What's wrong with this picture?

Cute dog, right?

When we visited a gorgeous property in Provence, this little fellow next door was yapping his head off . . . at us, at any passing car, you name it.

We could imagine A Season Away villa guests going out of their minds in about 20 minutes of incessant barking.

So we decided not to feature the otherwise lovely property in the Luberon valley in our portfolio because of the barking dog next door.

A Season Away villa vacations to close down

It is with great sadness that we let you know that A Season Away will be closing down and will not take any new bookings for 2012.

This is a decision we have made in the past few days after looking at advance bookings for 2012.

As you know, we had great hopes for a full-service villa rental company in Italy & France to stand out from the rest of the crowd.

And those of you who know company president Kevin Abell from his days as a Virtuoso agency owner in Baltimore and as the Director of Communications for Virtuoso itself, know that he put his heart and soul into the business.

Wheels coming off the cart in Europe?

With the wheels coming off the cart in the European economy these days with a potential debt default in Greece and looming deficit issues in Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Italy, I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that next year might be a great time to travel to Europe.

In the past two months the Euro has dropped about 8% against the dollar, and, more importantly, Europeans themselves are tightening their belts for a major recession, which means they simply won’t be traveling as much.

Underground wine tasting

We didn’t know much about wines, but were willing to learn. So we entered a tiny wine shop in Lucca thinking this was going to be a quick stand-up tasting.

"No, No, No," motioned the owner. "Follow me," and we went to the back of the store, down some stairs and entered a cavern filled with more than 25,000 wines from all over the world.

Have an indulgence for chocolate?

Tired of trying different chocolate stores all over Paris? Have we got a place for you!

Chocolatier Pierre Cluizel has just opened his first chocolate “concept store” in the heart of Paris’s Saint-Germain-des-Prés district called Un Dimanche à  Paris, or A Sunday in Paris.

The George Clooney Effect

Many people know that George Clooney purchased a beautiful villa on Lake Como. While you may not have his budget to own Villa Oleandra in the hamlet of Laglio, you can certainly enjoy the same scenery and dine at many of the same restaurants in the area as George.

The Burgundy wine harvest has begun!

Believe it or not, the 2011 Burgundy wine harvest began last week, still in August, one of the earliest wine harvests on record. (There was an August harvest in 2007, but before that, nobody can seem to remember a havest this early.)

What's wrong with this picture?

Though this corner of northern Umbria is gorgeous - in fact the entire Niccone Valley is relatively untouched - it is 20 minutes from nowhere.

This means that if you forgot to pick up milk on your shopping list, it is about an hour door-to-door to pick some up.

San Sebastian: best food on the planet!

If you like food, you’ll love the Basque Country. With the highest concentration of Michelin starred restaurants in the world, it is a magnet for foodies.

Better yet, if you don’t need your wallet lightened considerably by dining in a Michelin-rated restaurant, it is hard to get a bad meal in the region, whether tapas bar hopping (no, not topless!) in San Sebastian, eating at seafood shacks near Biarritz, or heading up into the Basque hills to small towns for down-home cooking.

Tapas in San Sebastian: the moveable feast

But the down-and-dirty, the live-like-a-local favorite is tapas bar hopping in San Sebastian!

Since the Spaniards in this part of the world rarely entertain at home, they LIVE for hopping from one bar to the next, mingling with friends, taking a quick drink and snack (tapas) and moving on.

Dining in Chianti

Much has been written about the food of Tuscany, especially in Chianti, the verdant, unspoiled area between Florence and Siena full of olive groves and vineyards bursting with Sangiovese grapes for Chianti Classico wines.

It seems like everyone has their favorite restaurants, and many books have been written on Chianti gastronomy. Here is a sampling of some of our favorite restaurants in the area: