Travel

I have briskly strode the streets of Old San Juan on many occasions, I have sauntered through them but once. This 500-year-old city can be just as easy to hate as it is to love. If you only look at the surface, the city’s whimsy runs no deeper than the pastel paint adorning its Spanish colonial buildings. To truly love La Ciudad Amurallada, one must first scale its stone walls and look beyond its many blemishes; and, frankly, this is impossible to achieve without first surrendering to “island time.”

I love looking forward to something, and I feel very lucky to be able to (almost) have something to be anticipated; be it a meal with friends on the weekend, that bottle of wine I have in the cellar, or that big trip we are planning next year.

Boats have always been part of human history. Sumerian people, Greeks, and even Vikings found part of their culture in navigation, and their sailing techniques improved every time. A common factor that drives modern gentlemen to fall in love with the nautical world is exploration.

Staying at the Four Seasons anywhere is (for all but the wealthiest) a privileged treat and while the brand is consistent across the world, certain properties – whether due to architecture, management, or the local neighborhood – are better than others. And it’s hard to imagine many surpassing the elegance and beauty of the Four Seasons St. Petersburg where a stay harkens the great Amor Towel’s novel A Gentleman in Moscow in which a life of “house arrest” actually seems enviable within a glamourous and opulent hotel.

This story originally appeared on the Gents Cafe Newsletter. You can subscribe here. I don’t know about you,…

This story originally appeared on the Gents Cafe Newsletter. You can subscribe here. There is something freeing about…

When it comes to classic European sensibilities and taste, Britain is up there with the Italians and French.…