July 2019 - Travel & Experiences at Boutique Hotels and Restaurants Around the World

Cinque Terre, Italy Gem Stay

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cinque terre italy gem hillside town — Vernazza, Cinque Terre Italy gem stay in the heart of Cinque Terre (views are postcard-esque and something to write home about 💌)

This is a hidden Cinque Terre, Italy gem. La Polena Hotel is apartment-like and has a rooftop that we had for private sunbathing and enjoying at sunset. It’s private to the building that only has 2 other rooms that may or may not be occupied.

In the Emerald Suite, there’s a beautiful view above the water (Ligurian Sea), that you can indeed swim in. It’s lovely in the summer.

Great way to travel is to take the boat ferry and village hop in Cinque Terre. You can also take the train from town to town. If you love hiking and walking, it’s a great place for hikers and walking enthusiasts.

And if you’re Italy hopping, you can take the train to La Spezia. From Florence, you’ll see the Carrara marble and quarry that Michaelangelo used to dream up and carve the statue of David in the town of Carrara.

And then in Cinque Terre, you can enjoy the dreamy Italian tourist seascape. 🌊

The Emerald Suite comes with a Nespresso maker and coffee, and a kettle (hot water pot). The bedroom is in a separate room separated by a hallway that leads to the bathroom. The bathroom is very modern and nice.

There’s a shower enclosed by glass (no bath tub). There’s a bidet beside the toilet. It’s not really a family with kids’ place, it’s actually perfect for a romantic getaway.

There’s a big wardrobe in the room hallway. The safe inside did not work when we stayed but perhaps is fixed now.

Not a big deal as there’s a lock outside the door of the building. For the hotel room price, this is a Cinque Terre, Italy gem. You’re getting a suite in the heart of Vernazza, one of the 5 famous villages in Cinque Terre, Italy!

When you leave the building, halfway down the steps (which mind you, are real Cinque Terre steps –stone and uneven), there’s a great restaurant.

They have delicious fresh seafood and an anchovies plate (Cinque Terre is known for anchovies and pesto). I don’t usually leave recipes but this is so simple:

Cinque Terre pesto: Crush up basil, pine nuts, and garlic with some salt in a mortar. Then mix with grated parmesan cheese and olive oil.

In the Vernazza village where this hotel is, there’s one restaurant that stands on a cliff and has amazing food. It’s the Belforte Restaurant.

We made a reservation at 7 pm and were standing in a line outside in the heat. But it’s worth the wait! The food is amazing. If you love seafood, THIS is the place. I loved their black squid ink pasta. I could eat that every day.

cinque terre italy gem restaurant on the vernazza cliff cinque terre italy gem finds like this patio dining

Then for breakfast, it is free and included with your hotel stay at La Polena, a Cinque Terre, Italy gem. It is a nice buffet with fruit, yogurt, bread, and pastries. A server will come by and ask if you would like a beverage, like a coffee or cappuccino. You can sit inside or outside. This free-for-guests-breakfast restaurant has an outside picturesque view of the main plaza in Vernazza. For lunch, this restaurant is busy with tourists. We had lunch there one day and I ordered the seafood pizza that was 10 euros.

Night Roof view of Vernazza from hotel

And if you like charming Cinque Terre water views, you’ll probably love the canals in Venice!

Best FREE Spa Hotel in Norway

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Best free spa hotel in Norway with steam, sauna, and jacuzzi in a quaint ski town in Lillehammer where the 1994 Winter Olympic ski jump competition occurred… keep reading.

I started loving spas and especially free spas (yes, they exist)! I discovered the benefits of steam, sauna rooms, and jaccuzis. They’re healthy, relaxing and therapeutic. Turkish bath and Russian bath houses are great but hard to find in the States (Philly and Miami are two places to check out). And good luck finding a thermal spa. When you’re in Europe, they are common. Some are free (courtesy of nature), but most are not.

Amazing free hidden gem spa at the Lillehammer Hotel.

This was the most amazing “hidden” free spa hotel in Norway I discovered by accident. It’s in the Scandic Lillehammer Hotel.

Down in the basement, where you think the operating controls are for the hotel, there is an entire free-for-guests spa. This hotel spa has a cold dip pool where you walk down stairs shaped as a square (add some unique drama to getting into the cold pool). There are also 3 steam room and sauna rooms set on different heats.

And several additional large pools. For those who like fun, instead of traditional shower heads there are several overhead bushels of water where you can pull the string for a neat shower experience.

It’s very unique.

