EUROPE & Its Neighbors Archives - Page 2 of 11

Beginning and Ending a Balkan Getaway in Tirana, Albania

Skanderbeg Square (set up for Euro 2024) viewed from
our Tirana International Hotel & Conference Center room

Putting together this Balkan trip: Photos of picturesque Ohrid, North Macedonia, nestled on a gorgeous mountain lake caught my eye and inspired this trip. (This tends to happen to me. I see a photo or read something online or a place mentioned in a book, do a little research, and the next thing I know I’m going there.) July and August are peak season in certain parts of the Balkans, but temperatures can be really hot. So, I wasn’t sure my plan to check out Ohrid in July was my most genius move. Lake Ohrid’s waters are cool and lots of people head to the lake in the summer months, but of course, I wanted to explore the region a little, too. What cities might we fly into or visit before or after our time in Ohrid? Options for direct flights from our home in Paris were limited (“Paris Beauvais” doesn’t count as it’s not really in Paris and a real hassle to get to from the city). Transavia offers direct flights from Paris Orly to Tirana, Albania, a 2.5 hour drive from Ohrid. I looked at some open-jaw itineraries with us flying out of Ohrid or Skopje, North Macedonia, but those required lay-overs that didn’t interest me, so a round-trip to Tirana made the most sense. David and I had been in Shkoder, Albania, a few years back on a short side trip from Montenegro. While we’d enjoyed good food and the picturesque ruins of Rosafa Castle, we were interested in seeing more of Albania. Its capital, Tirana, seemed the perfect place to start.

Searching the weather forecast showed temperatures rising into the 90’s in Tirana in July during the period we were free (and avoiding the upcoming anticipated Olympics travel snarl in Paris when we plan to stay put). Oh well, that sounded like my native Texas. Not ideal, but we could work with that. I quickly put together an 8-night trip with multi-night stops in Tirana, Ohrid and Skopje. I opted for private drivers between cities so we could visit intriguing places along the way including Tetovo and Matka Canyon in North Macedonia and Prizren, Kosovo, and the surrounding mountains. Adding Kosovo provided a fun bonus of putting me over 100 countries visited. A meaningless personal milestone, but I got a kick out of it anyway. (And, while the US and many other countries recognize Kosovo as an independent country, Serbia would no doubt disagree. So maybe it’s “100*” with an asterisk for Serbia and its ilk.)

Our time in Tirana: We stayed only one night upon our arrival, at the Tirana International Hotel and Conference Center on the city’s vast Skanderbeg Square. Our 2.5 hour Transavia flight from Orly arrived early in the morning, though, and we had a full day to explore the sights before heading to Ohrid the next morning. We also had two nights at the end of our trip a mile further south at the MAK Albania Hotel just off Mother Theresa Square in the upscale Blloku area of the city which borders a large wooded city park. This turned out to be a great way to experience two areas of Tirana and to let us enjoy MAK Hotel’s gorgeous pool facilities when the temperature in Tirana would be hottest. There aren’t a huge number of must-sees in Tirana and we easily saw all I hoped to during our time in the city.

Skanderbeg Square is the heart of the city and we headed out to explore it as soon as we dropped of luggage at the hotel. Tall buildings surround the square and offer an intriguing array of modern architecture. Tirana appears to be undergoing a building boom and cranes dot the skyline.

At the time of our visit, Skanderbeg Square was filled with bleacher stands surrounding a large swath of “Astroturf” on which white beanbag chairs were scattered, all of which faced a huge screen set up to broadcast the ongoing Euro 2024 soccer games. [See lead photo above.] Booths set up around all this and near a big ferris wheel offered snacks and local beer. People sipping cold drinks in the shade in open-air cafes along the opera side of the square enticed us to join them. Iced coffees and an excellent late breakfast of avocado toast on fresh seedy bread at Momento started the day off well. We liked Momento so much that we returned a couple of times and, when we came back on one of the last days of our Balkans trip, the manager gifted David with a special beer glass with the bird logo of local Sabaja craft beer.

A first stop was the BunkArt 2 Museum. BunkArt 2 is located in one of 173,000 nuclear bunkers created during the decades-long dictatorship of Albania’s Enver Hoxha. BunkArt 2’s grid of underground tunnels and rooms extends much further than we expected from its modest entrance. We spent a good bit of time exploring rooms ranging from cells to command centers to photography and art installations reflecting the dark years of Albanian dictatorship. Citizens were tightly controlled and forbidden to leave Albania; foreigners were not welcome and the outside world kept at a distance. Chilling photographs and exhibits of razor-wired mountain border fences and attack dogs and their trainers paid testament to the many Albanians who died trying to escape.

We enjoyed the beautiful little Et’hem Bej Mosque just off Skanderbeg Square with its colorful painted walls and ceilings. I brought my own headscarf, but skirt wraps and scarves are available to borrow. Entrance is free, but a donation is expected. Religion was prohibited during the dictatorship and most churches and mosques were destroyed. The Et’hem Bej Mosque was declared a historic monument during the dictatorship. But in January 1991, thousands of people entered the mosque carrying flags and heralding the beginning of the end of Communism in Albania.

For a little religious diversity, we visited the Resurrection of Christ Orthodox Cathedral, a massive modern structure a short distance from the side of Skanderbeg Square opposite the Et’hem Bej Mosque. Albania is majority Muslim, but has a sizeable Christian minority and a secular government.

Tirana Castle, while preserving some of the old fortress walls, is a modern area of shops and restaurants. There’s nothing particularly historic about the place now, but it’s fun and it really comes alive on summer nights with live music at cafés, their outdoor tables full.

Downtown Tirana bustles on summer nights. People who’d taken refuge indoors during the summer heat seem to pour out onto the cooling streets. Couples, families and clusters of friends strolled the squares and parks, took photos around the Tirana Pyramid, bought treats from street vendors, and watched soccer on outdoor screens. In Blloku, cafés around the modern stadium filled as the night progressed.

Nighttime Tirana from top left, clockwise: Around Tirana Castle, Tirana Pyramid, Blloku, Mother Theresa Square, live music in front of The Cloud art installation

We found the fresh seafood at Fiore Restaurant in Blloku to be excellent, enjoying it so much we ate there two nights in a row, ordering the same mixed platter for David and grilled baby squid for me. Piping hot seasoned pizza bread, a shared enormous Fiore Salad, good wine and a complimentary platter piled high with watermelon wedges rounded out the meal. Friendly service, good air conditioning and a steady supply of ice to satisfy our American tastes made for a lovely time.

Practical info:

Although I link directly to hotels when I blog, that’s just for informational purposes. I usually book through a cashback portal, my favorite being Topcashback. That’s what I did on all of our Balkan hotels, using Booking.com via Topcashback. (I don’t always use Booking.com; Topcashback links to many travel sites and I compare cashback offers and prices before I choose. This time, Booking.com had the best deals.) Over the years, I’ve gotten over $2500 from Topcashback for travel and items that I would have bought anyway. The link here to Topcashback is to my referral link, so many thanks to anyone who uses it.

Tirana Intercontinental Hotel & Conference Center boasts a great location on Skanderbeg Square and lovely common areas, but the rooms are dated and the air conditioning struggled although it was good enough by bedtime and we slept well. It was cheap and an excellent value at €66.18/night. I chose it for our one-night stay for the location, the price, and because I thought any taxi driver would know where to find it. I wasn’t sure about language issues with a cab and didn’t want some tucked-away Airbnb or small guest house as our first, early morning stop.

MAK Albania Hotel is elegant and substantially more expensive that the Tirana Intercontinental Hotel & Conference Center, but did include an excellent breakfast. It is undergoing massive rennovation and additions which have almost the whole hotel swathed in scaffolding. I knew this in advance and did call to verify we’d have a quiet room and that the pool would be open. I’d read reviews saying that the hotel has been known to close the pool to guests for private functions, so if–like me–you want a swimming pool, it might be good to verify they have nothing booked. Perhaps because I’d called or maybe just because they weren’t full and they’re aware that the construction might be off-putting, we were upgraded on check-in to an enormous suite on a club floor with no scaffolding in front of our window and which faced the wooded park and a bit of the pool and grounds. As it was a weekend, there was no construction going on when we were there. Very nice!

