S Europe Travel
- How Travelers Avoid Weight Gain
- Gifts to Buy in Spain
- Madrid: See Uffizi Paintings Free
- Money-Saving Tips for Summer Trips
- Travels in Spain’s Andalusia
- Best Guidebooks to Southern Europe
- Digital Cameras – Everyone’s a Pro
- Famous People as Tour Guides
- Planning Your Mediterranean Cruise
- Milan Womens Fashion Week
How Travelers Avoid Weight Gain
Posted by
Barbara Rogers
Barbara Rogers
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.
Posted by
Barbara Rogers
Barbara Rogers
Shopping for gifts to bring home can be one of travel’s greatest pleasures, or a real challenge. In Spain, it’s made easy by the abundant local foods that travel well.
My family looks forward to my trips to Spain, not because they want to get rid of me, but because they know that I will bring back goodies. In fact, they have begun to provide me with handy lists.
As I head for Madrid and Tenerife next week, I find my mailbox filled with cryptic little messages: “I’m out of sweet paprika” and “I loved those almond-stuffed olives” and “If you find any more candied figs…” They’re not all about food. One reminded me that she was running low on Magno soap.
All easy requests to fill at one stop: the grocery store. The easiest stop for nearly everything is the Corte Ingles department store found in any city. I head straight down the escalator to the grocery store that’s always on the lower level. There I find boxes of Spanish paprika in both hot (picante) and sweet (dulce), far tastier than the bland stuff at home, and in exotic red tin boxes.
Almond-stuffed olives are packed in little tin cans, indestructible in luggage. The same bright-colored candied whole fruits that confectioners sell at twice the price are packaged less elegantly, but travel better sealed in plastic. Green whole figs are almost transparent, and bright orange apricots seldom make it to the person I buy them for. Delectable Spanish almonds are inexpensive here, and unobtainable at home.
The soap aisle finishes my expedition, with bars of Magno – dark-colored soap that is almost unknown outside of Spain – and fragrant Heno de Pravia in its bright yellow wrapper. I don't tell anyone that I pack this amid my dirty laundry to keep my luggage smelling fresh!
The best part is that my whole basket full costs only a few Euros, especially welcome now that the American dollar is worth so little.
As I head for Madrid and Tenerife next week, I find my mailbox filled with cryptic little messages: “I’m out of sweet paprika” and “I loved those almond-stuffed olives” and “If you find any more candied figs…” They’re not all about food. One reminded me that she was running low on Magno soap.
All easy requests to fill at one stop: the grocery store. The easiest stop for nearly everything is the Corte Ingles department store found in any city. I head straight down the escalator to the grocery store that’s always on the lower level. There I find boxes of Spanish paprika in both hot (picante) and sweet (dulce), far tastier than the bland stuff at home, and in exotic red tin boxes.
Almond-stuffed olives are packed in little tin cans, indestructible in luggage. The same bright-colored candied whole fruits that confectioners sell at twice the price are packaged less elegantly, but travel better sealed in plastic. Green whole figs are almost transparent, and bright orange apricots seldom make it to the person I buy them for. Delectable Spanish almonds are inexpensive here, and unobtainable at home.
The soap aisle finishes my expedition, with bars of Magno – dark-colored soap that is almost unknown outside of Spain – and fragrant Heno de Pravia in its bright yellow wrapper. I don't tell anyone that I pack this amid my dirty laundry to keep my luggage smelling fresh!
The best part is that my whole basket full costs only a few Euros, especially welcome now that the American dollar is worth so little.
Madrid: See Uffizi Paintings Free
Posted by
Barbara Rogers
Barbara Rogers
Art exhibitions, film screenings and concerts have a new venue in Madrid, opening with a free exhibit from the Uffizi Gallery, including works never shown outside Italy.
Madrid’s 1899 electrical power station has opened as CaixaForum Madrid, after a $96 million restoration that transforms it into an art gallery, concert hall, cinema and conference venue. The long-awaited cultural center begins life with a big bang, showing 45 works from a Uffizi exhibit, many of which have never before left Italy.
Paintings by artists including Botticelli, Giordano, Parmigianino and Signorelli will be on display for the opening, and the exhibit is free. The 45 paintings form the Pan de los Ángeles (Bread of Angels) exhibit, one of three featured in the opening.
