Europe for beginners - 4 weeks
This itinerary took us on a four week circle of England, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France by Eurail and budget airlines. Our accommodation was basic double rooms in most places - averaging about three stars and less than 100 Euros per night.
England - 4 nights
London & Bath
Arriving in the late evening in London, we made our way to our accommodation in Bloomsbury. As it was during university break, we were staying at the very central Passfield Hall, one of the Halls of Residence at the London School of Economics for our four nights in London.
Passfield offers simple twin or single share accommodation with shared facilities during term breaks, with an excellent breakfast and good location for Euston tube station (northern line) & Euston Square (circle and metropolitan lines). It isn’t for everyone – sharing bathrooms with students can have its downsides, but it was hard to beat the value for the location which was in a lovely garden square and within walking distance to British Museum.
Hopelessly jetlagged, we got up super early and made our way to the Tower of London – expensive, touristy yes, but a very interesting sight and well worth it to see the Crown Jewels and join in one of the tours offered.
On foot, our trajectory for the day roughly followed the Thames, including climbing the 311 steps of the Monument, designed by Christopher Wren and received a certificate detailing its significance and Great Fire of London.
We also found the very beautiful gardens of the Church of St Dunstans in the East, before turning our attention to food and headed towards the Leadenhall Market for a quick snack.
The rest of the morning saw us poking around Fleet Street and the Strand, before finishing up with the giant slabs of cheese and a glass of wine at Gordon’s Wine Bar, a cave-like bar and reportedly London’s oldest, near Embankment tube station.
During the afternoon we also visited the British Museum – I have always found the treasures within totally mind boggling - to be confronted with so many objects that I had read about at school, but never really imagined seeing!
On Day 2 we made it our mission to get some theatre tickets for that evening. After getting lost and separated on the tube due to overconfidence, we finally found the half-price ticket booth, and got some lovely seats for a show – The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, starring Meow Meow at the Gielgud Theatre. Not the hottest ticket of the day, but there weren’t a lot of hot tickets available at the half-price booth when we were there!
After securing our tickets, we did the big sights of Westminster - Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Whitehall and Westminster Abbey before wandering down to Buckingham Palace. We had the wrong day for changing of the guard, worth planning ahead for that one!
Next stop – Trafalgar Square and a wander around the National Gallery’s wonderful collection before we were hungry again and headed to Covent Garden for a lunch of antipasti at Carluccio’s. Not a bad spot.
The afternoon was spent in Marylebone with a quick wander through Selfridges and afternoon tea at the Mandeville hotel. Really nice hotel, great service and modern take on afternoon tea.
Day 3 saw us on the train to visit friends – first to Chippenham then drove to Lacock Abbey & Village.
We immediately recognised the “main street” of Laycock from the BBC period television series Cranford. It really is like stepping back in time, and a lovely little town. Parts of Lacock have also been used in the Harry Potter films.
We then caught the train to nearby Bath, where we wandered around for a bit of shopping, lazing by the river near Pulteney Bridge had lunch, then more wandering the quintessential Georgian streets of the Circus and Crescent.
A highlight was afternoon tea at the Pump Room overlooking the famous roman baths with a beautiful, classic room and piano playing. The tea was pretty simple – sandwiches, scones and cakes but it had a nice atmosphere with not too many people about. A change of scene followed at a nice little pub – The Raven – which had a great choice of ales and cider.
Day 4 and our last day in London we finally seemed to have rid ourselves of jetlag and started out with a trip on the Docklands Light Rail to Greenwich - a nice place to wander around with its important maritime history. We went up to the Royal Observatory to spot the markers for Greenwich Mean Time, and briefly through the Maritime Museum, before a slow chilly and not very exciting boat ride back up the Thames.
Our boat ride took us back to Tower Bridge, from where we were able to walk to the fabulous Borough Market – the highlight of London for me. An absolutely wonderful market - we tried and bought a whole range of fantastic stuff – Comte cheese, amazing Pieminister pies, wonderful olives, baklava, juices and empanadas, all followed up by good Monmouth coffee.
Borough market is amazing. Go early, hungry and often!
Sticking with the southern bank of the Thames our tired feet took us grudgingly through the Tate Modern and across the Millennium Bridge to catch the tube back for our flight.
Given we had been jetlagged for much of our London stay, we hadn’t much felt like dinner, and hadn’t eaten a curry during our four days...we had been looking forward to it...next time maybe!
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London & Bath
Arriving in the late evening in London, we made our way to our accommodation in Bloomsbury. As it was during university break, we were staying at the very central Passfield Hall, one of the Halls of Residence at the London School of Economics for our four nights in London.
Passfield offers simple twin or single share accommodation with shared facilities during term breaks, with an excellent breakfast and good location for Euston tube station (northern line) & Euston Square (circle and metropolitan lines). It isn’t for everyone – sharing bathrooms with students can have its downsides, but it was hard to beat the value for the location which was in a lovely garden square and within walking distance to British Museum.
Hopelessly jetlagged, we got up super early and made our way to the Tower of London – expensive, touristy yes, but a very interesting sight and well worth it to see the Crown Jewels and join in one of the tours offered.
On foot, our trajectory for the day roughly followed the Thames, including climbing the 311 steps of the Monument, designed by Christopher Wren and received a certificate detailing its significance and Great Fire of London.
We also found the very beautiful gardens of the Church of St Dunstans in the East, before turning our attention to food and headed towards the Leadenhall Market for a quick snack.
The rest of the morning saw us poking around Fleet Street and the Strand, before finishing up with the giant slabs of cheese and a glass of wine at Gordon’s Wine Bar, a cave-like bar and reportedly London’s oldest, near Embankment tube station.
During the afternoon we also visited the British Museum – I have always found the treasures within totally mind boggling - to be confronted with so many objects that I had read about at school, but never really imagined seeing!
