Heather on her travels blog

Seafood on the beach at the Chiringuito in Spain

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:14:48 +0000

What could be better than eating a plate of seafood with the sand running through your toes and the sound of the waves in your ears – that’s what you’ll get when you eat at the chiringuito or seafood beach bar in Spain.

Squid and octopus at Los Boliches at Fuengirola

These traditional restaurants are typically right on the beach and in the good old days it really was just a few tables on the sand under a makeshift roof, with the fish grilled on charcoal set on the top of an old fishing boat that had been filled with sand.

Sardine barbeque on the beach at Fuengirola

Nowadays, things are a bit more sophisticated and you’ll find yourself stepping up off the sand into the wooden floor of the restaurant, but the fishing boat barbeques are still there and typically used to grill rows of sardines on a wooden skewer.

If you’re settled on the beach for the day, you’ll be in and out of the chiringuito – buying drinks and ice creams, and taking a leisurely lunch or evening meal of great tapas or seafood dishes. The menu can be pretty varied but if you’re eating anything but seafood or paella, you’re really missing the point. There won’t be too much that’s fancy here – just super-fresh fish that’s quickly cooked, with brisk service and plenty of family groups enjoying their holiday meal.

I ate at a couple of different chiringuitos on my recent short break to Southern Spain, staying on the Costa del Sol at the holiday resort of Benalmadena.

Chiringuito Las Gaviotas on the beach at Benalmadena

The first was at La Gavotina, just one of a string of seafood restaurants that you’ll find if you walk down from the coastal road onto the beach promenade that runs all the way along from the Los Mollinitos (windmill) roundabout to the Puerto Marina.

As we’d met up with English expat friends at 7pm we were impossibly early for eating by Spanish standards, so we decided to sit at the beachside tables of the chiringuito to have a drink in the evening sun while we checked out whether we’d like to eat there.

At 8pm we settled into one of the restaurant tables with only a few young families for company but by the time we left at 10pm the place was almost full, the charcoal in the boat was stoked up and the accordion player was doing his rounds.

Boquerones Fritos at Los Boliches at Fuengirola

The next day we ate our lunch on Spanish time at around 3pm with my Spanish friend Ana at a restaurant that a friend had recommended especially for the boquerones fritos. These are large anchovies, cleaned and beheaded then deep fried in batter and delicious with just a squeeze of lemon.

I was initiated into the art of eating the boquerones; first you pick one up and carefully eat the fish from one side, then take hold of the tail to peel away the backbone, and eat the other side of the fish. The technique worked wonderfully well. Of course if you were polite, you might want to do it all with the knife and fork but this is a place where the enjoyment of the food comes before such niceties.

Our friends told us these were far superior to the small sardines grilled on the fishing boat charcoal, which they never bothered to gut. Observing a few diners painstakingly removing the bones, head, tail and guts for only a tiny mouthful of fish, I could see their point.

Sardine barbeque on the beach at Fuengirola

My friend Ana had a plate of Calamar friend in batter, with rings of the squid accompanied by tiny ones fried whole, which were also delicious and there were plenty of families being served large pans of paella. Our chosen venue for the best boquerones fritos around (according to the local knowledge) was at a restaurant on the other side of the road from the beach at Los Boliches in Fuengirola and if I ever find their business card again I’ll tell you more…

But really just look for the chiringuito anywhere on this coast that’s packed with Spanish families enjoying their seafood and paella! That’s all the recommendation you need.

This post is part of Wanderfood Wednesday hosted at Wanderlust and Lipstick – do head over to for Gac fruit from Vietnam and more foodie delights

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heatheronhertravels’ Spain – Malaga photoset

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A beach paradise at Cabo Polonio and Valizas in Uruguay

Mark — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:47:54 +0000

This guest post takes us to Uruguay to explore the remote Cabo Polonio and beach at Valizas, as writer and film-maker Veronica Pamoukaghlian takes us back to carefree summer days of hanging out on the beach, surfing and drinking caipirinha with friends around a beach fire.

The lighthouse at Cabo Faro, Uruguay

The first time I heard about Cabo Polonio was in the early nineties. Although only four hours away from the capital of Uruguay, which is home to half the population of the country, the place had been seen by few Uruguayans at the time and the scarce articles about it that appeared in the press made it sound as exotic as the far west may have seemed to the first English settlers on the Atlantic coast of the US.

The place was a paradise that could only be reached on horseback or using a jeep service run by a Frenchman who was a sort of local pioneer; he was just called “EL FRANCES” (the Frenchman).

The technical problem was a desert of tall golden dunes that separated the road from the beautiful shore. Ever since I read a particular article on a local magazine that no longer exists I began entertaining ideas of spending part of the summer there.

It is considered a rite of passage to adulthood in Uruguay to spend summers further away from Montevideo and closer to Brazil.

The greenish waters of River Plate start turning into the blue Atlantic ocean there, the beaches become more dangerous and mysterious, the surfing is good and there is always a fire on the sand after dusk, a drum caipirinha and, of course, the quintessential casual love stories and hookups of a careless summer.

Beach at Cabo Polonio, Uruguay

My first time in Valizas, the closest beach town (you could hardly call it a “resort”), involved camping which I am generally not very good at. I had seen the Caribbean before, but I was instantly fascinated by the blue ocean and the sort of hippy lifestyle.

Rainbow at Cabo Polonio, Uruguay

I remember very well the first time I did the walk across the desert from Valizas to Cabo Polonio. The solitude, the view from the Buena Vista hill, the little stream in the midst of the desert from which I drank the most delicious water, the cows casually lounging by the deserted shore, and my guide, the perfect place of my imagination, the castle island, in front of my favorite half moon of a deserted beach. I also remember a lonely naked tree and some crows following me at times and how everything spoke of infinite beauty with just the exact dose of danger and fear of getting lost, being taken in by a giant wave of the bluest shade, or falling prey to huge hungry birds.

One hour later, I was in Cabo. The lighthouse and the beach that is now my most beloved beach on the planet, after having seen Waikiki, Maui, Aruba, Mykonos, and the lot, welcomed me as if I had been there many times before, and I fell in love with a distinct quality that I don´t think I can put into words, you would just have to go there.

With friends at Valizas, Uruguay

For better or worse, times have changed. After many visitors and many years, the dunes are now smaller, the simple life of the little huts with no electricity has evolved into more modern lifestyles, and last summer a friend crossed paths with George Michael there, this meaning that people from other countries have found out about the magical place, and it is no longer as quiet as it used to be.

The real hippies and penniless musicians and hippy necklace makers of the past have been joined by hordes of fashionable hippie chic Argentineans, Europeans, and Americans. The prices of rent have gone up so much that it is now more expensive to spend a summer in a good house in Cabo than in South America´s top beach resort, also in Uruguay, namely, Punta del Este, which is located only a couple of hundred kilometers away.

The good news is that repeated plans to build a five star hotel to disrupt the landscape of a little hill in the shape of a cape, with a lighthouse at the tip, and very few scattered houses facing the beaches on both sides, have been abandoned, and the original beauty that I discovered many years ago still remains.

Sunset at Cabo Polonio, Uruguay

Wherever I may be in the world, if there is a summer air and a quiet beach, I will always long for Cabo and the perfect days, the afternoons of swimming to collect mussels, the wine and cheese and delicious local tomatoes we used to call “the happy hour” at dusk, the neon waves at night with noctilucas, and the silence at times of no cars, no city noises, as if progress had never been and we were still able to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, a mate to drink with friends watching the sun go down, and all those things we used to do, the games we played, stuff you do when there is no TV, no Internet, no telescreens to watch your every move.

A safe haven, if there ever was one on the face of the earth, Cabo Polonio still feels like years ago when you visit off season, from late March to November.

My thanks for these memories of happy, hippy summers at Cabo Polonio to Veronica Pamoukaghlian who lives in Uruguay and writes at The Wander Life – “a blog from the heart, from a restless traveler”

More South American tales to enjoy

11 South America Backpacking with Indie Travel Podcast – podcast
Coca tea or Cappuccino – in Peru
Warm baths and waterfalls at Baños – in Ecuador

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

11 South America Backpacking with Indie Travel Podcast – podcast

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:20:08 +0000

In Podcast 11 I talk to Craig and Linda from Indie Travel Podcast about their 4 months travelling with friends in South America, visiting Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay. They pick out the highlights of their trip, and give some advice on travelling by bus, how to avoid scams and pickpockets and how they enjoyed staying with locals on this trip.

Craig and Linda on the Salt Flat Tour

To download the South America backpacking podcast, right click here [mp3] 45 mins

To subscribe to all my podcasts in ITunes click here

Chile

Craig and Linda flew into Santiago because of the cheap flights from Auckland in New Zealand. The city is surrounded by mountains and can be bathed in smog although Craig & Linda enjoyed their time there with museums and great street food.
Patagonia in southern Chile has amazing scenery although Craig & Linda didn’t visit, as it is one of the most expensive regions to visit in South America and they didn’t have enough time.
The island of Chiloé is a great place to relax and slow down, with a Pacific Island feel with food being cooked in underground ovens, and a place you can spot seals and dolphins.
In northern Chile, the area around San Pedro de Atacama is beautiful although the town itself is a tourist trap. You can use San Pedro de Atacama as a base for trips into the surrounding area but as an alternative you can approach from the north from Uyunay in Bolivia. This region is known for its natural beauty with mountains and salt flats.
Craig and Linda enjoyed an astronomy tour with a Frenchman who has set up telescopes in his house to view the very clear night skies in this area that has very little light pollution.
Linda and a friend spent a weekend in Valparaiso in Chile with plenty of street art, funiculars and brightly coloured houses where the local government had commissioned open air murals around the town. They also visited Viña del Mar, the coastal resort of the region.
Unfortunately, Chile is one of the most expensive countries in South America for food and accommodation, along with Uruguay and Argentina.

Salt flats in Bolivia

Peru

Craig and Linda travelled by overnight bus from Santiago to Antofagasta and up to Lima and spent 7 weeks in Peru, 3 of which were in Cusco where they attended a local language school to learn Spanish.
Cusco is not representative of Peru as a whole as it is very touristy, being the main jumping off point for trips to Machu Picchu. We discuss the pros and cons of visiting Machu Pichu which is a major site but also expensive and crowded by comparison to other sites that receive far less visitors.
From Cusco they enjoyed a trek through the Sacred Valley, visiting local villages that were well off the tourist trail.
Craig and Linda didn’t visit Machu Picchu preferring to spend time at some other lesser known pre-Incan sites near Trujillo such as Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna.
They especially enjoyed their time in the northern cities of Trujillo, Chachapoyas and Chiclayo and wish that they’d spent more time there than in Cusco.

Salt hotel in Bolivia

Bolivia

From Peru Craig and Linda travelled to the shores of Lake Titicaca, stayed at Cococabana and did some walking on Isla de Sol, a large island in the lake.
They visited the Uros floating islands made from reeds that were constructed as a refuge for the local people but have now become a major draw for tourists and brought more prosperity for the locals.
They had mixed feelings about La Paz which Linda loved as they stayed with locals and she enjoyed the street-food. Craig found the city dirty and felt unsafe as they were targeted with 3 pick-pocket attempts while they were there.
From Uyuni in Bolivia Craig and Linda visited the salt flats for a 3 day 4 wheel drive tour staying in a salt hotel and ending at San Pedro de Atacama. They loved the amazing play with perspective, coral islands covered with cactus and the heat haze with the mountains in the distance.

