For the past three years, we have explored the REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA during its so-called “secret season” of October. We have been awed by most all of the country’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites and even more impressed by the spirit and graciousness of the South African people.
While in Prague, five of us stayed at the Guesthouse Lida (Lopatecká 26, Praha 4, Podoli 140 00, CZECH REPUBLIC; phone/fax [420] 261 214 766, e-mail lidabb@seznam.cz or visit http://sweb.cz/pensionlida) — a 5-minute walk from the efficient Prague metro.
My wife, Ione, and I stayed in two hotels in Athens in September ’05.
We had a lovely stay at the recently remodeled Hotel St. Josef (Hirschengraben 64/68, CH-8001 Zürich, SWITZERLAND; phone 044 250 57 57 or visit www.st-josef.ch) in November ’05.
The apartment at 13 rue de la Providence in Nice, FRANCE (call Gerald Bedrich in the U.K. at [0033] [0] 626140006 or 493319297 [up to 9 p.m. U.K. time] or visit www.nice studios.co.uk), is in a great location in the Vieux Nice (Old Town).
It’s very near the Gare Routière bus stop, convenient for taking day trips by bus and for the city’s public transit. The Gare Lycée and Garibaldi stops are also nearby. There is a bus that goes directly from the airport to Gare Routière.
My wife, Paula, and I had the pleasure of spending two nights at Pension Mayer (Zeleska cesta 7, Bled, SLOVENIA; phone 386 [0] 4 576 57 40 or visit www.mayer-sp.si), a beautiful and splendidly renovated 19th-century house in a quiet neighborhood away from the busy traffic that blights much of Bled. The grounds include a well-maintained and attractive garden that added to the quaint and relaxing atmosphere.
There was plenty of free parking. The inn has an elevator, but we needed it only when we were transporting our luggage.
I stayed in a room rented by Anka Markunovic (Antuninska 10, 20000 Dubrovnik, CROATIA; phone/fax 00 385 20 417 877, e-mail markunovic@hotmail.com or visit www.dubrovnik-online.com/rooms_vicelic), Sept. 26-30, ’05.
From the airport I took the city bus, which meets passengers outside of the door from luggage pickup after every flight. I got off after 25 kilometers at the first stop, at the entrance to the old walled city, and the ride cost HRK25 ($4).
The Relais Torre Guelfa (Figline Valdarno, Tuscany, ITALY. Call Gruppo Torre Guelfa in Firenze at +390 5595 1112, fax 5595 07727 or visit www. torreguelfa.it) is a unique inn nestled among vineyards and gardens. My husband and I and another couple spent 10 days there in September ’05.
Just minutes from Bern’s Hauptbahnhof, Hotel National (Hirschengraben 24, 3011 Bern, SWITZERLAND; phone +41 [3] 381 19 88 or visit www.nationalbern.ch) offers just about everything: a restaurant, a theater, a movie cinema, a disco and the hotel. Once out the door of the National, Bern’s famous Clock Tower is a quick three minutes away.
