“Hot and Cool” Merge in Marrakech’s Murano Oriental Resort
Myrna Katz Frommer and Harvey Frommer Murano Oriental Resort is cool. The luxe property combines the exotic and hip in a setting of high design. Hot meets cool in Palmeraie, a seemingly endless stretch of desert on the outskirts of Marrakech where palm trees (protected by the king) grow undisturbed — even in the middle [...]
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Keeping the Miracle in Mind at Tel Aviv’s Sheraton Hotel & Towers
There is a Frenchman at the helm of the Sheraton Tel Aviv, and he fits it (to coin a cliché) like a glove. The elegant Jean-Louis Ripoche was born in Paris, his family comes from the Loire Valley, and he brings to the property an élan and savoir faire bred of his Gallic roots. At [...]
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The Call of Istanbul (part 1)
It was a bright and beautiful Wednesday in August 2001, the afternoon our first day in Istanbul We emerged from the cool comfort of the gleaming and glamorous Divan Hotel into a high-end neighborhood of late 20th century buildings and crossed a wide boulevard teeming with traffic. On the opposite side, in a municipal park the [...]
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The Call of Istanbul (part 2)
continued… see part 1 The next morning, prompted by memories of the movie where Melina Mercouri plans and nearly succeeds in a fantastic jewel heist, we returned to Sultanahmet to see the actual dagger and jeweled treasures of Topkapi Palace — only to discover the Treasury Room was among those sections closed for renovations. But [...]
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Big News on Miami’s South Beach: The Hotel Breakwater
South Beach, Miami. A starry Monday night, the week of Thanksgiving. Cars cruising up and down Ocean Drive, slowly, taking in the scene. To one side, the beach and the sea –save for waves crashing against the shore, dark and silent. To the other, a line of hotels, deep courtyards between them, live bands or [...]
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The Riviera Palm Springs: Where the Mid 20th Century Lingers into the 21st
We had just been comfortably seated in the Riviera Palm Springs’ signature dining room, ordered a couple of drinks and begun perusing the menu, when seemingly from out of nowhere – a piano solo, a delicate tinkle of melody in the treble followed by some brassy bars in the bass, and then: “Out of the [...]
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Grace and Grandeur at the Grand del Mar
You walk into the lobby of this resort in northern San Diego and pass a table with a bouquet of roses and hydrangeas. It’s the size of a giant balloon; the flowers are fresh and glorious. But you’re too distracted to fully take in the image — there’s so much to look at, you don’t [...]
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A Tale of Two Hotels in One of the Oldest Cities in the World: The Hotel Grand Vesuvio, The Hotel Excelsior Naples Italy
We are sitting with Franco Milano on an evening in the beautiful classical lounge of the Hotel Excelsior. Cream-colored Roman shades have been lowered over the French doors and windows that line the room of this historic property. Soft light from antique Murano chandeliers spills over tall glass vases filled with white and fuchsia orchids. [...]
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On An Island In The Most Beautiful City Of Them All: Hotel des Ètrangers et Miramare
“The greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all,” said Cicero, the Roman philosopher. He was speaking of Syracuse, the city along the southeast coast of Sicily founded by the Corinthians in the eighth century B.C. They were followed by the Romans, Arabs, Byzantines, Bourbons, Aragonites, Normans and Swedes, and all have left [...]
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La Quinta Resort & Spa Blooms Beautifully in the Desert
Like his Old Testament namesake, Rafael Corona is an angel, albeit an earthbound one who works his miracles in the desert of Palm Springs, California.Turn up Eisenhower Drive, and a mass of petunias, pansies, poinsettia, geraniums, begonias, dahlias and daisies will rise up before you, a riot of red and fuchsia, purple and pink, lavender [...]
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