Accidentally Cultured

Accidentally cultural experiences

Feb

27

Piazzale Michelangelo

Lost in Florence at Midnight

Carol the Pilgrim heads to Florence A weird mix of events led to Carol the Pilgrim being ‘Lost in Florence at Midnight’. It all began with the train trip from Orvieto to Florence. There was one of those usual delays where the train just suddenly stops – for 3 hours! The delay was due to a ‘border control’ issue! But we were pacified by the delivery of a bag of snack food and a drink! The train delay meant that Carol arrived in Florence in the late afternoon and she checked into her usual hotel. She had two objectives for in Florence – to buy a train ticket to Switzerland […]

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Feb

05

Best Hotel in Italy! Turin Palace Hotel

Last year we visited twenty cities in Italy!  We were following the medieval pilgrim route from Canterbury to Rome.  So, Italy was the fourth and last country on our journey.  As a result, we visited twenty cities between Grand St Bernard Pass in Switzerland and Rome. Turin was our first overnight stop over. Normally Via Francigena pilgrims walk or ride a bicycle, but we were travelling by car.  So, we hired a car at Turin airport and drove to our hotel through some very unattractive parts of the city. Consequently,  we were a bit nervous about what  to expect at the Turin Palace Hotel. In 2017, Trip Advisor gave Turin […]

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Jul

22

Let’s Have Lunch in Aosta, Italy!

‘Let’s have lunch in Aosta, Italy!’ We were a bit surprised when our son-in-law, Gareth, made this suggestion at 11 am one chilly morning in November. ‘That’s a long way to go for lunch!’, we exclaimed. ‘It’s only a one hour drive away, plenty of time!’,  said Gareth. Now this is a classic example of being ‘accidentally cultured’! From where we live in Sydney, a one hour drive from home leads you to places of dubious cultural heritage like Wollongong, Gosford, or Penrith. But, I am glowing with pleasure because I have been researching the Via Francigena. It is an ancient medieval pilgrim route starting at Canterbury Cathedral in England and […]

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