Another Consideration for Environmentally Friendly Living-- Tips for Traveling Green

-by Cliff Barre

Implementing different strategies and practices in regards to eating, using products, and living are all fairly simple ways to adopt and adapt an environmentally friendly lifestyle. However, when it comes to other aspects of living such as traveling, the options may not seem so straightforward. Nonetheless, taking a few simple travel tips as well as eco-friendly travelling locations into  consideration can simplify this aspect of healthy living too.

Before You Leave

One of the initial considerations you can make regarding green travel includes your preparation for travel. Implementing some savvy living and planning techniques will help you make the most of your eco friendly travel endeavors. To avoid an excess of paper waste involved with your travel, cut down on paper consumption by utilizing ebooking. Most hotels, lodges, and travel sites facilitate online booking that requires no paper consumption. Plus, even flights offer electronic servicing and ticketing to eliminate waste. Using an e-ticket also makes travel less stressful at check-in.

To add to your green considerations in planning your trip, be sure to “vacationize” your home prior to leaving. Turning off the water connection as well as adjusting appliances including the icemaker and water heater are safe ways to reduce use while you are gone.

While on Vacation

Two travel favorites for any family or individual include experiencing the culture and taking in the sights. While typical vacationing practices are not necessarily green, being conscientious of choices revolving around eating and touring helps transform an otherwise environmentally hazardous situation. When eating and shopping at a new location, consider the concept of “Think global, buy local.” Making local choices for dining options as well as shopping venues supports the local community and cuts down on the global footprint. Many areas have locally owned and sourced restaurants that offer a great taste of the local cuisine.

Likewise, if you are looking to tour some of the local area attractions, consider greener options such as hiking, biking, or walking. Some areas even feature tours that are managed by environmentally friendly companies that consider the carbon footprint of different venues and even offer community giveback programs.

Green Destinations

Visiting an environmentally friendly travel locale is also a great way to make the trip a little greener. Upstate New York is a particularly interesting location. This travel destination offers a variety of green attractions such as The Finger Lakes that are known for their calm, clean waters; locally owned wineries; and Destiny USA, the world’s largest “green” shopping mall.

If Upstate New York is not quite your style, consider visiting Vermont, another exceptionally green locale. Known for its beautiful scenery and comfortable atmosphere, Vermont offers a relaxing escape from any busy lifestyle. In addition, Vermont features the renowned Ben and Jerry Ice Cream Factory as well as many other fun and friendly attractions.

Whether you’ve been living an ecofriendly lifestyle for years or are just making the shift toward green living, choosing green travel options is a necessary addition to your considerations and will only make the time more enjoyable.

Urban Gadabout: Catching up with Justin Ferate's New York

The previously scheduled visit to Staten Island's in-development Freshkills Park had to be postponed because of Superstorm Sandy damage. The tour has been rescheduled for November 9.

by Ken

A couple of days ago I promised an update on the fall tour schedule of the Wolfe Walkers, now programmed by the peerless tour guide Justin Ferate. The brochure is available online now, with this introduction:

FALL PROGRAM: 2013

Dear Friends,

This Fall, we have an exciting selection of touring options. Our first tour of the season will view and explore a diversity of important and well-loved 57th Street landmark buildings and will also include brief tours of several art galleries. Our Autumn bus trip will take us up to Hartford, Connecticut. Here, we’ll take a private boat tour along the Connecticut River on the romantic old- time excursion boat, the Hartford Belle. (Reserved just for the Wolfe Walkers!) We’ll lunch at the highly acclaimed Italian restaurant Salute and end our visit to Hartford with a guided tour of the beloved Harriet Beecher Stowe House. To celebrate the Fall season, our intrepid bicyclist Jacqueline Goossens will be leading a special bicycle trip to Upper Manhattan and then will travel along the Hudson River toward Columbus Circle. We are also offering an often-requested walking tour of the “Mile Square City” of Hoboken, New Jersey. An unusual and special new tour will discover the multi-layered histories of Nutley, New Jersey – strolling the treasured waterfront greenbelt of Memorial Parkway (including a number of 18th and 19th century historic structures) with the Nutley Museum Director, John Simko. Speaking of greenbelts, we’ve also rescheduled the bus trip to Freshkills Park in Staten Island. Spaces are limited, so be certain to register right away! Finally, at our annual Holiday Brunch, Justin will present a lecture celebrating The Centennial of Grand Central Terminal. There are lots of options. We look forward to seeing you all!
The Wolfe Walker Committee

Here are abbreviated descriptions of the tours.

57th Street: Art! Music! Culture!
Walking Tour with Justin Ferate
Saturday, September 28, 2013, 1pm to approx. 4pm

57th Street has long been a treasure trove of artistic, musical, and cultural delights. Join noted Tour Leader Justin Ferate as we discover the history, legends, and lore of this fascinating thoroughfare. Among the various sites will be Trump Tower, Tiffany’s, the Fuller Building, the Solow Building, Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, the Art Students’ League, and a selection of art galleries. Rediscover old friends, discover remnants of the street’s residential past, and view high-end new buildings. Tour will include several special interior visits.

$20 in advance, $23 on-site

Hartford Belle Boat Cruise & Harriet Beecher Stowe House
Bus & Walking Tour with Justin Ferate
Saturday, October 5, 2013, 7:45am to approx. 7pm

Delight in the brilliant colors of autumn as we travel by motor coach through the leafy landscapes of Connecticut en route to the capital, Hartford. We’ll begin our visit with a private guided boat cruise up the Connecticut River on the intimate riverboat Hartford Belle. beautiful intimate riverboat reminiscent of simpler times. She has a mahogany-trimmed enclosed cabin. Our ever-gregarious Captain Brad Fenn likes to keep the windows open on sunny days to capture the autumn breezes. There is ample seating or some may want to stand on the bow to get the best views along the majestic Connecticut River! After lunch at the Italian restaurant Salute, a stone’s throw from Hartford’s centrally located Bushnell Park, we will travel to the Harriet Beecher Stowe House – an historic house and National Historic Landmark in an artistic neighborhood known as Nook Farm -- which was the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, for her last 23 years. We will take a special guided tour of the home.

Limited to 40 participants. Advance reservation only, $135 (no on-site registrations)

Upper Manhattan/Hudson River Bicycle Ride
Biking Tour with Jacqueline Goossens
Saturday, October 12, 2013, 10am to about 3-3:30pm

Join the Wolfe Walkers and the enthusiastic leader Jacqueline Goossens for our free autumn bicycle tour. This tour is conceived for those who want to take a leisurely ride to experience the varied New York environments through which we’ll travel. Meeting at Columbus Circle, we will ride along Central Park West to 110th Street. Continuing north along Frederick Douglas Boulevard, we’ll travel west to the Hudson River bike path. We’ll stop at Fairway Market to purchase lunch, which we can eat in Riverside Park. After lunch, we’ll ride south along the Hudson River, Riverside Drive, and south toward the Hudson River Boat Basin at 79th Street. The tour will end at 57th Street – near Columbus Circle.

Limited to 8 people, free

Hoboken -- "Mile Square City" or "Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken!"
Walking Tour with Justin Ferate
Sunday, October 27, 2013, 9:30am to about 1pm

Just a short trip across the Hudson River is the very vibrant and desirable suburb of Hoboken, New Jersey. New waterfront developments and immense loft conversions add a new vitality to this former working class Victorian community. Join our popular Tour Leader Justin Ferate as we rediscover the “Mile Square City.”

