A Green Delight in Umbria

Letizia and Ruurd live what is a dream for many. They run an agriturismo B&B in Umbria, Italy housed in stone buildings, some dating back as far as 500 years old. They have lovingly renovated the buildings and grounds, operating as a B&B for almost ten years. More importantly to those of us who are olive oil fanatics, Letizia and Ruurd have restored the olive grove, planting 250 olive trees so they can make their own divine olive oil.

Committed to treading lightly on the earth, Alla Madonna runs solely on solar electricity with hot water and heat coming from solar thermal panels and a wood furnace. Alla Madonna is decorated with new and vintage natural fibers. Eco-friendly cleaning products are used, the gardens and olive groves are organic, and the food served guests as well as what s used in the cooking classes are locally produced. Google, the truffle-hunting dog at Alla Madonna die Piatto sniffs out the sneakiest truffles.

Guests can choose from six comfortable rooms with private baths. From March to November cooking classes are offered  two times a week. Room rates range from 85 to 105 euros per night for a double room. Please note: Alla Madonna is closed from mid-November to mid-March and for one week in July.

Alla Madonna is about 5 miles from Assisi. If you want to vicariously enjoy the fruits of Letizia's cooking, explore her blog at: http://madonnadelpiatto.com and create scrumptious meals from her simple yet exquisite recipes.

Azienda Agraria Alla Madonna del Piatto
Via Petrata 37, Pieve San Nicolo’
06081 Assisi (PG), Umbria, Italy
http://incampagna.com

Puglia Italy App—The Green & Local Side

Travel guide apps are an easy addiction with photographs and descriptions that draw you into other lands and cultures. Via the Puglia Travel Guide app, I have just traveled to Puglia, the southeastern region of Italy which has plentiful sandy beaches along the Adriatic and Ionian coasts.

While not a green travel app, the Puglia Guide has many listings for travelers wanting to go green. In the Puglia Guide you can learn which towns have farmer's markets, find agriturismo rural farm lodging or you can explore the restored trulli, stone buildings with conical roofs made from limestone specific to Puglia, including the Trulli of Alberobello, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Bread lover's and local foodies should not miss the bread from Altamura made with locally grown wheat which made news a few years ago when the locals chose their traditional bread over McDonalds—a great story!

Travel to Puglia either virtually or for real—either way you will be happy to have the Puglia Guide.

LIVE on iTunes It's Venice: The Essential Green Travel Guide!

YAY—the date has arrived! Venice: The Essential Green Travel Guide is LIVE on the iTunes store—the only green guide to Venice.

For only $1.99 you can see great pictures of Venice, find all the health food stores and markets in Venice, learn where you can bike, camp, kayak and do yoga, as well as see videos of boat races, bars and restaurants serving local foods, pigeon-loving tourists, and the first woman gondolier in the history of Venice.

Next up—Vermont Eats: The Essential Green Travel Guide app—coming within a month.

Happy green traveling!

The First App! Available in Two Weeks!

Stay tuned for the launch of the new App— 
Venice: The Essential Green Travel Guide on the iTunes store—should be in about 2 weeks! Hooray!

The App includes new listings and many more photographs than the print version, Venice:Traveling Naturally in the City of Water, and has easy-to-use maps with each entry—an especially important feature when traveling in the maze-like city of Venice.

The launch price is $1.99—cheap if you are traveling to Venice and a tiny price to pay for the vicarious pleasure of traveling through Venice if you are not able to visit in person.

Stay posted for the release date!

Finally! A Portable Glass Water Bottle

My choice of portable water bottle is a perpetual conundrum for me.

Plastic has the longest list of undesirable features. For starters I honestly can't stand the taste of water sitting in plastic. Then, beyond taste, there is the issue of the plastic chemicals leaching into the water causing all sorts of potential health problems. While bisphenol-a (BPA) is the newest culprit on that list, the issues of plastic-leaching containers has been around for decades. Over thirty years ago I worked for the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) where in the early 1980s a brilliant scientist named Walter Hang (who now works for Toxics Targeting) released a ground-breaking report about HDPE plastic (commonly used in one-gallon water jugs and milk containers) leaching into water and milk. While true that harder plastics seem to leach less than softer plastics, the recent BPA reports have shown that all sorts of plastics have potential problems. As if that weren't enough, there is the perennial predicament of the environmental consequences of plastic manufacturing and disposal. So while plastic bottles are light and seemingly easy, they fail as a good choice on many other counts.

