The fortress that stopped needing to be one
A Hospitaller monastery built for a contested border, abandoned for a century, and now a hotel with wheat growing up to the walls.
ReadI write about hotels worth the detour — what makes a room work, why one place feels alive and the one next door doesn't, and, when it explains something, the history underneath. Then I plan trips for people who would rather not gamble on the photographs.
A Hospitaller monastery built for a contested border, abandoned for a century, and now a hotel with wheat growing up to the walls.
ReadAnyone can find you a hotel. What takes years is knowing which of the three good ones is actually right, and what the other two get wrong. That judgement is the whole service.
I've spent years collecting places that could only exist where they are — and learning to tell, quickly, which ones are run by someone who cares.
Hi, I'm Tyler. What interests me is the design and the experience of unusual places to stay — and history, and the way it keeps making its mark on the present. Europe is where I go deepest; I hold Portuguese citizenship and work in Portuguese and Spanish. But I'll plan a trip anywhere, and what I'd like to show you is how much one changes when the atmosphere of a place, and the way you meet it, are chosen rather than left to chance. If you're planning something, here's how that works.