Why we love home exchanges, Italian-style

Gone are the days of plugging our ear canals in noisy hostels or dishing out beaucoup bucks on mediocre hotels. We've discovered the manna of home exchanging and it tastes good.

We're currently on our fourth switch, in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Italy, after completing others in Barcelona, Paris and Budapest. This is our first exchange in a more off-the-beaten-path place, mostly because BW's ma is with us and she wanted to go "somewhere in Italy but with no tourists." So we did.

Why do home exchanges turn our crank?

1) They make us scour our flat. We clean better for visiting exchangers than we do for ourselves. As in taking-a-toothbrush-to-shower-grout better. Sparkly. And orange.

2) We've met some amazing people. Our current host, an Italian police officer who will be staying in our flat in December, took us sightseeing for a day with his family. We drove to villages we'd never have known to visit, including Portogruaro, which had a Fall festival.

3) We eat out less and source local ingredients for meals. For tonight's localvore dinner, BW made this superb plate of cacio e pepe pasta with tomato salad and par-boiled carrots, accompanied by a glass of the region's Prosecco.

4) You mingle with the natives. Exchange homes are usually in actual neighborhoods, or at least pockets of non-tourist normalcy. Chances are your host will recommend restaurants, shops and other special spots that are off the tourist-crush radar, such as those we visited with our Italian hosts in Caorle, on the Adriatic Sea.

5) You're planted in one spot and get to know it. Whereas I used to city-hop on holidays, we now bed down in a place for a week and really explore what it has to offer. Our home base for this trip, Pordenone, has dozens of nooks and crannies we've begun to poke into, like the piazza and patisserie below.

That being said, we haven't encountered slobby guests or a flea-ridden home yet. Fingers crossed this whole exchange thing continues to go as spectacularly as it has been. 

Linking up with Chasing the Donkey and other Sunday Traveler friends.

Read More

A second helping of Cesky Krumlov

Only 4 short months separated our trips to whimsical Cesky Krumlov; we wrote about the first HERE in June. But with set 'o parents #2 in town, subsequent visits were on the menu. So serve up the sightseeing we did.

The place is so bleeping beautiful that it's hard to botch a weekend there!

First off, if you're a pension person, you must MUST stay with Gerta at - you got it - Pension Gerta. She is unendingly hospitable, reasonably priced and so accommodating. She'll pick you up at the train station, plant you in a clean little room, cook you a huge breakfast and encourage you to rest your tootsies in the garden out back. Unbeatable.

A visit to the castle is pleasant; this time we actually bought a ticket and went inside, though photos were outlawed in the period rooms. (Tour was about 12 bucks.)

Outside the castle, we visited the gardens and the open-air amphitheater, and we even saw a photo shoot.

We ate all over, but, honestly, our favorite food was at the entirely inexpensive Travelers' Hostel. PaPa W dug into the pork, cabbage and dumplings and Ma W crowed about the couscous with grilled vegetables and Camembert cheese. Likewise, we had delicious pivo (beer)  at the Eggenberg Brewery. A collection of Austrian men were there, singing song after pivo-soaked song. 

But mostly, we wandered. Past an art alley, below the castle, over the wooden bridges and through loads of shops. And more.

Hezky Cesky!

Read More

Fading light? Alright!

Quiz question:

What's got two noses, four feet, a Rick Steves guidebook and Minnesota passports?

Answer:

BW's parents, Ma and PaPa W, who arrived this week (and brought rain showers with them)!

They've been cavorting around Praha while we've been at school. I feel badly that we're not more available during the day, but midterm break is coming and that means half a fortnight of time for fun and freedom.

In the meantime, we're sightseeing together in the evenings, like last night when we connected at Namesti Republicky square and poked around in Obecni Dum (Municipal House).

According to its web site, Obecni Dum is where an independent Czechoslovakia was proclaimed in 1918 and where President Vaclav Havel held some of the first civic meetings upon the fall of Communism in 1989.

I just think it's pretty.

 

The building is one of the most exquisite examples of Art Nouveau architecture in Europe. It glitters and glows and gleams with heaps of glass and gold.

Czech out Obecni Dum's mini-me in its basement.

When we tired of being awash in Art Nouveau splendor, we walked back out into Prague's fading light for some Gothic goodness at Prague's Powder Tower, one of the original gates to the city.

Further on, Signal Fest, an arts event where moving lights are splashed onto buildings and monuments to the beat of electronic music, happened to be on in Old Town Square.

And a pork knuckle at Deminka was a perfect nightcap.

Read More

50,000 sq.m. flea market

Prague can spoil tourist's journeys by being so darn beautiful; nothing else quite measures up aesthetically as you careen across Europe. But, like any place, it has its warts. We sought out an infamous 50,000 sq meter flea market last weekend, hopping on the yellow line at Karlovo Namesti and getting off at Kolbenova - in a very decayed industrial area. All rusty edges and crumbling cement and layers of grime. Gritty was an understatement - but it did hold a delightful cache of bargains.

Both BW and I love junk shops and antique markets, so we figured a trip to the Kolbenova flea market would be a win. In particular, I was on the lookout for set pieces for our Fall school play. It was 20kc to enter.

The place was bustling - with both buyers and sellers - but it started to empty around noon even though it's advertised as being open until 2 p.m.; apparently you have to get there at 7 a.m. for fresh pickings. Hot items seemed to be oriental rugs and luggage.

Some sellers had proper booths set up, and others just paid to drive their cars in, lay down blankets and plunk their treasures right on top.

Some of the offerings we saw:
-Mountains of shoes for 50kc ($2.50) a pair - if you could find a matching pair
-A guy selling 5 accordians
-Lots of old bulk food, like huge cans of green olives and boxes of chocolate wafers
-Great, cheap art. Loads of paintings for 300kc ($15) and less
-Communist hat pins and buttons
-A table of pickaxes, hatchets and laundry detergent

There were a lot of treasures, but also a fair amount of filth strewn about and some moth-eaten people. In fact, a huge sign at the entrance advises you to watch your valuables and has pictures posted with the Czech word for "thieves" above them. Nonetheless, I'd stow away your coins and check the place out.

If you go, the address is Kolbenova 9a in Prague 9. It's open Saturdays and Sundays from 7a.m. to 2p.m. - but go early. Bring cash (no credit cards accepted) and a 20kc coin to get through the turnstyles. 

You can get there by metro as we did on our "to" journey, but going "fro" we hopped on the number 16 tram and got a neat view over the train and tram tracks through that part of the city.

And, as much as I like bargains and a bit of grit, it was nice when the tram pulled into our neighborhood. I should've bought a painting to bring with us, though. Next time.

Linking up with Pack Me To, Chasing the Donkey, A Southern Gypsy, The Fairytale Traveler and Ice Cream & Permafrost!

Read More