Love-Hate Relationship

There are some cities that refuse to lay down. They possess a certain spirit that can push through the rubble of history’s most turbulent times, to grow, flourish and flower. The German city of Frankfurt is one such city.

For centuries, Frankfurt has been one of Europe’s most important and enduring trading capitals. Despite a history of fires, plague, occupation, and war, it continues to rise. Frankfurt today is home to the European Central Bank, The German Stock Exchange and an airport that handles almost 60 million travelers a year.

Yet surprisingly, it’s relaxed too, a place where tradition and beauty are lovingly cultivated and enjoyed. This balance of dynamism and tradition is best exemplified in the city’s architecture. Frankfurt is often called Manhattan, due to its position on the Main River and a skyline that often feels more American than European.

Yet the city, which was once home to one of the most glorious medieval centers in Europe, still nurtures its proud heritage through rebuilding and restoration projects. Despite its stature as a financial giant, Frankfurt remains surprisingly compact. Most of its attractions are clustered close to the city center, making the city perfect for exploring on foot or by bicycle.

Continue reading “Welcome to the City That Prospers Its Bounty to the Entire World, Frankfurt”

Welcome to Seoul, the capital of the Republic of South Korea. For decades the city known as The Miracle of The Han, kept its head down, barely raising a ripple as the country rebuilt in the decades following the Korean War.

Today, Seoul has re-emerged as an economic powerhouse and the epicenter of Hallyu, a Korean wave of culture that is sweeping the world’s smartphones, food halls, and dance floors.

But Seoul wasn’t always so outgoing. In the 14th century, a 12-mile fortress wall encircled Korea’s ancient capital; its gates closed each night to keep marauding Siberian tigers and invaders at bay. Since then the city has spilled out far beyond and above its great city gates and Guardian Mountains. 21st century Seoul is a city where glass and steel towers and the ancient curves of palace roofs coexist.

It’s a city where the brushstrokes of the past and contemporary public art tell stories of tradition and inspiration. Continue reading “Reconnoiter the Miracle on the Han’s Imagination in Seoul”

It’s 5000 miles from Singapore, and over 9000 from New York. Yes, New Zealand’s South Island is a long way away from the rest of the world, but it’s a distance that helps make the city of Dunedin so special.

Distance and the promise of new beginnings are what drew two shiploads of Scottish settlers to the South Island’s Otago region in 1848. These wild shores, fern-filled valleys, and ever-changing skies spoke to the hardy Scots, just as they had to the Maori who settled the Otago Peninsula centuries before.

The industrious Scots made their mark all over New Zealand, but nowhere is the Caledonian spirit more alive than in Dunedin. Continue reading “Catch Our Breath and Experience a Little Magic With Your Journey in Dunedin”

Taranaki is a region on the west coast of New Zealand’s north island, about a five- hour drive south of Auckland. It is named after the dramatic volcanic mountain that dominates its skyline, and known for its spectacular landscapes,

Set against a canvas of endless hiking tracks, pristine surf breaks, and world-class skiing, Taranaki is a region where nature and creativity are intimately entwined. Art is everywhere here. It’s in the jaw-dropping landscapes. It’s in the art trails and festivals peppered throughout the region. It’s even in the bridges and on the wind. Continue reading “Savor the spectacular scenery, powerful artistic legacy and epic outdoor adventures on Taranaki”

Filled with over 39 trillion gallons of pure Sierra snowmelt and pushed a mile into the Californian and Nevada skies, Lake Tahoe is the USA’s largest alpine lake, and one of the country’s oldest, year-round vacation playgrounds.

Lake Tahoe has forever drawn travelers to its shores, from the Native Americans who call this place Big Water, to the trappers, timber cutters and pioneers who followed.

In the 1870s, an awestruck Mark Twain wrote, “to breathe the same air like angels, you must go to Tahoe”. By the time the 20th century rolled ‘round, lodges, taverns, and casinos had sprung up all around Tahoe’s shoreline catering to legions of weary city folk, keen to experience that heavenly air for themselves. Continue reading “14 Beautiful Tourist Attraction of a Kind of Water Heaven, Lake Tahoe”

Fabulously wealthy and gilded by history, the Principality of Monaco lies on the French Riviera in Western Europe. Smaller than New York’s Central Park, this graceful destination is bordered by France and the sparkling Mediterranean sea.

