Mis Amores! Hi! It’s been a while, mi gente. I’ve been getting back into my normal routine for a bit after Colombia, thats why I’ve been un poquito quiet. Pero, tambiΓ©n I’ve been a little busy bee, preparando for our big Europe trip next week! That’s right, The Marido and I will be heading to Spain and Italy in 3 days for a romantic getaway. Eeeekkk! Can’t wait to go y (por supuesto) to tell you all about it after we get back. But FIRST…
We need a palate cleanser.
A travel palate cleanser. Algo bello y joyful. Something that both brings a smile AND excites about future travel experiences. I know just the thing! What is that thing, you ask? Que mas va ser?
DOORS, baby!
Mira, its been about a year since my last “Doors of Distinction” post, so I had to give the people what they want. Beautiful, funky, historic, unique, interesting doors! YAY! Nuestra familia visited so many different types of places in the past year, so you KNOW I have a plethora of fun doorways that I’ve been collecting, solamente for este momento. π
I just love that I get to share this travel obsession of mine con ustedes, and that you guys are beginning to spot amazing doors just because of me! *Blushing as I type this* If I’ve helped even a few of you to keep your eyes wide open to the beauty of doorways whilst you travel, then I’m una chica muy feliz!
So, yea… you ready?? DOORS!
Let’s do this!
1. Getsemani, Cartagena, Colombia
Wanna know something? Mi criteria para encontrar a cool door isn’t just to snap a picture of every colorful or ornate door out there! NO WAY! I have standards, folks! Ha!
What draws me to una puerta en particular is how it looks, yes, but its more than that- it’s the story it tells. A veces, its the subtly beautiful doorways that grab my eye because they look lived in, like they have SEEN some things, like they’ve been through it! Ok, ok, bear with my overuse of personification for a moment and picture it…
A set of doors como este que vi en Cartagena, Colombia- you can tell it’s lived through some shit!
Who knows what happened behind those doors? Maybe a romance between a pair of star-crossed lovers from different parts of town. O puede ser that it was the site of clandestine meetings of the enslaved of Cartagena, planning their uprising… or their escape to the nearby Palenque settlement- the first “free” town for Africans in the Americas (look up the Palenque if you don’t already know about it; es impactante).
QuiΓ©n sabe!?
What I DO know is that too many people walked by this gorgeous door without even doing a double take! Not me! I was mesmerized by the color, the wear of the wood, and the fact that it looks almost forgotten. It has a delicious story to tell, I just know it!
- Do you think about the stories that a door, or a house, or a building might have to tell!?
“It comes from the likes of you! Take what you can get! Grab the chances as they come along! Act in hallways! Sing in doorways! Dance in cellars!”
-Alexander Woolcott
2. Vizcaya Museum & Gardens, Miami, FL
Ornate doors inspire awe, they just do. The more details, the more a person como yo is just like “But how… That must’ve taken days or months to finish… Holy crap!”
It’s the natural response, verdad? π
In all of our travels this year, nowhere that I went had more decked out puertas than the Vizcaya Museum & Gardens in Miami, FL. Ese lugar felt like the fancy door frame motherload. Mi camera estaba smoking by the time I was done with my waking tour!
The extravagant summer home of James Deering was a Gilded Age marvel… cada cuarto you walk into feels like something out of a museum… or like, where The Monopoly Guy must’ve hung out with all his rich friends smoking cigars and making it rain with their hundred dollar bills! π Las puertas were either hand carved out of wood, o fueron hand-crafted out of wrought iron in some exquisite flowery design.
This particular door was a show stopper for me…
La razΓ³n es porque, they are the doors that lead into the house. They set the stage for everything your eyes are about to behold… they let you know, “You are gunna see something REAL special, boo. Get ready!”
If this is the first architectural gift we see, then just imagine the treasures to be found inside!
Dicen que first impressions matter, and these doors prove that saying 1000% right! π
- Do you ever get hyped about the inside of a place because the doors are bomb?
3. Historic Charleston, South Carolina
Friends, a veces I totally walk by a pair of doors because they don’t strike me and then have to circle back porque me enterΓ© que they are in fact, kind of a big deal. That’s what happened to me with The Pink House in Charleston, South Carolina.
This small pink house, con su simple puerta negra, is none other than “The Oldest Residence” in all of Charleston.
Worth circling back for, amiright?
Espera que te diga! This place, which is pretty but not wholly striking, IS damn well striking… once you know it’s history. Esta casa, built somewhere around 1712, has been EVERYTHING! It has (at one time or another) been used as a tavern, a brothel, a law office, a private residence, AND an art gallery. Even crazier, the structure has survived earthquakes, fires, and hurricanes that brought down it’s neighbors!
No me digas! All of a sudden, esa puerta negra has become WAYYYYY more interesting.
Definitely worthy of a picture! Oh hey there, Instagram. π
- Ever have to circle back to a place that you found lack luster, when you understood it’s history?
