26 August 2019

My husband and I had always said we would never re-visit the same place more than once. There is a whole big world out there after all just waiting to be experienced. We stuck by this mantra until we happened quite by accident on the wonderful family run Sami Beach Hotel in Karavomylos, Kefalonia, Greece. This American was looking for a weekend getaway to Krakow (that will be another blog) and scrolling through the `K’s’ asked my other half, where is Kefalonia? It looked nice and inexpensive sun holiday, so I temporarily shelved plans for Krakow & booked Kefalonia! On arrival the first impression of the hotel is that it’s nothing glamorous, and certainly it’s a 3 star at best but where this hotel is a 5 star+ is in the fantastic levels of customer service and the warmth of the welcome. On that first visit the owners greeted us like we were beloved members of the family or visiting best friends. Karavomylos is a small village with a couple of hotels and a few tavernas within easy walking distance of the Mellisani sea cave. Eating out here is somewhat limited, however the larger town of Sami is just a fifteen-minute walk along a pleasant coastal path. Sami town is situated centrally on the east coast of Kefalonia, Sami is a little port town full of restaurants and tavernas, most famous for being the film location for `Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’. By day it is an unremarkable town with a fairly busy ferry terminal. However, it is a regular stop off point for tourists sailing round the Greek Islands and the marina is always bustling with yachts. My favourite time of day in Sami is evening as the sun sets across the Bay of Sami the lights of the town reflect on the still Ionian Sea, and in the near distance lights begin to twinkle along the coast of Ithaka. To get the best out of Kefalonia, you really need a car. All the major car hire companies are available at the airport, although, if you don’t fancy driving tired or want to get used to the pace of the island there is car hire available in Sami and at Sami Beach Hotel. My husband says that driving on the island is easy, although I find the sheer drops along some of the coast roads a bit scary. It has to be said too that Kafalonian goats are no respecters of the highway code and if they want to have a kip in the middle of narrow windy mountain road they will! We play a little game of seeing how many times we say `WAAAH!!’ on any drive across the mountains. Seriously though, the roads are fine, the longest drive on the island from Sami is no more than an hour, and the most impressive thing is how patient and courteous the locals are when they encounter tourist traffic. None of that impatient honking or tailgating so common elsewhere. Kefalonia is full of little inlets that whilst driving to and from, you can literally just pull over, and swim. The Ionian Sea is crystal clear and warm and so full of fish it is breath taking and there are the most beautiful beaches to visit. We have been able to see the entire island in all our visits and have a few favourites. Our favourite beach is called Antisamos Beach just a ten-minute drive from Sami, which has 3 great areas with sunbeds, 3 restaurants and at the end of the sun bedded area there are water sports. You are in an bay surrounded by mountain views. It is breath-taking as are the views on the drive over. The food in the restaurant for lunch is delicious. I love the Caesar Salad and chips. They also have a fab bar with all sorts of fresh fruit drinks amongst cocktails and the best part, they do not charge for sunbeds! (well they do want you to buy a drink). The beaches on the East of the Island are pebbly and you will need beach shoes. The beaches along the south coast are sandy. Skala on the southern tip of the island has a sandy beach, with views across to Zante. Here the sea floor has a gentle slope water does not get very deep until you are about 100ms out, making them more child friendly than the shingle beaches in the east. On the southern tip of the Paliki peninisular, Xi beach is famous for its red sand, this is also a lovely beach with a great restaurant attached. In the far north of the island the picturesque fishing village of Fiscardo, now caters for the `upmarket’ tourist trade and is known as the "Hollywood" of Kefalonia. It does have some nice shops and taverna's but expect prices here to be higher than elsewhere on the Island. Personally, I prefer the smaller villages you drive through seem to be more authentically Kefalonian. Agia Efemia, about 5 miles from Sami is also well worth a visit, with many tavernas by the harbour. It is also a good place to pick up pleasure boat trips. I feel like Kefalonia has become my home away from home and if you would like to hear more about it please don’t hesitate to contact me.

