Top 5 Extraordinary Culinary Experiences with Luxury Gold

By Chelsea Todaro of Luxury Gold

If you’re traveling with Luxury Gold, expect unforgettable delicious high-end dining. You may find yourself indulging in Michelin-star fare one evening and then diving into the street food scene the following day on a foodie tour. From private cooking classes with culinary masters to marvelous lunches at vineyards, dining is a highlight of the journey, rather than just a standard mealtime.

Food is a huge part of travel, and you’ll truly discover the culture of a destination through Luxury Gold’s carefully selected dining experiences. In addition to renowned Michelin-star restaurants, you’ll also visit fine-dining restaurants acclaimed by other leading industry guides such as Zagat, AAA Diamond and Forbes.

Prepare for the meal of a lifetime with Luxury Gold’s top 5 extraordinary dining experiences below.

Exclusive Views of the Gulf of Naples at Michelin-Starred Mammà

Italy is known for its exceptional cuisine, and you will not be disappointed on Luxury Gold’s Ultimate Italy. While visiting the gorgeous Isle of Capri, you’ll take in beautiful, exclusive views of the Gulf of Naples from the privileged perch of Michelin-starred Mammà for lunch. You’ll indulge in a delectable meal of Mediterranean flavors in perfect Caprese style, created with passion from fresh, local produce by chef Salvatore La Ragione.Mammà is in the heart of Capri Island, an iconic spot from Dolce Vita, and is just steps from the famous square.

Tour the Best Bites in Paris from a French Food Connoisseur

While exploring one of the most iconic food capitals of the world, you’ll join a passionate food connoisseur for a small-group gourmet foodie walk through the streets of Paris on Luxury Gold’s French Vogue. You’ll visit a variety of patisseries, boulangeries and chocolatiers, taste delicious specialties and meet passionate foodies along the way. After visiting Paris, enjoy a high-end lunch at the Michelin-starred Maison Prévôt, nestled in the heart of Provence. This restaurant embraces contemporary, gourmet cuisine and follows the changing of the seasons with locally sourced ingredients.

A Taste of Modern Cuisine at Cusco’s Top Restaurant

While exploring Peruvian culture on Luxury Gold’s Treasures of the Incas, you’ll enjoy an intimate candlelight dinner at MAP Cafe in Cusco, one of the city’s most prominent restaurants. MAP is situated on the lively, modern courtyard of the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art. This small, glass-enclosed, elegant café delivers contemporary Peruvian haute cuisine with an artistic dining experience, and candlelit for a dazzling evening ambiance.

Dine at Renowned 1135 in Jaipur, Enjoy High Tea in the City Palace

In India, there are two unforgettable VIP culinary experiences on Luxury Gold’s Essence of India. While visiting Jaipur, you’ll dine at the historic Amer Palace on centuries-old recipes, once made exclusively for royalty. Condé Nast consistently names 1135 AD in their top restaurants of India, and the tantalizing dishes on offer make you realize why. In addition to having dinner at this one-of-a-kind restaurant, you’ll also get to savor a locally inspired high tea in a private living room of the Maharaja, within the Jaipur City Palace. You’ll explore rooms that are not open to other visitors and see the spectacular crystal table handcrafted by renowned artisan René Lalique.

Enjoy Colonial-Style Tea in Egypt’s Famous Historic Hotel

Discovering the ancient lands of Egypt calls for a relaxing afternoon tea, British style. On Luxury Gold’s Elegance of the Nile, you’ll enjoy a British past time in Aswan with a colonial-style afternoon tea at sunset in the elegant Victorian surroundings of The Old Cataract Hotel. Thi9s hotel was famously visited frequently by Agatha Christie and Winston Churchill. You’ll enjoy gorgeous views of the Nile River and Elephantine Island as the hotel sits on a pink granite cliff. To end the day on a high note, you’ll enjoy dinner on your luxurious river cruise ship, The River Tosca, accompanied by a Nubian folklore show and live music. The River Tosca presents world-class cuisine made from fresh ingredients, locally sourced from Egypt.

