First-Class Guests in Sardinia

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The guests on our inaugural Giants of Sardinia tour excelled themselves with a little help from our stellar food producers.

They scampered to the top of the megalithic nuraghe Barumini.

View from the tower

They picked and brined olives with Davide Orro and his mother Angelica.

Picking olives was child’s play.

The labels designed by Davide’s sister Maura made our jars look professional.

They manipulated with dexterity the dough for Oristano wedding bread with Davide’s sister Ester.

Ester made it look easy.

And it was after a few sips of vernaccia di Oristano.

It was no problem at all tasting the rest of Davide’s superb wines with seductive labels designed by his other sister Maura.

Correct preparation for a tasting lunch

They learned the proper way to make Italian risotto with Marcello Stara’s rice under the tutelage of his friend Rossella.

Risotto should be creamy and the grains of rice firm but not crunchy.

With butcher Paolo Lilliu they overcame the difficulties of stuffing Sardinian sausages…

Brava!

…and ate them barbecued for lunch.

Delicious!

Even if their Casizolu, a Slow Food caciocavallo-type cheese, wasn’t quite perfect, it was lots of fun modelling the curd.

If you weren’t careful, you could end up with a cheese with a giraffe-length neck.

It seemed that making stuffed pasta culurgiones was going to defeat them, but practice makes perfect and success was theirs in the end.

Before (left) and after (right)

I’m glad we didn’t have to do battle with the Bronze Age nuragic giants at Cabras.

Fearsome warriors from 900 BCE

But I bet our guests would have succeeded in making a peace treaty, and the giants would have joined us for a blow-out feast at our agriturismo L’Orto!

Every meal was a feast at Agriturismo L’Orto.

Come on one of next year’s small group tours so you too can glow with achievement and join our guests’ hall of fame. Choose your tour now: http://www.sapori-e-saperi.com/small-group-tours.html 

Erica Jarman invites you on inspiring culinary tours of life behind the scenes that you won't find in any guidebook — get to know the food artisans and craftspeople of Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont and Liguria. Come join me and my Italian friends and dip into a lifestyle where lunch is more important than business. Find out more at Sapori e Saperi Adventures and follow Erica’s own adventures on her blog.

Slow Travel Tours is an affiliation of small-group tour operators who offer personalized trips in Italy, France and other European countries.

How to See Castellers in Catalonia

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It is no secret, for those who know me, that I am a little bit obsessed with the castellers  – human towers – in Catalonia. A tradition started and maintained in the northeast of the Iberian peninsula, the building of castells has become known worldwide through photos and videos of the Concurs de Castells, which I wrote about in my last blog post.

It is not easy to get tickets to the final of the Concurs de Castells, but it is easy to see castellers at other times of the year, in various towns and cities during festivals and even for practices and smaller exhibitions. Some festivals have more castell building than others, and some festivals have a lot more going on than just castells and are well worth checking out, such as Santa Tecla in Tarragona and La Merce in Barcelona.

If you are planning a trip to Catalonia, and want to see the castellers, the first place to start is the calendar of performances here. This useful website also has a lot of other information about the castellers. In the calendar, you can find the times and locations of the various competitions, festivals and other exhibitions throughout the year.

In a smaller. more regional festival this year – Firentitats a Sants in the neighborhood of Sants in Barcelona – several of a group I brought were invited to be a part of the “pinya,” the base of a castell. So sometimes when you go to the smaller exhibitions you can really get up close and personal.

Of course, the be-all end-all is to attend the Concurs de Castells, the bi-annual competition of the 42 best teams. I wrote in August about the challenge of getting tickets. Since that time, I have been to the last Concurs, in early October. It was an emotional and exhilarating weekend. When the crowd sings their national anthem, it is quite moving.

 

I mentioned in that post how difficult it is to get tickets for the final on Sunday. However you could, up until the day of the event itself, get a ticket to the semi-final on the Saturday evening before. For me it was very difficult to use a US credit card when trying to buy a ticket but I understand this was also a problem for some Spanish credit cards. In the end, I had a friend in Spain get me the Saturday night ticket and was offered a ticket for Sunday from someone with an extra, so I got to go both days.

It is worth it to catch the smallest of exhibitions in little towns, but if you get as obsessed as me, you will want to eventually get to the Concurs. If you ever do, please write to me so we can meet up for a vermut at the Tarraco Arena during the event.

Shannon

Shannon Essa leads small-group tours focusing on wine, food, and local culture in Croatia, Slovenia, Northern Italy and Northern Spain & Portugal.

