Things to Do Around Lake Como

Lake Como has got a bit of a rep for being ritzy and expensive, but I found it isn't just for folks like George Clooney and there are actually lots of things to do around Lake Como for people like you and me.

24 Hours in Milan

Last weekend I flew to Milan for the Bank Holiday. Even though Lake Como was the final destination of our trip, I decided to spend 24 hours in Milan. If I'm honest, I wasn't expecting much as I'd heard from many people the city has more to offer shoppers than sightsee-ers. One friend even called it a shit hole.

Now I wouldn't exactly call it that. True, it's not the prettiest city I've ever visited, but I did find some nice spots while wandering around.

Where to Have Lunch in Milan

I literally spent my bank holiday weekend eating and drinking in Italy. Our first stop was Milan where our mission was to find a place to have lunch.

Here are two places I tried and tested.

My Favourite Travel Meal

It's blog link up time again with Runaway Kiwi, Adventures of a London Kiwi and 80 Pairs of Shoes and this month's topic is favorite travel meal. All week I've been trying to think of where and when that was exactly, but there have been so many.

I've had some of the best and oddest fruit juices in Brazil. Every morning I went down to a local juice bar where they are pressed right in front of you and tried a different one, ranging from the more mundane pineapple and papaya juice to cashew and graviola juice. Mixing a couple of them together is also very yummie.

My favourite food is Indonesian Padang Padang food. So good they named it twice is also applicable to the Sumatran cuisine that is widely available outside of the island of Sumatra. You can recognise the Padang restaurants by the many stacked bowls filled with delicious spicy dishes ranging from chicken legs to cassava leaves and eggplant. It's very spicy so lots of ice cold beer is advisory.

Photo by P3rSeUs off Flickr

My second favourite food is Italian and travelling to Italy is like dying and going to food heaven. When I was in Sorrento I had plates full of pasta every night, eating everything on my plate till I could eat no more. The morning meals were a feat as well as I discovered that the Italians are masters in creating breakfast pastries as well. Not so great for the ole waistline though.

I love tapas and the best ones are to be found in the Basque country in the north of Spain. Here the tapas are skewered on a piece of bread and range from succulent pork or omelet on bread to the more daring urchin and liver paste on bread. Do watch the teeth as the bread can be a tad hard sometimes. I'm speaking from experience here.

But to be honest there is one thing that just beats all of these meals I had while travelling around the world. The best meal I ever had was one I had at home after I'd been away from Holland for three months on an internship in the US. The first thing I did was drop my bags at home. I looked for my shopping bag and headed to my local supermarket for some fresh sunflower seed bread and spreadable liverwurst, aka Dutch pate. Never ever have I enjoyed a meal as much as that simple sandwich in my Amsterdam kitchen. So as much as I like to dabble in foreign cuisine, there's just nothing like a simple homemade sandwich. 

Italian Pastries

On my trip to Italy last week, not only did I discover ancient relics, historic churches and fantastic vistas, I also discovered Italian pastries. Already a big fan of pasta, pizzas and risotto, I welcomed my new Italian, culinary discovery with open... er, mouth. 

It all started one morning, when I was wandering around Sorrento, in search for a place that served breakfast. Sorrento isn't exactly London, so I couldn't quite find anything that was open on a Sunday morning. After walking around a few blocks I walked into an ice cream and coffee shop called Primavera Sorrento. So many pastries in different colours, shapes and sizes were tempting me from behind the glass counter, so the pressure was on. Which one should I pick? The good thing is that most pastries also come in mini sizes so I created a nice little breakfast selection.

Unfortunately I couldn't sample all the Italian pastries, but I did manage to get through these:

•  Baba Rum: It's kind of like a brioche, the only difference being that the Baba is completely drenched in rum. Make sure you have a napkin at the ready as rum will drip. 

Photo by mariateresat. off flickr

Cannoncini: Italians do seem to like their nutella, and I'm no different. I couldn't get enough of this horn shaped pastry, filled with nutella.

•  Cannoli: Hard biscuit rolled up like a taco and filled with a ricotta cream and sprinkled with some dusting sugar. 

Sfogliatina: These are made with puff pastry dough and I've found they can be filled with either custard cream, a lemony cream or of course nutella.

Zeppole: These are like profiteroles or cream puffs, but they're filled with a lemony custard cream and topped with cherries.

Pompeii and Herculaneum

The first time I learned about Pompeii and Herculaneum in school, I was around 8 years old. As my teacher was telling us about these entire villages being engulfed by lava, ashes and hot gases erupting from Vesuvius I was fascinated. Well, perhaps not so fascinated as it took me more than 30 years to actually get off my behind and visit Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Both sites are easily reached from Sorrento by the Circumvesuviana train. As the name suggests, it circumnavigates the majestic Vesuvius that dominates the countryside around the Neapolitan coast. It’s hard to imagine that something so stunning could have caused so much devastation.

