Let’s start with an exercise. Don’t worry, I don’t want you to stretch your muscles. I want you to stretch your imagination. Imagine a town on the edge of a gorge. Imagine inhabited caves. Each cave is a fully functioning house – there’s a kitchen, dining area, bedroom, bathroom and place for a donkey and some chickens. All in one cave, including a whole family. No running water, only rainwater. No vegetable garden, only tufa limestone. If you want to actually grow something, you have to go to the other side of the gorge. And now imagine 15 000 people living in these caves. Sounds like diseases. Like malaria. And…
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Apulia: Locorotondo
We didn’t include Locorotondo in our plan. It was 6km from the trullo we stayed in in the middle of nowhere aka olive grove. So we thought: why not. And this is the kind of surprise I like. If Locorotondo is not one of the most beautiful towns in Italy, I don’t know what is. Oh wait. It’s actually on the list Borghi più belli d’Italia, which is a list of the most beautiful towns in Italy. Told ya. Locorotondo was completely EMPTY when we arrived. No tourist at all. No people at all. It was afternoon, siesta time. Everything was closed except for maybe 2 restaurants and 3 cafes.…
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Apulia – what to expect
You may have noticed that I’m writing down my expectations everywhere I go. I did that for the first time when I was going to Thailand, compared with reality when I came back and it was a really fun thing to do. What to expect when you go to Apulia? That’s a good question. I was expecting typical southern Italy – slightly chaotic and with no pressure to rush anywhere. And nothing more. So this time it will be a bit different. I’m skipping my expectations which I had before the trip and I’m leaving you with Apulian reality only. Of course it’s based on my 4 days spent there,…
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Rooftops of Lviv
Let’s visit some rooftops. Rooftops of Lviv, to be precise. It’s actually a popular tour you can book in the city. As popular as underground Lviv. When I came back home, I realized that actually, I did my own Lviv rooftop hopping. Feel free to get inspired! Lviv City Hall Let’s start from the middle. Well, from the center. The center of Lviv, aka the city hall and its’ tower. It’s an experience and I’m not talking only about the views. To get to the tower you walk down the city hall corridors, where you can bump into staff doing their everyday job. 300 steps later you’re at the top.…
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The best of Lviv
From the very first steps, Lviv feels strangely familiar. Streets look like at home, my instinct tells me which way to go, even though I have never been there before. Strange. From the very first minutes Lviv gets me and to be honest, I could stay. This is how much I like it. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my grandpa’s sister lived in Lviv and my other grandpa lived nearby. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that not so long ago Lviv was Polish. Maybe it’s something totally different, but these walks around the city are very sentimental. The first day I…
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Lviv – expectations vs reality
Expectations: Lviv is beautiful, but a bit run-down. Reality: I was so unfair. I thought that Lviv has many post-soviet buildings and that it’s mostly ruined. IT’S. NOT. TRUE. Lviv is beautiful. There are endless townhouses and they’re not that ruined. Maybe it’s the yellowish color which makes everything look optimistic, maybe it’s something else. One thing is sure: I was very surprised how pretty this city is. Expectations: It will be cheap Reality: Lviv is cheap. It’s very cheap. There’s no comparison to Western Europe or USA. Of course, there are more expensive hotels, restaurant, etc., but on average – Lviv lets you go a bit wild. You can…
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Ferrari & Modena
Balsamic vinegar. Luciano Pavarotti. Enzo Ferrari. Food, music, fast cars. Modena knew what to do to attract people. I know nothing about cars, but I’m a proud owner and one of the biggest fans of Italian cars starting with an F. Fiat. Even though I’m an ignorant and I’m driving not the F I should, I was really enthusiastic about going to the Ferrari museum. A good design is a good design and I will appreciate it. Always. So we went. Ferrari=Maranello, so we went to Museo Ferrari in Maranello (a small town next to Modena). I still have no idea if it was a right choice. Apparently one museum…
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Unexpected Venice
One evening at the lake Garda we had a geography crash course. To be more precise: geography of Northern Italy. Weather apps were merciless: it would rain. Heavily. So we took a map, a few weather apps and started looking for a best place to go. Apparently it would rain everywhere. Except Venice. So we went to Venice. We googled only to things: the cheapest parking (Tronchetto) and a viewpoint. Everything else was as spontaneous as possible. And I’m not a spontaneous type when it comes to my holidays. It was probably the only time when I had no idea about a place I was going to, except the common…
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Lago di Garda: east side
The west side of Lago di Garda is done, it’s time for the east side. Is it better/more interesting/cooler? Spoiler alert: it is. The landscape is totally different. The road goes next to the beach and water, not high in the mountains. It feels more like a seaside. Of course if you ignore the mountains on the other shore. And the ones behind you. Unfortunately the weather forces us to change our plans and we haven’t seen much of the east side. But the things we saw… Well, I have to go back! Peschiera del Garda Our “Italian Lakes” guidebook ignores Peschiera. Really, Lonely Planet? We went there…
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Lago di Garda: west side
Lago di Garda is 55 km long. Between 4 and 12 km wide. It covers the area of 370 km2. Why am I even bringing that up? Well, to enlighten you how big it is and how impossible it is to see everything in one day. So here’s what you should do and what we should have done. Divide it to east side and west side. Let’s start with the west side – more popular, more crowded. More interesting? We’ll see in the next post. Sirmione THE place to be, so you can expect EVERYONE there. Literally everyone. Our first attempt to visit Sirmione ended with a big escape from…
