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Carolyn Bánfalvi explores one of Europe's most remarkable flea markets

My husband wanted a black, wide-brimmed hat, the kind the Gábor Roma of Transylvania wear. So during the second week in October, the plan was clear: we would head to the sprawling annual open-air flea market in the western Transylvanian village of Negreni (Feketetó in Hungarian). Cars are parked in fields among hayricks, and the market is spread on both banks of the Crişul Repede river between the towering mountains.

The distinctively dressed Gábor Roma pride themselves on being shrewd marketers. The women wear long, pleated, brightly colored skirts and headscarves. The men wear the hats. They sell everything from aluminum pots and shiny copper pálinka (brandy) stills to skirts and, of course, hats. We quickly found the perfect one and a Gábor couple quoted us 200 lei ($70). My husband (coincidentally named Gábor, a common Hungarian name) peered at himself in their car door mirror. "100 lei," the woman snapped. "OK, 80 lei ($27). But don't tell my husband." Gábor now had his Gábor hat. And he had friends everywhere. "Szevasz Gábor" (Hi Gábor) or "Te Gábor vagy?" (Are you Gábor?), they called out. They quietly asked how much he paid for the hat, and then congratulated him on getting a good deal.

During my recent visit to Alaska, one of my favorite places was the Kodiak Island Brewing Company, where I had the chance to chat with owner and master brewer Ben Millstein. Ben's an exceedingly friendly guy with a big bushy beard, and he was more than willing to pull us a few samples, which drain directly from the huge vats he keeps in the back.

A home-brewer-turned-businessman, Ben created a hub for local fishermen and off-duty Coast Guard officers who work nearby, and I watched as a steady stream of them came in for an afternoon brew (one had offered to work in exchange for his beer, and was tending to the tanks between visits to the tap). His mostly-organic selection of delicious beers comes with inventive names: Liquid Sunshine, Island Mist, Stab in the Dark, and of course, the beer that made him famous in these parts, the Sarah Pale Ale.

As a souvenir, I picked up a few of the posters they created for the brew--depicting the former governor as a winking St. Pauli Girl. The irresistible tagline: "You Betcha It's Good."

Kodiak Island Brewing Company 338 Sheilkoff Ave, Kodiak, Alaska +1 907 486-ALES.

Photo: Janelle Nanos. Image, Kodiak Island Brewing Company.

Traveling on foot gets a whole lot more interesting when you're barefoot...kind of. Amelia Mularz explains.

I decided a few weeks ago that barefoot is the way to go. I had just finished reading Christopher McDougall's new book, Born to Run, an account of the writer's adventures with the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico's Copper Canyon. The Tarahumaras are a tribe of ultramarathoners, running 150-mile races for fun and outlasting some of the Western world's fiercest athletes. They are also known for their athletic footwear--nothing more than sandals fashioned from tire strips. Halfway through Born to Run I was curious about barefoot-style running (ditching all the padding of modern-day running shoes for a more natural feel). By the end of the book I couldn't look at my Nikes the same way. I had to go barefoot.   

Of course, barefoot in New York City is just crazy talk. The shattered glass collection just outside my apartment's front gate is enough to send any barefoot novice running back for her shock absorbers, gel insoles, and heel pads. Fortunately there's Terra Plana--a British shoe company that makes sneakers that have the barefoot effect, minus all the abrasions.

I snagged a pair of Terra Plana's Vivo Barefoot shoes. The idea is to strip the shoe down so that the foot can perform as it was naturally intended to--landing midfoot rather than on the heel. This shortens the stride and keeps the feet beneath the hips, which many argue is a healthier, more balanced form. In addition to realigning natural posture, the shoes also flex and strengthen muscles within the foot and stimulate all 200,000 nerve endings.

As an intern in D.C. for the first time, I am receptive to all suggestions for what to do in the city. So, when Daniel Pink suggested a visit to the National Building Museum to learn about design in his book A Whole New Mind, I decided to go.

