Milan: where fashion is EVERYWHERE

Been over 20 years since I was last in Milan, and back then I had ZERO money, so I can't really remember much of anything I did other than walk the streets and loiter in cafes smoking with my mate.  This time a wee bit different. I descended from my first class Swiss chariot at Milan Centrale.  Judging from my map, the Starshotel I booked was maybe 12 blocks away on Lazzaro Spallanzani, parallel to Buenos Aires Avenue close Lima metro stop, so I rolled myself over there through the neighborhood towards Buenos Aires Avenue.

Hotel: Starshotel (booked on Booking.com 3 nights $306EUro, all in) Wi-fi spendy for the room, but in the lobby its free if you get a slip of paper from the front desk to get a 30 minute block. They stack the passwords and keep them in a tray , so no issue just grabbing one and hanging out browsing.  Very 70s looking lobby, bu they tried harder in the ultra modern red and black restaurant where the included btreakfast buffeet was laid out. Very generous and varied stuff.  its a hotel a lot of tour groups use. Rooms, small but modern, clean and everything you need.I had room 331, overlooking back of building onto building next door and partial garden.  Quiet.

Near hotel across Ave BA, on via Tadino, Pandenus. average wine bar with a spread of nibbles such as broschettas, cheese, you can help your self to. Nice space, not too shabby to hang out solo and enjoy a glass of wine and bites for 8EU.

Porta Nuova and Moscova area

Rambled ALL over the city. First night tried to go to Bebel's on San Marco, in between Porta Nuova and Moscova, but they didn't open until 7:30 and it was 5:30 pm and I had not eaten since the disappointing prosciuto sandwich on the train.  

I killed time at a cafe nearby on Via Marsala 2, cunningly named Marsala Due. I saw the entire neighborhood of Italian couples and families walk or stop by, all with a, "Ciao, como va?" from the staff. Great place to sit outside and wath it all go by. Glass of wine and a 'snack' of chips and salsa (whoah! I'm in Italy not the Mission!) that came automatically 4EU.  Across the street is a fab wine, oil, sundries store, Cotti. Shelves ladened with wine, pasta, beautifully packaged pates, biscuits, tins of what nots, and in a crammed corner unit of the building. 

Brera

Windy cobbled streets, chocka with restaurants,cafes, fortune teller table stands, carnation pushers and fake Prada bags sold by Africans on blankets. Warning: Small old cobbled stones make it tough on anything but flat rubber soles!

Convivium (Topkapi...both name son the door, so not sure what they call themselves. I just call them superb.), Via Ponte Vetero, 21. Spied this on day one, and flagged it for later to enjoy with co-worker also in town. SUPERB!! Eclectic Italian menu that verifies food in Italy is not all pasta, pizza and rissoto. Wine, apps, mains and dessert for two EU136.

Obika Mozzarella Bar, Via Mercato, 28 in the Brera neighborhood. I know them from their Manhattan location, so figured it was quality. And it was. Pizza, salad, wine 26EU.

Gelato. Have to try it once and they are everywhere. I lost resolve at La Sorbetteria, Via Saragozza, 83

Coffee with the local worker bees: boy do they like their coffee breaks. Dunno where they get the work day smooshed in between all those espressos. Close to 'downtown" towards Duomo are lots of banks and offices, so I popped into a few on Via Guiseppi Verdi to mix with the office workers (and not pay tourist coffee prices closer to the sites). Antica Brera, Via Joey Verdi 13, EU1.3!!! perched at a high top by the door and watched the workers "Ciao" their way with work mates and cafe owner. Not a glam place at all, which is why I liked it and stuck around reading the paper.

Naviglio: old canals of Milan. Quiet on Sundays, but you can see loads of boutiques, cafes and restaurants peppered throughout the reviving area.

Coffee: MAG, Ripa di Porta Ticinese, 43. Coffee during the day, lite bites and cocktails later on. Overlooks the canal. Dark wood interior, very warm and ncie place to hang.

