Hotels

The Costiera Amalfitana, One of my favorite places in Italy

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Just below Napels, we find one of the most breathtaking parts of Italy, “La Costiera Amalfitana”. It is one of my favorite parts of Italy. It was actually during a trip through Italy with my dad that I discovered this Italian piece of heaven. The coastline is protected by UNESCO  and is considered as one of the most beautiful coasts in the world.

Things you should really have seen when you would go to the Costiera are:

  • Amalfi’s beautiful Duomo (people in South of Italy take religion really serious)
  • Positano (used in a lot of movies, like under the Tuscany sun)
  • Praiano
  • Ravello’s Terrazza dell’ infinito (also the flowergarden of Villa Rufolo)
  • Scala, the oldest town on this coastline
  • Vietri sul Mare
  • I could keep on naming things must see but the list would really be endless

What I liked about being here, was that you can travel everywhere by boat. This also the most advisable way to travel, as a red traffic light is just a suggestion!!

All that visiting is nice, but I also need FOOD. Being in the same region as Napels, this means that the Spaghetti is essential. And being near the sea, a nice spaghetti vongole is highly recommended. But other regional food and products are Pizza, mozzarella, strong olive oil, pasta in general,  etc…

The wines form this region are not that exceptional. The most famous wine would be Greco di tufo (white wine), Fiano d’avellino, Montefusco and Taurasi. A local drink you really have to try is Limoncello, a lemon liquor .

When my dad  and I were at the Costiera Amalfitana, we stayed at hotel Tritone. Which was a wonderfull hotel with incredible sea views frow EVERYWHERE in the building. We opted for a half board and I could strongly recommend this formula as the dinner during our whole stay was wonderful and more than sufficient. You can choose à la carte and while waiting for your food, you can choose from a very very nice buffet of appetizers (homemade and local). Their wine list also contains a few nice beauties and you should also visit their cellar. The hotel also has its own beach and boat pier from where you can take excursions to Capri (very nice island), Sorrento, Salerno, etc….

This region really stole my heart, will it also steal yours?

A touch of class

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Let me take you on a nice trip down memory lane. For many years my parents, my brother and I used to travel to Italy by car.  When my  brother and I got  a bit older, we always stopped in hotel “Du Parc”in Obernai. Obernai is a little town  just outside of Strasbourg (well-known for the European Parliament, etc….  ) located in France’s Alsace region.  What you will notice if you ever get the change to go to there, is the German (maybe even Austrian) influence that is noticeable everywhere as this region has been part of Germany for many years. What I like about this region is that you  have the feeling that you are traveling back in time because of  the nice flowers on the balconies, seeing beautiful murals (on façade of the houses) and the friendliness of the people. For some strange reason I always feel like putting on some Lederhosen (don’t worry, I never really did it) when I’m walking around.  Sorry, I got carried away for a moment J , back to hotel “Du Parc”.

 Hotel “Du Parc” is a 4 star hotel, but if you ask me it could easily be a 5 star hotel. The hotel has a good combination of old Alsatian style, modern elements mixed with a touch of class. This goes for the whole hotel. The rooms are also of a nice size and you can choose between modern or local style rooms that have all comfort needed. You can also relax at the in- or outside pool, spa, or peaceful garden. My favorite part of staying at this hotel is eating (surprise surprise). At lunchtime you eat at this old fashion “Stub” where you can enjoy the best local cuisine (don’t worry it’s not only heavy food) and enjoy this accompanied with a nice Riesling (which is the wine from this region and one of my preferred white wines).

In the evening, it is the total opposite story!  Be ready to bade in luxury.  In the “La Table” restaurant, the Wucher family (Owners of the hotel) tries to give you the best gastronomical experience you have ever had. A mix of local cuisine is a brought in a refined way and French cuisine. Highly recommended is the home made “Foie gras” or as dessert the “Tarte aux Brimbelles” (a blueberry tartlet) and again all of this accompanied by superb wines, as the hotel has a wonderful wine list (personally I like trying local products). Being served by the owners from the hotel is something I highly appreciate and is something very rare in this kind of hotels.

After a nice night of sleep you will be very pleased with the breakfast, food as far as the eye can see J + freshly squeezed orange juice!!

 Hope you’ll enjoy your stay!!

