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Visiting Kas and Kalkan, Turkey

One of the last unspoiled regions of the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey boasts aquamarine waters relatively free of boat traffic and mountainous shores that contain few posh hotels or high-rise condominiums. The coastal community of Kas is the gateway to Kekova, a sunken city where you can still see homes submerged under the water. You’ll also spot numerous sarcophagi, ancient tombs sitting mysteriously in the Mediterranean. Back in town, you can visit the ancient stone stage of the Hellenistic theater and barter with carpet shop owners over the price of a colorful kilim. You should also take the time to visit Kalkan, a charming seaside village, where tables surrounding the picturesque harbor are abuzz with fishermen discussing the day’s catch. Beach lovers soak up the sun at nearby Patara Beach. Spend the night at the lovely Meldi Hotel, where the $82 room rate includes a breakfast buffet for two.

 

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February Newsletter Now Available at ActiveTravels.com

Heading out with your child this spring, summer, or fall to look at colleges? Well, we’re happy to report that ActiveTravels now designs itineraries for college tours in New England and New York, Mid-Atlantic states, the Midwest, and California. Tell us the colleges you want to tour, and we’ll package it together with hotels, restaurants, and sites along the way. That’s just one of the topics we cover in the February issue of our newsletter. Other stories include biking to Giverny on a day trip from Paris, three lodges we love in America’s National Parks, visiting Washington, DC, for the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Junior’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and a tour operator we use for custom-made trips for families to Israel. As always, we’re here to talk about travel ideas for 2013. So if anything comes to mind, email me at steve@activetravels.com. 

 
I’m off to Aruba to kick back with 12 members of my family. I’ll be back Monday, February 25th, with my favorite new trips offered by outfitters. 
 
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The Linehouse is the Latest Addition to Stowe Mountain Lodge

Travel writers adore properties like Stowe Mountain Lodge, the wonderful upscale resort at the base of Stowe Mountain. I started writing about this hotel in 2006, two years before it even opened. There was such a buzz that even then you knew it was going to be the best ski-in/ski-out resort in the northeast. It seems like every year since its opening in 2008, I’ve been back to report on some update as Stowe Mountain Lodge continues to expand, be it a new spa, theater, or indoor climbing wall. This week, I was back in town to pen a story on the exceptional craft brew and cocktail scene in Stowe. On Monday, I had the good fortune to meet master mixologist Dan Hatheway, who tends bar at the Linehouse, an invitation-only speakeasy found just outside the premises (sorry, I’ve been sworn to secrecy to not tell the exact whereabouts). Inside the cozy space of stained Vermont maple wood and lined pickle jars, we sat at the bar as Dan placed retro glassware (from Vermont estate sales) in front of us. Soon he was breaking out an eyedropper to place the bitters atop my rum-saturated Smugglers Barrel and firing up the rye in a devilishly good concoction of bourbon and blended scotch he coined the Kashki. The presentation of all his drinks were drop dead gorgeous, especially the drink he made, Lisa, the aptly named Fancy Lady. Needless to say, if you get an invite to the Linehouse, run, don’t walk. 

 
Photo by Lisa Leavitt 
 
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Biking the Cape of Good Hope

When Brit Mark Lawson followed his South African-born wife, Gaynor, to Cape Town, the avid cyclist was surprised that there was no reputable bike outfitter in the region. In 2009, he opened Cycle the Cape, offering day and multi-day jaunts to the Cape of Good Hope, the Garden Route, the Wine Country and Namibia. We booked a 2-day ride on the Cape Peninsula, a stunning mountainous sliver of land, surrounded on one side by the Atlantic Ocean and the other side, the Indian Ocean. On the first day, we were supposed to bike through Hout Bay and over Chapman’s Peak, but it was rainy and cold, so we chose to visit the penguins at Boulders Beach and had dinner on the beach at Fish Hoek, within easy walking distance to the flat we rented above Mark and Gaynor’s house. It was the first time on the trip that I felt like a local, not a tourist. 
 
