December 2, 2025 • 23 mins
Year’s end is the perfect time to chase moments that help us fall in love with travel. We stitch together a lively route from New York's Erie Canal’s quiet power to Namibia’s Etosha, where elephants, zebra, and predators converge around water in an arid dreamscape.
Along the way, we meet a winemaker who steers us into Spain's Alicante desert for a paella cooked over grapevines—one fire, one broth, no second chances—and learn why constraint can turn a meal into a memory that lasts.
Our path bends to Sorrento, a flat and beautiful Italian base that opens to Capri, Ischia, and the Amalfi Coast. We talk walkable alleys, lemon groves that become limoncello, and sunset cocktails on cliffside terraces. We ride rails through Canada at sunrise and across Switzerland where a simple coffee sparks a love story.
In Mexico City, lucha libre proves that travel joy can be loud, communal, and gloriously acrobatic, while Barcelona Spain lifts the spirit with castellers human towers, Sant Jordi’s books and roses, and music festivals that sweep from legends to up-and-comers.
We step into sacred time in Assisi in Italy's Umbrian region, to see Giotto’s frescoes and St. Francis’s world, then cross to India's Agra Fort where Shah Jahan arranged his bed and even a small mirror to keep the Taj Mahal always in view.
Add a few delightful detours—a red-clay miniature golf course in Normandy, train-station romance in Belgium, a harmonica gifted to a child in a Ugandan forest (and a musical moment)!
If these stories spark your curiosity, hit follow, and share with a friend who needs new trip ideas, Then dig into our archive of over 120 episodes to plan where your next unforgettable moment will begin.
**
Our guests this past year are a mix of travel pros and travel enthusiasts -- and all of them have insightful tips and stories to tell.
**
Podcast host Lea Lane has traveled to over 100 countries, and has written nine books, including the award-winning Places I Remember (Kirkus Reviews star rating, and 'one of the top 100 Indie books of the year'). She has contributed to dozens of guidebooks and has written thousands of travel articles. Contact her at placesirememberlealane.com
_____
Our award-winning travel podcast, Places I Remember with Lea Lane, has produced over 120 travel episodes! New episodes drop on the first Tuesday of the month, on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Travel vlogs of featured podcasts-- with video and graphics -- now also drop on YouTube. Please subscribe, like, and comment.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lea Lane (00:26):
On this special edition, our annual year-end
episode, I hope we inspire youto listen or re-listen to the
episodes that have interestedyou in 2025.
And don't forget, you canalways dig deep into our archive
of over 120 episodes all abouttravel.
But right now, let's listen tosome favorite bits of this past
(00:47):
year's episodes.
In episode 113, we talk aboutthe watery pleasures of upstate
New York, including the famousErie Canal.
East-west between the HudsonRiver and Lake Erie is 339 miles
long from Albany to Buffalo.
Completed in 1825, the canalwas the first navigable waterway
(01:09):
connecting the Atlantic Oceanto the Great Lakes, and it
vastly reduced the costs oftransporting people and goods
across the Appalachians forabout a century until the
railroads and the highways tookover.
The capital district where thecanal begins is in and around
Albany, New York.
Besides the impressivegovernment buildings, the area
still has many architectural andhistorical reminders that it
(01:31):
was first settled by the Dutchin the early 17th century and
came under English control in1664.
Here's an interesting fact: almost every major city in New (01:37):
undefined
York falls along the trade routeestablished by the Hudson River
and along the Erie Canal fromNew York City to Albany to
Schenectady, Utica, and Syracuseto Rochester and Buffalo.
And nearly 80% of upstate NewYork's population lives within
25 miles of the Erie Canal.
(01:59):
You can find out more about thecanal in Syracuse.
There's a building called theWaylock Building dating from
1850, and there's lots ofinformation there to give you a
real heads up on this wonderfulAmerican creation.
** In episode 114, Dr.
Lori Marker, founder of theCheetah Conservation Fund,
shares her favorite sites inNamibia, Africa, where she
(02:20):
lives.
The most famous national park,Atosha, is in northwestern
Namibia, one of the largestnational parks in Africa.
And it was proclaimed a gamereserve in 1907.
What animals will you find atAtosha?
Speaker 11 (02:34):
Oh, Atosha is just so beautiful.
Again, it's a very aridlandscape, and so the animals
are covering very vast areas,but we have huge herds of
elephants.
Our elephants also go intoareas near the coast, which are
called desert elephants.
So again, we've got some veryspecialized species.
Within the park, you can seerhinos and giraffes, all the
(02:55):
wildlife species from oryx andhardebees, springbok everywhere
that are bouncing everywhere.
Lions, of course, hyena, veryfew cheetahs.
(Two kinds of zebra, I )read.
The mountain zebra and thereare plain zebras.
Most people see the plainzebra.
The mountain zebra are muchmore rare and they're also very
shy in many areas that are notnecessarily open to the public,
(03:18):
and but they're mountainous.
Atosha is just incredible forthe amount of wildlife.
You go to these water points,it's a very arid land, and so
the water points, the wildlifecongregates in.
It's amazing.
The kinds of species, thenumbers of species all living
there it together.
And then the predators, and ofcourse, everybody likes those as
(03:39):
well.
Lea Lane (03:39):
Right.
Uh there are many otherattractions to visit.
I I would just include two thatI think are special.
Fish River Canyon.