The building itself is a work of art, designed by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, turning a rare example of early 20th-century industrial architecture in Madrid’s historical center into a modern complex that quintuples its size, while preserving its integrity.
The cast-iron and brick Central Eléctrica del Mediodía has been transformed into an innovative “sculptural” building over a new public square. One façade features a 5,000-square-foot vertical “garden” by by botanist Patrick Blanc, with 15,000 plants representing 250 different species.
CaixaForum Madrid is part of Madrid’s Paseo del Arte (Art Walk), close to the Museo del Prado, the Thyssen Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía, each of which has been greatly expanded in the past few years.
CaixaForum Madrid is at 36 Paseo del Prado.
Paintings by artists including Botticelli, Giordano, Parmigianino and Signorelli will be on display for the opening, and the exhibit is free. The 45 paintings form the Pan de los Ángeles (Bread of Angels) exhibit, one of three featured in the opening.
The building itself is a work of art, designed by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, turning a rare example of early 20th-century industrial architecture in Madrid’s historical center into a modern complex that quintuples its size, while preserving its integrity.
The cast-iron and brick Central Eléctrica del Mediodía has been transformed into an innovative “sculptural” building over a new public square. One façade features a 5,000-square-foot vertical “garden” by by botanist Patrick Blanc, with 15,000 plants representing 250 different species.
CaixaForum Madrid is part of Madrid’s Paseo del Arte (Art Walk), close to the Museo del Prado, the Thyssen Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía, each of which has been greatly expanded in the past few years.
CaixaForum Madrid is at 36 Paseo del Prado.
Money-Saving Tips for Summer Trips
Posted by
Barbara Rogers
Barbara Rogers
Higher air fares and a fast-shrinking dollar means that travelers planning summer vacations in Europe will need to look hard for money-saving deals and budget tours.
With summer promising few bargain airfares to Italy, Spain and Portugal and tighter limits on redeeming frequent flyer miles, travelers need to look even harder for ways to stretch their shrinking travel dollar. Here are a few tips on planning budget travel in Europe.
Pay in Dollars – Look for tours, cruises and lodging packages that guarantee the rates in American dollars. This protects you from its further fall and locks in the price.
Look for Packages – The more you can package into one deal, the better a price you can expect. This doesn’t mean you must go on a tour – look for independent travel deals that package air, hotels and car rental, for example, or even just hotels and car. For example, TourCrafters is offering budget-priced packages to Puglia, in southern Italy, that include quality hotels and rental car, beginning at about $1100 a couple.
Read, Read, Read – The more you learn about a destination, the more money you can save there. Find out where the locals eat, learn about public transport, search out low-cost activities. You’ll also have a richer experience, meeting locals instead of other tourists.
Get Out of Town – Lodging and dining is nearly always cheaper in small towns or suburban neighborhoods than in city centers. Public transport is excellent in Europe, so join the commuters heading into town on the morning trains (or go a bit later to miss the rush) and save big on lodging.
For cool places to go, click here.
Pay in Dollars – Look for tours, cruises and lodging packages that guarantee the rates in American dollars. This protects you from its further fall and locks in the price.
Look for Packages – The more you can package into one deal, the better a price you can expect. This doesn’t mean you must go on a tour – look for independent travel deals that package air, hotels and car rental, for example, or even just hotels and car. For example, TourCrafters is offering budget-priced packages to Puglia, in southern Italy, that include quality hotels and rental car, beginning at about $1100 a couple.
Read, Read, Read – The more you learn about a destination, the more money you can save there. Find out where the locals eat, learn about public transport, search out low-cost activities. You’ll also have a richer experience, meeting locals instead of other tourists.
Get Out of Town – Lodging and dining is nearly always cheaper in small towns or suburban neighborhoods than in city centers. Public transport is excellent in Europe, so join the commuters heading into town on the morning trains (or go a bit later to miss the rush) and save big on lodging.
For cool places to go, click here.
Posted by
Barbara Rogers
Barbara Rogers
More than beautiful beaches, this Mediterranean region offers the Alhambra, Picasso’s childhood home, the Great Mosque of Cordoba and undiscovered walled hill towns.
This year's pre-Christmas trip to Spain was not my usual shopping trip – although my family was happy to find a few goodies – candied whole figs, Andalusian olive oil, almond-studded nougats and Castile soaps – under the tree.
