Two days ago I was having a typical Italian breakfast: brioche and cappuccino. And when I’m sitting in my office 1400 km further north it is really hard to believe. Especially when this morning temperature dropped below zero. But here I am. I got back after 2 weeks of a combined car, train, scooter and bike voyage. What can I say? Italy was awesome. As always. (Just like the last one). Drive The drive is long. It takes about 12 hours to drive through Germany, Austria and Italy, to cross from Poznań to Ferrara. And if the traffic is heavy or the road works are carried out then it can be 14 hours. So it is rather challenging in terms of driving. How to survive a long drive? Well, I found a good way to stay focused on the road: I listen to the audiobooks. This time I was listening to a book by Bulgakov The Master and Margarita. This is not my favorite book but you know what? I am still thinking about it. About the cat, Russia, Moscow that I have never visited and the main plot. I can tell you this: this book gets into you and it is very hard to stop analyzing it, remembering the crucial events, trying to imagine the main characters. Train Thanks to the book I drove safely to Ferrara where I joined some of my Italian friends and we went further south by train. With 2 changes – one in Bologna and one in Napoli – we arrived to Sorrento. This was a Frecciarossa train which meant it was a really short journey. The train goes with a galactic speed of almost 300 km/h and it crosses numerous tunnels. As a side effect of this fast journey and many tunnels you get your ears clogged. This is very similar to a feeling of being aboard of a plane that takes off. While on a plane it takes few minutes at most in the italian Frecciarossa it takes hours. So think twice before you decide to use this mean of transportation. My personal preference? Scooter, what else? Scooter This was one of my big dreams: to drive a scooter in Italy. So when I received a scooter as a gift for my birthday I was unbelievably happy. I was proudly driving it in Italy for couple of years and loved every minute of it. So when I went to Sorrento I knew I would love to do it again. Plus, there was my birthday. And the route from Sorrento to Positano is one of the most scenic routes in the world (Costiera Amalfitana was proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The weather was fabulous that day so I had an absolutely wonderful time! I had my GoPro camera with me and shot more than a hundred short clips. I will share them with you when a short movie was created (later, I mean…). Bike The final stage of this journey was done by bike. In one of the hotels I stayed in Ferrara the bikes were available to the guests so I took a long ride through my favorite Italian town enjoying the sun and the spring air. It totally convinced me that Ferrara is a bicycle town, very friendly to bikers. I participated in an extraordinary feast of the Hebrew literature (La Festa del Libro Ebraico in Italia) and joined a guided tour around the town, focused on Jewish traces, that are numerous and well preserved. So here is what I’ve been doing for last two weeks. I hope to share it with you in few episodes in next few weeks. Keep in touch! …and start from the first post about Sorrento. Have you ever thought about visiting Italy? Here is an alternative way on how to visit Italy and get really close to the Italian way of life. I created a project ‘I love Ferrara‘ so you could join me and experience how beautiful and tasty Ferrara is. If you wish to immerse in Italy book your holiday now!  