It's the largest canyon inAfrica and the world's second
largest canyon.
It's about 60 million yearsold.
It was formed when SouthAmerica and Africa separated.
It's a hundred miles long.
A challenging hike.
(04:00):
Have you done it?
I have not done it.
Speaker 11 (04:02):
I've been to the rim and I've looked over.
It's a very challenging hike,actually.
It is very challenging.
People who have that kind ofadventure definitely.
Lea Lane (04:12):
Good for them.
Then there's Coleman ScopeGhost Town.
And this ghost town isdifferent from what you usually
think of because it's filledwith sand.
The desert has taken it oversince about 1956 when it was
abandoned as a former diamondmining town.
Have you been there?
Speaker 11 (04:29):
I've been there.
And you know what?
There's a lot of hyenas thatlike to live in and out of there
too.
And jackals.
They're more nocturnal, but itis, it's just an amazing place
to take pictures.
Of course, when you come toNamibia, bring your camera.
But Namibia is a huge country.
An area that you've missed, andI'm not sure if you've been
(04:50):
there, has been Domraland.
Yeah.
Where the rock etchings are.
Triflefontein, one of myfavorite places in the entire
world.
It's a World Heritage Site.
So it's been developed withwalkways, fortunately, to
protect these amazing rocketchings that are at least 5,000
years old, but they're etchedin.
(05:12):
And within there, there's alsoareas where there are rock
paintings.
But this area is etched andthey are just incredible from
ostriches and elephants andrhinos and giraffe and cheetah,
kudu, antelope.
They're all on these rocks thatare amazing.
It's like going to a wildlifechurch, I'm going to say.
(05:32):
Outdoor, incredible art that'sthere.
Lea Lane (05:37):
In episode 115, Thatcher Baker Briggs, founder
of Thatcher's Wine in LA, talksof a meal he can't forget near
one of the Spanish vineyards inEurope.
Speaker 12 (05:47):
Four or five years ago, when when we were starting
this import company, there wasone particular producer that I
had tasted the wines of and fellin love with.
And uh we were talking foryears and years and years, and
he had an importer in the USalready.
So unfortunately, we wecouldn't work together.
Years later, some thingschanged.
And the reason why on this tripwe ended up in Alicante was for
(06:10):
this producer, as I mentioned.
So we got a call from him, andwe're in Champagne.
We have a flight booked out ofParis.
We're supposed to leave.
He says, Oh, you know, Idecided to make a change, and
okay, so we're like, all right,we'll be there tomorrow.
It turns out I left my walletat the hotel and we were rushing
and didn't know how to getthere, and so we had to ship my
wallet, and then it got missed,and so it we kept getting
(06:34):
pushed, and we ended up somehowdriving super fast, made it to
the airport in Paris, flew toSpain, went to go see him, and
it was this really amazingexperience where we were all
together, and he says to us,Hey, do you want to go eat the
best rice in the world?
And I said, Of course.
(06:54):
After this crazy travel periodand tasting a bunch of wine, we
jump in his little car, and it'slike a winery car, it's very
small, and we're driving downthis road, and we're driving for
probably an hour and a halfinto the desert, and we have no
idea where we're going.
We get to this tiny restaurantin the middle of nowhere, and we
(07:16):
walk in, and he's like, This isthe place, and it's this
absolutely incrediblerestaurant.
The chef learned from thismaster of paella, if you will.
They cook everything over thevines of grapes, which is really
incredible.
And they do the traditionalalacante style, which is uh
rabbit and snails, which is atype of uh paella that I've
(07:39):
never heard of before.
And we're sitting there andthey bring us into the kitchen,
and it's this really specialthing because they add just the
perfect amount of vines ofgrapes into the fire.
And once you add the vines andyou add the broth, if you will,
to your rice, you can never addmore fire and you can never add
(08:00):
more liquid.
So you basically have this oneshot, this one chance.
There's no scales, there's norecipes, it's just the feeling
of the chef.
And so we're sitting there andwe're like, wow, we've been
traveling for 20 days.
We rushed, we drove about 200kilometers an hour to make it to
the airport.
Now all of a sudden, we'resitting here in this kitchen in
(08:23):
the middle of nowhere with awinemaker that I've been wanting
to spend time with for yearsand years and years.
And then we eat this paella,and it's it was really one of
the greatest foods that I'veever eaten in my life.
And so if you ever findyourself in um in Alicante,
there's a restaurant calledRestaurant Ilias, E-L-I-A-S, and
I highly recommend it.
(08:43):
It's worth any journey assomebody that traveled about a
thousand kilometers.
Lea Lane (08:49):
Sarah Thompson, the founder of Luxema Travel, shares
her personal experiences andexpert knowledge of Sorrento
near the gorgeous Amalfi coastin Italy in episode 116.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Sorrento is absolutely beautiful.
I think it's one of the bestgems, even though it's
technically not the AmalfiCoast, it is the Sorrento Coast,
but it's absolutely lovelybecause there is the historical
town of Sorrento, it has allthese beautiful alleyways.
It's very easy to navigate,very centralized too, in between
Naples, the city, Capri, theisland, and then of course the
(09:22):
Amalfi Coast.
It's really accessible and it'sso beautiful.
Of course, Sorrento is super,super famous for its lemons.
There's amazing lemon gardensin the area and in neighboring
towns like Meta, Santanielo,Piano di Sorrento, and that
whole peninsula is really,really beautiful.