July 2024

Yerevan, Armenia

Our last three nights in the Caucasus would be in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. After charming boutique hotels in Baku, Azerbaijan, and Tblisi, Georgia, I planned a little big-hotel luxury for the end of our trip. I used Marriott points to book affiliate The Alexander, reputedly the most luxurious hotel in Armenia, with its spa, indoor pool, sauna and steam room. Our driver from Tblisi, Garnik, dropped us off at The Alexander in the early evening. We were greeted warmly and quickly checked into an elegant and spacious room decorated in neutral tones. A welcome note awaited us beside a plate of dried fruit and churchkhela, that popular Georgian sweet made of walnuts and grape paste, a promising start to our time in Yerevan.

The Alexander is just a block away from vast Republic Square, a popular plaza with fountains bracketed by impressive government buildings, wide avenues and the History Museum of Armenia. We headed there our first night and every evening after during our stay to listen to music and people watch.

I didn’t have a lot of must-sees in Yerevan, but The Cascades topped my short list. [See lead photo above.] The Cascades is a huge structure consisting of an interior building and a series of white stone terraces with fountains, modern statuary and gardens that rise 302 meters and 572 steps up a hillside. The building itself houses the Cafesjian Center for the Arts. Even when the Center is closed, there are a series of interior escalators open to the public that provide transport between each of the terraces. Exhibits by the escalators create a free, modern art museum of their own. The Cascades connect the center of Yerevan with Victory Park, which commemorates the Soviet Army’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. On a good day, terraces of The Cascades offer spectacular views of Mount Ararat beyond the city. The day we went, we were lucky to see Ararat rising above clouds that shrouded lower mountains.

Many cafés surround the modern-art filled square at the base of The Cascades and we circled the square twice before we could make a choice. An abundance of café life is a hallmark of Yerevan. We found a dizzying array of selections for food and drink wherever we walked in the city. We went to a popular bar for a tasting of Armenian wines, had dinner at an upscale open-kitchen Armenian restaurant, and enjoyed local craft beer in a garden pub near our hotel. Unfortunately, prices in Yerevan are more in line with Paris than other places in the Caucasus and we’d gotten a little spoiled. Oh well, c’est la vie!

Three nights was a good length of time for us in Yerevan. As I said, not many must-sees. We enjoyed The Alexander, we enjoyed just wandering the city on foot, admiring architecture, exploring parks and neighborhoods, and people-watching. Yerevan is not as oil-money posh or as historic as Baku or as crumbling-yet-fascinating as Tblisi. In a lot of ways, Yerevan felt like a middling European city, a worthwhile stop, but not as intriguing as our earlier days in the Caucasus.

Practical info:

We used YandexGo to hail a 1800 dram (appx. $4.66) ride to the airport. YandexGo is the most popular ride-hailing app in Yerevan and was much cheaper than the taxi the hotel offered to call for us.

We flew Transavia from Yerevan to Paris, approximately 5h15m, non-stop. The Yerevan airport is not big and it didn’t take long to get through security. The plane was new and the flight pleasant.

Abovyan 12’s open-air café, in a garden somewhat hidden behind shops lining Abovyan Street across from The Alexander, is terrific. (You actually walk through the shops to get to the pretty garden restaurant.) We liked it so much we went twice for lunch. [Note: There is an inside restaurant as well which we did not try.]

Sherep is that upscale, open-kitchen restaurant I mentioned above. Reservations are highly recommended, probably necessary. They’ve got lots of traditional Armenian dishes as well as Georgian items. The staff is professional and very friendly. When a recommended “salad” turned out to be nothing like a salad to us (more an extra-creamy coleslaw), they happily took it back and removed the charge.

Wine tasting at In Vino was fun and interesting. Book ahead.

Beer Academy has a modest selection of their own tasty beers with both indoor and outdoor garden seating.

By car from Tblisi, Georgia, to Yerevan, Armenia

Sevanavank (Sevan Monastery and churches) on Lake Sevan

I planned our Caucasus trip with a one-way Azerbaijan Airways flight from Paris (our current home) to Baku, Azerbaijan, with 6 nights in Georgia before a return flight from Yeravan, Armenia, to Paris. We hopped a short Azerbaijan Airways flight from Baku to Tblisi, Georgia. When doing my usual pre-trip research, I quickly decided that combining a transfer by car from Tblisi to Yerevan with a little touring along the way would be a great alternative to the hassle and expense of another flight or a no-frills minibus or private direct transfer. Once again, Viator made finding what I was looking for in the way of Caucasus tours and transfers easy. I connected with Sergey at Private Tours in Armenia and we settled on a Sunday transfer with stops in a couple of monasteries including one at Lake Sevan, the largest body of water in the Caucasus and one of the largest freshwater high-altitude lakes in Eurasia.

As with our first day trip in Georgia, a different driver showed up on the day of our transfer. Garnik arrived in front of our hotel promptly a few minutes before 8am and WhatsApped me a greeting and a photo of his car. This change in names was a little disconcerting, but Sergey replied promptly when I checked in with him that Garnik was his cousin and covering this transfer. Good enough.

It turned out that Garnik lived in Yeravan and had gotten up in the wee hours to drive to Tblisi to pick us up. These tour guides and drivers are some hard-working folks! Despite a treaty last fall between Armenia and Azerbaijan, there were still people not happy with the terms resulting in on-going disputes and Garnik wasn’t sure his first choice of places to cross the border would be open. We were also a little concerned that we might have trouble crossing since we had Azerbaijan stamps in our passports, but Garnik didn’t think it would be a problem. At the Georgia-Armenia border, Garnik pointed out where we needed to walk through passport control. We had no problems at all, although there was some hold up with an Asian tour group and we did hear the words “Baku” and “Azerbaijan.” Mostly, though, there seemed to be a big language problem with English as a common language in which no one seemed fluent. Sergey appeared at this point to introduce himself and say that he was driving other clients on a similar route to ours. He’d tried an up-sell online a few days before, but we’d declined extra stops that included more monasteries and a MiG airplane museum. I gathered he was hoping to caravan with Garnik, but we declined once more and we didn’t see Sergey again until hours later in the parking area below Sevanavank although he and Garnik stayed in touch by phone. I felt Sergey wanted to coordinate and make sure all went well for us. Once we had our passports stamped, we walked through security and browsed a duty-free shop while Garnik took the car through vehicle border security. The whole process went quickly and we met him on the Armenia side of the border to resume our ride.

Garnik said Sergey had suggested a route a little different that what we’d originally planned as he wanted to add a free stop to our agenda. Unfortunately, this route had us running up against a roadblock due to border disputes and protests. Faced by police and locals, Garnik had to turn the car around and retrace our path some distance back.

Road blocked due to border protests; time to turn back

Despite this (interesting) setback, we arrived at Monastery of Sanahin – Church of the Redeemer (966AD), a UNESCO World Heritage Site as planned. Garnik parked the car near a series of vendors booths and sent us ahead to explore the monastery on our own. The abandoned monastery provides a hauntingly beautiful site with its gray stone arches and jumble of ancient tombstones serving as a floor.

An open skylight through a domed ceiling lit the scene. Recorded music played in a small chapel which offered the only sign of current use aside from the scattering of tourists and a group of students that arrived near the end of our visit.

After Sanahin, we enjoyed a fun stop at a huge roadside restaurant/deli/bakery/fuel stop. This place was fascinating. The bakery featured big open brick ovens for bread like we’d see in Kakheti, a huge fireplace in the restaurant area, and spiffy bathrooms reminiscent of a “Buc-ee’s” in Texas. We bought Armenian pastries suggested by Garnik and enjoyed them with coffee before resuming our journey.

Since we were running behind schedule due to the border dispute that blocked the road, Garnik asked if I wanted to skip Lake Sevan. No way! (Besides when I looked at Google Maps, it didn’t seem to make any difference if we drove to Yeravan via Lake Sevan or by another route. Of course, the whole idea was to stop at Lake Sevan and see the monastery there, so that would take some time.) Garnik was game for whatever we wanted to do, so we headed to Lake Sevan.

