Sophia's Travels around the world

Morocco December 2011

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Mon, 28 May 2012 14:11:00 +0000

Morocco Trip Report Dec 2011.

In December 2011, we attended annual trade show in Cannes. After that since we already were in Europe, we decided to visit Morocco. It is been on my wish list a long time.

I booked tickets from Marseilles to Casablanca. Our arrival was not as was elegantly stated in movie "Casablanca"… To get to Marseilles, I got train tickets from Cannes to Marseilles. I like
French trains. Well, when they show up! Our TGV train from Brussels to Cannes to Marseilles has been cancelled. We were able to catch train to Avignon and then connect to train to Marseilles St. Charles. Our original train tickets also included connection from Marseilles St. Charles to MRS (Vitroieles airport).

But Avignon to Marseilles train got us there too late and we could not take train to airport. Plan B: So we took bus shuttle to airport. This is lugging all luggage.... Thankfully we did not have heavy luggage. I shipped my trade show materials home. We made to airport just 30 min before departure. I thought we will miss the plane. But we were checked in promptly and securities got us without line. Air Maroc flight was fine,2 hrs, and I had time to catch up on breath. They even served drinks and cheese sandwich.

Suggestion to myself: do what I do for my clients - pay my prices and get driver door to door...... I wanted to save money, it cost me extra 17 euro on bus and stress of running through MRS is just not worth it.

Some information on geography and history.

Morocco is situated in Northern Africa and as we were told, Moroccan consider themselves as a tree, with roots in Africa and branches in Europe. It is the closest country to Europe and closely associated with Andalusian Spain and Portugal. It lies from strait of Gibraltar on the Mediterranean and looks out to Atlantic ocean from the Northwest part of Africa. The Atlas Mountains run through the country from North to South to Algerian border about 11,000 ft in elevation. To the south lies Sahara desert. It is the westernmost country in Muslim world.
Originally Jews and Berbers lived there. Berbers are descendants of people mixed origins (Oriental, Saharan and European) who lived in what is now Morocco since second millennium B.C.. Roman invaders called them Berbers which was derived from Barbarians. They settled at different times but believed were first inhabitants along with Jews. The first Jews came to Morocco around 70CE after destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem. Second immigration came in 15C fleeing from Spanish inquisition from Spain and Portugal. Arabs arrived in 7C and brought Islam to Berbers. Arabs and Berbers fought a lot but were together in invading Spain, later were expelled from Spain in 11c. That’s why Spain and Portugal has Moorish influence in culture and architecture. In 1660 Morocco came under control of Alawite dynasty which rules Morocco to this day.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Morocco was one of the Barbary States, the headquarters of pirates who pillaged Mediterranean traders. European powers showed interest in colonizing the country beginning in 1840, and there were frequent clashes with the French and Spanish. Finally, in 1904, France and Spain concluded an agreement that divided Morocco into zones of French and Spanish influence, with France controlling almost all of Morocco and Spain controlling the small southwest portion, which became known as Spanish Sahara. Morocco became French colony in 1912 and was under French until 1956.
Unlike in other countries, Jews coexisted peacefully with Arabs and Berbers. Jews were traders and artisans and generally were protected by the King. Morocco is the only country in the Arab World both rich in Jewish history and with a living Jewish community. It is a delight for the travelers interested in the Jewish heritage of Morocco who can discover hundreds of fascinating historical and spiritual sites. A visit to "Jewish" Morocco is a lesson in the potential for Jewish-Muslim coexistence.

Arrival.
In Casablanca airport, we were met by our driver Fatullah. First culture shock – we saw a group of Saudi Arabians in their traditional Arab dress holding in thick padded leather gloves falcons. They had a lot’s of kind of nomadic gear and were packing into a large line of snorkeled trucks. The driver told us that it is popular sport for them to do falcon hunting along with a pilgrimage in Morocco.

At 6pm we arrived our hotel Le Meridien Mansour, best location in Casablanca. We had dinner at hotel in Moroccan restaurant with specialty of Tangine chicken. Mine had pancake (pasta stripes) and lentil and delicately cooked chicken. Michael’s had chicken stewed with olives, lemons and couscous. Both were delicious. The setup was a Berber’s tent. We were the only ones there (low season) and 2 waiters entertained us. Our guide Lahcen arrived later and joined us for desert and tea and we mapped out the next long day. I love Le Meridiens. Like other hotels, this was done in local Moroccan style. It does need a bit of updating but rooms are very large and comfortable and public places are beautiful. Breakfast buffet was abundant and had Moroccan specialties - lot's of dry and fresh fruit, stewed fruits besides general breakfast fare. Good breads and desserts, both French and Moroccan.

Day 1. Casablanca – Rabat – Meknes – Volubulus - Fes
After breakfast we checked out. Too bad we only spent one night, but we had to move on. Our driver and guide arrived and we went to Hassan II mosque by the sea. It was completed in 1993, designed by French architect Michel Pinseau and considered one of the most beautiful mosques in the world. Partly erected on water, it was inspired by King Hassan II to contemplate the power of god, soil and water. The location on Atlantic Ocean is stunning. It is the only mosque in Morocco which is open for tourists visits.

It was Saturday and Moroccan Jewish museum was closed. We took a panoramic tour of this elegant port city.

We saw colonial architecture by French colonialists – Art Nouveau, Art Deco townhouses, Moorish palace like villas – that was a Beverly Hills of the city. Although city is famous by connection with famous people like Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Edith Piaf, but most Americans associate it with romance of the movie "Casablanca" , starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Berman.
Of course, movie was not even filmed in Casablanca, but to attract more tourists, the fans of the movie can be happy now – a Ricks Café is opened few years ago in a Moroccan home near old Medina overlooking city port.

We also passed by the place of former Hotel d’Anfa, where historic meeting between President Roosevelt and British PM Churchill took place in 1943, at which the date of allied landings in Normandy was decided. Although Germans intercepted the meeting, but they were misled by literal translation of “casablanca” – they thought it was White House in USA and not Casablanca city and failed to prevent it. Also, during that meeting, President Roosevelt pledged his support to Sultan Muhammed V in his struggle to obtain independence from France, thus opening new future for Morocco as an independent country in post war period.
We left Casablanca and went to Rabat, capital of the Morocco. On the way our guide Lahcen told us about history of Morocco. In Rabat, we saw unfinished Tour Hassan Mosque; it was supposed to be the counterpart of Marrakech’s Koutoubia Mosque and the Giralda Cathedral in Seville, Spain, all of which were built by the Almohad Dynasty, the twelfth 12 century persecutors of the Jewish people.

Adjoining the Tour Hassan is the Mausoleum of King Mohammed V, which has become a pilgrimage site for Jews, who cannot forget his efforts to defend them against the anti-Semitic policies of the French Vichy Government. This beautiful building was commissioned by Hassan II, designed by Vietnamese architect and built by 400 Moroccan craftsmen. It was guarded by royal guards on horses. The mausoleum was done in Italian marble and under dome there was sarcophagus of the king. The burial chamber was crowned by 12 sided dome with painted mahogany. The mausoleum had beautiful stained glass work and candelabra.

We left Rabat and went to Meknes, the “Moroccan Versailles" which was founded at the end of the 17th Century by Moulay Ismail, where the Jewish presence is evidenced by Hebraic epitaphs dating from the Christian era as well as Greek inscriptions that still appear in local Synagogues and a place of pilgrimage where the tomb of Rabbi' David Benmidan, "The Patron of Meknes" is located. Unlike other buildings, the Ancient Jewish Buildings in Jewish Quarter “Mellah” had balconies in narrow streets – for Succot. We also visited old town Medina, markets, and Palaces of king Moulay Ismail of 17C, very vast and impressive stables. Then we spent time in market. Meknes, which had 18.000 Jews in 1950, now has a community of 1000.
Lunch was olives and Moroccan flat bread on the market’s cafe, which I started to like very much. And of course, mint tea! Afterwards we went to Roman archeological site, Volubulus which was ancient capital of Mauretania. It has beautiful mosaics. And the roman town was 5 centuries old dating from 2BC to 3AD. Beautiful site, especially at sunset. Some of the more influential homes still had marvelous mosaics made into the floors.

Then we went to Fes. It was olive harvest season. We sampled olives and saw how they are harvested. It was a long day. Usually it is done in 2 days with arrival from USA in the morning to Casablanca.

But since we arrived in the evening, we had to squeeze in 1. We checked in into delightful Riad Fes, in the labyrinth of old town. I do not even know how we walked there, corner by corner with our guide. It is Relais and Chateaux property.

We were upgraded to Sultan suite with Terrace. We had dinner at the Riad. First day had ended and we were already impressed with people of Morocco. They are friendly to tourists, and most important for me, Jews and Muslim live there for many centuries and coexist peacefully.
Riads are traditional Moroccan houses, with courtyard in the middle, which has either pool or fountains. Since in Old Medina there are no views from windows, the Riads were built with windows facing the courtyard and open to the sky. Usually, the first floor is reception, fountain, and restaurants nowadays. So accommodations always start from second floor and up. The rooms are generally represent traditional character. If you go to Morocco try at least one stay in Riad.

Dinner at Riad Fes was OK but not of Relais and Chateaux quality. Lamb was very overcooked. Next morning, we had breakfast there and it was nice, beautifully presented and I liked that they bring everything to your table and not buffet. Eggs were on request to cook but we enjoyed pastries, yogurt, cheese and Moroccan pancakes.

Days 2-3. Fes.
Fez, the oldest cultural and spiritual imperial city of Morocco, was founded in 790 B.C by Moulay Idriss II and today we were off to explore it. Lahcen took us to the observation point on the hill and explained layout of Imperial city of Fes. It had 8c, 14c and new town sections. Our Riad was in 8C area. We went to Jewish quarter (called Mellah) and visited Danan synagogue of 17C.

Fes Jewish quarter is the first Jewish enclave of Morocco. The King and Rulers of Fes protected Jewish community on return for levy collected from Jews. The population of Mellah was settled according to their trade, most of them working with gold and silver. Jews contributed significantly to Fes becoming business center of Morocco. As the city developed many learned men settled in Fes, among them such as Yehuda Ben Qurayesh, David ben Abraham Alfassi and Maimonides (1150) as well as businessmen and community leaders such as Nahman ben Sunbal (1556), Samuel Hagiz (1596), Yehuda Uziel (1603), Shemouel Tsarfaty (1713), Yehuda Ben Atar and Hayim Ben Atar, Avner Tsarfaty (1884) and Isaac ben Danan (1900).

We went to Jewish cemetery dated from 7C which contains the tombs of more Jewish saints than any other cemetery in Morocco, like, Yehuda Ben Attar, Abner Ha-Serfati, Solika Hatchuel, Monsenego. We also saw house of Maimonides. The cemetery was well designed , maintained and clean. The ancient tombs were rounded shapes. Modern graves looked like regular western ones. We saw mausoleums for saints. Some of them, Lahcen explained, are visited often by Jews for pilgrimage. Ancient tombs had Hebrew inscription and modern ones were had French writing.

After cemetery, we went to Medina and explored it’s narrow alleys and souks. We had lunch in nice restaurant in Medina with Moroccan salads and of course, again Tangine chicken which by now we became fond of. As for shopping, we went to the House of Bronze, to see how artisans are working with bronze. We bought ancient bronze menorah which uses oil instead of candles. For leather, we went to tannery. Tanning craft is very ancient, and Fes was and still is the center of it. The tanning process turns animal hides into soft leather and then leather is passed for leatherwork. The tannery of Fes dates to middle ages. We were taken to the observation center by many steps by tannery representative who gave us mint to smell – to protect from unpleasant strong smell of tannery. We watched how hides were cleaned , washed and dyed with natural paints. Then we went down to presentation room to have mint tea and listen to another shopping presentation. We did not buy much, just few small items – pocketbooks etc. Then we went to souk to look at traditional clothes and they talked Michael into buying Jelabah – traditional Moroccan garb – long dress with hood. By that time I already got tired of shopping and bargaining but Michael still enjoyed it.

Bargaining process (see below at end of report) .

Not sure what we were thinking but we walked out from clothes store with $200 wool Jelabah, silk tablecloth and Fes. Michael however was wearing it the rest of the trip and declared it very comfortable. It has pockets cuts so you can comfortable keep your pockets accessible to yourself and away from pickpockets and also hood was used when not for warmth, then for carrying phone and other small items in it. Very versatile clothes. As for Fes – it was traditional red hat which we saw in Egypt and thought it is originated there but turned out Fes city was origin of Fes. We bought it too for completing the Moroccan wardrobe and now it is on display at home 
Next day in Fes we explored Medieval Medina, the Medersas, the El Qaraouiyyin Mosque, mausoleum of Moulay Idriss II the founder of Fez in the ninth century who encouraged the Jews to move to Fez and the sumptuous Nejjarine fountain. Then we went shopping for rugs the store was located in 14c palace, and had entertaining presentation by rug salesmen with good smooth English, quoting Shakespeare and quoting Frommer's description of this store. http://www.frommers.com/destinations/fes/3961010031.html .

Medersa is 14C residential college, both cultural and religious establishment. It had beautiful tiles, wooden screens and stained glass. Afterwards we went to new town, and set in café facing wide boulevard, and watched people. That part of the town was very much French/European. There were a lot’s of young people outdoors. Lahcen explained that local team won soccer game so it was a parade. People crowded streets. So it was nice relaxing end of day before we got to our hotel to recharge, pack, and get ready for our next day adventure. Late lunch and café made for the meals for the day so we got some fruit for evening and called it a day.

Day 4 Fes - Erg Chebi, Merzouga Dunes, Sahara desert.
After another pleasant and delicious breakfast at Riad Fes we checked out and packed our already growing luggage to the car and soon we were off to our next destination –Sahara.
We headed south of Fes to Middle Atlas mountains, the altitude was changing to up 10,470 ft in the highest peaks of the mountains. In some places we saw snow peaks. The scenery varied from very little vegetation to some places with forests of cork, cedar, oak and pine. The forest was predominantly from high plateau, where craters of existing volcanoes were filled with lakes. The lakes shore looked like desert. Occasionally we saw people herding sheep, Lahcen told us that semi-nomadic tribes live there. Some wooded mountain areas looked like Switzerland. We stopped some times, to take pictures of the scenery and people (Lahcen asked them for permission to take photos). In one places there were monkeys on roadside and some enterprising locals who were selling peanuts for monkeys. We stopped, fed monkeys and took photos. The baby monkeys were so cute! That mint tea started getting to us so we needed bathrooms more often!

In about 4 hours, we stopped in Midelt and had snacks and tea in luxury hotel Taddart. It was in the middle of nowhere in the half way to Merzouga. While Michael, Lahcen and our driver Fatulla relaxed at restaurant, I inspected hotel. The rooms were 5* quality although hotel is 4*. The woodwork and plasterwork were impressive and of good taste. Some of the rooms hade view of the mountains. There was a small swimming pool and they are building spa. The tourists go trekking in the mountains if they want. So it made sense for stop for overnight on the way to Merzouga, dunes of Erg Chebbi.

We continued south, altitude got lower. The villages had large houses, Kasbah style, Kasbah means castle with towers on 4 corners. The roof was either lower or there was an open terrace instead of roof where obviously people liked to be at leisure. We were supposed to stay in High Atlas mountains last night in Kasbah.

We arrived to Erfoud to luxury hotel Xaluca which runs luxury desert camp in dunes. Some clients may want to stay at hotel and just be taken for a camel ride for sunrise and sunset but we wanted to experience desert in a traditional Berber tent.

The way it works, you arrive to hotel in Erfoud, where desert starts. Then you change to 4 wheel drive jeep and they take you to the desert. Our new driver of the jeep drove fast but carefully on the bumps. The road ended and he was driving through desert rocks and some water. Our original driver Fatullah left in Erfoud and Lahcen went with us to the camp in dunes of Erg Chebbi. We arrived about 30 min before sunset so it was perfect timing. On arrival, the camels were waiting for us. We were not sure how we will handle camels so we decided to go for a short ride over 30-60' high dunes. Otherwise for people who do not want to ride, they just walk to the tent.

The luggage was handled by Berbers who greeted us on arrival. We mounted camels and went for a ride. It was quiet, the colors were dark orange, dunes were tall like small mountains! The camels ride was smooth, because sand was soft. Lahcen was running around us taking pictures from all sides. Another advantage of having guide there! Meanwhile I saw with my side vision our luggage been carried from the jeep to the tent which I assumed will be ours for a night. The camels got us to the tent, and we descended (is this the word? ) camels and walked inside.
The Berbers were waiting for us and met us with nuts, dates, tea and wine. The sun already been down and it became colder. The whole floor was covered with rugs. Shoes were optional. They showed us our tent – it had small sink, shower and electricity but they told us that electricity will be turned off at 10pm so if we need to charge anything, do it now. They even had hot water. The tent was set private, with 4 “rooms” , we were in one and Lahcen in another, each room had private toilet western style and shower.

There was another private party – 2 ladies, but Lahcen said they have their own tent setup. Although it would be possible for them to be with us since every “room” had private bath. However, for deluxe tent camp, they place people privately. Something like villa setup. Most of the time, we spent in the tent’s common area “living room”, where they lit a fire , and talked to our berber host and Lahcen. The Berber camp attendants played traditional Berber music. It was very quiet in the evening. The stars were very bright and you can see Milky Way and other constellation until the full moon rose. It was getting colder but comfortable by the fire. They even let me join in on the drum to the Berber music! The dinner arrived soon and it was served at “living room” table, and it was the best quality we’ve had so far, roasted succulent lamb, excellent moist tangine chicken, and fruit and pastries for desert. It was a lot’s of food, real berber feast.

Contrary what I thought, Berber told us that there is water in the desert, so the wells are drilled and water is coming by pipe. He showed us plastic pipes in the sand. Michael and Lahcen still were looking at stars and I went to sleep. There were about 5 thick blankets, so they were heavy. I got under and fell asleep. At night, when I woke up, it was pitch dark but I managed to find bathroom.

Before I got to bed, Berber asked us if we want to see sunrise and we said yes. So in the morning, he woke us up and we walked dunes (without camels) for a morning walk. It was another beautiful view and reflection of sun on the red sand was just unreal. Afar, we could see a caravan of camels with tourists who came in the morning for sunrise drive, but I would not change for anything to sleep at hotel. It was a lifetime experience I will never forget. Sun was so low that you think you can touch it. And at night, even after sunset, the full round moon was unusual white color. Lahcen said because it is clear air, no pollution so the colors are very vivid.

After breakfast, the breakfast was served, now at the table outside of tent, in the sand in desert, with fruit, cheese yogurt and omelets. We saw Berbers carrying food somewhere in the dunes, he explained us, to next door tourists ladies. We never saw them. After breakfast, our jeep arrived, our luggage was moved there, we hugged Berbers, tipped them and bid them farewell. We were off towards Marrakech but you cannot make in one day so our next overnight stop is Berber Palace in Ourzazate.

Day 5, Ourzazate.
The jeep driver got us to Erfoud hotel where we our driver Fatullah was staying and we switched to our original van. Erfoud was the major Jewish population center of the Tafilalet, where Jews worked as merchants and artisans as late as the twentieth century, We visited a well preserved Jewish cemetery there with mausoleum.
Our next stop was a fossil factory where we saw beautiful rare black marble fossils furniture and knick-knacks. We bought a coffee table with relief fossils which has not arrived yet. I also wanted to check out the Berber rugs which were a bit cheaper than in Fes. But the bargaining was not good, we somehow did not connect with the seller. He was very pushy and we had to get our heavy artillery Lahcen who helped us to close the deal and threaten to the owner that he will never bring tourists there. We bought 2 rugs at rasonable price and it is a pleasure to see them in my living room.

We continued West, passed Palm Groves, saw women collecting them and drying them on the ground. This particular Valley was developed as a communal stronghold against invaders (nomadic tribes), therefore the villages were fortified centuries ago they are called Ksars. Then within fortification, the village developed with houses, medarsas, mosque and granaries.
Some areas of the valley had a lots of underground or river rain water, and that’s how oases developed. It is very fragile ecological environment to preserve oases so people drilled wells, built dams to keep it for irrigation. We saw one of such well and I pulled water out of it by rope. There were also channels which crossed oases to channel water in needed direction. Well kept irrigation canals, trees and greenery reminded me Israeli vegetation where it is also in the desert they have many trees.

We reached Tinjejad which was a village where Lahcen’s family lives. They invited us for lunch and prepared Barbeque turkey served with delcicious homemade bread and pastries. It was extended family of his mother, brother, wife, niece and 2 year old adorable nephew. It was very warm reception and we were touched that they opened their home for us. Lahcen showed us their large home and like all homes in Morocco, instead of top floor, there was terrace. It is relatively cool in summer and they escape from Marrakech for 2 months in summer.
We had nice lunch, conversation with translation of Lahcen and his brother Yosef, who is an English teacher. We hugged them farewell and continued. Our next stop was Todra Gorges where we saw cliffs high as 985 ft on both side of narrow corridor. We took a walk there and saw palm and dates groves and nice vegetation. We enjoyed nice walk there with great views and the mountain air was cool and pleasant. We sat at a café with more mint tea and then continued to Ourzazate which is half way to Marrakech. From what I saw, it is not much to do there except to stay for overnight.

Ouarzazate is located in Atlas mountains on 3800 ft altitude. It is a pleasant clean town, with wide boulevards. It is to be known as Hollywood of Morocco, hundreds of movies were shot there the diamond of the Nile, Lawrence of Arabia, the Mummy, Gladiator, 7 days in Tebet, Babel… … and there is Atlas film studios with artifacts from movies, reminded me somewhat Las Vegas. We only took pictures of the studios from outside since we did not have desire to tour it. We stayed overnight at large resort Berber Palace which also had movies props in the lobby. Dinner at Berber Palace was included, it did not compare with Berber feast in the desert. The hotel was comfortable. Next morning we checked out, stopped at post office and ship some extra clothes and shopping items home.

Days 6-7 Marrakech.
On the way to Marrakesh, we visited the sanctuary of a Jewish saint Rabbi Habibi Mizrahi.
The road continued through High Atlas Mountains and highlight views were Tiz-inTichka Pass (7,417 ft altitude) , built in 1920s by French, through rich soil and fertile valley. Red color earthen villages were perched on the hillsides. We arrived Marrakech in the afternoon and checked in at Riad Demeures d’oriente in old town section. We called it a day and had dinner at Riyad. We got nice Andalusian suite.

We we visited the Mellah with its synagogues, The Negidim synagogue built at the end of the 19th century, the other synagogue of the mellah is the Salat el Alzama, built at the turn of the century. Then we saw very large cemetery where important Jewish leaders Rabbi Hanania Ha-Cohen, the Lion of Marrakesh and Rabbi Pinhas Cohen are buried.

We proceeded to the Palais el Bahia where to see several grand halls, gardens and the harem quarter… then, we saw the eleventh century Almoravide Koubba el Baroudiyn. It is one of the few architectural reminders of the dynasty that presided over the "Golden Age" of the Jews in Spanish Andalucia and Morocco. The Medersa Ben Yusuf, El Badi Palace and Saadian tombs are beautiful demonstrations of the art and architecture of the 16th century Saadians, a dynasty that relied heavily on Jewish traders with Sub-Saharan Africa, including Moroccan-controlled Timbuktu, to finance its wars against Portugal and the Turkish Empire.
By contrast to Medina, the new city, Avenue Mohammed V was the city’s main thoroughfare and very modern. Marrakech surprised us with many green areas and parks.

We visited Berber PHarmacy in old town where we stocked up on spices and natural healing herbs and argan oil ointments. More about aregan oil below.

We shopped in souks with all those labirynths, and we were lost completely in direction but it was the fun part of it. Lahcen navigated. From souks we came out to Mosque Koutobia (only can be viewed from outside) and out to the famous Place Jemaa El Fna, Unesco Heritage site, where each evening there is a hub of activity. We had better view from on f the café’s second floor to take good pictures and watched the snake charmers, some monkey performers and general hubbub. I am not sure why it is called Unesco Heritage site but it was surely fascinating people watching. The snake charmers were very aggressive and demanded money from people who took their pictures. It was safe to watch and take photos from Café. We got prime seats again thanks to Lahcen! Afterwards we went for early dinner at French/Moroccan restaurant at the same square, La Boheme, walked again to watch the activities. By that time, the vendors set up food and drinks stalls.
Next morning, we checked out of Demeure Oriente, and did a little bit more touring: We toured Menara Gardens with nice water pools. Then we went to Cyber Parc. It was very interesting park, clean, comfortable, a lot's of shade which Lahcen explained very important in summer. And the most amazing - it is equipped with free wi-fi! You can check emails from your laptop or phone but there are also terminals around the park with computers for people using it for moderate fee. I never seen such parks in Europe or Asia. Very advanced, in my opinion.
We finished sightseeing Marrakech on second day and were leaving for our next destnation to Essaoura. On the way we were passing Lahcen's apartment so he invited us for tea and meet his wife and children. It was residential neighborhood with wide streets, contemporary apartment buildings, stores and cafes. We stopped to buy something for children and decided on live pet fish.

Lahcen keep telling we do not have to do it and he does not know how long it will live, but we convinced him his 5 year old son will love it. So together with fish bowl and fish food, we arrived to his place. We met his lovely wife and his adorable 2 year old daugther Sarah who liked to play peek-a-boo.

His 5 year old Elias was due to be picked up at nursery school so we drove few minutes to school. The relatives of kids were waiting for kids t get released. We were the only ones arrived in Mercedes van and they were looking at us. Lahcen got Elias, told him something about us and the boy jumped into van on our seats, kissed Michael and rode on his lap looking forward to his fish. We dropped him at home and continued towards our next destination Essaoura.
As I am writing this, one month later, Lahcen emailed me that one male fish died but female still alive. They are buying second male fish now.

Day 8, Essaoura
On the road from Marrakech to Essaoura we stopped to see the wonder of Morocco - Argan trees. It is a short tree with thorned branches with small leaves. The fruit of the tree is Argan nut, with a peel. The oil from Argan tree has restorative and used as a natural treatment from acne, and other dermatology problems. It also used in cosmetics, for salad and nut grinded to paste used something like our peanut butter. The bees produce honey from argan tree and honey also considered very beneficial. Honey with argan nut paste is Moroccan "Nutella". We had it for breakfast and it was very good. Pure Argan oil is supplied all over the world. Lahcen told us that the scientists tried to import to plant in other countries but it did not work and Argan trees only grow in Morocco.

The goats like to climb short thorny argan trees and much on them.

We stopped at argan oil women cooperative which also helps single women supplying them with work. We saw how gathered nuts (looks something like between almond and walnut), and were cracked with stones . Then the nuts were grounded into paste. For salad oil, the nuts were roasted and for cosmetics, they left raw.

We saw presentation and bought honey and some cosmetic products.
We finally reached Essaoura in the afternoon and checked into Riyad Dar L'oussia in old town. We had a little time to explore wooden factory where we saw amazing Moroccan furniture and jewelry woodwork.

Essaoura is delightful fishing port, on Atlantic Ocean. It is delightful fortified coastal town, formerly known as Magador. It had picturesque port and ramparts, manageable old town (medinah) and beautiful views of Atlantic ocean. Historically, it was originally under Phoenicians and Carthaginians until Romans took over about 25 ad. Then it was occupied by vandals in year 429, then Berbers from 9thC and few centuries later by Arabs, then in 15C the Portuguese conquered Essaoura and they erected fortifications which look very similar to ones in Portugal. Then Portuguese and (I think together with Spanish) lost to Arabs and Alau dynasty came to power in 18C. That's when the golden age of Essoura time came in under Sultan alauí Sidi Mohammed Abdallah. He completely reformed the city of Essaouira . This was largely as a result of trade with Europe. Essaouira was transformed into the most important commercial in the Moroccan kingdom; it became the main fishing port of Timbuctu.

So it is fascinating long history which makes this small seaside port so interesting.
We had dinner in beachfront french restaurant.

Next morning, we got up early and had wonderful breakfast on riyads terrrace overlooking ramparts, fishing boats in the port and Atlantic ocean. It was hard to beleive we are in North Africa!

We went for a walk before Lahcen came in and took some photos of fishermen in the port not without being harassed to give them some coins. I did not mind that but when they started asking extra money for next pictures, that was not right in my book.
We had to go back to riyad to find Lahcen who arrived 15 minutes earlier and came looking for us and like our mother hen, started reprimanding us " Where you've been? I went to the restaurant and you were not there". We asked him to relax, since we were already Morocconised and deserve right to explore a bit on our own :-) .

We toured old town, there were mostly white and blue building colors and together with bright sky, it turned to be a photrographer's delight to walk and explore. We admired work of wood artisans, went to Jewish quarter. This town had many Jewish artisanal items for sale and it was hard to pass by. I bought antique silver menorah. I never owned nice one like this. Instead of candles, it uses oil.

We went to the fish market and watched variety of fish. The specialty of region are sardines which are imported all over the world. Lunch was at fish place at the market where you select fish and give to the small grill place to grill it. It was delicious. We chose sardines and Lahcen also added some other local fish which was also good. The price for that lunch was very cheap, something about 10 usd for 3 of us with a lot's of sardines and tomato salad and cokes. I asked what is the name of it but he said "no name". Just fish market!
We also see another specialty of the region - wood artisans. There is Thuya tree which again only grows in Morocco and it has different wood from trunk and branches and Moroccan woodworking artists produce beautiful furniture and other items. Another item great for shopping.
In the afternoon, we took a drive to the beach about 15 minutes away and we walked on the most beautiful beach. It was low tide. I took another camel ride on the beach.

Day 8. Marrakech
Were supposed to go to casbah in the mountains. But due some minor health issues, we thought might not make it going 15 minutes up to get to Kasbah on high altitutude although luggage was transported by mules. We asked and Lahcen said, no mules will not be able to carry us. A pity! So after some calls to our local Marakech agent, we changed the route and decided to go back to civilization to Marrakech. Michael needed either back massage or hot bath. Our agent Zineb, bless her heart, on Sunday, her day off, worked for few hours and changed our reservation to Sofitel Marrakech.

After arriving Sofitel, we had few hours rest and and then Lahcen and Fatullah arrived and we went again to explore Marrakech. We visited Majorelle Gardens which started by French painter Jacques Majorelle. He opened the doors to public. After he returned to France and died, Yves St. Laurent and Pierre Berge purchased the garden and restored it. It is yet another beautiful garden oasis in Marrakech with amazing collection of plants.

After that, Lahcen took us for dinner in new city local BBQ grill which had amazing grilled chicken for fraction of cost what we would pay at Sofitel's.

We continued drive in new area and we saw suburb of Marrakech "La Palmeria" , a restful Palm Groves 13 hectares and 180,000 planted palms which are irrigated by underground water pipes. Outside of city, it is oasis of serenity. However, the area seems to be build up with luxury villas and hotel development, gated communities, Golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones, so this is another contemporary face of Marrakech.. Very much like Costa Del Sol, or California or Florida.

We returned to Marrakech and spent our last night at Djemaa El Fna square watching from the same cafe second floor activity.

Last day, we checked out from hotel at noon, did last minute shopping, Tangine chicken in souk in old town, and we headed to airport. We had to part with Lahcen and Fatullah who became for these 10 days like a family. Lahcen got us ot EasyJet check in and then we said goodbye. We hugged them and said will be in touch. We thanked them and our agent Zineb for taking care of us and she promised and I am sure my clients will be in good hands.
She even got our jacket forgotten in Fes, to get delivered to Marrakech. Somehow they get network of guides and drivers and great local support system. I would not know how our trip would be without their help. I know we would survived in Moroco but it would not be same experience.

Marrakech airport was very nice and modern, much better than Casablanca. My priority pass membership entitled us to use of business lounge where we again drank mint tea and pastries and used internet. The rest of trip to Paris was uneventful.

We left Morocco with great memories. I hope to be back sometimes soon.

Some general observations.
Morocco was a long time on our bucket list and it did not disappoint. We expected less but the country surprised us with friendly people, clean green cities and abundance of sites to see. It is easy to get from Northeast of United states and easy flight from Spain and France.
It is though recommended to get most of your trip to book a guide and driver or both (in our case). It is hard to tour alone. While people are friendly, but some vendors can be very pushy and English not widely spoken there. Local people are very friendly and if you see children, I recommend to bring candies or small pens as souvenirs. Better not to give them money. Pens were always appreciated.

