative boutiques, and dozens of trendy bars and restaurants.
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From top: The bar at Restaurant L’Express, in Montreal; “duck in a can” from Montreal’s Au Pied de Cochon.
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Lodging in the area is limited, so your best bet is an Airbnb or the guesthouse Pensione Popolo 1 (pensione popolo.com; doubles from $75), upstairs from the music venue Casa del Popolo. For more-luxurious digs, head to nearby Old
Montreal for the new Hotel William Gray 2 (hotelwilliamgray.com; doubles from $211; see an exclusive offer on page 8).
EAT & DRINK For refined English brunch fare, try Lawrence 3 (lawrence restaurant.com; brunch
that brings homemade Ukrainian Easter eggs to your reading and will gladly fix you a shot of something strong to go. Is Canada a paradise on earth? Even Canadians will tell you that they can find their compatriots too smug, too self-satisfied. I can sort of see why they might feel that way, but I think much can be forgiven. As someone born in Russia, I know from cold—and Canada gets cold. Except for its western edges, this is no climate-blessed land, no temperate wonder like Catalonia or Australia. The whipping winds, the grip of the
entrées $10–$14), which serves bubble and squeak, a bloodsausage sandwich, and beef liver with onions. At the cozy basement boîte Petite Maison 4 (petitemaisonmtl. com; prix fixe from $29), Québécois celebrity chef Danny St. Pierre is acclaimed for his “inverted poutine,” a potato croquette with cheese and gravy inside. The menu at Lili. Co 5 (restolilico.com; small plates $2–$25) changes daily, with options sure to delight both vegetarians (canteloupe and
tomatoes in goat-feta cream) and omnivores (jerk sweetbreads).
DO Bands from Arcade Fire to the Moldy Peaches have played at Casa del Popolo 6 (casadel popolo.com), also a vegetarian restaurant, bar, art gallery, and fair-trade café. Shoppers should check out Boutique General 54 7 (general54.ca), an independent store with women’s clothing and accessories from more than 60 Canadian and American designers.
D OM IN IQ UE L A FON D. MA P BY HA I SA M H U SS E IN
Today, Canada is in some ways the opposite of dull or risk-averse. Montreal’s Plateau and Mile End neighborhoods are world-class incubators of hip, the latter being the birthplace of the acclaimed art-rock band Arcade Fire. As for food, I would argue that Montreal now ranks as the third-most important dining destination in North America, after New York and Mexico City. Few cities synchronize indigenous and global cuisines with such panache. The first time I was served Au Pied de Cochon’s “duck in a can”—a duck breast and lobe of foie gras with thyme, garlic, and braised cabbage, cooked inside an actual can—I was gently shocked by its playfulness and informality. But Montreal is like that. The weather provides drama, the locals provide levity, and the Jews provide the world’s finest bagels—and I say that, humbly, as a Jewish New Yorker. And Toronto, once derided as one of the world’s great boring cities, is now certified awesome. One of my favorite bars in the world is the Communist’s Daughter, at the corner of Dundas and Ossington, where one can play board games amid the Christmas lights and pretend to be the spawn of some northern Menshevik. Toronto’s food is now equally spectacular, as befits a city seen by many as the most multicultural in the world. And what can I say about Vancouver, the least affordable (real estate–wise) city in Canada? It is about as Asian a place as you will find anywhere outside of Asia, and one of the most beautiful marriages of land, sea, and rain you can find outside of a writer’s caffeinated imagination. But wait, there’s more! Honestly, any place I end up in Canada is filled with quirky delight. Even Winnipeg surprised me, with a gorgeous hotel bar (the Palm Lounge, at the perfectly named Fort Garry Hotel), the thought-provoking Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and one of the smartest audiences I’ve ever encountered during my travels as a writer, the kind
IN MY KINGDOM, PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION CAN AND WILL BE DISPLAYED. Love is in the air. And while we didn’t put it there, our all-inclusive playgrounds in Mexico and Jamaica sure help. Beautiful beaches and pools. World-class entertainment and dining. There’s a lot to love. And to help you make the most of it, we’ll give you up to US $1,500 in Resort Credit toward spa treatments, golf, tours and other amazing experiences. Moon Palace. Larger than life. Better than vacation. 1-800-635-1836 MoonPalace.com
D E S T I N AT I O N O F THE YEAR
CANADA
everlasting ice age, the quick frostbite of a walk to the car, all give Canadians leeway to be occasionally less than charming. It is fair to acknowledge that Canada does have vast areas of darkness, including a history of racism and brutality toward its native inhabitants, the people of the First Nations. These include the Inuits my wife and I met at Grise Fiord, whose forebears were forcibly resettled to Nunavut in the 1950s from their homeland in Quebec. Many believe that this program was part of a government strategy to counter Soviet and American influence in the Arctic by planting what have been called “human flagpoles” in the region. But these days, so many of us below the 45th parallel look north with wonder, even as large swaths of the world’s population, from China to Syria to the Philippines, are realizing that their American Dream might not actually be so American after all. For them and others, Canada’s secret has been revealed. Out: the wintry gloom, the images of safety and boredom, the moniker of “Toronto the Good.” In: the strange experiment of bringing together the world’s brightest and often most endangered people, to a soundtrack by Arcade Fire and the additional drumbeat of a freshly shaken duck in a can.
Alabaster ramps inside Winnipeg’s Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
A TOWER OF SONG IN MONTREAL “Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything,” an exhibition honoring the late Canadian songwriter, just opened at the renowned Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal. A global roster of artists—Jenny Holzer, Taryn Simon, and Thomas Demand among them—explore the great themes of Cohen’s work, including death and love, politics and faith. Though the musician spent much of his life in the U.S., he returned often to his native Montreal, where he would go for walks in Mont-Royal, the venerable park overlooking the city. It was there that John Zeppetelli, who curated the show, had his only encounter with Cohen, on the artist’s 70th birthday. “I imagine he thought of himself more as a Montrealer than a Canadian,” Zeppetelli says. “I think it was the particularity of this bicultural city, and his own status within it as a poet.” Through April 2018; macm.org.
5 NEW ONE-OF-AKIND MUSEUMS
From Whistler to Winnipeg, compelling institutions are opening that combine thoughtful collections with arresting design. Dive into the nation’s cultural offerings.
This three-year-old museum in the capital of Manitoba hosts exhibits on issues from genocide to bullying. “Points of View,” which runs through February, features 70 photographs exploring freedom of expression, the environment, and diversity. human rights.ca.
2. Remai Modern Saskatoon The copper-colored exterior and large windows of this modern art museum, which opened in October, have transformed the skyline of Saskatchewan’s largest city. Inside
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you’ll find nearly 8,000 works, including a collection of Picasso linocuts and ceramics. remaimodern.org.
3. Audain Art Museum Whistler Take a break from the slopes to visit this new institution in British Columbia dedicated to regional art—think Northwest Coast First Nations masks. Though just steps from the village, the space, designed to blend in with the surrounding trees, creates a sense of seclusion. audainart museum.com.
4. Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Formerly known as
MOCCA, the institution
is scheduled to reopen next spring with a more international focus, in a new, 55,000-square-foot location in Junction Triangle. museumof contemporaryart.ca.
5. Illusuak Cultural Centre Nain The Illusuak Cultural Centre in northern Newfoundland & Labrador is slated to open next year. Designed by Todd Saunders, the curves of the wood-clad exterior continue inside, where the language, traditions, and stories of the local Inuit will be displayed through permanent exhibits. facebook.com/ illusuak.
A A RO N V I N C E N T E LK A I M/ TH E N EW YORK T IMES/ RE D UX
1. Canadian Museum for Human Rights Winnipeg
YOU WON’T JUST SOAK UP THE LOCAL FLAVOR. YOU’LL HAVE IT FOR DINNER. Somewhere in Morocco there’s a market only locals know about. And your ship’s chef. It’s where he’ll find the spices he needs for tonight’s expertly prepared, exquisitely presented dinner. There are many reasons why a Windstar cruise is memorable. But it’s the immersive experiences you aren’t expecting that make it magical. Call your travel professional or Windstar Cruises at 877-892-5116. WindstarCruises.com
D E S T I N AT I O N O F THE YEAR
CANADA
One of Via Rail’s Panorama cars. NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDE
VANCOUVER’S CHINATOWN Long a destination for travelers, Canada’s largest Chinatown has begun luring young chefs, artists, and entrepreneurs, who have launched exciting new businesses alongside the neighborhood’s beloved attractions.
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3 WAYS TO CROSS THE COUNTRY Rail
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For more than 40 years, Canada has offered train service through Via Rail (viarail.ca), its nationwide carrier. This year, the company will finish a complete refurbishment of the fleet’s economy and business classes. Opt for the “Canadian” route, which links Vancouver with Toronto and features the popular Panorama cars, which have large windows that extend up to the ceiling.
This year, the Canadian government completed the Great Trail (thegreattrail.ca), a network of nearly 15,000 miles of paths that connect the country’s coasts. Now travelers can hike, ski, and horseback-ride through breathtaking wilderness in every region—from the lush forests lining the Pacific coast and the Yukon’s sprawling tundra to the steep cliffs overlooking the Bay of Fundy.
In 2018, Canadian cruise operator One Ocean Expeditions (oneoceanexpeditions. com) will debut a new itinerary that circumnavigates the country by ship, plane, and train in 56 days. While at sea, guests sail on the Akademik Ioffe through the Arctic Circle to explore the fjords and glacial systems around Baffin Island, as well as spot wildlife like polar bears, narwhals, and beluga whales.
TA K E I T F R O M A C A N U C K . . .
“One of my favorite places I lived as a kid was a village called Steveston, near Vancouver. I have fond memories of waking up early to ride my bike to the dike and watch the sun rise. I’d go home for breakfast, then do it all over again with my friends.” —COCO ROCHA, MODEL FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA
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Prior St.
False Creek 500 FEET
STAY The standout hotel is Skwachays Lodge Hotel & Gallery 1 (skwachays.com; doubles from $103), which offers 18 suites, each filled with First Nations art, that can serve as a perfect home base when exploring town—the property sits conveniently between Chinatown, downtown Vancouver, and Gastown.
EAT & DRINK Chinatown has seen a surge in vegan and vegetarian restaurants in the past couple of years, including Virtuous Pie 2 (virtuouspie.com; pizzas from $8), which serves 10-inch plant-based pizzas and a variety of seasonal, house-made ice creams. Kissa Tanto 3 (kissatanto. com; entrées $22–$37), a 76-seat JapaneseItalian hybrid, became an immediate favorite after opening last spring. Its retro Tokyojazz-bar vibe is an
appealing atmosphere for dishes like rib eye topped with saffron-chili sauce. For drinks, stop in at the Boxcar 4 (thecobalt. ca), where the 24 rotating taps feature local craft brews and regional favorites.
DO The architecture alone makes wandering through Chinatown worth it, but be sure to take in some culture. Housed in the neighborhood’s oldest building, Rennie Museum 5 (rennie collection.org) displays one of the largest contemporary art collections in Canada. It’s free and open to the public during the week. If the weather is nice, a walk through the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden 6 (vancouverchinese garden.com) is also a must. Book a guided tour for an insider’s take on the surrounding Taihu rocks, hawthorn berries, and more.
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Stretching nearly 4 million square miles and touching three oceans, Canada offers plenty to explore—and now there are more ways than ever to see it all in style.
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D E S T I N AT I O N O F THE YEAR
CANADA
THE NEXT GREAT FOOD DESTINATION IS... WINNIPEG?
The Habitat ’67 housing complex, in Montreal.
5 BUILDINGS WORTH A DETOUR The country that has produced architectural stars from Frank Gehry to Todd Saunders is home to an extraordinary collection of buildings that embody its history and ideals. These are some of the best. 1. Habitat ’67 Montreal Created for the World’s Fair in 1967, this all-concrete prefab icon began as the college thesis of starchitect Moshe Safdie, who hoped the building would be a new and more livable model for dense city housing. Plan your visit around one of the guided tours that run several times a week. habitat67.com.
stall signs are among the few original interior details left. marches publics-mtl.com.
3. Province House Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island This 1844 gem shows that Canadian architects had equal— or greater—mastery of the Greek Revival style then prevalent in the States. Use the companion app to explore the grounds. pc.gc.ca.
2. Atwater Market Montreal This 1933 indoor market is one of the finest Art Deco structures in North America. When you enter, look up—the
In spring and summer, the Toronto Society of Architects leads tours that include a stop here. ocadu.ca.
4. Sharp Centre for Design Toronto British architect Will Alsop created a minor sensation in 2004 with this improbable speckled box on stilts.
5. Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia Vancouver In a nod to its First Nations–focused collection, the 1976 museum has linear framing reminiscent of some indigenous groups’ timber buildings. It’s the signal achievement of Arthur Erickson, once hailed by his contemporary Philip Johnson as “the greatest architect in Canada.” moa.ubc.ca.
TA K E I T F R O M A C A N U C K . . .
Pan-fried greens at Máquè, in Winnipeg.
“I basically lived at this Tex-Mex bar, Sneaky Dee’s, as a teenager. It was there that my affection for nachos turned into a full-blown affair. As an adult, I Uber their nachos to my place twice a month.” —JEN AGG, TORONTO RESTAURATEUR (THE BLACK HOOF, RHUM CORNER, GREY GARDENS) AND WRITER
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Like many of the best restaurant towns, the capital of Manitoba is a cross-cultural mecca. More than 100 languages are spoken in the province, and those international influences are helping Peg City redefine traditional Canadian prairie cuisine. Winnipeg’s large Filipino community—almost 5 percent of the population speaks Tagalog—flocks to Bisita (bisita.ca; entrées $9–$14) for lumpia spring rolls and adobo-spiked wings. First Nations groups are also represented on the restaurant circuit: Feast Café Bistro (feastcafebistro.com; entrées $8–$14), run by a woman from the Peguis community, showcases the versatility of bannock, an indigenous fry bread, which is used in everything from bison pizza to tacos. Fine-dining spots, too, are embracing Winnipeg’s melting pot. At Deer & Almond (deerand almond.com; entrées $11–$27), chef Mandel Hitzer gives global fare a provincial twist in dishes like yam tortellini and venison tartare. At Máquè (maque.ca; small plates $5–$18), a contemporary AsianFrench eatery, mapo tofu and kung pao pork meet jambon de Bayonne and duck confit. Spanish classics star at Segovia (segoviatapasbar.com; tapas $2–$24), but don’t limit yourself to Iberian ham—the more adventurous plates, like lamb sweetbreads with eggplant escabeche, have helped this tapas bar rake in awards throughout its eight-year run.
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CANADA
A SECRET PARADISE IN B.C. As one of the world’s top emerging wine regions, the Okanagan Valley offers an eclectic array of styles, not to mention great food and gorgeous views.
T
he Okanagan Valley ranks among the most beautiful wine regions in North America, yet it remains relatively unfamiliar to U.S. travelers. (Chalk that up to some frustrating trade barriers that make Canadian wine a non-player in the U.S. market.) Talk to locals, though—as well as Vancouver residents, who are an hour-long flight away—and they know what they’ve got: more than 8,000 acres of picturesque vineyards surrounding spectacular Lake Okanagan, a serpentine body of water that twists through low mountains for 80 miles in southern British Columbia. The region’s climate is surprisingly varied, creating hospitable conditions for a wide array of grapes. That’s partly due to the sheer length of the lake, whose bottom tip is a mere four miles
TA K E I T F R O M A C A N U C K . . .
“My family and I recently visited Banff National Park in Alberta. I was struck by how stunning it was as an adult. As a kid, the mountains, gondolas, and blue-green lakes were magical, but seeing that beauty preserved all of those years later was really striking. We plan to go every summer from now on.” — MARCEL DZAMA, ARTIST FROM WINNIPEG
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from the Washington State border. “The southern part of the Okanagan is hotter than Napa Valley,” Canadian wine expert Kurtis Kolt says. “In the north, it’s much cooler. You’ve got bears. They come down in the middle of the night and gorge on grapes. Call it true Canadian-style wine growing.” Those marauding bears have yet to make it inside any of the 170-plus tasting rooms that dot the region, however. In the north, stop by top producers such as Tantalus Vineyards (tantalus.ca; tastings $4 per person), for subtly aromatic Rieslings, and Mission Hill Family Estate (missionhillwinery.com; tastings $15 per person), for expressive Chardonnays. Then head south along the lake to try warmerclimate reds, which are the focus of both the irreverent up-and-comer Church & State Wines (churchandstatewines.com; tastings $7 per person) and the regional leader Black Hills Estate Winery (black hillswinery.com; tastings $10 per person), which occupies an airy, glass-walled space with sweeping views of the valley. Kolt also points out the bounty of local produce: fresh seafood from the nearby Pacific as well as Lake Okanagan, picturepostcard orchards laden with apricots in the summer and apples in the fall, artisanal cheese producers and cideries, and restaurants that take advantage of all that grows in the Okanagan. Add in activities like sailing; kayaking; biking along winding, vine-bordered back roads; and stargazing in the clear northern night, and it’s shocking that more Americans aren’t crossing the border.
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The Blue Mountain Vineyard, in British Columbia’s Okanagan wine region.
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D E S T I N AT I O N O F THE YEAR
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NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDE
With its central location and incredible city views, the sleek Thompson 1 (thompsonhotels.com; doubles from $526) is an ideal base from which to explore the neighborhood. Farther afield, the Hotel X 2
(hotelxtoronto.com; doubles from $339), on the Lake Ontario waterfront, is scheduled to open this month.
EAT & DRINK At the Canadian bistro Canis 3 (canis restaurant.com;
5 HOTELS TO BUILD A TRIP AROUND
3 Qu
SHOP I Have a Crush on You 6 (ihaveacrushonyou.ca), a gift store, gallery, and design studio, is stocked with creative trinkets, stationery, and clothing made by Canadian designers. In the rear of the store is Amy Kwong’s Smitten Kitten, which sells paper goods.
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The stylish design district is home to award-winning restaurants, great culture, and tons of innovative shops.
Corner 5 (rhumcorner. com; entrées $6–$30) specializes in Haitianinspired cocktails and cuisine, such as griot, made with pork shoulder, and pen patat, a sweetpotato dessert.
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TORONTO’S KING AND QUEEN STREETS WEST
tasting menus from $51), chef Jeff Kang uses simple seasonal ingredients, from cabbage and pearl onions to fish and poultry, in his sophisticated tasting menus. Locals come to Pablo’s Snack House 4 (baro toronto.com; small plates from $4), a “secret” small-plates joint on the second floor of the popular Latin eatery Baro, for executive chef Steve Gonzalez’s beef empanadas and tacos made from fresh local fish. Rhum
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The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, in Quebec City.
1. Ritz-Carlton Montreal César Ritz himself gave the stamp of approval to this firstever Ritz-Carlton, which opened in 1912. More than a century on, the hotel is still setting the standard for luxury, thanks to the spacious guest rooms and grand spaces like the Palm Court, renowned for its afternoon tea. ritzcarlton.com; doubles from $360.
2. Fairmont Le Château Frontenac Quebec City Angelina Jolie and Alfred Hitchcock have both checked in to this mainstay, a 19thcentury, castle-like wonder that defines the skyline. A recent $75 million renovation
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brightened up the lobby and the 611 guest rooms—which welcome more than 300,000 people a year. fairmont.com; doubles from $200.
3. Wickaninnish Inn Tofino A rustic-luxe inn on Vancouver Island’s western coast, the 21-year-old “Wick” offers easy access to nature. Guests can walk through the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve or watch for winter storms— fully decked out in rain gear—along the beach. wickinn.com; doubles from $272.
