Top Five Favorite Hotels 2010-2020: #1: Hotel Libertador, Trujillo, Peru

And sometimes everything that I want in a hotel comes together in a single place and, on one occasion, it all came together with absolutely no downsides. My absolute favorite of favorites of all hotels where I've stayed was the Hotel Libertador, located right on the Plaza de Armas at the center of Trujillo, Peru.

Everything I want in a place to stay, the Hotel Libertador had.

Clean, comfortable room?

Check. Comfortable bed and big enough not to be cramped. I don't need my hotel room to be the size of a football arena.

Location convenient to everything? Check. Right beside the Plaza de Armas. And check out the view from my room:

The signature view of all of Trujillo, its most notable landmark, Trujillo's beautiful golden-yellow Cathedral. And despite all the traffic around the Plaza de Armas, the room was silent as a monestary.

Friendly and very helpful staff:

Check. Beautiful and large lobby:

And it wasn't very expensive. Not cheap, but not too expensive. In Peru, everything is really cheap (food, taxis, airfare). Everything except hotels, for some reason. The Hotel Libertador was a warm, welcoming place to stay right in the center of Trujillo action. It really was a perfect "home away from home," if only for three nights.

I take pride in the fact that my list of must-see vacation destinations contains a few idiosyncratic, off-the-well-trod-path choices that are unique to me. Trujillo definitely fit that bill. I was reading about the interesting pre-Inca sights in the area and decided that I needed to go and that I needed to go before I saw the Inca sights in Cusco and Machu Picchu (since I had to do things in the correct chronological order).

Trujillo was a great place to go. And the Hotel Libertador ranks as my favorite hotel at which I've ever stayed. Alas, it is no more. It was rebadged the Hotel Costa Del Sol Trujillo Centro and, apparently, is under new ownership. Some experiences are so wonderful they cannot be experienced again.

Favorite Hotels 2010-2020: U.S. Edition: Wilderness Lodge, Walt Disney World, Florida

Before I name my favorite of favorites among all of the hotels in which I've stayed during my decade of travel, 2010-2020, I will take a detour and name my favorite U.S. hotel where I've stayed. I've been to Walt Disney World in Florida twice. I've enjoyed it both times. I really don't think there is any chance that I will be going back again.

That said: I really enjoyed staying at the Wilderness Lodge inside the park.

My first time at Disney World was in 2000, for the occasion of my 40th birthday. I stayed at the Port Orleans. It was a motel. A large, enormous motel the size of European country. The Wilderness Lodge was an enormous step up.

The interior was patterned after the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone. Having now seen both, I can see it.

The grounds were nice. The pool area was nice.

It had statues of things like armadillos kissing frogs:

Sure. Whatever.

When you stay in the park at Disney World, you are staying literally in Disney WORLD, as in a whole world totally distinct from day-to-day life. Lots of people love the Disney cocoon experience. I've experienced it twice, the second time at a higher end property. I'm glad I did. The Wilderness Lodge is my favorite hotel within the U.S. where I've stayed. But I have sufficient Disney for this lifetime.

Top 5 Favorite Hotels 2010-2020: #2: Grandhotel Pupp, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

The most luxurious hotel in which I have ever stayed -- anywhere, any country, anytime -- was the Grandhotel Pupp in the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary.

This was Old World, old school luxury. This was the kind of place where European royalty would come to "take to the waters" for luxury spa treatments, back in the day when being European royalty meant political power and being a player on the world stage, not just minor celebrity. This is the kind of place where the ceilings are as high as skyscrapers. The lobby is overstaffed with people who want to cater to your whims and make sure no need goes unmet.

Above is the room where the breakfast buffet was served. It was superb.

Below is the main dining room:

And there was lobby after lobby after lobby:

There is nothing utilitarian about the Grandhotel Pupp. Not surprisingly, it was one of the major inspirations for the Grand Budapest Hotel in that awesome Wes Anderson from several years ago that starred Ralph Fiennes as Monsieur Gustave H.