On Day 2 we made it our mission to get some theatre tickets for that evening. After getting lost and separated on the tube due to overconfidence, we finally found the half-price ticket booth, and got some lovely seats for a show – The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, starring Meow Meow at the Gielgud Theatre. Not the hottest ticket of the day, but there weren’t a lot of hot tickets available at the half-price booth when we were there!
After securing our tickets, we did the big sights of Westminster - Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Whitehall and Westminster Abbey before wandering down to Buckingham Palace. We had the wrong day for changing of the guard, worth planning ahead for that one!
Next stop – Trafalgar Square and a wander around the National Gallery’s wonderful collection before we were hungry again and headed to Covent Garden for a lunch of antipasti at Carluccio’s. Not a bad spot.
The afternoon was spent in Marylebone with a quick wander through Selfridges and afternoon tea at the Mandeville hotel. Really nice hotel, great service and modern take on afternoon tea.
Day 3 saw us on the train to visit friends – first to Chippenham then drove to Lacock Abbey & Village.
We immediately recognised the “main street” of Laycock from the BBC period television series Cranford. It really is like stepping back in time, and a lovely little town. Parts of Lacock have also been used in the Harry Potter films.
We then caught the train to nearby Bath, where we wandered around for a bit of shopping, lazing by the river near Pulteney Bridge had lunch, then more wandering the quintessential Georgian streets of the Circus and Crescent.
A highlight was afternoon tea at the Pump Room overlooking the famous roman baths with a beautiful, classic room and piano playing. The tea was pretty simple – sandwiches, scones and cakes but it had a nice atmosphere with not too many people about. A change of scene followed at a nice little pub – The Raven – which had a great choice of ales and cider.
Day 4 and our last day in London we finally seemed to have rid ourselves of jetlag and started out with a trip on the Docklands Light Rail to Greenwich - a nice place to wander around with its important maritime history. We went up to the Royal Observatory to spot the markers for Greenwich Mean Time, and briefly through the Maritime Museum, before a slow chilly and not very exciting boat ride back up the Thames.
Our boat ride took us back to Tower Bridge, from where we were able to walk to the fabulous Borough Market – the highlight of London for me. An absolutely wonderful market - we tried and bought a whole range of fantastic stuff – Comte cheese, amazing Pieminister pies, wonderful olives, baklava, juices and empanadas, all followed up by good Monmouth coffee.
Borough market is amazing. Go early, hungry and often!
Sticking with the southern bank of the Thames our tired feet took us grudgingly through the Tate Modern and across the Millennium Bridge to catch the tube back for our flight.
Given we had been jetlagged for much of our London stay, we hadn’t much felt like dinner, and hadn’t eaten a curry during our four days...we had been looking forward to it...next time maybe!
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Germany - 5 nights
Berlin
We flew Ryanair to Berlin Schönefeld from London Stansted, which was convenient but pretty horrible - luckily the flight was only a bit over an hour. Schönefeld airport wasn’t the most user friendly we have encountered either, but finally found way on the train to Stadtmitte station with a couple of changes.
Our hotel was the Winters Hotel Gendarmenmarkt. This was great value – comfortable, stylish and very well located near Stadtmitte underground station on the useful U2 line. Lots of restaurants and shops nearby and easy walking distance to many of the famous sights of Berlin. More importantly the hotel is near the amazing chocolate shop Fassbender and Rausch – which is both the place for getting a chocolate fix and seeing the sights of Berlin – in chocolate.
The first sights we visited the following morning were, rather unoriginally, the Brandenberg Gate and Reichstag (German Parliament) building, which were close to our hotel. If you want to visit the famous ‘dome’ in the Reichstag building, you need a ticket – which we didn’t have – so we moved on to the very moving holocaust memorial and its underground exhibits.
Also within walking distance, we headed to Potsdamer Platz for a little shopping and lunch at Lindner which has all sorts of tasty treats displayed. Then the fastest lift in Europe at Panoramapunkt took us to the 24th floor in a blink of an eye for a great view of Berlin.
We discovered some interesting Berlin shopping around the Scheunenviertel district, especially Hackesche Hofe, which is a series of interconnected courtyards containing the shops of mostly Berlin designers, most of which we couldn’t afford, but splashed out on a few pieces. The shops around the area blended high street and indie finds, all with very friendly, warm service.
Our dinner that evening was at the cosy and popular Schwarzwaldstuben, tucked away in a very pretty Mitte neighbourhood.
On our second day in Berlin, we ventured further to the East Side Gallery, a 1.3km remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall, which has been used as a canvas for 103 paintings and is well worth a visit.
Then we were back on the U-Bahn, headed for Kurfürstendamm Boulevard and lunch was calling us from the top of Berlin’s most famous department store and one of the largest in Europe, KaDeWe. The cafeteria at the top of KaDeWe is quite something and has great views of the city. After a wander down Kurfürstendamm Boulevard and the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church we ventured on to Prenzlauer Berg – yet another interesting neighbourhood. Our pleasant wanderings took us to Konnopke´s Imbiss – basically a truck selling different kinds of sausages, including Berlin fave, currywurst. We also picked up some cool satchels at Tausche and finally sat down for coffee and cake at Anna Blume.
Our last spot for the afternoon was the Tajikistan Tearooms, one of Berlin’s hidden delights, within the Palais am Festungsgraben. The decor of low tables, floor cushions and rugs was a gift of Tajikistan when it was still part of the USSR, and it is lovely to lounge around on the floor sipping cups of tea. We barely scratched the surface of this wonderful city before having to leave for our next stop, Bamberg.
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Berlin
We flew Ryanair to Berlin Schönefeld from London Stansted, which was convenient but pretty horrible - luckily the flight was only a bit over an hour. Schönefeld airport wasn’t the most user friendly we have encountered either, but finally found way on the train to Stadtmitte station with a couple of changes.
