Travel Blog

Over the weekend we had guests from Philadelphia, and Saturday I gave them my tour of Miami. We started with a quick drive through Coconut Grove – cafes on Main Highway, peacocks on a residential street – before heading across Route 1 to Coral Way with its banyan trees. At the end of Miracle Mile we found a farmers’ market next to the Coral Gables City Hall, parked, and strolled the stalls (blue cauliflower anyone?) and food trucks. Back on Coral Way, the live oak section, we turned onto Columbus Ave. and crawled past the statuesque ficuses and handsome Spanish revival houses until the Giralda-like tower of the Biltmore Hotel appeared. Inside, we admired the lobby, and the birds in their covered cages; outside, we gazed down at the swimming pool, where one brave swimmer made his way across an immensity of blue. The Venetian Pool, just down the street, was also quiet, and we were allowed past the entrance to examine the black-and-white photos of the place in the 1920s.

Lunch at Bulla – gazpacho, ceviche, crispy calamari, shrimp in garlic sauce, shishito peppers, croquetas de jamón – followed by cafecitos at Versailles. In Little Havana we walked with the tour groups to Ball & Chain – I showed our friends the Pineapple Theater in the back – and Dominos Park.

Then we drove through Brickell – almost Manhattan-sized crowds at the intersection where the Brickell City Centre stretches – across the Miami River, and up Biscayne Boulevard, pointing out Bayside, the Freedom Tower, the Zaha Hadid-designed residential tower (“like the gills of a fish,” said Helena), the Arsht Center, the former Bacardi headquarters.

In Wynwood we crawled again down the side streets, admiring the murals that covered every inch of wall. One showed a smiling woman streaked with blood getting attacked by a school of sharks. Steve and Helena, who have lived abroad, said they’d never seen anything like it.

Onto the MacArthur Causeway in time to see the line-up of cruise ships – including the world’s largest, the Icon of the Seas. On the beach, we cruised down to Joe’s Stone Crab (“not new, not improved”) and then headed up Collins. We parked on 15^th Street and walked to the beach, then down Ocean Drive, stopping for photos and a rest in the lobby of The Betsy, one of the house labs lying peacefully behind the reception desk. (Our friends were amused to learn that the hotel’s full name is The Betsy Ross.)

Drove past the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center and the award-winning Herzog & de Meuron parking garage before getting on the Venetian Causeway just as the sun was going down, painting the sky orange. Back on the mainland, I pointed out Trinity Cathedral and then finished in the Design District, where crowds of people strolled the brightly lit designer shops.

Our friends were dutifully impressed. Seeing Miami through their eyes, I realized again how rich the city is, possessing incredible variety in its neighborhoods, from lush to elegant, from artsy to resorty, from urban sleek to urban gritty. And, thanks to the water and the bridges, it throws in dramatic scenery as well.