Lea Lane (09:39):
And lemons become limoncello, which is also
famous, the magnificent afterdinner drink, which you find all
around.
I loved walking in Sorrentobecause it was flat.
And when you are inThe Amalfi Coast you're not
going to have a lot of flat.
So it's a perfect place tostroll.
People shop in the evening.
All the craftsmen are out anddoing wood inlay, and it's just
(10:01):
lovely.
And the villas there that arealong the cliffs are gorgeous.
Many of them hotels now.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Many of them are hotels, yeah.
And they have their own beachclubs there.
They're so beautiful, reallyrelaxing.
Some of the historical hotelsthere as well.
What you mentioned aboutSorrento being flat is because
it's so accessible, great townto kind of centralize yourself
in.
And there's even an elevator totake you down to the port.
Lea Lane (10:25):
Absolutely.
You go down there and you cango to Capri and the other
islands of Prochida and Ischia.
They're gorgeous.
You can go from many areasalong the Amalfi coast, and
that's Sorrento is one of them.
It's a lovely port there.
I think it's an underratedplace.
I think when everyone goes tothe Amalfi Coast, Sorrento is
really the gateway.
So try to include that.
(10:46):
And again, you can just walkalong the hotels and go in the
lobbies and look at these grandold hotels.
It's a wonderful thing to dothere.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
One of my favorite things to do, actually, if
you're not staying at thosebeautiful five-star luxury
hotels along the cliffside, youcan actually go inside them and
just mention you're going to theterrace bar.
They have all these beautifulterraces, terrazza with usually
a cocktail bar, which you cangrab an aperative to watch the
sunset, which is stunningbecause from Sorrento Coast,
(11:15):
you see the full sunset over thehorizon, while the Amalfi coast
you don't.
Lea Lane (11:19):
Excellent.
In episode 117, Frank Mariniand Gareth Jones, executives at
Rail Bookers, talk aboutpersonal memories of train
travels.
Well, the name of the podcastis Places I Remember.
So would you please each sharea personal memory of your train
travels?
I think you probably had someof the best anywhere.
(11:41):
Who wants to go first?
Frank?
Speaker 3 (11:43):
There's been so many of them.
I've been very lucky.
Last year, my wife and I got achance to do the Canadian from
Vancouver right to Toronto.
And that a fortnight, four-daytrip on the train.
And we were lucky enough to gointo prestige class.
But the thing that reallysurprised us both, and we've
been on a number of differenttrains, the amount of wildlife
(12:03):
we saw along the way.
Speaker 9 (12:05):
What did you see?
I'm curious.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
We saw everything from buffalo, bald eagles, uh
wild goats.
I mean, all along the way, theamount of wildlife, and then the
terrain completely different.
So coming out of Vancouver tothe mountains of the Rockies, to
the plains of Saskatchewan, tocoming into Ontario and the
beautiful forest coming throughin the deer.
We were just blown away howbeautiful.
(12:27):
And it's just something veryspecial on you know, we're early
morning risers having coffee inthe observation car while
seeing all the wildlife with thesunrise.
Oddly enough, it went by veryfast.
Lea Lane (12:38):
Did you say it's some of those fabulous lodges that
were built so long ago?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I have in the past, and on both ends, we stayed in
the Fairmont.
Unbelievable.
Lea Lane (12:46):
Nice to hear.
Closer to home for somelisteners.
It sounds great.
Uh, what about you, Gareth?
Speaker 4 (12:52):
I think I would be in trouble if I didn't say the
Bonina Express in Switzerland.
So 16 years ago, it's the trainjourney that I met my wife on
board.
It's got a special place in myheart.
I can't say it's an experiencethat everyone's going to have on
the train.
So she'd ordered a coffee andshe was sat over for a meet, but
then she'd realised she didn'thave any money to pay for the
coffee.
So I stepped in and bought hera coffee.
(13:13):
But there we go.
So we enjoyed coming over theLandasa Viaduct, but always have
a place in my heart.
Lea Lane (13:18):
In episode 118, Arturo Sanchez, head concierge of
Andes, Mexico City, CondesaHotel, shares his perspective on
his magnificent city and talksabout one of his favorite
pastimes, Mexican wrestling.
Speaker 7 (13:32):
It's one of the shows I had two daughters, and I
tried to go with the Mexicanwrestling as many times as we
can because they love it rightthere.
You had to scream, you had tomake noise, you had to clap,
because it's the place to enjoywith the family, with the
friends, and I don't know why,in the arena, next to our
guests.
And what's really fun becausethat was just like a biggest
(13:55):
family enjoying that.
After that, okay, let's go toeat some tacos to share the
experience, and that is really,really good.
Lea Lane (14:04):
That was great.
When you say it's acrobatic,how how much more acrobatic is
it than what I would think ofwrestling?
Do they dance around or doflips or what?
Speaker 7 (14:14):
Like a circus.
Acrobatic, the people flyingnext to the roads and next to
the ring right there.
Because right here in Mexicanwrestling, you we have like a
the good side and the bad sidethat we call the rudos and the
técnicos.
Choose your side, doesn'tmatter.
You have to choose your side,and right there, everybody's
gonna make noise and support theteam.
Lea Lane (14:35):
In episode 119, Angela Caratanuto, founder of Live
Tours, shares his love of thegreat Catalan city of Barcelona
on the Spanish Mediterranean.
