|

Not Your Father’s Holiday Inn

I visited two Holiday Inns in the Cartagena area and was impressed with both properties. At the Holiday Inn Express Cartagena Bocagrande, I met the representative from Colombia Tourism, who noted that the country has had a remarkable surge of travelers, a 28% increase between 2016 and 2017. It’s not surprising when you consider that a room at this new hotel (not like any Holiday Inn I’ve seen in the US) is less than 100 dollars a night including a buffet breakfast, with rooftop pool, and only a 5-minute walk to the beach. Even more impressive was the Holiday Inn Cartagena Morros property just north of the airport. This is a contemporary resort on the beach with outdoor pool, large fitness center, and breakfast buffet. I just looked at the cost for tonight and it’s only $103 US. A 15-minute drive from Old Town on a wide stretch of beach, this is an affordable find. 

 

Similar Posts

|

Favorite Travel Days in 2011, Rafting and Rock Climbing with Austin-Lehman Adventures in Alberta

Each January, I like to look back at the prior year of travel and pick my five favorite travel days that come to mind. Not to boast about where I’ve been on assignment, but to point you in the right direction. You’ll be happy to find yourselves in any of these five locales.

in late July, my family of four took a memorable six-day, five night trip into the Canadian Rockies with the highly reputable outfitter, Austin-Lehman Adventures. Based in neighboring Montana, few if any outfitters know this mountainous terrain better. Each day was jam-packed with adventure, like taking a glacier walk on the famous Icefields Parkway, biking down a backcountry road surrounded by snow-capped peaks on the outskirts of Banff, and taking walks away from the masses to a lonely lake in Lake Louise. Yet, it was hard to top the day we spent in Kananaskis Valley, an hour outside of Calgary. In the morning, we rafted the Kananaskis River and the afternoon rock climbed on the face on Mt. Yamnuska. The river was a rip-roaring ride on glacial-fed waters that certainly cooled down when splashed. My 15 year-old son, Jake, got a wake-up call when he was thrown out of the raft and we had to pull him back in.

At Yamnuska, I followed my daughter up the rock face twice, peering down over the U-shaped valley once atop. It was wonderful to share my love of adventure with my wife and kids and to be in the more than capable hands of the ALA guides. My kids had never rafted or rock-climbed before that day and are now hooked on both sports. My detailed story on the six-day trip will appear in The Boston Globe this spring and I’ll be sure to pass that along. 

|

Thoreau’s Maine Woods, A New Exhibition at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Henry David Thoreau’s “The Maine Woods,” the Harvard Museum of Natural History is showcasing the works of photographer Scot Miller. Miller has traversed the state of Maine for seven years retracing Thoreau’s epic exploration. The exhibition, on view through September 1, 2014, will also feature a snowshoe made for Thoreau by the Penobscot Indians and a beautiful new illustrated edition of Thoreau’s book. As an outdoors writer based in New England, I’ve also spent a good deal of time following in Thoreau’s footsteps. You can see my story in Sierra Magazine on paddling a similar route Thoreau used while writing “The Maine Woods.”

(Photograph by Scot Miller, courtesy of the Harvard Museum of Natural History) 

|

Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis to Headline Festival International de Jazz

Called the world’s largest jazz festival by the Guinness Book of World Records, the 37th annual Festival International de Jazz returns to Montreal June 29th to July 9th. Concerts are scheduled from noon to midnight for 10 days and nights at 15 concert halls and eight outdoor stages. This year’s line-up, just announced, will certainly keep the crowds happy. The Chick Corea Trio, Wynton Marsalis and his Lincoln Center Orchestra, Rufus Wainwright, Lauryn Hill, the Avishai Cohen Trio, Melody Gardot, Gregory Porter, and Noel Gallagher are just a few of the many impressive performers that will appear. Participating hotels like Square Phillips Hotel and the Hyatt Regency Montreal are offering packages that include lodging, breakfast, and tickets to the venue. 

 
 
|

See the Met Fashion Show at The Cloisters

In the world of exhibitions, there are juxtapositions of talent and space that just work brilliantly. Take Chihuly’s twisting and curving glass, now a mainstay at botanical gardens across the country. Putting contemporary fashion into five medieval cloisters is another gem of an idea. The Cloisters, at the tip of northern Manhattan, is now the uptown branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Take the A-train to 190th Street, grab an elevator up, and you’ll soon be walking through Fort Tryon Park high above the Hudson to the monastery-like buildings that John Rockefeller donated to the city in the 1920s. Living in the city for close to a decade, I only made it up here once to see the celebrated Unicorn Tapestries and Medieval manuscripts in the towering buildings. Now there are crowds coming to see Alexander McQueen, Valentino, Balenciaga and more than 50 other designers presenting their interpretations of a Catholic theme in the show titled Heavenly Bodies, on view through October 8th. Dresses created with the imagery of Bosch’s "Garden of Earthly Delights," from Japanese designer Jun Takahashi, was a favorite of our group. Just as impressive as the show and the architecture, including massive wooden doors from the 15th century that lead to each room, are the outdoor terraces. My niece, Sarah, who goes to school at Teachers College at Columbia University, about 70 blocks south of the exhibition on 120th Street, showed me around a Medieval garden of intriguing curiosities straight of Shakespearean times. Definitely worth the effort to make it up here! 

 
|

Yoga Atop New England’s Tallest Peak

Carlene Sullivan, owner of Symmetree Yoga in North Conway, New Hampshire, has just introduced a 2-night Yoga Adventure, where you take a guided hike or drive to the top of 6,288-foot Mount Washington, and top it off with yoga and meditation on the summit surrounded by the other ridges of the White Mountains. Prices start at $260 per person and include two nights’ accommodation, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, yoga class, breath work, and meditation, and transportation to the site from North Conway. Carlene also offers day-trips, where you hike to a serene spot in the Whites and have your own private yoga session next to a waterfall or rambling stream. 
 

|

Trustees Sites Not To Be Missed, The Guest House at Field Farm, Williamstown

Two of the finest art exhibitions in New England will take place in the Berkshires this summer. “Splendor, Myth, and Vision: Nudes From the Prado” will be on display at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown from June 11th through October 10th. Twenty-eight Old Master paintings, including works by Titian, Velasquez, Rubens, and Tintoretto will be on display. Just down the road in North Adams, Mass MoCA will feature “Explode Every Day: An Inquiry Into the Phenomena of Wonder.” Opening on May 28th, the ambitious show will exhibit works designed to explore wonder through the eyes of 20 contemporary artists. 

 
Once you’ve had your fill of art, relax at the Guest House at Field Farm in Williamstown, a 5-bedroom inn run by the Trustees. The Bauhaus-era home is also an art piece, a perfect example of American modernism. Walking into the living room is like walking into a post-modern early 60s museum set where Don Draper is your host. Unlike the rectilinear architecture, all furniture seems to have curves, from the Isamu Noguchi glass coffee table to the swan-backed couch by Vladimir Kagan. Large glass windows take in the stunning views of Mount Greylock. Grab a glass of wine, sit outside on the patio, and take it all in. 
 

Leave a Reply