Tag Archives: holiday
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Alberobello – Puglia

Alberobello is a small city of less than 11,000 people and it is famous for it’s trullos.  Trullos are scattered throughout this part of Puglia. The story behind trullo was to build a small home with only dry stone and no mortar so they could easily be reconfigured and taken down.  They were simply built […]

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Florence and Uffizi

There is always something new at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence that is worth seeing.  The priceless other works of art aren’t too shabby either.  I think the best thing about the Uffizi is the fact that it can be done in a reasonable amount of time – even in 3 hours.  The rest of […]

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Cortona

Perched 600m up on a hillside Cortona is a medical town with narrow and steep streets and architecture.  The city overlooks Chiana Valley and  Lake Trasimeno, scene of Hannibal’s ambush of the Roman army in 217 BC.  Legend has it that Cortona was built some 273 years after the Great Flood.  After Arezzo it is the […]

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Abbey of Sant’Antimo

While pretending to know where we are going without the use of the GPS we took the wrong traffic circle exit  out of Montalcino but luckily ended up here.  This is an old Benedictine Abbey dating back to 813 A.D.  Like most of Tuscany it fell under the influence and rule of either Siena or […]

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Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta

I think everyone knows or at least has seen Cappella della Madonna di Vitality. Alternatively if you have seen a calendar from Tuscany or have visited Val d’Orcia or drove between Pienza and San Quirico d’Orcia then you should instantly recognize this UNESCO protected landmark.  This time we drove up closer to the chapel and took a […]

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Finally in Paris

What a gong show this journey was.  Long story short British Airways cancelled the flight after an issue with the engine – so we got stuck in Seattle.  We were booked to go through Houston, then London but by the time the reservation was confirmed, printing issues, we were too late to go through security. […]

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Tuscan Splendour

On the way back to Sant’Anna in Camprena from Montalcino we stopped a few times to take in the magnificent vistas and enjoy the serenity of this spectacular landscape. This truly is a wonderful place and the pictures simply don’t do its justice.

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Paggio Dell’Aquila

Promptly after breakfast today we drove out to a small family run winery nestled just below the quaint town of Montalcino.  This place produces only 18,000 bottles of wine one Rosso and one Brunello, (read no cheap and pricey)  The local oenologist, Maria, who is Spanish, gave us a great tour and a great wine […]

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Sunrise Hunting

The idea was great, the plan brilliant, the execution none of the above.  We did not find the right hill to see the sunrise, I guess you have to be in the know to be in the right spot at the right time.  We will do better next however as we have acquired a map […]

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Ballenberg

Ballenberg is an open museum with a 100 original, century-old buildings from all over Switzerland, original gardens and fields. It is a working museum where people are in period, bake break, make sausages, make cheese and pretend they live in the centuries past. There are also 250 domestic animals on display as well.  This is […]

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Ciao Roma!

The only thing on the agenda for today was to take it easy and relax and eat less. Failed on all three accounts.  We stopped at Eataly, an old train station that has been converted to a 5 story Italian Shop with 18 or so restaurants.  The store has pretty much everything you can imagine […]

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MAXXI

MAXXI – National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, is a national museum of contemporary art and architecture in Rome and is about 5 min walk from the gorgeous apartment we are staying in. The museum was built on the old and decommissioned military compound site.  This spectacular building was designed by Zaha Hadid who passed away this […]

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Villa Cimbrone

Imagine owning the entire mountain top of a peninsula on the Amalfi coast.  Small villa, pool and massive gardens.  Originally built in the 11th century the villa was rebuilt and reconstructed over the years passing from one family to the next.  The most extensive rebuilding and renovation was done at the start of the 20th […]

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Path of the Gods

We set out for a short walk, from the village of Agerola to Priano – it turned out to be about 8.5km.  Path of the Gods is one of the most famous and most spectacular trails in Italy with stunning view of the Amalfi coast and its towns, mainly Positano, Priano and Amalfi.  There are […]

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Divina Costiera

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.                         […]

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Monaco

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. […]

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Marseille

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 […]

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Aix Cathedral

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 […]

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Musee d’Orsay

Musee d’Orsay is located in an old converted railway station right across the river from the Louvre.  It holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography. It houses the largest collection of impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, […]

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Sainte-Chapelle

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 […]

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Around Rouen

We got to Rouen this morning, totally forgetting the fact that Friday is a civic holiday and most of the places are closed.  We had a good look at the Rouen Cathedral and a quick walk around  part of the old town.  We are going to be coming back here tomorrow for a better look so we […]

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Saint-Jacques

The Saint-Jacques Church was built between the 12th and 16th centuries, the Saint-Jacques church bears evidence to various epochs. The  1st church was constructed on the remains of the small chapel of Sainte-Catherine, which itself was destroyed in 1195. The church that we see today, dedicated to Saint-Jacques was built around 1283. The church on the sea route […]

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Checked in

The only downside of coming early is the waiting to check it.  After sitting around and looking at the world go by for what seemed like forever we have finally checked in.  The room is exactly as expected if not better.  We have a great 2 bedroom suite with a large living room and a […]

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Bierfest

Today is, if you are a god-fearing folk, a Happy Cadaver Day, literal translation in German. This means it’s a holiday and everything is closed except churches and beer gardens, both of which are open for business and will gladly take your money.  Since we don’t drink beer, but have been to church before, we […]

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