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A round-up of my favourite travel destinations of 2022

January 1, 2023 Leave a Comment Filed Under: Austria, Boats, Christmas, Cruises, Gardens, Germany, Ireland, Italian food, Italy, Road trips, Trains, Travel, UK, Wine

Here are my favourite travel destinations that I visited this year. I spent a lot of time in Italy with three separate visits. The big surprise was Venice which I’d only visited once before for a day many years ago. Although it was incredibly expensive, I loved it.

The view from Tawley, pic;KERSTIN RODGERS

Ireland:

In June I went to Donegal to trace back my family lineage. I ate simple, fresh, good food. I visited a mass stone where Catholics secretly worshipped. I rocked out at the Rory Gallagher festival. We knocked on plenty of doors to find the ‘Rodgers’ family.

Italy:

I probably spent three months in Italy overall. It’s an endless source of food stories, new ingredients, new preparations, art, architecture, style, history, colour and beauty. It’s also full of dirt, theft, poverty and tourist traps. Well worth it though.

Sicily:

Three times I visited Sicily this year: by tall ship, by plane, by ferry and by train. I’ve still to write up some of these trips.

I went by train (the carriages were put on a ferry) to the stylish farmhouse bed and breakfast Tenuta Cammarana, near Modica, where I learnt so much about food, in particular how to make home-made sun-dried tomato concentrate. From Sylvia La Padula, the hostess, I learnt that summer pudding is perfect for breakfast and that brioche dipped in granita is just what you want to eat when it’s hot.

In August I visited by tall ship, skimming past the smoking volcanic island of Stromboli, slurping on the Messina speciality coffee granita with whipped cream.

In November I went by plane to experience Palermo in the rain while getting a master class in Sicilian wine from Filippo Bartolotta. The food was sublime as usual, especially the deep-fried polenta-dusted burrata and the stunning swordfish steak ‘ruota di peace espada’ 

Wines of Sicily like to say ‘hey we do more than big sunny wines’ but I like big, sunny wines and they don’t need to change a thing.

The rose and cherry cake and the after-outfit, Inspired by La Cicciolina
The rose and cherry cake and the after-outfit, Inspired by La Cicciolina
naples-wedding-restaurants pic-Kerstin Rodgers - 32

Naples: 

The first visit to Naples was in June for my niece, fashion stylist Rachael Rodgers’ wedding which was featured in US and UK Vogue. The weather was stiflingly hot. The ceremony was punk, gothic and intensely romantic. I stayed at an elegant bed and breakfast Domus Deorum Deluxe which had great air conditioning. Phew.

I visited farmers in the local region Campania to find out about herbs, aubergines, peppers and Piennolo di Vesuvio tomatoes. Tracking down my Italian side I took a water taxi to Minori where some distant relatives have a famous Agriturismo (Jamie Oliver and Gennaro Contaldo have visited and learnt dishes) on a hillside. Everything I ate and drank was grown and made on site, from the mozzarella, vegetables, wine to the olive oil.

I returned again in December to witness the braiding of the Christmas tomato, visit the Christmas nativity street to buy some miniatures to add to my creche and try the Christmas apple, the Mela Anurca.

All of this inspired Italian vegetarian recipes. I still have more to test out but got this unusual pasta recipe from a lady working at Naples airport.

Siena:

I like Siena so much I named my daughter after the town. This year I took the train to just outside Siena where a friend of mine, Emily O’Hare, formerly sommelier at the River Café, teaches wine courses at La Torre alle Tolfe, a winery just outside the Chianti Classico zone. Emily took me to Panzano where I met the world’s most famous butcher, the raffish Dario Ceccini and I drank some truly exquisite wine.

I finally got to a post-race Palio dinner in Siena, an amazing experience full of medieval pageantry, horses, competing fans slagging each other off in operatic chants, and a dinner for 100 in the street. Marvellous.

rome pix- kerstin Rodgers - 3
rome pix- kerstin Rodgers - 6

Rome:

Rome is hard work in the summer. It didn’t help that I got my phone nicked on arrival. Have you any idea just how helpless you are without a phone? It was stolen as I arrived at the metro. I didn’t even know how to get to my hotel room. In 40C degree heat, I had to ask ten different sets of tourists if I could look at their Google maps. On the Findmyiphone app, I saw that the thieves had taken it to just behind the Colosseo metro. I changed clothes so they wouldn’t recognise me and searched every table at every cafe, every bin, under every car. They’d gone.

