Travel does the heart good
Senlis is a city in the northern French department of Oise, Hautes de France. Cute, medieval and charming. It offered us great peek into history: The monarchs of the early French dynasties lived in Senlis, attracted by the proximity of the Chantilly forest. Senlis is situated on the river Nonette. Senlis was known in early Roman imperial times as Augustomagus. During the 3rd century, a seven-meter […]
The Château de Chantilly is one of the finest jewels in the crown of France’s cultural heritage. It is the work of a man with an extraordinary destiny: Henri d’Orléans, Duke of Aumale, son of the last King of France, Louis-Philippe. This historic French château located in the town of Chantilly, Oise, about 50 kilometres north of Paris. The site […]
The Scala dei Turchi is a rocky cliff on the coast of Realmonte, near Porto Empedocle. It has become a tourist attraction, partly due to its mention series of detective stories about Commissario Montalbano. The cliffs lie between two sandy beaches and are a limestone rock formation in the shape of a staircase, hence the name. The latter part […]
Picture this episode: we parked on a roundabout. Some local approached us (my brother and me) – we thought because we should have not park in a roundabout, but then again they all did, so… in fact the guy just wanted to ask if we have cigarettes. Ok Sicily, episode n. At the roundabout is […]
Enna or as the Sicilians would say Castrugiuvanni; is a city located roughly at the center of Sicily, towering above the surrounding countryside. It has earned the nicknames belvedere (panoramic viewpoint) and ombelico (“navel”) of Sicily. At 931m above sea level, Enna is the highest Italian provincial capital. To arrive there is not a piece of cake. Passing the two viaducts Morello and […]
From its dramatic natural surroundings to its historic churches, Sicily has something to offer every traveler. The island of Sicily is a unique part of Italy. Its craggy mountains, wild vegetation, and omnipresent sea have fired the imagination of poets, wayfarers, and visitors alike. Though it is one of 20 Italian regions, its history under […]
Aci Castello and the other Acis around are destinations not to be missed in Sicily, especially for lovers of Greek myths and literature. It is here that the poets Virgil and Ovid gave birth to the myth of Galatea and Aci and their love story. In the second half of 1100 the town was destroyed […]
This is city is one of my favourite places in Sicily. Let me show you its magic! Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on the Ionian sea, including that of Isola Bella, are accessible via an aerial tramway built in 1992, and via highways from Messina in the north and Catania in the south. In 2017 Taormina […]
One of my favourite activities living in Sicily is to go to the beach. Or how they call it here the lido. South of Catania, there is entire spread of different lido’s which are under different concessions. Do not expect a beautiful road to drive through, though. The road is full of bumps, holes, trash […]
is one of Sicily’s prettiest seaside villages: Marzamemi. It consists of couple of shops and bars, with one main square on which are all the restaurants located. In the evening this place turns into a fairy tale. It was the Arabs of the 10th century who put Marzamemi on the map. They not only gave the village […]
According to legend, Daedalus stayed in the city after his flight over the Ionian Sea, as did Hercules after his seventh task – Capture the Cretan Bull. 🙂 In 9th century it was conquered by the Muslims, who elevated the city to become a capital of one of the three districts of the island (the Val di Noto). In 11th century, it became […]
The city’s name has its origins in the neighboring town of Lentini. In 16th century, Vice-King Giovanni De Vega founded a new city in honour of Habsburg Emperor Karlo V, naming it in Latin Carleontini, or Leontini of Carlo. In Italian, it became Carlentini, and in the various Sicilian dialects, Carrintini or Carruntini. They say in Sicily, you can recognise the flavour of […]
The Lady of the Rivers is a historical novel by Philippa Gregory, part of her series The Cousins’ War. The story is narrated by Jacquetta of Luxembourg, mother of Elizabeth Woodville, and covers the reign of the Lancastrian King Henry VI. The novel serves as a prequel to The White Queen, the story of Elizabeth’s reign as Queen consort of England. Fourteen-year-old Jacquetta, whose noble family claims […]
by Judith Merkle Riley In 1556 France, Queen Catherine de Medici spies on her husband, King Henri II, and his lover, Diane de Poitiers. Driven nearly mad by jealousy, the queen, who is “very fond of do-it-yourself magic,” is frustrated with her court astrologer’s ineffective powers, until he reveals his knowledge of the magical object […]
