Unlike the other localities of the Cinque Terre, Corniglia is not directly adjacent to the sea. Instead, it is on the top of a peninsula about 100 metres high, surrounded on three sides by vineyards and terraces and the fourth side descends steeply to the sea. To reach Corniglia, it is necessary to climb the Lardarina, a long brick flight of […]
After a nice stroll through the village we decided to go under the mountain to the other side of town and hang out on the beach. This is a rocky beach and since we did not bring the sand toys with us, we did what comes naturally to all Canadians – building our versions of Inukshuks. It […]
Our second stop is Vernazza which is a short train ride. First records recognizing Vernazza as a fortified town date back to the year 1080. This village is completely different. It has a different vibe, it is layer out differently with limited access to the water but it is perched more on the mountain […]
The Cinque Terre – “The Five Lands” comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We are setting off on a train which goes between these 5 villages […]
As planned we arrived at Agriturismo Villanova right at 5:00 pm. This place is, once again, in the middle of nowhere, on the top of a hill just about 5 min drive from Levano town centre. We loved this place the moment we pulled up. Basically you turn off the road by the fire […]
After a great Brunch we set off for a 4 hour drive to Cinque Terre National Park on the Mediterranean. None of us have been there so we are looking forward to it. It is Sunday so there is almost no traffic as the big trucks are not allowed on the highways unless they carry parishables […]
This is our local about 3 min walk from where we are staying in Rome. We came here for breakfast all three days which varied between €7.00 to €24.00 – we also had dinner snacks here too which came to be about the same. We absolutely love this place and love the food and […]
Since we have discovered the list of World’s 10 Most Beautiful Cafes we though we would give it a try. Our first experience was with Cafe New York in Budapest – and it was nothing short of spectacular. Our second attempt was Cafe Imperial in Prague which truth be bold was more Cafe and less […]
It seems that no matter where you go in Rome, there are old Roman ruins or something that predates the Rome itself. No visit to Rome would be complete without spotting Hare Krishna people making a spectacle of themselves and being happy in their own way. The final stop on our list of things to see was what […]
Glitter glitter on the floor, ceiling and wall who is the richest god of them all? No matter where you go, where you turn you can not walk more than 100 m in Rome without walking past a church – each nicer than the last.
Right next to the Colosseum are the impressive ruins of the Roman Forum. The Forum Romanum was the center of life in Imperial Rome, evidenced by the many remains of triumphal arches, temples and basilicas. Until 509 BC, when Rome became a republic, the city was reigned by an Etruscan dynasty of Tarquin Kings. They […]
The Colosseum is probably the most impressive building of the Roman Empire. Originally known as the Flavian Amphitheater, it was the largest building of the era. While the Colosseum is largely in ruins it is still an amazing site to see. The elliptical building is immense, measuring 188m by 156m and reaching a height of […]
Anyone visiting Rome will sooner or later end up at Piazza Venezia. This square is located in the heart of Rome, at the end of the Via del Corso. From here it’s only a short walk to some of Rome’s most famous sights like the Capitoline Hill, the Roman Forum and the Pantheon. Many historic […]
After the morning visit to the market we are heading in the general direction of the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Spanish Steps. First thing we see on the way there is Altar of the Nation. Officially known as the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II, the enormous white marble monument, 80 m hight by […]
First thing on our agenda today, after breakfast of course, is the weekend market. This small market is where locals come to get their fruits and vegetables, pastas, oils, spices and just about anything else you might need or want to eat – all fresh. We got some giant sweet peas and cherries the size of plums. […]
Our day out was about 12 hours long. I am not sure how much walking we did but at the end of the day it was nice to sit down and enjoy a nice dinner and a glass of Prosecco. Great day out, and we are certainly happy that we have accomplished so much. Rome […]
After visiting the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica we decided to visit a couple of other churches. These were simply on our way from point A to point B but we though it would be worth the effort to see if these smaller less impressive buildings will still have the same effect as they […]
Trevi Fountain is a fountain in the Trevi district in Rome. It designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Pietro Bracci. Standing 26.3 metres high and 49.15 metres wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world. Each day some €3000,00 are […]
We continue our journey across Rome through the narrow streets and piazzas. The Pantheon was commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus and rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian about 126 AD. It is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings. It has been in continuous use throughout its history, […]
The one Basilica to rule them all would be quite an understatement. There is really nothing in this world that can prepare you for the sheer magnificence of this place, or its gigantic proportions or it’s over the top splendour. We have seen our share of wonderful churches and cathedrals but nothing and I mean nothing comes […]
St. Peter’s Square is a massive plaza located directly in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City, the papal enclave surrounded by Rome. At the centre of the square is an Egyptian obelisk, erected at the current site in 1586. Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the square almost 100 years later, including the massive […]
The Sistine Chapel is a large and renowned chapel of the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in the Vatican City. Originally known as the Cappella Magna, the chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored it between 1477 and 1480. Since that time, the chapel has served as a place […]
Papal Apartments – is where you start seeing the real splendour of the Vatican Museum. If you were a Pope in the olden days you could commission Raphael to paint your apartment. At the age of 25 Raphael was asked to do just that – scrap all the previous work done by some of the […]
If a dizzying array of splendour that adorns the walls with famous paintings or tapestries or the floors done in priceless mosaics or just ordinary marble cut to perfection were not enough then perhaps the rooms and hallways and gardens lined with sculptures by every famous master from the beginning of time will impress and astonish. […]
It appears that whatever is not at the Louvre or at the National Gallery in London is here. There are a lot of priceless sculptures here and a great many of them share the same story. No one knows how some of these 2 or 3 or 5 thousand year old sculptures found their […]
Our schedule is quite busy for today so we had to decline a visit with Papa Francesco at the Vatican, but we did send our €88 towards the church to get a line up free tickets to see the Vatican Museum. The moment we got off the bus we were happy that we got the […]
If it is true that all roads lead to Rome then this is where we are heading this afternoon. On the way there we are treated to some amazing and spectacular sites along the way. It appears that each mountain top has its own town. Orvieto, Moltepulciano, Fabro, Orte and countless others. Beautiful day […]
This little place in the village below Buccia Nera is where we stopped by for breakfast. It is a bakery / pizzeria place. Basically a breakfast with freshly baked goods and some cappuccino and espresso for the four of us, plus some cookies for good measure was just under €7.00 that is what I call […]
If you don’t know what you are looking for, you would more than likely walk by this place without giving it a second look. The place is just outside the main part of the old town in the middle of a residential neighbourhood, off on a side street in the middle of nowhere really. This, however, […]
We went out to Arezzo one more time. First because there is a great pizza place we wanted to check out and second because we really wanted to have another go at Paradiso Gelato – some shopping seemed in order as well. Arezzo being one of the more affluent cities in Tuscany has a lot […]
It is hard to describe this place, everyday it looks different, more beautiful, more enchanting. The clouds rolled in today and I think it might have cooled off down to 34C – unbelievable. This is a paradise we are calling home this week.
