STOCKHOLM, HELSINKI AND A NIGHT AT SEA

You are walking up the same marble stairs where Nobel Prize winners have made their way since 1901 and will again make their way on December 10th of this year.

It’s the City Hall in Stockholm and you’re in the Blue Hall, gazing up at the granite pillars and exposed brick walls that stretch seventy-five feet from floor to ceiling. Called the Blue Hall and not a spot of blue anywhere? Designed by Ragnar Östberg, a Swedish architect who was inspired by Italian design, it was imagined as a soaring ceiling-free space with a view of an azure sky. The climate demanded a roof be added, but it’s been stuck with the misnomer for over a hundred years.

This year 1300 carefully chosen world citizens will await the five-allotted-minutes of winners’ speeches and the bestowing of the big checks. They will dine on menus prepared by 25 of the best chefs in Sweden and be served by hundreds of waiters dressed in black and white. Then they’ll proceed to the aptly named Golden Room, with its leaded windows and walls of Byzantine gold mosaic tile. This is where, under crystal chandeliers the guests will dance away the night.

As you stand right in the spot where the most coveted award in the world is celebrated annually, Stockholm comes very much alive, but it’s just part of reason to visit the city.

Built on fourteen islands and called “image-conscious”, “trend-hungry” and “tech-friendly,” it is richly historical as well, with its Old Town of narrow cobblestone streets and clutter of shops, its Royal Palace, National Museum, and the Vasa.

A Viking ship, buried in the Baltic since it went down in 1628, was discovered about three miles from the city some forty years ago, salvaged and rebuilt, the restoration finally recently completed. Pulled out of the deep complete with 27 bodies, casks of spirits, the bones of meat intended to feed the passengers, personal items like toys and other chilling artifacts, it is a whopper of an attraction, drawing 800,000 visitors to the museum every year. An on-site short film tells the story of the ship in several languages.
Other, cheerier landmarks can be found at the Storkyrkan, the cathedral famous for its statue of the city’s patron saint, George, (and a popular site for weddings) or at one of Stockholm’s many parks. These are everywhere, the most popular being Djurgarden, the former royal hunting ground, now quiet, scenic and vast, or for a livelier experience, Skansen, an amusement park/zoo well known for its exhibit of Sweden’s 19th Century rural roots, complete with old farmhouses, reindeer and craftmen’s shops.

Wherever you head in Stockholm, water views are not far away, and neither are some of the finest restaurants in Europe, as for example, the Operakälleren. Here you have a choice of casual dining at reasonable prices in one room, or, as one diner put it, going into “a food coma,” in the lush ambience of red brocade, Austrian shades and Victorian oil portraits of naked ladies (with foliage painted over the strategic spots)in another.
Feasting here on such dishes as “Baked Bass with vanilla flavoured sauce and vegetable ragout wrapped in chard” or “saddle of rabbit with olive sauce and a zucchini flowers stuffed with anchovies” should be high on your wish list if you care to spend the roughly $40 per entree. Other big-time restaurant choices range from the posh Fredsgatan known particularly for its Swedish specialties (order a Tamarind Sling drink to go with here!) to the easier-on-your-pocketbook Tranan, a local, casual beer café.

Should all this and more tempt you to go to Stockholm this year, it just happens there’s a special package available combining a visit to Sweden with one to nearby Finland. A luxury seven-day vacation connects Stockholm and Helsinki by one night on a Silja cruise ship (the size of a horizontal skyscraper with gambling, music, and shopping aboard gets you from here to there) and the entire trip is available for $1798 per person, SAS round-trip airfare and limo from the airport included. The efficient and inexpensive (approximately $1.50) public transit system in both cities makes getting around economical and convenient.

What’s in Helsinki besides the saunas? First, the Kämp, a world-class hotel considered the best in Finland, where you get to stay. Then, there’s design. Lots of it, everywhere. A visit to the Arabia factory, the showrooms of Ittala and Hackman, a chance to shop all three at a nice discount, is a good beginning. The home of the famous architect-designer, Eliel Saarinen, now open to the public at Hvitträsk, is not far from town. Finlandia, a concert hall designed by Alvar Aalto, has soaring ceilings, marble stairs designed for dramatic entrances, is also worth a stop. The new Kiasma Museum, dedicated to groundbreaking works of contemporary art, deserves a look as well, but one needs only to keep eyes open to see that Finland is art conscious, and blends the latest, sleek and functional design–think Fiskars scissors, Nokia mobile phones, Kosta Boda glass–with the best of the past.
An excellent example of the mix is the Kappeli Bar-Restaurant on the Esplanade in the center of town. Here is an old-world bar, cozy and intimate, connected with its alter-ego restaurant, sleek as a modern furniture showroom. It’s like stepping from one century to the next, with both sharing the same park view.

