Frommer’s on Gadling? The “Blogger Swap” Explained

by Stephen Bassman on

Throughout the history of civilization, there have been swaps. Land swaps. Housing swaps. Student exchange swaps. Lunchbox dessert swaps. Baseball card swaps. Baseball player swaps. “Cash for Clunkers” swaps. Wife Swap. Now, for your reading pleasure, a Blogger Swap.

That’s a long way of saying that I’ll be writing on Gadling during the month of September, though I normally write on Frommers.com. Gadling’s Jeremy Kressman and Grant Martin will both write for Frommer’s. It’s an experiment that will hopefully not disrupt the travel/time/space continuum or cause anyone’s favorite cereals or bacon to get thrown away.

(That’s a Wife Swap reference. Everything that can go awesomely wrong with a swap is illustrated in a recent 1-minute clip of the show. Click here to watch.)

So who am I, and what do you get out of this barter? I am an Associate Editor at Frommer’s travel guides, and I contribute to our editors’ blog, Behind the Guides. I’m currently editing Napa and Sonoma Day by Day, Frommer’s India, and Suzy Gershman’s Born to Shop Hong Kong. I’m hoping to use this month to revisit a fantastic 3-week vacation I took with my sister Diane through Italy and Spain in April. We noshed our way through Rome, Siena, up through the Chianti region and Florence to Venice, then over to Barcelona and Madrid. I ate through an entire Frommer’s “Gourmet Barcelona” itinerary and had a home-cooked meal on an agriturismo vineyard/B&B in Chianti. I dined at a Ferran Adrià restaurant in Madrid! I made a lot of food memories – fairly emotional food memories. It’s funny, as the editor of Frommer’s Rome, I remember deleting a few exclamation points I thought were gratuitous. This was the sort of trip that made me want to throw them all back in.

To help with my trip “notes,” I had a strict rule for myself to take a picture of every single dish I ate – and yes, whipping out a big, clunky camera in some of Europe’s best restaurants occasionally made me feel like an idiot and earned me glances from my sister. (Identifying myself as media would have made things easier, but that’s against Frommer’s policy at restaurants.) But in the end, I got the shots, and I’ll share the best ones here.

To whet your appetite, and as a tangible sign that I will not throw away Gadling’s bacon, I sprinkled in a few shots from Restaurante Botin in Madrid. It’s the world’s oldest restaurant (founded in 1725) – and the setting of the end of The Sun Also Rises! This is a half portion of the suckling pig, their specialty, with the oven they’ve used here for centuries.

The dish was EUR 22.50, so my sister and I split it. That’s an average entrée price at Botin (though this is the kind of place with a few marked-up specialties, like their baby eels for a whopping EUR 132 and their “quarter of an hour fish soup” for EUR 16.25).

As we waited for our lunch with glasses of wine in hand, Diane, a certified veterinarian, casually said, “It was probably 4 to 6 weeks old,” referring to our suckling pig. Dining with a vet can be humbling for a carnivore. So I feel somewhat guilty for saying the pig was entirely delicious: perfectly crisp on the outside, tender and juicy inside, very delicately seasoned and served in its jus, with a ham croquette. It would have been the standout dish of the day, had I not enjoyed – there’s just no way to avoid sounding like a jerk here – the Ferran Adrià tasting menu that evening.

I’ll be back with more proverbial bacon, including Adrià’s meal, throughout the month.

The Five Most Overrated Tourist Attractions

by Kraig Becker on

Want to know what the world’s most overrated tourist attractions are? You’re in luck, as the Times Online has compiled their selection of the Five Most Overrated Tourist Sites, naming some very famous places, while suggesting alternatives that they feel are more worth our time.

The U.K. newspaper isn’t afraid to criticize one of the motherland’s top tourist attractions either, putting Stonehenge at the top of the list. They note that you can’t touch the monument, or even walk around it, and it isn’t exactly located in one of the most scenic locations either. As an alternative, the Times suggests that you skip “the Henge” and visit nearby Avebury, which has a larger stone monolith that allows for more access to the public.