The room was beautiful:

But a bit dated.

And a hotel room which is a bit dated means that there will be one huge massive mega-problem: not enough outlets for all one's 21st Century electronics. But the view from my room was exquisite.

The hotel is located at the far south end of Karlovy Vary (but right next to the funicular!), and my view looked northward.

Dinner in the hotel's restaurant was fantastic. The food was very good, but the atmosphere was what made the night.

And, surprisingly, despite the rooms being a bit dated, the spa area was very much up to date, with a huge pool surrounded by jacuzzis of varying temperatures.

Outside the hotel, embedded among the cobblestones, were various bricks of celebrities who have stayed here over the years. This one caught my eye:

I only had two nights here. More would have been nice.

I'm not sure if I will see the Grandhotel Pupp or Karlovy Vary -- it's a big world with a whole lot to see and not much time to see it -- but I would be happy if circumstances bring me this way again.

Top 5 Favorite Hotels 2010-2020: #3: Azur Palace, Split, Croatia

The only hotel on this short list of favorite hotels during my decade of incessant international travel is found in Split, Croatia: the awesome Azur Palace.

The Azur Palace was brand new the first time I stayed there in September 2014. It was so new that it wasn't even completely done the first time there. Only about 15 or 16 rooms, all on the first floor, were finished.

Even in a partially-open state, the place was amazing. The rooms were large. The sound-proofing between rooms and the with the hallway was the absolute best I've seen (heard, actually). And it had a fantastic coffee/espresso/cappuccino machine in the hallway available 24 hours a day. This was in lieu of offering a breakfast, which the hotel owner promised would be ready "the next time" we were in Split.

Amazingly enough, five years and one month later, there was a "next time".

October 2019. Another trip to Split. There was no hesitation to book another stay at the Azur Palace. And the hotel was a little bigger and even a little better, although (sadly) the coffee/espresso/cappuccino machine was retired now that a buffet breakfast was available.

The Azur Palace has comfortable, quiet, and large rooms. The staff was small, but extremely professional and very helpful. It is located off a quiet, very narrow (how narrow? barely the width of car) side street, but it is very near the Old City area of Split, just inland from Diocletian's Palace (the Old City is basically the remnants of the Dalmatian-born Roman Emperor's retirement palace. And it was only about two blocks from Froggyland:

Two times to Split. Two times staying at the Azur Palace. Two times visiting the wonders of Froggyland. (What is Froggyland? Only one of the greatest attractions the world has to offer. Over 500 taxidermy frogs posed in human-like scenes. I showed a picture -- the courtroom scene was particularly memorable -- but no photos inside are allowed. Froggyland must be experienced in person.)

Top 5 Favorite Hotels 2010-2020: #4: Casa del Arzobispado Hotel, Cartagena, Colombia

The job of the Archbishop in Cartagena, Colombia, must've been a cushy gig, because I stayed at his house and it was awesome.

The Casa del Arzobispado (House of the Archbishop) was a small boutique hotel within the Old City walls of Cartagena, which, if you are going to stay overnight or three in Colombia's #1 international tourism destination, you really ought to stay in the Old City (rather than the high rise corridors of the Miami Beach knock-off Bocagrande neighborhood) (your other option). It doesn't look like much from the outside:

But inside those doors:

The hotel is a two-story, with only a few rooms, all around a central plaza with large pool:

The room also was quite large and quite comfortable:

I'm obsessive about picking the right hotel when I travel internationally (much less so domestically, when I'm more price-driven). I pick a neighborhood. Then I look for a hotel at a fair price in that neighborhood. I avoid American chains (again, the polar opposite of my domestic hotel search which is very chain-driven) (I love you, La Quinta). Boy did I luck out here. Great location. Spotlessly clean. Delicious breakfast. Reasonable price.