Take PATH to the restored Hoboken train station originally designed by architect Kenneth Murchison. Examine the new riverside housing and stroll the streetscapes of gracious 19th Century architecture. Learn of Hoboken’s history: from baseball to Stephen Foster; from steam railways to the first American brewery; from Maxwell House Coffee and Lipton Tea to “ol’ blue eyes,” Frank Sinatra.

$20 in advance, $23 on-site (plus PATH fare)

A Walk in the Park: Nutley, New Jersey
Walking Tour with John Simko (and Justin Ferate)
Saturday, November 2, 2013, 10am to about 12:30pm

A century ago a magazine editor living in what is now known as Nutley, New Jersey urged his friend Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) to pay him a visit. ''There isn't much that is prettier than this end of New Jersey,'' he wrote. ''It is all upland, tumbling into shallow valleys and bright sunny reaches along the Passaic River, and hillsides white as snow with daisies, and everywhere trees.''
Today, the Empire State Building is clearly visible from some of Nutley's highest points, but the pastoral serenity is preserved in the township's 100-acre park system that is sprinkled throughout this suburban community – a park system that is considered to be the “crown jewel” of all Essex County. We’ll walk about a mile, with many stops along the way. A list of possible luncheon destinations will be distributed on the tour. Celebrate Nutley history with a walking tour led by John Simko, the Nutley Museum Director.

$20 in advance, $23 on-site (plus bus fare)

Discover the Creation of Freshkills Park
Ferry & Bus Tour with Justin Ferate
Saturday, November 9, 2013, 9:15am to about 12:30pm (Manhattan to Manhattan)

Join Justin at Manhattan’s Staten Island Ferry Terminal to begin this discovery tour of the new Freshkills Park! In Staten Island, we’ll meet a special bus and a member of the New York City Parks Department who will take us on this very unusual adventure. At 2,200 acres, Freshkills Park will be almost three times the size of Central Park and the largest park developed in New York City in over 100 years. James Corner of Field Operations, the same firm that created the stunning landscape designs for the High Line, produced the master plan to guide the long-term development of Freshkills Park.

All tour participants will be required to sign a Department of Sanitation liability waiver. $20 in advance (no on-site registrations)

Holiday Brunch & Slide Lecture by Justin Ferate
Brunch at Pete's Tavern, E. 18th St. at Irving Pl.
Slide Lecture: Groundbreaking for a New New York City!
The Centennial of Grand Central Terminal
Sunday, December 15, 2013, 12n to 3pm

Share an end-of-the-year meal with other Wolfe Walkers at our long-time holiday venue, Pete’s Tavern. See the table where O. Henry wrote his beloved Christmas classic, “The Gift of the Magi.”

In 1903 – a little over 100 years ago – the New York Central Railroad was legally obliged to either “Electrify or Leave Town!” In response, the train company made an impressive and nearly inconceivable decision. Blasting an immense trench down the center of stony island of Manhattan -- from 42nd Street to 97th Street -- the railroad placed their newly electrified trains underground. Above the railroad tracks, the railroad then created an elegant, luxurious new thoroughfare named PARK AVENUE -- transforming one of the ugliest places on the planet Earth into one of the most world’s desirable residential addresses, which still remains exceptionally chic 100 years later. The centerpiece of this great “makeover” was Grand Central Terminal, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year! Justin Ferate shares a photographic history of the creation of Grand Central Terminal, Park Avenue, and the invention of Midtown Manhattan!

Brunch features an array of selections from which to choose, and includes one drink. Limited to 38 people. $25 in advance, $30 on-site if space permits

Registration is by mail only, and since it's handled entirely by volunteer labor, you don't get an acknowledgment. If you're unsure about whether you're registered, you can always call Mickie Watterson to check. Warning: The big events like the bus trip and boat ride to Hartford always book up, and usually pretty quickly, so if I were you, I wouldn't delay. Also, I did the Holiday Brunch at Pete's Tavern for the first time last year and had a swell time; people tend to remember about it as the day approaches, so again, it's wise to book ahead. -- Ken

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Is Egypt Ready For A Primetime Tourism Redebut?

Roland and I had such a beautiful house picked out to rent in Damascus's old city, Beit al Kamar. I hope it's still standing. I doubt we'll ever see it-- and I'm happy the owners are living in Nashville. But, right now I would say Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan are probably not places you should consider going on vacation-- not unless your idea of a vacation includes gunfights and staying out of the way of Predator drones and chemical weapons attacks. But what about Egypt? Is it time to start thinking about a nice holiday along the Nile? Most travel agents will say no. CNN says no, Condé Nast says no and the international tourism industry says Egypt's tourist sector is on the verge of collapse.

“Four million Egyptians are employed in the tourism sector, millions of families live off of this, the bread to feed their children is at risk,” said Egypt’s Minister of Tourism, Hisham Zaazou, addressing around 30 Italian journalists hosted in Sharm El Sheikh, (to witness and report that it is a safe place for tourists) as he struggles to convince the Italian and European governments to reconsider their travel advice.

"We are appalled at the position of the European governments that do not recommend travel to Egypt,” the Minister said. “We are moving full steam ahead towards democracy. Riots in Cairo are in decline; we are a people who love peace. The decision of the EU to limit the financial aid only to the economic and social sectors does not help foreign visitors to come to us.

Now even Roland has given up advocating that we go to Damascus or Yemen. But he's gotten it into his head that now would be the right time for another vacation in Egypt. He has a feeling there are lots of good deals now and that the main sites won't be as crowded. Remember two things, last time we visited the Pyramids, Zahi Hawass himself closed the whole thing down so we could tour the Great Pyramid all by ourselves while hundreds of Belgians and Italians sweltered on line in the sun. And, last time we were there, the country nearly emptied out of tourists because a bunch of scimitar-wielding religious fanatics slaughtered, beheaded and disemboweled 60 or so foreign tourists at the Temple of Hatshepsut across the Nile from Luxor. We had a huge cruise ship to ourselves (plus a couple of elderly Brits returning to London after a life in Oman). So, we really did get to see everything there was to see without any annoying crowds of tourists to spoil it. I say, let's not push our luck. Roland insisted I read this account which, makes revisiting Egypt now sound attractive... at least to him. (Apparently Chinese tourists, who we noticed are starting to dominate Europe, are also dominating Egypt. The travel in huge groups and hold everything up at every conceivable bottle neck.

The lone tourist bus curved through the desert past the limestone-topped Pyramid of Khafre, leaving the camel handlers and postcard sellers trudging through its dust. It rounded one last turn, then settled atop a plateau overlooking the pyramid and its two mammoth siblings.

The bus door flapped open, unleashing a dozen Chinese tourists into the empty parking lot. They strolled toward the plateau's edge, cameras and parasols in hand, just ahead of the vendors scrambling at the prospect of a few paying customers. For a moment, the scene was perfect-- the solitary caravan approaching from the desert, the heat shimmering off the stone blocks, the majestic desolation.

