Posts tagged: European Travel Tips

Take a few minutes and dream of Provence with its Mediterranean coastline, enchanting villages, and delicious cuisine. What interests you most about the South of France? Are you looking for recommendations for specific cities, hidden gems, or tips on regional wines? Here are articles about city highlights, wine tasting in Bandol and Cassis, places to stay, and trip planning.While February is not lavender season, you can dream about visiting in June on this tour. However, this month is excellent for visiting museums, art galleries, and historic cities like Aix-en-Provence, Arles, and Avignon. If you go to Nîmes to see the Roman sites, try a Crocus de Nîmes, an inspired sandwich. On the French Riviera, it’s party time until March 3 with the 151st Nice Carnaval (“King of Pop Culture”) and 90th Fête du Citron (Olympic theme) in Menton.

Recipes & Travel:
European Travel Tips, France, Provence

Romania was not at the top of Nutmeg’s bucket list, and neither was a 3-hour Ryanair flight from Marseille. The flight was a glimpse back to before Covid-19 days in its crowded boarding process and disorganized gate check. It was a mosh pit. Hopefully, no one lied on the pre-flight vaccine forms…
 
They arrived in Bucharest at midnight local time, so there was not much to see. The Hilton Airport Hotel could have been anywhere in the world and thankfully spotless. 

 
The next day G&N picked up a rental car + TomTom unit and headed to Constanta. Unfortunately, the TomTom died (no battery) about 30 minutes into what should have been a 2 1/2 hour drive but now looked like a 3-4 hour excursion due to traffic. The roads are slowly improving thanks to huge EU infrastructure funds (read debt). In the meantime, the truck and car snarls are significant. From Bucharest to Constanta, the scenery for over 200km is mostly…

Recipes & Travel:
European Travel Tips, Romania

The Gallo-Romans should be thanked for introducing grapevines to Burgundy, now part of France. Religious orders of monks dedicated years of effort to clear heavily forested land and rid rocky soil of stones. A reputation of fine wine production was established by the 14C and continues…

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Recipes & Travel:
Beaune Wine Auction, Burgundy Wines, European Travel Tips, French Food, Travel Entertainment, Travel in France, Vente des Vins

Why would anyone subject themselves to a seemingly endless march through unfamiliar territory and with no creature comforts?

Penance?   Belief?  Reflection?
Challenge? Escapism? Adventure?
What do you think?
 

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Recipes & Travel:
Camino de Santiago, European Travel Tips, Travel in Spain

You have watched “The Way” the 2011 movie staring Martin Sheen, written and directed by his son Emilio Estevez.
 OR
You have a friend who has walked the Camino and now you are thinking of walking to Santiago de Compenstela.
Where to start? What to carry? What footwear? Which route? It is confusing.
The following is not a checklist but rather a few things every potential pilgrim should know about the long route to the renowned cathedral. Given the nature of this trek there are a few extra letters (C,P and S) in this ABC list. (more…)

Recipes & Travel:
ABC Travel Lists, Camino de Santiago, European Travel Tips, The Way of St James, Travel in Spain

Gathered together under the green, leaf umbrella of a colossal Provençal plane tree participants were enjoying the “fruits” of their efforts; the food they had all created in Nito Carpita’s professional kitchen at Mas de Cornud. Ginger and Nutmeg were still dressed in their white chefs aprons as the table conversation scrolled through a host of topics.
In the group, were two girlfriends from far-flung cities who had decided to meet in Provence. They had booked accommodation via Untours.
Well, that certainly peaked Nutmeg’s curiosity, as she had never heard of Untours and they are in thirteen countries! She got in touch with General Manager, Brian Taussig-Lux at the company to ask a few questions.
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Recipes & Travel:
European Travel Tips, Self-Guided Travel in Europe, Travel in Switzerland, Untours Travel

Nutmeg could have saved the European policy wonks and financial wizards a lot of time and energy.

The Euro began trading on currency markets, ten years ago on January 1, 1999. It was not until 2002, that hard currency, reached the hands of the inhabitants, and started circulating in the cafés, restaurants and stores. Now, the “man on the street” felt the impact of this strange new currency as they reluctantly handed over their Francs, Marks, Schillings and Lira.
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Recipes & Travel:
European Travel Tips, Travel in France

As we pointed out in an earlier blog entry the French love administration.  So the fact that you have a visa stamp in your passport is only step number one.  Once you enter the country officially, you have to fill out another form, take photocopies of the proper pages in your passport and then send it all off to the correct bureau for review.  Once received they review the paperwork and schedule a meeting at their convenience (you are on holiday after all).  After all of that, you get another stamp/sticker for your passport to make you officially “welcome” in the country  ;-0.   So Nutmeg and Ginger are awaiting the results of this last step in the approval process…we will be back home soon if we do not pass the test. (more…)

Recipes & Travel:
European Travel Tips, French Visas, Provence Travel, Travel in France

Hot Sauce a Chili were recently in Estonia (Officially the Republic of Estonia).  Estonia is divided into 15 counties and operates as a democratic parliamentary republic, if you are interested to find out more check out the Wikipedia related information.  With a population of only 1.34 million, Estonia is one of the least-populous members of the European Union.  The country is blessed with a temperate season climate.  Estonia’s language is very close to Finnish. The capital and largest city is Tallinn, with a beautifully preserved old city.  One of UNESCOs World Heritage Sites, is Bergen’s Old Quay.  From Hot Sauce directly, “I have never seen so many church spires!”
Nutmeg was curious, what exactly is UNESCO and how many sites are there?  UNESCO is the acronym for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.  This is a web site that you could spend days reviewing.  There are currently 890 Properties world wide (689 Cultural, 176 Natural and 25 mixed).  Canada…

Recipes & Travel:
European Travel Tips, Restaurant Reviews, Road Trip Planner, UNESCO world heritage sites

As you know Hot Sauce and Chili are cruising around Scandinavia in their new car.  This week on a ferry they were able to sail and eat from the on-board smörgåsbord. Hot Sauce is still sorting out how to text from her phone so let me just say that her reporting was a bit lacking.  So, Nutmeg thought it would be good to do a bit of research, as it sure sounds better than “buffet”.
Have you every wondered what is a smörgåsbord?  It is a type of Scandinavian meal served buffet-style with multiple dishes of various foods on a table, originating in Sweden. In Norway it is called koldtbord and in Denmark it is called kolde bord. Smörgåsbord became internationally known as smörgåsbord at the 1939 New York World’s Fair when it was offered at the Swedish Pavilion Restaurant.  Members of the Swedish merchant and upper class in fourteenth-century Sweden and Finland served schnapps table (brännvinsbord), a small buffet…

Recipes & Travel:
European Travel Tips, Food and Travel Blog, Travel in Sweden, What is a Smorgasbord