by Henry S. Lee, Houston, TX

My wife and I took a memorable 2-week Greek vacation in August ’07, spending four to five days each in Crete, Santorini and Athens. We traveled only to Greece because we had missed it on a previous trip and we wanted to focus on one country to experience it more in depth.

My wife and I are budget-conscious, independent travelers. As such, we take public transport, eat in low-key restaurants, shop for local groceries and visit neighborhoods not typically mentioned in tour books. One exception to this is our choice of lodging; we prefer higher-end rooms in which to unwind and be comfortable.

Crete

We started in Crete and found it to offer varied pursuits, from archaeological site visits and outdoor hiking to wine tasting. We based ourselves in Crete’s largest city, Heraklion, which had the trappings of a large town, including many restaurants, museums, outdoor markets and Orthodox churches.

We visited the large Minoan archaeological site at Knossos and the Boutari Winery at Skalani, both of which required a local bus ride (bus No. 2) from Heraklion’s bus station close to the port.

We took a one-way bus from Heraklion to Knossos and a one-way from Knossos to Skalani and planned to take a one-way back from Skalani to Heraklion, all of which cost a total of €6.20 ($9.60) for two. All of these routes are operated by local metro-type buses with ineffective air conditioning.

While Boutari is in Skalani, it is nowhere near the bus stop. In fact, bus route No. 2 ended at an intersection in what appeared to be a small residential neighborhood. Luckily, we tracked down a shopkeeper who showed us a “shortcut” to the winery, about a kilometer away. The “shortcut” took us away from the main road, through small trails around vineyards and past some small homes.

Boutari Winery is set on a very large tract of land along rolling hills. It is anchored by a modern visitor center where you can buy a tour, sample wine with crackers, etc., and, of course, buy wine to go. For the tour and a sampling of three additional wines not included in the tour, we paid €6 each. The tour made a quick stop in the actual vineyard, where we sampled the various grape types.

For someone planning a similar visit, I would advise taking a round-trip taxi from Knossos to Boutari. To avoid the uphill, kilometer-long hike back to the bus stop during the afternoon heat, we had the Boutari guide arrange a taxi to Knossos for us.

On to Santorini

Santorini strikes a balance between natural beauty and commercial development. In the town of Fira, we found jewelry and leather boutiques, T-shirt stands, souvlaki and gyro shops, dramatic beaches and wonderful sunsets and views.

Our hotel, Villa Renos (phone +30 22860 22848, www.villarenos.com), provided remarkable vantage points for enjoying the sunset. This 7-room, family-run hotel is managed by Vassilis, and the breakfasts, included in our room rate of €231, or $359, per night, were prepared by his parents. The fruits, vegetables and eggs were from their family farm, and the pastry spreads were homemade.

Our room, while fairly small and standard, was clean and comfortable. The highlight was the personal touch provided by Vassilis and his parents, who gave us local dining recommendations. One nearby place, Lucky’s Souvlaki, offered filling gyro souvlaki sandwiches for €1.50.

Villa Renos is located about a 10-minute walk from Fira’s bus station and about 30 steps down the hill from the main pedestrian walkway that borders the top of the cliffs. The hotels down this series of steps are not accessible by taxi. We saw some hotels farther down this path that were perhaps over a hundred steps away, so if your mobility is a bit limited, you should inquire about a hotel’s location and accessibility from the main road.

From our hotel room, we could see Santorini’s volcano top inside the caldera. There are many excursion options available to see the volcano, and we opted for the one that included a swim at the hot springs (€16, or $25, each).

We enjoyed the volcano but felt rushed, as we were allotted approximately an hour and a half to scurry to the top of the volcano and back down to our sailboat before heading out to the hot springs.

We would recommend skipping the hot springs. The water did not appear to be very clean and, due to the shallowness of the water, the excursion boats stopped about 30 meters short of the springs, requiring a swim and precluding nonswimmers from getting to the site.

Upon returning to the old port from the excursion, there were three options to get back up to the top of the caldera and the village of Fira: 1] taking a cable car (€4 per person), 2] riding a donkey up the stairs or 3] walking up the same set of stairs used by the donkeys (maybe 600 steps). We chose to take the donkeys and paid €5 per person, but others paid €4 per person the day prior, perhaps because of cruise ships tendering loads of tourists to the old port on the day we were there.

We traveled to Santorini primarily for relaxation and the views. As such, we sat on the beaches and took in every sunset, including one from Oia, a village about 25 minutes from Fira by bus. We paid €2.50 each for the round trip.

Many others had the same idea about traveling to Oia and returning immediately after sunset, so the 40- to 50-seat bus was crowded, with standing room only. Oia’s sunset was spectacular, and the effect of the setting rays on the primarily whitewashed stone facades of Oia’s buildings was no less dramatic.

Athens

In Athens, the sightseeing highlight was visiting the major archaeological sites, including the Acropolis, the Roman agora, the ancient agora, the Theater of Dionysus, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Keramikos (a cemetery) and the Theater of Herodes Atticus.

We purchased a combination ticket (€12, or $18.50) which provided access to all of these sites except Herodes Atticus, which is open only during live performances. However, we were able to stop and enjoy a view of the theater as we wound our way up the Acropolis from its northern entrance.

The combination ticket can be purchased from any of the six sites. Of those, we enjoyed the ancient agora the most as it was the best preserved, with a comprehensive museum and little ongoing renovation work. We skipped Keramikos since we could basically see the rows of ruins from the elevated street level.

While the major sites are located in a fairly compact area, we opted to buy the weekly public transport pass (€10 per person), entitling us to travel on the subway (which we used for multiple trips to the grocery store and sites), the tram (for a trip to the beachfront), trolley buses (to Panathinaiko Stadium) and blue buses (to Athens’ Bus Terminal B). We saved immeasurable time and gained convenience by not having to gather change and buy and validate tickets every time we stepped onto public transport.

Delphi day trip

As for the buses to Terminal B, we took No. 24 from Amalias Avenue, just west of the National Garden, to Terminal B to take a regional bus on a day trip to Delphi. Terminal B, on the Praktoria stop, is located off the bus route in a fairly nondescript group of buildings. We had the good fortune of finding a local who discerned that we were looking for Terminal B and alerted us as we arrived at the Praktoria stop.

Delphi is very much worth a visit, but be sure to plan enough time to visit the Sanctuary of Apollo, the Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, the old gymnasium and the Delphi museum. We took the second scheduled bus of the day from Athens and had only about 2½ hours to see Delphi. (We had to skip the museum.) Add the fact that the Delphi bus stop is about one kilometer (including hills) from the sanctuaries, and we felt rushed on our visit.

If you are planning a day trip, I’d recommend taking the very first bus of the day (7:30) from Athens to Delphi (€13 per person, one way) and the next-to-the-last bus on the return (departing at 4:00). I would advise against taking the last bus back to Athens in case it gets canceled unexpectedly. I’d also suggest buying your return ticket immediately upon arrival in Delphi.

The trip takes about three hours each way, with a stop at a small hotel just east of Livadia for a short break.

Final thoughts

As for general observations about travel in Greece, I would recommend having plenty of cash on hand. Lodging aside, plan on about 65% of your expenditures to be in cash, as many sites, shops and restaurants do not accept credit cards.

If you plan on significant walking, wear closed-toe shoes. (My wife packed just a pair of sandals for the entire trip.) The rocky paths and uneven terrain and simply the amount of walking exposes you to unintentionally stubbing your toes if they are not protected.

Lastly, use plenty of sunscreen and lip balm for protection.

Doing these few simple things will make your trip much more enjoyable.

Hollywood goes to Chile

Chile’s landscape stretches from the northern deserts of Atacama to the southern glaciers of Patagonia, adorning it with a diverse and alluring array of scenery that is catching the eyes of Hollywood filmmakers and setting Chile apart as a hotspot for movie-making.

The Atacama Desert was recently selected as a backdrop for the next James Bond adventure, “Quantum of Solace,” which will be released this coming November.

Daniel Craig and the movie crew set up camp in Sierra Gorda, a town with a population of 1,000, in the Antofagasta region of northern Chile. Scenes were filmed against the rolling, rust-colored hills of the vast and majestic desert. Through his many adventures, James Bond has traveled to select intriguing locations around the world, and now Chile joins the exclusive list.

All, however, was not well on the set. Sierra Gorda’s mayor, Carlos Lopez, led a protest against the production. Mayor Lopez reportedly was miffed that Chile was being used in the film to represent its rival country, Bolivia — a sensitive issue in those parts.

Chile annexed a considerable chunk of mineral-rich northern territory from Bolivia and Peru in a victorious 19th-century war against its neighbors. Hard feelings still persist in all three nations.

New routes to Torres del Paine

Puerto Natales, the main gateway to Torres del Paine National Park, now boasts flights that connect the city with the rest of the country, including Santiago, Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas.

This development has been made possible thanks to the new service provided by SKY Airline, which lands at the “Teniente Julo Gallardo” airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Air Comet Chile service covers weekend flights.

Until now, visitors to Torres del Paine and other nearby attractions had to fly to Punta Arenas, which is three hours away by bus or car. These new flights allow flexibility for travelers to Chile’s Patagonia region.

Blue whales discovered

As Chile works to turn its waters into a whale sanctuary, it is quickly becoming the number-one whale-watching location in the world. It has been known as the home to humpback whales and has been monitored regularly for the rare blue whale, at one time nearly hunted to extinction.

Recently, three dedicated scientists made the exciting discovery of a previously unknown group of blue whales off the coast of the remote island of Melinka in southern Chile. This discovery is sure to bring even more whale lovers to the beautiful waters of Chile to catch a glimpse of these magnificent mammals.

For additional information, contact the Chilean Consulate (1734 Massachusetts Avenue NW., Washington, D.C. 20036; phone 202/530-4104 or visit www.chile-usa.org or www. sernatur.cl).

There’s a small hotel

For a more intimate retreat from Santiago’s hustle and bustle, Hotel Orly (Pedro de Valdivia 027, Santiago, Chile; phone 011-562-231-8947, fax 011-562-334-4403, e-mail info@orlyhotel.com or visit www.orlyhotel.com) is my personal favorite. I’ve stayed there twice.