The Italians sighed and said ‘Gypsies’. That’s a bit racist I thought. A week later, having had to buy a new iPhone, a new Italian sim (Three wouldn’t send me a British sim and it was the beginning of my trip), having lost all my credit cards which were in a wallet on the back, an alert popped up: my phone was in Romania.

I did have incredible artichokes alla giudea and artichoke lasagna at Nonna Betta restaurant in the Jewish quarter. More recipes I must recreate. I’d love to write an entire book about artichokes.

pompeii pix-Kerstin Rodgers - 1
pompeii pix-Kerstin Rodgers - 2

Pompeii:

It was too hot to visit Pompeii in June. I had memories of going there with my parents as a child and feeling the most thirsty I’d ever felt. December however was perfect, no queue, no crowds, the place to myself. I downloaded the audible book of Mary Beard’s ‘Pompeii, life of a Roman town’ which brought the whole place to life. The rude cock n balls graffiti, the colourful mosaic kitchen worktops, the warnings ignored (these things don’t happen overnight), the horror and the groups of calcified frozen bodies. I even talked to one of the archeologists on his lunch break who showed me, secretly, a newly discovered statue of Athena he’d just dug up.

Riace de bronze
Riace de bronze
gelato
gelato

Reggio di Calabria:

For a long time I’ve wanted to go to Calabria, the toe of Italy’s boot. I stayed for a couple of days in Reggio di Calabria, a shiny white cobbled coastal town with the famous sexy statues Riace bronzes and the world’s best ice cream. Oh the gelato! You have to go just for that. I ate it at least three times a day. Messina in Sicily sparkles at night across the sea, over which I’d taken the train on the ferry.

venice pix-Kerstin Rodgers - 1
venice pix-Kerstin Rodgers - 2

Venice:

The last time I went to Venice, my daughter’s biological father became violent and I had to escape in the night in the pouring rain, booking another hotel. So I had mixed feelings about returning. It’s tremendously expensive. I stayed in a shared ‘dorm’ room for three and that cost me £75 a night. But the Biennale. My parents have gone for years and somehow I hadn’t picked up on the fact that it’s unmissable – like Disneyland for conceptual artists. Biennale tickets are very reasonable – £25 for two main sites which take a full day each- and the rest, scattered throughout Venice, are free. The sunsets, the Aperol Spritz, the pink-hued street lamps, the boat system, the cicchetti snacks, you have to go.

I saw art that make me cry, made me laugh, made me wonder and think. It was a ride. Two of my favourite installations were virtual reality experiences; one by a Greek, another by a Georgian. I’ve done the VR goggle thing before and frankly it was a bit shit. The technology has moved leaps and bounds – I saw the future. It’s a waking dreamscape where you can astral travel and float around like in your sleep; now you can move things and touch them. I want to live to 100 so I can see what is going to happen. It’s going to be amazing.

The next biennale is in 2024. Highly recommend.

star clipper tall ships trip- pic- kerstin Rodgers - 43
star clipper tall ships trip- pic- kerstin Rodgers - 53

Boats:

I love boats. I even tried to learn to sail just before the pandemic.

Apart from climbing the rigging of a tall ship, and taking the helm at the ship’s wheel, I took an overnight ferry from Palermo with my own private cabin, watching the rosy dawn break over Naples. I did a picnic on a gondola on a lake at Lake Worlitz, with a mullet-haired East German helmsman. I had fun getting lost on the taxi boats of Venice.

Carriages being loaded onto the ferry to Sicily
Carriages being loaded onto the ferry to Sicily
Sleeper
Sleeper
Steam train in Saxe-anhalt, Germany
Steam train in Saxe-anhalt, Germany
saxe-anhult, Germany pix-Kerstin Rodgers - 79

Trains:

I travelled around Europe mostly by train, using a month-long eurail pass. Italian trains are cheap but watch out for last minute platform changes which they only announce in Italian not on the overhead signs. The sleepers are pleasant in the second class Ladies.

