European Vacation 2008

The “Freie Hansestadt Hamburg” still looks and feels just that – Independent. It’s alive and active – it’s new without having lost it’s old charm and live – Hamburgers and Hamburg are proud to have a tradition and at the same time know that they must progress if they want to remain one of the “Free Trading Port Cities” of the world.

Entertainment and good (hearty) food are also part of this life and living in this town.
I personally know this town from over 40 years ago and can see the new without the city or it's people having lost any of the old style, humour and appeal.

The Capital City (once again since reunification) of Germany is still a city of construction cranes and areas requiring re-development.

One way of seeing this exciting city is to take a River boat cruise up the Spree and down the “Landware Kanal ” past many of the old historic places as well as through the new super modern new German Parlamentary building complex and accommodation developments, past remaining section of the wall which once devided East & West Germany etc …..

Food in Berlin is 'international' - and of course YOU MUST have at least one 'CurryWurst' ....

The roads along both sides of the Mosel are lined with vineyards most of which go up at 45% angled slops. Small villages with independent wine makers (various sizes some better known than others) and small B&Bs are like gems rowed up on a necklace with the dual town of Bernkastle / Kues as the center jewel.

Unfortunately on the day of our visit – a Monday – ALL the nice cake shops were closed “Montag = Ruhetag”- and I had so looked forward to my lunch of a veriety of cream cakes etc with a good cup of Filter Kaffee. Instead I had to head to the nearest Imbiss and console my self with a couple of Sausages & pommes (frites).

….. more about this and our time (once again) on the banks of the Rhein in Boppard – this time with some friends ……

Hotel Restaurant Hammes is a Perl in the small village of Perl in Germany close to the border of France and Luxemburg.

We arrive just on Lunch time on a Sunday … the Restaurant was fully booked (many tables obviously twice) with clients from all three countries represented in about equal numbers. We sat at the bar and watched the staff professionally work the floor without any problems.

After about 45 minutes we were shown to a table just vacated by 4 EU citizens to start our gastronomic adventure in Germany …..

In the small town of Meaux (a short distance to the east of Paris) we found another excellent place to eat.

This time it’s on board a moored ship – Restaurant La Péniche.

The chef who comes from the Alsas region and his team know how to create magic in the galley of this 3 storey river boat on a bend on the river "La Marne" in the centre of town.

On our way to the Loire valley we visited the Chateau Plessis Brezot where we staid two years ago when the new owners had taken over the vineyards and the wine cellars – but unfortunately had not been able take over the Chateau. On this visit we found out that the previous owners had finally vacated the premises (over 2 years after the sale had been completed) and Luc and his wife could move in & their twin daughters were born in the Chateau just 10 days after our visit.

Luc – who creates wines in the very old traditonal styles without any chemical additions – in the vineyard or the production of the wines – was very pleased to receive us and show off his first creations. He has a small but distinctly different range of wines which he was eager to have us taste and comment on. One stood out and he is particularly proud of – His 2005 Cuvee Romaine has been created in the early Roman style (the land was already planted with vines in the Roman days) with traditional methods as would have been used in those days. We found this wine to VERY interesting and VERY easy to drink.

The other 4 wines he presented for tasting (including a light red and an experimental “Greek” version of the Cuvee Romaine) were also of very high quality - and we finished most of the content of the bottles – this was mainly achieved by Michael and Luc and we all ate much fresh bread and some excellent cheeses etc with it during our 4 hour stay.

Luc’s family has had another addition in the two years since our last visit and we do wish him and his young family all the success he deserves.

Restaurant Andre in La Rochelle (next to the Hotel St Jean d’Acre) is another fine discovery –
Excellent food and friendly service on both nights we visited (1st night inside and 2nd night on the sidewalk terrace).

We thank Jacques and Bruno once again for a wonderful stay at their establishment “Barbary Lane” in Hossegor. Bruno makes really great cakes! One of our first tasks was to check out the beaches and see if there was any surf “up”. Unfortunately it wasn’t the best on our first day. Michael and I had a nice long walk around the Lake and back to the hotel via the ocean.

We had a great meal just up the road from the hotel with the best chips Jim’s ever had (really crunchy!); a big bowl of white bait and fabulous barbecued mussles, prawns and really baby, bady squid – and masses of it.

The second day we attended to the laundry in the morning with Jim making friends with a lovely young lady in the laundromat who helped him fold his washing after she saw the job he was making of it. Unfortunately I came back too soon and took over this task! Off we then went to check out the local surf spots, local shops (how can the local surfies afford the expensive gear on offer?) and the weather was much better and so was the surf!

