travel journal: chronicling 17 days abroad

For the next 17 days, I will chronicle my travels abroad to share with all those interested, how I travelled on this particular holiday/vacation. See you across the pond on Monday morning

First stop Italy

boutique hotel pick – Hôtel La Résidence De La Pinède -St. Tropez, France

St. Tropez is a destination I include in  every trip to France. Although it is  very difficult and time consuming to get to the small fishing village from most anywhere in the world, it is truly a wonderful place to experience when daydreaming about the high life.

I normally stay in Nice and take a train to Saint Raphael and then a bus to St. Tropez, totalling approximlately 2-3 hour travel time. It is the most ecnomical way to get there but also the longest, especially if there is traffic during the high season (May-Sept/Oct). There are also ferrys leaving from Nice and Cannes and Saint Rapael, but I have found those to be an inconvinience due to their unpredictable schedules (plus I cannot deal with motion sickness very well)

There is also driving along the Riviera in a rental car and without traffic you can reach St. Tropez within an hour and half from Cannes. Of course having your very own personal yatch also helps, but that is a story for another day.  

The most interesting thing about St. Tropez is that although it is a fishing village, it is also a place for the best designer shopping, celebrity spotting and dining and night life. Women flock the streets in their fashionable ensemble and golden tans and the men sit in outdoor cafes  to people watch really, while they pretend to read the  newspaper. It’s a magical place and definitely worth experiencing at least once in your lifetime.

Hotels vary in price along St. Tropez, but if planned right, you can actually find a pretty good deal. The charm of the hotels in the area is  that they remind me of the 1960s, simple, simply elegant and peaceful. One hotel  which fits that image is  Hotel La Residence De La Pinede  and it is ideal for a 2 nights/3 days stay in St. Tropez, very close to the beach. What’s important is that if you  schedule your stay  to  include a Tuesday, you can actually experience one of the best flee markets I have been to in Europe.

escape from the fog – a summer in san francisco

Well officially, perhaps a day earlier than some calendars indicate, we have entered the Summer season. I know this because yesterday it was freezing, foggy and drizzly in the city and today it isn’t any better.  So while I bring out my sweaters, coat and umbrella to the front of my closet for use throughout this season, I cannot help but think of anywhere that I could lay on the beach and soak up the sun.

{click on the photo to get travel information to any of the destinations below}

Maui, Hawaii

St. Lucia, Caribbean Islands

Cozumel, Mexico

Bora Bora, Tahiti

Sicily, italy

Santorini, Greece

take me here and here and here

Oh, Summer is approaching so quickly  and while my other half and I continue to discuss our annual vacation plans, I cannot help but wish I could go to:

The Italian Coast

The Greek Isles

My beautiful Paris

The French Countryside

boutique hotel pick – tharroe of mykonos, greece

Right about now, exactly right now, I am seeing myself in a far away place, where I could nap alongside the pool, or sit on a lounge chair on the balcony of my suite and watch the world go by and just maybe make an effort to leave the hotel just to experience the nightlife on the island of Mykonos, Greece.

To make this happen, I have to include one of my favorite hotels on Mykonos – Tharroe Of Mykonos, to set the stage for one of the most relaxing holidays/vacations imaginable.  BTW this would make a wonderful Mother’s Day gift:

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a sentimental day

Looking back, I have been told, is never a good thing, but once in a while I find myself having the need to look back thirty plus years,  just to escape the complexities of today’s world.

The funny thing is, as my mind  reflects on  most of my amazing childhood,  I subconsciously or perhaps just by pure accident come across  online photographs  which, I could have sworn, were taken from a time during my childhood.

You see my parents, along with the entire clan on my father’s side and sometimes my mothers went on picnics in the mountains of a place where I was born, but back then I had no idea how precious those days were, I simply took them for granted and played about without a care in the world.

Fast forward to my adult life and the need to escape the daily chaos, I spend a good amount of time reflecting on those amazing moments and when I come across a photograph which reminds me of that time, I add it to my collection just in case I need to mental escape.

romance with the island of santorini, greece

Having lived on almost an island (well a Peninsula) all my life, I have a certain appreciation for places around the globe which are either small towns or villages near water or an actual island. With that said, I can’t resist reflecting on my trip to Santorini, Greece a while back.

Santorini is hop skip away from Athens Greece and can be accessed via air or sea. I chose air, because I figured I didn’t want to get seasick and a flight in my mind meant a shorter trip to my destination. Of course at the time, I didn’t factor in getting to the airport, waiting for the flight, dealing with weather delays and of course finding a means to get to the car rental agency on Santorini. But an adventure is always exciting, even if at times it is scary.

So, with a small luggage in tow, my travel partner and I, after enduring the longest flight on the shortest distance ever, finally got to the island in the afternoon. The airport, being very small, seemed isolated. It wasn’t a welcoming site, but the fact we were able to find a taxi driver willing to get us to the town center, in time to rent a car seemed promising.

We finally arrived at an intersection 10 minutes and perhaps even only 3 miles away from the airport and quickly ran to the car rental agency to get our vehicle before they closed. The interesting part was the car rental agent was pretty pleasant and very helpful while renting the vehicle, but when we had trouble with the car half way down the street, he wasn’t willing to exchange nor help with our troubles.

Nonetheless, we finally made our way to the hotel, which was located somewhere in the middle of the island, along a dirt road leading to a sheep farm. As we drove up the road, we realized we were miles away from the water. After checking in, I scratched my head because I didn’t realize there were scattered villages around the island, nowhere near the white washed buildings neatly tucked unto the cliff side, which I often saw in photographs. The worst was that I asked the hotel receptionist about the area and she simply shrugged, which made me think I was on the wrong island altogether.

