Category Archives: Italy

The Best Place to Shop?

Personally I would never choose a holiday destination for the shopping opportunities there, neither would I travel specifically to shop. However, I do enjoy the occasional bout of retail therapy but only if what is on offer is materially different to what I can find on the high street at home. I often laugh when I read articles about great shopping destinations as having visited many of the perennial favourites like New York, I know only too well that you won’t find anything different there at all. Continue reading →

The Culinary Delights of the Sorrentine Peninsula

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One of the many delights of international travel for me is sampling the food and drink on offer in new destinations. Each country and region has something special and unique to sample and I always revel in the search for local p is always an important element of any trip. I have never visited a new region without finding some wonderful things but I doubt if I will ever stumble across anywhere with so many culinary treats as the Sorrentine Peninsula. Continue reading →

Mount Vesuvius

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As you fly into Naples airport the horizon is dominated by the hulking mass of Mount Vesuvius. The volcano provides a striking, beautiful yet threatening backdrop to what is now a huge urban sprawl. I suspect that there are few visitors to the region who do not pause to contemplate the very real prospect of an eruption and if you tour Pompeii you get a terrifying look at what happens when the mountain blows its top. Continue reading →

Tarvisio and Sella Nevea

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If you enjoy a good skiing holiday but are tired of crowded resorts and interminable queues for the lifts then the Italian resorts of Tarvisio and Sella Nevea could be worth considering. The two towns are just a 30 minute drive apart and so can be experienced in the same trip and both are close to the Slovenian border allowing access to both Kranjska Gora and Kanin. Continue reading →

The Amalfi Coast

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If you haven’t created your own Bucket List yet then when you do make sure that driving the Amalfi coast is on it! Surely Europe’s most gorgeous coastal region, the southern edge of the Sorrentine Peninsula attracts millions of visitors and is a popular haunt of the rich and famous. The area was virtually cut off from the rest of the world until the middle of the 19th Century when the coastal road was constructed and then word of the outstanding beauty on offer spread quickly attracting the wealthy to the region as well as many composers, artists and writers seeking inspiration. Continue reading →