After standing in the Great Hall for a while, overwhelmed by the expanse of open space so out of place in a city, I headed to the gift shop. An hour and a half went by, and I finally had to convince myself to leave the store and look at the exhibits before the museum closed. We visit museums for the exhibits, to learn and not to shop, right?

The evidence is not so clear: notice the gift shops in almost every museum, at most historical sites, and those that amusement park visitors have to walk through after they get off popular rides. In a way, it makes sense--we buy mementos to remind us of experiences that meant something to us. However, often the items sold in gift shops are chintzy little things that can be found anywhere you see people wearing fanny packs.

In order to help you avoid the schlock and zero in on something truly one-of-a-kind, Kate McCormack (Traveler web intern) and I decided to use the model of Traveler's Authentic Shopping Guide for a tiny, niche market: gift shops at Washington, D.C., museums. Continue past the jump to get our ranking of these shops and for our suggestions on what to buy at each.

Traveler writer Randy B. Hecht gives us some tips and online resources to help travelers avoid buying bogus baubles.

In our April "Personal Shopper," we take a look at steps you can take to be sure the gemstone you bring home from foreign travels is authentic and worth what you paid for it. In the article, we noted that techniques for fabricating synthetic precious and semi-precious stones are so sophisticated that it's easy to be fooled by fakes. Edward Boehm, vice president of the non-profit International Colored Gemstones Association (ICGA), warns, "A lot of people in our trade get burned--not just the consumer."

If shopping for an expensive gemstone is on your travel itinerary, it's a good idea to do some research before you pack your bags. Several online resources can help assure you that you're buying from a reputable dealer.

Boehm recommends requesting a lab report on your prospective purchase. They're not expensive and should be available for high-end merchandise. The ICGA website provides a listing of reputable labs worldwide. In Bangkok, for example, you want to look for reports issued by GemResearch Swisslab, the Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences, the Gemological Institute of Thailand, or the Gemological Institute of America. Be sure your retailer offers a report from an organization on that list.

Friend of IT Hunter Braithwaite braves the winter doldrums to find the best bookstores in Berlin.

The Pro QM bookstore in Berlin

A few months after the publishing world gathered in Frankfurt for the annual book fair, I went to Berlin to catch up on my reading. Northeastern Germany in January seems closer to martyrdom than a vacation, but if authentic travel has taught us anything, it is that you have to take the bad with the good. Food, accommodations, even the weather are best experienced as locals do. And in the winter, Berliners stay inside and read. The resulting tide of bookshops keeps one busy for weeks. Guessing that this blog is read mainly by Anglophones, I'll only list those with English titles. After that, a brief mention of the one sport that you can do in Berlin this winter (with the obvious exception of competitive döner-eating).

Start in hip Prenzlauer Berg at Saint Georges Bookshop (Wörtherstrasse 77, off the M2 Marienburgerstrasse).  The shop carries standard literary fare and boasts an impressive used books collection. When I went they had taken in a local street cat that was trying with all its might to escape whenever someone walked in through the front door. In the back room you can sink into a chesterfield sofa and read a used copy of Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz or a collection of Philip K. Dick's stories. They also do a movie night on Tuesdays. The 2-euro admission comes with a glass of wine or a beer. Saint Georges is open 11-8 p.m. during the week, 11-7 p.m. on Saturday, and is closed on Sunday.

While not technically an English Bookstore, Pro QM (+49 (0) 30 247 285 20) shouldn't be missed.  Located at Almstadtstrasse 48-50 (U8, Weinmeisterstrasse), the shop manages to stay hidden in the heart of popular shopping district Mitte. One way to classify bookstores is by how they apply order to chaos. Though the Pro QM stocks thousands of books that range from urban planning to philosophy to typography to environmental politics, the shop itself is spacious, beautiful, and organized with a ruthless German efficiency. Most of the titles are in English, and while some can be a bit expensive, just browsing makes you smarter. Pro QM is open Monday through Saturday, 11-8.