Accommodations
Morocco has a variety of accommodations from luxury European high quality hotels to traditional Moroccan houses Riyads, and Kasbahs (castles), just like Chateaux in France, Paradores in Spain and Posadas in Portugal. Riyads have traditional Moroccan architecture with open courtyard. Try to stay at least once to experience characteristic Moroccan house.

Shopping
Variety of wood products, fossils, leather, rugs, jewelry, bronze, silver, Jewish antiques. See re: bargaining top of the report
Bargaining
Everything starts with price usually twice as much as price of the item. Sometimes more. Sometimes there is no price at all. The goal is to get a price below of price of an item and you go back and bargain. Finally you give them your first last price, they say no, you walk away, then they call you back and start again with your last price. This continued 3 times. If they can all sell it and make small profit, they will sell it. If they keep saying no, you are below their profit margin. Guide helps somewhat if you ask him to, sometimes you are depending on a price, might be talking over the price about $2 discount, which is nothing to us, but will feed their family. Some places do not discount but they give you some free stuff. Lahcen taught us intricacies of complicated bargaining system, when to look into the item you want, most often do not show then what you are interested in. When transaction was completed, not sure if this is applicable to all customers, but ours was completed with hug and recognition us as real Moroccan – as Lahcen called it – our “Berberization” and “Morocconization”.
However for tourists not interested in bargaining, there are stores with fixed prices, even at souks. With fixed price they also give you some free items as well.
To give credit to our guide Lahcen, he did not push any shopping, and I trusted the stores he took us. I think all guides get some kind of commission or gifts from bringing tourists, so accept the fact. But I the stores and vendors he suggested made sense. First of all, if something would not arrive, you have guide to follow up with vendor. Second Lahcen always suggested vendors who would need more money. For example, the cooperative with Argan oil was created to give jobs to single women and I would rather spend money there than anywhere else. When we shopped at the souk, he would out of two vendors would select an elderly woman and since it did not matter for example where we would buy bread – it was the same – he suggested we give her business.
If we were not in a mood of shopping, he instructed us not to make eye contact. True, once you look at the vendor or the product, they would not leave us alone. Also Lahcen and Michael discussed the approach before going to each vendor – do not look at the thing you like look at others but offer money for another thing. That was too much for me and I was losing patience. I did not bargain much….

Food
My favorite subject and important aspect of each trip. Moroccan food was delicious, light and healthy. The breads were always fresh, Moroccan bread is round small like pita shape but more like chiabata. It is hard to explain.. It was delicious.
Mint tea was excellent. Boiled with green tea and mint and served either with sugar or without. No caffeine. If you want caffeine there was variety of coffees, mostly French way.
Chicken and lamb was very popular but we ate most chicken. It is cooked in special clay pot tangine. At home, I tried with slow cooker and succeeded. Chicken is stewed with raisins, lemons, olives and sometimes with chick peas.

Olives were excellent and large variety. Dates were delicious. Small oranges something like clementines were also very sweet. Their pastries were OK but a bit sweet for my taste.
I was impressed with quality of Moroccan wines and very often I have headaches from wine but Moroccan wines were fine.

We bought home various spices which I am experimenting now with chicken.

On the seacoast the fish was excellent.

All restaurants we ate were local, inexpensive and delicious food. We saved money this way thanks to Lahcen, but there were some restaurants which he did not recommend. We also did not get sick and I’ve read about some issues from tourists with stomach problems. We used bottled water everywhere, it was available. As a precaution, we took peptol bismol during the trip and maybe this helped. We ate some salads as well, Few times I forgot and had ice in the drink, and we did not have any problems. Some restaurants we ate, the plates and utensils did not look sterile .

Highlight of the trip was of course night in the tent in Sahara. I am not sure where else I will experience such exotic location.

Jewish Heritage
As I am specializing on Jewish Heritage, that was one of the reason we wanted to check out Morocco. I was impressed with peaceful coexistence of Jews and Muslim for many centuries.
It is indeed very rich in our heritage and not as well known so I highly recommend it for Jewish travelers.

For more photos, see www.facebook.com/sophiatravel

Iceland November 2011

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 15:46:00 +0000

Iceland Trip Report, November 5-10, 2011
Intro
I always wanted to visit Iceland, so when opportunity came up from Icelandair fam trip, I jumped on it.
Iceland is the second largest island in Europe. The first inhabitants arrived from Norway in 9th century so Icelanders have Viking/Celt Heritage and culture. Language is Icelandic, which is derived from Old Norse (German-Scandinavian). The present population is approximately 325,000 and about half of them live in capital Reykjavik. Most people speak English so it is easy to communicate. Contrary to expectation that Iceland is cold and covered by ice, the temperatures are mild, average in winter it is 35-45 F. Icelandic climate is temperate. The warm North Atlantic Current ensures generally higher temperatures than in most places of similar latitude in the world. Iceland's winters are mild and windy while the summers are cool. Also Iceland is located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge dividing European and American tectonic plates, slowly pushing the two in separate directions. The ridge runs through the whole country, resulting in volcanic eruptions, geothermal activity such as geysers and hot springs, and earthquakes. There are many volcanoes and glaciers around the country. The landscape is surreal, like being on another planet, with volcanic lava and little vegetation.
So we were off to Iceland! Flight to Reykjavik from Washington took 5.5 hours and there is difference in time 4 hrs (without daylight savings time taken into consideration). Icelandair does not serve food included in economy class, only for sale. So first surprise is – Iceland is closer then it seems and easier to get to. Jet lag is not a big issue comparing with coming from European continent.
Hotel.
Icelandair booked us into their hotel Natura owned by Icelandair. It is a bit off center but we have not had the choice. We took Flybus to hotel. As promised the room was ready at 9am and we had breakfast before getting into room and taking a short nap. I discovered that My t-mobile (Deutsche telecom in Europe) does not work here. But Michael's AT&T worked. Fortunately, hotel provided free internet so we were OK with communication. Natura is solid 4* hotel. Staff was friendly, but there are no extra services like valet, concierge, etc. The design is Scandinavian minimalist style. It have been recently renovated. The room was small, with a little of closet space. Only shower, no bath tub. No small travel size toiletries, they had two large dispensers – one is soap in the sink and another shampoo in the shower. But it smelled heavenly. It has description on the bottles that it contains natural herbs and oils used in the hotel’s spa. It felt good on body and hair. It is very clean hotel, even outside windows were cleaned and we were on 3rd floor. Hotel is located next to small domestic airport but now I cannot remember any noise from airplanes so sound insulation was good. The Drawback is that it is 20-30 min walk from center. Better stay in the city itself, for example Radission Blu. We ended up taking taxis for about $15 each ride. I checked with reception how to change money but they said we can use credit cards. Indeed, on this trip, I never had to use cash, always credit cards. Even taxi drivers took credit cards and small vendors like water and hot dogs all took credit card. I do not even know how their money look like. It was very convenient.
We had a nap, woke up, dressed to go downstairs for whale watching tour only to find out it has been cancelled. We took cab to the center and enjoyed nice clear though cold weather. We saw flea market, browsed some stores, walked to Art museum. They have 3 art museums and the one we visited was modern art which did not impress us. We walked through the old part of the town, very picturesque, but not like European towns, more like Nordic. Saw “Occupy Reykjavik” tents. It must be cold there. Went for early dinner at Café Paris. Nice meal, busy place. We enjoyed seafood soup, very well prepared Icelandic lamb and potatoes, vegetables. Back to hotel by cab.

Day 2 touring. We met our private guide Oli and went to explore south coast in his 4 wheel drive. He brought cute puppy Loki with him.
First we drove through Reykjavik harbor, we saw new Opera house, very beautiful. We drove past Laugardalshöll Arena where in 1972 World Chess Championship between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer took place and Bobby Fischer defeated Spassky and became chess champion. In my pre-American life I used to play chess professionally and I grew up on studying their games and style so this attraction, maybe not that of much interest to average tourist, was of interest to me. Fischer was a chess genius, despite of his disturbed personality. We talked to Oli about chess and Iceland Grandmaster Fredrik Olaffson, we found out Olaffson was also very popular in Iceland and even served in the Parliament.

We talked about how Bobby Fischer ended up in Reykjavik again after his exile in Europe and then to Japan and USA wanted to extradite him. Iceland offered him citizenship and he arrived to Reykjavik in 2005. He died 3 years later. We asked where he is buried and Oli said in a small church near town Selfoss. It was on our way so we went there. Oli had to ask local policemen for exact location and they talked about 5 minutes about Bobby Fischer. We found the small church and his grave at this church.

We took sandwiches for a road since at this time of the year you have to plan your meal stops. At service station, we got smoked lamb, salmon, herring sandwiches. There were also football (soccer) memorabilia and photos and Oli showed us photo of his father who is a head of country’s soccer federation. We also tasted Icelandic pancake (like crepe) and got Icelandic lemonade with Orange flavor (apelsin).

The weather was changing all the time but it was mostly rain and wind. Oli had a four wheel drive with big wide tires. We went to the famous Volcano Eyjofjallajokul site – which erupted in 2010. On average there is a volcanic eruption every five years and lava fields cover about 11% of the island.

Another 11% is covered by glaciers. We visited Eyjofjallajokul site and we also saw a small waterfall. We continued on south coast and came to small town of Vik where we stopped at woolen factory and bought beautiful sweaters of Icelandic design. Then we went to Black beach where it was dramatic view ocean, waves, volcanic mountains coming out of the sea and black sand. It was raining and windy and the rain was mixed with ocean mist, the colors were all gray and ominous but it was something exciting and dramatic in that view. It is cold for swimming even in summer but the view is spectacular. Oli drove to the beach direct and I started to worry when waves kept coming closer but he got us out just fine.

We continued to glacier Myrdaisjokull, parked there and walked to the ice. It was raining but we got as closer we could get. The ice indeed was white and blue color. Loki followed us.

Northern lights.

The Aurora Borealis, also known as Northern Lights, is unique in nature and for those lucky few who can visit Iceland in winter, there is an adventure worth undertaking. The adventure is far from being realized even under the best circumstances. Besides local condition, low ambient light, no moon, little or no cloud cover, low humidity, rain, snow.

There are other conditions: the number of the sunspots, the suns coronal mass ejections. Given perfect condition, and a substantial amount of luck and timing, you may finally witness the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights are the beautiful natural wonder to behold. If this does not give you the expected results, the company has free repeat policy.

Our bus Northern Lights tour was scheduled next day at 9pm but Oli said if the weather will be good, we can watch it from his countryside cottage with coffee and hot tub. However today weather is was bad and we went back to the city. We wanted to eat authentic Icelandic dinner so Oli recommended Sea Baron in the harbor, it was no frills fishermen place, with freshest seafood available, and very basic décor, it is most like lobster harbor shack. They are known for world famous lobster soup. They have display of fish on skewers and you show what you want to be grilled and skewers of vegetables. We had lobster soup which has quite a lot of lobster meat. We also selected salmon, halibut and small potatoes kebabs, and one beer. It cost about $50 for two of us. I considered local delicacy mink whale but was not sure if I like it. The restaurant called us for taxi and we went home. We dried our clothes on the radiator, took a hot shower and went to sleep satisfied with productive day.

Before we went to sleep, we stopped at hotel’s restaurant and completed our progressive dinner with desert: chocolate cake, Apple rhubarb granola cake, ice cream with tea and coffee.

By the way, there are no tips expected in Iceland so there is another plus to paying by credit card and not worry with small bills.

Day 3 touring. Today it was excursion day provided for us in Icelandair package – Gulfoss waterfalls and Geysers. They pick people up at hotel and take them to bus station and the sightseeing bus leaves from gas station. I was concerned about bus tour, but it was not bad. The driver turned out very entertaining, he even sand national anthem. Besides us, there was a young woman from Japan, a woman with two young children from Norway and on the way back we picked up a guy from Taiwan to get them to Reykjavik. I wish we would spend more time there that was my only complaint. First stop was Geysir.
One of the many stories connected with the falls tells about the fight early in the 20th century for their existence, when a foreign enterprise managed to contracted the rights to harness them for electrical production. The spouting hot spring Geysir was claimed to be the biggest one in the world. Its fame spread and other spouting hot springs elsewhere were consequently named Geysir or geyser. The old Geysir has been in retirement for decades, but when it was active its eruptions reached the height of at least 80 m. All around the old Geysir are more spouting hot springs, such as Strokkur, which erupts every 3-5 minutes. The Geysir site has very nice center with museum and interactive exhibits. I especially liked platform where you stand and experience 5.1 Richter scale earthquake shakes. There was a lot’s of information about geological activity but we only had one hour there (more reason to drive yourself or with private guide and go at your own place). We went outside to Geysir site and saw its eruption. Nearby small lagoons had also thermal hot water with different colors.

Our next stop was Gulfoss waterfalls. Gulfoss means “Golden”. It is located on Hvita River. The falls cascade down in two stages. We saw beautiful rainbow near water. There was a photo of waterfalls in winter under snow which was spectacular.

We were driven afterwards through Pingvelir National Park, Unesco Heritage site, it used to be a national parliament of the first settlers, and it is important part of history of the island. The park is also renowned for its geological significance. The area is located on the Mid-Atlantic ridge, where the continents of Europe and America drift apart, causing earthquakes and volcanic activity. Icelanders believe that this is the place where you can stand between the two continental plates.

After that, we went back to hotel. We had a traditional Icelandic dinner at hotel’s restaurant Satt which was unexpected for hotel’s, excellent Icelandic cuisine. We chose 4 course sampling dinner. The appetizer was smoked goose, tartar of the goose and something else from the goose. It was very good. Second course was lobster with sautéed cauliflower and it was excellent. For main course, I had reindeer with small potatoes, chanterelles mushrooms and various sautéed vegetables and fruit, it was superb. Michael had arctic char and pronounced it also very good, similar in texture to sea bass. Desert was chocolate mousse balls and ice cream. It was excellent dinner.

At 8:30pm we were picked up for Northern Lights tour by bus. There were many people for this tour since few other days before it has been cancelled. The tour took 3 hours and they drove us in countryside, then we had stop in the airport for bathroom break. The night was clear and the moon had strange circle around it. However the full moon condition was not conducive for Northern lights. The company said we can be booked for next tour free of charge until we will see it but we did not have much time. Oli however sent us a photo of Northern Light… The guide on Northern Light tour was entertaining though and told us all kind of Nordic sagas...

Day 3 touring.
We finished Northern Lights tour about 2am so next day was hard to wake up for touring. Fortunately it was private touring with Oli today so we texted him to start one hour late. We had buffet breakfast at hotel restaurant. Speaking about breakfasts, they were included, very good but menu did not change daily. There were soft boiled (4 min) eggs, hard boiled eggs, waffles, cold cuts, great local yogurt skyr, cheeses, herring, muesli and very good breads. I wish though they would have that famous Icelandic salmon.

Oli arrived at 10am and said today will take us to Eastern coast for National Park. We stopped again at service station to get sandwiches just in case food will not be available. Loki the dog did not come this day and we were disappointed. Oli took us to countryside to inspect hotel Ranga. It is considered the best resort hotel in the country. First I thought it is in the middle of nowhere but Oli explained it is a great location for taking day tours. It is about 1 hr from Reykjavik. It is built in the style of mountain lodge and has 52 rooms and suites. We’ve met the manager who showed us hotel.
It is 4* hotel but has a quality of 5*. It has impressive guest list including Bette Midler and John Rockefeller. In addition to regular and superior rooms, we also looked at suites which are themed by continents of the world. The rooms have views of the river or volcano. There are hot tubs (no pool). We were told the restaurant is best destination restaurant in Iceland with locals coming for famous Christmas dinner. The suites were spectacular – for example, Africa suite had all decorations direct from Africa and South America from I think Peru, and North America from Canada and Alaska. Antarctica was a presidential suite in black and white colors and Antarctica theme (nothing was brought from there!). The manager was very enthusiastic and eager to please guests. There are one room and suite for handicapped guests but all suites are on second floor so he said if the guests wish to be in the suite, they will carry them. The hotel has 2 floors and they do not want to have elevators.
There is no spa but there are massages available. Probably lack of pool, elevator and official spa prevents hotel from getting 5* rating, but it is best kept secret in Iceland.

The best thing about this hotel and Northern Lights that guests can see them from their rooms! Provided you have the right view room. Otherwise you come to the lobby but it is not like going in a bus for 3 hours at night searching elusive lights. There was a list for wakeup call for Northern Lights viewing so people ask to wake them up. The hotel has connections with local farmers who will alert hotel re: lights if they see them and hotel wakes guests up to watch from their window. That beats bus tour – this is the way to watch it!

As for activities in summer, there is salmon fishing in the backyard river – the fishing licenses need to be obtained month in advance. Nearby are horseback riding facilities on those special Icelandic horses (considered special isolated breed, gentle and enthusiastic). There are trips to Volcanoes, hiking in the mountains and Glacier walks.

I’ve been looking at it and thought there is the place I can spend 4-5 days and last day in Reykjavik before flying home. I’ve been thinking that for people who considering to go for lodges to Alaska from USA it is great alternative since the weather is warmer, only 5.5 hours to get, Nordic culture, excellent food, European exposure, horseback riding, fishing, hiking, glaciers, volcanoes! And after that people can go back home – easy flight 6 hours or continue to Europe for few more hours’ flight. It is indeed incredible undiscovered destination with friendly English speaking people.

We continued to go East to yet another National Park where glacier melt from 2010 Volcano eruption. To get there, you need to drive through lava fields and rivers. Oli made it with his 4 wheel drive wide tires.
Some of you might remember the crisis that was part of the March 2010 Iceland volcano eruption. The volcano eruption caused ash plumes to flow over much of Europe which created massive airlines no-fly zones. This volcano is just one of the many located in the geologically amazing country of Iceland. Iceland is located and was formed a relatively short time ago on the injunction of the North American and European tectonic plates. Today we visited ground zero and the immediate physical changes of that eruption. Located about 1.5 hour east of Reykjavik National Park approachable by a very rough track of land and rivers that’s accessible by a large tired 4x4 vehicle. I would not recommend it to drive on your own. Few river crossing were scary... His vehicle is called a super jeep and the country worked in conjunction with the auto makers to develop the vehicle specifically for the terrain in Iceland.

The track roughly follows an ancient glacier track and is now a constantly changing riverbed. The river is fed by three separate glaciers. The explosion caused a rift in a huge rock which emptied a lagoon which for 10 of thousands years contained 50 feet deep of water and had small icebergs floating into it. The land we walked on has not seen the light of the sun for countless centuries.

The physical ash, small rounded glacially molded rocks and general moonlike craters was beyond belief.

We finished sightseeing by going back to Reykjavik and stopped on the way in a nice lobster restaurant www.fjorubordid.is where we had lobster soup and sautéed lobster for main course. It was excellent. Oli dropped us at the hotel and we bid farewell to him. It was time well spent and our guide was terrific. I will definitely will book him again when I will be back in Iceland.

Back to hotel, tired to bed.

Day 4, our last day in Iceland. Breakfast at hotel and check out by 10:30. We were picked up again by Icelandair flybus and they dropped us at Blue Lagoon for few hours of bathing in thermal waters. It was about 35-40F, and raining which was mixed with sleet, and we were sitting in 80F degree mineral lagoon! It was Unreal. The head was a bit cold though especially with snow/sleet falling but the hat would not work  . We left our luggage in storage area and went to swimming area. There are also buckets with lagoon mud so we like other people, spread on our face to use as a mud mask. There was waterfall area as well and special massage area where people are lying down on water mat and being massaged in water by spa staff. There is also restaurant and gift shop on property. I figured that it is better to leave towel inside and use special door going out swimming to lagoon. I did have out in the cold to take photos and it was chilly in swimsuit! Again, incredible activity. I love to use hot springs whenever I had a chance but this was very special.

Afterwards, we showered, dressed up and went back to luggage area and boarded flybus to airport. We checked in flew back home.

Conclusion.
We loved this small country, at perfect location between USA and in Europe. Great food, little crime. We have not seen any homeless people or beggars. It is very clean. Food is good. People speak English. Credit cards accepted. European Scandinavian feel and great scenery and it is close to USA. Icelandair offers stopover packages on the way to Europe with reasonable priced air; therefore you might consider taking advantage it.

It is quite expensive but very much comparable with other European countries and NYC. It is understandably expensive since most goods and food is brought from other countries into Iceland. The local vegetables are only tomatoes, potatoes and cucumbers. All fruit is imported.

People

Although not that open as for example Italians, nevertheless people are helpful, courteous, and very friendly. The country been somewhat isolated politically from the rest of the Europe. There are discussions in parliament to become members of European Union but there is also an opposition from Nationalists stay separately. They are members of NATO but it is only one member without standing army. In Iceland, army duty is performed Icelandic Coast guard and special sources units for disasters, international peacekeeping and helping. In the airport, customs officers have police badges. During the war, Iceland benefited because occupation forces (British and American) stayed there, built bases, airport and bought local food and services. However, even though Iceland was an ally in WWII but they refused to declare war on Germany since it is against country’s policy. Ironically, 60 years later, they participated in war in Iraq to keep good relationship with USA but US military base left anyway. The people are in tough financial situation after 2009 bank crash and do not like government restrictions, for example they cannot invest abroad and when they travel only allowed taking 200 eur abroad.

Would I come again?

Definitely it is on my list. Maybe on stopover to Europe. Some things I would do different – stay at hotel Ranga or other locations in the country and make a circuit, and finish in Reykjavik for last one or two nights. It is a small city and while is very pretty, the rest of the country is worth spending time there exploring and not coming back to city every night.

Cologne 2011 GTM

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Sun, 22 May 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Cologne-Bonn. May 7-11, GTM (German Travel Mart) - this section would be more of interest to travel trade ....

May 7, 2011. We arrived Cologne.

Spa fam trip is over, and we are back to reality - travel mart starts tomorrow.

In Cologne our group split since different nationalities were booked by their country's tourist offices at different hotels. Chinese delegations stayed at Renaissance, Scandinavians at Radisson SAs (of course!), Russians at Le Meriden, Americans in Marriott and Europeans spread out in different hotels. Asians and Australians were at 4* hotel near Convention center.
Marriott was populated with Americans, Canadians and Israelis.

We arrived Marriott and checked in. My room was adequate but comfortable. Comparing to other Marriott's this hotel feels lower than 5*. It has tired interior, scratched walls. Unpleasant surprise is when you enter the main revolving door, there are few steps stairs! Hard to lag suitcases. Service wise, not too many doormen available at the door. Room did not have robe. So I would rate it 4* as opposed 5*. Anyway I am here to work. 12.50 euro per day internet! One of the delegates told me she got internet stick for 17 euro for a month. Probably will be my next choice in Europe.

I refreshed, and with my newfound friend Cindy from USA whom I met on fam trip, we went to explore Cologne. The positive thing about Marriott is it's location. 3 minutes walk to train station. Unlike other cities, train station is right in the center by famous Dom- Cathedral. You walk to the train station, then walk through it and you are at the Cathedral where you find stores, pedestrian shopping district, museum and river promenade. Great location. That also mades easier if you travel by train - you do not need cab ride. For people looking more upscale 5* hotel, I recommend Excelsior, traditional hotel, also few minutes from Dom and train station.
I walked at pedestiran district, did some small shopping, got delicious pretzels at the bakery and had meal from the bakery in my room. I got internet for 12 euro for 24 hours and caught up on my work since I knew next few days will be hectic. It was a long day so I went to bed early.

May 8. Had some time until 10:30 bus transfer to the convention center so I decided to sleep more. Big mistake - when I came to the breakfast, it was a zoo. Hard to find table for buffet and looks like they were finishing breakfast. After breakfast I went to the bus and we were off for a short ride to the Koln-Messe convention center. The manager of US delegation announced that the fam trips are over (other group explored food and wine), so no more spa treatments, food, wine tasting, back to reality!

Prior to convention, GTM came up with social media networking system so you find contacts and network with them and make appointments for travel professionals. I am not sure what function journalists had, since they had more sightseeing, interviews and press conferences. We were supposed to make minimum 10 appointments, I made more. It was great idea to communicate to people through network before decide to make appointment or not. In other trade shows, you just look at suppliers and make an appointment, here you can network in advance. If you set your profile with right keywords, suppliers will find you. For example, I asked for a question how to get to Munich ghotel from airport and received many suggestion from different contact and even one supplier, vounteered to pick me up! Thank you Michael!!! However the glitch of the system is appointment setup process. The system does not search available time for both parties, you select time and send request to supplier, then they reply if they accept or decline. Since there is no way to see there available time, it was going back and forth for each appointment especially at the end and who has time for that? As result, many people have double and triple booked and many of my appointments were overlayed including my first one.

First day were opening session and seminars. I've seen my fam trip companions but now the delegates were congregating by their country. We listened to presentation from Lufthanza and Deutsche Bahn. It reminded me to offer more to clients rail pass with flexible travel. German ICE trains are very comfortable speed trains, equivalent to French TGV. It is relaxing and convenient way to go to Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, and of course neigboring Austria and Switzerland.

Then there was presentation about Health and Wellness tourism segment. By that time I already had an idea after fam trip about German spas. It is very popular European destination for spas, why not offer this to Americans? The speaker was talking about different aspects medical tourism, but the one I remembered is that they provide quality medical care at fraction of cost in USA. Also, they provide (according to the speaker) better quality, quicker access for plastic surgery, eye care. Of course Germany and other European countries insurances cover this expenses but not from USA. In addition to treatment unlike in USA, the treatment in Germany is combined with rehabilitation and 4* resorts, excersize, nutrition, organic food etc..

After lunch break, there was presentation for student hostel travel. We tried to skip this session, I do not sell student travel and hostels, but we decided to stay. Our manager said he could not talk us out of this session. We were grateful that he got us out of next presentation for one hour: panel discussion on BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China). We were excused from that one - nothing of interest for Americans! Instead, he booked us for a walking tour of Cologne.

We went back to hotel, refreshed and met in the lobby for walking tour.

Cologne Tour and Jewish Heritage.

The tour was for Canadians and Americans. The guide took us for 1.5 hour tour of Cathedral and old town and gave me some interesting facts about Jewish community in Cologne area. We also visited Rathaus and there is Roman excavations next to the old city walls.

This archeological site will be the site of Jewish museum. It is pending now due to the lack of funds. It is admirable to show the world that this German Catholic city, with its famous Cathedral, claims to be the oldest home of Jewish community North of Alps, dating back to at least 321BC.

He also told me that Cologne Jewish community was active at Medieval Cologne's due to strategic location on the river Rhine at the crossing of trade routes which brought it prosperity. Its Jewish community thrived until pogroms and explusions in the 14th and 15th centuries but perished at Holocaust, Now it is about 5,000-strong Jewish community, it tripled in the last 15 years, mainly due to immigrants from the former Soviet Union who account for most of the country's 105,000 registered Jews. Part of the resurgence is due to former German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl who invited Jews from the former Soviet Union to settle in Germany to help revitalize the Jewish community. With neo-Nazi crime on the rise, police guard synagogues round the clock and the community is haunted by the memory of the Holocaust in which Nazis killed about 6 million Jews. Although not on the scale of Berlin's Jewish museum which opened to great fanfare in 2001, locals say the historical connection will give Cologne's museum special appeal.

We finished our walk at the Brauhaus where we had presentation from the owner with a snack of sandwiches, beer and sausages. Then we walked by the river, enjoying good weather and people watching in the park by the river. Back to hotel, we had some time to change for grand opening reception at the Cathedral itself!

We gathered at reception at hotel prior to going to cathedral. I had chance to meet Israeli colleague to have chance to network. Israeli had big delegation about 17 people - it is a lot for such a small country. Germany is a big destination for Israelis and Russians, I found out.
We walked to the cathedral. I never dreamed that I will be part of the reception by town officials at famous cathedral! It was very special. At Dom's square, they had group of local youth dance orchestras standing by. We walked inside Cathedral and the opening ceremony started. We were greeted by mayor of Cologne and tourist office officials. There was a minute of silence to remember victims of Japanese tsunami. Afterwards the Cathedral architect gave a speech regarding cathedral, and its construction statistics and facts. At the end organ played. It was beautiful. Afterwards we all walked through the old town (they closed the traffic!) to the venue where dinner being held . Dinner was buffet, delicious choices in the beautiful setup. The music band thankfully was not loud :-) . We did not want to walk and three of us caught taxi earlier to beat the traffic to the hotel. Next morning was busy day at trade show. The work started...

May 8, Cologne-Bonn

I ordered wake up call at 6am to avoid late breakfast fiasco. We gravitated to same single tables, yet being close to each other so it made nice conversation with newly found collegaues. Marriott elevators turned out to be very slow, always staying in lines. Definitely not 5* standard. It keeps bugging me since I am kind of lost on German classification system. Some 5* hotels did not look like 5* hotels and some 4* hotels we look like 5* hotels. I asked and was told that due to corporate travel and also very large share of medical tourism, health insurances only cover stay at 4* hotel so many hotels lower their qualifications, same with corporate travel. Go figure. So it helps to have local suppliers to guide us through this maze.

Arrived trade show and started my route for apponitments. Since everything was in the computer and you just print your schedule, I had to find internet for my laptop and checked my schedule. I was indeed triple booked my first supplier, so it gave me chance to acclimate to the trade show and get oriented.

Lunch was served in the convention center, just outside of trade floor, very nice buffet with salads, variety of salads and hot foods and desserts.

To my pleasant surprise, I was impressed that after networking and finding what my niche is (FIT's and private tours for Jewish Heritage itineraries), many tour operators and tourist boards prepared programs just for me!

New Interesting Products and ideas.

I reconnected with my suppliers who already were working on my client's requests.

I found some new interesting products, for example:

Fairy tale route - it is 650 km from Frankfurt to Hamburg, following on steps by brothers Grimm. Most people traveled and know Romantic Road, but Fairy tale route is the oldest and most popular scenice route in Germany . Diversified romantic villages with typical half-timbered houses, castles, ruins and monuments, fairy tales and legends are becoming alive. The German Fairy - tale route was founded in the historic city of the Brothers Grimm Steinau. The route is worth a detour if you travel this area with children, fairy tales are resurected on the way. There are open air theaters, puppet shows and festivals. The tourists will be greeted by fairy-tale characters (Mother Goose, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel), or we can create package deals to experience fairy tales for the young and old. Did I stir your imagination? If yes, contact us for this delightful tour for the whole family.

I've had a meeting with a representative from Israel who works in Berlin and can arrange for us kosher meals for my clients at Crowne Plaza hotel.

There is a small town Erding not far from Munich airport which has mineral springs. Nice to relax before flying home if you already toured Munich. For kosher travelers, we have connections to provide kosher food there.

I've met representatives from tourist board of Nuremberg, Furth, Bremenhofen and Erfurt, who prepared itineraries with inclusion of Jewish interest sightseeing.

I've met with specialists who design and run their wine tours

Tours In the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI

Music tours - in the footsteps of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Sebastian Bach

WWII interest tours (the fall of Berlin wall) and unification of Germany

Christmas markets

Evening was another reception at Bonn (former parlament ) with music and entertainment.

May 9-10
I finished trade show to see people who were not at my appointment list. After trade show, we had brief bus tour of the Bonn. Afterwards were came to hotel and I ran to change to be on time for our final dinner and inspection of Maritime hotel. The hotel was very nice, 4* with a lot's of lights, atrium inside, and very nice appointed rooms. Honestly, it looked better than Marriott. We had nice dinner and finished with desert in lovely restaurant. We toasted our host at hotel and our completion of this very busy but productive event .

Next day I had breakfast, checked out from hotel, walked to the train station and boarded train to Frankfurt airport. The train was ICE high speed, "quiet car" and a pleasure to ride. Beats inter-european flights. It arrived into Frankfurt airport (pay attention since final destination was Munich!) and there was internal connection to the terminal with luggage check-in. After that, it was uneventful flight back home.
This concluded my exploration of Germany.

For more information or book your trip to Germany, travel agents, please contact us at 877-466-2934, info@jewishtravelagency.com

Final thoughts and Jewish Heritage itineraries.

Bremerhaven and its emigration museum. My researchers in Germany used this museum to track people left Germany for Ellis Island. Susan Reinitz, the museum representative showed interesting project they developed for Heritage research. They have extensive database for tracing emigrants. This museum has been honored with "The European museum of the year 2007" and is planning to cooperate with Jewish museum in Berlin offering joint exhibitions and ticket combination cards. Visitors to the Emigration center in Bremerhaven gain and compelling insight into emigrant's lives and their life stories. This is a great resource and highly recommended for Jewish visitors to find out about their family heritage.

