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90 TIMESeptember 3–10, 2018

Colombian chef Leonor

Espinosa has spent more

than a decade creating

dishes from her country that feature

little-known ingredients such as

corozo fruit (an açaí-like berry), leaf-

cutter ants and spectacled caiman

(a crocodilian reptile). As her proile

has risen—last year, she won the

prestigious Basque Culinary World

Prize—so too has her restaurant’s,

which has helped establish Bogotá as

a culinary destination. Her goal with

Leo—which Espinosa runs alongside

her daughter and sommelier, Laura

Hernández Espinosa—isn’t just to

expose diners to Colombian fare; it’s

also to support the local communities

that help make her dishes possible,

which she does through her

foundation, FUNLEO. Next up for

Cycling Through Water is part of

Limburg province’s plan to bolster

its 1,240 miles of biking trails

Riding with nature

CYCLING THROUGH WATER,

GENK, BELGIUM

A COUNTRY’S

KITCHEN

LEO,BOGOTÁ

Walking on water may elude

most of us, but this bike trail

in northern Belgium offers an

experience that’s almost as

divine. The 212-m track, dubbed “Cycling

Through Water,” slices through a large

pond in the De Wijers nature reserve; in

the middle, it dips low enough to put riders

at eye level with the water. The project,

which was completed in 2016, is part of

the Limburg province’s efforts to bolster

its 1,240 miles of biking trails. “We do

not want to create more miles, we want to

create better miles,” says Igor Philtjens of

Toerisme Limburg, the project developer.

To date, Cycling Through Water has

attracted more than 500,000 bikers.

—Casey Quackenbush

SETTING A NEW

ECO STANDARD
CONSCIOUS HOTEL
WESTERPARK,
AMSTERDAM

Powered solely
by electricity from
wind energy, this
boutique hotel, which
opened in April,
takes “eco-sexy”
as its philosophy. It
features paintings
salvaged from
museum scrap
heaps and coat
hangers made of
recycled radiator
parts. A century
ago, the building
housed “a company
producing gas
from coal,” says
Conscious Hotels
founder Marco
Lemmers. “Now we
are 100% electric.”
—Suyin Haynes

AN ISLAND

FOR ALL
GOVERNORS
ISLAND,
NEW YORK CITY

It’s been more than
a decade since
this former Coast
Guard facility—a
172-acre hunk of
land off the coast
of Manhattan—
re-opened as a public
park. But it continues
to evolve. In 2016 it
welcomed the Hills,
a tiered, man-made
mound designed to
offer stunning vistas
(and also withstand
the effects of climate
change), and this
summer, it launched
its irst “glamping”
experience, allowing
guests to stay over-
night in luxe tents.
—Wilder Davies

Espinosa? “The only thing I am

certain of right now is that I don’t want

to detach myself from the kitchen,”

she says.—Alejandro de la Garza

THE WORLD’S GREATEST PLACES 2018

LEO: COURTESY LEO; CYCLING THROUGH WATER: LUC DAELEMANS;

SHELDON CHALET: CHRI

S BURKARD; TSUTA: COURTESY TSUTA