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Tours is the main town in the Loire Valley but there are lots of other pretty villages such as Saumur, Langeais, Luyns, Amboise, Blois and many more. You can find great local food and wine in La Touraine, now officially recognised by Sarkozy, and others I hope, as the gastronomic capital of France as well as the Garden of France. For couples or families it's a great French summer holiday without the crowds of the south.
Fantastic restaurant on Cerro Concepcion - all pasta and gnocchi dishes and a great wine list. Highly recommended.
Corner Templeman/Abtao
corrugatedcity.blogspot.com/2008/04/restaurant-review-pasta-e-vino.html
A great wine bar at Casa da Guia near Cascais, with simple delicious food and, of course, very good wine. Fantastic views of the Atlantic Ocean. Well worth a visit.
Cape Town is a city of spectacular sights! If in a chair, take a cruise from the V&A waterfront. The city and table mountain will float by. Many wine and safari tours are accessible too!
Poeme is one of Bucharest's best restaurants, actually located in the Carol Parc Hotel.
International cuisine, excellent service, but moreover an excellent 'de luxe' atmosphere.
www.carolparchotel.ro
+40-21-3363377
We stayed over at La Casa Azul which is right in front of the central market and we found this lovely new Gastronomik tapas bar/restaurant called Tapa2.
We were amazed at what we got - five courses of pure delight, all served with different drinks to wet the palette.
The owner Eduardo Phillips Blanco (you would be surprised to find out he is English, with that name) and head chef Michael Baering not only provided and served some of the best food we have ever eaten but also entertained us.
Our meal cost us 35 euros each and that was with all drink included, they do a deal with three tapas dishes and a bottle of vino for 15 euros most nights though.
Find them off the beaten track, near La Lonja, not the best setting but the restaurant is cool and funky and it hasn't copped on with the Spanish yet.
Carda6, Barrio del Carmen, Valencia
+34 663 875 903
www.tapa2gastronomik.es (not up and running yet)
If you're in Devon get into Totnes and enjoy the river Dart, Vire Island, the Town Museum, the Costume Museum in Bogan house. Then, if it's Friday or Saturday, you can enjoy the town market too. After that go on right up through the Narrows to the top of town and you'll find the Bay Horse Inn - lovely food, real beer, a warm atmosphere with a nice garden at the back - and local folk music on Tuesday nights, very good jazz evenings - at no extra charge! You can stay the night there too. A great place to be on your holiday!
The Bay Horse is in Cistern Street, by the Rotherfold, at the end of The Narrows, on your right going uphill.
Totnes station is on the main Paddington to Plymouth line. The whole town is within easy walking distance of the station.
A family-run restaurant specialising in meat and fine wine. The meat either comes from free range ducks, geese, pigs on the property, or is hunted in the surrounding forests.
Next door they have a shop with over 15,000 bottles of wine, plus produce from the Auberge (smoked ham, patés), as well as other local specialities. High quality food, beautiful traditional buildings, a great welcome.
Located in Montenach, near Sierck les Bains, near the border with Germany and Luxembourg. www.auberge-de-la-klauss.com
The Born area is a lovely area of Barcelona, with loads to do, great boutique shops, cafes and general vibe that is hard to beat. Ate lunch in a small restaurant close to Santa Maria del Mar called La Luna which had a €12 menu which was a treat and great food. That night we wandered the Born again to bump into a lively joint called La Fianna, full with a great atmosphere and the best cocktails in the world! Oh I love Barcelona what about you!
Check out their websites...
www.lalunabcn.com
www.lafianna.com
This French tour company run fun and informative wine tours. I stumbled upon them when I stayed in Perpignan last week. They collected us from our hotel and brought us to four vineyards, all very different and interesting. We partook in a "how wine is made tour" and tasted some gorgeous wine. Lunch was in a chateau and matched with some fine wine.
The day was great fun and the scenery was amazing. We were very surprised by the quality of the Roussillon wines.
The company is run by two Irish sisters and they know the area really well, living there for the past 10 years. Highly recommend for a good value day out.
www.thefrenchtourco.com
Tel: 0033607421668
19 Bd Cassanyes, Canet, 66140, France
Many people know Spain as a tourist destination.
Many people know Spanish wines. But nearly nobody enjoys wine tourism in Spain.