Situated in the Providencia sector of Santiago, close to the Pedro de Valdivia subway station, the 1940s French-style mansion has 28 cozy rooms.

Room rates do not include breakfast but are reasonable: $95 single, $110 twin, $125 king or $140 junior suite. A special senior package, for adults over 65, offers a 10% discount and includes breakfast.

Cafetto Café, in the lobby, is usually packed with business travelers and well-dressed locals.

In the footsteps of Pablo Neruda

In 1994, upon the release of the Italian film “Il Postino” (“The Postman”), I became a fervent fan of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, a 1971 Nobel Laureate for Literature and one of the greatest Spanish-language poets of the 20th century.

Pablo Neruda was a prolific writer of passionate love poems, historical epics and political masterpieces. Forced into exile for his political views as a senator in the Chilean government, Neruda went abroad to be with his supporters and admirers throughout the world, including Pablo Picasso.

Based on true events, the film portrays the story of a shy postman who develops a growing friendship with the exiled Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. The film was a worldwide success. In 1995, “Il Postino” was nominated for five Academy Awards. It won for Best Original Dramatic Score.

If traveling to Isla Negra without an organized tour, from Hotel Orly simply take the metro from Pedro de Valdivia to Universidad de Santiago. When you exit the metro, you will end up in Santiago’s Terminal de Sur. Ask for the next bus to Isla Negra. There are frequent departures, and a friendly local will gladly show you the path to Neruda’s home.

The home is open 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, Jan. 2-Feb. 28, and 10-6 Tuesday through Sunday the rest of the year. A tour (in English) of the home costs approximately $8, and reservations are required. Visit www.fundacionneruda.org.

Although the people of the world were Neruda’s travel companions and he lived in various countries on several continents throughout his life, Chile was his birthplace, and his home in Isla Negra was his true residence.

Originally a cottage of 70 square meters that he bought in 1939, the house was consistently remodeled to accommodate Neruda’s magical vision of life. One of the very first modifications he made to the house was the addition of a grand window in his bedroom, overlooking the crashing whitecaps. He was fascinated by Chile’s seas.

by Susan Lowe, Covington, WA

“You’re stopping over in Hong Kong again?”

My husband and I must have heard this question a dozen times in the weeks leading up to the trip I had planned for us in January ’08. One well-meaning friend even asked, “What is there to do in Hong Kong besides shop?”

I had been in Hong Kong twice in the previous 12 months as stopovers on other Asian trips, but on this trip I would be heading for all the fascinating and inexpensive shopping available at the night bazaars in Bangkok and other Thailand destinations and I wanted to keep as many of my travel dollars in my pocket and as much luggage space as possible available for that. My husband has little, if any, interest in shopping.

What my friends didn’t know is that Hong Kong offers travelers much more than shopping, and I set out to prove it by including a 3-day Hong Kong stopover on this trip.

Getting settled

After arriving at Hong Kong International Airport, we used the incredibly efficient and self-explanatory Airport Express to Kowloon (HK$140, or US$18, for both of us), then took the complimentary hotel shuttle from there to the venerable Kimberley Hotel (phone 2723 3888, www.kimberley.com.hk), located just off Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Our first stop after checking into the hotel was the Hong Kong Tourism Board office at the Star Ferry concourse. I explained to the helpful tourist guide there that we had visited Hong Kong before and had seen most of the museums and “big sights” so were interested in tours that did not end up with several hours of “free time” at a shopping mall or outdoor market.

Together we selected the “Land Between” full-day coach tour (HK$420, or US$54, each, including lunch) for the second full day of our stopover. Tickets in hand, we finished the day with a quick, early-evening trip on the Star Ferry to view the city from the harbor and a nice dinner at P.J. Murphy’s Irish Country Pub (32 Nathan Rd.) near our hotel plus an attempt to adjust our sleep schedules to our new time zone.

Independent exploration

On our first full day, we ate well at the Kimberley Hotel’s excellent breakfast buffet, then headed to the Star Ferry concourse to catch a ferry to Lamma Island. The 40-minute transfer required two ferry trips, with little waiting. Views of the city were somewhat obstructed by fog on the trip to Lamma Island, but there was plenty of activity on the waterway to watch.

Once on Lamma Island, we set out to complete a well-signed, 90-minute walk from Yung Shue Wan to Sok Kwu Wan, the island’s two main villages. The trail took us by several nice beaches and residential areas. Cars are prohibited on the island, and most of it seemed nicely rural and slow paced.

The island is busiest on warm-weather weekends, when Hong Kong residents want to be out-of-doors and away from the heat of the city. Our walk — on a mid-January weekday — was not only pleasantly uncrowded but almost completely free of tourists.

Fresh air and the exposure to sunshine helped reset our body clocks, and the exercise felt great after the long flight the day before. At the end of the trail was an array of seafood restaurants, well stocked with refreshing cold drinks and snacks and convenient for either having lunch, as we did, or just awaiting the arrival of the ferry back to Hong Kong.

Later that afternoon we took the subway to the Jordan Road station, site of the Temple Street Night Market. In keeping with our pact to avoid shopping, we strolled among the vendors as they set up their open-air storefronts and unpacked goods to sell.

We spent a happy hour at the beautifully atmospheric Tai Pan Reflexology Beauty & Foot Spa (83 Nathan Road), receiving restorative foot massages from two handsome and skilled masseurs (about US$30). The spa provided us with a locker for our shoes and gave us slippers and tea, all of which added to the relaxing experience.

When we emerged, the sun had gone down and the Temple Street market was in full swing. Instead of shopping, we sampled steamed buns and other Chinese favorites prepared at some of the dozens of street food stalls, soaking up the street life on display. Slowly we made our way amidst a tide of shoppers and commuters along the mile or two back to our hotel.

Day tour

The next morning we joined about 15 others for the prearranged HKTB “Land Between” tour. Despite there being only a handful of Americans on the tour, the tour guide’s comments and prerecorded narrative were presented in excellent English.

The tour included stops at a series of interesting temples, lookouts, old villages and other sites in the New Territories, the “land between” Hong Kong and China.

Our young Hong Kong guide’s willingness to comment on the seemingly endless government highrise housing and the new developments that are displacing traditional ways of life provided a poignant point of view we wouldn’t have heard any other way.

The 6-hour tour ended with a communal Chinese-style late-afternoon meal for participants. We enjoyed comparing travel notes with the others, some of whom were on their first trip to Hong Kong and some who had been coming since the 1960s.

Our last evening in Hong Kong was spent strolling along the famed Hong Kong waterfront and selecting a restaurant from among the many offerings along Nathan Road. On our walk back to the Kimberley Hotel, we stopped at what must be the most glamorous YMCA in the world, the Salisbury YMCA (41 Salisbury Road), to use their excellent and well-priced Internet services. Confirmation of our Cathay Pacific flight to Bangkok at noon the next day was quick and easy.

One last stop

On our final morning in Hong Kong, we showered and packed. We both were pleased that after some moderate physical and mental stimulation over the past few days in Hong Kong, we felt our jet lag was mostly behind us.

After breakfast, I left my husband to check us out of the hotel while I had one last stroll down Nathan Road. I had a must-do stop in mind: Babila.

Babila (36-44 Nathan Rd.) is my favorite place in the world to buy handbags, wallets and other small leather goods. As any American female between 14 and 94 knows, a stylish handbag is the single most important accessory a fashion-conscious woman can own. In the U.S., a quality, trendy handbag, particularly a designer bag, can cost the price of an international airline ticket. And it’s not easy finding a bag that’s well designed and fashionable but also different from all the others.

Could I really pass up an opportunity to get a good-quality handbag that was fresh and up to date and looked almost as good as “the real thing” for a price as low as $25-$75?

Luckily, the Babila store opened promptly at 9 a.m. I quickly found the perfect “it” bag for spring and bought a couple of wallets for gifts, too, for a total of HK$540 (US$70).

Swinging down Nathan Road back to the hotel with my new Babila bag on my arm, ready for the Airport Express trip to the airport and then the banquet of shopping that awaited in Thailand, I thought of my determination to really follow through on making a stopover in Hong Kong that involved absolutely no shopping. Maybe next time.

by Yvonne Michie Horn

There is a yearly check Rosie Atkins, curator of London’s Chelsea Physic Garden, never fails to write and get in the mail on time. The check is for five pounds. So it has been, without a payment missed, since 1722.

In 1722, after nearly 50 years in existence, the garden — established by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London in 1673 as an educational tool for apprentices learning to grow and use medicinal plants — was experiencing financial difficulty. Paying the rent had become a struggle.

Hans Sloane, a noted physician of the time who had taken over the freehold of the Chelsea Physic Garden in 1713, struck a deal. On condition that the garden “be for ever kept up and maintained as a physick garden,” the lease would be five pounds a year in perpetuity.

An additional requirement was the annual delivery of 50 pressed and mounted plant specimens to the Royal Society, the United Kingdom’s national academy of science, of which Sloane was president, until 2,000 were received. The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries jumped to the task, with 3,700 tallied by 1795. Those early specimens remain housed in London’s Natural History Museum.

Botanical cures

The 5-pound rent check (equivalent to $10), written by Rosie Atkins today, is paid to Lord Cadogan, heir and overseer of Sir Hans Sloane’s estates — a legacy that has made the family one of the richest in the United Kingdom.

“Hans Sloane’s agreement ushered in Chelsea’s golden age as the world’s most richly stocked botanic garden,” commented Atkins as we strolled the garden’s quadrants in October ’07 under a sky threatening a downpour. “A new concept was taking hold: the treatment of disease rather than the chasing out of spirits. Physicians could not study medicine without studying botany.”

We took a few moments to peek into one of the oldest glasshouses in the UK, where Momordica charantia, known commonly as bitter gourd, clings to the wall. Bitter gourd is used in traditional Chinese medicine and is the subject of research into its usefulness in treating malaria, HIV and diabetes.

“There is not a plant in the garden without a story,” Atkins said.