Lunch: restaurante bellariva, alzaia naviglio grande 36. Pasta, wine ($EU18 with tip?) overlooking canal. good service, large airy space. Tables outside too, must be nice when it is warmer and not raining.

Porta Romana hood

Goodly walk from Duomo, sucks in the rain, but worth the trek to lunch at neighborhood restaurant Dongio, via Bernardino Corio 3. A Calabrian owner, I went traditional and had Veal Milanesa, salad,half a carafe of house wine, coffee & apple crastata. EU 25. I was stuffed and very happy to have lunched along side patrons who all seemed to know each other and the owner.

Spied not tried: looked great aroudn the corner from Dongio on Via Ludovico Muratori, 10. Hopping with office workers for lunch.  Giulio Pan e Ojo. 

Zurich

A note about Swiss rail: superb service, connecting with cable cars, trams, buses, etc throughout the country. I reckon there isn't a village you cant get to through the transit system in Switzerland. I had a 8 day first class rail pass, which was provided by the Swiss hosts of the ATWS, but second class trains were just as comfortable and clean. 

Next stop Zurich for a night to visit a friend Staikos, who had been calling it home for the last 4 or 5 years. Another lovely Swiss city-bigger and more bustle than Luzern.  Large shopping area and winding cobbled streets along both sides of the river that separates the downtown with the old town on the east side. 

Room with a view

My hotel was on the east side in the old town, all of 10 minute walk from the central train station. Hotel Marta, Zahringerstrasse 36. Modernized, boxy, simple lobby decor, and the rooms were spare, medium sized but clean. My room was 505. CHF 127.50 (inc room tax. US$140)


Nice to be on a high floor, as on a Saturday night, the noise from the bars across the street were muffled. I'd hate to be on a lower floor on that side of the hotel otherwise. Also, the view from the room overlooked the rooftops and just caught a glimpse of the mountains. Nice.  Breakfast was uber basic, bordering on mediocre/bad. There were too many pastry shops and cafes that I actually wasn't bothered as I wanted to try one of them on my only morning in town.


Food and Beverage

Afternoon hot chocolate and exquisite cake at iconic Sprungli on Bahnhofstrasse 21.  Sat downstairs with the melee of people and overlooking the street bustle. Must see. They have several locations but this is the original.

 Dinner: no shortage of cafes, restaurants and beer houses serving Swiss meats, sausages and carb-loads. Traditional Swiss beer-swilling place was near hotel on Niederdorfstrasse 70, Restaurant Brasserie Johanniter. Schintzels for two and four pints set us back CHF 78.50.

Drinks: Along River Sihl, lots of bars and converted ld warehouses overlooking the river. Even when its cold, people still sit outside at large group picnic tables to drink and eat.

Refurbed theatre and outdoor bar, El Lokal, Gessner-Allee 11 · 8001 Zurigo Isola · 043 344 87 50

Restaurant Reithalle, a converted stables turn huge beer hall. Great space.

 Old town makes for nice strolling, any time of day, but early morning was lovely; I had the streets to myself, and one other guy. Side streets that climb upwards, colorful houses, rambling ivy, gorgeous details in the building woodwork and doorways, oh yes, and graffitti.  Lots of sculptures too. 

    

Spied this lady starkers on a crisp Fall day; she must be BONKERS! 

 Breakfast: Konditorei Peclard. Exquisite shop and cafe tables out front. Could've stayed in Zurich a week just to go try everythng in the pastry case. Settled for a apricot cream dream (CHF4) and latte (CHF6!!!!, yes, it's 'boutique' coffee). Despite to top-shelf poricing for the coffee, it was an 

absolute treat to sit outside on a nippy morning enjoying the most heavenly cake I have ever had. Bliss.

Bye-Bye Zurich. Danke! Off to Milan on 11 am train. 4 hours through dramatic mountain scenery past Bellinzona, Lugano, Como (George Clooney country. I waved from the window) and dropping down to Milan Central.