German trains have roomy buffet cars where you can get beer and snacks and plug in your laptop. If you can’t get a seat always head for the restaurant car. I also rode a narrow gauge steam train, even got to watch them shovel the coal in the engine, to Brocken.

I’d much rather travel by train than plane, but many of the press trips (that make travel financially possible for me) will only book flights. I guess the tourist board’s standing relationships are with airlines, which is a pity. Maybe this will change in future.

A rail pass is a good way of seeing a terrain inch by inch, I did the same in Japan where the trains are a wonder: efficient, clean, ridiculously polite with train guards exiting each carriage by bowing. The food is good too; with train bento boxes and many food trains (some of which I’ve yet to write about).

In Europe, check out Eurail.com. As I wanted to play it by ear, I used the app to book my trains. The app isn’t exactly easy to work out, and I had to resort to asking my techie son-in-law to help me. I got there in the end.

Eurail passes from 167 euros (2nd class, 4 days in 1 month) to 609 euros for 3 months.

saxe-anhult, Germany pix-Kerstin Rodgers - 112
saxe-anhult, Germany pix-Kerstin Rodgers - 33

Germany:

I’m still writing up this trip to Saxony-Anhalt in the former East Germany. I knew the Goths came from Germany in the first place, but there is a dark, romantic, fairy-tale gothic sensibility which I enjoyed. We heard legends of Faust, devils, princesses, ogres, flying horses, and in Naumberg Cathedral, saw the ultimate medieval babe Uta Von Ballenstedt upon whom Disney based his depiction of Snow White’s Wicked Witch. I discovered the ‘Timber Frame Road’ which is a series of villages of half-timbered houses. Wernigerode was so clean, so perfect, it felt like being on Main Street, Disneyland. I ate a foot-high gooseberry meringue pie in a tea shop (another must do recipe to recreate)

Food was difficult for me as a vegetarian. I lived on cheese sandwiches swiped from the hotel breakfast, hurriedly wrapped in napkins and squashed in my bag. The Germans can bake. I loved the poppy seed rolls.

zurich, switzerland pix-Kerstin Rodgers - 17
zurich, switzerland pix-Kerstin Rodgers - 108

Switzerland:

I flew to Zurich to visit the world’s oldest vegetarian restaurant, Hiltl, and did a cooking class upstairs. The teacher wanted to give me a job in the restaurant. I loved the pumpkin farm with the as-much-as-you-can-eat buffet and the ex-Carthusian monastery and farm, Kartause Ittingen, where we ate raclette over an open fire.

I stayed a few days extra to hang out with my Swedish chef friend Linn Soderstrom who is living there with her wife who works at Google. I got a tour of Google and had lunch there in their hip cafeteria. The facilities for workers are very cool: pianos, pool tables, bowls of endless snacks, chill out rooms, beds, hammocks, massage chairs.

Zurich is such a nice place to live, idyllic like an architects model city. The clean river has several outdoor swimming baths, everyone swims. In summer, people hire inflated tires for mass floatation parties which sound fun. Why can’t they do this to the Thames? (Yes I know the tide is strong but protected outdoor baths could be sectioned off). Linn told me that the Swiss don’t really know how to cook, that all their food is bland. Despite this I had a couple of great meals: a vegan tasting menu at Neue Taverne and a cheese fondue with potatoes in a basket at Fribourger Fondue Stuebli

austria pix-Kerstin Rodgers - 1
austria pix-Kerstin Rodgers - 2

Austria:

My visit to Austria was one of the best press trips I’ve ever done. Fantastic scenery, culture, costume, food, art, history. I got obsessed with dirndls, the national dress. Every Austrian girl sews one in her life. Traditional costume is commonly worn and every area/village has its own styles, colours and patterns. Men still wear lederhosen. I met the Sound of Music family at their castle, Schloss Friedberg. I heard extraordinary yodellers at a folk art museum.

In Vienna I looked at new architecture, vintage funfairs, and had a gala dinner at the Belvedere Palace, with a private view of the paintings of Klimt and Shiele. 

