Combining Two of My Favorite Things...Travel & Food, of course...

If you love to travel and eat beautiful food (who doesn't???), there are a couple of websites I found that offer sustenance for your soul and your body.

Check out The Travel Editor to "rediscover your world".   You'll be inspired to put on your travelling shoes and head out to destinations you might not have thought of before.  This website is chock-a-block (a good Australian term)  of useful information and it offers independent travel reviews from experts that have "been there, done that".   Nice photos, too!

I've just been reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (yes, I'm a little behind as everyone else on the planet has already read it), and I have become enamored with learning to speak Italian and visit places in Italy that she mentions.  I want to go back to Rome for a second visit after reading the book--I obviously missed some of the finer points of the city after spending eight days there and coming away with a love/hate relationship!  

This was one of my favorite photos from the whole eight days.  It was coming up on Halloween and we found this bakery somewhere on our travels in the city.  Cool, huh?  This was one of my "loves" of Rome...

But, nothing compares to Venice for me.   In her book, Elizabeth Gilbert describes the city  by saying, "Venice is beautiful, but like a Bergman movie is beautiful, you can admire it, but you don't really want to live in it".  That's probably true.  I think there is something to be said, however, for the city on a cold November morning just as it is bustling to life.  Venice is a photographer's heaven--there's a photo opportunity around every corner!

Okay, I could natter on about Venice, but on to my other favorite website, Poetry of Food, which is a combination of beautiful travel photographs, recipes, and food stories.  Can you think of anything better than that???  

When you sign up to their complimentary magazine, you get a postcard every week sent to you in your inbox.  This week's postcard features Aigues-Mortes in France, where sea salt is harvested on the Camargue.  An interesting place I've never been to, but almost did.  Luckily, I came to my senses and decided that travelling down the Canal du Midi and Rhone River in a boat with just my husband and myself to get us through zillions of locks was probably not one of my best ideas!  Especially since neither one of us has ever driven a boat--unless you count a small ski boat on a lake about a thousand years ago.  

At any rate, the website has some lovely photos, and wonderful recipes that will make you want to rush to the kitchen and get cooking!

Now I'm off to one of my favorite other things in life...a flea market to search for treasures.  Till next time.

The REAL Venezia....

I posted recently about the "Venice of the Alps", so now I thought I'd share with you photos from my last trip to the real Venice.  We went in early November when it was fairly cold, but that just meant there were very few tourists.

I loved going out walking in the early morning watching the real Venice come alive.  Barges were plying the canals, making deliveries to shops, and the vegetable stalls were just opening.  It felt as though as I was a "real resident Venetian"!

Aren't these the most gorgeous veggies??  I've been by this shop on a couple of different trips to Venice, and each time, it's looked just this inviting!

I love how Italians do their "window dressing".  Shop windows often look like works of art!

I found these shops in a lovely little out-of-the-way palazzo quite by accident.  That's one of the fun things about Venice--it's like being in a maze.  You just never know what you will find down a little alleyway.... 

I loved the striped poles marking the private quays.  Very colorful...

Here's a view of one of the myriad small canals featuring pretty little window boxes full of flowers even in the cold weather.

My last trip, I finally got to experience the sheer terror of riding in a 'traghetto' on the Grand Canal.   There's just something REALLY scarey about standing up with nothing to hold onto but another passenger while you bob in the wake of other boats!  Have a quick read about traghetti at this very useful website in case you decide you'd like to ride one.  I think my one trip across the canal will be my only try, however!

Aren't the reflections in this photo dreamy??  I think that's one of the qualities about Venice that I love best.

This photo was taken in front of the church beside the S. Lucia train station.  I spent one of the most beautiful late afternoons one April.  My son and I took our favorite books and sat just on the edge of the canal in front of the train station, reading and watching the canal traffic go by.  It was glorious!

More dreamy reflections.....

You must take the obligatory ride on a gondola, if you can.  Because I had already done this on another trip, I decided to take the 80 euros the gondolier asked as his fee, and buy myself an exquisite pair of red Italian leather gloves trimmed in dyed fox the exact same shade of red. Ooh-la-la.  A much longer last token of Venice!

I popped into a fantastic glove shop, JB Guanti, and this shop makes you feel like being a "being a kid in a candy store".  You will never see as many colors of leather gloves anywhere else!  The woman who was working behind the counter was absolutely amazing.   She was truly a "glove" expert.  She just took one look at my hands and immediately chose the exact size I needed--she didn't need to take any measurements.  But, the problem is that it is so difficult to choose which pair to buy....

J B Guanti (Gloves)

San Marco, Mercerie 737

or

Calle del Lovo 4821

www.jbgloves.com

If you do go to Venice, consider going when the weather is still cold--either in early spring, late autumn or early winter.  You won't have to negotiate the little alleyways with a million other people!  You'll have the opportunity to wander off down little lanes and find shops like the one that makes hand-made shoes, or perhaps the shop that made fresh potato chips.  You just never know what might turn up....

♥