In the area there is town Bremen where is also had Jewish community dated to 19c and counted 1300 Jews. In 1933, Kristallnacht was particularly cruel there, with 5 people killed and Jewish men deported to Sachenhausen concentration camp and synagogue destroyed. A new Bremen Jewish comunity was founded after the war and synagogue was opened in 1961.

In Celle (pronounced Tselle), a town in in Lower Saxony, the synagogue circa 1740, was damaged in 1938 and reclaimed in 1945 by Hassidic survivors of the nearby concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. It is considered one of the oldest synagogues and has been restored in 1974 and also houses museum.

In Chemnitz, Jews lived from 1308. There was Grand Romanesque synagogue from 1899. As in other towns, the population 3,500 Jews, suffered at Kristallnacht . Synagogue was burned and Jews either been deported or fled. After the war, only 45 Jewish survivors left. After the war, when West Germany admitted holocaust however, Eastern Germany denied all responsiblity. Chemnitz has been under Soviet rule in Eastern Germany and was renamed as Karl Marx Stadt (not sure why since Karl Marx was born in Trier). In 1999, there were only 17 Jews left. Finally, the city recognized contribution of Jews under mayor Peter Seifert, and made an effort to ask forgiveness, instituted days of Jewish culture and invited Jews from former Soviet Union to come and live there. The invitation to Soviet Jews began as an act of redemption by East Germany's first democratically elected government after the fall of the Wall in 1989 it was incorporated into the reunification agreement between the divided Germanys. Each year since 1991, at least 5,000 Jews and accompanying family members from the former Soviet Union have received visas.
And for non-Jewish Germans, the renewal of communities can feel like a form of atonement. "It is not the task of the Jewish community to build a synagogue," said a member of a committee supporting the new Chemnitz synagogue. The $4.5 million building is being paid for by the city, the state of Saxony and $250,000 in local contributions. "Germans destroyed the synagogue and Germans should rebuild one. We cannot bring back one life, but we can do this." The synagogue was completed in 2002 and now it is served to new revived Jewish community.
Every year in March the Days of Jewish Culture come alive with a program that is a highlight in the Chemnitz event calendar which showcases Jewish art, everyday culture and life style.

Then I've met with representatives of town Erfurt, who told me a story of Old Erfurt synagogue. The original synagogue building dates to 13C but it was destroyed in middle ages in Black Plague massacre and Jews were expelled . The building was served for other purposes therefore centuries later it was not recognized by Nazis as synagogue and it was overlooked and was not destroyed. It was purchased after the war and rebuilt and now serves as a museum of the culture and history of Jewish community. For more information, see http://alte-synagoge.erfurt.de/jle/en/oldsynagogue/

I already wrote articles on Jewish Franconia http://www.jewishtravelagency.com/JewishTravel/JewishFranconia.htm
So I was happy to brainstorm new ideas with Nuremberg and Furth tourst board representatives. For travelers departing on a cruise from Nuremberg, it will be a good pre-cruise exploration.

And of course there are vibrant Jewish communities in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and many other cities. areas. Of course they have issues since the Jews came from former Soviet Union and they are different from German Jews of Pre-WWII . There are still issue in assimilation and culture. I offer no opinion on but here are some links - food for thought.

http://www.economist.com/node/10424406?story_id=10424406
http://www.goethe.de/ges/phi/dos/jul/en1418155.htm
http://www.jcpa.org/cjc/jl-368-mittleman.htm
But I am happy to report that it is a good time for Jewish travelers to go to Germany. There are a lot's of Russian and Israelis going there, so why not us?

Disclaimer: this report presents just an opinion of individuals who's been there.... Tastes Differ...
Copyrights Sophia's Travel, Emco Travel, LLC..

Contact us for more information info@jewishtravelagency.com

Oberstaufen-Baden Baden- Wiesbaden May 2011

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Sun, 22 May 2011 16:48:00 +0000

May 5, 2011, Oberstaufen

We had breakfast at hotel and checked out. We left for 2 hr ride to Bavaria - small town Oberstaufen. We checked into hotel 5* Algau Sonne. Oberstaufen is located in Bavarian Alps, about 1 hr from Neuschwanstein Castle and 30 mins from Lake Constance. Nice beautiful countryside and fresh Alpine air. No wonder it is a popular location for spas and clinics and many Germans come here for cure.
On arrival, we were met by tourism board officials and went for lunch. We visited a small cheese shop where the owner showed us homemade cheeses and liquors and other delicious items. Lunch was buffet in a small restaurant, the owner was explaining dishes however not all was clear and then turned out it was a pig lard spread! Our vegetarians were not happy. Food was kind of heavy. German breads were delicious.

We walked in the town, it was pretty. We looked at some hotel which is brand new and has converted apartments, they were beautifully designed.

Afterwards we walked to our hotel and had presentation on Schrott cure program. It was developed by a doctor Schrott (you guessed) about 100 years ago who developed naturopathic treatment for different disorders and well-being. There are no natural springs in the area but there is fresh alpine air, so there are conducted combination of diet and exercise under medical supervision. The hotel has a beautiful spa with massages, pool, sauna and steam room. There are many walking trails in the forest and in the city.
However I am not sure how it fit Americans traveling in Europe since the treatment takes 21 day. It alternates dry and liquid diet, heavy on crabs. Most German insurances subsidize such treatments but ours do not. Hotel was in nice environment but did not have facilities of 5* as rated. There were no porters to help with bags. My room had only one twin bed, usually even for single person the beds are at least double size. The bath lacked shampoo and when I asked at front, desk, they gave me body soap bottle. They assured me it is OK to wash hair but I did not try. The restaurant served very nice dinner. So it is while it is advertised as 5* hotel, it is most likely very solid 4*.

In general, the area is very nice to drive around and it is popular year round. There are summer activities like toboggan, swimming pools (indoor/outdoor), golf, hiking, walking in the forest, skiing in the winter.

May 6, 2011, Baden Baden
Next morning, we had breakfast and left Oberstaufen for Baden Baden. It was long drive, 4 hrs. We finally arrived to Baden Baden and were met by representatives of their tourist board.
We checked in into our 5* hotel Dorint Maison Messmer hotel. It is nice historic hotel, next to casino. After checking in, we gathered together with hotel representatives for lunch at their restaurant. The lunch was delicious, however at this point I was already saturated with beef and potatoes :-) .

After lunch we met our guide and went for a walking tour of Baden Baden. This town proved to be delightful. It is located in the hills of Black Forrest, a lot's of greenery, beautiful parks, alleys. Casino was modeled after Versailles Palace, very beautiful. The town looked stylish and elegant, with tourist of all ages - young, older and families were abound - for those who cherish life pleasures and wish to recharge their batteries. We passed through beautiful parks and our guide pointed at museums. Museum Frieder Burda was built by NY architect Richard Meier and it looked fascinating from architectural point of view. We did not have time to visit but it has important masterpieces of Classical Modernism. There is also State Art gallery for modern contemporary art and City museum. Also we saw new museum donated by some private collector of Faberge eggs.

In the picturesque streets of Baden-Baden of the neo-baroque old town, there is world class shopping for those interested in brand names, individual antiques and jewelry.

Germany oldest and according to Marlene Dietrich, "the most beautiful casino in the world" is the perfect place to finish relaxing spa day.
Spas.... This is the town is famous for.. The two thermal baths, the modern Caracalla Spa and the historic Roman-Irish Friedrichbad plus many spa hotels, beckon travelers with various spa treatments.

For more than 350 years, the parks and Garden "Lichtentaller Allee" it was famous landmark of the town. It was beautiful with gardens, flowers, chestnut trees, fountains, together with belle époque monuments was absolutely fascinating. I think it can be compared with Monte Carlo but less pompous, and with Karlovy Vary but more upscale with international clientele.

I wish to come back and spend a week there. I want to go to Concert hall Festpielhaus. Looking at 2011 schedule, they will have performances of famous artists, The Hamburg Ballet, Juan Diego Florez, The Orpheus Chamber of New York and Mariinsky Ballet of St. Petersburg.
In winter there are Christmas markets. It's convenient location makes it easy to get from many European gateways, It is 1.5 train connection by train from Frankfurt. It is very close to French border, you can reach by car just under 1 hour. Small Baden airport has low cost flights from other destinations.

After walk, we went to the spa. We all prebooked treatments in advance, with a choice of Caracalla or Frederichsbad spa and it took about 3 hours. I chose Frederichsbad since it offers traditional Roman-Irish treatment with 17 different steps. It was a bliss. After spa, I returned to hotel for dinner. Dinner was at casino restaurant with view of the garden alleys and it was very relaxing. There was a choice of fish but the waiter could not translate it, turned out it was salmon. Anyway the chicken was good and so was desert. After dinner we walked to the casino where casino director talked to us about it and explained few games. The clientele was well dressed and international and I noticed many Russians. Also many signs in town are in Russian so it is seen to be catering to this new market.

It was long but interesting day. The hotel was very comfortable so I rate it number one - best 5* hotel on this fam trip.

May 7, 2011, Wiesbaden

After breakfast, we left Baden Baden for last leg to Cologne. Half way we stopped at Wiesbaden and were met by Wiesbaden tourist representatives. This was another surprise town.
Our enthusiastic guide tried to show us in one hour the beauty of this town so we can spread the word. And it was not hard for her to succeed. This pleasant city is often called "Nice of the North", gateway to the Reinghau region. The city has a spa reputation due to the hot springs. It has also interesting history. It is dating back to Roman times when it was called Aque Matiacorum. In 19th century, Wiesbaden became a popular gambling center. was impressed by architecture of Wilhelmian era, beautiful parks and gardens. The center of the city and main landmarks are casino, opera theater, town hall and neo-gothic Market church. We did not have time to see but the guide told us there is Baroque Palace on the Rhine and a Russian church.

It has interesting museums - laughter museum, Womens museum, Wiesbaden museum, Natural history and also looks like interesting interactive museum www.schlossfreudenberg.de

This will be definetely on my list next time when I will fly to Frankfurt. It takes the same time to get from Frankfurt airport to Wiesbaden as to the Frankfurt center. So if you already been in Frankfurt and want to get away from it's hustle and bustle, it is a perfect place to spend few days.

Interesting fact about casino and relation to famous russian writer Fedor Dostoevsky. We were shown a bust of the writer in the park near casino. The guide told us that indeed, Dostoevsky spent time here and since he was compulsive gambler, he lost a fortune. He asked money from his wife from Russia, she sent some but then stopped. Therefore the writer left owning money to the casino and they tried to collect for some time. Of course when he became famous, they forgave debt :-) .

In 1990 the former Russian president Michail Gorbachev came to Wiesbaden. A Russian journalist who accompanied Gorbachev talked to the Russian painter and sculptor Gabriel Glikam about the relation between Wiesbaden and Dostoevsky. Glikam decided to give the bust of Dostoevsky as a present the Casino Wiesbaden to its 225th anniversary. Since 1996 the bust of Dostoevsky is located in the Kurpark. The writer Dostoevsky described his personal experience in novel "The Gambler", after all, he lost his fortune while staying at a spa in Wiesbaden in 1865.

We visited beautiful casino and walked to the hotel Nassauerhof for inspection and lunch. It is a beautiful luxury hotel in the center. The draw of this hotel is a spa which has a mineral spring on site. It is an elegant classic hotel, member of the Leading Hotels of the World, in perfect location near casino in the center. For it's spa, hotel was awarded the SENSES award as the best city resort in 2011. We visited spa (products by Estee Lauder), with its thermal pool, fitness center and solarium with pool. It had beautiful views of the city and it is only hotel in Wiesbaden with its own thermal pool. Higlhy recommended for a special vacation.

Lunch was delicious. We were reluctant to leave but it was time to go to Cologne for our next 4 days of work, back to the reality. ... Next. Cologne.

Munich May 2011

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Sun, 22 May 2011 16:17:00 +0000

May, 2011. I am attending German Travel Mart - trade show for travel trade.
Glad to be back in Germany!

First part of the trip is fam with theme Health and Wellness. We are group of 25 international Travel Trade professionals and journalists . First night and arrival is Munich and we are staying in Munich Westin Grand in Arabella Park. A little bit off center, nonetherless is really nice "grand hotel". Very comfortable, and restaurants look nice. Lobby is busy with groups - Emirates airlines personnel, some Chinese groups, otherwise business travelers.

Checked in and had few hours to rest until we meet in the lobby for a walking tour of Munich.
We met in the lobby with representatives of Munich tourist board and our group escorts and went to the center by subway . We got out on Oden Platz and passed through Residenz Palace. There was the border of Munich's beautiful park which spreads 6 miles and larger than central park in NY. We walked through the city, enjoying nice weather, beautiful designer stores, and variety of delicious food at the market. I grabbed pretsel and croissant to eat since I did not eat anything since morning breakfast on the plane. The breads were delicious... Pretzel is like ours but tastes better, crisp, fresh.

We stopped at famous Hofbrau Haus brewery. Last time I was there with George. I think I handled it OK. We did not have beer now, but stopped there.

The guide showed us the beer cups which locals keep there under locker. We went to hotel Bayrescher Hof for inspection and had a drink on a terrace with beautiful view. Very nice hotel ,mix of traditional and contemporary design, with 1 Michelin star avangarde restaurant Atelier, designed by Belgian designer Axel Vervoordt. Great central location. Beautiful views from the terrace.

We took subway back to hotel, inspected Westin spa and rooms. Some rooms in Westinare with Bavarian design - beautiful wood instead of regular Westin decorations. We finished day at Bavarian restaurant dinner.

There was accordion player at restaurant who was kind of loud so it was hard to carry conversation. We had an interesting company. Out of 25 people besides our German hosts, we had people from USA, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, Russia, Spain, Italy, China, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden, Denmark, France, India, South Korea. So it made very interesting discussions especially after Hofbrauhaus, locals keep their beer cups in the lockersfew rounds of beer!

While dinner cuisine was Bavarian, the menu included nice shrimp and avocado salad, grilled turkey with leeks and tomato coulis, and desert was cottage cheese and mainated fruit! Everything was delicious but service was very slow. Fighting jet lag, after dinner, I went to the room and tried to write blog, but fell asleep.

Next morning, we had breakfast at hotel. Westin is great hotel. The "heavenly bed" was just as it promised - heavenly. I slept soundly all night. But internet is 16 euro for 24 hours! Good towels and toiletires. Attentive staff.

Rushed to the breakfast. The selection was huge, very good breads , cold cuts and cheeses. Fortified with food, we went to the bus for our second destination - spa town Oberstaufen. It took about 2 hrs on a highway. The scenery became more rural with beautiful views of Bavarian Alps. ... Next... Oberstaufen

Japan Feb 2011

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:32:00 +0000

Trip Report Tokyo.

In February 2011, I went to Japan for Japan Luxury Travel forum. This is a networking event for overseas buyers and the press invited by Japanese government. It is organized by Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Travel Industry. From their website, www.jltf.net, they are trying to promote Japan travel. As they say,
" There are countless exquisite "Japan" contents found throughout the country, such as crafts with a long-established tradition, performing arts, culture, gastronomy, advanced environmental technology, modern arts, architecture, and many more. To increase awareness and familiarity with Japan as a destination for international affluent travelers".

February 14.

JLTF organizers booked me on CO flight from Tampa through Houston to Tokyo. I liked Houston airport since connection are very well thought over. I arrived terminal gate 7 and next flight to Tokyo was on gate 7 in CO terminal. I had small breakfast and spend next 2 hrs in Continental president club. I selected a isle seat which now CO selling for $179! Good thing my AMEX covers incidentals for airlines expenses. It was worth it, though. Lots of space to get up and stretch and no seats in front of you. Long flight 16 hrs. Food was OK. Japanese dinner, then followed by cheeseburger snack :-) . Unlike other airlines in international flights, Continental does not offer wine. Arrival was on time and Tokyo airport is well organized. I remember a nightmare 2 years ago when it was swine flu and the health officials made to sit us on the plane 1 hr before they allowed us to exit plane. This time it was a breeze.

After checking through passport control, got my luggage quickly and the driver was waiting for me with the sign. Like Japanese taxis, the car had white lace covers and driver was in white gloves. I was probably alone from the group on this flight. It took 1 hour to get to hotel so I slept in the car too. The weather was mix of rain and snow sleet.

Okura hotel is very nice, www.hotelokura.co.jp . It is member of Leading hotels of the world. Japanese decor. Very nice functional room, Toto toilets with washing equipment - standard in hotel.

I had a voucher for dinner at hotel restaurant so I went to Terrace restaurant and had light meal - chicken rice with omelet on top and melted cheese and corn soup.

Back to room, prepared for tomorrow day of touring and meeting group and organizers.

I looked at the group list and welcome package which was waiting for me in my room. The group demographic was quite interesting. I was under impressions they wanted to showcase Japan to Americans but I am pleasantly surprised when I saw the list of 15 travel professionals and 5 journalists, it was international. The official language of the conference is English.
The group list showed: 2 people from Russia, 3 from France, 3 from USA, 1 from Canada, 1 from Taiwan, 1 from China (interesting that they separated markets from China and Taiwan), 1 from Spain, 2 from Singapore, 1 from South Korea, 1 from India, 1 from Indonesia, 3 from Australia.

I looked forward meeting everyone tomorrow, I anticipated a good networking opportunities as well.

February 15.

Next morning, I went for breakfast for Cafe Camelia. Okura hotel has 3 restaurants which are serving breakfast: Camelia, Terrace and Japanese Yumazato. Since I had dinner yesterday at Terrace, I decided to try another restaurant Camelia in South Wing. It took a while to get there but in all lobbies there are plenty of young women in kimono directing you to right place. The buffet was international. I love to sample different foods so I had a mix or Japanese and Western cuisine. Some interesting food included poached egg in light sauce custard, Burdock salad (I do not know what burdock is but it tasted like crunchy horseradish). I also tried gnocchi with mushrooms in tomato sauce, miso soup with tamiko small mushrooms. The fruit table included interesting item - apple tea. It is not like apple tea in Turkey which tastes like cider, this one is steeped apple compote and very strong taste but very good. It is being drank in small cups like espresso. It did not look like it had caffeine though. It also had pieces of apple in it. That became my favorite drink for the week. There was also poached fruit in syrup and delicious light pastries. Great Variety. Hotel supplied newspaper so I had something to browse with breakfast.
I lingered enough until I needed to go to lobby to meet my group. We made introductions and the guide directed us to the bus. We were supposed to leave at 10am but were delayed for another 15 minutes.

Very unusual for Japan. Finally two guys rushed into the bus and they looked at our unfriendly places and apologized: "Sorry, we are French". Interesting introduction. We were finally on the way to the center to start our sightseeing and our guide Sue told us about the country, politics, city and customs. We learned about life in Tokyo. I've seen in my previous visit Shinjuki - the busiest station which handles 3M people per day and they employ "pushers" to pack people in the cars. What I did not know, Sue explained that people were packed as sardines and they caused sexual harassment of women so government came up with cars which are only for women so they can commute in peace. Very clever.

We've learned few Japanese phrases: "Domo" - thank you. This is in addition to "Arigato" which I knew before, but there is also "Arigato Vazaymos" - thank you very much!
We've learned how to buy and most important, to keep distance so you will not bump into somebody forehead. Small bow for regular greeting, lower bow for superiors in the office or parents, 90 degrees bow to emperor (whom we did not plan to see), or, also, Sue told us - for men who come home guilty to their wife's or girlfriends but in this case, they are supposed to complement bow with small gift. Japanese people prefer small expensive things. We also learned that Kyoto was old capital until 1868 and after that Tokyo became new capital and this is what it means in writing - "New Capital".
Religion in Japan is both Buddhism and Shinto. Shinto is the faith of Japanese people and is very old . Shinto does not have a founder nor does it have sacred scriptures like the sutras or the bible. Propaganda and preaching are not common either, because Shinto is deeply rooted in the Japanese people and traditions. "Shinto gods" are called kaki. They are sacred spirits which take the form of things and concepts important to life, such as wind, rain, mountains, trees, rivers and fertility. Humans become kaki after they die and are revered by their families as ancestral kaki. The kaki of extraordinary people are even enshrined at some shrines. The Sun Goddess Amateurish is considered Shinto's most important kaki.
As for Buddhism, people are get incarnated. I would want to believe in Buddhism because it will be easier to die. If you've been good in your life, in next life you will become someone better (a bird, etc). But if you did not lead a good life, you might become an awful creature, for example, cockroach. So people try to lead righteous life.
We passed a Sky Tree, which is a tall tower is being constructed. It is Japanese answer to Eiffel Tower. It is the tallest building in Tokyo and when it will be completed in 2013, it will be 634m or 2080 ft. It will be the tallest building in the world.
We also admired Japanese toilets which have warm seats and wash your bottom, also provide music or other noise and deodorization. It is the great invention in the world, and now are being available in USA under Toto brand. Sue told us however that before it was not possible to use Toto in USA because our water is hard and it clogged pipes but right now with new technology, it is working. I personally know someone in USA who bought Toto toilet.
Anyway, we approached to our first destination which was a Cut Glass Studio /www.hanashyo.com/ which uses unique technique to produce beautifully designed glassware. It reminded me Bohemian glass in Prague. There also was show room with items for sale but they were expensive. I seem to be having problems with converting JPY into USD and I was making mistake with one zero. I thought that small cup was $5 but it was $50! So I passed on that. We walked afterwards to our bus. It was nice residential neighborhood with park and dogwood trees, shrines and small alleys. Everything was very clean. Dogwood trees, we were told, were gift from USA and Japan gave to USA instead Cherry trees. Both trees blossom in April so it is a good time to visit both Washington and Japan .
Next stop was to drive to theater for Geisha performance. Usually Geishas perform in the evening but JLTF tour organizers arranged special meeting with them. Before we got there, Su explained to us about Geishas. I've read "Memoirs of Geisha" before and actually am thinking about to create a tour following the steps of heroine of that book in Kyoto. Unlike what people think about them in USA, Geisha is not courtesan but musician, female artist and performer. They were specific heavy makeup, play shamisen (national musical instrument) . Geishas cannot be married and can be any age. Geisha's apprentice called Maiko.
So we arrive to the theater and we were taken to the theater and met geishas. They performed a song for us. One was a player and 3 others danced. They use a lot's of signed language but the song mostly means love. Here is the video.
After performance, we were shown the game which involved to tap the object in music rhythm. Few of us including myself, went to the stage and played game. Then we asked questions and geishas answered about their work. It was very interesting. Afterwards we were scheduled to Asakusa - traditional center of Tokyo on rickshaws and geishas went with us. We paired 2 people in each rickshaw and went. In Asakusa, we saw temples and shrines and stroll through main street. Obviously, geishas never walk during the day in public, because it created a lot's of interested to our little group and many tourist and Japanese tried to take pictures of "Our geishas" we felt very possessive of them. We did take great pictures though with geishas. Afterwards, Su said that Geishas need to leave and our budget is only to have geishas for few hours and we reluctantly bid geishas goodbye. It was great activity.
Next, we went for lunch in to Omotesando-Uka-tej restaurant http://www.omotesando-ukaitei.jp/ which is one Michelin star restaurant.
As for Japanese food, unlike most Americans think, sushi is not the main food in Japan. Probably because it is too expensive. Japanese eat a lot's of fish and seafood, noodles, and not too much meat. In ancient times, Buddhism prohibited to eat 4 legged animals, but in modern times, Japanese introduced beef to their diet. Their steaks are not thick as ours (and smaller, but again, any steak would be smaller than American steak). They also like to eat it sweetened so most steak are thin and cooked with some teriyaki or soy sauce. Sukiyaki is simmered beef in soy sauce cooked on the pot on the table with vegetables and noodles. Shabu-Shabu is also beef thinly sliced and cooked in the broth like fondue. Shabu-Shabu means swish-swish in Japanese which represent noise of cooking. The beef is specially bred, expensive and called Kobe beef. But they eat very little of meat.
Japanese have very healthy diet and generally enjoy long life , average men live 80 years and women 85. They eat a lot's of soybean in their diet (tofu, desserts), soy milk. It has some ingredient which is healthy and prevents osteoporosis.
The restaurant was beautiful and lunch was delicious. It was set tenderloin lunch menu and started with appetizers (shrimps and in salad). Then it was roasted bamboo. Like our artichokes, the top was chewy and not edible but the bottom stalk was delicious. We were told that each portion of bamboo increases life for 75 days :-) . Then it followed with Shellfish Cream soup which only had a delicate hint of seafood. The beef (something like filegh mignon small steaks) were seared on the table top which we call hibachi (no fires, throwing shrimp in patrons mouth, etc ). Then he seared potatoes and served everybody according to the degree of cooking. I love my beef rare.
Desert was well prepared but nothing unusual, more like angel food cake with cream and strawberries. But it was delicious. Since we had journalists in our group, many were taking photos of the food and writing descriptions. One Australian lady did not eat desserts so I became her friend :-) .
After lunch, we met another guide who was an architect and professor of university to talk to us about modern architecture. He explained the neighborhood which is considered Tokyo Fifth Avenue. But the difference is that Omotensando is built by famous Japanese and world Architects and is influenced by designers stores to build buildings reflecting their couture fashion. It is really sleek and futuristic. For example, Louis Vuitton store was inspired by famous Louis Vuitton trunk, Christian Dior looked like it was covered with curtains, there are no mirrors inside, but screens who take video of people and project them on the large wall screen. This and changing lights supposed to create a dramatic effects in the evening.
I loved this tour but unfortunately we only had 1 hr. Actually the architects was very upset and said it is not possible to convey the architecture in one hour. We also visited one modern gallery with contemporary statues which move. It did not do anything to me since I am not that much imaginative to accept modern art but other people in the group said the movement hypnotized them. In any case, the city is and intriguing mix of traditional ancient blended with contemporary/futuristic. They are probably 20 years ahead of us in technology.
Our next stop was to attend a private Nezu museum http://www.nezu-muse.or.jp/en/index.html , which is owned by president of Tobu Railway, Nezu Kaichiro family. It contained traditional art and painting. It was amazing to see such fine details of the painting. Afterwards, we went back to hotel. It was a long sightseeing day but we saw a lot.
We came back to hotel to change and attended official JLTF reception hosted by Japanese government. We learned how to toast ("Kampai!") and talked to officials, hotel representatives and Japanese suppliers.
So we retired for a long day, had a good time and spent good day together as a group.
February 16
Today is working day for travel buyers and sightseeing for media professionals. Media professionals went to visit Roppongi, National art center, and see some department stores.
I had breakfast in Japanese restaurant and they brought me whole tray of Japanese food. It was good but some of the dishes I did not understand and I did not know how to eat so I was watching locals. It was delicious though whatever it was.
Our trade show started at 10am. I went about 15 min earlier only to discover that I went to wrong meeting building. I walked into conference room and some people handed me some material in Japanese. I did not notice my familiar people. I tried to explain what meeting I am for and they could not understand but bowed graciously and said something in Japanese. I finally thought to show my trade event info which had some Japanese writing and they called someone and explained to me that I need to go to another south building same conference room. We bowed and parted, I returned Japanese materials and rushed across hotel. Fortunately there are a lot's of employees , mostly young attractive women in kimonos whose responsibility is just to stand in the lobby and direct guests. Very nice feature. I do not know how much they are paid but the woman in our group who is Japanese explained to me that there is very low unemployment in Japan because they use so many people for supplemental activities which are probably unheard in USA. But it was very helpful, she took me to the elevator, pushed button for me, bowed, and I rushed through connecting hallway to the right building. Other people also got lost so JLTF organizer said we will have to start 15 min later and she did not sound happy. French guys again appeared late, but what's new!
Anyway, tradeshow was the highlight of my trip (of course, after sightseeing and food!), since I would never had an opportunity to meet so many incoming destination management companies in one place. True, I attended other luxury travel forum just few months before in Cannes, but this one was only for one country! I found a lot's about geography, attractions, hotels and other interesting accommodations and sightseeing.
I came with misconception that Japan is expensive. In fact, I had a trouble to plan my own trip 2 years ago. But now I learned that there are different ways to put together itineraries, from luxury private tour with a driver, guide, sightseeing, helicopter charters, and special cultural experiences, to more on budget side like walking tour and using public transportation, and even booking people into local group tours. And, local incoming operators were offering us good wholesale rates, so I am getting exciting about planning and selling Japanese trips. There is also city passes which tourist can but in advance and airport bus delivers to the center, so there are ways to make a trip affordable. I would recommend a private guide though, even in Tokyo, while you can many signs in English, still hard to understand basics in stores and restaurants.
As for accommodations, I was for a treat. We've met hotel suppliers from luxury hotel Okura and Royal Park (where we stayed), to traditional country inns Ryokans (we will be going there tomorrow), and even traditional townhouses in Kyoto, which can house a family or few couples, and bring out the beauty of traditional Kyoto living.
Interesting sightseeing included but not limited
1. Helicopter sightseeing for example:
• full day tour from Tokyo, 1hr 20 min flight over Mt. Fuji, 5 hr stay at Hakone, and 35 min flight from Hakone back to Tokyo.
• One day charter to Nikko
• Fly from Tokyo to Sapporo 30 min, ski at Ski Resort and fly back.
• Night helicopter sightseeing
2. Special performance by Kabuki Actors or Geishas
3. Cultural experiences:
• tea ceremony
• Ekibana (flower arrangements)
• Japanese style wedding ceremony
• Japanese calligraphy
• Visit with Sumo wrestlers
• Japanese cooking
• Hot springs (Ones)
4. Sports
• Private golf with view of Mt .Fuji (or regular golf)
• Hiking Mt. Fuji
• Skiing
5. Spa and wellness
I also met representative of beach resorts in Okinawa which has tropical climate and is a good time to rest after touring the country.
There were also representatives of my favorite chain - Small Luxury Hotels which had really nice properties in Kyoto.

So it was good and productive day. We also had lunch with Japan Airline rep and he told us now there are some international flights into Haneda from some US and European cities, so it is more flights and Haneda is closer.
After show we went for dinner using our voucher for hotel's restaurant. We went for Chinese restaurant. Some dishes were good but I chose fried chicken and it was not that excellent like the rest. Afterwards myself and two Australians went to Roppongi to see nightlife district. It was lovely. They had skating ring there. Also there were many bars and restaurants catering to Western tourists. We saw beautiful display of fruit in the stores. Few of the blocks however looked very seedy - it was first place in Tokyo I was a bit apprehensive. Few days later we talked to hotel manager and he said he does not let his daughter going there. So one must be careful there. Not that dangerous like in other cities though.

The Journalists group reported that had a good time as well during the day tour. They went to some small restaurant where husband and wife owners served them delicious food. Some men however complained that there was too much shopping!
February 17.
I had breakfast at Terrace restaurant with other people. It has beautiful view of tranquil garden. The food was buffet with mix of Japanese and Western specialties, very good. They even served champagne.

After breakfast we've met with Okura hotel manager for an inspection tour. We visited different rooms and suites including presidential suite and imperial suite where president Clinton stayed and Indian Prime Minister (was item of interest to Indian member of our group). It is a really nice hotel even for regular rooms. We stayed in superior rooms.
After inspection, we had time for lunch or take out and packed to leave for one overnight to go to Izu - countryside. We were told to leave our luggage in a room, pack overnight bag and luggage will be transferred to next Tokyo hotel. It was very convenient so we would not drag larger suitcase. While I was getting my takeout lunch, I notice luggage shop next door and I splurge with a small cute 4 wheel drive carryon. I just could not pass it. I spend many time in airports traveling and this would be perfect. I still felt guilty spending a lots of money on large suitcase but when I went out, I met a french guy and he looked at it and declared that brand means famous french designer so I bought a cool thing! I enjoyed it a lot, it was a breeze to wheel it in airports.

Anyway, we were off to our next destination - Izu/Shuzenji. Izu Peninsula is located in Shizuoka, it is a famous hot spring resort area. It is one of the most popular domestic and foreign tourist not far (2.5 hrs) from Tokyo. The president of Ryokan collection. Mr. Hiroki Fukunaga, whom we met previous day, stayed overnight at hotel and was going with us for 2 days. He also had guide/translator so on the way, they explained to us about Izu and hot springs and ryokans. We were looking forward to experience authentic Japanese inn and hot springs.
On the way we ate and had some sake, so there was an impromptu concert from French, Indian and international songs. We also stopped at rest area and even rest area was an adventure - so much different food, shopping. There even was electric charge station for the car and I took photo of the car being charged! It is indeed a futuristic country. We tried to figure out what we bought to eat and came to the bus and shared it. Interesting, there was a donut shop called New York donut and tasted like our donut :-). After eating, we talked or napped. In few hours, we arrived to Shunzenu.

