World's Best Places to Visit

I love traveling by train around Europe. With parents working for the national rail company, I spent much of my childhood playing around locomotives and steam trains, and I have witnessed first-hand the evolution of train travel. I was a curious child, and this led to many adventures, from learning about how the oil gets changed on a diesel locomotive (which was offered refereed to as “the camel”), to riding in the cabin of a steam strain, when they would be hired for film productions. I even met Costa Gavras on the set of Amen, but I was too young then to know who he was. I grew up traveling by train, riding alone the 7 hours between my hometown and my grandma’s house ever since I was 14 years old. As soon as I got my first passport, I started exploring Europe by train, from the northern countries all the way to the Balkans. There was something special traveling around from one place to another, boarding a train in the evening and waking up to a totally new place in the m...

Trying to pick out where to stay in Puglia? If you’ve settled on Monopoli, I think you’ve made a fantastic choice. I may be a bit biased — when deciding on where to base ourselves in Puglia for our honeymoon, we ended up choosing to stay in Monopoli, a beautiful seaside city with both a historic old town and a vibrant new town. I think Monopoli is one of the best places to base yourselves on a Puglia road trip – not far from anything, not too touristic, and with plenty of great places to stay in Monopoli for a variety of budgets. Where to Stay in Monopoli Best Budget Hotels in Monopoli For the purposes of this post, I’ve defined ‘budget’ in Monopoli as being under $100 USD a night in the peak season. We visited Monopoli in November, so it was low-season — so low season, in fact, that many hotels and restaurants were already closed until the following year. If you choose to stay in Monopoli during this time of y...

The first time I laid eyes on Italy’s beautiful Cinque Terre, I began giggling like a maniac. It’s just that beautiful. I’ve been there twice now, and I still get weirdly territorial over it.  And nothing is worse when someone tells me it can be done as a day trip from Milan… When this is said, I legitimately start twitching. Listen: There is so much to do in Cinque Terre – more than just snapping the perfect Instagram photo or stopping by for a few hours. Nope. This is a dream destination well worthy of at least 4 days of your time… as I’ve done twice now. Having experienced the destination as both a relaxing girls’ getaway and a romantic hiking weekend, I feel like I’ve gotten a good feel for what this epic region has to offer… and I am so excited to share the list with you! If you’re wondering what to do in Cinque Terre, this bucket list is for you. TIP: If you are still doing research for your trip to C...

Liguria, a charming region in north-western Italy, world-famous for its colorful Cinque Terre, glamorous Portafino, lofty mountains and stretching towards France Mediterranean coastline. As one of the sunniest places in the whole country, the Italian Riviera might seem like a perfect vacation choice all year round. But before you pack up your bags – here come the pitfalls…

Cycling the ancient cobbled streets of Ferrara, Italy Italy | Europe Published: December 2018 Disclosure: My accommodation was provided by the Blogville project | This post contains affiliate links With Aperitivo hour rolling in, and one distracted-by-architecture crash under my belt already, it was time to park up our bicycles and settle in for a Spritz, and our now nightly pre-dinner snack fest. Janet and I had spent the day exploring Ferrara by bike, from it’s cobbled Roman streets to its renaissance palace. Ferrara might not be as famous with travellers like Bologna, Modena, or other cities in the Emilia Romagna region, but it makes for an ideal day-trip from Bologna, or an unexpected overnight stay, if you over-indulge in said Spritzs and miss the last train… my bad. Este Castle in Ferrara A relatively compact city, Ferrara’s architecture tells two sides of its history. With both renaissance and Roman art and architecture to celebrate it, Fer...