4. Taos, New Mexico
Taos, New Mexico is a door lovers dream. Perdiodt!
Todo el tiempo que estuve in that small, artsy town my eyes were popping out of my head. I was legit in heaven. Every friggin casita is home to some artisan, or someone who enjoys and appreciates art at the least, so the doors were no joke. Almost as if the citizens are constantly on-upping each other on exterior design! Fue como un museo de puertas, mi gente.
It was so intense, the door game, that my kids legit got pissed at me for forcing my hubby to stop the car for the umpteenth time so that I could take yet another picture!
Ha! Sorry, not sorry! No me importa!:)
Obvio, most of the doorways had some sort of “Southwestern” element to them, which I love, and were kind of “cousins” architecturally. BUT, it was the embellishments que los separo.
I mean, mira a esta puerta right here, it’s giving a total Mexican pueblo vibe. Like something out of a movie set. Just look at the carefully selected sconces, the door frame, the sculpture of the mermaid, and even the little door bell. Totally next level, and I loved every bit of it.
Nobody else has a door like this y eso necesita ser celebrado!
- What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at the entrance to a house?
“Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning doorway to life.”
-Daisaku Ikeda
5. GuatapΓ© Village, Colombia
While we traveled around Colombia for 2 weeks, we were blessed by the door gods.
As a Latina, I find myself drawn to y inspired by things that celebrate my cultural background. Muchas veces, para mi, that is COLOR. Latin American does vibrant color RIGHT, and that was evident en todas las puertas that we saw, especially in the small village of GuatapΓ©.
I have to tell you guys, GuatapΓ© is to this day my favorite place I’ve ever visited in Latin America; it’s completely charming! And that’s by design! Everything about ese pueblito es intencional! There are actual ordinances that specify how exterior surfaces can look, what design they can have, and even what color they can be. A citizen has to apply and petition for the aesthetic that they want, when they build a new home within the village limits!
The #1 rule is that the house be as colorful as possible!
How cool!
The doors must be made and carved out of wood, los colores must run with a motif for the whole exterior AND the design tiene que incluir zocalos (which are a symbol or emblem that is specific to that individual household or family). Like I said, the charming nature of the town is totally intentional, pero eso me gusta!
It means that the people who stroll through the village get a treat for their eyes everyday. Eso como caminar en medio de un Disney movie! (I see you, Encanto) π
- Are you a big fan of storybook towns that play into a motif?
6. Goldfield Ghost Town Ruins, Nevada
Sometimes, the absence of a door is what makes a door great!
Roll with me fam, escuchame. While we were RVing across the country last spring, we came across the Ghost town of Goldfield, Nevada. Si, I said Ghost town… like the kind that you hear about but don’t really think exist! ESO! They are western towns that burst into existence in the mid 1800’s because of the gold rush and the influx of miners/merchants to a particular area- only to implode after the gold ran dry.
Think of it like this… Rolling in dough one minute, barren desolation the next. That’s a ghost town.
Anywho, back to the doorless doorway. Yo vΓ a este arch while riding through Goldfield and had to snap a shot; it’s just standing ahΓ in the middle of a barren road whispering stories from the past. The fact that it was the only thing standing among a pile of rubbish sent me into high “history nerd alert”… big time!
So, que fue? What was it?
Well, that arch is what’s left of the Sideboard Saloon in Goldfield, Nevada. Built in 1907 by Patrick Mullin, Saloonkeeper, it was destroyed, ironically, by a fire originating from a still-explosion. Think of the high-falutin men who entered the establishment! Piensa en the bar fights that happened in there over lost gold or stolen nuggets! What about the torrid love affairs that started over a glass of sarsaparilla?! AHHHHH!
Ok, es posible que mi imagination has run away with me.
But the best doorways do that, don’t they?
They inspire you to dream!
- Have you ever wandered through a ghost town?
“Every doorway, every intersection has a story.”
– Katherine Dunn
My loves! Espero que estΓ© “palate cleanser” has been as lovely for you as it has been for me. There’s just something about beautiful and interesting doorways that make me so happy. Doors of Distinction Volume 4 might be my favorite set of doors so far, too.
Having that said, ya te dije – we are on our way to Spain and Italy next week so the collection of beautiful doors is only going to grow!
Fingers crossed!! π
Estoy segura that each of us has that one thing we look for or enjoy while we travel. For some it might be finding the perfect cup of coffee, for others puede ser visiting incredible historic churches. Hay personas that travel with their eyes peeled, on the hunt for pretty exotic animals, spectacular mountain peaks, stained glass windows…etc. Para mi, es puertas.
They make traveling so much more exciting…
They’re my “thing”.
What’s your thing? Share your travel obsession with me, I’d love to hear!
Ok, now I’m off to pack! Spain and Italy- here we come!!!!!
Until next time, mis amores!
Joana
