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Florence, The City of Chocolate

One of Florence’s best-kept secrets is taking place right now. The annual Fiera Del Cioccolato will be lining Piazza Santa Maria Novella in the Renaissance city from February 10-19. Vendors offer amazing chocolate masterpieces that are unique to the region and allow you to stock up just in time for Valentine’s Day. Offerings range from handmade crepes, waffles, chocolates, cookies, and much more. Along with vendors, the chocolate festival offers cooking shows and parties that allow visitors to truly engage with their love of all things chocolate. The festival’s close proximity to some of Florence’s well-known sights such as the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio make this a perfect place to relax as you take in the best the city has to offer.  
 
Guest Post by Mack Kingman 

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My Favorite Fall Foliage Travels—Cannon Beach, Oregon

Only a 90-minute drive from Portland, Cannon Beach is where the mighty timber of the Pacific Northwest meets the long stretch of beach from California, offering the best of both worlds. First stop is towering Haystack Rock, which stands tall in the shallow waters, inspiring awe from all who stroll hand-in-hand on the hard-packed sand. Be on the lookout for the resident pod of grey whales off the Oregon coast which number around 200. Then drive over to nearby Ecola State Park and take a hike in this Emerald Forest, where massive 300 year-old Sitka spruce trees have trunks as wide as a redwood. The woods soon recede, replaced by sandstone bluffs, pink colored beaches and the great expanse of the Pacific.  Make your way south, stopping in the fishing community of Bay City for small, tender Kumamoto oysters on the half shell at Pacific Oyster. Dessert is creamy blackberry ice cream at Tillamook Cheese Factory. Spend the night in affordable Manzanita, where rooms at the Spindrift Inn are as low as $75 a night in the high season months of September and October.
 

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Marriott Plans to Open New Hotel in Haiti

Good news out of Haiti last week when Marriott Hotels announced that they will build a new 173-room in Port-au-Prince, set to open 2014. The news was revealed by former President Bill Clinton, whose Clinton Foundation worked diligently to make this happen. The move will not only add a supposed 175 jobs, but could help to bolster a travel trade that has vanished as a result of oppressive regimes and the devastating earthquake of January 2010. Haiti shares the same island with the Dominican Republic, which certainly has its own share of poverty, but has seen incredible growth in the travel trade these past two decades, especially with the emergence of Punta Cana. Let’s hope Haiti can find its own Punta Cana in the upcoming years, one that world travelers would be happy to support.

 

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Travel to the UK with Lisa Fagin Davis and the Medieval Academy of America

Excited to announce that our good friend and client (we designed an itinerary for her and her husband to visit their daughter in Australia), Lisa Fagin Davis, is leading a trip to the UK in October. Lisa is the Executive Director of the Medieval Academy of America and we’ve seen firsthand her passion for history, including a guided tour of an exhibition she co-curated in Boston in 2016, "Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections." Participants in this October 23-28 trip will visit two rare exhibitions: "Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms" at the British Library and "Tolkien: Maker of Middle Earth" at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, with curatorial introductions and expert guides in addition to Lisa. These exhibitions overlap for only one week, making this trip a unique opportunity to see them together. 

According to Lisa, the real star of the British Museum show is the Codex Amiatinus, the oldest known complete Latin Bible. It was written in England around the year 716 (that’s 1300 years ago, for those keeping score) and left England on a journey to Rome shortly after its completion, where it was to be laid at the shrine of St. Peter in Rome, a gift to Pope Gregory II from Abbot Ceolfrith of Wearmouth-Jarrow. The Abbot died enroute, but the monks who were with him finished the journey to Rome. Eventually, the manuscript made its way to the Abbey of San Salvatore in Amiata (in Tuscany), which is how it got its nickname of Amiatinus. By the eighteenth century, it had landed at the Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence, where it has been ever since. But it is going back to England for the exhibition!
 
"My friends at the British Library tell me that this loan was the result of years of secret negotiations. In fact, one staffer recently told me that only a few people in the library even knew the negotiations were ongoing. It was all top secret until the deal was done," says Lisa. Read the full story of the manuscript here. 
 