A major benefit of traveling by car instead of airplane is the ability to see a country beyond its major cities. We passed through several towns and villages during our drive, struck by how often we saw large factories standing abandoned and derelict. Remnants of Soviet rule, they stand as testament to the economic upheaval in the region brought on by the collapse of the Soviet Union.

At 1,900 m (6234 ft) and with clouds rolling in and a breeze off the water, it was chilly when we arrived at Lake Sevan. Garnik waited below as David and I hiked up a lot of stairs to the top of a steep hill to where Sevanavank (Sevan Monastery and its two churches) overlooks Lake Sevan. [See lead photo above.] Founded in 874AD, the monastery sits on a peninsula that was once an island before the lake lowered by draining during the Stalin era. Only one of the two small churches was open to the public, ornate and filled with flowers.

Starting on a path towards the tip of the peninsula, David turned back to wait in the warmth of the church while I hiked to the tip. I enjoyed the rugged, barren view, but he may have been the smarter of the two of us.

Descending into Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, the skies cleared and the temperature warmed. As we entered the city, Garnik told us how much he loved his city, clearly glad to be home. We arrived late afternoon at The Alexander, billed as the most luxurious hotel in Armenia and a fun splurge for the last three nights of our Caucasus travels.

Practical info:

I booked The Alexander, a Luxury Collection Hotel, with a Marriott free night and points. It’s a fabulous hotel and a great point value, in my opinion. We enjoyed our stay and made use of the indoor pool, sauna and steam room. The view of Mt. Ararat from the spa seating area and balcony is spectacular. The Alexander is a short walk to Republic Square. There is also an elegant-looking Marriott just off Republic Square, but it is substantially cheaper and I found The Alexander a better use of my certificate and points.

I booked our transfer/tour with Private Tours in Armenia (+37441023333) via Viator. I paid $190 for the transfer and stops, a luxury price in the region, but it made for a comfortable, hassle-free day entirely suited to our interests. There was no charge for entry to the monasteries, so our only additional costs were for refreshments and a tip.

May 2024

On Georgia’s Khaketi Wine Route

Khaketi vineyards with the Caucasus Mountains in the distance

Our second day trip out of Tblisi took us through the 1800 meters-above-sea-level Gombori Pass to the Khaketi wine region. Our driver, Mamuka (a/k/a Mamu) turned out to be tons of fun and we had a great day. The sweeping views of the pass gave way to bright green forest as we descended. We stopped to drink from a roadside spring where rows of decorated bottles and snacks were apparently for sale on the honor system. With its abundant springs, water throughout Georgia is of excellent quality.

When a picturesque monastery perched on a roadside hilltop caught our eye, Mamu pulled in to let us hike up. The 16th century Gremi Monastery surprised us with its little Church of Archangels boasting a wealth of frescoes in varying states of preservation.

I’d been looking forward to visiting Winery Khareba in Kvareli. The winery is located in long tunnels bored into a mountain. With several tour options, we opted for the most extensive tasting and a hands-on cooking experience afterwards. The English-language tour of the tunnels and wine tasting consisted of just us and two German couples. After viewing stored wine and displays of modern and ancient wine-making techniques, our guide led us to long tables where we enjoyed nibbling on cheeses, nuts, bread and olive oil while sipping wines in a variety of styles. Georgia has an impressive wine-making tradition which Georgians claim to be able to trace back 8000 years(!). We tasted golden monastery wine; pale wine made from krakhuna grapes grown in the Imereti region; a creamy 10-year aged white blend of rkatsiteli, mtsvane and krakhuna grapes; a dry red monastery wine made from aladasturi grapes aged in clay vessels called “qveri” using an ancient technique we’d first learned of in Uplistsike; a rich 8-year-old red made from saperavi grapes cultivated in the Khaketi region; and finally, “Eulogy,” a semi-sweet red made from saperavi, aleksandrouli and usakelhouri grapes. Tasty and fascinating, and not a one of the grape varieties had we heard of before.

The Germans had opted for a shorter tasting than ours so left mid-way through our tasting and we were on our own as our guide led us out of the tunnels. Thunder boomed as we neared the entrance to the tunnel and we were stunned to see our partly-cloudy day turned to a downpour of rain and hail. With borrowed umbrellas, we darted to a covered area where our cooking experience awaited. A woman instructor awaited us in front of a large flour-covered wooden work table. A few other tourists who had been watching her bake bread soon left and we were on our own with the baker and our wine-tasting guide. Soon, we were rolling and patting dough, adding cheese fillings, and crimping traditional dumplings. This was fun! We slapped bread onto the side of a big well-shaped oven, boiled the dumplings, and dipped strings of walnuts in thick grape past to make that favorite Georgian confection, churchkhela. Then we got to feast on our creations with side shots of chacha, a local alcohol like French marc made with grape skins and other bits left over from wine making.

Full and happy, we were off for more wine tasting. Thankfully, Mamu was driving! Our next stop was a small home winery, Tsinandlis Edemi where we were greeted by a pack of friendly puppies and other assorted dogs in a pretty garden. (This place also appears as “Tsinandali Edem” online and apparently offers guest rooms.) The owner showed us around the winery that had been in his wife’s family for generations, including a room where wine was originally aged in clay qveri. Once again, we heard the familiar story of how Georgia’s great wine-making tradition was stifled during the Soviet era, when only strictly-controlled, mass-produced wine was allowed for shipment to Russia. Now, enthusiastic Georgian vintners are producing creative and historical wines. Our tour ended up with David, Mamu, the owner and I sitting around a low wooden table set with cake and churchkhela and pitchers of colorful liquids. Our host poured wine to drink from a horn and taste after taste of flavored chacha. As the tastings kept coming, I took smaller and smaller sips. There is a limit! When we praised a bitter orange version of chacha, he gifted us with a small plastic water bottle of the last of the batch.

Now more than sated, we were off again. We stopped for photos of Caucasus Mountains beyond the wide valley and vineyards. [See lead photo above.] We made our final stop in Siğnaği, the “city of love,” a pretty town of cobbled streets, red roofs, old castle walls and great views. After much-needed coffees with Mamu in a cute café, David and I climbed the old walls to admire the sunset views. Heading out of town, a shop’s roadside display of colorful fabrics caught my eye. Mamu pulled over so I could buy a handwoven rug and a floral scarf at prices so low I didn’t bother to bargain. What a great day!

Practical info:

I used Viator to book this tour with Georgian Paradise +995 558 54 40 99. I paid $158 for both of us by credit card online. This included everything but our wine-tasting tours and hands-on cooking, coffees at the café in Siğnaği, and a tip for Mamuka. (And, of course, I paid for my souvenir purchases.)

Day trip from Tblisi: Jvari, Uplistsikhe, Gori, Mtskheta, Chronicle of Georgia

Rugs, scarves and more for sale outside the walls surrounding
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta

Georgia has so much to offer and I was excited about our first day trip out of Tblisi. I booked a private tour with “Karlo-Georgia” on Viator that offered an interesting mix of sites from differing periods in Georgia’s long history. Our driver turned out to be George (how appropriate!), an independent guide who worked with Karlo. George arrived promptly at 10am across the street from our hotel on Rustaveli Avenue in a spiffy and spacious new SUV. I’d agreed in advance with Karlo on the sites we’d visit, but left it to George to determine the order of our stops as circumstances warranted. It’s impossible to know in advance where we’ll want to linger or move on quickly, how long a lunch break might be, traffic, whether rain will be a factor, etc., so I’m happy to be flexible.