Our hotel was the Winters Hotel Gendarmenmarkt. This was great value – comfortable, stylish and very well located near Stadtmitte underground station on the useful U2 line. Lots of restaurants and shops nearby and easy walking distance to many of the famous sights of Berlin. More importantly the hotel is near the amazing chocolate shop Fassbender and Rausch – which is both the place for getting a chocolate fix and seeing the sights of Berlin – in chocolate.
The first sights we visited the following morning were, rather unoriginally, the Brandenberg Gate and Reichstag (German Parliament) building, which were close to our hotel. If you want to visit the famous ‘dome’ in the Reichstag building, you need a ticket – which we didn’t have – so we moved on to the very moving holocaust memorial and its underground exhibits.
Also within walking distance, we headed to Potsdamer Platz for a little shopping and lunch at Lindner which has all sorts of tasty treats displayed. Then the fastest lift in Europe at Panoramapunkt took us to the 24th floor in a blink of an eye for a great view of Berlin.
We discovered some interesting Berlin shopping around the Scheunenviertel district, especially Hackesche Hofe, which is a series of interconnected courtyards containing the shops of mostly Berlin designers, most of which we couldn’t afford, but splashed out on a few pieces. The shops around the area blended high street and indie finds, all with very friendly, warm service.
Our dinner that evening was at the cosy and popular Schwarzwaldstuben, tucked away in a very pretty Mitte neighbourhood.
On our second day in Berlin, we ventured further to the East Side Gallery, a 1.3km remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall, which has been used as a canvas for 103 paintings and is well worth a visit.
Then we were back on the U-Bahn, headed for Kurfürstendamm Boulevard and lunch was calling us from the top of Berlin’s most famous department store and one of the largest in Europe, KaDeWe. The cafeteria at the top of KaDeWe is quite something and has great views of the city. After a wander down Kurfürstendamm Boulevard and the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church we ventured on to Prenzlauer Berg – yet another interesting neighbourhood. Our pleasant wanderings took us to Konnopke´s Imbiss – basically a truck selling different kinds of sausages, including Berlin fave, currywurst. We also picked up some cool satchels at Tausche and finally sat down for coffee and cake at Anna Blume.
Our last spot for the afternoon was the Tajikistan Tearooms, one of Berlin’s hidden delights, within the Palais am Festungsgraben. The decor of low tables, floor cushions and rugs was a gift of Tajikistan when it was still part of the USSR, and it is lovely to lounge around on the floor sipping cups of tea. We barely scratched the surface of this wonderful city before having to leave for our next stop, Bamberg.
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Bamburg
Once we got organised it was a good trip down to Bamberg on train, and our accommodation was short walking distance from Bamberg station, but in centre of the old town. We stayed at Am Rathaus - a little apartment in a 500 year old - Bamberg building, renovated a couple of years ago by the family who live also in the attached building. It was truly a lovely apartment – very cosy and sensitively restored, but modern and well equipped. Supermarket next door so we tried out some of the munchies for breakfast. A wonderful stay.
Bamberg is a beautiful walking city and spent our days here wandering about and trying the local Frankish specialities – Rauchbier (smoked beer), other beer; local wine and food which involved lots of meat and potatoes and wasn’t shy with butter or salad dressing. We tried these at Schlenkerla –one of a few breweries around the town, but reportedly the one with the best food. We didn’t try the others – we were so impressed with Schlenkerla we ate there twice.
We walked all around to the Dam and St Michaels church through beautiful gardens and trails. We stumbled across the town’s Rosen Garten – although not the season to be in bloom, it was still lovely and would be even better when all its flowers are out. Also went boating on Regnitz River for nice view of its “Little Venice houses” and further down the river.
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Switzerland - 2 nights
Lucerne
We got to experience two sides of Lucerne –
1. The day we arrived – rainy, miserable cloudy, freezing cold & expensive, and
2. Our full day – stunning - clear, sunny, great views, cold & expensive.
After arriving at Lucerne station we hauled our bags down the street for about 10 minutes to our digs - ETAP Luzern – not in the pretty part of town but very convenient especially to the station and easily walkable to old town. For a very expensive city, the hotel was good value, clean and comfortable – though oddly the toilet and shower opened straight into the room, rather than being in a separate bathroom as such – so could be awkward depending on your travel buddies.
After arriving in the afternoon we used our Eurail pass for a trip on the lake which was nice but cold and not at full advantage due to cloud cover of Alps.
On our second day we took a bus to Kriens and 3 cable cars up to Mt Pilatus. The previous day’s bad weather had turned to advantage as it meant there was heavy snow cover on the mountain and it was quite a magical ride up. Alok clambered all over the mountain and we enjoyed great views over lunch at the hotel restaurant up there.
A bit more wandering and photo taking around the city and lake followed our mountain escapade. And after a few expensive and average meals the Lebanese joint down the road was our saviour for dinner – the kebabs were delicious.
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Lucerne
We got to experience two sides of Lucerne –
1. The day we arrived – rainy, miserable cloudy, freezing cold & expensive, and
2. Our full day – stunning - clear, sunny, great views, cold & expensive.
After arriving at Lucerne station we hauled our bags down the street for about 10 minutes to our digs - ETAP Luzern – not in the pretty part of town but very convenient especially to the station and easily walkable to old town. For a very expensive city, the hotel was good value, clean and comfortable – though oddly the toilet and shower opened straight into the room, rather than being in a separate bathroom as such – so could be awkward depending on your travel buddies.
After arriving in the afternoon we used our Eurail pass for a trip on the lake which was nice but cold and not at full advantage due to cloud cover of Alps.
On our second day we took a bus to Kriens and 3 cable cars up to Mt Pilatus. The previous day’s bad weather had turned to advantage as it meant there was heavy snow cover on the mountain and it was quite a magical ride up. Alok clambered all over the mountain and we enjoyed great views over lunch at the hotel restaurant up there.
