Italy

It was on the afternoon of January 1st, we had left Venice in the morning and traveled towards Verona, we made a few stops before in some local lovely municipalities. Our car radio was tuned to some Italian radio who played The Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert under the baton of Mariss Jansons. Janaury 1st is magical, streets are empty and those at the wheel can enjoy empty roads Empty and narrow Italian road Town square in Italy We turned max volume on our car radio and danced…

It was sunny January 1st afternoon when we visited Este in northern Italy. One of our first stops in 2016. Este, Italy One of the main sights in Este is the Castle Carrarese of Este ​ Roundabout in Este I would say a very piccolo roundabout Ice rink in Este town square

It was January 1st, 2016 when we visited Castle Carrarese of Este, during our drive from Venice to Modena. It was our second stop after we enjoyed a cup of cappuccino at lovely Candiana town. Read more: Bar Rialto in Candiana)  The castle overlooking the town of Este consists of large master towers and massive walls, about a kilometre long, which embraces the extreme southern edge of the Euganean Hills. This mighty monument bears witness to the important role that the territory of Este played…

I have always loved local cafes and restaurants where tourists barely step their foot in, we were of from Venice and traveled to Modena, when I said, let's visit some of the local villages and see what's good there.  Back at this stage I even didn't know that village we were to enter is called - Candiana, shortly we parked our car and noticed a local pub/bar/restaurant - so we entered this place, which I learnt latter is named - Bar Rialto Candiana and ordered a cup of cappuccino. It was…

St Mark's square probably is every travelers dream destination when traveling to Venice, Italy. So did it was among mine - must have destinations. We traveled to Italy and especially to Venice for a New Year's eve to celebrate 2016.  I was so found of photography, and especially fireworks photography, that I started to prepare already about a month before our departure. huge was my disappointment, when I was not able to find a single spot to make any decent fireworks photography from St Mark's…

After we finally arrived to Venice, settled up in our hotel room, it was still a few hours until New Year, we decided to locate some charming Venice restaurant, but they all either were fully booked or just looked suspicious, suddenly we noticed a small fast food shop, and I decided to take a look, so that's how we found Fried Land in Venice. Huge was my surprise when searching for this places coordinates I found that on TripAdvisor Fried Land ranks #1 as Venice Restaurants (as on January 27,…

We booked hotel Guerrini in Venice for New Years night (2016), because of it's location - Located just off the characteristic Venetian street of Lista di Spagna and 400 m from Santa Lucia Railway Station, Hotel Guerrini offers free Wi-Fi and simple air-conditioned rooms. Now the biggest surprise was to learn out, that heating in our room didn't worked (seems it didn't worked for all the hotel), so called simple air conditioner also didn't helped much (it constantly showed +17C). Bathroom (for…

We went to Venice on New Year's Eve (2015/2016), for me as a beginner photographer it was a great challenge to photograph here. I prepared well (brought tripod and practiced a lot previously) but I made a huge mistake this night, I messed up with the clock (Flying from country to country is a mess with time, so I have stopped to look in watch when traveling), so we went out for a New Years fireworks one hour earlier. This extra hour resulted in a very cold and unpleasant weather and in…

Florence is a destination to head for if you are looking for renaissance art.  Florence is famous for its history: a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time, it is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called "the Athens of the Middle Ages" In today's Piece of Life photo series - Postcards from Florence, taken at the end of 2015 View towards Florence If you are new to Florence and might wonder where are the best…

Michelangelo Square is one of the best place in Florence to take picturesque panoramic views of Florence. We found this place thanks to suggestions on some travel guide and indeed, the pictures taken here are amazing. We were lucky enough to find this place quickly as it was located in just some 3 minute drive from our hotel. Read more: Villa Carlota hotel review. We parked our car at Michelangelo Square, I installed a tripod and took some lovely views towards city of Florence. Views toward…