Since Ryokans are small, we were split in 3 properties and it was planned to inspect them all. First stop was Ryokan in town, traditional Japanese, Yagyu-no-Sho, http://www.ryokancollection.com/eng/lrc/ryokan_story.htm?ryokan=yagyu which breathtaking scenery set within bamboo forest. The owners husband and wife team met us and proudly showed around. Many rooms had private onsen (hot spring bath). One suite had also pond with beautiful fish. All rooms are set up so you do not see neighbors when you look at the window. It is very serene and tranquil. The beds are futons which are taken in and then taken away. Chairs are low so you seat on the floor.
We bid goodbye to our 5 members of the group and continued to second ryokan, Asaba
http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/db/shizuoka/asaba.htm
We dropped off other members there, we will come to inspect it tomorrow. It was in the center of town.
We finally arrived to ours which is called Arcana, http://www.arcanaresorts.com/en/ which was the largest of 3, we had about 7 people stayed there. Our Ryokan was actually not traditional but contemporary and westernized and more resembled luxury french auberge. Therefore there was not futon bed, but western beds in the room. But it also had private hot spring tub on the deck. It had wi-fi (free), and came with pajamas (Yukata, very comfortable soft cotton). No TV, means relaxation. The wall was glass and it was dark but I could hear some waterfalls outside.
We were told to come to dinner at 7 and I went to enjoy hot spa.
Dinner was French with about 10 courses, very creative. We were seating at the table kind of counter facing the chefs. It was interesting experience. Unfortunately my camera was charging so could not take pictures . It was beautifully presented. One of the dishes was a composition of vegetables created from miniscule cut vegetables - raw, marinated, dried and cooked. It was 60 of them! The vegetables were drizzled with kind of balsamic vinegar sauce and below was something dark like chocolate. When we finished, the waiter removed glass flat holder where vegetables rested on the plate and below under the holder was soil - dirt... He explained to us it is part of composition so we would not think to it! This was incredible. The dinner was long affair for 3 hours and was a feast to the eyes and palate.
We talked, and after dinner did not want to leave, so there were songs again. It is a lots of singing in our group! Finally we split going to bed. I fell asleep immediately. I woke up early (still leftovers of jet lag) and used the time to sit in hot springs.
It is a great experience. In 45F degree weather, step out of shower outside on the deck and sink in onsen (hot tub) of mineral water. If the water too hot, you can add cold water from the tap. When I got too hot, I sat on the edge and it was not cold at all . The body heats up. The skin felt very good afterwards.

Onsen is a part of Japanese experience and life. In most places, it is public bath and people take it naked. Therefore public baths are separate men and women. Some expensive inns like ours had private bath so it is possible for a person or a couple to enjoy it in privacy. Some luxury inns also have private rooms in ryokans for couples. I personally love hot springs and wherever I travel, I never miss an opportunity (Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, USA, etc). If you ever will have an opportunity, I urge you to try it in Japan. It is very enjoyable.

February 18.

In the morning, after taking onsen bath and then shower, I went for breakfast. Same chef did not disappoint. It was a tray with same different samples of toy food to play. They explained to us and then brought the picture of description of food on the tray. It was so much fun. After breakfast the rest of group arrived to inspect our ryokan and we went to pack and take carryons to the bus. Our next stop was to go into town to see the temple and inspect Asaba Ryokan. The temple was as other temples we've seen in Tokyo but it was a private visit and also they opened a door in the back to show beautiful rock and pond gardens. It was very relaxing. We also see preparations for dolls festival when all girls and women bring their dolls on display and it was beautiful collection. Afterwards we inspected another Ryokan (second) where part of our group stayed. It was also part of Relais and Chateaux and it was beautiful and serene.
Another feature of Ryokan, is that the concept is to serve delicious traditional food. It was designed as destination restaurant with hot springs (most of them). So they serve delicious multi-course dinner (kaiseki) and breakfast in the morning and guests do not have to leave, they eat, rest, sleep and leave rejuvenated. We very much enjoyed this experience, even though our dinner was french, but most ryokans serve Japanese kaiseki dinner. I highly recommend just to spend one or few nights there for this special experience.

After inspection of Asaba, we went to town for short time, but shopping was not interesting. We also had soba noodles lunch in local place and then went to our bus for ride home. Weather permitting, there was planned stop in one place to get a good photo of Mt. Fuji, but unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. We stopped again for snacks at rest area on highway and slept the rest of the trip. We arrived Tokyo to next hotel Royal Park hotel around 4pm.

That was last day in Tokyo and the trip and the last impression should be the best. And it was! On arrival Royal Park team was meeting us at the entrance. By this time, we understood, it is a custom to get out and meet guest - anywhere - at hotels, stores at the opening. Very welcome tradition. Makes you feel great and welcome. On Tuesday trade show, they told us that we are booked in executive floor with drinks, hors d'oeuvres, separate check-in, fitness center access and internet. So they took us to the executive floor to check-in. We had cocktails and then we went for inspection. They broke us into 3 groups by region (Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific). Journalists also went with us. The hotel is also 5*, not that fancy as Okura and different type, kind of low key, but I liked it a lot. It is much better value. For Okura price, you can get better room category like executive floor and have a lot's of features included. It is also located in very nice interesting neighborhood while Okura was a bit isolated next to American embassy. The airport bus comes right to the hotel and the staff comes to pick up your luggage, so it is a big plus. IN addition, the metro station right in the basement of hotel, so if it rains, you do not even need to go outside. It is very convenient location and a lot's of traditional shops, restaurants and shrines within walking distance. We had a party afterwards and thanked the hotel management for making us so much welcome. The food at the party also was great.
My luggage was in the room which was transferred from Okura. Interesting observation: I brought 2 "extra pairs " of my old shows just to wear them once and leave in the country. That's was I usually do with my old comfortable clothes - I am disposing it eventually all around the world. It frees space in suitcase for new purchases. In Okura, I left two pairs of shoes in the room. outside of my suitcase. But they were thought as forgotten items, packed in separate bag and delivered to Royal Park. This is first time my disposed items followed me. I left them in second hotel and wrote on them that these I am not taking with me. Another thing which sets apart Japan and Okura hotel employees.

After party, we said goodbye to some members of our group. We split in parts, some of us went to Roppongi, I needed to finish my shopping and went together with Korean and Indonesian women to the stores. We arrived to Mitsukoshi department store but unfortunately it just closed at 8pm. We also walked into some book stores. The girls still bought some staff in supermarket but I decided will go alone tomorrow last day since I had a morning.

After that I packed and went to bed. The room was somewhat a small suite and they had in each room a computer! When I was hungry, I went downstairs to take out dinner with my voucher coupon provided by JLTF. I love this hotel, the employees were so friendly and happy!
February 19.

My flight was at 5pm, so I had morning. I enjoyed good location of hotel so I went out to walk, visited park, stopped in some stores, got some small souvenirs. It is a pricey country, but quality is so good.

I saw a baseball team practice and asked to take their picture and the boys posed for me.
I came back to hotel, finished packing and went to check out in executive lounge with some tea and pastries. Then I went to the lobby and the car was already waiting (15 min earlier). So I went to the airport, 1 hr drive again. At check-in I was happy to find out that my upgrade request was granted so I was flying back in first class. I went to executive lounge to use internet and again get some snacks (better food then in Houston). But the lounge was crowded. Probably Narita is busy airport. I also did my last minute shopping in the airport store and honestly, it was the most convenient shopping because there were explanations in English and many salesladies to explain things. I completed my shopping and was on time to board. The flight was very comfortable, the first class seats decline 180 degrees into flat bed and there are some additional lights to read. I do not remember when I slept so much, and I arrived Houston refreshed. Again, Houston was very orderly and pleasant airport (much better than NY and Chicago). I rechecked my suitcase at customs, went through passport control, spent 30 min in Houston lounge, checked again my messages, made some calls and flight to Tampa was on time and uneventful. First class to Tampa is not worth it but since they upgraded me on both, that was fine. It is just seats are wider but they do not recline much. They served chicken salad and drinks but I did not want to drink. I slept a bit more and arrived home town. All flights to Japan were on time so it was a good trip.

So it concluded my trip to Japan.

Final thoughts.
This was my second visit to Japan and it keeps amazing me. It is so exotic, Unlike Europe and Americas. Unlike other Asian countries, it is civilized, cultured, clean. It might sound expensive, but there are ways to do it at reasonable cost. Some cities are less expensive than others. Public transportation is excellent.

But the value delivered for you is excellent. You are guaranteed to get great food, service and clean environment. The simple things like landscaping, rock gardens, hot springs, serenity will calm you down. People are polite and going out of the way to help even if they do not speak English. Service is out of the world. They employ many people just to help you get you around at hotels! The service at hotels was excellent. Cultural experiences are unique. Nowhere else you see Geishas, Sumo Wrestlers, Beautiful flower and fruit arrangements, Green tea ceremony, Onsen experience, art. Even toilets are unique! As for technophiles, I felt that their gadgets are ahead of us about 20 years. That's why my phone probably did not work in Japan! Anime is another part of Japanese culture.

Internet and phone.

I think beacuse their phones are so advanced and their cell network is so fast, Japanese do everything on their cell phones including from using different applications, reading books, watching TV's. Probably they are less expensive than computers. For tourists it represent some problem. First, for AMericans, out phones do not work in Japan. My blackberryworked so far everywhere in the world except Japan. Before going on this trip, I considered to rent Japanese phone for $90 a week delivered to you in Japan, www.jcrcorp.com . But then I decided due to significant time difference, I will not be able to attend to emergencies so relied on skype. Skype is either cheap or free (if your calling party has it too). It worked but in Okura I had to pay for internet $20 per day. In Royal Park it was complimentary on executive floor. In Ryokan it was free included in the stay. As a rule for travelers, inexpensive hotels have wi-fi included but in luxury hotels most likely unless you have special package, you will have pay to wi-fi. I missed my blackberry first day but then I accepted fact that during Japanese day it is night back home so I relaxed and first time in many years I enjoyed being blackberry-less. When my tripmates asked me how I get by without phone, I explained to them that. They had less time difference and most Asian and Australians and even French phones worked. We Americans still lag with technology.

I would definitely will come back to see more. I fell in love with Japan.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Government of Japan and JLTF forum to give me this special opportunity to see and experience their country as their guest.

For more photos, see www.facebook.com/sophiatravel

Cannes Post ILTM conference Dec 2010

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 16:35:00 +0000

Evening , Thursday December 9
After trade show, we refreshed and went to Martinez hotel to see Lilian and her collegaues where they are staying. Martinez hotel so far is the on of the best I've seen in Cannes. Carlton is also nice but rooms require renovation. I did not visit Majestic but I was told is it also very nice.
We went to restaurant Pastis. We came late and they gave away our reservation. Had to wait 30 mins. It is is small bistro and was completely filled with ILTM attendees. Otherwise it is low season in Cannes. It was very noisy. We finally got a table. Expensive wine ordered was not that good so we sent it back. The regular Bandol wine was fine and cost less. The service was awful, slow and I did not get potato au gratin I ordered with my meat. He told us they are out and offered mashed potatoes or vegetables. Opted for vegetables . Food whatever we got was very well prepared though.. Maybe it is better with other slow time and more attention but they were owherhelmed.

Friday, December 10.
Checked out from Palais Stephanie and went to our rented 1 bedroom apartment in Cannes rented through my guide and contact in Cannes, Jacques. Jacques came and drove us (fe min) to apartment . great location, just behind Martinez. Basic staff, but it is cheap and we have kitchen and washer. Jacques prepard for us welcome back basket with fruit, olive oil, tapenade, honey and some jam. Very nice of him. He also gave us admission tickets to Monaco . Then we went with Jacques for a day tour of hill villages. Visited Mougins, Gourdon, Tourette sur loop, St. Paul De Vence and Eze. Went to modern art museum Foundation Maeght in St. Paul . Had lunch at St. Paul. Beatuful villages, sunny weather. We enjoyed it thoroughly. Back to Cannes. Got some supermarket shopping. Went to neigboring sandwich shop, made contact with owner, got some drinks and got internet connection from them. Good busy day .

Saturday December 11.
We rented a car from Europcar nearby and got Puegot. We hooked it to our GPS and off to explore Riviera by car. Drove to Nice and spent a day there. It was easy with GPS while it worked but it got owherhelmed with memory (french maps?) and stopped. Nevertheless we visited Matisse Museum and Chagall Museum. Matisse was OK. Beautiful mansion . The artist lived there .Some nice sculptures. I love Chagal Museum, and always linger there more. Now they have English audio guides so it is even better. Loved it! Then we drove to see Russian Cathedral which was built by Russian nobles in last century. Then we went to Promenade Anglais to do some people watching. I tried to get to Negresco but they would not let me in! Said make an apponitment. We found with difficulty a parking space and walked to Promenade. I planned to eat at Old ity rememreing nice restaurants near Cours Saleys (sp?). But when we came there, it was all under construction. We ended up eating at small cafe - gnocchi in cream mushroom sauce. They served in small la Crusette pots. It was good. Walked back on Promenade Anglais and enjoy people watching. There was an open air market and people were buying Christmas Tree. Nice athmosphere, people and their dogs, trees. Very festive.
We wanted to get to Cannes before dark so we rushed to our parked car and drove back. The GPS stopped functioning again but we made it to Croisette and only got a bit lost around our apartment but then got GPS working again. Ate dinner at small restaurant on Rue Antibes, excellent food. So far meals in France do not dissapoint. The worse meal we had first day at Palais Stephanie (hotel food). We parked by our apartment (no fee for night) and went to sleep.

Sunday Dec 12 we drove morning to Monaco.
It is a different world. It is a small mountainside country, principality of Monaco. We found our hotel Metropole and arrived without delay. It is one of the top hotels in Monaco, together with hotel Des Paris and Hermitage. Located next to Historic Casino. I got a good rate on it, but still splurged. I needed to experience it to be able to sell to my clients. The hotel sales manager I've met on a trade show, was kind enough to give me good rate including breakfast an they upgraded us to Jr .suite. It is exquisite hotel, probably best I've ever stayed at.

We went to sightsee Monaco. We walked to the Rock and saw 10 km road foot race. Went to the port, enjoyed fair with food vendors, rides and holiday decorations. We walked up a lot's of stairs to the Palace and got a great position for watching change of the guards. They we strolled to the old town and waterside promenade to the Oceanografique Museum. It had very good waterside aquairum in a wonderful building housed in a museum. There were also artifacts from the sea and models of the Grimaldi's ships.

We took "le bus" - 1 euro per person to Jardin Exotique. Unfortunately many paths were closed but we managed to see Cactus collection and other succulants and other exotic plants along mountainside with beautiful views. Took bus back to hotel and checked into our beautiful jr suite. Internet is inlcuded! There was afternoon tea going in the parlor, but in about 20 minutes, we got sweets and water delivered to our room compliments of hotel's manager. That was very nice gesture.

December 12, dinner at Yoshi,

The dinner at Yoshi, 1* Michelin star Robuchon Japanese restaurant was terrific. The sampling menu had total 7 dishes from house appetiser to dessert. Main course blck cod fish was amazing, very much tasted like seabass and was glazed with teriyaki sauce. Interesting custards/appetizers: egg in a broth, custard with some asian flavor (soy sauce?), sushi and seviche. Desert was pannacota and small lime muffins. They also gave us a cake in a bag to go - a gift!
We enjoyed listening to the people around us. The clientele was international and their discussions on what art they bought for their chateaux... next table a elderly lady with many facelifts was demanding vegetable tempura but it was not on the menu, the staff ran around to get some vegetables. Again quite few russian speaking clientele.. This was very amusing to listen to their travels and problems LOL.

After delicious dinner we headed to main casino but unfortunately, black jack dealersd were on strikes and only one available table was min 100 euro. We passed. We stopped at beautiful lobby of hotel des Paris and took picture there. Then we went across the stree to American (plebean ) casino which only had slots. Not interesting. I usually do not play but I put 20 euro in slots and of course quickly lost it and left. People were not even dressed in American casino. Myself in evening black dress was dissapointed , I dressed up for dinner and Casino Europeen afterwards, oh well. Probably saved money this way.

We went to hotel to sleep. The suite had amazing shower with different jets spraying so I tested all sprays, this hotel is amazing , interior designed by I was told famous world designer Jacques Garcia which designed interior in form of French Palace. But modern comforts. Just beautiful. This one was the first hotel I did not have to struggle with different lights, there is a display and put in writing which lights are on and off. Internet is free by the way (not sure if in suites only).
In the morning I woke up at 7am and saw beautiful sunrise view towards Casino and further to the sea. I ran to french balcony (we had two) and took nice pictures.
On arrival they ask you what newspaper you prefer and we asked for NY Times. But it was not delivered to hotel, so we got a letter with apology.

We went downstairs to restaurant for our Robuchon breakfast (37 euro per person, included in the rate). The difference with other hotel's breakfast is that it is not buffet but they bring you buffet at the table. We got sa plate of fruit for 2, a plate of cold cuts, smoked salmon and cheese for 2, pastries and cooked to order eggs. Plus coffee or tea . Selection of juices. I opted for apricot and it was very good.
We picked British Guardian newspaper and went back to the room.
After breakfast, we walked a little around hotel and casino and got back. We checked out and got our car.. It is funny how they quickly park cheap cars (like our Peugot). The expensive cars - Ferrari, Mazerati, Bentley are parked in driveway so they keep an eye on them. Not that there is a issue with car thefts. We were told by Jacques that in Monaco there are 150 people for 1 cop and many undercover so crime is non-existent.

We drove back to Cannes. On the way we stopped at St. Jean Cap Ferrat and walked at this nice small town. Very nice views. We spent few hours ar Rotschild Villa at her garden. I always book my clients there. The gardens are beautiful.
We bought bread and pastries at Boulangerie and drove to the Paloma Beach. Had picnic there but the beach now is not mantained. The town in fact was almost deserted.
But a lot's of spaces to park!

We came back to Cannes via traffic - rush hour plus some road closing due t oaccident.
Parked by apartment, I went to our new friend sandwich shop owner and got cheap but tasty sandwiches by Cannes standard - 5 euro a piece.. In the evening we had to sort brochures and partially pack. Tomorrow is last day in Cannnes.

Cannes ILTM conference Dec 2010

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:44:00 +0000

Trip report December 2010, Cannes, ILTM (International Travel Leisure Market) conference.

We arrived Canned Dec 5 after long flights and connections from Tampa to JFK to Paris CDG and finally to Nice. All flights were on time despite weather problems in Europe two days ago. In CDG we had short connection and as always, it was a mess. Walking from one terminal to another and trying to get into long line security. There were people trying to get into two flights departing in 20-30 minutes. Tried to explain it to the security guy in line. French passengers joined to translate. Se curity guy did not have any authority to get us in front of the line but he talked to supervisor and within few minutes someone with more authority emerged with said in French flight 9:15 and 9:30 follow me. Someone translated for us and we rushed to follow. So they opened separate security counter just for people on these flights departing soon. Makes sense, very efficient. Not too much groping occurred as in US airports.

So far I was going through all customs without extra check. Same here. Went to the gate and to the plane so this was fast. Plane had enough empty seats so I got 3 to myself and caught up 1 hr on my sleep. On arrival Nice, ILTM people were waiting for arrivals and transfers. There was option of van transfer and helicopter. We opted for helicopter. I met my friend Lilian from NY but she went on van transfer. Later she told me it took 15 minutes. But in summer and other seasons it might take about 1 hr with traffic. I booked helicopter transfers before for my clients and now it was good to experience it and I got their business card and information. Flight took 10 minutes plus going through flight security check and taking car to and from helicopter field (included). Going through security, it was beeping all the time and they had to check me all over. That was ironically first time checked in, in all airports it was fast for me. I thought briefly that taking van would get me faster but it was worth the experience. It was very picturesque flight, even though the weather was cloudy.
I forgot to mention important part that our luggage did not arrive! I suspected it that it might be the case with short connection. We went to Air France luggage counter and filled paperwork. The agent assured me that luggage has been located and will be delivered to hotel today or tomorrow. We had 2 suitcases checked in. Usually I travel with one carryon but her on trade show I will have a lots of materials to bring back. Anyway not a big deal, minor annoyance and they issued a DL skymiles kit with necessities and one t-shirt and said if we need to buy something, it is covered under 100 eur per person. Not bad.

The helicopter took two us and another 2 people and our luggage (actually sans luggage since we only had carryons – other people on our flight did not have luggage too). The rest of conference arrival people already left.

We saw beautiful Riviera shoreline, yachts, beautiful houses and small islands and peninsulas of Cannes . On arrival, the van took us to hotel Palais Stephanie on Croisette seafront. It as Hilton years ago, then it was Sofitel , now independent hotel Palais Stephanie and in January it will be managed by Marriott. The lobby is nice modern decorated with pastel colors, contemporary furnishings. Many large paintings from film festival – stars – photos in black and white. We got a large Jr suite with bedroom, living room and 2 bathrooms. Very nice but too big for me. I kept looking for my things in different rooms. Good for families since it sleeps 4 people. Lots of closet spaces and 2 tvs, 2 safes, etc..

Monday Dec 6. Today is arrival day. We registered at the welcome desk at hotel and went for some shopping to compensate missing items. It was quite cold for us Floridians. The less expensive shops are located on Rue Antibes... Got cashmere sweater and hat at reasonable price. Went to waterfront, old town (Suquet). Nice views. There is restaurant Gavroche every time I take my photo in front of it when I go there, very pictureseque. We went to antiquemarket which takes place in old town every Monday. Interesting to browse. Got lunch at reasonable price in old town.

Back to hotel. Luggage arrived!
I went to next door hotel Carlton and using trheir free wi-fi in lobby with afternoon tea :-) . Really nice hotel, reminds me Peninsula. Beaituful architecture outside, Belle Epoque.

Evening we attended opening session at Film Festival Palace. First there was presentation by magazine Economist about world status and how it effects world travel. Unlike US luxury trade shows, this one is worldwide and caters to different suppliers and markets. For example, Miami convention and visitors bureau and other US suppliers were after Asian, South American Markets. So it was different perspective. The presenter said that emerging world affluent travelers are now Chinese, Brazilian and Russians. Then it was panel about how demands of luxury (again, worldwide) travelers has been changed. The discussion was moderated by Conde Nast traveler editor in chief and panelist were representative of BA, Ritz Carlton , and few travel agencies (Altour from USA, Black Tomato from Australia, Perez tours from Brasil, and Valerie Wilson travel from USA.). That was somewhat boring because most of them used regular corporate schpiel , nothing new. Then was another discussion with panelists from Emmar resorts, private jet charter Premiar CEO, Ted Teng – president of LHW, CEO of Virtuoso, and Chairman of Silversea cruises. Then it was question part. Some of the attendants including me were upset at luxury hotels charging travelers for internet. Really, for 1000 euro and up, they could have added internet into rates.
Afterwards was award presentation and one-to-one interview with International hotelier and tourism magnate Sol Kerzner from South Africa. He said he is 75 and not planning to retire. Interesting individual.
We went with Lilian and went for dinner. The food was very good and we talked to some ILTM attendees . It seems the convention took over the town. Otherwise not toom many tourists in Cannes.
Tuesday December 7. Started trade show appointments. We split evenly with Michael 60 appointments each and I took Europe and he took region his is familiar with – Africa and regions we want to expand – India, Indian Ocean and more Asia. I overslept and ran without breakfast to my first appointment .
This is the best supplier representation I ever had. I met some companies which I never though about services. For example, a company from Italy brought Rolls Royces and Ferraris into the show. What they do is provide travelers with experience of driving Ferrari in Italy (or any other luxury vehicle). There are traditional choices of being driven or driver yourself. However if some travelers do not want to navigate in infamiliar areas and do not want to bother of filling car with gas, etc… they provide 2 cars – one is Ferrari with a guide /driver wgho is leading the driving. Another car is with client who is following the guide. So you travel in two cars. They clean car for you overnight, fill in with gas, take care of parking , sightsee with client and take care of needs. Therefore you have a private tour and you drive Ferrari! Interesting concept.
I also got interesting contacts which I never thought about – Russian speaking tour operators in UK who serve Russians. I said my clientele is American and they said would be delighted working with me – either luxury or budget clients. Their prices were reasonable and seemed we understood each other.
I visited Russian 5* hotels and they were interested to host my travel agent group in 2011 for fam trip.
I also ventured out of comfort destination zone and had meetings with Seychelles Destination company and they said would be happy to host me to get familiar with destination. It is about 4 hr flight from Middle East with connection in Dubai on Emirates air. Michael got good suppliers in South Africa who said can arrange anything from safari to wine experience and meetings at the homes of local artists.
My former supplier friends from France “Atout France” had a big area and I visited some old suppliers, hotels, and they introduced me to new ones. I also got a new destination management company in Paris who can do most of France destination including Jewish clients and the rep was delightful young Russian woman who said will personally handle my requests.
Other hotel chains were well represent (LHW, SLH, Exclusive hotels, Starwood, Ritz Carlton). I got some conversations about securing FIT preferred wholesalers rates. I visited hotel Burdigala in Bordeaux where I already booked some clients and to my delight, it is a privately owned hotel and owner wants to work with me direct rather than through impersonal hotel wholesale systems. She introduced me to local wine tour operator so Bordeaux is better covered now! I have clients waiting for quote at home.
We had one hour session on Tourism Barcelona with tasty tapas.
In Spanish area, I got info from Paradores and few other Spanish Hotels.
In Italy, I met with representatives of young company in Tuscany who provides villas and unique experience in Florence and Tuscany, including Jewish Heritage tours, cooking classes, private art showing (for example, rent a museum), etc.. Very enthusiastic young people who can make anything happen in Florence and area. Including trips for cruise passengers.
I took well deserved break in the VIP buyers lounge where they had snacks and internet. I talked to a lady next to me and we really hit off. She took my Jewish ageny card and was asking how what exactly do I do for Jewish travelers .
I finished my appointments by 4pm , checked my emails, got few more contacts from other suppliers and went to hotel to refresh before 2 receptions.
One reception was at our hotel Palais Stephanie in Royal suite. I inspected it night before so we stayed on terrace talking to people. We’ve met a young fellow UK citizen living in Dubai who is working for a magazine I am not familiar with – travel magazine in Middle East which distributed in lounges of business/first class passengers . He told us about experience of living in Dubai and their strange restrictions – you cannot live with a person are not married to. The police checks randomly. He also said unmarried bachelors are not allowed to live together. You can go to jail for breaking law or being deported. Strange attractions like skiing in Dubai, restrictions on drinking… The most which affected me was that Jews are not welcomed there and if you have Israeli stamp in your passport you will not be permitted. So that will influence me on what airline/city I will connect to fly to Asia through middle East – NO DUBAI AND Emirates airlines for me! Thank you very much! I do not assume there synagogues anyway and no Jewish history unlike let’s say Egypt and Morocco. So Dubai is scratched from my list .. Michael is meeting with Dubai people – show appointment and he’s been delegated to relay my statement to their tourism reps.
Later or we went to hotel Martinez party which had Indian theme. The food was cocktail appetizers, a lot’s of it – incredible variety and very tasteful. They had different rooms for different food . Besides Indian food, there was also area with raw oysters and seafood and separate dessert area. One had that tasty fruit selection (yum) and chocolate fountain (tacky!). Separate miniature desserts, crepe suzette section. As for drinks, besides regular alcohol and soft drinks, there was a separate station with various fresh squeezed juices. I enjoyed looking at well dressed people and we concluded that leather pants look well on European women but not on American. And , why French and Italian women do not get fat? They seem to eat a lot’s of food. Also, I noticed that Russian women are very beautiful and well dressed and I guess they select them carefully for such PR work. Probably no equal opportunity there anymore…

Thursday Dec 9.
Last day at tradeshow. Now I am navigating better. Had productive meeting with 5* Hyatt Churchill in London rep who knows Jewish Travelers. We can book them still with my favorite UK supplier, ASA and he said works with them as well. They understand Jewish traveler and can provide kosher food. Hotel has kosher kitchen. They have unfortunately electric key BUT have guest relations who will work with me on clients schedule to help them to come out and in and open doors for them. They will also will attempt their best to put them in lower floors on shabbat. Hotel is with wlaking distance to Marble Arch synagogue.

I had very good meeting with a very well establisher 30 years Greek tour operator and we were talking on hosting my travel agent group with 3 days cruise for next year. They also do Jewish Heritage tours.

Talked to more Russians re: their hotels for ma Russia agents trip. Corinthia hotel is fully renovated. There was a new cruise line, Volga cruises. Something different from Viking and UNoworld (same old names). Will check them out.
We had a warm reception at stand of hotel Gamirasu in Cappadochia where we stayed last April. It is always nice to meet old friends. World is getting closer..

Tonight visiting Lilian at her hotel Martinez and looking at rooms. Afternoon dinner with her and some friends at some restaurant (forgot name).

More later!!

Bosnia September-October 2010

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 05:56:00 +0000

September-October 2010

Monday, September 29

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) Trip is sponsored by government agencies of USA – USAID, Norway and Turkish airline to help Bosnia to develop infrastructure . Part of the project is tourism. From Bosnia side, it is sponsored by TK airline, which has 49% stake in Bosnia air and local tourist companies.

So I am a part of first team of press and tour operators arriving on a fam trip to Sarajevo Sep 29-Oct 6.

I only been there once in Mostar, it was our last trip with George. Should be bittersweet and emotional. Never been in Sarajevo but from what I've read, very significant history and religion. in the city there are synagogues, mosques, Benedictine monasteries, Catholic and Orthodox churches abound.

Since trip was sponsored partially by Turkish airline , we flew on this airline. This is my second time this year flying. I like Turkish air. Their food is good. In bathrooms, they have live flowers. The flight from JFK was delayed 1 hr. But somehow we’ve made it on time. They fed us dinner which was passable.

Connected in Istanbul to Sarajevo, 2 hr flight, uneventful. In Sarajevo we got through passport control and we’ve met the other members of the group and our hosts: Explore Bosnia – Vlado and Sasha. We have impressive 11 people group: press, tour operators/wholesalers and travel agents. I've been honored on this trip to meet pioneers of adventure travel: Richard Bangs is one of the founders for Mountain Sobek Company. Now he is producing PBS TV shows Adventures with purpose www.adventureswithpurpose.tv . He is traveling with his wife Laura Hubber, who is BBC correspondent and have long time connection as a foreign Correspondent in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They also have 3 year old Jasper who turned out to be the best well-adjusted young traveler I've ever seen.

Other well known adventure tour operator is George Wendt, the owner of rafting company O.A.R.S. www.oars.com . It is recognized by National Geographic Traveler, Outside, Men’s Journal and Sunset along with NBC, CNBC, Forbes Traveler and SmarterTravel.com for serving up some of the “Best Trips on the Planet””.

Other press representatives included editors from Afar magazine www.afar.com and ExOfficio catalog www.exofficio.com who planned to do their marketing campaign around testimonials of BiH, photography and other content.

We originally were booked at only one 5* hotel Europe in Sarajevo. But Vlado apologized and said because of Sunday elections, politicians took over hotel so we are moved to Europe Garni hotel Arts, 3*. It turned out to be very comfortable and it is next door so it will fit. OK for us but for future clients, Europe would be preferred.

We had nice lunch. Bosnia has excellent quality water, it is drinkable and tap water tastes better than US purified water. We had wonderful chicken soup, salad and assortment of different boureks – pastries with savory filling – cheese, spinach and meat.

Then we have met our guide Muhamed for introduction of Sarajevo, about 1 hr tour walk around the center. The weather was rainy. We returned to hotel to rest for 1 hour and went for a dinner to local restaurant La Comida which just opened few days ago. Very good food served family style. Excellent wine from Bosnia. The main course was roasted veal with potatoes and carrots. Very good. Excellent bread. Chicken soup again. Desert was Balkan style – something resembling Turkish deserts. They also gave us souvenirs with a bottle of rakija (was served as aperitif).

Went back to hotel for well deserved sleep , with flying, I am without sleep almost 48 hrs. Slept through the night so I am over jet lag.

Tuesday, September 30.

In the morning, we started with War Tunnel Museum. We were driven through the city and Muhammad told us the history of the war and geography of the city.

History.
Under Tito, the Yugoslavia was united. After he died, the country disintegrated into small ethnic territories. The period of political turmoil and conflict marked a rise in ethnic tensions between Serbs and other ethnicities of the former Communist Yugoslavia as territorial claims of the different ethnic factions often crossed into each others' claimed territory.

After Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence in 1990, the Serbs attacked. In the beginning, the Yugoslav Army which secretly joined forces with Milosevic, deployed troops on the hills around Sarajevo on the premise that they wanted to protect city from the enemy. What the citizens did not know that the enemy would be the same Yugoslav army, under command of Milosevic man in Bosnia, Radovan Karadic. Karadic was responsible for stirring up nationalistic sentiment. The plan was to create a Greater Serbia, but annexing territories from other countries including BiH. The hatred started to steer between local Serbs that Bosnia was Serbian land. Former neighbors started hate and fear each other. Very soon political situation escalated into physical conflicts. An ethnic cleansing policy was pursued by Serbs. Many Bosniaks and Croats were killed, expelled or taken to concentration camps. Although BIH was already recognized as an sovereign country by UN, Milosevic and his army did not accept it and the killing continued. The president of BIH appealed to UN to intervene and stop killings, UN observers came but they did not stop the Serbs. BIH government knew they need to defend themselves. The other problem presented was an embargo on weapons imposed by UN on the former Yugoslavia worked against BIH.

The situation in Sarajevo was hard. The Serbs occupied surrounding suburbs. After airport was occupied, city became shut off. We saw sniper alley which patrolled by snipers and once people would go on that main alley, Serbs would shot one person but only wounding. Then they wait for helpers to get wounded and shoot them all. In addition to sniper killing and bombing, there was no water, food, medicine, electricity, gas. Hospitals, schools and other vital buildings were bombed.

There were breaks in bombing when UN observers entered city occasionally to inspect situation however nothing has been done to stop atrocities in twentieth century in the middle of Europe.

In the city citizens still tried to live normal lives. Children and students studied with candlelight, there were concerts and even pageant “Miss of Surrounded Sarajevo”. Youth still managed to linger at clubs at cafes at candlelights . Recommended reading: “Cellist of Sarajevo” .

Finally UN took control of airport in 1992 but Serbs demanded airport to be used only for UN purposes. It was of importance to Bosnian army since it was located between city and free territory. Any Bosnians who took food to their families were stopped . Some UN soldiers helped people to cross but these were rare occasions.

Therefore this situation led to a solution to build a tunnel under airport. The tunnel started to build in Jan 12, 1992 by Bosnian army. Bad weather condition, lack of tools made this project almost impossible and it has to be done in secrecy. Nevertheless, the work continued. The diggers worked in 3 shifts, 24 hrs per day. The underground water was taken in canisters out since there was not electricity to use pumps. Electric lights were installed supplied by generator. Despite these and other obstacles, tunnel was completed in July 30, 1993 when 2 men digging from opposite side, were able to connect hands. On that day, Sarajevo got a small path connecting the city with free territories . This tunnel was of great importance for the country from point of military communications, food, and humanitarian add to the city. It saved the city from total occupation and saved lives.

The war ended in August 1995, when finally the international community in form of NATO, intervened. But this was after loss of 200,000 people in BiH, including 11,000 Sarajevans of which 1,600 were children.
The world might also remember massacre in Srebrenica where about 10,000 men and boys were killed.
The NATO military campaign put the end to the war. In November of 1995, USA organized negotiations in Dayton, OH, which led to sighing of the Dayton Accords, which was the end of the war.

So we walked the tunnel. The Kolar family owns the house and they gave their house to BiH army to use in the building of the tunnel and this was their great contribution to the defense of Sarajevo and BiH. The exhibit also showed the story of Kolar family and how their women helped soldiers with food and men with digging and other chores.

So far it still a private museum because there are some complications with government taking ownership but Sarajevo people hoping that it will become significant government owned museum.

We returned to the city, silent, letting our impressions to settle. Our minibus passed landmarks of the modern city: Twin Towers, rebuilt after the war and now is finance center of the city. Bright yellow colored Holiday Inn used to house Olympic athletes and later war correspondents. We were shown sniper alley where occupiers were terrorizing citizens. We stopped for coffee at Tito’s café where it was sunny, pleasant, people enjoyed outdoor time off like nothing was happened 15 years ago. We did see the monument to UN which is, laughingly is a large can of canned meat.

We went for lunch at a nice restaurant in the hills overlooking city . Afterwards we returned to the Old Town and our guide Mohammed showed us the rest.

We visited synagogue and Jewish museum, walked through old Ottoman part of the city, Bascarsija. It borders with Austro-Hungarian part. An Orthodox Church, Catholic Cathedral, a mosques and synagogues all within minutes walking distance from each other, make Sarajevo second only to Jerusalem.. .

We walked the bridge on Skenderija which was built by the project of Gustave Eiffel. Then we passed National theater. We came to the place of assassination of Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne Ferdinand and Archduchess Sophie (1914) which set off World War I.

It was amazing to discover this European city located on crossroads of East and West, old caravan routes, so one can still see the remnants of old hospitality – Caravan Serai which used to house horses and travelers. Sarajevo is a true representative of the country’s rich history.

Jewish Heritage.

Sarajevo has the largest active Jewish community in the country.
Sephardic Jews came to the country during the Greek-Persian wars, and continued through Roman period. The strong way of immigration started in the end of 15C when Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain and they came to BiH. Their biggest center was Sarajevo. Before WWII, the third biggest Jewish Temple in Europe was built there. During Holocaust, around 11,000 Sarajevans were killed or perished on concentration camps. Out of which 9,500 were Jews – 90% of Jewish community of the city.

There is unique manuscript which was written in historical fiction book “People of the Book” by Geraldine Brooks. Sarajevo Haggadah is the oldest Haggadah originating in Barcelona around 1350. It is also considered the most beautifully illustrated Jewish manuscript in existence and one of the most valuable books in the world. The cultural value is in the story of its survival. It was brought by Spanish Jews supposedly from Barcelona, and was sold to the national museum of Sarajevo in 1894. It was saved by muslims during 3 last wars. Since December 2002, the Sarajevo Haggadah is again at National Museum.
In 1995, senator Jon Lieberman wanted to celebrate Passover with Haggadah in Sarajevo but due to the siege, was not able to enter the city.

I visited museum and we talked to the curator. Unfortunately, I only saw a copy. I bought beautiful art book which illustrated Haggadah.

We talked to the Jewish community and learned that it was decided to show original 4 times of the year – for Passover, Museum day (sometimes between May 15-19) and two more dates in summer to be determined. So it is possible for groups or individuals to see original. We will work on group departure to organize to see Haggadah.

We visited first synagogue circa 1582 which was active until WWII. In 1966, the Jewish museum was opened. The synagogue reopened in 2002. Jews before and after Holocaust lived very comfortably in BiH and got along well with Muslims and Christians. Currently there are 700 members of Jewish community in Sarajevo and about 1000 total in the country. Before the WWII, it was 7000 member community. Before the WWII war, there were 2 Ashkenazi Synagogues and 37 Sephardic. Now Sarajevo has 2 synagogues. No kosher food available. Rabbi comes twice per year from Israel for Pesach and Rosh Hashanah.

We walked in Old town, enjoying good weather. Near market, there are crowds of men playing giant chess. They let me in and I took some photos. They played 4 people teams against each other.

We got limited time to wonder around and Laura introduced me to her friend Suzanne who is an artist and has gallery in old town. I admired some of works at her gallery and then we went to Edo shoe shop where Laura told they make great custom shoes. I picked two models. The leather was nice and soft like Italian and Spanish shoes. But unlike Italian and Spanish prices, two custom made shoes cost me 330 KM (approx $230 usd)., The lady in shoe shop told me they will be ready in 4 days.

We went back to hotel and had little time to refresh for dinner with USAid representatives. It took place at Kebi restaurant with a nice view of the city. For some reason there were fireworks (Vlado explained he arranged it for us  ). We sat with USaid Bosnian workers and listened to their stories of war survival and current political situation. There are two Government Entities : The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Srpska (Serbs), and also Brcko district being administered by both. Here is a link to Wkpideia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnia_and_Herzegovina#Government_and_politics
Quoting: from there:
Bosnia and Herzegovina has several levels of political structuring, according to the Dayton accord. Most important of these levels is the division of the country into two entities: Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina covers 51% of Bosnia and Herzegovina's total area, while Republika Srpska covers 49%. The entities, based largely on the territories held by the two warring sides at the time, were formally established by the Dayton peace agreement in 1995 because of the tremendous changes in Bosnia and Herzegovina's ethnic structure. Since 1996 the power of the entities relative to the State government has decreased significantly. Nonetheless, entities still have numerous powers to themselves. The Brčko District in the north of the country was created in 2000 out of land from both entities. It officially belongs to both, but is governed by neither, and functions under a decentralized system of local government. The Brčko District has been praised for maintaining a multiethnic population and a level of prosperity significantly above the national average.[55]
The third level of Bosnia and Herzegovina's political subdivision is manifested in cantons. They are unique to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity, which consists of ten of them. All of them have their own cantonal government, which is under the law of the Federation as a whole. Some cantons are ethnically mixed and have special laws implemented to ensure the equality of all constituent peoples.
The fourth level of political division in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the municipalities. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided in 74 municipalities, and Republika Srpska in 63. Municipalities also have their own local government, and are typically based on the most significant city or place in their territory. As such, many municipalities have a long tradition and history with their present boundaries. Some others, however, were only created following the recent war after traditional municipalities were split by the Inter-Entity Boundary Line. Each canton in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of several municipalities, which are divided into local communities.
Besides entities, cantons, and municipalities, Bosnia and Herzegovina also has four "official" cities. These are: Banja Luka, Mostar, Sarajevo, and East Sarajevo. The territory and government of the cities of Banja Luka and Mostar corresponds to the municipalities of the same name, while the cities of Sarajevo and East Sarajevo officially consist of several municipalities. Cities have their own city government whose power is in between that of the municipalities and cantons (or the entity, in the case of Republika Srpska).
As a result of the Dayton Accords, the civilian peace implementation is supervised by the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina selected by the Peace Implementation Council. The High Representative has many governmental and legislative powers, including the dismissal of elected and non-elected officials. More recently, several central institutions have been established (such as defense ministry, security ministry, state court, indirect taxation service etc.) in the process of transferring part of the jurisdiction from the entities to the state.
Therefore, from conversation we’ve found out, there are duplicated government. Still as of today, there is no national anthem since all sides do not agree on it.

The dinner was served family style and was delicious. There were Russian style dumplings with meat and sour cream sauce. Calf and chicken liver appetizers. Most Bosnian salads include delicious slightly marinated cabbage, great taste tomatoes and cucumbers. Bread and filled pastries are delicious.
Main course – lamb was followed with potatoes and paired with excellent local wine. Desert was caramelized fruit and some turkish type pastries. The director of USAid mission made speech. It was nice evening.

Wednesday, October 1.

We left early morning for countryside for rafting on Neretva River. Laura and Richard brought their 3.5 year old son Jasper and a babysitter Yasmina.
I opted to skip rafting. So did Laura who was taking care of Jasper. Our hosts divided – Vlado went rafting and Sasha stayed with me, Laura and Jasper. The Neretva River is flowing over 100 km from its source to Adriatic coast. Our group was promised great canyon scenery and interesting flora and fauna.
The water in the river in October is cold so the group was outfitted into wet suites. On arrival we were met by rafting outfit owners. The wife prepared delicious breakfast to fuel and warm up rafting participants. We had something like donuts – fried dough, polenta, served with delicious yogurt and homemade sheep cheese, eggs, ajvar (balkan spread) and plum jam. . It was the best breakfast of the trip.

After breakfast, the group left for rafting. The owner took me, Laura , Jasper, Sasha and Yasmina to nearby military base where is Tito’s bunker is located. It was started to build in 1955 and finished in 1979. The purpose was to have a bunker in case of any threat for Tito’s government (from East or West). But it has never been used. It has 3 houses in the mountain, connected by tunnels and it is sufficient to accept any time 350 people.. It has supplies, sleeping quarters, food, water , electricity, telecommunications, air control, satellites.. I sat at Tito’s office. . Strangely, I recalled, few years ago we stayed in Bled, Slovenia, Villa Bled, beautiful chateaux which was Tito’s residence. So I thought, maybe I slept in a bed where Tito slept… Now I am sitting at his desk. I’ve been strangely following Tito without even intending it..
The compound is under Bosnian Military but it would be nice to become a museum. Later on, we were told, that negotiations are being discussed but it takes long time with bureaucracy to bring tourists there. It is a fascinating destination for military tourism. For now, it takes just right connections to get to the Tito’s bunker and we have it  . The soldiers were glad to show us around as seems they are not that busy…

After visit to the bunker, we were waiting for out rafting group to come back and we walked banks of the river, enjoying beautiful scenery. The wife of the owner was cooking lunch and while Sasha warned her they we cannot eat much, she dismissed it and prepared large lovely spread of meats and salads.

The rafting specialists returned declared the river the best kept secret in Europe. Looks like everybody had a great time, that was grade 2 rafting. The water was very clear and the scenery was beautiful. Few days Later on trade show, we were shown videos of more challenging rafting expeditions and even canyoning.

We returned to Sarajevo, went for dinner and then to bed.

Thursday, October 2.

After breakfast, we departed Sarajevo for Mostar.
I saw it few years ago when we were in Croatia with George. I wrote about bridge in the blog.
http://sophiastravel.blogspot.com/2007/10/bosnia-in-herzegovina-mostarmedjugorje.html

Now I am looking forward to see it again.

On the way to Mostar, we visited small town Pocitej. It was a small village with oriental-mediterranean style. We also visited Blagaj on Buna River, and had nice lunch on the river there.

We arrived Mostar in the afternoon and checked in nice 4* hotel Old Town, it was right in the center and hotel was wonderful. Vlado brought up his friend from Sarajevo who is a chef and a president of culinary association of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The chef prepared fish and seafood dinner paired with wines and it was delicious. The owner of Old Town hotel is a sommelier and he explained to us Bosnian wines, it was a lovely evening.

Friday, October 3.

After breakfast, we went to see Medjugorie, It is a major site for Catholic Pilgrims.. It is high in the mountains about half an hour from Mostar. It is a windy road and out of nowhere suddenly appears the site. It has been said that Virgin Mary appeared to local people. Officially not recognized by Vatican but this small village became a center of Pilgrimage and already about 30 Millions of Pilgrims visited that site. The site has shrine and modern Church and big crowds of people and usual souvenir's stands.

After Medujorie, we went back to Mostar, visited few medieval villages on the way . In Mostar, we visited museum of Muslibegovca – which is also now hotel. It is restored old pasha’s house. We were told about customs of living in Ottoman empire and saw the rooms of hotel, it is very nice but a little bit far away from the center of Mostar, maybe 15 min by foot. Then we had coffee break and went to the bridge. Vlado arranged for divers to jump from the bridge – the water was icy cold! We took videos and then departed back to Sarajevo.

We arrived to Sarajevo and checked into hotel Radon Plaza outside of the city . It is 5* hotel with revolving restaurant. Hotel while was 5* but it was kind of strange. We are not sure about classification. Dinner was on our own, so most of us got together in revolving restaurant. We forgot that it was revolving when one member of our group put her purse next to her and it moved 
The service was not that good. Next day, 2 members of our group were leaving for next destination – Scotland, so we said good bye to them. I got back to the room. It was a large room, but somehow very inconvenient. The luggage rack folded when you put suitcase on it. The bathroom was huge but towels racks, hooks, and everything else was not functional. I personally could not reach some hooks to put towels on. Everything was apart so you have to move around bathroom to get staff and use and put away. Whoever designed hotel, did not test it. I personally did not like it. The breakfast was not that impressive for 5* hotel. But maybe we are spoiled with previous day food!

Saturday , October 4.

After breakfast, we left for a day of hiking in Lukomir. It is Bosnia’s highest village at 1,469 meters, with its ancient stecci (medieval tombstones) where nomadic villagers live old way. Some of them leave village for winter, but few hardy ones stay. Our guide pointed mountains to us. We were going to mountain Belasnica. There is another mountain , Treskovitza, but with landmines. BiH using trained dogs, pigs, rats to de-mine, but it is still lot’s of work to do so Treskovitza is not used for tourism yet.

We came to the village of Lukomir, and spend some time strolling there and then started 3.5 hr hike from Lukomir to Umoljany Village, The mountains were spectacular however I had to concentrate more of hiking since I was not that prepared for moderate hiking. Primeval forests were pristine and meadows were beautiful. I made it with encouragement of others. When we walked to the village, we were served lunch there. After lunch, we went back to Sarajevo. Vlado arranged for dinner with the same chef who came to Mostar to cook for us, this time in his restaurant in Sarajevo. I was exhausted though from hiking and together with few more people we left early to rest my aching body. Hot shower and few advils seem to be did the trick.

Sunday, October 5.

In the morning, we were leaving for mountain village Yahorina to overnight there. It was a venue of 1984 Olympic games and located on territory of Republika Srpska. On the way, we wre supposed to visit medieval towns of Bosnia: Kraljeva Sutetska and Bobovac, the place of Bosnian Kings.

However about half of our group got sick with stomach problems. We decided to wait few hours while they will be ready for 45 min trip. Meanwhile, Laura and I went by taxi to town and picked up our shoes and went to the BBI Mall and I bought extra suitcase for my shopping and brochures.
We came back to hotel and left for Yahorina. We checked in into 4* hotel Termag which was newly restored and it was very nice, it has lodge with fireplace, nice restaurant and spa center with a pool. I walked a little around, but with altitude I felt tired. I went back to hotel and enjoyed swimming pool. Then I came to the room, had time until 6pm but I started not feeling well. I had different symptoms than other members of the group so I attributed it to dehydration. I skipped dinner. Actually only 4 people made for dinner, the rest of us stayed in the room with bananas and toast. Vlado reported this to the restaurant owner/chef who prepared food last night and chef sent food to analyze. It came up without problems. The water in Bosnia is very good quality. Therefore , it can be attributed to the some kind of virus.

The rest reported from this day dinner while food was good, the group did not have appetite. The conversation did not flow easy. While our group mentioned War Tunnel, the hosts did want to talk about Sarajevo, we were on the territory of Srpska Republic.

Monday October 6.

We had easy morning, recuperating (the restaurants obliged strange Americans with toast and bananas)  ) and then we went to see Yahorina hotels and to have lunch with Yahorina Olympic Village center hoteliers. It is a good destination for skiing, and new hotels are being built, very good quality. Most tourists as of now are from former Yugoslav countries. It is a very good value for and conditions for skiing. The lunch was delicious. Wines were Serbian, not Bosnian.

We left for Sarajevo and since it was our last night, it was scheduled reception with government and USAid officials and BiH tour operators. The function was taken place in Sarajevo museum. As we came in, we were met by press. Almost everyone we’ve met during the trip – restaurant owners, USAaid officials, hotel owners from Mostar were there. We had lovely cocktail reception. We visited trade show with Bosnian tour operators and got their brochures. There were speakers from USAid mission, ambassador from Turkey, mayor of Sarajevo. It was nice conclusion of our stay in Bosnia.

Hotel we stayed that night was in walking distance from Old Town, 3* Hecco. It was Ok hotel, even this 3* hotel was preferable for location to Radon Plaza.

Tuesday October 7.

We were supposed to leave for airport at 1pm so we had a busy morning. After breakfast, we went to hotel Europa and inspected it. There was a NATO conference in town and hotel was occupied now by NATO officials. After touring, we concluded that it is the best hotel in town and I would recommend to stay there if possible. We also inspected boutique hotel Villa Michele , it has quality of 4* but it still lacks polish of nice 4* European hotels. We were told that other hotels will be opening soon on Sarajevo, so hopefully will be more choices.

Sasha arranged for me to visit National Museum to see copy of Haggadah and talk to the curator. As I described above, even it was a copy, but it was very special experience and definitely a draw to come back and visit Sarajevo and bring my clients to see it. Hopefully when original will be showed.

We left for airport, said goodbye and thanked Vlado and Sasha for this excellently arranged trip. We were soon on the way to Istanbul on TK airlines. We still needed to overnight in Istanbul. We were instructed to go to TK airline desk in Istanbul and they will arrange a hotel for us. A night before I asked airline official at reception but he did not know about our hotel. We were glad when we found out that he was on the same flight with us. This kind gentleman came with us to TK desk and explained them who we are and why we need overnight (guests of Turkish airlines). Before he explained, they were looking at us with empty eyes. In about 15 min, he got us booked to hotel Agun which was listed as 5* hotel, but was of quality of 3.5* - 4*. Very blah. But for one night, it was OK. One of members of our group, Kelly impressed us by calling her contact and they sent for us a driver to take us to fish restaurant in Karakoy. I’ve been there before and it is always festive atmosphere. It was Independence Day and people were eating, drinking, smoking hookah, watching belly dancers, very festive. Afterwards, the driver droves us through Sultanhamet and we took pictures of Blue Mosque and Hagya Sophia. Very nice conclusion of our trip.

Next morning, we left for airport for our flight back to New York.

Conclusion:

We thoroughly enjoyed the country. Most Americans probably just remember images of war and I am happy to report that the war is ended 15 years ago and country is ready for tourists. Until it will become overly populated with tourist like Croatia becomes now, it is time to visit. You will find history from Ancient people Illyrians to Romans to Medieval, to Ottoman Empire to Hapsburgs, to Communism and currently it is dynamic democratic country.

Sarajevo is pleasant European town with Ottoman and Hapsburg architecture, 4 religions are represented here. The food and wine is delicious and natural. Water is drinkable from fountains and clean. In summer, the largest film festival in Europe which started in 1995, brings celebrities to the city every year.
Starting next year, will be possible to see Haggadah 4 times per year. There is also religious sites – synagogues, mosques, churches. Medjugorie is on the few pilgrim sites for Catholics in Europe.

Natural attractions are excellent and boast one of the best rafting in Europe. World Rafting championship was held last year. Skiing conditions on Olympic mountain Yahorina would satisfy serious athletes and the cost is less than other Alpine European resorts. There is a bird sanctuary, The Hutovo Blato Nature park with unique migratory bird species and there are primeval forests.

The country is young and vibrant and unspoiled. People are friendly, they love children. So it would be a good destination for families. This small country amazingly, can be explored in a week or more. But if you want to combine Bosnia and Herzegovina with other destinations, Croatia is nearby. Also Turkish airlines flies to Sarajevo from Istanbul so it can be easily combined with stopover in Istanbul and Turkey.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Explore Bosnia and their reps: Vlado and Sasha for an excellent trip arranged for us. It was a great introduction to the country. They went above and beyond to make us welcome and catered to our different interests (from adventure to shopping to religious travel). They were flexible, open and shared their stories of their lives, culture, food preference and politics. It is impossible to understand the country without their people and they were great ambassadors of BiH. I look forward to visit BiH again with clients or on my own and use their services.

Come and experience Bosnia! Contact us for custom made itinerary, http://www.sophiastravel.com/

For more pictures, visit us at facebook www.facebook.com/sophiatravel

St.. Martin (French side) January 2010

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:03:00 +0000

In January 2010, together with other 9 French Destination Specialists I’ve been invited to visit French side of St. Martin.

You can read history about this 2-country Caribbean island here : http://www.st-martin.org/us/discovery/history.php

January 8.

I flew from Tampa connecting in Miami. I took carryon with me, so it was relatively easy flight and connection. I was able to get both flights my favorite seats in exit row 13. On arrival to St. Martin we’ve met tourist board representative Suzanne, who would spend all 5 days with us. I also met my other traveling companions. We were taken by minivan to our hotels. We were staying in 2 hotels at Orient Bay beach – Esmeralda and La Plantation. I was assigned to La Plantation, http://www.la-plantation.com/ small boutique hotel. My room was a studio, a part of the villa – 3 rooms can connect to 3 bedroom. I had large porch, kitchen, high ceilings, separate shower and toilet. I was given a tour of the room and shown how to operate everything and was left alone. Website says all rooms have oceanview, but it was only a glimpse of oceanview since hotel is on the hill. There is a quite a walk – about 10 mins to reception from some rooms. My room was next to the path which took me to the beach.

In the room, queen bed was covered with pink net – either romantic or from mosquitoes. It looked kind of romantic, however when I went to sleep, it did not shield me from mosquitoes. I made a mental note to buy mosquito spray next day. When falling asleep and reading a book, that net was tangled. In the middle of the night when I got up, I got tangled in this net. After this, I developed distastes for nets around beds.

Later this evening, we were due for dinner at Grand Case Beach Club’s restaurant. We toured Grand Case beach club. It was nice 4* resort, located directly on two beaches. The accommodations there are studios, some with lofts, 1 and 2 bedrooms. The restaurant, Grand Case Café, had terrific food. I had snails in blue cheese sauce as an appetizer and lamb chops in a clay pot for main course. Others chose red snapper in papillotte baked with vegetables and lobster bisque. Everybody loved dinner. The dinner was accompanied by french wines. Desert was the same – hard chocolate dense cake which was delicious and followed by petit fours … The resort is located in Grand Case where there are many restaurants and night life.

January 9. We started day at 8am. I asked for wakeup call but it never came.We did not have time for breakfast at hotel so we went straight to Grand Case. We had breakfast in patisserie Serafina. It has delicious pastries, brioches, baguettes. It was located on the market square. After breakfast, we stopped at market and saw fish, vegetables, and fruits. We bought spices at spice vendor. She explained what each spice mix is for and wrote on each bag.

Next we went to inspect hotels. First one was Beach Plaza Hotel in Nettle Bay. The French owner was very characteristic and enthusiastic. He explained his hotel is not for everybody. Families will be bored. No activities, no bingo, etc.. People who stay there do not need to be entertained. There is a small beach. The advantage is location in center of Marigot. Walk to nightlife, shops, restaurants. There is a ferry to other islands nearby. Rooms were lovely. Nice 4* hotel. In this hotel, I would suggest to get oceanview rooms. Very often people stay there few nights, enjoying Marigot and move on to more secluded resort type location.

Next one was Le Flamboyant nearby. It has also nice beach but it is being under renovation so I would wait 6 or so months until it will be completed.

We visited Mercure, also on the beach – the hotel is standard 3* hotel typical of this French chain.

Lunch was at Don Camillo restaurant at Marina Port Royale. It is owned by Italian family (from Sicily). The owner served us personally and we had nice conversation. Food was very good. Pumpkin soup was delicious. Since owner announced there is no cream in the soup, we asked why it was dense. He said used potatoes instead of cream. Interesting result and I will try to recreate it. Main Course was for me red snapper in pistachio crust and both fish and sauce was exquisite. Some people had Veal Milanese with tomato relish and it looked also very good. Desert was bonnet with chocolate sauce. At the end of the meal, we walked to few shops next door and we found delightful little store owned by french couple and we bought some interesting clothes. The clothes were french chic but at Caribbean prices. I also negotiated price $1 to 1euro so it was a good deal. After big lunch we were sleepy however next step of our exploration was adventure activity at the Lottery Farm so we need to summon all our energy left.

We arrived to the farm and were asked who will be zip lining and who will hike. Few people just chose to relax at the bar with drink. 3 of us went hiking on our own in the forest. 3 of us took zip line. Unlike other zip lines, this one was combined with obstacle course – walking on the rope, bridges, etc. We’ve heard screams from the above: “What, I am auditioning for the Cirque de Soleil?”. The helmets were not mandatory, which surprised me. . I with other people walked in the forest. After Farm, we went to Radisson hotel for inspection. It was very nice, on secluded beach.

We went back to hotel to rest a little and get ready for dinner at Blue Martini Restaurant at Grand Case.

Dinner was selection from the menu: Choice of Greek Salad or Pumpkin soup. Main course was either chicken curry or steamed mahi-mahi with vegetables. Dessert was chocolate mousse or tiramisu. Wine was choice of red, white and rose. Comparing with previous night dinner at Café Grand Case, it was just OK.

Sunday – we were free of inspections this day so tourist office booked for us catamaran for full day to snorkel and swim on a Tintamare Island. The catamaran was 60ft, almost new, the captain was cute 19 year old, the first mate was 18 year old girl from France, great crew, it turned out the most relaxing day we had. They served lunch from catering with delicious french salads – chicken, couscous, potato, cold salmon with sauce, accompanied with wine and bread was wheat baguette. Desert was plate of french cheeses. We snorkeled from the boat but I did not see much fish. We considered to kidnap captain and force him take us to sail to St. Barth, but he said we need passports so we abandoned idea. J The Tintamar island had beautiful soft sand, great swimming, picture perfect. You can get there only by boat. On Sunday, there were many boats so it was as secluded how it usually is. It was perfect day. At the end we sailed back, the captain took sails on but wind did not cooperate. With motor, we were back at Radisson Marina in 5 minutes. Back to hotel in time for next meal.

Dinner was at Esmeralda hotel L’Astrolabe, it is considered one of the best restaurants on the island. I had foie gras sampling for an appetizer, lamb for main course, and chocolate sampler for desert. It was delicious. Walked back to hotel to sleep.

January 10. After breakfast at hotel we went in town for a painting class with Sir Roland Richardson.

Roland Richardson used this time to tell us his impressions on light, perception of each individual, how colors materialize, and on his family history. He lived all his life in one island, same house he lives now and comes from french descendants. The house had beautiful colorful garden. It was enlightening experience. We toured his gallery. His is considered Caribbean Impressionist. When he learned that I am from former Soviet Union, he showed me his posters in Russian from exhibit there. For more information, see http://www.rolandrichardson.com/

Afterwards we went to tour La Samanna, this is the best hotel on the island, member of Orient-Express hotels. Beautiful beach, setup. We talked with cave cellar manager who showed us his collection of wines in the cellar and said it is possible to produce special dinner on request at “La Cave” .. Good to know.

We had nice lunch at La Samanna. I enjoyed salad with sardines. After lunch, we went to visit hotels on Orient Bay. We saw small hotels Palm Court and La H’oste. Small hotels on Orient Beach. Location is great. Hotels are basic.

Dinner was at “Talk of the town” BBQ restaurant. This was something like “Soup Nazi” – “BBQ Nazi”. It is a very casual barbeque place, with ribs, chicken, lobster. Our guide asked us in advance if we are OK with lobster. Most were OK except 2 people who asked for ribs. We arrive to Talk of The Town and were seated at the table with benches. The waiter brought us one page menu. While we were studying the menus, the owner came and took menus away. She said “ I know what you are going to eat”. Keep in mind, this group of travel agents, well travelled, well versed in food and wine and specializing in gourmet vacations. In all restaurants we went, we ordered different food, sampled all food from each other plates and rated it. So .. we waited what we are going to get. The owner came and confirmed what we agreed before – lobsters and ribs. The main course came with sides so she said she will choose sides for us. We sipped water and punch and soon we finished water. We asked for more water but waitress said – no more water. She brought us instead rum punch in large water bottle. As for sides, we all got different 2 sides with our main course on each plate. Not sure how she figured who wants what but looks like skinnier people got more starch J . We gave up and as usual, sampled from each other plates. Having said that, lobster and ribs were delicious, all sides were very good too. Potato salad was very simple but I liked it. Dessert was homemade ice cream and we were asked to choose 2 of each flavor : coconut, chocolate, vanilla, banana. Since we were 10 people, each chose different combination – chocolate vanilla, chocolate coconut, etc.. The waitress got really confused. She asked our guide – manager of tourist board to come up to help her… We were asked again to raise hands what desert we are going to have. At this time I got really loaded on rum punch – I do not drink any hard liquors – only wine. I kept rising hand on each flavor – just in case I will not be overlooked. Finally ice cream order was taken and we enjoyed homemade ice cream. Overall it was a good dinner, but on another spectrum of L’Astrolabe and La Samanna. But this is was required from us on this trip – sample different food and see different hotels. Another great evening with great food and laughs with newfound friends.

January 12.
Our last day in St. Martin. We came to love this island, want to return and I want to move here!!! My traveling companions point on neglected building in Grand Case which can be bought, decorated and open my business “Concierge by Sophia”. I can very well be happy here ….

We met Leslie – owner or manage of Les Caraibes – villa rental agency. We visited few spectacular villas I will not got into details, let me know if you are interested in villa. Next time I will definitely will stay at villa. It is less expensive, has more privacy, especially if you have 2 couples or family. The driver pointed to villa of Stew Leonard’s , the owner of famous Stew Leonard’s store in CT. It is not for rent though .

The best villa was 12 bedroom beachfront estate Mes Amis. We had some refreshments there and left for airport. We had some time before flights. We drove through dutch side, completely different from French, many condos, highrises… We had snacks at bar near airport and watched planes arriving – flying just above our heads. Then our driver picked us up to go to airport and that concluded our vacation on this beautiful island.

