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  • TravelerSpain
    Day 1,260

    On our way to Catania

    April 10, 2023 in Italy

    Got up early. On our way to the airport. Took the wrong turn. We couldn’t get the GPS to work. Finally it started working. We found our way and we still got there within 20 minutes. Check-in was pretty easy. Had a café and croissant in the airport. Boarded on time. Our flight was on time landed at 10:15 in Catania. Etna Suite driver had our sign with the name Johnson for our transport to Hotel. Walked up two flights of stairs to check in with Alfredo. Walked up another couple flights of stairs to get to our room. Fortunately, they brought our luggage up to our room. A nice, two bedroom apartment. Not much of a kitchen but spacious. Each room has a little balcony that looks over the backs of all the restaurants with piles of garbage and dirty rooftops. A little bit of a contrast from Umbria! Walked downstairs, which brought us right out to the main street. Across the street is the Bellini Gardens. We walked up there took a few photos. Then we decided to find a place to eat. Walked over to a restaurant named Fud! It was very trendy. All the signs on the walls were plays on words. We ordered Apperal spritz which were molto grande! We ordered Arancini, which wasn’t what we expected. They were red inside, rather than the familiar creamy white inside. We shared a plate of buffalo hamburger with a mozzarella topping. It had a little side portion of mixed peppers and marinated onions with two little scoops of mayonnaise and barbecue sauce. The fries were roasted potato wedges. We then had the crema d limon verdello. Which was a circular lemon tart with a soft and creamy marshmallow meringue like like topping. The lemon part was on the frozen side. In a graham cracker crust. It was delicious. walked around the area which was not very clean. Piles of trash bags everywhere you looked. The pigeons were having a feast everywhere. Stopped and got a bottle of water to bring up to the room. Relaxed and then all hell broke loose when Cristi found out that her, AOL and Facebook were hacked! she had to contact AOL finally was on the phone for over an hour with them. Finally retrieved her email. We went to sleep around 11 o’clock.Read more

  • TravelerSpain
    Day 8

    Day 7 Sevilla to Cordoba

    November 5, 2019 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Nov 5 Sevilla to Cordoba
    Left hotel melia at 8am. On our way to Cordoba.
    Muslims arrived in 711 to 1230 Fernando and 1236 reconquered and he change the religion of them to a Christian cathedral by sprinkling holy water everywhere.
    Walked around the cobbled stoned streets looking for gold. No luck. Young girl suggested we go across from her shop to eat El Abanico. We had the thick gaspacho Salmojero. Yummy tempura like eggplant with drizzled honey and the local specialty Oxtail Stew. Huge sangrias! Shopped around a little more then back on bus for a long ride back to Madrid. Our farewell dinner was at the hotel. Say with Cathy and Sue. Nice ladies. Served a wonderful squash soup, roasted chicken with a few veggies. Sharik organized a group pic. Lots of fun. Up to room by 10.    Read more

  • TravelerSpain
    Day 6

    Day 5 Granada & Alhambra

    November 3, 2019 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Nov 3 Granada
    Breakfast at hotel. On the bus by 9. A about an hours drive up curvy hills to the top to view the city and the Alh ambra ! Which means Red Castle. We had coffee in a little square which was so quaint. Continued walking on cobblestone streets while it was lightly raining. Drive down the hill and back up another hill to reach Alhambra. It was a huge Moorish Palace. It became a Christian palace. It had spectacular architecture. Carved wood and beautiful plaster designed walls and ceilings. Lovely gardens abound with ponds and flora. Lots of walking. Wether held up nicely. Back on bus around 2 headed for Seville. Only time for a meal at the Bus Service stop. We had the Burger special. Pretty good for a bus stop. Another 3-4 hours in the bus to arrive in Seville Melia Lebreros hotel at 7:30. Our new friend sue asked the front desk for dinner recommendations. We took a taxi to a wonderful restaurant El Rinconcillo. Tiny narrow cobblestones streets to get there. Went upstairs to our reserved table. Asked for a dirty martini. Sorry no cocktails. Ok, how about a martini, ok. Waiter brings a bottle of absolute vodka and a bottle of vermouth a glass with 2 huge ice cubes. Starts to pour the vodka, 3 inches, then he starts pouring in the vermouth! Poured so much, said ok that’s enough! The drink was horrible. Sue drank it, I changed to sangria. We ordered risotto with langostino as a shared appetizer. Delicious! Cristi & had lamb chops with patas and charred yummy mild peppers. Sue has the sea bass which she said was delish. Cathy has the Iberian steak. It came pretty rare. Sent it back and then it was really tasty. The bar called a cab for us. Got home by 11.Read more