A 300-year-old cinchona tree captured my attention.

“From the Andes,” Atkins related, “where the powers of the ‘curious powder’ from its bark were long known by local tribes. Sloane began to invest in ‘Peruvian bark,’ as it was called, and began to prescribe it for malaria. Its active ingredient, of course, is quinine. Peruvian bark caused Sloane’s reputation as a physician to soar.”

A quadrant containing the Pharmaceutical Garden displays plants of proven value in 10 current disciplines of medicinal practice, among them Madagascar periwinkle, its alkaloids used in anticancer drugs, and meadowsweet, the plant from which salicylic acid was first made in 1835, leading to the introduction of aspirin in 1899.

Nearby, the Garden of World Medicine exhibits plants used for medicinal purposes within a variety of cultures. The Historical Walk charts the garden’s history with plants introduced over the centuries by the garden’s curators and other notable botanists.

Special corners

The head gardener, Mark Powsillo, paused in his pruning to chat a moment. Feeling a bit silly about posing such a question in the midst of an abundance of the unusual, I asked if he had a favorite plant.

“The olive tree” was his unhesitating response. “It grows right outside my office window, the largest fruiting olive in England.”

The garden is especially proud of its newly renovated rock garden, considered Europe’s oldest in public view. Created in 1773 for “plants as will thrive in stony soils.” it includes pieces of the Tower of London.

Of equal pride is a new, state-of-the-art composting area deemed of such importance that it was officially opened by Princess Alexandra, cousin of the Queen.

“Wonderful soil, we have here,” said Atkins, “as it should be after feeding itself for 300 years.”

Through it all, wildlife flourishes. Birds and butterflies flit by; pond inhabitants — frogs, toads and newts — take care of the slug population.

Visitors wishing to simply sit and enjoy the garden’s tranquility can do so in a space set aside among an abundance of flowering shrubs where rare peonies play late-spring showoff.

Growing in importance

A replica statue of Sloane (the original is in the British Museum) claims center stage in the 3.8-acre, brick-walled garden — appropriately so, for it was he who provided the means for the garden to remain true to its origins and allow it to come into ever-increasing relevancy today.

“While the European discovery and collection of new plant species was the primary focus of botanical gardens in former times, “Atkins explained, “the loss of species and habitats through ecological destruction is the pressing concern today. Here, this garden plays an ever-increasing role in propagating endangered plants and fostering programs to reconstitute destroyed natural habitats. Along with that, the study of medicinal usage continues.”

In 1673, the garden’s location was far removed from the city center. Surrounded by green fields, market gardens and orchards, it bordered the river Thames where the Society’s brightly painted barge used for royal pageants and plant collecting expeditions was docked.

Through the years, the garden has lost but a smidgen of land. Embankment of the River Thames in 1874 took its riverfront and turned it into a busy thoroughfare; a strip was lost in the widening of bordering Royal Hospital Road.

“Five pounds for perpetuity!” Atkins never fails to marvel. “Do you have any idea what this central-London acreage is worth? Down the road a house is for sale for 32 million! If it were not for Hans Sloane and that 5-pound check, this garden long ago would have been bulldozed.”

Chelsea Physic Garden

Chelsea Physic Garden (66 Royal Hospital Rd., London SW3 4HS, England; phone +44 [0] 20 7352 5646, www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk) in 2008 is open March 19-Oct. 31, Wednesday-Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; there are special winter openings. Charges for entry are £7 (near $14) adults and £5 students and children. A café serves light lunches and tea Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

While in London — Not to be missed is the Museum of Garden History (Lambeth Palace Rd., London SE1 7LB, U.K.; phone +44 [0)] 20 7401 8865, www.museum gardenhistory.org), dedicated to Britain’s national passion, the love of gardens and gardening. Located on the banks of the River Thames opposite the Houses of Parliament, the museum is housed in what for 900 years was the parish church of Mary-at-Lambeth.

Open Tuesday-Sunday 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Suggested donation, £3. The café serves light lunches and desserts.

Staying nearby — Draycott Hotel (26 Cadogan Gardens, London SW3 2RP, U.K.; phone +44 [0] 20 7730 6466, fax 7730 0236 or visit www.draycotthotel.com. . . or, from the U.S., phone 800/747-4942).

The Draycott is within easy walking distance of the Physic Garden. Located just off Sloane Square on property leased from Hans Sloane’s heirs, it has much in common with the Physic Garden. It’s a boutique hotel of 35 rooms and suites, and its rooms at the back of the property either open onto or look over a private square. All guests are invited to make use of the spacious garden.

Doubles start at £185 ($363) and include, along with highly personalized service, afternoon tea, dinner-hour champagne and evening hot chocolate.

The Goring (Beeston Place, London SW1W OJW, U.K.; phone +44 [0] 20 7396 9000, fax 7834 4393, www.goringhotel.co.uk), an Edwardian-era hotel of 71 rooms and suites, is located within walking distance of the British Museum of Garden History. It, too, boasts the big-city rarity of a private garden. Doubles start at £229.

My stays at both the Draycott and Goring hotels in October ’07 were complimentary. — Y.H.

by Richard Berner, San Diego, CA

Martha and I, like many travelers, are drawn to Paris and seem to return there more often than to any other European city. On a recent 3-week trip to France, we spent our first week in Paris.

Getting there

We left San Diego on American Airlines during the last week of April ’07, connecting to Paris through JFK. We were able to use frequent-flyer miles to book our flights.

We had a delay leaving New York due to a mechanical problem and landed an hour late in Paris the next morning. Other than that, the flight was fine, the personnel were friendly, our luggage arrived with us and the food was okay. The flight wasn’t full, so we were able to change seats and have more room to stretch out.

After clearing Customs and Immigration, we went to the RER (the suburban extension of the Métro system) station located in Terminal 2 at CDG Airport. There was a long line at the ticket counter, but I had enough euro coins left over from prior trips to buy tickets from the automated machine, which had no line. The machine didn’t accept American credit cards or euro bills. The cost of the train into central Paris was €8.10 ($12.70).

We rode the RER to Paris’ Gare du Nord train station, where I bought Carte Orange passes. These passes are one of Paris’ best bargains, at €16 ($25) for unlimited travel on both the central Paris Métro and buses for a week. They are available Monday through Wednesday and require an extra passport-sized photo.

Settling in

I tried to call Brigitte, the agent for the apartment we had rented, and got her voice mail. We hopped on the Métro and rode to the Richard Lenoir station in the 11th arrondissement, where I called again and did contact her.

We walked five blocks to the apartment and met Brigitte. We were pleased with the accommodations, where we would spend the next eight nights. We paid €108 ($170) per night for a one-bedroom apartment that was two to three times the size of most hotel rooms in Paris. Brigitte welcomed us with fresh flowers, a bottle of champagne and a large bottle of Coke.

The apartment had a small open kitchen, a dining area, and a sleeper sofa in the living room. The bathroom was spacious, with lots of storage, and the toilet was in a separate closet.

We had two large, almost-floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and one in the bedroom, each with a view of the tree-filled Square Maurice Gardette across the street. The bedroom had two single beds that could be pushed together. The television in the apartment received 200 channels, including six in English.

The only negatives were the bright security light outside one window and the occasional noise from the park. Still, all in all, we found it far preferable to a hotel room.

Brigitte (phone 31 1 60753336) represents several apartments in that building plus a few others in Paris. This location (www.vrbo.com/23511) was out of the usual tourist flow, which we prefer. This is the third time we have rented an apartment in Paris for a week or more.

Communications

We carried an international cell phone with us on this trip. Talking was expensive at $1.50 per minute, but it was very handy when needed. The phone (www.mobalrental.com) cost $99 and there was no charge when not using it. We have found it easy to activate before departing on a trip.

There was a convenient cybercafé right around the corner, on rue St. Ambroise, for e-mails home.

In our neighborhood, our favorite café was La Tusain, on the corner of rue St. Ambroise and ave. Parmentier. We had lunch there a couple of times, and tartines (open-face sandwiches) cost about €7. Our dinners cost approximately €30 for two, including wine.

We had the same young waitress a few times and she remembered us and was very helpful but didn’t speak much more English than I spoke French.

New and familiar sights

While in Paris, we visited some new places and some familiar ones. We’d seen most of the city’s major sights and museums on past trips. One favorite of ours is the Rodin museum, Hôtel Biron. We have been there at least six or seven times and this trip was no exception.

It’s a treat to see Rodin’s art in the same place where much of it was created. The grounds are park-like and the café was a reasonably priced place for lunch (€20 for both of us).

We spent time wandering through Île de la Cité, Île St. Louis and the Latin Quarter. I had downloaded a free podcast of “Historic Paris” from Rick Steves’ website (www. ricksteves.com) and we both listened to it on my MP3 player with a splitter for two as we walked around.

We had our gelato fix at the Berthillon shop on Île St. Louis, a tradition for us. We also had a good dinner in the Latin Quarter at a vegetarian restaurant, La Grenier de Notre Dame (18, rue de la Bucherie; phone 01 43 29 98 29). Our two dinners cost €21 and a bottle of excellent organic wine was €16.

We visited the Musée Marmottan and admired their wonderful collection of over 100 Claude Monet paintings. They were arranged somewhat chronologically, so we could see how his style changed through the years. We had wanted to visit the Marmottan since seeing Monet’s home at Giverny last year.

From the museum, we walked back to the Métro through the Jardin du Ranelagh and stopped to watch young children enjoying the old-fashioned, hand-cranked carousel. They all had sharpened sticks to try to catch the brass rings as they went around. A few of the children were too small to reach the rings, so the operators would help them.

The Musée Jacquemart-André in the 8th arrondissement was another first-time visit for us. The lavish home and art collection of this wealthy couple now serve as a museum. It was an excellent insight into the good life of the 19th century.

Old vs. new

We are always attracted to marché aux puces (flea markets), so on this trip we visited the largest one in Paris, at St. Ouen. It is held on Saturday, Sunday and Monday and features everything you can think of but primarily antiques. There are over 2,000 sellers. It is accessed by the Porte de Clignancourt Métro stop at the north end of line No. 4.

