S Europe Travel

Feature Writer: Barbara Rogers

Southern Europe is your doorway to European lifestyle and la dolce vita. Along with travel advice on everything from local food to Mediterranean island hopping, you'll find Tuscan villas, romantic cruises and charming hotels in Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Cyprus, Malta, Vatican City, Andorra, Gibraltar and San Marino.

Just think of all the travelers' hotspots here: The Grand Canal, Coliseum, Parthenon, Alhambra, Delphi, Monte Carlo, Da Vinci's "The Last Supper", Lake Como, Pompeii, Capri, the Rock of Gibraltar, the Matterhorn...and that's only a few of the places we'll visit traveling through Southern Europe's storied past and present.

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Barbara Rogers

May 14, 2008

Risco Bello Aquatic Gardens

In: Spain Travel

Jardin Acuatico Risco Bello seems to do the impossible -- create a water garden in an almost vertical semi-tropical landscape. more...

Apr 25, 2008

La Gomera Columbus´s Last Stop

In: Spain Travel

The little island of La Gomera, where he provisioned his ships for the voyage, was the last place Columbus saw land before reaching the new world. more...

Apr 8, 2008

Portugal's Fine Dining Restaurants

In: Portugal Travel

From Lisbon and the Algarve to the Alentejo and the far north, creative chefs are giving traditional Portuguese dishes a contemporary look, and a new life. more...

Feb 14, 2008

Padua’s Basilica of St. Anthony

In: Italy Travel

The Romanesque Basilica di Sant'Antonio, built to enshrine St. Anthony's relics, is one of Europe's major pilgrimage sites, decorated by works of Donatello and Titian. more...

Feb 13, 2008

Padua: Walking Tour

In: Italy Travel

Padua's historic center spans seven centuries of architecture and holds several must-see sights, including the University, Café Pedrocchi, the Duomo and Baptistery. more...

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Barbara Rogers

May 7, 2008

How Travelers Avoid Weight Gain

Enjoying the wonderful food on a trip to Southern Europe doesn’t have to mean bringing home several pounds of “excess baggage” of the wrong sort.

Travel is broadening – but sometimes in the wrong way. All that pasta and paella, eating in restaurants, a la dolce vita lifestyle with long meal hours, sweets we never eat at home, café stops to rest tired feet ... it’s easy to come home with more of you than left. But you don’t have to. Here are a few tips to help fight the traveler’s battle of the bulge.

Don’t order every course. Just because a menu has a pasta course and a meat course doesn’t mean you have to eat both. Order one or the other.
In Italy, order contorni (vegetables) with the main course. They are delicious, healthy and help fill you up so you won’t be temped by desserts.
You don’t need to order a full meal at lunch. Have lunch in a café or bakery, where they offer sandwiches, instead of a restaurant where the only choice is a dinner entree.
In Spain, order an ensalada mixta (mixed salad) for lunch; In Italy ask for a Caprece, a salad of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. Either makes a satisfying lunch.
Be careful of little snacks. In Spain, choose your tapas carefully, opting for shrimp, olives, nuts and lean cured meats (which are delicious) and avoiding croquettes, fatty meats and deep fried options.
Order grilled local fish; it will be fresh and delicious, lower in calories and served without calorie-laden sauces. If the name is not familiar, ask the waiter to describe it (they are good at doing this in sign-language) or better yet show it to you.
Don’t begin with bread; if you are ravenous, ask for a salad before the entrée arrives.
Savor the abundant fresh fruits Southern Europe offers. Restaurants everywhere offer seasonal berries and fruits as a dessert, and you can buy fresh fruits in markets.

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