Showing posts with label Calabria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calabria. Show all posts
Bleeding Espresso giveaways - and it's not coffee! It's our Travellers Calabria guide!
As you'd know if you follow me on Twitter, Calabrian-based blogger Michelle Fabio over at Bleeding Espresso has been running an interview with me this week about writing our Calabria guidebook, travel writing, travelling, the writing process, and our lives as travel writers. She's also running a contest to give away 5 copies of our Traveller's Calabria book. All you have to do is post a comment on her blog at the end of the Q&A and at the end of the week (tomorrow), she'll pick the 5 winners and give them a book each. So, what are you waiting for? Get over there! Here's part 1 of the Q&A, part 2, part 3, and part 4, and you can read part 5 tomorrow - last day, so don't miss out!Pictured? The beach at Scilla - in Calabria of course.
Our Italy books hit the shelves!
I almost forgot to tell you... as my regular Cool Travel Guide readers know, we spent a lot of time in Italy last year researching and photographing first editions of new travel guidebooks, starting with a month in Calabria, then a month in Milan, followed by more than a month in the Italian Lakes region and Northern Italy. Our Calabria book written for the Thomas Cook Travellers series hit the shelves in late April (see this post), and our Northern Italy book for the same series will be released in a couple of weeks (you can buy it here). While we're proud of all of our Italian books - Terry shot beautiful photos for them and we put a lot of work into researching and writing them, a book that we're especially proud of (it took even more blood, sweat and tears during particularly challenging circumstances), is our book released last month on the Italian Lakes, including Milan and Po Valley Towns, which we wrote for Footprint's new Italia series. Do have a flick through them when you're next in a bookshop. And don't hesitate to let me know if you ever need tips on travel in Italy.
Our Calabria book hits the shelves!
The first edition of our Calabria guidebook which we wrote for Thomas Cook Publishing is soon to be released. We spent just over a month there last May researching the book and Terry shot the gorgeous images, and we spent another month or so writing it. It wasn't an easy book to do for a number of reasons, which makes us extra proud. And I was glad to find that I still got a little excited today when I opened the package from London. We've worked on more than 40 guidebooks so it's nice to still get a bit of a kick out of the achievement. But first editions tend to do that for you because they're so completely your own - you do preliminary research, write the outline and shot lists, go on the road and do the real research, in our case Terry also shot the pics, you then write the thing up, do your mapping, answer editor's queries, advise on photos, check the proof, and so on. So it's hard not to feel as if it's your baby. Which is why I always find it curious when writers don't update their own books. With publishers like Lonely Planet you don't always get the opportunity to - editors move around so much, so by the time an edition needs updating someone else is managing the book and they don't know you from a bar of soap and have writers they like to use. But most publishers invite the original authors to update their books. I've already twice updated the DK Top Ten to Dubai and Abu Dhabi which I co-authored. Yet, along with our Calabria books, copies of Crete, Cyprus, Milan and the Lakes, and Sicily also arrived today - all books I updated during our time in Italy last year; all second editions of books written by other authors. Perhaps the timing wasn't right, there were clashes with other projects, or the job just didn't pay enough. Perhaps the challenges we faced on Calabria provide some insight. We haven't taken a close look at our Calabria book yet but already we've noticed a photo we don't recognise of a seaside restaurant in Cosenza. Cosenza, of course, is inland. And that's the reason Terry refuses to look at our published books. Hopefully the person who updates the second edition will pick that one up.
Keen to read more about Calabria? Take a look at my posts from last year:
On the road again... in Calabria!
Is Calabria the new Puglia?
Calabria: Europe's best-value destination
10 Reasons to travel to Calabria: part 1 & part 2
One more reason to visit Calabria: Liquorice!
The world's most jawdropping drives, pt 1
We do a lot of driving as part of our guidebook research - rather, my partner and co-author Terry drives and I do the trip planning and navigating. So it's inevitable that some of the most memorable aspects of our trips are the roads we drive. I stumbled across Matador's The World's Most Spectacular Roads, which inspired this post. As I only write about places I've been, here's my pick of some of the globe's most jawdropping drives from the roads we've travelled over the last few years. I've categorized them by country or region, as some destinations are gifted with so many dramatically beautiful routes:1. WESTERN AUSTRALIA: this colossal island's most stunning drives are in the West. Our favorites are in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of the Northwest, especially those through the area's national parks, including Karjini, Purnululu (Bungle Bungles), Millstream-Chichester and the Kennedy Range National Parks. Empty roads run through flat arid outback landscapes sprinkled with strange wildflowers, incredible rock formations, and mountains sliced with deep river gorges. These are also the country's most isolated roads (pictured) where you can drive 900 kilometres between towns and not see a soul, so a 4WD with extra fuel, water and supplies is recommended.
