John Oseid

Lisbon is booming these days, as a great city deserves to be. Its arts scene has always been robust, from institutions like the long-established world-class Calouste Gulbenkian Museum to the new Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology MAAT), and even newer MAC/CCB Museum of Contemporary Art. And yet Lisbon as an arts center somehow remains under the radar and lesser known than other major European cities.
You just need to know where to look, and a museum’s worth of Modernist treasures can ...

It’s always a wonderful thing when a full-on renovation fully respects the roots of a historic edifice—be it hotel, museum, or modest private home—and doesn’t erase the past. While that’s certainly not always the case (talking to you, NYC), a recent major hotel project in Lisbon absolutely hit the sweet spot of rejuvenating the past and modernizing at the same time.
Sitting above the huge Marquis of Pombal Square at the top of swank and leafy Liberdade Avenue, and overlooking the stately 64-a...

You’ve got grapevines as far as the eye can see, either lusciously green in summer or soon to be deep crimson and gold in fall harvest colors. Then there’s all that rich red soil around you. And that’s just from your window at the new Grange Dundee Hills inn which opened mid-summer in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
Who knew soils could have such poetic names, as you’ll discover in any of the nine one-off Grange rooms that are named for signature Willamette Valley earth types. On the second floor...

As mass movements go, you don't want to miss this one brewing in Portland. You’ve likely never thought about mass timber. Nor does the word glulam—that’s light-weight, mega-strong laminated wood—ring a bell. But get to the city’s airport and you’ll discover that a timber wave of the future has just taken off there, as in the literal form of a wavy new roof. And its soaring, elegant latticed framework is thrilling a city that has already long loved its airport (sorry, LAX).
After more than a d...

Not too many years ago, few North American travelers outside of wine aficionados had ever heard of the northern Portuguese city of Porto, let alone traveled up the Douro river upon which it lies, nor into the vineyard-rich Douro Valley. That’s hardly the case today. Having just opened upriver from town in 2021, Vinha Boutique Hotel has instantly upped the Porto and Douro game, for both its design and culinary prowess.
Lying across from Porto on the Douro left bank, the nine-acre Leading Hotel...

By now, the resurrection of Lisbon is a well told tale; how out of economic malaise a city reinvented itself into one that the world is flocking to in droves these days. And all those visitors at one point or other make their way to the compact and thriving Bairro Alto district.
Much of that draw can be credited to the Bairro Alto Hotel that anchors the Praça Luís de Camões, a square between the Bairro Alto and Chiado districts that with its gorgeous maritime-themed floor mosaics is as fine a...

Like all of Portugal, the richly layered city of Porto is hot these days—not so much as in summer temperatures, but as in deservedly mega-popular hot. After a day of trekking the hilly Douro river town, you’ll welcome a retreat from the crowds. Three miles outside of town on a breezy bend in the fabled river, you can lay your head in the stunning Pestana Palácio do Freixo, a Monumento Nacional that stands out from cookie-cutter hotels on the banks.
With the palace’s four corner towers and ric...

You’d be hard pressed to find a quieter corner in Lisbon than the Lapa district. Well, this hilly city of curvy streets doesn’t have many corners per se, but refined Lapa stands out for its embassies and consulates, and mansions and villas with fine gardens, all haunts of the city’s Old World personages.
Acquired shortly after its late-19th century construction by a count who came from a line that dates to the 15th century, the Olissippo Lapa Palace is an especially tranquil property there to...

Some five years ago, the luxury cruise line Silversea decided to upend its dining and drinks offerings, figuratively of course, with something unlike anything else at sea. And thus was born their successful S.A.L.T. culinary and cocktail experiment that continues to evolve with each new ship iteration and which complements the already wide range of dining options on their ships.
To spearhead S.A.L.T., Silversea promptly turned to former Saveur magazine editor-in-chief Adam Sachs (a former col...

When you’ve got a winning formula, stick with it. Even before Silversea launched their first new Nova Class vessel last year with the handsome Silver Nova, the luxury cruise line knew that its Silver Ray sister ship would be an equally instant followup hit. The launch of the Silver Ray, whose naming ceremony took place last month in Lisbon, also happened to mark the line’s 30th anniversary. And now, as the twelfth ship in the fleet, the Silver Ray is rapidly gaining fans as it cruises the Med...

Start packing. That never-ending world cruise you’ve been dreaming of is here…well, coming pretty soon, anyway. Setting sail in January, 2027, the intimate Silver Dawn ship will be your home for the five months that make up The Three Oceans World Cruise 2027 offered by the luxury and expedition Silversea cruise line.
Yes, that’s three full oceans—count ‘em, Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic. For the record, you’ll be calling in 35 countries and 80 destinations, with 20 of the latter being first t...

The enormously popular Palm Springs Modernism Week with its open house tours may have just passed, but no worries if you couldn’t make it. So rich is the city’s and the surrounding Coachella Valley’s architectural heritage that there’s no end to discovering more on the masters who, beginning nearly a century ago, made all of today’s cherished Desert Modernism happen.
Recently opened in the Edwards Harris Pavilion at the Palm Springs Art Museum’s Architecture and Design Center, the show Albert...

Every June 8, stewards of the marine environment and other biodiversity activist organizations celebrate World Oceans Day. Taking as a cue this year’s theme of Planet Ocean: Tides are Changing, the Relais & Châteaux member association illustrates proactive approaches the luxury travel industry can take in instructing chefs and diners on the need to stop sourcing, serving and consuming vital and vulnerable ocean species.
Given that a full 20% of the 580 Relais & Châteaux restaurants and hotels...

By nature, posters are largely ephemeral items, meant as not much more than quotidian commercial promotions. But very often, in fact, they rise to superb works of art. How gorgeous are those enormous vintage, and now-pricey, advertisements for Dubonnet aperitif or Pernod absinthe. What stunning hand-drawn illustrations promoted mid-century’s glamorous new ski resorts or the chic and exotic destinations that airlines like Air France or Air India promised.
And now, works like all those have tha...

As revivals of quintessential Old West towns go, that of Deadwoood, South Dakota has been as robust as they get, with the Black Hills star buzzing with activity today. Some of what attracts 2.5 million visitors a year surely comes through the recent popularity of a period TV series, but the important key is that city leaders several decades ago decided to rescue a rich architectural heritage from decline.
With the newly-renovated Deadwood Mountain Grand casino hotel as your base (see recent p...