Great Cities Insider Tips

This week join Susi and Petulia Melideo of Context Travel as they explore the "hidden gems" in New York, Paris, London, Naples, Venice, Rome and Istanbul. Restaurants, museums, markets, shops, cafes: we have all the info to be "au courant" and "up to date".









Guests

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Petulia Melideo, Director of Operations
Context Travel


After studying Law at the University of East Anglia in the UK, Petulia Melideo decided to return to her native Rome. She writes Rome and Naples guides for airlines, and leads a variety of orientation walks and chats in those cities. She's knowledgeable about shopping and "Made in Italy" culture and she just completed a course as Art Curator. Petulia manages the Rome and Naples offices of Context Travel.




Spots recommended by Petulia:



Paris

One favorite walk:
Marais Mansions: an itinerary in the wonderful neighborhood of the Maris

One favorite restaurant:
La Fourmi Ailée
(former site where sorbonne student took class sitting on bails of hay, converted into a feminist bookshop and now a lofty cafe and tea salon)

8, Rue Fouarre
75005 Paris, France
+33 1 43 29 40 99

One favorite shop:
Rose Durantin
27 Rue Durantin
750018
Boutique of a young jewelry and hat designer collective




Naples

One favorite walk:
Capodimonte Museum, unfortunately overlooked despite its wealth of Renaissance masterpieces

One favorite restaurant:
La Stanza del Gusto, via S. Maria Constantinopoli 100

One Favorite shop
Culti SpaCafè, Via Carlo Poerio 47. Ultra chic concept store plus spa and restaurant.




Florence

One favorite walk:
Oltrarno Artisans

One favorite restaurant:
Coco Lezzone, Via del Parioncino 26r.
Very rustic, no frills Florentine trattoria

One favorite shop:
Loretta Capponi, Piazza Antinori 4. Exquisite linens, pyjamas and baby clothes.




New York

One favorite walk:
Brooklyn, Portrait of a City. Few people understand that Brooklyn is its own city, with its own distinct history, built environment, and character. This walk explores that, in the company of an urban historian.

One favorite restaurant:
I have a coffee shop, a standout in a city overrun with Starbucks: Cafe Grumpy in Chelsea. Great coffee, funny baristas, independently owned. Lots of neighborhood people and art crowd hipsters.

One favorite shop:
How about New King Beef on Bayard, best jerky variety in the world.




Venice

One favorite walk:
Science and Secrets of the Lagoon

One favorite restaurant:
Anice Stellato (in Cannaregio)

One favorite shop:
Giorgio Nason (in Dorsoduro, specializes in glass jewelry. Comes from one of the oldest glass making families in Venice)




London

One favorite walk:
Portrait of a City

One favorite restaurant:
St. John's is a great restaurant where you get to discover the use of the whole animal, from nose to tail

One favorite shop:
Mimi Berry in the East End. Here they sell wonderful hand made leather bags





From Context Travel

In an age of Disneyland and Club Med, we are dedicated to the experience of real places. We are committed to the character of these places: their built environment, cultural heritage, and living fabric. Through didactic walking seminars, we aim to bring together the traveler and these cities in a manner beneficial to both.

Mass tourism has a corrosive effect on monuments, museums, and cultures. Context adheres to the principles of sustainable tourism, as elucidated by the ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Charter and the National Geographic Society's Geotourism Charter. A portion of our profits, coupled with donations from our clients, is directed toward cultural preservation initiatives in each of the cities where we operate.

Context. One of the dilemmas of traveling is the overwhelming amount of information, data, and experiences that we encounter during a short visit. Our walking seminars, which are limited to six participants, provide an intimate alternative to traditional tours. We emphasize in-depth conversation, much like a seminar class in a small, liberal arts college. So, for example, our clients in Rome might have the opportunity to spend four hours picking through the ruins of the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum with a professor of classics at an American university. Or, our clients in Paris might have a chance to spend half a day studying how city planner Barron Von Haussmann transformed the city with a graduate student writing her Ph.D. dissertation on exactly that topic. All of these experiences form the context of the journey.

Customer Service. We've invested heavily to build a website that works seamlessly and that allows our clients to automatically book the goods and services they need for their trip without a lot of hassle. At the same time, we are real people and always just an email away. This is a personal service business, and we've made it a point to hire people who are not only knowledgable advocates of their cities but also dedicated to the experience of our customers.