It helped that we were mostly alone that hot, late-August morning in the heart of one of the world's best-known tourist destinations. I was in town to help cover the troubles that had seized Egypt over the past two months and had found a calm morning to make it out to the Cairo suburbs, where the pyramids mark the start of the vast brown desert. I didn't expect to find the usual crowds there, but still the emptiness and quiet were a surprise. Closer to the pyramids, the crowds weren't much thicker: a British family, a scattering of Arab couples, Somali women posing for pictures in flowing headscarves, everyone easy and unhurried.

Years ago, before the 2011 revolution that started Egypt's political roller coaster, visiting the pyramids could quickly become a two-hour flight through clouds of tour groups. Visitors, guides and vendors jostled in front of the ancient marvels, as a steady line of buses emerged from the brown blocks of the city.

Now, after a summer of coup, protests and massacres, the flocks have flown to other spots, abandoning such draws as the Egyptian Museum, the ancient ruins of Luxor farther down the Nile and, of course, the pyramids of Giza. In mid-August, arrivals at Egyptian airports dropped by more than 40 percent after the military brutally cleared two sit-in camps protesting the July ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood.

That has devastated the country's all-important tourism industry, which makes up more than a tenth of all economic activity. But it's proved a boon for travelers willing to defy official warnings from the U.S. and other countries against coming to Egypt.

Hotel and restaurant prices have dropped, sometimes by half, as has the Egyptian pound, making the already affordable country even more so. Once at the sights, travelers find themselves usually alone with some of the world's greatest treasures, be they gold death masks of pharaohs or the sublime centuries-old mosques soaring above old Cairo. Tourist sites have become forlorn, even serene-- more befitting these dignified survivors of the millennia.

Australian Mary Hill said she had been traveling across Europe with a friend over this summer and hadn't kept up on the news from Egypt. However, they had already booked a visit, and were set on going, even after they heard about the bloodshed.

"We were at a stage in our trip where we had to take a chance," Hill said as she stepped out of the child pharaoh Tutankhamen's exhibit at the Egyptian Museum. "And in the end, it's been positive."

"From the country's perspective, of course, it's not good."

The dearth of business has driven already predatory vendors and guides into a frenzy, with the U.S. Embassy in Egypt even issuing an alert in June about "over-aggressive vendors." Visitors had come across "angry groups of individuals surrounding and pounding on the vehicles," the embassy reported, "and in some cases attempting to open the vehicle's doors."

On my pyramid trip, one young guide jumped onto the back of our car and clung to the rear window, while our driver abruptly braked and zoomed ahead and wove from lane to lane to try to shake him off. Only a block later did the driver convince the guide's friends to keep the young man off the bumper.

Then came the vendors inside the pyramid complex, who tried out their usual pitches before moving onto more desperate Plan Bs.

"There's no business here, there are no more tourists," one camel rider said, the ache in his voice sounding genuine. "I have a family. We need to eat."

In the winding alleys of the Khan el-Khalili bazaar in old Cairo, merchants tried to physically stop what rare visitors they spotted walking through as they hocked limestone miniature pyramids and bright cotton fabrics.

Shop owner Mohamed Hafez said his sales had fallen by "100 percent" since Egyptians first took to the streets 2 1/2 years ago.

"There used to be a lot of tourists, a lot of nationalities," Hafez said, while cooling down in the air-conditioned inner sanctum of his souvenir shop. "Now, it's nothing. We just want safety, no more revolutions."

Wooing back those visitors has become a top priority, even with all the military vehicles and checkpoints in the streets. Dallas-based college student Deniz Mustafa had, in fact, flown into Cairo as part of a volunteer project inviting youth from around the world to visit and tout Egypt's top tourist sites.

Two weeks after his arrival in July, however, Morsi was violently removed, and the volunteer project was cancelled. Mustafa responded by hitting the road and seeing Egypt, flying down to Luxor and up to the Red Sea resort of Dahab, where empty restaurants were offering 50 percent discounts on entire menus.

Mustafa and a fellow volunteer from China had since moved onto the Egyptian Museum, where they were studying the ancient granite statues of Egyptian nobles and the small wooden ships buried with pharaohs.

"Any time you go to a temple or climb Mount Sinai, you have a more personal experience now," Mustafa said. "It's just you and the tour guide up there."

That peace was without a doubt a fragile one. The city still goes dead every Friday afternoon in anticipation of Muslim Brotherhood protests that can turn violent in an instant. Nighttime curfews were also in effect while I was there, effectively shutting down Cairo's buzzing nightlife.

Everyone was nervously waiting for the Brotherhood's response to the repression and expecting the worst. On one night in the bar of my hotel, the pops of explosions outside immediately silenced all conversation, as we wondered whether the violence was indeed back. A quick check out on the street confirmed they had only been fireworks.

For visitors, it all made for a rare glimpse into a proud country trying to figure out its future and also a chance to see Egypt free of many of the usual hassles. The dangers were real but mostly manageable.

The threat of a U.S. strike on Syria, however, made some Americans nervous about revealing their nationality. And if the political troubles flare up again in Egypt, even the bravest traveler will have to think twice about coming.

Urban Gadabout: Catching up with Jack Eichenbaum

One of NYC's great buildings: the New York Public Library building on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street

by Ken

It was a big commitment last weekend, especially for someone still recovering/rehabbing from knee-replacement surgery, but I couldn't resist signing up for Municipal Art Society walking tours with four of my favorite tour leaders -- on Saturday, Matt Postal ("Upstairs Downstairs" in Manhattan's East 60s) and Jack Eichenbaum ("From Forest Hills to Corona" in Queens); on Sunday, Joe Svehlak (the half-mile expanse of Nassau Street in downtown Manhattan) and Francis Morrone (three very different urban landscapes in Brooklyn -- the Robert Moses-era Metro-Tech, the c1990 Metro-Tech campus, and still-in-progress Brooklyn Bridge Park).

It was especially good to see Jack back in action, since he'd had to cancel a couple of tours this summer after banging up his knee. And the Forest Hills-to-Corona walk amply demonstrated his emphases as an "urban geographer" -- the way contrasting geography influences development. As I've mentioned a number of times, when Jack asks you on a tour which direction we're walking in, he usually doesn't want to know from north or south, east or west; he wants us to be aware of up and down. ("Up" tends to be the good dry land where rich people gravitate; "down" tends to be marshy or mucky land that floods easily and is much tougher to develop.)

Tomorrow I'm doing another tour with Jack, for the Municipal Art Society, which is really a two-in-one, focusing on the Midtown Manhattan corridor of East 42nd Street. The year 2013 has been a blockbuster year for Grand Central Terminal, because February marked the centenary of its opening, and that opening gave a huge impetus to the development of the neighborhood. But already in the neighborhood, a couple of blocks to the west, was one of New York's greatest building, the New York Public LIbrary, begun in 1902 and finally opened in 1911. Here's how Jack describes the tour:

Maps, Realities and the People’s Palace
Saturday, September 14, 11am-1pm
Marking the centennial of Grand Central Terminal, we’ll tour the (external) GCT and Bryant Park vicinities, planned areas greatly altered since before the Civil War. Then we will see how historical cartography captures the changing urban landscape in the splendidly restored Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division of the New York Public Library.

Jack does tours under various auspices, including his own, which is why it's important to sign up for his e-mail list, which you can do on the "Public Tour Page" of his website, "The Geograhy of New York City with Jack Eichenbaum," for advance notification of what he has in the works. Coming up is one of his Queens specialties. (Remember, Jack is Queens' official borough historian.)

