SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA – This drop-dead-gorgeous city in southern California already has endless beaches, bountiful sunshine, urban wineries selling delicious local wines and killer restaurants featuring a huge array of local cuisine. Now they’re working on a permanent, new market complex that should open next year, one that could rival Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market or the wild and wonderful Pike’s Place in Seattle. It’s just not fair that an area that already has such natural beauty and can probably make almost everything except maple syrup is kicking it up a notch like that, but nobody ever said tourism was fair. Read more
food
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA – Beautiful views. Fabulous food. Colourful culture. And a great, chic hotel. This has always been one of my favourite towns, with truly iconic sights and just about anything you could ask for in a vacation spot. We started our weekend with a visit to the unbelievable farmers market on Arizona Ave. There were organic vegetable of just about type and size; leeks and limes, Japanese turnips, ripe orange persimmons, giant bush-sized bunches of romaine lettuce, crisp apples and strawberries as red as a shiny fire truck. They put a lot of pride on organic products in Read more
MONTREAL – New finds in one of North America’s oldest – and best – cities. The other day I talked about some new spots in emerging parts of Montreal. But there are equally great places in the old city; some tried and true places and some new and emerging. On the old front, you simply can’t beat a nice afternoon in Place d’Armes. Montreal has plenty of ordinary, modern architecture (probably it’s worse than Toronto, or just as bad) downtown. But this part of town is something else; majestic stone buildings (mostly) and the hugely impressive Notre Dame Cathedral surrounding Read more
MONTREAL – You’ve cruised Crescent St. You’ve paraded through the Plateau. And you’ve wandered the streets of Westmount. Looking for something new in Montreal? Check out Griffintown, Little Burgundy and the burgeoning Saint-Henri neighbourhoods for some fun shops and tasty treats. Our tour guide, the delightful Rene Lemieux, drove us through Griffintown, which feels a bit like the Distillery District with old warehouses and factories converted to condos and a forest of construction cranes building new condos and a new ALT Hotel, part of the lovely Le Germain group. We also toured Little Burgundy, which used to be home to Read more
NEVIS – I think I’m in love. I’ve only been on this Caribbean island two days but I’ve packed a ton of great experiences into my 48 hours. And I’ve loved every minute of it. It’s a place I didn’t know a lot about, having never been to St. Kitt’s, which is a mere two miles away and is part of the same country. But it’s a stunner; tranquil, quiet and lovely, with some of the nicest people you’ll find on this planet of ours. I’ve been to a fair number of Caribbean countries, and this has to be right Read more