I've just returned from my visit to Israel, and since I finally have some time to actually blog, I'm going to be catching you up on many of my favorite experiences from the trip:

I already mentioned how fabulous the markets were in Tel Aviv, but there's something particularly interesting about arriving at the Mahane Yehuda street market on a Friday afternoon right before the start of Shabbat. To put it simply, it was frantic, as people throughout the city were doing their last-minute shopping before sundown (5:07 p.m. that day). In the midst of the madness, I was thrilled to find a moment of quiet, in the form of the Tower & Story Museum, a small gallery space that's tucked between market stalls. Photographer Yoram Amir has photographed scenes from around Jerusalem, and hung them in distressed window frames that are scattered throughout the apartment/gallery. But what's even better is that the second story balcony provides a great photo op of the market below. Check it out, along with other photos, after the jump.

Gary Krist is the author of "Buy, Buy Shanghai," a feature story in the March issue of Traveler which recounts his search for the perfect anniversary gift for his wife. Here, he offers another insider tidbit on where to snag some designer frames.
 
In a city known for good deals, some items stand out as particular bargains, including freshwater pearls, custom-made clothing, and, of course, counterfeit copies of everything from designer handbags to computer software (remember that such products violate intellectual property rights and may be seized by U.S. Customs). My vote for biggest bargain in town, though, goes to prescription eyeglasses.

Behind Shanghai Railway Station metro stop is a hard-to-find underground mall containing scores of tiny optician stalls where you can get glasses while you wait for under $40 (under $30 if you bargain energetically). I visited them one morning with my American prescription in hand and had a delightful time sipping tea and making (largely pantomimed) conversation with a sales clerk while her colleagues located lenses of the proper strength, ground them to fit the frames I chose, and had them tinted for sunglasses. Total expenditure: about 45 minutes and 270Y ($40), much cheaper than back home. To find the place, take the metro to Shanghai Railway Station and follow the little blue signs to Sanye Wholesale Eyeglass Bazaar.

Photo: Justin Guariglia. For more photos from the story, check out our Shanghai photo gallery.

In the March issue of Traveler, author Gary Krist scours Shanghai looking for the perfect anniversary gift for his wife (check out Justin Guariglia's photo gallery for a preview). What would have been a daunting task became a whirlwind tour of Shanghai's marketplaces, thanks to a few Shanghai-based family members acting as tour guides.

It certainly makes for a good read, and it clues you in on Shanghai's myriad of shopping opportunities, but what about the rest of us? What about the shopper-travelers that don't have plugged-in family members to help guide them to the perfect purchase?

Enter Francine Martin.

Francine's tour company, East of the Sun, specializes in exactly that. Just tell them what kind of shopping you want to do, and off you go on a personalized tour of Shanghai's markets, specialty shops, and boutiques. With a little expert advice, translation help, and some guidance, visitors are sure to find what they are looking for (and catch a glimpse of the Shanghai that tourists often miss).

We decided to pick Francine's brain about Shanghai and the pros and cons of a personalized shopping tour. Full Q&A with Shanghai's shopping guru after the break.

Friend of IT and National Geographic visual communications coordinator Megan Seldon has the latest news on what's happening at our London store.

The recent opening of the National Geographic flagship store on London's famed Regent Street has the town abuzz with excitement. Spread across 19,375 square feet and set on three different levels, the store celebrates the Society's rich history and embraces all aspects of global culture.

One of the first things you'll notice when you step inside is that the walls throughout the store are bathed in black to capture the vibrant colors of the prints and products featured inside. The Marketplace features a large scope of National Geographic Society products, from the magazines and books to unique handcrafted items from global artisans, like original artifacts from indigenous tribes or hand-stitched camel-hide bags from Kenya.

For avid travelers, the store also offers a travel line that ranges from casual apparel to adventurous expedition gear. Shoppers can give the merchandise a try in the store's product-testing area, featuring wind gusts and extreme temperature changes--all of which are just part of a typical day in the life of a National Geographic explorer.

