Tag: Italy

Taormina

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Last year we fell in love with Sicily, when we visited the Aeolian Islands to do a one week long hike. But our hike organisation Macs Adventure had to change the itinerary, because the volcano Stromboli acted up and destroyed some of the hiking trails we were supposed to use. So we ended up with 2 nights in Taormina and we loved it! We wanted to come back and when we saw the itinerary of this current cruise, we didn’t hesitate to book it.

Unfortunately the day in Taormina was cut short and we were supposed to be back by 3pm. When we wanted to leave the ship by tender, this process took forever and we when we finally were on land we couldn’t find a taxi to bring us up to Taormina 🥴

It was around 11.30am when we finally arrived and we immediately rewarded ourselves with a delicious cannoli 🤩

Cannoli is a round baked philodough that is shaped into a Zylinder and filled with a ricotta cream and sprinkled with pistachios – delicious!
Limoncello Spritz for Edith, chocolate gelato for Ted

There is an image that you can find throughout Taormina: flower pots with an middle eastern looking male face. Legend has it that this handsome guy came to Taormina and fell in love with a local virgin. After making love with her, she discovered that he was a married man. So she chopped off his head and used it as a flower pot. And the herbs growing from this pot were thriving! Ever since the people in Taormina make flower pots with his image so that their herbs and flowers grow well!

Capri

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This tiny little island, just one hour boat ride off the coast in Napoli, is called the lemon-island. And indeed: lemons everywhere! Not only on almost every tree, but every store sells lemon stuff, every decor is somewhat lemon something and the food and drinks you can order has some lemon flavor: lemon ravioli, limoncello spritz, pizza with prosciutto and lemon, etc.: delicious! If lemon wouldn’t already be my favorite taste, it would be now!

And then there is more than lemons: the charm! Capris and Anacapris tiny little streets, cute little stores, bars and restaurants, everything is small, narrow, tiny! Even the garbage trucks, delivery trucks, buses, everything is small scale… cute, except you LLP want to sit in one of those buses, which don’t have any legroom 😜

The highlight of every visit in Capri is definitely the blue grotto! Getting in and out of this needle hole of an entrance is somewhat adventurous: you have to lay flat inside a small fisher boat and the sailer is waiting for the water level to go down with every wave. He then pulls the boat inside by grabbing a chain and pulling hard. As I said, all the people in the boat lay flat, kind of on top of each other, nothing sticks out higher than the rim of the boat. And then you’re inside!

There is only one street in Capri (and many walkways / hiking trails) and that one street is narrow! As a tourist, you are not allowed to drive a car on this street, only a scooter, but I wouldn’t recommend that. With an inch between upcoming traffic on one side and the cliff on the other, only the local pros can maneuver that craziness!

Dear trenitalia,

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I really liked you when we met; in fact it was love at first sight! We had great trips together, you were attractive, stylish, a perfect handsome italian gigolo who would be a little flimsy from time to time, but mostly reliable.

But today, I almost filed for divorce. How dare you! We had an agreement, a booking, that you’d take us from Rome to Civitavecchia, leaving at 8.15pm and arriving at 9.15pm, but you totally screwed it up!!! Our part of the commitment was to pay the fare, to show up on time, to be a good, well prepared customer. And we tried really hard! But you on the other hand, you showed up, pretending that everything works out, you even were on time, so we trusted you.

And it went downhill from there.

We made it almost to Civitavecchia, 3 more stops to go, when you decided to quit. You just stopped, no explanation, no reason, you plain stopped and left us at a station. It was late night, we were confused, but you didn’t care! We were hungry and tired and our Airbnb host was already waiting. But you just sat there, as if we never met before! What the hell?!? Trenitalia, I trusted you! You were my friend, we went through thick and thin, we had adventures together, and now that???

After a 1 hour wait, the full moon raising, we were hushed out of the carriage to switch to another platform to catch another train, your best friend so-to-speak. But how can we trust your best friend after what you did to us tonight? But our choices were limited, we hoped your friend would show up, and he did after another 15 min. But it was not the same. He tried hard, but those stops at stations without a name, those stops without opening the doors, he really tried, but how should I say, nada. Eventually he brought us to Civitavecchia and we were glad to arrive. We found our Airbnb, it is midnight, and we are starving…..

Photo by Pramod Tiwari on Pexels.com

Lago di Garda

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It’s never enough time at the lake, Lago di Garda in Italian, Garda Lake in English or Gardasee in German. When my sons saw the lake the first time, they called it “Caribbean”! Little did they know, they never were in the Caribbean, but the breathtaking views with the mountain range in the back and the lake with its surrounding villages in the front is just an instant love at first sight moment that grows into a lifelong love. Once you’ve seen Lago di Garda, Limone, Malcesine, Sirmione, Gargnano, just to name a few villages, you find more and more beautiful places and you want to stay forever!

And then there is Muslone, a tiny little mountain village, a 3 km drive up the street on the western shore of the lake. The street ends here, there is a church, and an alimentari store with Enzo, who knows everybody and everything. He is the local vacation home rental manager, the post office, the go-to-guy for local affairs. Enzo is the best, everytime I go there, he teaches me some words in Italian and – he has the best food in the world!

Our friend Harald, Enzo, me and Jürgen
Enzo, whispering in Jürgen‘s ear

Harald, Jürgen, Ted and I are spending a few days in Muslone, because we not only fell in love with the village when we stayed here for 2 weeks last summer, we fell in love with a very special house. I’m not sure how old it is, but the village was built in the 16 hundreds…..

Well, that house is for sale right now…..

From Sun to Snow, from 18C to -4C 😬

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When it comes to the weather, I was born in the wrong country; a country that has four seasons, a winter, and snow. Where the days are short and the jackets are puffy, where the wind hurts in your face and the streets are icy.

Northern Italy, near Trento

But then there is Advent, Christmas decorations, Christmas music and delicious home made cookies (thank you Tamara!)! There are Christkindlmarkets in every village and – there is snow!!! ⛄️🌨️⛄️

When we sat in the train from Venice to Munich yesterday, the little powdery dust on the top of the mountains got denser and heavier the further north we travelled. Brennero, the highest stop on the way to Munich, at the border between Italy and Austria, was covered in 1 ft of snow, very fresh, very white! And even Munich had a nice layer of powdery dusting of snow. When we got off the train, a few very slow snowflakes tried to find the ground, not knowing exactly where to go. It looks like a dance! I love that snow, slow dance snow!

And it kept snowing throughout the night, it is beautiful! And every surface is white and looks bright and happy! Perfect Christmas mood, perfect December weather!

Did I ever mention that I love Germany in December?