Travel tips-Restaurant reviews-Recipes
The weather breathed a gentle, warm sigh of summer over London today. I woke to the sound of birdsong. I’ve noticed it so much more over the past few weeks. But the dawn chorus is too early for me as we head close to the longest day so I went back to sleep. When it […]
Read MoreThe post almost didn’t happen today. I turned up as my usual 9.30 on Sunday mornings wanting to get into the Gardens before the coach loads of visitors arrived and found the gates closed. A few other people were there, checking opening times on their phones, looking at the posters near the entrance. Everyone was […]
Read MoreIt was great meeting Bonifacio Brass, owner of Locanda Cipriani, last Thursday and interviewing him for the blog. I’d eaten a light lunch there two years previously when I visited beautiful Torcello for the first time and when I was talking to William Goodacre of Tastes of Italy last December about Torcello and the Locanda, […]
Read MoreI’ve been visiting Venice for over 30 years, most frequently in the last ten. Yet it took me until two years ago, in April 2013, to make my way across the Lagoon to Torcello. I’d been to Murano and Burano but not the tiny Torcello island. When I read about its peace and tranquillity and […]
Read MoreA family lunch for my brother and his family to meet Baby Gale had to be postponed for a month. The original Greek lunch plan turned into an Italian lunch plan. I’m still in Italian mode after the days in Venice this past week; there was a semifreddo already prepared and waiting in my freezer; […]
Read MoreI love the Rialto area of Venice and while at first thought it conjures up visions of many tourists crowding across the famous bridge; traffic jams on the Grand Canal as water taxis, vaporettos, speed boats and gondolas all compete for space; and stalls full of tacky souvenirs at inflated prices, you need only walk […]
Read MoreIn the water world of Venice, it’s easy to forget that terra firma lies not far away, just across the Lagoon. After landing at Marco Polo airport on Monday and taking a water bus straight to San Stae and my hotel, I hadn’t been on a road or seen a car for over 48 hours by the time […]
Read MoreI’ve passed the Trattoria alla Madonna many times but with its situation very close to the Rialto Bridge have always thought of it as a bit of a tourist trap. Then a few weeks ago I saw an article about a new book on the food of Venice by a respected food writer and one of […]
Read MoreI’m reading a wonderful book called Venice is a Fish by poet, playwright and novelist Tiziano Scarpa who was born and brought up in Venice. ‘Throw away your map! Why do you so desperately need to know where you are right now?’ he urges early on. It’s true that sometimes we become so obsessed with maps […]
Read MoreI flew out of a sunny London into a rainy Venice. But how can Venice be anything other than beautiful so it’s great to be back. Both Sandro and Walter were in reception when I arrived at Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo and it was very good to see them again. It’s 9 years since I […]
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