This is what people used to hear about as jokes when you were sleeping at camp (where they throw a bucket of water over your head). Or what you see that they do on SuperBowl night to the MVP. It’s even better when you’re doing this yourself as it’s not a shock.

Rooms look like this have a view of the Lillehammer ski jump.

I doubt you would go to this hotel, just for the spa (I mean I would, but everyone isn’t like me!). The Lillehammer Hotel is just a few hundred feet away from the Lillehammer ski jump, famous in the 1994 Winter Olympic. It’s surrounded by a cute town. So after you visit the town you can enjoy the free spa and complimentary nice breakfast.

And if you love thermal spas, you may want to checkout Bath.

Romantic Venice Hotel Recommend

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Want a great romantic Venice hotel recommend for couples? Keep reading…

Well, first of all, I’m a bit of a hotel “snob.” But not in the way you think. I just like good-value hotels. The first hotel I worked for and would recommend back then, was a Renaissance Hotel with a fine dining restaurant, banquet rooms, and a 70s-style disco lounge (Zodiac Club) near Washington Dulles Airport when I was in my 20s.

That was quite an experience. Not only did they have great Easter brunches in the hotel restaurant, but they also had regular locals who came into the unique lounge bar with silver decorated wallpaper.

And big clubby chairs where I served beverages I’d never even heard of! That ambiance got me excited enough to get myself going in the hotel catering sales business as my first career, in several DC area hotels.

Fast forward to now, I love hotels and staying in nice hotels. They don’t have to be super ritzy, they just have to have some character, of course be clean, and just be nice.

A place that is memorable, not a cookie cutter room hotel. Just a little north of the “Renaissance” region of the world in Florence, Italy, up in Venice, Italy, there’s a little hotel that I found that we stayed at on a travel excursion years ago. Ca’Gottardi was really charming, perfect for a romantic getaway for couples and a perfect romantic Venice hotel recommend.

We recommended this hotel to friends who also stayed for their anniversary. I hope to hear that they are still a good hotel find and a great Venice hotel recommend.

Our room looked like this one, in the heart center of Venice (a romantic hotel recommend).

Ca’Gottardi breakfast for hotel guests

Ca’Gottardi had good value compared to other hotels located in the same central area. It was right in the middle of Venice, convenient to St. Marco Square which was what of the main benefits. It also had a fabulous continental breakfast that I still remember to this day.

They had a buttery croissant and fruit, typical of European continental breakfast, but this was served to us, and that just made my day. That’s when we were trying out $26 Bellini’s at the famous Harry’s Bar.

Venice is doable in 2-3 days and actually you can walk along the entire canal in one day. So if you just have one day in Venice it’s worth it. But you want to build in time to look at shops and take a gondola ride.

There’s an almost-FREE gondola that can take you across the canal (there are two canal sides) for less than 1 euro (it was the equivalent to 50 cents when I was there).

Health and Wellness Travel

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My last day on the health and wellness restore and detox experience

health and wellness travel to the Chopra Center — My last day on the health and wellness restore and detox experience

Health and wellness travel is one of the newest travel trends. The effects can last a life time. I got my first real experience actually 3,000 miles within the States, where I’m from.

I was living a stressful work life (as many of us Americans do), and needed some rest and peace. I’d never tried yoga before. What better place to try than at the Deepak Chopra Center in Carlsbad, California (in San Diego). I stayed at this great Omni La Costa Resort where the Chopra Center is located, that’s just perfect for R&R. You go back to your room and it has a spa-like waterfall shower.

Omni La Costa Resort & SPA (Deepak Chopra Center for Health & Wellness)

For health and wellness travel, I took this Perfect Health program at the Chopra Center that’s based on Deepak’s book called “Perfect Health.” I researched and chose the health program because it included the entire mind-body-spirit connection.

The best thing about it was that there were classes to teach about areas of specific doshas (you learn this in the book) and what types of foods, music, and exercises are great when you have an imbalance.

Now I know which scented candles to buy when I’m feeling worried or irritated! I attempted meditation for the first time and practiced yoga for the first time. They should be done separately. We also got these life balance marma massages (ayurvedic term), that are different than Swedish massages.

Over a decade later, I am still “over the moon” with that weeklong trip. I use all that I learned and I share a lot with my friends.

They laugh when I break out the three types of spices that I bought in the store (Kapha, Pitta, Vata), and blind them to tell me which one they like the most, based on smell. Then I “magically” tell them what their imbalance is. Because the body tells you what you need. It craves what it doesn’t have and wants. It’s a fun thing to do and helpful when you are feeling a certain way or moody and don’t know why.