Uros floating islands in Peru

Argentina and Uruguay

Craig and Linda visited the Iguazu falls from both the Argentinian side which they found more developed but also more crowded and from the Brazilian side which had less visitors. The car to take them to the falls was arranged through their hostel and was only a little more expensive and more convenient than taking public transport.
From Puerto Iguazu they took the bus to Montevideo in Uruguay where they stayed with a friend who took them to his grandmother’s Lake House. This was close to the popular beach and surfing resort of Punte del Este which was reputed to have the best surfing on Uruguay’s east coast.
They also enjoyed Montevideo which was a relaxing place with plenty of culture and galleries, a contrast to the buzzing atmosphere of Buenos Aries. They also spent some time in in the town of Colonia in Uruguay.
In Argentina Craig and Linda did some wine tasting in the Mendoza and la Plata regions but found it difficult to take part in the wine tasting unless you were part of a tour as the wineries would only open their cheapest wines to try.

Igauzu Falls, Brazil

Tips for travelling by bus in South America

As they were travelling on a budget, Craig & Linda used long distance buses to get around, normally travelling overnight, despite the fact that Linda finds it difficult to sleep on buses.
The standard of the buses were best in Chile and Argentina and in Peru there was also a wide range of standards with some very high quality buses.
At best these buses can be similar in style to air travel with comfortable, reclining seats, airline style meals and drinks and even sometimes on board wifi.
Depending on the bus, you can book semi-cama seats that recline 45-60 degrees, Cama with 160 degree reclining, and even full cama that lie flat.
Craig and Linda suggest that you research your options and book with an bus operator that has a good reputation, even if it costs a little more.
Always keep your valuables with you on the bus and keep hold of any day-packs , especially when sleeping.
You may like a seat at the front of the bus that has more leg-room and you should also check the position of the toilet before selecting a seat to avoid unwelcome smells.

Couchurfingand meeting locals

On this trip Craig and Linda enjoyed staying with locals through Couchsurfing.org – even though their options were more limited as they were travelling in a group.
They combined this with staying in hostels which also gave them a break from speaking Spanish and an opportunity to catch up on the work for their Indie Travel Podcast site, as they also earn a living through the website.

Other Indie Travel Podcasts on South America

147 How to catch a bus in Chile and Peru
154 South American travel: Peru and Bolivia
155 – South American Travel: Chile, Argenina and Uruguay

Photo Credits: All photos by Craig and Linda and can be seen on their Mars-Hill Flickr site

A Comfortable Bavarian Gasthaus at Hotel Zur Post in Altötting

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:57:31 +0000

The Hotel Zur Post in Altötting is a large and comfortable 4 star Gasthof hotel that is perfectly located on the main town square of Altötting, right opposite the shrine of the Chapel of Mercy for which the town is famous. With 60 rooms, I imagine that this must be one of the largest hotels in Altötting and there are many different public rooms and eating areas to accommodate groups of different sizes, although the overall impression is comfortable and homely.

Hotel Zur Post at Altötting in Bavaria, Germany

A gasthaus has been on this site since the 13th century although the current building dates back to the 17th century when it was redesigned after a fire, in Italian baroque style, by the same architect who designed the Nymphenburg castle in Munich. We enjoyed our 2 night stay at Hotel Zur Post in Altötting as part of a short break to visit the Oberammergau Passion Play and the hotel would be an ideal place to stop for a night or two if you were touring Bavaria and wanted to visit the attractive pilgrimage town of Altötting.

Restaurants and public areas

For sitting out in fine summer weather, there is a bar terrace at the front of the hotel for drinks and light meals, adjoining the grass and gravelled Kapellplatz square, where you can watch the world go by. If you want to eat al fresco with a little more privacy there is another courtyard restaurant terrace at the back of the hotel as well as a large dining room, an even larger function room complete with stage and several other dining rooms which could accommodate larger groups like our tour party. Facing the side street façade of the hotel is a shop selling clothes and accessories in traditional style including the pretty Bavarian dirndl dresses that are typically worn by hotel staff and by locals on special occasions.

On the same side, facing the street is the Bistro Gabriel delicatessen and coffee bar where you can buy local speciality produce and eat a plate of cold meats and salads or drink an expresso or glass of wine. We ate our breakfast and evening meal in an internal dining room with pretty red checked clothes and furnishings, hunting trophies on the wall and a tiled stove in the centre. It was very cosy and attractive room and perfect for a chilly winter’s evening although a little dark in the summer, so we ate in the main Post Speisesaal restaurant on the second night. Judging by the large reception room and the photos of the winter ball held there, this is a hotel that regularly hosts weddings and celebration parties although the overall feel of the hotel was of a traditional and family run establishment with many personal touches.

Dining Room in Hotel Zur Post in Altötting, Germany

Bedroom and bathroom

Our room was on the first floor accessed from a wide corridor with antique pictures and furniture. The good sized bedroom had a slightly old fashioned feel with dark wood fitted bedroom furniture, headboard and side tables. There was a pretty glass chandelier and on the walls were a crucifix and some traditional prints, photos of porcelain ornaments and an oil painting of a floral arrangement – the sort of pictures that I’d expect to find in my granny’s house but wouldn’t be giving wall-space in my own (apart from the crucifix being a good Catholic girl).

The duvet covers and square continental pillows had white self-striped cotton covers and the bed was extremely comfortable. As seems to be common in European hotels, the double bed was made of twin mattresses placed side by side, and whether you ask for a double or twin beds, you usually get the same arrangement. There was a dark blue carpet, green patterned unlined curtains and a small table with a couple of red seated wooden chairs, as well as a fridge and large (as in bulky, not flat-screen) TV. Our bedroom had French windows which led up a couple of steps to a small balcony adjoining an internal roof terrace with plant pots and a small fountain which could be accessed from one of the upstairs reception rooms in summer. The overall effect of the bedroom was clean, fresh and comfortable if a little dated in décor.

The en suite bathroom was also freshly decorated in a modern white and grey theme. The sink had a grey mottled granite surround that was echoed in the black and white speckled floor tiles, with a large inset mirror above and a wired in hair-dryer. There was a deep bath with a powerful shower and a glass shower screen and the plain white tiles were edged in a grey and silver patterned border. At the side of the sink were the typical small bottles of shampoo, body lotion and soaps in a glass jar. The whole bathroom felt clean, fresh and modern and efficiently Germanic.

Bedroom in Hotel Zur Post in Altötting, Germany

Bathroom in Hotel Zur Post in Altötting, Germany

Hotel Staff

We didn’t have a lot of contact with the staff but the waiting and reception staff we met were friendly and professional and some spoke a little English. Having met so many Germans on my travels who speak excellent English I was surprised that many locals working in shops and cafes spoke limited English (although better than my German), so this is the perfect place to pack your phrase book and try and brush up on your German. We were able to pick up some tourism leaflets about the town from reception and the helpful receptionist gave us directions to the bike shop in town, where we hired bikes for our afternoon cycle ride to the Badesee.

Breakfast and evening meal

For breakfast our group was served in a separate room with a buffet selection of muesli style cereals, fresh rolls with jam and butter, the typical German spread of cold meats, cheese and boiled eggs and juices, and all the food was good quality. As we were part of a tour group, our evening meal was from a set menu that was included with our tour cost, and normally consisted of a home-made soup starter, a meat, fish and vegetarian option of typical Bavarian food specialities and a desert. The food was generally good although the vegetarian options were a little insubstantial for a main course – for instance my husband had a mozzarella salad that would have made a light lunch choice and left him feeling hungry. When you’re eating from a set menu that has been put together with cost in mind, it’s difficult to judge the best of what’s on offer, but I’d certainly be very happy to eat in the Hotel Zur Post restaurant again for a range of European and Bavarian dishes

Courtyard in Hotel Zur Post in Altötting, Germany

Reception in Hotel Zur Post in Altötting, Germany

Facilities

I’d spotted on the hotel website that Hotel Zur Post at Altötting had a small swimming pool and sauna and had packed my costume in anticipation of a trying it out. In the event we did get some swimming in the badesee (swimming lake) nearby but the early starts meant that we didn’t get the time to try out the pool, although others in our group did and enjoyed their swim. I don’t expect that most of the pilgrims coming to Altötting are as wedded to their laptops as me, but there was free WiFi available from the café that I could also pick up in our bedroom and I also borrowed a cable at reception to access internet in the room. I didn’t see any parking facilities at the hotel and none are mentioned on the website, so if you are travelling by car, I would enquire about this when you book.

Prices

As I stayed in the Hotel Zur Post at Altötting as part of a tour package, I can’t tell you the exact price that we would have paid for the room we stayed in and the meals we ate. However, the price of a double room, in the main building where we stayed, as published on the hotel’s website is €105-129. There do appear to be cheaper rooms at €88 available in the Gasthouse part of the hotel although I’m not sure where these are located.

I’d recommend the Hotel Gasthof Zur Post in Altötting as a great choice to stay if you’re visiting this part of Bavaria. The Hotel is traditionally and comfortably decorated, with pretty details throughout and while it’s a big hotel it is family run and seems to have a personal touch for its guests.

Hotel Zur Post Altötting, Kapellplatz 2, 84503 Altötting, Germany

More tales from Bavaria to enjoy

Wiener Schnitzel and cherries from Bavaria – Germany
Tips for seeing the Oberammergau Passion Play
A cycle and cool lake swim in the badesee- in Bavaria, Germany

www.flickr.com

heatheronhertravels’ Germany – Altötting in Bavaria photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

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Wiener Schnitzel and cherries from Bavaria – Germany

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:08:46 +0000

If you like hearty home-style meals and plenty of meat, then Bavaria in Southern Germany is your kind of place. I visited this part of Germany recently on a short trip to see the Oberammergau Passion Play and here’s a taste of what you might expect when you eat out in a typical Gasthaus or Biergarten.

Mixed salad with potato pockets and cream cheese in Bavaria, Germany

Meat, especially veal, pork and sausages feature prominently on every menu in Bavaria and you’ll find plenty of roast meat dishes on the menu typically served with potato dumplings and salad or vegetables. I did find that practically everything came with lots of sauce or gravy, so if you prefer your sauce served separately, you’d better mention it when you order, if your German’s up to it. A very typical dish is the Wiener Schnitzel, a thin fillet of veal that’s coated with breadcrumbs and fried, served with a wedge of lemon and any chicken dishes would often be served with a wine or mushroom sauce.

Wiener Schnitzel in Bavaria, Germany

Salmon in herb sauce in Bavaria, Germany

When it comes to fish, the river fishes, such as salmon, trout or pike are often served with a herby cream sauce and rice. After I’d had a few too many slices of meat swimming in gravy I decided that the fish was a more reliable choice if you prefer something lighter. I did enjoy the mixed salads, which in Germany seem to be more of a compilation of other salads, unlike the UK where you’ll get an uninspiring mixture of lettuce, tomato and cucumber. You might find that within one bowl you get a small serving of any of the following; sliced peeled cucumber in a vinegar dressing, mixed salad leaves, creamy potato salad, grated carrots and sliced red onions. One of my favourite lunchtime meals was a large plate of this mixed salad topped with deep fried potato pockets filled with soft cheese – as there was so much colourful salad to work though I didn’t feel so guilty about eating those crispy deep fried potato croquettes.