Good news for fans (and there were many) of the "50 United States and their Mottos" map created by artist Emily Wick. Wick emailed us yesterday to let us know that she's created a linoleum block print of our dear Washington D.C. to commemorate the inauguration. We may not have representation in Congress (there's a reason why our license plates read "Taxation Without Representation") but at least we're well represented here.

Contact Wick to find out more information about ordering prints.

I was instantly entranced when I recently came across this map of the "50 United States and their Mottos" by visual artist Emily Wick. Wick designed the map by tracing the states from a coloring book to create linoleum block prints, then carved in each of the official state mottos - many of which often appear in Latin on the state flag - creating a map not only of the country, but its multifaceted ideals. Click through the gallery to find your state and some of their surprising slogans. My personal favorites: "She Flies with Her Own Wings," for the great state of Oregon, the odd "To Be Rather than to Seem," from North Carolina, and "Eureka," from California.

Wick gave me the full scoop on how she put the map together. Find out after the jump...

We've already looked to Paris for our World of Christmas series, but were smitten with their many Christmas markets. Luckily, friend of IT Julie Falconer has the scoop on where you can pick up Parisian holiday treats.

Skip Strasbourg. Forgo Germany. If you want traditional European Christmas markets, head to Paris. The City of Light is getting ever more famous for its holiday markets, and this year the number of wooden market stalls scattered throughout the city seems to be at an all-time high.

One of the largest and most well known of the Parisian Christmas markets is at La Défense. If you only have time to visit one market, this should be it.  Away from the city center, the traditional wooden chalets provide a stark contrast to the steel and glass of the city's newest office buildings. The juxtaposition makes the market seem even more surreal than the five-foot-wide saucepans full of bratwurst.  

The market at La Défense is home to dozens of stalls offering everything from winter scarves to Belgian waffles, mulled wine to beaded bracelets. There are plenty of chalets with seating areas where you can rest your legs while enjoying a cup of mulled wine and listening to live music.

Another of the biggest (and newest) Parisian Christmas markets is on the Champs-Elysées. The market lines both sides of the street from Place de la Concorde to the roundabout at Avenue Montaigne.  It features traditional food vendors, huge outdoor sculptures, and a small children's carnival. Its wooden chalets fly flags from all over the world, while inside the merchants sell a plethora of holiday crafts like handmade silver jewelry and wooden toys.

Since I've been blogging a bit about maps lately (both the incredibly detailed, and distinctly less so) I couldn't help but get excited when I started poking through the National Geographic holiday catalog and found their Personalized Puzzle Maps. At the risk of ruining a few family members gifts this year, I felt the urge to share the details.

Each map is unique, and all you have to do is provide your address as the starting point, and the map elves will create a 400-piece puzzle of the area around your home using a U.S. Geological Survey map. And the best part? The center puzzle piece is in the shape of a house, and its placed exactly where your own home is found. You have to order by phone (+1 888 225 5647) and the cost is $39.95

For more great holiday gifts (including fun travel items like the pocketed security sock) check out the rest of the catalog. And since we're all friends here, be sure to use the Friends and Family discount code: 08HFF20 while checking out (good through Dec. 7).

Photo: National Geographic Catalog

While trying to track down the name and address of an illustrious Parisian umbrella maker in the 14th arrondissement who may or may not have a remarkable moustache (this is what we fact-checkers do), I happened upon a concierge company called At Your Service, founded eight years ago by transplanted Boston native Christine Leonard.

Her company caters to private clients as well as corporations with newly relocated employees who need help getting settled, running errands, and generally finding their way around Paris. They can help you locate an apartment, a chef, a personal trainer, pediatrician, plumber or pet-sitter; they can create a customized itinerary, reserve a restaurant table, arrange an out-of-town weekend, provide a chauffeur or plan a shopping trip. 