2. MAINLAND GREECE: the country's mainland boasts some of the planet's most breathtaking drives. Those we've loved best are the road from Edessa via Florina and Pisoderi to the splendid Prespa Lakes and fishing village of Psarades, near the border with Macedonia and Yugoslavia, which boasts some of the most pristine country we've come across; the narrow roads through the high country of the Pindos range with their monstrous rugged snow-capped mountains, hills thick with shrubs in every shade of green, and grey granite rock formations around Vikos Gorge; and the wild ruggedly beautiful Mani region of the Peloponnese (read more about our Greek travels on our Lonely Planet Greece Trip Journal).
3. CRETE: yes, we know Crete is an island of Greece, but Crete has so many amazing drives with spectacular scenery it deserves a listing of its own. The high roads of the isolated southeast coast skirt the mountains offering virtually birds-eye-view sea vistas, scenic routes snake through the elevated rural plateaus of central Crete offering picturesque views of villages and farmland, while the views from the windy roads of the west coast are so awe-inspring you'll find yourself stopping at every turn to take photos.
4. CALABRIA: Aspromonte, Sila and Pollino National Parks in Calabria, Italy, offer breathtaking scenery. In all three national parks, high roads snake through thick forests that form canopies over the roads - the drives are spooky in parts (very dark and moody) and the air fresh and fragrant. But once out of the woods, the views are almost always stunning, whether it's a vista of a hilltop village cascading down a mountain or a field blanketed with wildflowers.
5. CYPRUS: good narrow roads criss-cross the central Troodos mountains through thick aromatic pine forests dotted with Byzantine fresco-filled churches and splendid monasteries, the most impressive being the serpentine road through Cedar Valley; in the northwest, from Pomos to Kato Pyrgos, pretty fishing harbours bob with boats while around Kato Pyrgos the road rises to majestic heights, where it's just the mountain goats enjoying magnificent coastal vistas; and in Northern Cyprus, the road through the Karpaz Peninsula takes you through pristine country where wild donkeys graze on green meadows, by pretty turquoise coves watched over by crumbling Byzantine churches, and to one of the island's best beaches, a wide stretch of sand backed by high dunes.
Read part 2 here.
Our latest travel writing: in print and online
The June-July issue of Jazeera Airways' J magazine features a few of our articles and Terry's fab photography. If you're not flying with the funky no-frills airline this month (or next), then you can read the stories online, although we love the layout and design of the printed magazines more. Check out Cyprus: Beyond the Beach, our guide to the top ten off-the-beaten-track things to see and do on the island (along with my update of the Cyprus destination guide); The Empire Strikes Back, about Istanbul's hip t-shirt brand Ottoman Empire (we did an interview with the lovely Ayse Bali, one of the owners, to be published in various forms in the future, which I'll keep you posted on); and Room with a View: the W Istanbul, which we quite literally wrote in our hotel room there just hours before the glam opening party I told you about. (Terry should have got a credit for writing that story too actually, but somehow his name got left off... these things happen occasionally unfortunately.) The May issue of Gulf Marketing Review featured a Tourism Sector Analysis (sounds dull I know, but it was fascinating. Really.) with my piece 'Low Cost Hospitality Comes to the Gulf', on the explosion of budget and "limited-service" hotels in the Gulf (sounds dull I know, but I tried to make it fascinating. Really.) If you're lucky enough to stay at a Ritz Carlton hotel next month, look out for a wee little piece from me on Doha's Islamic Art Museum as part of their global summer arts coverage; if you're taking a super-swish Seabourn cruise (the only cruise ships you'd ever get me on) you can read my 'Old Dubai, New Dubai' story in their on-board magazine; and if you're checking in to one of the Radisson-Carlson hotels, you can take a look at my guide to Dubai in Voyageur magazine.Pictured? Not Cyprus, Istanbul, Doha, or Dubai. Instead, I thought I'd share another image from our recent trip to Calabria. I took this from the belvedere at Scilla, overlooking the castle and old town. Sublime, isn't it?