At Sundmans restaurant, you’ll find pale gold walls, ferns, 19th Century gentility, and feel as if you’re dining in some ancestor’s elegant dining room instead of a restaurant. Choose from one of their 5000 bottles of wine and enjoy a selection from a tasseled menu: “Breast and leg of wild duck á la G.W.Sundmans,” at about $35, or “Arctic char stuffed with crayfish tails, creamy crayfish sauce,” at $33. (Char is a local fish.) Or try the more contemporary Nokka; it’s multilevel with an open kitchen and walk-in wine cellar, but be warned that all alcoholic beverages are imported in Finland and therefore not inexpensive.

less costly option might be to grab a bite at Café Strindberg, and wash it down with the local beer, Lapin Kulta. The restaurant is two-level, buffet style on the ground floor, lounge chairs and table service upstairs. You can count on wonderful fresh bread here as almost everywhere in Helsinki, and menus with English translations are universal.
Strictly speaking, Finland is not a part of Scandinavia, but is considered a Nordic country. For centuries part of Sweden, later under Russian rule, it’s sort of a hybrid, with influences from both countries and a language and identity all its own. Since 1995 a part of the European Union, it uses Euros as currency (in Sweden it’s the Krona) and happily, almost everyone speaks English in both cities, making Americans feel right at home.

SPURGING IN SAN ROQUE FOR GOLF, TAPAS AND SIGHTSEEING –Boston Herald, April 12, 2001

San Roque, pronounced San Ro-kay’, further south than Marbella, a bit north of Gibraltar, boasts a palm-trees-blue-skies ambience, and an average year-round temperature of sixty degrees. Like the many crowded seaside communities one passes along the way from the Malaga Airport, the tiny town boasts 300 days of sun per year, but is distinguished by the star in its crown–the plush and peaceful San Roque Club. Actually a 100 room hillside resort converted from the former homestead of the Domecq wine family, it is the most popular golf destination in Spain.The hotel has its own recently refurbished 18 hole golf course and a brand new perk: guests staying here have reciprocal privileges at three other nearby courses, one being the pre-eminent Valderra, considered the best golf course in continental Europe. Valderra is so well-maintained, that in the words of one golfer, “every blade of grass stands at attention,” but San Roque’s own course, with its bougainvillea and artificial crystal ponds, its golf school and new clubhouse, is also world-class. The front nine holes wind through a landscape of cork trees and views of mountains and the Mediterranean, the back nine undulate through rolling hills and wrap up with two challenging holes. San Roque has hosted the Ryder Cup and World Golf Championships; in the words of another golfer, “it reeks of elegance.” Prince Andrew has played on its greens and Sean Connery is a member of the club, comprised of what a staff member calls, “European moneyed families.” Moneyed or not, guests may also play at the very nearby Sotogrande, about two and a half miles away, or the Alcaidesa Golf Course, a nice links with views of Gibraltar. Twenty other courses are within an hour’s drive, and there is no need to lug that golf bag across the Atlantic; San Roque will deliver a set of superior clubs to guests’ doors.

The doors, by the way, tend to be of heavy, carved wood, and open onto bright rooms and suites complete with marble bathrooms, outdoor brick patios, and wooden headboards the color of castanets. The general resort ambience, with its terracotta and wrought iron, moorish rooflines and courtyards, fountains and flowers, reeks of Old Spain as one has always imagined it.

Golf is not everything here: there is a famous equestrian center with instructors and trainers, a beach club, a conference center, tennis, children’s activities. And, here in Andalusia, there is so much else to see. Although San Roque has its own restaurants — one continental, one Japanese — it’s also fun to travel a bit for lunch or dinner, to, say, Cadiz. Tapas is everywhere. “Tapas” is a word that means “lid” and is said to have begun as an appetizer munched with sherry when someone placed a piece of salami, Jambon Iberico (black ham) or some other tidbit across the top of a stem glass, creating a “lid.” The small servings of this and that — as a first course or an entree — is reminiscent of Italian antipasto.

