I’m preparing to take a group of Wine-Knows to
Savannah and Charleston. I typically ask
trip participants to write in advance of the tour an introduction about themselves
for others. In this “dossier” I ask them
to answer a cluster of questions such as their
favorite travel spot or what food
would be in their last meal. One question I’ve never asked (but shall for
the next group) is what is the most
unusual place they have dined. Here
are mine…
Submarine
in San Francisco Bay
Looking for a unique dinner experience in the Bay
Area? If so, you should consider this
one. You’ll be picked up at one of the
piers along the waterfront in a small boat and then wisked off to a venue not
far from shore. Technically a “floating
island,” this amazing nautical experience allows you to choose a submerged
dining room with port holes, or dine alfresco upstairs on its dec overlooking
incredible views of the city of San Francisco, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge
and the Bay. http://www.forbesisland.com/home.html
Dining below the surface of the water...
Bedouin
Tent in the Sahara Dessert
I love my creature comforts but I couldn’t resist
the romance of an overnight excursion to the Sahara to stay in a Bedouin tent. Just getting there was priceless…we rode
several hours on the back of camels across miles of dessert. Arriving just in time for a glorious sunset
over a vast sea of sand dunes, we first refreshed in our own private tent, then
had a Moroccan dinner in a large community tent right out of a Hollywood movie
set. Glorious.
A fantasy spot in the middle of the Sahara
Grotto
on Italy’s Adriatic Sea
I first dined in this special spot >25 years ago
but I can still recall my amazement when the elevator door opened into the
restaurant. Twenty years later I returned
and the thrill was just as compelling. The enchanting candle-lit grotto has tables
placed to take advantage of the sea rushing in meters away. On this last visit I was surprised to learn
that the restaurant had become very famous and now has a world-class chef, with
world-class prices. Personally, I would
be happy eating just a panini here,
but I have to admit that my latest upscale dinner and a bottle of exquisite
Barolo could not have been more magnifico. http://www.grottapalazzese.it/it/i-ristoranti/
Super romantic dining in a grotto
Costa
Rican Rain Forest
Twenty-something years ago one of the globe’s first
eco-tourism inns was featured on the cover of Travel & Leisure. It so
took my breath away that I vowed without even opening the magazine to journey
to this piece of paradise---regardless of where it was located. The following year I packed my bags for Costa
Rica. As the inn’s remote area was not
served by commercial flights, it necessitated a private plane from the capital
city…but I was on a mission. The
individual bungalows were as gorgeous as the magazine’s cover. The dining room was surrounded by a verdant
forest, including a canopy of wild orchids in every color of the rainbow. One dined to the melodies of parrots and cockatoos
as wild monkeys skirted from tree to tree.
The menu was all uber fresh items grown at the lodge, hunted locally, or
fished from the nearby streams. Pure magic. http://www.laparios.com/
Let it rain, let it rain!
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