Southern Italy
Salerno, the Amalfi Coast and Naples As I wrote in my Catania post, Catania and an Itinerary for Sicily, my 2025 itinerary in Sicily left a lot to be desired and I would do it totally differently if I had Read More …
Author: blwidick
I grew up in a poor family in a small town in Iowa (which would make any one want to travel) and when I first started thinking about college I begged my parents to let me go to a school with a junior year abroad program. But even with a scholarship we could only afford a college a few hours away from home.
An early marriage, early divorce, single parenthood and returning to school to get a law degree kept travel on the back burner until my daughter was out of high school.
Beginning in the late 80’s, after law school, I began taking my first trips, not surprisingly, to Mexico. Living in Colorado the beaches, beautiful waters and warm temps beckoned to me every year by late March. I started in Cancun at the Club Med there and returned several times over a period of 10 years, eventually adding Ixtapa- Zihuatanejo, Turks and Caicos and Puerto Vallarta.
I, then, moved on to bike trips in Europe and have since been back to Italy 7 times and France a second time.
Firenze in Spring Time
I hadn’t visited Firenze in the springtime since my second trip to Italy, molti anni fa. So after creating a less than great itinerary to Sicily, (see Firenze old and new and Firenze and Fiesole posts) I decided to finish Read More …
Catania and an Itinerary for Sicily
Impressions of Catania I chose to start my first visit to Sicily with a week’s stay in Catania and as discussed below I would definitely change my itinerary if I travel to Sicily again. I have to admit up front Read More …
Siracusa, Taormina and Agrigento
Siracusa and Parco Archeologico della Neapolis https://parchiarcheologici.regione.sicilia.it/siracusa-eloro-villa-tellaro-akrai Cost: 14 euros My second day in Catania, I took a chance and booked a bus ticket to Siracusa through the website Omio and it was one of the best decisions I made Read More …
Two weeks in Palermo
Finding my Way Around and first Impressions I arrived in Palermo mid afternoon on Friday, March 29th after a nearly 3 hour bus trip where I was forced to listen to a man behind me talking on his phone the Read More …
Firenze 2023, Christmas Lights
My sister (Susan), daughter (Laura), niece (Rachelle) and her friend, Callie, and I arrived in Firenze from Rome early afternoon, December 7, 2023; our goal being to see the lighting of the Christmas tree as well as other holiday lights. Read More …
Firenze 2023 and Italianme
I visited Firenze twice in November and December 2023. My first week in Firenze, I was on my own, attending a new (for me) language school, Italianme. I’ve written a brief section about the school, followed by my activities when Read More …
Where not to Stay, Italy
I’m starting this post with hotels that didn’t turn out so well, then continuing to apartments. The scenes in the gallery above show both the reasons I chose these particular hotels; i.e. my weakness for terraces, and that even Read More …
Five days in Rome, off season
I considered putting a question mark after ‘off season’ because, unlike 2021 (see Firenze off season, parte uno and Firenze off season, parte due ) both Rome and Firenze were crazy crowded. It’s difficult to know if the crowds were Read More …
Where to eat, Roma e Firenze, 2023
New Places Firenze Trattoria la Casalinga Via dei Michelozzi 9 (https://trattorialacasalinga.it/en/home-eng/) I ate here my last night in Firenze, after a lonely and fairly miserable week attending language school where I was forced to take private lessons. Read More …