In Cadiz, after viewing the two thousand year-old Roman Theatre, the gold-domed Cathedral, or shopping for leather buys on Antonio Lopez Street, head for lunch at the city’s best restaurant, el Faro, for excellent tapas washed down with the ubiquitous Tio Pepe sherry. Follow this with the house special, “Urta,” the local fish, baked in a slipcover of salt, which theatrically gets hammered open at the table.

Another day, head for Ronda, where Hemingway is said to have written “Death in the Afternoon” in the shadow of Plaza De Toros, the oldest bullring in Spain. On the way, on the national road #340, note the “Montera del Toro” the natural stone formation that looks like a matador’s hat, and if you’re lucky, you may also catch sight of a camera-ready shepherd with his flock. The streets in Ronda are narrow and steep, “And only go uphill,” a tourist was heard to remark. Still, this small city, with its white-washed buildings and jaw-dropping views from terraces, a bridge and balcony that seems to hang over the edge of the planet, is crowded with tourists, and despite barriers and fences on its high vantage spots, attracts photographers — and occasional suicides. If there’s time, cheer up at the Cortijo Las Monjas Winery about six miles out of town. Sample the Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah and check out the photographs of Bob Hope, the Reagans, Edward Simpson and other celebrities who’ve been here and bear testimony to the quality of this award-winning vineyard, owned by Prince Hohenlohe of Germany.

Don’t miss Gibraltar. It’s a very short drive from San Roque and a taxi is the way to go. The driver will wait while you cross the bridge, show your passport and take a bus tour of the island, or ride a tram to the top of the rock. The bus allows you stops: to meander through St. Michael’s cave, check out the Botanic Gardens or scan the coast of Morocco with the Atlantic stretching in front of you and the Mediterranean behind. The most popular attraction is the Apes’ den at the island’s summit. There is a colony of tailless monkeys, actually Barbary Macaques, who live free and are cooperative about hopping on a visitor’s shoulder for a snapshot. Be careful here; they sometimes give a playful bite.

If there is time, there is Seville, two hours away, where a horse-and-buggy ride takes visitors on a city tour, and allows a stroll through the treasures of shaded walks, statuary and the white doves of Maria Luisa Park, possibly the most beautiful in Europe. Granada beckons too, and so does Tangier in Morocco, each a day trip, or nearby Jerez, home of flamenco and horsemanship. The Andalusian sights are varied and colorful, many unspoiled, some breathtaking. The natives are friendly, even for those of us who come with walking shoes but not a word of Spanish.

San Roque: www. Sanroqueclub.com or info@sanroqueclub.com

Getting there: Best way is to fly British Air to London, with connecting flights to Gibraltar, a twenty minute taxi drive to San Roque.

Or: American Airlines from Boston, connecting flight to Iberian Airlines to Madrid, then to Malaga, an hour’s drive from San Roque.

Green fees: (Approximate, depending on exchange rate of pesetas) – San Roque: $54, Valderrama, $150 Sotogrande: $80 (Handicap certificates are required)

Car rental: $40-45

Car with driver per day: $100Gibraltar bus tour: $50

Seville horse and carriage: $5 per person

San Roque room rates: Vary from $280-500.

Best package deal through Wide World of Golf: 1-800-214-GOLF(4653) or www.wideworldofgolf.com

FLORIDA’S FUNKY, FOLKSY SIESTA KEY –
The Commercial Appeal, December 3, 2000

Walk on it, lie on it, photograph it or simply worship it — Crescent Beach at the north end of Siesta Key is the best beach in the world, according to the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Other experts more modestly describe it as the finest beach in the USA, or simply, “the best of the best.” This strip of sand on the Gulf of Mexico invites comparison to sugar, the color of clouds, talcum. It dazzles in sunlight and stretches for 2 + miles, including Siesta Key Public Beach. Its lack of seashells makes it barefoot-friendly, but shell seekers can find plentiful little gifts from the sea to the south, at Turtle Beach.

