Savor the Experience Tours

10/04/2024

There are so many new and exotic destinations we are offering for 2025. Sarah’s leading Indonesia and Korea - and both look amazing. I will be taking guests to Central Asia, Georgia and more. Check out the new tour schedule this Thursday!

02/04/2023

Nope, not an April Fools joke. Looking forward to sharing more details in the coming weeks

Wanna blast off on a Dazzle tour?

Well, this is a traveling circus and I do have my own tour company….

2024 dates and details later this month !

30/03/2023

One thing sorely lacking in our tours of Croatia and Slovenia is a beer tasting as the craft beer scene is hoping here now. So glad to be able to offer BRLOG zadružna pivovara to our guests on upcoming Adventures with Sarah tours this year and moving forward.

25/04/2022

You may have had Turkish coffee before but have you it had made 'on the sand'? This is a technique I first witnessed in western Ukraine at a cafe run by Tatars, who share both linguistic and cultural ties to Turks.

19/04/2022

Scrumptious, epic, sensory-overload, yummy! Our Istanbul food walk with Leyla across two continents is going to be amazing. And this is just a fraction of what we'll be tasting.

Spots still open for our SE Turkey tour, Sep 22nd - Oct 2nd.

14/04/2022

What's for breakfast in Izmir? Chicken of course, duh! Well, sort of...

It's called Tavuk göğsü. And it is quite a mouthful. Don't ask me how to pronounce it - that's why we have Taylan, our trusted local, to do the heavy lifting 😅

As featured on our Coastal Turkey tour running October 2nd-12th. TWO SPOTS STILL LEFT !!

13/04/2022

We just had two spots open up on our Southeastern Turkey tour, running Sep 22nd to Oct 2nd this year. Looking for a couple or two friends sharing a room to fill this opening. Message me if you are interested. $3200 pp

About the tour --
While culinary delights are the priority on this tour, what makes this area so interesting are the many different current cultures (Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic, Christian Arabic) and cultures from the past (Hittite, Roman, Persian, Seljuk, early Christian). The tradition of crafts plays a big part here as well whether it’s filigree jewelers, coppersmiths and silk makers or crafts with a more culinary connection like butchers and baklava makers. Between tastings, demonstrations, some amazing restaurants, home cooked meals with families, a few wineries (this is not Slovenia when it comes to wine) and just eating as we go walking through bazaars and shops, no one is going to leave with an empty stomach - that is for sure!

25/11/2021

𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗰𝗵/𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗸𝘆𝗮 𝗯𝗮𝘇𝗮𝗮𝗿
𝗦𝗘 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵, 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆

The start to my southeast Turkey research hit a bit of a snag when I caught a 24 hr bug. And with a lot of ground (or plates of food) to cover after being out of commission for a day, the only way to right the ship was to eat myself one hell of a breakfast before we had to depart Antakya.

At the indoor bazaar, these types of kebab shops are a combo of butchery and cafe. You can watch them chop up meat for a kebab and the one we choose, as it is special to the Hatay region, is a Tepsi kebab. Tepsi is the Turkish word for “tray” and that’s what they cook it it after spreading out the meat in what looks to be a pizza-style dish. They top it with big wedges of tomato, pepper and onion. Then it gets baked in a wood-fired oven before appearing at your table piping hot and oozing juices. I wasn’t sure if my stomach was ready for this but with that aroma and it still sizzling on the plate, there was no way I wasn’t going to just dive right in. And after inhaling my first Tepsi, I’d say I was back to 100%.

Next up was hunt for Antioch’s best humus and to try out something called Bakla, a puree of broad beans (cooked over fire first for 14 hours!), garlic, tahini and parsley. We found Zeydi a few stalls down in the bazaar. I got to watch him literally ‘whip up’ these two trademark mezze at lightning speed. The business sign over the shop says “Usta”, which means someone who mastered a skill. And he definitely mastered that humus making skill. It was so smooth, so light, so flavorful. And still to this day, four months after my humus enlightenment with Zeydi, it is pretty damn hard for me to excited to eat this dish anywhere else.

24/11/2021

𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝘅-𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘂 𝗮𝘁 Lokanda Devetak 1870
𝗙𝗹𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗮 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿, 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿

Along the Slovenia-Italy border you have regions that are the same but with two different names. There’s Goriska Brda in Slovenia which is called Collio in Italy. Closer to Trieste you have Carso on Italian side and Kras on the Slovenian side. But besides having a mix of two nationalities on either side of the border, there are also historic ties to the Habsburg empire when this area was neither Italy nor Slovenia. And when I first discovered Lokanda Devetak 1870 a few years back (located in Italy’s Carso region), they explained that they don’t consider their recipes to be Slovene nor Italian but to be Habsburg cuisine. However you classify their kitchen, my dinner at their place back in 2018 was divine. But between the pandemic and never having enough time to put all my favorite eateries into tour itineraries, I had yet to bring a group here. Until this autumn.