Discover the backstreets of Venice or the wine, craft beer, and slow food of Piedmont, Italy. In Spain, experience the rustic foods and low-key lifestyle in beautiful Galicia, the wineries along the Camino de Santiago in the Bierzo region, or the justifiably famous wine regions and local food traditions of Catalonia. See many of Croatia’s most beautiful sights and learn about the rebirth of one of Europe’s oldest wine areas. And see all this with Shannon, who loves unique and out of the way wine and food experiences.

When not in Europe, Shannon does her eating and drinking in San Diego, California.

Slow Travel Tours is an affiliation of small-group tour operators who offer personalized trips in Italy, France and other European countries.

 

 

Revisiting the White Horses of the Camargue

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Exhilarating! Returning to the Camargue to Photograph the Beautiful White Horses

This summer, we were thrilled to return to the Camargue in the South of Provence, also known as the Wild West of France. For the second time, we got to experience one of the most exciting highlights on our Provence Photo Tour: Photographing the world-famous white horses charging through the marsh.

Here is a short video which gives you an idea of this exciting experience. Also find a sweet 1953 short film (Crin Blanc – White Mane) about the white horses directed by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse at the very bottom of this post.

 

The Camargue is Western Europe’s largest river delta – a fascinating region of swamps, marshes, rice paddies and medieval villages like Aigues Mortes which used to be the main Mediterranean departure point for the Crusaders. 

It is known for its UNESCO designated wildlife reserve with white flamingos and thousands of birds as well for the annual festival in Saintes Maries de la Mer in honor of the Black Sara, patron saint of the gypsies.

For us photographers, the draw are the beautiful white horses and the 4 photo sessions we arrange with them, 2 in the early morning starting before sunrise and 2 in the evening ending past sunset. Each session takes place in a different location. The basic setup is that the local cowboys called Gardiens safely guide the horses toward a line of photographers at thunderous speed and we all turn into rapid-fire sports photographers, trying to capture the movement and excitement of each run. It’s quite exhilarating.

White horses charging in surf in Camargue, France

We call this image of the white horses charging toward the photographers “water ballet.”

The Camargue horse is one of the oldest breeds of horses and indigenous of the harsh wetlands of the Camargue. Camargue horses live almost free within the marshes of the Rhone Delta throughout most the year. They are rounded up annually for health inspections and branding. They are relatively small horses which are born black or dark brown and change to a pale grey or white in adulthood. These horses have a sweet temperament and they are curious, checking our backpacks for treats and leaning their big white heads on our shoulders during rest periods. Jim and I are not horse people but we love interacting with these friendly creatures.

A Camargue cowboy, called a Gardian, riding through the surf on his white horse.

A Camargue cowboy called a Gardien guides his white horse through the surf.

Sunset in the Camargue as the Guardians herd their white horses back to the stables.

Sunset in the Camargue as the Gardiens herd their white horses back to the stables.

Sunrise in the Camargue with 2 Guardians on their white horses

Here is Dave, our tour participant from England, photographing 2 Gardiens in traditional costume at sunrise in the Camargue.

For the 4 sessions with the horses, we provide waders for each tour participant and we work with Patrice, a local professional photographer. He organizes the shoots, helps us get the correct settings for best results dialed in and communicates with the Gardiens during the runs. There are roughly 8 runs during each photo shoot, depending on how playful and energetic the horses are feeling. The waders are wonderful as they allow us to walk into the surf or kneel in the mud for the best angle. Once the action starts, we don’t want to worry about getting muddy or wet.

These photoshoots really are fantastic: A combination of calm, peace and quiet before and between runs and then a rush of energy and hightened awareness and presence when the horses race toward us and past us for a few minutes at the time.

Mare and foal are taking a leisurely break between photo shoots.

Mare and foal are taking a leisurely break between photo shoots.

Getting Ready in Camargue

A moment of “quiet before the storm” as our Provence Photo Tour group gets ready for the next run of the white horses.

In between runs we get to do some “chimping,” adjust our settings if needed, take a deep breath and get in position for the next run.

The best part . . . we get to do it again during our Provence Photo Tour in 2019. Come and join us for an unforgettable adventure.

Stillness after high-energy action at sunset in the Camargue

Stillness after high-energy action at sunset in the Camargue.

“White Mane” by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse:

J_M_150x150(1)Jim and Magrit have been photographing professionally and traveling in Europe for the past 20 years.

They started Photography Travel Tours in 2011 with the goal of educating and guiding photographers to some of the most beautiful and iconic scenes in Europe.

The tours are not just about getting great photographs but also have the side benefits of doing so in wonderful environments. Great food, wine, people, and ambiance.

Read more about Jim & Magrit and their wonderful photo tours here: (http://photographytraveltours.com/about/).

Slow Travel Tours is an affiliation of small-group tour operators who offer personalized trips in Italy, France and other European countries.