Switzerland: Lucerne (Oct 7-12)

Adventure World Summit brought me this year to Lucerne (Luzern) Switzerland. No airport so choices are to fly to Zurich, Geneve, Basil and take a train. I opted for Geneva to visit friends (lovely breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien on Av Alfred Bertraud 1, a nice nighborhood on the hill above city) and then take a 4-hour train through the lovely valley that skirts Lake Geneva.  Tip: sit on the right side o the train to get lake views.

Heidi was here

Lucerne train station is smack in the middle of the city it's very easy to get around on foot. Many of the lovely stately hotels are on the Schweizerhofquai and Haldenstrasse, but I stayed one bock form the train station at Hotel Continental on Murbacherstrasser. Approx $180 a night.  Basic, non-architecturally distinguihed hotel, but great service, generous and good quality buffet breakfast and central. I stayed on 3rd floor in a newer room. Apparently upper floor rooms were still not updated.

While the lobby bar and restaurant lacked atmosphere, across the park, one block away, was the very boutique and cunningly named hotel, The Hotel, http://www.the-hotel.ch/.  Vry cool lobby bar, with slanted huge windows that pverlook the park and you could actually see our hotel lobby from the sofas, so no effort entailed in using this lobby as your own.

Food and drink

The Kuntzmuseum and Conference Center is on the other side of the train and bus station.  Big glass building with several floors of exhibits that overlook the lake. The cafeteria is superb, offering flavors from all over the world (you order your curry/stew by the name of the country it represents.) 

Hotel Schweizerhof: old stately building, with huge lobby and bar.  Many along this stretch across the lake and along the lake have outdoor tables.

Old Swiss House: traditional Swiss cuisine restaurant on Old Town of Lucerne, Lowenplatz 4.  Excllent servcie and food was superb. Everything that came out of the kitchen was top notch.  Spendy, but worth it.  Needs a reseravtion as it is a classic destination  restaurant.

Lion Monument: lovely tribute to fallen soldiers and quite emotionally charged. Huge lion carved out of the rock.

Lots of lovely streets hat wend up and down through Luzern well worth exploring.  You'll stumble on local cafes and bakeries.

Great day hike: Stanserhorn. Take the world’s first double decker open top aerial cable car, the Stanserhorn CabriO to the top then take any number of trails around the upper villages and ventually walk down to the rail line in the lower villags to get back to Luzern. We took the train from Luzern central station, to Stans station. 

I can see Russia from my house!

Off the train we walked a few minutes to a cable car ride in the wooden wagons of the vintage funicular to the station Kälti mid way, then we transferred to the Cabrio Cable Car to the top.  Amazing 360 views, marmots and trails.

Are we there yet?

We hiked down to Wirzweli through high pastures and the sound of cow bells accompnaied us all the way. Magical Heidi country. Stopped for lunch at Bergasshaus in a 'village' still quite high in Witzweli. Then continued down for another 30-45 minutes to the train station Wolfenschiessen and took the train back to Luzern (approx 40 minutes). Fab.

Umm...so, where do I go to the other 5 things?

Cartagena

Here for a conference so limited in ability to really wander the streets and get to feel the place. Old walled part is gorgeous on the eyes-dazzled by the colour of the walls, cobbled streets, bourgainvillea cascading from the balconies, and gentility of the place.

I stayed 2 km furtehr south in Boca Grande at the famed El Caribe, more dubiously and recently known for the CIA prossie scandal. Grand old dame of a hotel that was clearly ahead of its time in the 50-60s, but dated today. Still, it had character and I am glad I chose this hotel over the Hilton's and other modern 'resort' hotels on the beaches and further north  in the Crespo hood where the Hotel Las Americas convention center hosted the LATAM event and where there is no neighborhood to walk around in.