What’s New in Long Island City?
Sunday, October 6, 4-6:30pm
We’ll walk from Queens Plaza to the East River waterfront. Rezoning and demographic change stemming from Manhattan spillover spark revitalization in this once stagnant industrial neighborhood. A lively arts community and restaurant scene has developed. The Plaza, where transit lines intersect, has been rezoned for hotels, condos and offices. Gantry Park, on the East River, is the perfect place to view the midtown Manhattan skyline at sunset. After the tour, enjoy restaurants and LICAO events which abound in the nearby Vernon/Jackson area. >This tour is self-sponsored with the support of Community Board 2 and the Long Island City Partnership. Meet at the fare booth on the lowest level of the Queensboro Plaza station (N,Q,7) Fee $15

For MAS Jack has two more of his Queens specialties coming up:

Flushing’s Koreatown

Saturday, October 19 11am-1pm
Koreans are the premiere small businessmen and church builders of contemporary immigration. Their center of gravity has migrated away from Central Flushing and is now sprawling east along Northern Blvd and to “Korean Villages” at LIRR stations. See surprising shops, supermarkets and unusual houses of worship. Eats include “BBQ“ and “KFC ” (Korean versions!) Be prepared to walk briskly.

Astoria
Saturday
November 23 11am-1pm
This demographically changing neighborhood is opposite Manhattan‘s Upper East Side. Italians and Greeks are being replaced by Arabs, Bosnians, Brazilians, Mexicans, and yuppies. We’ll explore Astoria from its important transportation arteries: Steinway St (a former trolley route), 31 St (under the elevated train), the Grand Central Parkway which bisected the neighborhood 70 years ago, and 30th Avenue, its café-lined promenade. Be prepared to walk briskly.

BUT THE PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE IS . . .

One of the things Jack is best known for is his daylong series of mini-walking tours organized around a single subway line -- most frequently "The World of the No. 7," the Flushing line, but more recently "A Day on the J," which runs from the Lower East Side through Brooklyn's Williamsburg and Bushwick and on into Queens. This summer Jack announced a tour built around my (and Howie's) old Brooklyn subway line, the Brighton line, now designated the Q train. (The line's original destination as a regular railroad was Brighton Beach, but it was eventually extended on to Coney Island.)

The tour was originally scheduled for July, but Jack banged up his knee and had to postpone it. Now it's scheduled for September 29, when it should be cooler, and also more people will have an opportunity to sign up.

Brighton Line Memoirs meandering off the Q train

Saturday, September 28, 10am-5:30pm
This is a series of five walks and connecting rides along what was once the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island RR dating to 1878. Walks take place in Prospect Park, Brighton Beach, along Avenue U, in Ditmas Park and Central Flatbush. Lunch is in Brighton Beach where you can picnic on the Boardwalk. Tour fee is $39 and you need to preregister by check to Jack Eichenbaum, 36-20 Bowne St. #6C, Flushing, NY 11354 (include name, phone and email address) Get the full day’s program and other info by email jaconet@aol.com. The tour is limited to 25 people. Don’t get left out!

The last I heard from Jack, on the "Forest Hills to Corona" walk, there was still a fair amount of space in the Q train tour, but the way it often works is that there's a flurry of registrations as the date closes in, and people wind up getting closed out. You don't want that to happen to you, do you?


COMING UP: JUSTIN FERATE'S FALL SCHEDULE

Justin, who for some time now has programmed and led most of the Wolfe Walkers tours (originated by Gerard Wolfe way back when), hasn't mentioned it as far as I've noticed among the vast quantity of tour news items he passes along to his mailing list, "Tours of the City with Justin Ferate," but the fall Wolfe Walkers schedule is in fact up. I've gotten my registrations in the mail. We should talk about them soon.

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The Taliban Seems To Have Captured A U.S. Base Near Herat And Is Attacking The Consulate In Town Now

I can't imagine that many tourists go to Herat in western Afghanistan anymore. I don't know if they ever had that many tourists there. The first time I was there was in 1969. It was my first real glimpse of legendary Afghanistan after months of slow trudging through Eastern Europe, Turkey and Iran. I recall a lot desert wasteland in eastern Iran and the same over the border in Afghanistan until we got to Herat. And Herat is-- or at least was-- a garden city. I remember it as a kind of urban oasis, although the gardens were pretty much exclusively behind high walls. I think it was the third biggest city then, after Kabul and Kandahar. Kandahar has been so decimated-- while Herat was relatively immune from the nightmare that Afghanistan has been in the last few decades-- that I think Herat is now the second biggest city.

After spending several months in Afghanistan, I realized Herat was one of the richest cities in the country. Later I had a business partner, the postmaster of Kabul, who was the son of Herat's governor, a relative of the king. When I was arrested with 50 kilos of incredible Mazari hash built into the panels of my van a year or so later up near the Russian border, the postmaster's father got me out of prison in a few hours-- and got me back my van (with the hash) the following day.

The first time I got to use the really strong hallucinogenic-- hallucinogenic like an acid trip-- Mazari hash was my first day in Herat. My sparkling new red VW van rolled into town and every rich merchant in the city was all over me. I soon found myself sitting alone-- where were my friends?-- in a huge airy room with a dozen Herati merchants... smoking. Hours later I was not just still high, I was still getting higher! I loved Herat and I loved Afghanistan. I stayed a long time and started losing rack of who I was-- other than this stoned guy in a strange, strange world unlike anything I had ever experienced. So what brought Herat back to my mind tonight? Taliban insurgents attacked the U.S. consulate. The video up top, from earlier today, purports to show a U.S. base near Herat overrun by the Taliban. The attack on the consulate came later although details are still sketchy.

The Taliban told the BBC a suicide bomber had detonated explosives outside the building before dawn on Friday.

Other fighters then opened fire on the consulate. Several Afghan police are reported to have been killed and injured in the gun battle.

It is the latest in a series of attacks ahead of the withdrawal of foreign combat troops from Afghanistan in 2014.

An Afghan army spokesman told the BBC that the initial explosion had damaged outer defences of the US consulate, allowing the attackers to breach the perimeter and shoot at the consulate buildings.

Return to the Museum of the Moving Image: From "The Sopranos" to "Breaking Bad" (by way of "Rear Window")

TO MY OTHER FAVORITE

W.W.

IT'S AN HONOUR

WORKING WITH YOU.

              FONDLY

                              G. B.

by Ken

Maybe if I'd had any idea it was there, I wouldn't have been so taken aback. But suddenly there I was, standing in front of the glass case, with a pair of headphones on listening to the audio of one of the exhibit video displays, and it slowly dawned on me that I was looking at The Book!

Tell me these things don't all fit together! It was just last week in TV Watch that I wrote about the book -- the fateful copy of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass inscribed so affectionately to Walter White by the late Gale Boetticher! For a while I thought it was just some sort of mockup or something. But I kept looking and gradually grasped that no, this was the actual book. Okay, it's possible that the Breaking Bad props department cooked up more than one copy to cover themselves when the book was shot in Walt's bathroom, where it produced one of the series' more dramatic moments. So maybe there was another copy, and perhaps even another, on display in other museums. But there was no doubt that this was the real thing.