A bit more wandering and photo taking around the city and lake followed our mountain escapade. And after a few expensive and average meals the Lebanese joint down the road was our saviour for dinner – the kebabs were delicious.
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Italy - 5 nights
Venice
After long but beautiful train journey from Switzerland and what seemed like an even longer vaporetto (water bus) ride we arrived at our wonderful B&B – Al Campaniel in San Polo. Very well located near San Toma vaporetto stop and more important- directly opposite Vizio Virtu chocolate shop – delicious artisan chocolates many different flavours of ganache. Our room was very comfortable with private bathroom next door with everything we needed – internet, heated towel rails. Breakfast was included and pretty good too.
Our first afternoon in Venice was a series of the city’s great treats – first stop was the aforementioned chocolate shop, followed by a gondola ride with a very affable gondolier. We then found our way through a maze of back streets to the courtyard of Ai Rusteghi Enoteca, for a glass of wine and cicheti – small venetian snacks.
After snacks, dinner time and we wandered through a quiet San Marco Square to Osteria da Carla for lovely pasta dinner, followed by Interpreti Veneziani – a classical group performing at San Vidal church nightly. Well worth searching out, the group played the Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and some others. For our full day we started off with a visit to San Marco Basilica which is magnificent and visit to Peggy Guggenheim museum – which has a good collection, but I had remembered it being much bigger and better. Having had enough culture for an hour or two, we headed to Grom for ice cream to regroup.
With half a day remaining, we took the ferry to outlying islands of Murano – famous for its glassware and Burano – famous for its colourful houses. This is not a quick trip – the ferry takes a long time and if your time is limited in Venice I wouldn’t recommend it, but we did get some great photos, especially in Burano – where we just wandered about wondering why more places don’t paint their houses like liquorice allsorts – it is very pretty.
Back in Venice proper, it was wine and cicheti time – this time at All’Arco – a father and son team doing amazing crostini. Dinner was less successful Giudecca area, which offered a beautiful view across the water, but we ordered a particularly horrible ‘frito misto’ (mixed fried seafood) and average spaghetti with pesto.
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Venice
After long but beautiful train journey from Switzerland and what seemed like an even longer vaporetto (water bus) ride we arrived at our wonderful B&B – Al Campaniel in San Polo. Very well located near San Toma vaporetto stop and more important- directly opposite Vizio Virtu chocolate shop – delicious artisan chocolates many different flavours of ganache. Our room was very comfortable with private bathroom next door with everything we needed – internet, heated towel rails. Breakfast was included and pretty good too.
Our first afternoon in Venice was a series of the city’s great treats – first stop was the aforementioned chocolate shop, followed by a gondola ride with a very affable gondolier. We then found our way through a maze of back streets to the courtyard of Ai Rusteghi Enoteca, for a glass of wine and cicheti – small venetian snacks.
After snacks, dinner time and we wandered through a quiet San Marco Square to Osteria da Carla for lovely pasta dinner, followed by Interpreti Veneziani – a classical group performing at San Vidal church nightly. Well worth searching out, the group played the Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and some others. For our full day we started off with a visit to San Marco Basilica which is magnificent and visit to Peggy Guggenheim museum – which has a good collection, but I had remembered it being much bigger and better. Having had enough culture for an hour or two, we headed to Grom for ice cream to regroup.
With half a day remaining, we took the ferry to outlying islands of Murano – famous for its glassware and Burano – famous for its colourful houses. This is not a quick trip – the ferry takes a long time and if your time is limited in Venice I wouldn’t recommend it, but we did get some great photos, especially in Burano – where we just wandered about wondering why more places don’t paint their houses like liquorice allsorts – it is very pretty.
Back in Venice proper, it was wine and cicheti time – this time at All’Arco – a father and son team doing amazing crostini. Dinner was less successful Giudecca area, which offered a beautiful view across the water, but we ordered a particularly horrible ‘frito misto’ (mixed fried seafood) and average spaghetti with pesto.
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Florence
Back on the train again, we headed for Florence. Our accommodation BBH Firenze was part of an apartment complex and we received a very friendly welcome from host Silvia and were shown to a nice big room. BBH Firenze is close to the train station in the Santa Maria Novella area and easy walking distance to all sights of Florence. Our room had a few issues though – neither bathroom nor the heating situation were great, but it was good value.
Having arrived at lunchtime from Venice, we had enough time to explore the main city market, have some lunch and stock up on supplies - red wine, and local Vin Santo and Cantuccini biscuits for our snacks each night in Florence.
After the market, we explored the main sights around Florence’s famous ‘Duomo’ – including climbing the campanile – over 400 steps, and went inside the basilica (main dome). Whilst waiting in line at the basilica (there is a lot of waiting in lines in Florence...) we saw a procession with folks in traditional dress welcoming the spring with much drumming and fanfare, which practically caused a riot with the tourists going crazy with cameras.
Avoiding the crowds earlier in the day at the Uffizi Gallery, we lined up late and were some of the last admissions of the day to see some of the jewels of Florence’s artistic heyday.
For dinner we joined in a Florence thing to do, which is apparently to hit the “aperitivo buffets”. Offered by some bars, you buy a drink and hop into the snack buffet for free – at ours we enjoyed pickles, olives, pizza, pasta & all sorts. A cheapskate’s delight!
We also discovered probably the best gelati of our travels at Santa Trinita. Out of the main tourist madness at the end of the Santa Trinita Bridge – I would defy anyone to find better gelati.
Our full day in Florence was a Sunday, so many shops were closed – sad, because we passed some great looking boutiques in the Oltrarno area. Not to worry - all the galleries and sights in Florence were free when we visited, which happily was during the annual “week of culture” – which saved some $ and meant we saw a lot of good stuff.
