Bergamo - Italy

Bergamo and Crespi dAdda – Italy

Post published:18 March 2017
Post category:Europe Italy Southern Europe

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Città dei Mille: City of the Thousand

Returning to Italy is always great; literally everywhere you go in this country is like visiting a museum. So much history at every turn that overwhelms anyone, and always a new place to see never been before. In this case, we booked flights once more to Milan, but skipping it on this occasion as we’ve been few times, even though we are looking forward to return anyway; and head to Bergamo 40 km east from Milan, the second most visited city in the Lombardy region and the perfect base to also visit the nearby UNESCO listed former industrial planned city of Crespi d’Adda, and the historic city of Brescia farther east.

A weekend as usual is too short, otherwise at the same distance from Milan that is to Brescia, you could go to Cremona, birthplace town of the most famous luthier in history, Antonio Stradivari; and the city of Piacenza. That’s anyway good news for us, meaning finding another flight to any of the three airports of Milan in the near future, perhaps next year, will be well worth it and continue to discover more of this beautiful region in Italy.

Bergamo, although small, is good in size with plenty of sights for a full day visit. Any longer than this will not make sense, hence why most tourist have the same in mind, and continue to visit other cities in the region, or even head to the Alps to spend a day in the nature. No need really to mention anything about the Alps since you will see them right in front of you especially from the upper city of Bergamo, you are literally at the foothills and the views of the mountain range are magnificent. (more…)

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Milan - Italy

Milan – Italy

Post published:24 July 2016
Post category:Europe Italy Southern Europe

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World’s Fashion Capital

It was long long due to return to this city, the third time now, and counting. We kept postponing and not even considering it on behalf of other cities, preferably if we’ve never been before, but it was indeed a great choice especially that this time we could enjoy by far more than last times, with great weather and great company. If back in 2009 I was a bit disappointed with the city and found it quite plain, grey and dirty; all this has changed for the opposite with the years to a great experience, very clean city and enormously elegant and monumental. I also recall, back then it was November, cold and rainy days. Nothing to compare with how vibrant and lively was now in the middle of summer.

Milan is the second largest city in Italy after Rome, and the 5th largest urban area in the European union; an important financial, industrial, cultural and arts centre; the mode capital in the world. Do not expect to find here such a charming squares to the likes of Rome or Florence, but in a sense, more austere yet imposing constructions and very elegant avenues and streets following a great urban planning. There is a lot to see and do and a weekend can come really short since distances are large and the sights scattered all around on every corner. Not only the city itself is packed with history; the nearby region is simply spectacular with countless beautiful villages, lakes and nature at the foot of the Alps. Milan will be your perfect gateway base to explore this region.

The historical core is perfect for visiting on foot. Over the years I can compare since the first time I came in 2001, and now, these many years after, majority of the historical and shopping streets are now pedestrian friendly. Vast amount of buildings perfectly restored and beautiful overall urban landscape where an unique icon of the city gives its extra personality: the historical ancient trams. While many hundreds have been removed over the years, a reasonably large fleet have been retained and run through many of the lines coupled with the more modern fleet. Milan, like Lisbon, Blackpool and Isle of Man are the only places left in Europe with a traditional historic tram fleet fully operational at such scale.

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Caserta - Italy

Caserta – Italy

Post published:15 May 2016
Post category:Europe Italy Southern Europe

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Largest royal residence in the world in terms of volume

A radical change of plans for today. While everything was planned for visiting Capri, the weather was not really the best, very cloudy with frequent showers; definitely not what I would expect when going to Capri, that I want to see with sun, the blue Mediterranean and the Vesubious and Naples in the distance. Nothing of which we could have seen and enjoy today due to the dark clouds. Instead and in the very last second we had to get a Plan B. I did a quick research and came up with a great idea! All it took me was a search in Google for UNESCO sites near Naples and there it came: The 18th century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli and the San Leucio Complex.