And then the museum guard was tapping on the glass, signaling that there was only five minutes to closing. I hadn't really left myself much time for browsing. Mostly on Thursday I had just wanted to actually get out to Astoria (Queens), taking advantage of my Rosh Hashanah PTO day (God will just have to understand) to present my about-to-expire Groupon voucher for membership in the Museum of the Moving Image, comfortably situated in part of the old Kaufman-Astoria Studios complex (part of which has for some years once again been a working studio, probably New York City's premier TV and film production studio, where shows like Cosby and Seinfeld have been filmed).

The young woman at the desk cheerfully attended to the paperwork, and when I asked if I could make a reservation for Friday evening's screening of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, which I don't think I'd ever seen on a big screen, she did me one better: She produced an actual ticket, so when I made the return trip to Astoria from work last night, I could head straight to the theater.

I had meant to make the first trip on Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, when I could also have availed myself of the opportunity to see two of the last films in the summer series Fun City: New York in the Movies 1967-75,: Milos Forman's first American film, Taking Off (1971), and from the same year his countryman Ivan Passer's Born to Win. I don't think I'd ever seen Born to Win, but I sure had seen Taking Off, when it first came out, and as best I recall hated it. The museum description calls it "the sweetest of generation gap movies," but I remembered it as the hamfistedest of pseudo-parodies of '60s-'70s counterculture. But I didn't remember it as an especially New York movie, but the blurb recalled that it "was shot in and around New York during the summer of 1970," and that "the director discovered his 16-year-old star in Central Park hanging with the hippies around Bethesda Fountain." For all that New York-itude alone it might be worth another look.

Well, I didn't make it. And Sunday, when the series concluded with the classic Panic in Needle Park (also 1971) and Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon (1975, which I remembered more fondly, I wasn't available. I had a walking tour in Brooklyn's Bay Ridge scheduled, which I wound up missing. The trip from Washington Heights took me an hour and three-quarters (complicated by weekend transit changes, which I thought I'd worked around cleverly, but turned out to be not so clever), and while I'd planned to allow a full two hours, I wound up compressing that to an hour and 35-40 minutes -- close but no cigar. My time management lately has sucked. Add the hour-and-three-quarters return trip, and it was one of my longer trips to nowhere.

So my Rosh Hashanah trek to Astoria represented a comeback of sorts. I hadn't left myself a lot of time to wander around the museum, though, which is how I wound up being caught short when I stumbled across the exhibit "From Mr. Chips to Scarface: Walter White's Transformation in Breaking Bad." That "startling transformation," the museum description says, "with costumes, props, selected scenes from the series, and behind-the-scenes footage." The costumes and props were on loan from Sony Pictures Television -- including, of course, The Book. The exhibit runs through October 27, so I will definitely have to get back. I see that I missed an evening with series creator and mastermind Vince Gilligan when the exhibit opened in late July. I would gladly have forked over the $12 member price.

Then again, the interviewing was done by Charlie Rose, and that I could live without. By coincidence, in my quick wandering through the museum, the first thing I encountered, which I watched for a while before finding out what the heck it was, was an exhibition called "Cut Up" (running through October 14): "From supercuts to mashups to remixes, Cut Up celebrates the practice of re-editing popular media to create new work, presenting contemporary videos by self-taught editors and emerging artists alongside landmarks of historic and genre-defining reappropriation." I had just sat down and watched for a while, and while most of the "cut-ups" I saw seemed to me more facile than clever, there was a hilariously surreal several minutes, called either "Charlie Rose, by Samuel Beckett" or vice versa and featuring Charlie Rose interviewing Charlie Rose, with interviewer Charlie asking pompously incoherent questions and interviewee Charlie providing mostly mute but even more incoherent replies. The short was credited to Charlie Rose as executive producer, but I had a feeling that was part of the cut-up piece.

Although nothing about the joint looked even vaguely familiar, this wasn't my first membership stint at the Museum of the Moving Image. I had joined way back when, when the museum screened the first two seasons of The Sopranos, which at the time was all there was, with Season 3 still in the works -- I'm guessing it was the summer of 2000. The schedule was intense: eight episodes a weekend, two in the morning and two in the afternoon both days. And since at the time I didn't have cable, let alone HBO, this was my first direct exposure to the series, which of course I'd been hearing about endlessly. And it played simply incredibly on the big screen. Since Seasons 1 and 2 of The Sopranos comprised 13 episodes each, the series must have filled three eight-episode weekends and overlapped into a fourth. It was one of my all-time great viewing experiences, and it was a great relief to me that I was able to rearrange my life circumstances so that I was able to watch Season 3 (and subsequent seasons), albeit on a mere 31-inch conventional CRT TV.

But again, these things come around. As I believe I also mentioned last week, I just replaced my Sopranos Season 1-3 VHS tapes and Season 4 DVDs with the complete-series DVDs, which I've just begin watching on my first-ever HDTV, bought shortly after my knee-replacement surgery in April -- as a reward of sorts for my old bedroom TV having conked out just a week or two before the surgery, so that I had no TV in the bedroom in the early weeks of convalescence. (Well, it sure got me out of bed! Like I can live without a TV.) It's not quite re-creating the experience of those first two seasons, but as I've written here frequently, every time I dip into The Sopranos, whether for a bloc of episodes or an isolated one or two, the show just keeps playing better. And on DVD on the 42-inch HDTV, it looks pretty darned fine too.

Oh yes, I had a swell time at Rear Window last night. The 35mm print looked kind of grainy to me, but it was a pleasure to be able to watch the unfolding of the ongoing minidramas staged in all the "rear windows" the Jimmy Stewart character is reduced to watching all day and most of the night during his confinement to a wheelchair with a broken leg. And memory impairment can be a blessing. It can't be that long since I watched the picture on DVD, but I mercifully remembered the later plot unfoldings sketchily enough that I was able to be caught up deliciously in the final build-up.


Ah yes, Miss Torso -- the most scenic of the "rear window" vistas viewed compulsively by shut-in photographer "Jeff" Jefferies (Jimmy Stewart) in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

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Urban Gadabout: New palm trees for the World Financial Center's breathtaking Winter Garden

The Winter Garden, the breathtaking public atrium in the World Financial Center, is one of New York City's most beautiful interior spaces.

by Ken

[NOTE: This post was written to be posted on August 21, but I don't seem to have actually posted it. The time frame has changed a bit, but otherwise it seems to me still worth looking at -- especially the pictures.]

Amid the devastation of 9/11, the fate of the Winter Garden, the majestic and much-loved 10-story atrium of the Cesar Pelli-designed World Financial Center, adjacent to the World Trade Center, may not have been uppermost in many people's minds, but in fact it was pretty much totaled.



The relatively quick and genuinely masterful rebuilding of the Winter Garden correspondingly became one of the city's most heartening symbols of revival. And the center's proprietors have continued to maintain the space rigorously and lovingly -- right up to Superstorm Sandy, when the space took another hit. By then, though, the complex's owners, Brookfield Properties, were preparing to announce a substantial renovation that would mark the WFC's conversion into "Brookfield Place" (not exactly a "Eureka"-style naming inspiration; Brookfield already had Brookfield Places in its home city of Toronto and in Perth, Australia), in hopes of drawing non-financial tenants to the considerable space the company has to market.

