Photo Of The Day: Early Fall In Italy

by Jessica Marati on

This summer’s weather patterns continue to astound me, between heat waves, hailstorms and the mighty Derecho, which was said to be the storm to end all storms before it narrowly missed New York City last week.

Today’s Photo of the Day is proof of even more global weirding: leaves changing color in Italy … IN JULY. As Flickr user Aviv reports from Venice, “One day it’s too hot to be outside, the other day it’s windy and leaves are falling.” Yup, sounds like my summer too.

Have you captured any photos of summer abnormalities lately? Upload your travel shots to the Gadling Flickr Pool and your image could be selected as our Photo of the Day.

Knocked Up Abroad: Lessons Learned From Traveling With A Baby

by Meg Nesterov on


Long before I became a mother, people told me that the first six months is the easiest time to travel with a baby – before they walk, talk or require children’s activities. Others told me to travel as much as possible before you have children, as it’s too difficult to go places for the first few years. I can confirm that you don’t have to turn in your passport when you have a baby, as my daughter Vera turns one year old today (they really do grow up so fast), and I’ve traveled with her extensively since she was six weeks old, as well as frequently when I was pregnant. As she was born in Turkey, far from our families and home country, I knew travel would be a factor in her life, but never expected I would love traveling with her and try to fit in as many trips as possible (nine countries and counting).

I’ve written here on Gadling a series of articles on planning travel, flying and international travel with baby, and expanded on these topics on my blog, Knocked Up Abroad Travels. I still stand by all of those tips and tricks, but below are the most important lessons I’ve learned from traveling with a baby in the first year.

Do a test run trip
Just as a baby has to learn to crawl before they can walk, start small with your explorations. Before you plan a big trip with a baby, take a shorter “test run” to see it’s not so hard and learn what your challenges might be. Taking a short flight to an unfamiliar place, especially with a time change, language or cultural barrier, is good practice before you take a bigger trip. If you live in the U.S., a long weekend in Canada or the Caribbean, or even Chicago, could be a nice break and a useful lesson on traveling with a baby. While we live in Istanbul, travel in Europe is (relatively) cheap and quick, so taking a vacation in Malta with Vera at six weeks old was an easy first trip. For our first trip home to visit family and friends, I flew to and from the U.S. by myself with Vera. If I hadn’t traveled with her before, it might have seemed daunting to fly 10 hours solo with a baby, but it was smooth sailing. Confidence is key, especially when you learn you’ll do just fine without the bouncy seat for a few days.Stay flexible
Parenting experts may say that babies need structure and routine, but recognize that they are also very flexible, especially in the early months when they mostly sleep and eat. As long as you can attend to the baby’s immediate needs, it doesn’t matter much where you do it; a baby’s comfort zone is wherever you are. Babies also make planning near impossible. You may find that just as you planned to visit a museum, you’ll need to find somewhere to sit down to feed the baby, with a decent bathroom for changing a diaper. You might eat dinner later than expected as you walk the baby around the block a few more times to get her to sleep. We kept our first trip with Vera to Malta simple, relaxing by the sea in Gozo and wandering around the old city of Valletta: no itinerary, no must-sees, no ambitious day trips. We missed out on a few “important” sights and spent a few days doing little more than reveling in the joys of cheap wine, trashy novels and ham sandwiches, but it was stress-free and helped us to connect with the place as well as each other.

Re-consider where you stay and how you get around
Once you start planning a trip with a baby, you might be spending more time on AirBnB than Hotels.com. When you travel with a child, you care less about hotel design or public amenities like a gym (ha!) and more about in-room comfort and conveniences like a separate bedroom space or kitchenette. On an early trip, we stayed in a friend’s home in Trieste, in a vacation apartment in Venice and in a room above a cafe in Ljubljana, and each had their advantages. In Italy, it was nice to have access to laundry and space to cook a meal with friends when we were too tired to go out; while when I was on my own in Slovenia, it was handy to go downstairs for breakfast or a much-needed glass of wine, and someone was always around if I needed help with the stroller. You’ll also have to think differently about how you get around town with a stroller or carrier and plan some routes in advance. In London, I spent a lot of time on the excellent Transport For London website mapping out which tube stations had elevators and what days I would use a carrier only (I love the Boba wrap). In Venice, I didn’t bother with a stroller at all for the city’s many stairs, bridges and cobblestone streets, but needed to stop more frequently to rest my tired shoulders and was grateful for extra hands to hold the baby while I ate pasta.

