Savvy Exploring

On this road trip we mostly cooked for ourselves, but did try out some local specialties, and treated ourselves now and then.

Yes, occasionally bad things do happen while traveling, but we have been amazed over and over by random acts of kindness that we have seen on the trips we have taken.

We flew into Sicily and spent a couple days to see one of my husband’s ancestral homelands, then flew up north to spend some time hiking Cinque Terre, part of the Italian Riviera. We drove through Tuscany and finished up our trip with a few days in Rome. (8-11 day trip)

You must come here if you are in Rome. The history is a little gruesome but the architectural accomplishment is staggering.

My favorite place in Rome!

Cinque Terre is at once a serene oasis, a seething tourist destination, a pocket of communities on the edge, a place with a sometimes violent and tragic but rich history, and a place where you never know what you will find next.

Most of these castles are just there, free to enter, and begging to be explored. You can climb (and with the stairs rotted away sometimes you have to) and wander at your own risk, unhindered by signs or fences. Unlike the restored castles that are constantly under construction, the beauty of decay takes over and adds a life of its own to these abandoned structures.

Combine a gentle walk and a heart pounding adventure exploring tombs in the countryside. While Carrowkeel is not far from the highway, it is a bit of Ireland that not many people get to see.

Off the beaten path without being out of the way, this isolated peninsula makes the perfect picnic stop.

A road trip around Ireland and a couple days in Edinburgh. (8-15 day trip)