Accommodations Worldwide

Europe

After numerous trips to PARIS during which we stayed in hotels, my two traveling companions and I decided to try apartment living for our 2-week visit in April ’04. We saw the classified ad in ITN for Marie-France LeFebvre’s studio apartment (contact Marie at 15 Chatham Ct., Newport Beach, CA 92660; phone/fax 949/718-1374 or e-mail mariebalboa@cox.net). The studio is furnished with a queen-size bed and a double mattress in the loft, and we believed it would suit our needs.

You can’t imagine our excitement when we punched in the security code to go from the street into the courtyard and turned the key in the lock of “our” ground-floor apartment. Unlike with hotel rooms, we had a kitchen, a washer, room to stow our clothes and luggage and still lots of room to walk around!

The apartment is located in the eighth arrondissement on rue Cambaceres, within easy walking distance of the Champs-Élyseés at the Rond Point. There is a grocery store with a bakery only two short blocks away and two Métro stations very close by plus many wonderful restaurants to explore in the vicinity. The Ministry of the Interior, just across the street, gave us a sense of security around the clock.

The apartment was perfect for us, and at $2,150 for the two weeks plus a refundable deposit of $375, the price could not be beat. It was a real treat to live as Parisians for our stay and be located so close to many of the city’s tourist attractions.

— SUZANNE BURROWS, Merced, CA

My husband and I spent three weeks in SPAIN, April 10-May 2, ’03. Following are some of the places we sampled.

• Hotel Husa Oriente (Ram-blas 45, Barcelona, Spain; phone 933-022-558, fax 934-123-819, e-mail horiente@husa.es or visit www.hotelhusaoriente.com) — nicer and pricier than what we usually choose, but since it was Holy Week we were lucky to find a room at all.

Well located. Clean. There were elevators. The desk staff spoke English. €131 ($156) plus tax for our double, a huge breakfast included.

• Abba Fonseca Hotel (Plaza San Blas 2, Salamanca, Spain; phone 923-011-010, fax 923-011-011, e-mail fonseca@abbahoteles.com or visit www.abbahoteles.com) — only a 10-minute walk from the center of the Old City. Our top-floor window framed the Cathedral over tiled roofs.

This was a large, new hotel with 83 rooms. Very clean. Elevators. English-speaking desk staff. The downside was poor hall lighting on the upper floors.

For our double room, we paid €94 ($112) plus €11 ($13) to park our car in their very secure basement (there was really no available alternative) plus €11 per person for breakfast.

Due to its location facing the inner courtyard of the building, our room was quiet and good for sleeping in spite of the Holy Week processions, which seemed to go all hours of the day and night.

• Hostal El Triunfo (Corregidor Luis de la Cerda 79, Cordoba, Spain; phone 957-498-484, fax 957-486-850, e-mail reservas@htriunfo.com or visit www.htriunfo.com) — situated right smack across the little street from the huge Mosque-Cathedral.

This 2-star hostel had 50 rooms. Clean. The desk staff spoke English. There was a bar and restaurant. When we were there, they were just installing an elevator in their pretty, marble-floored lobby. For our double room with a view of the Cathedral, we paid €60 ($71) including tax.

• Hospederia La Sinagoga (Reyes Catolicos 22, Avila, Spain; phone 920-352-321, fax 920-353-474 or e-mail lasinagoga@airtel.net) — tucked away down a little alley off Reyes Catolicos. Hard to find but well worth the hunt.

This 15th-century building, once a synagogue, was all new and clean inside. It had 21 rooms and one suite on three or so floors, and there was an elevator. The staff, friendly and helpful, were Spanish-speaking only. €66 ($79) for our double room and €12 ($14) each for breakfast.

• Hosteria Grau (Ramelleres 27, Barcelona, Spain; phone 933-018-135, fax 933-176-825 or visit www.hostalgrau.com) — well located not far from the Ramblas and a metro station.

