We hit the road as soon as we finished breakfast to explore the heart of Tuscany – the picturesque rolling hills. We took the scenic Tuscany road – SR2 from Siena to Pienza where we’ll be staying for 3 nights. The first stop was the famous cypresses of San Quirico. Unexpectedly, just after we got… Read More Siena to Pienza – the Heart of Tuscany
It was a long travel day to make our journey back to Italy….a 5 hours drive from Menton, France to Siena, Italy. The ride wasn’t smooth at all as it was pouring so made traffic worst! There was a car accident near Genoa so we wasted half an hour sitting on traffic. We made a… Read More Siena and San Gimignano
Another beautiful morning in Menton, we grabbed our tripods and went to the port for photos of us. It was Bastille Day and the locals already up and hang out at the beach. We walked to this big pedestrian area where it has almost no one there except a few joggers here and there. Then,… Read More French Riviera Villages – St Paul de Vence and Eze
Nested in between Nice and Menton is one of the richest and smallest countries in the world – Monaco. It was a scenic 30 minutes ride by Bus 100 which the bus stop was a block away from our hotel and only cost €1.50 per way per person (or a day-pass for €5.50). After having… Read More 44th Country – Half Day in Monaco and the Colorful Menton
From Sault to Menton, since our hotel won’t be available to check-in before 3 pm, we took this opportunity to explore the Luberon villages that we haven’t been to during our last trip. Also, check out their local markets to hunt for the jumbo-sized and juicy cherries that we had during our previous trip. Looking… Read More From Luberon Markets to Finally Fresh Seafood at Menton
From Annecy, we need to head down south to the French Riviera – Menton so instead of going back via Italy (luckily we didn’t have to go through that expensive toll tunnel again), we chose the west route via Nice. When I was looking at the possible routes in Google Maps, I noticed that we’ll… Read More Lavender Fields of Provence
I booked two nights in Annecy thinking that there’ll be so much to see so we need 1.5 days…it turned out Annecy is quite small so we finished exploring it in an afternoon. Thus, I had to do some research at night to plan for where to go the next day. I decided to visit… Read More Flowery Medieval Village of Yvoire
Two years ago when I visited Switzerland, I was debating between Colmar and Annecy, both of colorful French towns which are close to the Swiss border…….Colmar near Basel on the North while Annecy near Geneva on the South. After showing pictures of both to Jason and we could only choose one, we chose Colmar. Since… Read More Annecy, France – The Venice of the Alps
The best time for photos of Isola San Giulio is morning till noon when the island is light up by sunlight. When we arrived at Orta San Giulio in the afternoon the day before, the island was covered in shadow which made a big difference for photos. Our hotel’s breakfast room faced directly toward the… Read More Isola Bella – The Gem in Lake Maggiore
Since our last year’s visit to the beautiful Lake Garda and Lake Como, I have set a goal to visit more Italian lakes. I had the opportunity for this trip to re-route my itinerary due to my pregnancy so I decided to visit the other less known lakes in the Italian Lake District – Lake… Read More Back to the Italian Lake District – Lake Orta
