In the footsteps of the impressionist master at the Riviera resort of Bordighera, follow the Monet. The French painter Claude Monet spent one winter – the early part of 1884 – in the Italian town of Bordighera, having been introduced to this part of the Riviera by his friend Renoir the year before. Monet was…
Today, in the final post about our trip to the Cyclades, I want to share with you something that we spotted on the Aqua Jewel ferry from Ios to Milos: children’s impressions of typical motives from the Aegean islands. Kids can be the greatest painters, obviously not in the philosophical or allegorical mode. You cannot expect…
… and how to avoid spending your entire Greek island holiday on a ferry boat or waiting for one in the port If you are on your way to the Cyclades, having arrived in Athens by plane and planning to continue by ferry, there is a good chance you will have some time to kill…
Got an afternoon to kill and don’t feel like going to the beach? Then here are a few ideas of how to pass your time. Three More Easy Walks in Paros 1. Agios Panthes This is not an easy hike at all – as we found out, just in time. In Paros, most attractive hiking trails…
It’s back to the Middle Ages on the road from Lefkes to Prodromos – or is it only back to the 1950s? Hiking on the Greek islands is overall a very pleasant experience. The blue skies and the blue sea can be counted on to provide an attractive backdrop, and there are always plenty of…
The journey to the top of Mount Lycabettus may not fill you with awe, but it will teach you a thing or two about modern Greece As I said in our last post: Athens is a bit of a strange town inasmuch as nearly everything you see is either more than 2000 years old or…
Athens does not do many things, but what it does, it does very, very well The great tourist attractions of the world can be divided into two groups, the foxes and the hedgehogs, representing either destinations that do many things reasonably well or destinations that do only one thing but have mastered this to the…
I don’t know to what extent we have become experts in Tuscan art and landscapes (there is simply too much of either to see and to experience). Our recent trip has certainly improved our expertise in one specific area: Italian food, more particularly Tuscan dishes. How We Enjoyed Eating in Tuscany We now know that…
Once the Pilgrim’s Progress has led him to Siena, the Pilgrim may be excused for thinking that it will not get much better than this For nearly a thousand years, the 2 km stretch of the Via Francigena that cuts through the city of Siena has been the highlight of the trail. Imagine: most of…
The half-stage to Monteriggioni delivers a good lesson in authenticity –and the key to unlocking the treasures of the Via Francigena If you have neither the time for a full trip down the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome (a journey of 2000 km that features 80 stages and crossings of both the Channel and…