Our first stop was at the UNESCO-listed Monastery of Jvari with its 6th century church, a rare example of a Georgian medieval church remaining very nearly in its original state. The church sits on the site of a 4th century miracle performed by the female Saint Nino. Nino is said to have fashioned a miracle-working cross from grape vines bound with her hair which she planted atop a pagan temple. We saw this distinctive cross of Nino with its downward sloping arms across Georgia. Nino is also a common name for Georgian girls. We admired the carvings and artwork that adorned the church, but at least as impressive is the beauty of the site on which the church and nearby ruins sit and the picturesque impression created by the whole. Perched on Mt. Jvari, the monastery overlooks the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers and the town of Mtskheta, the former capital of the ancient Kingdom of Iberia. (It surprised me to see the name “Iberia” in the Caucasus when I’d always associated it with Spain, Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula, but the Kingdom of Iberia existed in present-day Georgia, circa 302 BC – 580 AD.)

Next up, we arrived in Gori, the birthplace of Joseph Stalin and home to his eponymous museum. An optional stop on our tour, I’d had mixed feelings about visiting the Stalin Museum. When George said a stop at the museum would require a museum guide and take at least an hour, we didn’t hesitate to skip this testament to a bloody dictator. George did stop so we could walk the grounds of the museum, viewing Stalin’s boyhood home and the train he used to travel. The wood and brick house sits on a patch of cobbled street sheltered under a columned stone structure. The Stalin Museum itself is a large, two-story building with wide columns, arches and ornate crenulations that even its own website describes as “pompous.” We were getting hungry at this point and asked George about lunch. He told us we were about an hour away from a favorite lunch stop which would put lunch at about 1pm, later than we preferred, but we’d brought protein bars and had water so we figured we could wait. With that understanding, we were off to our next destination.

Stalin’s boyhood home preserved within a shelter
the Stalin Museum itself appears in the background

I’d really looked forward to our next stop, the ancient cave town of Uplistsikhe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Traces of human settlement have been found at Uplistsikhe dating to the end of the 2nd millennium BC(!) and there are structures remaining built circa early in the 1st millennium. To make this stop more fun, possible entry tickets include a wine tasting option which we went for without question. Our first dip into Georgian wine tasting! Good walking shoes are the order of the day in Uplistsikhe. We hiked up the solid rock face of a long slope to a stone cottage cut into the mountainside where local wines are on offer after a brief tour of the millennias-old history of wine-making in Georgia. Holes chiseled in the solid stone ground once held clay pots used in antiquity to age wine. We enjoyed tasting four wines, but opted not to buy. We had more hiking to do and didn’t want to carry wine bottles. Besides, we had a full day of wine tasting on the Kakheti wine route planned for the not-too-distant future. We spent the rest of our time wandering the cave dwellings and “halls” of and admiring the views of the river and more ruins below. By the time we got back to the SUV, we were really ready for lunch. There was an appealing outdoor spot right by the parking area, but George said the other place was better, David wanted to try whatever George liked, we both figured it must be close since George had told us it was an hour away as we were leaving Gori nearly an hour earlier, and I was willing to defer to David since he’s the one who’s usually hungry. So, we were off again. This turned out to be a mistake.

As we drove back through Gori to get on the highway to Mtskheta, David and I spotted the ruins of Gori Castle. Seeing we were interested, George wove his way through the town streets until he could park at the base of a path leading up the hill to the castle. We decided a short hike up the hill would be fun so we left George with the car and headed up the path. At the beginning of our little hike, we came upon a circle of over-sized statues representing knights with various body parts missing, sort of a Knights-of-the-Round-Table-meet-Monty-Python scene at the base of the hill. After snapping a photo of David with his head looking tiny above the neck of a headless statue, we continued on up the hill. At the top, we found a small meadow enclosed in the castle walls on the top of the hill. A lone guard watched over the ruins while we admired the views, then headed back to the car, now really, really hungry.

At this point, it was almost 3pm and we were more than eager for our promised lunch, surely just minutes away. But, no, George informed us that the place he had in mind was an hour away. What?! It had been “an hour away” two hours ago. According to George, he meant the restaurant was an hour from Gori, near Mtskheta. I confess we were a little on the hangry side at this point. I mean, who cared if the restaurant was an hour from Gori if we were driving off in a different direction first? For a couple of hours! George was genuinely apologetic, claimed Georgians might not eat lunch until evening(!), and promised to drive “fast” to the restaurant so “maybe it would only be forty minutes.” Hmm. We told him to just keep driving safely, and kicked ourselves for not just telling George to find somewhere close to eat hours ago.

At 4pm, we finally got lunch. Hallelujah! The restaurant was a large, quirky place outside of Mtskheta with multiple dining rooms and outdoor patios. The sunny weather had turned drizzly, so we opted to eat indoors. Strangely (to us anyway), we had to pick one dining area to order meat dishes including the local khinkali dumplings, but another to order salads, sides, sandwiches, etc. We wanted food fast, so the non-meat dining area it was. We had beer, a tomato salad, and chicken salad with a Georgian corn “bagel” on benches at a big wooden picnic table. And finally got a bathroom break, too. The food was good, all was right with the world again.

After parking the car near the walls surrounding Mtskheta’s Svetitskhoveli Cathedral we approached the entrance past shops offering all kinds of souvenirs, clothing and foods. As most places we went, George knew the locals so we tasted colorful churchkhela made from walnuts dipped in concentrated grape juice at a stall operated by a woman who greeted us warmly. We browsed caps, ceramics and fruit stands and admired pressed wool vests, patterned rugs and fluffy fur hats hanging from an iron fence across from the shops. Stepping around sleeping street dogs on a paved plaza near the entrance to the cathedral enclosure, several beggar women hailed George by name, chastising him for not giving them money. He explained he’d given them money on the many tours he brought here, but that had only encouraged them. Still, he good-naturedly offered up a few coins.

An arched gateway on the plaza opened to the cathedral grounds. Bearded, black-robed Orthodox priests talked with parishioners or carried wood to where work was being done on grassy areas within the courtyard. The 11th century Svetitskhoveli Cathedral is not large, but is considered one of the great cathedrals of the Georgian Orthodox world. It sits on the site of a 4th century church and is the historical site of a religious event giving rise to its name which means “living pillar.” The story behind it appears in many artworks around Georgia: According to Georgian religious lore, a 1st century Jew from Mtskheta was in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified and brought Jesus’ robe back to Georgia. When he returned to Mtskheta, his sister Sidonia touched the robe and died in ecstasy. Unable to remove the robe from her dead hands, she was buried with it. A spot in the cathedral is said to be the place where Sidonia is buried with the robe. A giant cedar tree grew from the spot from which St. Nino had seven columns made for the foundation of the church. The seventh column was said to have supernatural powers including flight and producing a sacred liquid that provided miraculous cures. [See the center image in the collage above of Jvari Monastery for a painting of this story.]

Entering the cathedral, we were surprised to find an open coffin containing the shroud-covered body of a priest in the middle of the main aisle. Small clusters and individual priests and parishioners came to pay their respects and chat before moving on. At one point, a priest lifted the cloth from the deceased’s face to kiss him. We learned the dead priest had been in his 90’s and much-loved. This viewing was apparently a come-and-go affair lasting some time. Feeling uncomfortable about intruding, we turned our eyes to the artwork and medieval frescoes of the church. The soaring ceiling, amazing frescoes, icons and carvings are beautiful despite the effects of time and invasions. Nevertheless, we kept our visit short.

I’d originally been told this day tour would take 7-8 hours, but when George picked us up at 10am, he said we’d probably be back by 4pm. We were way past that already, still at least 25 minutes from our Tblisi hotel. And we had one more stop, the Chronicles of Georgia monument in suburban Tblisi. We had plenty of sunlight and didn’t mind the long day, but poor George. Rush hour was in full swing by the time we made it back to Tblisi, but he never lost his cheer as we crept through traffic to the monument.

The Chronicles of Georgia turned out to be worth the extra rush hour time (at least for us). The massive monument sits on a hill overlooking Tblisi and near the “Tblisi Sea,” a large man-made reservoir. A large stone scroll at the base of wide stairs pays tribute to “the 3000th anniversary of Georgian statehood” and “the 2000th anniversary of Christian dissemination.” Sixteen soaring pillars at the top of the stairs depict kings and queens of Georgia. It’s an impressive spot with great views and was a fitting end to our first day trip in Georgia.

