These images are from the beautiful Royal Victoria Hotel, where I stayed in Italy last month. It's beautiful -quiet, right by the river, and full of antiques. It's a huge building with high ceilings, marble floors, big windows with wooden shutters and leaves hanging outside, and gorgeous art on the walls. These photos hardly do it justice, but suffice it to say it's one of the most beautiful buildings I've been to, and certainly that I've stayed in.
There's been a building there since the 10th century, being developed into a hotel in 1837 - so it's fair to say there's a fair amount of history!
One of the best things about the hotel is that, aside from the bedroom, you also have free use of the hotel's many communal rooms; and, when we were there, hardly anyone else seemed to know about or use them! We particularly loved the drawing room, above in the photos, with a balcony looking out over the river - the perfect place to sit and read, or write at one of the desks or on the old typewriter - and the quaint little piano room at the back of the hotel.
Is there anything much more inspiring than writing in such beautiful surroundings? I don't think there really is - I certainly came back planning a novel set in a gorgeous old Pisan building...
The beautiful medieval walled Italian town of Lucca - now one of my favourite places. On holiday in Italy last week, we decided to take a train inland from Pisa to Lucca - we'd heard good things about the town, and heard it was a little 'undiscovered' and less touristy, but really didn't know any more than that.
It's amazing; I can't put it much simpler than that. We loved it. We liked it so much that we went back a few times over the week, to wander round and soak the place up, try to commit it to memory. We had dinner there on the last night, sitting in a beautiful square, pondering on what a lovely holiday we'd had - and partly because we'd been lucky enough to find Lucca.
Why did we love it so much? Here's a brief guide to Lucca - hopefully it'll inspire you to visit, too...
Lucca was initially a Roman city - an important trading town - so its streets are uniformly laid out in squares and blocks, making it easy to navigate if you know where you're going, or pretty much like a maze to navigate if you're not used to the town, and don't have a map (which we didn't).
There are still many heavy influences from Roman history; Lucca has natural thermal springs, and there are still "Bagni Comunali" (communal baths) in the walls of the town itself, with lots of spas just outside the town, in the mountains.
Lucca is quiet and peaceful; imposing medieval walls enclose the whole city, which means that there are relatively few cars and vans inside Lucca itself; it feels a bit like a secret, and makes it easy to walk around at your leisure. The walls themselves are huge; there are even parks on top of them, which you can relax in, looking at the mountains in the distance, before venturing down into the city.
Inside the city, the buildings are beautiful; very typically Tuscan, with large imposing churches, cute cobbled squares and small rivers with fountains.
The main square is in the shape of the old Roman amphitheatre; now updated and lined with medieval buildings and rather more modern restaurants, the square has a unique elliptical shape and is lovely to gaze at and wander round; there are also some beautiful shops in the aptly named Piazza di Amfiteatro.
Markets - every Italian town has them, but in Lucca they're more than just your local fruit and veg stalls. Our favourite was the antiques market, selling anything from old books to furniture to old classical guitars and jewellery. Spreading over a few cobbled squares, it's great to wander around...
And for those of you who are after a bit of culture and music while you're away, Lucca is the perfect town. There are chic cheese and wine bars in squares, museums of contemporary art, and an abundance of music - there's a concert of some kind almost every night, either in a church or outside in a square for everyone to hear.
Lucca, as you can probably tell from this post, really swept us away; it's a beautiful place, and well worth a visit if you're ever in Tuscany. Tempted to go? ;)
Quaint little hilltop towns contrasted with large bustling passionate cities, tall medieval mustard yellow buildings with green shutters and iron railed balconies line cobbled streets.
Large, ancient squares with imposing statues and outdoor gelaterias, where locals eat ice cream all through the day and into the night.
Gorgeous medieval distinctive architecture in every cathedral, belltower and any other important building; off-white Carrera marble with flashes of green and white and red Tuscan columns, positioned on top of each other growing the towers further and further skywards.
The best pasta you've ever tasted; sitting in little family-run restaurants with a glass of wine, some buffalo mozzarella, crusty warmed bread and some amazing lasagna, gnocchi or even just simple spaghetti al pomodoro, twirling it around your fork and slopping it into your mouth Italian-style.
Beautiful undiscovered beaches with raked golden sand, bright orange parasols and almost crystal blue water; calm sea with gentle waves that sweep you out to look back at the beach, the hot sky and the cascading mountains in the distance as you float.
Hazy evenings spent sitting in Florentine squares amidst imposing buildings and Roman statues; listening to a man playing classical guitar, watching the night pass by under candelight.
Tuscany. I knew it would be beautiful - but I had no idea just how beautiful. I've had one of the most wonderful weeks exploring Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Tirrenia and the surrounding areas (including a little detour to Rome on the last day of the holiday), and absolutely fell in love with the area - as you most probably can tell from my descriptions.
I'll write a few posts about Italy, over the next couple of weeks - there were so many amazing experiences during my time away and lovely little places and shops that I really do need a good few posts to share everything with you.
Suffice it to say for the moment, then, that the Tuscany region of Italy is stunning, and that you must go there at least once in your life. And as for me? I feel so completely refreshed, re-energised and re-focused on life; a holiday was just what I needed after a hectic rollercoaster over the past 12 months!
As promised, here are a few snaps from the mini-break my boyfriend and I took in the New Forest recently. Located in Hampshire, Southern England, the New Forest is a gorgeous little place and perfect for a few days escapism from the real world.
We arrived on a Saturday; a lovely, bright, bracing but refreshing day, and as we settled into our little hotel we decided to switch off our communication to the outside world: we would only check our phones once a day, if that, and would try and stay away even from news reports during our little trip. I think, and I hope you can agree, that when you're working in a fast-paced environment in the middle of London, with everything going on, sometimes you just need to run away and isolate yourself. And the New Forest really is the perfect place for isolation; so quiet that it's surprising to see five other cars on the quiet country roads and filled with sleepy little villages and warm country pubs.
Our little four-day trip consisted mainly of a lot of walks in the countryside, finding New Forest ponies wandering along the roadside (like the ones above!) and quiet pub lunches, lasting two hours each - the food we had while we were away was, in fact, so amazing that it warrants its own post, coming shortly!
It's the second year running that Richard and I have been to the New Forest for a few days getaway; and going back has just made us realise how much we love the place. We're already planning our trip for next year! ;)
Yummy food post coming up; until then, say hello to my new favourite little pony friend:
Ah, Brighton! Have been thinking of the lovely town I used to live in all day and so thought I'd share some photos I took there on my Canon 300v film SLR a few months ago.
For those of you not aware or maybe new to this blog, Brighton is a town on the south coast of England - an amazing, liberal, individual city. I went to University there and so lucky old me got to spend three whole years in what I happily regard as the best place to live in the UK. I'm back in London now, which, honestly, I do really like, but nothing quite compares to Brighton. One day I will move back there, but until that time, reminiscing and frequent visits will have to do!
Photos are of, in order: Brighton pier, the West Pier (which burnt down in the 90s but is now left standing near the newer pier), pebbles and the carousel on the beach, Brighton pier again, Brighton Royal Pavillion, the carousel again, Victorian lamppost outside the Royal Pavillion, and a typical Brighton street in the Lanes.
In my procrasination from third year university work, I've been daydreaming of holidaying in far-away places. Icelandair have a fantastic offer on at the moment for a 4 day, 3 night break to Reykjavik, staying in a 3 star hotel with a trip to the Blue Lagoon included. £269 - if only I didn't have over 5,000 words to write over Christmas and an empty bank account, I'd be on the next plane out there.
