Bologna

We drove straight from Modena to Bologna where we got a fine for driving in the city centre, lost Emily at a toll and after booking a hotel, we couldn't find it. It seemed like a stressful start to this next adventure! I spotted a Best Western and asked where our hotel was, it had closed down.... But by some stroke of luck the Best Western now owned it, so had booked us into that hotel WITH underground parking 'if we didn't mind'. This was a relief to say the least, we unpacked and went straight to the city for a strong drink. 

It was breathtaking, medieval and busy. After ordering a bucket of wine each we discovered there was a week long jazz festival in town. There was a lot to explore so we decided to stay for 2 nights. 

 Jazz was humming through the streets and we decided to follow it. We had some delicious aperitivo snacks and prosecco at a bar called 'Roberto's' and made our way through the porticoed streets.  Our first evening meal was tasty, we of course tried their meat ragu which is the Italian bolognaise but the waiter did not like the fact we were English one bit. We decided to eat quickly and pay even faster... Not the best first meal. The walk home took us past even more beautiful streets and we concluded there must be more to this city. 

An italian friend of my dad's had emailed me with lots of information about Bologna so we had a vast itinerary to follow. We drank and ate in recommended cafes, enjoyed a whole morning in a museum and the afternoon was spent giggling a bit too much in an open top tour bus. We learnt a lot and saw even more beauty within this old city. 

It was almost time for my favourite time of the day... dinner. After a rather unsuccessful  dinner the evening before we wiggled our way through the streets once more. We passed the resturant where we ate the previous night and eventually ended up in the most beautifully candlelit setting.

We sat down and had a huge plate of bruschetta to share, Ems and mum had silky meat ragu pasta and I had the most succulent and velvety steak. It was a deliciously perfect evening. We were full and ready for Tuscany. 

Parma & Modena

Parma

After leaving the beautiful and calm Santa Margarita, we journeyed to Parma. Emily and her blooming useful hotel booking ensured we reserved a cheap hotel near the town, only a short bus ride away. 

The drive to Parma was hairy to say the least...and when I asked 'What's that smell mum?' She simply replied 'Its fear darling' which pretty much sums up the drive. 

We arrived in one piece and although it was  in the more industrial part, the hotel was clean but had only one member of staff. We dumped our bags and left to explore the city which was beautiful yet not overly busy. Luckily for us, there was also a bustling deli opposite our hotel 'Degusteria Romani'. Asking in my best italian if he knew of any parmesan or parma ham producers in the area that offered  tours, he walked off, only to arrive back with a tasting platter of parmesan and parma ham! He was extremely helpful and the deli was an aladins cave of Italian treats. 

After an aperitivo with some rather old men who spoke to us only in Italian, (naturally), we headed for the main town once again. We hadn't been recommended anywhere to eat but we noticed a glow of light from a side street. This hidden gem was  'Gallo d' Oro'. We had a plate or parma ham, veal, fresh pasta and the speciality tortellini in broth. It was extremely reasonably priced and the busy atmosphere complemented the food perfectly. 

We had our itinerary planned for the next day; head to Bologna via The tomato museum, the prosciutto museum and finally drive to Modena for a balsamic vinegar tasting tour. 

The website for the tomato museum was unhelpful. It didnt tell you if it was open. So we decided to wing it and drive there anyway. We arrived in the beautiful countryside and it was closed. However, the Italians being Italians opened it up specially for us with a free coffee thrown in. We were ready for the next stop. 

The prosciutto museum was informative ...but we were now hungry. So we sped off to the balsamic tour in Modena which we had booked the day before. 

Modena 

I had never seen or smelt anything like it. There were barrels and barrels of this sweetly scented black gold. What I hadn't realised was a new set of barrels was set up when a new child was born into the family and therefore some barrels have names on.

This tradition still happens today. 

We were shown around the old building where the barrels were left to mature. The smells were overwhelmingly delicious. Thank god we were allowed to taste everything as by this time wehadn't  eaten a thing all day and we were starving! From tasting vanilla ice cream with balsamic vinegar delicately poured over it to sipping spoonfuls of over £100 extra vecchio balsamic we were in balsamic heaven and to top it off, the whole tour was free. We paid for some vinegar but that was it. An unforgettable free tour - Well done Ems! Next stop... Bologna. 

The start of a once in a life time trip

Mum and dad had driven from Beaune in France to meet me in Genova where they had been on a wine tour with Brendan Moore (www.wine-liasisons.com). They were driving the car down so mum and I could travel further down south to start our culinary adventure!  I showed them around the city, we drank a bottle of wine and ate some deliciously runny cheese that they had bought from France for dinner and went to bed. Dad was flying back home from Milan the next day, so we decided to start our journey as soon as he left, towards Santa Margherita which is about 45 mins south of Genova. Here we planned to meet my cousin Emily as she also was driving  from a tennis camp in France. The timings were perfect. 

