Italy

Villa Carlota hotel in Florence is a 4-star hotel. We stayed here overnight just day before New Year in 2015. We arrived here after paid a visit to the leaning tower of Pisa and short wanderings around Tuscany vineyards. Previous night we spent at another 4-star hotel in Lucca. Read more:  Albergo Celide Hotel Review in Lucca, Italy. Villa Carlota compared to Albergo Celide is a truly a 4-star hotel and I will definitely return to this hotel next when spending time in Florence. Villa…

If there are a thousands things to see before we die - I believe to see vineyards in Tuscany are among them. At the end of December 2015, we traveled around region of Tuscany in Italy and to memorize those fascinating places I created a few panorama photos. Vineyards in Tuscany - Piece of Life. Vineyards in Tuscany It is amazing to observe how using a simple DSLR camera with kit lens I figured out to create a panorama photo here (stitching together some 6 photos). I believe it is all about…

I Fossi is a small roadside restaurant located in San Gimignano town in Italy. We arrived here just shortly we paid a visit to the Leaning tower of Pisa. We made a stop here by chance, just because noticed there is one free parking spot available. Unfortunately we managed to order just two cappuccinos and noticed there is a queue with cars on the nearby street, some lady had arrived to the hotel (turns out there is a hotel as well at this place) and waited to park her car. I told her, could…

We all have heard about Pisa tower, I won't be too original by saying - it's that leaning tower located somewhere in Italy.  At the end of 2015 I had a chance to visit this place second time in my lifetime (my mom, told me that I was here back in 1990 or 1991, but was so tired that refused to leave our tourist bus and took a lovely nap instead of wondering at this oblique tower). This time I felt very energized, armored with a tripod and a lot of new photography skills I have learnt since I…

Restaurant Antica Drogheria is located in Lucca, Italy, we discovered this restaurant by accident, just shortly checked in at Albergo Celide hotel and decided to make an evening walk beyond Lucca's city wall. And here it was - another great Italian restaurant located on  Via Elisa, 5. Antica Drogheria in Lucca, Italy We had to wait for about some 10 minutes to get a free table (seems this place is extremely popular), by waiting for a free place we ordered a cappuccino in the restaurant's…

Albergo Celide is a four star hotel located in Lucca, Italy, we stayed here overnight at the end of 2015, although this is a four star hotel, speaking of staff members I can call it barely one star hotel.  Probably arriving to this hotel requests that you arrive in a suite or evening gown, since we arrived here from Milan after some 5 hour drive and were in our casual clothes staff members probably thought that we are some misunderstanding for their precious place. Our booking included a…

In today's restaurant reviews series I would like to mention some small but very stylish snack bar in Portofino, Italy - Tortuga Snack Bar We made a stop in lovely Italian Riviera village of Portofino at the end of 2015, this place inspired me a lot and I made a few HDR photography here. Tortuga Snack bar we made a short stop to enjoy delicious Italian cappuccino, and with the permit from bar staff members I was allowed to make some interior photos as well. Tortuga snack bar in Portofino,…

Portofino is an Italian fishing village and vacation resort famous for its picturesque harbor and historical association with celebrity and artistic visitors. I paid a short, but very remarkable visit here at the end of 2015, during a short 7 day trip around Italy. We arrived to Portofino from Genoa (Read my first impressions: A Little Bit From Italian Riviera (Somewhere Around Genoa) Portofino - Italian fishing village According to Pliny the Elder, Portofino was founded by the Romans and…

Just shortly we landed at Milan/Malpensa airport and stayed at lovely Holiday Inn Express hotel, in the next morning we started to head to Genoa. Unfortunately I did not paid much attention to all the small town lets located next to the sea, and know by writting these lines I wonder what names does actually these lovely places bear.  The fun fact - we stopped in Genoa for just 5 minutes (and we even didn't know back then that we are actually in Genoa. But hey we got some amazing pictures here…

We stayed overnight at Holiday Inn Express Milan-Malpensa Airport hotel just shortly we landed at the airport and took our rental car from FireFly. It turned out that FireFly office was just some 200 meters from this hotel, so we didn't had much driving for the first day from during our seven day trip in Italy. OK, we drove to the nearby town of Ferno to have a Italian style supper at Osteria San Martino. If you are traveling by car  - I highly recommend to choose hotels near airports - you…