Graz is the second city of Austria, a kind of mini-Vienna. This would be a great long weekend destination, a romantic mini-break. It’s very manageable, with trams, museums, pedestrian shopping streets, a world famous armoury (more interesting than it sounds) and great food markets. Graz is in the region of Styria, which is where you find the best ingredients in Austria. Look out for the purple beans that taste like chestnuts called ‘bug beans’, pumpkin seed oil, apples and Concorde grapes.

To Alpine Seefeld and Innsbruck, towards what is now Italy, South Tirol (but in their hearts they are still Austrian). I stayed at one of the most fantastic hotel, Seefeld Sacher, a pine-scented chalet with spa. Everyone who worked there wore dirndls and lederhosen. This hotel would be the ultimate Christmas destination (if you have the money). Rooms are from 230 euros a night.

In Kristallwelten, I visited the Swarovski museum. Like the underground lair of a Bond villain, this is a crystal-encrusted series of caves displaying the work of Swarovski. The collection includes Michael Jackson’s crystal studded glove, Cher’s dresses, costumes from the film Moulin Rouge, a replica of Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’ dress, and commissioned work by artists such as Yayoi Kusama. The tour of each chamber, 18 in all, lasts around an hour.

Llanerch wines
Llanerch wines
llanerch wine pix-Kerstin Rodgers - 1

Wales:

In November I visited the UK’s only wine hotel, the Llanerch. While I sipped on white, rosé and sparkling Welsh wines, I could count sheep outside my bedroom window while wrapping myself in Welsh wool blankets. The restaurant serves fine local ingredients and stunning desserts.

Book here for the hotel, restaurant or a tasting session.

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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

