Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The city was lost and forgotten for about 1500 years. It was […]
We visited both Positano and Amalfi as part of our boat trip today. Both of these small villages are perched on the cliff similar to Cinque Terre towns. We took a boat from Amalfi to Positano, hang around there for a bit then a boat back to Amalfi. From Amalfi we took, what can only […]
We are finally here… We are checked into Divina Costiera which is located in the Latter Mountains, 2 km outside Agerola. We are really really hight up in the mountains, it is 10:44 and it is 26C and humid! It’s beautiful, despite the heat. […]
The Principality of Monaco is a sovereign city-state, located on the French Riviera. France borders the country on three sides while the other side borders the Mediterranean Sea. Monaco has an area of 2.02 km2 and a population of about 37,800; it is the second smallest and the most densely populated country in the world. […]
Notre-Dame de la Garde (literally Our Lady of the Guard), is a Catholic basilica in Marseille, France. The basilica was build on the foundations of an ancient fort. The fort was located at the highest natural elevation in Marseille, a 149 m (490 ft) limestone outcrop on the south side of the Old Port of Marseille. The basilica […]
Marseille is the oldest continuously inhabited city in France, it is a second largest city in France after Paris and the centre of the third largest metropolitan area in France after Paris and Lyon. Humans have inhabited Marseille and its region for almost 30,000 years, it was the first Greek settlement in France. It is […]
After the city folk found their way of the forest, we immediately stopped in the first available town to have some well earned gelato. Lourmarin is a small village of 1000 people which has been settled for at least a thousand years, and was probably a Neolithic campsite before that. A dominating fortress was first […]
On the outskirts of Bonnieux village is a massive cedar forest that began with trees imported from North Africa during the Napoleonic era. It sits opposite Mont Ventoux, know as the windy mountain where winds in the summer reach 320km/h but on average over 240 days out of the year go at 90+ km/h. We decided to […]
The original bridge on this road was built in 3BC and it was a wooden structure which was swept in one of the floods. The bridge was part of the Via Domitian road which was a quick way to connected Rome with the southern France. The bridge was eventually replaced with an arched stone bridged with two […]
Roussillon is a tiny but a picturesque village of about 1300 residents. It is famous for the rich deposits of ochre pigments, mostly red, yellow and orange, found in the clay near the village. The large quarries of Roussillon were mined from the end of the 18th century until 1930. Roussillon is located within the […]
Today, after lazing around after breakfast, and then lounging by the pool for a couple of hours, we decided to take a little lavender drive through Provence. As it turns out we are a bit late to the lavender party as the first harvest has already been taken and the new flowers are not going to […]
The cathedral is located on the route of the Roman road, the Via Aurelia. A fragment of a Roman wall and the columns of the baptistery seem to be the origin of the legend that the church was built on top of a Roman temple dedicated to Apollo. According to the Christian tradition, the first […]
Aix-en-Provence name comes from a Roman consul, Sixties Calvinus, who gave his name to Aquae Sextiae, “the Baths of Sixties,” a site of thermal springs in 123BC. Aix-en-Provence has about 140,000 residents and is generally considered a university town. There are great many sights to see here. The Cours Mirabeau is a wide thoroughfare, planted with […]
The origin of this town dates back to 800 BC. More importantly though the town was taken by Romans in 123 BC and as Romans do they build a lot of cool buildings. The Gallo-Roman theatre, the arena or amphitheatre, necropolis, Arles Obelisk and Barbegal aqueduct and mill to name few. Most of the old Roman buildings are being […]
Chances are that if you have ever seen a picture of a lavender field in France with a large building in the back ground it most likely was Senanque Abbey. The abbey was funded in 1148 and rose to an enormous prominence and wealth in the 13 to 14th century then lost it all when […]
Today we are taking easy after a long drive yesterday. After a late start and a lazy morning breakfast we are out for a short drive. First stop, Bonnieux, a small hill-top village dating back to the 6th century.