Roast Veal with potato dumplings in Bavaria, Germany

Cherries in the market at Altötting in Bavaria, Germany

When it comes to fruit and desert, cherries are the undisputed fruit of Bavaria although you’ll also find red and black currents, raspberries and strawberries in season. We bought a large punnet of raspberries in the market at Altötting for a picnic lunch before our cycle ride to the badesee, but the dark, glossy cherries looked the most beautiful. If I’m honest, I found that when eating from restaurant set menus, the dishes all start to look a bit the same, but I think that we were hampered by a limited knowledge of German so we possibly missed some of the more unusual dishes. I found that when we shopped from a farmer’s market for our picnic, we were able to point out some more interesting things including small fried potato rosti cakes, a soft cheese flavoured with paprika and some little savoury pastries.

Of course, all of this hearty Bavarian fare should be washed down by a large beer, served by a waitress wearing the traditional dirndl and seated in a pretty biergarten with a view of the Alps in the distance. Prost!

This post is part of Wanderfood Wednesday – for curried flied rice and other foodie delights head over to Wanderlust and Lipstick

More tales from Bavaria to enjoy

Painted houses and wood carving at Oberammergau – in Bavaria, Germany
Tips for seeing the Oberammergau Passion Play
The latest Dirndl fashions from Bavaria – in Munich

www.flickr.com

heatheronhertravels’ Germany – food photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

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Five hidden hot-spots in Amsterdam

Mark — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:06:05 +0000

With its canals and merchant houses Amsterdam is one of the most popular European cities to visit but if you’ve done the canal tour and the Van Gough museum, you may like to try out some of the more unusual attractions suggested in my sponsored post from Easytobook.com

Amsterdam is one of the most popular European cities to visit in the world. The beautiful canals, green parks, stressed-free atmosphere and coffee shops all make it a desirable location to visit over and over again. Because many visitors tend to come back to Amsterdam for a second or third time, we gathered here some of the best hidden hot-spots that are not mentioned in the standard guide books but still worth visiting:

Cafe Vertigo in Amsterdam

1. Lunch in the park at Café Vertigo

This charming café could not be located in a better spot, right in the middle of the famous Vondelpark, underneath the Dutch Film Museum. Not only will the location blow you away but also the décor and the delicious food. The combination of the green surrounding, relaxed environment and the sounds of birds, will all make it an incredible afternoon. The greatest advantage of this café is the option to visit the film museum after a pleasant lunch.

Café Vertigo, Vondelpark 3, 1071 AA Amsterdam, tel: 020 612 3021

2. Dining in the dark at Ctaste

This is a truly unique experience for everybody! Enjoy an evening where you will be using your all senses, except seeing naturally. The food is served by blind individuals and before entering the dark eating room, you will be welcome in the restaurant’s lounge area where you will get a wide explanation about the whole experience. For those of you who are allergic for some kinds of food, no need to worry- the waiter will give you the chance to inform him about things you simply cannot or do not want to eat.

Ctaste, Amsteldijk 55, 1074 HX Amsterdam, tel: +31-(0)6 22335366

Red light district of Amsterdam by Marcel Germain

3. A red-light walking tour

This 2 hour tour may not be for everyone, but then you can be certain it is not the typical tourist Amsterdam sightseeing experience! The tour through the red light district, will start with visiting the prostitution information centre where you will get an interesting insight about the Dutch attitudes, rules and regulation, in this field. After the introduction meeting is finished, you will start exploring the red light district area, the Wallen. Your tour guide will take you to wander around the Zeedijk, (which in the past used to be a dangerous area and now it is one of the most lively places to have a drink and dinner in Amsterdam) afterwards you will continue strolling around in the old red light district’s narrow alleys and you are likely to finish somewhere in a central area. Please note that this tour is completely safe and you will be surprise how much you will learn! A number of tour companies offer this tour, or ask at the local tourist information office.

4. Dine with the Dutch

This is a must for those of you who would like try an at-home dinner with the locals! Just go on the Internet and register yourself on the Dine with the Dutch website. Fill in your details and this remarkably smart system will be able to find the most suitable family for you. The choices are tremendously broad: from a married gay couple to a large family with 5 children – everything is possible. After choosing your family you will get an invitation to a 3-course traditional Dutch meal. This will cost you 49 EUR per person including tax. Kids over the age of 12 will have to pay 25 EUR.

Amstelkring Museum Our Lord in the Attic by SacredDestination

5. Our Lord in the Attic

Behind the distinguished facade of the canal house and in the center of the famous Red Light District, you will find the 17th-century residence and a completely hidden church, known as Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder or Our Lord in the Attic. This church was used secretly between 1578 and 1795 when Catholicism in Amsterdam was illegal. Today, this amazing spot is a museum where art and religion exhibitions are presented and religious services still held. In 2010 the church is under restoration but the museum is still open.

Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder, Oudezijds Voorburgwal 40 , 1012 GE Amsterdam , Tel +31(0)20 624 66 04

My thanks for the Amsterdam tips in this article to EasyToBook.com who can help you find hotels in Amsterdam. The company’s online portal makes it simple for visitors to locate hotels, compare prices and secure discount rates on hotels all over the world that range from simple motels up to celebrated 5-star venues. For more information about hotels in Amsterdam, visit www.EasyToBook.com.

Photo Credits: Café Vertigo Courtesy of Amsterdam Tourism and Convention Board, Dark Amsterdam by MarcelGermain, Amstelkring Museum Our Lord in the Attic by SacredDestination

Painted houses and wood carving at Oberammergau – in Bavaria, Germany

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 07:23:53 +0000

On our recent trip to see the Passion Play at Oberammergau, we strolled around town admiring the painted houses or Luftlmalerei for which this small Bavarian town is renowned. The famous Oberammergau Passion Play only takes place every 10 years and in the years in between, the town is still a popular place to visit with picturesque, painted Alpine houses with carved balconies fringed with pink and red geraniums.

Pilatus House in Oberammergau, Germany

The town has also been known for centuries as a centre of skilled wood carving, as farmers needed to find ways to earn extra income through the long hard winters, when the village was under snow. Wood carvers from Oberammergau were renowned for their skill, some specialising in crucifixes, others in wooden painted religious figures and crib scenes, others in brightly coloured toys, using locally grown linden and alder wood. As the industry grew, street traders or Kraxentrager would travel all over Europe selling these carvings from wooden frames or Kraxe on their backs and in the 18th and 19th centuries residents left the village to set up successful retail businesses selling the wood carvings.

House Georg Lang in Oberammergau in Bavaria, Germany

Painted house in Oberammergau in Bavaria, Germany

The house paintings originated from the 18th century and started when the houses were given painted window surrounds to embellish the simple facades, and later religious and fairy tale scenes became popular. The term for these painted houses or Luftlmalerei originated from one of the earliest local artists ‘Franz Seraph Zwinck’ who lived in the house called Zum Luftl. He also designed one of the local parish churches and painted the well known Pilatus house which is now used as a craft gallery with wood carving demonstrations and has an attractive small formal garden. In the 20th century the religious themes were extended to fairy tales and some of the houses are painted with scenes from Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel using the same traditional style.

Painted house in Oberammergau in Bavaria, Germany

If you’d like to learn more about the history of wood carving in Overammergau you can visit the small local history museum in the centre of town with displays of modern and traditional carvings and objects – the craft is very much alive today and you can see demonstrations in locations such as the Pilatus House. There are plenty of shops selling the carved, painted wooden figures and crucifix and others selling wooden toys and Christmas decorations. The town is well worth a visit in the summer with plenty of beautiful walks in the surrounding mountains and is a good base to see local cultural attractions such as the decorative Royal Palace and gardens at Linderhof and the Benedictine Abbey at Ettal.

More information about the Oberammergau Passion Play is available on the Official Website

This article is posted as part of Photo Friday hosted at Delicious Baby – head over to check out all the other Delicious Friday photos.

Enjoy some more articles about Bavaria in Germany

A cycle ride and a cool lake swim in the badesee
Passion, music and drama at Oberammergau in Bavaria, Germany
Tips for seeing the Oberammergau Passion Play

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heatheronhertravels’ Germany – Oberammergau in Bavaria photoset

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Tips for seeing the Oberammergau Passion Play

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:33:15 +0000

If you’ve already booked to see the famous Oberammergau Passion Play this summer or are hoping to get a last minute place on a tour, you may be interested in the tips I gathered from our recent visit to the Passion Play. First of all – don’t worry, you’re in Germany where everything works like clockwork and I was impressed that the play organisers seem to have thought through everything to ensure your enjoyment of the play and your stay in Oberammergau.

Background to the Oberammergau Passion Play

The Oberammergau Passion Play dates back to 1632 when the Plague was sweeping through Europe and reached the town claiming many lives. The people of Oberammergau gathered to ask God to spare their village and made a vow that they would perform a Passion Play every ten years. From that time there were no further deaths in the village and since then the Passion Play has been regularly performed at Oberammergau, becoming especially popular for visitors in the last century. The Oberammergau Passion Play is an incredible community effort as all the performers are amateurs and in order to take part you must have been born in the town or have lived there for 20 years. In order to nurture the talent for the Passion play, there is heavy emphasis within the community and local education on drama, choirs and orchestras in order to train each generation for the performances of the future. For each speaking part there are two actors and the playing of different parts often runs in families, with actors taking the same parts that their fathers and grandfathers performed before them.

Crucifixion

Arriving in Oberammergau

Oberammergau is about 3 hours journey time by train or road from Munich, which is an ideal airport to fly into. Many visitors will arrive by coach as part of a tour and our coach was directed into a large car park on the edge of the town. From there our group was appointed an English-speaking local guide to assist us and some of our party were transferred into mini-buses for a free transfer to our local accommodation. This prevented coach congestion in the village of Oberammergau and the guide then stayed on the coach to assist the driver to deliver others of the party who were staying in accommodation outside the village. During the performance there were free shuttle buses available to take everyone in allocated accommodation into the centre of Oberammergau or to the restaurants where they would eat lunch and dinner.

Oberammergau Play Packages

If you book through a specialist travel company as we did, they will have purchased a package of tickets, meal and accommodation from the play organisers. Each package includes a bed and breakfast stay for 1 or 2 nights in or around Oberammergau, a ticket to see the play performance, lunch and dinner on the day of the play and free shuttle buses to take you to and from the performance.

There are different grades of package available, and the lower priced one will get you a lower grade of theatre seat, meal and modest B & B accommodation, while a higher priced one may get you a seat in the front section of the theatre with higher grade of accommodation in a hotel that may be more centrally located. If I was booking with a tour organiser from scratch, I would enquire what level of package I would be getting as, if you have the opportunity to shop around I would personally prefer to pay more for a better placed seat, and to stay in a centrally located accommodation.

We also discovered that some packages on certain days allow you to stay 2 nights in the villages, while others like ours are only for one night, and given the choice I would definitely stay for 2 nights to be able to look around Oberammergau at a more leisurely place.

If I went to the play again, I might consider trying to book a package directly and then organising my own holiday around it, although you would probably need to book as soon as the tickets are released around one year before the play. Many of the packages are taken by travel companies, who then build a holiday touring the region around it, but overall the tours do tend to be expensive and you may not have the time for a long trip. It does seem that most overseas visitors book their visit to Oberammergau as part of an organised tour from a specialist travel company.

Oberammergau Passion Play theatre in Germany

Pilate condemns Jesus to death

The Passion Play Theatre

The Oberammergau Passion Play is performed in a large, modern, purpose built theatre that seats 4500 people and there are entrances all along each side to get the audience in and out relatively quickly. The wide stage at one end is open to the elements and there are trees and the mountains in view behind the stage set. The theatre auditorium is covered over for the audience of 4500 people and seats rise on a gentle incline from the stage giving everyone a good, clear view even at the back, although in such a large theatre, you will be able to see more detail of the performance if you are seated in the front half of the theatre.