  • TravelerSpain
    Day 4

    Day 3 Madrid to Granada

    November 1, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Nov 3 Granada
    Breakfast at hotel. On the bus by 9. A about an hours drive up curvy hills to the top to view the city and the Alh ambra ! Which means Red Castle. We had coffee in a little square which was so quaint. Continued walking on cobblestone streets while it was lightly raining. Drive down the hill and back up another hill to reach Alhambra. It was a huge Moorish Palace. It became a Christian palace. It had spectacular architecture. Carved wood and beautiful plaster designed walls and ceilings. Lovely gardens abound with ponds and flora. Lots of walking. Wether held up nicely. Back on bus around 2 headed for Seville. Only time for a meal at the Bus Service stop. We had the Burger special. Pretty good for a bus stop. Another 3-4 hours in the bus to arrive in Seville Melia Lebreros hotel at 7:30. Our new friend sue asked the front desk for dinner recommendations. We took a taxi to a wonderful restaurant El Rinconcillo. Tiny narrow cobblestones streets to get there. Went upstairs to our reserved table. Asked for a dirty martini. Sorry no cocktails. Ok, how about a martini, ok. Waiter brings a bottle of absolute vodka and a bottle of vermouth a glass with 2 huge ice cubes. Starts to pour the vodka, 3 inches, then he starts pouring in the vermouth! Poured so much, said ok that’s enough! The drink was horrible. Sue drank it, I changed to sangria. We ordered risotto with langostino as a shared appetizer. Delicious! Cristi & had lamb chops with patas and charred yummy mild peppers. Sue has the sea bass which she said was delish. Cathy has the Iberian steak. It came pretty rare. Sent it back and then it was really tasty. The bar called a cab for us. Got home by 11.Read more

  • TravelerChristmas Markets
    Day 8

    Vienna & Bratislava

    December 8, 2018 in Switzerland ⋅ 🌧 6 °C

    Saturday December 8
    Up at 6. Breakfast downstairs. On the bus by 8 on our way to Bratislava, Slovakia. About an hour and 20 minute ride. Met Marten our guide, a university professor of international economics. 33 years old. Walked through the old part of Bratislava learning about the politics and culture of the country. Walked about 80 minutes. Then free time to shop and eat. We had a big fat sausage with mustard. Then we tried the potato pancake with sour cream and bacon. Not as good as Nuremberg! Back to Vienna by 1. We’re dropped off at one end of Naschmarkt. Lots of cafes, beautiful food displays and many shops. Cristi ate an gyro as we walked did lots of last minute shopping. Continued walking through all of it, about a mile and half back to hotel. Rested for a little bit before going to dinner in the Vienna Woods.
    This restaurant Das Schreiberhaus was a pretty large place decorated as a chalet. Creaking wood floors took us upstairs to our table which had an Austrian version of antipasto. Pickled carrots, green beans, potato salad. Pickles peppers and bread spreads. Wine carafes , which we refilled a couple of times. As we were served family style, sliced pork, ham, chicken, Wiener schnitzel and sauerkraut, the accordion player got us all singing along to several fun songs. He even had us yodeling! What a great way to say goodbye to Vienna ! Back to hotel by 10, got organized and went to sleep.    Read more