07 July 2019

Continuing from my last blog on upstate New York, head east out of Albany on i90 to the Massachusetts Turnpike heading towards Boston and the picturesque Berkshire Mountains. This is the perfect place to see the legendary fall foliage of New England in Autumn but beware, driving in winter months can see heavy snowfall, sometimes up to 2 feet. A short detour off the Mass Pike onto Rte 183 Interlaken will take you through several small towns and villages that give the Berkshires its particular charm. West Stockbridge is home to the Red Lion Inn. There has been a Red Lion Inn on this site since 1773, the building in its current form dates from the 1890's. The Red Lion Inn was a regular meeting place for local residents protesting British rule in the years preceding the revolutionary war. Prices on the menu in the Red Lion can be somewhat representative of its legendary status and the surroundings are a little dated, but it’s still well worth a visit as it also hosts a fantastic gift shop. There are plenty of places to eat in West Stockbridge that represent better value and my husband sampled his first New England clam chowder with oyster crackers in one of the many small cafes. As a teenager in West Stockbridge one of my favourite memories was the short trip to the Lenox House of Pizza on Friday nights for one of their amazing pizzas. Sadly, Lenox House of Pizza is no longer with us, however there are many great alternatives to be found. Lenox is a popular tourist destination and a mecca for local artists with boutiques and galleries peddling their wares as well as a variety of restaurants. Lenox is also home to Tanglewood Music Center, residence of the Boston Symphony Orchestra during summer months. On a summer’s evening Tanglewood Music Center is a wonderful place to take a picnic and listen to music in the amphitheatre and just to unwind from the busy week past. A word of caution when visiting Lenox, with so many aspiring artists around, you will not get away with asking a stranger to take a photo of you and your better half without being asked to strike a daft ‘artistic’ pose for the camera. If you haven’t had enough shopping after West Stockbridge and Lenox, Great Barrington and Lee both offer a wide range of shopping outlets. Once you get back on the Mass Pike, continue east driving approximately 90 minutes to Boston. I’d suggest if visiting Boston for the day, to stop at one of the MBTA stations and take the local light railway into the city. Green line stations are probably the easiest to get to from the Mass Pike but be sure to pay for your parking (see photo of the truck). Locals refer to this as “the T” and it is a great form of transportation to and from Boston. Boston is a much smaller city than New York and has a completely different vibe. The best way to see the city is a walking tour such as the Freedom Trail. This is 2.5-mile-long and takes you past 16 sites significant to the history of the United States, including the iconic Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere’s house and site of the Boston Tea Party. Along the Freedom Trail, one of the sights you will come across is the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, a memorial to the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. This regiment was one of the first regiments in the US to include black combat troops. The regiment’s most famous engagement was on July 18th, 1863, when Shaw led an attack on Fort Wagner and many members including Shaw himself were killed. This action was immortalised in the 1989 film `Glory’. Samuel Adams’ grave lays in the Granary Burying ground on Tremont Street (also part of the Freedom Trail). This is the burial ground for many of the Revolutionary War’s elite such as Paul Revere and 3 Bostonian signatories of the Declaration of Independence (Samuel Adams, John Hancock (first signatory on the Declaration of Independence) and Robert Treat Paine). The coolest part of this cemetery is that it dates back to 1660. It is just full of very cool headstones and a must see to fully immerse yourself in American history. Adjacent to Faneuil Hall is a huge open-air market and food hall, Quincy Market, there are over fifty restaurants and countless smaller food kiosks, gift stalls and other great shopping in the area. Once off the red line of the Freedom Trail, head to the North End, known as Boston’s `Little Italy’. Although it doesn't have the same renown as the Italian neighbourhoods of New Jersey or New York, it’s easy to walk through the North End and imagine yourself on the set of the Sopranos. When we were sitting outside a café having a coffee, it felt very much like sitting outside `Satriale’s’ while the `wise guys had a sit down at the next table. Finish your visit to the North End with a trip to Mike’s Pastries and pick up a box of the famous cannoli’s and Italian cookies. Boston is famous for its Saint Patrick’s Day parade and its countless Irish bars. Even the local basketball team is called The Celtics! You’ll probably find the best pint of Guinness outside of Dublin in Boston. Copley Square and Newbury Street are both great areas for shopping, eating and hotels. The New England Holocaust Memorial is a sculpture by Stanley Saitowitz and is located on Union Street. This memorial consists of six glass towers that you can walk under and each are engraved on the outside walls with the groups of numbers representing the 6 million Jews who lost their lives. The inner walls are quotes from survivors of each camp. Underneath the towers, steam rises through metal grates from a dark floor with twinkling lights on it. It is quite humbling and sad at the same time. Whilst in Boston you must visit the iconic “Cheers” bar, get in early as this popular bar is always busy and everyone trying to get their photo on “Norm’s” stool (of course you would). There is also a Cheers restaurant in Faneuil Hall, but it is not the original, but you can cheat and say you’ve been to Cheers and get the t-shirt to prove it! One of the most engaging things about Boston in particular and New England in general is the accent of the locals. It’s much less `in your face’ than the New York accent we are perhaps more familiar with. New Englanders tend to pronounce the `R's’ as `H's’ and elongate the sound, for example `Park the car in Harvard Yard’ would sound like `Paahk the caaah in Haaavahd Yaahd’ and ‘Chowder’ is pronounced ‘Chowdaah’. The Simpson’s Mayor Quimby and Family Guy’s Peter Griffin have classic New England accents.