The performance is divided into two halves of 2.5 hrs each with a meal in between. In previous years the performance was divided into a morning and afternoon session with lunch in between, but in 2010 the timing changed with the first half starting after lunch at 2.30pm with a 3 hour break for dinner and the second half starting at 8.00pm.

Even though it was long, I enjoyed every moment of the Passion Play – it was truly an amazing spectacle. The dialogue in German in interspersed by music and singing from a choir and the orchestra, often with a background of living tableaux with scenes from the bible, making a colourful picture behind the choir who were dressed in long white robes. The other unique element was created by the crowd scenes involving all ages including children and babes in arms as well as the occasional sheep, donkey, and even a small camel. At times there must have been at least 200 people on stage at one time, all acting their socks off.

The performance of the Oberammergau Passion Play

The play is performed in German but you will be given an English text, so may like to bring a tiny pencil torch to read it as it gets dark in the second half of the performance. As the evening becomes chilly in the Alps, even if the day has been warm, you will want to have warm clothing with you as the theatre is covered but open at one end. A small pair of field binoculars is useful if your seat is towards the back of the theatre, although all seats have an unrestricted view and perhaps a small bottle of water to ward off tickly coughs.

Kiss of Judas

Jesus enters Jerusalem

Accommodation in Oberammergau

Our accommodation was in a local house that provided Bed and Breakfast, in a pleasant residential area and was a short walk to our allocated restaurant and a 15 minute shuttle bus ride into the centre of Oberammergau. For the duration of the play the residents of Oberammergau open their doors and make room for the large influx of extra visitors. Guests are allocated the accommodation by the play organisers depending on the level of package, so it is difficult to determine the specific place you will stay.

If you are in this kind of accommodation you should expect a room that is clean and comfortable, with a warm welcome but not necessarily the latest decor – ours was in shades of 1970s browns and greens. Our group were dispersed in different accommodation and ate in different restaurants and some found that they were staying on outlying villages which meant that they were quite rushed and had very little time to look around the town before the play. Luckily, the arrangements were changed so that we had a couple of hours to look around Oberammergau on the morning after the play.

My recommendation

Overall, I felt the play really did live up to expectations and is well worth making the effort to see the play once in your lifetime. The play is as much about the passion of the people of Oberammergau to remain true to their vow and the enormous effort and thought that had clearly gone into putting on the play was a credit to the village and made the play a memorable occasion for us visiting Oberammergau.

10 Tiny campsites and eco-travel – interview with Dixe Wills – podcast

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:10:53 +0000

In my podcast interview with Dixe Wills, author of the Tiny Campsites guide, we discuss the benefits of slow travel and the things that make the campsites in this guide so special. You can read my review of the Tiny Campsite guide and hear Dixe’s tips and resources for those who want to travel in an environmentally friendly way. Like the Tiny Campsites Guide, this interview is guaranteed to leave you wanting to pack your tent and get out to enjoy these quirky and characterful campsites, handpicked by Dixe and all under one acre in size.

To download the Tiny Campsites and eco-travel podcast, right click here [mp3] 43 mins

To subscribe to all my podcasts in ITunes click here

Piel Island from Tiny Campsite

I met Dixe when we were both camping at Trericket Mill and Dixe was cycling around Wales to research his Tiny Campsites guide. We discuss how he got into travel writing when he was wondering how to pay the mortgage and on the spur of the moment wrote to the Guardian Newspaper travel editor to pitch an article on Wild Camping. However Dixe suggests that aspiring travel writers should take a reality check, as most freelancers barely make a living from travel writing and he claims to live on the LILO principle – Low Income,Low Outgoings.

We discuss how Dixe decided not to travel by plane any more after he had lived in Guatemala and after many transatlantic flights decided that the impact on the environment was too great – now he travels by train, public transport, on foot or by bike. Dixe finds that travelling slowly enhances his experience of travel as he spots different places from the train he might like to visit in the future and when walking or cycling appreciates the small details around him as well as connecting with local people and culture. He quotes the Arab saying that your soul only travels at the speed of a camel, which is why travelling too fast leaves you disorientated and gives you jet lag.

Resources

Dixe recommends the following resources to plan his travel by train and other public transport;

Seat61.com – a website to help you plan train travel worldwide, named after the founder’s favourite seat on the Eurostar train. The site offers advice and information on planning different routes, train operators and the cheapest way to book your ticket.
Transportdirect.info – for planning travel by public transport in the UK giving door to door information on what transport to use to get to your destination.
Tourism websites – Dixe recommends using local or regional tourism websites for the destinations you want to visit as they often give useful information on how to get there.

Middle Ninfa from Tiny Campsite

Favourite places

We discuss favourite places that Dixe has visited that are off the beaten track but can be reached by public transport and he recommends;

Herefordshire and Shropshire in England which have beautiful countryside for walking such as the Long Mynd Hills but unknown as tourist destinations – mainly because they have very few motorways running through them.
The Cévennes in France is a large area of National Park with a small population as well as beautiful old stone villages – it was visited by Robert Louis Stevenson who wrote a book called Travels with a Donkey through the Cévennes. Dixe travelled to the Cévennes by taking the Eurostar from London to Paris and then the train on to the Cévennes region.
West Sweden – Dixe will soon be visiting the lake district of West Sweden called Dalsland , which he plans to reach via Denmark on a combination of ferries and sleeper trains.

Dixe told me how he came to write the Tiny Campsites book when was cycling across Devon looking for a campsite to stay the night and could only find a large commercial site, but luckily spotted a small camping sign that led him to a small campsite on a farm. He looked for a guide to help him find other similar tiny campsites and realised that, as there wasn’t anything available, he would have to write his own. Over the years he had visited or had recommendations for many delightful tiny campsites and in order to research the book he cycled all over the UK to visit all 75 campsites in the book and more to select the best ones to include.

Park Farm from Tiny Campsite

Park Farmfrom Tiny Campsite

Although there are a wide range of Tiny campsites from farms to back gardens to pubs and museum gardens, the thing that unifies them all is the charm, character and beautiful locations or just an indefinable something that makes you want to go and camp there, as Dixe put it ”a little bit of heaven”. Although I am slightly put off camping by the changeable British weather, Dixe has found that crazy weather can be found anywhere and he recommends June and September as beautiful times to camp, with more settled weather than the July and August.

We discuss the trend towards more unusual or luxurious camping experiences from yurts, to campsites like Broad Meadow House in Cornwall where in addition to the normal camping area, there are a couple of permanent tents with beds and B & B facilities where a delicious breakfast can be delivered to your tent in the morning.

I asked Dixe for some favourite campsites from the book and his suggestions were;

Great for families – Park Farm in Kildale, with fantastic views and walking and a camping barn on the same site where you can dry off if the weather is unkind.
Fantastic Views – Middle Ninfa Farm with only 4 pitches, two of them beside a croquet lawn and amazing views over the Usk valley
Coastal adventure – Piel Island in Cumbria – which can be reached by ferry or by walking at low tide with a ruined castle to explore and a pub where the landlord is known as the ‘King of Piel Island’

You can find more information about the Tiny Campsites guide at www.tinycampsites.co.uk and the book is widely available priced at £10.95 in your local bookshop or from the internet book sellers.

By the way, I featured Dixe and the Tiny Campsite guide because I love his travel philosophy and writing and not because of any financial inducement although I was previously given a copy of the guide to give away in my review.

A cycle and cool lake swim in the badesee- in Bavaria, Germany

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:02:26 +0000

If you’re visiting Bavaria as we are, you may enjoy swimming in one of the many fresh-water lakes or badesee that are dotted around the countryside here. They’re very popular locally with all ages and often have facilities like small cafes, picnic tables and swimming platforms.

Heather at the swimming lake near Altotting in Bavaria, Germany

Today we decided to hire bikes from the small town of Altötting, where we’re staying – the rest of our party decided to take a coach trip to nearby Salzburg to do some sightseeing but we fancied something a little more relaxing on a hot, sunny day. We set off after lunch armed with a map from the cycle shop and headed off on fairly busy roads, through a town landscape until we reached the River Inn (with a few stops to check directions).

Once we crossed the river we followed the cycle path beside it for about half an hour until we came across the swimming lake that the man in the shop had pointed out to us on the map. I’d expected something a little more commercial but in fact it was in a very natural surrounding, fringed with reeds and trees and surrounded by a grassy meadow with wildflowers and shady trees where numerous people had parked their bikes, laid out their towels and were swimming and sun-bathing.

Swimming lake near Altotting in Bavaria, Germany

We ventured in for a swim in the milky, green water, only hobbling a bit on the stony bottom and swam out into the sunshine. Further up the shore there was a swimming platform in the middle of the lake and we could see a cafe and boathouse on the other side. The fresh water was silky and refreshing after our cycle ride but there’s something about putting your foot on a squelchy, muddy bottom that I find a bit off-putting although my husband would prefer this kind of out-door swimming to any other.

After our swim we relaxed for a while in the shade and then cycled around to the cafe for a coffee and enormous slice of creamy peach cheesecake. On this side there was a car park and so there were far more people, especially families who had moved in with sun loungers and children splashing around with inflatable toys.

We only stayed long enough to have our Café und Kuchen then decided that we’d run out of time to return via a forest path that we’d spotted on the map and instead returned the same way we’d come. If you’re sightseeing in Bavaria or Southern Germany, do look out for these swimming lakes – it’s a great thing to combine with a cycle ride and you’ll understand why the Germans love to get back to nature in such a beautiful rural setting.

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

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Heather on her travels around the web this spring

admin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:13:43 +0000

It’s a few months since I gave you a round-up on some of the places I’ve been writing around the Web and there are some long overdue thank-you’s I need to give to those kind folk who gave Heather on her travels the thumbs up recently.

Thanks for the mention

First up, some big thanks or the following mentions – I love you too!

Tours4Fun gave me a write-up in their Crush4Fun feature in which they highlight travel bloggers that catch their fancy – Tours4Fun offer value-for-money tour packages as well as designing custom tours based on the preferences of travelers and they’d love to connect with you via their active travel Tours4Fun blog

On GuidetoOnline Schools.com I was featured as one of their 50 Awesome European Travel Blogs and was happy to be in good company with some of my own favourites such as Europe a la Carte which features top travel tips from all over Europe, Lady in London featuring some great places in the capital, and Gran Tourismo written by my friends Lara and Terry who are slowly working their way around Europe, living like locals.

Cycling near Plava Laguna in Istria, Croatia

You may have noticed that I’m doing a lot more video these days and over at Tripfilms, one of the best websites for online travel videos, I was featured in their Better know a Member series with this post: Better Know a Member: HeatherOnHerTravels. They asked me for some hints and tips on travelling and so I decided to make a video response – do take a while to check out my random thoughts on travel as I put on my best BBC travel presenter persona.

At Travelinsurance.org they went one better with their 51 Fantastic European Travel Blogs article in which Heather on her travels was included as one of the top General European blogs and again many of my favourites were there too such as Foodie favourites Londonelicious and My Kugelhopf as well as the bargain hunter’s hotel blog of choice, Eurocheapo and the full-time family travellers SoulTravelers3

Heather Cowper at Casa do Alentejo in Lisbon, Portugal

On Privatecharter.net there was a round-up of 50 Pilots blogs and sites featuring my article on Confessions of a Commercial Airline pilot – no nothing steamy, but my article with a pilot friend lifted the lid on wads of cash, dodgy dealings and how airlines shave corners off their costs.

