Near Assisi in the heart of Umbria, the old farm’s steep driveway winds through an olive grove where trees stand in neat rows that terrace along the hillside overlooking the city below.

Streaks of morning light illuminate a garden of vegetables and herbs and in the distance the cackle of chickens mingles with the robust fragrance from rosemary bushes that line the walkways.

The country-style accommodations are similar to a bed and breakfast in the United States. The modest rooms are furnished with antiques and a simple bathroom. Prices start around 90 euros per night, which includes breakfast. Dinner is an additional charge of 30 euros and includes wine, desert and after-dinner drinks.

Boulder women will enjoy Malvarina because of the organic food and farming, cooking classes, hiking, and horseback riding with options of three to seven day trekking trips in the scenic national park just beyond the property. It is a place to totally unplug — there are no TVs, phones or Internet — and it is centrally located for visiting other hill towns in the region. There is also a pool overlooking the valley.

Eighty percent of the food served at Malvarina comes from the farm that has been owned and managed by a warm-hearted and lively Italian family for several generations. Phillipe Fabrizi, the son of Claudio, the owner, is a petite dark-haired man in his mid-20s who greets guests as they arrive with a broad smile and a hardy handshake. He is the only English speaking family member but the language barrier is no match for the welcome extended to guests.

Meals are shared family-style in the dining room, where friends and fellow travelers gather around large tables with blue checkered table cloths and hand-painted dishes from nearby Deruta.

The crackle of logs warm the space year round and permeating the air is the mouth-watering aroma of freshly baked bread that emerges from the wood burning oven adjacent to the fireplace.
Claudio the robust patriarch of the farm, reclines at a corner table and sips on a glass of Chianti as he oversees the dining room. He seems satisfied with a full day’s work and the clamoring of guests.

Neighbors drop by throughout the evening joining him at his table as they partake in animated conversation and easy laughter. Maria Fabrizi, Claudio’s wife and Phillipe’s mother, offers platters of food in succession. There are succulent anti-pastas, minestrone soup, olive oil, spaghetti, and leafy salad and pastries, all followed by a small cup of dark espresso and a shot of limoncello.

Everything about the dining experience suggests abundance: abundant food, wine, conversation and time. It’s not uncommon to linger late into the evening hours, filling one’s soul as well as the stomach.
For more information, check out www.malvarina.com.

— By Anne Knorr, of Boulder

Every lovers’ season finds Boulder and surrounding communities throbbing for spring, and filled with diverse delights to pit your heartstrings against your purse-strings. Especially this year (dare we utter the dirty word “economy?”), it’s important to remember that you can’t have one without the other.

Of course, any red-and-white-themed Christmas gifts can be creatively re-packaged for the Valentine’s holiday, especially for those folks who are not quite at the bottom of your heart.

But for deeper giving and sharing, fire more than flirtatious glance at these three Boulder County destinations:

The Historic Hotel Boulderado, 2115 13th St., Boulder, 303-440-2884

Let’s begin our fantasy at the Boulderado, old enough to have hosted many fairy tales of its own since it became a local icon of hospitality in 1909.

The 2009 Boulder International Film Festival package, priced from $224, includes two tickets to the Film Festival’s evening gala, Friday, Feb. 13, and a one-night’s traditional queen accommodation.

There’s also the Bed and Breakfast package, the Ski Escape package and the Special Occasion Dinner package, which include a royal stay, valet parking and treats and meals by Q’s Restaurant. For lovers wont to swoon, reserve your perfect getaway starting at $199.

St. Julien Hotel and Spa, 900 Walnut St., Boulder, 720-406-7394

In the mood for modernity? Boulder’s downtown St. Julien Hotel and Spa is eagerly anticipatory, offering a Sweetheart Saturday Afternoon Tea on Feb. 14. Cost is $19.95 for adults and $9.95 for children; group rates are also available for special gatherings with family, friends and coworkers.