On the outskirts of Paris I visited La Défense. This collection of modern office buildings is controversial, but most Parisians appreciate that it was not built in the more historic center of the city.

The smoggy views from the observation level of the picture-frame-shaped La Grande Arche included the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe.

There is an interesting museum along the Esplanade de la Defénse explaining the history and development of the area. I enjoyed visiting the modernistic buildings of La Defénse, but they are not to everyone’s taste.

Montmarte

We took a walk through Montmarte, somewhat following a tour from a Frommer’s “Walking Guide.” I have been interested in renting an apartment in Montmarte but was concerned by negative reports on parts of it. My conclusion was that the southern parts of the area appear questionable but the rest could be a good area to stay in.

We had lunch alfresco at La Maison Rose (2, rue de l’Abreuvoir). I had a very good salad with slices of turkey on it and Martha had an asparagus appetizer; we shared. With two glasses of wine, our lunch cost €22.

We had arranged to meet our neighbor from San Diego, Robert, as he was in Paris on business. We met at Willy’s Wine Bar (13, rue Petits Champs), just behind the Jardin du Palais Royal, and had a predinner glass of wine. Willy’s serves food, but on Robert’s recommendation we decided to go to a nearby Thai restaurant, Baan Boran (43, rue Montpensier; phone 01 40 15 90 45), and had an excellent dinner. The total for three people with wine was €120 — a minor splurge, for us, but not that bad by Parisian standards.

A few more sights

We also went to see Monet’s water lilies (“Les Nymphéas”) at the Musée de l’Orangerie. This museum had recently reopened with redesigned skylights to better illuminate the paintings. Eight beautiful paintings about seven feet tall and up to 50 feet long are displayed in two oval-shaped rooms arranged so you are surrounded by these impressive pieces of art.

One morning we took a cruise on the Canal St. Martin, boarding the canal boat at the Paris Arsenal Marina near the Bastille. Most of the first two kilometers were underground, below downtown Paris, with occasional openings for air and light. We came up near the Place de la République and traveled a few more miles to Parc de la Villette, on the northern edge of the city.

The narration, in accented English, was interesting, and the cruise gave us a different perspective of Paris. We went through several locks, rising 24 feet during the ride. The 2½-hour trip cost €15 each (phone 01 42 3915 00, www.canauxrama.com).

Summing up

During our week in Paris we ate in several locations, including having dinner in our apartment on two nights with food purchased from a neighborhood charcuterie and a restaurant.

We had breakfast daily in the apartment with yogurt and fruit from a nearby grocery store and/or croissants from our local boulangerie, plus coffee made in our American-style coffeemaker. We still would usually stop for café au lait or cappuccino in one of our local cafés when we left for the day.

Euros were readily available from ATMs all over Paris. I had an incident with an over-helpful bystander (scam artist) at one outside ATM, so I usually sought out ones inside.

We had nice weather every day except for one night when a storm moved in and we were treated to heavy rain and a thunder-and-lightning show. This was one of the nights we ate in the apartment, and it felt very cozy.

It was nice to have a park across the street rather than having a view of the next apartment building. The park was full of nannies and moms with young children plus elderly men playing boules, or petanque, the French version of bocce. There were very few homeless men in the park, fewer than I see at home.

We would recommend the restaurant guide “Eating and Drinking in Paris” by Andy Herbach and Michael Dillon. It is the most complete one I have seen.

Contrary to their reputation, we found people in Paris generally helpful and did not have any negative encounters. We saw occasional anti-American graffiti, generally having to do with the war in Iraq or our leaders. That animosity didn’t seem to carry over to American visitors. Paris was as wonderful as it has been on previous trips.

If anyone has any questions or wants further information, feel free to contact us c/o ITN.

Next month, Alsace and Burgundy.

by Wayne Wirtanen (Third of three parts on The Gambia and the Cape Verde Islands, jump to part 1, part 2, part 3)

Volcanoes, salt and slavery
When I opened the Bradt Travel Guide “Cape Verde Islands” (Globe Pequot Press; www.bradtguides. com), which I bought for an October ’07 trip, I was fascinated with one of the opening comments: “When we commissioned the first edition of this guide in 1997 it seemed an almost impossibly obscure destination.”

Even though 10 years had gone by since that comment was made, and although tourism there had probably grown, I expected that a trip to this rarely visited volcanic archipelago — off the coast of West Africa, some 600 miles south of the Canary Islands and scattered from 275 to 480 miles off the coast of Senegal — would be a fine source of “soft adventure.”

Plate tectonics

The 10 principal islands of the Cape Verde Islands were formed as a result of plate tectonics.

Segments of the Earth’s crust apparently “float” over a molten core. Some of these enormous “plates” constantly grind past one another in a “stop and go” manner, creating earthquake zones such as California’s San Andreas Fault.

When these plates collide, one edge of a crust is forced under another, forming not only earthquake zones but wrinkling the Earth’s crust, raising mountain ranges. This explains why fossils of sea creatures are found today in South America’s Andes Mountains. Additionally, sometimes “hot spots” are formed where molten magma rises to the surface. (Think Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii.)

As eons pass, the Earth’s plates “float” along over these “hot spots,” creating chains of volcanic islands. This is what formed the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean and the Macronesian islands in the Atlantic of which the Azores, Canaries and Cape Verde Islands are a part.

The time scale of these island-forming forces is mind-numbing. Cape Verde’s Fogo Island, the youngest, at 100,000 years old, still has an active volcano. It last erupted in 1995. The islands of Sal, Boa Vista and Maio are flat. They have been around long enough, some 26 million years, to have had most of the signs of their volcanic origins eroded away.

The reason I’m inserting this geography lesson at the beginning of my trip report is that the geologists who were formulating the theory of plate tectonics were scorned by most scientists until the late 1960s when research using radioisotope dating resulted in a new field of geologic study.

If you received most of your formal education prior to those days (as I did), then you missed learning about the, now, generally accepted theory that changed the earth sciences and finally explained not only the forces that generate earthquakes and volcanoes but why these occur where they occur.

It’s not too late to get up to speed on geology lessons that you may have missed. You really do have to keep up with your grandchildren so they don’t continue to ask, “Grandma, were there dinosaurs when you were young?”

If you have computer access, punch up “plate tectonics” for a Wikipedia display and explanation. Also, I highly recommend the book (but, better, the book on tape produced by Harper Audio) “Krakatoa” by Simon Winchester.

But back to my trip report! Volcanoes, salt and slavery are part of the Cape Verde Islands’ history specifically because of their origin and location. These three factors were responsible for some of the memorable highlights of my soft-adventure experience.

Spectacular, volcano-produced scenery

Imagine a thin book opened slightly and standing on edge with the spine up. Imagine driving on a road along the spine of a mountain (the Ribeira Grande) that looks like that book, with views on both sides down into 3,000-foot-deep valleys and with a continuing series of dramatic, rugged mountain ranges as far as the eye can see.

On the island of Santo Antão, farming villages at the bottoms of these canyons seem to be cut off from the outside world by the colossal volcanic walls.

Viewing this unfolding scenic panorama is a one-of-a-kind experience. The drive is not one to generate fear of heights, as some do that I’ve been on in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. Very sturdy stone barriers line both sides of the wide roadway, and the curves generally are gradual.

Slave-built roads

In the Cape Verde Islands, roads, even sidewalks and public squares, are made of small, irregular stone cubes, probably set in sand. The volcanic stone readily fractures into this size and shape.

The white lines down the center of the roads are not painted; they are hand-set cubes of a white stone also found there. We frequently saw individual men along the roadside breaking large stones into these small cubes.

We were told that these cubes are sold to the government to be used for road repair and are a source of income for ambitious and strong young men.

Slave labor was originally used to produce this durable but labor-intensive paving system, still in use in the hundreds of miles of roads throughout the islands. The roads that I saw were all in good repair, but the cobblestone-like surface generated a constant minor rumbling in the tires of vehicles.

Salt

On the island of Sal (Latin for “salt”), there is a no-longer-used source of salt that was a very valuable commodity as far back as 400 years ago. Today Sal is a popular destination for seaside watersports and for the reported health benefits of immersion in very salty brine.

We visited a salt lake at the bottom of an extinct volcano that is one-half mile from the coast and below sea level. This source of salt was mined heavily for centuries, the salt being replaced through the evaporation of nearby seawater that continues to seep into the crater.

As recently as 1985, as much as 25 tons of salt per hour (!) were pulled out on a tramway built through a tunnel carved through the crater sidewall.

We walked through the tunnel for the view of the salt lake and a health spa that is apparently very popular with Europeans. We shared the tunnel on a hot, sunny day with whole families in bathing suits and towels, their cheeks rosy and their faces filled with smiles.

Stone walls divide the lake into “ponds” of varying salt densities, with corresponding colors of blue, pink and green. We were told that a sequence of immersions in increasingly briny ponds was a standard procedure for treatment at this spa.

I can imagine that the slaves who mined the salt in the bad old days would be stunned to see the modern spa buildings and the parade of healthy-looking families now paying to take a series of soaks in colored saltwater.

Mirage on the desert

On the island of Sal there’s a spot where they take all the visitors to observe a mirage. On a flat sandy desert, this spot reveals a mirage very like the ones that appear all the time in cartoons.

In the middle distance I saw what appeared to be a large, shimmering, beautiful blue body of water with a palm tree for emphasis. It was absolutely believable. If I had been alone and lost in this desert, I surely would have headed off in that direction expecting to find cool, clear water. The palm tree was there, in fact, but the water was not.

And, yes, one can photograph a mirage. My photos clearly show the bright blue image, but, because of some haze and the apparent distance involved, they would not reproduce well in black and white.

If you have Internet access, punch up “desert mirage” for an explanation of this dramatic phenomenon.

African slave trade

Cape Verde figured prominently in the African slave trade in the 1600s and 1700s.

These islands presented some advantages for slave traders. They were closer to the Americas than the African mainland, which meant less traveling time. Less travel time meant less loss of slaves due to dreadful conditions in crowded sailing ships.