Tblisi and the “Tblisi Sea” viewed from the Chronicle of Georgia

Practical info:

I booked this day trip with “Karlo-Georgia” via Viator. The cost for the entire day was a very reasonable $130, not including lunch, entrance fees and wine tasting at Uplistsikhe, and a tip. Karlo farmed our tour out to George who also works independently and can be contacted on WhatsApp at +995 599 22 05 20. George was a good guide despite the mix-up about the timing of lunch. The SUV was spacious and spotless. We were picked up and dropped off just across the street from our hotel. We had a hassle-free, fun and interesting day.

May 2024

Tblisi, Georgia, a city of contrasts

We arrived in Tblisi on a short Azerbaijan Airlines flight from Baku. The Tblisi International Airport is not big and we quickly collected our luggage and summoned a Bolt car. We ended up using Bolt several times in Tblisi, always with very reasonable prices and typically short wait times. We knew prior to our arrival in Tblisi that massive protests had been going on in the city over objections to a proposed anti-free-journalism law. I messaged our hotel from the Baku airport to verify that the street our hotel was on (the same avenue on which the Georgian Parliament sits) was still open. Thankfully, the hotel confirmed that it was so I could reassure our Bolt driver who at first told me the road was closed.

The entrance to Alma Boutique Hotel is not impressive. From the graffiti outside, to renovation tarp and pile of old books and furniture sitting next to the somewhat alarming elevator things are a bit grim. But, once the elevator opened on the 3rd floor, we found ourselves in a fully renovated, clean and fresh-smelling one-floor hotel. The nice lady at the desk spoke good English and quickly settled us into a spacious bedroom with high ceilings and a balcony overlooking Rustaveli Avenue and the Opera and Ballet Theater of Tblisi across the avenue. The contrast between crumbling elegance and modern updates came to typify Tblisi in our minds. Tblisi is a far cry from Baku’s petroleum-fueled opulence, but it’s fascinating and beautiful in its own way. Six nights in the city including two day trips to see more of Georgia flew by. I’ll cover day trips separately and stick to Tblisi itself in this post.

Tblisi is a mixed bag: crumbling old buildings, street dogs, graffiti… elegance and flowers.

Founded in the 5th century, Tblisi, the capital of Georgia and its largest city with a population of over 1 million people, sits on the Kura River. Although I’ll use “Kura,” our first day-trip guide preferred its Georgian name, Mt’k’vari, and blamed the Russians for changing the name. The Kura flows from Turkey through Georgia to Azerbaijan so our guide’s attitude and focus on Russia may have reflected the anti-Russian sentiment evident to us in a sizeable portion of the Tblisi population. We saw this sentiment expressed in the nightly mass protests against a new “transparency” law similar to one used by Putin to stifle journalists in Russia and in a clear preference for English over Russian of many Georgians we encountered, particularly the younger generation. Random conversations with locals who heard our American-accented English reinforced the impression and we found people to be friendly, welcoming and helpful. Still, it’s a complicated situation, especially with substantial numbers of both Ukranian war refugees and Russians opposed to the war now residing in Georgia, and I won’t pretend to make any broad judgments based on our travels as tourists.

Protests viewed from our hotel balcony. Fortunately, things settled down at a reasonable hour and the hotel’s double-glazed windows did a great job. We slept well every night.

From a tourism perspective, there’s a variety of things to explore in Tblisi. Just walking along Rustaveli Avenue toward Liberty Square from our hotel took us past many top sights and museums: the Opera and Ballet Theater of Tblisi, Parliament, the National Galerie, the Georgia Museum of Fine Arts, the Georgian National Museum. We wandered the length of the avenue in both directions, admiring both the intentional sights as well as taking in daytime evidence of the massive nighttime protests: scattered clusters of protesters with the Georgian or European Union flags tied around their shoulders, lots of political graffiti, and police, water cannon trucks, and the occasional ominous-looking black- or camo-clad “security” people. Favorite refreshment stops included a old-style Georgian restaurant, a cool wine bar and restaurant in an art gallery setting, a stylish café in an Old Town theater, a small Thai restaurant, and (of course) a craft beer bar. [See “Practical info” below for details.]

The Clock Tower in Old Tblisi next door to Gabriadze Cafe with one of the ubiquitous street dogs of Tblisi (Yellow tags in the dogs’ ears indicate they’ve been spayed or neutered and vaccinated. Dogs are everywhere in Tblisi and treated well by the locals. We always saw them approach for treats or petting with tails wagging, confident people meant good things.)

Gazing across Rustaveli Avenue from our balcony, we could see the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tblisi perched on a hill and lit at night. After the sights of Rustaveli Avenue, we hopped a cheap Bolt ride to the cathedral. Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tblisi exceeded expectations. Descending multiple levels, the cathedral is deceptively larger on the inside than it appears from the outside. We browsed the artwork and relics on the soaring main level, then descended to the spacious lower levels to admire reception and conference areas and yet more artwork there. I purchased a pretty Georgian cross pendant and chain for a amazingly low price from a lady downstairs before heading outside to admire the cathedral grounds.

A small chapel sits to one side of the cathedral. Roses bloomed in hedge-rimmed grassy areas surrounding the wide paved spaces around the cathedral while birds sand in the aftermath of a passing rain. Wide steps lead past a bell tower and fountains to connect an arched entrance to the grounds and the cathedral. Wandering downhill from the cathedral back towards the Kura, we walked past quaint old buildings and the sharply-contrasting colonnaded and glass-domed State Palace of Ceremonies (the former residence of the President of Georgia) which overlooks the city.

Another day, we took the Tblisi Funicular to Mtatsminda Park, a hilltop amusement park overlooking the city. The funicular is 10GEL, but entry to the pretty park is free and the views over Tblisi are great. [See lead photo.] In addition to rides and games, the park offers pretty green spaces, play areas and food and drink booths and casual restaurants with outdoor seating. From Mtatsminda Park, we caught our longest Bolt ride along winding mountain roads down to one of the oldest parts of the city, Abanotubani.

Abanotubani with its ancient domes covering underground baths reminded us of Baku’s old town and bears witness to the Islamic influences in Tblisi and its place along the Silk Road. Flowing from a waterfall at one end, a creek sparkles below picturesque tan brick buildings and a beautiful bathhouse facade of blue, green, white and tan tiles and minarets reminiscent of Uzbekistan. We opted not to book time in a bath, but plenty appeared available. Cafés and hotels boast painted wooden balconies overlooking the creek in its little valley. We enjoyed a delicious lunch on one of those balconies at Restaurant Usakhelouri overlooking the bath domes and creek. We watched as two bridal parties arrived below in vintage cars to take photos in the scenic spot.

Sated and with leftovers packed up to go, we left Abanotubani to cross the Kura River to Metekhi Virgin Mary Assumption Church. The church and a large equestrian statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali, the founder of Tblisi, perch on a cliff above the Kura River. Small tour boats ran back and forth along the cliff and under the bridge as we admired the view. We joined a small gathering inside the church to watch the baptism of an adorable but less-than-enthused infant in his father’s arms.

Metekhi Virgin Mary Assumption Church and the statue of
King Vakhtang Gorgasali above the Kura River

Across a wide circle known as Europe Square on the same side of the Kura as the church, the Mother of Georgia Tramway (cable car carries) people up to yet another mountain-side destination, the Mother of Georgia statue. On a sunny Saturday, a long line of people waited to take the ride.

Europe Square with the Peace Bridge, tramway, and Rike Park beyond

Beyond the tramway, Rike Park sits along the river next to the Peace Bridge with its glass and metal curves. Rike Park is also home to the Rike Music Theater and Exhibition Center. The Center’s intriguing architecture of more swooping metal and glass is in the shape of two tubes with bulbous bases and open ends which form a large V. These openings reminded me of the gaping mouths of giant space worms. My apologies if that’s not the impression the architect(s) hoped for.

