As already mentioned in our piece about Matera, the first mystery I tried to unravel upon our arrival in Bari was the name of its airport. Known traditionally as Bari- Palese, after the nearby neighbourhood, it was later renamed Karol Wojtyła. You will surely be delighted to know that John Paul II does have other…
Tag: Italy
(Not) Everything is Carved in Stone- A Visit to Matera
The one caveat I had about going to Matera was the bus- I don’t like travelling by bus, as a rule, I will always go for the train, if such a choice is available. I must also mention the fact that when it comes to Southern Italy, most people, both locals and tourists, will opt…
Old Things for New Times- A Visit to Florence
I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to start this post. Which is not a bad thing, because I have learned something. I have a problem with Florence. It’s not that I don’t like it. It’s more that I don’t know what to do with it. In a nutshell, I was more interested,…
A Little Off the Beaten Track- A Visit to Pisa
It was criminally early on a spring Saturday, and we’d headed south across Europe above a cover of clouds. But as the plane made its descent, I could clearly discern the outline of Pisa, a bit upriver from the estuary of the Arno. We veered out above the sea to line up for landing, passing…
Best of 2018- Travels
A visit to Juventus’s stadium in Turin. Do it even if you don’t like football all that much, or support other clubs. It’s not ridiculously long and the guides are entertaining- provided you speak Italian, as English versions are mainly available only from tape, which I say is fine given we’re in Italy and all…
The Stuff Dreams are Made of is Sometimes Carbon Steel: A Visit to Turin’s Car Museum
In a country where everyone owned a Dacia, my dad decided to buy an Oltcit. In a country where everyone learned to drive on said Dacia, I maneuvered a clunky black Audi, and yes it looked like a goddamn hearse (and felt like one, and it was only through the mercy of God, and none…
A Chessboard with Perfect Coffee: Turin Guide Part Two
What to see. The best starting point to an exploration of Turin is to just simply set off and wander along its expansive network of colonnades- while many Italian cities treat visitors to fancy porticos, Turin has a whopping 18 kilometres of them, of which 12 are interconnected, thus being perfect shelters from the scorching…
Northwestern Promises- Turin Guide Part One
People usually question my sanity (perhaps I should have put a full stop here, but never mind) when I tell them that Turin is my favourite Italian city. But surely you could have gone for a sexier choice, something like Rome with every bit of it designed by none else than Michelangelo (and buses on…
The Sea is on the Other Side: Genova for the Clueless
The first reason for our presence in Genova on a pleasant spring day was as straightforward as it was silly: it is close to Turin. Actually, most major towns in Northern Italy are close to at least a couple of other potentially interesting locations, often at distances of around 150 kilometres, which in Trenitalia language…
Best of 2016- Travels
Besides being a retrospective of where we’ve traveled to in these past twelve months, this will also try to be one of those useful travel advice posts, just in case any of you decides to follow in our footsteps in the twelve months to come. Sightseeing. It’s probably a common place, but if you’re in…
Pocket Diary Budapest 