Clean, basic rooms, with and without bath, on at least three floors. There is no elevator and the staircases are narrow. The desk staff spoke some English and were friendly and helpful. Double with bath, €63 ($75). The rooms didn’t have TVs, but there was a TV lounge on the second floor.

The attached café was not open on weekends.

• Hostal Martin (Atocha 43, Madrid, Spain; phone 914-299-579, fax 914-290-964 or e-mail info@hostalmartin.com).

I have good news and bad news about this place. The good news is that it was handy to a metro station and there was a good bakery a few doors away and a laundromat and Internet around the corner.

The bad news? It was noisy and really hard to spot from the street, since it begins on the second floor of a huge, old 5-story building. When you find it, you are buzzed through from street level through beautiful, old, heavy, carved wooden doors fitted with antique brass locks. There was an elevator, thank goodness. The reception staff spoke English.

Rooms were shabby but clean and had TVs. There were many, many rooms along the wide, tiled corridors with guests coming and going all night long. The tiles echoed their footsteps, so unless you sleep like the dead, you’ll hear it.

We stayed there two nights, twice, and although we are light sleepers we did like the place, the price and the location (the Prado is only a 10-minute walk away). For our double with bath, we paid €48 ($57) including tax.

— FLORENCE DRAKE, Readfield, ME

Here are noteworthy hotels from a 3-week visit to TURKEY in May ’04.

• Hotel Cesmeli (Gumufiçeken Caddesi 6, Bursa, Turkey; phone ++ 90 0224/224 1511).

This was my favorite semibudget (for Turkey) hotel of my trip. It’s in the city center of Bursa, just off the main drag, Ataturk Caddesi, but has rooms that are clean and QUIET. Double-glazed windows keep even the sound of the call to prayer low. Ask for a room at the back; there’s no view, but the surrounding buildings help muffle the noise.

Although the room was plain, it was neat, clean and comfortable with a TV and a mini-bar. Price for a single was $23 and came with an excellent buffet breakfast. To the traditional Turkish breakfast (bread, tea, cucumber, tomato, cheese and olives) was added pastries, eggs, fresh strawberries and cherries.

• Hotel Akay (1054 Sokak, No.3, Selcuk, Turkey; phone ++ 90 0232/892 3172, e-mail hotelakay@hotmail.com or visit www.hotelakay.8m.com).

This budget hotel was very welcoming, picking me up at the bus station and driving me to and from Ephesus (three kilometers) at no charge.

The room was pleasant and clean. All the room doors opened onto a hall balcony above a pretty little garden below.

A traditional Turkish breakfast plus an egg was included in the room price. Breakfast was served on the roof restaurant and one could purchase other meals there.

The price quoted for a single in May ’04 was $18, but when I told them my plans were not definite, a few days later they offered me a room for $12 — a real bargain.

I also liked the location near the edge of town and close to the old Isabey Camii Mosque and St. John’s Basilica. Internet access was available in the lobby.

• Kadir’s Yörük Top Tree House (Olympos/Antalya; phone ++90 [0] 242 892 1250, e-mail treehouse@superonline.com or visit www.kadirstreehouses.com) — in an unusual camp-like setting at the foot of a mountain and a mile or two from a stony Mediterranean beach, near the sparse ruins of Olympos. There’s no real town here, just a few homes, pensions and tree houses, a couple of cafés and a mosque down the road.

A backpacker’s and hiker’s delight, Kadir’s is THE original tree house complex and is very interesting. There are bungalow rooms and tree houses. To get a private bathroom, one needs to book a bungalow room for $19 per person, not per room.

A disadvantage is that the place was built by a “wannabee” carpenter, so both sound and cigarette smoke come through the walls from adjacent rooms. To avoid smoke, one would need a tree house, which has no private bath.

It was a bit noisy at night (and this was during off-season, in May ’04), but the food was good. Breakfast and communal supper were included.

The bus drops you off a few miles away, where you pick up a dolmus (minibus) to go the last leg. Internet access is available. You can also get picked up here for a gulet trip.

— PAT MINAMI, Rockville, MD