And thanks go to my friend Christine from Almost Fearless for featuring my guest article on 10 tips for traveling by dug-out canoe in the Amazon basin from my time in Ecuador. Among my tips are to use wellies (that’s rubber boots to some of you) in the rainforest just like the locals do and to buy a poncho rather than using a waterproof jacket.

On the river Bobonaza at Sarayaku in Ecuador

Regular Writings

You may be interested that these days I’m writing in a few other places around the web;

At Europe a la Carte, do check out the following posts;

Cycling by the sea in Istria, Croatia – in which I tell you all about cycling in the lovely province of Istria in northern Croatia both beside the sea and inland through the vineyards and olive groves

Three free museums to visit in Bristol, England – Many museums in the UK are now free and there are some great ones in Bristol to check out including a restored Georgian House owned by a Bristol slave merchant.

Things to enjoy in the Brecon Beacons in Wales – in which I share some of the great outdoor activities you can find in this lovely green and mountainous area of Wales

Turtle trip from Porto Roma, Zante

At the Sunshine.co.uk blog you’ll find the following articles;

Searching for the Caretta Caretta turtles on Zante in Greece – in which I give you some tips on how to learn about and see the endangered turtles on Zante in an ecologically sensitive way.

The Tastes and Flavours of Lisbon – in which I take you on a culinary tour of some of the delicious eats and drinks we enjoyed on our trip to Lisbon.

And at the Lastminute.com blog, you may enjoy getting creative in manchester with some ideas on the great free museums and exhibitions you’ll find in a city that’s not just about football and nightlife.

I’ve also been writing about some of the lodgings that we’ve enjoyed staying over the years at Uptake lodging blog so do take a look at the following;

Boutique apartments and rooms at Circus Hotel in Berlin – in which I describe our stay in the gorgeous budget boutique Berlin hotel where our teenage girls were thrilled to have their own little apartment.

Eco-friendly villas and turtle spotting on the Greek island of Zakynthos – about the quiet resorts of Vasilikos and Gerakas on Zante where you’ll find a range of villas and apartments for all budgets through Ionian eco villagers who manage accommodation on behalf of local owners in order to prevent this end of the island, where the turtles nest, from becoming too overdeveloped.

A family break in the forest at Center Parcs at Longleat, England – about our New Year break in forest cabins at Centerparcs with plenty of cycling, swimming and sporting activities for our children.

Boutique hotel-hostel at Hôme Rooms Deluxe in Valencia, Spain – the hybrid boutique hostel-hotel with en suite rooms each individually designed by a local artist, as well as the self catering facilities and free internet that you’d expect from a hostel.

So many thanks once again to everyone who hosted my work and I really do appreciate you coming back to Heather on her travels for lots of great new post, videos, podcasts and photos – see you again soon!

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

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Into Churchill’s underground bunker – Churchill war rooms in London

admin — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 10:07:14 +0000

For a facinating glimpse into the world of London during the Second World War, you must go underground into the Churchill War Rooms to get a real feel for how Churchill’s government operated during World War 2. I visited the Churchill War Rooms recently with my teenage son and parents and it would make an ideal stop for anyone with an interest in British history, especially on a sightseeing day when the great British weather isn’t being too kind.

Churchill War Rooms in London

The entrance to the Churchill War Rooms is an unobtrusive doorway just by the Horeseguards parade ground at one end of St James Park, with Buckingham Palace just in view at the other end of the park. As you go down the steps, you’re entering the war rooms restored as they were during the period of the Second World War between 1938 when war was threatening until the war ended in 1945. This is the place where large numbers of people worked on secret war operations and where Churchill met with his cabinet and Chiefs of Staff. With bombs falling in the Blitz throughout London, the only thing keeping the war rooms safe was initially it’s secret position although later a reinforced concrete ceiling was installed to keep it safe from bomb damage.

Churchill War Rooms in London

We picked up an audioguide at the start of our tour and moved through the underground corridors that would once have been a hive of activity with people working around the clock in shifts and even sleeping underground. We saw the Cabinet room, where Churchill held his meetings late into the night, the Map room with maps of the Atlantic, Western and Eastern theatres of war on the wall marked with notes and pins and the Transatlantic Phone Room where Churchill could make direct calls to US President Roosevelt.

Next there was a section with memorabilia from the war rooms and memories from those who worked there as secretaries and aides to Churchill. It was an intense time as Churchill placed heavy demands on those around him, but a time when everyone could feel that their contribution would make a difference to the war effort – ‘it was our university’, said one of the interviewees.

Clemantine Churchill's bedroom at Churchill War Rooms

Atlantic map room at Chrurchill war rooms in London

One large area of the underground rooms has now been opened up into a museum about Churchill’s life, which gave a facinating insight into his character and earlier life before he came into the public eye. Churchill’s mother was an American heiress and his father the third son of the Duke of Malborough, whose family seat is Blenheim Palace where Churchill was born. He lived an aristocratic childhood, attending public school at Harrow and then joining the army, serving in India and South Africa before entering politics as a member of parliament, like his father before him.

The museum was divided into different sections covering each period of Churchill’s life and in the centre was a long interactive table enabling you to view material and documents from different periods of Churchill’s life – like a huge online library. The museum was very absorbing with memorabilia, photographs and audio exhibits, and I enjoyed finding about more about Churchill’s family life, his beloved and always supportive wife Clemantine and what was going on behind the public face of Churchill’s life.

Churchill War Rooms in London

Once we had spent an hour or more in the museum area, we moved on to walk through the rest of the war rooms, a series of rooms where all the war staff would work underground. These were set out as rooms sets with the original furniture and figures showing what would have gone on there, with the audio tour adding more detail. In the typist’s room we heard the voice of one of Churchill’s devoted secretaries telling how hard it was to work for him as he paced around the room, cigar in mouth, dictating letters and getting short tempered if it wasn’t right first time.Towards the end we stopped in the underground Switch room cafe which continues the ‘London at war’ theme with sausage and mash or ‘dig for victory’ soup, although we just had a cup of coffee.

I found the Churchill War Rooms in London an absorbing and facinating place to visit, giving a unique insight to Churchill’s leadership of Great Britain during the Second World War and a look at the man behind the political image. It’s ideal for those with an interest in understanding London’s recent history and for school age and older children, with plenty to look at and listen to on the audio-guide as well as interactive exhibits to read. It’s great that children under 16 are free and entry for adults is £14.95.

Churchill War Rooms, Clive Steps, King Charles Street , London SW1A 2AQ
Opening Times: Open daily 9.30am – 6.00pm, Last admission 5.00pm, (closed 24, 25 and 26 December)
For more information, check the Churchill War Rooms website

More things to see in London

They’re changing the guards at Buckingham Palace
Step back in time at the Dennis Severs’ house in London
To Kensington Palace and tea at the Orangery – in London

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heatheronhertravels’ London – around London photoset

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Five peaceful sights to enjoy in Rome

Mark — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 09:43:08 +0000

If you need to find some space and quiet in Rome, that busiest of capitals, my Guest post from Marie Allen of Elegant Resorts will help you seek out some blissfully peaceful bolt holes in Rome.

Ah, Rome – The Eternal City. A city where history seeps from every pore, a city where your camera never sleeps, and where beauty and passion, as Barry Manilow said, are always in fashion (true, he was talking about the Copacabana – but the same could be said for Rome’s seething street life, and its sultry procession of latter-day Lollobrigidas. But for all its beauty, the Eternal City does have its drawbacks – put simply, its eternal racket!

View from Janiculum Hill in Rome

Yes, when in Rome you have to see the must-see sights. But don’t slavishly cross them off your list in a succession of exhausting cross-city escapades. Take time to seek out the quieter cul-de-sacs and secret sanctuaries. This is, after all, a spiritual heartland. So stop. Take time out. And spend a stolen hour or two in the city’s back waters. Your soul will thank you. And your soles too, for that matter!

Here are five off-the-beaten-track sights worth seeking out:

Views and more from Janiculum Hill

Janiculum Hill overlooks the modern city of Rome, and it’s here you’ll find the less-visited Syriac Sanctuary. They say this was a sinister spot – dedicated to the Goddess Furrina, ruler of the Furies. In other words, not someone you’d want to mess with. Perhaps that’s why, when this peaceful site was discovered 100 years ago, they found remains of human skulls without teeth or lower jaws. Still, today, it’s a splendid spot. The Janiculum Hill affords stunning views over the city – and the Fontana dell’Acqua Paola is a suitably baroque 17th century fountain worth seeking out.

Fontana dell'Acqua Paola in Rome

Underground mystery at Livenza Hypgeum

Behind a workaday storefront of an oil-splattered city garage and, and through a nondescript metal door off bustling Via Salaria is an underground mystery, that Italian scholars are still trying to make sense of. This subterranean place of worship is adorned with colourful mosaics and elaborate frescoes, and it’s known as the Livenza Hypgeum (Via Livenza). The scenes lent weight to the theory that this monument was a place of worship for the Baptai — those immersed in water (from where we get the word Baptism from). But this strange, nocturnal cult was known for its debauchery and orgies. Still, today, there’s none of that here. Just peace, silence and an air of mystery.

Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia in Rome

Hidden treasures at Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia

Rome has scores of hidden, out of the way museums – you’d expect nothing less for a city with 26 centuries of history to plunder – and one of the most delightful is the Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia. A beautiful 16th century villa, built for Pope Julius II, and now home to a stunning display of Etruscan art and artifacts – pre Roman treasures. Especially worth seeking out is the museum’s delicate collection of jewellery, vases and votive statues. Far grander are its marble statues of Roman Gods – Apollo and Hercules. A little-visited gem, some way out of the centre, on the Vigna Vecchia, the old city walls ( 9 Piazzale di Villa Giulia )

The Keats-Shelley House in Rome

English poets at the Keats-Shelley House

At the foot of the tourist-magnet of the Spanish Steps, you’d expect any visitor attraction to be animated and bustling. Not so. The delightfully airy and empty Keats-Shelley House (26 Piazza di Spagna) is a wonderfully cool and silent 18th century palazetto, faithfully restored to resemble the home of British poet, John Keats, who died in 1821. Byron, Shelly, Browning and many other poets stayed here – and you can imagine them passing the time in the palazetto’s graceful salons: in fact, many of their letters and manuscripts are on display.

Villa Medici Gardens in Rome

Fountains and terraces at Villa Medici Gardens

Rome’s parks and gardens offer a pleasing counterpoint to the rattle and hum of the city’s ever-busy streets. Our favourite are the Villa Medici Gardens – an enchanting retreat on the Pincio Hill, covering around 17 acres of glorious terraces, splashing fountains, elegant and rare specimen trees from across the globe and clipped, formal lawns and borders. Henry James called them the most delightful in the world. On a summer’s day it would be hard to argue. (Viale Trinità dei Monti, 1)

Thanks for this guest post to Marie Allen of luxury holiday company Elegant Resorts for letting us in on Rome’s quieter corners. When I visited Rome a couple of years ago I did find the crowds at all the major sites offputting – next time I’ll be seeking out some of these hidden gems instead.

If this has inspired you to visit Rome then visit our Elegant Resort’s luxury holidays in Italy page for further details.