Here he talks about some of thecity's festivals.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Barcelona is a big party city in general.
Traveling for the festivals isdefinitely a must-do.
It can be very, very crowded.
And the biggest events are inthe September festival, which is
about a week long, and it'sconcerts, it's parades.
The highlight of it, whichhappens in the middle of the
(15:09):
Gothic quarter, is what what theCarolinians call the
Castelares, which is thesehuman-built towers.
I'm sure people have seenpictures of challenge where
people start climbing on eachother and try and build the
tallest human tower in thesquare.
The entire festival is calledColumbia, and it happens in
September.
Another one, which is in honorof the patron saint of
(15:32):
Barcelona, is St.
George's Day, which happens inApril.
It's sort of like theCatalonian versions of
Valentine's Day.
But the the difference reallyis that instead of taking out
somebody or your your secondhalf, your better half, or
gifting something, you generallyexchange books and roses.
(15:53):
All the shops sell you aversion of the other.
It's really unique.
Then there's various musicfestivals.
Two that I would recommend arethe Primavera Sound and the
(16:14):
Sonar Festival.
Huge international uh musicfestivals, big names if you're
interested in just like RollingStones and kind of thing, or up
and coming artists.
So, really, you're gonna havefour or five festivals to
choose.
Lea Lane (16:28):
In episode 120, Tanno and Nicole, founders of Bono
Events International, guide usthrough the gorgeous Italian
heartland of Tuscany and Umbria,where they live, and focus
about the hilltop town of Assisiin Umbria.
Speaker 6 (16:42):
Assisi is such an important place for people to
visit because of its religioushistory.
St.
Francis of Assisi is probablythe most well-known saint in the
world.
The basilica is incredible withsome masterpieces from the
medieval period, from Giotto,among others.
And the double basilica isreally unique to see.
And the entire town has beenborn out of the cult of St.
Francis.
It has dozens of churches,palaces, even St.
(17:04):
Clair and all her orders are inAssisi.
Even down valley, you can visitthe original Portiunkola, the
house that he built with his ownhands, that they built this
mega church on top of now.
So you see this tiny littlehome that he built with his
hands, and they built thisenormous cathedral over it with
this massive dome, the tower ofthe region.
You can get lost in the woodsof St.
(17:24):
Francis where he used to walkaround and allegedly speak to
animals behind Assisi.
Right.
So it really is an enchantingplace to visit.
Of course, you have to becareful to make sure you're not
going during a religious holidayor a Jubilee event because you
could be stuck waiting for hoursto move around.
Lea Lane (17:43):
Bob Ekstein is a cartoonist for the New Yorker
and a New York Timesbest-selling author.
In episode 121, he shares someof his quirky interests and his
travels to find out about them.
Speaker (17:54):
Go to Bruges.
And would you agree it's one ofthe most beautiful places?
Yeah, I mean, I would recommendgetting there by train.
I think it's really romantic togo to those train stations in
in Belgium.
I love Brussels.
And in Brussels, I wasresearching the snowman because
there's a pivotal part of thesnowman's history that takes
(18:16):
place in that region.
So I hadn't that's how I got achance to discover Bruges for
myself.
I need to go back to Normandy,where there is an old-fashioned
miniature golf course that isinstead of uh artificial turf,
the course is made up of redclay, like the French Open.
And it's such a specialminiature golf course.
(18:39):
And that's a little gem torecommend.
Lea Lane (18:42):
Absolutely.
I've never heard of that one.
You find the most interestingthings.
Margie Goldsmith, award-winningtravel and culture writer, is
the author of Becoming a Badassfrom Fearful to Fierce.
She learned the blues harp latein life and connects her
passion for music to travel.
In episode 122, she plays us amusical example.
Speaker 9 (19:02):
I bring my harmonica every place I go, and I get in
touch with Honor music and I askthem to send me 30 harmonicas.
And when I'm in third worldcountries like Mongolia or Papua
New Guinea or Myanmar, I ask tobe put in touch with the third
or fourth grade class becausethat's when they're really
getting into it.
And I give them each aharmonica and I teach them how
(19:26):
to blow in and blow out, andthey're joyful.
And once when I was in with thebotwi pygmies, I'm having a
blank, I'm it was somewhere inUganda.
I had given the kids theharmonicas the day before.
And the next day we wereleaving, and I had left my
little cabin, and I was walkingtowards the place where you put
(19:46):
your suitcase, and I hear thisharmonica in the forest.
And I followed the little path,and there's a little
eight-year-old boy who's gottena harmonica, big grin on his
face, playing, and it justtouched me.
It was so moving because youcan change a person's life by
bringing music into it, and theyhave nothing.
You know, they will play withstones the way we play with
(20:07):
toys.
Lea Lane (20:09):
Exactly.
This is the perfect time foryou to perhaps play us something
as we end this combo.
Will you riff a bit?
Speaker 9 (20:18):
I figured I'd do a very international song.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
You can do the Taj Mahal without mentioning the
Agra Fort.
After the fall of Shah Jahan,his own son rebelled against him
and kept him under housearrest.
And Shah Jahan asked him to puthim in the Agra Fort because
there's a beautiful view of theTaj Mahal from there.
That's how much he loved hiswife.
The son honored his request andhe put him in a room.