It’s estimated that some 3,000 slaves a year left the Cape Verdes in the peak years of 1609 and 1610.

The other big advantage for slave traders in these islands was the fact that slaves for sale here were “seasoned.” That is, during their brief stay away from the African continent where they originally had been captured, they had become somewhat used to their situation, were sure to be healthy and had learned a few words of Portuguese so that they could follow orders.

Although the “business” of slavery ended in the Cape Verdes in 1854, slaves already here continued to be only partly free well into the 1900s. The island nation finally declared independence from Portugal in 1975

On our visit to the town of Praia on the island of São Tiago (Santiago), we saw the carefully preserved/restored slave days “business district.” The tiny, dark stone hovels on “Main Street” were the homes of the slave traders. Slave quarters were worse, of course.

The grimmest sight of all was a 10-foot-tall pelhourinho (pillory) used for the punishment of slaves. On the top of this slender stone obelisk were mounted four radiating horizontal metal bars. Slaves being punished were made to stand in the center of the town square with their arms held over their heads by chains — public displays meant to discourage disobedience.

I’ve seen a similar pillory at the other end of the slave trade in a preserved “old town” slave-selling square in the coastal Brazilian city of Salvador.

A major positive result of these preserved “business districts” is that the dreadful aspects of the slave trade have not been hidden or erased and that future generations can learn from the past.

Cruise information

On this 12-day trip, an MS Bremen cruise on which I was a guest of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises (631 Commack Rd., Ste. 1A, Commack, NY 11725; 877/445-7447 or 631/858-1252, www.hl-cruises.com), we embarked in the Canary Islands, visited four of the Cape Verde Islands and then made our way to Africa’s tiniest country, The Gambia, about which I wrote in my last two columns. We disembarked in Dakar, Senegal. (This cruise is not scheduled for a repeat in 2008.)

Exclusive of international airfare, the cost started at $5,425 per person, double occupancy, for an outside cabin and included full board, mini-bar, all tips on board, lectures by experts, and all landings and tours on the ship’s Zodiacs.

by Marilyn Lutzker, Sunnyside, NY

Vienna is an urban delight. It is a majestic and opulent city for lovers of art, architecture, music, coffee and pastry.

Everywhere I went in this outdoor museum, something enticed me to look more closely. The city’s Baroque past was everywhere. Men and women of stone and marble stared out from doorways of elaborately ornamented buildings while carved faces peered down from amongst the swirls and curves above their windows. The statues that couldn’t fit at eye level adorned the parapets — a veritable army of warriors, saints and historic figures living at the rooflines.

Scattered throughout this Baroque extravaganza are works of the Secessionists, architects and designers of the turn of the 20th century who developed the Austrian version of an artistic style inspired by elements of Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movement. Their buildings are simpler, more elegant and more colorful than the ornate structures which surround them. This diversity is one reason that UNESCO has declared the historic center of Vienna a World Heritage Site.

The glory of Vienna is that within this architectural splendor there is a vibrant, lively city.

I strolled along bustling pedestrian avenues lined with high-end shops and equally thriving neighborhood shopping streets catering to all tastes. I was constantly tempted throughout the city by restaurants and cafés. There were so many cafés with so many people sitting at tables on every possible piece of sidewalk or garden that I wondered if anyone in this city went to work.

Seeing the sights

Making a complete circle around Vienna’s historic city center is one of the biggest and most beautiful boulevards in Europe. The 2½-mile circumference of the Ringstrasse is a particular delight for visitors because it passes so many of the city’s cultural institutions.

Trams No. 1 and 2 run every few minutes in a continuous circle around the Ringstrasse, passing directly in front of the Art History Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Decorative Arts Museum, the Opera House, the National Theater, the Parliament building and several parks. It takes about 30 minutes to make the complete circle.

Several times when my feet needed a rest, I got on the tram and rode around the entire ring, enjoying the sights from the windows.

Pride of place amongst the institutions along the Ringstrasse goes to, in my mind, the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum). The imperial pomp and grandeur of this building overwhelm me every time I enter it. Majestic spaces, elaborate staircases, gold-encrusted stucco work and lusciously colored frescoes surrounded by a dozen varieties of marble panels, pilasters and columns are an appropriate introduction to rooms full of paintings that include works by Breugel, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Cranach, Hieronymus Bosch and Rubens.

Although it looks and feels like a palace, this museum is one of the greatest purpose-built museums in the world. Constructed in the 1880s with unlimited funds to glorify the collections of generations of Hapsburg emperors, the building and the works it houses rank with the British Museum and the Louvre.

Although the place is huge enough to guarantee museum feet if you try to see it all in a single visit, really comfortable sofas in the large painting galleries provide welcome relief. The café is good for a light lunch or not-so-light afternoon coffee and cake (except on Sunday, when only an expensive price-fixed brunch menu is available, at €47 per person).

The Gemäldegalerie

If you find the size and opulence of the Kunsthistorische Museum overwhelming, or you have time for only a few old masters, visit the Gemäldegalerie at the Akademie der bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts). Situated on the top floor of a functioning art school with chipped plaster decorations, creaking wooden floors, and walls which look as if they haven’t been repainted since the building was constructed early in the last century, the Gemäldegalerie is one of Vienna’s hidden gems.

Not all of the 300 paintings which make up this collection are world-famous masterpieces, but I found enough works by Rembrandt, Ruisdael, Bouts and Cranach the Elder to sate my longing for great paintings for one day. The highlight of the collection is Hieronymus Bosch’s “Last Judgment.”

When I visited this gallery in 2006 I had it entirely to myself; on my May ’07 visit I went on a rainy Sunday afternoon and had to share these masterpieces with perhaps 10 other people.

When your eyes have had enough fine art, it’s time for the world-famous Naschmarkt, an outdoor market located near the Gemäldegalerie.

Naschmarkt

Six varieties of asparagus, five types of potatoes and six kinds of tomatoes — my favorite stand in the Naschmarkt rendered decision making difficult. Fortunately, I had decided not to buy lettuce; the next stall had 12 kinds of salad greens!

The Naschmarkt is a Viennese institution dating back to the 16th century. More than half a mile long with three rows of booths, this open-air market has room for breads, pastries, olives, cheese, meat, spices, ready-to-eat Middle Eastern specialties and every type of vegetable that Italian grocers could possibly stuff, plus fresh fruit and vegetables. On most visitors’ agendas and a photographer’s delight, it makes for a pleasant, leisurely stroll on weekdays. On Saturdays, by midday it sometimes feels as if every tour bus and every shopper in Vienna has landed there.

My preferred fast lunch while browsing the market is pickled herring on a roll. You might prefer a roll with schnitzel, or perhaps lamb or falafel on pita (each costs less than $4). For a full meal, there are restaurants featuring Viennese, Thai and Japanese food.

The market is open from 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday-Saturday. Some restaurants are open later.

The flea market

With its mounds of used clothes on one side and silver and fine porcelain on the other, I think of Vienna’s weekly Saturday flea market as either the world’s junk bin or the accumulation from the attics of hundreds of grandmothers.

I paid careful attention to each table as I moved between serious collectors and aimless browsers out to enjoy the sunny day and perhaps find that perfect bargain. Don’t expect to find a priceless 19th-century treasure for 5 euros; more likely, you will buy an odd piece of old lace for 5, a brass picture frame for 20, an intriguing piece of old hardware for 10 or perhaps a 1930s deco-style vase or bowl for 200.

Bargaining is part of the deal; offer half the asking price and go from there. Go early to avoid the crowds and the sun.

The flea market begins at the end of the Naschmarkt. If you are in Vienna for only a brief time, you may choose to visit both in the same day, but if you really enjoy a good flea market the combination might be too much.

Art and animals

In this city there is always another museum and it’s easy to overlook the lesser-known ones.

Away from the center but easily accessible from Tram D, the Liechtenstein Museum is a treasure of Baroque art, architecture and gardens. The princes of Liechtenstein have collected art for centuries, and early in the 18th century they had a palace and garden built for themselves in Vienna. In the 1960s, the family turned that palace into a museum for their masterpieces.

In an eye-boggling Baroque hall (the largest in Vienna), a performance of Baroque music is a rare treat which you can enjoy if you visit the Liechtenstein on a Sunday. There is no additional charge for the one-hour concert (2-3 p.m.), but performances are not given in July and August.

Giant pandas voraciously chomping on bamboo shoots made for a pleasant afternoon change from concrete, marble and old masters. Amongst tree-shaded paths and architectural reminders that the Vienna Zoo is over 250 years old, I relaxed in front of the expected elephants, gorillas, monkeys and giraffes. However, I did not expect the colony of king penguins or those giant pandas, each of which “agreed” to pose prettily for photographs.

Reputed to be the world’s oldest zoo, the Tiergarten is tucked away in one small corner of Schönbrunn Park, site of the 1,441-room Schön­brunn Palace. (If you haven’t had enough Baroque interiors, you can take a tour of part of the palace.)

KunstHaus Wien

Vienna also has room for the eccentric. I am always surprised each time I turn the corner and see the KunstHaus Wien. I have to suppress a laugh as I look at the fancifully shaped columns in front of the entrance and the abstract arrangement of black and white tiles and irregularly shaped windows on its oddly bulging façade. This place is truly quirky.

A former factory, the building has been transformed into a museum and repository for the drawings, paintings and architectural models of Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000), and there is nothing else like it in the world. Inside, in accordance with Hundertwasser’s philosophy that nothing in nature is truly straight, there are undulating floors and very little that is truly perpendicular or parallel.

Brilliant colors and whimsical shapes characterize Hundertwasser’s style. His paintings are vibrant and frequently playful, and his architectural models are imaginative. Some would characterize both as eccentric.

The museum always has a special exhibition in addition to displaying works of the master. If you go, plan on lunch in the café, whose decor continues the playful theme of the building. Each table is different, the floor is uneven and there are trees in unexpected places. And don’t miss the bathrooms! They are a bit out of the way but are among my favorite places.