4. Fogo Island Inn Newfoundland From the outside, this 29-room hotel, which is set on a sparsely
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inhabited island, is a visually arresting masterpiece—the sleek, X-shaped structure sits on stilts. Inside, the furniture, quilts, and rugs have all been made by local craftsmen, and food (mackerel, berries) is sourced just miles down the road. fogo islandinn.ca; doubles from $1,429.
5. Post Hotel & Spa Lake Louise This family-run Relais & Châteaux hotel in Alberta, which dates back to 1942, is like an elegant Swiss chalet dropped into the middle of the Rockies. In the summer, guests come to kayak and swim; in the winter, it’s a skiers’ haven. posthotel.com; doubles from $272.
Reporting by Rocky Casale, Jacqueline Gifford, Ray Isle, Jessica McHugh, John Scarpinato, Christopher Tkaczyk, and Ian Volner.
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The Primer
Where the Grass Is Always Greener Some say Eat, Pray, Love ruined Ubud, the leafy town in inland Bali. The truth, finds Amelia Lester, is that the place is as seductive as ever— just a little more upscale.
U
bud, inland Bali’s biggest town, is often referred to as the Indonesian island’s green heart. The first thing you notice on the hour-long drive from the airport is how the foliage on the side of the road gets gradually wilder and denser until, as you reach the outskirts of Ubud, it becomes preposterously lush. For the past decade, Ubud has also been known, thanks to Eat, Pray, Love, as the place where Julia Roberts did a lot of yoga and fell for Javier Bardem. “Elizabeth Gilbert Ruined Bali,” Jezebel proclaimed in 2010, and it’s true that in the wake of Gilbert’s best-selling 2006 memoir and the movie based on it, you’ll spot many more tote bags emblazoned with inspirational sayings around town. But the vibe was far less pretentious than I had expected; instead, I found a laid-back, cosmopolitan place that reminded me of affluent retreats like the Hamptons. I learned that Ubud has in fact been a creative and spiritual hub for centuries, and its recent fame has actually reinvigorated its artistic traditions.
When Gilbert arrived in Ubud in 2004, she stayed at a bungalow with a pool for $10 a night. Today, backpackers tend to prefer the nearby Gili Islands, where budget accommodation abounds. There’s been a five-star option in Ubud since 1989, the year Amandari (aman.com; doubles from $700) opened. For a long time, that property was the only game in town. In the past few years, though, it has been joined by a Four Seasons ( fourseasons.com; doubles from $426) and Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve (ritzcarlton.com; doubles from $475). There’s also the wellnessfocused COMO Shambhala Estate (comohotels.com; doubles from $550), set in the nearby countryside.
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The Primer
A FRESH WAVE OF RESTAURANTS In Gilbert’s day, a hippie hangout called Naughty Nuri’s (naughty-nuris.com; entrées $3–$15) was the highlight of Ubud’s dining scene. This unpretentious warung, or
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Above, from left: A chef adds petals to a plate at Room4 Dessert; the entrance to Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. F ROM L E F T: M A RT I N W ESTL A K E / C O U RT ESY OF R OOM4 D ESS E RT ; C OU RT ESY OF M A NDA PA , A R ITZ - CA R LTO N R ES E RV E
The best places to stay manage to incorporate the charm of Ubud’s rural surroundings into their designs. Amandari’s 30 rooms sit on the crest of the Ayung River valley, where roosters wake emphatically at dawn, after which a profound, monastic silence descends upon the place and lingers until the frogs, crickets, and owls start up their nighttime symphony. Mandapa, a sprawling resort complete with almost three acres of rice fields and a century-old temple, is located in the same valley as Amandari. The third in the Ritz-Carlton Reserve collection of boutique-style resorts, this property has 25 villas on the banks of the river as well as 35 suites in an impressive series of stone towers. These structures are designed to evoke a Balinese temple but, when spied looming out of the dense jungle, look more like something from an Indiana Jones movie. One sound ubiquitous throughout Ubud is the lilting ring of temple handbells. Though Indonesia’s population is 87 percent Muslim, Bali is 84 percent Hindu, having been colonized by high-caste Javanese fleeing a 16th-century Islamic uprising. For hundreds of years the Balinese have held on to elaborate Hindu rituals and a complex social hierarchy, including a royal family that still owns a palace, Puri Saren Agung, in the center of Ubud. Across the street is a large public temple, but what’s most striking about Hinduism in Bali is that every family has its own place of worship, typically in a courtyard. Villagers need them close at hand in order to make offerings of flowers, ferns, and food throughout the day, and to celebrate Hinduism’s frequent festivals, when the gods are believed to be physically present.
eatery, serves a respectable chicken satay, and the place is still a fixture among the expat crowd (a seat at the front table on the right remains a sure sign you’ve made it in Ubud). But just as with accommodation, the scrappy backpacker favorites are now outnumbered by sleek upscale restaurants, and today a handful of ambitious chefs are setting a more sophisticated standard. Room4Dessert (room4dessert.asia) is the leader of the pack. “Five years ago, Ubud was dominated by the vegan crowd,” owner Will Goldfarb says. “People realized they couldn’t eat raw every day.” Goldfarb was a Manhattan pastry chef who survived cancer, a New Yorker profile, and a string of failed business ventures before opening his whimsical dessert bar here three years ago. His caramel-and-black-tea crème brûlée is sublime. Nearby Locavore (locavore.co.id; tasting menus from $53) was named the best restaurant in Indonesia by San Pellegrino & Acqua Panna in 2016 and 2017. Dutch-born Eelke Plasmeijer met Indonesian native Ray Adriansyah in Jakarta in 2008. The two chefs opened their bright, contemporary place in Ubud in 2013—a time when few restaurants in the town were showcasing local ingredients. The food is thoughtful, even conceptual. One of the tasting menu’s seven courses is a rice field on a plate, with grains surrounded by other elements of the ecosystem: snails, garlic, a duck egg, fern tips, and wildflowers. It tasted green and grassy, and reminded me of the bike ride I had taken the previous day through the unesco World Heritage–listed Jatiluwih rice terraces. I don’t know which was more exhilarating.
Believes in breakfasting like the locals, in taking the roads less traveled, and that nothing’s ever just ancient history.
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The Primer
A DYNAMIC CULTURAL SCENE Newcomers are often surprised by how hectic Ubud can be, with its day-trippers and moped traffic jams. The town gets even busier when waves of visitors arrive during festivals. Since 2003, the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (ubudwritersfestival.com) in October has become a fixture on the global literary calendar, in part for its mix of Asian and Western writers, from Vikram Seth and Amitav Ghosh to Junot Díaz and Lionel Shriver. The biggest of the festivals is BaliSpirit (balispirit.com), a Coachella in the forest for more than 7,000 yoga, dance, and New Age–music devotees. If you forget your yoga pants, there are at least a dozen stores at which to restock. But there are also many places to buy unique and special things in Ubud, thanks to the painters and artisans who have flocked here for generations. The father of modern Balinese art, I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, lived close to Ubud and died in 1978 at the age, it’s believed, of 116. His energetic black-ink drawings depict Bali’s vast store of mythological subjects. Lempad’s creations are on display at Neka (museum neka.com), which is the island’s oldest gallery and a good starting point for exploring Bali’s art scene. Increasingly, though, Ubud is known for spaces specializing in modern art, like Tonyraka (tonyrakaartgallery.com), established in
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Villagers need temples close at hand because offerings of flowers, ferns, and food are made throughout the day. 1968; Sika (sikagallery.com), which tends toward the avant-garde; and Komaneka (gallery.komaneka.com), which features the work of contemporary artists. The best-known of this newer generation is probably Made Wianta, who has exhibited at the Venice Biennale and often shows pieces at Tonyraka. Wianta’s oeuvre considers the darker chapters of Indonesian history. Treasure Islands is a series of maps inscribed on buffalo leather and studded with mirrors. It’s inspired by the 1667 Treaty of Breda, in which England and the Netherlands exchanged New Netherland, now known as New York, for an Indonesian island—establishing Holland’s colonial presence in the archipelago. As I perused the piece, it struck me that Elizabeth Gilbert was just the latest of a long line of artists inspired by this holistic bolt-hole in the hills.
C O URTESY O F A MA N R ES O RTS
Yet for all the hullabaloo about culinary innovation, there’s only one place longtime residents say is a must: Ibu Oka (2 Jalan Tegal Sari; 62-361-976345; entrées $2–$5), which since its opening in 2000 has been Ubud’s busiest restaurant. At 10:30 a.m., six suckling pigs are delivered to the open-air kitchen, having been spit-roasted for five hours. Shortly afterward, diners sit cross-legged on concrete devouring Bali’s signature dish, babi guling, until it’s gone. The whole process is repeated the next day, and every other day of the year.
Views of the Ayung River valley from a villa at Amandari, the first high-end resort to open in Ubud.
OUR PURSUIT BEGAN WITH THE SIMPLE BELIEF THAT THE WORLD DESERVED A SUPERIOR TEQUILA TRIPLE DISTILLED | CERTIFIED ORGANIC | SMALL BATCH
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Be Noble. Drink Responsibly. © 2017 Casa Noble Imports, Canandaigua, NY. Tequila. 40% alc./vol. | Product of Mexico | Produced and bottled by La Cofradia S.A. de C.V., Calle La Cofradia 1297, Col La Cofradia, Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico C.P. 46400 | Certified organic by CCOF Certification Services, LLC.
American Voices
The Taste of Success
S
Mexican immigrant Rolando Herrera poured his passion for grapes into one of Napa Valley’s must-visit wineries. BY RAY ISLE
tarting your own wine label in Napa is no easy feat. “It’s like being in the Indianapolis 500,” says Rolando Herrera, the owner of Mi Sueño, an intimate winery near downtown Napa that produces more than 8,000 cases a year of acclaimed Cabernet, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Syrah. “There’s a lot of talent, a lot of competition.” It’s even harder to get ahead when you move to America’s most famous wine region from Mexico, at 15, as Herrera did back in 1982. Every day, he’d rise at 6:30 a.m., attend a full day of school, then head to the famed Auberge du Soleil after classes to wash dishes from 3 p.m. to midnight. Eventually, he shifted to vineyard work at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, then got his big break when legendary winemaker Warren Winiarski took note of his enthusiasm and offered him a job in the cellar. Three years in, he was promoted to cellar master. “Warren’s a perfectionist, and I think he saw that in me, too,” Herrera explains. Today, Herrera is 50 and a father of six. He still pulls long hours, but he works for himself. A typical day is a blur of activity, starting early and ending late. A discussion with his general manager about vineyard contracts might lead into a quick rundown with
his assistant winemaker about a bottling for the next day. Then it’s into his truck, perhaps for a jaunt to Coombsville to check on some Cabernet Sauvignon vines or up to the top of Mount Veeder, where he manages more Cabernet plantings. “I grew up in El Llano, Mexico,” he says. “It’s about a thousand people, maybe. A little different from here.” In his bottlings, Herrera has a knack for balancing intensity with subtlety. His flagship Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon plays ripe blackberry against supple tannins and spice notes; his Los Carneros Chardonnay has the characteristic rich, lemon-cream tones of that area, but a spine of bright acidity keeps it lively and refreshing. At the winery, private tastings take place not along a fancy marble-topped bar but in the barrel room itself—a relaxed atmosphere that perfectly reflects the owner’s warm, welcoming spirit. Reserve a visit in advance at misueno winery.com; tastings MORE VOICES $20 per person. For additional stories of rising stars and influencers, visit time.com/ americanvoices.
Rolando Herrera at his Napa Valley winery, Mi Sueño.
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Photograph by Helena Price
toyota.com/camry
Why We Travel
When Travel
Opposites Attract
She craved exotic adventures. He loved Disney theme parks. Was finding common ground even possible? BY DOREE SHAFRIR
U
ntil my second date with Matt, the man who later became my husband, I hadn’t been to a Disney theme park since I was 10. “Surprise me,” I’d told him after he asked where I wanted to go. When he told me he’d chosen Disneyland, I felt flattered that he’d so thoughtfully planned ahead—most L.A. guys can’t manage more than taking you to a new bar. It felt fun and romantic—if, to me at least, a tad ironic. We took selfies in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle, he let me steer the Dumbo ride, I had my first Dole Whip.
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I figured it was a one-time thing. But it turned out that Matt had a season pass. He loved Disneyland. Disney World in Orlando was his favorite place to go on vacation. He was also smart and funny and had a job in late-night television. For me, the combination did not compute. As our relationship progressed, I struggled to comprehend Matt’s love of theme parks. I had always seen them as ersatz, overly commercial environments of manufactured fun. To him, they are the happiest places on earth. What did it mean that the man I loved felt this way? And what did it say about me that I didn’t? Was I a snob? After all, Disneyland is one of the most diverse places I’ve ever visited. There are people in wheelchairs, teenagers on dates, hot dads. Everyone always seems to be having a great time. What was my problem, exactly? One day, I asked Matt point-blank why he loved theme parks so much. He shrugged. “It’s the only time from growing up that I remember my whole family actually having fun and getting along.” I have my own fond memories of going to Disney World with my family when I was young, but those trips were not a defining feature of my childhood. For Matt though, a Disney theme park is a place of refuge, where for a few hours the outside world doesn’t exist and the most profound decision you need to make is whether to ride Illustrations by Graham Roumieu
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Why We Travel
Space Mountain or Pirates of the Caribbean. The Dole Whip will always taste the same, the barbershop quartet on Main Street will always make the same jokes, and there will always be a line at the Haunted Mansion. And that’s the difference between us: He likes the familiar, I like the new. If it were up to me, every year we’d go somewhere we’ve never been before—Vietnam, Madagascar, Chile. We’d stay in Airbnbs, make every meal a discovery, and pack in as many experiences as we could. Matt prefers to go to places he’s been before (hello, London!), stay in a hotel, and just wander the streets for hours. Our first big vacation together was to Hawaii. I was looking forward to a place where I could be on a beach one day and at the top of Mauna Kea the next. But even after we’d bought the tickets, Matt kept saying that he didn’t understand why we needed to fly five hours to sit on a beach, when we have perfectly fine beaches right here in southern California. We soon ran into another roadblock. I spent hours scouring Airbnb and HomeAway looking for the perfect vacation rental on the Big Island, but Matt found fault with all of them. Finally, I found The One: a spacious, beautiful house on the west side of the island, on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with a deck where you could sit and gaze out at the deep orange sunset every night. When I showed it to him, he recoiled. Then he finally told me what the real issue was. “Look, I just don’t like staying in other people’s houses. It makes me…uncomfortable.” I didn’t understand. In my mind, homestays allowed you to have a more authentic experience. And the house was rented all the time. He sighed. “Why can’t we just stay in a hotel?” I pleaded with him. He finally gave in. And our three days in the house turned out to be as
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not-fun as three days in a beautiful house on the Hawaiian coast can be. “This bed isn’t comfortable,” he declared. “And the shower— there’s no pressure.” I stewed. He wasn’t wrong—the bed was a little soft, and the shower was kind of weak—but so what? Then we drove to Kona for dinner, and it took an hour. “We are so far from everything,” he said. And the house was above a beach, but you had to drive down a steep, mile-long hill to get to it. “But look how amazing the sunset is from our deck,” I said. He shrugged. “I told you I didn’t want to stay in a house.” By the time we got to Kauai, where we had booked a hotel, I was ready to declare our vacation ruined. But the hotel in Kauai was gorgeous and right on the beach, and you could sit at the pool and order daiquiris, and people were always around to do things for you, and our room got cleaned every day, and at night they left chocolates on our pillows. It was, I had to admit, pretty nice. Maybe there was something to Matt’s way after all.
He didn’t understand why we needed to fly to sit on a beach, when we have perfectly fine beaches right here in California. Since then, we’ve both come around. I go to Las Vegas more than I ever thought I would— Matt loves it almost as much as he loves Disney theme parks—and even agreed to get married there. And you know what? It was an incredibly fun weekend. For our honeymoon, he suggested London, and I suggested stopping in Reykjavík on the way. We both had a blast. We’ve gone back to Disneyland several times. It’s not a place I dream of returning to time and time again, but I do enjoy it now. We’ll go on a few rides, maybe eat a cream-cheese pretzel, and stay to watch the parade and fireworks. It’s not a bad way to spend an evening. The other day, Matt surprised me. His best friend is in Paris for the year, so Matt suggested we go visit him—and stay in his apartment. “But I thought you hated staying in other people’s homes,” I reminded him. “He’s my best friend,” he said, as if that explained everything. “Sounds great,” I said. “Let’s spend a day at Disneyland Paris while we’re there.” Doree Shafrir is a senior writer at BuzzFeed and the author of a novel, Startup.
Trending
Japan in San Fran
o one expected the chef behind San Francisco’s most Americana-obsessed restaurant, Lazy Bear, to open a Japaneseinspired cocktail bar. But after David Barzelay’s recent trip to Tokyo, the idea for True Laurel (truelaurelsf.com) began to crystallize. “Everything in Japan is about specialization, one expert walking you through an experience from beginning to end. I couldn’t get that out of my head.” When True Laurel begins service this month, its fastidious attention to detail—especially at the eight-seat “tasting bar” within—will reflect the immersive multicourse hospitality Barzelay witnessed in Tokyo.
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Above: Dinner at Onsen, a Japanese bath and restaurant in the Tenderloin.
It’s among the latest in a wave of San Francisco spots offering a Californian interpretation of one of America’s favorite foreign cultures. In recent years, the City by the Bay has renewed its affection for its distant neighbor. The roots of this love affair run deep. Between 1885 and 1924, 180,000 Japanese passed through the Golden Gate, establishing hotels, import shops, fish markets, and a Japantown that sprawled across 36 blocks. The World War II internment of residents and a controversial redevelopment project reduced the neighborhood to just seven blocks—but today its influence transcends the district. “Japanese culture has become part of
G RAC E SAG E R/ C O U RT ESY OF O N S E N
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Creatives in the Bay Area are looking across the Pacific for inspiration, reinterpreting Japanese flavors, culture, and hospitality with a distinctly Californian flair. BY JENNA SCATENA
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Trending the fabric of the city,” says Paul Osaki, executive director of the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California. Ramen bars are nearly as ubiquitous as Starbucks, and businesses throughout San Francisco are giving residents a taste of the hospitality for which Japanese culture is famous. There are sentos, or communal bathhouses, like the gorgeous new Onsen (onsensf.com; small plates $6–$17) in the Tenderloin. After a soak, guests can stop in Onsen’s restaurant for a soju cocktail and a bowl of udon. Japanese grocery and kitchen stores have sprung up: Common Sage (commonsagesf.com) in Lower Nob Hill stocks sake and dry goods on one side of the shop, and serves ramen and onigiri on the other. Across the bridge in Oakland, Umami Mart (umamimart.com) offers cherry-blossom shoyu, matcha powder, and housewares. Fans of green-tea lattes can go back to basics at Stonemill Matcha (stonemillmatcha.com), a tea-centric café and supply store set to open in the Mission this spring. There’s even a cat café in Hayes Valley, KitTea (kitteasf.com), that with its tea menu, no-shoes policy, and herd of adoptable cats to play with would be equally at home in a Shibuya high-rise.
Below: Umami Mart, a shop in Oakland selling Japanese kitchenware and beverages.