This time we chose to explore Andalusia, a region so large and so rich in culture that we could only skim the surface. This region of Spain, covering the western Mediterranean coast to the Portuguese border and reaching up into the mountains to the north, was ruled for centuries by an Islamic caliphate that endowed the region with art treasures beyond belief, and left a love of beautiful things that pervades the very soul of Andalusia to this day.
Already posted on this page are articles covering exotic Seville, the cruise port of Cadiz, and the wine town of Jerez de la Frontera, as well as Seville’s Flamenco scene, and the comforts of flat-bed seats on Iberia Airline’s new Business Plus class.
In coming weeks, look for more – descriptions of the Alhambra and its gardens (and a wonderful restaurant inside Granada’s bullring), the new Picasso Museum and other sites related to the artist in his hometown of Malaga, Marbella’s charming old streets, Cordoba’s astonishing Great Mosque and old medina, and other places that are not as well known.
These include hilltop Carmona and a wonderful town I had never heard of: Priego de Cordoba, which we found by following the Route of the Caliphate. This and several other well-designed new tourist routes are beautifully detailed in a series of books produced by the ever-ahead-of-the-curve Spanish Tourist Office.
To read more about our Spanish travels click here.
This time we chose to explore Andalusia, a region so large and so rich in culture that we could only skim the surface. This region of Spain, covering the western Mediterranean coast to the Portuguese border and reaching up into the mountains to the north, was ruled for centuries by an Islamic caliphate that endowed the region with art treasures beyond belief, and left a love of beautiful things that pervades the very soul of Andalusia to this day.
Already posted on this page are articles covering exotic Seville, the cruise port of Cadiz, and the wine town of Jerez de la Frontera, as well as Seville’s Flamenco scene, and the comforts of flat-bed seats on Iberia Airline’s new Business Plus class.
In coming weeks, look for more – descriptions of the Alhambra and its gardens (and a wonderful restaurant inside Granada’s bullring), the new Picasso Museum and other sites related to the artist in his hometown of Malaga, Marbella’s charming old streets, Cordoba’s astonishing Great Mosque and old medina, and other places that are not as well known.
These include hilltop Carmona and a wonderful town I had never heard of: Priego de Cordoba, which we found by following the Route of the Caliphate. This and several other well-designed new tourist routes are beautifully detailed in a series of books produced by the ever-ahead-of-the-curve Spanish Tourist Office.
To read more about our Spanish travels click here.
Best Guidebooks to Southern Europe
Posted by
Barbara Rogers
Barbara Rogers
Planning a trip to Italy Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus or a Mediterranean cruise? The right guidebook can lead you to the best sights, and the perfect vacation.
Guidebooks, even in the internet era, are still important tools in planning and getting the most out of a trip. But finding the one that’s just right for you can be puzzling.
Each of the major series has its own personality and its own following, from the 20-something on a weekend getaway to the family on a driving tour or the retired couple on a cruise. Here are my favorites – those I carry myself:
Each of the major series has its own personality and its own following, from the 20-something on a weekend getaway to the family on a driving tour or the retired couple on a cruise. Here are my favorites – those I carry myself:
- Lonely Planet – Country guides and smaller city/region books are aimed for the younger independent traveler, but their exhaustive and reliable detail makes them useful for anyone, especially those traveling by train or bus.
- Cadogan – Among the best and most detailed books, these guides really shine in Spain and Italy, written in an engaging narrative style, but easy to use while traveling. Especially good for those who enjoy discovering places most tourists don’t find, and who like some historical and cultural background.
- Thomas Cook Drive Around Guides – Excellent for those touring by car, with driving itineraries and details on sights, lodging and dining en route, and color photography throughout. Of course we would be partial to these, since we write the guides to Northern Italy and Portugal in this series.
- Time Out – Exhaustive city guides written for a hip young market, but good for any traveler who wants cultural, artistic and historical detail on each sight. Nightlife and shopping are important elements, but serious sightseeing is paramount. They include a little information on places around each city, as well.
Digital Cameras – Everyone’s a Pro
Posted by
Barbara Rogers
Barbara Rogers
Think how much easier and more fun it is to take pictures – and good pictures – to remember you trip, now that you can use a digital camera.
The joys of digital cameras begin with the packing – no more bulky rolls of film to carry. No more wondering how many you’ll need, or trying to find the right kind in a remote town.
Each day it means tucking a spare card into a pocket, instead of lumpy film. Changing cards is faster and needed less often than changing film. And they can be used over and over, unlike film, so I’m not spending money with every click of the shutter.
