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“’Well … I’m not quite sure,’ Chester said. The Grande Bretagne was unquestionably the biggest and best hotel in Athens, but for that very reason, Chester felt wary about stopping there.” In the end the couple settle on The King’s Palace Hotel, which Highsmith described as “across a street at one side of the Grand Bretagne”.
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If you want to know where the beating heart of England can be found, then Trafalgar Square is a good place to start. It has always seemed odd to me that, despite its pole position in the national psyche, Trafalgar Square is almost entirely devoid of hotels. Maybe I assign too much importance to hotels but I believe they are the crowning glory of any city piazza.
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In 1900 visitors to London were advised by Baedeker to find a hotel on the Strand. The choice began with 700-room Hotel Cecil, then the Savoy and finally the Charing Cross Hotel. One hotel that was not explicitly recommended stood immediately opposite the Cecil. Haxell’s Family Hotel was a more modest three-storey proposition.
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Drama King Adrian Mourby landed at Venice. Again. This time he takes us to the Moon. Hotel Luna began life in the twelfth century as the Osteria della Luna. It was a simple house near the Grand Canal that provided board and lodging for knights heading east to the Crusades.
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Austria is currently the hotspot of Europe, Vienna its capital. European summers are synonymous for visiting the countryside, sea- and lakesides activities, culture, festivals and, as I have explained earlier, a word as difficult to translate as Gemütlichkeit, “Sommerfrische”.
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Not necessarily a Select Member of The Most Famous Hotels in the World, still — our roving correspondent couldn’t resist. He has seen a lot of impressive guest lists but Innsbruck's "Golden Eagle“ certainly ranks top. With digital information to be obtained while you walk the hotel’s corridors the Goldener Adler is planning to set the trend for interactive history information in in Austria's capital of Tyrol.
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If you want to know where the beating heart of England can be found, then Trafalgar Square a good place to start. It has always seemed odd to me that, despite its pole position in the national psyche, Trafalgar Square is almost entirely devoid of hotels. Maybe I assign too much importance to hotels but I believe they are the crowning glory of any city piazza.
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Our UK based correspondent Adrian Mourby has decided to concentrate on BREXIT conform local fare and to temporarily end his international career as a globetrotter. In London, he discovers a glamorous five-star hotel opened near Trafalgar Square in 2012. Unlike many of today's central London hotels, it was not sited in a former bank or newspaper office. The angular building in which the Corinthia, London sits today was actually opened in 1885 as the Metropole Hotel.
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ADRIAN MOURBY sheds tears of joy. On Wednesday, 15 July 2020, one of the most important buildings in Athens reopens to the public. It’s not the Acropolis, nor is it the Hellenic Parliament (although that building, originally the palace of King Otto I, is its next-door neighbour). The building I’m talking about is, of course the Hotel de la Grande-Bretagne … more
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In 1810 a French hotelier called Joseph Sauve converted the Roman Palazzo Conti into a hotel. Following the Italian Unification in 1871, Palazzo Conti was renamed Hôtel Minerva-Cavour e Francia. In the twentieth century it was briefly Crowne Plaza Minerva before becoming Grand Hôtel de La Minerve as it is today.
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Two books by Adrian Mourby, famoushotels roving reporter and tireless collector of hotel anecdotes, should interest all hotel aficionados: "Rooms of One's Own — 50 Places That Made Literary History" and his latest work "Rooms with a View — The Secret Life of Great Hotels“.
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Venice is an inspiration for all of us. Recently Mr Mourby was booked for dinner at Venice’s Westin Europa and Regina. Did he go down with “The Titanic”?
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