The Bodleian exhibit will look at how Tolkien’s work in the field of Old English and medieval Scandinavian epic literature shaped Middle Earth, showing his correspondence, drafts, sketches. "For Tolkien geeks, it’s going to be pretty amazing," says Lisa, adding that "Tolkien wrote one of the first seminal studies of Beowulf, a classic article that students of Old English still read today, so it will be great to see the Beowulf manuscript one day and see its influence on Tolkien the next!" Price for the land package is $2580, including 4 nights lodging, most meals, guides, and tickets to all events. 
 
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Highlights of My Trip to Newfoundland with Adventure Canada

Guest Post and Photos by Amy Perry Basseches

I’m almost done regaling you with tales from my 11 days with Adventure Canada, a trip I truly loved. I will never forget:
 
Jumping into freezing cold water in La Poile Bay, off the south coast of Newfoundland, after a day spent hiking high above the cove, and walking on a deserted beach there.
 
Tasting fresh partridgeberries and partridgeberry jam in the Community Hall in Elliston, on the east coast of Newfoundland, while studying the town’s Dart League team standings (15% of the local population plays). 
 
Watching divers on board jump into Francois Bay (south coast) and emerge again and again with 300+ scallop shells, which were then shucked and cooked, and eaten by anyone lucky enough to get in line early. 
 
Sharing many a beer and song with Newfoundland natives Alan Doyle, Tony Oxford, Gerry Strong, Paul Dean, Jeff Anderson, Latonia Hartery, Barbara Doran, Steve Evans, Dennis Minty, and others, most notably in our Nautilus Lounge (and in some local cafes on shore as well).
 
Putting my feet up and reading a book, while sipping coffee on deck during the sunny mornings, before getting into a Zodiac for another expedition (kayaking, hiking, a small town, a UNESCO site, you name it).
 
Adventure Canada says their trips bring a destination to life. I can assure you that this was done in a top-notch way. Consider joining me aboard the same vessel, the comfortable Ocean Endeavour, for the "Heart of the Arctic" Expedition Cruise in the summer of 2020. We’ll see the province of Nunavut, Baffin Island (Cape Dorset is very important to the Inuit art market), Nunavik (the Inuit homeland in Northern Quebec), Ungava Bay, and Greenland (including Nuuk, the capital). Let ActiveTravels know if you are interested. 
 
Steve’s off to Kentucky to tour the Bourbon Trail with a friend, before visiting his daughter at Indiana University for another fun Dad’s Sorority Weekend. We’ll be back next Monday with my description of the French islands off on Newfoundland, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. To all my American friends, please remember to vote today! 
 
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Self-Guided Driving Trips Around New Zealand

New Zealand is one of my favorite places to go on a road trip. The country is blessed with exquisite scenery around every corner, friendly and hospitable people and a plethora of activities to keep you busy. Lately, we’ve been working with an excellent ground operator, New Zealand Fine Touring, to create wonderful self-guided driving itineraries for our clients. If you’re willing to drive (left side of the road), New Zealand Fine Touring will set you up with car rental, provide in-depth directions, and suggest great ideas for activities at each locale, like local hikes to stretch your legs along the way. They also arrange lodging at top-rated B&Bs and hotels. Take it from our clients; New Zealand Fine Touring is a real find. 
 
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Giants Fans Should Head to the Hotel Valley Ho this Spring Training

Similar to the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc in Miami Beach, Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, Arizona was a favorite hideaway to Hollywood stars like Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood when it opened in the 50s. Then, like those Miami Beach icons, it fell on rough times until reopening in 2005 after an $80 million refurbishment. Now the seven-story stylish hotel, home to the legendary Trader Vic’s, is back to its former self and is ready to host baseball lovers for spring training. Hotel Valley Ho is less than a mile from Scottsdale Stadium, the venue for the World Champion San Francisco Giants. The property is also close to Phoenix Municipal Stadium, the spring training home to the Oakland A’s. For a great overview of spring training facilities, see my story in FamilyVacationCritic.com.
 

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