Luxury Gold sets an unmatched standard with its worldwide collection of award-winning small group luxury journeys. Guided by a Travelling Concierge, guests can indulge in the ultimate guided vacation, discovering exclusive VIP Experiences and savoring exceptional dining on every curated itinerary. They will stay at magnificent hotels and travel in absolute comfort, with their Well-Being Director who is always a step ahead to ensure the places visited, adhere to the high standards of excellence. As the global leader in luxury travel with expertise accumulated over 101 years, Luxury Gold epitomizes extraordinary exploration to some of the world’s most spectacular destinations. To find out more, please visit www.luxurygold.com.  

Exploring Irish Heritage

By Noreen Bowden of CIE Tours

A trip to Ireland can be an emotional homecoming for Irish-Americans, as they return to the land of their ancestors. Check out three museums and an online resource that can help unlock visitors’ family history and heritage.

Ireland’s tragic history and long legacy of emigration hold special meaning for tens of millions of Americans who can trace their ancestry back to the Emerald Isle. And for many Irish-Americans, a trip to Ireland is a kind of homecoming. Visiting the places that tell the stories of those who left their ancestral homeland can help unlock family history – and there are many museums in Ireland dedicated to revealing the experience of those who left. Here are a few of our favorites – these are all great places for exploring heritage, but there’s plenty to intrigue even those without an Irish branch in their family tree:

EPIC the Irish Emigration Museum

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin is a shiny, high-tech wonderland – the first all-digital museum in the world. But don’t be fooled by the slick technology: this museum has a lot of heart. EPIC is all about stories – of the 10 million Irish people who left, where they went, and what happened to them. Twenty galleries detail the history, heritage, and culture of the Irish diaspora. It’s a wonderful introduction to the vast global scale of Ireland’s descendants.

See emigrant letters, experience Irish music and dance, meet the outlaws in the Rogue’s Gallery, hear the words of some of the world’s most famous authors in the Whispering Library. Visitors can even begin exploring their own history with a consultation with a professional genealogist.

The museum is located near Dublin’s docklands–steps away from the Jeannie Johnston, a replica ship similar to those that carried millions of starving Irish refugees fleeing famine in the 19^th century (and also worth a visit).

For more information visit EPICchq.com.

Dunbrody Famine Ship

The Dunbrody Famine Ship in New Ross, County Wexford is a faithful reproduction of an 1840s emigrant vessel that carried weary and hungry refugees fleeing Ireland’s Famine. The Famine was caused by a potato blight that killed the staple crop of the impoverished tenant farmers. From 1845 to 1852, 1 million people died and 1.5 million emigrated. As people fled throughout the world, the Irish Diaspora took on new dimensions.

The Dunbrody was launched as a cargo ship in 1845 but was quickly refitted, going on to carry thousands of desperate tenant farmers to Canada, most in overcrowded steerage. While many of the millions who crossed the ocean in that era died, the captains of the Dunbrody kept the mortality rate with good care of their passengers. Visitors to the Dunbrody learn the story of famine emigration from the perspective of those who left, as they cross from the quayside of New Ross on the long journey to the Arrivals Hall in North America.

The Dunbrody’s port location was the departure point for an ancestor of John F Kennedy, who visited there in 1963 in an emotional homecoming. The ship sits beside the Irish-America Hall of Fame.

Learn more at Dunbrody.com.

Cobh Heritage Center

The pretty little port town of Cobh – named in 2019 as one of the 25 most beautiful towns in Europe by Condé Nast Traveler – was the departure point for millions of emigrants over the centuries. The Cobh Heritage Center tells their stories – for many, their last glimpse of Ireland was of this harbor.

Cobh’s role in emigrant history starts in the 1600s, when Irish people left for British overseas colonies like Virginia, New England, Barbados, Jamaica, and Montserrat. Then between 1848 to 1950, nearly half of the 6 million people who left Ireland departed from Cobh.

Cobh Heritage Center showcases many facets of emigrant history. Explore life on board a so-called “coffin ship” and a ship bringing convicts to Australia. Exhibits detail the lives of seventeenth-century local man Francis Barret, famed pirate Anne Bonney, smuggler Robert Davies, and more. Learn about Annie Moore, who departed the port in 1891 and became the first emigrant to be processed at the newly opened Ellis Island in New York – she’s memorialized with a statue at the entrance to the museum. The center also tells the story of the Titanic – Cobh was its last port of call for the ill-fated ship.

