Travel Realities: The Other Side of the Postcard

“Do you ever write about the bad stuff. . .or do you ever experience any bad stuff?”

The question has been asked more than once of us.

In reality, we  haven’t experienced any real ‘bad stuff’ –  lost luggage, small rooms, cranky people, schedule changes – are irritations, but not ‘bad stuff’ in our book. 

Yet, we probably are guilty of focusing on the  pretty side of the postcard when writing of our travels. We’ve not spent much time on the flip side, the one on which the human message is written. 

Our travels -- particularly in Europe --have given us a chance to see the other side of the post card; particularly the graffiti and the protests.

Those images on the flip side of the card aren’t the picture-pretty tourism shots, and we don't focus on them but realize  it’s important not to forget them either. Today we remember:




Madrid, Spain

In Madrid, Spain posters announced a manifestacion (a protest) that would ultimately fill the Plaza del Sol with such numbers of unhappy Spaniards during our stay that we ultimately quit going through the square but took back streets to avoid it. We weren’t particularly afraid of going through the gathering but just as we avoid emotionally-charged groups of protesters at home, we do so on our travels as well.



Dubrovnik, Croatia

From the top of the Old City wall’s of Dubrovnik, Croatia we had spectacular views like that to the right, but also far too many views of graffiti marred historic buildings like the photo above.






Bologna, Italy

Graffiti artists had struck nearly every building here – even those where owners had painted murals to decorate the metal security doors that are pulled down and locked each night.

And while we loved this Italian city and hope to return one day soon, we’d be less than honest, if we didn’t mention the smell of urine that filled the air as we strolled through some of its famous arcades (and there weren’t that many dogs. . .let your imagination do the rest)







Naples, Italy

As we began our day-long explorations last fall the ‘welcome parade’ was a protest march – again by another unhappy group.

In fact, it is always interesting when we see the notices and the signs being carried. . .prompting this basically monolingual pair to wonder what all the unhappiness is about?












Seville, Spain

One of the more interesting protests we encountered was a group of unhappy teachers who’d set up their protest camp inside the massive Cathedral:



Venice, Italy

Even Venice was not immune to graffiti vandals who tagged walls where ever they saw fit:

Lisbon, Portugal

Where the  tram was so graffiti covered that it almost appeared to be a mural. . .

Madrid,  Spain

Where faux-blood, red paint was splattered near the sign of the Syrian Embassy when we went past one morning. . .and gone by the time we returned a  couple hours later.

And  the protestors who lined the street near the Embassy the day before. (Just down the city street firefighters had set up a protest camp).








United States:

I wrote that first portion of this post prior to our arrival in Honolulu, Hawaii last week.  It would have ended there, but we’ve got a post script to that postcard now:  We spent three nights with this view of Waikiki – the postcard view, you might say:

Saturday night as we walked back to our hotel, we sadly witnessed a fight between two street people; one who was using his leather belt to whip the bare upper body of the man who’d challenged him.  By the time we got past, they were grappling on the ground as sirens of the responding police cars could be heard. Three of the police cars were below our room for some time.  Just last night a police chase in Waikiki ended in officers killing a soldier, whom they were unable to otherwise restrain.

Yes, we’ve come to realize there are certainly two sides to the postcard. What have you learned from the other side of the postcard during your travels?

And that’s our contribution to Budget Travelers Sandbox’s Travel Photo Thursday.  Head over there for some additional armchair travel.  Hope you’ll visit our Facebook page as well. And come back again real soon.

Travel Tuesday: (Trip) Shopping at Costco, Part 2

I told you we’d booked our three night Waikiki stay using Costco Wholesale, the big box company found throughout the world selling big quantities of products. Costco also has an on-line travel division. 

Buying travel at Costco was something we’d never considered until Waikiki’s soaring hotel prices prompted us to think, not ‘outside the box’ but ‘to the big box’. We bought a  ‘package’ from Costco travel that included three night’s hotel accommodations at the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, round-trip transfers and a lei greeting.

I promised that I’d report in. . .so here’s how it went:

Shuttle representatives would meet us at our gate (we’d been instructed to send flight number and arrival time in advance).  Our flight was 40 minutes early, yet there they were, just as promised!



We’d be greeted with a lei, those fragrant symbols of Hawaii.



And sure enough we had the traditional draping of the flowers over the neck and the embrace that is part of the aloha welcome.



Our bags were collected and we were among only six parties to board the special shuttle which resulted in a quick arrival at our hotel, which is literally across the street from the beach.

We would be in a partial ocean view room. The 645-room hotel, built in 1968, has undergone two renovations since Aston Hotels took over its management in 2001.  Some recent TripAdvisor grumblings  had us a bit nervous about what we might find there.

