Having enjoyed the warmth and ocean of coastal Cyprus so much, we were a bit apprehensive about heading back to the UK in April. Pre-booked flights and train trips, and a committed house sit (not to mention the lack of accommodation elsewhere), won out and we set off for our next adventure. And here we... Continue Reading →
Limassol: Last words (again)
I thought I had finished talking about Limassol and Cyprus, but we created enough time in a few workdays by rescheduling our dog walks to Ken-only afternoons to get up to a few more interesting things in our last days there. Kourion (Curium) Though we felt like we had seen sufficient ancient ruins to last... Continue Reading →
Limassol: First (and last?) impressions
While planning what to do after our house sit in Kalkan, Turkey, we found a 2-week house sit in Cyprus. An island just south of Turkey, Cyprus appeared to be a really convenient next stop as it is an island nation just south of Turkey. As we always do before applying for a sit, we... Continue Reading →
Turkey: Istanbul
Istanbul. A city split over two continents (Asia and Europe). A city with a countable population that is roughly half that of the entire country of Canada. The Turks speak of the country's uncountable population (refugees and their growing families, primarily) as, well, uncountable--nobody knows how many more this adds to the population number--and Istanbul is a... Continue Reading →
Turkey: Bodrum & Ephesus
We had 2 weeks free after our house sit in Turkey before we needed to be in Istanbul for a flight out of the country. Rather than spend a few days at several spots along the 1,000km route, we planned a (hopefully) quiet week in one coastal town followed by a (likely) crazy week in... Continue Reading →
Kalkan: Our first taste of Turkey
The flight plan was Bologna to Istanbul with three hours to spare before our connecting flight to the Dalaman airport in Turkey's southwest. Thanks to the remnants of The Beast from the East causing icy-rain conditions on the morning of our departure from Bologna, and the lack of available de-icing fluid at the airport, our departure... Continue Reading →
Bologna: Short and sleet
OK, it wasn't all sleet, but there certainly was snow. And icy rain. Bologna was our home during the second half of the Beast from the East, the unusually harsh winter in the UK and Europe at the end of February and first few days of March. We were flying to our next destination from... Continue Reading →
Naples and the Amalfi Coast
We've been incredibly lucky with weather since September. We had some rain in England, but not enough to keep us from getting out and seeing everything we wanted to. We had cold and snow in Switzerland in December, but no surprise there (though I did whine about the cold in one post). We had some... Continue Reading →
Canalicchio: 3 weeks in Umbria
While housesitting in Canalicchio, we took it easy, in some respects. We took car trips less frequently than we have in other areas, and I wrote no blog posts after the first impressions one in our first week. I worked quite a bit on Eastern Time covering for a vacation, which meant I didn't shut down... Continue Reading →
Canalicchio: First impressions
From Rome, we took a train to Terni in the Umbria region of Italy where we are house- and pet-sitting for about 3 weeks. We were picked up by our homeowners, Michael and Sophie, who greeted us warmly and whisked us away to Canalicchio, a tiny hilltop village smack dab in the center of the country.... Continue Reading →
Italy: Rome
We hadn't been to Italy before, and it was one of the two target countries for us on this leg of our journey. We will be house and pet sitting in Canalicchio, in the Umbria region of Italy, for about 3 weeks. Before our sit started, we planned for a few days of sightseeing in Rome.... Continue Reading →