A little overwhelmed by the previous day’s crowds, we crossed to the more ‘relaxed’ side of the Arno River for a lovely walk through the Boboli Gardens and the Bardini Gardens – both are different and very beautiful with great views over Florence. We carried on, with a climb up to the Abbazia di San Miniato al Monte and Piazzale Michelangelo for more good views back across Florence.
Back down the hill and across the river, we then caught a bus to Fiesole - a quieter town with an ancient Roman/Etruscan archeological site. Fairly quiet visit, but nice to see.
Back in town, we lined up for a quick view of Michaelangelo’s David at the Accademia museum – it is one of those must dos of Florence, and no doubt the big man is spectacular, but the wait in line was incredibly slow. If I had known how tedious it would be, I doubt we would have stuck around.
That evening we took a punt on a local restaurant near our hotel that looked innocuous enough, but turned out to be a terrible tourist trap and a very ordinary meal ensued. It’s hard to mess up pasta anywhere, but an absolute crime in Italy – especially considering there are so many great places to eat.
On our second full day we had booked a “Best of Tuscany Tour” with Walkabout, which took us to Siena, an ‘Organic wine farm’ for lunch, San Gimignano, the Chianti hills and Pisa, which was lovely to get out and see the beautiful region.
In Siena we found ourselves wishing we had stayed there instead of Florence – a lovely guide showed us around this interesting and pretty city. She also explained how the districts of the city are divided and named by different animals and has its own colours. Each district is represented in the twice-yearly Palio, a crazy horse race around the main square, where the basic rule is to win at all costs. We were also shown around Siena’s very spectacular cathedral and bought some Siena specialties - Siena cakes (like panforte – absolutely delish!) and ricciarelli –soft and marzipan-y biscuits.
Lunch at the wine farm was very nice as we sat outside overlooking vineyards (organic, no less!) and sampled four types of wine - Vernaccia (White), two types of Chianti and Vin Santo. The food was also typically Tuscan - bruschetta with garlic and olive oil; homemade tagliatelle with chianina beef ragu, salad, salami, pecorino cheese and the ubiquitous cantuccini.
Our drive through Chianti took us to the little town of San Gimignano with its towers and good gelati, where we spent most of our time sunning ourselves in a rather idyllic walled park.
Our final stop of the day, Pisa saw us laughing at people doing handstands and other poses for photos with the tower, and then doing the same things ourselves.
Back in Florence we tried out the pizza place recommended by our tour guide – Munaciello Ristorante Florence. It was tasty and full of cheese, but we felt like if we didn’t eat some real veggies real soon, we would die.
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France - 4 nights
Nice
Passing through Italian and French coastal resort towns, we headed towards Nice for a taste of Riviera life...
Our stay in Nice was at the Rex Hotel in Place Massena, in a very good spot – 15-20 minutes on foot from the train station walking, but considerably quicker by local tram, Hotel Rex is also central to shops, the beach and Old Nice.
The difference between shabby chic and shabby is often a pretty fine line and some folks would no doubt think Hotel Rex was the latter. It had a few cracks and lots of stairs, so it’s not for those with mobility issues, but comfortable enough. Some fellow guests had a key vs lock malfunction and couldn’t get into their room – resulting in a lot of banging, sawing and probably swearing quite late into the night, but it was ok for us.
Our first afternoon was very pleasant – heading straight to the beach with its chalky pebbles instead of sand, followed by a walk around Old Nice. We found some traditional Nicoise snacks – a chickpea flour pancake called Socca at Lou Pilha Leva, before watching the sunset and enjoying dinner at the most wildly decorated Indian restaurant ever, which satisfied our vegetable craving for the immediate future.
On our second day took a big tour of Riviera in a little bus (8 people only) with a Russian/French driver who didn’t speak English at all other than “This Cannes”, “This Monaco”, so there wasn’t much commentary – worked fine for us.
The tour was quite a good way to see lots in small time, but was truly a whirlwind and a very long day. We started at the Fragonard perfume factory which was surprisingly good despite being a well trodden tour group staple, followed by the ridiculously beautiful hilltop village of Eze. Next we were whisked to Monaco and Monte Carlo to check out the casino, the church where the royals of Monaco get married and drive through the tunnel of the Formula One track.
Continuing on to Cannes there was time to walk along the beach, or Le Croisette as it is known, before we were headed to Antibes for a twirl around the boat harbour & town. Finally we reached St Paul-de-Vence – my favourite town of the day – an arty, hilltop town packed shops overflowing with paintings and sculptures. My purchase wasn’t a painting, but a dress with a painting printed on it – I have worn it a few times.
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Sleep - Hotel Rex
Toulouse
Train reservations were becoming hard to come by as it was the Easter long weekend so our journey to Toulouse was longer than expected. Had a short stop in Avignon on the way enjoyed a tasty lunch from a boulangerie outside the station and took it to a pretty, sunny square in front of a very nice church, before boarding the train again.
Hotel Beausejour was a one star and the cheapest of our trip at 42 euros per night, so we weren’t expecting much. We were quite pleasantly surprised - it was in a good spot close to Wilson Place, Capitole Square and the train station. Not the most fabulous décor but very clean, everything was working and the room was large. Staff were also friendly and helpful the hotel provided free Wifi.
We were not long in Toulouse but took our own walking tour of the Garonne River, Canal Midi, Church of the Jacobins and Cathedral, as well as a spot of shopping. Toulouse is a university town and has a student-y feel. Also the colour of the town is quite unusual – with buildings including all the churches, shops and public buildings made of thin red bricks making everything pink or red, depending on the light.
Dinner was also great at a wonderful Lebanese place - great wholemeal, healthy kebabs and salad with unlimited mint tea.
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Sleep - Hotel Beausejour
Sarlat-La-Caneda
It wasn’t easy to get to or leave from Sarlat without a car, particularly as the train station was closed and very few buses run. We needed to take a train to Souillac and then a taxi to Sarlat as buses were few and far between. Things should be back to normal now.