Our room was compact and the promised in-room WI-FI wasn’t quite yet installed (an equipment delivery delay) but the flat screen television worked well and the two double beds were some of the most comfortable with quality sheets as we’ve had at higher end resorts. The deck wasn’t large, but a chair and its footstool served us well. A complimentary breakfast included fresh fruit, pastries, cereals and yogurt – omelets for an additional price.

We were certainly prepared for the back of the building and leaning off the balcony. Not so!

We had a straight on view of Waikiki Beach (that’s the Royal Hawaiian Hotel – the ‘pink palace’ in the distance). It was one of the best views we’ve ever had in Waikiki. We’d lucked out and because the hotel was as full as it was we’d actually been put into an ‘ocean view’ room!

How it compared:
Our package price was $614, which included taxes.
Had we purchased the shuttle separately: $48 ($24/p/p)
Lei greeting (we’d have skipped) but its cost: $46 ($23/p/p)
A quick check of the hotel’s web site shows that booking three nights this week would have cost $795 for a partial ocean view and $874 for the ocean view; both inclusive of taxes.

A good deal, we decided.  We won't hesitate to continue travel shopping at Costco.

Tuscany’s Most Romantic? That’d be Cetona!

The Scribe suggested the town Frances Mayes has made so famous, Cortona.

The Scout wanted something closer to Rome’s cruise port.

That’s why we set out from Bologna without a destination that October morning on a drive through Tuscany that led us, at day’s end, to. . .

 

. . .one of the most charming, romantic towns we’ve ever visited. . .

Cetona

It was late afternoon when we pulled up to the side of the town’s 16th Century main square, Piazza Gariboldi.  As with other Tuscan towns, the square that time of day was  empty but for the handful of park benches where the old ones had gathered; clad in their drab ubiquitous black and gray garments, nearly blending in with the muted colors of the stone. We provided a brief bit of entertainment as they focused on us – obvious newcomers -- strolling toward the hotel (the building - we thought - at the end of the Piazza.)

The hotel actually to the side of that building, on this late-season date had a number of rooms available including the one featuring – what we later realized – seemed to be the only balconies in town.

And they became our wrought-iron ‘viewing stands’ where we spent a great deal of time during our two-day stay. 












There really is something about that Tuscan Sun when its late afternoon rays illuminate a balcony on which you stand, overlooking a medieval village you’ve happened upon by chance.

This small hamlet sits in the shadow of Mount Cetona; the surrounding hillsides and valleys are lush with cypresses and pine trees. No wonder, as we were to learn, it’s a favorite  getaway for Romans escaping the pace of the big city.

We explored its empty narrow streets that seemed to squeak between centuries-old stone work. . .

We pondered who climbs these steps up into in the privately-owned medieval fortress, la Rocca, that dates back to 1556, the time of Cosimo I de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

We followed the narrow walled roadway out to view the valley; a green carpet with red tile roofs highlighting its design. . .

As the day came to an end, we’d join those other ‘old folks’ who returned to the square for entertainment and we’d watch ‘the boys’ gather for their game of cards. . .

And then came the time to forage for food and drink. . .luckily our hotel was footsteps from Cantina La Frasca, a shop and tasting room of Podere Tre Case. . .

We sipped Tuscan wine tucked into in a room, resembling more wine cave than room, while visiting with the winemaker’s wife – a broken English-Italian  conversation punctuated by laughter.



For each of our two evenings we dined on salamis, cheeses, olive oils and fresh breads that she prepared and served.

Even with slow walks, daydreaming, and napping we couldn’t stretch our time here – it simply went far too fast in this magical corner of Tuscany. Not wanting it to end, we strolled to the little bar where the boys had earlier been playing cards.

And in the darkened, empty Piazza Garibaldi, toasted this fairy-tale town with a vow to return.

This is our entry for Carnival of Europe hosted by Aleah Taboclaon of Solitary Wanderer. This series theme is "Most Romantic Places in Europe"  so click the link to see what other travel writers are recommending.

TP Thursday: Did You See That?!

We tell you about the destinations, but don’t always mention those entertaining sights (and sites) along the way. Those brief snapshots in time . . . so fleeting. . .so unexpected. . .but oh, so memorable, like in:

Tuscany, Italy


We had been, for some time, the only ones traveling this two-lane road through Tuscany last fall.  Yet, we stopped and waited at the red light. . .and waited. . .and waited, to the point we started thinking it might be some sort of joke. When, finally, it turned green, we found major road construction just around the corner had narrowed the road to a single lane.

Eastern Washington State



We’d passed through a number of picturesque small towns as we drove from Spokane, Washington to Joseph, Oregon but none had as clever a welcome sign as did the town of Anatone, a tiny spot  in the southeastern part of the state.

Nothing, Arizona



Nothing, Arizona is just that these days. The sign on US 93 between mile markers 148 and 149 is six miles north of the junction of Hwy 97.  It once was the site of an operating rock shop, and a gas station and even a pizza joint.

