Masters Of Ceremony
Condé Nast Traveler|November 2016

News of the terrorist attack on the Brussels airport hits just as we’re scheduled to set out on a tour of Madrid.

Pilar Guzman
Masters Of Ceremony

U.S. Ambassador James Costos, who has the kind of blue eyes that seem to smile even when he doesn’t and a natural polish in a navy V-neck sweater and jeans, is unperturbed— if concerned—by the constant ringing of the phones. “Spain is an incredibly safe country; they do a good job in collaboration with the law enforcement officials,” he says, anticipating the security question that’s on everybody’s lips these days. “They have suffered their attacks before [Madrid’s last was in 2004], and they’ve learned from those lessons. They have a very keen sense.”

When we finally leave the U.S. embassy compound, Costos and his partner, Michael S. Smith, well into the third year of a three-year post, walk through the grand arcaded Plaza Mayor with near childlike wonder, ducking into the Mercado de San Miguel to sample the paella from one of their favorite food stalls and later into a new hipster-style artisanal-cheese shop in the emerging neighborhood of Conde Duque. With his floppy blond schoolboy mane and burnt-orange corduroy suit, Smith, who is best known in the interiors world for designing and decorating the Obama White House, seems to relish his role as enfant terrible—playing id to Costos’s superego, evangelizing for their adopted city with unscripted pith. “It’s truly foreign,” says Smith, who commutes from Los Angeles to Madrid for about a week each month, “like when you’re a kid and you watch I Love Lucy go to Europe.”

This story is from the November 2016 edition of Condé Nast Traveler.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the November 2016 edition of Condé Nast Traveler.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM CONDÉ NAST TRAVELERView All
PAINT THE TOWN
Condé Nast Traveler US

PAINT THE TOWN

In residential South Kolkata, enterprising young locals are turning brightly colored old estates, once doomed for demolition, into the city's latest hot spots

time-read
6 mins  |
May - June 2024
lost in time
Condé Nast Traveler US

lost in time

On an epic, sun-soaked journey across southern Greece's Peloponnese, Antonia Quirke revels in her connection to the history and myths that swirl around its rugged shores

time-read
8 mins  |
May - June 2024
home is where you make it
Condé Nast Traveler US

home is where you make it

On a road trip through Oman with her toddler son, Ashlea Halpern ponders what it means to be a parent in the wake of her father's death

time-read
4 mins  |
May - June 2024
still lazy after all these years
Condé Nast Traveler US

still lazy after all these years

Decades after a boyhood of easygoing afternoons in Washington State's San Juan Islands, Jesse Ashlock returns with his own children to rediscover this bucolic corner of America where time almost seems to stand still

time-read
8 mins  |
May - June 2024
the 2024 hot list WHERE to STAY, CRUISE & EAT NEXT
Condé Nast Traveler US

the 2024 hot list WHERE to STAY, CRUISE & EAT NEXT

It's inevitable: Every spring when we pull together the Hot List, our annual collection of the world's best new hotels, restaurants, and cruise ships, a staffer remarks that this latest iteration has got to be the best one ever. After a year's worth of traveling the globe-to stay the night at a converted farmhouse in the middle of an olive grove outside Marrakech or sail aboard a beloved cruise line's inaugural Antarctic voyage-it's easy to see why we get attached.

time-read
4 mins  |
May - June 2024
RUNWAY TO SANTA FE
Condé Nast Traveler US

RUNWAY TO SANTA FE

Indigenous designer Orlando Dugi shares his favorite art, culture, and cocktails in his adopted hometown

time-read
2 mins  |
May - June 2024
GOLDEN CHILD
Condé Nast Traveler US

GOLDEN CHILD

A blink-and-you'll-miss-it surf town on Australia's east coast is now a chic weekend getaway

time-read
1 min  |
May - June 2024
word of mouth
Condé Nast Traveler US

word of mouth

THE PEOPLE, PLACES & IDEAS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW

time-read
3 mins  |
May - June 2024
Animal Kingdom
Condé Nast Traveler US

Animal Kingdom

A massive effort in Saudi Arabia to restore its endemic flora and fauna is underway. Now, the country is looking to tourism to help support it

time-read
2 mins  |
March 2024
Building Change
Condé Nast Traveler US

Building Change

On a pristine stretch of Mexico's southwestern coast, anew developmentis grounded in community and creativity

time-read
2 mins  |
January - February 2024