Visit almost any of the city’s hot new restaurants and you’ll find further traces of Japan’s impact. Renowned local chefs have been making the pilgrimage to the island nation to ramen-hop in Fukuoka and study ryokan hospitality. Their newfound knowledge has made its way into compelling and creative cooking. Dishes like the lamb tartare with nori-sesame crackers at State Bird Provisions (statebirdsf.com; entrées $15–$22), in the Fillmore, mingle Japanese and Mediterranean flavors. Jason Fox of Commonwealth (commonwealthsf.com; small plates $15–$21), in the Mission, calls his cuisine “Progressive American,” but togarashi and mizuna feature in a stone-fruit appetizer, and avocado swims in a yuzukosho sauce. San Francisco’s traditional Japantown has also received a jolt of new energy. Two hotels are at the center of the buzz. The Hotel Kabuki (hotelkabuki.com; doubles from $180) recently unveiled a $31 million face-lift, trading dated décor for contemporary Japanese art and shibori-wrapped headboards. The playful, eclectic style at Kimpton’s Buchanan Hotel (thebuchananhotel.com; doubles from $195) includes kimono-style bathrobes, paper lanterns, and salvaged staves from Japanese whisky barrels. Food lovers, meanwhile, have flocked to Marufuku (marufukuramen.com), which premiered this year and quickly built a cult following for its Hakata-style ramen. Even Japan-based businesses are taking note. The ramen giant Ippudo (ippudo-us.com) debuted its first West Coast location in Berkeley in July, with a SoMa spot set to arrive this month. Tokyo’s Wagyumafia (wagyumafia.com) will soon be hawking sandwiches in the Design District, along with Kobe and Wagyu beef at an adjacent butcher shop. Word has spread about San Francisco’s rekindled love of all things Japan— and the feeling just might be mutual.
Behind the machiya and Victorian façades are four generations of JapaneseAmerican history. Stop by Benkyodo (benkyodocompany. com), the district’s oldest shop, which has been serving handmade mochi and confections since 1906. Switch things up with a visit to New
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People (newpeopleworld. com), a gleaming, Shinjukustyle complex with Japanese boutiques and a theater serving up green-tea popcorn at anime matinees. Before you leave the area, grab a souvenir at Daiso (daisoglobal.com), a mecca of kawaii housewares that are all less than $2.
N AOMI M C C O LLO C H
3 JAPANTOWN CLASSICS
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Emerging
Namibia's New Frontiers
For otherworldly landscapes and unique species, nowhere beats this rugged corner of southern Africa. Now, with first-rate lodge launches and improved access, even less-visited parts of the country are opening up. BY SARAH KHAN
C O URTESY O F N A MI BI A EXC LU S IV E
An observation deck at Sorris Sorris Lodge, in the Brandberg area of Namibia. Local owner Namibia Exclusive also has two soon-to-launch properties in the north of the country.
F
or years now, seasoned safari-goers have equated Namibia’s wildlife offerings with the northern Etosha National Park—a sprawling 8,500-square-mile reserve populated by massive herds of black rhinos, elephants, lions, and wildebeests. But a clutch of upscale new lodgings elsewhere in the north are a good reason to consider exploring the less-visited swaths of this spectacular nation—and observing the creatures that inhabit them. Some properties are already taking bookings, while others will be in the coming months. In the Caprivi Strip, a panhandle-shaped area near the place where Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia converge, Chobe Water Villas (chobewatervillas.com; from $493 per
person, all-inclusive) opened just over a year ago with 16 suites built on stilts over the Chobe River. The lodge is only accessible by boat, which means you’ll probably spot elephants and hippos along the riverside before you even check in. Another new accommodation in the Caprivi region: Gondwana Collection’s Zambezi Mubala (gondwana-collection.com; from $115 per person), a 20-suite lodge on the banks of the Zambezi River. The location makes a great jumping-off point for day trips to Victoria Falls, and birdwatchers will be in bliss: this part of the river is home to one of the biggest colonies of carmine bee-eaters on the continent. Local company Namibia Exclusive (namibiaexclusive.com) made waves when it opened Sorris Sorris Lodge (doubles from $2,050, all-inclusive)
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Emerging
From top: A lounge at Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp; riverside accommodation at Chobe Water Villas, in the Caprivi Strip.
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10 DAYS IN NAMIBIA
T+L A-Lister Chris Liebenberg’s suggested itinerary. Day 1 Fly to Hosea Kutako International Airport, in Windhoek. Spend the night at Olive Grove Guesthouse. Day 2 Take a light aircraft to Sossus Dune Lodge for two days in Namib Naukluft Park. Day 3 Set out on a daylong guided trip to the legendary Sossusvlei dunes. Day 4 Fly by light aircraft to Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp for a three-day stay. Day 5 Head out into a reserve to track elephants, giraffes, lions, cheetahs, and more.
Day 6 Drive across the Namib Sand Sea and learn about the surrounding microfauna, which includes desert chameleons, lizards, and beetles. Day 7 Hop on a light aircraft to Ongava Tented Camp for three days in a private reserve bordering Etosha National Park. Day 8 Take a walking safari, or track rhinos within the park. Day 9 Spot the area's nocturnal animals on a night drive. Day 10 Return by light aircraft to Hosea Kutako airport and catch your flight home.
Piper & Heath Travel’s Liebenberg can add the Caprivi Strip, the Skeleton Coast, or the Kaokoveld region to any Namibia itinerary. 858-598-5559 or chris@piperandheath.com; 10-day trips from $7,880 per person.
F ROM TOP : W I LD E RN ESS SA FA RI S ; C OU RTESY OF C HOB E WATE R V I LL AS
in the mountainous Brandberg area of western Namibia in 2015, which may explain why there’s such a buzz about its two forthcoming properties in the north—both expected to debut next spring. Xaudum Lodge will sit in the dunes of Khaudum National Park, which teems with lions, African wild dogs, and leopards. Omatendeka Lodge will feature five luxe tents near the source of the Hoanib River in the Damaraland, a hotbed for big cats and desert elephants—found only here and in Mali. Don’t be put off by the Skeleton Coast’s foreboding name, which refers to the whale bones scattered along its dramatic shoreline— also known for its many shipwrecks. Large herds of desert elephants, giraffes, zebras, and lions thrive in this landscape, and recent additions like Wilderness Safaris’ Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp (wilderness-safaris.com; from $700 per person, all-inclusive) are almost always full. That popularity may well be what inspired Wilderness to revamp its eight-villa Serra Cafema camp at the Angolan border; it reopens next June. Meanwhile, Shipwreck Lodge (skeletoncoastlodge. com; rates not available at press time), when it’s up and running in early 2018, will be the only camp on the shore, with 10 striking suites built to resemble the ships embedded in the dunes. And Natural Selection, a new lodge company from Africa travel experts including Wilderness Safaris cofounder Colin Bell, kicked off this year with properties across southern Africa—among them Hoanib Valley Camp (naturalselection.travel; doubles from $1,400, all-inclusive) in the striking northwestern Kaokoveld region. Come June, Natural Selection will go where no safari company has gone before: the Caprivi Strip’s Nkasa Rupara National Park, a marshy reserve similar to Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Still not convinced? Getting to Namibia has become far simpler, thanks to new routes from KLM, Ethiopian Airlines, and Qatar Airways through the capital city, Windhoek.
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T H E 5 BE ST CIT IE S FOR
A NIGHT OUT
WINE, BEER, AND COCKTAILS
( RIGH T NOW)
A L EJA N D R O O SS ES / C O URTESY O F M ESA F R A N CA
From SoCal to Singapore, our annual guide to drinking around the world spotlights the places that best embody what’s happening in booze today.
Mesa Franca, in Bogotá, Colombia.
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NIGHTLIFE
Left: Sommelier Kathryn Coker leads a tasting at her store, Esters Wine Shop & Bar, in Santa Monica, California.
Where to Try the Trend Domaine LA
“This shop is the hub of natural wine in L.A. Owner Jill Bernheimer knows what I like—wines that are a little earthy or tangy, but not too outthere. The 2014 Cantina Giardino Gaia from Campania is a wildly fresh white. It tastes enchanting and alive.” domainela.com.
Bestia “This restaurant has
For more info on shops, restaurants, and things to do in L.A., go to tandl.me/ losangelesguide.
LOS ANGELES NATURAL WINES IN...
Drinking is the next frontier for L.A.’s embrace of all things organic. Sommelier Kathryn Coker weighs in on the city’s top places to sip natural wines from across the globe—no passport required.
I
n a city with a juice bar on every corner, it was only a matter of time before Angelenos applied their obsession with all things natural to the world of wine. Natural wines are made with little manipulation: grapes are farmed organically or biodynamically and fermented with native yeasts. “The result is wine that transparently expresses the region’s terroir,” says Kathryn Coker, wine director for the Rustic Canyon restaurant group, owner of Esters Wine Shop & Bar, and one of Food & Wine’s Sommeliers of the Year for 2017. These wines offer a dynamism that’s lacking in conventional vintages, Coker says. “Many natural wines have a wildness. They’re fresh and lively. That’s so exciting to sommeliers.”
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Hatchet Hall “For the adventurous drinker, the list at Hatchet Hall never disappoints. Go here for the funkiest of the funky! I love the 2013 Alfredo Maestro Amanda—a dark rosé with real body that’s an ideal food wine.” hatchethallla.com.
Rose Café
“This spot in Venice has the perfect post-beach vibe. Sommelier Nathaniel Muñoz turned me on to an amazing red from the Dolomites, I Dolomitici PerCiso 2012. It’s grippy and light, and best served a little chilled. I’d never had anything like it.” rosecafevenice.com.
Tsubaki
“The sommelier at this new izakaya, Courtney Kaplan, is a champion of natural wines and brings a new perspective to her list. The 2015 Claire Naudin Le Clou 34 is an old-vine Aligoté that’s refined and not crazy high-acid.” tsubakila.com.
Esters Wine Shop & Bar
“At my own shop, I’m obsessed with the Château de Minière Bulles de Minière Rouge, a sparkling red Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley. It’s juicy and glug-able— your pizza, hamburger, everysingle-thing wine.” esterswine shop.com. — CAREY JONES
PAU L C OST E L LO. I L LU ST RAT I ON BY M IK E L E M A N S K I
T+L CITY GUIDE
some of the most consistently surprising wines in L.A. There’s a fantastic Spanish selection, including the 2015 Dolores Cabrera Fernández La Araucaria— a beautiful organic wine from the Canary Islands. It’s an herbaceous and serious red that’s not too heavy.” bestiala.com.
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NIGHTLIFE
COPENHAGEN CREATIVE BREWS IN...
Mikkeller Bar
Many regard cofounder Mikkel Borg Bjergsø as a mad scientist, and his bold approach (before crazy infusions were everywhere, he was making seaweed pilsner and porter with chilis) single-handedly put Scandinavia on the 21st-century beer map. Bjergsø’s brews are beloved by beer geeks, and Mikkeller now has 32 pubs and taprooms, but this was the first. Now seven years old, it’s still the crown jewel, with 20 taps and a lengthy list of bottles. mikkeller.dk.
WarPigs
An ode to Americana through rock and roll, craft suds, and Texas barbecue, WarPigs is the product of the dream team of Mikkeller and 3 Floyds Brewing Co.—the Indiana group behind some of the globe’s most coveted bottles. At this beer hall in a converted slaughterhouse, brewer Lan Xin Foo leads the charge on creative infusions such as watermelon and yuzu. warpigs.dk.
Barr
In July, chefs René Redzepi and Thorsten Schmidt converted the building that once housed Noma into Barr. The breezy, unbuttoned, brew-centric boîte honors food and drink customs from along the European beer belt, which stretches southeast from Ireland to Slovakia. You’ll find an almanac of options rife with Belgian-style saisons and German rauchbier, a smoky variety made with fire-dried malt. Try one of the limited-edition collaborations, like a recent experiment with Belgium’s Bokkereyder involving lambics aged in aquavit barrels. restaurantbarr.com.
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Brus At this chic, minimalist brewery, bar, and restaurant set in a former locomotive factory, the focus is on fermentation, both on the plate and in the pint. Founded by To Øl, a respected operation led by two former students of Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, Brus is a place for brews that provide edgy spins on pilsners and pale ales, some of which spend time in Cognac or Chardonnay barrels. Bonus: the food (like oyster-fermented kimchi) is by chef Christian Gadient of the Michelin-starred Marchal. tapperietbrus.dk.
T+L CITY GUIDE For more info on shops, restaurants, and things to do in Copenhagen, go to tandl.me/ copenhagenguide.
Nørrebro Bryghus Launched in 2003 by a former Carlsberg brewmaster, Nørrebro Bryghus was one of Copenhagen’s founding microbreweries, and today it remains as relevant as ever. All the brand’s boundary-pushing beers are organic, and under its newest label, Braw, brewers play specifically with heavily hopped numbers, in addition to strong stouts and tweaked Belgian styles. Both lines are served at the brewery’s restaurant, as well as in the 24-tap bar. norrebro bryghus.dk.
Coffee Collective This Nordic-style coffee company has been dabbling in beer for the past few years—it’s teamed up with Mikkeller, Evil Twin, and To Øl—but the September opening of its downtown location marks a new era. Set in a building that was Denmark’s first venue to serve draft beers, the day-to-night space has six rotating taps, three of which are dedicated to coffee-infused beer and local brews. coffeecollective.dk. — KAT ODELL
travelandleisure.com
From top: Butter-fried frikadeller at Barr; self-serve taps at WarPigs; the Good Vibrations cocktail at Coffee Collective; Coffee Collective's new downtown outpost.
F ROM TOP : J ES PE R R A IS / C O U RT ESY O F VI S IT C OP E N H AG E N ; RASMU S M AL M STR ØM & CA M ILL A STE PHA N/CO U RTESY O F WA R PIG S ; CHR IS TO NNES E N/CO U RTESY O F CO FFE E CO LLECTIVE ( 2)
The Danish capital gets plenty of attention for its pioneering restaurants, but it’s also an epicenter of innovative breweries, beer bars, and gastropubs. Here’s where to grab a cold one.
LIGHT UP YOUR NEXT ADVENTURE
When the temperature drops, Montrealers don’t hide inside. Cooler weather brings out a hot roster of eclectic activities. From restaurants to events to cultural happenings, there’s always something new to discover. Every vibrant corner of the city is alight with heartwarming hospitality, contagious joie de vivre and world-class cuisine. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself extending your stay!
MTL.ORG
NIGHTLIFE
T+L CITY GUIDE For more info on shops, restaurants, and things to do in Cape Town, go to tandl.me/ capetownguide.
Geometric Gin This liquor has a deep, complex flavor thanks to a grape-spirit base and buchu, an aromatic mountain shrub. geometric drinks.co.za.
Musgrave
TRY IT at the Gin Bar, a speakeasy hidden behind a chocolate shop. Order the Spice GG&T, with Geometric Gin, Symmetry Spicetonic, grapefruit zest, and foraged citrus buchu. theginbar.co.za.
TRY IT in the Rose Ginvino, served at the Silo Hotel’s Willaston Bar. The cocktail uses Chenin Blanc, lime, grapefruit, and rose syrup to highlight the gin’s floral notes. theroyalportfolio.com.
From top: The Silo Hotel; the hotel’s Willaston Bar; the Rose Ginvino, made with Musgrave Pink Gin.
CAPE TOWN ARTISANAL GINS IN...
Pienaar & Son Master Distiller Andre Pienaar, one of the youngest and brightest minds in Cape Town’s drink scene, makes his zesty, English-style Empire Gin with corn, cucumber, and native botanicals. pienaar andson.co.za. TRY IT in the ginbased Old-Fashioned at Hank’s Olde Irish on Bree Street, which plays up the spicy notes of Pienaar & Son. hanks.co.za.
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Local gin distillers have taken advantage of fynbos—a group of plants found only in the Western Cape—and other native flowers and spices to make complex, aromatic liquors. Fueled by the demand for these distinctive spirits, bartenders are crafting fragrant cocktails to showcase their elixirs of choice. These are the bottles to look for on your next trip, plus the drinks that highlight them best.
Hope on Hopkins Having seen interest in gin rocket while living abroad, Lucy Beard and Leigh Lisk moved back to Cape Town to launch this distillery. Their floral Salt River Gin is infused with handpicked kapokbos (wild rosemary) and buchu. hopeonhopkins.co.za. TRY IT at Publik in a Local Negroni, a light, herbaceous cocktail that makes an ideal aperitif. publik.co.za. — MARY HOLL AND
C LOC K W IS E F R OM TOP : MA R K WI L LI A MS ; C OU RTESY OF T H E R OYA L P ORT FOL IO ; GEO R G IA E AST. ILLU STR ATIO NS BY M IK E LE M A NS K I
The brand’s signature Musgrave Pink Gin uses a blend of 11 African botanicals (including citrus, coriander, and rose) to create a flower-forward spirit that’s softer and rounder than most. musgravegin.co.za.
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NIGHTLIFE
SINGAPORE HIGH-CONCEPT COCKTAILS IN...
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convivial whiskey bar has a superlative selection of scotch, rye, bourbon, and more. Sip a classic cocktail while admiring the concert posters on the brick walls. Pop into sister spot the Gibson, upstairs, for some Prohibition-era ambience. theflagship.sg.
The bartending borders on the surreal at this joint, where co-owner Luke Whearty serves boundarypushing cocktails like the Egg, a spiced interpretation of eggnog served atop a nest of smoking hay within a glass vessel. The décor leans minimalist, save for a cloud of light bulbs floating above the bar. operationdagger.com.
2/Crackerjack This 6
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SINGAPORE'S
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laid-back all-day café (from the team behind 28 HongKong Street) morphs into a cocktail bar after dark. Sculptural honeycomb shelves hold spirits used for libations like the Ticonderoga— maple, rye, coffee, and black walnut—and the Wall of Sound, made with whiskey, peach, burnt honey, and thyme. crackerjack.sg.
3/Nutmeg & Clove From top: Owner Vijay Mudaliar mixes drinks at Native; the shop-houses of Trengganu Street.
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Bartenders here use locally grown and foraged ingredients like betel leaves to create cutting-edge drinks. Native is known for a tangy yogurt-and-rum mix garnished with ants, but less adventurous types can ease in with a Mango Lassi, a tricolored showpiece of beets, mango, yogurt whey, and Indian rum. tribenative.com.
7/Sugarhall
Singapore's biodiversity inspires this bar, with a menu that's divvied up into sections, each themed around the flavor profile of a native plant. Order the King & Queen, which features durian and mangosteen blended with dark rum, coffee, pandan, and milk. nutmegandclove.com.sg.
Despite the subtle tiki vibe, there’s no sign of kitsch at this rum bar. Guests sit at sleek leather banquettes under a gallery of black-and-white photos, and the signature daiquiri— made with an aged dark rum—comes with a garnish of caviar on a banana chip. sugarhall.sg.
4/The Apothecary
8/Employees Only
You’ll find this 12-seat spot, designed to look like a medieval pharmacy, on the third floor of the gastropub Oxwell & Co. The bottles lining the shelves contain concoctions that go into medicine-inspired drinks like the Fenicillin, with whiskey and a honey-fennel syrup. oxwellandco.com.
This location of the popular New York bar has all the familiar hallmarks of the original—like a pink neon sign that reads PSYCHIC and a raucous atmosphere. You’ll also find some beloved menu items, like the truffled grilled cheese and the signature Manhattan. employeesonlysg. com. — MEREDITH BETHUNE
F ROM TOP : L AU RY N I S HA K ; P E T E R A DA MS / G E T TY IM AG ES. MA P BY MI KE L E MA N S K I
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If you’re looking for a nightcap in Singapore, Chinatown is the place to go. The 2011 arrival of 28 HongKong Street—whose meticulously prepared drinks have won global recognition— encouraged mixologists to try niche spirits and ingredients, kicking off a drinking renaissance in the city. Since then, Chinatown’s shop-houses have welcomed a steady stream of ambitious bars. Ahead, the neighborhood spots to visit.