After a sad goodbye, we sped off. Thank god for sat nav... Although even with it we still couldn't find Santa Margherita. We were lost and it was clearly very obvious as a rather cuddly man on a moped was asking us to pull over so he could help us find our way. He kindly drove in front of us, directing us the whole way. 

We eventually found the gorgeous little town and after parking and sussing out which hotel seemed the most reasonable, Emily had arrived. 

We decided to book Hotel Helios which had a pool, sun loungers, beautiful views and breakfast included for £190 per night for 3 people. A bargain for the location so we ended up booking 2 nights. 

We lazed around for the day, soaking in the sun and exploring our surroundings. It was beautiful with a hidden square, boutique shops and the most vibrant vegetable stalls. 

We also discovered abustling  restaurant which had a que of people lined outside. This must be worth it! So we ended up having a drink next door and the most amazing nibbles we've had so far whist we waited for a table to open up. 

40 mins later the table was ready.  It was the most perfect dinner. I ordered the fresh fish of the day and a side of vegetables. The fish delicately flaked off the bone and the vegetables were covered with a garlic and olive oil blanket. Mum, who ordered the pizza had food envy. 

The family run restaurant was buzzing. The waiters were bubbly and extremely helpful with the wine, menu and language. The owner looked identical to Vito Corleone from 'The Godfather'. It was a perfect evening. 

The next day was again a lazy one. We wandered the streets and found another little hidden street and candle lit restaurant for dinner, Restaurant d' Michelle. Good wine. Gnocchi. Seafood linguine. More wine. Candles. The setting was beautiful. We were happy. And ready for the next destination. PARMA. 

The last few days in Genova

Harry left on the Thursday and my mum was arriving from France on the Sunday to join me for 3 weeks. I hadn't got long left in Genova and was feeling rather sad about it. I had made some amazing friends and the time had flown by thanks to Harry's surprise visit.

The last Friday of school

Having missed two days I was a bit behind so my last day was rather slow! What I didn't know now, I wasn't going to learn in an hour so I semi switched off. We played games with the other class and received a certificate of our time there. I wasn't too bothered about leaving the school but I was sad about saying goodbye to the friends I'd met. Fortunately Jana who had moved here from Holland with her husband of 3 months asked a few of us for dinner. We all brought over something. I brought focaccia from 'Eataly' (the best food supermarket in the world), Hayley bought a salad which had lentils and pumpkin, Guiliana brought the wine, Jana and Martain made pesto pasta (naturally) and the most delicious tiramisu with lemon curd and orange and finally, my first teacher Martina made a peach fruit salad. It was delicious and the perfect goodbye.

Exploring with Harry

Get a pizza in my face. 

I stayed at school whilst Harry was sleeping and I accidentally locked him in. Oops. At school, I had stayed in class zero where I was happier, learning the basics I should have learnt in the first week. My teacher changed and instead of 15 people, there were 3. This suited me so much better. 

I arrived back to the flat with ingredients to make the specialty, pesto pasta. We decided to eat and then head to the beach. We found two rocks and we were extremely happy being lazy crabs for the afternoon. 

After a gelato we headed back to get ready for dinner. 

As it was a nice evening we decided to walk 'it will only be 10/15 mins'. Admittedly it took a bit longer and was probably not the best idea with a verrrrry hungry 6ft 2 man. We arrived at the main square Piazza de Ferrari and wiggled our way down to the Porto Antico passing an incredible church which I later found out was bombed in the war however it was a dud and never exploded. The bomb is still in the church. 

We finally found a pizzeria called Pizzeria Antica Napoli. Ordered a bottle of wine and two pizzas. They were amazing. 

We were happy, full and planning our next day. We decided to head to Cinque Terra. 

Cinque Terra 

I decided to take the next two days off school to enjoy the little time we had in Genova together even though he would be out again in 3 weeks. 

Harry had researched Cinque Terra and we had a look at some other blogs to see if it was necessary to go to all 5 towns or if we would rather pick out bits that we liked the sound of. We chose the latter and decided to head straight to Corniglia from Brignole station aiming to hike to a hidden 'clothes optional' beach we read about. 

With probably not the best hiking attire we started our hike towards Vernazza. 

All we knew was that there would be a hidden path towards a beach. So we kept a look out and finally found it about 20/30 mins into the hike. It was very hidden, only slightly signed. You would need to be looking for it to find it. 

This climb was steep and down a very big mountain but we were reassured by a few signs along the way that we were going in the right direction...