The Museum Quarter

The MuseumsQuartier (Museum Quarter) is a superb example of architectural adaptation. The buildings and courtyards which were built by 18th-century Hapsburgs for their horses have been transformed into one of the largest cultural complexes in the world.

The apricot-colored buildings of the original stables now serve as workshops and exhibition space for more than 40 different cultural organizations.

On a sunny day the quarter becomes the scene of a big party. Cafés and park benches border the old buildings, and adults and children sit in and on the odd-looking fiberglass structures that fill the center. It’s like a park without grass.

Sitting a bit awkwardly at either end of this Baroque courtyard are two art museums, either one of which should be a destination on its own. It’s possible for those with strong feet and stronger eyes to visit both in the same afternoon; I never managed it.

The Leopold Museum is devoted to the masterpieces of the Vienna Secession and Austrian Expressionists. With the world’s largest collection of works by Egon Schiele and important works by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and other notable representatives of Austrian art from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Leopold is one of the major attractions of Vienna.

The Museum of Modern Art/Ludwig Collection (MUMOK) contains a collection of classic modern art, ranging from Picasso to Warhol. One of the joys of my visits to Vienna is that, despite the quality of the collections in these museums, I have never found them crowded.

Vienna’s art scene is not all old masters or masterpieces of the last century. Kunsthalle Wien, situated within the old stables, is a major venue for contemporary art, photography and multimedia installations.

A night out

Vienna is heaven for music lovers. There are operas, symphonies and chamber music every evening. Offerings range from “tourist shows” featuring brief excerpts of familiar works to serious but lesser-known groups, not to mention Vienna’s world-famous companies.

If you are interested in the latter, buy your tickets online as early as you can; seats not taken by subscribers sell out quickly. We had no trouble getting tickets for superb performances by some lesser-known groups.

Be alert to performance times. Many concerts start at 7 p.m.

Vienna is full of good restaurants, with enough variety (Balkan, Greek, Italian, Thai, Japanese) for every taste and budget. We had many delightful meals at modest establishments and usually spent between $12 and $20 each for a main dish and wine.

Prices listed on menus always include tax and usually a tip. When a tip is included, it’s customary to “round up,” adding an additional 5%-10%. In cafés and bars, prices seemed more uniform. Expect to pay $3-$4 for a small beer (there appear to be no bad beers in Vienna) and $3-$5 for cake (there are no bad cakes, either). There are many varieties of coffee, most about the same price as the cake. There were days when our afternoon cappuccino and sachertorte cost as much as our dinner.

For the best sachertorte in Vienna, go to Café Sperl (11, Gumpendorf­erstrasse); take Girardigasse north from the Naschmarkt to the corner of Gumpendorferstrasse. This historic café has old-world elegance and a ban on cell phones.

Restaurant recommendations

Zum Sopherl am Naschmarkt (Linke Wienzeile, 34), across the street from the Naschmarkt, is a traditional Viennese Beisl, with dark wood, a mural painted on the back wall, and locals drinking beer in the front. Service is pleasant, and the food is as tasty as it is plentiful.

My favorites are Eiernockerl, a traditional dish of small dumplings, scrambled eggs and fried onions (about $8 for a serving that would do easily for two people), and goulash, the small order of which is sufficient for one (about $4). Do not resist the temptation to use the bread to sop up the gravy!

Even though the sign on the outside of Hansen (Wipplingerstr. 34), in the cellar of the Börsegebäude (Vienna Stock Exchange), indicated we were in the correct place, I kept thinking there was something wrong as we walked through aisles of flowers, plants and garden sculpture, but it all made sense when I discovered that Hansen is situated in one corner of a large garden supply store.

We went for a late breakfast of orange juice, French toast, bacon and cappuccino, which cost $20 for two. Typical for Vienna, the French toast and the cappuccino were the same price.

One block from the Naschmarkt is Crossover Café (Schleifmühlgasse 16/A). In this land of schnitzel and goulash, it was nice to find a comfortable nontouristy café/restaurant that included lighter fare and many vegetarian dishes. We had many meals here and they all were good. Main dishes and drinks for two averaged $20-$30. Crossover is open Sundays and they have menus in English.

If you can’t resist good ice cream, don’t miss Eissalon am Schwedenplatz, conveniently located directly on tram routes 1 and 2 at Schwedenplatz. The menu depicts in luscious color at least 60 ways in which their 18 ice cream flavors can be combined with syrups, garnishes, whipped cream and fruit.

I resisted the banana split and the half pineapple filled with ice cream, assorted fruits, syrups and whipped cream ($7) and opted for three unadorned scoops of ice cream ($4). You can also choose from a variety of cones if you don’t want to sit down, and there are some sugar-free options.

So much more

It’s frustrating not to be able to describe more of Vienna. Here are a few additional places to consider, if you have the time: the Belevedere Palace, with the world’s largest collection of Klimt paintings in a Baroque palace to rival the best of them; the Naturhistorisches Museum (Natural History Museum), housed in a building which mirrors the Kunsthistorische Museum, which it faces; the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), with unparalleled collections of Art Deco glass and silver; the Albertina, with one of the world’s greatest collections of graphic arts, and the specialized museums within the imperial Hofburg complex.

Getting around

It is easy to get around in Vienna. The U-bahn is clean, mostly air-conditioned and fast. Their map is a model of clarity, electronic signs tell you when the next train is due, and every station seems to have access by escalator or elevator.

Buses and trams are equally convenient. Stations are clearly marked and each has either an electronic sign or a posted schedule of arrival times. Amazingly (at least to a New Yorker), buses and trams always come on time.

The city is comfortable also for the mobility challenged. In addition to elevators and escalators in the U-bahn, there are curb cuts, traffic lights which provide enough time to cross, a driving code that appears to mandate that cars stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, and elevators in almost every museum. (If you don’t see any elevators, ask; they are frequently hidden in corners.)

We were in Vienna for a month, so we purchased a one-month transportation pass. There is an odd sense of freedom in being able to get on any bus, tram or train without paying or even showing the card. Theoretically, there are occasional inspections, but we never saw one. Weekly passes are also available, and, for those with less time, the 3-day Vienna Pass is a good bet.

The maps and travel directions in the guidebook “Time Out Vienna” were most helpful. The plasticized Vienna map from Streetwise Maps is useful because it indicates the major tram lines.

The events listings at www.vienna.info are useful for planning ahead, especially if you want to purchase concert tickets.

I would like to share my love of Vienna with other ITN readers and am happy to answer any questions; e-mail me c/o ITN.

Mudskippers

You’ve heard the expression “like a fish out of water.” Well, I was astonished to see hundreds of examples of “fish out of water” — mudskippers — on the muddy banks of a tributary of the Gambia River last year.

Would you believe that this fish (a goby) lives on land, would drown if held under water, is the only fish with movable eyelids, walks and hops on land, climbs trees and dives into the water only when threatened by a creature larger than itself?

Many species of mudskippers live in tropical, brackish (tidal, partly salty) water in Africa and the Far East. The ones that inhabit the muddy banks of tributaries of the Gambia River are only a few inches long but are aggressive predators on land and live in burrows alongside their predator buddies, small fiddler crabs.

My Internet research, after I arrived at home, revealed that although they are relatively rare as aquarium pets, mudskippers have enthusiastic fans because they are such a unique fish and can be fed by hand.

Their bulbous eyes, on the sides of their heads, give them each a 360-degree visual field. A mudskipper was certainly the inspiration for the cartoon figures that you’ve seen representing the evolutionary moment when a sea creature first crawled out of the water onto land. They may or may not be a missing link between sea creatures and land animals, but the thought is unavoidable.

The Gambia

The Gambia is Africa’s smallest country, maybe 400 miles long and also skinny, straddling the Gambia River for up to 15 miles on each side. (A small private plane would take about 10 minutes to fly across The Gambia at its narrow areas.)

There’s an apocryphal story, probably not true but fun to tell, about the establishment of The Gambia’s borders. When the British, during sailing-ship days, wanted to set boundaries for a country along the river, they fired a ship’s cannons in both directions perpendicular to the river, and where the cannon balls fell, that’s where the boundaries were drawn.

The Gambia’s official name always includes the word “The.” The reason for this has eluded my research.

Our expedition ship

The ship MS Bremen of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises (631 Commack Rd., Ste. 1A, Com­mack, NY 11725; 877/445-7447 or 631/858-1252, www.hl-cruises.com) was purpose-built for the increasingly popular expedition cruises to unusual destinations. I was privileged to be their guest in late October 2007.

The ship’s relatively shallow draft allowed us to go a good distance up the infrequently traveled Gambia River. With the extra range provided by the heavy-duty Zodiacs, we got a better look at the river than has been possible before in such 4-star comfort. (Among the ship’s itineraries are trips to Antarctica and a unique around-the-world cruise.)

The Bremen’s staterooms are of generous size, there’s a small swimming pool aboard, and the meals are at gourmet level with service to match. I was one of about 100 mostly senior adventurers — some 90 Germans and 10 Americans — and I was told that the crew on this trip totaled 100!

My Scandinavian DNA had me breakfasting on herring and smoked salmon. When most passengers chose more elaborate lunches, I frequently opted for a tender Argentine steak and French fries from the grill.

After a memorable dinner one evening at the end of the trip, the dining room lights suddenly dimmed. A parade of waiters circled the room with trays held high. . . with baked Alaska for dessert, the brilliant sparklers on the cakes illuminating the room! (Apparently, this is a European cruise tradition.)

All of the crew were bilingual, and we Americans had English-speaking guides on all of the excursions. Some programs were repeated in German and English, and on those special occasions where the whole group was together, translations were provided.

It was a pleasant surprise to find out how many of the German passengers spoke at least enough English to allow simple conversations along the way.

Day excursions

The Bremen was too large to dock at any riverside destination, so it would anchor midstream, with Zodiacs used nearly daily to transport us to jumping-off points. A variety of day trips was offered.

An expedition-truck/hiking safari to Kiang-West National Park, one of the largest protected areas in The Gambia, provided glimpses of the naturally occurring plants and the local terrain (flat).