Everywhere is nice in a “baby bubble”
You should be prepared to be self-sufficient when traveling with a baby, from boarding a plane to getting on a subway, but you’ll be surprised by how helpful strangers can be, especially outside the U.S. Not touching strangers’ babies seems to be a uniquely American concept, while in Mediterranean Europe, waiters will often offer to carry your baby around or give them a treat (say thanks and eat it yourself). After Istanbul, I found Budapest to be the most baby-friendly, and even trendy restaurants had changing facilities and bartenders who wanted to play peekaboo. I expected Londoners to be rather cold, but their stiff upper lips were more often smiling and cooing. A tube employee helped me carry the stroller up several flights of stairs when an elevator wasn’t working, and I got table service in a cafe that normally only had counter service. Don’t expect special treatment because you have a baby, but enjoy it when it comes.

Stay calm and carry travel insurance
Having a sick baby is scary for anyone, especially when you are in a foreign country far from home. Statistically, it’s more likely that your child will get sick or hurt at home, but it can happen on the road as well. Before you take off, figure out what you will do in an emergency: can you get travel insurance that covers a visit to a pediatrician? Can you change or cancel travel plans if the baby is sick? If you rent an apartment, do you have local contacts in case something happens? In Budapest, by myself, I had a few incidents getting stuck in an elevator, locked out of our apartment and having the baby slip out of a highchair. Everything worked out fine, but staying calm was key as upsetting the baby would have just added to the stress. Coming back from Belgrade last month, our daughter woke up with a cold and a mild fever the day we were supposed to fly home. Our wonderful AirBnB hostess got us medicine and we ultimately decided to fly the short trip as scheduled, but if it had been more serious, I could have paid the change fee to delay our flight and visit a local doctor. The baby was fine the next day, though I still have some Serbian fever reducer for her next cold.

Don’t let the turkeys get you down
Perhaps I’ve become more sensitive to the idea, but I’ve noticed recently that screaming babies on airplanes have become the catch-all complaint for everything that’s wrong with air travel (though in Gadling’s Airline Madness tournament of travel annoyances, children didn’t make it to the final four). Look up any news story about children and airplanes and you’ll find a long list of angry commenters complaining about how they don’t want to sit next to your “brat” on the plane, and that you shouldn’t subject other people to your lifestyle choices. A crying baby is not an inevitability, and planes are still public transportation, so don’t get psyched out by the looks and comments from other passengers. After 22 flights with Vera without a tantrum or crying fit, I’ve learned that the most important thing is to pay attention to your baby and be considerate of others. I still tell my airplane “neighbors” that I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her quiet and happy, and by the time we land, we’ve made more friends than enemies.

Enjoy it while it lasts
The first two years are the cheapest time to travel with a child: domestic air travel is free for lap children, international tickets are a fraction (usually 10 percent) of the adult fare, and most hotels and museums allow babies free of charge for the first few years. This time is also the most “adult” you’ll have for awhile, before you have to consider the whims and boredom of a child. Vera’s first year has been delightfully kid-menu and Disney-free. In a few years we may have to rethink our itinerary and even our destinations, but so far, not much has changed. We still love going to post-Soviet cities, wandering around oddball museums and sitting outside at wine bars to people watch, though our bedtime might be a bit earlier.

Share your lessons learned while traveling with a baby, or tell me what I’m in for in year two in the comments below.

Inside The S. Pellegrino Cooking Cup In Venice, Italy

by Elyse Pasquale on

VENICE, Italy – Ink-black clouds gather over the iconic Floating City, poised to roll across the lagoon. From our aquatic position, somewhere between the Lido and Giudecca islands, we can see the approaching wall of water.

“Everyone, below decks. Get below decks…Now!”