There are lots of wine regions and marvellous wineries to visit. The areas where wineries are located usually offer excellent food and at budget prices. The offer is enormous.
I suggest to have a look at www.turismodevino.com or www.winetourismspain.com
Tiny, cosy traditional seafood restaurant nestling in the old market hall, in the centre of town. Puerto Varas has lots of good seafood fresh from the nearby coast, and caught by local fishermen, and this is up there with the best.
Intimate, popular with locals and excellent value for beautiful fish and pisco sours. The coffee is very ordinary as often in Chile, so stick with the very good wine.
Market Hall, on Del Salvador and San Bernardo. 2 mins up from the lake front
At Easter the Vinées Tonnerroises celebrates wine and winegrowers, mainly from Burgundy, who will be exhibiting a range of regional specialities.
Tasting takes place in the Hôtel Dieu in Tonnerre, where inductions of new members from the Confrérie des Foudres Tonnerrois will be carried out.
Visitors can enjoy various entertainments in town including rides in horse-drawn carriages. On March 22 and 23.
What a find in the backstreets of Ubud. Belgian owned and very professional. Eat inside in the Wantilan, or where we preferred to sit every night, outside in the garden courtyard. Mainly European food, simple but well prepared and presented. Staff are wonderful, pleasant friendly Balinese. On average we spent 20 pounds for two main courses and one half litre of wine. Always full and need reservation for dinner.
Jln. Bisma 9, Ubud.
(0361) 972.706
www.cafedesartistesbali.com
Just back from another great holiday in Bali. Amazed by the quality of their new restaurants, and the incredible low prices. What would cost 100 Pounds in London is 20% of that in Bali. I get the BaliEats Newsletter every month to keep updated on all the new restaurants.
When I went to BA on business for six weeks, my heart sank at the thought of all the bad "sorry did you say you don't eat meat" so-called dinners I'd be enduring. How wrong I was - in BA (admittedly eating in good restaurants, sure it's different beyond the city) I ate superbly almost every night. Yes, my companions were tucking into the most ridiculous slabs of beef at the same time, but I'm used to that.
My favourite two places were Sucre and Miranda, the first a pretty hip restaurant, the second more informal. Always washed down with an amazing glass of malbec.
Palermo
Off the beaten backpacker trail, this truly unique, extremely well-equipped backpacker accommodation is located on the idyllic East Cape, just a ten-minute drive to art deco Napier, Hastings or sleepy Havelock North.
With only 11 beds, it is important to book ahead but well worth a few days' stay to relax and enjoy the surrounding award-winning vineyards.
Those who enjoy cycling and wine (or even just a good day out) should book themselves on the 'on yer bike' wine tour for a unique and entertaining wine tasting experience (bookable through the hostel). The relaxed owners with a small, toy, farm holding and soon-to-be vineyard are a pleasure.
Birdwatchers, or those who enjoy another good day out should try Gannet Beach Adventures to get a background to the area, excellent views and a chance to see around 17,000 gannets.
www.bbh.co.nz/ for the hostel
www.gannets.com/index.html
A great pub with plenty of choice to enjoy a drink before or after the theatre or concert. It's also well known for its Gents toilets which are well worth seeing!
36 Hope Street
0151 707 2837
Great restaurant in a good location, not far from Octagon. Food is fantastic, atmosphere great. Two people, two courses, best bottle of wine on the menu; £45 - bargain. It's full of locals too - a good indication.
6th district, Liszt Ferenc ter 2
This incredible bar is located in the Four Seasons restaurant, an architectural and culinary landmark since it opened in 1959. You can drink and/or have a light lunch while sitting under a stunning Richard Lippold sculpture of brass rods hanging from the ceiling. It's not cheap, but definitely a 'must-do' splurge. (It's nice to feel special and privileged even if it is only once in one's life.) The Four Seasons is still the place where New York's movers and shakers, political, financial, editorial and otherwise come for lunch ($100 at least per person) and the bar offers a nice perch to view them from. (Well, you can always rub shoulders with them in the lavish restrooms.) Plus there's a good view of what's happening on glorious Park Avenue.
99 E. 52nd & Park Avenue in the landmark Seagram's Building. Go to www.fourseasonsrestaurant.com for pics, menus, etc.
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