Photo Credits : View from Janiculum Hill in Rome by YuKengShih , Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia in Rome by Koji Yatani , Fontana dell’Acqua Paola in Rome by Mark Turner The Keats-Shelley House in Rome by frattaglia , Villa Medici Gardens in Rome by NoBigShot

The Quotatious Traveler – quotations to inspire your travels

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:50:15 +0000

A quotation can be a bit like poetry – and those in this e-book, the Quotatious Traveler, sum up what you’re feeling in a few choice words and make you think – yes, that’s so true. Add travel into the mix and maybe these quotations can inspire you to reach out, go beyond, search out new horizons, travel well.

Dan Calamai must be one of those people that loves to gather together these little pearls, the ones that I remember for a second and then later think – what was that great quote? He’s strung these travel quotations into an e-book called the Quotatious Traveler that will make you laugh, feel inspired and catch yourelf saying “why didn’t I think of that?”

If think you might enjoy the Quotatious Traveler e-book, here’s a taster from the different sections of the e-book to tempt you;

Travel Quotations about the Journey

I slept in black tents, blue tents, skin tents, yurts of felt and
windbreaks of thorns. One night, caught in a sandstorm in the
Western Sahara, I understood Mohamed’s dictum, ‘A journey is a fragment of Hell.’ – Bruce Chatwin

It is no trick to go around the world these days, you can pay a lot of
money and fly around it nonstop in less than 48 hours, but to know it,
to smell it and feel it between your toes you have to crawl. There is no
other way – Ted Simon, The Inner Journey

Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over
and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break
off from the journey – Pat Conroy

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry
it with us or we find it not – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Travel Quotations about the Traveler

The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to
see – G. K. Chesterton

The more money you spend (while traveling) the higher the wall you
are building between yourself and the places you visit – Rick Steves

I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether
you like people or hate them than to travel with them – Mark Twain

Travel Quotations about Cultures

A traveler must have the back of an ass to bear all, a tongue like the
tail of a dog to flatter all, the mouth of a hog to eat what is set before
him, the ear of a merchant to hear all and say nothing – Thomas Nashe

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrowmindedness,
all foes to real understanding. Likewise tolerance and charitable views of
men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in our corner of the
earth – Mark Twain

Laughing on the road

I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list – Susan Sontag

If you come to a fork in the road, take it – Yogi Berra

People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of
people they ignore at home – Dagobert D. Runes

Get Out and Go!

Good judgment can come from bad experiences; good experiences
can come from bad judgment – Rolf Potts

I know that we shall meet problems along the way, but I’d far rather
see for myself what’s going on in the world outside, than rely on
newspapers, television, politicians and religious leaders to tell me
what I should be thinking – Michael Palin

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things
you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines,
sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover – Mark Twain

If you’d like to buy the Quotations Traveler e-book, a collection of travel quotations to set you on the road or even take with you, it costs $8.99 USD from the Quotatious Traveler. If you buy it through any of the links on this page I will get a small commission.

What’s your favourite travel quotation and do any of these ones especially speak to you?

Photo Credits: The Inner Journey by Wolfgang Staudt , The Traveler by ManojVasanth , and I love my camel by Marina & Enrique

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

Burgers and Burgundy at Bar Boulud in London

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 08:48:54 +0000

Last week I had the pleasure of hanging out at the recently opened Bar Boulud in London with a select band of London food and lifestyle bloggers at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. On our table were social-media supermum, Eva from Nixdminx, boutique hotel guru, Anthony from Mr & Mrs Smith and food bloggers Miss Gourmet-chick, Miss Londonelicious and Mr Laissezfare. Don’t think I’m being rude in not mentioning their names – food bloggers are a shy bunch and prefer to go unrecognised in the restaurants of London. Apparently all the top restaurants these days keep a rogue’s gallery of restaurant critics and now food bloggers are being added to the hall of fame – hence the need to remain incognito. Now, if I was recognised from my carefully edited blog photos, I’d be thrilled to bits that someone was actually reading my stuff.

Heather with Eva and Anthony at Bar Boulud, London

The evening didn’t get off to the best start when a delayed train from Bristol to London made me annoyingly (or was it fashionably?) late. The taxi ride from the station, through Hyde park on a warm July evening, soothed my spirits a little and when I arrived the other bloggings were sipping their way through a wine tasting with plates of charcuterie. Soon I was sniffing and sipping with the best of them.

Those of you who reside on the far side of the pond will no doubt have heard all about big name chef, Daniel Boulud, with his flagship 3 Michelin star restaurant Daniel and his stable of other restaurants including Bar Boulud New York. But to us Brits he’s a bit of an unknown quantity – that’s to say he doesn’t yet have a TV show over here or appear on UK supermarket ads – although all the food bloggers had heard of him of course. The charmant Monsieur Boulud grew up near Lyon in France but he’s established his reputation on the New York food scene with his sophisticated interpretation of French regional cuisine. The opening of this first outpost of the Boulud empire in London at the Mandarin Oriental had by all accounts set the London food scene a twitter and there seemed to have been hardly a London food critic or food blogger that hadn’t paid a visit in the first month of opening. We were looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was about.

Charcuterie platter at Bar Boulud, London

If you didn’t guess that Bar Boulud is serious about its wines, you’d get a big clue as you enter, from the glass wall of wine bottles and the sweep of zinc covered bar. They even ship in jeroboams of Bollinger special cuvee champagne and magnums of fine vintage Chablis, Sancerre and Chateuneuf du Pape for guests to buy by the glass, so make sure you check what’s open when you visit. The wine list focuses on wines from the Burgundy and Rhone region of France with a nod to their cousins made elsewhere in the world and some “decouvertes” of good value wines from smaller producers. They’ve certainly found the man for the job in the Head Sommelier David Vareille, who grew up the wine-growing Chablis region of Burgundy and has been running his own wine cellar since the age of 14. He’d put together a great selection of wines for us to try with our meal, from the house white Vermentino to the soft-cherry Irancy Burgundy – they were all slipping down very nicely. Now I can’t pretend to be a wine coinnesseur, being more from the ‘I know what I like’ school of wine tasting, but I was impressed with the knowledge and passion that had gone into selecting these wines.

Bar Boulud at the Mandarin Oriental, London

Our group was seated in the main restaurant area adjoining the bar and around the corner you’ll find a second dining room with an open kitchen to provide entertainment, should the conversation flag. You can even get front seat view if you chose to eat at the counter and watch the charcuterie being prepared. The restaurant décor is by Adam Tihany who also designed the hotel’s Mandarin Bar and the soon to be opened Heston Blumenthal restaurant upstairs. His style might be described as sophisticated, metropolitan-luxe, and in the Bar Boulud design there’s a wine cellar theme going on, although it’s so understated that if I hadn’t told you might not have registered the chandeliers in the shape of a wine cask, the oak tables and floors and the leather seating just the shade of a fine red burgundy. On the walls are black and white photographs of Daniel Boulud’s favourite brasseries in Lyon but we agreed that the framed wine stains, looking a little like splashes of blood were more of a talking point than something you’d want to gaze at over lunch. The overall effect is an elegant and relaxed reinterpretation of the French bistro theme, with not a red checked table cloth or Gaulloise stub in sight, although I noticed some lacy curtains at one of the entrances.

Gourmet burgers at Bar Boulud, London

Asperge et oeuf poché at Bar Boulud, London

We started with the a shared platter of charcuterie from Gilles Verot for which Bar Boulud is well known; there was pâté grand-mère with chicken-liver and cognac, grand-père with fois-gras and truffles and no doubt some of their grandchildren too, with pickled vegetables, and toasted sourdough bread. Then came a succession of sausages-around-the-world with Thai spices and green papaya salad, white truffled boudin blanc with mash and pork and beaujolais with pommes lyonnaise. As if to emphasise the point that this place glories in its meat dishes we moved on to the the burgers for which Bar Boulud is fast becoming renowned. You can choose from the Piggie, Yankee or Frenchie burger, all with slightly different trimmings, finely cut crispy fries and chopped steak burgers cooked to succulant perfection. They’re as far from fast food fare as a ripe Brie de Meaux is from a foil wrapped cheesy triangle – make no mistake these are gourmet burgers!

If all this meat is making you feel faint and you want to lighten up a little you might try the Chop Chop salad with eastern inspiration in a mixture of crisp romaine, chunks of water-melon, cashew nuts and a good soaking of ginger-soy dressing. If you’re feeling flush you can have some lobster on top for an extra £15, but without it’s £6.50 and makes as welcome change from the ubiquitous rocket. With my weakness for all things sweet, I couldn’t pass on the puds. Of the selection we tried my favourites werethe Pavlova with a light-as-a-cloud wedge of meringue sitting in a pool of custard and strawberries, and the Chocolat-Framboise gateau of dark chocolate layered with sacher biscuit and raspberry sorbet in a classic choco-berry combination. I’ve never been a great fan of mint (unless it’s garnishing a jug of Pimms on a hot summers day) and my least favourite was the Coupe Peppermint which was more Xtra strong mint than After Eight. With our desert we tried a delicious chilled sweet cider (although it was more like a wine) from Québec, made with 29 different types of apples – that the sommelier described as “Tarte Tatin in a glass”.

Sausage entree at Bar Boulud in London

Pavlova at Bar Boulud in London

Eating out with bloggers so knowledgeable about food and wine was an education for me as the names of top chefs (Bruno and Heston), wine-makers (Michel and Robert) and restaurant critics (Jay and Marina) flew around the table – my dear, don’t say you’ve never heard of them! These bon viveurs are well-travelled folk too and we heard all about Miss Londonelicious haggling skills in the Syrian Souks (she’s a hard-nosed New Yorker), Miss Gourmetchick’s nights out in Beirut and Miss Nixdmix adults only weekend at Butlins where she was the only sad person with a lap-top – what glamourous lives we lead.

Surveying the packed dining room, it was difficult to pin down a specific kind of clientele at Bar Boulud. At the next table were a couple of stylish metro-chicks, groups of well heeled Knightsbridge locals, sleek suited businessmen at the bar and tucked in a corner was the Grande Dame of politics, Mrs Thatcher herself. Was she keeping company with a Yankee or a Frenchie you ask? I couldn’t possibly say, dear hearts – didn’t your mother tell you it’s rude to stare? Rumour had it that Jon Bon Jovi was also in the house but I can’t vouch for that. This is the kind of place that has a broad appeal, and there’s an element of comfort food reinvented in a pretty, stylish way as epitomised by the asperge et oeuf poché that looked like a grown-up boiled egg and soldiers your mum used to make you. This isn’t so much the place for a big ticket celebration meal, as a place where you can enjoy a glass of champagne at the bar, a lunchtime piggy burger or an evening meet-up with friends to share a plate of charcuterie. Bar Boulud is definitely a place to keep coming back to.

I should let you know that as I was a guest of Bar Boulud I wasn’t spending my own cash, but on surveying the menu I thought that the prices are moderate, considering the Knightsbridge location, the buzzy atmosphere, tip top service and quality of food. Charcuterie board £14 small £28 large, Sausage dishes £8-11, Burgers £13.50, Meat dishes £17-22, sides £3.50, Desserts £6-8. I hear there’s a well-priced lunchtime and early evening menu too. Check out the menus and wine list on the Bar Boulud London website and for more reservations contact the Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park, London.

If you’ve been to either the New York or London Bar Boulud, do let me know what you thought.

