I’ve visited Lucca and the Garfagnana three times, in 2015, 2016 and 2019, (each time with my sister). Lucca is one of my favorite towns in Tuscany and I love the beautiful mountains and little villages of the Garfagnana. But getting to the Garfagnana and into Lucca has had its challenges. So after the sections […]
Read MoreCategory: Places to go
Pisa
I’ve visited Pisa twice and in all honesty I did not expect to like it since the Leaning Tower is more or less synonymous with ‘tourist trap.’ But if you can ignore the idiots standing on the fence (contrary to signs saying that it’s prohibited), taking selfies while leaning like the tower, Piazza dei Miracoli […]
Read MoreTears for Venice
When I wrote a post about Venice after my first visit in October 2017, (see Venice post) I said I wasn’t drawn to return because it wasn’t the warm culture that I had experienced in Tuscany and southern Italy. A friend of mine posted a comment saying that while he agreed with the Disneyland for […]
Read MoreCroatia and Slovenia
Croatia Since visiting Dubrovnik in October 2017, I wanted to see more of Croatia and researched various options. I’ve written a post (Thoughts on choosing a tour) that includes information on how I chose Gate 1 for our 2019 Croatia Slovenia trip as well as the good, the bad and the ugly of the tour. […]
Read MoreFirenze, old and new
In 2018 my sister and I spent 10 days in Firenze. The previous year (2017) I spent two weeks in Firenze at a language school (see Istituto Michelangelo, parte uno and Istituto Michelangelo, parte due) and I was excited to show my sister some new places plus go to our old favorites. However, some of […]
Read MoreMontecatini Terme
Montecatini Terme In total I’ve stayed in Montecatini Terme just over 6 days during two trips. On the first trip my sister and I were meeting a group for a walking tour of Tuscany and we came in a day early after spending several days in Firenze and Chianti with my niece. On the second […]
Read MorePerugia, Lake Trasimeno, Assisi and Cortona
I’ve written in some other posts that I chose Perugia as part of our 2018 itinerary because my sister wanted to see Assisi and it looked relatively easy to get there from Perugia. I had also hoped to see some of the other towns of Umbria, known as the ‘green heart’ of Italy, but found […]
Read MoreForty Eight Hours in Bologna
I’m not sure I can explain how we ended up in Bologna for the first two days of our 2018 Italy trip without making readers’ eyes glaze over. Over the years I’d read that Bologna and Emilia Romagna, in general, had become something of a culinary destination. Plus I was fascinated by the fact that […]
Read MoreSempre Chianti
I’ve been to the Chianti region several times (see The Towns of Chianti post). I hope this wasn’t my last trip to Chianti but if it was, it couldn’t have been more beautiful–crystal clear blue skies, warm sun, fall colors. I’ve divided this post into sections on Things to Do, Where to eat, Where to stay […]
Read MoreSixteen Hours in Istanbul
Planes, Trains and Automobiles Several years ago, I saw an ad in a travel magazine in which Turkish Airlines stated that it was voted the number one airline in Europe. When I researched their routes and fares, I found that the fares were lower than most other airlines but every flight from the U.S. had […]
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