Wild Iris along the Cotswold Canal A quick post to say that we arrived, the cat arrived (actually he arrived a day before us) and we are all settling into our cottage in Nailsworth. The weather was cold and sunny at first but summer started this week. Everything seems to be in bloom. The bluebells are just ending, but we did several walks when they were at their peak. The garlic flowers (ransoms) are still … Continue reading
Very nice article in the Wall Street Journal magazine about the various definitions of “Slow Travel”. They included the definition that I used when I created the SlowTrav.com website and community – spending a week in one place instead of moving fast to many places on a trip. Wall Street Journal magazine, Easy Rider, Nancy Keates, April 29, 2010. “Like the slow-food movement, slow travel offers an antidote to today’s fast-paced lifestyle. “ I wish … Continue reading
For the past several years Steve and I have been planning to do “A Year in England”. We love England for many reasons – the beautiful countryside, the abundance of good walking and hiking trails, the charming villages, the people, the tea – and we want to do a longer stay. We spent five months in England in the late 1980s (fall and winter) but did not return until 2000 when we spent a month … Continue reading
Help me get the word out about Slow Europe. I think it is a great resource for finding vacation rentals in Europe. Here are the things you can do to help: Join the Slow Europe Mailing List – I send out newsletters two or three times a year. Write a blog post about Slow Europe or tell me what topic you want covered and I will write a post for your blog. Link to Slow … Continue reading
This is a followup blog post to a post from our 2007 trip to Switzerland – The Coffee in Switzerland is Great! Steve and I love coffee. I drink 2 – 3 cups a day and I want them to be perfect. At home we have Jura Capresso Impressa E8, an older model similar to the Jura Capresso F50, and we love it. It was expensive, around $800. You put water into one side of … Continue reading
The March photo on the Slow Europe Home Page, taken last summer in the Cotswolds (England), is a Norman doorway in the church in Windrush. The day I took that photo, we visited two villages with exceptional churches – Swinbrook and Windrush. Swinbrook Swinbrook, a small village on the River Windrush east of Burford, was made famous by the Mitford sisters who grew up in nearby Asthall in the early part of the 20th century … Continue reading
This is a big weekend for vacation rentals. HomeAway.com is running an ad in the Super Bowl! This will introduce vacation rentals to millions of North Americans and put vacation rentals in the travel accommodation mainstream. My website SlowEurope.com gives you the tools you need to find and book vacation rentals in Europe, but I am not running a Super Bowl ad. Instead I am writing this blog post to give my view of vacation … Continue reading
Nico and Elena Pannevis run the Sant’Antonio Country Resort, an estate outside of Montepulciano, in Tuscany. Thirteen vacation rentals (villas, cottages, apartments) and six languages (Italian, English, Swahili, Dutch, German, French) on an idyllic olive growing estate that started life in the 12th century as a Monastery. The estate has large gardens (with over a kilometer of Bay Leaf hedges), views north to Lago Trasimeno and south to Monte Amiata, a large pool, underground parking … Continue reading
updated January 29, 2010 HomeAway, the Austin TX based company who owns most of the major Rent-by-Owner websites (HomeAway.com, VRBO.com, VacationRentals.com, etc.*) will have an ad in the 2010 Super Bowl! Finally, vacation rentals will be on the scoreboard! The ad features Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo reviving their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold in the 1983 movie “National Lampoon’s Vacation” about a family on a vacation to “Walley World” (a great movie!). Brian … Continue reading
Barcelona is one of the most popular European travel destinations. It is located in northern Spain, in the Catalonia region near the border with France, on the Mediterranean coast. Modernism, a variant of Art Nouveau, was born in Barcelona in the late 1800s. Gaudí designed many buildings in the Eixample district of Barcelona. Max, a transplanted Italian, lives in the Sants – Montjuïc district and runs The Urban Suites.com, 20 suites and apartments (vacation rentals) … Continue reading