The Luxembourg Garden and Palace was created at the beginning of 1612 by Marie de’ Medici, the widow of King Henry IV of France, who at the time was building a new home that was to mimic her home in Florence. Today the gardens are owned by the French Senate, which meets in the Palace. It covers 23 […]
The Pantheon, roughly translated from Greek means “to all gods”. Originally intended as a church to the saint patron of Paris, it was later converted to a mausoleum to honour the great men and women that brought honour and respect to the nation. The motto on the Pantheon reads ” To great men, the grateful homeland” […]
The Sainte-Chapelle or “Holy Chapel” was constructed to house Louis IX’s collection of relics of Christ, the crown of thorns, a piece of the cross and others. At the time the king paid 135,00 livres for the relicts, which were put in an ornate silver chest that cost further 100,000 livres. The entire chapel in 1238 […]
I think everyone knows Eiffel Tower. It is the tallest building in Paris, it is a global cultural icon of France, and it is the most paid visited monument in the world. It symbolizes freedom and beauty and everything that is French and Parisian. Today, surrounded by a fence, and an army of security guards […]
Today is an easy and relaxing day. First, we sleep in, so we were off to a great start. Once we got organized and managed to get to the centre we decided to go shopping. First stop at the Louvre then to one of favourite stores BHV then a stroll through Marais for some sweets […]
Today is our first day out after a long day of travel yesterday. On the agenda for today is what started of as a little village in the 11th century then became a hunting lodge with a bit of forest to what today is simply know as the Palace of Versailles. When you are the […]
If you have ever seen a calendar of Tuscany, postcards or even some promotional material chances are you have seen Vitality Chapel in at least one of the pictures. The chapel of Our Lady of Vitality originally built around 1590 is located on a private property on the road between Pienza to San Quirico d’Orcia and […]
This is our third visit to Siena. We always find something new to see and to do. After two hectic days of driving around and looking at towns and villages today we are taking it easy. This time around in Siena, we decided to climb the Torre del Mangia which is 88m in height – same […]
Sant’Anna in Camprena is in the heart of Tuscany – about 6km from Pienza. It is a monastery from the 15th century perched on the top of hill with spectacular views of the rolling Tuscan hills. The buildings are beautiful, the garden is huge and the food is simply amazing. Having said that this place would be nothing if it […]
Liciagnano is a remarkable preserved medieval walled village of about 3500 people. It’s strategic high altitude and its location on the road between Sienna and Arezzo meant that between 1200 and 1500AD it was it was continually the subject of battles between these cities, involving also Florence and Perugia. It is as beautiful as it is picturesque and it […]
Monte San Savino is a small town of about 8000 people and it is famous for two things. First, it was one of the first urban settlements in Tuscany, Italy, which originated around 1100. Second Giulio Salvadori a poet and a literary critic was born there. An interesting thing about Salvadori is that he covered to Christianity in 1885. […]
Our second stop is Castiglione d’Orcia, a small town of 2500 residents on a top of a mountain which was mentioned as a settlement for the first time in 714. The town lost it’s independence to the Republic of Sienna in the 14 century and became part of united Italy only in 1861. We did not get to […]
Today we started a medieval tour of Tuscany. First stop a small town of San Quirico d’Orcia located half way between Pienza and Montalcino. The town gain it’s notoriety in medieval times as it was on a pilgrimage route connecting northern Europe to Rome. Today the town is a host to a 3 day wine tasting extravaganza where 17 local […]
Today we went for a drive. This is a typical Tuscan route very reminiscent to the Romantic Road you can take through Bavaria. Basically, you drive through one of the most stunning parts of Tuscany where each hill is doted with a typical Tuscan farmhouse, and a long driveway which in turn is occasionally lined […]
Located about 11 km from Castellini in Chianti is an even smaller village of Radda with 1700 inhabitants. It still takes about 20 min to drive here because the roads are narrow and twisty and suicidal when wet. The town is nice, the views simply spectacular and my shoes are still soaking wet, and I swear to […]
Today we are spending a simple day without a schedule. We got into the car and started driving around from one small town to the next starting with San Gimignano our favourite of Tuscan towns. We did a bit of shopping and had a great lunch and got soaked. It rained on and off all […]