Pricing (it's not cheap) is based on monthly or yearly membership plans, but they also offer on-call services with hourly rates for non-members.  Christine knew the answer I needed and responded instantly, saving me much time and bother.

The name of that famous umbrella maker, if you haven't already guessed:  Alexandra Sojfer, (above) at 218 boulevard Saint-Germain, which has been making umbrellas by hand since 1834.  Now I know.  Thanks, Christine!


Photo courtesy of Alexandra Sojfer, Paris

My mom grew up in Pennsylvania, so when my boyfriend and I spent some quality time with my parents a few weekends ago, it only seemed right that the setting was a verified Amish market.

Just outside historic Annapolis, in a little shopping center called Annapolis Harbour, we found hordes of Marylanders taking a break from crab cakes and football to indulge in shoofly pies, handmade pretzels, and more varieties of salad (potato, shrimp, pasta, cucumber, egg, jello…) than seem necessary.

Open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, the PA Dutch Market is as traditional and authentic as any I've seen in Pennsylvania (aside from the patrons clad in Baltimore Ravens jerseys, of course). According to the market's website, all the merchants are from Lancaster County, PA, and the prepared dishes are made from heirloom Amish recipes.

Walking into the store, you run into wooden furniture, but after that nearly everything is edible. Fresh-baked breads crowd the counter next to the ovens where they were baked. Bags of grains, tubs of candy-colored sugars, and jars of fruit preserves line the shelves. The mix-and-match whoopie pies—any combination of six varieties for $5.95—means you can bring home this classic Amish treat in a range of novel flavors: peanut butter, mint, and banana, in addition to the standard chocolate and cream.

Friend of IT Kathryn Dill is spending her summer working in Geneva. As a recent college grad with a limited budget, she shares her favorite way to save in one of the most expensive spots in Europe (and that's saying a lot).

Is your fondue pot just crying out for a new burner? Do you need a Barbie doll sans la tête—guillotined decades ago during the course of childish play? How about copper kitchen utensils or elegant, hand-embroidered table linens? Discount surplus household goods? A clock whose pendulum may have once swung in an 18th-century salon? 

Whatever your desires, from the refined to the eccentric, from the voyeuristic to the neurotic, from the practical to the downright bizarre, the market at Plainpalais in Geneva has everything your heart could desire, at a price your wallet can accommodate.

Strollers, shoppers, and the ambiguously intrigued can amble along the rows of stalls every Wednesday and Saturday, digging through dog-eared stacks of Tintin comics and Victorian pornography. Amidst the high sheen of impeccably maintained fine wood antique furniture and the tacky appeal of paperback novels and bent toaster tongs, the most highly-trained antique enthusiasts and the average flea-market-goers alike can find something to strike their fancy. 

But the market shouldn’t be dismissed as just another place to dig up an eccentric gem destined to one day find its way into your own yard sale heap. In a city consistently ranked one of the most expensive in the world, where a significant part of the population is comprised of an ever-changing, transient group of internationals attached to the United Nations and myriad NGOs that call Geneva “HQ,” the market at Plainpalais is also a viable source of economically priced essentials.

For me, a cross-country road trip is just about the only good use for a car (that, and perhaps hauling furniture and unwieldy goods). Sure, the prices at the gas pump are soaring, but that doesn’t make the romance of a Kerouac-style journey any easier to dismiss. Think charming roadside diners, on-a-whim detours, ridiculous billboards, delightfully tacky souvenirs…ah, summer bliss.

But wait, you don’t want shot glasses and magnets for every state you traverse? Fret not, at least those of you ladies in the crowd, for Star 50 Handbags has a solution to your souvenir conundrum. Their Star 50 Collection offers special-edition totes and clutches inspired by iconic state attributes, from the Arizona Rattler or Arkansas Diamond Digger to the Connecticut Commuter, Utah Sport Tote, and Washington, D.C., Blossom. Artist and fashionista Amity Cooper dreamed up the line, drawing on her love for travel and ’40s and ’50s nostalgia.

