Found! The best pizza in Napoli. . .

Napoli, (aka Naples on this side of ‘The Pond’) is the birthplace of pizza.

For that reason, we told ourselves prior to last fall’s cruise, that we would eat pizza there during our few hours in this ‘love-it or hate-it’ Italian town on Italy’s western coast.  (The photo above of Mt. Vesuvius was taken during our Celebrity Silhouette’s early morning approach to the harbor.)




We’d braved the morning’s rain and set out, umbrellas unfurled, to explore the dizzying, congested streets, and by noon had worked up a pizza-sized appetite. We were far off the main road on one of our direction-less wanders off-the-beaten-tourist-path, when we happened upon this place:

It was one of a trillion or so similar Pizzaria’s that line the sidewalks of this ages-old city.  What made this place stand out for us, was the crush of customers inside. Tiny tables within elbow’s reach of each other were filled. We were tucked into one of the last remaining in a snug corner of Ristorante e Pizzeria da Attilio* .

While most dishes were prepared in an industrial looking kitchen in the back, the pizzas were prepared by a culinary artist (as I prefer to think of him) just  inside the front door.

And since every artist needs an admirer or two, I headed to his gallery to watch him prepare our pizza.



Dough was stretched, toppings in place and he turned the creation over to his assistant whose job it was to cook our pizza in his incredibly hot oven. And within minutes. . .

. . . Mama Mia!  Our pizza was served; the best pizza we have ever eaten, perhaps the ‘best in Napoli’! Or was it?

 That afternoon, back at the ship and resting up from that pizza, we headed to the pool and hot tub.

That’s where we struck up a conversation with a couple who told us they had just eaten ‘the best pizza in Napoli’ for lunch and described a place no where near where we had eaten.  They said they knew they had eaten ‘the best pizza in Napoli” because that is what travel guru Rick Steves had said of the pizzeria located on one of his guidebook’s ‘on-the-beaten-tourist-path walks’. . .

Hmmm. . .I wonder who did eat 'the best' pizza in Napoli that day?

Are you one who ‘goes by the guidebook’?  If so, what guidebooks do you use? Or do you allow yourself the opportunity to make discoveries on your own?

That’s it for this week’s Travel Photo Thursday – head over to Budget Travelers Sandbox for more photos today and stop by here this weekend when we will have more tales and tips for you.

*If you get to Napoli, try Da Attilio Pizzeria, Via Pignasecca, 17, http://pizzeriaattilio.jimdo.com  - we think you’ll like it!

WAWeekend: Getting High at Lake Chelan

It’s called “The Butte”. No fancy names. Not a lot of tourist-hype. Looking somewhat like a resting elephant, its highest point rises 3,835 feet (1,168 meters) to the south of  the town of Chelan and Lake
Chelan.

 .

The Scout, born and raised in this Eastern Washington town, has ‘been there, done that’ when it comes to The Butte.  Maybe that is why, despite several visits a year there over the course of three decades, we’d never taken the time to explore it until a couple years ago.

The Chelan Butte Unit, as it is called in Washington State’s Department of Fish and Wildlife covers some 9,097 acres, stretching from Lake Chelan to the Columbia River.  It’s home to wildlife (including big horn sheep) to wildflowers (some more than 5-feet tall as  I illustrate above), with a few snakes and other critters thrown as well.

The 4.5 mile distance from town to the summit is paved for the first 1.2 miles. It becomes a narrow, dirt road which is rutted and rocky – and muddy in inclement weather, and many  leave their vehicles at lower elevations. Even in good weather an SUV would be better than a conventional car, although our Camry made the drive, albeit very slowly.



Currently it’s a favorite among hikers who want to explore the trails that lead to old abandoned mines, bikers and in winter, snowshoe enthusiasts. There’s also a hang gliding group or two that use its upper peak for projecting themselves out over the Columbia River Gorge.

We had the place to ourselves the day we drove to the end of the road; the communication towers on the uppermost ridge. Parking there is off-road; no formal lots. Then it was time to enjoy the views:



To the south – the Columbia River Gorge, in both the photo above and below.


And to the north over the 55-mile long, glacier fed lake to the North Cascades Mountain range in the distance.

We told ourselves we won’t wait another decade or so to make a  return visit to “The Butte”.

