Although Amsterdam is, in general, a very expensive city, you can eat out inexpensively if you know what you’re doing (just no lobster or steak). Each day of my stay there, Sept. 5-16, 2013, I ate my largest meal at lunch and just a light snack for dinner.
“The Valencia Paella Project — Foodie Mini Break,” a 3-night package to Valencia, Spain, the home of paella, is offered by The Spanish Thyme Traveller (phone +34 96 225 41 48).
Participants will visit a winery, taste typical Valencia cuisine and learn from chefs how to craft paella and tapas.
The tour costs €650 (near $900) per person, double occupancy (single supplement, €110), and includes boutique hotel accommodations, breakfasts, two lunches, wine and guide.
13 days, 12 nights, Oct. 19-31, 2014. Highlights: From Osaka, bullet train to Kumamoto for Jyosai-En Cultural Center, Kumamoto Castle/Suizenji garden at Gyobutei Samurai House/Aso Volcano Museum/Takagi Tofu Factory, cooking class/Moritaka Knife Factory/seafood at Aqua Culture Farm/in Kyoto, cooking school lesson/tasting at sake brewery. Land, $5,320. Single supp., $475.
Japan Holidays (P.O. Box 177, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; phone 07 33002396).
Irwin Schatzman; Scottsdale, AZ
My husband and I were in Heidelberg in early December ’13 for the Christmas market and, for dinner, decided to go to Neckargemünd, which is a 10-minute S-bahn ride from the Heidelberg train station.
Across the street from the front of the Neckargemünd station, the well-lighted Gasthaus Reber (Bahnhofstrasse 52, 69151 Neckargemünd, Germany; phone +49 6223 8779, fax 6223 862738) drew our attention.
Visits to France’s scenic Alsace region should always include sightseeing in some of the enchanting, medieval villages along Alsace’s wine road. Located in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains, these atmospheric, small villages are filled with half-timbered structures with intriguing shops and restaurants. Wineries are common there and typically offer tastings, as my wife, Paula, and I discovered during our visit in late November 2013.
A 7-day, 6-night VIP tour of top wineries in the Lombardy region of ITALY, Oct. 21-27, 2014. Half of the meals are gourmet. Highlights: From Milan to Lake Como/at Sondrio in Valtellina, sample red wines/sparkling wines at Lake Iseo/white wines at Lake Garda. Land, $3,389. Single supp., $364. Wine Lovers Tours (New Haven, CT; 800/256-0141).
My husband, Leo, and I were going to take a cruise out of Istanbul, Turkey, and decided to also visit a nearby country first. Our choice was Bulgaria, which is small, uncrowded and loaded with antiquities and history. We arrived on Aug. 18, 2013, and spent the next eight days touring from Sofia in the west to the Black Sea coast and back.