Liquorice: one more reason to visit Calabria
Liquorice! Make that 11 reasons to visit Calabria. See this post for the other ten, oh, and this one too. How could I forget liquorice? Liquirizia in Italian. I've always loved liquorice, since I was a child when my Nanna (nonna in Italian) encouraged my addiction to Aussie confectioner Darrell Lea's original soft liquorice. She'd buy a big brown paper bag of the stuff whenever we'd go shopping and after dinner (or 'tea' as they called it then), we'd sit in front of the television (black and white in those days!), my Pop (nonno), Nanna and I, and we'd demolish the whole lot. Yum! And we weren't alone. 50 million strands of liquorice are consumed by Australians each year. That's 40,000 kilometres worth. Enough to cross Australia 10 times! (See this page for more liquorice trivia.) My passion for the soft stuff doesn't mean I don't appreciate the hard chewy pastels popular in Europe. They're just as delectable and Amarelli's liquorice pastels are the connoisseurs' favorites, as much for the retro tins (pictured) as for the tiny tangy morsels inside. Which is why I was excited during our recent research in Calabria to discover the Amarelli factory was in Rossano. Family-run Amarelli is the oldest liquorice producer, and while the Amarellis were extracting liquorice juice as far back as 1500, they didn't establish the factory until 1731. Their old fortress-like residence is now a fascinating museum dedicated to all things liquorice and the friendly multi-lingual staff run guided tours daily. While you can visit any time, go in the morning if you want to watch the liquorice process in the factory. But expect the sweet mouthwatering aromas to have you heading straight to the gift shop after.
10 reasons to travel to Calabria: part 2
Here are 5 more reasons to venture to Italy's southernmost mainland region:6. Sila National Park: breathtakingly beautiful, the Sila boasts three turquoise lakes skirted by sandy beaches; rural countryside so idyllic it's as if it's out of a children's picture book with wooden fences, apple blossoms, and horses grazing in the paddocks; forests of pine, fir and birch trees so thick they form a canopy over the road, often dark except for dappled light, making for an enjoyably eerie drive; and wildflowers so aromatic you become addicted to opening the car window and inhaling. Camigliatello, Sila's main town, is a great base for skiing, hiking and exploring the Sila, and a gourmet paradise with gastronomic restaurants and shops selling local specialties such as smoked cheeses, cold cuts and salamis, porcini, and soppressata, a delicious pork sausage.
7. The Calabrian passagiatta: the Italian ritual of the passagiatta or evening stroll, when locals dress up and take to the streets to see and be seen and socialize, is a national pastime and a pleasure to watch anywhere in Italy. In Calabria it's at its most compelling. People dress up more and more people seem to promenade than anywhere else in Italy. (Why? A friend told us "We're more bored here in Calabria!") The sea of sharp-looking people is a sight to behold. My top 5 passagiatta towns are Vibo Valentia, Amantea, Crotone, Reggio Calabria, and Cosenza.
8. Calabria's castles, cathedrals and churches: every town in Calabria seems to possess a splendid duomo or basilica with chapels holding exquisite art and is watched over by the ruins of an imposing Norman castle. There are beautiful churches in all styles and from periods, from the little Byzantine La Cattolica in Stilo to the Church of St Francis in Gerace with a wonderful baroque alter. My favorite castle is Le Castella (pictured) at Isola di Capo Rizzuto, which appears to float at sea.
9. Pizzo: with elegant palazzi perched precariously on steep cliffs overlooking the ocean and a charming old town that's a tiny tangle of pastel-painted houses, narrow lanes and steep stairs reminiscent of Positano. Unfortunately, tourists outnumber the locals at the gelateria tables on the main piazza, and one too many shops have given over to tacky souvenirs, however, wander the pretty backstreets where life goes on as ever and you'll smell the mouthwatering aromas of lunch being cooked and find women hanging out washing over their balconies. (See the blog Palazzo Pizzo).
10. Reggio di Calabria: the streets of this surprisingly sophisticated city are lined with elegant buildings, some in Venetian style; there are good restaurants, great shops and excellent gelaterias, a beautiful new art museum, the Pinacoteca, and the superb bronze Riace statues at the archaeological museum, not to mention an attractive seaside promenade with lidos that are lively in summer and stunning views across to Sicily and Mount Etna.
