Food & Wine

During our 3-week stay in Italy in October ’06, the most unusual hotel we stayed in was Country House Montali (Via Montali 23, 06068 Tavernelle di Panicale, ITALY; phone +39 075 8350 680, fax 144 or visit www.montalionline.com). I think it might appeal to many ITN readers.

Its exquisite and varied cuisine is vegetarian. The Umbria region of Italy may be a meat eater’s paradise, but even meat eaters like me relish a change. For €80 ($106) per person per day, our half-board included breakfast and dinner — superb cuisine, lovingly served.

There’s lots to see and do in Berlin. If you want to save money on your accommodations, rent the apartment of Dr. L. Schnitzer (Belziger Str. 21, 10823, Berlin, GERMANY; phone/fax +49/30 44 355 940) as we did Sept. 12-21, 2006. Dr. Schnitzer has been advertising in the Mart pages of ITN for years, and her apartment’s price is still just $490 per week.

by Bill Kizorek, Lisle, IL

M. Lewis Stein, Irvine, CA

Surveying the drab station and its equally unimpressive surroundings as we alighted from the train at Orvieto, my wife, Barbara, queried, “So, where is the picturesque village you promised me?”

From Trier, GERMANY, April 21, 2007. . .

Since my wife, Barbara, and I had previously planned to visit the famous Saturday market in Otavalo, Ecuador (90 kilometers north of Quito), we opted to use Hotel Ali Shungu (www.alishungu.com) for a 4-day January ’06 stay and do day trips from there.

I took a trip to Egypt with Explore, booked through Adventure Center (1311 63rd St., Ste. 200, Emeryville, CA 94608; 800/227-8747), in December ’06-January ’07. Adventure Center is a broker listing hundreds of trips run by other operators. Explore is a British company specializing in low-cost small-group tours.

My husband, John, and I and another couple visited Ireland and Scotland, finishing up with a few days in Amsterdam, Sept. 2-16, 2006. Since John is a home brewer, we are always on the lookout for good beer when we travel, and we found plenty of it in all three cities in which we stayed.

Beer prices were around €4-€4.50 (about $5.30-$6) in Dublin, about £2.40 (near $4.70) in Edinburgh, and €3.50-€4 ($4.60-$5.30) in Amsterdam.

Thanks to Stephen O. Addison, Jr. (Sept. ’06, pg. 86), we found WOW! Argentina (Av. Santa Fe 882, 12F, C1059ABP, Buenos Aires, Argentina; phone +54 11 52 39 30 19, fax 39 17 14, www.wowargentina.com), represented by “Cintia.” This Buenos Aires-based travel agency is polished, professional and friendly.

Many of us prefer traveling with a group, since it is cost effective. This often means, especially during busy travel seasons, being tightly packed in a big bus. In the last six months of 2006 my wife, Marlene, and I took three such tours, which I compare below. All prices are per person and include airfare to and from Chicago.

We started with a 17-day “Grand Tour of France,” Sept. 7-23, with Grand European Tours (6000 Meadows Rd., Ste. 520, Lake Oswego, OR 97035; 800/552-5545, www.getours.com). It cost $3,599 and we spent $180 on optional tours.