Around Piazza del Campo and Duomo in Siena - Piazza del Campo and Vicinities (Part 2)

A photo tour in historic center of Siena, Tuscany, Italy including Piazza del Duomo and Piazza del Campo (Part 2 of 2) Feb. 1, 2009

Arezzo, Italy - One-day Tour

A photo journal dedicated to one-day tour in Arezzo, a historic and vibrant city in Tuscany located about 50 miles (80 km) from Florence. It takes around one hour to get there by train from the Tuscany's capital. Your itinerary will have Piazza Repubblica as its starting point going uphill first and, after reaching Duomo, going back and completing the loop at the railway station. During this excursion you will be able to visit most important historic places in the city including Amphitheatre Romano, Pieve di Santa Maria (Baptistry Church of St Mary), Duomo, Basilica of San Francesco. Jan. 30, 2009

Cortona, Italy

Some tourist guides point to the fact that the rise in tourism was triggered by the publication of the book "Under the Tuscan Sun" by American writer Frances Mayes and later on by the movie of the same name. Whether this is true or not, Cortona is a very interesting and well-preserved medieval place with its stone paved narrow streets, many historic palaces, churches and buildings. Given the central location of Cortona, the town can be used as a starting point for visiting other places in central Italy either by car or train. Arezzo and Siena are among places. Finally, Cortona has a good tourist infrastructure is many hotels and places to eat. Jan. 8, 2009

Positano, Italy - Sponda and Mulini (Part 1)

John Steinbeck, an American writer, once wrote about Positano: "Positano bites deep, it is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone." This small town located on one of the most beautiful stretches of coast of the whole Mediterranean, is a must see place offering a unique opportunity to meet the nature as well as the life, culture, and the traditions people of Positano. This annotated photo gallery offer a virtual excursion through the town. Our gallery contains more than 70 photos to give you some ideas about Positano and its life. Jan. 6, 2009

Positano, Italy - Spiaggia Grande and Western Part (Part 2)

As you remember we started our exploration of Positano at Sponda (this happens to be the Eastern part of the town). We continued idle browsing along the streets of the town going down. As ancients say - all the ways lead to Rome, in our case our ways lead us to "Spiaggia Grande" (Big Beach). Nov. 3, 2008

Hotel San Michele, Cortona

For our stay in Cortona, Italy we wanted to pick up something extraordinary, and we decided to stay in palace Baldelli. This palace at number 15 Via Guelfa was named after Baldelli family which owned it in XVI century and is now the site of Hotel San Michele. Our overall experience with the hotel is mixed. It has both, pluses and minuses: its location in the town is excellent and the building it occupies represents a historic interest. Hotel is clean, and the staff is friendly. However, some facilities and services anybody would expect in a more or less decent hotel clearly turned out to be either missing or in a need of improvement. If you set your expectation correctly, most likely you will find (as we did) your experience not only acceptable but also quite refreshing. Oct. 27, 2008

InterContinental Amstel Hotel

As any other European capital, Amsterdam offers many hotels to choose from when you travel to this city. However, when it comes to luxury hotels, the choice is not that great. If you take into account the service and food offered, there are even fewer options and among those few blessed, there is one undisputable leader - InterContinental Amstel Hotel. Nov. 29, 2007

Hotel Residence de la Pinede

We stayed in the Residence de la Pinede in mid September 2007, and our experience was very good. There are few hotels in the world that can compare to this small luxury property less than 10 minutes walk from St. Tropez center with everything this opulent French Riviera resort can offer: from sea excursions and helicopter rides to luxurious hotels and gourmet restaurants. Nov. 23, 2007

CityNIghtLine: The Night Train

We are standing on the platform of Zurich Central Railway Station waiting for the CityNightLine train. All my life I liked trains: so reliable and powerful with their compartments of solid wood and polished brass. My imagination goes further - red plush..., silk curtains, but I hold myself back - it is not a vintage train like in Wild Wild West movie; it should be more contemporary nowadays. Nov. 19, 2007

Les Chalets de Philippe

Les Chalets de Philippe is a cluster (a hamlet) of seven dwellings located in Chamonix, a small town and commune in Eastern France, in Haute-Savoie département, at the foot of Mont Blanc. And, as the name implies, these chalets are owned and operated by Philippe (Philippe Courtines, to be precise). But to say just this, is to say nothing about this unique and extraordinary place. I wanted to find a word or phrase that would explain vividly the essence of this place instead of giving you a dry account of room sizes, sleeping capacity and services available at Les Chalets de Philippe. Oct. 19, 2007