At the beginning a bit borring but then you get into the secrets of the Vatican and catholic church. As the most spectacular murder in Los Angeles happens, the detectives are on their way to end up in Turin, Italy where the shroud of Jesus Chirst lays…. in all its secrets… Shroud of Turin is a […]
For generations, the Bradford family is the synonym for the best world wide bourbon. The spirit that comes from Kentucky, USA and made of corn. The sustained wealth of the Brandford family has afforded them prestige and privilege—as well as a hard-won division of class on their sprawling estate, Easterly. As family tensions—professional and intimately […]
The magnificent Sahara and the Berber tribes that belongs to it are wonderfully described in this book: Izzy discovers that her amulet is a Tuareg artefact containing an inscription in Tifinagh, a language of the ancient world used for poetry and magic, understood now only by nomads in the deep desert. The desert routes once […]
by Hannah Kent Even though this book is a fiction, it is based on true events. Agnes Magnúsdóttir is the last person executed on Iceland, accused of participating in the murder of Nathan Ketilsson and Peter Jonsson on the night between 13 and 14 March 1828 in Illugastadir, on the Vatnsnes peninsula in northern Iceland. The story […]
Morocco, 1677. The tyrannical King Ismail resides over the palace of Meknes. Through the sweltering heat of the palace streets, Nus Nus is his slave. He is circumsized, of course, and as eunuh fights his emotions. Meanwhile, young, fair Alys Swann is captured during her crossing to England, where she is due to be wed. […]
Russian Concubine and the Secret of a Concubine are 2 beautiful novels that start in St Petersburg right after the First Russian Revolution and the aristocracy is killed to give the room to communism and shared state property. The beautiful pianist Valentina Ivanova somehow managed to escape and buy a five-year-old daughter, Lidija, with her […]
This story is from biblical times and as such follows The Bible and the Genesis 34, but it is different in many important ways. It is explaining how women in time of their periods needed to stay in red tent, telling each other’s story to amuse themselves. It is the story of women in the men […]
The story of Princess Sultan is true. The words are the authors’, but the story is princesses’. The shocking human tragedies described in this book are factual. In a country still ruled by kings, she is a princess. The men of her country hold firmly patriarchal laws. The Saudi Arabian male’s honor rests on the […]
This is an epic story about Genghis Khan – a founder of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia in 12th and 12th century. Invading Europe many times, it is said that 1/5 of the descendants in Europe and directly from […]
The monks gave him the name John Savage. He as a savage for them, living with them in some abbey in the Northern England, raping him and beating. After this John would usually fall into epilepsy. Monks were calling it a devil’s attack. John escapes with his mysterious Maur man… somehow there is something about […]
Cleopatra’s Alexandria (nowaday’s Egypt) is tragically fallen after Caesar‘s assassination in 1 century BCE, and her allieanation with Mark Antony (the following Roman Emperor). Cleopatra kills herself with letting the royal cobra snake bites her. Her twins children survived and they are ment to rule Alexandria together as half-gods The Sun and The Moon. Selena (daughter of Mark Antony) […]
The author is Simon Sebag Montefiore – one of my favourite writers. The story follows the prohibited love affair of two which came to light in 1945. While Russia celebrates victory over the Nazis, shootings are scattered in the midst of the great Moscow celebration: on the earth are the lifeless body of two students, young […]
Philippa Gregory is one of the best historical novel writers nowadays. Her most famous iteration of books is The Cousin’s Wars describing through her novels the War of Roses for control of the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the House of Lancaster (associated with a red rose), and the House of York (whose […]
The book comes in two sequels, written by two authors Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti. The place of happening is Rome, in September 1683. While the Turkish army spends on the borders of the West and opens Vienna, the sudden death of a passenger at the inn in the center of the Holy City invites the […]
RED RIDING HOOD 