Travel writer with a love for covering world music. Graduate of Columbia School of International Affairs. JohnOseid@gmail.com
Mahón, Mayonnaise And More: Menorca’s Capital Delivers
As you sail Spain’s Balearic Islands and enter one of the world’s biggest natural harbors, you might wonder how you had never even heard of Mahón. Calm and quiet, the capital of Menorca island was built up by the British in the 18th century and retains some quirky Anglo traits. It doesn’t take long to wander its compact and fine old town that sits high above its coveted harbor. And just minutes outside of city limits you’ll be exploring a rural realm of nature reserves that coexist with luxur...
Taking In Menorca’s Rural Vibes
There are great bar lounges. There are wicked natural caves. There are amazing sunsets. Put them all together and it’s a guarantee that the Cova d’en Xoroi bar on the southeast coast of Spain’s Menorca island is the craziest place you’ve ever had a sunset drink. After all, you’re tucked one hundred feet above the pounding waves on a deck plopped on a ledge in the limestone cliffs.
Far less commercially developed than its big cousin Mallorca just across a Balearic Sea strait in the Mediterrane...
Ciutadella: Menorca’s Curious Second City
Along with Menorca’s capital Mahón, Ciutadella on the west coast is the Spanish island’s only other real city, and was itself the capital during the 18th-century British occupation. Still small today, Ciutadella is one of those Mediterranean towns made for wandering in which you might hardly see a soul spent in an afternoon along its narrow streets lined with honey-colored houses. While you can enter the lovely little open courtyard of the Bishop’s Residence, the 13th-century cathedral itself...
Exploring The Far-Flung Side Of Mallorca
Mallorca can be flashy, for sure. But not everywhere. From north to south, the Balearic island’s whole eastern side is dotted with orchards and vineyards, small towns and natural wonders.
Opening up right off the sea in the east coast fishing village of Porto Cristo, the Drach Caves are a captivating look into the heart of Mallorca’s karst landscape. A stable, wide pathway leads you easily through this almost-mile long, spectacular cave system with dramatically-placed lighting that brings out...
Mallorca And Its Magic Mountains
Its ports may be full of yachts, its beaches packed with sun and sand seekers, and its restaurants loaded with seafood lovers, but you don’t have to go far to discover a quieter side to Mallorca. Indeed, the whole northwestern coast of Spain’s small Balearic island is dominated by the imposing Tramuntana mountain range whose old stone villages could take days to properly explore.
The Tramuntana has earned UNESCO Cultural Landscape status for its agricultural terraces and ancient water managem...
The Ports Of Palma: Exploring A Vibrant Coastal Scene In Mallorca
No matter how many castles you’ve visited on your world travels, you’ll admire the symmetrical beauty of Mallorca’s circular Bellver Castle at the western edge of the capital Palma. The 14th-century defensive palace surrounded by hilly pine woodland was built for James II, a.k.a. King Jaume whose name you see all over Mallorca. Today, it makes for the perfect starting point to visit ports, resorts and restaurants all just minutes away from Palma’s old town.
By the 18th century, Bellver had be...
Palma De Mallorca: Old Villas Morph Into Hotels In The Balearic Capital
The city of Palma is so compact that you’d never guess that more than 400,000 souls make it their home. And yet, even with an addition of millions who descend upon the island of Mallorca in summer, the capital of Spain’s Balearic archipelago proves itself perfectly peaceful as you wander the narrow mazes of Moorish-era streets.
As ever more of Palma’s old villas become small hotels these days, you couldn’t find a quieter abode than the Boutique Hotel Sant Jaume in the heart of the old town. O...
Villa Dagmar, Stockholm’s New It Hotel
It’s a family affair. Opened last spring, the Villa Dagmar hotel in Stockholm’s upscale Östermalm district is an homage to the Malmström ownership family’s larger-than-life, early family member Dagmar Bergsten and was inspired by the art-filled villa that she and her husband Karl owned on Sweden’s southwest Scania coast.
