Affordable Travel

The Musee d’ Orsay in Paris is a fabulous museum, within an architectural building that is itself a beautiful and elegant work of art. The building is an old train station in the heart of Paris, and inside are floor after floor of gallery rooms, housing some of the greatest works of art in the world. You can see the work of former Paris businessman Paul Gauguin, who dumped his family and his corporate job back in the late 1800s to expatriate to Tahiti. “And the Gold of Their Bodies” for example, painted in 1901, one of his last paintings, hangs at the Musee.

For lunch, there is a wonderful small and simple caf‚ located in the museum, where you can pause for a bite of French cuisine before diving back into galleries housing the original works of Monet, Cezanne, Degas, Matisse, Picasso, Renoir, and others. The museum has a very good bookstore and gift shop, and offers dozens of beautiful prints of paintings in the Musee collection, that can be shipped to your home to help you with the logistics of trying to figure out how to get them back on the plane. Also available are art books, souvenirs, and one of the best collections of picture post cards in all of France. Many visitors tour the museum, then buy cards in the gift shop and retire to the caf‚ to write cards to friends over a cup of coffee or a glass of refreshing French wine.

Turkey is home to all sorts of people, and has been since the days preceding the Roman Empire. This great seat of the Ottoman Empire is home to people who are Turks, Kurds, Armenians, Italians, Iraqis, Moroccans - the list goes on and on, because the nation of Turkey has been a global crossroads for travelers, traders, explorers, and conquering nations for as long as we have recorded history of this great land.

Lately, Turkey has been caught in a sort of political no-man’s land, and its attempts to be accepted fully into the greater community of European countries have come close but never quite been successful. It has enjoyed a good relationship with the USA, but that friendship was strained when Turkey hesitated to back the USA’s premeditated invasion of Turkey’s neighboring Iraq. After intense negotiations, the nation denied the USA use of its land for massing troops and bomber planes, but later negotiated a compromise in exchange for cash payments and an opportunity to gain from trade agreements after the overthrow of the old Iraqi government.

And there has been a history of conflict between Christians and Muslims in the country of Turkey, where war has scarred the landscape for centuries. But Turkey, with its exotic destinations like Istanbul, remains one of the most interesting and attractive travel destinations. The people are regarded and some of the most open and friendly in the world, the culture is rich and diverse, the food is extraordinary, and for those who are practical and budget minded, a holiday in Turkey with all sorts of wonderful amenities can be had for a fraction of the cost of other popular - and less interesting or historically important destinations. Most professional travel agents who have seen the world will heartily recommend that if you have not experienced Turkey, you have no idea what you are missing.

Aristotle Onassis, the oil-shipping tycoon, often took vacation trips to Monte Carlo in the 1950s while living in Southern France, and the “celebrity spotters” and reporters took notice. Undoubtedly he recalled the glittering city on the rock, from the day when he first saw it from the railing of the crowded ship that took him to Buenos Aires. But Monte Carlo in the early 1950s was a rather dull place, a shadow of its former legendary self. Gone were the times of Diaghilev, Pavlova, and Nijinsky. And the empire of the Prince of Monaco himself was in decline. Aristotle’s mind began to calculate a way to resurrect his business, and soon he figured out that if he invested $30 million in a new port to accommodate ocean liners, the town of Monte Carlo could attract at least 2000 visitors per day. He also felt that an office in Monte Carlo could be much better for his employees than the cramped and inadequate workspace in Paris. The Societe des Bains de Mer or SBM, controlled most of the real estate in Monaco. Thanks to his investments and plans, the city gradually regained its status as a fashionable destination, and the Onassis family became the hottest daily subject for all the European tabloids. Early in life he had fantasized about owning his own private island. He realized his dream in 1963, when he purchased Scorpios, a lush 500-acre tract. The island hideaway in the shape of a Scorpion was covered with cypress, olive, fig, walnut and almond trees, and helped him to easily forget about his previous life in Monaco, although the way he improved Monaco has helped it create memories for visitors to that elegant city for decades ever since.

Visitors to Rome used to be able to witness the city’s “cat lady”, who is no longer alive but who gave life and food - miles and miles of spaghetti, to be precise - to the many cats living in her district of the old Italian city. One young woman who visited Italy from Texas as a child said that her parents were rather disappointed that after visiting so many famous tourist sites, the only thing that the little girl recalled was the cat lady. This anonymous cat lady was an elderly widow who lived in the historical section of Italy near the Roman coliseum, and every day at an appointed hour she would venture into the street outside her home, and unwrap several newspapers full of cooked pasta. Cats would begin to arrive by the dozens to eat the pasta, and soon by the hundreds. It is estimated that nearly four hundred cats may have been fed by the old woman, in what turned into an astonishing spectacle.

Although you can visit Rome and its ruins, you will not be able to see the cat lady. But if you ask around, you will find many locals who enjoy telling the story of how the little old woman used to prepare enough pasta to feed hundreds of cats and then wrap it in newspapers to spread on the sidewalks as the cats seemed to appear out of nowhere and eat it voraciously. If you are especially lucky, you might even find someone with a photo of the event to share with you.

Prague’s Charles Bridge is now made of stone, but was first made of wood back around 900 AD. The first bridge was wiped out by a flood on the Vltava River where it was rebuilt and now stands as a massive stone structure and one of the main tourist venues of this popular city. There are historical statues along the bridge, representing figures from civic and religious life in the time since the Charles Bridge began to serve the citizenry of Prague. Even the Dalai Lama has walked across this famous bridge, which for many centuries was the only way to get in or out of the city of Prague.