Then the day was planned. 3 small and easy sites to visit completing another World Heritage Site listing in its full. From Naples was matter of few minutes’ drive to the Royal Palace of Caserta, hence could not be easier. By volume, the palace is the largest Royal Residence in the world, built for the Bourbon Kings of Naples and Sicily, dependent of the Spanish Crown of Aragon. Then, not far to the northwest of the palace is the Belvedere of San Leucio; a resort developed around an old silk factory built from 1750 by Charles VII of Naples and his son Ferdinand I. Connecting everything together was a great water system, mostly underground, with a section, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli the masterpiece of the engineering work. A perfect example following the tradition of the ancient Roman aqueducts put in practice in 1762.

It took us less than half a day to visit the three sites plus having plenty of time for getting nice cakes with coffee and a great relaxed lunch. Do not overestimate the time you will need to visit the area, either if you come on your own, or on an organised tour, the later will be even faster in completing the tour. (more…)

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Paestum, Velia and Padula - Italy

Paestum, Velia and Padula – Italy

Post published:14 May 2016
Post category:Europe Italy Southern Europe

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Magna Graecia

I can call this trip another of the great life travelling achievements for reaching this spectacular once in a lifetime site (well, or twice or more I don’t mind to return in the future). Magnificent Paestum and various other great archaeological sites. With this trip it’s been already quite a few places this year we’ve manage to come to very much desired places and quite off the usual path, far from main cities and even airports hence why that complicated to reach them and why we kept postponing on behalf of other “easier” destinations. But now with so many places across Europe already been, it’s time to continue this trend in planning this sort of exciting destinations.

Returning to Naples in any case is always great on its own!. So much to do not only in the city but around the impressively rich region, that even though this is the 3rd time we come here, we still need to plan future trips to Naples and continue exploring the hidden gems. The beauty of the Amalfi and Sorrento coastline for example it’s worth an entire weekend and not just a day. With so many idyllic villages perched from the hills and cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean it is guaranteed to keep you busy all the time. Then the island of Capri off the coast from Naples is another trip on itself. Yes, certainly we will be back; as soon I can find a good deal at the perfect flight times when it is also nice weather.

Although this is not a guide about Naples, I must still write about the best pizzas in the whole of Italy. Do not look anywhere else, those are here in Naples. No matter that we spent today well outside of the city (and so the following day), it was our base where our hotel was and therefore could enjoy once more pizza and a bit of the thriving nightlife. (more…)

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Parma - Italy

Parma – Italy

Post published:17 April 2016
Post category:Europe Italy Southern Europe

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Byzantine Chrysopolis: The Golden City

After a busy program the day before visiting the cities of Ravenna and Ferrara, today was more quiet for a smaller city, and mostly because we could not count with the entire day since we needed to return to Bologna airport in the afternoon to get the flight back to London. In any case, another weekend and another success with the plan we had in mind that worked very good and now we can cross another three cities in one go off the list.

While the city is known for its beautiful monuments across a nicely preserved medieval core, when we think of Parma, we have in mind something else of course. First, the indisputable Parma Ham, one of the top delicacies in the whole of Italy itself comes from this region; and the Parmigiano-Reggiano, the true Parmesan cheese. But it is not only about these 2 delicacies, it is for the large amount of restaurants serving some of the best dishes we’ve ever had in Italy, all of which non expensive, nor touristy places. only for its food and a relaxing sightseeing walk through the city it was a very worthy day what we planned.

To visit the city, half a day is more than enough. It is not big and the historical core is very compact with all the sights at walking distance from each other hence no need to plan longer. For us coming here after breakfast from Bologna, 100 kilometres east, and leaving back to Bologna after 15.00pm in good time to make it to the airport was well enough; otherwise any longer as an entire day and you will end up without places to visit. (more…)

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Ferrara - Italy

Ferrara – Italy

Post published:16 April 2016
Post category:Europe Italy Southern Europe

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City of the Renaissance

Continuing our tour for today after visiting the city of Ravenna and at only 70 kilometres to the north we arrived in Ferrara. Another jewel city in Italy, and UNESCO World Heritage Site listed as: “City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta”. While Ravenna, although of the same size as Ferrara in population number it seemed smaller, and with the fact of having less to see bearing its 8 UNESCO buildings, here in Ferrara you will need to plan a bit more time to be able to visit all the sights since the city is more grand and with many more elegant streets and buildings all around.