El Caribe is also on the beach and there were many a kiosk selling beer to enjoy in plastic chairs on the white sandy beach. Met Jesus and Richard Ali here-two intemperate souls (of many) who innocently talked yo you about all sorts. Ali was a character regaling us with tales of his being scared of heights and fainting in an elevator on the 23rd floor under a pile of pool toys he was carrying for a hotel guest where he worked, needing to be dragged out by his ankles.  Bless.

Nearby streets of Cra 1,2, 3 had loads of life, bars, restaurants, buzzing with locals.

Eats/drinks
Kiosks right across El Caribe and the just further north run by two spicy women.
El Pietro: fab pizza and amazing pickled eggplant appetizer.

Santa Marta-so glad I went

Most folks go to Cartagena and tick off the Colombia Caribbean coast to-do.  Santa Marta often overlooked, to me had a lot of character, grit, and a sense of what Cartagena may have been like before the tourist masses. HOT town (in September anyway) that crackles with life and character. Never been to Havana, Cuba, but I imagine with the old coloured colonial buildings, the malecon and the desultory shuffle of the townsfolks doing there banking, shopping and hustling, it must be like this.

Street vendors, students, coffee vendors,men debating the soccer league for the World Cup elimination, this town has a lot of colour and life. Had no time, but it is also a great hopping point for Tayrona NP just to the east.


The facts
Stayed in historic district at the second unmarked boutique location of the Casa del Farol, where check-in is. Hotel staff then walked us to the Casa del Agua (Calle 18 Cra 4), two doors down on the block next door.  Booked on Booking.com about $100 a night with breakfast served by the lovely Deanna, who took great care of us as did Anthony, the front desk guy.

Bliss awaits! Gorgeously thought through decor, very Ibiza: white walls and lines with shades of khaki. Beautiful wood furniture and large kitchen on the ground entrance floor. Small dipping pool is also in the center. Room was on 2n (top) floor, sharing a siting area outside with the room opposite. It also had an off room terrace, window overlooking interior courtyard and pool, and the shower had a rainfall shower head and the skylight right above it. Roof top terrace (3rd floor) was reason I booked and spent one night there on deck chairs drinking beers with Nathalia and Christian from Santiago. Great night talking until 3am with them.

Casa de farol-check in for Casa de Agua

 Gorgeously comfortable and aesthetic.

Eats/drinks
Made in Spain: Calle 18 @Cra 3 on corner. Right across the street from the Farol, and also owned by the Catalan couple who own the two hotels. GREAT meal in an old colonial home. Ate in the interior courtyard which was less formal than the AC dining room that overlooked the street. Fab fod-langostinas a la jillo, callos, good wine, no room for dessert sadly.
This couple will open a hamburger joint on the Paza e los Novios, and another boutique hotel just off that square too.

Lunch in Taganga-a 'fishing village' 30 minutes by colectivo (COP 1200) from Cra 5 in Santa Marta. Must have been blissfully unspoiled at some point, but now just looks and feel like a backpacker bum hangout. Rumours of drugs and drinking fests, so glad I didn;t book here looking for the sleepy fshing village experience.  Beachside kiosks serving fish dishes abound, most hustle you to eat there. Setteld on Kisok #4, run by women. Good food of the staple fish, coco rice, fish soup and Aguila beers overlooking the beach.

Nice place for a lazy few and a meal, but wouldn't sleep here-Santa Marta offers more of a locals experieenc and vibe.

Side trip to Juan Camilo Pena's farm

Juan Camilo Pena owns More local, Chambo Challenge, Lanka Challenge. He's a business partner and we met for drinks in Bogota. as we talked about passions, the conversation lead to food and farming. His family has a farm outside of Bogota and he invited me to see it the next morning at the sparrows fart as he was planning a quick trip up there anyway to take of some business before he headed back to Canada. I leapt at the chance and spent a very early start (6am) with breakfast at a roadside stop  just across the presidential farm at a place he had been going to for years since the family had the land, el Cevercito. A bakery with fresh hot cheese breads, a Colombian breakfast staple.  Drove about 40 minutes north of Bogota to a town Tocancipa where the farm was tucked away about 3 km away. Met his caretakers Alvaro and his wife (Raquel?).

