Hidden Notes Travel

The benefits of using DM in Croatia no longer seem to apply. In fact, every time I have seen someone attempt to use DM for a purchase (mostly on the Adriatic coast near Crikvenica) they have received an unfriendly reception, as if DM are an unpleasant reminder of the days of hyperinflation of the old Croatian dinar.

It seems that virtually every town in Croatia holds a Maskare parade (which seems to be the Croatian equivalent of Mardi Gras) some week in January or February, each competing to be wilder than the rest.

To visit the Christo Rei statue in Lisbon, the route requiring the least physical effort is to take a ferry to Cacilhas and then bus number 101 right up to the area on which the statue stands. If one takes the other route by bus from the Praca de Espanha and alights just after crossing the bridge, there is quite a climb to be faced.

Tenerife is home to Spain’s highest mountain, Teide. Towering at almost 4000 metres it dominates the island and is snow capped for most of the year, sometimes as late as May. It lies at the heart of the Teide National Park, Spain’s most visited park, and the surrounding scenery is breathtaking. Huge sunken craters and lava lakes feature in the barren landscape and a cable car takes you to within 200 metres of the summit, which itself is not open to the public. The one way to get to the very top is to stay overnight at the refuge halfway up (the bus that goes form Puerto de la Cruz every day stops there), where you pay 100 pts a night (take sleeping bag and food) and can get up at 3 am to walk to the summit for the sunrise. Be warned though - it is quite a tough walk even when you are avoiding the heat of the day.

Other ‘must dos’ include the Masca valley in the west, a hairy drive through the steep valley with spectacular views. Go through Santiago del Teide with it’s lovely white-domed church all the way down to the coast, stopping along the way to explore the old guanche trails through small villages that as recently as 20 years ago were only accessible by donkey. Stop off at Los Gigantes where impressive cliffs tower several hundred metres above the beach. Other picturesque destinations are found in the far north around the Anaga mountains. I found it easy to walk and hitch to El Baildero, one of the highest points and then walk all the way down to the coast through a millennia worth of volcanically formed mounts that jut into the blue sky.

Tourist Services: Contact the Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, 2 Copley Pl., #105 (617-536-4100 or 888-733-2678), for general information and maps of Boston and its environs. For a virtual tour, you can see the city on the internet at www.boston.com.

Accommodations: Cheap accommodations are hard to find in Boston. In September, the city fills with parents depositing their college-bound children; in June, parents help remove those children from the city. Reserve a room at least six months in advance during those times. Visitors with cars should investigate the motels along highways in outlying areas. For recommendations and reservations on other accommodations in Boston, contact Boston Reservations, 1643 Beacon St., #23, Waban, MA 02168 (617-332-4199; fax 617-332-5751); open M-F 9am-5pm.

Food: Beyond its traditional seafood and baked beans, Boston dishes out an impressive array of international cuisine. Garlic permeates most of the North End, near the New England Aquarium, where an endless array of Italian groceries, bakeries, caf?s, and restaurants line Hanover and Salem St. Chinese Fu dogs guard the entrance to Chinatown, near Boston Commons, and watch over the countless restaurants that lie along the tiny, crowded streets. At the open-air stalls of Haymarket on Fridays and Saturdays, local Bostonians of all accents haggle over fresh produce, fish, fruits, and cheese.

Nightlife: Boston’s local music scene runs the gamut from folk to funk; Beantown natives-gone-national include the Pixies, Aerosmith, Tracy Chapman, Dinosaur Jr., The Lemonheads, Bobby Brown, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Cruise down Landsdowne St. and Boylston Pl. to find concentrated action. Every Thursday, a new copy of the Boston Phoenix ($1.50) has the latest club and concert listings.

In the tropics, carry a wet face cloth in a plastic bag - it is very refreshing to wipe the sweat and dust off your face and neck.

Roughly 120 miles northwest of Saigon (also called Ho Chi Minh City, but not by anyone who knows better), the city of Dalat is a famous destination for South Vietnamese honeymooners. For travelers making the arduous south-to-north trek by bus or car, Dalat is a fantastic point to stop and collect one?s strength before setting out on the many hundreds of miles northward to Hanoi. Located in a verdant, hilly region, Dalat is blessed by lush vegetation and a temperate climate?after suffering through the heat of Saigon, the local 65?80F (18-25C) weather will be well appreciated. Don?t laugh at Vietnamese tourists in the area, who often wear clothes that Midwesterners reserve for late autumn. Sunny, green, and breezy, Dalat’s weather will keep you warm enough to wear shorts but cool enough to keep you dry a rare treat in Vietnam.

Since the days when Vietnam was a French colony, farmers have taken advantage of Dalat’s temperate climate to grow a wide range of non-tropical vegetables. The landscape is remarkable, buildings and farmland spreading up over hills and dipping down into small valleys. Adding to the beauty of Dalat’s lush vegatation and cultivated farmland, the soil in the area is a startling red. The French found Dalat’s cooler climate comforting, and their influence on the local cuisine can be felt more strongly than anywhere else in Vietnam. Among the city?s specialties are delicious strawberry preserves and butter, as well as banh mi, a Vietnamese improvement (yes, that’s right, improvement) on the French baguette.

In London these days, drinking is the new dancing, and bars are the new nightclubs. An explosion of club-bars has invaded the previously forgotten zone between pubs and clubs, offering seriously stylish surroundings and top-flight DJs together with plentiful lounging space and a wide selection of Bourbon whiskey (the current “in” drink). Often incorporating both restaurants and dancefloors, the new breed of bars are designed as one-stop nightspots, combining all you need for an evening’s entertainment under one roof. Usually, club-bars are open from noon or early evening, allowing you to skip the cover charge (if there is one) by arriving early and staying put as the scene shifts around you. On the other hand, they tend to close earlier than clubs, usually between midnight and 2am, so you’ll need to move on to a “real” nightclub for serious nighttime action.

The knee-jerk reaction of most budget travelers heading abroad is to gobble up a Eurail pass: get your plane ticket, stuff your backpack, send away for a rail pass. Many guidebooks, on the other hand, stress the importance of comparing the overall costs of single-fare train tickets and railpasses. While sitting down with a calculator in one hand and a train schedule in the other, remember that even if buying single-fare tickets to each of your destinations is cheaper in total than investing in a rail pass, these passes can make up in convenience what they might lack in value. At peak travel times, travelers with rail passes can circumvent long ticket lines, hop on their train, and laugh knowingly at all of the backpackers juggling calculators and train schedules on top of everything else.

The traditional Eurail pass, however-the one that grants you unlimited train travel in any of 17 countries for a limited period of time-costs an astounding $838 for one month, $1188 for two. Most travelers, therefore, should shy away from the traditional Eurail pass, but they should not entirely abandon the idea of acquiring some sort of pass. Everyone should simply be more selective in choosing the specific rail pass (there is now a baffling variety) that will best suit an individual itinerary.