Lovers' Street...

Via Dell'Amore - Rio Maggiore

It's been awhile since I updated my blog. For those of you interested to know what I've been up to, well, I gotta say, I've been busy... I've been busy with life... and this time, voluntarily...

Via Dell'Amore - Rio Maggiore

Last summer, I hiked the villages of Cinque Terre, rode along Lake Como, attended one of the most important art events of the world, the Venice Biennial, eaten at one of the most romantic restaurants overlooking Portofino, strolled the streets of Florence, waited in the museum lineups like a typical tourist, tried real Venetian black pasta and celebrated the eve of my birthday in one city and the day of my birthday in another...

one of the 5 villages of Cinque Terre

Vineyards at the Cinque Terre

Hiking the Cinque Terre

Lake Como

View of Portofino from La Terrazza 

Road to Portofino

Portofino

Portofino 

Bellagio - Lake Como

Florence

Then, although wanting to go back to our nomadic lifestyle, surprisingly this time we stayed in one place for more than three months... which gave me enough time to reflect on myself and my life... of course, I kept myself busy with what the norm tells you to... but I also had time to just THINK... and what was my achievement? well... a lot... and I won't bore you with the details but you'll see the outcome in the next few months...

But I gotta share with you one important achievement. I realized that special people find each other.

These past few months have treated us well... it gave us new friends with whom, along with our old special ones we experienced many new things... from food & cheese to wine and even to learning a new sport... and just like always, the priceless conversations...

I realize that we are all privileged. WE JUST HAVE TO OPEN OUR EYES... and it takes a great amount of effort to do this simple task... but once you put in the effort, it'll hand back to you all kinds of wonderful things...

And now, I am opening a new chapter. Actually It's more like a new book... stay tuned and weekly updates (and pics of course) will tell you all about it...

For now, although hard to distinguish among all the restaurants, here are a few favourite if you're ever in these cities in Italy:

Venice: Osteria Oliva Nera Ristorante
Portofino: La Terrazza at Hotel Splendido (Fine) & Strainer Restaurant (Casual)
Florence: Cafe Ristorante La Loggia
and many more that I seem to have forgotten...