by David McGuffin | Nov 26, 2008 | Destinations
I know you will find this hard to believe, but we slept away the afternoon. By the time I woke it was almost dark, the street lights were on, and the church bells were tolling seven o’clock. I went out for a stroll looking for a spot for dinner. Between the town center and the ferry dock I came across four restaurants, two of which were eliminated because they were pizzarias. I took my time wandering back to the room, checking out the nooks and crannies of Varenna. Here’s my take: This is an old town, I’ll have to look up the history later, but I can tell from the architecture it dates back to the Middle Ages. All the streets are cobbled and narrow. Streets,Ha! There are only two main streets for vehicles, everything else is pedestrian only. The pedestrian lanes seem to spoke off the main square and lead down to the water’s edge. Unusual cobbling here since the lanes slope steeply down to the lake so they must serve double duty as gutters during heavy rains. The stones are small and golf ball sized cemented in between horizontal stone terracing every ten meters or so. (I discovered later that the stone came from the bottom of the lake where there are billions of smooth round stones). The lanes are steep going down, steeper going up, and are tough on the soles of your feet. The main square holds the church, town hall, pharmacy, several restaurants, and shops. There is a small amount of parking on the square so it seems everyone just pulls in somewhere and makes a parking place. All in all, Varenna is a lovely little town but it’s not much for sightseeing, shopping, or museum hopping. This is a place to rest, relax, and slow down (evident in my taking a nap this afternoon).
I found Vecchia Varenna Ristorante located down at lake level and about halfway towards the ferry dock. It was a small restaurant with about eight tables. In the busy season I can imagine one would need to make a reservation in advance for dining, but tonight there were only two other couples. The region’s cuisine caters to the local freshwater catches from the lake so you can imagine there are lot of fish on the menu. We ordered a bottle of Barbara d’ Asti along with a pumpkin and pancetta laced bowl of risotto. The risotto was freshly prepared and wonderfully creamy and paired very well with the vino. For the second course, I ordered fresh white fish in a soup of tomatoes and herbs. Charlotte ordered the pork filet and seasonal vegetables. Both meals were great. My fish was exceptionally good with a strong tomato and herb base lightly flavoring the very tasty fish.
Desert, a hike up the hill, and bed. Varenna is a good place to relax, recover and enjoy the views.
by David McGuffin | Nov 26, 2008 | Destinations
Charlotte and I hopped on a Delta jet bound for Milano yesterday. Today, we are enjoying the village of Varenna located on the east bank of Lake Como. The entire idea of this trip began simply enough… find the cheapest airfare to anywhere in Europe and return to Atlanta in time for Thanksgiving dinner with our family. Why go? Because I got the travel bug, I had some free air miles I needed to use, and Charlotte needed a few miles to bump up her frequently flyer status.
So here we are driving along the picturesque route along the lake, dodging what seems like hundreds of spandex clad bicyclist out for a Sunday afternoon ride. The weather is beautiful, clear blue sky dotted with white billowy clouds, bright sunshine, and a temperature about 40 degrees F. I’m trying out a brand new Garmin GPS unit I purchased online from www.tigergps.com and only had a chance to test it out en-route from my home to the airport. So now I am really running it through the hoops here in Italy. So far, it got us out of the Malpensa airport parking lot and on our way to Lake Como. I’ll let you know more on this new GPS in the coming days.
We arrived in Varenna by 12:00 noon, quickly found a parking spot on the main square, Piazza San Georgio, and began our hunt for a hotel. We were quickly sidetracked by a sign advertising pizza and fresh regional specialties. We were the first customers of the day, but by the look of the town we might as well have been the only customers! Varenna seemed closed for the season. Driving into town we noticed no tourists, many “closed” signs, and not a single shop open for business… however it was a Sunday afternoon which traditionally means closed businesses in small-town Italy. The Hotel and Restaurant del Sole appeared to be run by a husband and wife team with two small boys who had really good lungs. The pizza and vino hit the spot, and during the course of our lunch several other couples arrived and ordered lunch.
