Filed under Europe

La Bella Toscana

La Bella Toscana

It is a cliché: Tuscany is the most beautiful region of Italy, the one that everyone falls in love with, goes home and writes about – telling the world how marvelous Italy is and forgetting the difficulties of daily life in Italy in their portrayal of the beauty they found there. Italians hate this side … Continue reading

Milan – The “Non-Italian” Italian City

Milan – The “Non-Italian” Italian City

Italians love to hate Milan. Before we got there, they said “Oh no, don’t go to Milan, it’s not really like Italy.” “It’s definitely not Italian.” Once we had arrived there, the locals asked us “Why did you come here?” informing us where we could go to escape the city on weekends. And finally when … Continue reading

The Lakes of Lombardy

The Lakes of Lombardy

Ask any Milanese person what the best thing about living in Milan is, and they’ll say, “leaving on the weekend.” So that’s exactly what we did. Words do no justice to the beauty of the magificent Lago Maggiore and Lago di Como, so here are some photos. Add exquisite Italian food and wine with good … Continue reading

Tali vs Rome – Round 1

Tali vs Rome – Round 1

Round one got off to a good start for Tali. Armed with a one year working-holiday visa and sauntering through customs with a smile on her face, things were looking good. Somewhat nervous about going to a country she’d never visited before but had decided to live in for a year, and a bit sad … Continue reading

An English Excursion

An English Excursion

You can’t drive within 100km of Stonehenge and not make a detour to visit it, can you? Of course not! It’s like going to Rome and not visiting the Colosseum. That’s how we convinced Wendy on a sunny Saturday morning, along with hundreds of other tourists, to stop for a look at these famous stones. … Continue reading

Magical Edinburgh

Magical Edinburgh

I knew I was going to like Edinburgh before we even got out of the airport. Not only were we greeted to Scotland by happy, smiling, laughing locals, but also by stunning weather, a crisp blue sky day with not a cloud to be seen. One plus of not flying Ryanair (there are also many … Continue reading

A Coruña – A Taste of Home

A Coruña – A Taste of Home

Our welcoming committee to A Coruña consisted of beautiful squares, a warm sea breeze and a smiling Friday afternoon lunch crowd. We felt at home as soon as we got out of the bus station. This Galician city has a very Spanish flavour to it, mixed in with the local tastes. Famous for the pulpo … Continue reading

The End of the Earth

The End of the Earth

Fisterra as it is called in the local language (Finisterre in Spanish), translates directly as the End of the Earth. It is found on the Costa da Morte – the Coast of Death. Doesn’t really sound like a very promising tourist destination, huh? Fortunately for us that meant that one of the most beautiful ocean … Continue reading

The Final Stretch – Sarria to Santiago

The Final Stretch – Sarria to Santiago

Galicia reminded me a lot of New Zealand, apart from the slate and stone houses of course. It was so green (Galicia is well known in Spain for it’s rain which we were fortunate enough to avoid), there were lots of ferns in the bush and it was never ever flat, we had ventured far … Continue reading