Meanwhile, the Winter Garden is for once undergoing some transformation that is both (a) planned and (b) owing to natural causes. The grid of 16 palm trees which has been probably the atrium's most conspicuous feature is in the process of being replaced. It seems that the old trees, which in fact were new trees when they were planted in the 2002 rebuilding of the Winter Garden, had grown to 60 feet, too large to allow for further growth in the space.

So last week the old trees were chopped down, to be converted to mulch for use in gardens at local hospitals "to honor their role in the Winter Garden that made it both a place to meet and a place to rest," according to a Brookfield statement, and this week 16 new trees, about 35 feet tall, have been planted to take their place. DNAinfo.com's Julie Shapiro reports that the new occupants "will all be Washingtonia robusta trees, the same type as the previous trees," according to Brookfield.



Long life to the young(er) trees -- or at least as long as their new habitat allows.

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Senza Glutine-- Eating Gluten-Free In Tuscany Is Easier Than In The U.S.

Da Delfina terrace with the 1596 Medici pad in the background

I just got back from about a month in Tuscany. Some old friends and I rented a beautiful old villa outside a small town in the Chianti region of northern Tuscany, just southwest of Florence. I ate every day-- and that included a lot of pasta and some pizza-- and never had to worry about gluten, which my doctor told me to avoid.

I have four favorite Italian restaurants here in L.A.-- BellaRiva, Angelini Osteria, Osteria Mozza, all in the Hollywood area, and Piccolo in Venice-- and I wouldn't even think to ask them for gluten-free anything. Although... I'm about to start. It's perfectly natural in Italy, where, apparently, Celiac is a well-understood disease. Health food stores, like the well-stocked NaturaSi in Florence (4 outlets), normal run-of-the-mill grocery stores (like the Coops everywhere) and pharmacies, all carry gluten-free food-- and lots of it. So cooking back at the villa was no problem.

But it's Tuscany. I was there to eat the most refined and deicious cuisine in the world. And I never had a problem with that it. Montespertoli is a tiny town you won't find on many maps. You don't even find the roads that go to it on any maps. But the one of the pizzeria's just off the main square Garby's, with dozens of different kinds of pizza on their menu, was always happy to make a pizza senza glutine. Down the road from the villa in the other direction, there was a big restaurant, Lo Spigo in Montelupo Fiorentino has a page on their menu with gluten-free dishes, but basically they'll make you anything you want in a gluten-free way, including every kind of pasta (except ravioli and lasagne) and every kind of pizza.

When I first got to town I called on a friend of mine who's been living in Tuscany for 8 years, American-born film-maker Frank LaLoggia (Lady In White, Fear No Evil). He suggested we go to a place owned by a friend of his, Paolo, in Lucardo, 10 minutes from Montespertoli and halfway between our villa and his house down a dirt road in San Casiano-- Ristorante C'era Una Volta in Lucardo. Not only did Paolo offer to make me any pasta I wanted senza glutine, he even served me gluten free bread while my friends ate the house bread. I might mention that the food is amazing and the view from the terrace is spectacular and that I ate there half a dozen times afterwards. Just down the road a piece is a turn-off on via Lucignano which leads to a not easy to find farm house that doubles-- if you make a reservation-- as a vegan restaurant, La Fonte. It's not specifically gluten-free-- more organic and macrobiotic-- but they know how to do it and do it well.

And that brings us to the world renowned Tuscan destination restaurants-- and, yes, they take care of their gluten-free guests as well. The first day I arrived in Italy I didn't go to the villa but stayed to see some friends honeymooning in Florence. We had dinner at one of the best restaurants in town, Ristorante Cibrèo. It was my first meal of the trip and I was taken aback when I asked the waiter if he could serve gluten-free pasta. He got all huffy-- but, as it turned out, not over the gluten-free part. In all their long history (Etruscan times?) they have never ever served pasta. OK, once we got over that, I sat back and had a superb meal. The menu, which changes constantly, is scrawled in Italian by hand but the waiter sits down and explains every dish on it to you. There were a dozen things I wanted to order and I barely remember what I wound up picking but everything was delicious and had I ever worked up the courage to brave Florence's bizarre traffic again, I would have certainly gone back again.

The only other restaurant in a city I ate in was Siena's wonderful Osteria le Logge, just off the Campo, the city's famed main square. Everything was delicious and although gluten-free wasn't their thing, they were able to easily accommodate my request. I went with a bunch of friends and we ordered tons of food, all of it delicious, well-prepared and shockingly inexpensive. All the other restaurants were in the countryside and-- warning-- they all require reservations. They also require a car and a lot of directional savvy to locate and get to.


In the small cluster of buildings in the middle of nowhere called Artimino, near a small town called Carmignano just west of Florence is a Tuscan classic, Da Delfina. The terrace overlooks a gorgeous bucolic scene that happens to include an amazing Medici villa built in 1596. As one reviewer put it, "Comfort is the keyword: you come here for an elegant take on mamma's home cooking, served on crisply laid tables by impeccable, bow-tied waiters." I had called ahead and told them I didn't eat gluten and they were prepared. One of the reasons-- there are several-- that I keep going back to RivaBella in L.A. is because of their unqiue take on eggplant parmigiana, which the L.A. Times described as "a luscious eggplant timbale in a light Parmesan cream" and I'm hooked. But wasn't I shocked to find the identical preparation at Delfina, only twice the portion size and a little more... let's say relaxed. I wouldn't call the restaurant inexpensive but it's far from expensive. They don't accept credit cards.

Another restaurant that stands out as especially delicious and also pretty much in the middle of nowhere was La Locanda di Pietracupa on the side of the "main road" into San Donato in Poggio. That's where we had our goodbye dinner when my friends from Amsterdam and Arizona were leaving for home. All send-offs should be that delicious! Again, I called ahead with the senza glutine request and they were solicitous and ready to serve! I had the amazing pasta dish with a light sauce made of beets and gorgonzola. It doesn't sound that good but, man, would I like to be eating there again tonight! They even had gluten-free bread for me!

I should also add that all the restaurants are especially proud of their olive oils and balsamics, and they should be. In fact the only souvenirs I brought home were bottles of local olive oil!

You Can Still Enjoy Milos' Beaches, The Discos On Mykonos And Yummy Food on Crete... Before Greece Starts Herding People Into Concentration Camps

For the food, the prices, the diversity and the friendless and honesty of the people, I always preferred Turkey over Greece. I visited both for the first time in 1969 and I've back many times since although, admittedly, more frequently to Turkey. But, now with the violent, neo-Nazi New Dawn party making it unsafe to walk the streets of Athens, Greece isn't a place for American tourists. Xenophobia there is on the rise-- and Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King would feel very comfortable:

"These parasites drink our water, eat our food and breathe our Greek air," Alekos Plomaritis, who was a Golden Dawn candidate running for office at the time, says in Greek, translated into English, in Georgousis' film. "They are primitive, miasmas and subhuman. We don't care about their existence. We are ready to open the ovens. We will turn them into soap, but we may get a rash."

Jews are especially in danger if they go to Greece since the Golden Dawn thugs-- both in Parliament and on the streets-- are outspoken and overt in their virulent anti-semiticsm. Last month the World Jewish Congress warned Jews about the dangerous situation in Greece posed by Golden Dawn.

