Europe

April 25, 2023

The Pudding Shop: Istanbul’s famed hippie hangout still has place in the heart of “Midnight Express” writer Billy Hayes

The Pudding Shop is an Istanbul institution that played a role in “Midnight Express,” the international bestseller and Oscar-nominated movie. It is where Billy Hayes met the cab driver who took him to his first hashish deal. The Pudding Shop was the nerve center for backpackers following the Hippy Trail that blossomed at the time. Today it’s a tourist trap but it still has a soft spot in Billy Hayes’ heart. I visited the Pudding Shop last month and talked to Hayes last week.

April 18, 2023

Cats of Istanbul: Under the purrs lie meows of pain

Istanbul’s estimated 125,000 stray cats have become almost as big a tourist attraction as its mosques and Grand Bazaar. Documentaries have been made of them and endless articles have been written. But behind all the fat, happy tabbies eating handouts and sleeping in cat shelters are thousands of others being abused and killed. I sat down with one of Istanbul’s leading cat safety advocates to get the other side.

April 11, 2023

Turkish cuisine: Kabob king has other Delights as well

Everyone knows kabobs. Every town has a kabob shop. Turkey is the birthplace of kabobs and I had my fill during a four-day stay over my birthday two weeks ago. But there is more to Turkish cuisine than long roasted meat rolls. Turkey has the best baklava I’ve ever had (Psst! Greece! Add more syrup!) and an appropriately named snack called Turkish Delight.

April 4, 2023

Istanbul: My return after 30 years finds a beautiful, troubled city but the shopping is good

I went to Istanbul last week to celebrate my birthday. It was my first trip back in 30 years. What I found was a city all cleaned up with a depressed population beaten down by runaway inflation and devalued money. Many expressed their frustrations while still welcoming me to their city which is remarkably more beautiful than I remembered. Even the Grand Bazaar got a makeover. This is the first of a four-part blog.

March 21, 2023

Walk Across Rome Part II: From Termini station home I pass 2,000 years of history with good food and wine as fuel

What I love about Rome is you can walk all over town without ever walking down a busy street. Thanks to all the piazzas and the maze of narrow, cobblestone streets, it’s easy to lose yourself in the quiet parts of this chaotic city. And you always stumble onto historic sites, beautiful piazzas and interesting shops. For the second time, I traversed the city while avoiding traffic. I walked from Termini train station to my home in the Monteverde neighborhood. I zigzagged eight miles for 5 1/2 hours. Here’s my report.

March 14, 2023

America’s the greatest country in the world? How can anyone say that if they’ve never been anywhere else?

Is America really the greatest country in the world? It may be for you. But it’s not for me. It’s not for everyone. Then why do so many Americans say it? A reader’s friend accompanied her to Italy recently and complained the minute she hit the ground. She compared everything to the U.S. and provided more evidence that, indeed, America’s the greatest country in the world. I took issue with that and mentioned some very scary statistics that show the U.S. lags behind in a lot of categories.

March 7, 2023

Andy Luotto: American-Italian chef is Superman in kitchen

Andy Luotto has been a little bit of everything since he left his home in Brooklyn to be with his father in Italy at 14. Actor. Author. Singer. Comedian. Scuba diver. But more than anything he is a chef. He has owned four restaurants and was an executive chef at a five-star restaurant in Venice. He sat down with me for an interview before he did a cooking demonstration at Rome’s Osteria Il Matto.

February 28, 2023

Rome’s ethnic restaurants: As Italians travel more, they are growing in popularity and here are my seven favorites

There once was a time when Italians would rather eat frozen pizza than ethnic food. That is changing. Italians are traveling more. More immigrants are coming to Italy. The combination is a growth of ethnic restaurants. Rome doesn’t have the variety of London or New York but I’m enjoying what we have. Here I pick seven of my favorite ethnic restaurants from Eritrean to Vietnamese.

February 21, 2023

Chiacchiere: Italy’s Carnevale sweet is my annual addiction

Every February when the Catholic celebration of Carnevale arrives, every pastry shop in Italy is filled with a sweet fried dough called Chiacchiere. Called frappe in Rome’s Lazio region and different names everywhere else, it comes out either baked or fried in long, flat strips or bent in different shapes. They’re served plain or with powdered sugar or dark chocolate. I’m not Catholic but this is one tradition I wholeheartedly endorse.

February 14, 2023

My five favorite hotels in Italy as Valentine’s Day arrives

For Valentine’s Day, I’m taking Marina to a four-star palace in Sutri, a little historic town cut into ravines about an hour north of Rome. It made me think of all the great hotels we’ve stayed at in Italy. We’ve been all over the country and stayed in dozens of hotels, resorts, agriturismos and AirBnBs. These are my five favorite.

February 7, 2023

My Five Favorite Restaurants in Rome, Edition Number 4

After living in Rome for nine years, I know my way around the city’s restaurant scene. When visitors ask me where to eat, I’m always stumped. There are too many choices. But occasionally I try. Like now. This is my fourth edition of my Five Favorite Restaurants in Rome list. Four are new from last year and there’s a new No. 1. I’ve been to all five many times, particularly in the last year, and highly recommend all of them.

January 31, 2023

New Nordic Cuisine: It put Copenhagen on world gastro map but at what cost? Too much for this travel writer

Copenhagen has 15 restaurants that have earned 24 Michelin stars. Noma has been voted the world’s best restaurant five times. Emphasizing natural, local products from land and sea, New Nordic Cuisine has become the world rage. But in three days eating our way across the Danish capital this month we found it wanting. Like, we wanted more to eat. And the prices were outrageous.

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