The next light-weight option is aluminum. I do not use aluminum cookware or anti-perspirants made with aluminum—any substance that might contribute to my already challenged memory I try to avoid  as best I can. So needless to say, sipping water from an aluminum bottle is not high on my list.

Then there is stainless steel, or at least what we are told is stainless steel. Some may say I am too picky, but I suspect that a lot of what is sold as stainless steel is not, but rather mixed with metals that I would rather not be drinking from.  That, coupled with the metallic taste, makes stainless steel a tempting but non-option for me.

This leaves me with glass or gourds. Sadly, gourds are not practical. Glass would be perfect were it not for it being heavy, highly breakable, and difficult to find the correct bottle shape for both drinking and cleaning (that is, wide enough to clean, but narrow enough to drink from comfortably without dripping everywhere).

You can see why walking out of the house (or lodging when I am traveling) with a water bottle poses such a dilemma for me.

I am happy to report that I have found the answer to my quandary. Based in neighboring Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the Bamboo Bottle Company has designed a water bottle comprised of glass, BPA-free plastic and bamboo.

This is how it works. The actual bottle is made of sturdy glass (made with 51% recycled glass) which can hold hot or cold beverages— a huge advantage over plastic. The mouth of the bottle meets my requirements—wide enough for easy cleaning, while appropriately-sized for dripless drinking. The BPA-free plastic provides the nuts and bolts of the bottle, keeping the glass in its protective and insulating bamboo casing. The components disassemble for cleaning—you can hand wash the glass bottle or put it in a dishwasher (the plastic parts can go in the dishwasher as well, but keep the bamboo sleeve out of the machine and even the sink—simply wipe clean with a damp cloth for the longest life).

The Bamboo Bottle holds just over a pint (16 ounces) of liquid and has a thermos-like feel to it. With the top on, the bottle is 10.25 inches tall and 3 inches in diameter, just making the size-cut for my small hands.

No plastic or metallic after-taste or leaching—check. No exposed, breakable glass—check. Reusable, low-impact materials with a long-life span—check. While close to perfection, I do hold out hope that some day the plastic parts can be made from a sustainable, non-polluting material (the company says they are aiming for plastic-free in the future). Until then, I will be happy with my Bamboo Bottle and cross the search for the perfect water-bottle off my to-do list.

Green Earth Guide Calendars with Full-color Photos

New, just in time for the holidays!
Now you can explore the Green Earth Guide sites from your own home with full-color photo calendars—companions to the award-winning Green Earth Guide: Traveling Naturally Guidebook series.
Six different calendars are available:
(see calendar cover photos at left)
Ireland
Italy
France
Spain
Switzerland
Vermont Organic
To conveniently order online see the Google Checkout box on the right side of the blog. Calendars are $ 14.95 each plus $ 5.00 s/h. If you are ordering multiple calendars, the shipping costs are $5.00 up to three calendars. Over 3, please add an additional $1.50 per calendar.

Fair Trade in Venice

You might think that the touristy area around the famed Venice Rialto bridge would be an unlikely spot for a store specializing in Fair Trade products, but this is Italy where Fair Trade and Slow Food are huge (in fact the Slow Food movement originated in Italy).

And sure enough on the main street that flows from the east side of the Rialto Bridge steps, Salizada Pio X, you will find the Botteghe del Mondo. The window displays may catch your eye before you realize which store it is as they are filled with brightly colored leather handbags, natural fiber clothes, and "Peace Steps" leather sandals. The hand-made sandals are produced by a non profit cooperative in Palestine with local materials to help fund education and social services for children in Palestine refugee camps.

