Springtime in Napa

Inglenook

A perk of living in San Francisco is being so close to Napa (& Sonoma, aka world class wine country). Drive just over an hour over the Golden Gate Bridge and you'll feel like you're on vacation. When I moved here I was pleasantly surprised how accessible and casual the wineries can be. Since there are so many (hundreds), over the last few years I have taken a pretty lassez-faire approach to trying them out, mainly relying on friends or events to go to new ones. I'm happy to report I haven't had a bad winery experience yet :)

The latest new-to-me winery I've visited is Inglenook, which is owned by Francis Ford Coppola. I first heard of it while staying in Yountville's Villagio Inn (they had a huge book of local wineries) back in March, and then in April a friend was in town and suggested we go. The Rutherford estate's rich historical legacy is maintained by Coppola, who apparently kept making movies in order to fund his winery hobby. (No judging, just admiration!) With my friends I did the full tour and tasting experience and it was one of the best tours I've done in wine country. I'd love to go back and sit in their little bistro. 

I also visited V. Sattui, for probably the umpteenth time. Their picnic grounds are great for groups and I have a membership that gives access to a smaller tasting room. Sattui has a sentimental place in my heart, too, because it was one of the first wineries I visited when I moved to the Bay Area, introduced to my husband and me by one of our own wedding party members. Our family and friends  also love their wine so we bought a case to give as presents this past Christmas (hence, the membership). On this most recent visit, my friends and I got to taste a cab right from the barrel ("wine futures"). I also bought a bottle of rose, which is now just waiting for me to finish my Whole30 diet.

And finally, another new adventure in wine country was having dinner at Bouchon Bistro in Yountville. My husband and I made use of a gift certificate we got for our wedding (over two years ago) ...talk about delayed gratification. Anyway, we had a fabulous meal, the service was great (our server got a kick out of us testing our French vocab on the clever mural behind us), and we got a kick out of listening to the vacationing family next to us (their youngest kid, maybe a 10 year old boy, gawked at how small his order of 1/2 lobster tail turned out). We had an early reservation, but even at the end of the day, there was a long line for Bouchon Bakery next door - another perk of being a local is having the chance to go to the bakery when it's less crowded!

Inglenook

barrel tasting at V. Sattui

dinner at Bouchon

walking the grounds at Villagio Inn and Spa

Cartagena

Cartagena is one of the most romantic cities I’ve ever experienced.

It was founded in the 16th century and looks like a quintessential colonial town. Part of the city is preserved within stone walls built by the Spanish (to protect against pirates!) and that is the part you must visit. There are many little parks and plazas, and the buildings are all brightly colored and have bougainvillea on their balconies. You can’t help but want to take pictures everywhere.

The food is amazing. You can find cheap eats and extravagant meals, and you can’t really go wrong. We had good value/affordable meals at places like El Bistro, and went all out at places like La Vitrola and Club de Pesca. We lucked out and wandered into Club de Pesca without a reservation, then got the best table in the place. With La Vitrola, our hotel set up our reservation, and that is when I was so grateful to be in a luxury hotel with the right relationships.

For live music, we of course went to Cafe Havana, but the locals really gave us props for going to Bazurto Social Club. There are small cover prices at the clubs, but they’re much less than you would pay in NY for great music. Both clubs are well worth the trip outside the old city walls.

I’ve stayed in a few hotels in Cartagena, and the top one for me is the Hotel Charleston Santa Teresa (I wrote about it previously). But Arsenal Hotel Boutique is a close second and it’s just outside the old city walls.

So that’s Cartagena in a nutshell. If you get the chance to go, take it. You won’t regret it.

"This is your home": Hotel Charleston Santa Teresa

I’ve been having an incredible time in Colombia these past two weeks. There was a slight misstep when we realized an expensive boutique hotel we’d reserved in Cartagena was a) more run-down than their beautiful website let on, and b) under renovation, so we left after one night. Luckily we did not have to pay for the additional nights we had reserved. And even luckier (more luckily?), there was a room available at the Hotel Charleston Santa Teresa. Our new room is perfect and the hotel and staff are magnificent. They let me check in early and when they brought me to the room they said, “If you want anything, let us know. This is your home.”

"This is your home": Hotel Charleston Santa Teresa

 
La Passion Hotel, Cartagena, Colombia

La Passion Hotel, Cartagena, built in the 18th century

 

 
Arsenal Hotel Boutique, Cartagena

Cure for December-
Arsenal Hotel Boutique, Getsemani, Cartagena, Colombia

@ Art Hotel Boutique, Medellin: Well worn travel mates- simple makeup that packs easily.

Leticia, Colombia: Hotel Amazon Bed & Breakfast. Gave myself a pat on the back for booking this place.

Medellin, from the rooftop of Art Hotel Boutique in El Poblado. More photos of the hotel to come…

Travel Planning = My Happy Place

Here’s how I’ve been planning my trip to Colombia (similar to how I plan any major trip):

Airfare - We settled on our (approximate) dates for travel and bought our plane tickets to/from the US/Colombia about four months in advance. I say approximate because we had flexibility of 1 or 2 days on either side. The best site I’ve used to look for airfare is http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ which is owned by Google.

Domestic Flights: I later used the ITA Software to also look up the domestic flights I wanted to take within Colombia, but found they didn’t use the same conversion rate as the actual airlines used. The difference wasn’t significant, but remember to check the final price when you buy the ticket.

Hotels - I mainly used Tripadvisor to check reviews and then Booking.com to make the reservations. I’ve used Agoda too, but for Colombia, Booking.com had the lowest rates (as shown on Tripadvisor). Also, Agoda doesn’t always send the confirmation voucher to your email, rather makes you sign into your account on their own site to pull it up. All the reservations were just that; they don’t charge your credit card right away.

Organization - Finally, I sent all the confirmation emails for flights and hotels to Tripit and they were automatically put into an itinerary for me. I will probably carry paper copies of these as well, but it’s nice to have the itinerary up on “the cloud” if necessary.

Insurance - If you’re spending a ton of money on travel, it’s probably a good idea to get some type of insurance. You can purchase this with your plane tickets, or a package on your own, or perhaps your credit card(s) offer some type of protection. I found out the life insurance I have with my employer also offers a special travel assistance program, so it’s good to check!