easy hikes and city walks in Italy
Of all the major European countries, Italy has always appeared to me the most culturally uniform. There is little that connects the baroque splendours of Catholic Bavaria with the Protestant restraint of Germany’s Hanseatic North and little common ground between Strasbourg and Nice, but there is an “Italianate-ness” of streets and buildings that is immediately…
For our recent journey through Emilia Romagna, a region in northern and central Italy, we decided to hire a car – something we had not done for several years, generally preferring to make our way on public transport and, of course, on foot. After so many years of not using a car for our journeys, I…
I must have advised you several times already that, if you take a trip to the French Riviera, you should combine this with a brief visit to Italy. On my list of suggestions, this is one of the top “Things To Do on the French Riviera” (right behind gate-crashing Brad Pitt’s yacht-warming party at the film…
Organized bus trips, for all their benefits, have one major drawback: they are not purpose-made for hiking, and any opportunity they may offer for a walk is purely coincidental At best, you can find the space for a brief excursion, but at worst, you are virtually stuck in the bus for the whole day. You…
Riviera gardens are, in a number of ways, like London City churches: there are so many of them that only the truly obsessive can name them all There are enough differences between them for you to visit more than just a single one, while, on the other hand, they are sufficiently similar to invite informed…
Professional cycling. Don’t you just love it? You don’t? Too much lycra, too much sweat running down contorted faces, too much time-where-not-very-much-appears-to-be-happening-at-all? Races remind you of those depression era dance marathons where the last guy standing wins? Of who-can-hold-his-breath-the-longest contests? Oh well. That is certainly one way of seeing it. But there is another way,…
All beautiful landscapes and areas have one ugly spot: one place where they concentrate all those warehouses, tyre vendors and utilities that they need – like everybody else – but prefer to keep out of sight. And so, while the glittering towns and beauty spots get themselves ready for the ball (aka the annual tourist…
Sanremo and San Romolo: once conjoined twins, with the Funiculaire of San Romolo. Once upon a time, the remote hillside village of San Romolo was one of the Italian Riviera’s most popular day trip destinations. Mention its name to natives from Sanremo of a certain age only if you are ready to be showered with…
Why it may be a good idea to call on local assistance for your trips around the Ossola Valley For our final walk in the Ossola valley, we hiked a small piece of the Via dei torchi e dei mulini – the “trail of wine presses and mills”. The Via Tappia Trail of Wine Presses We started…
Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the 15 sculpted stations of the cross on the Sacred Mountain of Domodossola provide a fascinating experience, even in the rain – or, perhaps, particularly so One thing you have to say for the Alps, they don’t do much by halves there. Europe’s highest mountain range has proper…