The suede handbags, in an array of gorgeous, bright colors, are handmade by a local cooperative, Coop Filo, near Venice working with disadvantaged and troubled youth. A side corner of the store has more common Fair Trade food products but most of the store is filled with non-food items, some made in Italy, others, like the Peace Step sandals, made elsewhere with purpose and care.

While there are stores in Venice, and throughout Italy, filled with leather goods (some made in Italy, others in China), this one offers the possibility of locally made products with a worthwhile cause.
In addition, you will find lovely and helpful service at Botteghe del Mondo even if you enter rain-soaked as I did on my first visit. But here's a tip- if you do enter wet - save your fondling of the suede bags for another, drier time.

Botteghe del Mondo-Coop Filo, Salizada Pio X, 5164 Ponte di Rialto, 30124 Venice (Venezia in Italian); Tel: 041 522 7545; Open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 am to 1:30 pm/2:00 to 7:30 pm, Sunday from 10:30 to 1:30 pm/ 3:00 to 7:00 pm.

Coop Filo has three other stores in Italy - Milan, Rome and Trento.

Orzo You Say?

Orzo conjures a rice-shaped pasta, but Orzo in Europe, especially in Italy, where the drink originated, is usually short for Caffé d'Orzo (Barley Coffee). Originally popular as a caffeine-free drink for children, it is made from ground and roasted barley, sometimes with added rye, chicory, figs, or anise. It is served widely at cafes and restaurants as well as readily available at stores. I was delighted to taste this in Bologna and then scouted out bags of it to bring home in one of the many NaturaSi health food stores in Italy.

This is the most coffee-like coffee-substitute I have tasted - really. As someone who has had to go off caffeine, this is like a new found friend.You can drink it the way you might take your coffee - that is espresso, latte, cappuccino, or just a big mug. You will find  numerous brands of Orzo on grocery shelves in Italy - even Nestle has a line of what they call Orzoro products (not organic) but with simply barley or other varieties.

Organic choices are plentiful in Italy and the barley tends to be grown in the rich farmland of northern and central Italy. Organic brands include Alce Nero which offers Orzo Moka for coffee-makers, Orzo Solubile, an instant version, as well as Orzo Cialde for use in espresso machines. Alce Nero's barley is organically grown in the beautiful Marche and Umbria areas of central Italy. Alce Nero, based in Monterenzio south of Bologna, has been producing organic foods for thirty years and they offer a range of products made from Italy-grown crops including honey, jam, juices, pastas, and tomato products.

Poggio Antico is a cooperative practicing biodynamic agricultural named after the old 13th century hamlet in which it sits complete with almost 250 acres of  land filled with vineyards, olive trees, cereals, aromatic plants and pastures. Founded in 1983, the cooperative makes a number of products from the fruits of their land including home-made pastas, sauces, juices, wool yarn and hand-made, vegetable-dyed wool products, cheeses made from the unpasteurized milk of their own cows, and Orzo (plain and with Anise) from their own barley only, except the Anise (anice in Italian) is added to that flavor variety. Their products are certified biodynamic by Demeter. Poggio Antico products are available at their on-site store and in health food stores around Italy.

Poggio Antico is about three and a half miles from Montespertoli, near Florence (20 miles away),  Siena (28 miles), and  San Gimignano (15 miles). This is an area famous for wines, olive oil, hand-made jugs, sunflowers, local artists and artisans. The Poggio Antico Web site offers directions from Florence, Siena and Pisa - worth a visit for sure. You can stay at the lovely Il Caggio apartments on an organic farm and vineyard four miles out of San Gimignano.

Orzo is not only grown locally and available from organic sources, it is also inexpensive. Where a 500 gram bag (about 17.5 ounces or just over a pound) costs between 1.80 and 3.60 Euros (about $2.50 to $5.00 depending on the exchange rate), a similar size bag of coffee costs between $10.00 and $18.00 depending on the type of coffee. Bring on the Orzo!

Eggs in Europe

Travelers from the United States may be quite surprised when they are shopping at markets and in stores in Europe to find that eggs are often not refrigerated. In fact they are often not even in cartons, but available for the picking into your own container.