What I appreciate about Devetak is that they offer browsable seasonal menus and have an ordering option that is really the best way to go for these types of establishments. Between starters, warm courses, main courses and deserts you have nearly 25 different choices so you pick a multi-course meal by choosing the six things you want to try. This allows groups to write their own menus in advance. Honestly, there was no meal on this tour I was looking forward to more than this one. But as a completely unexpected bonus, they printed out the menu (with our very own Savor logo on it) and every guest had a copy of it waiting for them when they sat down at the table. They even include a poem, written on the back of the menu, espousing the magic of their cosy homestead. Brilliant! And on top of all this, they managed to work in wine pairings with many of the wines we were not able to try anywhere else on our tour. Wow!

What’s on the menu:
--Goat cheese from Cividale (the little town where we take guests for their first ‘frico’ experience)
--Local cured meats
--Gnocchi with rabbit stew and wild fennel
--Fusi pasta with special recipe sausages and a Carso cheese matured in a 80m deep cave
--Wild boar with plums, cinnamon and Terrano wine
--Parfait made from regional honey with almond and chocolate crumble

Wines included:
--Cab Franc from Venezia Giulia
--Schioppenttino from Friuli
--Vitovska from Carso

23/11/2021

𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲-𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝘇𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 Alma
𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗸𝘆’𝘀 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮/𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗮𝗻𝘀 (𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿), 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲

Two things that always stand out on a tour, home cooked meal and being invited over to a local’s home. Add in a guest’s birthday to celebrate and you have the makings of a great day! Our local guide in Herzegovina, Alma, and her husband Ermin prepared a feast us. They even had some home-made rakija and fresh chili peppers and home-made hot sauces. All we had to bring was our appetite and a few bottles of Domano Pjenušac, a sparkling wine from Bosnian Žilavka grape.

What's on the menu:
Focaccia with olives and tomatoes
Sarma [grape leaves, rice, spring onion and mint]
Đuveč [Balkan ratatouille]
Oven-roasted lamb with herbs
Hurmašice [syrup-drenched pastries]

19/11/2021

𝗕𝗕𝗤 𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘀 - 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗜 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 La Cuptor
𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗮 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿, 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿

Sometimes the best strategy is just ordering what you already know you love. And usually if BBQ ribs are on the menu I'll take them. Having been to Sibiu before, I distinctly remember the ribs experience at La Cuptor. Since our group had just come back from a freakish snow storm that turned the jaw-droppingly stunning Transfăgărășan road (as seen on Top Gear) into a frozen tundra (jaw-dropping in a different way), I thought beers and BBQ should quell the hypothermia.

Even though this particular evening in Sibiu was dining at your leisure, I decided to round up those wanting to try some craft beers and invite them to a local pub before suggesting a visit with excellent meats. As it turned out, most folks went with wine or German wheat beers rather than my go-to brand for Romanian craft beer, Hop Hooligans. And by the time we got to dinner, wheat beer and those ribs were the perfect match. The hand-cut and hot out of the oven potato chips were just icing on the cake.

17/11/2021

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮’𝘀 𝗣𝗲𝗹𝗷𝗲𝘀𝗮𝗰 𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝗮
𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗲'𝘀 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗲 (𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿), 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁

One of the benefits of planning a food and wine tour is knowing exactly where you'll be dining and for the most part, looking forward to certain meals or dishes. Guests are more or less in the dark about all this unless they geek out and Google everything in advance (which I don't recommend). For me, knowing that I had 9 more days of superb eating in Croatia, which included a couple of Michelin star restaurants and a goat cheese farm that I adore, it did not take me more than a few minutes to tell my colleague Miha that our lunch at Bartulovic was going to end up as my favorite of the tour. And what do you know, I was dead right about that.

Dining with a wine maker at his pad is always a great experience. When the wine maker also shots the wild boar that he needs to put in his goulash which gets smothered on top of his family's home made gnocchi then it takes to a whole new level. Mario's mom bakes the bread and it goes with the family's olive oil. Then there's prosciutto, which let's face it, there's not a shortage of great prosciutto in these neck of the woods, but his one is a cut above. Simple, food-coma inducing comfort food. In my book, that is the best kind of food.

And let's not forgot one very important thing, those who you dine with. And spending a hot summer afternoon with enthusiastic guests who are on Cloud 9 with every bit and every sip is exactly how you want your new tour season to kick off!

www.vinarijabartulovic.hr

16/11/2021

Now that the season is over, time to reflect on all those wonderful meals (and moments) of this year's travels. I'll be posting a favorite culinary experience of mine each day from now until the end of this month.

Iᴛ's ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴀ Gᴜɪɴᴇᴀ Pɪɢ at Domačija Gora pod lipo
Fʟᴀᴠᴏʀs ᴏꜰ Sʟᴏᴠᴇɴɪᴀ Tᴏᴜʀ, Sᴇᴘᴛᴇᴍʙᴇʀ

One thing I always clue guests into is that we are not afraid of trying new places with them for the first time and that being a guinea pig is definitely a win-win for guests. With a dearth of dining options in Ptuj, I poked around the regional tourism board website and lo and behold this gem fell right into my lap. We went way off the grid (also always a good thing) as our GPS only got us so far before the owners of the place drove to meet us and we followed them to this secretive spot in eastern Slovenia's countryside.