That’s only one reason to head for Siesta Key. As part of Sarasota that stretches roughly five miles between the Gulf of Mexico and the Intercoastal Waterway, it has an ambience that is more low-key and less manicured than the surrounding west coast of Florida. Popular for biking, jogging and fishing, it has two small, separate villages, and from November to September, a funky “Siesta Trolley” shuttles visitors back and forth between them. Here are art galleries, eating places, the sort of earthy dives that are called Old Salty Dog and feature the local specialty, fried hot dogs, welcome shorts and sneakers and don’t require reservations. For a more elegant dining option, there is Ophelia’s on little Sarasota Bay, or a ten-minute trip to Sarasota, where sophisticated restaurants abound.

Less “upmarket” than its tonier neighbor, Longboat Key, Siesta Key shares many local attractions: The newest is the Mote Marine Aquarium. This combination research, dolphin rescue, marine life, aquatic petting zoo, and biomedical and conservation center exhibits every manner of sea life including eels, sharks, turtles, manatees and the sort of creepy crawly underwater creatures ordinarily featured in bad dreams. The exhibits are designed to leave children as well as adults enlightened and spellbound. The aquarium is open daily from ten to five, admission is $8.00, $6.00 for students and toddlers get in free.

The one-of-kind Bird Rehabilitation Center on City Island (part of Longboat Key) is a short drive away. Dale Shields, a sort of avian national hero who has won praise from bird lovers coast to coast and was designated one of President Bush’s points of light, has been rescuing our feathered friends for thirty years. He has found pelicans and herons at the side of the road, wounded sandpipers, blinded crows and broken-winged vultures, and has given them all a safe haven. With his staff, he rehabilitates the injured and sends them back into the wild. Some must be kept permanently in the aviary, which is supported by public donations. Donors’ names are carved into individual bricks that create the walkways through the compound. Admission is by voluntary donation.

Wildlife attractions aside, the Sarasota area is known as the cultural Florida coast, and also includes the very prestigious Ringling Art Museum. Founded by John Ringling of circus fame and his wife Mable, this museum has a world class collection of 10,000 objects that include paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints and decorative arts, ancient as well as contemporary. It sits on the acreage adjacent to Sarasota Bay, left by Ringling to the state of Florida, and shares the property with the Ringlings’ winter Residence, Ca D’Zan. This is a 22 room Venetian style palazzo, open to visitors, and currently under a multimillion dollar renovation. Also on the property is the Museum of the Circus, filled with sequined costumes, an animated miniature circus, posters and other three-ring paraphernalia. The historic Asolo Theatre, also on the property, is Italian style, with rising tiers of boxes and a frieze of painted profiles of famous Italians. It serves the community as a lecture hall, movie theatre and meeting place, but is more reminiscent of a nineteenth century small-gem opera house. All these attractions are open to the public from 9 to 5:30 every day. Admission charge is $9, $8 for seniors.

For sports enthusiasts, the Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota will be the spring training home of the Cincinnati Reds next March. The Sarasota Reds, (three steps below the majors,) play from April through August. Siesta Key has no hotel or motel chains and accommodations range from mom-and-pop bed and breakfasts to efficiencies to large, furnished apartments. Often a fully-equipped apartment can be had for the price of a regular hotel room in nearby resort communities. Or, for a taste of luxury (and the best tennis activities in the United States), one can choose the Colony Hotel on nearby Longboat Key, although some fully appointed resort condos on the beach are available here as well.

For more information, please call the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce, at (914)349-3800, or the Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau, at (800)522-955-0991.

ICELAND WEEKEND

A weekend in Iceland? It takes less time to fly to Reykjavic from Boston than to Los Angeles, and here are some advantages to flying east instead of west: snowcaps instead of strip malls, cooler weather (sixty degrees average summer temperatures) and, absolutely no tipping. Reykjavik is about a forty five minute drive from the airport and one’s first impression of Iceland’s largest city is of modern architecture–love it or hate it. This is not a city of castles or cathedral spires, but rather of white concrete mid and high-rise buildings, and smaller structures of painted corrugated steel. Clusters of picturebook houses add color and charm as does the photogenic harbor, with its fishing boats and seagulls.Four thousand Americans live in Iceland, where virtually everyone speaks English, in a country growing in population (now 275,000) despite changeable weather sometimes so severe that roads have yellow markers for better visibility during blizzards and earthquakes are common. The storms tend to come and go quickly so in spite of its close proximity to the Arctic Circle, winters are warmed by the Gulf Stream and tend actually to be tamer than Boston’s.

