by Josie Kelsh | Oct 1, 2020 | Italy
The beautiful Borromean Islands are located in the middle of Lake Maggiore, to the north of Milan in Italy. Known for their unique architecture and stunning gardens, there are three Borromean Islands: Isola Bella, Isola Pescatori (also called Isola Superiore) and...
by Josie Kelsh | Jul 22, 2017 | Italy, Travel Diaries
Gap Year Days 70 – 75 On leaving Venice we knew we needed to head north. We had a look on the map for a place on the way, somewhere in the mountains, where we could spend a few days relaxing without doing a whole lot. Trying to find accomodation that met our...
by Josie Kelsh | Jul 19, 2017 | Italy, Travel Diaries
Gap Year Days 64 – 70 Our visit to Venice was a little muddled. Some advice – if you want to stay in Venice in June, don’t try to book only a week or so out. Unless of course you are prepared to pay $500 per night! We were not. With a lot of...
by Josie Kelsh | Jul 14, 2017 | Italy, Travel Diaries
Gap Year Days 61 – 64 We were excited to get to the Lake Como region. There are so many beautiful photographs of the lake and surrounding area on the internet and this was one of the “must see” places on my list before we left home. As we searched...
by Josie Kelsh | Jul 9, 2017 | Italy, Travel Diaries
Gap Year Days 57 – 61 Milan was one of those places where we messed around a little with the accommodation. Not because we couldn’t get any this time, but because there were two cheap Hiltons in the area so we took the opportunity to clock up two stays to...
by Josie Kelsh | Jul 7, 2017 | Italy, Travel Diaries
Gap Year Days 54 – 57 Bologna! The first thing I think about is spaghetti bolognese! That most delicious and simple of pasta dishes, that everyone at home has a special recipe for. Has it got vegetables? Tomato paste? Or like one that sometimes gets cooked in my...
by Josie Kelsh | Jun 25, 2017 | Italy
Lucca is a small Tuscan city often overlooked by visitors to the area in favour of nearby Florence or Pisa. It is best known for it’s city walls, which are still a prominent feature today, or as the birthplace of the composer Puccini. It was one of our favourite...
by Josie Kelsh | Jun 18, 2017 | Italy
As soon as Pisa is mentioned, it’s famous leaning tower is the first thing that comes to mind. In fact, many times when I mentioned travelling to Italy, it was the first place people asked me if I was going. Clearly I had try to include one day in Pisa in my...
by Josie Kelsh | Jun 14, 2017 | Italy
Siena is a picturesque little Tuscan town and before I left on this trip, everyone I told we planned on spending a few weeks in Italy said I simply had to go visit Tuscany. We spent a few days in Florence before taking the short trip south to Siena. With all the...
by Josie Kelsh | Jun 12, 2017 | Italy, Travel Diaries
Gap Year Days 43 – 54 The worst part about travelling is moving between locations. Packing everything up and lugging it all to the airport/train station/bus stop. More than likely more than one form of transport is required. We were now moving from Naples to...
by Josie Kelsh | Jun 10, 2017 | Italy, Travel Diaries
Gap Year Days 39 – 43 In Rome we boarded our Italo fast train for the trip to Naples. The trip was to take just over an hour. As soon as we got out into the countryside the speed slowly climbed, until the train was moving along at 300km/hr! It felt like we sat...
by Josie Kelsh | Jun 5, 2017 | Italy
Almost every first time visitor to Rome has the Colosseum on their bucket list. We did too. As soon as I started to look at all the options for our visit, I became confused and overwhelmed! There are so many companies offering tours with this or that added extra,...