The other four sites on the list that they recommend that you avoid include Petra, Jordan, the Colosseum in Rome, Machu Picchu in Peru, and Angkor, Cambodia. Generally, the Times is put off by the large crowds they attract, as well as the inconvenience of coming and going from these famous spots, several of which are fairly remote.

Personally, I think this list is best used as a way of keeping your expectations within reason when traveling to these sites that have become overrun with tourists. For instance, who in their right mind wouldn’t want to visit Machu Picchu when traveling to Peru? Just be aware that it is a crowded monument and getting there isn’t always easy. Patience will go a long way towards providing an enjoyable experience.

Those looking for new places to visit, off the beaten path a bit, will enjoy the alternatives suggested in the article however, as they are generally less crowded and are not on the radar for most travelers. Their alternative suggest for Machu Picchu for instance is the Isla del Sol in Bolivia, which is a much quieter location when compared to the Peruvian landmark.

So, what do you think of the list? What would you add to it? Any experiences with the ones they’ve selected?

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Photo of the Day (8-19-09)

by Jamie Rhein on

At St. Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy, as StrudelMonkey who took this shot says, there are pigeons galore. These are just two of them. I love the movement in the image on the left in contrast to the bird on the right. A perfect shot snapped at a perfect travel moment.

As I was in St. Mark’s Square just three days ago with my son who sat still trying to get pigeons to eat cracker crumbs out of his hand, this picture brought back a memory of a perfect travel moment that made me smile.

If you have a shot of a perfect travel moment, send it our way at Gadling’s Flicker Photo Pool.

It pays to be young in Rome this August

by Katie Hammel on

To combat the travel lull Rome typically experiences in August, the city is offering some fantastic deals to lure travelers. The catch? You must be under 30 years old to get the special prices.

Head to any tourist office in Rome, show proof that you’re between 18 and 29 years old, pick up your free promo card and use it to get discounts all over the city. 32 restaurants are offering special menus that range from 5 to 25 Euros, with the average price being around 10 Euros for 2-3 courses. Common menus may include pizza or pasta and dessert or a drink. You’ll get deals on accommodations as well, with over 50 b&bs and 20 hotels offering significant discounts.

The card will get you a Roma Pass for 21 Euros instead of 23. The pass is good for 3 days and gets you free travel on city buses and the Underground, and covers admission to 2 museums (after that you can use it to get discounts to other attractions). You’ll also get 10% off at all city-owned museums and 5 Euros off the 20 Euro open-topped bus tour.

Check out the full list of participating establishments and deals available here.

[via Budget Travel]

Naples hires ex-cons as tour guides

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Anyone who’s read Roberto Saviano’s acclaimed book Gomorrah or seen the chilling film of the same name is already familiar with the notorious Neopolitan criminal organization called the Camorra. This massive enterprise, the oldest criminal group in Italy, makes its money mostly by trafficking drugs, illegally dumping toxic waste, and extorting money, and it’s more than willing to eliminate those who try to stand in its way.

So it makes sense that the city of Naples is offering jobs to recently-released prisoners in an attempt to keep them away from offering their services to the Camorra. But the exact job some of the ex-cons are being given might surprise you: They’re becoming tour guides.

The program, called ‘Esco-Dentro’ (‘Exit-Inside’), aims to reintegrate former inmates into society by providing them jobs, from street sweepers to sanitation workers to, yes, city tour guides.

So how are the guides doing so far? According to an article in the Global Post, the men ‘look like tourist guides, but have a hard time acting like them. Most speak only Italian, have never heard of personal space and give out tourist brochures as aggressively as a street vendor peddles stolen goods.’

On the plus side, the guides are apparently quite good at helping tourists find good pizza and avoid pickpockets. Go figure.

Whole thing here. Check out a New York Times review of the haunting, almost-too-real film Gomorrah here.