Europe Summer 2013: Villa Ida in Sorrento

Villa Ida in Sorrento

Me, Mari @ Villa Ida in Sorrento

Villa Ida Cooking Class Kitchen

I have just returned from an extraordinary experience in Sorrento.  I've been to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast many times.  In fact, the last time we were here was 9 months ago.

 Today, we wanted to experience life in Sorrento rather than do the walking around Sorrento shopping thing that we had done before.   I worked with I.C. Bellagio to help plan this wonderfully perfect day!

"outside" kitchen with our instructors!

Happy Maddy with Chicca!

Hydrangeas & Grape Vines

Hospitality must have been born in Italy.  Our cooking class at Villa Ida was a perfect example of how to make outsiders from various places in the world feel like a part of your family.  Villa Ida is this magical villa away from the city center.  We arrived and were greeted by the chef, Rosalba's niece for our private cooking class and welcomed “home”.  There were 2 of my daughters and their spouses and our 2 year old granddaughter.  I had arranged for a babysitter for Maddy and was so pleasantly surprised with the arrangements.  Chicca

Another secion of the backyard

 (pronoiced Kee-Ka) was the 42 year old babysitter extraordinaire!!  So loving and patient but what made this so perfect was that Villa Ida is a home ... complete with a play area for
the grandchildren of the owners.  Perfect!  Maddy was in heaven and so were her parents.

Jeff (my husband) READY to cook!

After Maddy was settled, we walked down the beautiful pathway with huge hydrangea flowers down the path and grapes hanging over our heads.  We were invited to sit at our table set outdoors under the lemon and orange trees to enjoy a light breakfast of coffee, lemon cake and strawberry water.  The weather was sunny and ranged from 75-82 degrees as they day passed.  

After breakfast, we were invited to meet with Rosalba and her niece, Roberta who helped translate.  Rosalba was a lovely engaging woman who interspersed her insight and cooking tips throughout our class.  EVERYONE learned something!!  It was like cooking along side of your Italian Grandmother.

The table we sat at to eat all the courses of food

We started with learning how to prepare zucchini blossoms by separating the blossoms from the zucchini.  We cut the zucchini into small slices for our lightly fried (only in corn or sunflower oil) zucchini which would be added to our spaghetti.  Next, we moved onto cutting squash which would later be lightly fried.  We added mozzarella to the squash slices and rolled the squash up and put it on a baking dish to heat in the oven.

Homemade meatballs - Villa Ida version

We cut large, fragrant tomatoes for our Pomodoro Salad, and made beef meatballs served in a simply delicious tomato basil sauce.  Finally, we made our amazing dessert, Tiramisu.  This Tiramisu was not the American version.  This Tiramisu consisted of ladyfingers, strawberries and strawberry syrup made with sugar and a little water and a lovely custard sauce.

After we finished “working”, Rosalba's husband, Carlo invited us into his wine cellar to taste his handmade wines.  These were not “fine wines”...these were local table wines meant to enjoy with the local food.  We came away learning more about his family's history and how important Villa Ida was to his mulch-generational family that all worked together in this piece of heaven.

We had started around 9:15 and began enjoying our lunch 3 ½ hours later and what a lunch it was.  All during our class and lunch, Maddy was being lovingly cared for by Chicca.  Believe me when I tell you how perfect today day was!

Jeff (my husband) always finding the animals

After enjoying our simple, perfect meal, Carlo and Rosalba's grandchildren, Andrea and little Rosalba Junior joined Maddy to play together in total harmony.  Children don't need to communicate in words.  They played in the toy house together and in the end gave each other hugs and kisses goodbye.

Homemade pasta with Zucchini

We “graduated” from class and were given certificates, a copy of our recipes and Villa Ida aprons to take home with us.

Meatballs and Mozzarella wrapped in Eggplant

From our hearts, Ciao and Grazia to everyone that made Villa Ida so unique and memorable!

The World is Our Playground!

I GRADUATED Villa Ida Cooking Class!!!!

Mari

Europe Summer 2013: Florence

FLORENCE

To anyone who follows my blog, they know that Florence/Tuscany is my favorite region in Italy.  BTW, as an aside, the Amalfi Coast and Lake Como are my #2 and #3 favs.

