Skip to main content

Food & Wine

Europe cruise and city stay, solo

A month before my 83rd birthday, I left for a 3-week solo trip in Europe. It began with a 2-week river cruise out of Budapest (Aug. 8-22, 2019) and ended with a week’s stay in Amsterdam, the terminus of the cruise.

The cruise, “Grand European Tour,” was with Viking River Cruises (Woodland Hills, CA; 855/338-4546, vikingcruises.com).

ITALIAN COOKING HOLIDAY IN ABRUZZO

8-day, 7-night food & wine tour in central ITALY. Departures June 14 & 21 & Aug. 2, 2020. Highlights: Transfer from Rome to medieval town of Sulmona for tour, visit to 11th-century Roccascalegna, cooking lessons/10-course fish feast on a trabocco (fishing pier)/wine tasting in Prezza/gelato in Raiano. $3,299 per person, double occupancy (ppdo). Italian Cooking Holiday (Providence, RI; 401/516-6158, italiancooking.holiday).

Saudi Arabia allows mixed dining

The crown prince of Saudi Arabia announced on Dec. 10 that men and women now can eat together in restaurants. Before the decree, every restaurant, even fast-food restaurants, had different entrances for men and women, and, by law, the two genders were separated by, at the least, a screen. Even married couples with children were forced to eat apart. (According to some reports, many restaurants had been ignoring those restrictions.)

Credit cards declined in Baku

My wife, Susan, and I took a group tour through the Caucasus in September 2019 and wanted to share a problem we had in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

Many local businesses indicated that they accepted Visa and Master­card, but when we went into a tourist office in Baku’s Old Town and attempted to use a credit card to book a private tour, our cards were declined; we tried two Visa cards, one from Chase Bank and one from Bank of America. Luckily, we had enough local currency to pay for this tour.

Subscribe to Food & Wine