Food & Wine

Our goal was to find an adventurous cuisine experience in London on Christmas Eve 2004. Some visitors to London say, “Impossible!”

In the main shopping and tourist area of Bratislava, a fun restaurant with great regional Slovakian dishes is Staroslovenska Krema (Michalska ul. 14-16, Bratislava, Slovakia; visit www staroslovenskakcrma.sk). From a billboard outside, proceed downstairs into a large, multivaulted dining area with long tables in medieval décor.

In Greek mythology, Sorrento was a place where mermaids tempted the seamen with their sweet, haunting songs. Today it is a place where visitors are lured by one cobblestone alleyway after another filled with inviting shops, galleries, bars and restaurants. It’s a city made very tempting by the hotel prices that take a dip once the bathers leave the beaches for the season. Don’t rush through Sorrento. It’s a place to give in to some of Italy’s best temptations.

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.

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.

We traveled by train and Norwegian coastal steamer throughout Northern Europe in August ’05. Here are some of our “finds.”

My trip to Italy in October ’05 included a stay in Rome. Before going, I jotted down the address of the Trattoria Otello alla Concordia from an earlier issue of ITN (April ’05, pg. 4). I’d eaten at that restaurant on an earlier trip and loved it!

For those who fervently believe that “less is more” and “smaller is better,” we recommend Hebridean Island Cruises, Ltd. (Griffin House, Broughton Hall, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 3AN, England; phone 44 [0] 1756-704704 or visit www.hebridean.co.uk).

(First of three parts, jump to part 1, part 2,