My daughter, Cayla & son-in-law, Dave

We've visited Florence many many times and have enjoyed it's “outdoor museum” experiences.  Wherever you turn, you see something to admire whether it is spectacular architecture or paintings at the Uffizi or even the views from the hills overlooking Florence.  Whenever my family visits Florence, we shop until we drop.  It is the best city for shopping for designer products as well as local leather goods including purses, wallets, belts and gloves.   In fact. Florence is know for their glove stores that actually measure your hand and place the gloves on your hand palm forward.  This is a very unique and wonderful experience and the styles and colors are endless.  (HIGHLY recommend getting fitted for custom gloves.)

Son-in-law, Dave on the left and Jeff on the right - Twinsies!!!

We arrived into Livorno quite late and had planned to use the ship's bus transfer to get to Florence.  In the long run, it was a good thing because we would have missed the train we had taken before because the ship was late and it's not always easy finding a taxi to take you from the pier to the local car rental agency in Livorno BUT we really only had 6 hours in my much loved city ... the good and the bad.

Il Latini Restaurant

@ Il Latini served Family Style (Top Right: Ribollita = FAV!)

We met up with 2 of our 3 daughters and their families in front of the Savoy Hotel and off we went shopping.  Italy's July Sale Season begins July 7^th so I missed my favorite "saldi" (the word in Italian for "sale") signs in the store windows.  We visited our favorite stores for window shopping and then walked over to our family favorite, Il Latini Restaurant for lunch.   It was great as usual!  We enjoyed their salads, excellent soups and Bistecca Florentina!  All was served with their Chianti Wine (House Wine) served in a jug - So fun!  The best part was as we were leaving, they insisted that we take 2 of their Il Latini Chianti's and a bottle of Moscato Wine with us as a gift.

Dessert @ Il Latini

After lunch, we went to the area by the Pitti Palace to visit our favorite low retail leather shop, Anna's.  Anna's offers quality leather goods and Missoni clothes and scarves at a slight discount.  Mrs. Anna as we lovingly call her works with her family and we marvel at her energy.  What a great business woman!  If you are looking for quality leather coats both lined and unlined or excellent handbags, wallets or belts please keep Anna's in mind!

My next blog is going to talk about our special cooking class in Sorrento.

Stay tuned!

Inside Pic of Il Latini
Note the fresh plates of prosciutto being sliced on the Right

The World is Our Playground!

Mari

Europe Summer 2013: Gibraltar, Cartegenia & Barcelona

GIBRALTAR, CARTEGENIA AND BARCELONA

Sangria

GIBRALTAR

Gibraltar

Mosque of the Two Holy Custodians

Gibraltar is a mix of Spanish and UK cultures.  There are pubs ... AND there are restaurants that are tapas themed.  EVERYONE we met was very nice.  Gibraltar is also a mix of religions.  A Mosque, 4 Synagogues and many, many churches or many denominations.  What a lovely mix!

There is one major long street that takes you from the port and ends at the Mosque of the Two Holy Custodians and Europa Point.  Gibraltar is easy to tour and all signs are in English and Spanish.

Cannon Bar

Gibraltar was a WWII stronghold so there is a lot of history here.  One of the highlights is visiting the WWII Tunnels.  There is a Moorish Castle to visit and a tour that goes to the Top of the Rock to visit Gibraltar's monkeys.

We stopped for lunch at the Cannon Bar.  The Bar was full of friendly locals and the server made suggestions that began with the local Sangria.

CARTAGENA, SPAIN

Cartagena, Spain

Cartagena, Spain was a lovely surprise.  The city is clean and easy to access.  We visited on a Sunday so all of the stores were closed.  The people though were nice and helpful.

Roman Theatre

The highlight here is visiting a newly uncovered Roman Theatre.  Not too much else.  The closest beach is a 30 minute walk.  If you visit, just hope that its a day that the shops are open or you might be a bit bored.

BARCELONA, SPAIN

Barcelona

Las Ramblas

To those of you who follow my blog, you know that I've visited Barcelona many times.  We visited on the 2^nd day of the religious holiday of Saint Juan which started with major celebrations yesterday and ended with major hangovers today.  Unfortunately for the shopping lovers like me EVERYTHING except the souvenir stores and some of the restaurants were closed.  (SAD Mari moment!!)

