Report Cards

ON CROATIA & SPAIN…

• In Barcelona, SPAIN, my partner, Jerry, and I tried Restaurant Cátedra (Via Laietana 5, Supteniente Navarro #19, Barcelona; phone 932 954 620 or e-mail cafecatedra@gmail.com), located within three blocks of Old Town and featuring good regional food at a reasonable price.

For about $15 each, we had the 3-course menu: salad or soup, choice of one of four entrées (among them, steak and salmon) and dessert plus bread and wine or beer. This was on Aug. 13, 2012.

• We disembarked in Dubrovnik, CROATIA, on Aug. 23 and, unable to find the shuttle bus...

REPORT ON AUSTRALIA…

Australia has become quite expensive, and Sydney will definitely get your wallet’s attention. Hotels in the heart of downtown are very pricey, but in October ’12 my husband and I found a jewel within walking distance for considerably less money. In the Potts Point area, the Victoria Court Hotel (122 Victoria St.; phone +61 2 9357 3200, fax 9357 7606) calls itself a boutique B&B.

The building dates from 1881, and there’s no elevator, but the rooms have modern conveniences. Each room is unique, so you need to ask if you want specific features. We paid...

REPORT ON JORDAN… For our November-December 2011 trip to Jordan, we hired a private driver, Jehad Abu Saeed, whom we highly recommend. Jehad was courteous and a good driver and had a clean and comfortable car. He showed up on time and was always waiting by the car when we finished touring a site. When we wanted to adjust our plans for the day, he was happy to oblige. He is not a guide and will not accompany you into the various sites, but, typically, there were guides available for hire at most of the sites we visited. For an airport pickup and dropoff and six days of touring, we paid...