Are Jews still welcome in Greece?

CNN, though, feels the Greek islands are safe enough to suggest tourists go and enough themselves on one. This week, they asked Which Greek island should you go to? Personally, the only one I ever really liked was Corfu in the extreme northwest off the coast of Albania and far from the luxurious and over-touristed islands in the Aegean Sea favored by Americans. I found Rhodes, Chios and Kos, all off the coast of Turkey, unfriendly and a waste of time in comparison to Turkey itself. And places like Mykonos and Santorini... well, Club Med has never been my idea of a holiday. But it is most peoples'. 230 of Greece's 1,400 islands are inhabited and CNN has some suggestions. "For sheer variety in a small radius," they write, "proximity to Athens' ferry port at Piraeus and the best inter-island boat connections, none compete with the Cyclades. For best scenery, they suggest Santorini.

The story behind this island is the stuff of legends -- in 1600 BC after a volcano erupted and its center collapsed into the sea, it left behind parts of its caldera that today form the island Santorini.

The views from pretty much anywhere on this crescent-shaped outcrop are superb.

Sheer rock faces are striated in multitudinous shades, villages and towns cling to the tops of cliffs, the caldera is filled with clear deep turquoise water home to the visiting cruise liners.

The whitewashed buildings in the main town Fira resemble a fresh blanket of snow atop a mountain.

On the northern tip, at Oia, where the sunsets are outstanding, houses, hotels and churches tumble down the rock walls. Every evening bus loads of tourists descend to watch the sun sink into the Aegean.

The scenery is as just impressive at sea level. Red Beach, as the name suggests, has a rust-colored backdrop and Mars-esque boulders, Eros Beach's eerie hoodoo-like walls would fit right in at a national park in Utah, and Caldera Beach, the only one that faces in toward the caldera, gives visitors a discernible sense of the volcano's immensity.

Where to stay: Vedema, in the village of Megalochori, doesn't have a caldera view, but its setting in a small village feels authentic (the town square and village church are a one-minute walk away).

The 45 rooms have views of the village homes or the surrounding rolling vineyards.

If a vista of the caldera is key, check in to sister property Mystique. Set in Oia, it has a secret wine cellar, and its 22 cave-style rooms are terraced into the cliff face, providing that classic Santorini experience.

Best nightlife: Mykonos

Mykonos is Greece's answer to Ibiza, but without the attitude and posturing.

Either side of the summer season Mykonos resembles another low-key beach destination but come July and August, night owls arrive in droves, and the main streets of Mykonos Town are packed with revelers-- even revelers with babies strapped into carriers.

At times the narrow alleys are so jammed with bodies the only way to move is en masse with the crowd as it sways through the streets in a singular motion.

In true Greek style, nothing here starts until late, though you can party in the daytime with 20-something Italians at Super Paradise beach.

A popular start is to have drinks at sunset at the Sea Breeze Cocktail Bar in Little Venice, snagging a table up the steps for the best views.

Across the island at Kalo Livadi you can find an unfussy beach where the new Nice n Easy bio-restaurant has fantastic organic fare at reasonable prices (the pasta with sharp kopanisti cheese is excellent).

Back in town, Jackie O' is a lively waterfront bar that draws the gay crowd, Agyra Bar has attractive, hard-bodied staff from Athens and at the always packed Rock 'n' Roll, where local and tourists are evenly split, the bartender blows a whistle before doling out oxygen shots.

My personal favorite is the bar/club Caprice, where all are united in their mission to just have fun, no judgments, no agenda; the barmen are as much into the music and dancing as the customers (they'll readily pour free shots of jelly liqueur).

Tip: At Caprice, many a first-timer falls into the area where the bar stools are, set one step down from the rest of the floor, so tread carefully.

Where to stay: Hotel Kivotos, on Ornos Bay, is removed from the hubbub, set on a hill with steps down to a peaceful rocky beach, and is an ideal refuge to refuel and recharge.

The cool rooms have clear Lucite chairs, LED lights in the floors (sounds tacky, but looks appropriately festive), a pool with a small circular bar, and most importantly, an energetic, attractive young staff that will give you the scoop on the best night spots.

Best traditional village life: Naxos

The largest island in the Cyclades has a string of swoon-worthy beaches on its west coast, a Venetian castle in its main town, some interesting ruins and great local produce and dairy.

But what sets it apart from the other islands are its traditional villages.

When you leave Chora, where the ferries berth, the pull of village life is evident-- note the sign at the outskirts of town that simply reads "Villages."

There are 46 of them on Naxos, some miniscule, but all a window into traditional life. Each has a bakery or cafe, a village square where old men with sun-creased faces sit around on tables drinking coffee and trading stories and an immaculately preserved church or two.

The hamlets are tucked among the hills and the switchback road that crisscrosses the island.

Kinidaros is famous for its bakery (the best on the island, the oven fired by wood) and musicians; Chalki has the excellent artisanal jam shop Era; locals come to the cobble-stoned streets of Apeiranthos to eat the crepes at Samardako; Keramoti sits in a valley, seemingly cut off from civilization, but it's also the base for hikes to Routsouna waterfall.

Since most tourists don't venture inland, the villages haven't succumbed to money-grabbing gimmicks.

Where to stay: Set away from the coast, Naxian Collection has good views of Chora, a handful of typical Cycladic white cubist villas with private pools, an on-site organic garden with fresh strawberries and breakfasts large enough to keep you going all day.

The likeable owner Ioannis Margaritis was born and raised on the island, so he knows everything about, and everyone on, Naxos-- literally. If you're lucky, he'll take you to a barbecue at his friend's house in one of the villages.

Best kiteboarding and windsurfing: Paros

The constant wind on Paros is evident as the ferry approaches the island-- you can see giant turbine fans steadily cartwheeling on the north coast.

While Paros might be as cosmopolitan at Mykonos (without the Louis Vuitton and Diesel stores) and pretty enough to attract Hollywood royalty (Tom Hanks purchased a house in the neighborhood, on sister island Andiparos), the real draw here is the force of nature.

During the summer, the Meltemi winds blaze down through the Aegean, supplying welcome breezes for beachgoers, but also creating conditions ripe for windsurfing and kiteboarding.

The winds peak in intensity during July and August; the five-mile channel that divides Paros from its neighbor Naxos funnels the Meltemi to glorious effect.

The main beaches for the sports are Pounda on the west of the island and Santa Maria, Golden Beach (Chryssi Akti), and New Golden Beach (Nea Chryssi Akti) on the east (New Golden Beach's winds are so reliable that The Professional Windsurfers Association held its World Cup there for six consecutive years in the 1990s).

For newbies, mornings are the best time to learn, when the wind is steady but tame. By early afternoon, when the gusts pick up and continue till dusk, pro boarders and windsurfers skim and bounce along the water.

Established operators include Paros Kite Pro Center, Force 7 Paros, and Paros Surf Club.

Visitors should time their visit around the island's most important festivity, on August 15, celebrating the Virgin Mary's ascension to heaven and culminating in a giant fireworks display mounted on boats in the bay of the port town Parikia.

Where to stay: Poseidon of Paros mixes whitewashed Cycladic architecture with flagstone walls, and is strategically poised between Golden and New Golden beaches (you'll see windsurfers shredding the water during afternoon drinks). The place also does a steady business with weddings.

