Italy | Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel

Sony Releases “A Night In” World Music Collection

Published December 20, 2008 | By Barbara Weibel

Music is one of the joys of traveling. In SE Asia I discovered Cambodian wedding songs. Hindu legends set to music charmed me in Bali. And music in Tanzania and Zanzibar was an amazing melange of drums, rhythm, and harmonizing voices. In years past, the only way to sample music around the world was to travel to these places. Fortunately, this genre of music has become very popular over the past few years, thus collections are more readily available in the U.S.

worldmusic One example is Sony’s new “A Night In” World Music Collection. Each of the collection’s ten CD’s features the music of a different country. “A Night in Cuba” features the outstanding singers and songwriters of Salsa, Son, and other Latin rhythms, while “A Night In Italy” presents the most exquisite voices of opera. Tango is the focus of “A Night In Argentina” and “A Night In Puerto Rico” encompasses the Afro-Carribbean rhythms of the Salsa, Plena, and Bomba styles. Romantic melodies and quirky jazz are the basis for “A Night In France” and “A Night In Spain” showcases artists who have Continue reading →

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Posted in Uncategorized |

Tagged A Night In World Music, Argentina, Bali, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Italy, Mexico, Music, Puerto Rico, Sony, Spain, Tanzania, Travel, world, Zanzibar |

Thoughts on Traveling and Italy Photo Library Available

Published August 28, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

I arrived in Portugal following a nightmare 13 hour travel day where everything that could go wrong did go wrong, including nearly being throw off an Italian train over a seat assignment, a flight that was an hour late, and getting lost at night between the airport and the rail station in Lisbon because the woman at the information desk at the airport told me to take the wrong bus. But hey, my luggage made it though; gotta be grateful for the little things.

Anyway, I took a day and a half to regroup – get money from the ATM, get my laundry done (really, I was beginning to smell), shop for groceries (I am renting a studio apartment in Cascais, a suburb of Lisbon with a series of great little beaches), and write, write, write. I didn’t even go out to see Cascais the first day because I had to get the Cinque Terre, Italy stories out of my head before I saw a new place. So now I’m all caught up and have even uploaded all my Italy photos to the photo library. I hope you’ll want to look at them because I think they are incredible (especially the Venice and Cinque Terre photos). Just click on the above button labeled “Photos” and follow the directions on the resulting page.

My trip is winding down now – only 9 more days. I am sad (I really think I could stay on the road pretty much full time) but I’m also looking forward to getting home to the good old USA where everything is so familiar. There were times during this trip that were very stressful – never knowing what I was going to find from day to day, or even where I was going to be the next day was a constant challenge. In the beginning, I was often “mired in the muck” and had to MAKE myself Continue reading →

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Posted in Europe travel |

Tagged Around The World, Cascais, Free Spirit, Humor, Italy, photos, Portugal, staying in the moment, Thoughts, Travel |

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Three Words For Italy

Published August 26, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

The three words I have chosen that best describe Italy, in my opinion, are:

Historic: Culture, art and history are everywhere; a feast for the eyes and for the soul

Passionate: From the cadence of spoken Italian to the lovers on the streets, Italians are passionate about everything Continue reading →

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6 Comments

Italy Tidbits

Published August 26, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

There are a few bits ‘n pieces about Italy rolling around in my mind (some informative tips, others funny) that I couldn’t make fit in any other blog entry, so I decided to lump them all together in this final post about Italy:

At least 50 percent of everything you want to see in Italy will be under restoration and not viewable
Vespas (motorbikes) can go anywhere with impunity – on sidewalks, through red lights, and even down one way streets the wrong way
The mounds of delicious-looking Gelato displayed in the front cases of all the cafes are, in actuality, plastic Continue reading →

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Posted in Europe travel |

Tagged Around The World, Free Spirit, Humor, Italy, Travel |

6 Comments

Cinque Terre, Part Two

Published August 25, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

All the literature about Cinque Terre indicates that you can walk the trail between the five towns in five hours but as far as I am concerned, that would be a sin. Instead, I chose to split the hike over two days, beginning with the western portion from Monterosso al Mar to Corneglia, which I completed yesterday. Today I started at the eastern end of Cinque Terre, in the village of Riomaggiore. The train let me off near the bottom of the hill, at a piazza overlooking the town’s pretty little harbor and once again I was overwhelmed by the colors and scenery.

Village of Riomaggiore

Here, pastel painted wooden fishing boats are “parked” along the sides of the main street where cars would normally be found, as the village has a tradition of pulling up the boats when the sea is rough. I walked down to the harbor for a closer view of the rocks upon which the waterfront houses perch – their distorted and folded fingers creeping into the sea and attesting to a volatile volcanic past.

Boats line the street rather than cars

Boats line the street in pretty little Riomaggiore

Continue reading →

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Tagged Around The World, Cinque Terre, Corniglia, Free Spirit, Italy, Liguria, Manarola, Monterosso al Mare, photos, Riomaggiore, Travel, Tyrrhenian Sea, Vernazza, Via dell' Amore |

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Cinque Terre – I Think I’m In Love

Published August 24, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

Having had my fill of art and culture, I headed for the district of Liguria, located in Italy’s northwestern corner where it borders France. Liguria forms an arc, with one side facing the Tyrrhenian Sea and the other backing up against the Apennine Mountains. Better known as the Italian Riviera, it is a continuous line of rugged cliffs dotted with long beaches and lovely coves. The capitol of this district, Genoa, divides Liguria into two parts: the Riviera di Ponente to the west and the Riviera di Levante to the east.

While the Rivera di Ponente, with its famous San Remo, is more well known, it was the eastern part of the Riviera that interested me, with its lesser known and lesser visited Cinque Terre area. My train departed Pisa, quickly leaving behind the Tuscan hills for more rugged terrain. We rolled through a dozen towns that clearly owed their prosperity to the mountains – factory yard after factory yard was filled with giant chunks of exquisite Italian marble and sparkling granite, drilled from the faces of the Apennines. The train terminated in La Spezia, the southern terminus of Liguria and the location of my hotel for the next three nights. La Spezia is a convenient destination for visiting Cinque Terre – trains run around the clock to all five villages, with the furthest village requiring only a 25-minute ride at a price of slightly more than five Euros. A ferry also runs during daylight hours, although the sea option takes two hours.

Trails notched into the stony cliffs lead between the villages

In Italian, cinque means “five.” In medieval times, the word “terre” (land) meant village, thus the name Cinque Terre. These five tiny villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore, cling impossibly to rocky bluffs suspended over the cobalt and turquoise waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Beginning in the thirteenth century, generations of local farmers carved steep terraces sloping down to the sea, held up by over 7000 kilometers (about 4200 MILES) of stone walls built without any kind of cement. These terraces are Continue reading →