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NIGHTLIFE
BOGOTÁ LOCALLY INSPIRED DRINKS IN...
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In Colombia’s humming, high-energy capital, a fleet of new restaurant-bar hybrids are applying the same locavore approach that drives their cooking to creating bold cocktails. Raise your glass to these four standouts.
n evening in Bogotá should begin at Salvo Patria (salvo patria.com), a revamped town house in the Chapinero Alto neighborhood with spartan, candlelit interiors reminiscent of a chapel. Regulars swear by the bracing tequila highball with flavors of green mango and chili, but if you’re a beer drinker, order the house American pale ale, which is infused with roasted peppers from a nearby farm. A couple of miles north, brass light fixtures and 20-foot ceilings lend vintage-y glamour to Segundo (restaurante segundo.com), a fashionable new hangout near the upscale El Retiro center. Try El Draque, an updated mojito made
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with rhum agricole and the bark of the Amazonian chuchuhuasi tree, which adds a bitter note to temper the drink’s sweetness. For a more adventurous sampling of indigenous Colombian ingredients, check out El Ciervo y El Oso (fb.com/ elciervoyeloso) in Quinta Camacho. Chef Marcela Arango has transformed a family home from the 1940s into a liquor laboratory, where she whips up intriguing potions like the Cola Blanca—a complex medley of mezcal, copoazú fruit, and avocado—and the Red Deer, which marries anisey aguardiente liqueur, watermelon, and coffee salt. Back in Chapinero Alto, a hedonistic party called Salsa, Vinilo, y Cochinillo—that’s salsa, vinyl, and suckling pig—happens every Thursday at Mesa Franca (fb.com/ mesafrancabogota). A DJ cues up the dance tunes while chef Iván Candena serves slow-roasted pork with a purée of sweet plantain and orange, topped with piquant pickles and crumbles of costeño cheese. Though the cocktails change each night, one in heavy rotation is the Smoke and Fire, a savory, flavorpacked concoction of mezcal and smoked-bell-pepper syrup. A hidden bonus: the “spicy ice,” which gives the cocktail an additional kick as the cube melts. — ALEX SCHECHTER
C LOC K W IS E F R OM TOP : A L EJAN D RO OSS ES / C O U RT ESY OF MESA FR A N CA ; C O URTESY O F E L CIE RVO Y E L O S O ; CO U RTESY O F SA LVO PATR IA
Clockwise from right: House-made blackberry and verbena soda at Mesa Franca, in Chapinero Alto; fried tofu, pumpkin, avocado, and native beans simmered in guarapo at El Ciervo y El Oso; the kitchen at Salvo Patria.
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C LOC K W IS E F R OM TOP R IG H T : G RA N T H A RD E R; C OURT ESY O F T IF FA N Y & C O. ; BL AS IU S E R LING E R ; CO U RTESY O F E D D IE BAU E R ; CO U RTESY O F TO RY B U R CH; M ATTHIEU SA LVA ING (CE N T ER)
Thirty-six editor-approved essentials to surprise every kind of traveler in your life this holiday season. Shop more at tandl.me/gift-guides.
Nothing Short of Unforgettable. Beauty plays a role in everything at Bellagio, from the smallest details of the room linens to the seasonal displays in the Conservatory. What Bellagio does better than any other resort, is take guests on a remarkable journey of elegance that is nothing short of unforgettable. Enjoy a world of artful, immersive experiences.
Book at 866.986.7111 or bellagio.com
SALVATORE FERRAGAMO SLIDE SANDAL $695, Salvatore Ferragamo, 866-337-7242.
$245, frescobolcarioca.com.
DANIEL WELLINGTON CLASSIC WARWICK 40 MM WATCH $195, danielwellington.com.
ORLEBAR BROWN BULLDOG MID-LENGTH SWIM SHORTS $245, orlebarbrown.com.
FOR THE
L.L. BEAN BOAT & TOTE $34.95, llbean.com.
KAT BURKI RETIN-C TREATMENT COMPLEX $165, katburki.com.
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SUN WORSHIPPER This gear is key for any beach getaway, whether it’s a nightlife-filled jaunt to Mykonos or a relaxing escape to Maui. Shop these and more at tandl.me/beach-gifts.
LA ROCHE-POSAY ANTHELIOS CLEAR SKIN DRY TOUCH SUNSCREEN $19.99, laroche-posay.us.
ESTÉE LAUDER WHIMSICAL FISH SOLID PERFUME COMPACT
SENSI STUDIO SHORT BRIM BOATER HAT
$250, esteelauder.com.
$180, Greg Mills, 212-391-0050.
C LOC K W IS E F R OM TOP R IG H T : C OU RTESY O F F RES C OB OL CA RI OCA ; C O U RT ESY O F O R LE BA R B R OW N; CO U RTESY O F L A R O CHE - PO SAY ; CO U RTESY O F S E N S I STU D IO ; CO U RTESY O F ESTÉE L AU DER; C O URTESY O F K AT BU RK I ; C O U RT ESY OF L . L . BE A N ; C OU RT ESY OF DA N I E L W EL LINGTO N; CO U RTESY O F SA LVATO R E FE R R AGA M O ; E M ILIA NO G R A NA D O (CE NTE R )
FRE FRESCOBOL CARIOCA CA TRANCOSO T BEACH BAT SET
Please enjoy our wines responsibly. © 2017 Meiomi Wines, Acampo, CA
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BOTTEGA VENETA V A INTRECCIA ATO LEATHER TOILETRY Y CASE $730, matchesfashion.com. f o co .
BR BROCK ROCK COLLECTION MINK CO COLLEC S SCARF $2,200,, A’maree’s, $ 642-4423. 949-64
TIFFANY & CO. EAU DE PARFUM 1.7 OZ.
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TOD’S MEN’S GOMMINO MOCCASIN IN SUEDE
$425, louisvuitton.com.
$595, tods.com.
FOR THE
URBAN JET-SETTER Equal parts stylish and sensible, these items will be must-packs when the next buzzworthy city calls. Shop these and more at tandl.me/city-gifts.
BURBERRY LAMINATED TRENCH COAT $2,395, burberry.com.
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CARTIER TANK FRANÇAISE WATCH $8,100, cartier.com.
GIORGIO ARMANI HOLIDAY 2017 PALETTE $100, giorgioarmani beauty-usa.com.
LEICA M10 $6,895, bhphotovideo.com.
C LOC K W IS E F R OM TOP R IG H T : C OU RTESY O F T HE BR OC K C O L LECT IO N ; C OU RT ESY O F LO U IS V U ITTO N; CO U RTESY O F A R M A NI; CO U RTESY O F LE ICA ; C O U RTESY O F CA RTIE R ; C O URTESY O F B U RBE RRY; C O U RT ESY O F TOD ' S; C OU RT ESY OF T I FFA N Y & C O.; C O U RTESY O F B OTTEGA V E NE TA ; S IVA N AS K AYO (CE NTE R )
$100, bloomingdales.com.
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AN APPETITE FOR INSPIRATION No matter which Windstar (official cruise line of the James Beard Foundation) destination beckons you, the flavor of that culture is deliciously captured when you dine onboard. Fresh, local ingredients you select with the chef at local markets are paired alongside seasonal produce and culinary ingenuity to create a perfect dish. WindstarCruises.com
On Wednesday, July 26th Travel + Leisure held the 22nd annual World’s Best Awards event in New York City, sponsored by Capital One and Patrón. Hosted by Nathan Lump, Editor in Chief and Jay Meyer, Senior Vice President of Travel, Time Inc., the event celebrated the best hotels, cities, islands, spas, resorts, cruise lines, airlines, and tour operators in the world—as chosen by the readers of Travel + Leisure. 300 international guests experienced luxury travel through virtual reality and digital activations at Samsung 837 while listening to the global sounds of celebrity DJ Alex Merrell.
HOLIDAY TRAVEL GUIDE Looking to get away this holiday season? Visit TravelandLeisure.com’s Holiday Travel Guide, a resource for expertcurated tips, advice, and inspiration for making the most of a getaway, including the must-see sights, insider finds, and smart travel tips. travelandleisure.com/holiday-travel
T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E .CO M / P R O M O/C H E C K- I N /
JETBOIL MIGHTYMO COOKING SYSTEM $49.95, jetboil. johnsonoutdoors.com.
COLUMBIA OUTDOOR ADVENTURE 38L BACKPACK
REI CO CO-OP MEN’S TALUSPHERE RAIN JACKET $149, rei.com.
STUTTERHEIM BUCKET HAT $95, stutterheim.com.
GSI OUTDOORS BUGABOO CAMP CUP SUGAR SPORT TREATMENT SUNSCREEN SPF 30 $25, fresh.com.
$8.95, gsioutdoors.com.
FOR THE
ADVENTURE SEEKER Outfit your favorite explorers with the best of the basics, or treat them to a little indulgence for their next trek into the wild. Shop these and more at tandl.me/adventure-gifts. VINTNER'S DAUGHTER ACTIVE BOTANICAL SERUM $185, vintners daughter.com.
EDDIE BAUER WOMEN’S K-6 HIKING BOOT $200, eddiebauer.com.
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YETI HOPPER FLIP 18 $300, yeti.com.
C LOC K W IS E F R OM TOP R IG H T : C OU RTESY O F RE I; C O URTESY OF G S I OU TD O OR S; CO U RTESY O F V INTNE R ' S DAU G HTE R ; CO U RTESY O F Y E TI; CO U RTESY O F E D D IE BAU E R; C OU RTESY OF F R ESH ; C O URTESY O F ST U TT E R HE IM ; C OU RTESY O F COLUM B IA ; CO U RTESY O F J E TB O IL; G R A NT HA R D E R (CE NTE R )
$145, columbia.com.
TORY BURCH EMBRACE AMBITION BRACELET
OUTDOOR VOICES ATHENA CROP TOP $50, outdoorvoices.com.
SUNDAY RILEY U.F.O. ULTRACLARIFYING FACE OIL
TODD SNYDER + CHAMPION MEN’S SLIM JOGGER SWEATPANTS
$80, sephora.com.
$118, toddsnyder.com.
BROOKS RUNNING WOMEN’S GLYCERIN 15 $150, brooksrunning.com.
GOOP MEDICINE BAG $85, goop.com.
FOR THE
HEALTHY TRAVELER From a packable crystal set to the latest in athleisure wear, these products will help simplify self-care on the go. Shop these and more at tandl.me/wellness-gifts.
PATAGONIA FAIR TRADE MEN'S RETRO PILE FLEECE JACKET
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$139, patagonia.com.
$200, apple.com.
$30, drinksoma.com.
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C LOC K W IS E F R OM TOP R IG H T : C OU RTESY O F TOD D S N Y D E R ; C OU RT ESY OF G OOP ; CO U RTESY O F S O M A ; CO U RTESY O F B E ATS ; CO U RTESY O F PATAG O NIA ; C O URTESY O F B RO OKS ; C O URT ESY O F S UN DAY R IL E Y; C OU RT ESY OF TO RY B UR CH ; CO U RTESY O F O U TD O O R VO ICES ; B L AS IU S E R LING E R (CE NTE R )
$30, toryburch.com.
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travel smarter
UPGRADE
ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? Whether experiential travel is a term youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard before or not, the phenomenon is redefining where we go and how. As more and more travelers crave immersive itineraries, hospitality and tourism companies are working overtime to design specialized activities that meet this demand. Of course, travel has always been about getting to know other cultures and learning different ways of life, but our connected world has created more options than ever for doing so. Read on for tips on hiring the right guide, meeting locals, and crafting once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
Illustrations by Cynthia Kittler
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UPGRADE
7 DISTINCTIVE PRIVATE TOURS Why settle for a one-size-fits-all model when you can have an enriching and interactive experience customized to your desires in practically any destination around the world? By Shivani Vora
VISIT ARTISTS’ STUDIOS IN NEW YORK CITY Duration: 3 hours Discover creative spaces in neighborhoods like Long Island City, Queens, and Bushwick, Brooklyn. Led by an art historian for consulting firm Artmuse, the tour takes you into the homes and studios of several artists to converse with them in an informal setting and see their pieces in progress. Itineraries can be tailored to your personal interests, such as sculpture or graffiti. artmuseny.com; from $800 for four people.
Catholics tortured and killed hundreds of Jews. madeforspainandportugal. com; from $434 for two people.
SAIL DOWN IRELAND’S RIVER SHANNON BY YACHT Duration: 1 day Step aboard a private yacht operated by Adams & Butler and travel down the river Shannon for an immersion in Irish culture, history, art, and architecture. Much of the trip involves meeting locals in their homes, including a medieval castle on a private island where you’ll be entertained with the music, food, and drink of the Middle Ages, and an 18th-century Georgian manor where you’ll sample artisanal cheese and chutney. You’ll also get a chance to visit a shebeen (an unlicensed pub from a bygone era) that is lit only by candles. adamsandbutler.com; from $1,183 per person for a group of six.
vines. The package includes lodging, tastings, and leisurely meals with the winemakers in their homes. wine paths.com; from $3,500 per person.
GET AN INSIDER’S TOUR OF JAMAICA Duration: 4 days The three-night Jamaica on a Platter package from luxury resort Strawberry Hill showcases the island’s food and culture. Visit Kingston’s Coffee Traders, one of the top exporters of Blue Mountain coffee; hike up 4,300 feet to Clifton Mount Coffee Estate to see panoramic views; and experience the bustling Coronation Market in Kingston, where vendors sell fresh produce and just about anything else you can imagine. strawberryhillhotel.com; from $1,450 per person, including lodging and some meals.
SEE WHERE ITALIAN LUXURY GOODS ARE MADE
EAT LIKE A LOCAL IN DELHI Duration: 4 hours Delhi Food Walks has more than a dozen culinary tours that offer a glimpse into how locals dine. In Old Delhi, you’ll wander through narrow lanes and dodge rickshaws while sampling dishes such as butter chicken, biryani, and kheer, a creamy rice pudding. Each walk includes up to 10 stops. delhifood walks.com; from $38 per person.
LEARN JEWISH HISTORY IN LISBON Duration: Half-day This tour from the company Made for Spain & Portugal unearths the secret history of Portugal’s capital city. It includes a visit to the Lisbon Synagogue and the São Domingos Church, the site of the 1506 Lisbon Massacre, in which
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Duration: 1 day Altagamma Italian Experiences by IC Bellagio offers an insider’s look into old-school craftsmanship at more than two dozen Italian brands, including Alessi, Gucci, and Ermenegildo Zegna. Jewelry lovers can visit Vhernier’s workshop in the Piedmont village of Valenza, where they’ll meet the artisans who handcraft gold pieces and baubles made of rare stones. At the brand’s flagship store in Milan, they can pull up a chair in a private atelier and be treated to a jewelry show. altagammaitalianexperiences.com; from $1,400 for up to four people.
LEARN TO MAKE WINE IN CHILE Duration: 3 days Immerse yourself in Chile’s oenophile culture on a trip with Wine Paths. In Colchagua and Casablanca, you’ll stay with winemakers and get a chance to stroll through their small-scale-production vineyards. Depending on the time of year, you might also help pick grapes or prune
Book a Trip For your next private tour, tap an agent from T+L’s A-List—our network of the world’s best travel advisors. Betty Jo Currie specializes in adventure travel, whether that means flying in an open-door helicopter over Norway’s Lofoten Islands or dining in the bush on a Botswana safari. curriecotravels.com; for more A-List agents, visit tandl.me/a-list.
UPGRADE
EXPEDITION UNKNOWN Mystery trips are becoming increasingly popular for savvy travelers who love surprises or don’t have enough time to plan. By Melanie Lieberman
F
or me, the best part of mystery travel is getting out of your own way,” says Marie Chalkley, who works in international policy for the federal government in Washington, D.C. A wellseasoned traveler, Chalkley recently handed off her vacation planning to Magical Mystery Tours, one of several companies that create full itineraries but don’t tell clients where they’re going until the last minute. Chalkley’s first trip? A 10-day solo journey to Spain. “I had a lovely experience in Madrid, where I left the Prado in search of lunch and ended up befriending a bartender at a nearby tapas bar,” she explains. “My Spanish is terrible, but we bonded over our shared love of Spanish wines.” Magical Mystery Tours has since become her go-to travel agency, helping her cure a tendency to “plan the fun right out of vacations.” The company was founded in 2009 by Denise Chaykun Weaver, who after planning a successful surprise trip for a friend realized she could do the same kind of thing for a living. “Our travelers often describe the phenomenon of opening their mystery-destination envelope as the ‘kid-on-Christmasmorning’ feeling,” she says. New clients fill out an online questionnaire that asks about budget, trip duration, favorite climate, and how spontaneous they are. Weaver and her team of
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travel consultants then conduct a phone interview before selecting a destination and booking airfare and lodging. Activities can be arranged for an additional fee. Of course, travelers don’t arrive at their terminal unprepared. A week before departure, Magical Mystery Tours e-mails a weather report and a suggested packing list. A few days later the company sends an envelope— not meant to be opened until the traveler arrives at the airport—containing an itinerary and a destination guide. Magical Mystery Tours has now planned surprise vacations for thousands of travelers, with weekend getaways for two starting at $1,200. Another satisfied client is Steven Hannah, an IT-solutions architect and avid scuba diver from Illinois who told the company he wanted to go somewhere warm with great water. Three months later he and his wife found themselves in Belize, exploring the worldfamous Blue Hole, touring Mayan ruins, and unwinding at Chan Chich, a remote jungle lodge. As the trend has caught on, a number of established companies have begun offering mystery trips. Luxury outfitter Brown & Hudson, for example, creates private weeklong journeys starting at $26,000. Clients are asked a series of questions, such as who they’d most like to invite to a dinner
5 Mystery-Trip Operators Pack Up & Go packupgo.com; three-day getaways from $400 per person. The Vacation Hunt thevacation hunt.com; twoor three-night getaways from $750 per person. Magical Mystery Tours magicalmystery-tours. com; weekend getaways for two from $1,200. Brown & Hudson brownand hudson.com; weeklong journeys from $26,000. The Key the-key.ch; ultra-luxe private surprise vacations starting at $250,000.
party—fictional, alive, or dead. Their responses determine where they go and who they’ll meet during their trip. And because most clients travel by private jet, they don’t find out where they’re going until they arrive. A newer, more affordable option is Pack Up & Go, founded early last year by Lillian Rafson, who learned about mystery trips from a fellow traveler in Eastern Europe. Pack Up & Go offers three-day itineraries, which can be arranged as little as four weeks ahead and start at $400 per person for road trips. The company quizzes clients on past and upcoming vacations, preferred travel style, and leisure interests. “There’s also a space in the survey for anything else we need to know, such as any destinations they definitely do not want to visit,” explains Eric Johnson, the company’s director of business development. Pack Up & Go also sends an envelope revealing the traveler’s destination, along with an itinerary containing curated recommendations for places to eat and drink and things to do and see. Johnson says the company gets a lot of requests for specialoccasion trips, too—birthdays, anniversaries, honeymoons, even proposals. “We’re sending a couple to Pittsburgh. The guy is proposing to his girlfriend tonight. We helped coordinate that for him.” Now the only remaining mystery is whether she’ll say yes.