(21:42):
So you could go there if you goon a guided tour, or you can
find it by yourself.
There is a room which has awindow looking out at the Taj
Mahal from there.
Shah Jahan would position hisbed there, he would sleep.
First thing in the morning, hewould look at the Taj Mahal.
Lea Lane (21:57):
Wow.
Lovely to go in that room andthink of him doing that.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Right.
But it's actually even moreinteresting.
So when he was in bed, when hewent to bed and he slept, he put
a broken piece of mirror.
It was stuck in the wall.
When he was lying in his bed,he was about to fall asleep.
He would see an image of theTaj Mahal in the mirror.
Lea Lane (22:15):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
The tour guide bringing like a little piece of
mirror.
They put it at the wall, andthen you could see centuries old
red sandstone fortress thatwere once the Imperial City for
a succession of Mughal rulers.
Lea Lane (22:28):
Thanks to all our guests who've shared their love
of travel with us this pastyear.
And thank you, as always, forlistening to and following
Places I Remember.
And don't forget, selectpodcast episodes are now on
YouTube with added graphics andvideo.
Look for these at our YouTubechannel, Places I Remember,
Travel Talk with Lea Lane.
On this special edition, our annual year-end
episode, I hope we inspire youto listen or re-listen to the
episodes that have interestedyou in 2025.
And don't forget, you canalways dig deep into our archive
of over 120 episodes all abouttravel.
But right now, let's listen tosome favorite bits of this past
(00:47):
year's episodes.
In episode 113, we talk aboutthe watery pleasures of upstate
New York, including the famousErie Canal.
East-west between the HudsonRiver and Lake Erie is 339 miles
long from Albany to Buffalo.
Completed in 1825, the canalwas the first navigable waterway
(01:09):
connecting the Atlantic Oceanto the Great Lakes, and it
vastly reduced the costs oftransporting people and goods
across the Appalachians forabout a century until the
railroads and the highways tookover.
The capital district where thecanal begins is in and around
Albany, New York.
Besides the impressivegovernment buildings, the area
still has many architectural andhistorical reminders that it
(01:31):
was first settled by the Dutchin the early 17th century and
came under English control in1664.
Here's an interesting fact: almost every major city in New (01:37):
undefined
York falls along the trade routeestablished by the Hudson River
and along the Erie Canal fromNew York City to Albany to
Schenectady, Utica, and Syracuseto Rochester and Buffalo.
And nearly 80% of upstate NewYork's population lives within
25 miles of the Erie Canal.
(01:59):
You can find out more about thecanal in Syracuse.
There's a building called theWaylock Building dating from
1850, and there's lots ofinformation there to give you a
real heads up on this wonderfulAmerican creation.
** In episode 114, Dr.
Lori Marker, founder of theCheetah Conservation Fund,
shares her favorite sites inNamibia, Africa, where she
(02:20):
lives.
The most famous national park,Atosha, is in northwestern
Namibia, one of the largestnational parks in Africa.
And it was proclaimed a gamereserve in 1907.
What animals will you find atAtosha?
Speaker 11 (02:34):
Oh, Atosha is just so beautiful.
Again, it's a very aridlandscape, and so the animals
are covering very vast areas,but we have huge herds of
elephants.
Our elephants also go intoareas near the coast, which are
called desert elephants.
So again, we've got some veryspecialized species.
Within the park, you can seerhinos and giraffes, all the
(02:55):
wildlife species from oryx andhardebees, springbok everywhere
that are bouncing everywhere.
Lions, of course, hyena, veryfew cheetahs.
(Two kinds of zebra, I )read.
The mountain zebra and thereare plain zebras.
Most people see the plainzebra.
The mountain zebra are muchmore rare and they're also very
shy in many areas that are notnecessarily open to the public,
(03:18):
and but they're mountainous.
Atosha is just incredible forthe amount of wildlife.
You go to these water points,it's a very arid land, and so
the water points, the wildlifecongregates in.
It's amazing.
The kinds of species, thenumbers of species all living
there it together.
And then the predators, and ofcourse, everybody likes those as
(03:39):
well.
Lea Lane (03:39):
Right.
Uh there are many otherattractions to visit.
I I would just include two thatI think are special.
Fish River Canyon.
It's the largest canyon inAfrica and the world's second
largest canyon.
It's about 60 million yearsold.
It was formed when SouthAmerica and Africa separated.
It's a hundred miles long.
A challenging hike.
(04:00):
Have you done it?
I have not done it.
Speaker 11 (04:02):
I've been to the rim and I've looked over.
It's a very challenging hike,actually.
It is very challenging.
People who have that kind ofadventure definitely.
Lea Lane (04:12):
Good for them.
Then there's Coleman ScopeGhost Town.
And this ghost town isdifferent from what you usually
think of because it's filledwith sand.
The desert has taken it oversince about 1956 when it was
abandoned as a former diamondmining town.
Have you been there?
Speaker 11 (04:29):
I've been there.
And you know what?
There's a lot of hyenas thatlike to live in and out of there
too.
And jackals.
They're more nocturnal, but itis, it's just an amazing place
to take pictures.
Of course, when you come toNamibia, bring your camera.
But Namibia is a huge country.
An area that you've missed, andI'm not sure if you've been
(04:50):
there, has been Domraland.
Yeah.
Where the rock etchings are.
Triflefontein, one of myfavorite places in the entire
world.