Ferrara is also an important tourist centre, where majority of visitors are day-trippers from “nearby” touristy-on-mass Venice or Bologna with Modena and Parma. It is a very worthy city to visit and with the more and more trips we are continuously doing where we are “running out” of destinations it is great to see how many hundreds of secondary cities are all over across Europe still to visit; so this will still keep us going for some years.

The good side of smaller cities like Ferrara, yet packed with history and sights, is that you won’t need long time for visiting it as opposed to larger cities where you will need minimum the entire weekend. This was for us already the second city we visit today after Ravenna, and I can ensure you there was good time for both cities without rush; but what made the difference in saving us a lot of time commuting between the cities was having a rental car. It is anyway possible to do the same by train or bus Bologna to Ravenna, Ravenna to Ferrara, and back from Ferrara to Bologna in the night if your base is there as was our case and all in one day. (more…)

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Ravenna - Italy

Ravenna – Italy

Post published:16 April 2016
Post category:Europe Italy Southern Europe

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Seat of the former Byzantine government in Italy

Another weekend starting with a flight to Bologna, the nearest international airport to Ravenna, our first of the three cities planned this time, all of them UNESCO World Heritage sites. A bit exceptional in the case of Parma which we would visit the following day, since it is the first city in Italy to be awarded UNESCO’s Creative City for Gastronomy. From the beautiful city of Bologna it’s 84 kilometres to the east to Ravenna, right by the Adriatic coast of Italy; and it’s the perfect start of the day to later continue visiting the city of Ferrara, 78 kilometres northwest along the beautiful drive by the coast for the first section.

Ravenna is a very small city, and as such, easy to visit quick without hassle hence why it is worth to include other places nearby to complete the day. The main reason to visit this city are the eight early Christian monuments inscribed in the World Heritage List. And since the old city centre is very compact, half a day visit is good enough for seeing everything.

Other than the important monuments, the city itself is as of any Italian city, nice and beautiful, with plenty of cafes and restaurants serving great and inexpensive food. Finding a good place it not difficult at all; all of them are great, and none of them seemed to be any tourist trap. After all, the city is quite overseen by tourists, so do not expect to see here hordes nor groups as you would expect in other cities. (more…)

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Palermo - Italy

Palermo – Italy

Post published:28 February 2016
Post category:Europe Italy Southern Europe

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Greek Panormos

Finally making a first contact with the largest island in the Mediterranean, Sicily, and Palermo itself, its capital city. A long time desired destination where unfortunately it is rare to find good flight deals at more or less decent flying times. We knew this trip was going to be quite a busy non-stop from one place to another, but definitely well worth it. Furthermore, the more we could visit the better in order to leave plenty of time to reach some of the many other cities and sights in the island for the next trips to Sicily, such as Agrigento, Trapani, Catania, Syracuse, Cefalu, Messina, Taormina. There’s a lot in the island, good enough for 2 weeks travelling and visiting non stop.

With so many sights and that much history everywhere on every corner, it is physically, and literately speaking, impossible to see everything not in just a day, but even a complete weekend will still be too short. You should calculate at least 3 days if you want to fully explore it. Just to give you an idea on how much heritage Palermo houses, many buildings have been listed UNESCO World Heritage sites as part of the “Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalu and Monreale”. This means Italy has the largest number of listings compared to any other country in the world, with the region of Sicily itself topping with the most number of sites.

The Arab-Norman style is something unique in the world and only to be found in Palermo and its nearby metropolitan area cities. This style was born right after the Normans conquered Sicily from the Arabs, destroying the majority of palaces and mosques of the once considered jewel not only in the Mediterranean but Europe itself; and in replacement emerged the new style combining arabesque decorations, Romanesque architecture and Byzantine mosaics, becoming once again a beautiful jewel city proud of its history. (more…)

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