After this quick (2 night) stay it was time to pack the bags and head off to La Rochelle for the oysters and other seafood delights.

Finding a new “Good Food” place is part of our journey’s challenge.

Restaurante / Cafeteria “El Modernista” is one such place – only recently opened and still to be discovered even by the locals.

Chef “Mike” – a Lebanese American who now is in charge of this small Tapas Bar just off the southern beaches of Barcelona – is able to draw on many years of experience creating some of the new style of “Tapas”. It’s virtually anything goes from the original traditional Anchovy, Sardines etc to tasty sensations using potatoes, chickpeas, beef, turkey and so much more – what is fresh today and what ever is fresh from the mind and hands of a chef like Mike is like small morsels of food from heaven – in this place served very professionally by the lovely [Russian import] “Inna” who has learned the hospitaly trade well and is eager to please the diner with food & drink.

We left the choices of dishes to Mike and Inna on both evenings and we enjoyed everything of the wide variety placed on our table to be shared by all 4 of us. We wish the team – owner and staff – all the success they deserve. – We wish Mandurah and Western Australia could attract such high quality creators of fine casual food and service.

One of the main reasons we keep coming back to Rocamadour and the Beau Site Hotel is the Restaurant “Jehan de Valon”. The establishment has been featured in many articles and guides for fine dining including the Michelin Guide.

We found this place in 1996 and have been staying and eating here every time we have visited the EU – and celebrated many birthdays here

This year it’s Jacqui’s 50s and once again the staff and the food did not disappoint us.
This year we feasted on “pigs trotter’s terrine”, “Foes Gra”, “Scrambled Egg with Truffels” & hot “Smoked Salmon” for entrees.
Main Courses included the excellent local Roast Lamb – curved with much flair by the Maitre de’.

The Desert was a suprise from the house in the form of a nicely presented mixed forest fruit Mouse which was set in a delicated fine biscuite ‘case’, each serve was dished up with a fruit sauce. – another delightful finalle to the meal.

We had a bottle of Louis Roderer Champagne with our meal.
….. and when we returned to our room we found a half bottle of Champage and their small delightful Chocolate Mousse et al – unfortunately we were much to satisfied from the dinner to be able to consume anything else – The mousse was a nice breakfast snack and the champagne will be consumed at some later stage when appropriate.

We will continue to highly recommend this hotel and it’s excellent food and service
….. mercy bien

Possibly the main reason for returning to Saint-Remy-de-Provence for the 3rd time must be the Restaurant Auberge de la Raine Jeanne.
The menu has not changed as far as we know over the six years (we have travelled to Europe every 2 years).
On the first night we had a selection of Panache de Poissons (Marinated Fish including Salmon, squid & small sardines), Salade de Gourmande (Gizzards & Foi Gras) and a plate of Marinade de Sardines. Main Courses we enjoyed were Brochette de St Jacques (Scallops with a spicy Provencal Sauce), Turbot au Thym and Supions Provencal.

The next night Jacqui & Jim shared one of the excellent Specialities of the house – a Bouillabaisse (This Fish soup is obviously best known for it’s origin in Marsaille) – this was pre-ordered as required by the kitchen the day before. Unfortunately Hans was struck down with a very bad cold and only watched the two obviously enjoying the feast – first the fish soup stock and than the various seafoods used to create the magnificent meal. Once again – like the night before – they washed it down with a bottle of Cassa Dom Paternel blanc.

On our way back to our lodgings from the Romain Aquaduct at the Pont-Du-Gard we stopped at Beaucaire and had lunch at the La Marine Brasserie / Restaurant.

This is one of those delightful small brasseries you find every where in France. They provide good honest fresh local food from a small kitchen at very good prices. This place - being able to source some excellent local fish, mussels, prawns etc obviously features these on teh menu.

Jacqui had the Prawns specials “Gambas Grillee” from the blackboard & Hans had the “Marmite du Pecheur” – The Fisherman’s cooking pot (a good solid stock with a mix of large fish and crustations of the day). Jim chose the “Oven baked Camembert” which is served with a generous salad.

The service by a (russian imported) young waitress was very friendly and efficient. Obviously it’s a nice place to eat as many locals seemed to eat there too

We needed a good rest after a long drive [560km] from Mestre / Venice (only interupted by the excellent lunch in San Remo). Menton is an old established little seaside resort town between the french border with Italy and the small State of Monaco – on the French Cote D’Azure.

