This article appears in our Print Edition, June 2016 -- Page 0
In my quest to experience Europe as the locals do — intimately and on all fronts — I make it a point to eat well. My trip is always the better for it. (My challenge is broadening my perspective while leaving my waistline unchanged.)
These days, my job of eating well is getting easier all the time. Food tours and cooking classes have become a big deal all over Europe.
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Most food tours have lunch or dinner versions, last about three hours, come with a...
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This article appears in our Print Edition, May 2016 -- Page 55
Pablo Picasso was the most famous and — OK, I’ll say it — greatest artist of the 20th century. Before he was 30, Picasso had revolutionized the art world. And that was just the beginning.
A Spanish expatriate, cocreator of Cubism and devoted womanizer, Picasso left an amazing legacy in his wake. In the course of his long life (he died in 1973 at 91), Picasso moved from Spain to Paris to the south of France. Every locale that he called home has claimed him as a native...
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This article appears in our Print Edition, April 2016 -- Page 53
In the Eastern Mediterranean, Greece, Croatia and Turkey remain popular with tourists and present some important transportation and sightseeing changes for 2016.
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GREECE is one of Europe’s great destinations, but concern about its financial crisis and the thousands of Syrian refugees entering the country is impacting travelers’ vacation plans. While the country is digging out of a massive economic hole (and I wouldn’t want to be a Greek worker counting on a...
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This article appears in our Print Edition, March 2016 -- Page 53
FRANCE has brought us so much culture and art and, at the same time, has championed the modern concept of a vacation. To get the most out of your next visit, be mindful of these changes and developments for 2016.
• In Paris, the Eiffel Tower’s first level — after a $38 million renovation — is decked out with new shops, eateries and a multimedia presentation about the tower’s construction, paint job, place in pop culture and more. The highlight is the breathtaking, vertigo-inducing...
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This article appears in our Print Edition, January 2016 -- Page 52
For the past 30-plus years, whenever I’ve been asked to state my occupation at a border crossing, I’ve said, “Teacher.” People may find my TV shows to be entertaining or my guidebooks practical, but my passion has always been to teach, whether it’s about art, culture or nuts-and-bolts travel skills. My fundamental cause is that good travel teaches people to better understand the world they live in.
In order to be a good teacher, I need to be a good student. That’s why I frequently...
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This article appears in our Print Edition, December 2015 -- Page 52
Europe is a treasure chest of great cultural monuments, but it’s also a continent filled with natural beauty, often overlooked by tourists sprinting from sight to sight or searching for the perfect souvenir. I’ve found that a day biking in the great outdoors can be just as culturally fulfilling as time spent in a great church or art gallery.
Biking through the countryside (using a town as a springboard) is extremely popular in Europe. Thanks to the laws of supply and demand, you can...
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This article appears in our Print Edition, October 2015 -- Page 54
Crowds are becoming an increasing nuisance at top European attractions. There’s almost no way to experience places like the Sistine Chapel or the Palace of Versailles without a constant and raging commotion of tourists.
It’s not uncommon to find waits of an hour or more in ticket-buying lines and rooms packed shoulder to shoulder with visitors and intercontinental body odor. So it’s up to smart travelers to do whatever is possible to minimize hassles and maximize their experience....
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This article appears in our Print Edition, August 2015 -- Page 54
I’ve always been a fan of budget travel tips. For 30 years I’ve written and lectured about ways to stow away, picnic and get special deals to be able to afford international travel. My feeling has long been that “you experience more by spending less.”
While that’s still true, over the years I’ve realized that you can also justify splurges as good values when you consider the experience gained and the time saved.
If you stay in a B&B rather than a fancy hotel, you’ll...
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