In 2023, I led three culinary/cultural tours with the help of my travel partner, Françoise Cornu of Celestial Voyagers: Morocco, Bordeaux-Basque Country-Bilbao, and Three Greek Islands & Athens. Here are some highlights including links for more information about the places we most enjoyed. Please consider joining us in 2024 or 2025. | |
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We explored Morocco with expert local guide and now friend, Chacha Miloud. Here we are in Rabat's Kasbah del Oudaya overlooking the river which opens into the Atlantic Ocean. We stopped at the pottery center of Safi for lunch and shopping and ate in the lovely, flower filled courtyard of the Riad du Pecheur where I enjoyed this fish tajine.
My favorite town in Morocco, Essaouira (the home of M. Miloud and family) is a craft center where Jewish-influenced silver jewelry and intricate inlaid woodwork based on local thuja wood are specialties. Here a highly skilled wood artisan hammers decorative metal strips into a tabletop. One couple purchased two gorgeous custom-made wooden chests here.
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Because our guide was born and raised in a village in the Argan forests south of Essaouira, a local shepherd whom he knows showed us the mother goats tending to their newborn kids and teaching them how to climb the indigenous Argan trees to eat the tender leaves—their main food source in this arid region. Accidents still happen. We saw a goat take a tumble while climbing from one branch to another.
Essaouira (known then as Mogador) had a long history as a center of Jewish life and culture. These embroidered tefillin (phylacteries) bags at Gallerie Jama include the names of their owners.
Essaouira is a fishing center for smaller day boats, especially those netting sardines. The winds, tide, and catch were just right so the selection of ultra-fresh fish and seafood at the waterfront market was superb. We brought our purchases to Chez Karim, where the chef-owner cooked it up while we visited the famous goats in the trees.
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While many older tribal women (often known as Berbers—or barbarians, though their preferred name is Amazigh) never learned to read, their daughters now go to school partly because the mothers earn income through women-owned Argan oil coops like this organic one.
In Marrakech we devoured two meat-based specialties at the famed unpretentious Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha: mechoui (whole baby lamb slow cooked in an underground wood-fired pit oven) and tangia (originally a dish that men would bring to a picnic—tall terra cotta jars filled with vegetables, beef, preserved lemons, and seasonings sealed with parchment and slow-cooked in ashes).
And a tour to Morocco is not complete without a camel ride—here at the White Camel in the Agafay Desert not far from Marrakech.
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Bordeaux-Basque Country-Bilbao, May 2023 | |
This tour began in the elegant wine, art, and cultural center of Bordeaux, France. Canelés, small custardy cakes with a crunchy caramel glaze are a local specialty. Chef Frédéric Coiffé led a delicious tasting tour at Les Halles de Bacalan in the old, restored Bassins à Flots district followed by a rustic outdoor lunch at his Bar de la Marine, a restored former sailor’s hangout. We dined at a popular local bistro, Les Noailles where I enjoyed sautéed cêpes (boletus edulis or porcini) with lots of garlic and parsley. Lucky for me they were in season! | |
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Raising a glass for a toast in Bordeaux. We explored the fascinating and beautiful small towns of French Basque country and a Basquaise lunch at the 150 year-old hotel and restaurant, Hotel Euzkadi (the Basque name for themselves) with its red wood trim on white background—originally the color came from oxblood-- in Espelette, famed for its hot peppers.
We learned chocolate history and tasted an array of chocolates at l’Atelier du Chocolat in Bayonne, the capital of Basque France, including my favorite: chocolate bark infused with fruity-hot Espelette pepper.
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We visited an espelette pepper farm where we learned about the complex process of producing this chef favorite. Our intrepid group had a private pelote lesson, an ancient Basque game played with a hand-woven basket called a xistera (the plastic version is for beginners like us). The game is also known as jai-lai, especially in Latin America.
Our last stop was in Bilbao, Spain on the Bay of Biscay where the justly famed Guggenheim Museum Bilbao designed by starchitect Frank Gehry twenty years ago, helped revitalize this once-decrepit old commercial seaport. We had a private tour followed by a walking tour of the town’s fascinating modern and traditional architecture.
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Greek Islands & Athens, October 2023 | |
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We started our Greek Islands and Athens tour in Crete. With its ancient history, the famed excavations of the Palace of Knossos and the archeological museum in Heraklion, the past is all around in Crete. Shown above are a restored and recreated portion of the Palace and a lively fresco from the museum.
In the small Venetian port of Rethymno, this man is famed as one of the few remaining fillo artisans who hand-stretches giant sheets of the dough out over a marble platform every day.
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Santorini, Greece is world-famous for its spectacular location on the caldera (the rim of the volcano). Though always crowded, we made the obligatory trek to Oia, to see the “world’s most famous sunset.” I’ve been there twice and both times clouds obscured the sunset. However, the chi-chi town’s location along a steep hillside at the tip of the island makes it a must.
The island’s cuisine and renowned wines are unique. Our cooking class by Aroma Avlis at Artemis Karamolegos Winery included some typical local dishes: my favorite tomato kefte (fritters), dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), omelet with scallion greens fried in olive oil, shepherd’s salad, cucumber tzatziki, and Santorini’s heirloom baby favas with olive oil and garlic, mashed and topped with onion and capers or pickled caper leaves.
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The island of Naxos is large, relaxed, and famed for its excellent goat, sheep, and cow milk cheeses. Our cooking class at Maria’s farm at Damarionas was an opportunity to share in a traditional farm family’s meal preparation. Lucky guests got to feed the newborn goats!
We ended the tour with several nights in Athens—a bustling city full of cafes, excellent restaurants, tavernas, and street markets as well as the Acropolis and the nearby new Acropolis Museum. In 2023, the Acropolis was the most visited tourist site in the world, over 30,000 people daily. In October, it was still busy but manageable. Our expert guide helped us understand the complex history and culture of the ancient Greeks.
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Travel With Aliza in 2024 | |
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Coming Soon
Greece: September 2024
Piemonte: September 2024
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