JAPAN | Monday, 30 Jul 2018 | Views [480]
It has rained all day today. Being the UK that shouldn’t be even worthy of mention, but it is the relieving cleanse of heavy rain after an uneasy prolonged heatwave, so with relief I say, it has rained all day today. Whenever it rains now, I mean ... Read more >
Tags: arashiyama, female empowerment, japan, kyoto, onsen
ITALY | Wednesday, 15 Jul 2015 | Photo Gallery
I don't actually own a camera, all these were taken on my phone. Google images has better snaps
See all 17 photos >>
Tags: cinque terre, florence, herculaneum, italy, perugia, poligiano, rome, venice
ITALY | Tuesday, 14 Jul 2015 | Views [637]
So it was finally day 30. The last full day before we headed home. The trip had seemed to last an age, but also, now it seemed to be over too soon. I was so relieved to finally be getting away from my friend. The tense silences, the loneliness, the passive ... Read more >
Tags: da pallone, eating alone, naples, pizza, sola, solo
ITALY | Monday, 13 Jul 2015 | Views [451]
I wish I could say this was a bad first impression of Naples, but it was a pretty accurate one. Everywhere looked like that neighbourhood. Dirty, dingy, terrifying. The only part of Naples that is clean is the metro- the central stops are decorated with ... Read more >
Tags: dante, friendship, herculaneum, loss, naples, versuvius
ITALY | Sunday, 12 Jul 2015 | Views [440]
We got a bus from Bari to Naples for the sake of our wallets. I watched out the window as the golden fields grew more and more fertile and the great Vesuvius grew closer and more imposing. Our first view of Naples was a city of skyscrapers, construction ... Read more >
Tags: naples, napoli, napoli centrale
ITALY | Wednesday, 8 Jul 2015 | Views [439]
Two of the best sites in Puglia and the surrounding area are the small towns of Alberobello and Matera. Both are easily accessible by specially designated trains from Bari and both are unesco world heritage sites. Alberobello means white tree, and probably ... Read more >
Tags: alberobello, basilicata, matera, puglia, rock, sassi, trulli
UNITED KINGDOM | Monday, 6 Jul 2015 | Views [368]
Driving down from Rome I was again mesmerised by the mountains of Lazio. I never thought of Italy as so mountainous or hilly. Then we entered Puglia, the land of my foremothers. Fields, golden with wheat, endless grapevines and olive trees as far as ... Read more >
Tags: bari, ostuni, poligiano, puglia, strangers
ITALY | Saturday, 4 Jul 2015 | Views [264]
Our last full day in Rome I decided to bridge the gap that had been forming between us and organise that we spend the whole day together. We would wake up early, like 6am early, in order to get into St Peter’s Basilica before the queues formed ... Read more >
ITALY | Wednesday, 1 Jul 2015 | Views [393]
The next day we were so hot we spent most of it just shut up in the apartment, trying to keep the cool air in. There was a TV with a DVD player in the main bedroom and we searched for something to watch. But all they had were tourism DVDs. I looked through ... Read more >
Tags: roma, rome, sistine chapel, tivere, trastivere, vatican city, vatican museum
ITALY | Monday, 29 Jun 2015 | Views [368]
We had 5 whole days in Rome, which for me is a long time in one place. We had a lot planned and we got a lot done, but we learnt quickly we had to adapt to survive in this place. The sun is hot and the place is busy and hard to navigate. And I had to ... Read more >
Tags: colosseum, palatne hill, roma, roman forum, rome, trevi fountain
UNITED KINGDOM | Sunday, 28 Jun 2015 | Views [458]
We had planned to get to Rome on the 28 th of June so we could catch Pope Francis’ last appearance in Vatican City before he went on tour to South America. We’d done St Francis of Assissi’s tomb and we’d done the Shroud of Turin, ... Read more >
Tags: blessing, desmund tutu, pope francis, rome, st peters and st pauls day, vatican city
UNITED KINGDOM | Friday, 26 Jun 2015 | Views [333]
We had decided we needed some time out of the city, and planned to stay for a few days in the isolated peace of the Perugian hills. A bus ride outside the city of Perugia was a farmhouse hostel with donkeys and rentable bikes. Umbria, though lacking ... Read more >
Tags: assisi, baci, perguia, perugina, relax, saint francis, umbria
UNITED KINGDOM | Monday, 22 Jun 2015 | Views [417]
When the train pulled into Venezia San Lucia train station I was surprised by how much water separated the mainland and the islands. It seems like a stupid thing to be surprised by. I suppose it’s obvious to most people that, being an island, it ... Read more >
Tags: blackjack, cuban cigars, maze, st marks square, strange, venezia, venice
UNITED KINGDOM | Friday, 19 Jun 2015 | Views [362]
On our way to Florence from La Spezia we decided to stop off at Pisa, to take the obligatory leaning photo before heading on to Florence. I’m glad we stopped off in Pisa if only because I will never have to go back there. It is probably a nice ... Read more >
Tags: air bnb, firenze, florence, leaning tower of pisa, piazza della signoria, piazza michaelangalo, pisa
UNITED KINGDOM | Wednesday, 17 Jun 2015 | Views [539]
The Cinque Terre is a popular destination for travellers heading to Italy. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site and protected national marine park on the Italian Riviera. It’s uniquely picturesque and highly recommended by all good travel websites, ... Read more >
Tags: biassa, cinque terre, corniglia, manarola, milan central, monterosso, riomaggiore, train strikes, tranquillo, vernazza
UNITED KINGDOM | Tuesday, 16 Jun 2015 | Views [423]
We were only in Milan for the day before we had to catch our train to Turin late in the afternoon. We were meeting our other friend in a few days but rather than stay in Milan, which I was warned was underwhelming and had to agree at least a little, ... Read more >
Tags: catholicism, italy, relics, shroud of turin, turin
UNITED KINGDOM | Tuesday, 16 Jun 2015 | Views [350]
It was dusk when we arrived at Porta Nuova train station in Turin. Whilst we were trying to figure out where our hostel was we walked down the wide Corso Emmanuelle II. Every town in Italy has a street called the Corso Emmanuelle II. The evening was ... Read more >
Tags: hostels, meeting people, torino, turin
UNITED KINGDOM | Tuesday, 16 Jun 2015 | Views [317]
The weather forecast that day said rain and even maybe lightning, but as is the universal rule of weather forecasts, they were wrong. The sun shone down through the occasional cloud down on to the pastel coloured streets of Milan. But the stagnant humidity ... Read more >
Tags: la fondazione prada, milan, milano duomo, wes anderson cafe
ITALY | Sunday, 14 Jun 2015 | Views [341]
I had been planning this trip since I was a little girl, sitting in my great grandmother’s dining room, the smell of simmering meatballs and ragù on the stove and her thick, sometimes indecipherable, accent flowing through the air, painting ... Read more >
Tags: dream, first time traveller, italy, milan, milano, travel