The domed State Palace of Ceremonies above the tubes of
the Rike Music Theater and Exhibition Center viewed from across the river

We enjoyed other walks around Tblisi among the sometimes charming and sometimes dilapidated buildings that were often both. Winding streets and those ornate painted wooden balconies lured us around the next corner. Imposing modern buildings like the huge city hall and the Rikes Park buildings are a startling contrast. All in all, we found Tblisi to be a fascinating city with pleasantly cheap prices. Alternating days in the city with day trips into the surrounding country turned out to be perfect and we both felt our six nights in Tblisi was just right.

Practical info:

Alma Boutique Hotel was a great base for us. We paid a GEL 1,313.76 (currently $468.36) for six nights, including tax, but no breakfast. Coffee and a coffee pot and a small refrigerator were provided in our room and there are several coffee/pastry shops nearby where breakfast fare cost a pittance. We breakfasted at a small table and chairs we moved between our balcony and the large bedroom as weather dictated.

Bolt was definitely the way to get around in Tblisi. Even if taxis were waiting (which they always were across the street from our hotel), we would use the Bolt app and so not have to worry about cash or pricing surprises. (I did read that it was best to keep the app open until the end of the ride to protect against the remote chance of an attempt at overcharging.) Often, the Bolt car was among the taxis or was a minute or less away. We had zero problems and encountered only clean cars and good drivers.

Favorite restaurants included:
Restaurant Margalita [1 Mitropan Laghidze St, Tbilisi 0108] serves classic Georgian fare just around the corner from our hotel in a space brimming with random vintage pieces and tables sporting mismatched tablecloths. We dined there twice and they gave us a discount when we presented a business card from Alma Boutique Hotel.

Salobie Bia [Rustaveli Theater, 17 Shota Rustaveli Ave, Tbilisi 0108] offers “simple Georgian food” and Georgian wines in a cool art gallery setting next to a theater.

Gabriadze Cafe [13 Ioane Shavteli St, Tbilisi 0105] in an old theater is pretty special with an artsy interior and a wall of windows facing the 6th century Anchiskhati Basilica. The cafe also offers outdoor seating next door to the iconic Clock Tower in old town.

Restaurant Usakhelouri [17/19 Abano St. in the Abanotubani district of Tblisi] provided good lunch food and a great view from a balcony overlooking the old baths. The interior is sleek and casually elegant.

Charm Thai [13 Arsena St, Tbilisi, Georgia] was twice a tasty break from Georgian food. Small, but good food and friendly service which can get a bit slow as we discovered when we returned on a crowded evening.

We tasted Georgian craft beer in tiny, graffiti-covered Process Craft Beer Bar [19 Merab Kostava St, Tbilisi 0108]. There are other craft beer locations in Old Tblisi (further south), but with Georgia such a wine-making country, we opted to focus on wine rather than beer. See my post on our day on the wine route for more on Georgian wine.

A Festival of Scallops in Monmartre, Paris

Snapshots of La Fête de la Coquille Saint-Jacques

I’ve had this year’s La Fête de la Coquille Saint-Jacques (Festival of Scallops) in Montmartre on my calendar for a couple of months. A French friend told me about this annual Breton event and I was instantly intrigued. David and I love scallops. We had big fun in October at the Meaux “Brie Happy” Festival celebrating the local cheese so had high hopes for a festival centered around scallops and other specialties from the Brittany region of France. A quick online search promised booths of food, cooking demonstrations, traditional Breton dancers and more. Fun!

La Fête de la Coquille Saint-Jacques in Montmartre is a two-day weekend event in January, peak scallop season. This year the fête was this past weekend, January 27-28, 2024. We arranged to meet our friend, Anthony, at pretty place des Abbesses on Saturday afternoon, the first day of the festival. This meant we’d miss an opening ceremony and group toast, but c’est la vie. After some gray days of on-and-off drizzle, Saturday dawned clear and crisp, boding well for the fete.

An incident on the Métro forced us to reroute to the Pigalle Métro stop instead of Abbesses which gave us the chance to enjoy the pretty 5-minute walk along cobbled streets to triangular place des Abbesses. We could hear the music of French bagpipes as we approached the white tents and stalls of the fête. (Bagpipes, which feature in the folk music of several French regions, are generally called “musettes” in France with the Breton version known as “binioù.”)

The entrance to the Abbesses Métro station sits in the middle of the small Abbesses plaza and it was surrounded by throngs of festival-goers. Many shared bottles of wine or cider and plates of scallops, oysters and escargots at tall tables. People navigated the crowds with bottles clutched to their chests or plastic wine and champagne glasses held high to avoid spills. The mood was boisterous and happy, but well-behaved with people of all ages. Children rode the carrousel in the center of the small plaza and begged treats from their parents. Despite overflowing trashcans, visitors neatly lined up bottles and stacked plates.

Anthony texted to say he’d gotten caught up in the same Métro slow-down we did, so David and I bought glasses of delicious local wine and went in search of scallops. Skewers of seared scallops and vats of sauteed mushrooms called to us, but the musicians had begun to form a small parade with pairs of costumed dancers falling in behind. We decided to postpone our first snack and head to the street to watch the show.

Back among the tents after the procession, I snagged us spots on a park bench where we could perch and enjoy our first snack. We’d just finished scallop skewers and mushrooms when Anthony arrived and immediately set out to buy a bottle of champagne. For the next hours, we had fun sharing food, wine and great company. We laughed and joked with a very spirited French group at a table nearby, and I discovered that the woman with whom I was sitting back-to-back on the bench and I had a lot in common. We started out with a few comments, realized we were both American and discovered a surprising number of things in common from childhood schools, to adult careers, expat lives, and mutual friends of friends. We had so much to talk about, we made plans to return for the second and last day of the festival the next afternoon. The fête seemed to inspire camaraderie all around.

After more food including garlicky escargots and a bag of rich, rum-kissed canelés, we called it a night. And, yes, we did make it back the next day to indulge less, but chat a lot more. La Fête de la Coquille Saint-Jacques in Montmartre is a smaller version of a big scallop festival that takes place in the town of Paimpol in Brittany. In 2024, La Fête de la Coquille Saint-Jacques in Paimpol will be the 20-21 of April.

The Biggest Medieval Festival in France is a hit once again

Encampments outside the ramparts at Les Médiévales de Provins

UPDATE June 2024: The 39th annual Fête Médiévale de Provins was as much fun this year as last. I’m happy to report that entry fees have not changed. The weather was wildly different, though: chilly and cloudy on the first weekend in June! This year, I even got David in costume. A thick leather belt with “antique” medallions turned his Moroccan wedding attire (bought for a friend’s wedding in Marrakech in March) into medieval garb. Despite the Fête Médiévale website stating that full costume attire head-to-foot is required for an entry discount, they are in fact very liberal and freely allow tennis shoes, etc. under costumes. Costumes range from the impressively accurate period dress to fantasy wear and inexpensive Halloween-quality costumes.

My boys and I used to make the annual Fête Médiévale de Provins whenever possible, but–with my children grown–it had been some years since I’d been. When David and I decided to move back to Paris for the year, I looked up the festival, put it on my calendar and signed up for the festival email list. Then, I packed the “Guinevere” dress I bought some years back just for the occasion and crossed my fingers that we’d work the Provins fête into our schedule. Despite early summer heat and the possibility of storms (that didn’t materialize) we made it out to the picturesque walled town this past Sunday for the 38th annual festival. Les Médiévales de Provins was packed with visitors, entertainers, vendors, craftsmen and more, lots of whom sported elaborate medieval (or fantastical quasi-medieval) costumes in a perfect setting. What fun!

Street entertainers in front of Saint Quiriace church in Provins

Provins is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the town is worth a visit any time of year. Surrounded by intact medieval ramparts, the town has a tower, underground galleries, a historic church, a museum lodged behind a 12th century facade, and more. Provins regularly hosts spectacles including falconry and jousting shows from late March to early November. Half-timbered buildings and a maze of charming cobbled streets entrance visitors. In summer, lush roses spill over stone walls and small canals meander past bright flower boxes and under overhanging greenery. The whole town smells sweetly of blossoms. In winter, the streets have a different appeal and its fun to visit without the crowds. The main church Saint Quiriace was built in 1160(!). Joan of Arc and King Charles VII attended mass there in 1429. The main part of the church burned and was rebuilt in the 1600’s.

