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Archive for category Europe

The World’s Weirdest Restaurants

Feb 5

Posted by Marc, Owner & CEO in Asia, Eat, Europe, North America, See, TripClips | 4 Comments

Even for those of us who aren’t self-professed gastronomes, many of travel’s most vivid memories are made at mealtime — we remember so well that skin-melting madras curry in Southern India or that al dente spaghetti in squid ink in Venice. So while there’s nothing inherently wrong with grabbing yet another sandwich at an international chain, sometimes solidifying the travel experience means picking the two-pound, 8,000-calorie cheeseburger or spicy silkworm larvae instead.

You can sink your teeth into these tasty dishes and a wealth of other outlandish offerings at the restaurants we’ve selected as the world’s weirdest. “Weird” is, of course, a matter of taste — as one man’s sheep’s penis is another’s Korean hot pot served in a toilet. Regardless, there’s no denying that travelers won’t soon forget eating at a restaurant devoted to a single ingredient (apples) or one that employs tiny monkey waiters. Read on to learn about nine of the world’s most unusual restaurants — happy perusing, and bon appetit!

kayabukiya tavern macaque monkey Kayabukiya Tavern: Utsunomiya, Japan
At first glance, there’s nothing particularly striking about Kayabukiya Tavern, a seemingly run-of-the-jungle Japanese sake house. Food is of the Asian comfort variety — barbecue chicken, fried dumplings and rice dishes, all washed down with a no-frills selection of beer and sake. “What’s so odd about this place?” you wonder — until a tiny, fleet-footed monkey server politely hands you a customary pre-meal hot towel.

In lieu of human servers, who are costly and sometimes prove impossible to train, the owner’s pair of macaque monkeys efficiently work the gig. Dressed in open shirts and short pants, they scamper about, delivering bottles of beer and collecting tips of edamame (steamed soy beans) for their efforts. Animal rights regulations dictate that the simians can only work a total of two hours a day (the monkeys are fighting this rule), so make sure you call ahead to avoid homo sapiens servers. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: bizarre, food, novel, odd, restaurant, restaurants, strange, unique, weird, world, world's

A Culinary Revival in Istanbul — The city’s Ottoman restaurants rediscover a legendary cuisine with cosmopolitan roots

Jan 8

Posted by Marc, Owner & CEO in *Hot*, Asia, Eat, Europe, Middle East, TripClips | 6 Comments

By J.S. MARCUS – Wall Street Journal

Istanbul

[OTTOMAN1]
Photo: Tugra, in the Ciragan Palace Kempinski hotel (Kerem Uzel for The Wall Street Journal)

Elegant restaurants along the Bosphorus prepare fish beautifully and plainly, in a Mediterranean style similar to that of Italy or Greece. In Beyoglu, Istanbul’s nightlife hub, tables are cluttered with tavern food in tapas-like portions. It’s all delicious, of course—and a little familiar.

But when you encounter a delicate rice pilaf flavored with clarified butter, or a perfect slice of baklava, the dozens of pastry layers dissolving one by one on the tongue, it’s a reminder that Istanbul is home to another cuisine, one as complicated and sophisticated as contemporary Turkish food is simple and sustaining.

The cuisine of the Ottomans, whose empire once stretched from Baghdad to Budapest, was perfected in Istanbul in the 15th and 16th centuries in the kitchens of Topkapi Palace, home of the sultans for 400 years. Ottoman control of the spice trade was at its peak, and the cuisine’s hallmark is its deft mixing of sweet and savory flavors. Today, dishes such as delicately stuffed Black Sea mackerel and sea bass flavored with mastic, an aromatic resin usually reserved for desserts, are appearing on menus at some of the best restaurants. A chef in the classical Ottoman period might have devoted his whole working life to one dish; modern-day chefs have special training and often base their interpretations on archival research.

The cuisine’s revival comes as many people in Istanbul are becoming more interested in their Ottoman heritage. The flowering of Ottoman restaurants is among the most visible results. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: cuisine, culinary Istanbul, culinary Turkey, food, good places to eat, great food, Istanbul, ottoman, Turkey

World’s Coolest Pools –Travel+Leisure

Dec 19

Posted by Marc, Owner & CEO in *Hot*, Asia, Australia & Oceana, Europe, Latin America, North America, Play, See, TripClips | 1 Comment

Get wet at these wild and wonderful swim spots.

From Travel+Leisure Magazine, December 2009 By Jimmy Im

Sally Randall Brunger, creative director of men’s knitwear line The Brungers, traverses the globe for inspiration for her collections—and she knows a cool pool when she sees one. “I can’t imagine anything more fun after a day of meetings than to toss off my heels and dip into a pool where I can swim to the bar and order my favorite cocktail.”

For the notorious “it” girl from the glamorous ’80s club era, the pool at the Grace Hotel in Times Square fits the bill. The midtown hotel has one of the most talked about pools in New York City. With two swim-up bars, live DJs, and a projector screen, it’s at the heart of the action—complete with half-naked guests.

Pools are fast evolving from background scene-setters to the main attraction. The 21st-century pool has blossomed from mere swim spot to an imaginative work of art that flaunts a “wow” factor—be it a pool elevator, a whitewater slide, hidden grotto, or interactive aquarium. With all these bells and whistles, who cares about a diving board?

