Historical Ancestral Mansion at Cambados, Galicia, Spain

The Parador group in Spain is a collection of historical monuments converted into luxury hotels, run by the Spain government.  Here at the Parador in Cambados, heart of the Albariño vineyards in Galicia, we had the opportunity of staying at what was once an ancestral mansion.  Its squarish layout betrays its somewhat austere past, but its interior decor was charming and inviting.  

How did monks live? Try staying at a Monastery-Hotel. Asturias, Northern Spain

Ever wonder how monks used to live?  Well, I am not suggesting an ascetic lifestyle but at least we could put ourselves in their habitat - an 8th century Benedictine monastery, to be exact.  

The Monastery of San Pedro de Villanueva was founded during the reign of the King Alfonso I (693-757, reigned 739-757) in Asturias, the northern province of Spain.  Every Asturian will tell you the glorious history of the Reconquest, when King Alfonso I eschewed a luxury life of a king and waged lifelong battles against the Moors, retaking the entire Northern Spain that was, during his father's generation, conquered by the Muslims.  

Massif des Calanques, a 6-million-year-old natural wonder near Marseille

Marseille is best known for its port, its 13th century Basilica, a massive cathedral, the fish market, the Arab market, and the heavenly bouillabaisse.  However, not all of Marseille is connected to city life and human history.  In fact, human existence is a recent addition to this amazing coastal city.

Drive down towards the southern coast of Marseille to a town called Sormiou.  Keep heading south until you pass all the houses to an area where car access is restricted.  Continue on foot for about 45 minutes until you reach the ocean.  Here, the coastline forms a roughly horizontal plane east-ward until Cassis, and it is here a geological event happened around 6 million years ago.

Medieval Catalonia: Millennium-old town of Besalú

If you think Barcelona is all you are going see when visiting the northeast part of Spain, you are missing out on some of the most beautiful sights of the region.  The county of Catalonia traces back a thousand years, when many  market towns thrived along the important trade routes north and south of the Pyrenees mountains.  The town of Besalú was documented since the 10th century.  


At that time, Spain as a country has not yet emerged; a region called Marca Hispania roughly covers what is now Catalonia, and was a zone created by Charlemagne as a defensive line against the moors occupying Al-Andalus in the south.  Before that, the Muslim forces had conquered as far north as Narbonne (250km north of Barcelona).  

With Charlemagne taking control of the region, peace reigned

Possible concert idea: "Shuck and Play" with music by Breton composers?

There are other composers who wrote great Nocturnes too, you know.  Guy Ropartz (1864 - 1955) was a French composer who added three beautiful Nocturnes to the piano repertoire. His music can sometimes take after Cesar Franck and Vincent d'Indy, especially apparent in the first Nocturne; at other times, like in the second and third Nocturnes his music offers a palette of stunning harmonic colours and nuances that are unmistakably French.  

Though living well into the 1950s, his late-romantic language

Kykkos Monastery - Cyprus at its most lavish and opulent

In the course of my travels, I try to seek out locations and sights that would stir and inspire me.  My heart is often drawn impatiently towards the destination, sometimes forgetting that the journey getting there is just as much an experience.  

The island of Cyprus is a Mediterranean paradise.  After working in Nicosia and Paphos, both bustling resort paradises (particularly the latter), I set off in search of one of the most lavish and religious icons of Cyprus, the Kykkos Monastery.  In distance, it is only 70km from Paphos,

Chott el Jerid, Tunisia - Dry Salt Lake the closest thing to Mars on Earth?

In the days of our grandfathers, sunrise was the tranquility that begins the cycle of daily routines.  As light filters through darkness, the sun rises every morning tempting the birth of a new day.  Today it is as much a spectacle as the Eiffel Tower or a football match, with no less commotion.  

True enough, while we were in Tunisia, we hired a tour guide who could bring us to the salt lake of Chott el Jerid where we could watch the sunrise, a sight that is bestowed upon us for millions of years.  Chott el Jerid is a dried up salt lake at the border with Algeria in southwest Tunisia.  With only about

D'Berto - The Best Seafood Restaurant in Spain!

Spain is a country that has insanely good food almost everywhere you go, and to crown an establishment (not only by me, but by every food critic in the Iberian Peninsular) as the best seafood restaurant is a royal feat.  It has to boast not only the best cooking but also the best ingredients, and it is not a title born out of snap judgment.  Welcome to Restaurante d'Berto.

d'Berto would probably win the title of the most obscure fine dining location - in O Grove, Galicia, Northwest Spain, no less.  I first met Berto months before I visited his restaurant,

Rashaville: rural tourism, an immersion in country life in Serbia

After my concert in Belgrade, Serbia, I had the immense fortune of meeting Russ Stanoylovic, a larger-than-life character who now runs a rustic ranch and hotel outside Belgrade with his amicable Chinese wife. Through my agent, Srdjan Stojanovic, who is no less a legendary character in the Serbian music circle, I was arranged a visit to Russ' ranch, affectionately called Rashaville.  

Some 60km outside Belgrade, or about an hour of scenic drive, a large banner spans across the country road

Studenica Monastery, one of four UNESCO Heritage Sites in Serbia

It is staggering to see how many Orthodox monasteries there are in Serbia.  Except for one or two modern structures, these monasteries all originated from the Middle Ages, built roughly from 12th century to 16th century. 