During the medieval festival, Provins truly comes alive. Tents offering all sorts of medieval-era-inspired handicrafts line the square around Saint Quiriace and continue down numerous cobbled streets to the big place du Châtel and spill out onto the grass at the base of the ramparts: jewelry, leather goods, food, clothing, ironworks and more. Street entertainers play music, dance, juggle, and parade by on stilts. Book stalls fill the church. Grills and spits, kettles and crêpe pans send enticing odors wafting into the air. There are interactive workshops for medieval trades and skills, jousting, archery, falconry and more.

Arriving at the festival just before noon, David and I bought cold craft beers at an early booth, then let ourselves be lured by the stalls, sipping as we went. We opted for a lunch of easy and quick sausage and rice “paella” cooked in huge iron pans and served by people dressed as peasants. Not wanting to waste time with lunch, we ate perched on a stone wall, but we could have opted for any number of places with tables set up outside or one of the regular restaurants that dot Provins. There were roasted pigs on spits, raclette sandwiches, sausages, meats, all kind of sweets. Teams of cooks and servers tended to dress alike with “knights Templar” barbequing in one spot and brown-robed monks at another. The theme was definitely open-fire and grill cooking, although there was something for everyone. Drinks included the usual modern offerings along with medieval treats like hypocras (spiced wine), cervoise (an ancient form of beer made with local plants) and hydromel (a mead-like drink made with honey).

Along with the vendors and street entertainers, our fellow visitors provided never-ending entertainment as we headed towards the large main square, place du Châtel. People of all ages attend the festival and some of the costumes are truly amazing in their accuracy and elaborateness… and no doubt expensive. The fête offers some of the best people-watching ever! We passed a knight Templar in full armor, sipping a drink via a straw stuck through a hole in his helmet, couples in lavish silken brocades, ragged peasants, warriors in leather and furs. Just for fun, I checked out the price of a wide, tooled leather belt: €175. Given that such belts were just a part of costumes that included everything from gorgeous headwear to curled-toed shoes, I can only imagine the investment some people make in their gear.

A small sampling of the costumes at the festival

I was looking forward to showing David the tents that I remembered dotting the grass beneath the ramparts of the city, so we crossed out of the walls via one of the town’s bridges and walked down the slope to where clumps of people in period dress clustered around tents demonstrating medieval crafts or selling food, drink and everything from hand-forged knives to leather wear. [See lead photo above.] The encampments ran around a corner of the base of the ramparts, spanning two sides of the town. Women in peasant dresses tended a small child who played in a wooden tub. Another woman demonstrated making thread. A man hurled throwing axes at a straw target. A group of peasants tended a small flock of black goats. And on it went. Random entertainment is liable to pop up anywhere. I remember when my sons were young, a sword fight broke out near a children’s archery range, quickly followed by a grappling hook “assault” on the town ramparts. My boys were entranced! This time, we didn’t see any swordplay, just “soldiers” marching past the tents. We bought an early Christmas present, then walked back uphill to enter the town again by yet another bridge.

A mobile “hospital” provides a random bit of entertainment at the Provins Medieval Festival

We found yet another busy square and a green area where archery supplies for rent drew a crowd who shot at a row of targets. Children played with farm animals in a small makeshift petting zoo. David bought cervoise from a brewmaster who explained the history of the drink and how it differed from beer. We loved the unique, sharply herbal flavor and agreed with the brewer that, even if they drank it warm in medieval times, he was right to serve it ice cold on this warm June day.

There’s a wonderful show put on at another spot at the base of the ramparts which we opted out of this time as I’d seen it several times and our time was limited. It’s definitely worth seeing, though, well-acted and in an ideal setting. The plot last times I saw it was simple: Invading “black” knights ride up to take the town and are met by town dignitaries. The sides agree to settle things by a sword fight between each side’s hero. When the black knight took a dastardly swing at the town hero’s back, my then second-grade son leaped up shouting, “Tricheur!” (“Cheater!”) I knew then his French was coming along fine. 🙂 There’s also an entertaining falconry show, medieval dance lessons, and a show entitled “between dog and wolf.” These spectacles are not included in the entry fee to the festival and tickets can be bought online in advance. As I’ve mentioned, though, there’s plenty of free entertainment, including musicians, dances, concerts, a parade and workshops where you can participate in activities ranging from pottery-making to forging metal.

Musicians near a gate through the walls of Provins

Practical Info: Provins is an easy train ride from Paris’ Gare de l’Est, about a hour and a half on Transilien train Line P. Provins is located in Zone 5 of the Paris/Ile de France transport system, so was included in our annual Navigo Passes. For those buying an individual ticket, the cost would currently be €5 each way, €2.50 for reduced-fare riders (which includes children 4-10 among other categories).

Les Médiévales de Provins takes place each year over a weekend in early June. Entrance fees this year for one-day were €12 in advance or €13 at the gates for adults and €7 for children over 12. Two-day adult passes were €18. Guests in costume (like me!) were €7 for one day and €10 for two days, but tickets for costumed visitors can only be bought on site. Children under 12 are free as are persons with disabilities (+1 accompanying person). I believe next year’s festival will be June 1 and 2, 2024. Find out more here.

Provins offers regular spectacles from late March through early November. Find more info here. The Provins Pass provides access to the 5 paying monuments of Provins: the Cesar Tower, the Tithe Barn, the Underground Galleries, the Saint-Ayoul Priory and the Museum.

Versailles: Beyond the château and gardens

La Galerie des Sculptures et des Moulages (The Gallery of Sculptures and Casts). It’s hard to believe the spectacular venue was a stable and arena for horses!

[I’m still committed to blogging our three-weeks in New Zealand (Fall 2022), but decided that I wouldn’t let that stop me from posting about our current year in Paris when the mood hits me.]

The town of Versailles is an easy Métro/RER ride from our apartment and we love heading out there just to wander the extensive château gardens, especially on days when the château is closed so that the crowds are thinned. Recently, though, we headed to Versailles on a Sunday to the Galerie des Carrosses (Gallery of Carriages), a place I’d been wanting to visit, but that is only open on weekends. Housed in former royal stables known as La Grande Ecurie, the Grande Ecurie along with nearby La Petite Ecurie were built for Louis XIV between 1679-1682. Located just across from the main entrance to the palace of Versailles, they comprised the largest, most extravagant stables ever built. Since the Galerie des Carrosses is only open on weekends, we got a chance to check out the masses of tourists at the château across the way. Wow. And no thank you. I’ve visited the château many times over the years so feel lucky not to have to brave a mob like that. Still, it is one of the top tourist sites in the world and absolutely worth a visit, even in a crowd. But, back to Versailles beyond the château :

The Galerie des Carrosses houses a free exhibit of elaborate carriages, coaches, sleds and chair sedans from the 18th and 19th centuries. A line of carriages running the length of the first long hall were originally built for the coronation of Napoleon I in 1804, but remodeled over the years for various events including his marriage to Empress Marie-Louise, the marriage of Napoleon III and finally, in 1856, the baptism of Napoleon III’s son. The carriages are elaborate, some even sporting life-like teams of horses in full equestrian regalia. It was interesting to see how the carriages were cherished and updated over decades. The interiors are lavish and well-preserved.

From top left, clockwise: The Grand Ecurie from the outside, the berline-style carriage
used for the baptism of the Duc de Bordeaux, the funeral hearse of Louis XVIII,
and the interior of the above berline

The gem of the collection is a wildly ornate golden carriage weighing four tons and originally commissioned by Louis XVIII. Once again, it was remodeled over the years and bears eagles and a large “N” evidencing its later use under Napoleon III.

Near the golden carriage is a collection of whimsical royal sleds used during the reigns of Louis XIV through Louis XVI. The elaborately-decorated sleds are in varying fantastical shapes including a leopard, a mermaid and a tortoise. The final treasure of the Galerie des Carrosses is the funeral hearse of Louis XVIII. This hearse is the only royal carriage of its kind still in existence in France.