But to me the most important advantage of digital is that I can check immediately to see if the picture is good. Did that man who stepped in front of me get in the way? A few fast clicks and I can see that he did, delete the shot and take it again without the back of his head in it.
I can also fix minor mistakes later – under-exposed? I can lighten it so all the details I saw show in the picture.
But best of all, I can make prints immediately and I can email my family shots taken that day, so they can “travel” with me. I can store them safely, make CDs of them, print them in any size and layout – even label them and make them into scrapbook pages.
Without having to worry about all the technical details of using a conventional camera, we can all concentrate on having fun and recording that fun in pictures.
Each day it means tucking a spare card into a pocket, instead of lumpy film. Changing cards is faster and needed less often than changing film. And they can be used over and over, unlike film, so I’m not spending money with every click of the shutter.
But to me the most important advantage of digital is that I can check immediately to see if the picture is good. Did that man who stepped in front of me get in the way? A few fast clicks and I can see that he did, delete the shot and take it again without the back of his head in it.
I can also fix minor mistakes later – under-exposed? I can lighten it so all the details I saw show in the picture.
But best of all, I can make prints immediately and I can email my family shots taken that day, so they can “travel” with me. I can store them safely, make CDs of them, print them in any size and layout – even label them and make them into scrapbook pages.
Without having to worry about all the technical details of using a conventional camera, we can all concentrate on having fun and recording that fun in pictures.
Posted by
Barbara Rogers
Barbara Rogers
Michelangelo’s Rome, Juliet’s Verona, Ulysses’ Aegean, Picasso’s Malaga – larger-than-life characters make good travel companions, and can lead to hidden sights.
Instead of just touring the usual sights, it’s fun to have a quest that gives a theme to your trip. Some of my favorite travels have been in search of some person or group who trod the same streets centuries ago -- or a completely fictional one who walked only in the imagination of an author.
Here are a few quests to get you started:
Here are a few quests to get you started:
- Michelangelo’s Rome – Begin at the Vatican with his Pieta and the Sistine Chapel, then visit the churches where his works are visible.
- Gaudi’s Barcelona – The astonishing church of Sagrada Familia, unfinished when the architect died, is the place to start, but the trail leads to many other places in the city.
- Ullysses’ Aegean – as you cruise in the eastern Mediterranean, you’ll “meet” this Greek hero everywhere.
- Cesar Manrique’s Lanzarote – In addition to his most famous works, you’ll discover a hotel, two restaurants and other reminders of how the artist saved his native island.
- Picasso’s Malaga – The city on Spain’s Costa del Sol has recently put up signs identifying places connected with this hometown boy.
- Knights Templars’ Portugal – You’ll be surprised at the places you’ll discover that are associated with this famous order.
- Da Vinci’s Milan – His most famous work, The Last Supper, is only one of the works by this artist. look for his inventions in the Museum of Science and Technology.
- St. Mark’s Veneto – Follow the saint from his first church in Aquilea to Venice’s great basilica (and find the fresco that relates how his lost bones were discovered).
- Juliet’s Verona – Although she was entirely a work of fiction, you can find the castles near Verona that inspired the story, and follow a trail of “sights” that include her famous balcony (built in the 1930s).
Planning Your Mediterranean Cruise
Posted by
Barbara Rogers
Barbara Rogers
In some cruise ports, the shore excursion is the best choice to see the nearby sights, but in others you can travel better on your own. Here are a few tips.
How can you tell if you need a shore excursion when you land in Ancona or Bari? Which ports are best for independent travel and which are best seen with tours? A little reading before you go can answer that question.
Before you leave, ask the cruise line or agent where the ship docks. If it docks in the city, chances are good that he sights are a short cab ride away, and there is usually a line of taxis waiting when a ship arrives.
A guidebook or internet research can identify the best sights and their locations, so you can tell a taxi driver where you want to go. Ask the fare first, and make sure the meter is running. In most cities, the main sights are close together, so you can savor the city as you walk between them, stopping in a café – pleasures you can’t indulge in if you’re on a guided tour.
But in some ports, the reason for stopping is some distance away. In some, you can take local transportation easily – Livorno is connected to Pisa by a direct train, for example. But Ancona, on Italy’s Adriatic coast, is the closest port to Urbino, and the only good access is on a shore excursion. Likewise, Manfredonia is the closest port to the hard-to-reach pilgrimage town of Monte Sant’Angelo, a shore excursion that's well worthwhile.