And if you climbed the ladder to the roof, the view was awesome (given that there are no high rises within the Old City walls):

I don't see me going back to Cartagena. I enjoyed the place, but it's a little too "romantic" for my tastes. And it's a Caribbean city. It's not South American in personality. But if I circumstances steer my toward Cartagena in the future, the first I will do is see if the Archbishop has a spare room available for me.

Top 5 Favorite Hotels 2010-2020: #5: art'otel, Budapest, Hungary

The Year of Our COVID, A.D. 2020, has not been the year for travel that I anticipated at the ringing in of the new year. I had planned an active international travel agenda on the occasion of my then-upcoming 60th Birthday in May. The one exception was a five-day trip to Quito just as the COVID lockdowns were being put into place. Other than that, 2020 had the least amount of international travel for me since 2009, the last year I failed to venture out of home country.

Rather than mourn the inability to do international travel this past year -- of which I have done plenty -- I would rather honor a preceding decade of an extraordinary, fantastic, marvelous, wonderful travel opportunities. I will now count down my five favorite hotels where I was able to stay during that great decade of travel, my 50's.

#5: art'otel, Budapest, Hungary.

Isn't the lobby artsy?

The room was quite nice and quite comfortable:

But it wasn't extraordinary. In fact, except for what will be #1, none of the hotels at which I've stayed qualify as "luxurious." I do not stay in the premier, world-class most expensive hotel in any town, unless the most expensive hotel in town is around $100 a night.

What made the art'otel of Budapest so extraordinary, so worthy of mention and acclaim, was the view:

I upgraded for a "river view" room and, oh my my, was it worth it. From the balcony of my hotel, I had the signature view of all of Budapest. It's better to see in daylight:

The Danube River and Budapest's premier landmark, the Parliament Building.

I've since been to Budapest two other times. I've stayed in different hotels in different neighborhoods each time. I would recommend all three of the hotels. I would recommend all three neighborhoods. But in no hotel in which I've ever stayed have I ever had a more extraordinary view from my room.

Christmas Vacation of a Lifetime: Final Stop: Christmas Day in Salvador

Where I spent my Christmas vacation: Salvador da Bahia, Brazil

After nearly two weeks in South America, my 1997 Christmas vacation trip was drawing to a close. There was only one more destination: the place where I finally would get to spend Christmas Day on a beach in Brazil. The beach would be in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.

There was more to Salvador than beaches. Salvador is the center of Afro-Brazilian culture. As such, it has the best music and the best food in all of Brazil. Think of it as New Orleans, only with the most beautiful beaches that would make Miami or Myrtle Beach feel inadequate.

The historic Pelourinho neighborhood is the center of Tourism Salvador. Above is the Igreja de São Domingos Gusmão. It was Christmas time so the exterior is decked out accordingly. Below is the incredible Igreja e Convento de São Francisco.

This is the most beautiful church in a neighborhood of a city filled with beautiful ornate historic churches. I was able to get one shot of the interior before a curse descended on my camera.

I took the above photo of the church's ornate interior without flash.

You may think I am kidding when I say that a curse descended on my camera. I am not. I was walking through the interior of the church, by myself. There was no one else around. I saw a sign, in Portuguese, saying something along the lines of "no flash photography." But there was no one else around! And I really didn't speak Portuguese, right, so I could deny knowing what the sign said, if somehow I was confronted. But there was no one else around. So I took a series of photos using the flash of my camera. And no one caught me. No one saw me.

This literally was the very first photo I snapped with my camera's flash after I saw the sign:

The film was ruined in development. But not the whole roll! Only the film roll starting at the exact point where I decided to ignore the warning against flash photography! And to think I thought no one saw me!

When I got home after my trip, I went to the Sahara Camera Center, the best place in town to get film developed, to get my five or so rolls of vacation filmed developed. When I went to pick up the photos a few days later, the clerk was apologetic. He said one roll was ruined. I knew immediately which roll it was going to be. And I was right. But when I saw that the exact point where the ruining started, I literally burst out laughing.