We came to a little tunnel which simply said 'nudist beach' with an arrow spray painted on the floor. We'd got this far. So decided to follow it as we could see it wasn't far down. 

The last few steps where steep and rickety but we'd made it! And found.... naked people. Aside from the nakedness, the sea was tantalisingly clear and all we wanted to do was get in and cool off. But, we decided to walk further along the shore to a less busy part and found just three other couples. Clothes optional... :) 

It was amazing. The water was cooling but not cold. We were happy but starting to get hungry. We spoke to another couple who had mentioned they didn't hike down the mountain but went through an even longer tunnel about 1 km in length. It was such a relief as we probably couldn't make the walk back the way we came on empty stomachs! This tunnel took us back to where we started and from then we would hike to Manarola. We were warned it was a very dark tunnel but we had our phones. We'd be fine!?!

I shat my pants. It was pitch black. I'd never experienced anything like it. The only light was from a few passers by with torches. Clearly prepared for this tunnel of darkness! A slight saving grace was an old lady / man (you couldn't really tell) on a moped who drove fairly slowly through the tunnel in the direction we were headed. We ran behind it as fast as we could to chase the light! We weren't fast enough but the light carried on and it was the strangest experience. 

We eventually made it to the end and popped out by the station. After some crisps we sped off to Manarola. 

Off to Manarola

There were sign posts to this next village and thought this would be an easy hike. After about 10 minuets we arrived at a gate which was locked but climbable... We decided to climb it and risk the other end. The walk was easy. There were new bridges along the way but one in the middle had clearly broken from the floods a few years ago. Harry decided to check the 'path' out whilst I stayed back. It was passable and people had clearly walked it as it was slightly trodden but it was on a very steep cliff face...we made it to the other side. We kept walking where the views were breathtaking...

We kept up a fast pace and could see Manarola. We didn't pass another person on the walk which made me slightly nervous. We could however see a little beach / lagoon which was exactly where we need be. There were people! The only problem was the locked spiked gate at the other end. We had made it this far... So we climbed it but straight into an ants nest. Karma?! 

We had never been so happy to see other people. We were in the right place and it was beautiful! 

We had been recommended to go to a bar called Nessun Dorma which was easy to find from the beach. We needed a drink. 

We ordered 1 litre of the house wine, the most incredible bruschetta and a hefty meat plater. We were in heaven and I am so incredibly happy and grateful we were there together. 

It was an incredible place. The views were amazing, the food was delicious and the atmosphere was awesome. After  our bucket of wine we journeyed to the main village which was about a 2 minute walk. Unsurprisingly, we were on the hunt for dinner. We walked around and chose an outdoor restaurant  next to the little harbour. 

They squeezed us in as you usually have to make a reservation and we had a delicious meal of tuna and tomato tagliatelle and swordfish.... With another litre of wine. We were pissed but loving life. 

We noticed the time and wandered to the train station to check when we needed to  get home. We had about an hour to wait so... Why not get another drink!? We passed a little bar which was playing live music. We decided to go in and it was a hidden gem. 2 live singers with instruments and a barman who looked like he had walked straight out of American History X! It was busy and hot but we loved it. We ordered a lemoncello and a beer each and could have happily stayed there all night. 

We got the 11.30 train back home. 

Very happy. 

Very full and rather pissed.

Harry was leaving the next day but it wouldn't be long until he would be back in his clio to explore the south together. 👍🚙 

On my lonesome...

Sunday:

Flying to a new city, not knowing the language at all and trying to find my apartment for the next two weeks was daunting to say the least - but I was excited to start this Italian adventure I had been dreaming of for years.

After struggling to find the apartment with the taxi driver from the airport, we finally found the apartment that I would be sharing with two ladies; Sophie, a french translator and Patricia, an Italian events co ordinator. The flat was clean and they both seemed nice. That's all that mattered to me. Fortunately, the accommodation was completely organised with the school I would be attending so I didn't have to worry about paying for any hidden extras. 

I decided to have an early night as I had my first day of school the next day at 'Scuola Tricolore' (http://www.scuola-tricolore.it/). After leaving education a few years ago, the thought of learning was exciting, however realising how much I needed to learn scared the shit out of my to be honest! So after a bowl of the Genovese specialty, pesto pasta, I went straight to  bed. 

Monday

School. 9.30 - 1.30.

Bloody overwhelming. 

Hated my first day. 

Almost cried in front of the class.

I left at 1.30 an embarrassed and exhausted wreck wanting to crawl back to bed and hide. 

