With more and more Caribbean islands building large airports to accommodate jets from the United States and abroad and bigger and bigger cruise ship facilities, one island stands out as a bastion of secluded–and relaxed–beaches, fine food, and friendly people. That island is St. Barthelemy (affectionately called St. Barths), a French island with Swedish roots located just southeast of St. Martin/Saint Maarten.
Getting to St. Barths
The primary reason St. Barths is sure to remain a peaceful island is the island’s topography–there’s just no space for a large airport. And the harbor at Gustavia, the island’s capital city, can only handle yacht-like watercraft.
To arrive at St. Barths via air, you first fly to St. Martin, where you board a 20-seat plane for the 20-minute flight to the island. The landing will give even the most seasoned traveler a start. The final approach takes you over a steep hill and the short runway ends right at the popular St. Jean Beach.
What to Do on St. Barths
You’ll realize the somewhat startling arrival is worth it when you explore the island, best done on a mini-moke, a jeep-like vehicle available to rent all over the island.
St. Barts beaches are uncrowded and lovely, ranging from the “see-and-be-seen” St. Jean Beach to the dramatic Grand Cul-de-Sac Beach on the island’s northwest side. The small island boast 20 beaches in all.
The port city of Gustavia is filled with red-tiled roof buildings, a yacht harbor, and dozens of elegant shops, loaded with French consumer goods and island foodstuffs and crafts. The island also has some of the best food in the Caribbean, with a generous supply of French restaurants that combine the fresh seafood of the region with classic French technique.
St. Barths is a favorite of celebrities, musicians, and other wealthy vacationers. Jimmy Buffet owns property there; Christie Brinkley and Billy Joel honeymooned there; and Harrison Ford, P. Diddy, Paul McCartney, and Jon Bon Jovi have all vacationed there. You never know whom you’ll see.
Where to Stay
St. Barths has just 25 hotels and a collection of villas for rent. The most unique hotel on the island is the Eden Rock Hotel, built on an small rocky peninsula in the middle of Marigot Bay. Other hotels include the elegant Guanahani Hotel, the largest on the island with 70 rooms and cottages, and the Manapany Bay Hotel, located on the north side of the island and offering elegant cottages and spectacular views.
(photo credit: Flickr user: skazama/cc license)
The Bolongo Bay Beach Resort on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands is offering a 15% discount on rooms for guests staying there during the period from November 1 until December 24. Reservations must be made by November 10.
About Bolongo Bay
Bolongo Bay Resort is an independently-owned, friendly resort, located about four miles east of St. Thomas’ capital city Charlotte Amalie, well away from the hustle and bustle of the cruise ship traffic. The resort has a variety of accommodations–beachfront rooms, oceanview condominiums, and oceanview rooms.
Faciliites include 1000-feet of white sand beach, two freshwater swimming pools, a dive center, a variety of watersports, tennis courts, a volleyball court, a basketball court, and two restaurants.
About St. Thomas
St. Thomas, located just east of Puerto Rico, about a 1 1/2 hour flight from Miami, is the most populated island of the U.S. Virgin Islands. St. Thomas is known for its duty-free shopping; its excellent beaches, particularly Magens Bay on the north side of the island; and its colorful pirate history.
Getting to St. Thomas
St. Thomas is easily accessible from all over the United States via non-stop flights from Chicago, Miami, San Juan, and New York. Since the island is a U.S. territory, you don’t need a passport to visit St. Thomas, just a government-issued photo ID.
(photo credit: T Hall/cc license)
Luxembourg is a very small country which borders Belgium, France and Germany and is rarely found on the mainstream tourist itinerary. It boasts the highest per capita income in the world, and is run by a Constitutional Monarchy which is the only “Grand Duchy” left in the world. Due of its overwhelming wealth which puts Switzerland to shame and extremely central European location, Luxembourg is home to a large number of ultra luxury hotels, resorts, and spas which make it the preferred destination for the moneyed Euro Jet Set.
This tiny landlocked nation of Luxembourg has more Michelin-starred restaurants per capita than any other country in the world. Specializing in a blend of French finesse and German heartiness, local dishes include “Friture de la Moselle” (small deep fried river fish), “Judd matt Gaardebounen” (smoked collar of pork with broad beans), Wild Boar, Pike in Riesling Sauce, Ardennes Ham, and many other luxuriant specialties most oftened served with a side of sausage and sauerkraut. To wash it all down, choose from a fine bottle of Luxembourg wine such as the extremely dry white wines from the Moselle Valley: Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Reisling. You may want to enjoy one of the marvelous local beers such as Diekirch, Mousel, or Bofferding which offer a very unique, full bodied, hoppy taste experience. Then you can continue your culinary adventure by enjoying a cup of Luxembourg’s famous coffee and a portion of pastry or cake at one of the city’s many patisseries.