Learn more at CobhHeritage.com.

IrelandXO.com: an online heritage resource

Those with Irish heritage who are planning a trip might be interested in an additional resource before they go: Ireland Reaching Out, a nonprofit group comprised of volunteers who seek to connect Ireland’s millions of descendants with the communities their ancestors departed from. Their many resources, including genealogy message boards, connection stories, and ancestor chronicles are available at IrelandXO.com.

Travel with CIE Tours, the premier tour operator into Ireland – offering dozens of expertly crafted vacations to Ireland to suit every travel style and taste, from the camaraderie of coach tours and custom group travel to a variety of independent adventures, small group tours and personalized private driver experiences. See CIETours.com for more information.

Noreen Bowden, the Content Manager at CIE Tours, writes extensively about the Irish diaspora; she has worked in Ireland and the US in positions aimed at strengthening links between Ireland and the Irish abroad.

Living the Outdoor Life in Finland

By Mila Kickert, Product Manager Northern/Central Europe, Avanti Destinations

Nature is practically the national religion of Finland.

If you don’t know this sparsely populated, little-touristed Nordic country that sits between Sweden and Russia, you owe it to yourself to get familiar with it, especially if you love nature.  There is no other place like it.

No matter what the season, Finland gives you plenty of opportunities for outdoor activities: hiking, trekking, biking, cross country skiing, ice skating, whitewater rafting, kayaking, canoeing, Husky and reindeer sledding, snowshoeing, fishing, bear-watching, and picking wild mushrooms and berries while strolling through its nearly 50 million acres of forests. Since we’re talking numbers – there are more than 180,000 lakes in Finland. “Land of 1,000 Lakes” is an understatement.

You’ll be happy to know that most Finns speak excellent English – because who in the world is going to learn to speak Finnish? It’s a complex language completely unrelated to any other, except Estonian and Hungarian. With so many Finns speaking English – and eager to practice – it’s easy for Americans to get around.  Finland also has an excellent road system if you want to rent a car, as well as a great public transportation system and good air connections between destinations. Keep in mind that if you rent a car, gas is quite expensive compared to the US –  like most other countries.

Because of its extreme northern latitude, you can also experience two natural phenomena in Finland. Between October and March, when the days are short and the nights are long, you can see the Northern Lights or aurora borealis, that spectacular kinetic light show dancing in the night sky. In the late spring through the summer, you have the wonderful long days of the Midnight Sun, when the darkest it gets in the middle of the night is like twilight. For two months in the far north, enjoy “White Nights” when the sun does not set at all.

The only thing as sacred to Finns as being active outdoors is relaxing from all that exertion in a real Finnish sauna – which usually involves several dips in rivers, lakes or the sea in water that can be quite – shall we say, invigorating? In the winter, Finns cut holes in the ice to take a quick swim after a sauna. I personally am sold on saunas, and saunayoga – the best way to relax after hiking, skiing or kayaking or whatever you want to put your body through.

For those seeking some adventure, one of my favorite places is Lapland – specifically Ruka and Kuusamo, near Oulanka National Park. When I visited in February we “hunted” for the Northern Lights by snowshoe one evening, by a sled pulled by huskies the next.  During the day, we went cross country skiing, and successfully tried ice fishing.  On a subsequent trip during June, there were so many things to do: we canoed, went whitewater rafting, rode fat-tire bikes on forest trails, fished for brown trout in a nearby river, patiently watched for bears, and picked wild berries – blueberries, lingonberries and

Ah – heaven. No wonder Finland has been named the happiest country in the world for the past four years!

Since 1981, Avanti Destinations has been selling independent travel products and custom-crafted vacations in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Central and South America. The Portland, Oregon-based wholesale tour operator offers a wide range of FIT components to travel agents only, including air, rail, rental cars, hotels, sightseeing/attractions, transfers, and hard-to-find experiential travel options.  Avanti specializes in hand-picked, locally-owned hotels in both large and small cities and in connecting all the pieces of complex, multi-destination itineraries. The company also creates complete packages for custom groups of 15-100 passengers.

For more information: https://book.avantidestinations.com