I thought I loved volcanos — I’ve helicoptered over a bubbling Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii on my honeymoon, hiked over a hissing Nea Kameni in Santorini and gotten close enough to hear the boulders rumbling down Mt. Arenal in Costa Rica. But as I hear about Sicily’s erupting Mt. Etna, which has already exploded six times [...]
(photos by Jill Martin Wrenn) When I was planning my trip to Italy, I ended up leaving Milan and the Lake District off my itinerary. So I couldn’t wait to hear all about it from today’s guest blogger, Jill Martin Wrenn (whom you might remember from her previous guest blogs posts about The Georgia Aquarium [...]
I love sunsets. That’s not very original, I know. I mean does anybody actually dislike sunsets? What’s not to like? Sunsets are pretty much a universal crowd-pleaser. That said, I certainly think there is a continuum of sunset appreciation. True sunset lovers view watching the sun go down as an activity unto itself. They seek [...]
When I was in Rome in July, I was under a lot of pressure to eat really good food. It was our last stop in Italy and we didn’t want to botch a single meal. I’m happy to report that we ate quite well and I have some restaurants to recommend.
San Gimignano earned a spot on our Tuscany day trip itinerary with its nickname: The Medieval Manhattan. As a lifelong New Yorker, I’m always curious to see anything that’s compared to New York. San Gimignano is a small town, but it’s famous for its tall stone towers (pictured above) look like skyscrapers. Only 14 remain, [...]
On our day trip through Tuscany, we wanted to visit two of the regions of greatest hits: Siena and San Gimignano. After a great lunch at La Bottega in Volpaia, we took the windy backroads to Siena, which is famous for its enormous fan-shaped Piazza del Campo (the mouth of which is pictured above). For [...]
When I was planning my trip through Italy, I wanted to include Tuscany. But as there never seems to enough time to see everything I want, I figured that I would just do Tuscany as a day trip from Florence. I kept hearing “You can’t do Tuscany in a day,” but I didn’t understand why. [...]
Deciding whether or not to do a day trip out of the city when you're only in Rome for a limited amount of time can be tough. But a good friend who also happens to be a superb traveler recommended that we see Ostia Antica, a well-preserved ancient Roman port town that's not too far [...]
I have written about the great meals we had in Florence. But I have not yet written about the fabulous gelato we had there. In Florence (as well as in Venice and Rome), it seems as if they sell gelato about every five feet. If you get an urge for something cold and sweet, you're [...]