I’m aboard the Timoteo, a traditional Venetian burchio, a medieval wooden barge owned by fashion executive Vittorio Missoni. With me is a jury comprised of ten of the world’s leading chefs. We’re in the middle of the S. Pellegrino Cooking Cup, a combination sailing and culinary competition, and we’ve just been hit by a storm.

On Saturday, June 24, 2012, the 12th edition of the S. Pellegrino Cooking Cup took place along an exhilarating 12-mile course from the Lido of Venice to S. Giorgio Island.

As accomplished sailing teams raced their boats toward the finish line, ten young rising culinary stars battled below decks – against time and gravity with limited ingredients – to create a winning dish. Imagine “The Amazing Race” meets “Iron Chef” in a unique gourmet regatta set against the stunning backdrop of Venice, Italy.

The Cooking Cup

Here’s how the scoring works: the S. Pellegrino Cooking Cup Trophy is presented to the boat with the best combined sailing time and culinary performance. The dishes are judged on four criteria: presentation, difficulty of execution, taste and proper pairing with wine and water.

%Gallery-159254%

The Chefs:

Richard Ousby, Quay Restaurant, Australia
Martin Volkaerts, L’Air du Temps Restaurant, Belgium
Cai Chen, The Langham Xintiandi Restaurant, China
David Frenkel, Pronto Restaurant, Israel
Lorenzo Cogo, El Qoc Restaurant, Italy
Jöel Schaeffer, Jöel Schaeffer Restaurant, Luxembourg
Dennis Van Dop, Hofstede Meerzigt Restaurant, Netherlands
Anatoly Kazakov, Bon Restaurant, Russia
Jacob Holmström, Gastrologik Restaurant, Sweden
Jouni Ibrahim, Li Beirut Restaurant, United Arab Emirates

Chefs are limited to the ingredients selected by ALMA International School of Italian Cuisine – presented as a “mystery basket” and revealed just three days before the race. Four ingredients (rice, blue fish, legumes, fresh herbs) are obligatory. Four more items are selected from a list of eight, including eggs, breadcrumbs, celery and wine. Basics like salt, pepper, oil, garlic and onions are deemed “free use.”

Given only three days to strategize, the chefs must take into consideration uncertain weather conditions and a cooking time dependent on wind speed. With a volatile ingredient like rice dominating the dishes, this year’s Cooking Cup was designed to put the chefs’ skills to the test.

Race Day

7:30 a.m. – Venice is quiet; the city is suspended in a peaceful stillness. An early morning sun casts pools of golden light onto the Grand Canal as our water taxi passes beneath the majestic Rialto Bridge.

We’re on our way to the Rialto Market – a collection of covered stalls specializing in local produce and fresh, line-caught lagoon seafood – one of Venice’s go-to destinations for food lovers, with a history dating back to the 11th century.

Here, the chefs – paired with Italian translators/crewmembers – have less than one hour to purchase all competition ingredients before heading directly to the boats.

Once docked, a mad dash ensues. Teams speedily navigate the market’s narrow alleyways and aisles stacked with silvery fish and pyramids of brightly colored fruit.

Sweden’s Jacob Holmström, coached by his crewman, wraps his mouth around the Italian word for tarragon, “draaaagon-cello,” while gesturing at fresh bundles of the spiky herb.

The Australian team, led by chef Richard Ousby, finishes early. I catch them at a corner bar, gathered around a table littered with empty espresso cups, drinking Venetian Spritz – a bright orange, fizzy cocktail made with prosecco and Aperol.

The chefs grab their grocery bags and head to the island of S. Giorgio where they’ll board their boats and proceed to the starting buoy.

12:30 p.m. – The race begins. Today the winds are strong and the sea is rough. The boats hurtle around the length of Lido Island, expertly guided by their crews, tipping dramatically into the turns.

Down in the galleys, the chefs face the challenges of a moving kitchen. According to multiple crews, pots and pans went flying as the boats tacked into the wind at 45-degree angles. Israel’s David Frenkel later described how he managed to slice his fish – with one leg up, braced against a wall.