Most folks do bring their own wheels, and it is worth hiring a car. Even though we didn’t - I am glad we made the effort to travel to this beautiful region. As soon as we arrived it was clear this is a magical town and foodie heaven (as long as you aren’t vegetarian).
Our stay was at the lovely La Lanterne on Rue de Montaigne – one of Sarlat’s most photographed streets! Everywhere within Sarlat’s walls are about a 3 minutes’ walk – but the B&B was in a particularly good spot and very picturesque with the street leading down to the Cathedral and the lantern after which the B&B is named. We stayed in the extremely comfortable and well decorated “Tapestry Room”. The English owners were helpful and we often had little “picnics” at their kitchen table, with our market goodies.
Our first evening familiarised us with the lovely town. It didn’t take long – Sarlat is tiny – but full of charm. The restaurants of the town are terrific, and great value – offering the region’s specialties, including duck, walnuts, goats cheese and the controversial foie gras, which is sold in many of the town’s shops and a feature of most menus.
We ate like royalty at the friendly Mirandol for less than 15 euros for three courses – including spectacular duck confit, potatoes cooked in duck fat, walnut tart and stellar chocolate fondant. All excellent and polished off in one hour.
The next day was Saturday – Market day! Raining – but not to worry – everything went ahead and we set out. We bought wonderful goodies on 3 visits to the market, which basically takes over the whole town, including paella and potatoes with ceps, local wine; fig and apricot stuffed with foie gras; goats cheese – hard and soft; strawberries; artichoke hearts.
Such fun and the vendors were mostly friendly and would chat about all the products and give samples.
After market, we hired bikes and rode down a pretty cycle path around some of the smaller towns in the area, including one with a small castle. Our hosts had warned us that riding would be hard work, as it is a hilly area – and they were right - it all took about 4 hours and while the lycra set would no doubt enjoy it, I wouldn’t recommend such a journey to non-cyclists such as myself.
The following day was Easter Sunday – there wasn’t much of a celebration around the town. Had our breakfast at the B&B which was good, then one of the owners took us around in his car on a tour of local sights, the ones we didnt get to on the bike. We went to the hilltop ‘bastide’ town of Domme – very pretty with a flower market happening in the lower town. Also La Rogue Gageac – a town on the river that looks like it is built into the limestone escarpment; and Beynac – with its medieval castle that once was Richard the Lionheart’s and incredibly well presented – used as a movie set a couple of times.
For lunch we went around the corner to another of Sarlat’s lovely restaurants – Le Presidial which has a dining room but on fine days has a particularly nice garden to eat your lunch in. I felt like I was in a Renoir painting in this lovely French scene - with dogs snoozing under tables and the Priest on the next table tucking into whisky and snails and everyone checking out everyone else’s food.
After another three courses each – more duck, foie gras and nut cake, there was no need for dinner – just more snacks and a few little walks about the town.
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Nice
Passing through Italian and French coastal resort towns, we headed towards Nice for a taste of Riviera life...
Our stay in Nice was at the Rex Hotel in Place Massena, in a very good spot – 15-20 minutes on foot from the train station walking, but considerably quicker by local tram, Hotel Rex is also central to shops, the beach and Old Nice.
The difference between shabby chic and shabby is often a pretty fine line and some folks would no doubt think Hotel Rex was the latter. It had a few cracks and lots of stairs, so it’s not for those with mobility issues, but comfortable enough. Some fellow guests had a key vs lock malfunction and couldn’t get into their room – resulting in a lot of banging, sawing and probably swearing quite late into the night, but it was ok for us.
Our first afternoon was very pleasant – heading straight to the beach with its chalky pebbles instead of sand, followed by a walk around Old Nice. We found some traditional Nicoise snacks – a chickpea flour pancake called Socca at Lou Pilha Leva, before watching the sunset and enjoying dinner at the most wildly decorated Indian restaurant ever, which satisfied our vegetable craving for the immediate future.
On our second day took a big tour of Riviera in a little bus (8 people only) with a Russian/French driver who didn’t speak English at all other than “This Cannes”, “This Monaco”, so there wasn’t much commentary – worked fine for us.
The tour was quite a good way to see lots in small time, but was truly a whirlwind and a very long day. We started at the Fragonard perfume factory which was surprisingly good despite being a well trodden tour group staple, followed by the ridiculously beautiful hilltop village of Eze. Next we were whisked to Monaco and Monte Carlo to check out the casino, the church where the royals of Monaco get married and drive through the tunnel of the Formula One track.
Continuing on to Cannes there was time to walk along the beach, or Le Croisette as it is known, before we were headed to Antibes for a twirl around the boat harbour & town. Finally we reached St Paul-de-Vence – my favourite town of the day – an arty, hilltop town packed shops overflowing with paintings and sculptures. My purchase wasn’t a painting, but a dress with a painting printed on it – I have worn it a few times.
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Sleep - Hotel Rex
Toulouse
Train reservations were becoming hard to come by as it was the Easter long weekend so our journey to Toulouse was longer than expected. Had a short stop in Avignon on the way enjoyed a tasty lunch from a boulangerie outside the station and took it to a pretty, sunny square in front of a very nice church, before boarding the train again.
Hotel Beausejour was a one star and the cheapest of our trip at 42 euros per night, so we weren’t expecting much. We were quite pleasantly surprised - it was in a good spot close to Wilson Place, Capitole Square and the train station. Not the most fabulous décor but very clean, everything was working and the room was large. Staff were also friendly and helpful the hotel provided free Wifi.
We were not long in Toulouse but took our own walking tour of the Garonne River, Canal Midi, Church of the Jacobins and Cathedral, as well as a spot of shopping. Toulouse is a university town and has a student-y feel. Also the colour of the town is quite unusual – with buildings including all the churches, shops and public buildings made of thin red bricks making everything pink or red, depending on the light.