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UPGRADE
STUDY ABROAD ON YOUR NEXT TRIP These five companies organize or personalize vacations for ever-curious travelers of all kinds. By Cailey Rizzo
FOR THE EPICURE Make pasta with a grandmother in a Tuscan villa or sample seafood alongside fishmongers on the Costa Brava with the International Kitchen, which has been crafting authentic culinary experiences for travelers since 1994. Tour groups are kept small, so that everyone can fit into the kitchen.
theinternationalkitchen.com; from $850 per person.
FOR THE SCIENCE LOVER Become a part of important research on an Earthwatch Institute expedition. Participants act as quasi– research assistants in studies about climate, the ocean, archaeology, and
more, in destinations ranging from Alaska to the Amazon. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join, regardless of educational background. earthwatch.org; from $1,850 per person.
FOR THE FASHIONISTA Learn to weave, dye, bead, embroider, and make jewelry
FOR THE NETWORKER
5 Must-Do Airbnb Experiences
The home-sharing platform currently has more than 3,000 activities to choose from in some 40 cities. Here are a few of our favorites, which can be booked at airbnb.com/experiences. By Sarah Theeboom
WHAT
Learn the Art of Small-Batch Gin Making
WHERE
HOW
Barcelona
Try your hand at the craft in this interactive class at Corpen Distillers. You’ll taste several varieties before using the copper stills to create your own botanical spirit to take home. Line your stomach beforehand—you’ll be sipping “gin tonics,” as the Spanish call them, throughout your session.
Detroit
Explore Motor City through the lens of the dance music that emerged there in the 1980s. You’ll visit notable sites in the genre’s history (including the abandoned Packard plant where early raves were held) and meet DJs and producers active today. Naturally, the experience ends with a night at a club.
Rio de Janeiro
No one plays the “beautiful game” with more flair than the Brazilians, for whom soccer is a national obsession. Meet some Cariocas (as Rio’s natives are called) while busting out your best ginga moves at a friendly match. Afterward, you’ll head to a bar for beers and futebol-related banter.
Tokyo
Join an insider in the Shibuya neighborhood, the epicenter of Japanese street style. A fashion consultant will take you to major retail outlets as well as the underground shops you won’t find in a guidebook, all while decoding the various trends you’re seeing around you.
Cape Town
Mandela’s longtime prison guard Jack Swart guides you through two facilities where the future president and Nobel Peace Prize winner was incarcerated. Photographs, handwritten notes, and anecdotes reveal Mandela’s personality and the unusual bond the two men forged.
Tour the Birthplace of Techno
Play Soccer with the World’s Most Passionate Players
Get Schooled in Harajuku Style
Meet Nelson Mandela’s Prison Guard
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with craftswomen in Bali, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam on a tour from 2World Textile. Trips are led by Narelle Grudgfield, who has been traveling in Southeast Asia since 1999 working on humanitarian projects and with women’s groups. 2worldtours. com.au; from $1,200 per person.
Ryan Matthews and Megan Hardesty of Cohica Travel craft itineraries in 25 countries built mostly around people they’ve met during their own travels. Activities range from volunteering at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand to touring a Parmigiano-Reggiano dairy in Italy. cohicatravel.com; from $1,500 per person.
FOR THE GRANDKIDS Road Scholar, an operator geared toward travelers over 50, tailors 200 of its 5,500 trips to participants who want to bring their families. One client, Donna Brock, raved about the experience of taking her teenage granddaughter on a CSI-themed journey to southern California, where they visited a crime lab and learned how to lift fingerprints. roadscholar. org; from $599 per person.
Book a Trip For your next learning adventure, tap an agent from T+L’s A-List—our network of the world’s top travel advisors. Brooke Garnett’s itineraries include immersive learning experiences such as trekking through the Amazon rain forest with a Peruvian farmer who points out plants’ medicinal properties. mayamayatravel. com; for more A-List agents, visit tandl.me/a-list.
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UPGRADE 5 Tech Tools for Activities and Tours Use these apps and websites to get insider tips from locals and to locate the best tour guides.
1 HOW TO FIND A GREAT PRIVATE TOUR GUIDE
2
TOURSBYLOCALS
3
PLACEPASS Use this site
4
MEETRIP With a network
A highly skilled guide can be the difference between a vacation to remember and one to forget. The very best are gifted at educating and engaging you at the same time—and can open doors you didn’t know existed. By Shivani Vora
CHECK WITH A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION. Most major cities have guide associations whose members must undergo rigorous training on topics like municipal history and local attractions, then pass a series of tests before earning their certification. The World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations maintains a list (wftga.org/ guideapedia) of member organizations. Reach out to one of these and ask for the names of their best guides. ASK A CONCIERGE. According to Kenneth Abisror, the head concierge at Mandarin Oriental New York, the concierge at any luxury hotel will be well connected in the guide industry and can offer high-caliber names, some of whom speak multiple languages and
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have different areas of expertise. Most people don’t realize that you don’t have to be a guest to tap them for help. “Any experienced concierge at an upscale hotel will treat you as a potential future guest and likely help you,” Abisror says.
CONSULT SOMEONE YOU’VE HIRED BEFORE. Joshua Bush, the CEO of the Avenue Two Travel agency, says that the international guide community is closeknit and members regularly refer clients to one another. If you’re going to Budapest, for instance, the guide you used in Prague likely has an excellent colleague to connect you to. CALL A TRANSLATION SCHOOL. Many instructors and interpreters double as tour guides or work with
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guides who need translation services for their clients. Berlitz (berlitz.com) has offices in more than 500 locations in more than 70 countries.
INTERVIEW THEM AHEAD OF TIME. Price doesn’t always indicate quality—some of the best providers are expensive, but plenty of operators overcharge for run-of-themill service. Request the itinerary and then ask what makes the tour unique. If the guide doesn’t offer creative options now, he or she won’t during your tour. ENLIST THE HELP OF AN AGENT. Any great travel advisor will have long-standing relationships with reputable guides they can vouch for. See our selection of the world’s best specialists at tandl.me/a-list.
COOLCOUSIN
This global community curates recommendations from savvy residents in 45 cities, such as a craft bartender in Dallas and a flight attendant in Lisbon, who apply to be “cousins” by signing up on its app or website. iOS; coolcousin.com; free.
5
With more than 2,000 handpicked guides in 159 countries, this company vets candidates (licensed guides as well as passionate locals) who meet specific criteria and adhere to strict principles. All tours are private and customizable. toursbylocals.com.
to choose among 100,000 tours and experiences in 180 countries—whether you’re looking to go face-toface with a sumo wrestler, visit the Hobbiton set in New Zealand, or see Game of Thrones filming locations in Croatia or Northern Ireland. placepass.com.
of 55,000 professional guides, this start-up helps travelers find private and group tours in 169 countries. Either reserve a spot on a scheduled tour, hire a guide for your own group, or book one by the hour for a personalized experience. meetrip.com.
GETYOURGUIDE
This app lets you book a reservation for any of more than 30,000 activities in more than 7,000 destinations, such as snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef or a daylong camelback dune safari near Dubai. Android and iOS; getyourguide.com; free.
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December 2017
TELLURIDE BARBADOS JA K E STA N G E L
MILAN
TASMANIA
The Colorado ski town remains as colorful as ever.
The wild Atlantic and the mellow Caribbean in a single island.
As the rest of Italy zigs, the fashion and design capital zags.
Discovering the rugged beauty of Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remote Eden.
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An après-ski moment on the outdoor terrace of Alpino Vino, in Telluride.
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An aerial view of the Victorian homes and historic buildings in Telluride, in the heart of the Colorado Rockies.
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Though many of Coloradoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ski towns have become retreats for the superrich, renegades and outsiders seeking enlightenment. David Amsden discovers the
Telluride remains true to its frontier roots, which is why it continues to draw singular charms of this haven high up in the Rockies. PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAKE STANGEL
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a
s the plane began its descent into Telluride one afternoon, I pressed my face to the window, giddy with anticipation. For years, I had been only dimly aware of this southwestern Colorado town tucked into a remote canyon in the San Juan Mountains, a skier’s haven where Oprah Winfrey owns one of her many homes. And then, the way these things happen, Telluride began to exert a gravitational pull over various close friends, a normally jaded lot who started speaking about it with a vaguely cultish fervor, like techies talking about Burning Man. One particularly zealous proselytizer went so far as to compare his first encounter with its savage beauty to dropping acid. From the plane window, however, I saw nothing. No mountains, no snow, no hallucinatory alpine utopia. A dense cloud system had gathered in the region, shrouding everything in a fog so blinding that the runway—the highest commercial strip in North America, perilously bookended by 1,000-foot cliffs—was visible only a split-second before the tiny prop plane touched down. On the taxi ride from the airport, instead of marveling at the canyon of sawtooth peaks that frame the destination like a colossal amphitheater, I saw only more of the static white murk. My driver, a benevolent old beatnik in a frayed leather cowboy hat, explained how unusual this was, how winters here tended to vacillate, with metronomic reliability, between skies that dump more than 300 inches of glorious powder and skies that shine a crystalline blue. “But Telluride,” he then noted cryptically, “is about way more than just mountains.” You get a lot of this talk here, quasi-mystical murmurings that make sense only if you know
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the town’s improbable history. Founded in 1878 as a mining colony, Telluride had, by the turn of the century, minted more millionaires per capita than Manhattan. It had also earned a reputation as a bawdy, half-civilized outpost of saloons and bordellos and wistful prospectors. (This is, after all, where Butch Cassidy robbed his first bank.) By the late 1960s, with the mining industry verging on collapse, the town was claimed by hippies, who found in it an idyll where they could get weird, 8,750 feet above sea level. Radical hedonism alone, however, was not enough to revive the economy. In 1972, the first ski lifts opened, and Telluride was reborn as a winter never-never land with an untamed, frontiersman sensibility. Even though I couldn’t admire the landscape, a stroll through town was enough to stoke a pleasant delirium. The thin air was crisp and piney and laced with the unmistakable scent of burning marijuana. The ghosts of Telluride’s prospecting past lurked in studiously preserved gingerbread Victorians, tumbledown shacks, and stately Old West façades along the main thoroughfare, Colorado Avenue. And then there were the locals, an implausibly fit array of characters who seemed drawn from different
Clockwise from left: A day on the slopes in Tellurideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s backcountry; Dunton Town House, a ďŹ ve-room boutique hotel in the heart of town; breakfast pastries at the Butcher & the Baker; Dabbs Anderson works on one of her gunpowder drawings in a studio at Steeprock, just outside Telluride.
‘Telluride is a place people come to chase strange dreams, which also happens to have some of the best skiing on the planet.’
chapters in Telluride’s history, all of whom emitted the distinct glow of people in their prime. I passed a sinewy septuagenarian walking around shirtless, seemingly unaware that it was 20 degrees outside. I passed a young dude with a teardrop tattoo gleefully recounting a brush with an avalanche. I passed Hilary Swank. “It’s a deeply bonkers little corner of the world, isn’t it?” said Dabbs Anderson, an artist I met up with that first evening. We were at the Historic Bar at the New Sheridan Hotel, a dimly lit saloon with pressed-tin ceilings and a bustling billiard room, which has anchored the town since 1895. Anderson, a sunny blonde with pale blue eyes and a zanily outsize personality originally from Alabama, moved here a year ago from Los Angeles with her dog, a Great Dane named William Faulkner. We’d been put in touch through mutual friends and, over many martinis, discussed Telluride’s allure: the off-kilter mood, the unpretentious attitude, the emphasis on authenticity over ostentation that has built its reputation as the anti-Aspen. Where Aspen traded its countercultural past for Gucci and Prada, Telluride has no chain stores, no dress codes, no self-consciously swanky hotels. It does have an outdoor “free box” where locals recycle everything from clothing to cooking utensils. “There’s a crazy amount of money here, of course, but it doesn’t define the place,” Anderson went on. “If people go to Aspen to flaunt their wealth, they come here searching for some kind of off-the-grid enrichment, whether they’re a celebrity or they live in a trailer. It’s a place people come to chase strange dreams, which also happens to have some of the best skiing on the planet.” Anderson spoke from experience. She’d initially planned to stay only a month, having been offered an informal monthlong residency to work on her captivating, folkloric mix of drawings, paintings, and puppets at Steeprock, a mountaintop artists’ retreat in the tiny neighboring village of Sawpit. By the time her residency ended, however, Anderson saw
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no point in returning to Los Angeles and stayed on to help expand Steeprock’s program. “The bustle, that buzzy anxiety, that survival mentality—I was burned out,” she told me. In Telluride, she found “a community of like-minded freaks,” as she put it. On warm days, she can often be seen gliding about in purple roller skates after a morning spent making haunting drawings using live gunpowder. When I met her, she was preparing for her first local solo show at Gallery 81435, one of the numerous showrooms and contemporary spaces in the downtown arts district. “It’s kind of a crazy saga, but that’s the sort of thing that just happens here,” she said. “It has a way of sucking in a very specific type of person and scaring off the rest.” With that, she polished off her drink and fixed me with a curious stare. “Be careful,” she added, flashing a grin bright enough to power a nuclear reactor. “You may end up never leaving.”
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he next morning, I woke to the bluest of skies and a penetrating hangover. Anderson and I had ended the night at a place called There...Telluride, a welcome addition to the fertile dining scene. Located off West Pacific Avenue, it was about the size of a walk-in closet, had a punkish vibe, and featured a freestyle menu of delicious small plates: oysters and steamed buns, salmon-belly tostadas and elk lettuce wraps. Dessert was a watermelon-flavored pot gummy I’d picked up en route at one of the local dispensaries. Various friends of Anderson’s had joined us—a photographer, a hemp farmer, a peripatetic Pilates instructor who spends summers surfing in the south of France—and it had gotten very late very fast. Mezcal and blood-orange cocktails gave way to tequila shots served in tiny glass ski boots, and at some point in the night, I’d decided it was a good idea to attempt a handstand on the bar. That no one batted an eye explains a lot, I think, about the local nightlife. I was staying on South Oak Street, arguably the prettiest road in town, at Dunton Town House, a historic home located near the gondola that whisks people up to the ski lifts. A boutique hotel that feels like a B&B, it is the sister property to the much-beloved Dunton Hot Springs, a resort that occupies a former miners’ town about an hour southwest. With its five comfortable, modern guest rooms, the Dunton Town House perfectly embodies Telluride’s polished yet unfussy sensibility. After a spread of pastries and fruits served at a communal table, I decided to hit the slopes. Two steps outside the door, however, I became momentarily paralyzed. Telluride will do that to a person on a clear day. Even in a state with no shortage of breathtaking towns carved into mountains, the place is uniquely spectacular for being squeezed on all sides by the highest concentration of 13,000-foot peaks in the Rockies. After the previous day’s fog, it was like a new The dimension opening up. Everywhere I looked Details Where to people were standing stock-still, taking stay, eat, and in the dwarfing splendor as if staring at drink, page 144 the halo of a UFO.
I rode the gondola to the ski area, which is actually a separate town altogether: Mountain Village. Built 1,000 feet farther up from Telluride in 1987 to make the slopes more accessible for families, it is essentially a mini Vail of luxurious condominiums and ranchlike mansions, with its own police department, restaurants, and day-care center. Importantly, it relieved the historic downtown from development pressures. Telluride has since become a year-round destination, with a summer season highlighted by renowned blues, jazz, and film festivals. Without Mountain Village, there would have been no way to accommodate such growth. Clipping my boots into my skis at the top of the gondola, I began to get a little nervous. Absurd as it sounds, I was anxious that skiing the mountain would sully my burgeoning love of the place. For me, there has always been an irritating disconnect between the fantasy of skiing and the reality of the experience, and my memories of trips to some of the nation’s most storied resorts—Vail, Canyons, Squaw Valley—are dominated less by ecstatically tearing downhill than by shivering in interminable lift lines and slaloming through crowds instead of around moguls. For everything that makes Telluride’s 2,000-plus acres of skiable terrain a paradise— (Continued on page 136)
From top: Alpino Vino, a restaurant and bar on a mountain in Telluride; William Faulkner, local artist Dabbs Anderson’s dog.
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B b d iis a tale Barbados l off two coasts. Whil While the h west d draws sunseekers k to iitss f famous Caribbean shores, the east is a ffrontier ffor adventure lovers lured by its e fM i Meltzerr dives into both. h. epic Atlantic surf. Marisa PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARCUS NILSSON
SeaCat, a local surfer and employee at the Sea-U Guest House, in Bathsheba, serves fresh coconut juice. Opposite: Crane Beach, set on Barbadosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s southeastern coast.
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Clockwise from left: The space for afternoon tea at Hunteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gardens, a privately owned oasis thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s open to the public; Sea Side Bar, a local hangout in Bathsheba; artist Sheena Rose in her home studio; grilled snapper with rice and salad at De Garage, in Bathsheba.
THE FIRST AND LAST TIME I SAW RIHANNA—IN A SWIMSUIT, NO LESS—WAS AT THE airport. Her likeness was just behind the customs booth, hanging in a place typically reserved for government leaders. I had expected to see Barbados’s most famous daughter many, many times over the course of my weeklong stay. But I quickly discovered that the locals aren’t especially caught up in Rihanna’s allure. They’d rather focus on people and places that the rest of the world hasn’t already discovered. Barbados has always been a bit of an outlier in the Caribbean. Geographically, this former British colony is the region’s easternmost country, a pear-shaped island jutting far out into the southern Atlantic. (It is so far east, in fact, that it is usually spared by hurricanes.) And though the Caribbean-facing western coast has long been popular with well-heeled Brits who fly in for the polo, the five-star resorts, and the pristine beaches, the windswept, Atlantic-facing eastern coast is still wild and unpolished. It draws a bohemian, international crowd of hippies and outdoorsy types, who come not only for the laid-back pace but also for the spectacular surf—something that few Caribbean islands can claim. The breaks in Barbados may not be on the same level as the Gold Coast of Australia, but the country is slowly gaining international cred, as evidenced by last spring’s Barbados Surf Pro, the first-ever professional tournament held there. I came to this underrated surfing paradise to spend time with my dad, Paul, a wave enthusiast who had always tried to lure me, a reluctant sun worshipper, to the beach.
CULTURALLY, BARBADOS PRODUCES proud
outliers: people who want to build a life on the island, yet also want their work to be recognized beyond a country so small that when you ask people which neighborhood they’re from, they’ll give you the specific street. The painter Sheena Rose is one of these outliers. With her statement glasses and ever-changing hair, Rose looks like someone you’d see on the streets of Brooklyn. “I consider myself a Bajan Frida Kahlo,” she told me when we met shortly after I landed for a lunch overlooking the sea at the Crane Hotel. Barbados does not have an art school. Nor is there much of an art scene (most of the galleries cater to tourists who want paintings of sunsets) beyond Rose and her crew of creative friends. And yet Rose is a rising star in the contemporary art world, whose work has appeared at the Venice Biennale and London’s Royal Academy of Arts. Venus Williams collects her. Rose earned an MFA from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, which she attended on a Fulbright scholarship. “I feel like an outsider now, after Greensboro,” she said, as we drove to her tiny studio. “I don’t feel like a full Bajan anymore.” Rose still lives with her parents in a middle-class neighborhood of pastel homes faded by the salty air, not far from Bridgetown, the capital city. When we walked in the door, The Andy Griffith Show played on the large TV in the living room, and Rose crouched down to pet one of her three dogs. (Their names are Popcorn, Caramel, and Candy.) She then took me into her studio—once her brother’s bedroom—to see Sweet Gossip, her latest series of paintings. Local black women were drawn in outlines, their faces marked by dabs of color to show how the light hit their skin. And what colors they were: dusky roses, slate blues, dark caramels, olive greens. Some of the women were talking on the phone, others lounged in classic poses like odalisques. The backgrounds and clothing, with their bright geometric patterns, recalled West African batiks or Moroccan tiles.