So on the train I hopped. After around an hour I jumped off at the town of Ercolana, and walked down its main street to Herculaneum archaeological site. Walking down the ramp from the main entrance towards the site, gives you a good view of the entire village. I was stunned to see how much of it was intact. It looked like a proper village, albeit a bit damaged and it’s not difficult at all to imagine what it would have looked like in Roman times.

What I liked about Herculaneum was that it was very quiet and serene. It’s not as popular as The site of Pompeii I guess, so the streets were very empty. It was lovely to wander around and peeping into the houses, public baths and courtyards, boasting incredibly colourful mosaics and murals. It’s mind-blowing to think you’re walking on mosaic flooring that’s over 2000 years old.

After about an hour and half I made my way back to the Circumvesuviana train station and got on the train towards Pompeii, only a 20-minute ride away.  The archaeological site is right next to the train station. What struck me about Pompeii was its sheer size; It’s massive. You can wander around its streets for hours, popping in and out of residences, shops, and gardens. You can nosy around temples, burial sites and palestras which are Roman gyms. There’s even pretty intact amphitheatre. One of the temples has two plaster moulds of actual residents of Pompeii that died during the volcano eruption. Archaeologists created these moulds by poring plaster into the cavities that they decaying bodies left behind in the hard It’s pretty eerie to see that one of them was actually holding up his arms to shield his face from the lava.

I took a breather at the Teatro Grande and its the portico behind it where artists and theatre-goers used to flaunt during the entr’acte.

Even though many of the marked sites, normally open for visitors, were closed for renovations, I didn’t manage to take in everything there is to see, which just leaves me with a very good reason to go back some day. I promise it won’t be in another 30 years though.

Things to do in Sorrento

What do you do when you find out you have not used up all your holidays? You book an Easyjet flight to Naples and head off for a weekend trip to Italy, right? Here are some things to do in Sorrento.

After what was possibly the most scenic airport transfer in the world, winding along the coast from Naples towards the Amalfi Coast, I got off the bus in Sorrento, headed to my hotel, exchanged my luggage for a map and off I went. Not having researched much, I didn’t really know much about the sights and what Sorrento is famous for. So I decided on just wandering through the village streets, soaking up the atmosphere. Tiny Sorrento is draped on top of steep cliffs that rise out of the Med, looking out across the bay to Naples which lies humbly at the foot of famous Mount Vesuvius.

I discovered that Limoncello is made here from the abundant lemon groves in the surrounding area. I discovered a quaint cloister courtyard that is host to evening concerts in summertime. I got lost in quiet, meandering streets, dotted with small shrines and decorated with murals dedicated to Mother Mary. laundry drying up over my head. Suddenly I found myself at the top of some steps that looked down onto a marina, called Marina Grande. A group of elderly men were engrossed in what sounded like a heated discussion, while local cats were playing at their feet.

I walked back up the steps to the centre of Sorrento, took a peek in a few of the omnipresent churches and indulged in some shopping at the local shops. By nightfall I was tired from all the walking around and I nipped into what looked like a cosy restaurant where I tucked into a hearty plate of spaghetti amatriciana.

A good start of my weekend trip to Sorrento, I’d say.

The Best Beaches in Sardinia

Photo by jmj2001 off Flickr

Every year lots of travellers pile into cramped air planes bound for to the Caribbean, South-east Asia or some other far flung, exotic destination in search of some sun, sea and pristine beaches. Yes, I admit, so do I. But when I took a trip to Sardinia, I discovered that Europe has some pretty amazing beaches of its own, complete with clear turquoise waters and cheeky fishes. And most are only a short flight away.

My travel buddy and I stayed in the town of Cagliari, which has a nice atmosphere and some historic bits, but we came here for the sun. So after picking up the car at the rental bit, we took a recon drive along the coast to the south where we hit the beaches of Chia, spotting some pink flamingos along the way.

Photo by jmj2001 off Flickr

The beach we picked is located in a secluded bay, watched over by the Tower of Chia. There were only a few people when we were there, but it was especially tranquil a bit further along the shoreline. The sea here is so unbelievably clear that I had to tell myself a few times that I was indeed standing in the Mediterranean. We watched the fish swim around our feet, until obviously a bit confused, one thought I looked like lunch.

The next day we headed in the opposite direction and end up at the beaches of Villasimius.  It’s a bit of a drive, but well worth it as the views along the way are extremely scenic. The road winds along the south coast of Sardinia, past picturesque inlets, more secluded beaches backed by steep cliffs that drop sharply into the Med. After a few hours, following a sign that says ‘Beach’, we parked the car and walked down a rocky path leading to a secluded beach. Bar some deserted umbrellas and beach towels the beach was entirely ours. 

Photo by jmj2001 off Flickr

We dumped our bags on the fine sand, jumped into the cool water and swam to a rock sticking out of the water, about 200 metres away from the beach. Sitting on top of it we watched the colourful fish watching us. We sat there till the red marks on our skin told us it was time to go back to the shady shore.
Back on our towels, we both remarked simultaneously that this island had so much more in store than what we had expected when we booked our trip to Sardinia. And with it being practically in my back yard, it will be a place you’ll find me a lot more often.