Sfakia, Crete

That is a roadside guard rail at the top of the photo, framing this beast of beauty we spotted sunning itself one fine day on the southwestern coast of Crete.  This laid-back sunbather could have been posed there for the attention he gave to my phototaking.

Nevada’s Extraterrestrial Highway

State Route 375 is a long, lonesome 98-mile stretch of highway in remote southern Nevada. Like other similar roadways  in Nevada and Arizona, it provides immense stretches of vast, barren high desert-scapes. 
What sets it apart from those other roadways – besides the fact it’s near ‘Area 51’ which was for sometime a top-secret government research and test facility within the Nellis Air Force Base’s Bombing and Gunnery Range -- is that in 1996 it was officially named the Extraterrestrial Highway because of the UFO and other paranormal activities recorded here.

We’d chuckled about not seeing anything extraterrestrial or otherwise as we drove between Crystal Springs and Warms Springs, on that particular morning. About then, this is what we saw in the distance:

                                 Alien Research Center- Jackie Smith photo

We drove past, but I insisted I had to take a photo, so we returned to the parking lot so I could take the above shot. It was then we saw the sign "Alien Research Center."   Hmmm, not a person in sight, although the sign read, ‘museum and gift shop now open’. 

That was two years ago. I Googled it then and again this week and found no more information on either of my investigations than I have told you of this place located at:  100 Extraterrestrial Highway, Hiko, Nevada: It is simply there.

That’s it for this week’s Travel Photo Thursday. Hope you visit Nancy’s Budget Travelers Sandbox today for more fun photos. And if you’ve not yet checked out TravelnWrite’s Facebook page hope you’ll drop by there as well.

How about you? What have you seen on your travels  made you exclaim, “Did you see that?!”

Travel Tuesday: Waikiki (Sticker) Shock Waves

The good news for Hawaii is that tourism is on an upswing.

The bad news for travelers planning to go there is that tourism is on an upswing. 

As hotel occupancy rates spiral upwards they are taking prices with them. For example, last January (2012), we got a ‘steal’ of  a stay in Waikiki by booking a deal with the online company, Jetsetter. 

Four nights in a premium ocean view room at the Aqua Lotus Honolulu near Diamond Head and total cost: $530. 

Following our stay on O’ahu’s western coast at our KoOlina timeshare, we returned and paid $169 per night (plus taxes) and stayed a couple more nights at the hotel.

Still a reasonable rate, we thought, for a property that sits in the shadow of Diamond Head across from Kapiolani Park and not on the beach.







Our $169 got us this ‘ocean view’ room:

We’d loved the place and planned to return this year. . . but after being struck by Waikiki (Sticker) Shock Waves, we’ve come up with a different -- affordable -- plan.

A quick check of this hotel’s web site (last Thursday), -- using the equivalent days and dates of last year’s stay for comparison purposes -- found that ocean view room available at $351.50 and premium ocean view at $371.50 for the January dates. It costs more in February.

We turned to our trusty Expedia, the on-line booking company where we've often found great discounts, only to be hit with a sticker after shock: the January dates for the hotel were listed at $527 for ocean view and $556 premium ocean view. February dates: $599 and $627, respectively.  (Expedia users rate the hotel as 3.5 out of 5 and TripAdvisor rates it #3 of 81 hotels in Waikiki.)

We are thinking our decision to buy a timeshare at Marriott’s Ko Olina (pictured above) and avoid Honolulu hotels was probably a good one.  In fact, we’ll likely skip Honolulu and Waikiki in 2014 and head directly to Ko Olina.

But since we’d booked flights this year to allow three days in Waikiki, we pulled out the stops on the hotel search and landed at Costco. . .yes, you read that correctly.  (For those not familiar, it is a customer membership warehouse chain that got its start in the Seattle area). So, now in addition to purchasing large quantities of paper goods and food, we also can lay claim to booking our travel there:

We’ll be across the street from Waikiki Beach at the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel (one of those on the right in the photo above) on a three-night package that provides a partial ocean view room, lei airport greeting, round-trip transfers, daily continental breakfast on the beach and a variety of half-off coupons.  Package price: $614.  

This hotel has the same Expedia rating as the Aqua Lotus but doesn’t fare quite as well on TripAdvisor.  Will we find our ‘deal’ wasn’t as good as we thought?  Stay tuned. We’ll let you know soon!

Have you experienced sticker shock in Hawaii? Or have you found some good hotel deals? If so, where?

WAWeekend: Romance in the Pacific Northwest

With Valentine’s Day now only weeks away and springtime - that perennial season of love – not far behind, it’s not too early to be thinking about romantic getaways. Here are some ideas for Pacific Northwest snuggle spots:


Operation Romance:

What a great tribute to our military men and women from The Kimpton Hotels in the Pacific Northwest (The Alexis, Monaco and Vintage Park in Seattle and the Monaco, Vintage Plaza and RiverPlace in Portland)!