It is said that Christianity was spread to Serbia around the 4th century.  The most important monastery standing now is the Studenica (pronounced as Stu-den-ni-tcha), some 200km south of Belgrade, the capital.  Only part of the route is covered by the highway network; most of it winds about small towns and villages, and mountain gorges.  My advice is to

Oyster farm in Morlaix, Brittany, Northwest France

Brittany is well-known for its seafood, particularly Creuse oysters.  Creuses from the northern coast is exported all over the world, and could fetch handsome prices in select supermarkets and restaurants.  Are they worth the price you pay? - or are you simply paying middlemen? 

The famous oyster farms are located in Cancale, about 70km north of Rennes, the capital of Brittany.  It is a great place not just for the regular Creuse - I will get to that in another post.  However, in recent years, it has become a bustling tourist town, so I head out in search for more hidden spots along the

Bulnes, one of the remotest villages in Europe

Here's another suggestion for your next Spanish vacation: the province of Asturias.  After you've had enough seafood and beaches along the Mediterranean Sea or the Bay of Biscay, the breathtaking Asturian mountains will surely give you a whole new perspective of Spain. 

Almost parallel to the coastline of northern Spain is the mountain ranges of Naranjo de Bulnes (the Orange of Bulnes).  No idea why it alludes to orange as neither the colour nor the fruit is seen in the mountains, but Bulnes must be one of the most extraordinary destinations for tourists.

Several superlatives must be mentioned: Bulnes is one of the most remote villages in Europe, and it can now be reached by

Cava tasting at Pere Ventura, Sant Sadurni d'Anoia

No visit to Barcelona is complete without a tour of the Cava vineyards.  The province of Catalonia, of which Barcelona is the capital, is a heaven for foodies and wine lovers.  The Spanish bubbly - or Cava - is as much the soul of Catalans as Champagne to the French, or Riesling to the Germans; and here in Catalonia, Cava making is regarded as a time-honed family-kept tradition, not a cut-throat branding war that are played out by conglomerates.  Here in the Cava country, families and traditions still matter, and pledging allegiance to a wine maker is no less a sport than picking a football team.

This isn't my first time to Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, the capital of Cava making.  I have paid numerous visits to different wineries and vineyards, but one stood out among the rest:

Artisan Glassmaker Gerard Välvet

Right outside of Barcelona are three Cistercian monasteries that form a well-trodden pilgrimage route called the Cistercian Triangle.  The three monasteries, Santes Creus, Poblet, and Vallbona de les Monges are each planted in remote small towns steeply rooted in history and agricultural excellence.  While visiting Vallbona de les Monges, a town of less than 400 inhabitants, I stumbled across an interesting workshop across from the monastery.

Situated on the "main" road that looked to have been dug and paved in the Middle Ages, the high wall of the monastery

Tête-à-tête with Luis Aragunde, Mayor of Cambados, Galicia

My two concert trips to Cambados in Galicia (northwest Spain) had me totally convinced: not only is this truly an Albariño wine capital, it is also a seafood heaven. 

I also had the good fortune of making some new friends here, among them the honorable mayor of Cambados.  He was one burly, imposing man only countered by a gentleness and humour rarely wonted from a man of his stature.  His quiet manners masked the deep love he has for his hometown. 

Brunei Darussalam

I had the exceeding fortune of visiting and performing in the country-state of Brunei Darussalam, or quite simply known as Brunei.  Geographically situated on Borneo, the third largest island in the world after Greenland and New Guinea, it shares the island with Malaysia and Indonesia. 

In this small and peaceful country, the majority population of Muslim Malays lives side by side with the Chinese and a significant community of expatriates.  While the temperature of hate in the rest of the world has gone up to Pluto, the people here get by with each other like a well-harmonized

Qingyang Guzhen (青岩古镇), southwestern China

Qingyang Guzhen (青岩古镇), roughly translates to Old Town of Qingyang, is one of most important old towns preserved in the province of Guizhou in southwestern China.  Built in mid-14th century, it began as a military stronghold, but soon attracted a group of intelligentsias and craftsmen who shaped much of the culture as seen today.  In modern history, it was an important command post of the communist army, as well

Metula, Northern Israel, at an arm's length from Hezbollah

Finding a peaceful sanctuary these days isn't easy.  After my concert in Tel Aviv and a visit up north to the Sea of Galilee, I attempted to drive even further north - yes, towards the border with Lebanon, where the Israeli and the Hezbollah had stopped exchanging bombs since the Lebanon war in 2006, in what is now mostly vineyards and agricultural oasis.  Local wines from the nearby Golan Heights provide a perfect match for the fresh produce, and it seemed like a perfect place to get away from the piano.

The northern-most town of Israel is Metula.  Funded by

Pontevedra, a quinessential Galician town

My summer performances had brought me to Galicia, northwest Spain, where I based myself in the pretty town of Cambados for a few good days.  Exploring the region is easy, with quick connections to the regional motorway (or autovia in Spanish) and scenic country roads.

20 minutes southeast of Cambados is the ancient town of Pontevedra.  Situated at the mouth of a river, there had been intense trading activities since antiquity.  It later became one of the main ports of Galicia.  It is a popular myth that Greek

Cambados for foodies

Starting from my base in Cambados, I began exploring the culinary delights of this beautiful Galician town and its neighbours.  Here in the southern part of Galicia, bordering Portugal and with a long coastline, the main focus is no doubt about seafood.  A glimpse of the morning activities in Cambados will pretty rule out any doubts.

我來到西班牙西北部的坎瓦多斯 (Cambados)，除了是為了漂亮的風景外，亦是為了那裏的美食！坎瓦多斯位於加利西亞省的