Bric-a-Brac 23
Just Back From...Venice, a Navigator who'll take you to some of Latin America's less touristed corners, and some other newsletters I love.
JUST BACK FROM…VENICE
I’ve been in Rome for about a month—we rented an apartment (more on that in an upcoming post!), and one of my favorite parts about living here is how easy it is to visit other cities. On Monday, we took a train to Venice for a preview of the Homo Faber exhibition, which opens this Sunday, and is up until May 1—which means for any of you coming to the Biennale, this is something you should have on your radar. Besides the main exhibit on San Giorgio Maggiore Island, there are self-guided tours of artisan workshops across the city that you can discover and arrange through the Homo Faber site. (Their site also has recently launched a very cool guide to visiting artisans worldwide!) We visited Fortuny on Giudecca, where we fell in love with one printed fabric after the next, the studio of silk-screen printer Gianpaolo Fallani, and the 18th-century weaving workshop of Bevilaqua, which produces the most beautiful rich fabrics. Lastly, we headed to the workshop of Battiloro, the last goldbeater in Italy—and before this visit, I had no idea what that even meant! Artisanal gold leaf creation is a multi-step process: a gold ingot is pounded into a micro-thin piece of gold leaf, and one part of this is goldbeating. Mario Berta Battiloro takes a packet of gold leaves that have been bound up and with a weighted hammer (8 kilos), and beats the gold into a thinner leaf. It’s a fascinating process to watch, and the fact that it takes place in Titian’s garden—even better!
We stayed at the Hotel Danieli, my first time there—I’d been dying to check it out since my first visit to Venice in my early 20s, when I peeked in but was too intimidated to go further than the front desk. To walk into that “lobby”—there really isn’t anything like it. While the hotel celebrates its 200th birthday this year, the oldest part of the hotel, the Palazzo Dandolo, dates from the 14th century. We stayed in the historic part, which meant we got to walk through its Venetian Gothic grand noble floors on the way to our room. But there are actually two other palaces that make up the hotel—Palazzo Casa Nuova (formerly the city’s treasury) and Palazzo Danieli Excelsior, which was beautifully redesigned by Jacques Garcia. If you want a room with a view of the Grand Canal, go for the Jacques Garcia rooms—many on the upper floors have balconies and great views. Speaking of views, I’m not sure there’s a better place to have your morning coffee than at their rooftop restaurant.
On the food front—we were there in the early part of the week when many of the restaurants on my list were closed, but we had a lovely lunch at Da Ivo, which has such a charming interior space with hanging copper pots and red-and-pink checked tablecloths and napkins. We all thought it felt like the Fontaine de Mars of Italy. Matt had an excellent cuttlefish risotto, I had a delicious seafood pasta, and I loved that they served Bocconcino Dai Dai (a single-bite Italian version of a Klondike bar) at the end. Our friend Stella from the beautiful textile shop Chiarastella Cattana sent us to Ai Artisti for lunch, a place with a great wine list and a menu that goes beyond the usual suspects. We couldn’t go to Venice and not go to Harry’s Bar, where we always order a Martini and their ham/cheese toast. This time we were with Venetian friends who wanted to actually eat dinner there, and I have to say the risotto with peas was delicious, although the sticker shock on the menu is real. One of my favorite discoveries was the Select spritz at the brand new Venice Venice Hotel, which we were brought to by our friend, the Venetian fine art photographer Renato D’Agostin. They do something with the froth of the spritz that is so good, and there’s nothing better than enjoying it canalside at sunset.
WORTH FOLLOWING!
Michael Williams has an excellent newsletter called A Continuous Lean (also on Substack) and last week he did a great post, “Dad Travel Hacks,” where he shared his own and 13 other dads’ advice on family travel. In order to access this content, you do have to subscribe to his newsletter, but if you’re a parent and you have travel with little ones in your future, this intel is priceless. And today on the Dinner A Love Story newsletter, Jenny Rosenstrach shares all of her favorites from Kiawah Island, where she has been going for 30 years now! And if you don’t follow my husband’s Wm Brown Weekly yet, I hope you start to now!