Conclusion.

Beautiful, sophisticated European island. Food to die for. No all-inclusives on French side. If you travel there, it is recommended to rent a car and sample restaurants and night life. Orient Beach used to be naturist beach but now is taken over by clothed people. You can still see nude joggers on the beach, but official nude beach is at Club Orient.

Best hotels are La Samanna and Radisson. Other hotels were small, characteristic island hotels. Most hotels we’ve seen had kitchens which is very convenient to explore this island. The supermarkets have food flown from France, USA and UK. I liked variety of patisseries, charcuteries and interesting products from Europe.

I highly recommend this island. It is not cheap comparing with other islands, but unlike in other Caribbean islands, you have many things to do and indulge in gastronomy. It is safe enough to venture on your own.

Contact me for more information or reservations. http://www.sophiastravel.com/

Malta November 2009

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:31:00 +0000

Malta Trip ReportNovember 11-17, 2009

I have never been in Malta. Great opportunity came up – to inspect the island with a group of 9 travel agents. When I told people where I am going, many asked me: "where is Malta?” Even more people asked: "Why Malta?"

According to Word Atlas, Malta is (quote) This inland sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia, and in the south by Africa. This 969,100 sq. mile body of water is approximately 2,300 miles in length, and has a maximum depth of 16,896 ft. Major subdivisions include the Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, Balearic Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Ionian Sea and Ligurian Sea
It is located between Sicily and Africa and Mediterranean Sea
I've been fascinated by this country with its history Order of Malta, archeological sites, mysticism.

From Order of Malta (quote)
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is both a Religious Order of the Catholic Church and an order of knighthood, reflecting the ancient concept first appearing in the eleventh century of monks dedicated to holy war. It is anachronistic to speak of monks of war but the concept must be viewed in the light of those ancient days when fighting for the Holy Land was not considered sinful but actually purifying and lofty in the eyes of the Lord. The Templars were the first order of European nobility executing these duties, carving a way to Jerusalem by brute force of will and steel. Many gave up family and goods and followed the cross to the land that knew the Lord Jesus, wanting to win back the sacred sites from the hands of the infidels. Not all who went, did honor to the Cross, for much barbarity was committed even by some hailing from the noblest families of Europe. But, after surmounting unbelievable hardship and terror, the conquerors did win the Holy Land, at least for a time. With victory, came the responsibility of guarding the roads and supporting the increase in the number of pilgrims, who now could visit the site of Christ’s earthly sojourn. In 1099, even before Jerusalem was taken, the Order of the Hospital was set up as a hospitium or Hospice Infirmary, administered by its founder Blessed Gerard.
We arrived LHR 7am and had 3.5 hrs between flights. We transferred from terminal 5 to 4 and it took about 30 min with walk, escalators, train and bus. Terminal is renovated and very modern but still very big. When we got to terminal 4 for Malta flight, they did not have gate until 40 min before boarding so you do not know where to stay closer. We shopped. I stopped at electronics store and found netbook I want to buy – ASUS EEE and I tested it since I will buy it from Amazon later on.

I also bought a UK electrical plug converter since I realized I only have European. Malta and UK have different plug. Had coffee and croissant and we boarded Air Malta flight on time. They served food but it was just airline food.. The plane to Malta was full. Our representative met us in airport when we got our luggage and we were on the way to hotel. Nice thing about Malta and there are no long distances. In about 15 minutes were arrived to our hotel Corinthia 5* hotel.

Later we met for cocktails, inspection of hotel and 4* Marina hotel next door. We had buffet dinner with agents of Destination Malta – the company which hosted us. We are a group of 9 agents from USA who were invited to familiarize with the country.
At 6pm we’ve met with representatives of Destination Malta and sales manager of Corinthia hotel. We took a walk around property. It is located together with many other hotels in St. Julians, which a preferred place to stay in my opinion. Hotels are on the water. There are some beaches but with rocks and not really good for swimming. The views are beautiful. Nearby Westin has casino on the water. There is a long promenade which along the sea will take you to next town. Also short walk brings you to the shopping center. Most hotels have nice pools.
We visited Marina 4* hotels adjacent to Corinthia and had buffet dinner at our hotel.
Next morning, November 13, we met with our guide Jackie and we left to explore Valetta – Malta’s capital city. We learned about Malta’s history.

History and culture in brief

The island was in existence before 5000 bc. The settlers arrived to Malta either from Sicily of from North Africa. The earliest temples were built at that time. The temples survive today as the oldest free-standing structures in the world. The temples were continuing to build during the Bronze Age. Then Phoenicians arrived and used the island as a trading post. In 200 BC Romans captured the island and it became part of the Republic of Rome.
In ad 60 St. Paul was shipwrecked in the area now known as St. Paul’s Bay. He converted islanders to Christianity. During Hadrian’s reign Malta was declared a Roman Municipality. Then Arabs arrived and took over Roman fortifications including what was later become Fort St. Angelo and the city they renamed Mdina. Original language was called Malti and came from Phoenicians. Arabs incorporated many Semitic language words; therefore current Maltese language is a mix of both.
In 1090 or so the Normans invaded and Malta became part of kingdom of Sicily. It was later going back and forth between French and Germans until in 15C Malta became a part of Spanish Empire.
Meanwhile the army of the Order of St. John arrived from Jerusalem and Spanish King gave them the island. The knights were paying the tax to the king – One Maltese Falcon per knight per year! (Remember movie “Maltese Falcon”?) .
Valetta became the capital and knights were building forts. It became the finest fortified city in Europe. Then Napoleon invaded the island in 1798. After the end of war with French, it was offered that the Malta will be returned to the knights but obviously at that time knights were already under decline and Maltese people voted to come under protection of British. At the 1814 treaty of Paris, Malta became a British Crown Colony. It became an important harbor for trading and British Naval Base. During WWII the hospitals were built for wounded British soldiers. After WWI the economy failed and there were riots. The British granted Malta self-governance. Then British suspended the constitution in 1930. In 1932 the Constitution was restored, in 1933 the Constitution was withdrawn and Malta became again British colony. During WWII the island was bombed and destroyed by Germans. Many citizens were killed. After war, Malta was under British until 1974 when they became independent republic. They became members of European Union in end of 1990s.
The country is bi-lingual – English and Maltese.
The population is 98% Catholic. There are still issues with divorce and abortions – both are not allowed. There are no immigrants working in the country. Very homogenous population and seems to be prosperous. The country is low key and not well known outside of Europe but maybe the Maltese like to keep it this way. However it is a popular vacation spot for Europeans.
As for Kings of Malta, the Heritage is still alive. Their mission of healing and protect is now purely humanitarian, helping in refugee camps and hospitals in Africa and Asia and there is a clinic in Bethlehem.
The Order’s headquarters in Rome are located at Via Condotti. Like Vatican it is a sovereign state. It issues their own stamps, has its own diplomatic corps and has a sovereign head with the title Prince and Grand Master.
Sightseeing.
Friday, November 13
Morning was spent visiting Valetta. We went to Republic street and main street. We saw Grand Master Palace. We visited St. John’s Cathedral which has the rich history of heritage to the fact that for 200 years it was the church of the Order of the Knights of St. John.
The surprise was that the Oratory today is housing paintings of Caravaggio. The largest painting he produced is “The Beheading of St. John the Baptist” – the only painting one known to be signed. Caravaggio spent many years in Malta. The museum which is part of the cathedral also has unique Flemish tapestries.

We walked by fortification walls and admired forts and the views and marveled on all history what these walls have seen.

After cathedral visit we went for lunch in beautiful restaurant The Carriage in Valetta. It is located on top of office building and has incredible views. The food was delicious too and served with local Maltese wine. I especially liked white wine. We were told that Malta produces good wine but does not export it – small production. The food is Malta is a mix or Italian (mostly Sicilian) and Mediterranean - consuming many vegetables and fish.
After lunch we visited glass factory. The quality is close to Murano glass. I bought some souvenirs. Then we went to Mdina. It is called a silent city and it was incredible. The time we visited it was 4pm when the sun was setting down. Most structures were from yellow stone so views with color, narrow streets, noble houses, very quiet comparing with Valetta, was just unreal.

It is a one of the world’s finest examples of a medieval walled city that is still inhabited.
There was one 5* hotel in Mdina, Xara Palace which we’ve arranged for a visit and it was very unique just like all other members of this prestigious Relais and Chateaux collection. But this location in medieval city stands this hotel apart. It also has great views of the Valley.
After that we went back to hotel and had some time to prepare for dinner nearby in restaurant Barracuda in St. Julians where we sampled wonderful seafood with more wine. The menu included : Smoked swordfish Carpaccio, Pumpkin soup drizzled with truffle oil, Roast sea brim (something like our sea bass), roasted caponata and rucola cream, wine of course. Dessert was Cinnamon panacota with vanilla crème anglaise.

Saturday, November 14.

We went for a full day tour of Gozo. We were driven to the ferry and took ferry to the island. It is smaller island and completely different from Malta. It has hilltop villages, beaches, fortresses (legacy of cruel invasions). It is a land of farmers and fishermen.
We visited its largest city Victoria (locally called Rabat). We strolled very pleasant Central Square and surrounding street. We visited Gozo handicraft center where we bought beautiful lace and wool handicrafts. Again, views were terrific.

The highlight of the island visit was an archeological site. With Ggantija temple, considered the oldest surviving, free structure in the world. Some of its element remind of Stonehenge and we were told there is a thought that people who inhabited temple later on went to North...
After temple. We went to see a natural attraction with a rock arch called the Azure Window. A Natural tunnel connects the small body of water with an open sea. We took a boat ride. The water was clear so you can see 20 meters below. It is called by local Blue grotto, interesting formations.

It is a popular site for diving. Diving in Malta is available year round. In fact in November, it was warm and people were swimming on the beach.

We left Gozo by ferry, had some rest before we went for meeting with sales people at Westin hotel. It is beautiful resort. Then we went to nearby Hilton to see it and the dinner was arranged for us there. Usually I do not like buffets but that seafood feast at Hilton was incredible variety. I had to try many seafood dishes and they were delicious. The desserts were masterpieces (by taste and appearance).

Sunday, November 15
We went for a half day trip to Marsaxlokk (pronounced Marsashlock) – Malta’s typical fishing village and Blue Grotto. The village is located about 7 km southeast of Valetta. It was the landing site for the Ottoman and Napoleonic invasions of Malta. Today a harbor boasts a large and colorful fleet of Maltese fishing boat. We also saw a market alongside the quay with interesting local produce and some souvenirs. I took pictures of interesting seafood creatures.

We had a lunch on the main square of Marsaxlokk restaurant. It was a typical Maltese specialties, cheese, bread, great soup, vegetables served family style. It was terrific.

After lunch we went to Malta’s island Blue grotto. We took a boat ride and admired clear waters and blue color of the water and pink cliff formations.

Afterwards we went to hotel and rested. In the evening we went for a farewell dinner in a private dining room of another Corinthia hotel – Corinthia Palace. The formal dinner was beautifully presented: Parmesan risotto with wild mushroom ragout, Grilled red snapper, Vegetables, potatoes, Almond tart with baked apple.

Monday November 16

We left early for 5:45am transfer to airport (3o min ride) and departed for London/New York.
Farewell Malta, but I will return sometimes. It is definitely on my list for more relaxing vacation (not business fam trip!).

Summary.
Hotel. Corinthia hotel in St. Julians was fine. It is classified as 5* but it is, however more like a 4*. Common areas are better than rooms. Out of 5* hotels we inspected I liked both Westin and Hilton. Location is the same for all. I also loved hotel The Xara Palace.
This small island country – 400,000 inhabitants is a surprise. Not well known, it boasts history, archeological sites, sea views, beaches, natural attractions, great food, and friendly English speaking people. They have very low crime. Most people from USA visit it on one day cruise stop but I strongly suggest you come and stay there for a while. A week will get you relaxed vacation. Divers can dive year round besides blue grottoes, there are also shipwrecks.
Malta is easy combined with UK ($200 cost, 3.5 hr flight from London), 1 hr from Rome and 1hr by water – catamaran to Sicily. Trip to Sicily can be also done in one day if desired.
It is also relatively inexpensive comparing with other Mediterranean destinations. Overall, lovely and relaxed vacation can be enjoyed when visiting Malta.

Disclaimer: Please do not copy this itinerary. It is intense trip for travel professionals to get familiarized with the country. We can design trip personally per each client's interest, budget and energy level. We have a great team of colleagues - incoming travel agency in Malta to plan your trip. We also have good prices for hotels.
Please contact us for more information, itinerary planning or reservations.

Portugal Jan 15-25, 2009

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:37:00 +0000

It is a tough job but somebody has to do it!

The time have come for our January 16-24, 2009 study trip to explore Portugal in every single aspect: history, architecture, Jewish Heritage, gastronomy and wine.
We have a small group of selected 9 agents from different parts of USA arriving Lisbon on January 16 and meeting at our hotel, Four Seasons. I am flying on Jan 15 from Newark to Lisbon (Lisboa) on Air Portugal.

January 16. Arrived 5am. TAP Flight was on time. I met my colleague and friend Kate in Newark airport. Service was OK, food is not exciting. We arrived and took taxi to our hotel Ritz Four Seasons. We tried not to tell the driver we are staying at Four Seasons so Kate asked – how much is to … Central hotel? 19 euros. Not bad. Then we got in and told him “Ritz Four Seasons”. Otherwise we were afraid he would charge us more J.
We arrived and were greeted at hotel. http://www.fourseasons.com/lisbon/
This is the best hotel in Lisbon. Excellent service. We’ve met hotel’s manager who welcomed us. We checked in and went to check out hotel’s fitness center and spa. Fitness center has outdoor running track at hotel’s perimeter with great views of Lisbon. We saw Pilates machines, and there are quite a few personal trainers (no extra charge). Then we went to the spa. There were no appointments available for the same day so we settled for steam room and sauna. It relaxed me. I could not sleep on the plane so I really got exhausted.
My room was very spacious, light, nice bed, with a balcony and good views. (7th floor). We met another member of our group and three of us went for breakfast which was excellent and very creative. I got internet wireless connection for 22 eur per 24 hrs, so I worked today a bit. My friends went to town, by tram 28 and explored on their own. For 1.5 eur it does loop of town and went to the castle.

I scheduled a lunch with Nuno at noon, a delightful young man – an owner of the company whom I’ve been working for few years and who organized this tour to introduce Portugal to the travel professionals. . He picked me up at hotel and we went to local characteristic restaurant which specialized in seafood. I had fish of course, and it was very good. For desert we had almond ice cream with chocolate. We had a tour of Jewish Lisbon at 2pm so Nuno dropped me off to meet a guide and 3 of my travel agents for whom I scheduled this tour. We went to synagogue where we had about 2 hr conversation with rep of Jewish community.

The Jewish communities in Lisbon were in the past essential to the life in the city. Jewish people were the advisers of Kings and Queens, doctors and even some of the explorers, geographers and mathematicians that transformed Portugal into the wealthiest nation in the world in the 16th century.

We went to only Synagogue of Lisbon (Shaare Tikvá). We had interesting conversation with member of Jewish community which has 1200 members. Many people commute for services from the suburbs.

Unlike other European countries, Portugal was not participating in the WWII. It was neutral. Therefore, Jews escaped holocaust. The country then was ruled by dictator Calazar. When Hitler demanded to give away Jews, he replied: We do not have Jews. We have Portuguese. True, Portuguese Jews have mixed blood with Muslims (Moors) and Catholic. Many of them converted at the time of inquisition…. According to some researchers, Calazar protected Jews there some speculations that he might himself have some Jewish blood. His middle name is Oliviera which is Jewish from inquisition time.

There also was an ambassador from Portugal to France Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who during the Holocaust disobeyed government orders. He issued visas enabling Jews to travel from France to Portugal. He was dismissed for disobedience and died impoverished. For his efforts, he was later recognized as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations," Portugal’s only honoree. He is Portugal’s “Shindler”.

After synagogue. We went to the site of the 1506 Jewish Massacre near the Church of São Domingos. Afterwards we walked down one of the most well preserved Jewish Quarters in Portugal in Alfama.

After tour, we came to hotel and had at 7pm reception with hotels manager.. We’ve met other members of our group, 9 people altogether. It is a nice group and I know 7 people out of 9 from previous travels and business arrangements, all fun and well traveled. We bonded well and we look forward to our exploration week together. The manager of Four Seasons Consalo Clemete talked to us about hotel and told us in case of any questions or problems or future needs for clients to contact him directly.
After cocktails, we took taxi for seafood restaurant “Lisboa Noite”. Trendy seafood restaurant. Three of us shared 2 main courses – grilled prawns with lobster risotto and also spaghetti with seafood. Delicious. Taxi in Lisbon is very reasonable. 20 min was approximately 7 euros. There were many young people in downtown, drinking, talking staying outside pubs. Very vibrant town. We had fun.
Late to bed (midnight). I am at this point 48 hours without sleep so I collapsed and slept through until 7am wakeup call.
Here are pictures for the day.
http://picasaweb.google.com/gkulich/PortugalJan2009#

January 17. Great breakfast at Four Seasons with interesting small dishes. All fresh squeezed juices, special of the day Mango Passion and orange. Great cheeses and bread, fruits.
After breakfast, we headed to Sintra, the UNESCO World Heritage, with palaces, stories and legends to testify. It has terrific views and very romantic. We also visited Cascais, the fisherman village. We visited the Pena National Palace on the top of the Sintra's mountain range. Then In Sintra we had free time to explore and lunch.

Then we went to small town Belem, and visited Lisbon’s landmarks and monument to explorers. Portugal used to be a colonial power and had many colonies around the world. Their famous explorer is Vasco Da Gama – national hero. Belem was lucky to survive earthquake. Belem tower is landmark of the Lisbon area. We also visited Jeronimo’s monastery which is an impressive church built by King Manuel in the mix of Gothic and Renaissance style. Cloisters were beautiful.Many of ornaments have sea elements (shells, ships, coral, seaweed).
There is also interesting waterfront park with a monument to the Discoveries and a floor marble map of the world where you can follow the years of Portugese world discoveries.
There was also a sea-plane monument which from I understand is a tribute of the first flight on a seaplane to Brazil from Portugal but it happened in 1970’s or so so I do not understand it’s significance. At that time many planes flew to Brazil. Maybe only one seaplane..

In the afternoon we went to Lisbon, "the Seven Hills City "- with references that go back to the times of the nation's birth (12th century), throughout the glorious age of the Portuguese Discoveries (16th century) – which was presented on the Jerónimos Monastery and the quaint Tower of Belém - all the way to the modern 21st century present on the busy life of Lisbon's downtown - the Baixa.
Lisbon was prosperous city in 15 and 16th century when Vasco de Gama and other explorers opened trade route. They discovered Brazil and it’s gold made the country richer.
Then on all Saints Day, in 1755, the city was built by tremendous earthquake. Most of the Lisbon was destroyed. Fires started by church candles carried through the city on this saint day. People ran to the river. Big mistake - huge tidal wave swiped them in the water. 30,000 people out of 270,000 people were killed. After the earthquake, the prime minister Marques de Pombal ordered to rebuilt the city. Despite opposition, he succeeded to rebuild in a progressive style, like Paris. In fact, Avenue Liberdade with wide boulevards and squares reminds Champs Elysees. One can see the remnants of pre-earthquake Lisbon in Alfama and Bairro Alto districts.
Baixa is the post-earthquake planned lower town leading to the river.

Back to hotel at 6pm , refreshed and went for dinner and hotel’s inspection at historic Pestana Palace hotel
http://www.pestana.com/hotels/en/hotels/europe/LisbonHotels/Palace/Home/PestanaPalace.htm
and historic monument. It is not located in the center however, it is very unique property. It is a real former palace built by King Emanuel built it. Celebrities like Madonna and President Bill Clinton stayed there.Very special place but not in the center of city. Good for people with their own transportation and who wants idyllic environment.
Dinner menu at Pestana Palace consisted of:
Cream of pumpkin soup with roast chestnuts and herbs cream
Grilled swordfish with squid, shrimp, and clams concasse.
Sao Tome chocolate tart with hazelnut pralin and carob ice cream
Coffee and small pastries
We liked soup. Seafood was good but swordfish was somewhat dry. Chocolate tart was no that impressive..
Pictures for the day
http://picasaweb.google.com/gkulich/PortugalJan17SintraCascaisBelemAndLisbon#

January 18.
Today we were going west towards Spanish border to see countryside. The area is called Alentejo. 5% population lives there, mostly agricultural area. They produce cork and marble from natural area resources. We saw on the way cork trees with bark cut off from the trunks. When they cut the trunk off, there is waiting period approx 9 years when bark grows again. Cork trees only grow in Mediterranean climate and here it is an important part of country’s economy. 50% of the world’s cork comes from Portugal. Also other parts of agriculture are olive oil production, grains (barley, oats, etc). For stock, they grow cows and black pigs. Black pigs are unusual that they are free range, roaming on the plains and their skin is not pink but grey. Summers are hot so people are taking siestas. Working early am from 4am and then later after 4pm. Architecture was pretty with white whitewashed houses. The population is frugal so the food specialties of that area includes asorta – dish from the bread which is soaked with garlic, coriander and olive oil and boiled. They also use eggs for baking and cooking and – white for starch and yolk for cooking.

Our first destination was Evora, (World Heritage City, classified by UNESCO). A "rendezvous" with Portuguese history and genuine house styles from the South of Portugal with their white washed façades. In Evora, we also visited cathedral. Then we went to a very interesting chapel: the Capela dos Ossos in . In many bone chapels, or catacombs, the bones are strewn around with little purpose. At the Capela dos Ossos, the purpose of the bones is carved into the entryway, "Nós ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos" or "Our bones that are here await yours!" The 16th-century monks who built the Chapel of Bones wanted you to contemplate the rather transient nature of life, and they used a macabre sense of humor in bringing the point home.
This is second chapel I am seeing in Europe. The previous was in Kutna Hora in Czech countryside. We started talking about possibility of condicting “bone tours” in Europe. Two chapels we’ve seen in Europe with bones, throw in more catacombs in Rome and you can make a grim business talking interested tourist to “bone tours”!
We had Lunch in Evora . Some of us had a fish soup and I had “migash” – boiled bead in garlic and coriander. Something like our staffing. It was somewhat bland…

Then, we continued trip to the village of Marvao. It is a small hilltop village at more than 800 meters high and it's surrounded by the old castle walls from (13th -17th century). It is completely walled with a great castle on the mountain. However, it was foggy, windy and cold when we arrived there. We walked quickly in the village, looked in the warm tourism office at the pictures how this village looks in good weather L and left. It might be very beautiful in summer.
Since this was the day dedicated to discover the deep countryside of Portugal, we were continued to the next destination - the beautiful and ancient Portuguese village of Castelo de Vide.
Located among olive groves and chestnut trees in the cool mountain region of Sao Mamede, Castelo de Vide is often referred to as the Sintra of the Alentejo. Scattered with monuments, this pretty spa town is a place of roses, fountains, orchards and old houses. Steep alleyways lead up to the castle through a 16th-century village, which is enriched with some of the most impressive Gothic entrances in Portugal.King Denis began building the castle but it was his son, Alfonso IV, who completed it in 1327. It was successfully defended by an Anglo-Portuguese force against the Spanish in June 1704. The town's oldest chapel, the 13th-century Salvador do Mundo, boasts a much-admired painting called Flight into Egypt by an unknown artist. The Jewish Quarter located in the east side of the Medieval town has cobble streets and well-preserved houses. Its synagogue dates back to the 14th century.
Our final destination for a day was Belmonte where we arrived in the dark.
We stayed overnight in Posada Convento Belmonte.

http://www.pousadas.pt/historicalhotels/EN/pousadas/Portugal/Beiras/ConventodeBelmonte/home/PousadaConventodeBelmonte_Home.htm
It is a historic property, reconstructed former Convent of Nossa Sehnora de Esperanca.
Next morning, we had beautiful views. It is located on the wooded slopes of the Esperanca mountain.
Since it was a convent, all rooms are former monks cells . The size was good however. Maybe they rebuilt it. My room was Father Gabriel’s (Frei Gabriele).

All posadas have good restaurants reflecting local cuisine.
The dinner at Posada Convento Belmonte had :
First course – Partridge soup, with some kind of nuts (either chestnuts or cashews or peanuts). It was very good. Then it was salmon, excellent. We thought next would be dessert, however we were served sorbet for refreshing palate and it followed by unexpected another course – meat – black pig – pork and mashed potatoes with “Jewish” sausage – chicken sausage disguised as pork – historically converse Jews pretended to eat pork… Dessert was a crepe with almond paste inside, orange sauce on top topped with ice cream. The dinner was accompanied with red and white wine for each course. Delicious but two courses were too much for me. Nevertheless, worth just to try local dishes.
Internet was available but not in all rooms. I was lucky I guess so I worked late.

Pictures of the day
http://picasaweb.google.com/gkulich/POrtugalJan18EvoraMarvaoBelmonte#
http://picasaweb.google.com/gkulich/Jan19PortugalBelmonteViseuSolarDeMateusDOUROWineEstateInRegua#

January 19.
Next morning , Posada Belmonte awarded indeed excellent views but alas, the weather still was rainy. We had breakfast at posada. It was much simpler than Four Seasons but also very good extended continental buffet. Breads, cheeses and milk products in Portugal were all excellent.
We had time to explore Posada’s delightful nooks and crannies and courtyard.

There was another 6 people group from the same company we were touring with, Tours for You and they were touring parallel to us. However our version was professional and packed with inspections and high energy trip. We intersected with another group in few hotels and compared our impressions.

This morning, the plan was to visit synagogue in Belmonte and continue north Dauro Valley and wine region. First we went to synagogue of Belmonte and had a meeting with Jewish community representatives. We found out that there are 120 members of community in Belmonte, most of them descendants of converso Jews. They have a kosher butcher, and religious school however they do not have rabbi. Rabbi when needed, for weddings, barmitzvahs, are called from Lisbon or Israel.
It was a very interesting discussion. After synagogue we strolled narrow streets of Belmonte, it is a very pretty town . Then we departed for Viceu. It is a larger city, it was not much sightseeing but convenient stop on the way to Dauro to stop for lunch and some shopping. The rain was on and off but at this point we were happy that there is no wind and fog! After stop in Viceu, we continued to Douro region. The scenery was pretty and we saw river, mountains, woods. Our guide Joana told us on a way a history of local people (Portugal in general and this particular Dauro region). Douro river represents the soul of the natives and where the wine production is decisive to this population.

We went to Vila Real for a visit to "Solar de Mateus".
Here we’ve found found the delicate Baroque Style decorating a traditional building. The construction of this Manor House was possible due to the wealth that Port wine brought to ancient and traditional Portuguese families.
http://www.casademateus.com/
It was cold and raining and the palace was cold inside. Afterwards we ran outside to the warm bus and continued our way to Dauro valley for wine tasting which is the internationally renowned wine of this region. We visited a winery Pacheca and a wine tasting with an owner and learned about the producing methods.

Then we arrived to our hotel Aqua Pura Dauro Valley which is considered is the most exclusive and charming hotels in Portugal . http://www.aquapurahotels.com/
The hotel is very impressive and location is very beautiful. Hotel had an excellent spa and swimming pool with water showers. We also were able to use steam room and sauna to warm up at the end of cold day. The rooms were very hight tech. Once you arrive at reception area, there was some subdued lights which looked like fire and receptionist were at the fire. Very interesting setup. We also thought the lights were too low everywhere and it was dark in the hallways. It was supposed to relax people and make an impressions of relaxation, spa but to us it was hard to get oriented. Rooms were very high tech with many buttons to operate and were so tired after long day and we did not have enough time to figure out how everything works in the room ….Too much pressure J
These rooms are good for one person or a couple but not for friends/roommates traveling together since bathtub is in the middle of the room, and looking at the large window with a great view. Shower and toilet have glass doors so not enough privacy however it would be very romantic for a couple. We also inspected other rooms and suites and they have family suites and apartments.
Overall , beautiful hotel.
We had nice dinner at hotel’s restaurant.

Pictures for the day
http://picasaweb.google.com/gkulich/Jan19PortugalBelmonteViseuSolarDeMateusDOU
ROWineEstateInRegua#

January 20
We continued our journey towards Braga, an important religious capital that exhibited its power and importance in the past times, through the original sanctuary of "Bom Jesus of Braga", with its magnificent baroque staircase (with a story to tell on its artistic chapels). We had lunch in the scenic town of Ponte de Lima. We tried a unique gastronomy and the singular locally produced Green Wine (Vinho Verde) for lunch. Then we went to Viana do Castelo, the capital of Minho region with a lovely panorama over the Atlantic (a visit to the Santa Luzia Belvedere facing the shoreline). The day ended at Guimarães, the "cradle" of Portuguese nationality. We visited the historical centre of Guimarães, the first important city, of the kingdom of Portugal with references that illustrates more than 800 years of history. In Guimarães, we checked in into yet another historic posada. We had port before dinner and had a tour of posada. Afterwards we had a gastronomic dinner which included the tasty cuisine, of Northern Portugal. Afterwards, we had coffee and port at the cozy fireplace in the bar. My room had beautiful view of the valley. It was very cozy, and the floors were heated. It is a very nice 4* posada. Pictures of a day
http://picasaweb.google.com/gkulich/TripToPortugalJan20#

January 21
IN the morning, rain continued unfortunately. We checked out of Posada and had a tour of Guimaraes. It is a lovely town and was a capital of Portugal once. Afterwards we continued to Porto. By noon we arrived Porto visit to the Wine Cellars, in Vila Nova de Gaia. Here you'll finally visit the place where Port Wine gains its generous taste, never forgetting a technical explanation on all the processes involved. We walked waterfront in Porto and found small restaurant where we had lunch. The owner was friendly and treated us well. It was cold in the beginning, but they turned on heat. We ate fish specialties and had wine. They even had fresh sardines which usually not the season here. Fish was very good. In the end, the owner brought his own supply of some kind of liquor , very strong, he called it fire water. It was his present. J

After lunch, we went to Ferreira cellars to taste port. We learned difference in red, white, vintage and tawny port. Bought wine souvenirs there.
After lunch, we visited historical centre with important monuments as the St. Francis Church, all covered with gold (about 600 kg) in its interior, an extraordinary artistic work of gilded wood carvings. The elegant and ancient "Stock Exchange Market" with an unique beauty, exhibits the careful and detailed 19th century taste. Then, we visited the north historical area of the city, on the most traditional commercial street of Oporto - the pedestrian street of Sta. Catarina.
Afterwards we went to our hotel in the business area of Porto, 5* Atlantic Tiara Park. Since we are staying in a variety of architecture and style luxury hotels, this one is very modern, businesslike. Great toiletries – Hermes! Very comfortable but off center. Before dinner, we walked to nearby Sheraton hotel and spa to inspect it and had dinner there at Porto Novo Restaurant. It presents the best in Traditional Portuguese Cuisine through the mastery of the renowned chef, Jerónimo Ferreira.
http://picasaweb.google.com/gkulich/Jan21PortugalPortoGuimaraes#

January 22
During the morning, we shopped for 2 hrs in Porto and then walked to the Infante de Sagres Hotel where we inspected it and had lunch. It is wonderful historic hotel right in the center. After lunch we continued to the city of Coimbra which is place of the famous prestigious university of Portugal. It was one of the most important capitals that Portugal had and it is still a reference considering its beauty. We visited an extraordinary masterpiece of the 18th century: the library of Coimbra's University. That library was very dark wit small windows. We also learned that in order to protect books, the bats were used in he library! The bats ate insects which destroyed books.
Then, we continued to our overnight stay, Lousã, in the surroundings of Coimbra. This is the tranquil typical small town of the interior of Portugal, surrounded by the green of the Lousã Mountains. This hotel is one of the charming new boutique hotels of Portugal, inside an ancient palace. We had dinner there. It was cabbage, salted cod and potatoes. Not everybody liked it but I did.
http://www.palaciodalousa.com/
Pictures of the day
http://picasaweb.google.com/gkulich/Jan22PortugalPortoAndCoimbra#

January 23-24
In the morning, we head south to visit Fátima, considered to be the World's Altarpiece. Then we went to Batalha Monastery church, an icon representing the significance of the religious orders in Portugal and a reference to one of the most important moments of history - The Aljubarrota Battle. After lunch, we'll move to Alcobaça, famous for its 12th century monastery. This monastery is not only a beautiful architectural example, but it has also the monuments in memory of King D. Pedro I and D. Inês de Castro (characters of a true romantic Portuguese story from the 14th century, their Romeo and Juliet.
On our way to Lisbon we will visit Óbidos, a small medieval village, with walls surrounding it and protecting a heritage of narrow streets, whitewashed houses embellished with flowers and whrought iron windows that once again invite us to travel back in time. It was a beautiful fairy tale village. We’ve strolled there, done our shopping and went back to minivan continue to Lisbon.
On arrival to Lisbon, we checked into our next hotel, small boutique hotel Bairro Alto in Alfama.
In the evening, we went for a Portuguese farewell dinner, to listen and experience the "Fado" music (a genuine Portuguese music style), in one of the best restaurants of Lisbon: Casa de Linhares. It's the national song style of Portugal. Fado means fate and it's always sung with emotion (when it's performed by a good singer, which sometimes it's hard to find). It reminded me Russian romantic and gypsy songs.I wish I understood words but it was beautifully sang.
After Fado we came back to hotel, we thanked our guide Joana and our host in Lisbon, Nuno.
Next day was time to go home. Myself and Jane stayed extra day and to our luck, the weather was very nice. We just chose to walk, shop, sit at cafes and had a delightful day. That was a time for sales in Europe and I found a nice leather jacket and leather boots. Portugal leather is so nice and less expensive then Italian and Spanish..
In the evening we went to local trendy restaurant recommended by hotel staff. We ended up talking and even sharing meal with a tourist from San Francisco who traveled alone.
Next day, I had breakfast at hotel, and took taxi to airport. TAP flight was on time however I did not like a fact that they take people to the plane on a bus. We spent 45 minutes on a bus! Flight was comfortable though. The plane was not full so I had extra space. I had enough 3 hours to get luggage and check into Continental flight in Newark. It was dragging heavy suitcase. But I wanted to take all this wine with me J
At 11:30pm I arrived Tampa and that completed my Portugal trip.