What the other bloggers said

Miss Gourmet chick’s review of Bar Boulud
Londonelicious review of Bar Boulud

A turtle spotting boat trip on Zante – in Greece

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 08:08:09 +0000

On our recent trip to the Greek island of Zakynthos or Zante we took a boat trip through Laganas bay, famed as a nesting area for the Loggerhead or Caretta Caretta turtles. Sadly we didn’t spot any turtles on this trip but we did have a great day out sunbathing, swimming and snorkelling around the little coves and sea caves along the coast.

Porto Roma on Zakynthos

We started at Porto Roma where there is a hotel and terrace overlooking the small harbour and beach. The catamaran was waiting for us moored off-shore and we were ferried from the jetty by a tiny rubber boat that you could just squeeze four people into. “Don’t worry – it’s very safe” quipped the skipper as I clung on to my rucksack with all my camera equipment inside – “we call it the Titanic!”. It didn’t bode well when the rung of the ladder on the side of the boat collapsed as my husband climbed aboard. With 20 people I wondered how we would all fit on to the catamaran, but soon everyone had arranged themselves around the front of the boat, on benches along the side and under cover at the back. I liked the fact that the boat had a cabin and a shady area where you could get out of the sun, unlike some of the completely open boats we saw going out into the bay with no room to move around or any shade.

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On the way out Yannis Vardakastanis, whose company Nature World Travel had organised the trip, talked to everyone about his work with the sea turtles and the Earth Sea and Sky volunteer and information programme he runs to conserve their habitat. Unfortunately the numbers are dropping every year due increasing tourism and development on the turtle nesting sites. Laganas bay has a wide sandy beach that was perfect for turtle nesting with warm, shallow water for turtles to soak up the sun and develop their eggs. Now the large beach is less used by the nesting turtles as half of it is built up with apartments and hotels and the other half has a busy airport runway behind it. The turtles have been forced to move their nesting sites to other smaller beaches like Dafni and Gerkas, but even these beaches are under threat from development due to tourism.

We powered along past the cliffs and rounded the Gerakas headland with the protected turtle nesting beach, where no development is allowed and into the wide sweep of Laganas bay. We crossed the mouth of the bay, past two islands that even looked like turtles – the second one called Pelouzo has a small beach that is a protected nesting site for the loggerhead turtles. We passed around the furthest end of the bay and round Keri point where there’s a lighthouse. I’d been here before to see the view from the cliff over the sea, but this time we were looking up at the tall limestone cliffs and into a semicircle of cave with a small beach inside. The water is intensely turquoise and we jumped off the boat and snorkelled around to see the small shoals of fish darting through the water. As we swam into the cave over large round white stones, another small boat, rented from Laganas or the harbour at Keri bobbed up and down, keeping us company.

Heather with Yannis from Nature world travel

Catamaran trip around Laganas bay

After everyone had swum around the catamaran and jumped in as many times as they like, we moved back the way we had come past sea arches and small caves that are perfect for a small boat to explore. We stopped again by the sea caves on the Pelouzo island, but Yannis explained that we would not stop on the beach there as it was protected for turtle nests, even though we saw other boats ignoring the ban and landing. It seems that the Government funded National Marine Park is overstretched and does not have the resources to stop local businessmen pushing the boundaries to make a living.

Last year Yannis and his volunteers counted 800 turtle nests, a decline from the 1000 they counted the previous year and the 1300 of a few years before. As each female turtle may make 2 or 3 nests in different locations, Yannis estimates that there may only be 250-300 female turtles coming to nest in the area now. The statistics didn’t bode well for the turtles – only one in 1000 hatchlings will survive and then will take 25 years to reach maturity before returning to lay eggs on Zante. With estimated numbers dropping so low, it’s no wonder that Yannis feels that every turtles is precious and is angry when he finds turtles that have been injured or even killed in fishermen’s nets or by boat propellers.

Catamaran trip from Porto Roma

Fishing boats at Porto Roma

I jumped off the boat with my family and enjoyed swimming into the sea caves, although the caves on Pelouzo island were wild and less inviting. Then once again we returned to the boat and the catamaran turned into the bay, moving slowly through the waters, hoping to spot some turtles. There were several other boats around and as on other safaris and whale watching trips I’ve been on, they are in radio contact with each other if they spot any turtles. Although we kept a sharp look-out, we didn’t see any, although on most trips they do spot one or two. Yannis doesn’t guarantee a turtle spotting on his trips, preferring to make the whole day an enjoyable experience with the emphasis on the scenery and the swimming. However, many boats offering shorter trips from Laganas do offer a money back guarantee to see a turtle, which encourages the boats to harass the turtles and pen them in so that people can get a good view.

I would have loved to see some turtles, but was a great day out regardless and I prefer to support the sustainable approach to tourism that Yannis advocates. We returned back to Porto Roma by 4pm feeling relaxed and sun soaked but thankfully not burned. Although these trips are an expensive treat for a family at €50 per adult and €25 for children, I think it’s worth doing something like this once on your holiday, especially if you can be sure that the organisers are taking a responsible approach to conservation. You can book the catamaran tour we took through Nature World Travel in advance – contact details on their website, but be prepared to be flexible on the day, as sometimes trips are postponed when the weather is windy and the seas rough. Shorter trips also run from Laganas, but you should try to book with a responsible operator that respects the rules of the National Marine Park, and doesn’t harass the turtles or venture into prohibited areas of the bay.

Disclosure: Yannis kindly gave me a free place on the boat trip although I paid for my family.

Is this the best beach in the world? – Navagio on Zakynthos

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:19:45 +0000

When I was idly scanning through one of those ubiquitous ‘best beaches in the world’ articles, I came across Navagio on the Greek island of Zakynthos or Zante as one of the list. Huh! I thought – clearly written by some journalist who’s done a quick bit of Google research and has never been there.

Smuggler's cove or Navagio on Zante in Greece

But then as in all my years of visiting Zakynthos, I had never been there either, I thought that on this trip I might go and take a peek for myself. Only trouble is that Navagio or Smuggler’s Cove is only accessible by boat and is a stopping off point for every boat trip around the north of the island. The beach is notable for the rusty old wreck half buried in the sand of a ship that went aground in the 1980s, while supposedly smuggling cigarettes. There are probably many picturesque, remote beaches like this around the Greek coastline, but the presence of the wreck there seems to add to the photogenic appeal and make this one of the most photographed beaches in Greece.

As we weren’t planning an all day boat trip just to check it out, we took a drive up to the north end of the island where there’s a viewing point for the beach. You might imagine from this shot that I was standing on a windswept cliff among wildflowers and thyme, but the reality is that I was perched on a little fenced metal viewing platform that has been created just to help you get the postcard shot. We parked on the cliff top car park, walked down the road past the bar, past the ice cream van with the noisy generator and past the stalls selling local produce, oil and honey. Then we took our turn with the other visitors on the tiny platform to take this photo.

Heather, near Smuggler's cove in Zante, Greece

After I’d taken my postcard shot we spotted a path winding down the cliff side around the other side of the cove, that looked as though it might lead down to the beach. We decided to explore but after a few twists and turns the path got narrower and steeper until we gave up. Clearly someone had the idea of creating an alternative viewing point but we didn’t dare cllimb too far down the cliff and couldn’t see where the path ended. A number of people had also missed the tiny viewing point at the top and walked down thinking they would get a view of the Smuggler’s cove, and weren’t very pleased when they realised it led to nowhere. But I think that on that twisty path with the scent of pine resin, thyme and chamomile we were closer to what I love about Greece than the ice cream van and the viewing point. So - best beach in the world or just another pretty picture? I’ll let you decide.

This pretty picture is offered as part of Photo Friday hosted at Delicious Baby – head on over to find more Friday photos to inspire your weekend.

A guide for girls travelling solo by Stephanie Lee – my review

admin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 09:46:26 +0000

If you’re an independent minded gal who’s been longing to leave it all behind and head out to see a bit of the world then The art of solo travel, a girl’s guide by Stephanie Lee could be just what you’ve been waiting for – read on for my review….

Stephanie Lee’s story is one that many women can identify with – a career girl who had travelled for a week or two at a time but always limited by the constraints of a job, who one day decided that she wanted travel longer term and gave up her job to do so. On her return she decided to try and inspire other solo female travellers in her first book on The art of solo travel, a girl’s guide.

Who’s this book for?

Stephanie paints a picture of a fiercely independent, stubborn and unconventional girl who loves to travel but I think this book is for any girl that wants to travel solo but just needs a little encouragement to turn her dreams into reality. Although the book seems to target single career girls it could appeal to a wide age range, from female gap year students, to career girls wanting a change, to single older women wanting to travel, or even for those travelling with a girlfriend. Many of the tips could be for any solo traveller, male or female, but I really like the way that this e-book targets female travellers, with a mixture of practical advice and an inspirational ‘Go for it’ message, that’s very appealing.

The book is divided into different sections covering everything a girl travelling solo might need to know;

Part 1 – Why travel alone?

In this first section of The art of solo travel, a girl’s guide Stephanie covers the advantages and disadvantages of travelling alone. The reality is that although you are free to travel to your own agenda, there may be times when you’ll be lonely or be the target of unwanted male attention. Stephanie also recommends a 6-12 month planning period in which you work out what do about your job and your home while you’re away and manage the reaction, positive or otherwise of friends and family. And then if there’s a special someone in your life, how do your broach the subject of your travel plans with them?

Stephanie gives some ideas of where you might travel – a very subjective topic as one girl’s dream destination is another’s last place on earth. I felt that this section was less strong as Stephanie gives ideas of places you might consider and a feel for what you might expect there, but the options only gave a flavour of the posibilities. Japan, Egypt, South East Asia, Europe and Australia are mentioned, but what about Africa, India and the Arab world?.As Stephanie points out, she hasn’t been everywhere and is only giving sharing her personal experiences of these destinations, but perhaps it would be possible to incorporate the views of other female travelers on the pros and cons of each region.

Stephanie Lee, author of The art of solo travel

Section 2 – Preparing to go

Stephanie gives some really useful advice on packing, the type of luggage you might use, lists of clothing, toiletries and other things you’ll need. This section would be really useful to the less experienced traveler to use as a packing checklist. Of course, we all know that we should pack less, but sometimes tempting to try and squeeze in just one more pair of shoes!

In these days when the most remote hostels are full of folk updating their facebook page, there’s a useful section on the gadgetry you’ll need to accompany you on your travels. Although I confess to being a bit clueless on technology and am not a long term traveller, I didn’t feel Stephanie’s gadget recommendations would hold true for everyone. I was interested to see that she suggested an internet enabled phone could cover the need to keep in touch and that you didn’t need a lap-top unless you were aiming to work on the road, yet suggested that an e-book reader might be worth packing. I think that if I was on the road for any length of time, I’d invest in a light and inexpensive netbook perhaps paired with an external hard drive and not bother with the Kindle. Technology is one of those things that everyone has their personal view on and it’s worth thinking carefully about your needs before you set off – you can always pick up an extra sparkly top but it’s more complex and expensive to buy technology en route.

Part 3 travel more, spend less

This section of The art of solo travel, a girl’s guide covers the financial aspects of your trip, how much will it cost and how will you find the money? Stephanie shows us how much she spent for a year of traveling – a surprisingly low Aus$15,000 – did she really keep a note of all those costs, how organized! The vaste majority was on airfares and other travel but hardly anything on accommodation – due to Stephanie’s top moneysaving tip, to find accommodation through couch-surfing and other similar websites that connect travellers.