Of course, a buzz-worthy pool doesn’t just happen overnight. “The interesting aspects of cool pools are in the choice and use of materials,” says Cool Pools and Hot Tubs author Vinny Lee, “and its shape should complement the surroundings and landscape.”

“It’s all too easy to design a pool that looks good, but to make strong and powerful connections to a place, a climate, a landscape, an atmosphere or a feeling—now that’s cool because it’s unrepeatable,” says Marwan Al-Sayed, one of the designers of the pool at the stunning new Amangiri resort in the Utah desert, which is built around a natural stone outcropping.

Other pools are more of a novelty attraction. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: best pool, great pool, largest pool, pool, pools, World's Best Pool

Top Ten HotSpots for High Tea — A Global Tour

Dec 14

Posted by Marc, Owner & CEO in *Hot*, Africa, Asia, Eat, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America, TripClips | Comments off

From :

SINGAPORE – Fancy a cuppa? From highbrow salons to highland plantations, the world’s best places to have tea.

1. London, England

Ladies, don your gowns; gents, start pressing your ties. Afternoon tea at the Ritz is a splendid formal affair: silver pots and fine china chink at 4 p.m. sharp under the vaulted glass and chandeliers of the Palm Court. It’s not cheap, but you’ll be in good company — this venerable hotel has served exotic infusions to everyone from King Edward VII to Charlie Chaplin. If the budget won’t stretch, try alternative institutions: the organization Classic Cafes champions the formica-countered greasy spoons of the 1950s, a dwindling number of which are still serving brews in vintage surrounds. Tie not required.

2. Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia/Central Asia
Nonstop, the epic Moscow-Beijing train journey takes over six days. The best way to spend them is befriending your carriage mates — Russian businesspeople, Mongolian traders, Buddhist monks. Each car has a samovar, a hot-water urn where you can top up your mug to ward off the Siberian chill. Samovars are more than kettles: entrenched in Russian society, they’re made for communal drinking. The local saying ‘to have a sit by the samovar’ means to talk leisurely over endless cups of tea. Fill your flask — and those of your new-found friends — and watch Europe roll into Asia.

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Tags: afternoon tea, afternoon tea recommendations, best afternoon tea, best high tea, best places for tea, best tea, cream tea, formal tea, High tea, high tea recommendations, tea

Rooting up ancient Rome Dig almost anywhere, and you’re likely to find remnants of the city’s glorious past.

Jul 17

Posted by Marc, Owner & CEO in Europe, TripClips | Comments off

It is often said that you can’t repair a water main, break ground for a parking garage or dig up a potato in Rome without finding a treasure.

The roots of the Eternal City, which just celebrated its 2,762nd birthday, go deep and are still being unearthed. When first plumbed in the 16th century, the layer cake underneath the city yielded classical artifacts that helped inform the Renaissance. Almost as inevitably as yellow mimosas bloom in the spring, archaeologists keep coming here, wrangling excavation permits and opening trenches. Passersby see red-and-white-striped plastic tape and piles of dirt, but rarely learn what is being sought in the rubble, because when a dig yields an important find, it takes years of negotiation, fundraising, preservation, public-access construction and scholarly interpretation to open a site to visitors.

As a resident, I often pass excavation sites and wonder what is going on. I got a chance to find out last fall when I visited a dig in Aqueduct Park, on the southeastern side of the city, where an ancient water conduit makes a broad bend on its way into the capital. Since 2006, when the American Institute for Roman Culture began an archaeological dig, the park has yielded treasures: intricately worked mosaics, the head of a god thought to be Zeus and structural evidence of a 1st or 2nd century bathing complex larger and more sophisticated than any yet found in the area immediately surrounding Rome.

Records identify it as the site of the Villa delle Vignacce, owned during Imperial Roman times by brick manufacturer Quintus Servilius Pudens. It is unclear whether the multistory bathhouse, with its intact Roman saunas, was part of a private villa or a public complex. In either case, the site calls into question long-held concepts about the configuration of Imperial Rome. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: Antiquities, Archeology, dig, excavate, Quintus Servilius Pudens, Roman Archeology, Rome, Rome Italy, treasure, Villa delle Vignacce

Reminiscence of Christmas Past – Our Christmas Time 2008 River Cruise aboard the MS AMAcello from Nuremburg to Budapest with Christmas Markets.

Jun 15

Posted by Nathan, Owner/Manager & COO in *Hot*, Europe, TripJournals | 1 Comment

Join PRIDE Travel as we reminisce of cooler and more festive times this summer, about where many of our signature holiday traditions—Christmas trees, gingerbread, nutcrackers, St. Nick, and candy canes—come to us from in Germany, Austria, and the heart of Europe.

Come discover the medieval atmosphere of Nuremberg’s Christmas Market with us, and sample its famous holiday gingerbread or hundred-year-old secret recipe Gluhwein. Stroll through Regensburg’s romantic Christmas Market, savoring dumplings with vanilla sauce. In Passau, shop for unique crafts like hand-painted porcelain and Bohemian glass ornaments. In Melk, visit the awe-inspiring Abbey whose library is legendary. Come with us this hot summer’s eve as we wistfully recall the spirit of the Holiday Season…
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Tags: AMA Waterways, Amacello, austria, bavaria, budapest, Christmas, Christmas Market, Christmas River Cruise, germany, Holiday Market, Holiday River Cruise, hungary, melk abbey, neuremberg, nuremberg, nurnberg, prague, River Cruise, vienna