Bon Voyage & Bon Appétit

  Today we got an early 8am start (for us) for our day trip to Portofino! We had a nice chat at breakfast in the hostel with an older French couple who were driving through Spain, and then with a lady from California who, after finding out we were Canadian, immediately said “I’m so sorry, we hate him too”. After finishing up in the cramped kitchen, we caught the train to Santa-Margherita Ligure.  This is a small Italian resort town along the beautiful Ligurian coast. It was absolutely bustling with bathing-suit clad Italians enjoying the sunshine!  We didn’t stay in town long, as we started a hike to Portofino. Our hike was more of an upward walk through the countryside and forest on mostly paved paths. It was lovely and quite shady, which was great considering the heat! Starting our hike Views over the countryside Puppy encouragement! Nearing Portofino Beautiful hike views After 2 hours of walking, we reached our destination: the iconic port side town of Portofino...

 Buongiorno a tutti! Today we crossed the border from France into Italy. Our travel was a bit longer than expected as our FlixBus arrived 20 minutes late… and then we were stuck for an hour in traffic… but after 3.5 hours we made it to Genova! This city is an iconic maritime power rich with history and steeped with opulent buildings and churches. We spent our afternoon here walking through the narrow streets of the old town, discovering beautiful places. First proper view of Genova Duomo di San Lorenzo Ceiling details Palazzo San Giorgio We also saw the house of Christopher Columbus (who was born in Genova). Looking up at the house of Columbus But I’d be lying if I said that the first we did wasn’t going for some Ligurian focaccia. Our stop was a bakery recommended by our hostel called Antioch Forno Della Casana. I got a focaccia with green pesto, both of which are specialties of Liguria, the region of Italy in which Genova resides. Liam also got a fun combination: focaccia with to...

  Bon voyage and bon appétit… well this post is mainly bon appétit! Our last two days in Nice have been spent relaxing, swimming in the sea, walking around the town, and making our stomachs happy. Yesterday we spent some time working in the morning at Caffè Orso, accompanied by coffee, hot chocolate, and a hazelnut chocolate cookie. Morning drinks In the afternoon we walked through Nice’s beautiful old town and decided to try some socca from a little family shop called Chez Thérésa. Socca is a thin crêpe made from chickpea flour, olive oil, water, and salt. It’s a traditional street food in southern France and is very crispy, light, and delicious! It was one of my favourite things that we tried. Socca  Of course we had to get some desert. The colourful Macarons in the window of Chocolaterie - Alexis Monod caught our eye… we tried strawberry ,blueberry, and pistachio-orange blossom! Beautiful macarons ——— This morning I insisted with starting our day with a cortado from the hig...

  Today we had a fun and tiring day adventuring through Monaco and Menton! We took the train from Nice to the country of Monaco in the morning. Monaco is an independent city-state that is surrounded on three sides by France! They have their own laws and a monarchy as well. You could tell that we were in a different country right when we stepped off the train. Everything looked very clean, very new, and very nice. The whole country has a very luxurious vibe to it. Almost all the shops are expensive luxury brands, the food in restaurants and cafés is exorbitantly expensive, and all the beauty dings are beautifully decorated with details.  Walking through Monaco We started our 3-hour trip in Monaco by a visit to the Monte-Carlo Casino. Monte-Carlo is one of the 9 districts of Monaco and is certainly the most famous. The casino actually inspired the first James Bond book and the Bond movie “Goldeneye” was filmed here. Casino Monte Carlo Inside the casino Walking through the countr...