Italy
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A Photographic Catch-Up
When I was in my first job after leaving school – I left at 16 – I coupled working all day with studying at night on what in those days was called a correspondence course. Once the June exams were completed, I suddenly had a bucketful of free time, but was ambushed by a sense of guilt.. a kind of guilty feeling that I should – ought – to be doing something. It was like a guilty conscience forever tapping my shoulder. I’ve got that same feeling right now, after taking a pause from the travel blog, an unshakeable nagging feeling that there’s something I should be getting on with. So, without…
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Amazed By Corsica: Porto Ota-Calvi-Asco-Bastia
With Corsica boasting five scenic drives each reputed to be breathtaking we have planned to follow at least three of them during our stay on the island, so having had two days to explore the amazing Calanques de Piana we build a second spectacular drive into our journey to our next base. Corsica is very much more mountainous than we knew, these are proper mountain roads with narrow twists and turns, precipitous drops and sometimes unforgiving rock on each side. They are an absolute joy to drive but require maximum vigilance too. This one is a 22 kilometre drive from Porto Ota to the picturesque mountain village of Evisa, a…
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Arrividerci Sardinia, Bonjour Corsica
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Arrividerci Sardinia, Bonjour Corsica
We arrive in the port town of Santa Teresa Gallura with modest expectations, island ferry port towns are sometimes low key affairs which don’t score highly on the attractive scale. Not so Santa Teresa where we are pleasantly surprised to the point of amazed as we turn from a quiet street into the main piazza where gentle soul music issues from one bar and 70s disco from another in as welcoming a scene as you could wish to encounter. Numerous restaurants line several of the streets leading away from the square, chatter and laughter fill the air and the ambience is one of casual enjoyment, there is truly a feeling…
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Amazed By Corsica: Porto Ota-Calvi-Asco-Bastia
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Sardinia’s Eastern Coast: Orosei, Palau & La Maddalena Archipelago
I keep referring to the wind here as the Mistral, but it is in fact only wind in a certain direction which carries that name. Each wind, be it northerly, easterly, whatever, has a name in these parts, and there are seven in all, each with different characteristics and each bringing different weather. I guess when your livelihood – and indeed your life in the case of the fishermen – depends on such things, the knowledge bar needs to be high. The town of Orosei sits in the middle of a stretch of notoriously beautiful Sardinian coastline, rugged yet fertile, bold yet tranquil. The best way to view this stretch…
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Nuraghe, Mountain Towns & Murals: Crossing Sardinia.
The nuraghe of Sardinia have been the subject of considerable debate over the years, with some disagreement over their original functions and purposes. According to what appears to be the current school of thought, and definitely the thrust of websites and guide books, the reason for the confusion is that the nuraghe were multi purpose and therefore inconsistent in design from one to the next. What is certain is that they are unique to Sardinia, that traces of over 10,000 have been identified, 7,000 of which are still standing in one form or another. Grain stores, fortresses, family homes, lookout posts, communal meeting places…all have been theories, each with strong…
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Discovering A Real Gem: Bosa, Sardinia
Even the description “one of Italy’s most beautiful villages” doesn’t do justice to our first sight of this exquisite little town of just over 8,000 inhabitants, simply one of those places which brings out a wow or two at first sight. Bosa sits just a mile in from the sea on the banks of the Temo River, the only riverside town in all of Sardinia on the island’s only navigable river. Two ancient bridges span the Temo, colourful houses catch the sunshine, wooded hills surround the town, coastal cliffs are visible from the centre of town. It’s insanely attractive. Perched high above this beautiful scene at the best vantage point…
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From Portugal To Sardinia Via A Learning Curve Or Two
For the true traveller there is something immensely satisfying about completing a long and convoluted journey independently, so the fact that this lengthy trek from Portugal to Sardinia goes without major hitch gives us plenty of reasons to be cheerful. A short walk to Olhão train station, a quick train ride to Faro town, followed by the Number 16 bus to the airport, brings us to the clutches of Ryanair, who cause the only moment of angst when the word “delayed” makes an unwelcome appearance on the departure board. We easily make up the lost time though when we land at Barcelona and find ourselves in what must be a…
- Europe, History, Independent travel, Italy, Outdoor Activities, Photography, Switzerland, Transport, Travel Blog
From Style On The Streets To Horses On Ice: Milan, St Moritz & The Bernina Express
Elegant, stylish, classy: words we would all associate with Milan and accolades which this city effortlessly lives up to, with its lofty majestic buildings and wide open piazzas. By day these imposing, ornate structures tower over the streets in proud glory; at night, tastefully illuminated by well placed floodlighting, the grand buildings assume another yet more alluring pose in what is effectively an architectural catwalk. Emerging from the metro and out into the square at Duomo station is to soak in one of THE great cathedral views as the shaped facade of this magnificent building soars above the piazza like some giant ice sculpture. The famed Duomo is in good…
- Africa, Belize, Central America, Independent travel, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, North America, Panama, Photography, Travel Blog, Wildlife
That Was 2022
When we retired at the end of 2019, full of wide eyed enthusiasm about seeing the world and feeling like the entire world was our oyster, we had a vision of what a year would look like. This was of course before we had any inkling that something very nasty was about to escape from China and have something of an impact on those plans. Resourceful as we were in ‘20 and ‘21 (we travelled as much as we could and more than most), 2022 has probably been the first year which really did match the dreams we had at the start. As a year which started in Costa Rica…
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Concluding Rome & Heading Home
The sun continues to shine from cloudless skies – as we enter the second half of October and near the end of this short Italian sojourn, temperatures of up to 29 degrees surprise and delight us. We had hoped for sunshine but this warmth has been a big bonus, so perfect for exploring the two wonderful cities of Bologna and Rome. Tucked into the tight streets between the Trevi fountain and Piazza Navona, The Pantheon is a remarkable and beautiful building, boasting the widest masonry dome in Europe which in turn houses the oculus through which sunlight cascades in spectacular shafts. The whole place is fabulous. The walls are adorned…