Superlative high end shopping destination
Villeroy and Boch is a world-famous producer of fine china, and at its Luxembourg headquarters store, shoppers will find the striking work of almost three centuries of fine craftsmanship. The Old City in Luxembourg, high above the gorges and dating from the 17th century, is one of Europe’s most distinguished locations to shop for the most elite designer European clothes, fine art and hand-crafted gold and diamond jewelry.
Phenomenal museums
The National Museum for History and Art at Marché aux Poissons, is an attraction in itself, with underground extensions to the building constructed directly into the rock face. The Museum of the History of the City of Luxembourg on rue du Saint Esprit, provides a memorable and stunning multimedia overview of the city. Luxembourg’s brand new Musée d’Art Moderne on avenue Guillaume has quickly established itself as one of the continent’s prime repositories of the greatest artwork of the current age.
Not at all for the budget-conscious
Make sure your credit cards have ample limits on them as Luxembourg is anything but a budget destination, but make room in your European itinerary for this magnificent and completely unique city.
(photo credit: Flickr user: fridacafe/cc license)
In a marvelous 18th century former private mansion with the very unlikely name of Hôtel de Bastard in the Pyrenees village of Lectoure, you’ll find grand chef de cuisines Jean-Luc Arnaud, member of La Ronde des Mousquetaires, and craftsman of what have to be the most delectable Confits to be found anywhere. These out of the mainstream mountains on the French border with Spain receive very little foreign tourism and that is a great shame, as any Confit pilgrimage cannot be complete without savoring the remarkable delicacies of Chef Arnaud!
Although many people in North America are quite familiar with French food, many of them may never have tasted one of the staples of Southwestern France, the Confit. A Confit is a culinary term for a rather wide range of foods which are preserved by being thoroughly salted, placed in a crockpot, covered and poached or braised for up to twelve hours in their own fat at a temperature which does not exceed 250 degrees F. The fat that the meat cooks in, acts as both a sealant and preservative and results in a spectacularly velvety rich flavor.
Long term preservation process
Remarkably, a properly prepared Confit can be refrigerated up to 6 months and it can even be kept for extended periods at room temperature, as the peasants of the Gascony area developed the Confit process especially to preserve meats without need of refrigeration. As long as the meat stays completely submerged in the fat, the probabilities of spoilage are remote.
Base for a variety of regional delicacies
Duck, goose, turkey or pork are the meats that are primarily preserved in this method are currently considered a great delicacy of French cuisine as Confit meat dishes are magnificently savory, moist and delicate. Confit d’oie is preserved goose and Confit de canard is preserved duck, and there are almost infinite regional variances. In the Toulouse and Dordogne, Confits are often used as a base for the delectable Cassoulets where they are married with haricots blancs (white beans) and some of the seasoned local sausages.
Fat, fat and more fat. Yum!
Confits are truly an acquired taste as the tastebuds of many North Americans would find the high concentration of pure fat to be unpalatable. To the uninitiated, a confit can seem like a salty duck leg covered in lard, but to the connoisseur, it is very close to culinary paradise. Whatever you do, don’t ask your cardiologist as it will most likely spoil what would otherwise be a glorious experience.
(photo credit: Serge Chienne)
You stroll through a busy market, and between the fresh produce and local handicrafts you come across tables filled with DVD and CD cases featuring washed out blurry covers that obviously are fresh off a cheap color inkjet printer. The titles include not only the latest movies that have just premiered, and a couple that are not due out for a month or so, but also software such as the newest versions of Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate and Adobe Creative Suite which retail in the thousand dollar range. However, any of these so obviously counterfeit discs can be yours for just a few dollars.
It is to be expected in the lawless reaches of the Third World where content pirates run rampant and completely out of the reach of the RIAA, MPAA and the other organizations whose mandate is to enforce that content providers actually get paid for their work. However, these markets are not in some dusty Zimbabwean village or in a humid rainforest town in Southeast Asia. They are located in Italy, in the heart of the European Union!
Any movie, record or software: 5 Euros
It is not difficult to find these pirate retailers operating openly in most major Italian cities, but the most blatant and outrageous have to be found in Naples. At the far end of the railway station square there is a daily market which mostly hawks Chinese made cheap dry goods, shoes and clothing. Amidst the hubbub there are at least a dozen sellers of undisputedly pirated DVDs and CDs who will hand you the latest version of any major movie, record or software you want for 5 Euros… and haggling will get you a discount on that!
Cops look on and shrug
What makes Naples’ situation even more flagrant and egregious is that right on the corner from this market is a… Police Station! The local cops hang out on the street corner, leaning on their sky blue Alfa Romeos in the midday sun, within three or four steps of a stack of a hundreds of pirate discs and not only do absolutely nothing about it, but when I’ve personally drawn their attention directly to it, all they do is shrug.