Originally settled by Norwegians in 875 A.D, ruled for three hundred years by Denmark, Iceland became totally independent in 1944. The Viking influence is strong, but so is ours, thanks to American television, movies and tourists. Tourism is in fact, Iceland’s second largest industry; the first is fishing, and on landing at Keflavik airport one detects the faint smell of fish in the air. There is very little other industry–one large aluminum factory–and no military. No war has ever been fought here, Iceland has never been occupied by a foreign country and in what seems like the spirit of peace typical of the country, policemen here don’t carry guns.

Although bus or jeep tours are a convenient option, nature’s greatest treasures lie out of the city and a rental car allows more flexibility. Driving is on the right, and daily rates begin in the neighborhood of $75. The Blue Lagoon, “Iceland’s beach,” and Reykjavik’s most famous attraction, is a 40 minute drive out of town. This “geothermal wonder” is a large and irregularly shaped stretch of sky blue water surrounded by lava walls, fed by natural springs and heated to a lukewarmish-bath temperature for all-season bathing. Therepeutic promises aside–cures for psoriasis are documented–dipping into mineral-rich seawater from which steam is gently rising is probably most memorable as an esthetic experience.

An adjacent restaurant with its soaring ceiling and walls of glass has a view of the lagoon and offers light or serious dining; the on-site shop sells beauty creams and other products made from mineral salts and algae found in the water. Admission is approximately eight dollars per person and hours vary according to the season. Because the small and sturdy Icelandic horse is unique in the world, horseback riding is very popular here, in any weather. The horses are accommodating to novice or experienced equestrians and eighty percent of the riders at the Ishestar Sports Center have never been on horseback before; the trails border the countryside near the stables and guides accompany the riders. More ambitious trekking options are available, so is hiking, and white water rafting expeditions may also be arranged at the stables. They range from tame to very challenging.

A tour called the “Golden Circle” should be included in the weekend agenda. This includes Gullfloss, the country’s grand waterfall, and the Geysir, a short drive away. Geothermal areas are divided into high and low temperature spots; the low temperature outside and the heat within cause intermittent sprays to shoot skyward. While they don’t reach the heights of our own Yellowstone Park jets, there is a sense of excitement whenever a geyser whooshes up and up just a few feet away from one’s camera. Also in the area is the “town” of greenhouses so efficiently heated by this geothermal energy that bananas and other fruits and vegetables typical of the tropics are grown there. An Icelandic seafood buffet is available in the Hotel Geysir on the premises. Salmon smoked and fresh, herring, and salads of every description make for a fish-lovers dream lunch. Viking or Egils Beer are the local brews and for something with more kick, try Brennivin. It’s a schnapps-like liquor also known (a bit unnervingly) as “Black Death.” After lunch, take an expedition to Laugavegur, Reykjavik’s main shopping street, where the best buys are in Icelandic wools and handicrafts, depending on the current exchange rate. Elm is a shop selling high-fashion women’s clothes created by an Icelandic designer; souvenir and jewelry stores abound here and at the indoor Kringlan mall. This might also be the time to take a look inside Reykjavik’s best hotel, The Holt, which has one of the country’s largest private art collections. Other Icelandic art can be seen locally at the Reykjavic Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, and the Einar JÃ3nsson Museum.

For a spectacular dining experience, head for the Perlan (The Pearl). This revolving restaurant is perched on top of a pair of hot water tanks, but the view is only part of the drama. Multilevel, streamlined, space-age modern, the place is a perfect marriage of hilltop setting and knockout architecture. With a huge glass dome that shines like, yes, a blue pearl, a viewing deck and its own mini-geyser, this is the restaurant one is not likely to forget. Dinner options include anything from beef Rossini with truffle and madeira sauce to the ubiquitous fish dishes, done with ginger, chive, chipotle or you-name it sauces. If you can manage dessert, the Hot Valrhona chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and cassis sauce is a rave. The Pearl is not inexpensive, but generally, food in Iceland is not very pricey. Tax and tip are included in the bill, but be aware that it’s the alcoholic drinks that jack up the tab. A bottle of wine can cost eighty dollars here.