For You History Buffs:

The 1938 fire lookout tower that was once atop The Butte was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 and in 1996 moved to the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center, just down the road in Entiat.

And did you know there was a Gold Rush on Chelan Butte in 1907? Take a look at this link – it’s mighty interesting!

If You Go:
Follow Highway 97A and at Millard Street in Chelan (between milepost 232 and 233) turn south.
Note: Parking at The Butte now requires a Washington State Discover Pass ($10 a day/or $30 annually).
For more information visit: www.discoverpass.wa.gov
See you back here soon – we hope!  Sign up to receive our posts in your inbox at www.TravelnWrite.com

Finding Fokianos, Greece

“You might be disappointed in my village – it is very small,” George cautioned about visiting the small Peloponnesian town high in the hills above his Hotel Byzantinon where  he’d been born and raised; a place he  still visits regularly to tend to his family home and vineyard.

“You should go to Fokianos. Drive straight through my village. . .follow the road for another 12 kilometers.”


With so much beautiful coastline, we pondered how we would know the picturesque beach George had proclaimed a ‘not-to-be-missed’ destination.



Up  into the hills we went on the narrow little road (pictured above ) that pinched together at sharp curves, then stretched into gentle loops, and finally lead us straight through a little village that we hoped was George’s (the signs, you recall, were all in Greek).
 
Some kilometers beyond the village, as we rounded a curve, and just as George had promised, we saw Fokianos:



Our paved road gave way to gravel on its winding descent through ages old olive groves  to the white-crescent beach.



On this April morning the normally busy beach was empty but for a half dozen fishermen.

Their  muted conversation, mixed with the water’s rhythmic gentle lapping, and an occasional bird call was all that broke the silence.

George had told us that in summer the bay is often filled with yachts of the rich and famous, but on this morning, fishing boats at anchor were the only vessels in sight.

Two tavernas stood side-by-side on this otherwise unpopulated  bit of paradise.  Only one of the two on this ‘pre-season’ morning showed signs of activity. It was there we sought lunch.

“We’ve got a single portion of fish,” said the owner (who had grown up with George in the small hilltop village).  It was the same dish he and a friend were sharing at a nearby table. We ordered cheese as well – the owner provided bread and olives. The dish, an octopus stew, served warm as is the style of Greek cooking, was perhaps the most authentic Greek meal we ate during our travels.



And we certainly had a table with a view from which to eat our feast. By now awnings are stretched over those skeletal frames, tables beneath probably filled with holiday makers, but on that day, the beach  and the view was ours alone.

That’s it for this week’s Travel Photo Thursday. Don’t forget to stop by Budget Travelers Sandbox for other destinations.

If you Go: 

Driving in the Peloponnese: 
We picked up our rental car at the Avis office in Naplion.  There were no requirements for an international drivers license. US license, passport and credit card (‘non-chip’ worked just fine) were all that was required.

Rental Cost: about $22US a day.
Regular unleaded gas: $9US a gallon (we were pleased this little guy got such good mileage!)

Greeks drive on the right-side of the road, like in the United States.  They also recognize the need to drive slowly on their hairpin curves. The roads lacing the Peloponnese are in many places narrow ‘back roads’ twirling around curves and climbing high into the mountains (not for those with a fear of heights or amaxophobia, fear of riding in a car).

Fokianos: is about 33 kilometers (20.5 miles) south of the town of Leonido.  Drive toward Plaka. After about 17 km of climbing, the road flattens and you reach a junction (where the road sign is in Greek).  Go left (toward Pigadi and Fokianos). It will be an approximate 15 km more before you reach the dirt road to the beach. Note: the beach is about 25 km from the nearest gas station. 

Greece: Coffee and Computer Culture

Po Po Po!!!*  There’s been a cultural revolution (the good kind) taking place in Greece the last few years and so focused has mainstream media been on the country’s economic crisis, they’ve failed to tell us about it.

Perhaps coffee and computers are so common-place in newsrooms that reporters didn’t recognize it, however, the change has been dramatic in areas we recently revisited.

So let us -- who hail from Seattle (The Land of Starbucks) and Microsoft (Bill Gates and Gang) –  tell you:

Greeks are wired (the state of being resulting from ingestion of large amounts of caffeine) and at the same time unwired (by Wi-Fi.)