Since we visited Florence before we were able to skip a lot of the major landmarks and attractions and simply concentrate on things we have not seen yet. Having said that, it is nearly impossible to be in Florence and walk by the main cathedral and ignore it – it is simply stunning and quite spectacular. […]
For all the planning in the world we did to get to Uffizi without much hassle, we almost blew it today by being late for our scheduled time. In July the line ups to get into Uffizi Gallery are up to 5 hours long. Uffizi has the usual collection of Italian and other European greats like […]
For the next 6 days this will be our home away from home. We decided to stay in one place and simply drive out to where we want to go as opposed to moving from place to place to place. It is quite lovely here. Tour of the inside maybe tomorrow. We have a busy […]
Penza is a birthplace of Aeneas Salvias Piccolomini who later became Pople Pius II. Once he became Pope, Piccolomini had the entire village of Corsignano rebuilt and renamed to become an ideal Renaissance town. The place was intended as a retreat from Rome, and it represents the first application of humanist urban planning concepts. The humanist […]
Strathcona band was preforming a Christmas Concert today at the church downtown. We have been to the junior high Christmas concert, but the high school kids are in a league of their own. They are more refined and mature and quite sophisticated in their sound. They played one very modern piece which was our favourite. […]
Today we have our first taste of what is coming and will be here for the next 6 months – snow and frost and lots of both. Luckily it did not get too cold quite yet but we all know it is coming. Until it all melts it will be white and pretty and clean […]
Today we woke up in a frozen world. It has been quite humid and overnight we had a bit of frost. It is absolutely beautiful outside, but cold.
Today the girls came over for a coffee and dessert. Allie and Eveliana had a cappuccino whereas Gemma decided to go straight for dessert a home made Crème brûlée. Delicious.
Today is a Remembrance Day celebration at Mount Pleasant School. At the assembly the children recited poems, sang some songs and played music. There was even a representative from the airbase at the school. It was well done, that’s for sure.
Today for breakfast we are trying the Liege Cakes once more time. This time a bit different recipe which has a bit less butter but instead of yeast we are using live culture. We essentially used the same recipe as last week but scaled down a bit on butter. This should have been an entire […]
A quick trip around the neighbourhood with a shield and a sword and a smile yielded some great returns. Tomorrow we are going to buy a shed for the back yard to put it all in.
It is snowing! At around 5pm today the skies opened up and it started coming down like crazy. Huge wet snow flakes everywhere. Only Evelina was happy with this turn of events, we all just looked in disbelief! I am sure this snow is not going to stick around around for long, but we all […]
Let’s call this for what it really is – it is a blog mostly about food. We are always talking about, eating too much, over eating or seeing some church. Of the last 8 posts 6 of them are about food. We had a little brunch today with Dobrescu’s. Simple brunch with little to no work. […]
You will have to take my word for it, even though the pictures don’t show it, there really were 14 pizza on the dinner menu tonight – each different than the last. Twelve of them were consumed on site and two went home with us. There was also bread pudding. There was a lot of […]
If we are not eating, we are actively thinking about what to make and eat next. Seriously, that is what we do. Today is another lazy Thanksgiving weekend morning. On the go for breakfast are fresh, homemade Belgian waffles! Life is good.
It is a Thanksgiving Saturday. A beautiful day, sunny and warm. It is the kind of day you go out for a nice lazy walk around the lake or the little forest that is not far away from our home. Today on the lazy morning agenda I decided to winterize my irrigation system. My shiny […]
To make a long story short – this is what our weekend is shaping up to be. We are going to be sampling four more bottles of Prosecco to see which one will be perfect to make just the right tasting Hugo. We are looking for volunteers to help us empty these four lovely bottles. […]
Yesterday we received the last 20 kg parcel I sent out from Germany. Today we are starting our day off with some fine Java grown in Brazil, roasted in Warsaw, delivered to Nuremberg and brought back to Canada. Posh-Nosh!
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