Recently, Reykjavik has become well known for its nightlife. Cafes, discos, bars and dance halls are hot, and the most popular nightspot is Astro, on AusturstrÃ|ti. The action heats up on weekends and because liquor prices are high, drinking at home before barhopping accounts for the late start. The action usually does not begin until around midnight and it’s not unusual to see crowds party in the streets after three in the morning, after bars and nighclubs close.

Golf is quite the rage in Iceland too, there are many courses, and snow and ice notwithstanding, it’s played in almost any weather. It goes without saying that salmon fishing is also very popular. So is bicycling, whale watching, snowmobiling or during the summer months, riding a Super Jeep on the nearby glacier. Occasional snow on Reykjavik’s famous Mt. Esja remain a backdrop year round, but expect to see buttercups or dandelions instead of icicles during summer months. The moss that grows on the country’s bed of lava rock produces a lush green landscape, and everything from the sky down to its fjords seems sparkling and fresh. The charm of Iceland is in its showy outdoors, which look pristine and unblemished, the way the place must have looked centuries ago, long before anyone had ever heard the terms, “air quality” and “pollution.”

Icelendair offers off-season weekend packages starting at $599 per person. ($299 mid-week deals are also available) These inclue round trip air, three days, two nights at a Reykjavik hotel, with breakfast and some sightseeing included.

Call 1-800-223-5500 or www.icelandair.com

LAID BACK AND LIVELY PUERTO VALLARTA

Whether you are dying of love or just dying to get out of town, consider Puerto Vallarta. Here are pale sand beaches, a shark-free surf and reliable sunshine at decent prices. The city has good drinking water, safe streets and everywhere the aura of welcoming friendliness.

Although founded in 1851 one could say it was discovered by John Huston, who came to film “Night of the Iguana” in 1964. The population then was 300, but this Hollywood Christopher Columbus really put the town on the map. With some help from the scandal of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, then both married to others and trysting here, the buzz brought people. Today, the population of Puerto Vallarta is 300,000. That includes the 5000 Americans who own property here.

The town is comprised of an old section and a new, divided by a bridge over the Cuale river which runs between them. Near the Centro, is El Malecón, a boulevard along the shore of Banderos Bay, the largest in Mexico, on which Puerto Vallarta is situated. Local artists have created the large pieces that are displayed along this stretch against the backdrop of sky and glistening sea. This lovers’ dream of a walkway is popular at sunset and photographers are everywhere snapping the large stone seahorse, symbol of the city, or the children who are free to clamber other user-friendly statuary. Local artists’ contributions may also be seen at their studios and galleries.

Of particular interest is the Galeria EM, where world-class works in glass are manufactured and displayed, and Galeria Dante, with its large selection of sculpture from Mexico and around the world. Sergio Bustamente, considered one of the leading artists of Mexico, has his own gallery and the studio of Richard Baker, a professional watercolorist and American transplant is worth a visit. Check a local events calendar for the Art Walk, a festive occasion in which galleries are open and cocktails are served. It takes place every few weeks in the old town near the main square.

This is an easy city to get around in. Buses run frequently, the fare is four pesos–about 50 cents–and there’s much to see. Conchas Chinas is where the rich have their eye-popping estates, all coconut-white stucco with moorish arches, domes, wrought iron touches, surrounded by paper and mango trees, bougainvillea and “copa de oro,” flowers that do really glow like gold.

On the Federal Road 200, look out at the water and see Los Arcos, a huge rock formation in the sea, through which boats and adventurous swimmers can maneuver. Stop at Le Kliff too, a restaurant that caters to tourists, and for a good reason. It is built like a multilevel fantasy of wood, bamboo and terracotta, has travel-brochure views and is so lush with vegetation there’s hardly room for chairs and tables.

Dining in Puerto Vallarta can be an iffy experience, but there are a few sure bets. The Café Des Artistes is French, a five-star, with a plant-kingdom ambience, top food, top prices: Entrees range from $20 to $35 and there is a tasting menu at $76. For a more modest tab and local seafood, head for Puerto Nuevo, for a typical Mexican meal try Las Palomas or La Chata, which offers 85 kinds of chili. Try the molé here with or without Tequila. That ubiquitous drink is only produced in the town of Tequila, but at Aqui es Jalixco, in nearby Pitillal, learn everything you ever wanted to know about it through demonstrations and tastings, which are free.