With ancient streets full of exotic cars, a natural harbor filled with super yachts and a glittering royal legacy, Monaco is a tiny relic of medieval Europe that has made itself at home in the 21st century.

It draws the rich, the famous and those seeking the kind of lifestyle usually only found on the silver screen.

Continue reading “Visit the City That is the Forefront of the World’s Imagination: Monaco”

Floating like an emerald tear-drop between the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea is the island nation of St Lucia. At 27-miles long and 14-miles wide, it’s one of the second largest of the Windward Islands.

Named in honor of St Lucy of Syracuse by early French colonists, you may be surprised to learn that this is the only country on the planet named after a woman. But then again, it will all make perfect sense once you feel the warm embrace of St Lucia’s beaches, forests, and mountains.

St. Lucia has long been a place of shelter: her surrounding maze of hidden coves and bays providing safe harbors throughout the ages. For centuries the original Arawaks and Caribs made their homes around the island’s northern bays,

In the 1550s, the notorious buccaneer, Peg Leg Le Clerc, became the first European to settle here. From his hilltop hideaway on Pigeon Island, he and his fellow swashbucklers would swoop on passing Spanish galleons.

After the pirates came the plantations, and the bittersweet years of sugar and slavery. Between the 17th and 19th centuries, St Lucia was pulled back and forth fourteen times between the French and British, before finally gaining her independence in 1979. While the British brought their rule of law, the French blessed the island with a sense of style that mixed perfectly with the Carib and African cultures. For, just like a woman, St Lucia has always been a place of creation.

Continue reading “Feel the Embrace the World’s Greatest Islands: St Lucia”

Just 3 hours from Miami and 8 from London, is Antigua, the largest island in the nation of Antigua and Barbuda. Whatever time zone you’re coming from, the moment you set foot here, you’re walking in island time.

Christopher Columbus claimed this island for Spain when he sailed past in 1493, but he was in too much of a hurry to stop. Don’t go making the same mistake he did, or you’ll miss out on some of the best beaches and mellowest vibes the Caribbean has to offer.

Antigua’s capital is St John’s, built by British traders 150 years after Columbus first rushed by. High on the hill, The Big Church looks down upon a town of plantation shutters, iron roofs, and colors as bright as our spirit. Mix up a little history and shopping, down by the city’s quays, where old shop-houses have been given new life as cafes, bars, and duty-free boutiques.

Continue reading “Move Slowly and Feel the Island of Antigua”

Bathed by the reflections of the shimmering Adriatic, and with an old town surrounded by walls that have withstood centuries of turmoil, the Croatian city of Dubrovnik remains one of Europe’s most enduring treasures.

Just as an oyster shell protects the life within, Dubrovnik’s walls nurtured a flourishing maritime republic that once rivaled Venice.

For centuries this city of stone and light has dazzled visitors, none more so than the romantic poet Lord Byron, who named the city, The Pearl of The Adriatic.

Continue reading “Welcome to the Pearl of the Adriatic That’s Still Shining, Dubrovnik”

It’s only 93 miles from Florida, and just 13 from the Bahamas, but like the smoke that coils from its legendary cigars, The Republic of Cuba exists in a time and space all it’s own.

Blending the traditions of Spain, Africa, and its native peoples, and lit by the fires of independence and revolution, the aromas, textures, and flavors of this Caribbean nation are like no other. Despite its size, Cuba has punched well above its weight. For centuries its vast plantations satisfied a global appetite for sugar and thirst for the smoothest rums.

In 1962 it played center stage in a nuclear standoff, which made the planet hold its breath for 13 days. And through it all, its infectious rhythms taught the world how to move its hips. Few cities can stir the imagination like Cuba’s capital, Havana, a city preserved by forts and citadels, …a five-mile seawall, …and an imposed embargo which held back the excesses of the 20th century for over 50 years.

Continue reading “Admire This Island Nation That Has Proudly Gone Its Own Way, Cuba”