On the bright side I had the afternoon to explore, eat and sunbathe before the schools organised drinks (aperitivo) in the Porto Antico where the views were incredible and to be honest the drinks did make me relax (surprise surprise, typical me/English drinking for pretty much the whole table).

After introducing myself to the other students (in very bad italian) I was once again ready to burst into tears as I couldn't understand anything else anyone was saying. These other students were also meant to be beginners. Seriously!?!? Surely it would become easier or I would move classes?! 

At the end of the night, I found my way home! The highlight of my day :) I went to bed happy.

Tuesday 

The next day I went to school with an open mind. Surely I was just overwhelmed on my first day. Nope. The teacher was great and trying her hardest to help everyone who was unfortunately at different beginner levels. Some students had already been at school for 3 weeks, whereas I knew absolutely nothing. It was near impossible to make sure everyone understood what was going on and I have now perfected my 'I totally understand face' even though it's a hidden 'I have no bloody idea what your saying and I'm going to pretend to understand face'. On top of this, the class was at its maximum with 15 people. So, it appeared I was starting with the past tense and was still oblivious to the very basics.

Although school was tough, I was meeting the most inspiring and welcoming friends. However, as we all had different home set ups, we didn't spend much time together. Therefore, the majority of my time was spent alone. 

Knowing that my mum would be coming to join me after the two week language course was a relief as I soon realised that not knowing the language was going to be incredibly isolating.

Wednesday 

I woke up to a message from Harry;

He was coming to visit! This was the best  news as I was missing him a ridiculous amount. A meal for one isn't nearly as fun for a meal for two!

After a few more days at school, exploring the town which was breathtakingly beautiful, wandering the narrow streets and tasting pretty much all of the gelato available, I was ready to attend my pre booked cooking course which I was so excited about. But, I got lost and couldn't find it! 35 euros down the drain (or shall I say in someone else's tummy!) On my journey home, I met a girl who seemed to be my age. She asked me in Italian if I knew when the last train was, I explained (well tried too) that I was English and a student. We talked and ended up going the same way home. She was called Simone, was 18 years old and learning English. We exchanged numbers and she became my personal Genovese tour guide - showing me her favourite places to go. For this, I couldn't have been more grateful. One amazing gelataria was : http://profumodirosa.comule.com/. 

I decided to explore some new places by bus and train which I found really easy. I got the 31 bus from Brignole station (http://www.trenitalia.com/) to a little beach called Boccadasse;

I loved the un spoilt look of this place. It wasn't touristy but it was bustling. It was a free beach where you either sunbathed on a pebbles next to the sea or found a rock to sunbathe on. By 3pm I was getting peckish and decided to head to one of the restaurants near my rock called 'Marechiaro' (http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187823-d2355266-Reviews-Marechiaro_a_Boccadasse-Genoa_Italian_Riviera_Liguria.html) Here is where I ordered the most deliciously juicy bruschetta I've ever had. 

I'm not sure if it was because I was alone, extremely hot, drinking a cooling beer and had wifi but I hadn't yet tasted anything like it since being in Italy. The garlic and oil had subtly soaked into the fresh toasted bread and the tomatoes tasted slightly salty with a hint of fresh basil... I was in food heaven. I had to come back and I was in love with Boccadasse. 

Harry's flight came into Pisa on the Monday night whilst I was at the drinks organised by school. Unfortunately we hadn't factored in that the train's stop running at 9pm and his flight arrived after this... Shit balls. After trying to find out the easiest and cheapest way to my flat we decided against the £300 taxi and he took the first train at 3.30am. The longest 5 hour wait in the history of the world. His train came in at 6am and after watching 'When Harry Met Sally' and '101 Dalmatians' I was ready to collect him, armed with some crisps, water and chocolate. He could finally rest before we explored the city together!

Ready to fly!

I recently decided to leave my job in the UK at Conde Nast Publications to eat, drink and travel throughout Italy. I am extremely fortunate that some very special people are able to join me on this adventure...! 

Cheesy as it sounds, I have realised that life is so delicately precious and the time you have here should be filled with happiness and no regrets. 

(Images from Whatwesee. )

My last night in London was rather boozy, with a 'send off' curry big enough to feed a rugby team however, I'm now at Gatwick ready to make my way to Genoa, Italy! ✈

Armed with a Pret sandwich and a banana I'm ready to board the flight thanks to a Harry and his Clio taking me to the airport... 

The plan is to head to Genoa for an intensive 2 week language course booked through 'Apple Languages' after I complete the course, my mum will join me with a car and we will make our way to the famous food region 'Emilia Romagna' together. Travelling to Parma, Modena, Bologna and anywhere else that takes our fancy! When she leaves, Harry will join me to explore the south in his Clio. The adventure is only just beginning.... ✈❤