Category: Italy
Our 24 hr Whirlwind Tour of Rome
Have a long layover in Rome? Think you can’t afford to fly to another country for just one day? You would be amazed at what you can see and do in just 24 hours. You can check out all of my travel adventures along with travel tips at Southern Blue Traveler. Related
Cinque Terre, Italy
At the top of my bucket list was to travel to Manarola – Cinque Terre, Italy to see this view. How blessed I am to be able to enjoy this beautiful village. I wrote several post about visiting this beautiful area of Italy which you can check out HERE. Related
Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy
Here is a short video I took of the Leaning Tower of Pisa when my daughter and I visited Italy. You will have to excuse the shaky start. You can check out the post of our visit HERE. I love photography but photos just could not capture the feel of standing in awe of […]
Naples, Italy ( seeing Naples through my great grandfathers eyes)
I can’t believe I didn’t take many videos on my European vacation. I was so busy walking and shooting there wasn’t much time to stop and video anything but I didn’t manage to shoot this video when we arrived in Naples, Italy. I was excited about the last stop of our cruise. Naples’ busy shipping […]
Sorrento, Italy
The last stop on our trip to the Amalfi Coast was Sorrento, Italy. Our driver let us out in the middle of town and our small group had a nice lunch at a quaint little restaurant. The best spot to start your shopping experience in Sorrento is right in the heart of town in Piazza Tasso. This large piazza is one […]
My “Under the Tuscan Sun” Moment
Under the Tuscan Sun I have seen this movie more times than I care to admit. It is one of my favorite movies and I live vicariously through Diane Lane every time I watch the movie. Maybe it’s because I can relate with her movie character. A woman who divorces her cheating husband, travels to […]
Positano, Italy
From the moment I arrived in Positano, I was in love. I read that it is the most photographed fishing village in the world and I can see why. There is something magical about the intricate winding roads, and we enjoyed exploring each alcove or shop as we traveled down to the sea. Like most […]
Pompeii, Italy ~ Part 1
One of my favorite photos is this one of the forum with Mount Vesuvius in the background Romans took control of Pompeii around 200 BC. On August 24, 79 AD, Vesuvius erupted, burying the nearby town of Pompeii in ash and soot, killing around 3,000 people, the rest of the population of 20,000 people having […]
Pompeii, Italy ~ Part 2
I had so many pictures of Pompeii, Italy that I had to make this a two-parter. Here is the link the Part 1 if you missed it. My daughter and I decided we couldn’t go to Italy without going to Pompeii. It’s one of those places you dream about seeing but never think you will. […]
Cathedral-Basilica of Cefalù
The Cathedral-Basilica of Cefalù, is a Roman Catholic church in Cefalu, Sicily, Italy. The Duomo dates back to the Norman era and contains some of the best preserved mosaics in all of Sicily.The building of the cathedral was begun by Roger II, the first king of Sicily, in 1131. He commissioned the artists to make the mosaics […]
Cefalu, Sicily (Small Fishing Village in North Sicily)
If I win the lottery, I have decided I want to retire in Cefalu, Sicily. As soon as I heard of this small fishing village, I knew I wanted to see it. It’s a city and commune in the Province of Palermo, located on the northern coast of Sicily, Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It had the beautiful […]
Two things off my bucket list, travel to Italy (check), take picture of tornado (check)
Most people hear tornado sirens and run for cover, I hear them and grab my camera as I make a mad dash for the door. My heart starts pounding as I search the horizon for a whirling mass. With camera in hand, I watch and wait only to be disappointed time after time. This strange […]
Cagliari, Sardinia
Every morning I would wake up and run to the balcony to see what our next port looked like. I watched the sun rise as we pulled into each port and with camera in hand, took pictures of the most beautiful sunrises. To be honest, I’m not a morning person. A sunrise is that […]
PULA ~ Italy & Pink Flamingos
As we left Cagliari, Italy and headed to see the Ruins of Nora, we passed miles and miles of salt marshes filled with these beautiful pink flamingos. This was the first time I had seen this many flamingos at one time and the first time I had experienced flamingos in the wild. We also saw […]
Nora Archaeological Site in Sardinia, Italy
Where should we go? This is the first question one faces when planning a vacation. There are so many places in the world to visit which made choosing a cruise a difficult task. She would pick a date and read me a list of various port stops. When she mentioned Sardinia in one of the […]
My “Under the Tuscan Sun” Moment
I have seen this movie more times than I care to admit. It is one of my favorite movies and I live vicariously through Diane Lane every time I watch the movie. Maybe it’s because I can relate with her movie character. A woman who divorces her cheating husband, travels to Italy, falls in love […]
Pisa, Italy
My daughter and I have just returned from our European vacation and I’m trying to recover from jet lag. I look over all of the photographs I took and I am awestruck by everything we saw in our whirlwind tour of seven countries. We took a Mediterranean cruise with Norwegian Cruise Lines, leaving from Civitavecchia for […]
Cinque Terre, Italy ~ Vernazza
Of all the villages in Cinque Terre, I think Vernazza was my favorite to photograph. It has colorful, antique homes that cling to steep cliffs and a lovely small harbor that shelters under the shadows of an ancient castle and a beautiful seaside church. Vernazza had massive flooding and mudslides that left the town buried in […]
Cinque Terre, Italy ~ Monterosso al Mare
Monterosso al Mare was the last village we visited. It had a different feel than the other village. The town is divided into two distinct parts: the old town and the new town. The two areas are divided by a single tunnel that caters to pedestrians and there are very few cars in the town. […]
Cinque Terre, Italy ~ Riomaggiore
Riomaggiore is the most southern village of the five Cinque Terre. The town of Riomaggiore presents typical features reflecting its history and traditions. The town stretches along a vertical axe where steep staircases are the only means to move around the town and the typical houses have one or two-floor towers. The first historical traces […]