The first night, we were completely disappointed at the experience of Santorini thus far and decided we needed to take a flight right back to Athens the following day. However, over night the winds had picked up and because of it, the flights scheduled for the following day were all cancelled. When we discovered this fact, we ended up spending the entire day moping around our hotel room because we didn’t know how to deal with a faulty rental, high wind advisory making it difficult to do most anything, grounded flights and of course the whereabouts of the white washed buildings.

After patiently waiting for day 2 to arrive, we decided to drive back to the town center, return the rental car and just wait around the airport for a flight back to Athens no matter how many hours we had to wait around. As we drove on the dirt road leading to the main road, we took a wrong turn at the T-intersection. We drove until we realized it was taking way to long to get the main town center. As soon as we decided to make a U-turn at a safe intersection, we realized a bus full of student travellers heading down yet another road. We looked at one another and decided to follow the bus just in case they were headed somewhere we didn’t know about. When the bus pulled up and let out the student or perhaps young travellers, we pulled up right behind them and parked the car. All of a sudden I looked over the cliff and saw the white washed buildings. I looked over to my friend and he looked over to me and we both knew we had to stay.

All of a sudden, everything changed. We found a tourist information office and were welcomed to the Island and given lots of information for all the things to see and do on Santorini. Nothing mattered, not the faulty car, not the winds, not the fact our hotel was in the middle of nowhere, because we finally knew where we wanted to be, FIRA.

I must say we not only stayed day 2 but actually extended our trip to another 3 days so that we could see the best of Santorini. Besides exploring FIRA and spending every evening dining in the most romantic restaurants perched along the cliff side and shopping for souvenirs along the cobblestone streets, we visited two famous archeological site, Akrotiri and Cyclades and the volcanic ash beaches which Santorini is famous for. We danced the night away at a small village bar and sat on the edge of a cliff side, along the white washed buildings and watched the sunset. I could ask for anything more.

I haven’t been back and I am sure there have been many changes to the island as well to make it more tourist friendly, but I haven’t forgotten the romance of the island and I can assure you, I will be back hopefully in the next couple of years.

romantic vacation recommend: isle of capri, italy

Main square - Piazza Umberto

Most of my previous travels are to the main cities or towns within a country in Europe. But a few years back, when I ventured towards the Southern tip of Italy (the booth) I decided to take a ferry to the island of Capri.

I must admit I wasn’t disappointed with the choice, even though the ferry schedule a bit unreliable and the frequency less than desirable, the trip was well worth it.

main point - marina grande

The way it works is, after disembarking the ferry from Napoli, you have to take a taxi or a bus up to the top ( Alta Capri). This is where the main town square is and most of the civilization on the island. I did get a bit sick because of the altitude or maybe because of my fear of heights, but every where I looked there was the most beautiful view anyone can imagine.

view from the top

We stayed 3 nights 4 days and because the best way to see a place is by walking. We walked one entire day around the island, actually trekked through the back roads and saw the best of the best the island has to offer.

On the second day we took the funicular up to the highest point and this is where I hiperventilated and screamed all the way to the top, because the funicular was a single open seat, a small belt across your lap, feet dangling for 20 minuets .  I actually hated going up there and the way down, but if you can stomach the ride, it is again well worth the adventure.

yes I was on that

The best and most memorable of my time on the Island  of Capri was visiting Villa San Michelle and riding a small boat into The Blue Grotto – pictured below.

Blue Grotto

villa san michelle

travel recommend: cinque terre, italy

This weekend marks the beginning of my official travel recommends.  As I stated before I get the travel itch sometime in March, but it doesn’t really flare up until about mid May when I discover my circle of acquaintances are planning their trips.

In light of the fact, my first recommend is what is known as Cinque Terre in Italy.

Located along the western coats of Italy, this area consists of five small villages which literally cling to the Ligurian cliffs. The villages are small  and close enough that you can actually walk from own village to the next within a matter of hours.

The first time I discovered the area was actually when I coordinated travel plans for college students. I heard a group of them talking about buying a railpass and finding their way to the area.  That same year, I decided to take a trip to Italy and after locating Cinque Terre on the map, I chartered my course on how to incorporate Cinque Terre into my trip.

To make it easier on myself, since I didn’t know what I was up against, I reserved a hotel room near the train station in Genoa. While feeling adventurous upon my arrival, I discovered there were shuttle-like trains which took you to stops associated with each village and from there you could  either take a bus down to the area where the villages were or simply walked several miles to get to them.

The funny thing I discovered on my trip there, is  that most of the tourists who go there, are students and budget travellers, while others shy away from the challenges of making their way through the area.

One thing I do recommend is reading up on it and learning how to get there and how to get out, meaning double checking on bus and train schedules. If you plan to make a day trip to perhaps one village, make sure you don’t get stuck because of misinformation. Outside of that, it is a must see, especially for the photographers at heart.

boutique hotel pick – four seasons – florence, italy

One city I plan to include in my fall trip to Italy this year, is of course Florence. Although I have been there many times, it seems I can never get enough of this fascinating destination.

Outside of the fact the city’s architectural and artistic makeup, it is to me one of the most romantic places to consider spending with a loved one.

Now, although there are many hotel options to choose from while vacationing in Florence, my favorite recommend is the Palazzo della Gherardesca. Currently known as The Four Seasons Hotel here.

Apparently the hotel is the first of it’s kind for Florence. It is a resort with a pool, a spa and various other amenities too many to list here. However, please click here to read about how the hotel came to be.

Enjoy the photos and have a great weekend.

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