Month: May 2022

May Long Weekend in Ischia

The unofficial start of the Canadian summer season is the Victoria Day long weekend towards the end of May. Since we get a day off when most Italians don’t and are also keen to get a jump on summer, we planned a fun and novel few days on the iconic vacation island of Ischia.

Last Victoria Day, we took our first proper trip in Italy and went to Venice for the first time. It was a magical time when tourists hadn’t yet reclaimed the city and we enjoyed mostly good weather. This year we turned our attention more firmly towards the coast, it’s crystalline waters and gorgeous islands.

Ischia features somewhat prominently in the Neapolitan novels of Elena Ferrante (maybe my favourite fictional series of all time), and even though the island may have long passed its peak as a summer destination, it offers all the charm, island pace and scenery of its more famous Amalfi neighbours and with less pretentiousness and unnecessary cost.

Our lovely hotel lent for easy postcard perfect photos, especially in our toddler induced early mornings. The light was exactly the reason people come to Italy from all around the world. Because it’s pretty much as heavenly as it gets.

The main tourist worthy stop in the town of Ischia is the incredible floating Castello, which really blew both our expectations and minds. The challenge of leaving the stroller behind notwithstanding, it was easily one of the most scenic, impressive and engaging sites we’ve ever visited in Italy.

Otherwise, Ischia proved to be a compact, interesting and not yet over populated weekend destination. We walked, we ate, we ran after our child in the streets! He was happy to kick his ball, run near the water and climb all stairs he could manage.

On Sunday, we decided to take a quick ferry ride to the nearby island of Procida for a day trip. We had initially debated whether to stay in Procida for a night but we’re happy we didn’t. It was even smaller than Ischia, less stroller friendly and full of (mildly annoying) day trippers like ourselves. That being said, the views did not disappoint and again reminded us of how lucky we are to live to such world class beauty.

Our beautiful first summer long weekend passed in a beautiful flash. We were happy to have discovered this long enjoyed gem of the Italian sea and started thinking about where to next (ie the South of France!). We managed to sneak in a Neapolitan pizza on our way back to Rome – at a restaurant we dined at on our honeymoon five years ago.

Italy is truly endless with inspiring, gorgeous and accessible travel options – something you can dig into even deeper from within the country. We’re always grateful to discover new places, create family memories and share this wonderful experience with Aleksander.

Alla prossima Ischia!

Mother’s Day Sunday in Naples

Since arriving in Italy last year, we hadn’t managed to visit Naples. We had spent a couple nights there on our honeymoon five years ago but the city kept falling onto the ‘places to visit later’ list, until this Sunday.

With my cousin in town, and with him having never visited Naples, we had the perfect excuse for a quick day trip. And the fact that Sunday was Mother’s Day only gave us one more reason to do something spontaneous and fun, and of course sample some of Naple’s famous pizza!

Aleksander ran up and down the sunny, busy boardwalk before we meandered through Napoli’s narrow, gothic streets and alleys. The weather held up perfectly until the rains moved in while we were heading back to the train station.

The short one hour train ride reminded us, yet again, of the abundance of cities, towns and villages within easy travel from Rome. And the completely different vibe of Naples, compared to Rome, gave us a mini-boost of travel inspiration, before our summer vacation season gets going in earnest.

Il cugino has landed!

After a dearth of visitors in the first part of 2022, after Dalia’s dad left in February until now, partially due to Rome’s light winter weather and partially due to a series of illnesses in our home, both covid and daycare related, we were very happy to welcome my older cousin Jacek (adopted, invented Italian name Jacinto) to our home for just over a week today.

Jacek has always been an older figure to look up to for me in my life, smart, charismatic, worldly and a generally interesting fellow. As he’s also prone to not following through on declared plans, it took some follow up to ensure he actually booked a flight to Rome but, in the end, he showed up at the airport, ready for all the coffee and cigarettes that Italy could offer.

Starved for childcare options, we naturally put him to work as soon as possible with Aleksander. The two grew their bond, despite uncle Jacek’s tendency for fearful faces and profound cynicism.

We spent the weekend touring around the typical spots of Rome, thankful that we had an independent traveller on our hands who had already visited Rome a number of times.

We’re thrilled to be opening summer visit season with Jacek and hope that both covid and the war in Ukraine don’t manage to scare off too many of our anticipated summertime guests.