Romantic Venice

Another year, another Valentine's day, another month or so of marketing messages full of diamonds, flowers, chocolate, luxury. The idea is of course to impress your loved one by showering them with the most expensive gifts you can find, or they won't love you back (or so I understood.)

On a seemingly unrelated, yet-emailed-on-Feb-14 note, Fodor's Travel Wire "found" a good deal: a 3-night package at some upper class hotel in Venice for €1,450. While this might appeal to some, I am a big fan of good value for your money. (on a secondary note, the hotel is ranked 64 out of 358 on TripAdvisor; ouch.)

Luckily, our friends at EuropeanDestinations have somehow listened to some complaints regarding overnight train travel in Europe, and put together the ultimate romantic package: Paris and Venice by air. For $859 (plus taxes), you can fly into Paris, spend 3 nights, fly to Venice, stay 3 more nights, and then fly back to the US.

Call me a cheap-o, but that's how you impress your loved one: by saving them $1,000 on a trip to Europe.

However, if you have never traveled by train (in Europe,) you should at least try. The same city combination (plus one night on a train from Paris to Venice) is available for $819.

Bringing Tuscany Home

There is no doubt in my mind that Frances Mayes has cornered the Tuscany market. She has become the de facto expert on Tuscany. Her 2004 book 'Bringing Tuscany Home - Sensuous Style from the Heart of Italy' strays away from the world of travel (sort of) and enters the wonderful and competitive realm of home decorations. Her spin is, of course, Tuscany.

Beautiful photographs make this book extremely appealing as a coffee table item, although recipes for Tuscan meals as well as descriptions of Tuscan elements of design abound.

While I don't think I can take more of Tuscany, this book is definitely worth reading if you are willing to intimately know your destination.

Global Gourmet - Europe

Under rather sad circumstances, the NY Times published what was probably R.W.Apple's last submission to that publication.

The article, titled Global Gourmet, gives us the author's top 10 favorite restaurants in the world. Why weren't I surprised to see that 6 out of 10 restaurants were from Europe? Ahhh, the charms of the Old World! Please note the author's preference for smaller town restaurants in France, Italy, and Spain.

FLEURIE, France

SANT’AGATA SUI DUE GOLFI, Italy

SAN SEBASTIÁN, Spain

BRUSSELS, Belgium

LONDON, England

GOTHENBURG, Sweden

Enjoy!

Royal Gardens of Europe: From Grandeur to Privacy

The final chapter from the book Royal Gardens of Europe by George Plumptre is taking the reader from Big to Small, showing how the small and the private became - in time - the new beautiful.

The author recommends:

Fredensborg Palace - Lake Esrum, Denmark

Balchik - Balchik, Bulgaria

Castle of Mey - Caithness, Scotland

Laeken - Brussels, Belgium

Isola Bisentina - Lake Boselna, Italy (near Orvieto)

Highgrove - Gloucestershire, England

Enjoy your trips!

Royal Gardens of Europe: Great Restorations

Without a doubt, many of today's impressive royal gardends would not be on display without the tremendous work of restoring and preserving the centuries-old gardens.

Here are a few the author recommends:

Hampton Court - London, England (the supreme Royal Garden, as proclaimed by the author)

Het Loo - Apeldoorn, The Netherlands (garden completely destroyed, then completely restored)

Isola Bella - Lake Maggiore, Italy

Charlottenburg - Berlin, Germany ("considered by many the greatest braoque palace and garden composition")

Beloeil - Brussels, Belgium

Again, the book is Royal Gardens of Europe by George Plumptre.

Royal Gardens of Europe: Gardens for Display

Well, don't worry, I won't provide a detailed account of this chapter because I don't want to get sued, plus it's impossible for me to to speed read the fascinating details. I will let you discover them.

In good blogging, web 2.0 (insert cliche here) fashion, I will instead provide a list. (Listmania!!!)

Versailles - Versailles, France (just outside Paris).

