ABCDE
Travel
sunday, may 30, 2010
GOING OUR WAY
Resort to this
A roundup of all-inclusives for a family vacation. F2.
Navigator In the travel industry, ‘no’ really might mean ‘maybe.’ F2 Coming and Going Jamaica on fire, and a campsite-reselling no-no. F4
Impulsive Traveler Tracing a connection to an elusive Alabama author. F5
CHAT Travel Talk takes a Memorial Day break tomorrow. Back next week.
PHOTO CONTEST
Cameras
ready
Time to point and shoot. Details, F2.
F
Simply
Grand
It’s easy to fall under the gentle sway of hammock capital Pawleys Island
by Steven V. Roberts
Special to The Washington Post
plug, to fall into the rhythm of island life, to walk on the beaches, wander through the villages and wind down the day with a cool white wine and a warm pink sunset. When we returned to the United States, we looked for a place that resembled a Greek island but wasn’t Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket (we did not want to add cocktail par- ties to our evening ritual). A friend mentioned Pawleys Is- land, on the South Carolina coast, which is not really an is- land at all but a glorified sandbar separated from the main- land by a narrow salt creek and a mile-wide mind-set. In 1978, we rented a house for a week. One week became
W
PHOTOS BY PAULA ILLINGWORTH FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Stretched like a hammock between Myrtle Beach and Charleston, Pawleys Island and its environs offer treasures such as the Washington Oak at Hampton Plantation, which escaped the ax in 1791 because the first president favored it; miles of beaches along the shimmering Atlantic; and sweet grass baskets, made by the Gullah people in the style of their African forebears.
two; then we traded up to an ocean view and a third week. Four years ago we bought our own house, and if you ask me to name my favorite place in the world, on many days I would answer Pawleys.
pawleys continued on F4
hen I was living in Europe with my family in the mid-1970s, we often rented houses on Greek is- lands. We relished being able to unpack and un-
Valpolicella: Drink it in
This Italian winemaking region is long on scenery but short on tourists — so far
by Valentina Pasquali
Special to The Washington Post
It’s peaceful in the hills of Valpolicella.
The grapes are growing on their vines, soaking in the sun, waiting for maturity and the fall harvest that will produce some of Italy’s finest wines. Only the oc- casional tourists venture to this region tucked away in the north of Italy, coming out on day trips from the nearby city of Verona or from Lake Garda. Valpolicella is one of Italy’s most idyl-
lic settings, but it’s also among the coun- try’s best-kept secrets, with most tourists seemingly unaware of its scenic routes, its medieval churches and Renaissance villas, and its award-winning wines. But the region, comprising three valleys that run parallel on a north-south axis, each
named after its biggest town — Negrar to the east, Marano in the middle, Fumane to the west — makes for a wonderful stop during a trip to northern Italy. One bright morning last fall, I visit the
Villa Monteleone, an estate outside the town of Gargagnago in the Fumane val- ley. Its owner is Lucia Duran Raimondi, a strong-minded but amiable woman in her early 60s with short, curly hair and a hint of a Spanish accent. She was born in Bogota, Colombia, but spent most of her adult life in Chicago, where she met An- thony Raimondi, a globally renowned physician who was considered the father of pediatric neurosurgery. After marry- ing, the couple moved to Italy in 1988. They stumbled upon a 17th-century villa in Valpolicella, settled down and began making wine. “Neurosurgery was his profession,” Raimondi says fondly of her late husband, “but wine was his pas- sion.”
She pours each of her six guests a glass of Recioto, a sweet red wine with hints of dried fruit and apricots, from the 2004 vintage. The room we’re in, like much of
this charming estate, is unpretentious, with dark wooden floors, a stone fire- place and winemaking awards hanging on the walls. The dining table is dressed with white paper mats, red-wine glasses and plates of cheese and breadsticks. As the wine flows, Raimondi gushes. “Recioto is a wine waiting to be discov- ered,” she says enthusiastically. “It’s sweet, but calling it a dessert wine is lim- iting. It’s such a wonderful wine.” Villa Monteleone produces Valpolicel-
la Classico, Valpolicella Classico Superi- ore, Recioto and the flagship Amarone. If Recioto is sweet, Classico is fruity and fragrant. Amarone is much more com- plex, with a strong body, a higher alcohol content and a rich taste full of aromas. The superior version of Valpolicella, the Superiore, falls somewhere between the freshness of Classico and the rich com- plexity of Amarone. According to Maurizio Boselli, profes- sor of viticulture at the University of Ve- rona, two factors make the Valpolicella
italy continued on F3
VALENTINA PASQUALI
Nineteenth-century statues dot the grounds of the luxurious Villa Giona, an estate-turned-hotel whose 18 rooms are furnished with antiques.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158