Very unique and memorable experience.

Villa de Leyva-Blissful village

Tucked a 4 or so hour bus rode from Bogota, this gem of a colonial town was one I was very glad I had on my itinerary. Cobbled streets, tonnes of walking and hiking opportunities.


My weekend was lucky timing of both the independent film festival and the regional kite flying competition.

The facts
Stayed: private adobe cabana in Finca La Mara about 1.5km out of town on Via Colorada. Easy and safe walk on dirt road to center. Booked through Booking.com for COP 161,000 a night (approx $90). Nice grounds, main house was lovely to hang in living room and where breakfast was served. Cabana was lovely cottage w/ alot of colour. They tout themselves as eco, which cheekily 'allows' them to charge a higher price, but really, it was more like a $60-70 a night place. Hot water was sketchy, but truly, Rocio who manages the place was a delight and the fireplace in our cottage was a bonus.

The current owner however is selling the place, which may be bought by a young couple we met who were also staying there when I was. Hope they keep it as a B&B and make the touch ups it needs. I'd stay here again for sure.

Eats/drinks
Loads across the center of won and side streets. Hard to pick.

1. Cafe Chameleon: in a maze of cafes and restaurants on one of the corners of the main Plaza (Casa Quintero complex) Cra 9 @calle 12). Windows overlooked the Plaza, so a great vantage point. Had me some meat, well prepared, generous portions, clean and great service
2. Organic cafe in same Casa Quintero. Name escapes me. Long wait and a little manic, but wrth the wait of good food.
3. La Galleta: AWESOME pastry shop and cafe. Owners must have learned and worked overseas. Cakes and pastries were divine. The carrot cake was wonderful and the Milhojas with a draping of cajeta sauce was TO DIE FOR and not to be missed. Nice toilet too.

Colombia- an all too brief a stint!

Colombia evokes many an image of danger for the traveler. My experience couldn't be further from the truth. An amazing variety of countryside, cities, food, weather, ethnic groups and geographic zones, all sharing the one thread of warm and wonderful people. I will want to go back to keep exploring this magical country.

The facts:

Stayed at the Sofitel Victoria Regia  in the northern end of the city near the Chico and Parque 93 neighborhoods. Great location, couldn't be better to hop in and around the good parks, coffee shops, bars, shopping and restaurants. Very safe.

Carrera 13 @85. Booked in expedia for $193 a night for a 3-night stay special.

Eats and drinks Bogota:

1. Bogota Beer Company on Cra 13 and 85. Good outdoor patio, lively and great selection of beers. There is also one in Parque 93 neiggborhood 10 short blocks away and I spied another in the shopping mall area in the Calle 80 area.
2. Restaurente Di Lucca: next to hotel on Cra 13. Front pati and inside. Great food, good staff and reasonable prices.
3. Chairama: Calle 95 @ Carrera 11A. Peruvian fusion. Modern, clean, great back patio with "living" wall of plants . Good quality and well presented food. Lots of good restaurants on this street. Across from here is an organic restaurant.
4. Cafe Illy: Cra 15 @ Calle 87. Lovely spot on corner to watch morning workers walk to work or jog along park path.
5. Museo Botero: has a nice cafe in the back-courtyard, good coffees and people watching.
6. Cafe OMA. Likened it to a Denny's: relaible, predictable menu items. The one on Calle 93 @Cra 12 has a nice front outdoor area overlooking the park, so great people watching.

Getting around:

Easy once you get a hang of the Carrera and Calle grid system. Carrera's are like avenues with numbers getting larger east to west. Calles are like streets, getting higher as you go north.  Colectivo buses show the coordinates of where they run to, making it easy to just hop on one that heads in your general direction and street coordinates. COP1,500 per person.

Taxis: recommended by everyine I met to just have the hotel or the restaurant you are at to call one for you. Some have the taximetro, others just quote you the fare, so always ask before heading off in one to avoid surprises.