One of the most interesting features of the bridge in modern times is the proximity to the old Prague castle and the adjacent cobble streets leading to the castle. It is a great place to stand and watch the river traffic, which mostly consists of small tour boats, and to shop from the many artists and crafts people who sell their wares on both sides of the bridge. In fact, many people visit the bridge just to have the chance to linger and see the mimes, musicians, puppeteers, painters, jewelers, potters, and other artists who have tables or displays on the bridge and entertain tourists for tips or sell wares in exchange for a few dollars.

By all means visit the Charles Bridge, but give yourself an hour or two to stroll and linger, because there is more to do there than just walk over the historic Vltava River.

Japanese tourists were frightened by the sight of Lucia standing next to their bed in a luxury hotel room in the middle of the night; Germans were critical of the hotel’s security; Americans and Canadians thought it was just awesome, and local Swedes found it highly amusing and uplifting. But you probably will not catch Lucia making the rounds in hotels anymore, since the days that tourists expressed their fears to the police. But she is still a vibrant part of the winter culture all over Sweden.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, each village in Sweden chooses a beautiful young woman to play the part of the legendary angel named Lucia who wears flaming candles in a tiara on top her head and walks around blessing people with an entourage of young boys following to hold the train of her gown. She is part Pagan goddess, part Mother Mary, and part guardian angel, and has been a part of the traditional heritage of Sweden for centuries. You can give her alms, flowers, or gifts, and the ones of believe in the power of Lucia say that your entire year will be brighter and more blessed thanks to her beatific gaze.

While in Sweden, be sure to try their special bread loaves that are spiced with the exotic cardamom spice that comes from Central America and India. Or score a loaf at the village bakery to share with Lucia, if you are lucky enough to find her beside your bed one night.

Train travel for tourists in Spain is one of the best ways to go, because it is not expensive, the trains are reliable and clean, you meet lots of other interesting travelers along the way, and you can concentrate on looking out the window at the sights, rather than on driving your car or trying to find something to read on a jet plane high above the clouds. We recommend taking a train from the southern part of France, which is famous wine country, down the western side of the country where it crosses into the village of Irun at the Spanish border. When you step off the train, you will either be in Spain or France, depending upon which side of the tracks you are standing on, because the railroad tracks lie on the border of the two nations. From Irun you can go into the great coastal resort city of San Sebastian, and then catch a train through the beautiful Pirennes Mountain Range, which extends eastward toward the ancient coastal city of Barcelona.
Along the way, you will be able to see for many miles on a clear day, across the landscape that has inspired writers, artists, musicians, and explorers for centuries. Be sure to pack a lunch and carry something to drink, because the train ride is long and rather slow - a good thing for sightseeing purposes but not so good if you need a pick me up snack and don’t have anything to munch on during your train travels.

Amsterdam, Holland, home of some of the world’s most stunningly beautiful art and architecture – including a whole museum dedicated to the works of Van Gogh, is a city built below sea level. As a result, the historical part of the old city is a series of canals, in semicircular shapes, running concentrically alongside the streets and sidewalks of Amsterdam. The canals are beautiful at night, when the lights of the city come on and reflect against the water in the canals – in spite of the fact that the canals are themselves polluted and not exactly fit for swimming. There are however, many houseboats and flat barges used as stores – florists for example can be found on many of the houseboat/barges in the canals – and real estate prices for living on a houseboat in these old canals is very high, making them some of the most exclusive residences in the world.

To visit Amsterdam and the canals, it is especially convenient to stay in one of the city’s old hotels. Some of the hotels here only have six or ten rooms in them for rent, so don’t expect to have an easy time finding a vacancy on short notice. It is a good idea to book well ahead, to ensure a room with a view overlooking the canals at a hotel like the elegant and understated “Fantasia” on Kaiser Street.

Vincent Van Gogh lived in Holland, and thanks to the support of his brother Theo, who kept sending Vincent money to help him stave off abject poverty, Vincent continued his passionate pursuit of painting. His paintings are considered by many to be the greatest in history, and their distinguishing brush strokes – swirling and moving around the canvas in repeated patterns – are best appreciated up close and personal. Printed copies or photos of the paintings cannot capture their life and texture, and a trip to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam will bring them into focus in a stunning and captivating way.

The entrance fee is minimal, and once you enter the museum, you are confronted by room after room, thousands of square feet of gallery space, all dedicated to the paintings of Van Gogh. The collection includes many of his most famous works, the kind that you will find in art history textbooks but may not ever see in another museum.

It is worth a special trip to Amsterdam just to see this one museum. And if you are a fan of Picasso, you will be glad to know that in one of the last gallery rooms in the Van Gogh museum, there is a nice collection of early Picasso sketches and drawings. All in all, the time spent in the Van Gogh museum is a once in a lifetime experience, and you should dedicate as many hours and days as possible for touring the museum to see these incredible paintings.

Once while touring Italy by bus, I stopped – along with the rest of the group on the bus – at the leaning tower in Pisa, long enough to climb its winding stairwell and view the agricultural landscape surrounding the ancient and world famous tower (that many foreigners think is name Pizza, thanks to the fact that Italy is home to both Pisa and Pizza). There was a light rain falling and the well-worn marble and stone walkways used for centuries by people who came before me to circumambulate the tower were wet from rain. The railing consisted of one small black iron pipe, fashioned into a railing waist high, and that was all I had to cling to, to keep from falling several stories through space to the ground below.

Once I got to the top, the rain was coming steadily, and although it was a light rain, the walkway was extremely slippery. At one point I did slip, and had to grab the two-inch diameter pipe railing to keep from plummeting to my death. I felt a bit embarrassed to have almost fallen off the leaning tower, until I got home and saw the news headlines. An article announced that “the Leaning Tower of Pisa will be closed for an indefinite length of time” because it had become hazardous, due to pronounced leaning. Architects and engineers from around the world were brought in to stabilize the tower, and eventually it was reopened to the public.