50 most beautiful hotels worldwide

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HI  guys,

 Once again I found a reason to play the lotery !

Travel and Leisure guide published its 2011 list of the world’s 50 best hotels

I’ve gone through the list and I honestly feel like leaving for a world trip!!

So sit back and start dreaming…

 My personal top 10 out of these hotels would be: (Message to my girlfriend, “Don’t get crazy ideas :- ) )

  •  Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi Chiang Mai, Thailand … I think the below picture speaks for itself….

  • Lodge at Kauri Cliffs Matauri Bay, New Zealand: I call it a room with a view 🙂 🙂

  • Hotel Caruso, Ravello Italy… as beautiful as Lucio Dalla’s version of the song. For me the Amalfi coast is the most beautiful place on earth!!! (but if you’re driving there, you’d better hope God is a good friend of yours as they show no merci in southern Italy. Red light is just a suggestion)

  • Couples Tower Isle, St Mary Jamaica. Feel like Bill Gates on your own little island

  • Turnberry, Scotland. For all golfers out there, Colin Montgomerie has got his summer Golf School at this hotel!!

  •  Intercontinental Resort & Thalasso Spa, Bora Bora. Well this is what heaven looks like (I think, or better I hope). If you would ever go there, don’t forget to check out the nice diving spots in one of my previous blogs

  •  SingitaKruger National Park, South Africa… But only if you don’t mind see lots of wilde animals 🙂

    •  Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, Peru. I could honestly already see me hear … surround by beautiful nature, Machu Picchu… Lucky you a train stops right in front of the hotel ;-), because that would have been a hell of a walk

  • One & Only Palmilla, Los Cabos. Well, just look at the below picture… I have no words

Tell me, which ones would you want to stay at?? What’s your Top 10?

Catalonia à la française

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For an Italian it is not always easy to admit that other cities, countries or villages are breath taking if they are outside of Italy. Collioure in the French département Pyrénées-Orientales along the Côte Vermeille is one of those places. Only a 20 minute drive from the Spanish border, to my opinion this is what makes this region so wonderful. The best from both French and Spanish (Catalonian) culture.

About two weeks ago, when I was driving towards Collioure, from Montpellier onwards I was astonished from the beauty nature has created there…..At your right the hills with the vines enjoying the sunshine wresting on its leafs at that same moment you also notice the amazing view over the Mediterranean sea… And as cherry on top of the cake The blue sky overlooking all this beauty. The more I drove the better it became.

 The hotel we chose was 2 minutes (by car) outside of Collioure, in a little town called Argelès-sur-Mer in hotel Les Mouettes. A nice hotel with pretty spacious rooms, but what makes this hotel even better is the stupendous views:

As you can see on the picture above, just wonderful! Afterwards we also noticed that the group to which this hotel belongs, also had a hotel right in the center of Collioure and according to the comments it gets on booking.com  It is/was also a very nice hotel. The only thing that could be negative is that both hotels don’t have elevators… but personally, it didn’t bother me… as the rooms were nice, the hotel had everything one could want; swimmingpool, Jacuzzi, etc… (all free for use) and all with view over the sea. Plus the hotel staff was also very kind and helpful.

 In the evening after having enjoyed some southern sunshine, we headed towards Collioure city. What actually happens to be the world capital of anchovy (ansjovis), so I was already a bit scared that everything on the menu was anchovy related. Driving towards the city center we enjoyed a nice short drive surrounded by vineyards and overlooking the sea we entered in this picturesque little mediaeval town with 2 sights that immediately catch your eyes are the Collioure Notre-Dame-des-Anges church and the Château Royal (in the summertime there are open air concerts in this castle). Something that also fascinated me about collioure is that in the early 1900’s, it was a center of artistic live as lots of artists made it their meetingplace, artists like Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, etc…. as they were all inspired by this wonderful town.

 When I visit a town or city, the thing I refuse doing, is eat at a so called ‘tourist trap’ restaurant. We could have of course asked at the hotel where to go (as they have the menu carts from most of the good restaurants), but I always see it as a quest to find a nice spot myself, which sometimes can annoy my girlfriend. When looking at some menu’s my fear was already over, although they indeed had some dishes with anchovy, but most dishes were southern French- Catalonian tinted. And so we started our first search for good food.

 To be continued…