It's a World Heritage Site.
So it's been developed withwalkways, fortunately, to
protect these amazing rocketchings that are at least 5,000
years old, but they're etchedin.
(05:12):
And within there, there's alsoareas where there are rock
paintings.
But this area is etched andthey are just incredible from
ostriches and elephants andrhinos and giraffe and cheetah,
kudu, antelope.
They're all on these rocks thatare amazing.
It's like going to a wildlifechurch, I'm going to say.
(05:32):
Outdoor, incredible art that'sthere.
Lea Lane (05:37):
In episode 115, Thatcher Baker Briggs, founder
of Thatcher's Wine in LA, talksof a meal he can't forget near
one of the Spanish vineyards inEurope.
Speaker 12 (05:47):
Four or five years ago, when when we were starting
this import company, there wasone particular producer that I
had tasted the wines of and fellin love with.
And uh we were talking foryears and years and years, and
he had an importer in the USalready.
So unfortunately, we wecouldn't work together.
Years later, some thingschanged.
And the reason why on this tripwe ended up in Alicante was for
(06:10):
this producer, as I mentioned.
So we got a call from him, andwe're in Champagne.
We have a flight booked out ofParis.
We're supposed to leave.
He says, Oh, you know, Idecided to make a change, and
okay, so we're like, all right,we'll be there tomorrow.
It turns out I left my walletat the hotel and we were rushing
and didn't know how to getthere, and so we had to ship my
wallet, and then it got missed,and so it we kept getting
(06:34):
pushed, and we ended up somehowdriving super fast, made it to
the airport in Paris, flew toSpain, went to go see him, and
it was this really amazingexperience where we were all
together, and he says to us,Hey, do you want to go eat the
best rice in the world?
And I said, Of course.
(06:54):
After this crazy travel periodand tasting a bunch of wine, we
jump in his little car, and it'slike a winery car, it's very
small, and we're driving downthis road, and we're driving for
probably an hour and a halfinto the desert, and we have no
idea where we're going.
We get to this tiny restaurantin the middle of nowhere, and we
(07:16):
walk in, and he's like, This isthe place, and it's this
absolutely incrediblerestaurant.
The chef learned from thismaster of paella, if you will.
They cook everything over thevines of grapes, which is really
incredible.
And they do the traditionalalacante style, which is uh
rabbit and snails, which is atype of uh paella that I've
(07:39):
never heard of before.
And we're sitting there andthey bring us into the kitchen,
and it's this really specialthing because they add just the
perfect amount of vines ofgrapes into the fire.
And once you add the vines andyou add the broth, if you will,
to your rice, you can never addmore fire and you can never add
(08:00):
more liquid.
So you basically have this oneshot, this one chance.
There's no scales, there's norecipes, it's just the feeling
of the chef.
And so we're sitting there andwe're like, wow, we've been
traveling for 20 days.
We rushed, we drove about 200kilometers an hour to make it to
the airport.
Now all of a sudden, we'resitting here in this kitchen in
(08:23):
the middle of nowhere with awinemaker that I've been wanting
to spend time with for yearsand years and years.
And then we eat this paella,and it's it was really one of
the greatest foods that I'veever eaten in my life.
And so if you ever findyourself in um in Alicante,
there's a restaurant calledRestaurant Ilias, E-L-I-A-S, and
I highly recommend it.
(08:43):
It's worth any journey assomebody that traveled about a
thousand kilometers.
Lea Lane (08:49):
Sarah Thompson, the founder of Luxema Travel, shares
her personal experiences andexpert knowledge of Sorrento
near the gorgeous Amalfi coastin Italy in episode 116.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Sorrento is absolutely beautiful.
I think it's one of the bestgems, even though it's
technically not the AmalfiCoast, it is the Sorrento Coast,
but it's absolutely lovelybecause there is the historical
town of Sorrento, it has allthese beautiful alleyways.
It's very easy to navigate,very centralized too, in between
Naples, the city, Capri, theisland, and then of course the
(09:22):
Amalfi Coast.
It's really accessible and it'sso beautiful.
Of course, Sorrento is super,super famous for its lemons.
There's amazing lemon gardensin the area and in neighboring
towns like Meta, Santanielo,Piano di Sorrento, and that
whole peninsula is really,really beautiful.
Lea Lane (09:39):
And lemons become limoncello, which is also
famous, the magnificent afterdinner drink, which you find all
around.
I loved walking in Sorrentobecause it was flat.
And when you are inThe Amalfi Coast you're not
going to have a lot of flat.
So it's a perfect place tostroll.
People shop in the evening.
All the craftsmen are out anddoing wood inlay, and it's just
(10:01):
lovely.
And the villas there that arealong the cliffs are gorgeous.
Many of them hotels now.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Many of them are hotels, yeah.
And they have their own beachclubs there.
They're so beautiful, reallyrelaxing.
Some of the historical hotelsthere as well.
What you mentioned aboutSorrento being flat is because
it's so accessible, great townto kind of centralize yourself
in.
And there's even an elevator totake you down to the port.
Lea Lane (10:25):
Absolutely.
You go down there and you cango to Capri and the other
islands of Prochida and Ischia.
They're gorgeous.
You can go from many areasalong the Amalfi coast, and
that's Sorrento is one of them.
It's a lovely port there.
I think it's an underratedplace.