We staid for two nights at the Hotel Price de Galles in the western end of town.
A normal 3 star establishment with clean rooms (ours with small balconies overlooking the Mediteranian), a good healthy buffet style breakfast and a small Restaurant “Le Petite Prince” where Jacqui and Jim had meal on the second night.

On our rest day (the 2nd day) we had an excellent lunch over the road from the hotel at Elsa Plage - a place not unlike La Fontana in San Remo.
Once again we enjoyed a mix of excellent seafood – Prawns, Calamary and Sardines with French fries and Salad.

La Fontana [Corso Imperatrice, 39] is a Beach Restaurant in the south western end of San Remo, Italy.
We had an excellent seafood lunch at this establishment two years ago.

After a long and often very fast drive (speed sometime reaching over 16okm/h on the Italian Autostrada in the Mercedes C220 Hire car we were supplied by Hertz in Mestre/Venezia) we left the “A7″ guided by the onboard GPS and joined the D52 coastal road to try and find the establishment on the beach.
After one bad start ending up in a dead end parking lot running along the beach front – we could actually see the Restaurant – we got back on the main road (Corso Imperatrice) and found a parking spot just meters from two years ago and walking down to the place which has recent new paint job and some other restauration work.

The food was still as good as we remembered it -- …. we ended up with two large plates each of mixed battered / deep fried seafood and grilled mix of all kinds of fresh seafood – washed down with beer and wine and we left once again satisfied on our way to Menton in France – just west over the Italian border.

Yes we did tell the staff about our own San Remo on the Indian Ocean beach in Western Australia

We booked online into the Hotel Plaza in Mestre (Main land city associated with the Islands of Venice).

The hotel is located directly opposite the Railway Station which is supplying service to Venice every 15 minutes. And the other reason we chose this hotel is it’s close proximity to the Hertz Car Rental branch in Mestre (two doors away as it turned out).

The website [ www.hotelplazavenice.com ] for the hotel did not really reflect the excellent rooms and service available at this establishment. It is a lot cheaper than anything we could find in Venice. It has easy access – located on a main street and opposite the Railway Station – and has plenty of Parking.
The staff is VERY helpful and the food is very good. Rich selection available from the buffet breakfast. The Dinner Menu offers a good choice of dishes with extra specials and wines suggested by the waiter – all of whom very very well experienced and seemed to enjoy their profession.

This Hotel has improved this travellers opinion of Italian hospitality – which from privious experience was possibly ranking as the lowest in European countries.

We can highly recommend the Hotel Plaza in Mestre – in the 3 – 4 star category.

03.May – local Pub
We arrive only a couple of hours earlier and made our way down the road to the “local” – which we are happy to report has not changed in the last two years (? have the TV screens got bigger ?).

We had the usual drinks – Jim his white wine by the glass, Jacqui her Bourbon & Coke, Hans his glass (or 2) of lager.
J & J had a big salad plate with “prawns” and smoked salmon
H had to try the local Bangers & Mash – done here in a large Yorkshire Pudding with an onion gravy – good honest tucker.

04.May – local small restaurant – used to serve a lovely bean soup – it’s now a trendy Tappas Restaurant.

Seeing the Pub does not serve food after 5pm on a Sunday we ended up here.
The small plates at about 6 pounds each are not too small and between the 3 of us we had 6 plates to share around – including some spanish sausages, Whitebait, Fresh Baked bread, King Prawns & some squid rings.

It was OK considering Tapas are a native of Spain and service was by a Polish lassie …..

All bookings have been confirmed and we have the e-tickets for our flights

• Perth – Hong Kong
• Hong Kong – London
• London – Venice
• Amsterdam – Hong Kong
• Hong Kong – Perth

The Car Hire has been done online with Hertz

• A Ford Mondeo Wagon from Mestre (Venice) to Nimes
• At Nimes we will hand back the expensive Ford and take delivery of a Renault Scenic for the rest of the journey through France – Spain – France – Germany until we will hand it back in Amsterdam.

Our house sitter will arrive tomorrow (Monday 28.April) to get familiar with the house, our animals and her travel needs to Perth etc for the next two month while living at our home.

We will be going to Perth in two cars – Jim in his and Jacqui and Hans in the Colt – to the city house on Friday 02.May. After dinner in town  we will be going together to the airport about 21:00 hours in time to check in and hand our cases over to the care of Cathay Pacific.

OK – next post will now be “from the road”
  J & J & H