Those hotels are saying thanks to those who’ve served our country (or Canada) with a package aptly named, Operation Romance, which includes:

· Exclusive $99 rate (Friday and Saturday nights only)
· Bottle of wine from Maryhill Winery
· Nightly hosted wine reception
-Must show military ID upon check-in (good for active or retired, U.S. or Canadian military)
-Reservations: www.kimptonhotels.com rate code: OPR
-Good through March 31, 2013

Wedding Bells Ringing?

If you or someone you know is starting to plan a destination wedding –  on a beach, mountain, lakeside, or some luxury hotel -- then check out my article in today’s (1/6/13) Seattle Times:   Great Places to say “I Do!”
                                                                                     

I can tell you  that it is chockablock full of ideas for some non-traditional venues that highlight the best of the Pacific Northwest’s outdoor backdrops!  Places like Cama Beach State Park, (pictured above) just 90 minutes drive north of Seattle or San Juan Island (below).

No nuptials in your future? Doesn’t matter, the places I wrote about are perfect for romance – wedding or not!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you’ll join us Travel Tip Tuesday when we tell you about being hit with (sticker) shock waves in Hawaii! Stop by our Facebook  page for more travel tales and tips.

Kotor, Montenegro: Climb Every Mountain

“Climb every mountain,
Search high and low,
Follow every highway,
   Every path you know. . .”

As the steps grew more uneven – actually missing in places – and the town below looked like a miniature toy land, I started humming those lyrics from the “Sound of Music.” My mental musical mantra carried me upward as we conquered one of those ‘travel bucket list’ items we’d had since a cruise stop in Kotor, Montenegro back in 2004:

We were finally climbing the walls that zigzagged up the sheer face of the Hill of St. John to the remains of a once mighty fortress high above this town of some 26,000+ people. It had been on our list  since July’s triple-digit temperatures during that previous cruise  kept us from tackling it.



Last fall we’d again arrived by cruise ship, this time aboard the Celebrity Silhouette.  The October visit, on a cool crisp sunny day, didn’t provide us any weather-related excuses.

Kotor, is a UNESCO listed “World Natural and Historical Heritage Site” and its Old City, (that triangle of red roofs you see on the photo above) built between the 12th and 14th Centuries, remains a delightful warren of narrow streets and squares.

It is located on Boka Kotorska, the Bay of Kotor, at the far end of the deepest natural fjord in the Mediterranean.










Upon paying the 3-euro fee to walk the walls, we were provided a brochure with map showing color-coded zones: ‘relatively safe walking path, zone of increased risk and high risk zones’ and a brief history of points along the way. It also said, in bold red letters: You are advised to use caution on the trail and consider your physical condition.



After all, it is a climb of 1,350 steps with an ascent of 3,947 feet/1,200 meters. (And once up there, you will need to come down). It began quite easily on somewhat uneven steps that lined a sloped cobbled path, which once had been used to move cannons up to the fortress.

Steps along our route continued to be uneven, many broken or missing in places, yet fine in others. Low borders in places and others not. (There were places you didn’t want to make a misstep. )



This somewhat rickety metal bridge, spanning a deep crevasse, led into what remains of the fortress.

We explored its nooks and crannies, which were often accessed by tiny openings. (I am five feet tall, by the way).

Venetians built the walls and a reminder of their presence remains today in the image of the winged Lion of St. Mark, the symbol of the then Republic of Venice, just above modern- day graffiti.

From the fortress we had spectacular views back over the city and bay and into valleys on the other side of the hill, like this one that revealed the remains of an ancient church.



From the fortress mega-yachts appeared to be  the size of row boats.

Not everyone was able to make it to the top. Those of us who did photographed each other to celebrate the feat. We felt pretty smug during our descent when half way down we came across a group of red-faced, 20-somethings sucking air and declaring that they had gone far enough!





We had two major chuckles on this outing.  The first was the “No admission” sign near the fortress that cordoned off a sheer drop of several hundred feet:

And the second was the young woman we encountered along the way, who obviously had decided to dress formally for this outing:

If You Go:

By water:
There is nothing better than arriving in Kotor by boat traveling through the fjord that cuts through the towering cliffs, passing intriguing small hamlets along the way. If you have an opportunity to take a cruise with Kotor as a port of call – we recommend taking it!

Ferries from Bari, Italy and Bar,Montenegro also travel to Kotor.
By air:

The nearest airport is Tivat, eight kilometers away and is served by several airlines.

More information:  http://www.discover-montenegro.com/

It is time for Travel Photo Thursday so head over to Budget Travelers Sandbox for more armchair travel! Hope to see you back here Sunday for WAWeekend!