First dish was a red lentil salad with roasted goat cheese and speck. It was divine but did not prepare us for the creamy pumpkin soup that came next. That was THE SOUP and renders most other pumpkin soups obsolete. Times like these when you feel like asking for a second bowl and ready to pass on the rest of the dishes coming next. One of the 10 best things I put in my mouth this year. Then it was on to ravioli with egg yolk on young spinach and shallot sauce. We probably should have stopped here. But then there was venison and who can pass that up? Just as the food coma was crescendoing down us they brought out dessert in a wine glass and someone from our group had the 'courage' to clean up what some of us could not.

Like all special places, this goes well past just amaze-balls food. Their wines, bow-tied and personal service (we were the only group here) and especially their commitment to go the extra mile (literally, as they drove us back to the main highway so we wouldn't get lost a 2nd time) made this the biggest surprise of my tour season.

01/11/2021

This felt like the perfect atmosphere, view and soundtrack to end a nine week journey from Croatia to Slovenia to Romania to northern Italy then back to Slovenia before wrapping things up in southern Italy.

05/09/2021

Shaping up to be a perfect Sunday in Slovenia's most beautiful micro wine region

01/09/2021

Tours are lot less stressful and way more enjoyable for me when there's a great driver & guide who has my back. Thanks Miha Pirher !

I know our group feels the same, right?
Lindsey, Missy, Christie, Kathryn, Brett, Tate

29/08/2021

Truffle Hunt Success!!

29/08/2021

The calendar says August, the atmosphere says mid October

27/08/2021

BOŠKINAC and Draga di Lovrana hotel & restaurant in one day.

Mission Accomplished !!

26/08/2021

Leaving beautiful Trogir for our two Michelin restaurants in one day 'experiment'

25/08/2021

Thank you amazing guests to come out in these uncertain times and trusting that we'll take care of you (and hold off the rain long enough to get your Adriatic boat ride in)!

09/07/2021

Here is a little helpful tip for those with wineries in the Istria region of Croatia - OPEN ON SUNDAYS!! Seriously folks, close up shop on Mondays or Tuesday, but as many travelers come down just for the weekend, being open on a Sunday is a must.

I can't think of a wine maker in Slovenia that has normal hours who would be closed on Sundays.

30/06/2021

Well it finally happened, an actual honest-to-God tour, all real, in-person, in-country, no virtual tour. A great feeling to get back to travel, meeting new people, meeting old friends, trying new wines, hearing tales and stories that I either forgot or never heard before. Best of all, to be normally conversing and hanging out again with people from different parts of the world and different backgrounds.

Thanks Radevic Estate, Stina Vina Vinarija Bol, Kairos Vina, Korta Katarina, Family Winery Brkić

02/05/2021

The third direct US to Dubrovnik line announced in the past week! If this keeps up, we'll be back to number of direct flights 30+ years ago when the US and Yugoslavia had better air connectivity!

https://www.total-croatia-news.com/travel/52603-pragusa-dubrovnik?fbclid=IwAR2B3E7vsFrxSpi9WN-1l2Bn8NX_5W0xLFJ8UXrNoiupjEFLXUuC70e3CYQ

A LinkedIn message from the Managing Director of Pragusa One, Kresimir Budinski, with some UNBELIEVABLE news. The press release in full.  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE London (3/5/2021) - Pragusa.One is delighted to announce non-stop flights from the United States to Croatia this summer. Three weekly f...

18/04/2021

No tours (yet) but a weekend out in Goriska Brda meeting with winemakers is just as fulfilling after nearly 14 months of Groundhog Day. Thank you vinoo.co - Discover, taste & buy the best local wines

13/02/2021

Talking history of North Macedonia with my Macedonian colleagues

18/01/2021

02/12/2020

The Good (Plovdiv & Zagreb), The Bad (polluted towns in Romania) and The Brunch (waffles in Prague) - all part of our latest podcast.

Ben recalls many of his not-so-fond memories ‘surviving’ his first time in Romania. Andrew waxes poetic about Sunday brunch and double-features in Prague. And they both discuss why Zagreb and Plovdiv are two great cities that aren’t on most travelers’ radar (yet). We'd love to hear what you ...

30/11/2020

Finally, an article on travel beauty products for MEN! Thank you Fran and The Guide Collective

www.guide-collective.com/gc-magazine/gc-faves-5-beauty-products-male-travelers

Spanish tour guide Fran Glaria unveils his top beauty products for male travelers.

21/11/2020

Our most recent discussion on Slovenian wines with vinoo.co and Adventures with Sarah

There's even a link to where those in the U.S can get a hold of some of these wonderful wines of Slovenia.

https://vinoo.co/p/slovenian-wine-with-adventures-with-sarah?fbclid=IwAR3XfQ9jWTzvl4NjRJv6J0Ipo9GHoIBsX4-bNZ4v3G1OCaERw0jxdfQepAo

Saso Papp our CEO & Founder talks with Adventures With Sarah and Andrew Villone from Savor the Experience Tours about Slovenian Wine and other stuff Slovenian.