For something a little more substantial, you may like to court Cupid with a five-course dinner at Jill’s Restaurant. A prix fixe of $60 per person (and $25 for optional wine pairing) buys leisure time for you and your partner to enjoy such delicacies as spiced mascarpone, Chateaubriand for two and chocolate fondue. Then dance the night away to the music of Quemando! in the ballroom, or slip by the spa for a 75-minute Roses Couples massage, complete with champagne and rose petals to help you relax.

Niwot Inn, Second Ave., Niwot, 303-652-8452

For those amorous adventurers who want to get out of town — but not get too far — visit the rustic elegance of Niwot Inn, just 10 minutes north of Boulder off The Diagonal. Niwot Inn’s Valentine’s package consists of a one-night stay in a Western-style room. (Some feature cozy fireplaces.)

Spoil yourselves with organic wine and chocolates, roses and beeswax candles. This $199 stay includes a continental breakfast, topped off with mimosas to celebrate Valentine’s Day morning.

A short walk through Niwot’s historic and charming business district may leave you hungry to try local and organic dinner selections at nearby Colterra Restaurant, or imported specialties at Treppeda’s Ristorante. The staff at the Niwot Inn will be happy to help you complete your perfect day.

Vive l’amour!

– By Christine Kortals

Next time you get the urge to plan a vacation, you may want to accidentally forget to invite your husband. If you have kids, forget to invite them, too.

Instead, call up the people who will willingly shop, spend hours by the pool, indulge in lavender salt scrubs, and watch late night screenings of “Steel Magnolias” with you. These people are your girlfriends.

A girl trip offers the chance to reconnect with yourself, your friends and, most importantly, to let loose and have some fun. Destinations can be anything from camping to cooking school to sightseeing in a big city. Just because it’s a girl trip doesn’t mean it has to include wine drinking and spa treatments. (But it probably will.)

Given that money is mysteriously evaporating from the planet these days, you and your gal pals may be planning a trip on a budget. One way to keep costs down is to stay local. For example, get away to one of Colorado’s mountain hot springs. Nothing facilitates good girl talk like a place where all there is to do is sit in warm water and stare at each other. Be sure to pack along some mind-eroding celebrity gossip magazines, blacklisted snacks and a swimsuit (or not, depending on how you roll), and you’re set for a gloriously stress-free weekend. Strawberry Park Hot Springs just outside of Steamboat (www.strawberryhotsprings.com) is sure to please.

Another local option is a visit to the unpretentious wine country on the Western Slope. Pack up your bikes and a sturdy bottle opener and set out for the charming town of Palisade. Pedal from winery to winery, tasting the wares (almost always for the bargain price of free) and taking in gorgeous scenery, all for a fraction of what a similar trip in California would cost. Go in late summer and slurp the juice from ripe Palisade peaches while gazing out over picturesque vineyards.

But maybe you’re longing for a total change of scenery, or just want to leave the planning to someone else. In this case look no further than the First Annual Girls Gotta Get Away Caribbean Cruise, brought to you by Erie-based Gotta Get Away Travel.

Picture yourself on a cruise ship in the Bahamas, surrounded by your favorite gals, sipping fruity drinks and relaxing in ocean breezes. Aaaahhhhh. This four-day cruise starts at the wallet-friendly price of $330 (airfare is separate). For more information contact Shril Garcia at gga.travel@gmail.com.

The truth is, where you go on your girl trip is much less important than whom you go with. With true girl friends, the fun will come just from being together.

It is perhaps a bit subjective when I say Santiago de Compostela, Spain is probably the most amazing place in the world. This is first place I spent any significant time while traveling outside of the country.

As a junior in college, I packed up my bags one September morning, stepped on a plane and said good-bye to everything I knew in life for a semester abroad in Spain. I said goodbye to my mother as she stood waving and crying as the escalator slowly carried me away towards my flight. I waved and cried as well. I was scared out of my mind. In fact, I believe I sobbed the entire plane ride to Spain. What originally started out as blind fear turned into the best four months of my life.

Santiago de Compostela, located in the northwest of Spain in the autonomous community of Galicia, taught me that traveling isn’t really about taking a vacation; it’s about having a cultural experience. It’s about opening your heart to a different way of life and different customs. I fell in love with the local food, the nightlife, the buildings, the people, and yes, there were Spanish boyfriends indeed.

