Deep green, volcanic ridges, a beautiful coastline, warm, friendly people and great gardens and waterfalls help make St. Vincent a top Caribbean destination that’s just a bit off the beaten track. I recently spent several days traipsing about the island of St. Vincent and briefly visiting the island of Bequia. I’ll deal with Bequia later, but for now here’s a look at the lovely and lush island of St. Vincent itself. It’s a real stunner, with a gorgeous coastline and lots more to offer. The beach at the Beachcomber Hotel south of Kingstown is a pretty spot with fantastic sunsets. Read more
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CALGARY – From old school to new age, and from Brazilian coffee to Chinese statues, Kensington is one cool shopping destination. I didn’t know a lot about the area prior to a visit I made to the wonderful Kensington Riverside Inn a few months ago (more on that later in this blog). But I had an awesome time checking out a very urban – and urbane – part of a city that doesn’t get enough credit for its hip neighborhoods. I started my walk around Kensington Ave. and 10 th St. NW, checking out the tattoo shops (I didn’t indulge, Read more
JIM BYERS PHOTO. The Richardson Olmsted Complex near downtown Buffalo is being restored and turned, in part, into a boutique hotel and architecture centre. BUFFALO, NEW YORK – Mea Culpa. For years, as I recall, the head of media/public relations for Buffalo Tourism had been bugging me to come on down and check things out. I envisioned cool architecture and chicken wings and a nice Frank Lloyd Wright building Ihad heard about. I covered the Buffalo Bills off and on for the Star’s sports section in the early 2000’s, but I didn’t have a strong mental image of the city in Read more
JIM BYERS PHOTO Colaneri winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake looks like something out of Tuscany. Great wines, too. NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE – A wonderful B and B with a Florentine co-owner. An organic Italian gelato place run by the same woman and her husband. And a winery where they make their vino in the Italian style in a series of buildings that look like they were shipped from a sleepy hillside in Tuscany. Sure, you can go to this pretty southern Ontario town and indulge yourself in British (and faux British) hotels and plays and bars. There’s nothing wrong with that. But you also Read more
BANFF, ALBERTA – It’s one of the great tourist attractions of Canada. And one of the top views in the world. I’ve been up the Sulphur Mountain Gondola in Banff several times. This year was the first time I’d done it in winter. And it was spectacular. I was out in the Rockies on a recent visit and had been hoping to do a helicopter tour near Kananaskis _ a gorgeous part of Alberta – and maybe some snowshoeing high in the mountains. But the winds were fierce and the chopper pilot said it wasn’t safe to fly. I always Read more