Passeig de Gracia

We walked along Las Ramblas enjoying the party sunny morning at 72 degrees and then walked along Passeig de Gracia which is the major upmarket shopping street.  We headed for Hotel Casa Fuster for a visit and I am so happy that we did.  We met the Deputy General Managers, Cesar Royo Gascon who proudly showed off his lovely hotel.  This is a Palace Hotel and as such, the integrity of the Palace structure couldn't be changed.  The rooms are small but very comfortable.  I have had clients stay here and now I understand how happy they were.  From the outdoor bar area overlooking the city to the lower floor showcasing a wonderful breakfast, this is definitely a special hotel.  Cesar insisted that we try a Barcelona treat, Coca de Sant Juan which is only made once a year.  All of the pastries are made on property and this really showed off their cuisine.  Hotel Casa Fuster, part of Leading Hotels of the World is no longer a part of Virtuoso however they do offer “Virtuoso-like” amenities to clients of Protravel.  Ask me for more details!

Coca de Sant Juan

After our site visit, we returned to our favorite Tapas Restaurant, Divinus. It was as friendly and yummy as we remembered.  This is a must try!  We learned that Divinus is part of the Cacheiro Restaurant Group and we will definitely have to try one of their other restaurants when we return.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Tomorrow is Monte Carlo.

Divinus

The World is Our Playground!

Mari

Europe Summer 2013: Bilbao, Spain

BILBAO, Spain

Bilbao

Have I mentioned that it has been unseasonably cold and rainy?  Cold as in the high 50's and rainy as in yuck!  Poor Jeff, he REALLY hates the rain and for us Southern Californians, the high 50's is COLD.

Bilbao

Note to self: even though the forecast says it will be hot and in your own experience the Med is always hot in June ... bring something warm to wear AND a lightweight raincoat. ALWAYS!

In spite of the rain, we had a wonderful day in Bilbao.  I had arranged with Made in Spain one of our Virtuoso specialists in Spain, to have a private half day tour.  We were delighted to meet Esther who was in her mid-30's and also was one of only 20 certified guides at the Guggenheim.

Nervion River

We began our half day tour with an overview of Bilbao.  We learned about the population of 375,000 locals and found out that almost 1 million people live in the outskirts.  The unemployment in Spain is very high at 27% but here in Bilbao, it's at 11%.  Bilbao is a factory town that produces iron and steel.  It has 2 universities one a private school with an emphasis on the humanities and the other is a public school.

During our overview of Bilbao, we saw the first suspension bridge invented.  Pedestrians and up to 8 cars take the bridge from one bank of the Nervion River to the other.  Very interesting to see!

Guggenheim

Our next stop was the highlight...the Guggenheim museum designed by Frank Gehry.  It was everything that you have seen and more.  The Guggenheim opened in 1997 and cost $100 million to build.  What an amazing use of space and the architecture was breath taking! 

Richard Serra

Inside the Guggenheim, Esther explained that there were 2 permanent exhibits and the rest change 2-3 times per year.  My favorite exhibit was on the first level.  Richard Serra, a native of SanFrancisco and friend to Frank Gehry has created an incredible wing full of post-Minimalist sculpture that draws you in to experience the space ... its one of those hard to explain experiences but this is a must for you to put on your must do travel list.  While at the Guggenheim, we saw works by Picasso, Miro, Kandinsky and an exhibit of French art from 1936 to after WWII.  Some of the art was created by French Jewish survivors and this contrasted with the “ideal” German art and finally we saw art inspired by people of the resisting the Spanish Civil War.

We toured the Bilbao's Old Town Quarter and saw the 15^th Century San Anton Church and the Gothic inspired 17^th Century Basilica of Begona.  We also saw the Siete Calles or 7 cobblestone streets that make up Old Town.  Afterward, we met up with new friends that we had met on the cruise and enjoyed a tapas lunch at Victor Montes which was so much fun and back to the boat we went.

Siete Calles

Tomorrows a day at sea and then we visit Lisbon with our Virtuoso group.

The World is Our Playground!

Mari