On the short, but nicely pedestrianized and commercially vibrant Nybrogatan street, Villa Dagmar belongs to the same family already known for their long-time operation of the...
Svenskt Tenn: A Legendary Stockholm Design House Nears Its Century Mark
One of the urban world’s great waterfront boulevards, Stockholm’s Strandvägen is lined with enormous residential buildings. Passersby at the handsome Kvarteret Bodarna complex at Strandvägen 5 might miss the ground floor tenant’s unassuming signage, but behind the doors an enormous showroom has held pride of place for nearly a century.
The name Svenskt Tenn, meaning simply Swedish pewter, may be equally unflashy, yet the interior design firm’s storied wares and works will thrill the design bu...
In Stockholm, The Hotel Diplomat Is An Ambassador For Swedish Art
Before we even get to the admirable Art Nouveau elements and the serious art collection, let’s head straight up. Fans of swell old-timey birdcage elevators will be riding to heaven as they ascend the six-story Hotel Diplomat on Stockholm’s Strandvägen bayfront boulevard in the Östermalm district.
Just inside the small foyer, that lovely antique steel elevator with its leafy design motif serves as a fine introduction to the rich history behind this 1907 building. The Diplomat shares a courtyar...
S.A.L.T.—Silversea Cruises’ Tasty New Culinary Program
As international health recommendations vary and change rapidly, as with the C.D.C.’s issuing of a cruise caution yesterday, Silversea Cruises updates its strict sailing guidelines and protocols on its health and safety page. Let the following preview on the S.A.L.T. culinary program whet your appetite for things to come in the new year.
Salt. Word now has it that, in fact, you can’t get enough of it. Okay, not that wonderful and essential sodium compound. When you hear the word on your Silve...
Silver Moon And Silver Dawn: Newest In The Silversea Cruises Muse-Class Of Ships
As international health recommendations often change, strict sailing guidelines and protocols get updated on the Silversea Cruises health and safety page.
For most of us, it’s likely been awhile since we were truly over the moon about a new travel experience. Now, the new 596-passenger Silver Moon promises to get you there, with this latest entry from Silversea Cruises having set sail earlier this year.
Also, this past mid-November, Silversea took delivery of the Silver Dawn, its tenth luxury...
Somiedo: Northern Spain’s Mountainous Biosphere Reserve
Just southeast of the Asturian capital city of Oviedo, adventurous visitors can do a deep dive into that Spanish region’s industrial past, literally so by donning overalls, boots and gloves and grabbing a hard hat and lamp to descend into the old coal mine at Pozo Sotón.
Pozo Sotón is one of several such former operations in which today erstwhile miners serve as your (literally so sometimes) hands on guides. For them, it’s a far cry experience from that of their forebearers who in the 1930s w...
Picos De Europa: Spain’s Otherworldy Mountains In Asturias
Hardly more than a hundred souls make their home in Sotres. If you follow a dirt road from this mountain village up a glacial valley, you’ll think you’re headed to what seems the end of the world. Yet, in a matter of minutes you’ll come upon a cluster of old stone huts tucked at the base of jagged peaks. Not a gambling den, nor a “bull meadow” as its name suggests, this spot called Vegas del Toro in the Picos de Europa massif is devoted to sheep grazing.
Here in Spain’s northern Asturias regi...
Gijón: An Art Nouveau Surprise On Spain’s Cantabrian Coast
It’s like two cities for the price of one. In northern Spain, Gijón both occupies and straddles a small peninsula that juts into the Cantabrian Sea. On either side of the headland you’ll find separate waterfront and beach scenes, and thus distinct vibes.
The peninsula itself was home to a Roman settlement called Cimavilla and culminates at a hilltop parkland where today families and dog walkers stroll past a huge concrete structure with a space-agey edge to it. The renowned Basque sculptor Ed...