10 reasons to travel to Calabria: part 1
Calabria is the southern Italian region that is the toe of Italy's boot. Not only is it Europe's best value destination but it has more going for it than you'd guess from the little coverage it receives in the travel press. Having just crisscrossed Calabria to research a guidebook, these are the reasons I think you need to visit:1. Tropea: stroll the cobblestone streets of Calabria's most sophisticated seaside town in the evening and you'd be forgiven for thinking you're in a little version of Rome, for around every corner is an excellent trattoria or enoteca ran by a food-loving family. Dramatically set on a rocky headland, its elegant pastel painted palazzi are perched atop cliffs skirted by two of the region's most alluring sandy beaches. The crystal clear aquamarine waters are especially enticing when viewed from the pretty piazzas above, and the Santa Maria dell'Isola convent, pictured, is simply stunning.
2. Calabrian cuisine: not only is it spicy, tasty and rustic, it relies heavily on fresh seafood, especially swordfish, cod, squid and sea urchin, and makes splendid use of local staples like red onions, aubergines and porcini mushrooms when in season. But it's the spicy flavors we loved best, the fantastic salamis, peperoncino (peppers) and the local specialty, fiery 'nduja, a spicy pork salami paste - our favorite! (See the Bleeding Espresso blog for Calabrian food tips and recipes.)
3. Aspromonte National Park: some guidebooks suggest avoiding this breathtakingly beautiful area, which it's said is the heartland of the Calabrian mafia, however, locals love these mountains for hiking and driving and guides will happily take you on treks. If you're too scared to get out of the car then simply enjoy a low-key cruise along the lovely winding road as it snakes through thick forests of birch, fir and pine trees that frequently come together to form a shaded canopy overhead. We loved the route from Melito di Porto Salvo via Chorio and Bagaladi to Gamberie where you can take a left down the coast to Reggio Calabria; make a detour to mighty Montalto at 1955 metres.
4. Scilla: another sublime seaside resort with a charming upper town, with a castle and churches, dramatically perched on a headland high above the ocean, and atmospheric lower towns either side, one boasting old buildings jutting into the sea with al fresco restaurants sitting over the water and a port that's fascinating to visit when the fishing boats come in, while the other side has a wide sandy beach with superb seafood restaurants and lidos that are popular with Italians in summer.
5. Morano Calabro: Calabria seems to have more hilltop towns than the whole of Italy. These atmospheric medieval villages sprawl across hills and spill down mountains, and even though there's little to actually see or do, sometimes it's enough to simply gaze at their beauty from a good vantage point (see the pic of Morano that accompanies yesterday's post). The more adventurous and energetic can explore the steep narrow streets, but be prepared for both stares from locals (some villages, Morano included, are not used to foreigners) and disappointment (often the view is better from a distance). In my opinion, Morano is the most impressive of dozens of similar towns.
More to come on Calabria...
Calabria: Europe's best value destination
What makes a destination great value? For me, it's great hotels at good prices, excellent cafes, restaurants and bars that are inexpensive, and lots of cool stuff to see and do that costs little if anything, interesting streets to explore, gorgeous architecture to admire, fascinating people to watch from a park bench. During the weeks we recently spent crisscrossing Calabria to research a new guidebook we were relieved to find the southern Italian region to be such terrific value. Calabria is one of Europe's best value destinations. So what makes it so?1. Alluring hotels at equally attractive prices: you can check in to elegant palazzos, old-world manor houses, chic apartments, and charming 3-5 star hotels from €60-120 a night. Of the many atmospheric places we stayed at we loved Torre Camigliati at Camigliatello, Palazzo delle Clarisse at Amantea, and Residenza Il Barone in Tropea. Alternatively, you could pay €30-50 for a B&B. See the BB-Reggio site for starters. Venere.com also has a great selection of Calabrian hotels, B&Bs and apartments.
2. Flavorsome and refined local cuisine at fabulous prices: we often found the Michelin-listed restaurants with their chi-chi decor and fussy food to be the most disappointing (more on that later) while the most memorable meals were to be had at vibrant, family-run places where the emphasis was on the freshest ingredients simply cooked. Prices ranged from €40 for a 2-course meal for two with a couple of glasses of wine to around €120 for a 5- or 6-course degustation menu for two and a fantastic bottle of wine. Our favorites included La Tavernetta at Camigliatello, Palazzo Altomonte in Altomonte, Il Fiore del Cappero at Reggio Calabria, Tropea's Ristorante Da Cece, and Albergo Ristorante Villa San Domenico at Morano Calabro (pictured). In simple pizzerias you can find enormous pizzas starting from €6 and in basic trattorias a 3-course set lunch menu for as little as €12.