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Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuv Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuvio,the Christmas 🍅, which lasts up to a year fresh. It’s given boxed as gifts around Christmas being the only local fresh tomato available. It dresses all the Christmas pizzas and pastas. It’s grown on volcanic Vesuvius soil and sparsely watered. As a result it has thick skins, and a sweet intense flavour. #tomatoes #italy #naples
Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick laye Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick layer of dust over my kitchen. This will be my dining room/photography studio. Done on a whim.#unplanneddemolition
Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a n Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a nest of apricot tulle (found at portobello market). Isn’t she lovely? #granfluencer
Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is defin Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is definitely a week for soups. My friend @jimfrommanc is staying & needs his hot lunch.
Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Ven Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Venice the fresh food market sells bouquets of colourful chillies. I’ve still got mine, drying in an enamel jug. #travelandfood
The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read all about it: https://msmarmitelover.com/2022/12/christmas-in-naples.html  Got a couple of bunches hanging in my kitchen. #naples #campania #tomatoes🍅 #travelphotography
Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Italian outfit I bought in Naples on a William Morris playmat which looks great and is practical for tummy time. So many things are different about parenting now. Parents use apps to track feeding, pooing, weeing etc. You don’t bathe them anymore for the first few weeks because you want to leave the vernix ( the white waxy stuff they are covered in at birth) on their skin as long as possible. Nappies now have a line on them that turns blue if they’ve done a pee. White noise apps to help them sleep. New technology guides new parents. As well as ancient probably prehistoric customs being rediscovered. #granfluencer #grandaughter I’ve tagged in @siennamarla and @jamescalmus as the authors of this baby.
I made two dishes from one pack of white beans las I made two dishes from one pack of white beans last night. Soak, then cook with 2 stock cubes, water & a fan of bay leaves. When soft & cooked, scoop some into a soup bowl with plenty of stock, add white wine, fresh basil and or a scoop of pesto and a squeeze of lemon for soupe au pistou. Garnish with Parmesan. Today I cooked the pot until the liquid had almost disappeared and added a block of feta. I baked this in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, added @pomoragoodfood new olive oil, salt and pepper for a gigantes plaki (but with smaller beans). Eat more beans!
What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yo What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yolks after making a pavlova? Zabaglione, that classic Italian trattoria dessert made from egg yolks, sugar & tons of masala sweet wine. Whisk it up over a bain-marie or be a bit cheaty & add a teaspoon of cornflour. Strong wrists needed. #italianfood #christmasdesserts #leftovers #cooksmart
The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from c The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from carnivore, to recent vegetarian, to long-time vegetarian to never eaten meat (my daughter)) tasted 18. It was quite a bushtucker trial. Carnivores & vegetarians liked very different things. Full report in next weeks @hamandhigh #veganuary #vegan #vegetarian #tastetest #fakemeat #plantbasedmeat
Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuar Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuary column for @hamandhigh So many companies doing this now. As a longtime vegetarian I don’t want anything that tastes too much like meat. But new vegetarians and vegans may want something that tastes close as damnit to meat in order to stave off cravings? Which category are you in? Have you any favourites or dislikes? Is this just another example of ultra-processed food? Let me know in the comments #vegan #vegetarian #meatfree #veganuary
Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragr Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragrant citrus & one of the founding citrus (along with pomelo and mandarin) that created all the other citrus fruits you know about. Usually candied, it is also used in this unusual neopolitan recipe in which you soak the zest in the pasta water overnight before cooking. Post up on the blog later today. Board a Xmas present from @siennamarla #pasta #naples #cedro #citrus
My london garden ce matin My london garden ce matin
My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- bergamot marmalade in the middle. In the @hamandhigh this week. It’s bloody delicious. #chocolatecake #feelaustria #untoldstories #vienna #sachertorte
These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ in Neapolitan dialect. They are a Christmas apple, in season now. I bought this little model basket of apples in San Gregorio di Armenia street in Naples where every year neopolitans buy something to add to their ‘presepe’ or nativity scene. Often scenes from markets to add to the expensive, anything from 500 euros to 5000 euros nativity crèches. Around Christmas this street is packed (watch out for pickpockets) with locals and tourist picking out their addition to the scene. Melanurca apples are picked in September then laid on the ground to ripen, turning them every day by hand, to ensure all sides transform from a yellow green into a Wicked Witch red. They are very healthy, particularly for your hair, according to scientists at the university of Naples. #naples #neopolitanchristmas #melanurca  #food #travel #sangregorioarmeno #presepenapoletano #nativityscenes
The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, a local tomato that is sold around Christmas in Naples. It is grown with very little irrigation and lasts fresh up to a year. Hence it is used for tomato based Christmas dishes. This tomato has a thick skin and is really intense in flavour. It hangs outside grocers, on balconies, in kitchens, having been braided by ladies into bunches of 1.5 kilos. Each costs 15 euros. I went to visit the farmers and the ladies skilfully tying the tomatoes into clusters, using the vines to fasten them, like cherries. Boxed, these are given as gifts. Reel on the way! #naples #christmas #tomatoes #travel #food
Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as black and white and stick to that palette. For Sicily & Naples I’m doing red, white & black. I’ve bought @coti_vision red glasses chain, a red beret & a black one, a pair of red @snagtights & a black pair, a red hair clasp, a red & white pair of shoes (25 euros, leather from Naples), a red & white dress, a black & white striped dress, and so on. Do you roll? Do you flatten & spread? Do you fold? How do you pack? A few days before I leave I leave my suitcase open in my bedroom and every time I think of something I need to take I sling it in there. ( like adaptors) Last thing is wash bag ( I have a hanging one which is useful) and coat (red for this trip). Basically I colour code my life. When I did the Camino everything was blue & yellow, the colours of the Camino. When I went to Ireland I took all my green clothes ( I don’t have many). If I go on a boat trip I pack blue and white. #packing #colourcoding #travel #mysuitcase
Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicili Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicilian fish dish, baked on onions, studded with garlic cloves wrapped in mint leaves, then more onions, capers, olives, oregano & rosemary. Use a thick central slice of swordfish (where can I get that in london?). I’m tasting grillo & Nero d’avola wines @tenutorapitala about an hour inland from Palermo. The owner is the last count Bernard de La gatinais. He has 3 daughters. He’s French (Brittany) and Sicilian. He spoke about how difficult it has been for wine growers since lockdown- so many restaurants closed. Now they are grappling with high energy & fuel costs. ##winesofsicilia #siciliaDOC #wine #travel #sicily
I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I lo I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I love boats and water. #biennalearte2022
London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield wit London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield with mikawa citrus (cross between mandarin & pomelo) and home pickled green peppercorns on a plate I bought in minori Italy. #londonfood #citrus #sundaylunch
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