From start to finish, the entire race takes less than an hour. In the past, the race has taken up to three hours to complete. Across the finish line, the sails are dropped and chefs plate their dishes, to be passed directly to the awaiting jury.

The Jury

The 2012 Cooking Cup jury is a veritable “who’s who” panel of international culinary heavyweights, headed by Italian television personality, Francesa Barberini (Gambero Rosso food channel). Members include 2011 Acqua Panna & S. Pellegrino Young Chef of the Year, Daniel Berlin, and World’s 50 Best Restaurants chart toppers: Massimo Bottura, Sergio Herman, Mauro Colagreco, Luke Dale Roberts and Dmitry Shurhsakov – ranked #5, #21, #24, #74 and #99, respectively. Rounding out the jury are China’s Johnny Gu and Italy’s Davide Scabin and Franco Favaretto.

One by one, the sailboats pull alongside the Timoteo. Members of the jury crowd around a table, digging into each meticulously plated dish with gusto.

“This is [expletive] terrible!” The shout is accompanied by grimaces and followed by the swishing and spitting of wine.

It’s evident that rice is the make-or-break factor in this competition. Where some chefs fall short with gluey risotto, others excel by focusing on fresh seafood and creative flavor combinations.

A black veil suddenly drops over the city. All boats are called into shore; judging is temporarily suspended. Soaking rain slams the Timoteo. We dive below deck, climbing down steep, slippery stairs. The wooden boat lurches from side to side back to S. Giorgio Island, where the remainder of the judging occurs behind closed doors.

The Winner

With a strong finishing time and a dish that wowed the jury, 29-year-old Australian chef, Richard Ousby crushed the competition. Not only did Australia’s boat win the S. Pellegrino Cooking Cup, Ousby was separately awarded as the 2012 Acqua Panna & S. Pellegrino Young Chef of the Year.

The winning dish: charred mackerel with garlic custard, roasted onions and split peas served with a rice-infused tea.

Elyse Pasquale is a food and travel writer on the adventure of a lifetime. The objective: to fly 100,000 miles for 100 of the world’s best local meals in one year. With a philosophy that food is “living history,” Elyse believes the best way to understand and experience a new culture is through the cuisine. With two years of more than 50 food-filled journeys to 25 countries and counting, she takes culinary tourism to a new, mouth-watering extreme. Follow her adventures online at http://foodieinternational.com.

Video Of The Day: Human Towers In Tarragona, Spain

by Libby Zay on

Spain has a multitude of novel traditions. While bullfighting and tomato throwing festivals are known worldwide, there’s another custom that isn’t as widely recognized. Throughout Catalonia, people who create human towers – also known as castellers – compete to see who can create the tallest human pyramids. Only these flesh-and-muscle structures aren’t really pyramids at all; they are single and multiple-tiered assemblages that are supposed to resemble castles. The Catalan tradition is said to have begun in the 18th century, and today it is still going strong. These castells have a bulky, sturdy bottom with several layers, usually culminating with a small child on top.

As you’ll see in the video above by Mike Randolph from a recent festival in Tarragona, Spain, being a casteller can end in tumbles and falls. In fact, in the sport’s history, two castellers have died – one in 1983 and another more recently in 2006. Although it can be risky, the practice is considered sacred; the knowledge required for raising castells is traditionally passed down from generation to generation, much like gondoliering in Venice, Italy. In fact, UNESCO considers castellers to be amongst the “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.”

From Sunrise To Sunset By Boat In Venice, Italy

by Jessica Festa on



Created by Swiss filmmaker Joerg Niggli during two separate trips to Italy, “Venice in a Day” shows a day in Venice from sunrise to sunset. The time-lapse video shows viewers the beautiful city of Venice, or “The Floating City,” with a ride up the Grand Canal and a tour from Rialto Bridge to Piazza San Marco. There are also some unique shots being taken from the moving boat, which creates a really vivid, first-person perspective. During the creation, a budget-friendly Canon G10 was used along with Motion, After Effects and Final Cut Pro X used to edit. Music is by Heart of Champions, Chris Haigh and premiumbeat.com.