The next morning, the sun was out and it was about 65 degrees Fahrenheit, a perfect day for biking in September. Mark and Gaynor drove us to the entrance of the Cape of Good Hope National Park at the tip of the peninsula. For the next 5 hours and 44 kilometers later, we would bike the entirety of the park. We biked past zebras, ostriches, and large antelopes called elands. We would pedal along the pounding waves of the Atlantic to take the requisite photo at the Cape of Good Hope sign. Then we proceeded uphill to the Cape Point Lighthouse, where the magnificent vista of high peaks and sandy beaches reached all the way to Cape Town’s signature Table Mountain. After an exhilarating downhill run where the ocean waters were a blur to the left and the right, we had lunch at a relatively new surfer and biker hangout in Scarborough, The Village Hub. It was the perfect day ride for us. Mark can custom-design the itinerary to fit your biking ability and provides road bikes, helmets, and lodging for overnight rides. He has also partnered with a lodge in Kruger National Park if you choose to end your trip with a 3 or 4-night safari. I might have to check that out if I ever get the chance to return and bike the Garden Route. 
 
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Signs You Picked the Wrong Hotel

The original author of Lonely Planet’s Guide to Turkey, Tom Brosnahan is one of America’s most prolific travel writers. He has authored over 40 guidebooks for Berlitz, Frommer’s, and Lonely Planet covering Belize, Canada, Egypt, England, France, Guatemala, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, New England, Tunisia, and Turkey. He’s also the founder of the popular web pages, TurkeyTravelPlanner.com, FranceTravelPlanner.com, and NewEnglandTravelPlanner.com. Having reviewed thousands of hotel rooms, Brosnahan is well qualified to note the telltale signs your hotel choice might not be ideal. Here are his words as told to me for my latest Men’s Journal column. 

 
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Nova Scotia Week, Finding the Heart of Cape Breton

Once on Cape Breton, most travelers make a beeline for the headlands of the National Park or the rugged coastline that drops precipitously into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. But don’t make the mistake of missing the interior or what locals call the Highlands. Head to a sweet spot like Margaree River Valley and you’ll find a ring of rounded summits peering down on verdant pastures dotted with sheep, cattle, and sleek, dark French Canadian horses. You’ll also find the rolling waters of that legendary salmon fishing river, the Margaree, snaking though the spectacular scenery. This is the authentic Cape Breton, where you can spend a night at the classic Normaway Inn, have dinner from a chef who taught alongside Jacques Pepin at Manhattan’s French Culinary Institute, and then be treated to a foot-stomping fiddler concert every night from June through October. Last night in the Normaway’s library, I was fortunate enough to listen to a father and daughter play fiddle and guitar, while on piano, was the hotel’s housekeeper, who’s toured with Natalie MacMaster and Waylon Jennings. Here, in the heart of Ceilidh “kay-lee” country, it’s a good bet that your waiter or bellhop has played to a packed crowd and can dance the two-step, either in a nearby barn or in a packed concert hall. Seeing this threesome play last night in an intimate setting, stomping my foot and clapping my hands to the fast-moving fiddle, is one of those authentic travel experiences that I’ll remember years from now, when those rugged cliffs of Cape Breton have faded into the sea. 

 
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Biking to Giverny

The past six weeks, I’ve been home less than six days, traveling on assignment to Newport, Cape Cod, Maine, New Brunswick, Paris, and London. Thankfully, I’ll be on my back deck most of August writing stories based on these trips. This week, I want to delve into some of the highlights of these recent excursions.

Those of you with a love of art history know Giverny as the home of Claude Monet. Less than an hour by train from Paris, you can make the pilgrimage to Monet’s home and his spectacular Japanese water garden inundated with day lilies, the inspiration for many of the works that hang on the walls of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and other impressive collections of Impressionism around the globe. Fat Tire Bike Tours escorts riders from Paris’ St. Lazare train station to the quaint village of Vernon. Once you arrive, you head to an outdoor market to stock up on picnic food–soft, creamy Reblochon cheese, slices of yummy Rosette de Lyon sausage, duck liver pate, warm baguettes from the neighborhood boulangerie, juicy strawberries and apricots, and a bottle of wine to wash it down. After passing out bikes, our guide Andrew led us to the banks of the Seine River where we watched a family of swans swim as we dug into our goodies. Then we were off on an easy 5km bike trail that connects Vernon with Giverny. We entered the picturesque hamlet and were soon walking over that Japanese bridge seen in many of Monet’s works. The whole trip took from Paris took about 8 hours and cost 65 Euros per biker, a perfect day trip for our family of four.
 

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