Following The Grand Tour: To Italy, France & Spain

Anya takes you through Italy, France and Spain. We follow in the footsteps of 18th century Grand Tour eager to experience history, culture, art and music of Europe. Come, ride on her shoulder through Rome. Head north to Lake Como, Florence and Harry’s Bar in Venice to wait for Hemingway. Then travel through Cezanne’s Tuscan mountains southward to Sorrento to taste pink fleshed peaches and trudge along the remains of Pompeii before continuing to Sicily. Anya shares impressions, anecdotes and little-known gems about the artists and architects of the day

In Barcelona we’re introduced to Antonio Gaudi and become firm friends. At the Prado in Madrid we meet the other Mona Lisa. How will she compare to the one in the Louvre? In France, our bucket list includes the Champagne region, Opera Garnier, Giverny, Tour Eiffel and the Moulin Rouge. There’s a short cooking course to experience before feasting on the unique gardens of Countess Efrussi at Cap Ferat in the South of France. Parties for her celebrity friends were legendary. You are left to ponder if at one of these parties her friend, F. Scott Fitzgerald was inspired to write The Great Gatsby?

Babushka’s Feast: Dishes Filled With Love

Babushka and Mama both cooked with one main ingredient—love. The labour-intensive nature of Russian Cuisine was no effort, just good planning. When I asked mother how to cook something she’d just rattle off the ingredients. Invariably I’d ask ‘How much was required’ of any ingredient or ‘How long’ should it be mixed or baked? She would always reply ‘Na glaz’ which means ‘by sight’. Therefore, the following recipes are what I managed to glean from our conversations, observation and finally through my own trial and error.

An Unexpected Fork in the Road: From Cairo to Jerusalem and Nicosia

Since school days Anya was intrigued by the mystery and wonder of Egypt. Newly independent she could now fulfil her dream to see the pyramids, the mask of Tutankhamun and ride camels through the desert. Three weeks of camping took her up the Nile from Cairo to Abu Simbel and into the Sinai to Sharm el Shek. Her fellow travellers were from all over the world. They were a cohesive group and she even had a holiday romance.

A side trip to Cyprus proved to be very interesting, even though New Years Eve came with an unexpected proposition from a tall dark stranger. Never the less Cyprus was a time for relaxation and shopping before the unknown week of independent travel in Jerusalem followed by a short tour of Israel.

Anya wanted to spend Orthodox Christmas in the Russian Monastery of Mary Magdalene located in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here she met fellow pilgrims and nuns on sabbatical. Trekking through the desolate mountains from Jerusalem to Jericho, visiting ancient monasteries and many sacred sites even receiving communion in the Holy Sepulchre at the very tomb of Jesus was a life changing moment. These profound experiences led to a realisation, to a fork in the road, to a point where Anya had to make a choice, which path she would take for the rest of her life's journey.

The Israel tour was an opportunity for grounding, a chance to put so much emotion into perspective. The group travelled through the major tourist sites, Tel Aviv, Megiddo, Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem. From the Muslim Dome of the Rock, to viewing the Dead Sea Scrolls and staying overnight in a Jewish Kibuttz before seeing the Christian sites and doing the Stations of the Cross along the Via Dolorossa.

It was January 1993 and while in transit at the airport in Dubai, America was dropping bombs in the Gulf. It had been an eventful and awe-inspiring trip.

Russian Embers: A journey in search of home

On impulse Anya accepts a serendipitous invitation to Russia to go on a journey to the other side of the world where her parents were born. Her colleagues ask if she is going back to Russia. How can she go back if she’s never been?

Anya is introduced to the expat network. Irma becomes her pedagogue, her friend and guide in St Petersburg. At the end of her first week the White House is torched in Moscow and outbreak of revolution is imminent. Will foreigners be stranded? Will history repeat itself? Anya explores the history and culture of Russia to make sense of it all.

Years later the art, architecture and music in St Petersburg and Moscow, the churches and monasteries of the fabled Golden Ring towns were reason enough for her to return. This time she was on a quest. It was too late to meet her Godfather but his sister Elena in Ekaterinburg had stories and family recipes to share. Then Anya visited China, the country of her birth. Would she find the source of her longing and discover if the dormant ember long forgotten in her heart would ignite. Would it happen in Russia? Or China? Or at all?