Author Gayle
The stretch of coastline that extends from the French border around the Ligurian Sea is known as the Italian Riviera. It may not have the glitz of Cannes or the glamour of St Tropez, but there are enough rich and… Continue Reading →
There’s something about Italian women of a certain age. They’re incredibly confident – about everything. And, surprisingly, they’re rarely wrong – about anything. When you’re new in town, the nonne are first to notice. And if you’re up for a… Continue Reading →
At the start of this year we spent several months outside Italy, in countries we’d mostly not visited before. These places are familiar to many but, for us each one was a newly-discovered gem. Norway New Year’s Eve in Hammerfest… Continue Reading →
Two years ago today Greg and I arrived in Italy. When we landed in Bologna on that hot August afternoon we were excited at the prospect of what lay ahead, but the past couple of years have delivered much more… Continue Reading →
Summer is festival season in the Gulf of Poets. Every weekend there’s a festa or sagra in one – or often several – of the communities around the bay. Some, such as the ‘Festival of the Mussel’ and the superbly-named… Continue Reading →
We weren’t sure whether we wanted to go to the Cinque Terre. Sounds crazy, right? Who wouldn’t want to visit that string of five gorgeous, little villages clinging like jewels to the cliffs of the Ligurian coast? It had been… Continue Reading →
The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley described it as a place ‘where music and moonlight and feeling are one…’. Mary Shelley found it bathed ‘in the rich tints of Italian heaven.’ While the coastline’s sweeping curves made DH Lawrence’s blood ‘run… Continue Reading →
The plan was to be away for a couple of years, though we weren’t sure exactly where we’d be. Obviously there’d be hot summers to survive and cold winters to endure. It would be mostly casual travelling though, hopefully, with… Continue Reading →
‘Did you know Faroese girls are the prettiest in the world?’ asks the very pretty young woman with the long dark hair and happy smile. ‘It’s our heritage,’ she laughs. ‘Viking and Celtic – a good combination.’ If we didn’t… Continue Reading →
We interrupt the program to bring you a weather update. You may have seen stories in the news about the heatwave surging across Europe. Schools are closed, roads are melting and rail tracks are buckling in the extreme temperatures. Authorities… Continue Reading →