I’ll be writing three blogs off my recent trip to Scotland, starting with Tuesday’s return to Edinburgh after 47 years. First, I wanted to tease the series with a short video on our hotel base on Raasay Island in the Scottish Highlands.
Five years ago I wrote My Five Favorite Restaurants in Italy. I’ve traveled a lot around the country since then so it’s time for an update. I picked five, but No. 1 remains the same. Check it out and take it with you on your next trip to Italy. Note: I left out Rome as I annually write My Five Favorite Restaurants in the city.
Marina and I attended Rome’s massive pro-Palestinian rally Saturday and I talked to many of the supporters. They were equally enraged by the Israeli “genocide” and Italy prime minister Georgia Meloni’s inaction. However, they were quick to point out they were not antisemitic.
Since retiring to Rome 11 years ago and getting fairly heavily into wine, I rarely get headaches. Yet I always did in the U.S. So do my readers. I sought answers at a recent wine tasting of my favorite Piedmont wines as well as wine experts in the U.S. and California. The culprit isn’t sulfites as I always thought. It’s much more complicated.
I don’t know why visitors always ask me to recommend a hotel in Rome. I don’t know. I live in apartments. But over the last few years I’ve taken Marina to six hotels in Rome for one-night “staycations.” It has given me a small glimpse at the hotel scene here. Unfortunately, two we visited have closed. For what it’s worth, here are four we can recommend.
Pesto is one of the most popular sauces in Italy and two weeks ago Marina and I went to the birthplace of pesto: Liguria. During our four days in the port town of Porto Venere, we had pesto on pasta, in paninos and even on pancakes. We also interviewed the instructor of a pasta-makìng school. I became so addicted I bought a bottle of his homemade pesto.
I had never heard of Porto Venere until Marina suggested it for our 10-year anniversary. It looked perfect. Close enough to Cinque Terre to enjoy the beautiful coastal scenery but far enough away to avoid the mobs. Well, tourists still poured into Porto Venere but it’s nothing like Vernazza in July. We also had a lovely apartment away from the Old Town right on the beach with one of the best restaurants we’ve been to in Italy almost next door.
I was one of the millions around the world caught off guard by the naming of American cardinal Robert Francis Provost as the new pope. I was not interested in writing about Pope Francis’ successor but when I saw it was the first American pope in history, I raced to the Vatican. I found optimism from a wide range of people, from American pilgrims to nuns to Carmelite priests. I like the pick, and not just because he’s an American.
Meteora is one of the most gob-smacking sights on earth. It’s where six monasteries sit atop giant pinnacles of rock formed millions of years ago when a series of earthquakes made a lake disappear and the land to rise. Today, the area in Northern Greece is a fascinating look into Eastern Orthodox monks’ lives in isolated monasteries with spectacular views.
I woke up ready to write about my trip to Meteora, Greece’s towering collection of monasteries hanging off cliffs. Instead, I wrote a bigger religious story. Pope Francis is dead. It was announced at 7:30 a.m. Rome time and I raced down to St. Peter’s to capture the scene. It was business as normal but there was a very solemn backdrop.
My Travelers’ Century Club had our semi-annual meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece, recently and the next day we took a trip to Mount Athos, considered “The Holiest Place on Earth.” It’s a peninsula with 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and 2,000 monks who don’t have TV, newspapers, radio or Internet. Women are strictly forbidden. So is photographing the monks. But we received an invite and it was an illuminating visit, not only for those expanding their horizons but also anyone who appreciates beautiful architecture.
Italy has many beautiful things to write home about but some things have been written about too much. I count 10 overrated things in Italy, the hype of which has driven me crazy for years. I itemize them, from Prosecco to Cinque Terre.