At the markets in Spain you will find stacks of eggs at egg stands - brown, white, ecologico, conventional. In France, Germany and Switzerland the same holds true. Once the eggs are purchased, most people store them in their refrigerators at home, but some will leave them in a cool spot if they will be using them within a few days.

Part of the problem in the United States is that the food is often subjected to what I refer to as "shelf-life syndrome" where the focus is not on nutritional value or freshness but rather on how long the products will last on the shelves minimizing waste for manufacturers, grocers and big-box stores. As consumers, we loose, of course, since we not only get food altered to last far longer than nature intended, but we also miss out on the vitality, the richness and the beauty that fresh, local food offers.

I am afraid that eggs in the United States meet with the same fate, unless you are lucky enough to live where there are small farms, so hence they are refrigerated to help them last a long time.

When egg shopping I would err on the side of organic especially when buying room-temperature eggs since studies have shown that while all eggs run the risk of Salmonella, only about one quarter of organic and free range have the Salmonella contamination found more readily in conventional eggs, with the bonus that organic eggs have been found to contain more Vitamin E, beta-carotene and omega-3 fats with up to  a third less cholesterol than industrial-produced eggs.

Having spent time on a farm when I was a kid and later having had my own homestead-scale farm, I am familiar with the practice of storing eggs on a cool, shaded shelf especially when they will be used quickly.  I think this was, and is, customary for truly farm-fresh eggs. So don't be alarmed or put off by the piles of open-air eggs while you are traveling and be thankful for the culture of fresh.

Thoughts on Traveling, Volcanic Eruptions and Mother Earth

Happy Earth Day - celebrate for a lifetime!

I think it is most appropriate that for the week or so preceding Earth Day that Mother Nature reminded us of her power. While travelers around the world had to deal with flight delays and cancellations as well as commerce being disrupted, the Icelandic Volcano eruption gave the world a pause. What seemed like an eternity to those stuck in airports was really just a few days in an era of constant flights when a part of the globe had a breath of no air traffic. Travel by rail swelled and some people took the cue to change their state of mind and enjoy some extra time wherever they were.

Airline companies have been complaining about how much money per day they lost and about undue flight restrictions, but all would-be travelers I have spoken with agree - as possibly inconvenient or uncomfortable having plans disrupted might be, they would rather be on the ground in one piece than 30,000 feet in the air with a frozen airplane engine - that is what most would call a no-brainer. And if the airlines are wanting to utilize the tenuous risk-assessment model, I suggest they leave that people-unfriendly calculation to the nuclear power industry (where it shouldn't be employed either), and stick to common sense as I am sure anything they have lost is still far less than what a major accident would have cost them.

In New England you learn a bit to live with the mentality of succumbing to Mother Nature. When there is a big snow or ice storm and driving is precarious, you hunker down and enjoy the respite. If you try to persevere in spite of it you usually end up in a ditch -- or worse.

Travelers, businesses and most everyone can heed the lesson and open their minds to a more creative way of looking at the world and what we are"entitled" to as a group of world citizens who feel they should be able to travel whenever and wherever they want. In this false world we have created of instant gratification, and the expectation of instant gratification, maybe we need more pauses. Maybe we should have certain weeks in the year when there is no air traffic (I can hear the screams now) and give ourselves and Mother Earth a literal and figurative breather, allowing for the possibility of changing how we treat the planet and each other.

As more of us humans lose touch with the reality of Mother Nature and her forces and are under the misguided notion that we reign supreme over the earth - think again. The Earth has been here far longer than we have and will surely be here long after we have destroyed ourselves. Whether we humans debate it, ponder it, like it or not -  the Earth does have dominion over us, not the other way around. Thank goodness.


Photo courtesy of NASA: http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=2429

Eco-Traveler Alert: Dolphin Shows- Don't Go

Travelers contemplating going to see any Dolphin shows thinking they might be considered "eco" due to the "natural" content - please take note:

These are NOT environmentally friendly and create a horrible (and profitable) trade in dolphins resulting in gruesome deaths for the captured but rejected dolphins.