I think when everyone goes tothe Amalfi Coast, Sorrento is
really the gateway.
So try to include that.
(10:46):
And again, you can just walkalong the hotels and go in the
lobbies and look at these grandold hotels.
It's a wonderful thing to dothere.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
One of my favorite things to do, actually, if
you're not staying at thosebeautiful five-star luxury
hotels along the cliffside, youcan actually go inside them and
just mention you're going to theterrace bar.
They have all these beautifulterraces, terrazza with usually
a cocktail bar, which you cangrab an aperative to watch the
sunset, which is stunningbecause from Sorrento Coast,
(11:15):
you see the full sunset over thehorizon, while the Amalfi coast
you don't.
Lea Lane (11:19):
Excellent.
In episode 117, Frank Mariniand Gareth Jones, executives at
Rail Bookers, talk aboutpersonal memories of train
travels.
Well, the name of the podcastis Places I Remember.
So would you please each sharea personal memory of your train
travels?
I think you probably had someof the best anywhere.
(11:41):
Who wants to go first?
Frank?
Speaker 3 (11:43):
There's been so many of them.
I've been very lucky.
Last year, my wife and I got achance to do the Canadian from
Vancouver right to Toronto.
And that a fortnight, four-daytrip on the train.
And we were lucky enough to gointo prestige class.
But the thing that reallysurprised us both, and we've
been on a number of differenttrains, the amount of wildlife
(12:03):
we saw along the way.
Speaker 9 (12:05):
What did you see?
I'm curious.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
We saw everything from buffalo, bald eagles, uh
wild goats.
I mean, all along the way, theamount of wildlife, and then the
terrain completely different.
So coming out of Vancouver tothe mountains of the Rockies, to
the plains of Saskatchewan, tocoming into Ontario and the
beautiful forest coming throughin the deer.
We were just blown away howbeautiful.
(12:27):
And it's just something veryspecial on you know, we're early
morning risers having coffee inthe observation car while
seeing all the wildlife with thesunrise.
Oddly enough, it went by veryfast.
Lea Lane (12:38):
Did you say it's some of those fabulous lodges that
were built so long ago?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I have in the past, and on both ends, we stayed in
the Fairmont.
Unbelievable.
Lea Lane (12:46):
Nice to hear.
Closer to home for somelisteners.
It sounds great.
Uh, what about you, Gareth?
Speaker 4 (12:52):
I think I would be in trouble if I didn't say the
Bonina Express in Switzerland.
So 16 years ago, it's the trainjourney that I met my wife on
board.
It's got a special place in myheart.
I can't say it's an experiencethat everyone's going to have on
the train.
So she'd ordered a coffee andshe was sat over for a meet, but
then she'd realised she didn'thave any money to pay for the
coffee.
So I stepped in and bought hera coffee.
(13:13):
But there we go.
So we enjoyed coming over theLandasa Viaduct, but always have
a place in my heart.
Lea Lane (13:18):
In episode 118, Arturo Sanchez, head concierge of
Andes, Mexico City, CondesaHotel, shares his perspective on
his magnificent city and talksabout one of his favorite
pastimes, Mexican wrestling.
Speaker 7 (13:32):
It's one of the shows I had two daughters, and I
tried to go with the Mexicanwrestling as many times as we
can because they love it rightthere.
You had to scream, you had tomake noise, you had to clap,
because it's the place to enjoywith the family, with the
friends, and I don't know why,in the arena, next to our
guests.
And what's really fun becausethat was just like a biggest
(13:55):
family enjoying that.
After that, okay, let's go toeat some tacos to share the
experience, and that is really,really good.
Lea Lane (14:04):
That was great.
When you say it's acrobatic,how how much more acrobatic is
it than what I would think ofwrestling?
Do they dance around or doflips or what?
Speaker 7 (14:14):
Like a circus.
Acrobatic, the people flyingnext to the roads and next to
the ring right there.
Because right here in Mexicanwrestling, you we have like a
the good side and the bad sidethat we call the rudos and the
técnicos.
Choose your side, doesn'tmatter.
You have to choose your side,and right there, everybody's
gonna make noise and support theteam.
Lea Lane (14:35):
In episode 119, Angela Caratanuto, founder of Live
Tours, shares his love of thegreat Catalan city of Barcelona
on the Spanish Mediterranean.
Here he talks about some of thecity's festivals.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Barcelona is a big party city in general.
Traveling for the festivals isdefinitely a must-do.
It can be very, very crowded.
And the biggest events are inthe September festival, which is
about a week long, and it'sconcerts, it's parades.
The highlight of it, whichhappens in the middle of the
(15:09):
Gothic quarter, is what what theCarolinians call the
Castelares, which is thesehuman-built towers.
I'm sure people have seenpictures of challenge where
people start climbing on eachother and try and build the
tallest human tower in thesquare.
The entire festival is calledColumbia, and it happens in
September.
Another one, which is in honorof the patron saint of
(15:32):
Barcelona, is St.
George's Day, which happens inApril.
It's sort of like theCatalonian versions of
Valentine's Day.
But the the difference reallyis that instead of taking out
somebody or your your secondhalf, your better half, or
gifting something, you generallyexchange books and roses.
(15:53):
All the shops sell you aversion of the other.
It's really unique.
Then there's various musicfestivals.
Two that I would recommend arethe Primavera Sound and the
(16:14):
Sonar Festival.