Ritz Paris - Another side of the Hotel

Ritz Paris hotel is often considered as one of the best hotels in Paris. That's what you can find in Frommer's traveler guide about this hotel: "The Ritz is Europe's greatest hotel, an enduring symbol of elegance on one of Paris's most beautiful and historic squares." A bit below, the guide continues saying that "each guest room is uniquely decorated, most with Louis XIV or XV reproductions; all have fine rugs, marble fireplaces, tapestries, brass beds, and more." Well, our recent experience showed that this is not entirely true. Sept. 28, 2007

Paris Vacations: Part 5 - Day Four: City of Paris - Right Bank

Museums are good if, as everything else, are taken in moderation. Indeed, we felt that after two days of immersion into French history and culture, it was the time to look at the city itself, its people and everyday life. How do you do this? You just walk, mix with crowds and watch. So, our next day we decided to explore the right bank (La Rive Droite in French) of the city. Sept. 14, 2007

Paris Vacations: Part 6 - Day Five: City of Paris - Left Bank

While visiting Notre Dame de Paris and La Conciergerie we already had a chance to see a small piece of the left bank. But that was just to wake up our appetite for more exploration. Our next day in Paris we devoted entirely to this area. Sept. 14, 2007

Paris Vacations: Part 4 - Day Three: Versailles and Musee d'Orsay

While planning your visit to the Château decide on how much time you want to spend there - this place is big, both literally and figuratively. It occupies 2,000 acres of grounds with 12 miles of roads and more than 200,000 trees. There are 50 fountains; the total area covered by roofs is 26 acres! The palace has more than 550,000 square feet with more than 700 rooms decorated with 22,500 paintings, drawing and engravings and 2,100 sculptures. Art collections at the Musée d'Orsay are extensive, but of course it's not as big as Louvre or Versailles. According to the official data, the museum has 680 paintings on its floor with the total of 5,026 art objects cataloged. Well, 680 paintings only - but what kind of paintings! Sept. 11, 2007

Paris Vacations: Part 3 - Day Two: Musee du Louvre, Notre Dame de Paris and La Conciergerie

As planned, the second day was devoted entirely to museums. The first on the list was Louvre - one of the oldest and largest art galleries and museums. And, of course, being in Paris without visiting Louvre was just not possible. La Conciergerie, as a place, is not that large - visitors enter the Conciergerie at the Hall of Men-at-Arms, a massive Gothic hall and remarkable 209 feet long, 90 feet wide and 28 feet high architectural structure. But mostly, La Conciergerie with its recreation of actual prison cells and other facilities remains a grim reminder of the darkest days in France's history. Sept. 2, 2007

Paris Vacations: One Week of Fulfilling Dreams

What can I possibly write about Paris? List of places to visit with brief description of each of them? Or, some blurb about restaurants and bistros that are allegedly better than others? Hardly, there is any motivation for doing this - so much reference material has been published - just choose from a variety of colorful guides the one that appeals to you more and buy it and find in one place enough information not for one trip to Paris but for a dozen. Read this account of a personal experience in planning and visiting Paris.

Part I - Coming to Paris
Part 2 - Our Hotel: First Steps
Part 3 - Day Two: Musée du Louvre, Notre Dame de Paris and La Conciergerie
Part 4 - Day Three: Versailles and Musée d'Orsay
Part 5 - Day Four: City of Paris - Right Bank
Part 6 - Day Five: City of Paris - Left Bank

Sept. 1, 2007

Paris Vacations: Part 2 - Our Hotel: First Steps

Part 2 of Paris Vacations article describing first steps in the city and most important Le Bristol, our hotel in Paris Sept. 1, 2007

Traditional Dining Places in Paris

Here is the list of several off the beaten track, mostly inexpensive restaurants with main courses prices from 10&ero; to 35€. The list is a result of a research based on personal experiences. Many of these places do not appear in travel guides. In fact, if they do, that would be a very strong factor for not including one or another restaurant into the list. We have tried to select places visited by locals.

Aug. 11, 2007