Accommodations Worldwide

My old haunt in Paris is Hôtel Esméralda (4 rue St. Julien-le-Pauvre 5e, Paris, 75005, France; phone 33-1-43-54-19-20). Its location on the Left Bank just across from Notre Dame is ideal, but the hotel has gone downhill over the years.

On my visit in June ’07, Room 12 had torn wallpaper and the toilet seat was not working well. Worst, the room smelled of mold, to which I am extremely allergic. However much I regret it, I can’t stay there the next time I am in Paris.

If you don’t have mold allergies, it is a delightful old place, built in the 17th century. The “good” rooms are...

My two girlfriends and I took a 2-week independent trip to Italy, June 7-21, 2006. We always plan our trips ourselves (no packages), customizing them for what we want to see and leaving plenty of free time in between the sightseeing for cafés, hiking, etc.

This trip included Venice (plus Murano, Burano and Torcello islands), our hiking the entire Cinque Terre trail, Florence (with a stop to tour Pisa en route) and Rome.

In the Cinque Terre, five villages on the Ligurian Sea linked by wonderful trails, we stayed in a B&B called Ca’ d’ Andrean (visit www.cadandrean.it)....

My wife and I always try to rent an apartment for a stay longer than a few days in major cities. We were not doing well for our recent trip to Athens, GREECE, June 8-14, 2007, until we found a one-bedroom flat on the Internet.

Kodrou Plaka (Kodrou St. 5, Plaka, Athens; phone owner Stefan Järhad at 011 32 479 414 910 or visit www.yourstayandtravel.com) is in an excellent location. It was an easy walk (with our roller suitcases) from the Syntagmatos Square metro station — no small matter for us, what with the poor reputation of Athens’ taxi drivers!

In somewhat of an older...