Stephanie has some excellent tips on how you might make savings to fund your travel anything from cancelling your home telephone & Cable TV subscriptions to bringing your own lunch to work and making your own coffee rather stopping at Starbucks. All of this assumes that you’ve got a reasonable income to afford these little luxuries in the first place and I suspect that the more impoverished among you, such as students would need to find fund-raising ideas rather than cut back on spending income they don’t have.

Part 4- Flying, sleeping, eating, living

I did find the section on flying less gripping, but I guess there could be some less practiced flyers out there than need to know how to check in and when to go to the bathroom on the flight! However, the hints on using couchsurfing to find accommodation could save you a small fortune. Stephanie gives tips on how to ensure that hosts are more likely to accept your request and how to be a good guest.

I’m a member of Hospitality Club and mainly host other travellers although I sometimes contact local residents through the website to meet up for a drink when I visit a city. I know how it feels to be on the receiving end of a request for four people to stay on your floor for a week (that was a no) and the request from someone whose pen name was ‘Drunken hippy’ or something similar also got a polite decline! I’ve noticed that as we make it clear that we are a family, I often get requests from single women and I do believe what Stephanie says, that it’s an excellent way for single women to travel, provided you choose your hosts with a little care. The section on travelling by bus, train and other public transport options was a fairly general, but it’s difficult to cover this in much detail when each country has so many variations.

Part 5 - Men, women and other stuff

In this section Stephanie give tips on eating well, staying healthy and safe on the road and keeping morale up when you’re getting a bit travel weary. Also she covers ways you might get round going out and eating alone without making yourelf an obvious pick-up target. Finally Stephanie gives some useful links to websites you might want to use as resources to plan your travels.

My recommendation

Overall, I found The art of solo travel, a girl’s guide by Stephanie Lee is an e-book that really inspires girls to travel solo and feel that everything is possible, while also giving a lot of helpful information. I found some of the sections a little lacking in detail, I think mainly because they were based on Stephanie’s personal experience and let’s face it – no-one can get everywhere and try everything in the world. Perhaps if this book was ever updated Stephanie could draw on the experiences of other women travelers with different experiences to fill those gaps. I also thought that the possibilities of working and volunteering might have also been mentioned – some parts of the world really lend themselves to these types of travel and women often like to give something back to the communities they visit.

I loved the visual appeal of this book too – it has an easy to read presentation, lots of photos and some nice graphics than made it a pleasure to scan through. Overall this e-book gives an excellent overview of solo travel for girls that would inspire you to make your dream a reality and kick start your planning process. I could imagine it being really helpful to those who have been on shorter trips but not really experienced the realities of long term travel. I’d certainly recommend it to friends or even my teenage daughter who’s showing every sign of becoming an intrepid traveller.

The art of solo travel, a girl’s guide is available to download on-line at a price of US$12.95 and if you’re undecided you can even read a few pages for free to see if it’s for you. If you buy through any of the links on this page, I will get a commission on the sale, but never fear dear readers – I value you enough to give you my honest opinion.

If you want to hear Stephanie talking about the book, you can also listen to or download a podcast interview with Stephanie Lee at Indie Travel Podcast

Click here to buy The art of solo travel, a girl’s guide by Stephanie Lee

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

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Podcast 09 – Voluntary work in Ghana, West Africa

admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:38:44 +0000

Podcast 09 – In this podcast I talk to my friend Wendy about her recent visit to Ghana to work with the Atiamah Charitable trust. The charity is based in Bristol, England where Wendy lives and was started by a Bristol student doing voluntary work when she came across Atiamah, a 4 year old aids orphan whose parents had died. On her return to England she was determined to do something to help the people of this community in Ghana and started the charity named after this little girl.

To download the Ghana volunteer travel podcast, right click here [mp3]29 mins

To subscribe to all my podcasts in ITunes click here

Wendy has her hair braided in Wiaga, Ghana

The Atiamah Charitable Trust started working with aids sufferers in North West Ghana but now supports a number of community projects for agriculture, health and education. Wendy first visited the village of Wiaga in 2008 with her teenage son and on this second visit was going to see how some of the projects were developing and to buy livestock and equipment for the agricultural project.

Boys on donkeys in Wiaga, Ghana

Schoolchildren in Wiaga, Ghana

On this trip, Wendy travelled with another volunteer, flying into Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso which was closer to the area of northern Ghana than flying into the capital of Ghanan, Accra, and travelled by road to Wiaga where she stayed for a couple of weeks.

Boy with goat in Wiaga, Ghana

Village houses in Wiaga, Ghana

I hope you enjoy the slideshow below which is designed to accompany the podcast

Shownotes

In the podcast we talk about;

The moving story of how the charity was founded and named after a 4 year old Aids orphan, Atiamah.
Wendy’s journey from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and her first impressions of Ghana and the people she met there.
The different projects that the Atiamah Charitable Trust was supporting such a providing donkeys, goats and carts for poorer families within the community, books and resources for a library, sports equipment for local schools.
The work Wendy was able to do as a medical doctor, setting up simple disease prevention projects such as the diagnosis and treatment of high blood pressure.
The work being done with womens’ groups who are responsible for childcare, education and agricultural work and future projects such as soap making with shea nut oil.
Why Wendy wanted to get involved in this project as a doctor, to practice some of her basic medical training and how she felt she could personally make a difference.
The rewards from a personal perspective of doing voluntary work and getting involved in small overseas charities like the Atiamah Charitable Trust
For more information about the Atiamah trust, visit their website at www.atiamah.com
Music on the podcast was Venus as a Girl by Andy McGee on Musicalley.com
You can find another interesting podcast interview about volunteer work and travelling in Ghana on The Amateur Traveler from Lillie Marshall of AroundtheworldL.com
All photos are by Wendy Harding and can be viewed on my Flickr site here

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

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Luxe girl’s guide to living it up in London

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:40:23 +0000

If you’d like a short cut to the most fun, funky and cool things to do when visiting London and a host of other cities then read on for my Luxe guide review and giveaway…

Luxe london guide

Let me introduce you to my new best friend – let’s call her Luxe girl. She’s petite and perfectly formed and she’s going to be our guide while we’re in London. She’s lived here all her life and knows all the fab places to go. Darling, she said as she greeted me with a mwah, mwah – we’re going to have such fun! She definitely knows all the best places and they know her – the concierges and the maitre d’s smile as they see her coming.

After all, you can’t do everything while you’re in the big city so why not just follow Luxe girl’s advice for the most fun, the most funky, the most chic and forget about the rest. Luxe girl’s pocket guide will fit in the teeniest designer handbag. No need to lug a heavy guide around like a tourist – you have the insider knowledge now.

Portobello Hotel, London

Luxe girl’s already quizzed me on my taste and budget before suggesting where I should stay. For ravishing chambers evoking the age of empire with biedermier, steamer trunks, muslin and silk she recommends Anouska Hempel’s Blakes. For effortless casual English chic, there’s the townhouse of Portobello Hotel or if my trust fund’s running low I’ll head east for the Hoxton Hotel for buzzy contempo style and just round the corner from the arty White Cube in Hoxton square.

Afternoon tea at Laduree

With just a miniature pocket guide to fit all her recommendation this gal is mistress of the one liner. As we sweep through the capital, she can sum it all up perfectly. Darling, she says – let’s start with brekky at Princi, a gorgeous all day Italian caff I know, then grab a picnic box at Inn the Park to eat it in leafy St James Park. For afternoon tea it’ll be full on macaroon madness with rococo cocoa at Laduree – then we’ll start the evening with a Bloody Mmm at the Grenadier before dining at Maze – their posh tapas are mini mouth marvels, not to mention the perfect garden view then we’ll head out east for funked and fizzy retro kitsch cocktails at Callooh Calloy. Boy, this girl knows how to eat!

But after all that deliciousness, we may be ready for some chilled out personal pampering. Luxe girl flicks her perfectly groomed fringe and taps her manicured finger nails thoughtfully before she whispers her beauty recommendations in my ear. We book our mini mani at Iris Chapple, buff up our trotters at Margaret Dabs and with a 30 minute blow dry at the Blow dry bar we’re ready to hit the town once more. We’ll save the impeccably luxurious Mandarin spa for the end of our stay when we need some serious recovery time.

Westminster Abbey in London

But Luxe girl, I say – all this fun is all very well but I feel I should do the culture thing too – isn’t London steeped in history after all? No problem – she says. I suppose we should tick off the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey, but if we want to avoid the great unwashed, then I have a few lesser known gems up my sleeve.

For art in a stately setting we’ll head for the Wallace collection and try lunch in its pretty courtyard cafe or Kensington Palace with Di’s frocks on show and tea at the Orangery. For more contempo international art we’ll head for the Tate Modern beside the Thames and we’ll make sure to wear our flats, as we skip up Wren’s Doric column for a bird’s eye view at The Monument.

Kew Gardens in London

Perhaps we’ll take a break from the sightseeing with a stroll through the park – there’s Green Park, Hyde Park or St James Park to choose from, or spend a day at the Royal Botanic gardens at Kew. Or we could head for the markets – delicious foodie delights at Borough Market or fragrant flowers at Columbia Market.

Oh and don’t even get me started on the gorgeous shops Luxe girl showed me – just save up your pennies and be ready for the credit card to take a hit.

After my visit to London with Luxe girl I’m ready to throw away all those fat guidebooks with information overload. Luxe girl will tell it to you straight – what’s fab and what’s not. Luckily Luxe girl London has some equally stylish friends in cities all over the world who can guide you around their cities too.

Luxe city guides are $9.99, pocket sized and perfect for a stylish few days. The Luxe pocket guides are created by insiders for your city visit selecting only the very best, so you don’t waste your time on the rest -there are over 30 different cities you’ll be longing to visit.

Luxe City guides Summer box set

And there’s more….

Limited Edition Boxed set

Luxe guides currently have a limited edition boxed set in a mouthwatering choice of colours Cerise, Chartreuse, Amethyst and Azure at $55 containing the five guides of your choice – strictly while stocks last.

Luxe City guides go mobile

Mobile Guides

And for those of you who can’t live without your mobile, Luxe mobile guides are available for a multitude of handsets and a year’s free updates sent directly to your mobile – cool or what? Choose from 7 cities including London, Paris and Rome – oh and there’s New York too.

Luxe Guide Giveaway

Luxe girl has kindly offered to send one of you, dear readers a perfectly formed, petite Luxe city guide to stick in the back pocket of your skinny designer jeans. All you have to do is leave a comment telling me where you’d love to go and I’ll choose one of you at random in a week or so to be sent the guide of your choice.

So will it be Bali, Bankok, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Cambodia, Chiang Mai, Cambodia, Dubai, Florence, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Miami, New York, Paris, Phuket, Rome, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sydney, Tokyo, Venice? … the world’s your lobster as they say.

If you’re tempted, then head over to the Luxe City Guides Website to find your own personal Luxe girl to guide you around. Luxe Guides kindly send me a free Luxe Guide London for the purpose of this review and another to give away to one of my readers.

Oh, and one last tip when visiting London – Luxe girl loathes weather talk, so shut up about your damn weather!

Photo Credits: Westminster Abbey from wallyg , Afternoon tea from Laduree, Portobello hotel from Portobellohotel.com, Kew Gardens from Heatheronhertravels

More fun things to do in London

To Kensington Palace and tea at the Orangery – in London
They’re changing the guards at Buckingham Palace
An artistic lunch at the V & A – in London

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

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Shownotes