Please watch the Academy-Award winning documentary, The Cove, to learn more about this issue and the genocide-like horrors that take place in Japan.

Even the best-intentioned facilities require dolphins from the wild. Please do not support this activity. Countries with the highest number of dolphinariums include Japan (34), the United States (31), Mexico (19), Spain (10), Ukraine (7), Turkey (5), Russia (5), Italy (5), Cuba (5), Germany (3), France (3), and Dominican Republic (3).

The Cove - watch it!

Action after Watching The Cove

Some non-profit organizations offering more in depth information about dolphins:
Dolphin Care UK- Information about why "Swim with Dolphins" programs should be stopped

Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society offers plentiful information including why worldwide  captivity programs should be stopped

Cousteau Society

See the list of Dolphinariums around the world so you can know what to avoid and also, if you are so inclined, to write letters expressing your revulsion at Dolphin capture and captivity.


Photo: Bottlenose Dolphin - NASA

Green Travel Bags for the New Year

It is getting easier all the time to make environmental choices when purchasing items as companies get increasingly creative with incorporating recycled materials into their products. If you are in the market for green luggage and packs, you are in luck. Heys and Osprey are two such companies specializing in travel gear.

Heys, a Toronto based company, has been making innovative luggage for over twenty years. They have two green choices in their luggage line. The sturdy EcoOrbis rolling suitcases are made from 100% recycled ABS plastic. These come in four colors (red, black, lilac and beige) in three standard sizes and have 360º wheels and an aluminum handle. Their EcoTex line is made from recycled water bottles and includes duffle-style and accessory bags.

Heys International ships only in Canada. Heys USA ships to customers in the U.S. At Heys USA you can search by state to find stores that carry the Heys bags. In the U.S. EcoOrbis luggage is called EcoCase. The EcoCase is available in more colors and has a different embossed design on the exterior, but the bags like their Canadian counterparts are made out of 100% recycled ABS plastic.

Osprey packs, makers of excellent backpacks in all shapes and sizes, make a line of day-pack and accessory bags out of 100% recycled PET plastic. Their ReSource line uses recycled content in the mesh pockets, binding tape, webbing, buckles and zipper pulls in addition to the overall bag fabric with a commitment to using at least 70% recycled materials in the bags. This means that while the fabric is 100% recycled material, other components of the bags like the spacer mesh may only be 55% recycled material.

These bags made from recycled materials provide great options for the eco-traveler. We can hope that the future will bring  even more options for  ecological products and conscientious travel. Happy New Year.

Toilets and Traveling

I consider myself relatively easy going about toilets and bathroom facilities. That is I have gone backwoods camping and once lived with nothing more than an outhouse for almost four years. So it is not that I require luxury. However, when traveling I am amazed at the state of some toilettes.

I have gotten used to traveling with a package of tissues as I often come upon toilets without any toilet paper – and for that matter sometimes with no seat or even toilet! In some Italian, French and Spanish public toilets you will find the toilet paper in a common hallway, not in the stalls, and mere holes in the floor as toilets. These are not so bad as long as you have your squatting muscles in shape and have remembered to gather your toilet paper prior to entering your stall.

It is the urine saturated sticky floors, with used paper and towels stuck in various places, and unflushed toilets full of merde that send me in to winces and shivers. No one is caring for these bathrooms. 

So when I come upon toilets where you have to pay, and others are grumbling about the audacity of charging for urination, I am delighted to find clean, well-tended bathrooms. I would rather piss on the grass or by a tree anytime than go into the gross, urine and feces saturated cesspools that are often available.

In Spain most toilets are free, or free to customers. Do not be surprised, especially in southern areas, if you see people (admittedly usually men) peeing in the street, or by a dumpster or park tree. I would not recommend this since it only adds to the eau-de-pee often wafting from certain side streets.

I am told that in Paris this will get you a hefty fine. Fortunately in France you have a selection of toilettes - both free and fee. Many of the train station bathrooms charge .50 to 1 euro for entry. You can pay more for a shower if you are in need.