It is not like we have strained ourselves yesterday but it is early days on our Italian adventure so we are taking it easy. We never got up early enough to get to the bakery so we had fruit for breakfast. After breakfast – the pool from 10 am to 7:15 pm with an occasional […]
We started off in this place and I finished the day off in this place. I think we have crowed the new best gelato place on this trip. Paradiso I think will permanently unseat the great gelato we had in San Gimignano Italy and Cacao in Ljubljana Slovenia. It is that unbelievably good. Paradise as […]
We found a great little restaurant in Arezzo called Luck, the actual Italian name is Osteria da Luchino. Off the main street, no English menu, small and charming and just perfect. We decided to try the Italian way of eating dinner. You start off with a small pasta dish, then have the main course with […]
We are heading down to Arezzo for dinner and here are some shots from the way down to town. We are about 7km away from the old town so it is not a long drive. Behind the lens are my lovely wife and Evelina while I try to focus on what Italians call a road […]
Today, we are proud to say, we have done nothing at all. We drove down to the village to have breakfast the local bakery. We stopped by a shop to get some milk, cheese and salami and on the way back up we also stopped at a fruit stand and bought half a trunk of […]
All that you can hear right now in the middle of the night at Buccia Nera are crickets. It is almost midnight and it is still 25C outside, there are no bugs and it is absolutely fantastic.
Happy Anniversary to Kasia and Volker. We are out celebrating their 17th Wedding Anniversary today. Kasia and Volker suggested we go to one of their favourite restaurants just outside Nuremberg. Once again we did not manage to get all the pictures of the food for the blog but we did manage to get the desserts into […]
After the castle we hastily headed down to the restaurant as some storm clouds started rolling in. We did not have to walk far and in all honestly the rain did not last very long. But while it was raining we were sitting down enjoying a nice dinner and coffee. Good times, Prague never disappoints […]
We love this city. We love the sites and the atmosphere, we love the food and the architecture. Having seen most of the big sites on the previous trips today we are wondering around at a gingerly pace trying to take it all in one more time. I am not sure if we will be coming […]
One of the great places in Prague is the top of the City Hall Tower in the Old Town on the main square. Weather permitting you get phenomenal views of the city and some of its great landmarks. The Prague Castle, the Tyn Church, Vyšehrad Castle, The opera house, the many churches, and turrets and building […]
We are back in Prague – starting with breakfast at Cafe Imperial. This place is on the list of top 10 Cafés in the world you should to visit.
We are slowly beginning to understand how winter works here. When it snows, you get out to take a picture of it, because by noon most of it, if not all of it is gone. We had snow here now on and off for the last two days. There are places in the city where […]
It’s a day out. A couple of hours in the car and just like that we are in Prague having pastries at Paul. Getting here was not a lot of fun: fog, a bit of rain and generally slow going, and by slow I simply mean we took it easy.
I am not implying that winter is over, I am simply saying that spring is coming. Glorious!
Today is the day when everyone in this family can measure their age with two digits. Joining the club is the littlest one – Evelina, turning 10 today and proud of it. Happy Birthday! Thank you all for your wishes, cards and gifts, it really made her day today.
This morning, we set off to do a bit of grocery shopping at our favourite store – METRO. When we got out onto the main road, there was police on every intersection, roads were closed off as were the turn off lanes to go left or right, businesses were shut down as well. We had […]
We are slowly thinking of what our summer might look like and here is our wish list. We did not include the cities we already visited because Google Maps is very difficult to deal with when it comes to dropping pins in the same city. A quick calculation shows: 9214 km and about 99 hours […]
We have walked past this church many times on many walks to the old town. The kids walk by it everyday, twice a day, going to and from school. The church is considered a significant contribution to the baroque church architecture of Middle Franconia. The original medieval church was started in the early 12th Century, and was […]
Paris was angry with us today, or at least that is what it seemed like to us. We got to the metro station this morning and it turned out that our 5 days metro passes have already expired. No big deal, we thought, we will just get a daily ticket. This metro station however, does […]
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