Posts Tagged ‘Europe’
The best of both worlds: Austrian & Italian delicacies at the Bolzano market
We were lucky enough to be passing through Bolzano on a Saturday morning – market day – and enjoyed our brief walk around the city in a dazzling (and unusual) sunny February day that felt like May. For those who don’t know the northern Italian city of Bolzano, it is the regional capital of the…
Read MoreRebuilt from the rubble: Italy’s 6th century Montecassino Abbey
A Sunday morning in February, I found myself in Cassino, a small city south of Rome at the edge of the Lazio region. This outing, like so many others of its kind, was for a running race of my youngest son. It’s a pretty long trip from Rome to Cassino, but the February day was…
Read MoreEarly morning jogging … in Oslo
I’ve written a few times how much I enjoy jogging mornings when I’m travelling. I’ve already written about early morning jogging in New York, Durres, Albania, Agadir, Morocco, Vitorchiano, Italy and the Bahamas. I had the nice chance to enjoy it again on a recent visit – to Oslo, Norway. I was (extremely) lucky with…
Read MoreSella ronda – a 42 km ski loop in the Dolomites
Ever since I returned from my ski holiday I’ve been waxing poetic about these beautiful mountains in northern Italy. I’ve already written about skiing in the Dolomites and the base we loved in Selva di Val Gardena. This week I’m going to write about a trail – the Sella ronda, that will get you to many…
Read MoreA skier’s paradise: Selva di Val Gardena, Italy
I already wrote about skiing in the spectacular Dolomite Mountains (Dolomiti) in last week’s post. This week, I’d like to concentrate on the little town of Selva di Val Gardena, which we used as our home base during our week-long skiing holiday. Selva – or its German name of Wolkenstein or the slightly tweaked Sëlva…
Read MoreSkiing in a winter wonderland: Italy’s Dolomites
My week skiing in northern Italy last month was a hard thing to leave. After all, we enjoyed seven days of sunshine and snow on the 1200 kilometers of trails that took us all over Italy’s Dolomite Mountains, exploring new valleys and slopes each day. The Dolomiti, the Dolomites, are a mountain range of the…
Read MoreReason #5385 to love Rome: The Turtle Fountain
Rome’s Fontana delle tartarughe – the Turtle Fountain – is a beloved landmark in central Rome. Located on Piazza Mattei, in the neighborhood known as the Ghetto (for those of you wondering, this is where the name came from), it was built 1580-1588, during the Renaissance, by the architect/sculptor team of Giacomo della Porta and Taddeo…
Read MoreAn evening stroll in Caserta vecchia
I recently traveled down to visit the spectacular Reggia di Caserta, just outside of Naples in Italy’s Campagna region. You can see my earlier post about the splendid gardens that surround the former Bourbon family palace. Following that visit and before the drive back, we decided to stop off for an evening stroll in Caserta…
Read MoreSave time for Orvieto’s Etruscan Museum
There’s so much to see when you’re visiting the medieval Umbrian town of Orvieto, that you may forget to stop by the Fondazione Museo Claudio Faina, but that would be a mistake. This museum, which houses both the collection of the Faina Counts and Orvieto’s civic collection, is most impressive for its Etruscan objects –…
Read MoreStrolling through the splendors of the Reggia di Caserta gardens
It’s been years that I’ve been ‘meaning to get to’ this royal palace an hour and a half’s drive south of Rome, but I only managed during this past Christmas holiday. Coincidentally, our visit was the day after a big special on this UNESCO World Heritage Site aired on Italian television. Incidentally, for those of you…
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