Cinque Terre By Boat
After a very frustrating morning, we had a pleasant afternoon in the town of Monterosso while waiting for the boat. We had lunch in a crowded pub, wandered the streets looking for souvenirs and dipped […]
Cinque Terre: How Not To Do It
You may not have heard of the Cinque Terre before, but chances are you’ve seen photos of them. Five colourful little villages on the northeast coast of Italy, clinging to the cliff tops and mostly […]
Within the Walls of Lucca
We went to Tuscany for Florence, but it was Lucca we fell in love with. Lucca, with its tree-lined ramparts encircling the old city, with its attractive cathedral and sunny piazzas, and with the music […]
A Festival in Orvieto
Toom-ta-dum, toom-ta-dum, dum, dum, DUM! Gareth and I looked at each other. What was going on? We were sitting outside in the sun enjoying brunch at a little bar in the hilltop town of Orvieto […]
Living Like Locals
For our recent trip to Italy, Gareth and I decided to make use of the popular accommodation site, Airbnb, for the first time. We wanted to live like the locals and experience another side of […]
Driving in Italy – “Just a Suggestion”
One of my most vivid memories of Italy from our camper-car trip back in 1997 is of my father’s white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel as two painted lanes on the highway turned into five […]
A Comedy of Errors
As always, the first question everyone asks after you’ve returned from a trip abroad is: “Did you enjoy it?” Of course I enjoyed our recent trip to Italy, but so many things went wrong this […]
Announcing: Ciao Italy 2014!
Milestone birthdays should be special. After all, we’re getting older and, hopefully, wiser and that should be celebrated. For my 30th birthday Gareth and I went to Zanzibar, and I spent the day swimming with […]