Our visit was at the end of the rainy season and the vegetation was lush. (The trip was obviously scheduled for the great weather and lack of mosquitoes or any other nuisance insects.)

This was my first experience hiking in 10-foot-tall elephant grass, which was coarse, thick and sharp-edged. It was easy to see how difficult it would be to hike through these areas without well-worn trails.

Although this area is known for a very large population of African mammals and birds, we saw only a small number of birds and no mammals at all. We did, however, hear some baboons trumpeting in the near distance, probably complaining of our encroachment on their territory.

Crocodiles

One high point among the day trips was a visit to the holy crocodile park of Katchikally. Contact with the mossy waters in the pond there is believed to enhance fertility in the local ladies. I noticed a modest concrete shower stall near the pond for this purpose.

Very large crocodiles slumber in the sun, out of the water along the main park trail, inches from the feet of visitors. Signs warn against disturbing them — as if this advice were necessary.

Attendants, however, encouraged travelers to stroke the back of one or two of these large trailside crocs that were “tame enough” to allow this. It was a photo opportunity that I chose to forgo.

Baobab trees

The giant baobab tree, common throughout The Gambia, is the country’s national symbol. It is called the “upside down tree” because the pattern of branches resembles a tree’s root system sticking up into the air. It grows well in the thick alluvial soil along the Gambia River.

On one of our excursions, we drove by a large number of pelicans roosting in baobab trees. It inspired me to invent an Africanized verse of a popular Christmas song. Instead of “a partridge in a pear tree,” it would be sung, “. . . and a pelican in a baobab tree.”

An orphanage

We paid a visit to an SOS Children’s Village, which demonstrated that a non-governmental organization can organize an effective orphanage/school for children. Their programs provide shelter and family-based care for more than 60,000 children in 123 countries around the world, including the USA.

Typically, 10 children live with a permanent surrogate “mother” in their own separate house. Between 10 and 40 of these houses form an independent “village.” Family groups once formed are kept together while the children mature.

For information on these villages, contact SOS Children’s Villages-USA (1200 D. St. NW, Ste. 550, Washington, D.C. 20005; 888/505-KIDS or 202/347-7920, www.sos-childrensvillage.org). One can sponsor a child or a village for only $28 a month.

Next month I’ll report on the volcanic Cape Verde Islands. Happy trails!

Having never recovered from my addiction to Saturday matinee double features in the 1930s, I still am fascinated by the making of movies and, specifically, the actual filming locations, visiting them (or their representations) whenever possible. If a story has important historical and social value, as the book and the TV miniseries “Roots” had, then it’s all the more interesting.

On a trip I made to The Gambia in West Africa, Oct. 20-Nov. 1, 2007, one of the high points was visiting sites that were featured in Alex Haley’s 1970s book and the subsequent television miniseries that was widely seen around the world.

“Roots” & “the rest of the story”

To refresh your memory, Alex Haley’s book was inspired by his family’s oral history about the life of an African slave from The Gambia, Kunta Kinte, who was claimed to be, some 200 years ago, an early relative of the Haley family. In research for his book, Haley visited The Gambia and the fishing village Jufureh, said to be the home of Kunta Kinte.

Shortly after reaching manhood, the story relates, Kunta Kinte was captured by white slavers and was sent, as were ultimately an estimated 20 million black Africans, to labor on a plantation in the Americas. The profitable slave trade was, in cycles during the 15th to 19th centuries, dominated by the British, Dutch, French or Portuguese.

Although the miniseries’ Gambia sequences actually were filmed in Georgia, USA, it was with great interest that I visited the village of Jufureh as well as James Island and the surrounding areas where Black Africans themselves mostly were responsible for the capture and selling of other black Africans to eager white traders.

This part of West Africa was the principal location of slave-trading ports, and many slave-trading sites have been preserved and/or restored as reminders of this grim period. The British were instrumental in finally forcing the abolition of the African slave trade in 1829.

As described in Haley’s story, the 18th-century black African slave trade and its consequences are generally accepted as reasonably accurate. His epic TV miniseries brought the dramatic realities of life on our pre-Civil War southern plantations to millions of American living rooms in January 1977.

Jufureh, the home village of Kunta Kinte, who is the book’s early principal character, has subsequently, in the 20th century, promoted itself as a tourist destination. The Gambian government has initiated in Jufureh a biennial Roots Homecoming Festival (www.rootsgambia.gm), last held in June 2006.

Jufureh and James Island

Jufureh is a typical, small, African village of individual primitive homes on the Gambia River. From our ship, Hapag-Lloyd’s 4-star expedition ship MS Bremen, we were transported to a small but substantial wooden dock there in groups of six to eight in standard rubber Zodiacs.

On the day of my visit, there was a row of souvenir stands at one edge of the village, but most families were cooking a midday meal over small outdoor fires, paying little attention to the hundred or so visitors wandering about except to respond cheerfully to our “hellos” and to give permission for taking photos when politely asked (with our cameras raised and asking ‘Okay?’).

The village was quite tidy. Small fish were drying in the sun on horizontal racks. The children were excited to see us, giving shy waves.

I had my photo taken with a very senior village matriarch who claimed to be eight generations descended from the “Roots” character Kunta Kinte. Later in the day, when I inquired, the ship’s lecturer said, “It’s possible. It was 200 years ago. Who can say for sure either way?”

James Island, nearby in mid-river, had been a holding “fortress” for accumulating slaves for shipment downriver to the coastal trading centers. Built in the 1670s, it was subsequently fought over, destroyed and rebuilt several times and held in some sequence by the British, the Dutch, the French and, reportedly, a couple of pirate ships.

The island has been severely eroded and now, at maybe only an acre or two, is a fraction of its original size. Water is lapping very close to the remaining foundations of the heavy stone ruins.

I thought that some large baobab trees close to the water gave the island an exotic, forlorn look.

The rest of the story

Haley’s book and the TV miniseries were wildly popular, presenting in a graphic and realistic way the horrors of the slave trade. The book was translated into 26 languages and sold 8½ million copies. Haley was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and won multiple Emmys for the TV series that riveted us to the tube with its 12-hour marathon presented over eight consecutive nights.

The “rest of the story” I discovered in October 2007 at lectures on the MS Bremen during our unique cruise featuring The Gambia and the Cape Verde Islands. (Travel and learn!)

Haley’s relating of his family’s origins had been presented as an accurate compilation of facts resulting from 10 years of his genealogical and historic research in Africa and in some of our southern American states.

Soon after publication of the book in 1976, historians and other literary investigators unearthed numerous serious flaws that suggested the unpleasant truth that not only was “Roots” a work that contained fiction, inconsistencies and plagiarism but its text was essentially written by someone else. Critics did allow that as a novel it had some merit.

If you have access to the Internet, reproduce my eye-opening Web surfing by punching up “Alex Haley” on Google. It will lead you to “Alex Haley Hoax,” then to investigator “Philip Nobile” (who claimed that “Roots” was “one of the great literary hoaxes of modern times”) and then to “Village Voice archives” as well as a description of a BBC “Roots” documentary expose that aired in Britain but not the U.S.

Haley died in 1992. Family members continue to deny the validity of the negative issues surrounding the book “Roots: The Saga of an American Family.”

None of this at this late date diluted the impact on me of the miniseries or of visiting the sites that were typical of the last views seen of Africa by some 20 million unfortunate native Africans.

Hapag-Lloyd itineraries

For information on the itineraries of their four ships, contact Hapag-Lloyd Cruises (631 Commack Rd., Ste. 1A, Commack, NY 11725; phone 877/445-7447 or 631/858-1252, e-mail hapag-lloyd@kainyc.com or visit www.hl-cruises.com). They have been “soft adventure cruising” since 1891. Eighty percent of their passengers are repeat customers.

I was a guest of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises on this trip.

Next month I’ll describe the sights and sensations I experienced while cruising Africa’s little-known Gambia River. Happy trails!

by Beth Habian, Features Editor

Looking for some royal treatment on your next trip overseas? What better place to be treated like a royal than London, where they’ve been perfecting the art of luxury for centuries?

Granted, with current exchange rates, it’s not the first destination that comes to mind for those on a tight budget, but if you’re ready for a bit of a splurge, perhaps an account of my September ’07 visit will provide a few suggestions to make your trip a more memorable one.

Arriving in the city

After an enjoyable flight from JFK to Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic, the first flight I’ve been on in years that hasn’t been packed to bursting in coach, a 45-minute drive brought me to The Goring Hotel (Beeston Place, Grosvenor Gardens; phone +44 [0] 20 7396 9000, www.goringhotel.co.uk).

Self-described as a “quintessentially English hotel,” The Goring is centrally located, practically next door to Buckingham Palace, and is the only 5-star deluxe property in London that is still family run, today by the fourth generation to do so, in the person of Jeremy Goring.

With its history of prominent guests, such as Winston Churchill, I was expecting a posh, somewhat stuffy establishment. What I found was indeed posh, but “stuffy” was definitely not part of the equation here. The hotel is beautifully appointed, having recently undergone an extensive remodel (some of the bedrooms are still scheduled to be revamped), but it is attention to service for which the hotel is noted — unobtrusive but assiduous and delivered with a wonderful sense of humor.

Managing Director David Morgan-Hewitt, recognizable by his trademark pink socks, is a larger-than-life character, his delightfully boisterous presence putting smiles on the faces of guests and staff alike. For all the tradition of the place (The Queen has been known to “pop ’round” for tea on occasion), I felt immediately at home.

Off to the palace

Following a good night’s sleep, I met the rest of my group for breakfast before we headed out in the drizzle for the few minutes’ walk to Buckingham Palace. Our day was scheduled to begin with a visit to The Queen’s Gallery, which features changing exhibitions of works from The Royal Collection.

Passing through security more thorough than that at most airports, we were led to the intimate gallery, where visitors milled around in silence, most listening to the audio guide included in the price of admission (£8, or $16, adult or £7 senior). I opted to forgo the headphones and quietly wandered from room to room admiring the well-laid-out exhibition, which featured impressive Italian Renaissance and Baroque works from artists such as Caravaggio, Raphael and Tintoretto. (Information on upcoming exhibitions can be found at www.royalcollection.org.uk.)