Sated, we now set off to find a hotel. As I mentioned before, many of the hotels were closed for the season but we did manage to walk along the lakeside, orienting ourselves to the locale, and wind up back in the town square. We did check out a couple of hotels but finally ended up back at Albergo del Sole, where we had lunch. We got a nice room with a view of the town square and a bit of the lake beyond. By now it was after two o’clock and the jet lag was beginning to catch up with us. Stretching out on the bed we both drifted off to sleep…
by David McGuffin | Jul 30, 2008 | Destinations
Saturday I flew on Delta Airlines from Jacksonville, Florida to Pisa, Italy. The flight happened to be a piece of cake! I left Jacksonville at 1:00 p.m. and arrived in New York’s Laguardia Airport by 3:00, and then took a limo shuttle to JFK. After a steak dinner at Todd English’s BONFIRE Restaurant in the terminal, I skipped the coach class dinner on Delta and slept most of the way to Pisa. By 11:30 the next day, I was on a train from Pisa to the Cinque Terre! Now that is the way to travel.
Today is Monday and I’ve shown my group around and we’ve landed in Vernazza. It’s now five in the afternoon. I claimed a spot on a rock in the harbor, got a pizza and a little vino, and life is good. This is THE vacation spot for Italy. Tonight I’ve booked a table at Il Castello, my favorite restaurant in the Cinque Terre. Can’t wait!
-David
by David McGuffin | Jul 28, 2008 | Destinations
FINALLY I GET TO DO A LITTLE EXPLORING OF MY OWN: I arrived just an hour ago at my pension in Český Krumlov. Finding the pension was an adventure in itself (which I post in my last blog), but now I’ve got the van parked, my group and I are all checked into our rooms, and we’re ready to do some exploring!
According to legend and the town’s website, the name Krumlov is derived from the German “Krumme Aue”, which may be translated as “crooked meadow”. The name comes from the natural topography of the town, specifically from the tightly crooked meander of the Vltava river. The word “Český” simply means Czech or Bohemian.
The Vltava (Moldau) River flows gently just outside our pension’s entrance. The pension seems to be a multi-purpose place for sleeping, eating, and docking ones’ boats. Today, with warm weather and bright sun, the outdoor restaurant and the river are loaded with people. Floating down this river must be a major activity here. Standing on the riverbank, I can see a multitude of kayaks, canoes, inner tubes, and homemade water “crafts” lazily meandering by on the river. It’s quite nautical in a quirky sense. In keeping with the nautical theme, we hear the folks from the restaurant yelling, “Ahoy!” to those drifting by on the river and in response, the river floaters answer back with their own, “Ahoy!”
After being here for five minutes, I can tell this place is a keeper. The river, the brightly painted town building, the towering castle, and the care-free atmosphere all combine to make this one of my ideal destinations. I think, “Too bad we are only here for one night”. It was about this time in my reflective thought that I hear a loud horn sound which I soon identify as coming from a “viking-like” bull horn.
We’re hungry and decide to walk across the river and find a cafe for lunch. It was not until two days later, while visiting Prague, did I find out the “Ahoy!” was not just a funny nautical-themed greeting used on the water in Český Krumlov. It is the Czech’s way of saying an informal “Hello” to one another!
Ahoy!
-David
by David McGuffin | Jul 25, 2008 | Destinations
For the past few weeks I’ve been traveling around Europe with one of my tour groups. A couple of days ago, I got to visit the only “new” destination for me in my summer travels. One of the drawbacks of being a “tour guide” is that you go to the same locations all the time. Yes, Paris is wonderful and Rome is a “must see” city, but sometimes it gets old walking the same streets, the same route, and talking about the same sights. I know, it’s hard to understand unless you’ve done it. At any rate, my point is I finally got to go to a new destination and experience the fun of actually exploring Europe!
Český Krumlov is a delightful little fairy-tale town situated in a sharp crook of the Vltava (Moldau) River. I think that during the forty years Czechoslovakia was under communist rule, this little town was blighted and forgotten. Now since the middle 1990’s, it has become a big vacation destination for Germans, Austrians, and Czechs.
