PASAIA, BASQUE COUNTRY, SPAIN - In this tiny backwater fishing port that opens up to the Atlantic’s Bay of Biscay, Canadian and Basque history intersect at a small maritime museum that is hoping to recreate the past.

ANDERMATT, SWITZERLAND - Anticipation builds as the scenic Glacier Express train I boarded earlier in the day in St. Moritz begins its long, slow decent from the stunning Oberalp Pass into the Urseren Valley where lovely Andermatt and my next Swiss Deluxe Hotel, The Chedi Andermatt, is located.

ZURICH - I walk out of Zurich’s bustling main rail station and ask the police officer standing on the corner of the city’s busy shopping street, Bahnhofstrasse, for directions to the landmark Hotel Widder.

INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND - I’m told people come to this picturesque mountain community nestled in the bosom of an enchanting Alpine valley seeking solace on what’s known as “wellness weekends.”

ST. MORITZ, SWITZERLAND - The driver with the heavy Italian accent who picks me up at the train station in The Carlton Hotel's shiny new Bentley, tells me he’s been working at the hotel just three months — “because we are only open three months of the year.”

GENEVA - This may be the most important city in the world – a city that tells the rest of us how to live. Geneva, which boasts 4,000 years of history, is always in the news.

GENEVA - Friends and I played a game during our visit to this Alpine beauty, checking our Japanese- made watches to see if the trains would arrive at the time posted on the station clock. Without fail, each pulled into the charming stations with the mountain views right on time.

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND - If they gave out medals to cities based on beauty, then surely Lausanne, nestled on the shores of lovely Lake Geneva and at the base of the majestic Jura Mountains, would win gold.

SAN SEBASTIÁN, BASQUE COUNTRY, SPAIN - Mornings don’t get much better than in this Bay of Biscay beauty that snuggles up against Europe’s southwest coast just south of France.

GALICIA, SPAIN - Early morning or early evening, the cheerful chatter of birds is constant through the open window in our room at the Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil, a converted, ancient Spanish monastery.