In Spain, you need the shore excursion to get from Vigo to Santiago de Compostella, but in Cadiz it’s easy to catch a train to Seville, since the station is opposite the cruise port and trains are frequent.
Doing your homework is the only way to learn these secrets, since few cruise directors will tell you alternative ways to travel ashore.
Before you leave, ask the cruise line or agent where the ship docks. If it docks in the city, chances are good that he sights are a short cab ride away, and there is usually a line of taxis waiting when a ship arrives.
A guidebook or internet research can identify the best sights and their locations, so you can tell a taxi driver where you want to go. Ask the fare first, and make sure the meter is running. In most cities, the main sights are close together, so you can savor the city as you walk between them, stopping in a café – pleasures you can’t indulge in if you’re on a guided tour.
But in some ports, the reason for stopping is some distance away. In some, you can take local transportation easily – Livorno is connected to Pisa by a direct train, for example. But Ancona, on Italy’s Adriatic coast, is the closest port to Urbino, and the only good access is on a shore excursion. Likewise, Manfredonia is the closest port to the hard-to-reach pilgrimage town of Monte Sant’Angelo, a shore excursion that's well worthwhile.
In Spain, you need the shore excursion to get from Vigo to Santiago de Compostella, but in Cadiz it’s easy to catch a train to Seville, since the station is opposite the cruise port and trains are frequent.
Doing your homework is the only way to learn these secrets, since few cruise directors will tell you alternative ways to travel ashore.
Posted by
Barbara Rogers
Barbara Rogers
See and be seen during fashion industry’s Greatest Show on Earth, in late February: How to dress, where to shop on a budget and what else to do while you’re in Milan.
In late February, everybody in the world of high fashion heads to Milan for Milano Moda Donna, Women’s Fashion Week. The cream of the international fashion houses send their top models onto the catwalks swathed in the designs that fashionistas can’t wait to see. Even in Paris, eyes turn to Milan.
The main scene is at the big Fiera di Milano, Milan’s trade fair center west of Parco Sempione, but even it can’t hold all the events – or people -- associated with these fashion shows. The major houses have their own show venues, some in custom-restyled and renovated warehouses.
Casual visitors without serious connections to the fashion industry can’t get into the shows, but they can bask in the buzz that charges everything in Milan that week. Top designers may be at a round of private parties, but the excitement spills over, filling Milan with a new electricity.
To be allowed into the bars, restaurants and clubs where the models and fashion crowd hang out after hours, you’ll need to dress the part, so head to Milan’s Quadrilatero della Moda (Fashion Quarter) for their latest, or make your plastic go farther at one of the many discount designer consignment shops. Once you’re dressed for success (which means getting past the bouncer, who doubles as fashion police), head for the trendiest clubs and bars, where the models and designers go after they’ve rolled up the runways for the night.
During the day, while everyone’s busy at Fiera, absorb a little culture on a walking tour of Milan, see Da Vinci’s The Last Supper or the Duomo and nearby churches. Or explore the museums at Castello Sforzesco to see works by Michelangelo and the French Impressionists.
The main scene is at the big Fiera di Milano, Milan’s trade fair center west of Parco Sempione, but even it can’t hold all the events – or people -- associated with these fashion shows. The major houses have their own show venues, some in custom-restyled and renovated warehouses.
Casual visitors without serious connections to the fashion industry can’t get into the shows, but they can bask in the buzz that charges everything in Milan that week. Top designers may be at a round of private parties, but the excitement spills over, filling Milan with a new electricity.
To be allowed into the bars, restaurants and clubs where the models and fashion crowd hang out after hours, you’ll need to dress the part, so head to Milan’s Quadrilatero della Moda (Fashion Quarter) for their latest, or make your plastic go farther at one of the many discount designer consignment shops. Once you’re dressed for success (which means getting past the bouncer, who doubles as fashion police), head for the trendiest clubs and bars, where the models and designers go after they’ve rolled up the runways for the night.
During the day, while everyone’s busy at Fiera, absorb a little culture on a walking tour of Milan, see Da Vinci’s The Last Supper or the Duomo and nearby churches. Or explore the museums at Castello Sforzesco to see works by Michelangelo and the French Impressionists.
Pages 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25