A bit of caution. That was a travel business familiarization trip. I do not advice to copy itinerary. We had intense touring, tasting, checking out hotels, making connections with local suppliers and hotel’s managers. Now I am able to plan my client’s trips successfully. You need to spend more time in Lisbon and depending on your interests in mid- or North Portugal. In summer would be advisable to finish with time on the beach. Contact me at info@mytravelfind.com if you plan a trip to Portugal !
http://picasaweb.google.com/gkulich/Jan23Portugal#

September 2008, Trip to Midi-Pyrenees, France

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:26:00 +0000

From Local French newspaper La Depece du Midi about this trip.
http://www.ladepeche.fr/
Midi-Pyrenees. Tourisme. Les Voyagistes americains decouvrent la region.
******************************************************************
Cette semaine, ils vont troquer le hamburger pur un confit et le Grand Canyon pour Rocamadur. Un groupe de 12 agents de voyages americains est actuellement accueilli dans la region par le comite regional de tourisme en partenariat avec l'office de tourisme de Toulouse et les comite duTarn del'Aveyron et du Lot. Visite Airbus, de Cordes , Cahors, Conques ou Millau..
Le but est de seduire ces voyagistes pur qu'a leur tour , il sachent convaincre les touristes Yankees de ne pas se cantonner a Paris mais de venir aussi faire etapes dans le Grand Sud
*********************************************************************************
Translation:

This week, they are going to trade in hamburger for duck and the Grand Canyon for Rocomadour. A group of 12 American travel agents are currently being welcomed in the region by the regional committee of tourism in partnership with the office of tourism of Toulouse and the committees from the Tarn, the Aveyron and the Lot departments. Visiting Airbus, Cordes sur Ciel, Cahors, Conques and Millau…
The goal is to seduce these travel professionals so that they in turn will know how to convince Yankee tourists to not confine themselves to just Paris but to come to make some stops in the Great South.

************************************

So that was the goal of the trip. On this whirlwind tour we visited a lot and learned about this beautiful region.

Itinerary.

September 6. I flew one day earlier to spend time with my friend in Ft. Lauderdale so I will e will not risk my connection for Air France flight to Miami. I decided to take my entire luggage with me for check in. My small Kipling suitcase fits carryon size so it was just it plus my small backpack. Laptop went to backpack. I would rather leave my clothes behind but not my laptop. At Air France counter I found out that besides size, there are limitations 12kg per bag however I took a jacket out and put it on and changed my shoes – lighter sandals went into bag. It went through. It is a bit hard to lift bag to put on overhead however the flights attendants always help. At least I had my entire luggage with me and did not have to wait for picking it up and worry if it makes it or not.
Air France economy food is still OK. You have choice of wine or champagne. They give you the menu however you only choose beef or chicken. The red wine I had was 2007 Merlot LaBaume – kind of light. http://www.labaume.com/
Salad was couscous (in menu it was translated tabbouleh though – it was wrong). It was flavored with some spices, had pieces of pepper , dried currants and small shrimp. Tasty. I had chicken tarragon with baby potatoes and vegetables. Small size crispy baguette – not warm but still not soggy. Later on they offered more bread and water. Bread was perfect for soaping the sauce. A german couple next to me had beef and it looked fine. They did not speak English so I did not ask. They had some chocolate ganache which tasted like American chocolate cake – not my favorite. They also for some reason had rice pudding – not sure what for – second desert? Cheese was from Wisconsin. They could do better than that. Overall, a step above American and British airlines which I usually fly. Before arrival they served continental breakfast as well.
The flight was full so no space to spread out. The plane 747 is huge. 3+4+3 on 2 sides plus second floor another business section. Many children. Cute European toddlers and very well behaved, slept all night.
The flight came on time and I went through customs. I have a new passport so CDG was a new stamp on time to collect new countries! Connecting flight was in 2f terminal which is new and futuristic looking. You can also have massage and some spa treatment between flights. Why we do not have it in USA??? I realized that I forgot to pack European converter (my husband George always took care of that). So I walked to the closest store and bought French one (British is different but I have at home). I did not have to change currency since we had it from last year. Again George thought euro will go up so he stashed on euro cash for next time. And it did come up! My 300 euro from last year came in handy and I probably saved $150 or so.
On the plane I sat to one French gentleman who did not speak English and I did not speak french except isolated words I knew and we communicated a bit. I managed to tell him that I came on business and he lived in Toulouse. He vacationed in Mexico and then USA and got excited that some people live in Florida! He brought with him huge sombrero.

This trip was organized by Maison de France (French government tourist board). They selected 12 French destination specialists to see this part of the country – Midi – Pyrenees. We will spend 8 days in this region. I’ve seen almost all others regions of France but not this one. Should be interesting. Besides I am working on one client on itinerary in this area so new contacts will come up handy.

Our first night is in Sofitel Toulouse.
In the evening we had wine tasting and dinner on the barge at the restaurant La Belle Chaurienne , located on Canal de Brienne - http://www.la-belle-chaurienne.com/
Regional food (cassoulet) , salad with pate foes gras and ice cream with Armagnac and pieces of plum was excellent.

Monday, September 8.

This morning we are leaving at 8am for a long day tour . We will arrive Rocamadour fo overnight. First we are going to the airport to reach the Jean-Luc Lagardère 'cathedral' in which the A380 is assembled. From the viewpoint, we saw the 'General Testing' and the 'External Testing' stations, as well as a general overview of the site.

Then we boarded the first Concorde of the production series. The performance of this legendary aircraft remains unique in the history of aviation. From 1973 to 1985, Concorde N°1 played a key role in the development program, accomplishing tests and demonstration flights around the world. She was also assigned as the official plane of the French President.

Afterwards we had lunch - red wine, lamb chops, cheese, and desert.

After lunch, we continued to Cahors.

Our group has 14 people , 12 experienced travel agents, well traveled. Half of the group speaks fluent French. So it helped with local people, always someone available to explain and translate.

We had one tour leader from French government office and we had our driver Pascale who s with us most of the time. Locally we've met tourist board reps and their guide who loaded us with brochures, showed us their region and had lunch and dinner with us.

Cahors, city of art and history. Known for it’s secret gardens, the Saint-Etienne cathedrale, and it’s Mediveal bridge “Velentré ”. A UNESCO member.

We had wine tasting in Chateaux Mercues, it is an exquisite hotel, Relais andChateaux member. I have a client booked in October and it was just on time to see it. It is exquisite.
http://www.chateaudemercues.com/
It is a former castle with it's own vineyards. We tasted wine there, they had Malbec and it was very good.

We continued to Rocamadour and checked into our next hotel overnight, Hotel Chateaux. It is not really chateaux just 3* hotel. Very basic, more like motel. We refreshed and walked few minutes to the restaurant next door. The restaurant looked simple but food and service was excellent. Duck was served - specialty of the region. Appetiser was foie gras with sweet wine matching it. Cheese course was rocamadur cheese and desert was very good.

Walked back for hotel and overnight

Next morning after breakfast we departed to Rocamadour.

Tuesday September 9
Rocamadour is constructed on the side of a cliff, it is located on a route of pilgrims to Santiago de Compostella. It has impressive castles, chapels on the to of the hill. We walked down to middle town and lower town.

After strolling Rocamadour we departed for Padirac Caves . It is a natural, 75 metre chasm that shows on the limestone plateau of the "Causse de Gramat" in the Lot, below which, at 103 metres underground flows a river. We took elevator underground and then took a boat ride with a guide in each boat (like gondola ride) on the undeground river. Interesting formations, stalactites, and then we disembarked boat and walk 150 steps up to see some formations . Interesting. In some places there is perpetual rain. Afterwards you board boats again to get to the exit. At exit take elevator again to go back - exit. I personally am not interested in caves but this one was an interesting experience. There were a many people.

We got on the bus and continued to small village Saint-Sere where we had lovely lunch in 2* Michelin star restaurant Les Trois de Montal.http://www.lestroissoleils.fr.st/
Excellent food, wine and service.
We had delicious appetizer – mushroom tart , duck for main course. Our vegetarians got the vegetables instead of duck. Desert was excellent chocolate layered napoleons with chocolate mousse in between. And red wine of course.

They also showed us their rooms. It is 3* hotel with nice reasonably priced rooms.

We walked to the chateaux de Montal which is nearby. It is a renaissance castle, just recently donated to the government of France by owner and it still need to be restored.

After the visit, we departed for our next destination- Figeac where we will be staying for a night.
On arrival, local guide met us and we took a quick tour of the town aboard small sightseeing train. Town is labeled “Ville d’Art D’histoire” it is known for it’s reproduction of the Rosetta stone. We also visited 4* very nice hotel Chateu du Viguier du Roy with lovely courtyard. The manager showed us the rooms and facilities. It is right in the center but very quiet.

Then we walked to the museum of Champollion – the man who deciphered hyerogliphs.

Unfortunately we were already tired after touring all day and wine makes you sleepy and I could not appreciate it to the fullest. The guide was very enthusiastic and he made interesting connections between different languages and alphabets.

Then we walked to our hotel by the river – 3* Best Western Le Pont D’or. We had 30 minites until dinner. Dinner was at hotel’s restaurant and it was very good. The wine today was red house wine in unlabeled bottles however it was very good. It was duck again! Everyone is trying to show us prepared specialty of the region.
Our guide Corrinne who was with us 2 days is leaving tomorrow and we thanked her at the dinner .

Wednesday, September 10.
In the morning we said goodbye to Corinne and departed for Aveyron region. Our first stop was
Conques in Aveyron where we were met by by Eric MAURY from the Aveyron Tourist Board.

Description from the tourist board:
From 10th century, Conques is a classic example of Romanesque art, and was a major staging post on the Saint Jacques pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella, in Spain. Its importance was largely due to the remains of Sainte Foy, brought here from Agen in 866, is a classic example of Romanesque art. The Abbey, with its famous tympanum of the final judgement, and its cloisters, boasts two of the most beautiful masterpieces of medieval, ornamental sculpture .

The village is is classified as one of the 12 the most beautiful villages of France. It is indeed, unspoiled. Like life stayed still there since 12th C. The local guide showed us the village, cathedral and treasury.

Afterwards we continued to Rodez. We had dinner there in nice local restaurant .

After lunch, we visited museum Fenaille de Rodes which tells the story from the first man dated 300,000 days ago. It was not that interesting to me personally but the tour was very short so it was OK. We continued to see cathedral. Aftewards we went to Millau ot check in hotel Mercure in the center of town.

We continued to see cathedral. Aftewards we went to Millau ot check in hotel Mercure in the center of town. As always we had only few minutes to drop off our luggage in then rooms and we departed for local glove factory to see how haute couture gloves are made.

It was very interesting. They only manufacture gloves to famous designers including Chanel. There were gloves for sale but we did not have time to shop.

Then we continued to see local bridge – the marvel of engineering. The guide was German. Kind of entertaining in the beginning but afterwards we had too much of him.. We walked to the viewpoint about ½ mile, and it was vigorous but nice walk. The vehicle was a sightseeing cabriolet bus (without roof).

From tourist info brochure: Designed by the English architect, Lord Norman Foster, the Millau Viaduct cost some 310 million Euros (2.03 Billion French Francs), and is financed and constructed by the Eiffage group as part of a 75-year chartered concession.
An exceptional piece of civil engineering
This bridge sets world records for height, with masts reaching 340 meters (higher than the Eiffel Tower). The Millau Viaduct is multi-span, cablestayed, 2,460 meters long, and provides 2 driving lanes in each direction, skipping over the Tarn Valley touching down at only 9 points. It fits very nicely into the surrounding countryside, thus meeting the requirements of the architect and the local communities. To meet these requirements, however, highly advanced technologies were employed, including a streamlined steel bridge-deck supported by cable-stays and resting upon 7 very slim piers constructed with high-grade concrete. It climbs a gentle slope of 3% from north to south, and has a slight curve on-plan.

I can only remember that guide said the bridge cut the travel towards South of France from 8 hrs to 3.

After tour, we walked to the local restaurant and had a delicious meal.

Thursday ,September 11
We departed Millau for Rouqefort sue Soulzon to visit caves (cellars) where Roquefort cheese is made. It is the same cheese which is sold in US stores and called “Societe”. I am a cheese lover so this was was very interesting. It is aging in caves. At the end of the tour in the gift shop we tasted cheese.

Is exclusively Aveyronnais. Like Champagne, the only Roquefort cheese is made here, in the village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. It is something similar to Grueyers cheese factory in Switzerland, only here the cave cellars make this process unique.

We departed for Albi
From tourist board description:
"Crucible of brick", "fortress of faith", "Italian city", Albi has stimulated the imagination of those seeking to describe its appeal. With the trilogy of the Sainte Cécile cathedral, the Palais Berbie (which houses the Toulouse-Lautrec museum) and the “pont vieux”, not forgetting the charm of the old streets. Bright red in the morning sunlight, sombre red at dusk, deserted in the heat of the afternoon. Half-timbered corbelled houses, narrow passages, cobbled streets... medieval buildings with the colours of the south. Stroll around, follow your instincts; the slightest opening may reveal hidden treasures: the Hotel Reynes with its extraordinary loggia, built by a rich pastel merchant in 1530, the cloisters of Saint Salvy (13th century) with their triangular lawn and twinned columns... Beyond the obvious and the well known, Albi likes to surprise its visitors, particularly rewarding for those who are not in a hurry. From the 'pont vieux' (one of the oldest in France), watch the sun go down: night descending as it casts its shadow over the belfry - from the dungeon to the nave, from the nave to the ramparts and finally down to the water's edge.
Since 1922, over a thousand works, paintings, lithographs, drawings and all posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec have been kept and shown at the Museum in Albi. This exceptional collection is on display at the Palais de la Berbie, or Berbia Palace, a powerful fortress built in the 13th century, which has thus become the largest museum in the world to show the works of Toulouse-Lautrec, who was born in the town in 1864.
This most prestigious collection was given to the Museum by the artist's relatives, the Count and Countess of Toulouse-Lautrec, advised by Maurice Joyant, a friend of the artist, and by Joyant's cousin, Doctor Tapié de Céleyran. The museum's paintings exhibited are considered among the painter's most famous works.
Sainte-Cécile Cathedral.
This unique Cathedral built in the 13th century offers an astonishing contrast between the outer defensive style and the inner riches of its sumptuous decoration.
Indoor decoration is both rich and refined, including 16th century wall paintings, a rood screen, without mentioning the lace of stones enhancing the «last judgement day» paintings, all of these being rare examples of church indoor ornaments.
Next to the cathedral is the former Bishop’s Palace built during the 13th century, the ancient fortress is the unexpected site for the artistic work of Henri the Toulouse-Lautrec.

Unfortunately we were in hurry! But next time I will make sure to linger there longer. We visited cathedral which was beautiful in pastel colors. We visitied Tolouse-Latrec museum. From museum opens beautiful view of the river and gardens.

We had few hours of free time to buy some souvenirs, rest and in the evening walked to local one Michelin star restaurant L’Esprit du Vin.

Our group consisted of foodies who appreciated food and wine. We took notes and compared meals and wine. Two members of the group took all pictures of meal presentation. So we had lenghty discussion what we liked and what we did not like. On this particular restaurant, we had about majority people agreed that we were not impressed. I personally think young chef tried too hard to be trendy so the combination of flavors and textures jut did not click. We all were looking forward to have a change in the menu from local specialties (duck, lamb, foie gras). The main course was salmon in form of sushi but cooked and it was too salty and too dry for me. The appetizer pumpkin soup was very good however with small foie gras balls and port wine inside. The complimentary first appetizer was some mousse with shrimp and foam. The other part of salmon course was lentil in creamy sauce served in a cup. The desert was sour marshmallow (not impressed), strawberry coulis (good!) and we believed it was rhubarb which had strange taste and also sorbet. Of course presentation was beautiful.
Anyway it was interesting experience.
We had dinner with local tourist representatives and journalist who wrote later on article above.

Overnight was in 3* hotel Du Vigan. Excellent location. Basic 3* hotel, only 3 towels per person in the bath. The tourist rep was apologizing and said other hotels were booked. But I think it was fine hotel for 3*. Very clean and comfortable.

September 12, Friday
After breakfast, we departed for the medieval village of Cordes-sur-Ciel.

From tourist board brochure:
Cordes-sur-Ciel, imposing on its promontory, defensive behind its ramparts. A bastide town, with its charter dating back to 1222, a difficult birth during a century of intermittent warfare. The first impression of Cordes is formed by its military role during the Middle Ages; thickset and austere, where the stones are piled high for protection. One has to break through the first line of defence (there are five in all!), the gateways 'les portes de l'Horloge, de la Jane or des Ormeaux' to discover the hanging gardens, the fig trees, the almond trees. Secrets like oriental gardens. Higher still, the central market square and the covered market, the Middle Ages give way to the Renaissance: elegant facades - the magnificent houses of the Grand Fauconnier, Grand Ecuyer, Grand Veneur- the large mullioned windows, genre sculpture, hewed out of stone. Here the wealth of Cordes, its taste for life is there for all to see. At the end of the summer, under 'les Halles', the villagers gather to celebrate the good life.

It was indeed another one of the most beautiful villages in France.

We enjoyed it very much.

We continued to go to Gaillac which is the center of Wine Route.
There are many "domains" - wineries on the way. We've met there with directrice of the tourist office.

We had a good degustation lunch at restaurant La Table du Sommelier.
They compete with Bordeaux – of course nobody can compete with Bordeaux in France but people of Galliac claim the Bordeaux people in middle ages blocked ships so only their wine will be exported. :-)
Anyway that what people of Galliac say. We had a good degustation lunch wat La Table du Sommelier.
The wines were excellent. We had 3 different wines with different meal courses and the sommelier expained each wine.

After lunch, we departed back to Toulouse. We had about 1 hr to sleep on the bus, and compare notes and gastronomic experiences, and laugh. Our group bonded very well!

In Tolouse we had last half a day left and a very busy program. On arrival, we met our tourist reps from first day in Tolouse, Sandra and Miriam. They introduce us to local guide and we spent 2 hrs walking in Tolouse. What a beautiful town! We visited The Capitole , town hall had beautiful ceilings and paintings by post-impressionists.

From Tourist board description:
The Capitole, now the home of the Town Hall and the Théâtre National du Capitole, this building is remarkable for its façade with its eight pink marble columns, its Cour Henri IV (which saw the assassination of the Duc de Montmorency) and the "Salle des Illustres" (inspired by the Galleria Farnese in Rome), where the gilt mouldings vie with the painted cartouches. Also on your tour are the Jean-Paul Laurens, Henri Martin and Paul Gervais Rooms.
Saint-Sernin Basilica, a splendid Roman church. This is an important stop on the Saint-Jacques de Compostelle pilgrimage trail. This beautiful building dates back to the 11th and 12th centuries.

The Jacobins Convent, the Mother House of the Order of Preaching Friars, an order that was founded in 1216 by Saint Dominique. Famous for its “Palm Tree”, this huge church has 2 naves, built between 1230-1340, divided by 7 columns supporting its starry vaults.

Hôtel d’Assézat, magnificent XVIIth century town mansion built by Nicolas Bachelier for Pierre d'Assézat who made his fortune from woad, a plant used in dyeing. The building houses the Fondation Bemberg, a private museum with a very interesting permanent collection of paintings, bronzes and objets d'art.

After tour of the city, we walked to tourist office in the center where we had 2 hour presentation of the region, reception with Tolouse tourist office an mini-tradeshow fro different suppliers of Midi-Pyrenees. A treat for me! I bought extra suitcase in Albi day before to carry all these brochures. Great contacts for creating dream trips for my clients.

After that we were expected to be in Tolouse casino for dinner, show and tour of the casino. We were told we have to be dressed nice but by the time we were dropped at Sofitel for change, Myriam gave us only 20 minutes to get luggage in, change and make us respectable. We practically run to the rooms, refreshed and managed to look well in the best clothes! We rested a bit on the bus. The show thankfully has been cancelled.
So we only had dinner and then tour of the casino.
Description of casino from tourist office

The Barrière Casino Theatre in Toulouse opened in october 2007. Covering a total of 14,000 square metres on 3 levels, the casino is established on the Ile du Ramier. It can accommodate up to 600 fruit machines and 20 gaming tables, a 1200-seater theatre, rooms and lounges, three bars and three restaurants, including a 250-seat replica of the legendary Fouquet’s restaurant.

Yes, the restaurant surprisingly was famous Fouquet. The food was delicious and finally it was not duck but some poultry which looked like chicken, but was more tender. The salad was good and dessert was good as well.

Then we looked at casino, theater, few mins to gamble. I do not like to play but did leave 5 euro there quickly! We left for hotel. It was the longest day and next morning some of us including myself were leaving at 5am for airport.

We said goodbye to each other and hoped that we will see each other again. It was a good group.

Next morning, we departed for airport. The flights were on time. I connected Tolouse-CDG - Miami and finally arrived home to Tampa.

Great trip - but please do not copy this itinerary! It is not for regular travelers! It is a brief introduction to the region to get local contacts, sample region specialties, which help us to create other trips for our clients. I would do leasurely trip visiting few cities, using a rented car or utilizing prvate driver. It is not that expensive as Paris and food is great and even 3* hotels we've seen are delightful and have great restaurants .

Contact me for your dream trip and stay tuned for my next adventures!

Sophia

In Memory of George Kulich

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:58:00 +0000

In Memory of my husband, business partner and soulmate.

After our trip to Europe in October 2007, George suddenly passed away on Nov 4.

He is and will be greatly missed.

For more info, see www.georgekulich.com

I am not ready to travel yet but in the future, possibly a year please keep an eye on my blog.

Thank you for reading it.Sophia

Last day Dubrovnik/London

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:45:00 +0000

We spent last day relaxing in Dubrovnik. No more trips and we've seen most of that area. George caught a cold so he stayed at apartment. I had few business meeting with hotels sales in Dubrovnik so I went on my own.Later own I went to the market and bought fresh vegetables and fruit and did small shopping in the bakery and local supermaket "Konzum". This food lasted us for a day. It was a long trip and we are tired to eat at restaurants. Besides, fresh fruit and vegetables are very good quality here. Croatian Prosciutto ("Prsut") is delicious.

We also loved Croatian gelato, it is very similar to Italian.
The apartment we stayed turned out not a good choice . The sound insulation was very poor and we were hearing all neighbors at night. In addition, local nightclubs were playing the most annoying music most of the night and every half an hour bell tower rang. So sleep deprivation also got a toll on us. Next time if I ever to get to Dubrovnik, my choice would be Hotel Argentina or Excelsior or Dubrovnik Palace. I visited them and they were beautiful. Not too many choices of 4* hotels though.. Many locals rent their rooms and apartments and the quality is varied and not possible to put control on it.

As for shopping, there was not much to shop. Our driver Pepo told us that Croatians shop in USA and Europe. So if you come to Dubrovnik, you can spend time browsing Old Town, going to the hill to see memorial to Dubrovnik defenders and great view of the city (car is needed there). Take a drive on Coastal road - beautiful but better let someone else to drive. Nearby towns Cavtat and Ston are great for strolling. There are also Lokrum Island and Elafiti for nature enthusiasts but we did not go there.

Our flight to London Gatwick was at 4:20pm so the driver came in to our apartment and took our bags to the car, that was a big help. The flight was on time. We arrived to London at 6pm. Next flight was next morning from Heathrow so we took National Express shuttle to Heathrow. It always amazes me the size of that airport, it is like a city! We stayed overnight at Renaissance airport Heathrow. It was older hotel of Renaissance more like 4*. Strange shower operation....Next morning, we took a flight from Heathrow to Miami to connect to Tampa.
In Heathrow there were a lot's of security checks. One at entering departure gates and second at the gate. I was delayed at departure security beacuse they random (I was told - chose my purse). I did not have any liquids. They flippes my book pages and that's was it. On another side, they let 2 women in burqas where you cannot even see the face, only eyes - pass securty faster then us. Go figure. Second we went to departure gate and it took 20 mins to walk there. On arrival to the gate, they checked everybody. Patted clothes and checked all carryons. Worse then in USA.

Anyway the flight was fine and we finally arrived home after 18 days of travel. I promised my husband, next trips will be shorter. It was a long time.

So, final thoughts... We visited 7 countries, (incl London on the way back one night), stayed at 8 hotels. Out of 8 hotels we stayed in Castles, Villas, 5* hotels, 3 , 4* hotels and one budget apartment. We also stayed in one spa which is frequented by local Slovenians.

Former Yugoslavian countries are very interesting and have great potential. But not easy to tour and the traveler must come with open mind. Remember, 15 years ago they were at war. I would say they are doing great.

Best hotel we stayed is Schloss Monhstein in Salzburg.
Worst hotel - apartment in Dubrovnik.
Best country we liked - Croatia...
Salzburg and Munich were nice but not that interesting for explorations as "new countries".
Best spiritual trips -"Jewish Franconia" from Munich and a trip to Mostar from Dubrovnik.
Best views - Dubrovnik and Montenegro.
Best food - Germany and Croatia (Adriatic seafood is excellent).
The most friendly hotel - 3* hotel Laimerhof in Munich. Owner Sebastian becomes your friend in Munich. Excellent treatments.

Thank you for reading my blog... Until next time...

Montenegro

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:18:00 +0000

Today we are taking a day trip from Dubrovnik to Monetenegro ("Crna Gora" or Black Mountain).
It is a new country, only 1 year old. It is one of the most ancient settlement in Europe. Illyrians (ancestors to Albanians) lived there in 3rd century b.c. Then it became part of Roman Empire . After Rome's decline, Slavs came in and some people converted to Christianity. So currently there are Serbian Orthodox and Catholic religions. The Bay of Kotor has despotic serbian ruler who punished people severely for small crimes so it was very safe place. It was rich country thanks to unique locaton - narrow Verige Strait of the sea to protect from invading ships and deep for keeping their own ships in the bay. They would jut put a chain from one side of the bay to another to prevent from intruders ships to get it.

After Serbians, Ottomans tried to conquer it, since it has unique location on the sea. The geography of the country is that it the fjord - a dramatic Adriatic sea and monuntains meet together. The Slavs turned to Venetians for help and Venetians ruled for about 5 centuries. After that was Napoleon and then Hapsburgs. Then it was Yugoslavia under Tito after WWII.
After seccession of other Yugoslav countries, Montenegro stayed with Serbia. Years later, they wanted independence and it was trial perior from 2003 and then referendum in 2006. By narrow margin of votes, the seccesionists won. In 2006, the country voted for Indepedence therefore becoming the newest country in the world.
It has some dark history with Yugoslav war and there are still tensions between Croatians and Montenegris. We were shown the place where concentration camp was in 1991-1992 where people of Dubrovnik were taken and tortured. Later on Montenegrins prime minister apologized.

So that's about history. The country is located about 45 km from Dubrovnik, in opposite direction then Bosnia. Again the drive was on another road past airport and Cavtat and again it was beautiful rugged coastal mountain road. After border check-in, the first town was Herceg Novi. It was unattractive town and we passed by. Unlike Dubrovnik, the Montenegro was neglected by Tito mostly except famous Montenegrin Riviera (Sveti Stefan) where all celebrities came to relax in this beautiful and quiet location. in 60s and 70s Sveti Stefan beaches saw Sylvester Stallone, Sofia Loren, Kirk Douglas - just a few. By the way, in James Bond movie when he played in casino on Montenegrin Coast, it was actually filmed in Czech Republic, not in Montenegro.

We were told that Montenegrins are very laid back and easygoing people and nothing moves fast there.

The scenery soon improved and we saw fjords, with calm Adriatic sea, unusual dim blue color and mountains in the back. It was almost unreal. We thought Croatia was beautiful but this was rugged and beautiful fjordsside road fishing villages. We stop in Perast, it is a well preserved Venetian town on the fjord. In middle ages, Perast succesfully protected themselves with their cannons aimed at Vertige straight across the Bay of Kotor so no one can go through the strait. So Venice rewarded Perast with tax-free status and the ton prospered until Napoleon and then declined. Therefore architecture is Venetian . In the sea across Perast, we saw two islands - St. George (natural) and Lady of the Rocks (man made) with churches built there.

We continued beautiful road with fjord scenery and arrived Kotor - the most famous and I think the only one town restored enough for tourists. Like all towns we've seen before, it was fortified by walls, sea in front and the river on the sides. It has again cannon at the ain gate. It is a very ancient town, first said to be mentioned in 1st centuryt a.d. Through many turbulent years, Kotor avoided destruction by war but it was damaged by earthquakes in 1667 and 1979 . It was a nice and compact town to stroll and we enjoyed it. We've seen Catholic and Orthodox churches and Venetian like palaces. It was very pleasant. It is not too much to see, but very pleasant for strolling.

The currency in Montenegro was eur so one needs to pay attention to drawing money from atm. We needed Kuna but got euro's instead.

We decided to skip Budva Riviera with it's communist style cheap hotels and at this time Svet Stefan was under renovation, Pepo told us. So we continued back to Dubrovnik by taking shortcut on a narrow strait by the car ferry, it took only 10 mins to cross and we took nice pictures from the sea as well.

Once on the road, we got to the border and there was a line, another confirmation that everything in Montenegro is very slow. I do not know how they work... We saw many ads in Russian for buying real estate and hotels and Pepo told us, Montenegris have good relationship with Russia. Many investors buy properties in this new country so the economy is on the rise. Maybe not as fast as Croatia but still they should be OK due to their unique resources and location.

After crossing the border, we stopped in Cavtat to see Konavoski Dvir, the popular restaurant, it is located in nice forest with a cold river and waterfalls. However we ate in a restaurant across this touristy place, in a small family owned restaurant. The appetizer platter, smoked meat and cheese was delicious and olives were freshly salted. The specialty is "Lamb under the bell" - cooked in ashes and then grilled but it takes 3 hr to prepare it so it has to be ordered in advance. We got mixed grill but we probably should have skipp it whatsover, it was dry. Appetizer was large and tasty enough for lunch.

After Cavtat we continued to Dubrovnik and came back after yet another interesting day.

Our driver Pepo was terrific , spoke fluent English and gave us interesting information from local's perspective about war and current life in Croatia. It was well worth it to hire him. Guide was not neccessary for this trip.

Bosnia In Herzegovina, Mostar/Medjugorje

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:27:00 +0000

Today we are leaving Dubrovnik for a day trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

Our driver Pepo picked us up at 8am and were on the way west. We passed Trsteno, botanical gardens and saw huge 500 year old tree.

The road was beautiful, compared to Amalfi Coast in Italy. Mountains on one side, sea with island on the other. We again were thankful that we left driving to someone else and we enjoyed beautiful views.

We passed small town Ston which is a best source of mussels in Adriatic and also this town has the longest wall in Europe.