My group and I arrived in in town about one o’clock. I was driving and had no GPS guidance system in the Czech Republic, so we were going by the old-fashion method of using a map! We made it to the town center with no problem, but then we had to find and drive to our “pension” located on the riverbank in a pedestrian-only zone. Natalie, my navigator, and I tried it for a little bit, but soon decided it was a lost cause to drive around blindly hoping to run across the pension. So I stopped, looked at our map, then got out and went to a taxi sitting just a few meters away. I asked in English, since I can’t speak Czech, if the taxi driver knew where our pension was located. The driver spoke pretty good English and began with directions that sounded something like this, “One bridge, go left, then one bridge, go left, then go, three bridge, and go.” So, I understood the directions perfectly and asked, “Can you drive and I follow?” Then I made a driver steering motion and pointed to him. Success, we both understood! I got in my van. He took off. I followed.
Everything was ok until the road got narrow. Natalie started to have visions of our 2007 adventure in Arcos, Spain. She made me stop when it looked like the road would peter out. Natalie got out, hopped in the cab, and we waited. In a couple of minutes she came walking back, got back in the van and said, “Let’s go”. So off we went down a small cobbled lane with only inches clearance on either side of the van.
Well, we made it the “Pension U Matesa and Labyrint” and there was plenty of room to park next door too. Relief! We piled out of the van, Natalie got our room keys, and another adventure began.
by David McGuffin | Jul 18, 2008 | Culture & Customs, Destinations
Last night I was in Paris for the second time in a month. Every tour group has its different dynamics and this one was no exception. I’m leading around a group of seven adults, three couples, and one single gentleman. After a grueling day of walking and sightseeing, we were all looking forward to my traditional picnic on the Champ du Mars. The weather has been unseasonably cool and until last night, clear and cloudless. That changed yesterday afternoon when the colds rolled in and there was even some sputtering rain.
Not to be cheated out of the picnic experience, we grabbed our umbrellas, and then went off to the market. The Monoprix is a combination of a department store and a supermarket. These are scatted all over Paris, but this one is particulary convienient because it is just three blocks from the Eiffel Tower in the Cambronne area. So, we divided up our shopping duties and agreed to meet outside in twenty minutes. Forty-five minutes later we were loaded with food and were walking to the park.
As I mentioned, it was sputtering rain so there were very few pods of people sitting on the grass park. We decided to risk it and staked out our territory on a grassy section with an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower. We spread out our “table cloth”, all the food, and a couple of bottles of wine. Then we dove into the food.
Looking down the park toward the Eiffel Tower we noticed a group of policemen in white shirts visiting every pod of people, telling them a few things, and then the people either packed up and left or remained seated. This was odd, and very different from all my previous experiences picnicking here. Soon the policemen in white shirts came to our little group of picnickers. One officer told us it was forbidden to have open bottles of “spirits” in the park. I took this to mean liquor, not beer or wine. But when I asked he said no, nothing of the sort was allowed. Now this was really odd. I cannot even begin to recount the times where I’ve picniced with my tour groups on this very location and had no problem.
We all started packing up our food deciding that the weather was not so good for a picnic anyway. Then after about five minutes, more policemen were heading towards us. These were different police, not in white shites but in black commando uniforms with heaving-duty pistols strapped to their side. When they got to us, we all hurriedly said we knew the new rule and were packing up. One of them laughed a bit and said, “No, no it’s ok. Just hide the bottle of wine in your bag and it is ok!” These guys obviously carried more authority than the police in white shirts. So we stayed! No more rain and the evening was a success.
Later we noticed the two sets of policemen speaking with one another. They both were animated in their gestures and it was obvious there was some disagreement. Some of the men in white walked back the way they had come in shame. It seems they were being a little too aggressive in enforcing the new alcohol policy in the park. Three hours later, when we were packing up to go home, we noticed the “NEW” signs which had just been stuck in the ground stating this new “policy.” In big bold icon on the right stated no sitting and drinking from bottles. HA!
So the moral of the story here is that the rule has changed in Paris. There are signs in the parks that illustrate the no drinking rule. But apparently for now, it is ok as long as it is out of view.
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