29 May 2019

When you think of New York, what images spring to mind? Gridlocked traffic full of yellow cabs? Steaming manhole covers? The iconic Chrysler & Empire State buildings, or maybe the Brooklyn Bridge? We are all so familiar with the sights & sounds of the city that never sleeps, the starring backdrop of countless movies & TV shows. This was the city I grew up in and love, and no trip to the US is complete without spending some time in the Big Apple and you can always get great deals on flights to all of New York’s airports. There is another New York, people are less familiar with, the New York of lakes, mountains & forests. A New York with a landscape more akin to the Scottish Highlands than the cityscape we always associate with New York. This was the New York I called home in my teens when my family moved to the capital of New York, Albany. Moving here was something of a culture shock after living in "the city” and Long Island. So if you want a change of pace from Manhattan and experience the other New York, hop on the Amtrack at Penn Station (Grand Central’s ugly sister) and head North to Albany. The line leaves the city and follows the Hudson River north offering views of West Point, Bear Mountain & the Hudson River, look out for iconic American Eagles on the way, I’ve seen several from the train windows. The journey takes just over 2 hours. Albany is something of a hidden gem. About 150 miles north of the Big Apple, it is a city of about 300,000 people. At the edge of the city’s sprawling suburbs you can still find early Dutch style farmhouses while downtown Albany and boasts some fabulous architecture, from the typical American brownstones to the spectacular Capital building. Empire State Plaza houses the State Offices, the New York State museum & The Egg (so called because it looks like a huge egg!!) this is a performing arts venue, containing two theatres. Lark Street hosts a variety of independent restaurants & boutiques and is the artistic quarter of the City. Other great places to eat when visiting the capital include, Jacks Oyster House, Café Capriccio or if you want a more casual atmosphere The Fountain offers great pizza and wings and always has a good atmosphere, El Loco serves authentic Mexican cuisine and Tomo Asian Bistro serves the most amazing sushi. These are just a few of my favourites, but Albany has a great variety of restaurants & diners. As with most American cities, you really need a car to get around Albany, and a car is essential to get the full benefits of what Upstate New York has to offer. As a city, it makes a great base for exploring Upstate New York. Within easy striking distance of south of Albany is the legendary town of Woodstock, famous for the 1968 music festival at Yasgur’s Farm. Woodstock is still a mecca for artists and boast some excellent bohemian shops & cafes. Woodstock sits at the northern edge of the Catskill Mountains. My Grandparents owned a Jewish deli/café in Monticello. If you’ve ever seen the movie `Dirty Dancing’ then you will be familiar with the landscape & small towns of the Catskills. That movie always brought back memories of the old summer resort gatherings. History buffs may enjoy a trip to Hyde Park NY, the home of President FD Roosevelt, this is now a museum to the great man, it’s about an hour’s drive south from Albany and boast some fantastic views over the Hudson valley. The route to Hyde Park, passes through the small town of Rhinebeck which is a great spot for quirky little boutiques and cafes. If you head north out of Albany and you come to the town of Saratoga Springs, best known these days for horse racing, but once was the scene of a major battles in 1777 during the War of Independence, and the birthplace of the club sandwich! A few miles further north up the i87 is the small town of Lake George. This is a resort town boasting some impressive lakeside houses, boat trips and a full rise replica of Fort William Henry. Those familiar with the novel `Last of the Mohicans’, may recognise the name of the fort, as part of the novel is based on real events that occurred at the fort in 1757. A short drive from Lake George to the look-off at Prospect Mountain, gives amazing views of the surrounding lakes and forests, uninterrupted all the way to the horizon. From here it is possible to get a real feel for just how vast & unspoiled Upstate NY is. A visit to this area in the fall shows the state at its most beautiful, the climate is at its most temperate and the trees a myriad of shade of reds & golds. From Albany if you want to go further afield and have a two-country visit, the Canadian border and Montreal is just two & a half hours away, or if you feel up to the drive another couple of hours will take you to Niagara Falls. Just beyond Albany’s western suburbs is the small village of Altamont and Indian Ladder farm. In the fall Indian Ladder farm is a mecca for locals looking to pick their own pumpkins for Halloween or their own apples. It’s worth the short trip just for the Apple Cider donuts alone. Altamont is my husband’s favourite place in the Capital district. To the south west of the city is John Boyd Thatcher State Park, which offers some interesting walks along the Indian Ladder Trail and the look off from the 400m high Heldeburg escarpment gives stunning views of the Adirondack & Green Mountains and the Hudson & Mohawk valleys. A short drive to the east & you cross into Massachusetts and another blog... To book your first - or next - Stateside adventure, get in touch on 01623 730 021 or lynn.negus@travelcounsellors.com.