Since the château gardens of Versailles were not free on this gorgeous April day due to the start of the seasonal fountain and musical shows there, we headed to yet another free exhibit, La Galerie des Sculptures et des Moulages (The Gallery of Sculptures and Casts) housed in Le Petit Ecurie (The Small Stable). The Gallery of Sculptures and Casts is an overwhelming treasure of marble sculptures from the palace of Versailles and plaster casts from the Louvre of sculptures ranging throughout antiquity. The setting is magnificent, with the central domed former equestrian arena now housing soaring columns and enormous statuary [see lead photo above].

La Galerie des Sculptures et des Moulages (The Gallery of Sculptures and Casts)

Finally on sculpture overload, it was time to check out the Versailles Market. We found it bustling on a sunny Sunday. Occupying L-shaped buildings and the wide Notre-Dame Plaza in between, the market is the second largest in France and dates to the time of Louis XIV (17th century). The buildings that comprise the Marché Notre-Dame house mostly meats, fish and prepared foods (not at all aligned with the old signs above the arched doorways) while the open-air market boasts a wide array of produce, spices, foodstuffs, clothing and more.

The indoor Marché Notre-Dame is open 7am-7:30pm every day but Monday (closing at 2pm on Sunday) while the open-air market takes place Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 7am-2pm. The market sits in the middle of old Versailles surrounded by charming narrow streets dotted with restaurants, bars, cafés and shops. We couldn’t resist a sunny table and an afternoon snack of cold Belgian beer and a plate of fries before making the short walk to the RER train station for the 30+-minute ride back to Paris.

Corsica, at last

Corsica is a French island in the Mediterranean southeast of Nice and just north of Sardinia. It’s the birthplace of Napoleon I and a place of rugged beauty with a culture all its own. I wanted to visit Corsica for decades, but despite living in Paris on-and-off for years, I never made it. The time had finally arrived!

After finishing a house-and cat-sitting gig in little Thoiry, France, we flew EasyJet from Geneva to Ajaccio, Corsica, an 1h10m non-stop flight. We picked up a rent car at the Ajaccio airport and drove two and a half hours through rocky mountains to Bonifacio at the southern tip of the island, stopping a long the way to admire views and snap photos. We had nine nights in Corsica and I’d agonized over where exactly to spend our time. With all the winding roads, driving times in Corsica can be long and I didn’t want to fall into the trap of rushing around trying to see everything and being rushed everywhere. I settled on Bonifacio as one of two places to stay because it was just so dramatically beautiful. And given how many dramatically beautiful places there are in Corsica, that’s saying a lot. Wow, was I happy with my choice of Bonifacio!

Medieval Bonifacio sits atop dramatic cliffs overlooking the sea on two sides and a pretty little harbor on another. The hotel I’d chosen, Hotel Santateresa is at the highest point in the old town, at the very tip of the peninsula on which the town sits. The only thing between the hotel and the point of the peninsula is an old cemetery perched high above the Grotte de Saint-Antoine (cave of St. Antoine, also known as “Napoleon’s Hat” for its shape).The cemetery and a large parking area by it are popular with tourists as is the whole town. Happily, the Hotel Santateresa has plenty of guest-only parking, a welcome privilege. We enjoyed the hotel with its pretty views, large room, and easy walk into town. It was just far enough away from the bustle of the old town to be quiet at night, but close enough to walk in and out during the day as we liked. It is a bit of a steep hike down to the harbor, but that’s just a fact of the town layout; you’re going to be walking up and down steps whether you stay up in the old town or down by the harbor. I’d gladly stay at Hotel Santateresa again.

I’ve visited a lot of medieval towns and, at this stage, it takes a lot to really blow me away, but Bonifacio (“The City of Cliffs”) did. It’s just so achingly picturesque and authentic-feeling despite the obvious touristy overlay. The steep, narrow cobbled streets and steps beg to be explored. Terraces clinging to the cliffside give sweeping views of the sea.

Tiny shops and restaurants sometimes reveal a back window opening onto a breathtaking vista. Multiple times, we crossed paths with religious processions carrying a large crucifix (and once a large statue of a saint) and chanting. Participants wore modern clothing and shoes under their robes, but the primary purpose was religion and local culture, not a show for the tourists. Bonifacio has five churches and five religious brotherhoods, the earliest of which date back to the 13th century and trace their origins to Genoa. Throughout the year these brotherhoods make processions through Bonifacio carrying the crucifix and their patron saints.

A friend with family roots in Corsica had recommended we take a boat tour from Bonifacio, saying I’d love the different perspective on the town from the water. There are several large boats that leave multiple times a day from the harbor. I talked to a couple, but the idea just didn’t appeal. It was hot and lots of people (50-90 passengers) on a big boat just sounded hotter and I had a feeling we’d feel trapped. I pondered a private tour, but it was June and I hadn’t booked anything in advance and time was limited, so I was afraid we were out of luck. A stop at the Information building at the end of the harbor changed that. I explained my concerns to the woman there, and she suggested a small tour company with an ad in an information booklet. A phone call later followed by an online payment of €150 for both of us and we were booked for a 3-hour sunset cruise with Corse Nautic Escape.

What an awesome sunset cruise with Corse Nautic Escape!

The boat turned out to be a sleek 42′ power boat that could accommodate twelve people. Instead, it was David and me, one other couple, and the captain. Perfect! The other couple and the captain were French, so I did translation duty for David, but that was no issue. The boat slipped along cliffs and into a sheltered cove of clear water to allow time for a swim and to set out generous charcuterie and cheese plates accompanied by local wine. [Corsican cuisine relies heavily on cured meats (mostly pork), cheese, chestnut products, and wine.] The last portion of the cruise took us a distance from shore to view Bonafacio in the lowering sun, then right up to the cliffs and into the Grotte de Saint-Antoine. We cruised past the steep cliffs rising up to the town opposite the harbor where the 189 steps of the Escalier du Roy d’Aragon (built in 1420) snaked down to the water. Finally, we circled the U Diu Grosso (“Grain of Sand”) boulder for that spectacular sunset view of Bonafacio atop the cliffs before heading back around the peninsula point and into the harbor as darkness fell. It was the perfect way to end the day and our time in Bonifacio.

Cruising around U Diu Grosso

We spent our last six nights in Corsica in the capital city of Ajaccio, birthplace of Napoleon. Our lovely AirBnB apartment boasted a big balcony with sea views of the famous Iles Sanguinaires (“Bloody Islands”) in the distance. (The islands are named for their appearance at sunset rather than anything violent in their history.) We were in walking distance of Trottel Beach and driving distance of several other beaches that lined the Route de Sanguinaires road out to the crumbling tower called the Tour Genoise de la Parata.

Hiking the Tour Genoise de la Parata (and a brave little sparrowhawk) with the Îles Sanguinaires and lighthouse in the distance

We spent our days enjoying the beaches, taking long rambles into the city, and hiking up to the Tour Genoise. We did a 2-tank scuba dive outing from Trottel Beach with E. Ragnole. The owner was friendly and chatty, removing any hesitation I had about booking when I stopped in to ask questions. When I told him I tend to get cold diving, he made sure I got both a long wetsuit and a shorty to wear over it. The staff was great, too, and we were assigned an English-speaking guide who we had to ourselves for the two dives. The price was reasonable and the dives were enjoyable, but the underwater landscape underwhelmed. The monochrome colors below mirror the rugged sand-colored landscape above. We saw barracuda, but missed the colorful coral and fish we’re used to. With other options calling, we opted not to dive a second day.

We also took one more sunset cruise, this time with Neptune Croisière, out to the Îles Sanguinaires. The bar was set so high at Bonifacio that this cruise with a dozen passengers, although enjoyable, couldn’t compete. Still, it was fun and included an apéritif stop on an île with enough time for us to hike through a huge seagull rookery to the lighthouse and an old keeper’s house on an opposite peak.

We loved our time in Corsica and hope to get back someday to explore more of this unique island. Next up: New Zealand via Hawaii and Tahiti.