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After oohing and ahhing over the paintings so much that Rose’s mom, Elaine, a caterer, started laughing at me, I told Rose on the spot I needed to buy one. Later, a question occurred to me. “Is it Barbadian or Bajan? Is one preferred by the locals?” “Not really,” Elaine replied. “Maybe people prefer Bajan, I guess,” Rose added. She used my curiosity as an excuse to introduce me to popular local phrases. “There’s ‘cheeseon,’ which is kind of like saying, ‘Jesus,’ and ‘cawblein,’ which is if you’re surprised or can’t believe it.” A TAXI DRIVER named Valance picked me up at
Rose’s home and drove me the hour or so to the town of Bathsheba, the epicenter of the surf scene on the eastern coast. As we passed mahogany trees, a lighthouse, and a rainbow, I got a call from my dad, who was meeting me there and had arrived the night before. “This place reminds me of Hawaii in the seventies,” he said. “And I know because I was in Hawaii in the seventies. I need you to get a bottle of Mount Gay XO rum. Are you writing this all down?” I answered in the affirmative. “I didn’t know I liked rum, but this stuff is amazing,” he said. Valance and I stopped at a supermarket to pick some up. Barbados is, after all, the birthplace of rum, so I knew it would be good, but I wasn’t prepared for the smoky elixir that is Mount Gay, the oldest brand. It’s perhaps even more delicious when mixed with passion-fruit juice, bitters, and nutmeg into a punch, which is the welcome drink the Sea-U Guest House, in Bathsheba, serves to arriving visitors. Perched on a hill overlooking the coast, it’s the kind of small bed-and-breakfast that attracts adventurous, laid-back guests who don’t mind the lack of room service and air-conditioning because they’re more interested in finding the best surf spot or chasing a recommendation of a great local yoga instructor. “I came here twenty years ago as a writer and
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THE TEMPERATURE OUTSIDE WAS A PERFECT 80 DEGREES, AND THE LOCAL BANKS BEERS WERE ICE-COLD.
thought, Well, I don’t have to travel anymore,” Uschi Wetzels, the German owner of Sea-U, told me. “This place is luscious and remote and yet not that far from civilization.” I was staying in the whitewashed main house, where the six simple rooms have rattan chairs, Patricia Highsmith novels, and beds draped with mosquito nets (which I quickly learned were not entirely decorative and, actually, totally necessary). That evening, Paul and I sat on our shared balcony facing the sea, rum punches in hand. “Did you surf today?” I asked. “No. I needed a day to observe,” he replied, somewhat elliptically. My dad has been surfing since his early teens and still goes out on the water every week in Santa Cruz, California, where I grew up. As his only child, I was a real failure in the outdoorsy department, spending trips to Kauai bored in hotel rooms reading the Brontë sisters and wishing I were in gray northern England. I have since come to my senses and learned to appreciate tropical vacations, even though I had no intention of getting on a surfboard on this one. Later on, we walked down the road from Sea-U to dinner at De Garage Bar & Grill, a casual, open-air café. On the way there, we ran into two local surfers named SeaCat and Biggie, who chatted with Paul about their favorite board shapers in San Diego. At the restaurant, The soca music blasted, and we Details Hotels, ordered grilled whole red restaurants, snapper with rice and peas to and activities, share. The temperature outside page 144
A kayaker heads out from Paddle Barbados sport shop, near Bridgetown.
Clockwise from left: Hammocks in the garden at Sea-U Guest House; surďŹ ng at Soup Bowl, the eastern coastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest break; grilled mahimahi with new potatoes, herbs, and vegetables at the Lone Star, a hotel and restaurant on the western coast; Bajan surfer Chelsea Tuach on the beach in front of Soup Bowl.
I ATTACHED THE LEASH TO MY ANKLE, SWAM OUT IN THE WAVELESS WATER, AND HURLED MYSELF ONTO THE BOARD WITH ALL THE GRACE OF A SEA LION.
was a perfect 80 degrees, and the local Banks beers were ice-cold, which made the fish taste that much better. Dessert was a shared sliver of piña-colada-flavored cheesecake that we devoured in 90 seconds. The next morning, I drank coffee on the porch to fight my hangover while watching a family of green monkeys jump from tree to tree. I walked down the hill from Sea-U to the beach, which, thankfully, took all of five minutes, stopping to wave hello to Valance, who was driving by in his taxi. At the bottom of the hill was the main road—the only road—with beach houses and rum shacks on one side and the coast on the other. The beach went on for a couple of miles and was strewn with massive limestone boulders that separated it into smaller sections and surf spots, each with its own name. Soup Bowl, the most famous break, is one of Kelly Slater’s favorite waves in the world. “Have you seen a tall, white American guy surfing?” I asked a passerby. He hadn’t. Giving up the search for my father, I stopped at Parlour, a beach with tide pools the size of small swimming pools, where an eclectic crowd—a young couple with a baby, a crew of teen girls, a group of middle-aged women—was soaking in the turquoise waters to get a little relief from the heat. We all watched a man fishing for squid and then cheered on someone’s dog who had dived into the water.
I eventually found Paul, and we caught up over lunch at Sea Side Bar, a classic island shack that locals frequent to hear cricket matches on the radio and eat a mean mahimahi sandwich, heavy on the addictive, justspicy-enough yellow-pepper sauce that’s more ubiquitous on the island than ketchup. Paul filled me in on his trip to Bath Beach, about half an hour south, with Jason Cole, who owns Paddle Barbados, one of the island’s most popular surf outfitters. “Soup Bowl was windy in the morning, so we went down the coast, where the waves were about waist-high,” Paul told me. “There are sea urchins and lionfish, so you have to be careful.” One day at Soup Bowl, Paul and I ran into Chelsea Tuach and her mom, Margot. Tuach is an east-coast fixture. Ranked 23rd in the world in women’s professional surfing, Tuach is a third-generation Bajan. She’s 22, but looks much younger in her braces and jean shorts. “Out here it’s a bit of everyone surfing, really,” she said in her lilting, almost Irish-sounding accent. “Old guys like Snake who come down for big swells, my generation who go out every day, parents teaching their kids to surf.” While Tuach went out in the water, we sat on raised benches under a sign that read da spot. Paul explained the byzantine and entirely unspoken pecking order that determines which surfer gets which wave. “It’s who was there first, but at the same time, the local surfer and the better surfer go first.” As both a local and a pro, Tuach would always get priority. We watched as she caught a wave and Paul narrated: “Chelsea up. Boom! Off the lip.” A serene moment passed between us. “Who knew I’d ever be sitting and watching surfing with you?” I asked. My dad laughed and patted my head. “I love you.” (Continued on page 140)
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LA MILANO MODERNA It may not have the romance of Florence, Naples, or Rome, but today, Milan has a pace and intensity no other Italian city can match. Longtime resident Tim Parks reďŹ&#x201A;ects on how the Milanese gift for mixing work and pleasure feels so perfectly of the moment. PHOTOGRAPHS BY FEDERICO CIAMEI
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A visitor ascends a staircase at MUDEC, a former factory reimagined as a museum of art and culture in Milanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Via Tortona district. Opposite: The view from the south terrace of the Duomo.
Cyclists and pedestrians alongside the Naviglio Pavese, part of the recently redeveloped Darsena, or dock area. Opposite, clockwise from top left: An exterior view of MUDEC; Unico Milano’s chef Fabrizio Ferrari; the restaurant’s shrimp tartare and pane cunzatu.
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W
hen a city has been changing around you for years, there comes a day when you want to understand what’s going on. I’ve been teaching at IULM University in Milan since 1991. For nearly two decades I commuted to the city from Verona, a couple of hours to the east. Picturesque perfect beside a meander of river below vine-terraced hills, Verona is the Italy people dream of. Milan, on the other hand, has always been the big bad city of popular imagination. My time there was typically a blur of duties and deadlines. I would arrive by train at the huge central station, with its Fascist-inspired friezes, and plunge straight into the gloomy subway. After that it was lessons, faculty meetings, exams, and tutorials before the reverse trip home: hassles with tickets, timetables, strikes, delays. And the trains were always packed. More than half a million commuters flow into Italy’s financial capital every day, far more than any of its other cities. Milan is the motor that drives Italy, the place you go when you can’t find work in your hometown. And since most Italians would
do almost anything to stay home, reluctant migrants often feel a certain resentment toward this frenetic place. Thousands of southerners are forever planning their return to Calabria, Puglia, or Sicily. The weather is better at home, they say, the fruit, the pasta, the company. Yet in the end these people stay, and perhaps not just for the work. They stay because you feel free in Milan. You don’t have your family constantly on your back. And things can change here; buildings can rise and fall. In 1910 the artist Umberto Boccioni, himself born in Calabria, painted the view he spent hours watching in Milan: a futurist whirl of workmen and horses straining among scaffolding, cables, and smoke. The City Rises, he called it, and the original now hangs in New York’s MoMA. In a country too often shackled by tradition and mired in its magnificent past, Milan has always been on the move. So it was to Milan that I came when my wife and I separated in 2009. At once I was surprised to find what an attractive place it was: the fine old plane trees shading dusty flagstones; the shriek of The the quaint orange trams with their rattling Details The best of wooden benches; the constant alternation of the new old Italy and new, Roman arch and reflective Milan, page glass; people racing their SUVs about like 146
there was no tomorrow, hitting their horns in rage, then lounging, entirely relaxed, at canal-side tables, studying handwritten menus. You could think of the Milanese, I realized, as hedonists in a hurry. Precisely because life is so frenetic here, your brief enjoyments must be exquisite. Morning coffee and early-evening aperitivi are key moments in the city’s schedule. There really is nowhere that the cappuccinos or the Spritzes are better. Arriving shortly before the financial crisis brought Italy to a halt, I found an awful lot of building going on. Vast areas of the city were being redeveloped and gentrified. Dust rose over giant construction sites, bus routes were altered or suspended, subway stations temporarily closed. Infected by the general fever for il mattone—literally, “the brick”—I decided to look for a place to buy. The same architects who had put together Dolce & Gabbana’s supermodern offices near the center of town were renovating an old silk factory in my area, Chiesa Rossa. The noble stone façade now led to a gleaming white courtyard, all spacious terrace balconies and sliding glass. It was three-quarters finished. When another factory conversion was completed nearby with the opening of a wryly named restaurant, Carlo e Camilla in Segheria (Charles & Camilla in the Sawmill), I told myself this was it:
Crucifixion, by Michele da Verona, at the Brera Pinacoteca, where a new director is making plans to modernize. Opposite: The Duomo, as seen through an installation of tropical foliage in a nearby square.
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Things can change here, buildings can rise and fall. In a country too often shackled by tradition and mired in its magnificent past, Milan has always been on the move.
the area was moving upmarket. I put down a substantial deposit on an apartment in the old silk factory. Months later, due to the knock-on effects of the great financial crash, the builders behind the development failed, and the site was mothballed. So began five years of uncertainty. Property values fell. Lawyers shook their heads. Anxious and angry, I barely noticed that the city around me had started preparing to stage the Milan Expo, a huge exhibition at which 145 countries would dream up adventurous solutions to the problem of feeding the planet. Down on the streets, all kinds of infrastructural improvements were under way. The newspapers spoke of nothing else. And I was condemned to phoning bank managers and wringing vague promises from my embarrassed property developer. But by a curious coincidence, when I did finally move in, it was on the very day the Milan Expo opened: May 1, 2015. Waking up alone the following morning, the first occupant in a block of 150 luxury apartments, looking out of a polished window at tram lines that led straight to the Duomo and the heart of the town, I felt as if an enormous weight had fallen from my shoulders. A lot of money had been lost, but I hadn’t gone under. Milan hadn’t gone under. On the contrary, it was the focus of international
attention. Tourists were pouring in. And I was finally free to go out and see how the city had changed. A good place to savor the new Milan, with its blend of monied futurism and loyalty to tradition, is Unico Milano, a restaurant on the 20th floor of the WJC Tower. The building stands about four miles northwest of the Duomo, abutting an area with the threateningly sci-fi name of QT8, which stands for Quartiere Triennale Otto and simply means that it was built at the time of the Eighth Triennial, a major trade exhibition inaugurated in 1923. I went there to dine with a couple of friends, Andrea Cane and Letizia Rittatore, and as we whizzed up in the WJC’s external glass elevator, we had an impressive view of crisscrossing suburban highways and glittering new tower blocks. “I can’t wait for the sight of the city center,” Rittatore said. Which brings us to the defining characteristic of the Unico—one that must drive its chefs wild with frustration. However interesting the food (and it really is interesting), the view is always more so. The waiters offer you a glass of champagne—“Would you prefer the Charmat method, signore, or the classic version?”—but you can’t help hurrying outside to the narrow terrace that faces downtown. Later, you sit in front of elegant Zafferano glasses, no two alike, and plates of beautifully presented appetizers, yet your eye
can’t help straying to the city gleaming and pulsing around you. The Duomo, with its white Gothic pinnacles, is there in the middle. To the south is one of the oddest skyscrapers ever built, the 1950s Velasca Tower, a rectangular brick block that grows wider and boxier toward the top. But these earlier attempts to dominate the skyline are entirely dwarfed by the seductive curves of the magnificent Piazza Gae Aulenti towers to the north, their luminous gray façades turning faintly pink as the sun finally sets, sending rosy fingers across the peaks of the Alps far behind. “Burnt-wheat maccheroncelli with peas, green beans, and spider crab,” the waiter announced, resigned to barely denting our attention. It’s almost a shame that the view is so arresting, because the food, when you finally manage to concentrate on it, is extraordinary. In Italy, one is so used to eating traditional dishes, all wonderfully prepared but essentially the same, that it comes as a delightful surprise when a skilled chef uses typical produce to create something unexpected. Take the decidedly regional mix of peas, beans, and crab, which at Unico is made into an exquisite sauce that perfectly sets off the texture of macaroni made from toasted wheat—a recipe that goes back to times when peasants would hunt for the scorched grain left behind after a field had been harvested and the (Continued on page 137)
Sunrise over the Fossil Cliffs, a section of the Maria Island coastline that is rich with ancient marine specimens.
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THE GIFTS OF EARTH Despite its remote location, Tasmania is increasingly being recognized as a modern-day Eden. On a return visit,
AND Stephen Metcalf ďŹ nds the Australian island state coming to terms with its newfound popularity. PHOTOGRAPHS BY SEAN FENNESSY
SEA
M
My first day back in Hobart, Tasmania, I knew where I had to begin. After checking in to my hotel, I walked to Battery Point, the old seamen’s neighborhood. Even if you’re visiting for the first time, the aura of maritime despondency will hit you like a Proustian drug. For me, returning 10 years later, the effect was doubled. It was early June, and the neighborhood was quiet, washed in the pale light of Australian winter. The fishermen’s cottages and merchants’ houses along the snaking 19th-century lanes felt widowed. At the bakery Jackman & McRoss, a prim yet sumptuous Hobart staple I remembered fondly, a small circle of elderly women gossiped quietly in the corner. They called to mind the old adage that citizens of the commonwealth outside the U.K. are “more British than the British,” reminding me that, in Battery Point, you shouldn’t raise your voice for fear of waking the dead. Tasmania—an island off Australia’s southeastern coast, a little more than an hour’s flight from Melbourne—dangles off the edge of the earth. And Battery Point feels as though it dangles off the edge of Tasmania. The clean, bracing winds that buffet you as you walk along its wharves blow in all the way from Antarctica, some 1,700 miles to the south. If you listen, you can catch the mournful undersong of Tasmania’s history. The same windswept severity and utter remoteness I found so picturesque inspired the British Empire, in the early 19th century, to
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Opposite, clockwise from top: The lobby at Saffire, a luxury resort on Tasmania’s Freycinet Peninsula; a crayfish boat off the coast of the Hazards, a mountain range in Freycinet National Park; poached egg on roasted pumpkin at Sweetwater, in Launceston.
establish a penal colony here. More than 75,000 convicts were sent to what was then known as Van Diemen’s Land, where most were conscripted into hard labor. Upon arriving, William Smith O’Brien, an Irish political prisoner, wrote to his wife: “To find a jail in one of the loveliest spots formed by the hand of Nature in one of her loneliest solitudes creates a revulsion of feeling which I cannot describe.” Today Hobart is scrubbed and neat, a beautifully appointed port city spread below Mount Wellington along foothills that descend to the Derwent River. On the main waterfront, overlooking Sullivans Cove just north of Battery Point, there are signs of development—and redevelopment—everywhere. The wharves and causeways are being consolidated into a waterlocked public square, crowded with restaurants and flanked by two high-end hotels. The area’s cafés prepare flat whites with the same sacramental reverence as in Melbourne, the most coffee-obsessed city in the Anglosphere. Well-to-do tourists arrive in droves from China, and a Singaporean mogul recently bought up commercial real estate along the waterfront, possibly to build a tower dozens of stories high. With the pace of development accelerating, “Tassie,” as locals call it, may soon catch up with more-sophisticated tourist rivals like Queensland. This is a bittersweet prospect for those who see Tasmania’s charms as fragile and bound up in the island’s forlorn history, its perennial status as an Australian backwater. To mainlanders, the name Tasmania has traditionally been an excuse for a cruel put-down; as a destination, it conjured up camper-van getaways or backpacking hippies. But Tasmanians always knew they had something precious and were confident the world would find out eventually. When I visited a decade ago, Tasmania’s wines, particularly the cool-climate varieties like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, were gaining international recognition. Serious chefs and fine diners had become aware of the island’s uncanny ability, thanks to its diverse microclimates, to grow anything and grow it well, from stone fruits and berries to avocados and walnuts. It’s important to understand how unlikely even a modest facsimile of an Alice Waters–style food revolution once seemed here. “When I first arrived thirty years ago, the attitude was so negative,” recalled Tony Scherer, an Americanborn farmer who owns property in the Coal River Valley, just north of Hobart. I was having a drink with Scherer and his wife, Joyce Johnston, a social worker, at the Glass House, a mod structure on a floating pier with views of Sullivans Cove and the mountains beyond. It has a copper bar
To mainlanders, the name Tasmania has traditionally been an excuse for a cruel put-down. But Tasmanians always knew they had something precious and were confident the world would find out eventually. with backlit shelving and offers a variety of tapas-style shared plates and designer cocktails. The Tasmanian booze, especially the whiskey, was dark and savory, and the water vistas, shifting in the light, were mesmerizing. On my first visit, Scherer had remarked that Tasmania might become the planet’s most sensitive barometer of change in the 21st century. “The only question,” he said, “is which will transform us first—global warming or global capital.” These days, Johnston told me, Tasmania is becoming “the new Iceland”— the next hot destination for global trendsetters. Their tourist dollars are welcome, as historically,
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Tasmania has had Australia’s highest percentage of government aid recipients. “And yet, the sweetness of Tasmania,” Scherer said, “comes from it not yet being ripe.” Tasmania’s history is tied up in civilization’s clumsy attempts to push itself on the natural landscape, from the original penal colony to logging concerns, extractive industries, and mammoth fish farms that now risk polluting the famously pristine waters. Ten years ago, everyone I met in the hospitality business was worried that what they’d built might be endangered by a giant pulp mill then being proposed. The plant was never
London. Farther out on the same pier you can find its justcompleted sister, the Macq 01, a How to sleek cypress-and-glass shed. experience Tasmania, When I toured the premises, I was page 144 told that the hotel had hired a team of “storytellers,” all of whom are on call to recount, on demand, some aspect of Tasmania’s dark history. Each of the 114 rooms is named after a colorful hero (or rogue) from Tasmania’s past. The lounge isn’t just a lounge, it’s a “storytelling nucleus,” and the bar isn’t just a bar, it’s the Story Bar, decorated with reprints of old newspapers. Despite all this kitsch filigree, the Macq 01 is a gorgeous facility. Its waterfront rooms hover like crow’s nests over Sullivans Cove, with terraces commanding views out to Mount Wellington. Its owner also operates the sevenyear-old Saffire, a superdeluxe lodge northeast of Hobart on the Freycinet Peninsula. I went there a few days later and found that, in its own subtle way, Saffire is every bit as much about storytelling as its younger sibling in Hobart. Built on the outskirts of Freycinet National Park, Saffire is a swooping, soaring structure designed to look, from a distance, like a giant stingray. Muted timbers and low-reflectivity glass allow the building to blend in with the surrounding eucalyptus forest. In the main lodge, towering windows frame the Hazards, a mountain range whose four main peaks continuously change complexion in the shifting light. Everything about Saffire is to the hilt, but what I liked most was its attentive staff, and how quickly they discovered that all I wanted to do was to stare at the mountains and disappear into a Tasmanian whiskey and a paperback. In between, they fed me like a beloved monarch. Everyone at Saffire, from the ponytailed trail guide to the buttoned-up corporate spokesman, seemed guided by the same principle as that gossip circle I’d observed at the bakery in Hobart: Respect the dead. They’d tell me stories that might at first seem scripted, but if I pushed a little I’d find the sentiment was genuine, most likely because the person expressing it was a native Tasmanian. One afternoon, Paul Jack, the trail guide, took me up a path nestled between Mount Amos and Mount Mayson, past peppermint gums and white kunzea bushes that gave off the aroma of caramelized honey. We reached an overlook above Wineglass Bay, where we could gaze down on the scalloped white sand of the shoreline and out over the eroded Devonian rock face of Mount Freycinet. Wineglass Bay gets its name not only from its goblet-like shape but also because it was once filled with the blood of slaughtered whales. The Details
constructed, but now Tasmanians are confronting an unexpected new threat: popularity. Could what Tasmanians love about Tasmania be compromised by retailing it to outsiders? Could the island’s soul be destroyed by gas fireplaces, forced smiles, velveteen couches, tour buses?