But enough about me, let’s talk more about Santiago. This small city is unlike most stereotypical visions of Spain. There are no orange trees or bulls. There is no flamenco. What I love about Spain is that each city is completely distinct as special in its own way. You can take a one-hour plane ride — very inexpensively — and it’s like you are in a whole new country.

Santiago is particularly magical and enchanted. Santiago is Spanish for “St. James.” Compostela literally means “campo de las estrellas” or field of stars. St. James was one of Jesus’ apostles and possibly his brother according to some historians. According to legend, the stars led a monk to find the body of St. James in Galicia. Now, the tomb of Santiago is in the main attraction of the city: the nearly 1,000-year-old cathedral. Santiago is considered the third holiest place in the Catholic world.

The cathedral is the final destination for the pilgrims of the “Camino de Santiago.” This “camino,” or hike, began in 951 A.D. when the Bishop of Le Puy in France walked from the south of France to Santiago to honor the relics of St. James. In the middle ages, the hike became extremely popular in Christendom as a way to make penance for your sins.

Now, 1,000 years later, the tradition continues. The entire walk takes about three to four weeks at a total of around 480 miles. If you go to the cathedral in the early morning, you can see the first pilgrims of they day arriving from their journeys.

However, the cathedral is not the only amazing feature of Santiago. The city has an Irish feel because of its Celtic heritage. It is not uncommon to hear bagpipes. The seafood in Santiago is also some of the best seafood in Europe. Try the famous dish “pulpo a la Gallega” or Galician-style octopus.

My favorite activity in Santiago is to go out for tapas. It is true you can “tapear” almost anywhere in Spain. However, in Santiago, the tapas are free! When you’re there, try and meet as many locals as possible because they know the best tapa bars. All you need to do is purchase one drink, an Estrella Galicia beer for example, and they will bring out a plate of local food!

Even more, Santiago is one of the most affordable cities in Spain, with very few traditional tourists. It has the safety and security of a small town yet has the restaurants, clubs and museums of a big urban city. Go and have a cultural experience in this charming city where I discovered my love of traveling and cultures.

Next time you are headed to Spain, skip the tourists in Seville and Madrid and head north.

Many people consider botanically lush, beach-filled Maui to be the best vacation island in Hawaii. Who can blame the fortunate tourists there for cozying up to its plentiful amusements? On this queen of the Hawaiian Islands, there’s no shore so lush and dramatic, yet totally comfortable, as four-mile-long Kaanapali Beach.

Wake among palms, bougainvillea vines and the jungle-like tones of the birds attracted here. A beach walk winds through the pleasure-garden ambiance of Kaanapali’s accommodations. The view takes in golden sands and the cloud-topped islands of Molokai and Lanai.

Invest in a massage, surrounded by the ocean front and the river-like swimming pool at your luxury hotel. Or not. During our December visit, my husband and I stayed on this shore’s widest and quietest stretch of sand at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel for a reasonable $220 per night. The resort sits next to the Sheraton Hotel and Black Rock, a preferred snorkeling site.

The swimming pool sits amid white-flowered frangipani trees and cocoa palms that existed before the hotel was built in 1964, making it one of the original places to stay on this beach. Rooms are spacious, attractive and well equipped.

The resort is known as Maui’s “most Hawaiian,” and offers free cultural garden tours, and introductions to ukulele playing and performing the hula.

The fun, historic town of Lahaina is a short drive from Kaanapali, and there we rented snorkel gear and convenient backpack beach chairs at West Maui Sports and Fishing Supply. We drove south to the beaches near the towns of Kihei and Wailea. At popular Big Beach free spirited mothers with their babies decorated the sand, and danced with the waves.

Choosing simple grill food is one way to guarantee you’ll eat well in Maui. The beef is delicious. We feasted on steaks, burgers, fresh fish and clam chowder at Cheeseburger in Paradise and the Lahaina Fish Company. Along Kaanapali Beach is the hoppin’ Hula Grill. Entertainment featured an expert hula dancer. A clingy dress followed her ample curves; no sign of a grass skirt here.

