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Stories And Histories: More Days In Rome
On our previous travels we have visited the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz in Krakow and walked through the chilling and horrific histories at Auschwitz and Birkenau, wandered through the former ghettoes of Venice, Thessaloniki and others, visited Jewish museums in several cities as well as Ann Frank’s House in Amsterdam, learning again and again of the bigoted persecution of people of that faith. Even so, there is a different element to Rome’s equivalent, the former ghetto now known as Communita Ebraico, knowing that creation of this particular ghetto took place under the watchful eye and direct personal instruction of the Pope, who ensured that, as with all other ghettoes, the…
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From Bologna To The Eternal City
Our last post left us going through an unassuming unmarked doorway in amongst the restaurants of Bologna’s Quadrilatero district and entering a parlour full of evocative old photographs. Many show the famous faces of previous visitors to this strange little room: here Mohammad Ali’s autographed golden boxing glove, there Richard Nixon, then Tony Bennett, even a laughing Marilyn Monroe. This is Bologna’s oldest inn, the Osteria del Sole, where the wine has flowed since 1465 and been quaffed not only by the glitterati but also by the learned intellectuals from the university, students and professors alike. Yet the joy of “del Sole” is as much about its custom as its…
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Piazzas, Porticos & Pasta: Notes From Bologna
Bologna’s famous porticos are immediately evident even as we make our way from the railway station to our apartment close to the heart of the city – not surprising given just how far they extend through the city streets. Originally constructed from wood to provide additional display areas for shopkeepers, these attractive extensions now take on a variety of forms: sweeping brickwork arches, concrete and steel squares, segmented tunnels. Handily providing protection from both the summer sun and the winter rain, these porticos stretch improbably for nearly 25 miles around Bologna’s streets, giving it something of a unique look. Well certainly unusual even if not unique. Bologna enjoys a reputation…
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Leaving The UK Again
It may be just a little bit harder than usual to leave the UK this autumn. Rampant inflation, soaring energy bills, a clueless and incompetent Government who have set about destroying both the economy and the nation’s reputation in one go, rail, bus and mail strikes….these are all things which will really make us wish we’d stayed at home. For those unfamiliar with the sarcasm of British humour, welcome. So it’s with absolutely nothing approaching a heavy heart that our plans for autumn and winter travel are coming together. This Monday, 3rd October, I’m off to Spain for a few days – but not with Michaela who is spending a…
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Beautiful Places #8: Elba
The large house you can see on the headland in the picture above is reputed to be the site of Napoleon’s exile to Elba. When you think of exile, you might imagine imprisonment, but, in his case, Napoleon had the freedom of this beautiful island and lived in opulent luxury in this castle with a view. You might reflect that being in enforced exile on an island like Elba is an awful lot better than the last twelve months have been for many people. Even getting to Elba was special, flying in to Pisa and then taking the train out to the ferry port at Piombino from where the “Moby”…
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Photographic Memories #12
As every traveller knows, when you look back through old travel photos, many of them trigger wonderful memories. With no current prospect of travel even domestically let alone worldwide, we will have no new adventures to blog, but we do have many such memories…. Photo #12: Stromboli A bit of poetic licence here as there’s 3 photos instead of the usual 1, but then it’s not often that you get the opportunity to climb a living volcano after dark and look down on the fiery inferno below. This was the Aeolian Islands, 2011. A boat trip from our host island of Lipari to the volcanic Stromboli included an afternoon stop…
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Giovinazzo And A Wind Of Change
Last full day in Puglia and enjoying the sleep ancient town of Giovinazzo
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Polignano A Mare And Corpus Domini
A day in Polignano followed by an evening of corpus Domini celebrations in Molfetta
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More Adriatic Adventure And A Church Puzzle
Continuing our tour of Southern Italy featuring its churches
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Touring Puglia’s Adriatic Coastline
Two days of exploring the towns of Puglia's Adriatic coast