I
n Hobart, I stayed on the outskirts of town at the Islington, a boutique hotel in a Regency-style mansion, long the city’s only five-star digs. Though it is fancier than I am, nothing said or done by the kindly staff reminded me of this fact. I spent one of the more blissful hours of my life in front of a wood-burning fireplace in the glass atrium, reading an Anne Enright novel and eating comically plump oysters from a tray. It was as if I were at home and away at once. The Islington’s younger competition is down on the waterfront. The Henry Jones, housed in an old jam factory, is a delightfully chic hotel that wouldn’t look out of place in Sydney or
Above: A fishing boat at Constitution Dock, on the Derwent River in the Port of Hobart. Opposite: Forester kangaroos grazing on Maria Island.
It is the most iconic landscape in Tasmania. “Whale oil kick-started the Tasmanian economy,” Jack said. “We are at last owning who we were, instead of apologizing for it.” He began discoursing with an easy learnedness about Aboriginal middens, shell heaps left behind by hunter-gatherers at the dawn of the Holocene epoch. “They called the mountains sleeping gods,” he said. “There is no getting around it, Tasmania has a spiritual background. Ours is a volatile landscape that needs fire to regenerate.”
T
he biggest driver behind the growth of Tasmanian tourism, according to everyone I spoke with, is MONA, the Museum of Old & New Art, which opened in 2011 in Hobart. “What is unique about MONA is what is unique about Tasmania,” Mark Wilsdon, the museum’s co-CEO, told me. It was founded by David Walsh, a Tasmanian billionaire who made his fortune as a professional gambler, to house his private collection. Though Walsh has spent an estimated $200 million on MONA, he has kept it free for Tasmanians. It is now said to pump $100 million a year into the Tasmanian economy.
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Above: The main gallery at MONA, the Museum of Old & New Art, in Hobart. Opposite: The Painted Cliffs, a stretch of patterned sandstone that runs along the coast of Maria Island.
The museum is dark, both literally and figuratively: its main gallery, carved out of a sandstone cliff next to a historic vineyard, showcases a comically macabre curatorial vision fixated on sex, death, and excrement. To get there, you travel inland, from the same pier that supports the Glass House, about 20 minutes up the Derwent River on a catamaran whose exterior is painted a camouflage pattern and whose interiors, like those of a New York City subway car a generation ago, are covered in graffiti. The bombs and tags pair oddly well with a dry Riesling from the onboard café. You arrive not at an art museum, but at an anti–art museum. From a windswept courtyard whose ramparts overlook the river, you descend to find a permanent collection containing works by Chris Ofili, Anselm Kiefer, and Damien Hirst. The experience is dominated less by the global brand names than by, as the museum’s website puts it, “Stuff David Bought When He Was Drunk” and work that “Annoys Our Female Curators.” Perhaps the most notorious piece is Cloaca Professional, by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye, a series of mechanical chambers that mimic the human digestive process, turning out, at the far end, poo. (Continued on page 139)
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(Telluride, continued from page 113) the phenomenal quality of the snow, the legendary steepness, the surreal vistas in all directions—what is most remarkable is that you truly have the mountain to yourself. It was the height of ski season, yet over the course of three days I never waited longer than a few seconds for a lift and often found myself alone, in the middle of the day, on some of the most popular runs. “That’s Telluride in a nutshell— world-famous but still somehow undiscovered,” Anderson told me that afternoon when we met on the slopes. Telluride’s 18 lifts and 148 runs offer a near-endless buffet for every level of skier. Having spent the morning getting my bearings on the easier terrain, I set off with Anderson to explore the more challenging runs. There were narrow gullies that wound through thickets of aspens. There was the steep and feathery expanse of the Revelation Bowl. There were moguls of daunting verticality that led to groomed, leisurely flats. At the top of the aptly named See Forever, the area’s signature run, Anderson pointed out the dazzling La Sal Mountains in Utah, some 100 miles to the west. We ended the day with a bottle of sparkling rosé, kept chilled in a bucket of snow, under the heat lamps at the outdoor terrace of Alpino Vino, which, at 11,966 feet, justly bills itself as the continent’s highest fine-dining establishment. Not surprisingly, we bumped into people Anderson knew, and our group quickly expanded to become a repeat of the previous night’s little party: wine, platters of antipasti, strangers quickly coming to feel like longtime friends. At one point, a friend of mine from New Orleans, where I live, sauntered over to the table and joined the proceedings. I had no idea he was in town. That he was the one who had likened Telluride to
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taking LSD was especially fitting, since by then the comparison no longer sounded so loopy. That night, while dining alone at the bar at 221 South Oak, which serves incredible house-made pastas, I struck up a conversation with J. T. Keating, a young man who’d moved to Telluride six years earlier. Like all the locals I met, he was warm and welcoming. “I come from a pretty conservative world in Florida,” said Keating, who works in a hotel. “Cheesy as it sounds, I kind of found myself here.” It didn’t sound cheesy at all, I told him. “Yeah, there’s just something in the water,” he said. “I came for the mountains, but stayed for the people.”
i
hope you like a good hike,” Anderson said. It was my last night, and we were standing at the base of the driveway that leads to Steeprock. During my stay, Anderson had introduced me to numerous après-ski pleasures. We’d had the mandatory steak at the New Sheridan Chop House & Wine Bar. We’d caught the sunset from Allred’s, a restaurant at the top of the gondola with the most phenomenal view of downtown. We’d munched on appetizers at La Marmotte, an intimate French bistro housed in an old icehouse. We’d sipped espresso at Ghost Town, an artsy coffee shop, and craft cocktails at the Butcher & the Baker, a fun little café. Visiting Steeprock, she believed, would complete my conversion. The compound, which in the past three years has begun hosting artists of all disciplines, from blacksmiths to photographers, is not an easy place to get to. The driveway, a quarter-mile of loose shale up steep switchbacks, is navigable only by 4 x 4. Since we didn’t have one, we would have to walk. It was exhausting, but worth it. The place seemed straight out of a fairy tale: a chalet of wide, rough-hewn floors and intricate, rust-scabbed metalwork, all warmed by fire, its lights powered by the sun. Blowtorches, paints, and tools were scattered all over the downstairs workroom. Though Steeprock offers occasional classes, it is not yet open to visitors on a regular basis. Anderson,
however, plans to spend the next year or so making it a place for art shows, events, and experimental performances. She also wants to create a more formal application process for the residencies, since currently it’s a word-of-mouth affair. Earlier during my stay, I’d met the owner of Steeprock, Isabel Harcourt, a fixture in Telluride for the past 20 years, who works with artists on the logistics of ambitious projects (say, a photo shoot in a mine). The property was built 20 years ago by her husband, Glen, a swashbuckling jack-of-alltrades who’d turned it into a kind of ad hoc commune. “Artists came and lived in yurts and tepees,” she told me, explaining that in the early 2000s, they’d turned Steeprock into a home-building company. Then tragedy struck, in 2006, when her husband died in a plane crash. Two years later, the mortgage crisis hit, and the business sputtered out. Now, Steeprock is once again an artists’ haven. There’s talk of rebuilding the tepees and yurts, and even constructing small cabins, to complement the main house. “With Dabbs,” Harcourt told me, “it’s really come full circle as a kind of microcosm of Telluride—this revolving door for interesting people.” Anderson and I went out to the deck. The sky was clear, the stars majestic. You could see the gossamer parabola of the Milky Way. “Oh, and you should see it here in the summer, with all the festivals,” Anderson said. “And the fall, when the leaves change. The first time I saw the colors in the valley I started weeping.” “Careful,” I said, getting up to go. “I may be back before you know it.” I’ve said this to countless people in countless places around the world, knowing as the words leave my mouth that they’re ultimately hollow. With so much out there to see, why keep returning to one place? But there was something different about Telluride. I understood why so many people kept going back. Indeed, just a few months later, I got on my motorcycle and rode 1,500 miles to see the place again. Pulling into town, the mountains again delivered their shock, but of course by then I knew that Telluride was about so much more.
Choose Freedom.
Choose Jack.
(Milan, continued from page 127) stubble burned. With the prices it asks, the restaurant would hardly be playing a key role in the Expo’s mission to feed the planet, but as darkness fell on this part of the globe, all three of us were grateful to the chef for reminding us how exciting the simplest ingredients can be. Cane, who works in publishing, has lived in Milan more than 30 years. Rittatore, a former beauty editor turned freelance writer, has been in the city her whole life. Yet neither feels wholly Milanese, or talks about belonging to the city in the way a long-term resident of London or New York City would. Italians have an extraordinarily strong sense of belonging, which makes them reluctant to shift allegiances. “My parents were from Umbria and Piedmont,” Rittatore confessed. Cane is from Turin. “Only when you have at least three grandparents born in Milan,” he said, “are you a real meneghino, a Milanese.” At Unico you get to observe the city, but you can’t easily walk out into it—a reminder that the Italian experience of fine eating at its leisurely best is almost always attached to the passeggiata. It’s common practice to have your main meal in a restaurant, then gelato from a gelateria artigianale (“Pink-Himalayan-salt chocolate and mascarpone, per favore”) before winding up with espresso at a table in some 17th-century piazza where Latin inscriptions sit beside risqué ads for the skimpiest swimwear. Fortunately, Milan’s other recent redevelopment projects make this wonderfully easy. At the heart of them is the Darsena, or Dock, which opened just in time for the Expo in 2015. We’re talking about an elbow of water about 500 yards by 50 that connects the Naviglio Grande, a canal flowing into the city from Lake
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Choose Relaxation.
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(Milan, continued from page 137) Maggiore to the Naviglio Pavese, which flows southward to Pavia. For years this area was just mud and dereliction, marking the southern edge of downtown Milan. Then, just as the Expo tourists began to arrive, it was unveiled as a bright and breezy waterside experience with cafés, food markets, music, canal cruises, and even a giant cube with four TV screens showing major sporting events. The effect on the city has been startling. The canals, with their adjacent cafés and restaurants, were suddenly only a pleasant stroll from the Duomo. All at once everyone was walking and cycling. Everyone was in love with Milan. Another place they were walking around was Via Tortona, a second formerly industrial area that has been reclaimed by inviting Italy’s major fashion companies to turn decaying factories and warehouses into chic showrooms. Beside the Gianfranco Ferré Foundation and the so-called Armani Silos, we now have mudec, a futuristic museum of art and culture, and a cluster of smart new bars. “Does all this change bother you?” I asked Edoardo Zuccato in the Botanical Club, an upscale location serving cocktails with names like Smoky & Cloudy (white rum, mezcal, St.-Germain, cream of passion fruit, honey, lime, fresh sage). As a poet who writes in the obscure local dialect, Zuccato surely has the right to consider himself Milanese, and to feel vaguely affronted by a transformation that seems to require all new restaurants to have English names? “Not at all,” he laughed. “Via Tortona was a dump twenty years ago. Nothing valuable has been destroyed. And I’m not a true Milanese!” He’s from Cassano Magnago, he said, 25 miles to the northwest. So is all this successful renovation the result of brilliant planning? Perhaps the right person to answer this question, I thought, was Eddy Cosenza, the developer responsible for the block where we both now live. I invited him down from his penthouse flat for an espresso in my more modest abode, and he explained that, these days, most of his work is with a couple of multimillion-dollar
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properties in the center of the city, one of which he recently acquired on behalf of a group of Chinese investors. Needless to say, Eddy is not Milanese. He’s from Naples. But he has never had any problem working with the locals, he claimed. “Unlike the families in other cities, the Milanese don’t block outsiders from a slice of the action. That’s why so much foreign money flows into Milan, and why so much of its tourism is business-generated.” “But did they actually plan this renaissance?” Eddy shook his head. “It just happened. The city was attracting private money. The development followed, then the Expo provided the drive for restyling the Darsena. It’s great for property values,” he said, with a smile. “It will bring the center down to where we are in just a few years now.” Meaning, I suppose, Don’t worry, Tim. One day your apartment may actually be worth what you paid me for it before the crash. Where will I celebrate when that day comes? Museologist James Bradburne, who arrived in the city last year to take over and revamp the Brera Pinacoteca—the city’s most important art gallery—had a suggestion. By that time he will have a fully licensed bar up and running on the second floor of the palazzo that houses the museum (a concept that might seem unremarkable to American visitors, but is a radical move for a dusty old public institution in Italy). “We can soak up a little Mantegna and Raffaello, then have a couple of stiff negronis with a few friends,” he said. Then he asked me whether, to earn my drinks, I’d be willing to write a caption or two for the gallery’s paintings; he wants exciting, writerly responses, rather than the routine art history. It seems in just a year or so Bradburne has completely understood the Milanese genius for mixing work, art, and pleasure. And of course a version of The City Rises, that iconic futurist portrait of the city, hangs right there in the Brera. I told him I would jump at the chance to write a caption for it. Few pieces better represent Milan’s extraordinary mix of art and industrial frenzy.
(Tasmania, continued from page 134) What I loved most about MONA was the way it insinuates its ominous charms into the life of its host city. One morning, I was awakened at daybreak by the strangest sound. For the first time as a traveler, I was forced to ask a concierge, “Excuse me, but did I hear an incantatory mélange of female voices reverberating through the city at dawn?” The answer was, “Yes, sir.” I had heard Siren Song, a 28-channel sound piece broadcast from 450 loudspeakers mounted atop various Hobart buildings. The densely layered choral droning sounded for seven minutes at sunrise and sunset, every day for two weeks, as a herald for MONA’s well-attended winter festival, Dark Mofo. I found the locals to be almost jingoistic in their pride when it came to MONA. Over and over, I heard: MONA is ours as much as it is Walsh’s; it expresses our weirdness, our remoteness, the gloomy ambivalence of our history. Ours. For Tasmania, this is not a small breakthrough.
A
fter my visit to MONA, I drove out to Rocky Top Farm, Tony Scherer’s spread in the Coal River Valley, where Scherer introduced me to the chef Luke Burgess. In 2010, Burgess turned an old mechanic’s garage in Hobart—“250 square meters and a tin roof,” he told me, “with fire-damaged trusses”—into a 46-seat wine bar and restaurant called Garagistes that had shared tables, took no reservations, and featured the first all-natural-wine list in Australia. International recognition followed, and Tasmania had its first global culinary sensation. But Garagistes quickly became that dreaded thing— a thing—and tourists piled in, rushing
to upload the experience to Instagram. Owner’s fatigue set in, and Garagistes, though a triumph, closed at the end of its five-year lease. Since then, Burgess has traveled the world, occasionally cooking during chef residencies or at his own popups. But he and Scherer share a vision. “A garden is a way for me to get out of the kitchen,” Burgess said. Scherer chimed in, gesturing out at his land. “Play your hand right and you can grow anything here.” The duo wants to put a restaurant right here: a small dining room looking out on Scherer’s farm beside the estuarine byways of Barilla Bay. If they follow through on their plan, the demand will surely be there. “Every time I go to Melbourne or Sydney, the one adjective I hear is Tasmanian,” said Kim Seagram, owner of Stillwater, in Launceston, 2½ hours north of Hobart. “Not ‘South Australian.’ It’s ‘Tasmanian scallops,’ or ‘Tasmanian oysters,’ or ‘Tasmanian spirits.’ ” Seagram has been pivotal to the transformation of Launceston, Tasmania’s second city, and is an evangelist for the civic power of its gastronomy. Last year, she founded a farmers’ market, and she has helped establish the nascent food-van culture in St. Georges Square, where you can now find purveyors of everything from burgers and crêpes to Turkish kofte. Stillwater, which opened in 2000 in a beautifully renovated 1830s flour mill, was Launceston’s first finedining restaurant, offering an elegant but playful take on local Tasmanian produce. Since my last visit, it has also become a community hub, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner and filled all day long with coffee-swilling, cheerfully yakking locals.
Choose Adventure.