Based on our previous trip’s experiences, we arrived with our pound of coffee and filters, prepared to use the hot pots provided in our rooms to ‘brew’ our java. Being of the Starbucks habit, we weren’t fond their mild, instant Nescafe – served everywhere as coffee three years ago. (Okay, it is still popular and used in drinks such as chilled Frappe's.) 

Lattes and cappuccinos had been rather exotic and hard to find.  That's all changed as coffee shops now line the streets. In Iraklion, Crete, for example, (above) we found so many chic, upbeat coffee shops (including Starbucks) that was hard to choose between them.

The same was true in city after city we visited.  On a Sunday at the Ministry Music Bar in Sparti, the heart of the Peloponnese, tables were packed long into the night with caffeine-consuming patrons – all of whom seemed to be checking their computers and mobile devices because. . .

Wi-Fi has come to Greece.  Signals sometimes can’t compete with centuries old stone walls of which many structures are made, but generally it is available everywhere.   Our jewelry-making friend George Chalkoutsis, living in the tiny hamlet of Kastri on Crete’s southern coast exemplifies the change.  At the time we met, he didn't have a computer because. . .

Three years ago there was no computer access in Kastri. We traveled up a  looping road to a village perched high on a hill above and then sought out its sole internet café to check our emails.

I expressed surprise during this visit to see that George had a laptop in his studio.  “But, of course,” he replied. “Computers have come. I am on Facebook – and Skype. Are you on Skype? We could chat after you get home.”