3. Eye candy wherever you look and as far as you can see and an endless array of things to do (all free or inexpensive): exquisite art and sculpture in historic churches, fascinating Greek and Roman finds in archaeological museums, elegant old town architecture, medieval villages sprawled across hilltops with atmospheric alleyways, pretty piazas and seaside promenades where you can sit back and watch the world go by or join the evening passagietta, spectacular mountain scenery and lush countryside to drive or hike, stunning coastline with attractive beaches (although definitely not the world's best), crystal clear azure waters to swim, and splendid sea vistas with sublime sunsets to savour.
Is Calabria the new Puglia?
Do you remember how Puglia was touted as "the new Tuscany" by the travel media last year? Well, as we recently discovered, the reality is very different. We've just completed a road trip in Calabria researching a guidebook, and spent some time in Basilicata at the start of the trip and drove through Basilicata and Puglia at the end. Conde Nast Traveller called this remote heel of Italy's boot "captivating", writing that Lecce was "the Florence of the Baroque". But then the travel media seems to be on an endless search for 'undiscovered' places to promote as the next hot destination, and once 'discovered', there's a tendency to compare the place with another. As if our imaginations were incapable of conceiving something new or different. A few years ago Croatia was the new Greece, now Montenegro is the new Croatia, and even Abu Dhabi is being hailed as the new Dubai. (Oh, I think I wrote that, but you know what I mean.) Before Puglia, Basilicata was under the spotlight, after it hit the screen in Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ, which was filmed in Matera, pictured. But if you travel through either Italian regions, you'll quickly realize that while they may boast two of southern Italy's most atmospheric cities in Matera and Lecce, and some dramatic, craggy coastline and azure-colored sea more reminiscent of Greece than Italy, they're also home to some of Italy's scruffiest beaches, shabbiest towns, driest countryside, and some seriously ugly urban development. Conde Nast Traveller's website might claim you'll be "gloriously alone" if you venture this far south, but you won't. Aside from the fact that the south has always been popular with Italian summer holidaymakers because it's cheaper than the northern rivieras (70% of the region's tourists are Italian), we saw more tour buses in Matera's public car park in one morning than we did during our whole research trip in Calabria. But is Calabria the new Puglia? Let's just say that first you'd better get any images of a low-key Tuscany or quaint Florence out of your head. Then let's consider Calabria on its own terms.
When guided tours are close to spiritual experiences: I've been converted
I'm converted. And I'm not ashamed to admit it. I can now reveal I'm addicted to cool guided tours. My definition? Enriching, focused, well thought-out, specialized tours to compelling places with small groups (so miniscule you can remember everyone's names), led by super qualified and highly specialized guides who are as fascinating as the places you're visiting. (Read this post for my criteria for selecting guides.) I am now so hooked on these things that we've not long finished a series of walking tours in Rome with Context that I'm already begging them for more and finding out where I can score my next walk - Venice next month! But can I make it until then?! The cause of this change in heart, taste and opinion? Two superb organizations, Context and Viator, with whom we did a series of exceptional walking tours, private visits and bespoke tours in Rome recently. Now, because you know how much I've disliked my experience of guided tours in the past (read my post: Good guides, bad guides: the bad guides), you're probably thinking these must have been rather extraordinary experiences to change my mind. They were. But I'm in Milan now, and it's aperitivi hour and time for pre-dinner drinks so I'll get back to you tomorrow to tell you more about the walks, and Calabria, and Milan. Ciao!Pictured? The Vatican Museums after hours. Yes, that's right - when everyone else has gone home. There were just eight of us on Viator's private tour and everyone agreed it was worth every cent for the sublime experience of enjoying the Sistine Chapel in silence.
On the road again... in Calabria!
We've been on the road in Calabria, the 'toe' of Italy's boot. But with little internet access, so please forgive me for the silence. We've been researching and shooting a new guidebook, the first by a major English-language publisher to this little-visited region. (Ah, but how 'little-visited' is it? More on that soon.) Today the speedometer hit 2,670 kilometers as we completed our loop of the region, and with it most of our research of the area. We've visited every major city and all of the most interesting towns and villages. We've criss-crossed Calabria several times, and at one point as we drove down the gorgeous (albeit very narrow and extremely winding) road from Gimigliano to Tiriolo we could look to one side and see the azure-coloured Ionian Sea and to the other the equally alluring Tyrrhenian Sea. It must be Italy's narrowest stretch of land. So far (we still have another four or five days left), it's been a trip that has both exceeded our expectations as much as it has disappointed, and one that's confirmed many of our preconceived ideas about the place while being full of many surprises. But isn't that what travelling is all about? More on Calabria soon! Being on the road is exhausting and I desperately need some sleep.