Imagine a slow holiday visiting Italy and its islands, taking your time to explore this divine Mediterranean country famous for pizzas and pasta; prosecco and limoncello; fast Italian cars and men; incredible architecture and art; villages perched atop mountainsides and steep coastal cliffs; islands located off the dazzling shores; valleys of vineyards and olive groves…
By 50 Shades, October 11, 2019
Kathy was a 50 something year old when she started up this blog 6 years ago, but has since turned over another decade and is now in her early 60s. She is married with two adult children and lives on the Tweed Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Kathy enjoys living life to the fullest and loves to keep fit and active by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Some of her interests include reading, photography, travelling, cooking and blogging! Kathy works part-time as a freelance writer but her real passion is travelling and photographing brilliant destinations both within Australia and overseas and writing about it.
It’s a little over two years since we were travelling through Italy. It was without a doubt one of my most memorable overseas holidays and although there were many highlights our time in Tuscany was a standout. This region in central Italy boasts countless medieval villages, historical towns, castles and fortresses, country churches and beautiful abbeys. These are…
By 50 Shades, June 12, 2019
Kathy was a 50 something year old when she started up this blog 6 years ago, but has since turned over another decade and is now in her early 60s. She is married with two adult children and lives on the Tweed Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Kathy enjoys living life to the fullest and loves to keep fit and active by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Some of her interests include reading, photography, travelling, cooking and blogging! Kathy works part-time as a freelance writer but her real passion is travelling and photographing brilliant destinations both within Australia and overseas and writing about it.
Sadly our five week Italian holiday was getting to the pointy end and we had less than a week before we had to return home. Italy had been an absolute delight and we were looking forward to the final stage of our trip to Italy’s Amalfi Coast. So we grabbed the high-speed train from Florence…
By 50 Shades, September 26, 2017
Kathy was a 50 something year old when she started up this blog 6 years ago, but has since turned over another decade and is now in her early 60s. She is married with two adult children and lives on the Tweed Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Kathy enjoys living life to the fullest and loves to keep fit and active by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Some of her interests include reading, photography, travelling, cooking and blogging! Kathy works part-time as a freelance writer but her real passion is travelling and photographing brilliant destinations both within Australia and overseas and writing about it.
After spending a day revelling in the extraordinary sights of the Tuscan town of Siena, we drove out into the Tuscan hills towards the Chianti wine region. I must admit I didn’t really know much about this region, apart from what I’d seen in a movie called “Under The Tuscan Sun”. I knew the region…
By 50 Shades, September 20, 2017
Kathy was a 50 something year old when she started up this blog 6 years ago, but has since turned over another decade and is now in her early 60s. She is married with two adult children and lives on the Tweed Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Kathy enjoys living life to the fullest and loves to keep fit and active by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Some of her interests include reading, photography, travelling, cooking and blogging! Kathy works part-time as a freelance writer but her real passion is travelling and photographing brilliant destinations both within Australia and overseas and writing about it.
We continued our Italian Holiday by picking up our rental car from La Spezia and motored towards Pisa for a quick look at the infamous Leaning Tower of Pisa. Our final destination upon this beautiful day was scintillating Siena a Tuscany treasure, amidst rolling grapevine clad hills and medieval villages. We were excited because we…
By 50 Shades, September 13, 2017
Kathy was a 50 something year old when she started up this blog 6 years ago, but has since turned over another decade and is now in her early 60s. She is married with two adult children and lives on the Tweed Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Kathy enjoys living life to the fullest and loves to keep fit and active by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Some of her interests include reading, photography, travelling, cooking and blogging! Kathy works part-time as a freelance writer but her real passion is travelling and photographing brilliant destinations both within Australia and overseas and writing about it.
Reluctantly we departed Lake Como after four amazing days here and set off towards the town of Parma, where we said goodbye to our friends and boarded a rather ramshackle train to La Spezia. From here we boarded a shiny new train to the string of coastline on the Italian Riviera, know as the all-encompassing…
By 50 Shades, September 7, 2017
Kathy was a 50 something year old when she started up this blog 6 years ago, but has since turned over another decade and is now in her early 60s. She is married with two adult children and lives on the Tweed Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Kathy enjoys living life to the fullest and loves to keep fit and active by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Some of her interests include reading, photography, travelling, cooking and blogging! Kathy works part-time as a freelance writer but her real passion is travelling and photographing brilliant destinations both within Australia and overseas and writing about it.
Living on an island continent like Australia and being so isolated from so many countries is one of the downsides of being so remote. If you live in a continent like Europe it is common to be bordered by several other countries, so you can easily hop from one country to another in the matter…
By 50 Shades, August 28, 2017
Kathy was a 50 something year old when she started up this blog 6 years ago, but has since turned over another decade and is now in her early 60s. She is married with two adult children and lives on the Tweed Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Kathy enjoys living life to the fullest and loves to keep fit and active by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Some of her interests include reading, photography, travelling, cooking and blogging! Kathy works part-time as a freelance writer but her real passion is travelling and photographing brilliant destinations both within Australia and overseas and writing about it.
We left the romance of Venice to another equally charming place in Northern Italy, the captivating Lake Como. After negotiating our large suitcases on the uneven cobbled streets of Venice we found our car rental depot and set off on the autostrade heading towards Verona, Milan and then the tranquility of Italy’s third largest lake….
By 50 Shades, August 21, 2017
Kathy was a 50 something year old when she started up this blog 6 years ago, but has since turned over another decade and is now in her early 60s. She is married with two adult children and lives on the Tweed Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Kathy enjoys living life to the fullest and loves to keep fit and active by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Some of her interests include reading, photography, travelling, cooking and blogging! Kathy works part-time as a freelance writer but her real passion is travelling and photographing brilliant destinations both within Australia and overseas and writing about it.
As I was being gondoliered down the canals of Venice my thoughts were certainly about romance and the beauty surrounding me. The romance of Venice overwhelmed me and for a few moments I imagined a younger version of myself being wooed and serenaded and fed oysters and champagne as I glided down the canals. It…
By 50 Shades, August 14, 2017
Kathy was a 50 something year old when she started up this blog 6 years ago, but has since turned over another decade and is now in her early 60s. She is married with two adult children and lives on the Tweed Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Kathy enjoys living life to the fullest and loves to keep fit and active by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Some of her interests include reading, photography, travelling, cooking and blogging! Kathy works part-time as a freelance writer but her real passion is travelling and photographing brilliant destinations both within Australia and overseas and writing about it.
With our cruise done and dusted, we disembarked from the Westerdam and booked into a hotel in Venice for a couple of nights. Once we dropped our luggage off we set off to St Marks Square where we jumped aboard another boat, a tad smaller, to cruise around the islands of Venice of Murano, Burano…
By 50 Shades, August 7, 2017
Kathy was a 50 something year old when she started up this blog 6 years ago, but has since turned over another decade and is now in her early 60s. She is married with two adult children and lives on the Tweed Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Kathy enjoys living life to the fullest and loves to keep fit and active by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Some of her interests include reading, photography, travelling, cooking and blogging! Kathy works part-time as a freelance writer but her real passion is travelling and photographing brilliant destinations both within Australia and overseas and writing about it.
