CALIFORNIA & PANAMA CANAL We spent the early part of the year in West Palm Beach, and flew to California mid-February. I had booked a nice 3 day package at the Crowne Plaza in Redondo Beach from Travelzoo. It gave us a chance to reunite…

NCL’S EXCLUSIVE HAVEN and MATARO, ITALY On April 20, we boarded Norwegian Cruise Line’s newest ship, the Epic, in Miami and sailed for Barcelona. The Epic is one of the new mega ships capable of handling almost 5,000 passengers. There were only 3,000 on this…

MONTPELLIER, FRANCE On May 5, we said adios to Spain and bonjour to France. First stop: a week in Montpellier. Situated on the River Lez, 6 miles inland from the Mediterranean sea, Montpellier it is a vibrant and historical city. With a population of about…

SAN REMO, ITALY Into each life a little rain must fall and for us, it fell the week we were in Sanremo, Italy. But, as you can see we had sunny days as well. Not far from the French border, Sanremo is part of the…

RAPALLO and CINQUE TERRE About 20 miles east of Genoa and just two villages away from well known Portofino is the lovely Italian Riviera town of Rapallo Italy. Our room on the 5th floor of an older hotel opened onto the roof top terrace which…

REGGIO EMILIA, CHIANTI COUNTRY and SIENA Thanks to a very reasonable Luxury Link package we had 3 days in a junior suite at the Hotel Posta in Reggio Emilia. It became a hotel in 1515 but the building’s history dates back to 1280. It has…

PERUGIA and SPOLETO About 12 miles from the city of Arezzo is a villa built in the late 1700s as residence for a noble family. It is now a guest house and we had 5 pleasant days there as part of a Travelzoo package. Slightly…

SAN BENEDETTO DEL TRONTO and RIMINI There are close to 62 million people in Italy and during the summer, many of them can be found on the east coast of Italy. One seemingly endless beach runs along the Adriatic Sea. Lined up across the sand…

ITALIAN LAKES: GARDA, ISEO, COMO, MAGGIORE The northern lakes of Italy, formed by glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age, are incredibly beautiful. Over the course of two and a half weeks, we visited 5 of them. First stop was Peschiera del Garda…

LAKE ANNECY and BEAUNE, FRANCE Italy has many long tunnels but the Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc) tunnel from Italy into France definitely takes the prize: 7.215 miles long. It also has an astronomical price: 41.40 euros one way (about $55.00). Begun in 1957 and completed…