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What interesting places are undiscovered by the American tourist? I sigh
with despair when I'm asked that, as I frequently am. But then I gamely
attempt to answer travel's most difficult question by offering:
• Italy's
province of Piedmont ("Piemonte") is largely unvisited by Americans,
though it's about to be inundated by them in February 2006 when the Winter
Olympics take place in and around Turin ("Torino"), the region's capital --
ice sports in Turin itself, mountain sports in the nearby villages of
Sestriere, Cesana, Pragelato and Bardonecchia. If you get there before that
snowy time, you'll encounter low hotel and meal prices in a lightly
touristed Alpine-like area (the northwest corner of the uppermost part of
Italy, squeezed between the French Riviera and the mountains) that has many
of the attributes of popular Tuscany: superb wines (Barolo and Asti Spumante
are bottled there), castles and cathedrals, Benedictine monasteries and
magnificent lakes (Maggiore, for one).
The big city of Turin is the company and factory headquarters of Fiat,
and yet with its broad, tree-lined boulevards flanked by handsome
townhouses, it is known as the "Paris of Italy." It has several world-class
museums, a 15th-century cathedral housing the Shroud of Turin, a royal
palace and dozens of other attractions of artistic and historic merit. Why
so lightly visited? Stumps me.
(2) The "autonomous region" of
Asturias in northern Spain (next to the
Basque country) is a second European area largely unvisited by Americans,
and that's a failing on our part. It has green rolling hills and a snowy
mountain range (Picos de Europa) with some of southern Europe's best skiing;
absolutely marvelous food, especially cheeses; lovely mountain and seacoast
towns; and ancient historic buildings including pre-Romanesque churches and
palaces dating back to 800 A.D.
It is also the only chunk of Iberia never conquered by the Moors (the
Visigoth kings hunkered down in Asturias, kept Christianity alive, and
launched the reconquest of Spain from the town of Covadonga). The capital of
Asturias, Oviedo, is a gracious, mostly belle epoque cultural center known
in the rest of Spain for the awarding of the Prince of Asturias prizes,
Spain's Pulitzers/Nobels/Oscars rolled into one.
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AC Forum Oviedo Hotel ****
The AC Forum Oviedo Hotel is centrally located right in the city centre of
Oviedo between the two stations and just five minutes away from the
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Last Minute Hotels Oviedo  |
Yet Asturias is mostly known only to Spaniards, French or the occasional
other Europeans, who come especially for its outdoors activities (the area
east of Oviedo is full of outfitters for kayaking, mountain biking, hiking
and horseback riding). Costs are much lower than in Spain's major tourist
cities -- and priced almost as they once were elsewhere in Spain.
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