Dinner was also great at a wonderful Lebanese place - great wholemeal, healthy kebabs and salad with unlimited mint tea.
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Sleep - Hotel Beausejour
Sarlat-La-Caneda
It wasn’t easy to get to or leave from Sarlat without a car, particularly as the train station was closed and very few buses run. We needed to take a train to Souillac and then a taxi to Sarlat as buses were few and far between. Things should be back to normal now.
Most folks do bring their own wheels, and it is worth hiring a car. Even though we didn’t - I am glad we made the effort to travel to this beautiful region. As soon as we arrived it was clear this is a magical town and foodie heaven (as long as you aren’t vegetarian).
Our stay was at the lovely La Lanterne on Rue de Montaigne – one of Sarlat’s most photographed streets! Everywhere within Sarlat’s walls are about a 3 minutes’ walk – but the B&B was in a particularly good spot and very picturesque with the street leading down to the Cathedral and the lantern after which the B&B is named. We stayed in the extremely comfortable and well decorated “Tapestry Room”. The English owners were helpful and we often had little “picnics” at their kitchen table, with our market goodies.
Our first evening familiarised us with the lovely town. It didn’t take long – Sarlat is tiny – but full of charm. The restaurants of the town are terrific, and great value – offering the region’s specialties, including duck, walnuts, goats cheese and the controversial foie gras, which is sold in many of the town’s shops and a feature of most menus.
We ate like royalty at the friendly Mirandol for less than 15 euros for three courses – including spectacular duck confit, potatoes cooked in duck fat, walnut tart and stellar chocolate fondant. All excellent and polished off in one hour.
The next day was Saturday – Market day! Raining – but not to worry – everything went ahead and we set out. We bought wonderful goodies on 3 visits to the market, which basically takes over the whole town, including paella and potatoes with ceps, local wine; fig and apricot stuffed with foie gras; goats cheese – hard and soft; strawberries; artichoke hearts.
Such fun and the vendors were mostly friendly and would chat about all the products and give samples.
After market, we hired bikes and rode down a pretty cycle path around some of the smaller towns in the area, including one with a small castle. Our hosts had warned us that riding would be hard work, as it is a hilly area – and they were right - it all took about 4 hours and while the lycra set would no doubt enjoy it, I wouldn’t recommend such a journey to non-cyclists such as myself.
The following day was Easter Sunday – there wasn’t much of a celebration around the town. Had our breakfast at the B&B which was good, then one of the owners took us around in his car on a tour of local sights, the ones we didnt get to on the bike. We went to the hilltop ‘bastide’ town of Domme – very pretty with a flower market happening in the lower town. Also La Rogue Gageac – a town on the river that looks like it is built into the limestone escarpment; and Beynac – with its medieval castle that once was Richard the Lionheart’s and incredibly well presented – used as a movie set a couple of times.
For lunch we went around the corner to another of Sarlat’s lovely restaurants – Le Presidial which has a dining room but on fine days has a particularly nice garden to eat your lunch in. I felt like I was in a Renoir painting in this lovely French scene - with dogs snoozing under tables and the Priest on the next table tucking into whisky and snails and everyone checking out everyone else’s food.
After another three courses each – more duck, foie gras and nut cake, there was no need for dinner – just more snacks and a few little walks about the town.
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Paris 5 Nights
Even though it was a holiday in France and very busy on the trains we managed to get to Paris by early afternoon and reached our hotel following a lengthy stint on the metro.
Our stay in Paris was the quirky Hotel Du Nord, which was very well located and close to a handy Metro station (Republique has a number of lines to it) and good local neighbourhoods – the Marais, Oberkampf and even Chinatown within walking distance.
Our room was a “small one” according to the hotel – but good design meant this wasn’t a problem. And best of all it was located near a terrific, award winning bakery Du Pain et des Idees. Their delicious pastries, many of them based on apples, were our breakfast every day.
On our first afternoon, we headed to the Eiffel tower and took our boat ride with Bateaux Parisiens on the Seine, which was included as part of our Eurail pass – touristy of course, but it was especially nice on a public holiday as there were lots of people hanging out on the banks of the Seine.
The next day we started with the main sights of the Ile de la Cite – one of two islands in the middle of the Seine and the heart of Paris, both geographically and historically. On our itinerary were the Conciergerie, where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned, Saint Chapelle with its extraordinary stained glass, and Notre Dame Cathedral. For The Conciergerie and Saint Chapelle, it is recommended to arrive at either one early, and pick up the pass for both, as the lines for both get pretty long, pretty quickly.
For lunch we headed to the Marais in search of falafel. Rue des Rosiers has a number of great falafel joints – on this particular day only Chez Marianne was open, and we lined up for yummy pita pocket of falafel, yogurt, salad and aubergines. Later in the week we returned for the famous L’As du Falafel, a couple of metres down Rue des Rosiers – both places were great.
It was a lovely day and we went to the Place de Vosges for a sit down with a park full of people enjoying the sunshine, then for afternoon tea at Mariage Freres – which was expensive, and maybe coasting on its reputation a tad.
Still on the tourist trail, we hopped across to Montmartre on the Metro to Sacre Coeur.
For dinner we went to Paris Feni a Bengali restaurant in the Oberkampf area, and walked back along Canal St Martin, where many groups of friends were enjoying evening picnics.
The following day was museum day. We lined up for museum passes which we used at the Louvre first, before walking through the Tuilleries gardens to the Orangerie, which was one of my favourites, with its massive Monet waterlilies.
Then to the lovely Les Deux Abeilles for delicious lunch – a cosy place serving things like goat cheese tart, lentil and carrot salad and spiced pear pie. The restaurant was close to more museum action at the Musee Quai Branly, an interesting building with its external ‘garden wall’.