So when you return from your journey, you can pick and choose which state(s) you want to commemorate (though, admittedly, Cooper hasn't quite spanned the country yet, more bags are always in the works). Even better? Star 50 donates a portion of its annual proceeds to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “Every Star 50 handbag reflects some of the greatest features of a state, so we’re very interested in preserving the best attributes of the places you live in or visit,” explains Star 50’s website.

Not particularly in the market for a handbag? Star 50’s website is still worth a gander for its trove of state facts, many of which helped inspire the designs of each bag. For instance, I’m well aware of Iowa’s Strawberry Point, home to the world’s largest strawberry (in the form of a big strawberry sculpture perched atop the city hall) and a regular pit stop of childhood treks to my grandparents’ house in northern Iowa, so I would be proud to carry an Iowa Sweetberry clutch. But I had no idea that Iowa’s arch-nemesis (at least in terms of misspoken state names), Idaho, has hosted a tug-of-war contest held over a pit of mashed potatoes since 1927.

Speaking of geo-trivia, don’t forget about Traveler’s highly addictive WorldWise quizzes.

Photo: courtesy Star 50 Handbags

As I deliberated over coffee beans in my neighborhood grocery store, the guy next to me struck up a conversation. It was run-of-the-mill small talk at first, but soon he was swooning over Grape + Bean, a combo wine-and-coffee shop that had just opened in nearby Alexandria, Virginia. Clearly still on a caffeine high from his visit, he was positively rapturous over the “best cup of coffee he’d ever had.” Intrigued, I pressed for details—after all, anyone who knows me at all understands coffee is my true love (sorry, Noah). And a couple of weeks later, I hopped on D.C.’s Metro on a pilgrimage to check the place out for myself. 

Just off bustling King Street in Alexandria’s adorable Old Town, Grape + Bean beckons with a cozy-but-classy feel (hardwood floors, exposed brick walls) and a friendly barista manning the coffee bar’s coveted gem: the much-buzzed-over Clover, only one of about 200 such high-end machines scattered throughout the world that brews coffee (not espresso) on a cup-by-cup basis. Produced by a small Seattle company, the machine costs a mean $11,000 and is for the bean connoisseur, or, really, anyone who’s willing to shell out more than $3 for a cup of joe. Sort of like a French press, the Clover precisely micro-manages each variable of the brewing process (temperature, time, et al), ensuring each cup’s quality is consistent. At Grape + Bean, each cup steeps for 44 seconds, though you can request longer or shorter if you know what you want.

Slate’s Paul Adams managed to get his hands on a Clover to tinker with the brewing process. In his words: “I'm sure I'm not the first Clover user to experience a quick flashback to a vivid childhood memory—watching, horrified, as Darth Vader lowers Han Solo into his carbonite freezer.”

Traveler's Shopping Guide columnist Laura Morelli is off to Brazil this month to learn about renda di bilros, the craft of bobbin lace. Explaining its history, she writes:

[It] came to Brazil along with Portuguese colonists who claimed its beautiful northeastern coastline as their own in the 17th century. Portugal already counted a rich tradition of lacemaking, and colonists continued the practice in the New World. Mostly the province of women, lacemaking was passed down from mothers to daughters, who learned by watching and repeating their motions.

Crafting lace is tedious, requiring as many as 50 bobbins pinned to a firm pillow, the workspace for the lacemaker.

Lacemakers complete the pattern by winding and overlapping the threads from the bobbins to create a distinctive weave. Experienced lacemakers work at a rapid pace that, on the surface, seems effortless. Their wooden bobbins click together as they render circles, stars, rosettes, and more complex motifs like scrolls, animals, leaves, and flowers.

To learn more about Brazilian lace, check out this month's Shopping Guide column, and don't miss other shopping tips from Rajasthan, India, to Paris, France. To learn more about Brazil, check out the March 2008 issue of Traveler.

Photo: Imagebroker/Alamy

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