Huge international uh musicfestivals, big names if you're
interested in just like RollingStones and kind of thing, or up
and coming artists.
So, really, you're gonna havefour or five festivals to
choose.
Lea Lane (16:28):
In episode 120, Tanno and Nicole, founders of Bono
Events International, guide usthrough the gorgeous Italian
heartland of Tuscany and Umbria,where they live, and focus
about the hilltop town of Assisiin Umbria.
Speaker 6 (16:42):
Assisi is such an important place for people to
visit because of its religioushistory.
St.
Francis of Assisi is probablythe most well-known saint in the
world.
The basilica is incredible withsome masterpieces from the
medieval period, from Giotto,among others.
And the double basilica isreally unique to see.
And the entire town has beenborn out of the cult of St.
Francis.
It has dozens of churches,palaces, even St.
(17:04):
Clair and all her orders are inAssisi.
Even down valley, you can visitthe original Portiunkola, the
house that he built with his ownhands, that they built this
mega church on top of now.
So you see this tiny littlehome that he built with his
hands, and they built thisenormous cathedral over it with
this massive dome, the tower ofthe region.
You can get lost in the woodsof St.
(17:24):
Francis where he used to walkaround and allegedly speak to
animals behind Assisi.
Right.
So it really is an enchantingplace to visit.
Of course, you have to becareful to make sure you're not
going during a religious holidayor a Jubilee event because you
could be stuck waiting for hoursto move around.
Lea Lane (17:43):
Bob Ekstein is a cartoonist for the New Yorker
and a New York Timesbest-selling author.
In episode 121, he shares someof his quirky interests and his
travels to find out about them.
Speaker (17:54):
Go to Bruges.
And would you agree it's one ofthe most beautiful places?
Yeah, I mean, I would recommendgetting there by train.
I think it's really romantic togo to those train stations in
in Belgium.
I love Brussels.
And in Brussels, I wasresearching the snowman because
there's a pivotal part of thesnowman's history that takes
(18:16):
place in that region.
So I hadn't that's how I got achance to discover Bruges for
myself.
I need to go back to Normandy,where there is an old-fashioned
miniature golf course that isinstead of uh artificial turf,
the course is made up of redclay, like the French Open.
And it's such a specialminiature golf course.
(18:39):
And that's a little gem torecommend.
Lea Lane (18:42):
Absolutely.
I've never heard of that one.
You find the most interestingthings.
Margie Goldsmith, award-winningtravel and culture writer, is
the author of Becoming a Badassfrom Fearful to Fierce.
She learned the blues harp latein life and connects her
passion for music to travel.
In episode 122, she plays us amusical example.
Speaker 9 (19:02):
I bring my harmonica every place I go, and I get in
touch with Honor music and I askthem to send me 30 harmonicas.
And when I'm in third worldcountries like Mongolia or Papua
New Guinea or Myanmar, I ask tobe put in touch with the third
or fourth grade class becausethat's when they're really
getting into it.
And I give them each aharmonica and I teach them how
(19:26):
to blow in and blow out, andthey're joyful.
And once when I was in with thebotwi pygmies, I'm having a
blank, I'm it was somewhere inUganda.
I had given the kids theharmonicas the day before.
And the next day we wereleaving, and I had left my
little cabin, and I was walkingtowards the place where you put
(19:46):
your suitcase, and I hear thisharmonica in the forest.
And I followed the little path,and there's a little
eight-year-old boy who's gottena harmonica, big grin on his
face, playing, and it justtouched me.
It was so moving because youcan change a person's life by
bringing music into it, and theyhave nothing.
You know, they will play withstones the way we play with
(20:07):
toys.
Lea Lane (20:09):
Exactly.
This is the perfect time foryou to perhaps play us something
as we end this combo.
Will you riff a bit?
Speaker 9 (20:18):
I figured I'd do a very international song.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
You can do the Taj Mahal without mentioning the
Agra Fort.
After the fall of Shah Jahan,his own son rebelled against him
and kept him under housearrest.
And Shah Jahan asked him to puthim in the Agra Fort because
there's a beautiful view of theTaj Mahal from there.
That's how much he loved hiswife.
The son honored his request andhe put him in a room.
(21:42):
So you could go there if you goon a guided tour, or you can
find it by yourself.
There is a room which has awindow looking out at the Taj
Mahal from there.
Shah Jahan would position hisbed there, he would sleep.
First thing in the morning, hewould look at the Taj Mahal.
Lea Lane (21:57):
Wow.
Lovely to go in that room andthink of him doing that.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Right.
But it's actually even moreinteresting.
So when he was in bed, when hewent to bed and he slept, he put
a broken piece of mirror.
It was stuck in the wall.
When he was lying in his bed,he was about to fall asleep.
He would see an image of theTaj Mahal in the mirror.
Lea Lane (22:15):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
The tour guide bringing like a little piece of
mirror.
They put it at the wall, andthen you could see centuries old
red sandstone fortress thatwere once the Imperial City for
a succession of Mughal rulers.
Lea Lane (22:28):
Thanks to all our guests who've shared their love
of travel with us this pastyear.
And thank you, as always, forlistening to and following
Places I Remember.
And don't forget, selectpodcast episodes are now on
YouTube with added graphics andvideo.
Look for these at our YouTubechannel, Places I Remember,
Travel Talk with Lea Lane.
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