As we were flagging a bit, we headed to our last stop, the Musee D’Orsay via a great icecream shop – Vasavasa, and joined the throng at the museum, which was fabulous but we were pretty much galleried out by this point.
Had a picnic tea at the hotel, before heading out for the light show at Eiffel Tower.
Our third day in Paris started with a train trip and walk to Versailles. We took a wander through the State apartments and gardens – during which it became obvious why French revolution happened. Our lavish furniture and manicured garden viewing was punctuated by the extremely rich hot chocolate and decadent cakes at Angelina Salon de The, which was more costly than most of our lunches and dinners.
Versailles was covered in our Museum Pass. I would highly recommend this pass – it is great value, but more importantly, saves time as you don’t need to wait in the queue at some of the more popular places – a huge plus.
Back in Paris – we spent a good amount of time at the Pompidou centre – fabulous modern art museum and my favourite gallery anywhere.
After a spot of shopping at the ‘grands magasins’ – large department stores on Boulevard Haussmann, and trying the macarons from Pierre Herme – we searched out dinner in Belleville, Paris’ Chinatown. The place we were looking for was closed, so we decided to try our luck at a restaurant which drew us in with its name - Tin Tin, which turned out to be Vietnamese. So much the better – the noodle soup was good.
On our last morning in Paris, we simply went walking – first through the Jardin des Plantes and open air sculptures of Jardin Tino Rossi on the banks of the Seine, before winding up back in the Marais.
Our lunch of galettes and cider at Cafe Breizh were truly outstanding and highly recommend getting to this little cafe early for a table and enjoy the best crepes and galettes of your life!
We finished our shopping and Paris stay at the aptly named concept store “Merci”.
Details
Even though it was a holiday in France and very busy on the trains we managed to get to Paris by early afternoon and reached our hotel following a lengthy stint on the metro.
Our stay in Paris was the quirky Hotel Du Nord, which was very well located and close to a handy Metro station (Republique has a number of lines to it) and good local neighbourhoods – the Marais, Oberkampf and even Chinatown within walking distance.
Our room was a “small one” according to the hotel – but good design meant this wasn’t a problem. And best of all it was located near a terrific, award winning bakery Du Pain et des Idees. Their delicious pastries, many of them based on apples, were our breakfast every day.
On our first afternoon, we headed to the Eiffel tower and took our boat ride with Bateaux Parisiens on the Seine, which was included as part of our Eurail pass – touristy of course, but it was especially nice on a public holiday as there were lots of people hanging out on the banks of the Seine.
The next day we started with the main sights of the Ile de la Cite – one of two islands in the middle of the Seine and the heart of Paris, both geographically and historically. On our itinerary were the Conciergerie, where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned, Saint Chapelle with its extraordinary stained glass, and Notre Dame Cathedral. For The Conciergerie and Saint Chapelle, it is recommended to arrive at either one early, and pick up the pass for both, as the lines for both get pretty long, pretty quickly.
For lunch we headed to the Marais in search of falafel. Rue des Rosiers has a number of great falafel joints – on this particular day only Chez Marianne was open, and we lined up for yummy pita pocket of falafel, yogurt, salad and aubergines. Later in the week we returned for the famous L’As du Falafel, a couple of metres down Rue des Rosiers – both places were great.
It was a lovely day and we went to the Place de Vosges for a sit down with a park full of people enjoying the sunshine, then for afternoon tea at Mariage Freres – which was expensive, and maybe coasting on its reputation a tad.
Still on the tourist trail, we hopped across to Montmartre on the Metro to Sacre Coeur.
For dinner we went to Paris Feni a Bengali restaurant in the Oberkampf area, and walked back along Canal St Martin, where many groups of friends were enjoying evening picnics.
The following day was museum day. We lined up for museum passes which we used at the Louvre first, before walking through the Tuilleries gardens to the Orangerie, which was one of my favourites, with its massive Monet waterlilies.
Then to the lovely Les Deux Abeilles for delicious lunch – a cosy place serving things like goat cheese tart, lentil and carrot salad and spiced pear pie. The restaurant was close to more museum action at the Musee Quai Branly, an interesting building with its external ‘garden wall’.
As we were flagging a bit, we headed to our last stop, the Musee D’Orsay via a great icecream shop – Vasavasa, and joined the throng at the museum, which was fabulous but we were pretty much galleried out by this point.
Had a picnic tea at the hotel, before heading out for the light show at Eiffel Tower.
Our third day in Paris started with a train trip and walk to Versailles. We took a wander through the State apartments and gardens – during which it became obvious why French revolution happened. Our lavish furniture and manicured garden viewing was punctuated by the extremely rich hot chocolate and decadent cakes at Angelina Salon de The, which was more costly than most of our lunches and dinners.
Versailles was covered in our Museum Pass. I would highly recommend this pass – it is great value, but more importantly, saves time as you don’t need to wait in the queue at some of the more popular places – a huge plus.
Back in Paris – we spent a good amount of time at the Pompidou centre – fabulous modern art museum and my favourite gallery anywhere.
After a spot of shopping at the ‘grands magasins’ – large department stores on Boulevard Haussmann, and trying the macarons from Pierre Herme – we searched out dinner in Belleville, Paris’ Chinatown. The place we were looking for was closed, so we decided to try our luck at a restaurant which drew us in with its name - Tin Tin, which turned out to be Vietnamese. So much the better – the noodle soup was good.
On our last morning in Paris, we simply went walking – first through the Jardin des Plantes and open air sculptures of Jardin Tino Rossi on the banks of the Seine, before winding up back in the Marais.
Our lunch of galettes and cider at Cafe Breizh were truly outstanding and highly recommend getting to this little cafe early for a table and enjoy the best crepes and galettes of your life!
We finished our shopping and Paris stay at the aptly named concept store “Merci”.
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