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Rick Steves’ Travel Blog

Here you can browse through my blog posts prior to February 2022. Currently I'm sharing my travel experiences, candid opinions, and what's on my mind solely on my Facebook page. — Rick

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Downton Doggie’s Italian Cousin

Over the past couple of weeks in Italy I’ve visited several noble and aristocratic manor houses. As I connected with the fine families maintaining their blue-blooded traditions (against stern headwinds), I imagined their ancestors’ lives a century ago when their grandparents weathered the same changes many of us watched the nobles of “Downton Abbey” endure. (I imagine that Lord Grantham’s grandson, assuming he was still trying to balance Downton’s books, would be renting out rooms, selling pork, or perhaps offering horse rides around the family estate.) And on these visits I kept finding myself walking behind the families’ dogs, which gave me “Downton” déjà vu. This little clip is shot at a wonderful house with a wonderful family who will be in our new TV episode on Tuscany.

This is Day 29 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Romania, and beyond. Find more at blog.ricksteves.com.

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A Dark Venice Alley Hides a Dining Delight

Nearly every evening I’m out prowling the streets in search of the latest places to eat for my guidebooks. (I’m usually with local guides who help me find and understand what I’m seeing.) I don’t think there’s a restaurant anywhere in Venice that could survive without tourism. In other words, they’re all touristy. Still, while many restaurants are tourist traps, some offer far better values. Follow me down a dark alley to my favorite discovery of the evening. Here’s the write-up (one of five such new recommendations) that will appear in the 2017 edition of Rick Steves Venice:

[$$$] Taverna al Remer is a creative place with its own square overlooking the Grand Canal (across from the Rialto Market). Its restaurant seating is deep in an old candle-lit warehouse and its happy hour “yard” offers a chance to sit on their private pier and enjoy the Grand Canal action. They put out a good lunch buffet (€20 plus drink, Mon-Fri 12:00-15:00). They offer an “aperi-cena” (happy hour with a free buffet accompanying the drinks — sit in restaurant, on pier, or stand in square, daily 17:30-19:00). And then, at 19:00, they shift into restaurant mode for the evening with live jazz after 21:00 (closed Wed, meals €35-50, Cannaregio 5701, tel. 041-522-8789). From Campo San Bartolomeo, head north (behind the statue) over one bridge and past the pink church (San Giovanni Grisostomo), and then about 10 yards before the next bridge, venture down the tiny dark lane on your left.

This is Day 28 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Romania, and beyond. Find more at blog.ricksteves.com.

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There’s Something For Everyone in Venice

For 30 years, I’ve been fascinated by all the goofy gimmicks sold by immigrants on the streets of Europe. The flaming Manneken-Pis cigarette lighters, the “How many more minutes of George W. Bush’s presidency are left?” digital countdown clocks, the fluorescent launchers, the click-clack crickets, the selfie sticks. One year it’s tripods and the next its 4-inch cartoon figures that magically dance against a wall. It seems they all have a season and the next year there’s something different. You could fill a museum with them. Lately, a favorite is the blob. These guys are peddling this stuff illegally and are generally camera-shy, but I found a young man in Venice willing to demonstrate his goods on camera. Can you imagine buying this mysterious glob of chemical goo for your child? Yummy!

What are some of other bits of silliness sold on the streets of Europe over the years that you recall?

 

This is Day 27 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Romania, and beyond. Find more at blog.ricksteves.com.

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Waking Up a Block from David…in a Four-Poster Bed

When I opened my eyes after a delightful night’s sleep, it occurred to me that this is pretty good living — a four-poster bed, in a 16th-century monastery, a block from Michelangelo’s David, with a farmers market going on just outside my window on the most venerable Renaissance square in Florence (Piazza S. S. Annunziata). I’m in a nice guidebook work rhythm: two or three days spent learning, and a day in the hotel inputting on my laptop before heading to another great city. Today I’m leaving my favorite hotel in Florence (Loggiato dei Serviti). But I’ll be back in September with 25 fellow travelers when I’ll be guiding our Best of Europe in 21 Days Tour. If you’re on my tour, I have a hunch we’ll have a great time together.

This is Day 26 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Romania, and beyond. Find more at blog.ricksteves.com.