Best beaches: Milos

Every islander has their favorite beach, but none of the Cyclades promises the number and diversity of beaches as volcanic Milos.

Some have white sand, some black, some are rocky, others offer the satisfying sensation of crushed shells underfoot, with water ranging from emerald to aquamarine to cobalt blue.

With a heavily indented coastline (on a map Milos resembles a mutated crab) and pretty little coves at every turn, Milos has about 80 fine beaches, many only accessible by boat.

While each has its charm, some should not be missed.

Sarakiniko, a beach of brilliant white pumice, looks truly otherworldly (many liken it to the moon).

The three beaches of Paliochori are cupped by towering rock formations, its pebbles are multicolored and the sea water has warm pockets where it's fed by hot underwater mineral springs.

The small Tzigrado beach is flanked by headlands, and can only be accessed by boat or by a ladder down the cliffs.

A cave borders the even tinier Papafragas beach, while the rock walls that enclose it give the water the appearance of a river starting in the sand.

At Paliorema beach you can wander around an abandoned sulfur mine plant, see the wagons used to transport the chemical and look for sulfur crystals growing among the rocks.

Where to stay: Since visitors will likely camp down at a different beach every day, it makes sense to stay close to the main port of Adamas where taxis and boats are easy to organize.

Villa Notos has simple rooms in Cycladic colors of blue and white (some have terraces), Greek-made Korres toiletries, pretty views of Adamas Bay and is within walking distance of the town's restaurants.

Best for nature lovers: Ikaria

This rugged, wing-shaped island on the cusp of the Cyclades and named for Icarus -- the son of Daedalus who fled from Crete, got too close to the sun and tumbled into the sea just offshore -- has gained fame for the longevity of its residents.

Their diet, strong community and daily exercise mean Ikarian men are four times as likely as American men to reach the age of 90, according to a study by the University of Athens Medical School.

The 99-square mile island is basically one large mountain, peaking in the central Pramnos-Atheras range. For such a small area, the geographic variation is astounding-- Ikaria has rivers and tiny lakes, high forests of pine and oak, and hills at every turn that combine to make Ikaria an Elysian Field for outdoor buffs.

Ikaria's network of mountain paths known as monopatia is an informal web of routes that connects villages. The hiking guide "Round of Rahes on Foot," published by the local municipalities, details tracks and trails on the west of the island and also maps out a 15-mile tour along monopatia through the hills and villages of northwest Ikaria.

The trek brings hikers through farmland, bush, forest, past lakes, along donkey tracks, skirting goat herds and introduces visitors to the unhurried pace and uncomplicated nature of Ikarian life (this is an island where bakeries use the honor system).

After a hard day of tramping, trekkers can rejuvenate aching muscles at the mineral bath houses of Therma (whose waters, according to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, have the highest concentration of the therapeutic element radon in Greece), or look for the steam rising from various spots around the coast like Lefkada, where heated water emits and joins the Aegean.

Where to stay: Fittingly Villa Dimitri has studio rooms and apartments terraced into a hillside near Armenitis, the steps an ideal preparation for the walks and inclines ahead. Whitewashed rooms have private terraces and views of the Aegean.

Best Robinson Crusoe destination: Koufonisia

Actually two islands, Kato and Ano (meaning lower and upper) Koufonisia, with the former almost uninhabited, are like a land that tourism forgot, mainly because the quickest ferry from Athens takes six hours.

Home to only a few hundred residents, Ano Koufonisi is tiny, just 2.2 square miles, so walking or cycling round the island are the most efficient modes of getting about.

The main industry, apart from the creeping reach of tourism, is fishing, and the main town of Chora retains the feel of an untouched fishing village, with small boats bobbing in the harbor.

There's not a whole lot to do here, but that's the idea.

You can hire a caique (traditional wooden boat) for a trip to the nearby island of Keros, where examples of early Cycladic figurines have been carefully excavated.

Otherwise life settles into a slow rhythm of going to beaches like Finikias, Platia Pounta, Fanos and the naturist-friendly Pori, taking a caique trip to the deserted strands of sand on Kato Koufonisia, or visiting the churches of Agios Nikolaos, Profitis Ilias, and Agios Georgios.

Where to stay:

The white-on-white Aeolos Hotel is close to the port, has bright rooms with flashes of pastel color, and a decent pool ringed by stone tiles.

Best couples getaway: Folegandros

Santorini is often the go-to island for couples in these parts, but another Cycladian island where houses perch on clifftops is an even better escape for lovebirds.

The mountainous, mostly treeless Folegandros doesn't get the crowds of the islands around it thanks to sparser ferry service, a boon for twosomes in search of some solitude with their sun and sand.

The main village of the island, Chora, set on a cliff plateau 650 feet up, embodies the archetypal image of Cycladic buildings of small white houses with blue doors lining cobblestoned street.

The Kastro, the Venetian part of Chora, is well preserved while the majority of the island appears as it has for centuries, devoid of buildings in favor of open landscapes.

Donkeys remain a widely used means of transportation and goats scramble up and down the sun-baked hills. Painters and writers from Europe come to Folegandros for quiet inspiration and the most enduring memories of a visit here are the silence and the bays with crystal clear water.

The one not-to-be-missed site is the northeastern cave of Chrysopelia, where ancient names are written in clay into the walls, a custom from the Hellenistic Period.

Where to stay: In the port village of Karavostasis, Anemi Hotel has a gorgeous infinity pool and a clutch of two-story buildings with rooms that have modern furnishings and exposed wood beams. It also accepts pets.

Best food: Crete

A 90-minute high-speed catamaran ride from Santorini, Crete is Greece's Wild West, where the locals are fiercely independent and have a fondness for guns (used, I'm assured, only to shoot at street signs or into the air during festivities).

Its 3,200 square miles are blessed with scores of microclimates, fertile soil and crops that haven't succumbed to the scourge of industrial farming. Which means that the tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, strawberries, watermelon and other fruits and vegetables that grow here taste as nature intended.

The topography of central mountains ringed by shimmering coastline allows two growing seasons-- lower elevations in the winter, higher elevations in the summer-- and Crete is a hub for olive oil, cheese and wine production.

Eat at a traditional taverna (even a touristy one) or kafenio (Greek café) and you'd be hard pushed to have a bad meal because the raw ingredients are so darned good.

Elounda, on the island's northeast coast, is surrounded by some of the island's great agricultural areas, like the Lasithi plateau, has a selection of hotels for all budgets, and some excellent examples of what makes Greek mainlanders sigh when they think of the divine freshness of Crete's cuisine.

Ergospasio Restaurant, a former old stone carob factory, serves just-caught seafood overlooking Elounda harbor. The Ferryman Taverna is a local favorite, and for reason-- the mezes make great use of Crete's agricultural bounty.

Manolis Kafeneion on the main square is a great spot to share meze and raki (a fiery alcoholic drink made with grapes that locals drink after a meal) with Cretans.

Where to stay: The Blue Palace, just beyond Elounda, has spellbinding views of the Venetian-fortress-turned-leper-colony Spinalonga from its rooms, restaurants and beach. Its Blue Door restaurant does an expert job of recreating an authentic Greek taverna with flavors to match.