THE NAVIGATOR
Katalina Mayorga, CEO and co-founder of El Camino Travel and co-owner of guesthouse Casa Violeta in Granada, Nicaragua
We first heard of Katalina in our Condé Nast Traveler days, when her company partnered on the magazine’s Women Who Travel trips. Their in-depth approach to local culture made small group travel—something we admittedly haven’t done much of—sound really appealing, with visits organized around local artisans, chefs, and other creatives in places like Cuba, Oaxaca, and Cartagena, Colombia, Katalina’s homeland. El Camino has grown a lot since, with trips in nearly a dozen countries, and they have just announced a partnership with Coveteur for the launch of a series of design-centric trips.
Tell us about you and your company.
At El Camino, we are passionate about empowering women to travel boldly and off the beaten path. We specialize in hidden gems, ungoogleable travel advice, and exceptional small group trips. I never meant to get into the travel industry. A quick conversation (about drug cartels) with a taxi driver in Guatemala in May of 2014 dramatically changed the course of my life and veered me from international development to hospitality and tourism. El Camino Travel is the culmination of my experiences working extensively throughout Latin America for over a decade, and my creative side that’s obsessively on the hunt for unforgettable people and places that make a destination tick.
What’s the entry level to talk to you?
Our small group trips are on average $3,400 a person to join and we travel to places like Colombia, Cuba, Oaxaca, and Bolivia. We recently have expanded beyond Latin America and have added trips to Morocco and Greece. We also have an annual membership that is $100 a year, where you get access to a travel forum moderated by top-tier destination experts, two extensive travel guides a month, and a community of other bold women travelers.
What is the sweet spot of your expertise?
We like to go to destinations we think are often misunderstood with a global audience and showcase a dynamic cultural and creative lens that is often not written about at large. We want our travelers to walk away from our trips inspired and energized by these destinations and at times have their own preconceptions of the place challenged.
A favorite experience/trip you’ve planned that best represents your travel philosophy…
In creating our itineraries for our small group trips, we always leverage the power of group economics to make experiences that are usually deemed “luxury” or that you would not be able to get on your own more accessible. For example, on our Bolivia trip, we plan a gourmet picnic lunch in the middle of the salt flats (the Salar de Uyuni) of Bolivia, with no other tourists around, where we feel like we have the whole Salar to ourselves.
A favorite hotel/lodge/house you love and go back to again and again…
I am not just saying this because it is our guesthouse, but I could go back to Casa Violeta over and over again. It is a tropical sanctuary where you feel like mother nature is taking care of you. You wake up in the morning to the chirping of tropical birds all around you, and in the evening, there is nothing more relaxing than being on the terrace with a passion fruit margarita in hand, watching the technicolor sunset drop over Mombacho Volcano to the South. I also love that it is located in the wildly colorful colonial town of Granada, Nicaragua, which is filled with so many characters who have become close friends.
The most memorable meal you’ve had while traveling…
Mosquito Supper Club in New Orleans, hands down. Five years later and I still dream about their homemade fried soft-shell crabs and etouffee. I also love that it is served family-style, it is BYOB, and it is located in a stunning home in the Garden District. You truly do feel like you are being welcomed into a home and not a restaurant.
A not-to-be-missed favorite experience in your region of expertise…
Floating in inner tubes down the Don Diego River in the jungles outside of Tayrona National Park in Colombia. It is absolutely blissful, and you will often pass the Kogui indigenous community walking down the banks and fishing.
What is a place we should consider traveling to that could really use our dollars, and what is a place we should put on pause because, even though we love it, it sees too many tourists?
If you’re considering Costa Rica, I highly recommend checking out Nicaragua. It has over 300 miles of emerald coastline, amazing surf, volcanos, jungle, lakes, and colonial towns. Basically everything you would want in Costa Rica, plus more, and a quarter of the crowds.
Underrated Location, overrated location, personal favorite, recent discovery?
Underrated: The community in Granada, Nicaragua
Overrated: Sayulita, Mexico (head to San Pancho instead)
Personal Favorite: The white adobe homes and colorful doors of Barichara, Colombia
Recent Discovery: The wild coastline, jungles, and hot springs of Choco, Colombia
The one thing you always pack…
A bold lipstick. It can quickly dress up any outfit.
What is something you wished we all knew or were better at as travelers?
Push yourself to not follow the crowds and only go to the places you see all over on Instagram, i.e. do not travel for the ‘gram. This quickly leads to overtourism and has a negative impact on the local community. What has unfortunately happened in Tulum, Mexico, is a perfect example of this. Instead, focus on places not on your radar, where you can still have an incredible experience and where tourism continues to be a net positive.
Thanks for the shout out xxxx