Between meals, there’s much to do. Predictably, there are water sports: off-boat parasailing, deep sea/sport fishing, water-skiing, and no end of beaches. Water taxis are available for island-hops; a very popular way to spend a few hours is whale watching. There are the usual land sports like tennis and golf and the more exotic: botanical trail rides, hot-air ballooning and for about $50 a shot, bungee-jumping.

At the end of the day, a bit of spa activity can soothe those aching muscles. The Piedra Viva Spa at the Hacienda Hotel has something called “The Ritual,” an elemental treatment involving a sweat lodge, mud bath, massage and primal music. After treatment one is likely to feel like floating out of the place, which looks a bit like a Tarzan movie set complete with palapa covered huts and a poetic little brook. Spa fans came away wildly enthusiastic about the unique three hour event, calling it “a spiritual experience”. For more conservative spa activity, the Premiere Hotel offers a variety of hydrotherapies, scrubs, and body treatments. While there are hotels in all price ranges in Puerto Vallarta, the Premiere, a gem of a new hotel well-situated on the beach and near town, is also a good bet for anyone demanding not only a spa but dramatic architecture, indoor and outdoor private jacuzzis and seaside glamour.
Pack lightly; the only jackets to be seen here are on the members of the Mariachi bands, which seem to be everywhere. The best of them can be heard at the Tequila Restaurant, which features music seven nights a week. Listening to “La Bamba” and “Guantanamera” may be a good way to feel the soul of Puerto Vallarta, and to wrap up a perfect day in this pocket of romance on the west coast of Mexico.

COOLING OFF IN NORWAY’S HOT SPOTS –
Boston Herald, –August 10, 2000

The views of Norway one remembers will probably include ships and harbors, church spires, snow capped mountains, rows of peak-roofed houses in Martha Stewart colors and lots of water and sky. But nowadays Oslo, named for the mouth of a river–os, and its green banks, lo, is actually a bustling metropolis of half a million people. Set at the head of the Oslo Fjörd, it is divided into two basic parts: the west, which includes large residences for the well-to-do as well as City Hall and the Royal Palace, and the more industrial east. With its highly decorated mosque, a prison, and winding Gronlandesleiret Street where fruits and vegetables are sold in open air markets, the less tony eastern half is the place where most foreigners initially settle.

This year Oslo, dubbed “the Tiger City,” for its power image (not its non-existent tigers) celebrates its 1000th anniversary, which means a bonanza for tourists in the form of parades and parties, jazz concerts, the dramatization of historical events and diverse theme weeks. The purchase of an “Oslo Card” at about $22 per day (8 dollars=1 Kroner) guarantees discounts or free access to local attractions and transit, including The Viking Museum and Folk Art Museums. Both deal with different aspects of Norwegian history: The Viking Museum has on display genuine Viking boats exhumed in 1903 and painstakingly restored, offering a view of dragonhead carvings and authentic details like the holes for oars used by mariners eight centuries ago. The Norsk Folkemuseum is devoted to dry land, and is one of the largest open air museums in Europe. With 150 buildings taken from valley, fjörd and coastal sites in Norway, it simulates the experience of walking through every part of the country.

Oslo is proud of its Nobel peace prize, and a visit to the city might include a look at City Hall, where it is presented, always on December 10th, the date of Alfred Nobel’s death. Rows of chairs stand facing large windows in a marble-floored salon overlooking the harbor, its walls decorated with painted murals of the Second World War and Norwegian history. In Oslo, history is in fact everywhere–even in its restaurants; Ibsen’s favorite, the Grand Café, has his table still there, set for him. A life-size statue of the playwright stands near that of the poet Björnstjerne Björnson’s in front of The National Theatre, and indeed, the city seems enamored of statuary. The verdant Vigeland Sculpture Park features two hundred granite pieces depicting stages of human life and attracts one million visitors every year.

The most popular site, however, is the Holmenkollen Ski Jump, Norway’s oldest. Built in 1892, it overlooks Oslo, and is the largest tourist attraction in the country. The Frognerseteren Restaurant at its summit serves lunch and dinner, is called “dragon style” because of a dragon head carving at its peaked roof, but looks to American eyes very much like a rustic ski lodge. With indoor or outdoor seating, views of the city below, a meal of fresh fish and a glass of Ringnes, the favorite local beer, it is perhaps the defining Oslo experience.