In London, many train stations charge for toilet use, but free ones can be found at most department stores and at the Covent Garden Market. 

Not surprisingly, Swiss bathrooms are notoriously clean. At the Zurich main train station you pay 2 Swiss francs for the toilets, but let me tell you it is worth it – you could perform surgery in those restrooms of gleaming marble. In Germany toilets also are generally very clean.

I am afraid that Italy does not share the same reputation as Switzerland and Germany, in fact quite the opposite. But look for fee-to-pee toilets at train stations, and also make sure you make use of the facilities at any cafe or museum you are patronizing.

In most European countries you can get by with asking for the toilette or WC. In Spain you will also see signs for Aseo. 

There are many helpful and funny links in cyberspace about bathrooms. A very comprehensive site is the Bathroom Diaries where you can search over 120 countries for bathroom locations and commentary - WOW! 

Visitors to Paris may want to part with 3 euros and download the Paris Pause Pipi Guide offering a useful guide to the public Sanisettes in Paris.There are also numerous links to Paris specific toilets with two especially good ones at Slow Travel and Colleen's Paris.

And for those who want to be prepared no matter what, you can try the new German invention Roadbag pocket urinal for men or the Ladybag  for women.

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre, Italy...
I sort of hate to write about Cinque Terre but thankfully it has its own self-protecting mechanism in place – allowing only so many people at a time into the area so as to minimize the human impact, controlled by a limit on ticket passes sold.

Cinque Terre sits on the coast of the Ligurian Sea - the northern Mediterranean in the western upper curve of the Italian coast. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site which affords it recognition and protection as a unique and extraordinary spot on earth. The five villages that make up the Cinque (five) Terre (land/villages) are Rio Maggiore, Manarola, Carniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso spread along 12 km of spectacular Mediterranean coast. The villages are built into the hill/cliff-sides and footpaths (sentieri in Italian) connect the villages as well as an underground train. Cars can only access the upper parts of some of the villages. Maps are available from the Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre - www.parconazionale5terre.it - as well as the "Carta" - ticket you purchase at the local train station which allows you to walk on the footpaths and ride the train between the villages. A word of caution - do not plan a tight schedule - every train was between 15-30 minutes late when we were there.

There are a number of path options - along the coast,or up through the olive orchards, or through tiny paths between grape vines. Be prepared for trail closures – mudslides, downed trees – nature at work. Whatever trail you take, be assured that there is no shortage of photo opportunities no matter the weather.

The combination of the ancient, the necessary and the modern is breathtaking – dry stone walls, terracing, bountiful food, the brilliant turquoise mixed with olive leaf silver, the yellow of the lemons and the pastel rainbow of the buildings stacked into the hillsides all illuminate the magnificence of humans and nature together - rather than spoils, riches on every level.

While we were there - we had to make an impromptu route change as there had been a mudslide on our path, closing the trail. Our unmarked path brought us to the back of one of the towns where we serendipitously found a wonderful, unadvertised hostel (Ostello in Italian) - www.hostel5Terre.com - off the beaten path where we could bed down for the night at 17 Euros per person and for an extra 5 euros have a large bowl of pasta and organic local basil pesto. It doesn't get much better than that!

In Manarola village there is one of the best smoothie and fruit drink places I have ever found - we had one that was apple,cardamon and lemon - divine! and another that was mandarin, melon and lemon. They also had drinks with an almond milk base. Everything we had was delicious and with wonderful combinations of flavors. They are up the hill on the right - can't miss them - and don't.

The local people were open and friendly. In a little ceramic shop in Manarola, run by people who have lived there all their lives, I purchased a huge, round platter hand-painted in pastel colors depicting each of the five villages. They were so delighted that I was buying the huge platter that they gave me 2 other hand-painted dishes - all of which I have hanging in my kitchen at home.

The official, local organic Pesto is made with the Parco Nazionale label on it and is incredible - made with local lemons, olive oil, and basil (basilico). Remember to buy a few jars to savor once you are home.

Cinque Terre is heaven for the eco-conscious traveler - you will not want to leave.