Subscribe to my newsletter.
-
A Personal Pilgrimage to Bulgaria Offers up Sofia with its Long and Vivid History
It seems strange writing about our trip to Bulgaria, considering the reason we’re here is to commemorate Seán’s sister, Jackie, who retired with her husband to her dream home in the small village of Dimcha, only to die shortly after. We first visited in a shocked haze last year but this year we’re back to…
-
A Rollercoaster Road from Lake Maggiore’s Locarno, across the Swiss Border to Italian Val Antigorio – A stupendous stop-off on our last night in Italy
We border hop to our last stop in Italy, starting at Lake Lugano in Italy and crossing to Switzerland half-way round it. I thank the universe for SatNav as it guides us through Switzerland’s Locarno, onto the tiny mountain road to the border at Camedo so that we can return again to Italy at Re.…
-
Limpid Lakes – Lago di Como, Piano and Lugano
As we hit the shores of Lake Como the mountains tower up on each side. It’s easy to see how it’s the deepest of the major Italian lakes. It is magical with its lemon sherbet and terracotta houses, iron-work balconies, enormous oleanders and vine-shaded terraces. Some villages are haunting with their air of gracious crumbling.…
-
Rambling in Italian Alpine Val Camonica and the Passo dell’ Aprica
We’re both a little shattered by the sadness of the WWI museum, memorial and fort so when we start descending from the pass into Val Camonica, and I spy a campsite sign in Temù, even though we haven’t travelled more than 60 kilometres today, we swing into Camping Presanella and what a find it is.…
-
Over the Passo del Tonale from Trentino’s Val di Sole to Val di Camonica – The ‘Terrible Beauty’ of Majestic Mountains and the Shadows of War
We drive from Ossana up the winding road to the mountain pass which takes us out of Trentino’s Val di Sole and into Lombardy’s Val di Camonica – once border country between the emergent Italian state and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As we stop outside the first WWI museum in Vermiglio, we gaze up with awe…
-
Trentino’s Treasures – Lago di Terlago to Val di Sole
We drive through Vallelaghi’s mountains striped with rows of golden and red delicious apple orchards, through the narrowest gap in Terlago’s ancient town, its sturdy houses resembling fortresses. There’s a walking trail around Lago di Terlago beneath limestone cliffs, shaded by holm oaks and willows, wildflowers growing out from the rocks. Around the lake…
Campervan Therapy 