We were intrigued when our hotel staff announced that the Royal Hawaiian Surf Academy guarantees students they’ll stand up on a surfboard — in the ocean. An international surfing competitor, Dreyson Cordova, did have us riding waves on our long boards before the class was over.

The lesson’s Lahaina setting featured shallow water with gentle waves that allowed us to leave Maui with only a few scrapes — but a lot of bravado.

– By Gayl Gray

The Springs resort and spa in Pagosa Springs

Experience 23 natural soaking tubs of varying temperatures (89-110 degrees), perched among mineral rock formations and along a singing river in southern Colorado’s Pagosa Springs.

The five-hour drive, via the towns of Bailey, Del Norte and Saguache, toward the snow-capped San Juans, takes in weathered farmsteads and lodge-pole gates. Stop at the Coney Island hot dog stand in Bailey or the Organic Peddler Peace of Art Cafe at Del Norte. Afterward head for a comfortable deluxe room at the Springs Resort and Spa (www.pagosahotsprings.com). The total deluxe room cost is $220-260, depending on the season.

Fall and winter are the seasons for the lowest rates, while summer at this 7,500-foot-high location is when things go into full swing. The well-appointed rooms have comfy beds, plenty of storage, a refrigerator and a great heating system. Notice the clothesline for swimsuits and herbal potions for after-soak showers. Visitors will be glad of that polar bear robe in their closets; air can be brisk strolling from one mineral pool to another. The pools are available to resort guests at all hours.

The five newest “18 and over” jetted pools are comfortably warm to hot. They feature heated towel racks, a Roman shower and waterfalls. There’s a large freshwater swimming pool purified by salt tablets. Water flows from the natural mother-spring through each tub and into a large, decorative receiving pond full of goldfish that live year-round in its accommodating warmth. The hot tubs are drained and power-washed three times a week.

Part of this experience is the Springs Spa and Salon featuring at least three varieties of facials: the Eminence (vegetable and fruit based), the Yonka (featuring rosemary and lavender) and the Cha’e hypoallergenic variety. The staff consists of a dozen masseurs and estheticians.

For the Pagosa Stone massage, a heated pack is placed on the back while legs are anointed with holly oil. The rubdown is done with smooth, toasty stones. Heated oils perfume the air with pine, while otherworldly music accompanies and golden candles flicker. Results? Sore muscles are stretched, the body is detoxified and lactic acid is released.

The resort suggests packages featuring skiing at Wolf Creek, Angel Fire and other New Mexico/Colorado areas, horseback riding, or a tour of the local Rocky Mountain Wildlife Park. There’s also effortless entertainment in the boutiques and restaurants in town.

For breakfast and lunch, Victoria’s Parlor (274 Pagosa St.) is inviting and costs around $15. Architecture-lovers might explore the tiny historic block surrounding it before descending on Victoria’s perfection menu and “I’m home” ambience.

The antiques and artisan products of Victoria’s Reign Gift Shop spill over from one wing of the restaurant. Exquisite carved eggs, reminiscent of Faberge, and made by Pagosa Springs resident Harvey Clemens, are available here.

Continue shopping at Main Street Antiques, 438B Pagosa St. It’s a cooperative, assuring bargains. Connoisseurs will spot sought-after objects, like the shimmering Noritake Lustreware tea set we noticed there.

Lantern Dancer in the River Center boasts a tremendous trove of southwestern jewelry and features David Yurman rings made of silver and semi-precious stones at low prices.

A remarkable choice for dinner is JJ’s Riverwalk Restaurant, 356 East Highway 160. Our Sunday evening featured a talented blues duo. The Thai salad is gourmet Nirvana. You can even order a half-salad, and gourmet salads and entrees are available for less than $20. There are tasty soups and breads; also featured are pasta, “hand cut” steaks and “Hawaii fresh” fish. Decor is sleek, original and spacious, taking its keynote from exposed roof trusses.

Early arrivals can view the sun-splashed San Juan River from the restaurant’s deck, a prelude to the scenic drive back to Boulder.