It's sad that I have only a few photos from Salvador that were salvageable, but the life lesson was far more important. I no longer intentionally disobey instructions on photography inside a church.

As I said, the rest of my pictures of Pelourinho also were ruined:

All washed out.

I have no pictures from Christmas Day on the beach, however. Ruined or otherwise.

One of the difficulties of going to a beach as a solo traveler is what to do with your "stuff" if you want to go into the water. So I elected not to bring a camera.

I don't recall which beach I went to for Christmas. I think it was Praia de Jaguaribe, but I could be wrong. It was a pleasant ride up the coast in the "executivo" bus, the more expensive air-conditioned bus serving that route.

It was a very pleasant way to cap off the trip of a lifetime. I have since been over-blessed with several other "trips of a lifetime" since. But this was the first. If you don't count the high school Spanish class trip to Spain.

Christmas Vacation of a Lifetime: Stop 4: Brasilia

In Brazil, Santa Claus wears cowboy boots because of course.

The Christmas adventure of a lifetime moved on to the one destination in my itinerary that my travel agent desperately tried to talk me out of seeing: Brasilia.

He tried to tell me that there was nothing to see here. Oh yeah? Well, if there was nothing to see, explain this cathedral:

Yes, that is a cathedral, Brasilia style, 

The travel agent tried to explain that everyone who visits Brasilia leaves disappointed, overwhelmed by the sterility and lifelessness of the place. But I'm not everybody. I was not disappointed. I loved the place.

What's not love about architecture like that?  This is the Congresso Nacional.

Brasilia is the city that defines "retrofuturistic." It was what, in 1960, everybody thought the "city of the future" would look like. Instead, to many, Brasilia sits out there in the dry hinterlands of Central Brazil as a cautionary tale. But not me. Throw that caution to the wind and enjoy a place like no other.

Above, outside the cathedral, are the statues of the four evangelists from the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 

Below, in the cathedral's three angels, suspended from the cathedral's peak.

Of course a place like Brasilia would have no ordinary cathedral.

But the nativity scene inside for the Christmas (or "Natal") season was somewhat traditional. Shockingly, the lambs looked like lambs, and not some once-upon-a-time stylized version of a "lamb."

The Stations of the Cross, however, are more in line with the modern spirit that is Brasilia:

Some of the architecture has an "only in Brasilia" vibe.

While other pieces look like they could fit into Eisenhower-era America.

Is that Brasilia? Or is it the library building on the campus of State U?

Brasilia is an extremely difficult city to walk.

It was a city designed for a universe where the personal automobile is king. For example, there are no at-grade intersections. The city streets are the functional equivalent of interstate highways, with road crossings above and below but not at the road's grade. Which makes crossing the street "challenging."

This is a soldier who was guarding a government building.

Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Paraguay anymore.  Compare/contrast with the automatic weapon-wielding (but friendly) soldiers on the other national capital visited on this trip.

The honor guard wields flags, instead,

People claim they want to visit places that are "off the beaten path," and not like any other place anywhere. Well, why aren't they beating a path to Brasilia?

It is like no other place.

Well, the U.S. embassy looks like any other concrete building in Washington, D.C. It wasn't built with the character of Brasilia in mind.

I even got invited to go visit the home of the waiter at the churrascaria style steakhouse I ate it in Brasilia.

That's Jose in the middle, with his sister to the left, and his wife and daughter to the right. When you're in your 30's, you think nothing of taking a bus out to the residential neighborhoods of Brasilia to go visit someone's house. This is something I probably would not do today. I'm glad I did, however.

Feliz Natal in Brasilia, indeed.

I will end with a photo from the airport. This is the only part of Brasilia that I have revisited in the intervening 23 years, when I changed planes here en route home from my World Cup trip to Brazil in 2014. The next stop is the final stop in what truly was a trip of a lifetime: the place where I got to spend Christmas Day on the beach.