Is Naples even in the European Union?
There are over four times the number of bureaucrats per capita in the European Union than in the USA, and the EU prides itself on its strong and effective anti-piracy policies. Apparently no one told the gray legislators in Brussels yet that the capital city of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies is, at least technically if not in reality, within the EU!
(photo credit: Giovanni Peranno)
The Buffalo Bills NFL team has recently announced that it will be playing some home games in Toronto, and it is literally just a matter of time until the squad moves permanently to Canada’s major city. To Toronto’s benefit, the clock may be ticking faster than anyone would expect.
The 89 year old owner of the team has determined that the Bills will be sold upon his death to avoid inheritance taxes to his heirs. Canadian investment teams have already sprung into action to ensure that the Bills permanently relocate to what is technically already a part of their home market: the 7 million strong, prosperous and progressive area of Southern Ontario.
Barely further than Bostonians need to drive to their stadium
Diehard Buffalonian fans need not fear as all they need to do is grab their passports and drive up the QEW highway for about an hour and a quarter, barely more than the distance between Boston and Foxboro where the New England Patriots play. And what a stadium they would get, as the luxurious domed downtown Rogers Centre cannot possibly be compared to Buffalo’s crumbling windswept Ralph Wilson Stadium in remote, bleak Orchard Park.
NFL salivates for Toronto’s enormous size and wealth
It is not lost on the league that the rapidly shrinking population base and meagre economics of the rustbelt/snowbelt city can be jettisoned in exchange for one of North America’s biggest markets. The NFL would be a boon for Toronto, and Toronto would be a boon for the NFL. Indeed, Toronto is the continent’s largest city which has never had an NFL team and in market size and economic value dwarfs about three quarters of all the current NFL cities. The desire for an NFL team in Toronto is unparalleled even in the larger but more football-apathetic Los Angeles.
The Toronto Dollar Bills
There is little doubt that Bills seasons tickets that currently struggle to be sold for as little as $35 per game could be priced at $100 or more at Rogers Centre and sold out quickly. Let’s not even begin to discuss what the big-buck corporate suites would sell for. Now that the Canadian dollar is worth more than the US greenback, this is an attraction that the league simply can’t disregard.
The Toronto Bills add to the cachet of a great global city
Toronto is one of the greatest artistic, cultural and sporting metropolises in the Western Hemisphere. The addition of an NFL team would add significantly to what is already one of the prime international tourism magnets. Go Toronto Bills!
(photoshopped by Hal)
The much anticipated Airbus A380 lifted up on her first commercial flight on October 25, when Singapore Airlines flight 380 departed Singapore’s Changi Airport bound for Sydney Australia.
About the Airbus A380
The 471-passenger, doubledeck A380 features spacious passenger compartments and is designed to reach Mach 0.85 speed (about 560 mph).
Singapore’s configuration of the plane includes a new class of service, Singapore Airlines Suites, a “class beyond first.” More than a seat, passengers in Singapore Airlines Suites fly in a private cabin, similar to a train compartment. Each cabin is equipped with a 23″ television screen and full entertainment system, a computer dataport, and a full bed with a down mattress.
About the Inaugural Flight
The majority of the seats on the inaugural flight and its return flight to Singapore were sold on eBay, with the proceeds donated to charities, including Doctors without Borders, the Sydney Children’s Hospital, and the Singapore Community Chest.
A number of other airlines await delivery of A380 aircraft. Next to take delivery are Quantas, Air France, and Emirates Airways.
(photo courtesy of Airbus)
One of the most interesting–and delicious–developments in cruising in the past few years is the emphasis on food and wine events. Holland America Line and Royal Caribbean Cruises have kitchen theaters and demonstration kitchens on many of their ships and a host of cruise lines offer special food and wine sailings. Among the best of these are:
Crystal Cruises Wine and Food Festival - This special program is offered on a variety of voyages, year-round, ranging from 10 to 14 days. Guests aboard these sailings are treated to talks, cooking demonstrations, and special meals by celebrity chefs as well as complimentary wine tastings, hosted by wine experts.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises - Regent Seven Seas Cruises offers a full schedule of food and wine-themed cruises, to ports all over the world. The 2007/2008 line-up includes chocolate lovers cruises, food and wine cruises that focus on the culinary specialties and local markets of the regions the cruise is visiting, and cruises with chefs from the prestigious Cordon Bleu cooking school.
Silverseas Cruises - Silverseas offers a variety of culinary cruises that include special cooking demonstrations by guest chefs, shore excursions to some of the world’s best restaurants, and classes in the line’s Viking Cooking Theater.
(photo courtesy of Crystal Cruises)
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