Hotels and Lodging

NEWS FROM ITALY…

We couldn’t have picked a better place for our first four nights in Tunisia than the Dar Said (Rue Toumi, Sidi Bu Said, Tunisia; www.darsaid.com.tn), a small, elegant boutique hotel with rooms set around small courtyards.

No two rooms are alike, but all are smartly decorated with lots of Tunisian touches. Some have views of the hotel garden and the Gulf of Tunis beyond.

The Angel Hotel (15 Cross St., Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales, NP7 5EN, U.K.; phone 01873-857121) is a great hotel located in the market town of Abergavenny. My wife, Rose, and I were introduced to the Angel by our English friends Betty and Alan Madden, who stayed with us there in May ’09.

On a custom tour our family took to Panama in June-July ’09 (Oct. ’09, pg. 32 & Nov. ’09, pg 31), we stayed in BOQUETE at Finca Lérida (P.O. Box 0413-00146, Boquete, Chiriquí, Panama; phone/fax +011 [507] 720-2285), a small hotel on a gorgeous coffee plantation on the mountainside outside of town. Although the hotel was outside the city, a taxi to/from town cost only $5.

For Barbara Johnson of Sierra Vista, Arizona, ITN printed her plea for names of companies offering overseas tours geared to active octogenarians and nonagenarians (Jan. ’10, pg. 56 & April ’10, pgs. 32 & 69). Barbara wrote, “I’m an 84-year-old, healthy, active woman, and I would love to know about tours that cater to those about my age who are well traveled and always eager to learn more.

by Joan Hansen, Sacramento, CA

NEWS FROM NETHERLANDS

by Sandra Scott

When my friend Mike and I visited Iguaçu Falls in fall 2009, we stayed at Hotel Del Rey (Rua Tarobá 1020, CEP 85851-220, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil; phone [45] 2105-7500, www.hoteldelreyfoz.com.br).

I had reserved an air-conditioned room with three beds (originally, we planned to travel with another friend) for BRL150 (about $85) per night, which included an abundant breakfast.

In 1996 I asked Swedish friends to recommend a hotel in the central part of Sweden. They told me they NEVER stay in hotels; they always stay in vandrarhem (hostels). When I said, “But I’m too old to share a room with strangers,” they said that they never share: “Just pay a little extra and you have a room to yourself.” So I decided to try it and have been doing it ever since.

I’d like everyone to write in about their own experiences staying in hostels. I will start it off with my favorites in Sweden.