Later on the part of the road become Bosnian and we had to pass border control , and show passports. Pepo explained to us that centuries ago Croatia sold this part of the road to Ottomans therefore when Yugoslavia was separated to different countries, that part became BiH . Therefore the coastal road is not totally Croatian. Croatian is connected by sea but not by land. So government is planning to build the bridge from Croatian coastal road to the Croatian islands and then from the Island Korcula back to the coastal road to connect the roads and avoid going to BiH. Later on we saw map in Dubrovnik by this new project and local people seemed to be happy about it. Obviously some harassment still goes on on Bosnian border of Croatians and tourists.

We wanted to see Mostar and it's famous bridge. I've read about it quite a bit and to me it is very inspirational site in Europe. Like all of Yugoslavia, Bosnia's history is very complicated. Originally it was inhabited by Slavs and Illyrians (ancestors of contemporary Albanians), then Romans came and then Ottomans. At Ottoman's times many Slavs converted to Islam and called Bosniaks. The rest are Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats. There are 3 languages, 3 religions and 2 alphabets. Hapsburgs forced Ottomans out in about in 18 C,BiH became part of Austro-Hungarian empire. Then BiH was art of Yugoslavia under Tito.

As I said, in town Bosniaks (Muslims) and Christians (Catholic Croats) lived on opposite sides of the Neretva river. First it was a simple suspension bridge which was guarded by bridge guardsmen called "mostari" - means bridge watchmen in Slavic hence the city's name became Mostar. In 16C the ruler Suleiman the Magnificent commissioned the construction of the bridge which was the marvel of engineering of that time. It was something as Rialto to Venice or Ponto Vecchio to Florence.
Everybody was coming to see it. After Ottomans were defeated by Hapsburgs, the emperor Josef Franz Hapsburg walked on this bridge.. Then Nazis drove tanks in occupied Yugoslavia and bridge sustained tanks as well.

As for citizens of Mostar, they lived peacefully on the opposite parts of the bridge. They had their differences but they got along. It was a showcase for Tito how under his rule people lived peacefully and the bridge was the gap which symbolically connected two cultures..

In 1991 Tito died and the country erupted in the war, Serb-dominated Yugoslav army attacked Bosnia and Mostar. Jointly Croats and Bosniaks pushed offenders away. But strangely, later on they started fighting each other. The city was divided and two sides were shooting at each other. Finally the world watched how the bridge was destroyed in relentless shelling. Strategically, Croats said they needed to cut off Bosniaks from other side of the river so they destroyed the bridge but it sounded symbolic as attack of Serbs on Dubrovnik, that it was designed to hit where it hurt the most ...

The war was over and as a poet said "We shall pass and leave the bridge behind".
The people of the world had an effort to raise money for restoration and finally the bridge was rebuilt exactly by ancient specifications and even methods (stones were hand carved). Now it is UNESCO Heritage site. President Clinton was one of the participants of reopening ceremony in 2004. The re-opening was endorsed by the world and and also citizens of Mostar and it became symbol by reconciliation of two cultures.

So this might explain why I wanted to visit a small city of Mostar. Also after relatively prosperous countries Slovenia and Croatia, visitors are still haunted with remnants of the war. We encounter daily in news information on bombings and destruction and we become used to it. But when you see the landmine signs and broken buildings and bullet shots in the town you come to see, it becomes real. Besides Old Bridge, other parts of the town, especially Muslim's side are still destroyed. It is not a regular sightseeing.

The roads also has holes in ancient stones and bridge is slippery so it is very hard to walk. Some steps in town are very high and uneven so it would be difficult for some people with limited mobility to neogitate these streets. These are very difficult cobblestones. We managed it but I worried about George. Some parts he stayed in one place to sit when I climbed very difficult stairs to the local museum - just one example.

The town has distinct Middle Eastern feeling. It resembles Turkey with it's minarets, and bazaars. The tourists might feel somewhat uncomfortable but we came with driver/guide and we were just fine. We confined our visit though, to Old town and bridge only.

I also noticed yellow public buses in town which has sign that they were donated by the people of Japan and has a flag of Japan on the back of the buses.

After that, we went to visit Medjugorje. It is a major site for Catholic Pilgrims. We are not Christians but I was asked before we went if I will happen to be there, so I became curious for my future clients. It is high in the mountains about half an hour from Mostar. It is a windy road and out of nowhere suddenly appears the site. It has been said that Virgin Mary appeared to local people. Officially not recognized by Vatican but this small village became a center of Pilgrimage and already about 30 Millions of Pilgrims visited that site. The site has shrine and modern Church and big crowds of people and usual souvenir's stands.

After that we went back to Dubrovnik. We crossed again the border twice. Back in Croatia, we had lunch and brief stop in Ston. In the late afternoon, we were back in Dubrovnik.
And that was yet another memorable day.

Dubrovnik

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:49:00 +0000

Oct 1st, we checked out from Le Meridien , took taxi to airport. Flight was on time, it is only 20 min flight. At 12:40 we arrived Dubrovnik airport and were met by driver who provided transfer to our apartment. In Dubrovnik, we are staying in studio apartment. It turned out to be pretty basic, but it has private bath, kitchen and refrigeration but location cannot be beat. We are just a step from town walls, at the old port. There is restaurant Poklisar in the pier and we are on top of this restaurant (2nd floor). The setup might seem confusing but it is norm in Europe. You walk into restaurant, pass kitchen and find a door (no sign), and go on second floor where few apartments are, one of them is ours. The owner - young man by name Darko met us , gave keys, gave us access to free wi-fi internet, let us a bowl of fruit, explained everything and left. He lives next door. This will do for next 4 days since we are out of budget for expensive hotels for the rest of the trip. The pro's - you cannot be more central then this and when you open windows, the sea is below at Dubrovnik walls. We slept with windowns open and fresh sea air was great. The con's - you fall asleep with restaurant music at night (thankfully nice music) and wake up with 6am bell tower rings.

We had orientation walk through Dubrovnik and had dinner at Nautica restaurant. It was good but not that exceptional for the price they charge!

Dubrovnik is magical. It is called The Pearl of Adriatic and rightly so. Was always free and rich republic until Napoleon. After Napoleon it became under Hapsburgs (Austria) and then was part of Yugoslavia under Tito. In 1991 when Tito died and Serbs started attacking other nations of Yugoslavia, Oct 1st 1991 Dubrovnik was attacked. The siege lasted 9 months and cost 300 lives. Finally Dubrovnik citizens pushed attackers back but there were sporadic attacks afterwards from Serbs. We just arrived at commemoration of this event when Dubrovnik was attacked. There was an exhibit "Defenders of Dubronik" and services in the Cathedral. Afterwards the city was rebuilt and now if you do not know history, you would not think what happened just 15 years ago... If you walk walls you can see how 70% of Dubrovnik was destroyed and most of the roofs are new. Thee is a map of the city which shows the damage it sustained during the war.
Now the the usual tourist the city seems to be back to normal.
But we sensed from local that there is little love between former Yugoslav nations. The tension still exist . Especially few days ago there was Hague Tribunal who did not punish enough Serbian war criminals therefore people are angry again.

The town is very compact and everything in old town , "Star Grad" is within walls. There is main street called Placa or Stradun and it is great for people watching. No cars within old town so you see locals carrying their goods on mechanical carts. Very medieval.

We also got by car to the top of the Dubrovnik hills and saw city from there. It is also a place of memory of Dubrovnik defenders with a large cross which is seen from almost everywhere.
Dubrovnik has sea from one side with islands, and windy roads which lead to the top of the mountain. It used to be a cable car which connected top and old town but it was destroyed at the war and now when city has money to rebuild it, the residents complain that it will bring noise so one needs to take scary road to the top.... The driver brought us there.

Zagreb/Split, Croatia

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 19:10:00 +0000

We arrived in Zagreb in rain. The road was good. In Slovenia we quite frequently paid tolls. We crossed the border to Croatia and got our passports stamped. Then paid another toll. Croatia has Kuna money but they took 1 eur.

It is hard to drive in Zagreb. Small streets where 3 lines in each direction are also shared with trams. Impatient drivers who beep you on yellow light (in Croatia, the light changes from red to yellow and then to green). We navigated successfully to our hotel, GPS again did not let us down. We parked at hotel's garage.

Sheraton is 5* business hotel in the center of town, good location. After our last night fiasco and bad weather George is a bit let down.
At least this is 5* hotel with all convenience and comfort of Starwood, which we are preferred guests. We got a room at preferred guest floor but I do not know what privileges on this floor...

We walked to the center, Jelacic square. We went to the recommended restaurant Vinodol for lunch. We were not impressed with food. After lunch, we took funicular to Gradec (medieval old town) and walked there. Croatian president works there in Sabor. Not like our president, not that much security.. The buildings were interesting but they are still in process in being restored and there is a lot's of graffiti. Zagreb has great architecture, built by the same architects who built Vienna , in Austro-Hungarian empire. But being under Tito many years and then there was the war so you really need to see beyond a neglected buildings. Cathedral was beautiful but half of it is closed , one tower under renovation.. You can see beautiful church or building and to it next a delapidated one. To me it is an interesting city. To George and maybe to other American travelers, it does not stir his imagination. He likes impressive European cities, which are clean and filled with beautifully dressed people, theaters and good museums. Paris is his favorite. So to sell him Zagreb was hard. He said he liked some parts of Zagreb but overall not that interested. What is bizarre, we like to explore food markets so we had some fun there..
We called a day and went to Sheraton and rested in a pool. After lunch at Vinodol we were not hungry so we ate salad and tea at cafe in Sheraton.

Next day, the sun was shining. We returned the car and afterwards went in the lower part of the city which was developed in 1800 and it has Renaissance and post-renassance building, "Green horseshoe " which is a series of beautiful parks and Zagreb finally started to grow on us. We took a ride in tourist train but mostly were local people with kids there.. The tour is silent. They really need to do a better job to attract and keep tourists. A young Croatian woman with a child sitting next to me on the train explained to me sites! She concurred that restorations are taking too long.

We also witnessed a silent demonstration in the main square. It was a commemoration of victims of Vukovo when Serbs executed people who could not flee the city, mainly bedridden people in hospital. The town was completely destroyed. The Serb's officers were convicted by tribunal in Hague on Sept 27 (yesterday). They were obviously not punished enough (and one even acquitted) as Croatians hoped. So the war is over but nation is still recovering from pshycological wounds..

We had a nice walk and city and it's people gradually grew on us. We bought some fruit at the market and I had not tasted such delicious apples and grapes for any years.

Evening was to do some work in the business center (free Internet connection there), and we had a quick dinner at hotel's restaurant.

Next day we went for breakfast in nearby bakery. The baking goods are delicious and breakfast cost about 3 eur, comparing with 20 eur breakfast at Sheraton.
After breakfast we took a last walk around hotel before our 2pm flight to Split. I found a good store with Sisley and Benetton clothes and did some shopping.
Otherwise, it is not much to shop in either Slovenia or Croatia. Except some delicious jams we could not find much shopping,

We took taxi to airport . The flight was delayed 1 hr without any explanation. I realized that that was a mistake to returning car and fly to Split (45 min flight). The taxi driver told us the highway to Split is in good shape now and ride takes 4 hrs. We would rather drive... But anyway we made to Split around 3:30pm and took taxi to our Le Meridien Lav Hotel about 10km from downtown Split , in Podstrana. It is a stunning new hotel in the form of the ship by the sea, most rooms have wonderful seaviews and nice beach (but gravel), huge pools (indoor and outdoor ), and nice marina for promenade.
The lobbies, restaurants and spa are very stylish. They must have had some problems with acoustics so nice music was overlapping from different sources . Or it could be just place we were sitting at.
We had dinner at hotel's restaurant, it was quite good and lately we've been sticking to local seafood.. The hotel has design so from the sea it looks like a ship, it is quite spectacular .

They have free shuttle to and old town and Diocletian Palace so we will be exploring it tomorrow.

The Split is second largest city after Zagreb located in south, on Dalmatian coast on Adriatic sea. The landscape is sea and Mediterranean although it is Adriatic. Palms remind us our home in Florida..
The interest to the tourist is that the old town is built within bounds of Diocletian Palace. It said to have some Roman ruins on Adriatic. Roman Emperor Diocleatian was born nearby in Salonia and became Emperor. He wanted to build huge palace in Split for his retirement. The palace never been completed although it took 11 years to build and many slaves to die on construction. Therefore since emperor never moved in, the locals used it' bounds to live therein Old town. So Old Town is actually within bounds of the Palace.

Next morning we had a breakfast, which was included in the price and it was general buffet spread.

The weather was very nice and warm, just like Mediterranean in fall. We took hotel's free shuttle to Split. It was sunny, blue sky, and the setup of the palace was spectacular. It has a lot's of nooks and crannies to explore. I was armed with books and maps so I think we did OK. The thing is do not expect Palace, but ruins. The Palace was abandoned and used by common folks. It has a lot's of build-in buildings. I wish they forbade construction. You can see some Venetian elements besides Roman but also so many hodge-podge built-up as people moved in. I've seen many people asked "where are the rooms of the palace?". There are none, just use your imagination how Diocletian must have lived. One area had a round room without coupole (was destroyed in medieval wars) but acoustics was incredible. There was a trio singing dalmatian sngs.

We also walked seafront promenade and sat on the sun. We had nice seafood lunch in the Diocletian Palace. We sampled local gelato on the street, called "sladoled" (in Slavic languages means "sweet ice"). In the afternoon we got a return ride on a shuttle back to hotel.

We liked people watching. Young Croatians are so tall and good looking!
On the way in the shuttle the driver was trying to flirt with a young russian lady. He did not speak Russian and she did not speak English nor Croatian. George offered them to translate and of course he killed the deal. :-)

We rested at hotel and went to cash our complimentary 10 eur gift card at casino. Turned out that with this 10eur card you need also to add your own 10 eur but - they give you one extra chip. Yeah right. We are not gamblers but since they lured us to the casino, George played Blackjack and won 10 eur. So we are ahead 10 eur. Then I promptly lost it in slot machine. We still had 5 eur chip left and wanted to put it on red color roulette. But they told us this is a gift chip (read: cheap chip) and we can ony bet on certain number. We put 13 - the number my husband avoids like plague and of course lost. We must as well throw away that chip but at least we tried that chance.

We had nice walk on the Le Meridien Marina , the weather was warm and sunny and people swam on the beach and in the pool but for us it was too cold to swim. We had Ok dinner but beautifully presented and well served by friendly staff. This is very nice hotel but they still need to iron out some wrinkles in service but they fixed problems promptly with a smile.

We are off tomorrow to Dubrovnik.

Smarjeske Teplice

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 19:06:00 +0000

We left Bled, it was raining. The lake and the castle still looked beautiful even in the rain and mist of clouds. Such a fairy tale setting! The GPS did not have enough info on Slovenia so we navigated to closest large city Novo Mesto where we were about 10km in our next destination – Krka therme – Thermal waters, spa hotel Vittarium.

Without GPS, we have to a bit of backtracking, but finally found this spa. The company through which we booked spa, owns most hotels in that area (there are not too many). The most famous is castle hotel Otocec and hotel Vittarium, both 4*. Slovenia does not have yet 5* hotels. I chose Vittarium since it has mineral water pools on premises and we like to soak in waters.
We checked in and immediately felt out of place. The setting was beautiful however hotel caters to local residents who go to spa for a treatment period. I know this setup in Europe and former Soviet Union – it is called sanatorium. Not in the sense as sanatorium for mental patients :-)
but in Europe most government and insurance companies cover spa treatments as medical insurance. Therefore, you will see people, mostly older who went for about month treatment for mineral waters and medical treatment. Hotel even had a medical floor. The food was like cafeteria food and setup was depressing...

The people stared at us and we stared at them. They were friendly however and tried to communicate in Slovenian but of course we could not do much talking … We went to spa. But the pools were huge and spectacular, newly redone and we enjoyed soaking in the waters. There was even outdoor pool, you go from inside and swim outdoors and temp was 32C so it was terrific. A lots of different massage showers... Very enjoyable. The price included half board, but after lunch which I could not eat L , we did not want to eat dinner there. We drove to castle Otocec but did not see decent places to eat. The area is very rural. We finally found supermarket near hotel and bought our shopping there and ate good “picnic” in our room. In the evening, we used free wi-fi at the lobby areas where we also found some younger people with laptops. We went for a walk in the evening and then to bed determined to leave early as as possible. Next morning we went for buffet breakfast. Good find for us was buckwheat groats which we love from childhood. I am not sure who else likes it! After breakfast we were waiting for rain to stop but it continued. We checked our email in wi-fi area and left for 1hr trip to Zagreb.

What can I say? The area has great potential and natural mineral springs but not ready for Western Visitors yet.. That was one place on this trip we did not enjoy...

Bled

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:03:00 +0000

After breakfast, we walked to Ljubljana rail station and picked up our second rental, Skoda from Sixt. It was a small car and George after driving a bit, declared it powerless
We drove to hotel, took our luggage and departed for one night in Bled. The GPS did not cooperate and could not recognize Bled at all on the map. The hotel's ported gave us directions which turned out pretty much simple and in about 1 hr we arrived to Bled in Julian Alps. It was beautiful, mountain lake setting. I do not recall after Switzerland seeing such scenery - lake amidst mountains. Castle in the middle of the lake was unique. There was another castle "grad" on the hill which we explored as well, so the car proved useful.
Our hotel is also on the lake with spectacular setting. I chose Vila Bled for it's historical significance. It used to be owned by Hapsburg Imperial family and later on was summer residence of Yosip Bros Tito (Yugoslavian President). Also some reconstructions was designed by Yoszi Plecnik (the same architect who designed many Ljubljana' buildings). This villa had VIP visitors from over the world, including Khruschev, Indira Gandhi, Madeline Albright, Prince Charles just name a few.. Many were entertained by Tito. Now it is Relais and Chateaux hotel.
We were upgraded to large suite and we just marveled if Tito slept in this room.
It is not much to do in Bled except walk around lake and boat ride. The famous castle ("Otoc" ) is in the middle of the lake and one can get there by boat - special boat "Pletna" - as Venice Gondolas only with more people.
We had a a quick snack pizza in the Bled center and rested at hotel. The air is very invigorating so this probably put us in sleepy mood. Dinner at 6pm at villa Bled and early to the suite to do some work and early to bed. Not much to do here but relax. Dinner was suppolsed to be exquisite and it was good, only few guests in the dining room. But not that spectaclar... Maybe we started to have restaurant fatigue.... :-)
Tomorrow we are leaving for Smarejcki Teplice - spa hotel on the way back to Ljubljana and towards Zagreb.

Ljubljana

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:24:00 +0000

We took train from Salzburg to Ljubljana. Bought tickets at train station. We figured out where to board. The ticket said to Ljubljana however train went to Zagreb and Klagenfurt. You need to know direction and geography :-) . We finally found the plan of the train which shows which car is first class, which is second, smoking, non-smoking and direction. We thought we need to take either Klagenfurt or Zagreb, and Ljublana is in between. When train came, we were told to take 2 last cars which was marked as Zagreb. It is good thing we bought 2nd class tickets since looks like only these two cars were disconnected and continued on other direction from Klagenfurt (Austria) to Slovenia. :-) . No first class cars. The train was on the train station in Salzburg only 15 mins so you'd better figure out fast which car to board. But train attendants can direct those who are lost.
The 4.5 trip was uneventful if you do not consider annoying factors that there were no announcements whatever (you are supposed to watch for train stations signs). Also our car had light broken so when train went through tunnels it was complete darkness. In US I would be worried about my luggage in front of the train but here in Austria-Slovenia border obviously people are not that affected by petty crime. Other then that, the Alps scenery was spectacular and there was a lot's of extra space to stretch so it was more pleasant then I would say to fly. Less expensive too.
In Ljubljana we could have walked 10 min to hotel however with luggage, we hailed a taxi and he charge 10 eur for few min drive! Our hotel is Grand Union Business (another hotel next door is Grand Union Executive). Owned by the same company. They should be more creative naming their properties. Both are 4* hotels, no luxurious 5* hotels here yet. But it was comfortable enough, relatively new but style is still very much former communist, Eastern European. Furnishing is new but style is more like Russian. Huge Eastern European style pillows , comfortable. The rooms besides bedroom, also had a small business area kind of living room with comfortable 2 desks and chairs for work and even inviting guests. Many closets. Staff was helpful enough. We forgot cable for our laptop (all other places we had wireless), so they brought us a cable. Toiletries are very plain, Holiday Inn type. Breakfast was very good, extensive.
Dinner yesterday evening was i local restaurant Zlata Rubica (Gold fish). It was good but not spectacular. and were sitting outside which was nice.
Next morning, after breakfast, we explored Ljubljana. They still have to restore buildings but architecture is very much Viennese, Art Nouveau. They were part of Hapsburg Austro- Hungarian empire before they became Yugoslavia and then Slovenia 10 years ago.
The city is influenced by Slovenian architect Yozhe Plecnik who is what is Gaudi to Barcelona. If you know where to look, there are his interesting touches around city.
The city center is very small , river is small, and it is very easy to explore it. We also took funicular to castle on the hill. In pre-medieval times, it was Roman settlement so you see the remnants of archeological digs in many exhibits even in town hall. Town hall (Mestny Trg), had nice Renaissance courtyard and fountains inspired by Romans.
Overall very pleasant city. A lot's of people strolling and sitting in cafes. Who is working there? We saw American Embassy, next to Russian Embassy. American embassy is located in a very characteristic mountain chalet but the glass structure which does not fit architecturally was for some reason added on the side.
We had dinner in an excellent restaurant Gostilna S. There is no menu, they specialize on Adriatic seafood and whatever fresh fish they have, the serve it. It was well prepared and beauitufully presented. 3 course dinner and dessert. They offered to us good local Slovenian sparkling wine..

We did not visit any museums in Ljubljana. The only one visit I would visit would be Yoshi Plecnick house, but unfortunately it was closed 3 days in a week. But the city is small enough and pleasant to stroll and .

Tomorrow off to Bled!

Salzburg

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 05:19:00 +0000

Sept 21.
After breakfast, we drove to Salzburg. It takes about2 hrs with stops and some traffic near Prien. The drive was uneventful. We did not get lost thanks to our GPS.
First I thought to stop at Herren-Chimsee on the way to visit Ludwig's Palace which is larger than Versailles. But there was some traffic before Prien and we decided to go straight to Salzburg. After all, we've seen Versailles. We also have seen day ago Nymphenburg Palace a day ago so at this time we became lazy tourists.
The Mozart's city was waiting for us so we just continued to drive. In Austria when you cross the border you need to buy a decal for the car even for a short distance to Salzburg. But we found it later on in my notes. We were lucky we were not stopped by policemen.

We arrived to our hotel Schloss Monchstein. Hard to find it but GPS did it through some narrow alley in the downtown of Salzburg, got up the mountain and very soon we were at the driveway of the castle. It is exquisite. It is a small castle sitting on the top of Mountain Monchsberg. Modern and immaculately maintained, it deserves accollades and 5* rating it has. It is a member of Relais and Chateaux. I thought restaurant has one Michelin star, however it did not . But nevertheless food was excellent and beautifully served with few compliments f the chef. The setting of hotel is stunning. We've got large room with excellent bathroom suite, and beautiful view of the gardens but I beleive all rooms are different and have nice views. There were some lounge chairs on the lawn for guests to relax.

The staff was very helpful and accommodating. They called Avis and Avis came to get our car so we did not have to drive downtown. That was very nice so we can relax and start our vacation in this magic city.

The weather was perfect Indian Summer. The hotel is located in a midst of Monchsber's park. To get down to old city, you need either walk trails down or take an elevator - 10 min walks to the Modern Museum. Kind of hard to find but once we figured out the elevator, we were OK.

We spent 2 glorious days in Salzburg and it was just beautiful. Did usual tourist sightseeing: visitied Mozart's house where he was born and other Mozart related museums, took a horse buggy ride around town, walked to Mirabel Palace, enjoyed it's gardens. There are beautiful cathedrals and I especially liked Salzburg Cathedral.

I liked oter side of Salzburg later across the river since it is less crowded. Central street had expensive stores and touristy restaurants.

It was nice in the end of the day to take an elevator to the Mochsberg's park ot our "Urban sanctuary". The dinner was excellent and we retired to bed. Second day we wanted to have dinner in town in Stiftskeller St. Peter's circa of 803 where there is dinner is server together with Mozart's concert howewer dissapointing it was sold out for the evening. We ended eating in the restaurant in town but it was not good.

We walked back to elevator and our hotel.

Few notes re: Austrians . They are very helpful and courteous but in my opinion lack the warmth and readiness to help as Germans. Just my opinion.

But still, Austria was the first country we've seen 25 years ago when we escaped Iron Curtain in 1982. We were impressed by it and now when we are coming back , it has special feeling in our heart. It's been a long way from our dilapidated apartment provided by immigrant agency and this castle in Salzburg!

Tomorrow we are leaving by train to our next destination - Ljubljana.

Sept 2007, Jewish Franconia

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:42:00 +0000

Today we are meeting with my colleague Michael and his driver Dieter for a day exploration. The driver by the way is also the guide and has the title "Dr". He is retired chemist and guiding is his second career.
We are working on a new itinerary for the jewish travelers. Instead of regular Jewish, war, holocaust sites in Munich and Nurnberg, this time we will be exploring Jewish Franconia.

Just like in Eastern Europe, during medieval times, the Jews in Germany were only allowed to live in certain areas. Beacuse of this, you will see a concentration of Jews in certain villages of Franconia.

First we went to Gosswenstein and saw the castle where the Jewish settelement was and how they lived. There were 15 small, houses within the castle. They all lived in the same area, and shared bread baking stove and mikweh. Jewish children however happily coexisted with gentiles. One man wrote in his stories how he was invited by the priest to ring the bell (since he was not alllowed to be an altar boy). Jews could not own land in 1600 and only can do trading.

After visting this this settlement, we went to a small town which was developed by Jewish industrialist and philantropist Ignatz Bing. He employed villagers and provided water and electricity in late 1800. It was a rarity at that time. In addition to his toy business (mechanical train toys), he also discovered a natural cave and developed it for tourism. He was one of the first tourism organizers in Germany. The cave is now a natural attraction and many people come to visit.
That part of Franconia along with nearby Bamberg and Wurtzburg is very beautiful. It is a great place to spend even a week there. We inspected a nice 4* hotels owned by the same man , and he assured us he will take care best care of our future clients. Besides hotels, the owner has a great restaurant at a hotel where local people come to eat. We had lunch there and it was very good.

Next stop was a small town of Buttenheim which is the birth place of Levy Strauss. He was born to a large family in poverty and the rest is history. Strauss lived in small house which is now a fascinating museum. The audio guide in English is included. The lady who worked there, was very enthusiastic especially when she found out we were from the USA. She said the museum was created on private donations. Interesting enough that Levy Strauss Corp did not participate in the creation of this museum. (It looks like the company is not interested in associating authentic american product like jeans with a Jew from Germany).
The lady in the museum showed us statistics of visitors and most visitors come from the US and China.

Next we went to a small town of Ermreuth where there is a newly restored synagogue. Their small Jewish community lived here in the 18th and 19th century. It was destroyed during the rystallnacht in 1938 and the Jews left. After the war, there was an effort to restore the synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. At the time of restoration in the 1990's, the 16th-19th century artifacts were discovered hidden in the attic. Now the museum is a part of the synagogue. The Jews do not live in Emreuth anymore, but the synagogue is used for music, religious and cultural events to promote peace and interfaith cooperation. The woman who takes taking care of the synagogue, Dr. Rajaa Nadelr, is a Christian from Syria. She is married to a German and lives nearby. Nadler is very well versed in the Judaism and the history of the synagogue. She said it is her project to bring peace between different faiths. She explained symbols of the restoration and architecture, based on Kabbala. Very interesting. Sometimes the schools bring students to study the war and holocaust at te museum. Jewish communities conduct events. There are also art exhibits, many of them by Jewish artists.
For more information, see http://www.neunkirchen-am-brand.de/index.php?page=906

Last year at this time, we visited Berlin. The city and it's people amazed us. This year, in a small village of Franconia, we see a synagogue meticulously restored by the German government and donations throughout the world, lovingly and enthusiastically maintained by a Syrian woman. It is just incredible.

Most travelers concentrate on the tragic past of German Jews and visit cemeteries and concentration camps. This is a must to do. However, sites like this which tell the story of Jewish communities who lived here for centuries before the holocaust are often missed. I beleive we must celebrate Jewish life in Germany. You see that nazis are gone (well almost) but Jewish life flourishes once again , monuments and synagogues are restored and vibrant Jewish communities with immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Israel are continue to practice theoir religion.

I've heard many Jews say they are not comfortable coming back but I strongly recommend that they come and see what real contemporary Germany is all about.

It was really an eye opening day for us and we are forever grateful to Michael for bringing us there.
He said it was encouraging to say a prayer in the synagogue to breath life into it since services are not often provided there. He thoughtfully brought a prayer book with him and beautifully sang 2 prayers. Here we are sitting in German synagogue listening to familiar prayer songs . We taped it on a video.
It was a great day for us. I am hoping to bring my clients who are looking for their German roots and hertiage. We were told they would be happy to open the synagogue for bar- and bat- mitzvahs, or weddings, or just for a service, and it is possible to find a rabbi to lead the service.

Michael and Dieter dropped us off at hotel. It was already late, so we had a light dinner again at the Yugoslav restaurant next to our hotel. We were once again the only Americans there and the Croatian owner this time met us like we were family. We still had some trouble communicating so other guests translated and it was a very satisfying day.

Tomorrow we are leaving Munich for Salzburg.

Sept 2007 Munich

georgek@emcoinc.com (Sophia Kulich) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:24:00 +0000

Sept 19.
After breakfast, we took a tram 15 min ride to Munich Old town. The weather was a bit cool (jacket) and sunny. We walked to Marienplatz - where Old Munich is. We were on time to watch Glockenspiel - 11am the clock is playing Bavarian wedding and the figures move . Kind of lame seems to me however we've seen these clock performances in many European cities :-)
Nevertheless I am always trying not to miss it.
The Marienplatz is pedestrian plaza with some nice churches around it, two town halls (Rathaus) - Old and New. We walked to Frauenkirchen (Our Lady Church). From there, we took elevator (3e ticket each person) to see Munich from the top. We thought elevator is from the ground floor. Well it turned out to be there are 86 steps to the elevator! We made it. The view was nice but from the tower it was not that convenient to take picture.
We also walked to Marienhof which used to be a Jewish quarter and now a small park. Relaxed there and toured the rest. We had lunch in famous Hofbrauhous, it is 400 year old Beer house.It is huge with music and tourist atmosphere. We've shared table with a nice couple from Holland and had a good time. For some reason the waiter was brusque and did not seem understand that we want together beer and food. First he brought beer. Then food. Beer is served the smallest portion is .5l. Light beer is called Helles and dark is Dunkel. When I asked for light - the waiter thought no alcohol beer and it really turned him off although nearby Japanese tourist drank water. We finally with a help of dutch couple and also pointing at other tables explained what we want. We shared one plate of sausage and kraut. In Germany, looks like we can have 1/2 of the portion - their portions are huge.
After lunch, we took tram to Nymphenburg Palace which is near our hotel. It took few changes of the trams since we took different tram but eventually we managed to get where we wanted. The Nymphenburg Palace was great and we loved gardens the most. They remind us Tulleries gardens in Paris. Beautiful. Our hotel's owner, Sebastian had 2 extra tickets to the palace in the morning and gave them to us so we got them for free.
We took English audio guides inside. It is large palace but only 15 rooms or so are available for touring. It is Baroque Italian style . The bavarian ruler Ferdinand Maria of Wittelsbach family gave it as a gift to his wife Henriette Adelaide of Savoy for giving him son Max Emanuel. The family still lives in this huge estate. In addition to Wing of king and queen wings there alsoRoyal Stables Museum and Amalienburg Palace. It was very nice and the weather cooperated for enjoying lakes and gardens, beautiful swans and ducks.
Afterwards we walked ot our hotel , refreshed and went for dinner. Dinner was at nearby Italian restaurant Osteria di Golfo, small local place with local clientele. It was completely filled in. Small menu.. We had pasta and caprese salad and tartufo and tea for dessert. We enjoyed dinner very much and came back to hotel.
Sebastian said that our collegaue who is taking us tomorrow to explore Jewish Franconia, called and said will arrive at 8am tomorrow instead of 9. So tomorrow we are for early start. Some work in the evening including this blog and going to bed...