For art lovers looking for a way to spend a few hours in the city, I highly recommend a visit to The Queen’s Gallery. Its size allows visitors to appreciate a wonderful array of works in an hour or two without feeling overwhelmed, and the quality of the pieces on display are, of course, outstanding.

The gallery is open daily from 10 to 5:30 (last admission is 4:30), and tickets can be purchased in advance (phone +44 [0] 20 7766 7301) or on the day of your visit. Admission is timed, with entry every 15 minutes, so be sure to note the time printed on your ticket. The gallery is wheelchair accessible.

The combo ticket “A Royal Day Out” (£28.50, or $56) provides entry to The Queen’s Gallery as well as The Royal Mews and The State Rooms, our next stop.

The State Rooms

From August through September, when The Queen is not in residence, Buckingham Palace opens its 19 State Rooms to the public. This time I chose to use the audio guide, something I would recommend for the first-time visitor. The commentary was informative and well paced, not too dry, and included options for further details.

However, I must admit that after my relatively quick walk-through of an hour or so (the usual visit takes around two to 2 1/2 hours), I was a bit overwhelmed by gilt.

For 2008, visitors can see the Palace’s Ballroom lavishly set up as it would be for a State Banquet, which usually includes about 160 guests. Also new for 2008, private guided tours are being offered on select dates in March and April, when the palace is not open to the public. The cost is £65 per person and tickets must be pre-booked (phone +44 [0] 20 7766 7322 to check availability).

The State Rooms will otherwise be open to the public daily from July 31 to Sept. 29, 2008, from 9:45 to 6 (last admission at 3:45). Individual tickets cost £15.50 (or £14 senior) and can be purchased in advance (phone +44 [0] 20 7766 7300) or on the day from the ticket office at the visitor entrance located on Buckingham Palace Road. (The ticket office is no longer situated in Green Park.)

A tasty afternoon

After stopping back at The Goring for some delicious hors d’oeuvres and a peek at the hotel’s lovely garden, one of the few privately owned green spaces of size left in the city, we were off for a short drive through the streets of London in Rolls-Royce Phantoms. Talk about top-notch transportation!

While I’m not hugely impressed by luxury cars, the highly polished wood interior and self-closing rear-hinged doors were striking. My lasting memory, however, is of sitting in the back of a $500,000 car with David Morgan-Hewitt joyously rambling off the answers to a round of questions from the game show “The Weakest Link,” which was showing on the drop-down telly. Absolutely surreal!

We were headed for Fortnum & Mason (181 Piccadilly; www.fortnumandmason.com), the über-department store that has supplied the best of the best to London’s elite for 300 years. Last year the store underwent a £24-million refurbishment to celebrate its tercentenary and, while I can’t comment on its previous appearance, it is a fabulous place to see.

However, I didn’t get too far past the ground-floor food hall. From English delicacies to an extensive selection of wine from around the world, it is a gourmand’s dream come true.

I did make it up the sweeping staircase to the confectionery counter, where I stood mesmerized by the cases full of champagne truffles, violet creams and pink and white sugar mice, all topped by gleaming glass jars filled with pastel-colored sweets. The kid in me was still giggling gleefully on the way out.

It doesn’t cost anything to look, and it’s a good place to find small gifts that won’t bust the budget. (I can personally recommend the tea, which, at £2.50 a box, has got to be one of the best souvenir values available in the city.) But if you love to shop, you definitely can set your credit card alight here!

A fond farewell

My appetite whetted, we returned to The Goring for dinner. The meal began with Eggs Drumkilbo, a Scottish dish said to be a favorite of the late Queen Mother. A cold concoction of lobster, tomatoes and mayonnaise in sherry-flavored aspic, it was a rich but rather enjoyable start.

My roast venison with mushrooms and red wine sauce was delicious, and, though full, I couldn’t pass up the lavender panna cotta that ended the evening.

Three-course dinners start at £44 ($88) per person and lunch at £32.50 per person, VAT included.

The next morning we were off to the country, sadly saying good-bye to our newfound friends at The Goring. Rooms here start at £295 ($590), single, and £320, double, although special promotional rates are regularly posted on their website. Children are welcome.

A French history lesson

Our next stop was a historical one, situated 40 miles northwest of London near the town of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. A member of the group Small Luxury Hotels of the World, Hartwell House (phone +44 [0] 1296 747444, www.historichousehotels.com) is a restored 17th-century country house, let in the early 19th century to the exiled King Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI, before his return to France to finally take the throne in 1814.

The house was converted in the 1980s, from a girl’s finishing school and now offers 30 bedrooms and suites in its main house plus an on-site spa, Hartwell Court (a converted coach house) and the Old Rectory, a 4-bedroom Georgian house which stands alone — all on 90 acres of serene parkland.

I stayed in the Queen’s Bedroom and was incredibly impressed when I walked through the door. Light and bright and beautifully decorated, the room was enormous! Luxurious it was, but I must admit, climbing into the huge 4-poster bed and turning out the lights was a little creepy, being (hopefully) the only soul in the room. Still, it was the only night I slept through without suffering the effects of jet lag, and it was delightful waking up to the bucolic scene of morning mist rising above the trees and black-and-white cows grazing in the field just outside my window.

The public rooms, as well as the guest rooms, were filled with antiques, and signs asking visitors not to touch were scattered throughout. Children are welcome but only those over the age of six.

Rooms start at £160 single and £290 double, per night. The Old Rectory, which features a 2-acre garden and private swimming pool and can accommodate up to seven guests, is available for £2,500 per day (plus VAT), including all meals.

Waddesdon Manor

Our day here featured a tour of nearby Waddesdon Manor (www.waddesdon.org.uk), a property of the Rothschild family that was built in the 19th century to mimic a Renaissance-style French château. (The Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina, is very similar in style.) Now a National Trust property, the manor house is chockablock with exquisite examples of 18th-century French furniture, textiles and porcelain plus English and Dutch paintings and Renaissance works of art.

To preserve the integrity of the priceless pieces within, the house is very dimly lit, the heavy curtains pulled to avoid exposure to the damaging rays of the sun. It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust, but what was revealed when they did was extraordinary.

Most impressive was the marble-clad dining room complete with a table set with Sèvres porcelain, a dizzying array of 19th-century glassware and an elaborate gilt bronze centerpiece supporting a profusion of blooms that ran the length of the massive table. It was absolutely over the top.

In contrast, the Blue Dining Room was dressed plainly in cool, soothing shades, the intimate table crowned by a strikingly modern chandelier – an explosion of broken white china fashioned into a piece of art.

Other rooms boasted fine examples of 18th-century French furniture, including the delicately inlaid and surprisingly petite writing desk once belonging to Marie Antoinette.

Waddesdon Manor will be open for visits from March 19 to Oct. 26, 2008 (W-F 12-4, Sat. & Sun. 11-4; closed Monday and Tuesday). The gardens, aviary, shop, restaurant and Woodland playground also will be open, on weekends, from Jan. 5 to March 16.

Tickets for the house and gardens, also allowing admission to which includes the wine cellars stocked with one of the most extensive collections of Rothschild wine in the world, cost £13.20 on weekdays or £15, weekends. Tickets can be booked in advance (phone 01296 653226; allow at least 24 hours’ notice) or on the day of your visit outside the front of the house. Tickets are limited and can sell out.

A royal garden visit

Our final full day featured a visit to the gardens at Highgrove House, the country home of Prince Charles near Tetbury in Gloucestershire. This was a special treat indeed, as the gardens are open only for a limited number of tours each year from April to October.

The prince’s famous passion for gardening has created an incredible landscape here, varying from more formal layouts to refreshingly natural plantings. While the grounds feature pieces given to Prince Charles by important heads of state, there are also personal touches, like a memorial to a beloved family pet, that convey the sense that this is a family home, lovingly maintained.

Individual visits to Highgrove are not available, but if you are part of a group or organization interested in visiting (it is an ideal destination for gardening groups, especially), written requests can be submitted, on your organization’s letterhead, to the Gardens Tour Manager (Highgrove House, Doughton, Tetbuy, Gloucestershire GL8 8TN). Be sure to state the number of intended visitors, but do plan your visit far in advance; there is a 3-year waiting list for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

A grand finale

After our garden tour we were driven to our final accommodation, Calcot Manor (phone 01666 890391, www.calcotmanor.co.uk), a former farmhouse dating back to the 14th century. This 220-acre estate, located three miles west of the Cotswold market town of Tetbury, boasts an absolutely charming hotel plus an on-site spa, a world-class restaurant and a cozy pub.

Our first stop was The Conservatory for lunch, and, while the meals on the rest of our tour were most enjoyable, the food here was a step above. The wood-roasted beetroot and goat cheese salad is one of the best starters I have ever tasted.

Daily lunches, featuring fresh local products, are available for £19 (two courses) and £23 (three courses).

Not to be outdone, the rooms at Calcot are fabulous in their own right. The integrity of the original stone structures has been maintained while inside the bedrooms and living spaces are modern and chic. Room rates start at £180 single and £220 double, including breakfast. Family suites are also available. Special offers are posted online.

While this is a place where one can indulge in some adult-style pampering — including spa treatments and fine dining — Calcot Manor prides itself on the attention it pays to families. The on-site Creche, open daily from 9 to 5:30, offers a secure place for young children to enjoy toys and games while being professionally supervised. Upstairs, a space for older kids provides X-boxes, computers and movies, allowing parents some time alone.

For our final evening in England, we had dinner at the hotel’s Gumstool Inn. The pub, frequented by locals, was pretty packed and the food was tasty (I had the fish and chips, £11.75, which included a good-sized chunk of crisp, lightly battered cod), but the service was a bit spotty. However, this in no way hampered my enjoyment of my stay here. I didn’t want to leave.

Beth Habian was a guest of The Goring, Hartwell House and Calcot Manor, all members of Pride of Britain Hotels (phone, within the UK, 0800 089 3929 or fax 01666 825779, www.prideofbritainhotels.com), a collection of privately owned British hotels.