Secretary-Treasurer:

Japan Airlines

Thursday, May 27

Recently, TripAdvisor published a survey of the Best Small(ish) Towns in Europe. Only two handsful of people participated in the vote. I could never have joined in this challenge: My list would be at least 100 villages long. I've visited each of TripAdvisor's top 10 towns and they'd be on my list, too, although possibly not in the same order.

The winners are: 1. Bayeux, France; 2. York, England; 3. Bruges, Belgium; 4. Sitges, Spain; 5. Positano, Italy; 6. Dingle, Ireland; 7. Mittenwald, Germany; 8. Lucca, Italy; 9. Ronda, Spain, and 10. Salisbury, England. Of them, the following are my choice half-dozen.

Bayeuxin Normandy. This handsome town, happily not badly battered by WWII, was the first major one to be liberated by the Allies. A few lovely limestone houses remain from the 14th century along still-cobbled streets. Its Cathedral Notre-Dame is exuberant in ornate Gothic-Normand style. The great treasure is the Bayeux Tapestry, the wonderfully witty work inspired by Queen Matilde, wife of William the Conqueror (a.k.a. William the Bastard). It's unique in the western world.

Stay and dine in the 17th-century Lion d'Or, part of which dates from the 18th century. Here's a place where you can find the old-fashioned French dishes you've been pining for (médaillon de veau pôelé, perhaps?).

York, England. Much of the Roman wall remains standing after only two thousand years. Seized by the Vikings in 866 C.E., the village bustled as a center of the wool trade in the Middle Ages. York Minster (a minster was originally connected to a monastery) is one of the greatest Gothic cathedrals in northern Europe and boasts the largest stained glass window in the world. A mathematically inclined friend figured that if flat and not made of glass it could serve as a parking lot for 27 stretch Cadillacs.

Because of its name, shop on the medieval street known as The Shambles. Buy cheeses and chutneys at Newgate Market. Lunch at the Lighthorse pub and admire its original Victorian bar. Visit the RailwayMuseum and boat on the River Ouse. Sleep in the Feversham Arms or a less costly Best Western.

Positano, Italy. Yes, it's touristy. Yes, it's almost too cute. But what can compare with its blocks of colored houses running uphill and plunging down again? It's like falling inside a kaleidoscope. The Amalfi Coast, some say, is the most stupendous drive in the world. One day I nearly drove off into the view when my mother, in the passenger seat next to me, shrieked. (She had sat on a bee.)

If you can eke out the Euros for the San Pietro (a Relais-Châteaux), do so. Life is too short not to experience Eden. Don't forget  you're within short and dramatic driving distance of Sorrento (hear singing in the background?), Amalfi itself, Ravello, and - a little farther - the ruins of Pompei to the north and inland, to those of Paestum south along the coast.

Ronda, Spain. In 1485, the Crusaders looked up the cliffs to the castle beetling above, as if carved out of the living rock, and decided they wouldn't go there after all. (Instead, they cut off the water supply from below.) From the Puente Nuevo (NewBridge, 200 years old), Nationalist sympathizers were tossed into the gorge far-r-r-r below (at least, in Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls"). Ronda is near the Costa del Sol but, happily, not of the Costa del Sol. Check out the amazing Arab Baths, creep down the cliff face like a cat along the city wall, order lamb shank at the Carmen la de Ronda.

Lucca, Italy. As old, as mysterious, as intriguing as the Etruscans, Lucca (a somewhat surprising sister city to South San Francisco) is today the city that makes the traveler fall in love with Tuscany. (I think Lucca may become the new Florence for those who flee from crowds.) Circles of streets seduce the walker; city walls from the 16^th-17^th centuries charm the historian; the 130 stairs of the Guinigi tower present a smashing view and perhaps the most oddly placed tree in Europe. Finally, to dine at Buca di Sant'Antonio (sample faro soup, said to be the oldest dish in Italy) is to realize that in some sublime spots all's right with this world.