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Venice and the Prosecco Road

September 20th, 2017

Prosecco and Venice go hand in hand. Since Venice is just a one hour train ride from Conegliano, and the start of Italy's "Prosecco Road", it's easy enough to explore the area especially if you have a car. We drove down to Valdobbiadene, the town on the other end of the Prosecco Road, from Cortina. As we headed south, the jagged peaks of the Dolomites turn to green slopes planted with glera, the grapes that make prosecco. To find out more about this increasingly popular aperitif, we spent...

Four Days in Italy’s Dolomites

June 29th, 2017

Four days in Italy's Dolomites is not enough but it's better than none. This area is best known for its skiing in the winter. But it was great visiting in the early fall when you can walk the ski routes, and presumably nice in the summer too. I think I'll aim to come again in either late May or September when I imagine the weather will be close to perfect. The Dolomites are easily accessible from either Verona or Venice. It's a three hour drive from Verona to La Villa, where we stayed, or...

Aga Ristorante – Dining is Fine in Italy’s Dolomites

June 18th, 2017

We may be in the mountains but that doesn't mean the dining isn't fine. Michelin one-starred Aga Ristorante is manned by a team of talented millennials led by husband and wife team of Oliver Piras and Alessandra del Favero. Located just twenty minutes drive south of Cortina in San Vito di Cadore, the restaurant is off the main road in the Hotel Villa Trieste and close enough for us to have a good lunch after a walk at Tre Cime. And because the restaurant exudes a Scandinavian cool, it was...

Tre Cime in Italy’s Dolomites is a Must-Do Walk

June 17th, 2017

We left the best for last after three days in the Dolomites with a walk at Tre Cime. This walk had the right amount of length for those looking for a bit more exploration while not being at all difficult. The views are as stunning as they were in our previous walks at Cinque Torri and route 20 from Lagazuoi to Scotoni. And it wasn't just because the weather was perfect.

Tre Cime is so called because of its three peaks - rocky towers that rise on a crest that overlooks Lake Misura. In...

Violets and More are Blue at Gardens by the Bay

May 24th, 2017

Blue is the latest feature in the Gardens by the Bay's Flower Dome. Blue Beauties, as the Gardens refers to them, is one of the least common colours for plants. As it happens to be my favourite colour, I just had to go have a look. Alas, it was an underwhelming show compared to some of the others in the past. Perhaps true blue is indeed a hard colour to find but it would have been great to see some blue irises or forget-me-nots. On the bright side, I still managed to give my macro lens...