West Indian decorative arts scholar Michael Connors presents a lavishly illustrated and comprehensive history of architecturally significant dwellings and estates in the West Indies in his beautiful new book Caribbean Houses from Rizzoli. The book is divided into five chapters, one for each European heritage that brought their own influences and designs to the region: the Spanish, Dutch, English, French, and Danish. In addition to the gorgeous photographs done exclusively for the book, Connors discourses on the area's rich architecture and interior design history, and gives the reader a "unique view of houses that combine the tradition of European styles with the vernacular island forms and decorative motifs." The featured islands include: The Spanish Antilles – Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic; The Dutch Leewards – Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao; The English Islands – Barbados, Turks & Caicos, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and St. Kitts; The French Lesser Antilles – Martinique; and The U.S. Virgin Islands (formerly Danish) – St. Thomas and St. Croix.

When you arrive at Rose Hall's Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Resort in Jamaica, welcome cocktails are served in carved-out pineapples and an assortment of local juices like june plum, sour sop and tamarind can be delivered to your room. The colors and decor are vibrant and reflect the local culture. The cuisine is peppered with Jamaican specialties like callaloo, jerk-everything (they have a whole Jerk Center on the beach, which is not entirely unhilarious) and to-die-for sugared and pan-fried dough.

From the Ritz-Carlton in Rose Hall, you can take an easy shuttle bus to The Shoppes at Rose Hall, where you can buy all the local jewelry and touristy t-shirts and dresses your heart desires at very low prices -- or to their White Witch golf course and club -- a beautiful plantation-style venue for all kinds of parties. The "White Witch" is named for none other than Annie Palmer, the legendary Parisian plantation owner who offed a slew of husbands and lovers and apparently still haunts the island. In fact, a fellow guest of the RC reported some very strange incidents in her room while she was reading about her! You can get more information about Annie Palmer here -- or just ask me, Annie Scott; every person on the island who learned my name told me another story about her.

Rose Hall is no longer run by Annie Palmer, but rather owned by Michele Rollins, a former Miss USA whose late husband fell in love with Jamaica and created tens of thousands -- perhaps hundreds of thousands -- of jobs by developing the Rose Hall settlement. Mrs. Rollins is a well-spoken, devoted philanthropist who humbly credits her husband with the island's success. "If you can't have vision," she says, "the next best thing is to marry vision. If you could learn vision, we'd all be in Vision 101." Rollins is committed to making Rose Hall into what her husband had imagined.

Rose Hall now includes a number of hotels and golf courses, including a Hilton, and Rollins works with the various organizations who settle there to support the local community. Several companies there own and run homes in the local S.O.S. village for orphans, including the Ritz-Carlton.

The hotel was not without its hiccups -- in the days that I was there, the hot tub wasn't at all hot and one of my closets was damp (the other was fine), but those little things don't come close to overshadowing the beauty of the resort, complete with that sparkling turquoise Caribbean Sea (P.S. complimentary windsurfing) and the genuine warmth of the Jamaican people. As always, the Ritz-Carlton staff was respectful and polite, helpful and friendly, and everyone from families to couples, even to larger groups coexisted in harmony.

With no further ado, here are some photos of the luscious property nestled on the north shore of Jamaica in the center of Rose Hall. Click here to visit the website and book a trip.

For more photos and to read about hosting corporate meetings and events at Ritz-Carlton, click here for my article on Gadling.com.

Usually when we are talking about the world's most expensive spirits we are either dealing with some form of wine or with whisky but what about the humble bottle of rum? The bottle shown here, bottled in the 1940s by the Jamaican distillers Wray and Nephew, and containing blends that date back as far as around 1915 has the honor of being what is believed to be the world's most expensive bottle of rum. The bottle which is being displayed at Europe's first rum festival, RumFest, is valued at £26,000. The bottle, which is one of four unopened bottles of the stuff in the world, represents the lost tradition of the Wray and Nephew Rum. The popularity of the Mai Tai cocktail drained their rum supplies in the 1930s. In order to keep up with demand, the distillery changed their production methods. The bottle therefore represents the chance to the Mai Tai as it was originally conceived. That is, if anyone ever opens the bottle.

Who knew that you could "experience Rastafarian culture" through chocolates? The Zion Truffle Collection from Vosages is an exquisite collection that showcases some of the flavors of Jamaica with five unique flavor blends, shown above from left to right:

• I-tal - Blue Mountain coffee, organic fresh coconut and dark chocolate
• Selassie - pumpkin puree, Jamaican pepper, dark chocolate and organic roasted pumpkin seeds
• Rasta - Appleton Estate rum, fresh ginger, white chocolate, organic hibiscus and sorrel flowers
• Kaya - hemp seed nuts and milk chocolate
• Zion - Red Stripe beer, dark chocolate and cocoa nibs

Because the truffles are made with fresh ingredients, including fresh cream, they only have a shelf-life of ten days, which should be more than enough time to polish off all 16 of the pieces that come in this collection. Price: $41.

In the market for a beachfront co-tel?The Palmyra Resort & Spa at Rose Hall, a new luxury condo hotel in Jamaica will be holding a launch event weekend May 5-7 at the Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Resort at Rose Hall near Montego Bay. The private event will offer buyers pre-construction pricing and incentives such as a one-week stay at The Palmyra's sister resort in Tuscany, Italy. They are expecting 500 buyers to attend in hopes of selling out of Phase I of the luxury condo hotel. Pre-construction pricing ranges from the $400,000s to $5 million and there are both condo units and villas available.  The co-tel is located on 16 acres of waterfront land in Montego Bay. Like other co-tels the Palmyra will allow owners to place their condos in a rental program.