  • TravelerChristmas Markets
    Day 7

    Salzburg to Vienna

    December 7, 2018 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    Up at 6, breakfast and on bus at 8. A beautiful drive with surrounding snow capped mountains, villages and greenery. Arrived in city center 12:30. Had a lovely Viennese lunch at Cafe Landtmann. This is where Sigmund Freud would eat and drink coffee. Walked across the street to a lovely Christmas market. Pretty much the same as the others. Met the group at 2 for a walking tour with Gabby. Saw several palaces, rose garden the residence of frans Josef. The office the 33 year old chancellor and the president which reports to the chancellor. Continued our tour on the bus around the city viewing city hall, university etc. arrived at Hotel Ananas 4 pm. Repacked, relaxed and left by 5 to walk to dinner. We found on yelp Ristorante Gondola. The waiter spoke English with a New York accent. Come to find out he lived in San Francisco , Daly City , went to westmoor high school and has family in San Mateo ! Incredible! The food was great. He brought us a limoncello. We had wine, a yummy arugula salad , gnocchi con funghi and tortelloni con prosciutto. We were full. So as we’re sitting there talking away, Cristi says ‘ what time is it? we gotta go! ‘ we got the bill walked back to the hotel to freshen up for our 7:30 pick up for the Mozart concert. The concert was in the Bors Palais,old Stock Exchange building, in the city center. While waiting for the hall to fill with people, Cristi is starting fall asleep. She thought if she put her hands together people will think that she’s praying! LOL!Read more

  • TravelerChristmas Markets
    Day 6

    Nuremberg to Salzburg

    December 6, 2018 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 2 °C

    Left hotel @8. Had a salad at truck stop which had unique self cleaning toilets!
    Arrived @ 12:30. Light rain. Cristi had a little difficulty getting her rain poncho on lol! Picture attached. Met our local guide Gabby, who was wonderful, walked the city learning about Mozart’s life and the beautiful castle. Mozart would have coffee each morning at Cafe tomalisa and told everybody how bad the service and coffe was. Yet he went everyday! A quaint town with cobblestone streets, lovely shops and unique architecture with baroque design. Free time we went to St. Peter’s Church that was beautifully decorated with twinkle lights. Walked through the lovely Christmas markets enjoying the spirit of the season. Checked into Castellini hotel by 5, dinner downstairs at 6:30. Cream of potato soup, Schnitzel with potato salad. Very nice. Cristi was so sleepy she went to room at 8 and crashed. I went up at 8:30. We both slept well.Read more

  • TravelerChristmas Markets
    Day 3

    Waterfalls waterfalls! Free day

    December 3, 2018 in Germany ⋅ 🌬 12 °C

    Got up by 9-930am. Went downstairs for a wonderful buffet breakfast. Back to room to bundle up for a walk into town. We used “map.me” app which for some reason took us about 2 miles out of the way from where we wanted to go. We saw a lot of old beautiful buildings, but very city like and boring. We found our way back on track to Haxnbauer Restaurant. we passed so many upscale shops and prettier buildings, definitely felt better and more like a village. We had a fantastic Pork Knuckle for lunch that they are known for. It had the yummiest and crispiest skin on it! . As we walked back to hotel, through the English Garden, which is a huge park, there is a river that runs through it with many waterfalls and a pretty rapid flow/ current. There were actually people surfing in it with shorter boards but really surfing, wetsuits and all! Rested a little while in the room before meeting our group in the lobby at 6. Robert is our tour guide, English accent. 43 people are on the tour. Mostly USA , a few from Canada , 4 crazy ladies that we had met in the bar . It’ll be great.Read more

  • TravelerChristmas Markets
    Day 2

    Arrive Hilton Munich Park Hotel

    December 2, 2018 in Germany ⋅ 🌧 4 °C

    Taxi to hotel , about 30 minutes. 60eu. Checked into a very nice room. Went downstairs for a drink and something to eat. We ordered a warm goat cheese salad with candied walnuts and a lovely Bavarian sampler plate of cheese , sausage, and a big pretzel. With wine to wash it down. Up to the room, in bed by 9:30. We both woke up around 3am, made coffee and chatted until 5, then back to sleep until 9. Felt soooo good.Read more

  • TravelerChristmas Markets
    Day 1

    Sfo To Muc Nonstop

    December 1, 2018 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    Luis took us to airport. Went to 1300 bar & grill in terminal. Cristi was in bathroom when I ordered her drink, tequila and soda. She came back , had a few sips and said” gee I can already feel this” little did she know that I had ordered her a double!! Lol! Boarded the plane aroun 9:10pm. Had a row of 4 seats, each of us had an aisle , to ourselves. When ready for take off, a lady asked if she could sit next to Cristi. I said no she has twitches , and has neuropathy! Terrible but it worked she went to the row in front of us. A non stop flight @9:40pm, landed at 5:40 pm. Smooth as silk.slept a good portion of the flight.Read more

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