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outh of the Freycinet Peninsula, on Tasmania’s eastern coast, is a small town called Triabunna, from which you can catch the ferry to Maria Island. Maria (pronounced with a long i, as in Mariah Carey) is shaped like a molten hourglass, with its northern head connected to its southern bottom by a narrow, sandy isthmus. In 1971, the Australian government established it as a
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:Ɂȶɽƃƺɽ ťɁʍɨ Āɨljǹljɨɨljǁ ěɨƃʤljȢ Ǽljȶɽ
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(Tasmania, continued from page 139) national park. Black swans and several species of small marsupials are ubiquitous. With its thick forest and fern gullies, Maria is now a habitat for common wombats, Forester kangaroos, and Bennett wallabies— endangered species that have been introduced from the mainland to help ensure their survival. Maria was once home to whaling stations and penitentiaries, but now it is nothing if not idyllic. Past the arrival jetty there are the storage silos and collapsed kilns of an old cement plant, leftovers from a 19th-century attempt at industrialization. Farther on, there is a tiny, abandoned settlement. Few people live on the island, but anyone can book a night at the former convict building, which has been repurposed as a modest bunkhouse. A private company, the Maria Island Walk, has built two small encampments made of wood and canvas near the empty white-sand beaches. They also lease the government-owned Bernacchi House, a simple weatherboard cottage behind a white picket fence, with a lavender garden off its small veranda. It is named for an Italian entrepreneur who came to Maria with dreams of building a silk empire. “Out of a brutal past,” said Ian Johnstone, the founder and CEO of the Maria Island Walk, “there is a search for harmony here. Between people, and between those people and the place.” If you are lucky, every so often as a traveler you find it—a place where past and present, nature and culture, a history of joy and a legacy of suffering all balance upon a point of mutual respect. I found it on Maria Island, at Bernacchi, and during hikes with Maddy Davies and Paul Challen, the two guides who hosted me for the weekend, cooking brilliantly simple meals and providing superb company on daylong excursions up the island’s dolerite peaks. On my final morning on Maria, we trekked out to Skipping Ridge, above the Tasman Sea, to drink coffee and watch the sun rise. As a slim cuticle of light broke over a long line of clouds, Challen quipped, “The first person who goes over the edge, we’ll get a fence.” “If they put up a fence,” Davies replied, “I’m never coming back.”
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(Barbados, continued from page 121) OUR FATHER-DAUGHTER serenity lasted until the next day, when we had to drive together. We were leaving the eastern coast for the west, the wild for the more expected, and doing the hour-long road trip ourselves in a rented Suzuki jeep with a canvas roof. In Barbados, which is part of the British commonwealth, driving is on the left. When Paul would veer off the narrow highway so as to avoid cars coming in the other direction, my eyes jumped to the four-foot-deep ditch just inches away from our vehicle—I was terrified that the jeep was going to roll over. The interior of the island can be dry compared with the jungly eastern coast. We passed small, faded houses and seemingly endless fields of sugarcane until we came to Hunte’s Gardens. What sounded like just another tourist attraction turned out to be a lush oasis (and a welcome relief from the tension between us). Bajan horticulturist Anthony Hunte bought this former sugar plantation, which dates back to the 17th century, in 1990; he opened it as one of the world’s most unlikely public gardens 10 years ago. “This is paradise,” I shouted to Paul as we parked on the side of the road and walked down the stairs to see this incredible spot in the middle of the rain forest. Spread out before us was an over-the-top, rambling tropical garden built into a sinkhole 150 feet deep and 500 feet across. Paths wound through towering palm trees, red ginger, birds-of-paradise, monsteras, impatiens, and taro that would make any budding horticulturist burn with envy. Sculptures of saints and Buddhas were scattered about. I followed a trail past a giant lobster-claw plant and was surprised to come upon a British family having a proper afternoon tea. Later, I bumped into Imran, the sole groundskeeper. “We keep it
natural,” he told me. “How does it stay so lush but groomed?” I asked. “Remember, a weed is only a weed if you don’t want it there,” he replied. As bewitching as we found these unexpected havens, there comes a time when calm, sandy beaches and climatecontrolled hotel rooms call out to you. The Lone Star, a stylish boutique hotel and restaurant on the western coast, was the answer to our prayers. Purchased in 2013 by the British millionaire and soccer team owner David Whelan, the Lone Star was once a garage and gas station. The old structure is still intact, but it now houses six chic guest rooms, each named for a classic American car. I was in Buick, which was done up in preppy, crisp blue and white and had a terrace the size of my living room in Brooklyn, about 20 feet from the water. “Now this is the ideal beach for drinking rosé,” Paul said. The Lone Star’s small stretch of sand runs just the length of the hotel. It is private for guests and never crowded. There were plenty of chaises and umbrellas, but I settled on my terrace, with the bottle of rum punch that the hotel leaves for everyone as a welcome gift. I started a watercolor painting of a potted palm. Within an hour, Paul resurfaced, dragging a paddleboard down the beach. “This is big enough to land a plane on,” he said, by way of invitation. After a few days of watching everyone else stand up on a board, I had decided to give it a go. I attached the leash to my ankle, swam out in the waveless water, and hurled myself onto the board with all the grace of a sea lion. I managed to balance for a few seconds and then fell. Paul stood on the beach, rosé in hand, and shouted instructions I couldn’t make out. That night, we went to dinner at the Lone Star’s restaurant, which is one of the most famous on Barbados, for good reason. It’s open-air, right on the beach, and decorated all in white. The whole place is reminiscent of something one might find in the south of France, and it attracts a similarly fashionable crowd of men in linen and women in Isabel Marant dresses. There was plenty of local fish on the menu, but also curries and (Continued on page 143)
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(Barbados, continued from page 140) shepherd’s pie for the British lads. Paul ordered snapper, I had the seafood linguine, and we split an exceptional bottle of bone-dry Pouilly-Fuissé. But the high point of the meal was the banana doughnuts with coconut ice cream, rum caramel, and crushed pistachios. The restaurant was so fun and the food so delicious that we couldn’t wait to return the following night. When I woke up the next day, I could see Bajan grannies in shower caps bathing in the water, gossiping as they kept afloat on pool noodles. I swam out into the sea, perhaps a little too far. I could see a lone figure on a paddleboard, a mile or so up the coast. It was Paul, communing with the ocean one last time. As I swam back to shore, I heard a familiar song playing at the Lone Star’s restaurant. “We found love in a hopeless place,” sang a plaintive voice coming over the speakers. It was a cover of a Rihanna song, and I was happy to hear it. Travel + Leisure (ISSN 0041-2007). December 2017, Vol. 47, No. 12. Published monthly 12 times a year by Time Inc. Affluent Media Group, 225 Liberty St., New York, NY 10281. TRAVEL + LEISURE is a trademark of Time Inc. Affluent Media Group, registered in the U.S. and other countries. Subscription: 12 issues, $45.00; in Canada, $57.00 (publisher’s suggested price). Single copies $5.99. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Publications Mail Commercial Sales Agreement No. 40036840 (GST #129480364RT). Publications Mail Agreement 40036840. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Travel + Leisure, P.O. Box 134, Stn. Main, Markham, Ontario L3P 3J5. Printed in U.S.A. Copyright ©2017 Time Inc. Affluent Media Group. All rights reserved. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. Member of the Alliance for Audited Media. Subscriber Services, U.S. and Canada Direct all inquiries, address changes, subscription orders, etc., to Travel + Leisure, P.O. Box 62120, Tampa, FL 33662-2120, or call 800-888-8728. Editorial Office, 225 Liberty St., New York, NY 10281; 212522-1212. Subscribers If the postal authorities alert us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within two years. Your bank may provide updates to the card information we have on file. You may opt out of this service at any time. Postmaster Send change of address to: Travel + Leisure, P.O. Box 62120, Tampa, FL 33662-2120. Occasionally, Travel + Leisure makes portions of its magazine subscriber lists available to carefully screened companies that offer special products and services. Any subscriber who does not want to receive mailings from third-party companies should contact the subscriber services department at 800-888-8728 or write to TCS, P.O. Box 62120, Tampa, FL 33662-2120. The magazine assumes no responsibility for the safekeeping or return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, artwork, or other material. To order back issues, call 800-270-3053. To order article reprints of 500 or more, call 212-2219595.
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The Details
Our guide to this month’s featured destinations, including the best places to eat, sleep, and explore.
BARBADOS (Endless Summer, p. 114)
GETTING THERE Fly nonstop to Grantley Adams International Airport from multiple U.S. cities, including New York, Boston, Miami, and Charlotte. HOTELS Lone Star Boutique Hotel A small yet polished boutique hotel on the west coast. Enjoy breakfast on your suite’s terrace. thelonestar. com; doubles from $2,000.
LOCAL PASTIME
While in Barbados, be sure to embrace the island’s love of sports. Visit between January and April to attend one of the many popular polo matches.
the Crane Resort is arguably the most picturesque on the island. thecrane.com; entrées $23–$58. Lone Star Restaurant The allwhite décor and extensive wine list make this space at the Lone Star Hotel feel like something from the south of France. Don’t skip the banana doughnuts at dessert. thelonestar.com; entrées $32–$57. Sea Side Bar A classic rum shack on Bathsheba’s main drag. Order a fried-fish sandwich with potato wedges and wash it down with Mount Gay rum. 246-831-1961. ACTIVITIES Hunte’s Gardens This hidden tropical garden in St. Joseph is built into a sinkhole and will make you feel as though you’re encountering a real-life FernGully. huntesgardensbarbados.com. Paddle Barbados Rent your own paddleboarding gear or have owners Jason and Sarah Cole take you out for a private lesson. Bridgetown; paddlebarbados.com. Soup Bowl Witness surfers of all ages and proficiencies riding the waves at this iconic surf spot, one of the best in the Caribbean. Bathsheba.
TELLURIDE, COLORADO (Snow Daze, p. 108)
Sea-U Guest House The best place for a visit to the island’s east coast, this property may not have air-conditioning, but it makes up for it with tropical gardens and unspoiled beaches. seaubarbados. com; doubles from $179. RESTAURANTS & BARS De Garage Grilled whole fish and piña colada cheesecake at this divey local haunt are made even better by the loud soca music and convivial atmosphere. Bathsheba; 246-433-9521. Dina’s Bar & Café Sit outside at this multicolored café and indulge in the island’s famous rum punch. Main Rd., Bathsheba; 246-433-9726. L’Azure Overlooking the pristine Crane Beach, this restaurant at
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GETTING THERE Fly to Telluride Regional Airport via a connection in Denver. HOTELS Dunton Town House Part boutique hotel, part B&B, this five-room inn in a historic former home is the sister property of Dunton Hot Springs, a luxury alpine resort about an hour outside of town. duntontownhouse.com; doubles from $450. New Sheridan Hotel Anchoring the main strip of Colorado Avenue since it opened in 1895, this hotel was tastefully renovated in 2008. The Historic Bar and Chop House & Wine Bar restaurant are both worth a visit. newsheridan. com; doubles from $248.
RESTAURANTS & CAFÉS Alpino Vino During the day, this trailside perch is used for casual ski-in, ski-out meals and drinks, but at dinner, patrons are shuttled from the gondola by an enclosed snow coach for a five-course Italian menu with wine pairings. tellurideski resort.com; entreés $15–$40. The Butcher & the Baker Breakfast in the early hours gives way to craft cocktails come nightfall at this rustically hip café. butcherandbakercafe.com; entrées $7.50–$30. Ghost Town An earthy, artsy café where you can bring a book and let the day slip past while sipping coffee. 210 W. Colorado Ave.; 970-300-4334; entrées $4–$14. La Marmotte A French bistro tucked inside a historic icehouse, this place is perfect for a decadent meal—think coq au vin—or a glass of wine after a day on the slopes. lamarmotte.com; entrées $26–$44. There...Telluride At this intimate spot, inventive small plates like salmon-belly tostadas often precede shots of tequila. therebars. com; small plates $8–$12. 221 South Oak Eliza Gavin, a former Top Chef contestant, wows with dishes like saffron-braised octopus and blueberry-and-coffeedusted elk T-bone. 221southoak. com; entrées $30–$50. GALLERY Gallery 81435 With its focus on local art, this gallery is a great spot to get a glimpse of the town’s thriving arts scene. telluridearts.org.
TASMANIA (The Gifts of Earth and Sea, p. 128)
GETTING THERE Fly to Hobart via Brisbane, Melbourne, or Sydney. TOUR OPERATOR Big Five Tours & Expeditions This trusted company’s Tasmania offerings range from hiking and beach-hopping on the Freycinet Peninsula to a four-day trek through Maria Island, where you can spot kangaroos and emus in one of the world’s most remote wildlife sanctuaries. bigfive.com; 12-day trips from $12,950. HOTELS The Henry Jones This chic space, built inside one of the oldest warehouse buildings on the wharf, has become an integral part of Hobart’s burgeoning nightlife scene. thehenryjones.com; doubles from $215. Highfield House A Victorian-era estate, once home to noted colonial politician and cricketer William Henty, has found new life as a boutique bed-and-breakfast overlooking the Tamar Valley. Launceston; highfieldhousebandb. com.au; doubles from $132. The Islington Located a quick car ride from downtown Hobart, this property is filled with quirky art and antiques and features a glassed-in atrium for dining and relaxing. islingtonhotel.com; doubles from $369. Macq 01 This sleek 114-room
GETTING AROUND
Telluride’s free gondola has connected the historic town to Mountain Village since 1996. Don’t be surprised to see children heading to school alongside skiers, as the ride serves as public transportation for locals.
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Besides Japan, Tasmania is one of the only destinations outside of Scotland producing quality single malts. Pick up a bottle or two from Sullivans Cove (sullivanscove.com), the island’s top distillery, in the Hobart suburb of Cambridge. property on the Macquarie Wharf overlooks Sullivans Cove and has a staff steeped in knowledge of Tasmanian history. Don’t miss the circular first-floor lounge, which is built around an open fireplace. macq01.com.au; doubles from $315. Saffire Several hours northeast of Hobart in Freycinet National Park, this sister property to the Macq 01 provides extraordinary views of the peninsula’s mountains and forests. Coles Bay; saffire-freycinet.com.au; doubles from $1,650. Two Four Two Just steps from Launceston’s city center, this collection of stylish apartments comes stocked with an array of Tasmanian wines for guests to enjoy while grilling on the private terrace. twofourtwo.com.au; apartments from $160. RESTAURANTS & CAFÉS Bryher A stained-glass transom window, great coffee, and seasonal menu beckon you to this homey café. Launceston; bryherfood.com. Glass House This aptly named bar, encased in glass on a floating pier, serves shared plates like wallaby tartare. Its cocktails perfectly showcase Tasmanian whiskey. Hobart; theglass.house; small plates $11–$26. Jackman & McRoss Locals love this convivial bakery, an enduring fixture of Hobart’s culinary scene for its breakfasts and fresh pastries. 61-3-6223-3186. Pigeon Hole Café & Bakery This cool, simple spot is a must for coffee, baked goods, and comfort dishes like pork-and-fennel meatballs. Hobart; pigeonholecafe. com.au; entrées $11–$15.
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Stillwater The pacesetter for Launceston fine dining. The Tasmanian wine list pairs with a menu derived from regional ingredients like Lenah wallaby and Flinders Island salt-grass-fed lamb. stillwater.com.au; entrées $16–$62. Templo This blackboard-menu paradise is a culinary wonder packed into a 20-seat space on a back street in Hobart. Come for the communal dining, stay for the unique wines. templo.com.au; entrées $13–$25. MUSEUM MONA A quick ferry ride up the Derwent River from Hobart brings visitors to this popular museum, home to an eccentric billionaire’s private art collection that is by turns irreverent and grotesque. Berriedale; mona.net.au.
MILAN (La Milano Moderna, p. 122)
GETTING THERE Fly to Malpensa International Airport via major European cities including Amsterdam, London, and Paris. HOTELS Armani Hotel Milano Appropriately situated in the center of the city’s fashion district, this extension of the iconic Milanese brand is a great home base for shopping excursions on Via Montenapoleone. armanihotel milano.com; doubles from $694.
Hotel Viu Milan One of several new developments in Milan’s historic Chinatown, this property has an imposing façade that is softened by walls covered with greenery. The interiors are outfitted with custom furniture from Italian design group Molteni & C. hotelviu milan.com; doubles from $244. Mandarin Oriental Through a partnership with the Brera Pinacoteca, the hotel offers guests exclusive access to the museum during off-hours and even oncein-a-lifetime private tours from a conservator. mandarinoriental. com; doubles from $696. Sina the Gray This design hotel in a renovated palazzo incorporates off-the-wall touches, like beds hanging from colorful ropes, and unique furnishings in each of its 21 rooms and suites. sinahotels. com; doubles from $318.
Carlo e Camilla in Segheria Celebrity chef Carlo Cracco (veteran of Michelin-starred institutions like Florence’s Enoteca Pinchiorri) worked with designer Tanja Solci to renovate this 1920s sawmill building where the lofty, bare-bones dining room is adorned with chandeliers. carloecamilla insegheria.it; entrées $26–$33. Ceresio 7 Restaurant Spend all day at this idyllic rooftop escape, lunching alfresco by the two openair pools before moving indoors for digestifs at the old-school American Bar. ceresio7.com; entrées $39–$53. Unico Milano On the 20th floor of the WJC Tower, chef Fabrizio Ferrari reroutes traditional regional ingredients in new and wonderful directions, against panoramas of the Milanese skyline and the Italian Alps. unicorestaurant.it; entrées $33–$43.
RESTAURANTS & BARS Botanical Club Italy’s first-ever craft-gin distillery has two culinary outposts: a restaurant on Via Pastrengo serving refined pasta and secondi, and a Via Tortona location with globally inspired small plates and raw-bar fare. Both highlight the proprietary gin on their cocktail menus. thebotanical club.com; small plates $12–$20.
MUSEUMS & GALLERIES Armani Silos Take a sartorial journey through Giorgio Armani’s prolific career at this fashion museum, which also maintains an extensive digitized collection of the designer’s sketches, ad campaigns, and other archival materials. armanisilos.com. Brera Pinacoteca Founded by Napoleon in 1809, this Milan institution is home to Renaissance masterpieces like Bellini’s Pietà as well as modern works by the likes of Boccioni and Modigliani. pinacotecabrera.org. Fondazione Prada Current installations at this Rem Koolhaas– designed space include a sitespecific project by the Gelitin art collective and a retrospective on the artists of postwar Chicago. fondazioneprada.org. MUDEC Explore multimedia ethnographic exhibitions at Milan’s museum of art and culture, housed in a soaring former industrial plant. mudec.it.
WORTH A VISIT
Experience Park, once the grounds for the 2015 Milan Expo, is now a public space with an open-air theater and the popular Tree of Life, which offers hourly fountain and light shows.
Content in this issue was produced with assistance from Barbados Tourism Authority, Big Five Tours & Expeditions, Dunton Town House, the Islington, Lone Star Boutique Hotel & Restaurant, Macq 01, Manoir Hovey, Saffire, Sea-U Guest House, and Tourism Australia.
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CABARET TROPICANA in HAVANA , CUBA Illustration by Andrea Ferolla
W
e felt as if we’d traveled through time, and not just because of the classic car we’d arrived in. The word Tropicana glowed against glossy palm fronds, a sign that was part cool midcentury glamour, part Caribbean fever dream. The illuminated letters appeared to shiver, as if to the beat of an unheard rumba. We had reached Havana’s famed open-air cabaret. Built in 1939 on the lush, manicured grounds of a private home, Tropicana was once the only major Cuban-owned casino in town. After the revolution, it was among the few allowed to remain open. Today, ghosts linger in its photo-lined café: here, Carmen Miranda; there, Paul Robeson. At the door, my partner was handed a cigar. I received a single red rose.
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Through the haze of smoke, I recognized homages to a few of the legendary numbers (I was reading Tropicana Nights, the excellent history of the club) choreographed by Roderico “Rodney” Neyra, a kind of Cuban Bob Fosse, before the revolution. Showgirls shimmied in large and elaborate costumes—a chandelier, a coconut tree—that covered little of their bodies. Tropicana was no longer the glitzy, high-rolling club of yore. We mixed our own cocktails using the bottle of Havana Club, two cans of tuKola, and bucket of ice that came with our seats. But the cabaret, in all its Technicolor, tropical Modernism, still transported: a riot of green, lit by neon, against a starry sky, a chorus of drums reverberating into the night. cabaret-tropicana.com; performance tickets from $75. — MOLLY MCARDLE
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