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Pompeii is an archaeological site of world fame. I am pretty sure that in many countries it is  an important element of the school curriculum. Despite its high historical value I appreciate it of somehow different reasons. The buried city is a unique site where you can admire social life with all its complexities. I have always had an impression that history taught in school is fragmented: particular areas of human activity are discussed separately making it difficult to imagine what the every day life of ancient people looked like. Pompeii is different: you may see and touch the city as is was centuries ago. …a complex city of ancient times, transfixed during the eruption that buried it in single night, on August 24th 79 AD. Walking the ancient squares, entering the theater, moving along streets, walking into houses and shops creates exceptional opportunity to imagine life of this city buried under ashes of Vesuvius  Moreover, from the majority of places in Pompeii you see the volcano that is still there which makes on some visitors creepy impression. The site is really HUGE. To visit all wonders you would need to spend there weeks. It is clever to know in advance which objects and buildings are most interesting for you and to focus on them. Because of its size the crowd of tourists is usually well distributed among the most interesting spots. Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata became UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Another UNESCO World Heritage Site is Ferrara. Much less known than Pompeii it is a perfect example of renaissance architecture and urban planning. You can join me and stay in Ferrara to get familiar with this stunning piece of architecture. Click here for more details and book today!  Best things to see in Pompeii: Amfiteatro– it is the oldest known amphitheater dating from 70 BC. Its excellent condition allows to imagine the splendor of the city, the noise made by the crowd and the fights. The size of this building is overwhelming. House of the Faun- it is the biggest villa in Pompeii with internal gardens, luxury atrium, gorgeous reception room, and the  famous mosaic showing the battle of Alexander the Great. It is worthy to see as the gardens are still shadowed by the trees that allows you to relax in warm weather. Via dell’Abbondanza – the main street running east to west. Along the street you may see the small shops and restaurants with equipped kitchen. You can enter to many of them and even feel as the ancient citizen. Forum Baths- people of ancient cultures were very fond of personal hygiene and every large city had at least one public bath. Using water supplies the inhabitants of Pompeii could enjoy the luxury of cold and warm baths. Bakery – places like bakeries, shops and small manufactures are excellent example of good organization of life in the city. All 33 bakeries were dispersed across the city so each dweller had an easy access to buy a fresh bread. Thermopolium of vetutius placidus (places for hot meals) – this might surprise you but ancient people used to eat out their midday meal (we would probably call it lunch today). Inside the building you will find the stonework counter were equipped with a set of the urns containing the hot meal. Garden of the fugitives – this is the most dramatic scene in Pompeii showing the bodies of people who desperately tried to flee the inexorable eruption. Watching these petrified figures you actually realize that the whole city is a giant graveyard and that one night turned this vibrant city into buried city. Good advise: if possible use alternative entrance (i.e. Porta Nocera) and leave then main Porta Marina to the organized groups. Be prepared that due to the continuous conservation works on site some of the buildings might be unavailable to the visitors. Highly recommended: take a ride with Circumvesuviana train. Unforgettable! The feature photo was downloaded from flickr.com, licensed on Creative Commons. Author: ‘ho visto nina volare’. Have you ever thought about visiting Italy? Here is an alternative way on how to visit Italy and get really close to the Italian way of life. I created a project ‘I love Ferrara‘ so you could join me and experience how beautiful and tasty Ferrara is. If you wish to immerse in Italy book your holiday now!  

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I have never thought that one day I will cross a polar circle. It’s not that I have always loved sun and beach and I have never spent my holiday in a cold place. It was just SO far away! If you think about the Earth and they way the continents are placed you will see that European Nordic countries are really far to the North. While spending one of my summer holiday in Scandinavia I thought it might be a good idea to visit Narvik. I have considered it a mythical place full of happy people, beautiful landscape and good looking houses. Now, the truth is that Narvik and paradise are quite distant in terms of my expectations but let’s start with the train trip. You can go to Narvik by car but I thought this would be trivial (unless I would meet a moose or a reindeer crossing the road). Instead, I decided to take the train. If you are fascinated with trains you probably know that the railway route between Kiruna in Sweden and Narvik in Norway is one of the highest train route in Europe. It takes about three hours to arrive to the final station. The route is truly spectacular, especially with nice weather. Looking out of the window brings you a real delight: you see mountains, lakes, forest, Swedish and Norwegian typical wooden houses and sometimes even wild animals. What is really special about this trip is that you experience a unique mix: you may touch the wilderness without loosing sense of security. While you are sitting in the coach- clean and cozy- and listen to the regular noise made by the train last wild land in Europe is passing before your eyes. The further you go the more beautiful it becomes. When you cross the Norwegian border you will see a real fjord. The train tracks seams to be suspended over the water and this view allows you to get wonderfully lost in pure beauty. But getting to the point, Narvik was disappointing. It’s just an ordinary town with ordinary wooden houses and quite average people walking by. During my short stay in this town there was a beautiful weather so I can’t imagine how ugly it is with the mist or rain. One of the few nice things in this place is view from the highest parts of the city. If you are determined enough you could climb to the small parking in front of the local power station. From there you can see how big the fjord and how small the town are. One of the most disappointing things was a failed promise found in a touristic folder. It said that if you visit the water power station at certain time (I don’t remember whether it was noon or 13:00) you could see an artificial geyser. It should be a side effect of high pressure of water which normally generates electricity. Unfortunately when we climbed the hill running like fools to be there on time no geyser was seen. And my the final “cherry on a cake” was a lousy coffee in the local cafe. Now, I really love good cafe but let’s make it clear: the only real cafe is drank in Italy, is prepared of 60 coffee beans and is delicious. The rest of the world instead of drinking cafe try to sell you a coffee: brown watery liquid with this terrible flavor  So let me say this straight: I drank the worst coffee ever in Narvik. And worse for me: it was also the most expensive coffee EVER!    

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