If leaving the pleasures of the city is a wrench, the train ride out of town is surely compensation. The N.S.B. (Norwegian States Railways) trip to Myrdal is scenically dazzling, the ride considered one of the most beautiful in the world. Winding through tunnels, gliding past pine trees and dairy farms, rivers and waterfalls, an occasional village tucked into the mountainside, here and there one sees a road on its way along the green of a snowcapped mountain. Lunch on board may be a casual affair–a sandwich bought from a vendor–or a more serious dining car experience. In any case, dessert should be “Leefsa,” a soft fold of dough filled with cinnamon sugar, a Norwegian specialty.

Arrival at Myrdal gives one a choice: there is the possibility of a four and a half hour hike to Flam, or another, shorter train ride to that destination. It is at Flam that one takes a boat through scenic fjords to Voss, the small town that lies between Oslo and Bergen, and is worthy of a stopover. Voss is a sports lover’s dream, with its body-boggling choices of adventure in the air or on land. Available here are white-water rafting, paragliding, camping, rappelling, parasailing, waterskiing, hang-gliding, kayaking, parachuting. For the less adventurous there is a more profound local attraction: the Voss Folkemuseum. A cluster of farm buildings, ranging in age from one to four hundred years old, stand preserved, transporting the visitor into the working and living farm conditions in past centuries.

On to the glamour of Bergen, the largest cruise liner port in Norway, an hour and fifteen minute train ride away. Two hundred thousand Americans visited here last year, attracted to this ancient harbor city, surrounded by seven mountains and famous for its “Bryggen.” This trading Wharf defines the city and is its core. Although the harbor area was destroyed by fire many times through the ages, each time it was rebuilt, and has kept its original character. Lining the streets are Monopoly-style peak-roofed houses housing shops, apartments, even Scruffy Murphy’s, an Irish pub with its “Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer” motto. Bergen is known for its narrow side streets, cobblestoned and steep, with its old wooden houses looking as if they are leaning towards or against each other. Still standing as it was built in 1702 is the Hanseatic Museum, both residence and storage for an 18th Century merchant and his staff. Go early; long lines form to see the inside of this three-story house. Here one can have the hands-on experience examining cupboard beds, rope tow and hidden staircase, and looking down through original windows at tall ships at anchor below. A “Guest of Honor” Bergen card, similar to the one available in Oslo, offers free museum admission as well as transit and sightseeing attractions for about $20 per day.

It’s not only the harbor with its stiff sea-breezes and open-air fish markets that draw tourists to Bergen. It is also rhododendrons, of which there are 1000 species, and a quarter of a million friendly residents, most of whom, like most Norwegians, speak fluent English. Very popular are cable cars and a funicular that takes visitors to the surrounding mountain tops for dinner and spring and summer evening concerts. And, music lovers will enjoy a visit to Troldhaugen, the hilltop Victorian home of Edvard Grieg, which contains his piano, original furnishings, and handwritten pieces of his music.

As for the “midnight sun”: Norway celebrates its longest day on June 23rd. Daylight lasts for approximately 22, not 24, hours in the south, and nationwide festivities mark the occasion as a holiday–even if it rains.

How to go: SAS or Icelandair. Icelandair offers the shortest travel time between Boston and Oslo. (1-410-715-5153)

Where to Stay: In Bergen and Oslo, the First or Radisson Hotel chains will charge in the neighborhood of $160 per double per night, including full breakfasts. Less expensive accommodations are available at the Best Western or Comfort Hotels. In Oslo, the Oslo Package at approximately $65 per person includes bed and breakfast in a choice of 44 hotels in all categories.

Restaurants: Good to great food is available in every price range. Most expensive in Oslo: Bagatelle or the Bristol Grill. Dinner entrees in the $40 dollar range. The Grand Café has a large lunch buffet. Norwegian specialties at Maud’s. Voss: Fleischers Restaurant has a baronial dining room: fillet of deer, about $30. Bergen: Fiskekrogen is a famous small fish restaurant, entrees about $40. Book ahead here. The Emily Restaurant in the Admiral Hotel is a good bet for lunch – approximately $10.

Contact: Norwegian Tourist Board. (212) 885-9755
www. Norway.org or www.tourist.no