Nymphenburg - Munich, Germany

Palacio de Queluz - Queluz, Portugal

Peterhof - St Petersburg, Russia

Palazzo Reale - Caserta, Italy (near Sorrento, The Amalfi Coast)


Ok, so you could swing a Queluz - Paris - Munich - Italy package, maybe. But you should probably break it into two or three trips. How about Lisbon - Paris and then Paris - Munich? I don't know - ask the experts at European Destinations...

So you want to go to Italy - Tuscany

But of course you want to travel to Tuscany. Why shouldn't you? You've seen the movie, you've read the book, now all you have to to is pack up and go. You know everything. Right? Wrong. NY Times writer Mark Bittman seems to find some hidden culinary gems in a little Tuscan town called Lucca (read The Riches of Lucca from the NY Times Travel Section).

Regardless, now is the time to go, as the options for exploring Tuscany at your own leisure have increased exponentially with the addition of famed fly and drive packages:

Tuscany - Montecatini Terme

Tuscany - Pisa

Tuscany - Siena

Journey through Tuscany and Umbria

Highlights of Italy

Happy travels, everyone!

Book review: Naples chapter from A Year in the World

As expected, I got a bit bogged down in Italy, following Frances Mayes' trip to Italy. She completely disagrees with previous writers of all genres and types (as well as some Italian stereotypes) who apparently have labeled Naples forever as a city of "bad people". Frances falls in love with the architecture, the Roman ruins, the scenery (Vesuvius is looming somewhere in the background), and even with the people. There is nothing wrong with Naples, she argues, if you are willing to ignore the maddening traffic that dissipates on Sundays.
Regardless, it's a short (a lot shorter than the previous depictions of Spain and Portugal), yet informative count of Naples.
She also recommends some books on this city:

The Gallery by John Horne Burns
Earthly Paradise by Colette
Bay of Noon by Shirley Hazzard

This should be enough to get you started with your preparations for your trip to Naples (or so we hope). Add to that a slice of pizza napolitana at your local Italian restaurant and you are good to go.

Also, don't forget to check out some trip ideas that would include Naples (or Napoli):

The Amalfi Coast (Naples, Pompeii, Amalfi, Capri and Sorrento with a rent a car)

Naples - Taormina

The Heel of Italy by Rail (Naples, Foggia, Lecce and Taranto by train)

Archeological Treasures of Southern Italy (Rome, Naples, Amalfi and Sorrento with a rent a car)

Rome - Naples - Taormina - Palermo

Venice - Florence - Rome - Naples

The Da Vinci Hype

The Washington Post got it right: it is a hype. Up until the release date of the movie, everywhere I turned (especially online) I could not escape the explosion of Da Vinci Code hype. That includes travel, of course.

So I was not surprised when European Destinations came up with its own 'A Da Vinci Code European Vacation', a 10-day customizable package starting in Edinburgh, continuing with London, Paris, and ending up in Rome. I even liked the original write-up:

You might be able to re-read Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” on your way to Europe, but you should set aside at least 10 days of travel if you are to follow the book’s characters in Edinburgh, London, Paris, and Rome.

Start in Edinburgh and work your way South and East, as you will save some time on your transatlantic flight in the critical first days of your trip, when you will need to adjust to Europe’s time.

Just outside Edinburgh, in the village of Roslin, you will get to visit the famous Rosslyn Chapel. While Edinburgh is not a large city, we recommend spending two nights here to allow your body to recover from jetlag and fatigue.

Your next stop will be London after a high-speed train ride aboard the Inter City Express. While in London, don’t forget to visit the Temple Church located in the Bloomsbury neighborhood close to the Temple station, St James’s Park (near St James’s Park station) and the Westminster Abbey (near Westminster Stop). After two nights of London, head for Paris aboard the modern EuroStar.

While in Paris, don’t forget to visit at a minimum the Louvre, the Champs Elysees, Bois de Boulogne, and Saint-Sulpice.

After two nights in the French capital, enjoy a different train ride aboard the comfortable and luxurious Artesia, which will take you on an overnight trip to Rome. Obviously, you would not want to miss out on Vatican City, the center of Catholic Faith. But you should also try to get out and visit the Gandolfo Castle.

Ahhh, you gotta love that hype. However: seriously, if you are interested, you should go.