I arrived in Naples, full of fear and apprehension. I’d seen the movie Gomorra and I’d heard stories of the Mafia’s notoriously bad influence there. I’d read the newspapers, I knew there would be rubbish everywhere. And I’d also been warned by Italian friends not to visit large parts of the city, “unless you want to … Continue reading
Living in Rome sounds romantic but can be exhausting. Apart from the never-ending chaos, beeping horns and cars trying to run you over when you cross on a green pedestrian light, the yelling, arguing and chatting (sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference with Italians!), there are so many thousands of tourists every day that it … Continue reading
The Cinque Terre are five famous villages that cling to the rugged cliffs of the Ligurian coast. The villages are accessible by railway, but most tourists choose to take the Sentiero Azzurro, the hiking trails that link these picturesque little villages. We paid our €5 and started our walk along the Via dell’Amore (the first section of … Continue reading
With five villages to choose from in the Cinque Terre, not to mention all the other villages nearby which were competing for our tourist dollar, we had our work cut out for us trying to decide where to stay. Arriving to a view like this, we suspected it was a good decision to spend two … Continue reading
Zooming around corners, crossing the non-existent median line, trying to stay standing on a packed bus after a bottle of wine with lunch, I had a major epiphany. I realised Italy makes me happy to be alive, for two reasons: 1) It is breathtakingly beautiful and 2) Sometimes there is so little regard for personal … Continue reading
They say when in Rome, do as the Romans do… So I decided while in Bavaria, it was time for me to step into a German stereotype and get my hike on. As I’m not yet 40 I didn’t go so far as to get out my nordic walking poles for a flat path along … Continue reading
After an extended weekend of feasting in Heidelberg, we were lucky enough to be invited to stay at our friends’ family house in a small village half way to Frankfurt, called Zwingenberg. It was very quaint and stereotypically German: We took an excursion to Bensheim, where I loved the way they painted their buildings: … Continue reading
Arriving in Heidelberg was a complete shock to me. After some time in Rome, I felt like our plane had landed on another planet, not in another European country. Everything was so green and so clean, there was no rubbish in sight. Cars were driving carefully, obeying road rules and even stopping for red lights. … Continue reading
Having grown up in a city surrounded by beaches, I get beach cravings if I go too long without seeing the sea. I had thought living in Rome would stop these cravings as it’s less than an hour from the coast so surely there must be some residual salt in the air. Not enough it … Continue reading
When I was offered the opportunity of a wine festival in Tuscany or a chocolate festival in Umbria one balmy autumn weekend, there was no question. Chocolate it was, I did not lack wine in my Italian lifestyle (nor did I really lack chocolate either, but world-famous chocolate opportunities like this don’t come up every … Continue reading
Tali Goes Travelling 