Po Po Po! I had to admit we don’t yet have Skype – nor the skills to use it if we did.
~~~~~
*Po Po Po!  The phrase is a popular one in Greek.  It is a multi-purpose sort of exclamation covering surprise, wariness, disapproval or approval – depending on the tone, the accompanying look and the situation in which it is used.

Hope to see you back again later this week when we take you to one of Greece’s most beautiful beaches.  To receive our posts in your inbox, just sign up on our home page, www.TravelnWrite.com

George’s Story: Our time at Byzantinon

This is the story of George Kritsidimas, his family and their Hotel Byzantinon. The story is set amid an olive and orange grove overlooking the Myrtoan Sea, at the foot of the eastern Parnon Mountains in Greece’s Peloponnese.

Getting to know the family while staying at their hotel is one of those experiences – the kind so rich, that trying to wrap it up in words is difficult. 

Perhaps, it is because it is the story that happens when places become people.






The Scout found Hotel Byzantinon, located in the small village called Poulithro, while web surfing prior to our trip to Greece. We knew nothing of the area; hotel reviews were positive. It was one of the few places we booked ahead of time.



Little did we know then, what a goldmine of accommodation and experiences he’d found for us.  Our studio was spacious and luxurious. 

The bed’s comfort and sheet quality appeared to rival that of a Marriott hotel, we remarked to each other, as we settled in. (Sometimes Greek mattresses can be firm-to-rock hard)

For that matter, pretty much everything in the unit was something of “Marriott quality”. The studio’s size, in fact, much larger than those of Marriott Vacation Clubs in which we’ve stayed.




After so much Marriott talk, we were a bit surprised when we set out to explore the common areas of the hotel and found this - part of a framed display -- on a stairwell:



That would be Bill Marriott, CEO of Marriott Corporation on the left and George next to him in the middle. That medal he’s holding in this photo is the one he’s wearing in the opening photo.

It wasn’t until later in the day, when George returned from tending his vineyard high in the hills beyond the hotel, that we learned about the Marriott connection.

Turns out that in 2003 George was one of 12 out of Marriott’s some 4,000 employees world-wide to receive the corporation’s Award of Excellence.

He was the only employee so named outside the United States that year. The photo display highlights other moments that he and his wife shared during a whirlwind award trip to the ceremonies which were held in Washington DC.



You see, George, age 67, opened his Hotel Byzantinon after retiring from the Marriott Corporation. He’d ended a 30-plus-year career as the doorman at Athen’s Ledra Marriott Hotel. If you stayed there or even walked past it during his tenure, you might recognize the uniformed George in the photo below:



Memories and stories. George has many from his years meeting and greeting travelers from all stations in life.
 


Our incessant questions finally prompted him one morning to dig out a memory box filled with photos, the medal, and additional award certificates he’d received for outstanding service over the years. George took us on a trip down memory lane with him -- a most special moment in our Greek travels.

Bill Marriott would continue to be proud of this Marriott-ambassador (pictured here with his son, Christos). George speaks  highly of the corporation and warmly about the Marriott family. 

Because in George’s heart, there is nothing more important than family. Maybe that’s why he made us feel so much a part of his.




That’s it for now.You'll hear more about George in future posts and I’ve got a ‘honey’ of a tale about his son, Christos – so hope to see you back here soon!  It is Travel Photo Thursday so head over to Nancie’s Budget Travelers Sandbox for more armchair travel. Then check out Friday Daydreamin' at R We There Yet Mom?

Click the link for more information on Hotel Byzantinon. And, for those curious ones out there: we paid 60-euro a night, about $75US. Our rate included (a fabulous!) daily breakfast. 

Travel Technology: 'Lloyd the Droid' does Europe

Let me be quite upfront about this post:  it doesn’t have tips for great apps nor for enhancing photos.

This is a reality travel post written by traveling ‘techno-dino’s’  for “techno-dino’s” (those who are several leap-years behind current technology). If you are teetering on the edge, not sure whether to ‘take the plunge”  or if you took the plunge and find yourself in a whole new world, this post’s for you.



It is about that colorful little guy above, “Lloyd the Droid”, the newest addition to our travel team ~ the smart phone we acquired 10 days before setting off for Greece.  We finally gave in to society’s pressures and friends’encouragements (not to mention the lure of all those apps that would enhance our travels and even better, save us money).

Shortly after bringing this ‘being’ home (smart phones didn’t get that name out of thin air, they aren’t phones, they are little brains packaged into small metal and glass casing)– I named our Droid, Lloyd.

Our little gifted one has so many talents (sorry about the bragging, but you know how it is. . .) include an ability to talk: he calls out “Droid!” in a croak much like a frog to alert me to a new FB post (sometimes I think he just likes to hear himself talk). Lloyd corrects me when I tried writing with him (sometimes choosing words that aren’t correct, but he never gives up) and the little fellow even responds to our voice commands to write text messages, find a web site or make calls for us!

And then came our trip to Greece and Amsterdam. . .

1. First thing our service provider advised, cautioned, warned and admonished us to do was to turn off half of Lloyd’s features as we boarded the plane – all mobile data was shut off to assure we wouldn’t have those astronomical charges based on international roaming. 

So, we had no phone nor text ability until our return, but we had Lloyd! 

The only time we could have used a phone was at the Amsterdam airport  to connect with our waiting driver and that resulted in some Keystone Cop type antics before linking up. When we finally met up, he suggested we get a phone to use while traveling. Sigh.

(We had purchased an add-on package that allowed us to make calls at some still-ridiculously-high cost in case of emergency – thankfully, we didn’t need to activate that plan nor did finding the driver constitute an emergency.)



2. Lloyd is equipped with GPS – but that also proved to irrelevant as we found ourselves in the midst of the Peloponnese and Crete, on narrow, looping roads that took us into, up, down, and around mountainous areas – places way beyond GPS connections.We used a paper map – in Greek/English (so that we could ‘read’ the road signs).

A fellow traveler in the Peloponnese from North Carolina rented a car equipped with GPS. She reported that it kept calling out, “Turn left ahead” as soon as they left the major freeway. (It wasn’t just Lloyd).

3.  Lloyd was a great backup for internet access.  We checked emails, Facebook and used other social media and the few travel applications we had loaded. (Lloyd did take photos – although limited in style and technique –and it was simple loading those to FB and/or Twitter. If I could do it, any techno-dino could!)



By taking our Netbook (which I used for writing and posting) and Lloyd on which Joel could check the internet – we cut our computer time in half, giving us more time for travel. Sharing the Netbook always required one of us to be in the ‘waiting’ mode.

Note to you writers out there: Lloyd is great for consuming information – he will never replace the computer keyboard for producing written communication or the camera for photos.



4.  Finding those great deals : we did book a room using Lloyd during our trip.  For these two old techno dino’s with fat fingers, it was a laborious and irritating process – we hope our skills improve over time, because. . .
There are hotel and other travel deals being offered to ‘mobile app’ users – savings of up to 10% in some cases and in others, offering ridiculously cheap last minute hotel rates. (Expedia and Hotel Tonight, among them).
As for Lloyd. . .he’s part of the family now. We won't be leaving home without him.

Are you a techno-dino who took the plunge? What were your experiences?