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Italy and Beyond, 2025
  • Laurie Bowden
  • Laurie Bowden

Italy and Beyond, 2025

A 17-day adventure by Laurie Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 23, 2025
    Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Valletta

    August 23, 2025 in Malta ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Valletta is an old city. The vast walls that encase it above the relentless sea below are starting to crumble, dotted on every street are statues of historic figures, and the cross of the Knights of Saint Paul is publicly emblazoned wherever it feasibly can be. In some areas the buildings are still recovering from what they endured during the 20th Century. But by Maltese standards, Valletta is a positively sprightly, youthful place.

    Malta is home to some of the oldest relics of human civilisation on Earth. The Ġgantija temples in Gozo are 5,500 years old. That's not just older than the Pyramids, they're older than almost any other structure on Earth, second only to Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. For a history buff like me, a country as steeped in the past as Malta is a great starting point for my latest solo travel adventure.

    I have two aims on this trip. First, I want to visit more of the world's smallest countries and understand their unique, particular stories. Second, I want to travel the length of Italy and experience its famed North / South divide. While I'm at it, I'd also quite like to enjoy the sun, the sea and the food that make this part of the world such a delight to visit.

    To that end, after spending the hour-long delay to my flight devouring a Malta travel guide cover-to-cover, I spent the afternoon exploring the grid-like streets of Valletta and visiting a few (thankfully air conditioned!) museums. The Malta Experience was a 45 minute film that gave an overview of Maltese history. It really highlighted the tumultuous story of this island, located so strategically in the Mediterranean that it was controlled by so many powers that have risen and fallen - the Romans, the Byzantines, the Ottomans, the Order of the Knights of Malta, Napoleonic France, and the British Empire just to name a few.

    After the film, I went on a tour of the Sacra Infermeria - the hospital ran by the Knights of Saint Paul following the founding of Valletta by Jean de Vallette. The tour guide was fantastic, very knowledgeable and a natural story teller. She took us through the former hospital, explaining the gruesome details of how the Knights treated their patients, which seemingly relied more on divine fortune than anything resembling medicine.

    After also touring the National War Museum, I went out in search of Malta's national dish - stuffat tal-fenek, or rabbit stew. Washed down with a glass of Malta's own cider brand, Tuff, it was a very flavoursome dish, though admittedly the bones were a little bit fiddly!    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Comino & the Blue Lagoon

    August 24, 2025 in Malta ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    As I found myself once again at the mercy of the Lord's infamous proclamation "thou shalt not allow visitors in museums on a Sunday, nor anywhere else remotely cerebral for that matter", today I decided to do something I don't tend to do very often on my holidays - I decided to try to relax.

    Malta is a great country for relaxation - as a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean it has sunshine and coastline in abundance. So today I figured I'd go on a boat trip to the island of Comino.

    Comino is a tiny island set between the two main islands in the archipelago - Malta and Gozo. It is a nature reserve home to only 4 permanent residents. However, it is also the location of the Blue Lagoon, a beach renowned for its crystal clear turquoise waters drenched in sunshine, and an abundance of fish that live within them. Everyday, this lagoon attracts hundreds of tourists from all over this small country.

    I took the bus to Buġibba, a port on the North side of the island, where I then boarded the Sea Bird, a large catamaran equipped with a well-stocked bar, an abundance of sun loungers, and a water slide. It was a busy boat but I secured myself a lounger on the top deck, looking out over the sea. It was a very pleasant journey to the Blue Lagoon, with a very dry-humoured Brit pointing out sights visible on the shore over the loudspeaker.

    Once at the lagoon, I took a dip in the sea and then went on an optional speedboat tour of the surrounding caves. The speedboat was very fast, I was grinning the whole way! Once back, I explored Comino a little and then the Sea Bird headed to one of the coves I'd been to on the speedboat earlier, called Crystal Lagoon. This was great as it meant that I was able to swim into some of the caves I'd visited on the motorboat!

    All in all, it was an enjoyable trip and I enjoyed the chance to swim in such a nice sea. And, what's more, I didn't even get sunburnt (well, not much anyway...)    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Dinner in Marsaxlokk

    August 24, 2025 in Malta ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Inspired by my very maritime day, I decided to visit Marsaxlokk for a seafood-based dinner. Every Sunday, the seafront here plays host to Malta's largest fish market so it's a perfect place to go in search of fresh fish. The restaurant I went to let me choose a fish from their counter, all bought from fishermen that morning, so I opted for a Bazuga, or Red Bream. It was cooked perfectly and even de-boned for me at the table, delicious!

    The fishing community in Marsaxlokk has existed for centuries, and there's a small detail on their boats that illustrates Malta's heritage from the southern coast of the Mediterranean. Not only is the Maltese language itself effectively an Arabic dialect, but their traditional fishing boats are all adorned with an Eye of Horus on their bows - somehow a relic of the Ancient Egyptian gods continues to this day as Maltese fishermen's lucky emblem!    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Ġgantija Temple & Ta' Kola Windmill

    August 25, 2025 in Malta ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Before catching the ferry to Sicily this evening, I decided to head to Malta's sister island, Gozo, to see some of the sights there. After taking the 45 minute ferry from Valletta to Gozo's port of M'garr, I travelled up to a village called Xagħra to see the oldest structure in Europe - the Ġgantija Temple.

    This temple is over 5,500 years old - older than the Pyramids - and was made by Neolithic (i.e. Stone Age) people who later disappeared entirely from the island. When the islands became reinhabited during the Bronze Age, this temple and others like it were already standing.

    Much like Stonehenge, it's a megalithic structure - a building made of massive stones - and another similarity, no-one can really explain how these early peoples transported these stones into place. Furthermore, no-one really has any idea what it was built for or anything about the beliefs of the people who made it. It's a Maltese Mystery.

    Also included in the entry ticket was the nearby Ta' Kola Windmill. This mill was built by the Knights of Malta and used for grinding grain into flour. While the invention of steam-powered mills during the Industrial Revolution rendered most windmills redundant, this mill was temporarily brought back into operation to address food shortages in the aftermath of the Second World War.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Gozo Ċittadella

    August 25, 2025 in Malta ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    After looking around the temples I went into Gozo's capital, Victoria, to look around its Citadel. The Castello was built in the 1500s but fortified by the Knights of Malta to improve Gozo's defences following Siege of Gozo in 1551, in which the Ottomans conquered the island and took almost the entire population of the island as slaves.

    Unfortunately the interior of the Ċitadella was closed today, and it was only upon leaving that I noticed there was an audioguide I could have downloaded instead. Oh well, I enjoyed wandering around regardless.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Saħħa to Malta

    August 25, 2025 in Malta ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    I suspect I'll feel this way about many of my stops on this trip, but I could easily have spent more time in Malta.

    It has been a lovely country to visit, Valletta in particular. While it absolutely could be a little more modern, its streets a little more pedestrianised and its stairs a little less steep, it has a very pleasant, safe feel to it. Its streets are filled with al fresco diners, live music fills the air in the evenings, and the selection of restaurants available couldn't be wider. The verticality of the city adds to the pleasantness of it - the view over the harbour, looking out to the Three Cities, is so much more spectacular as a consequence of being situated at the top of a cliff.

    I spent the most time in Valletta, but several other towns gave me a good impression too - Marsaxlokk had a very nice promenade, while the neighbourhood of Żejtun also had a pleasant vibe. That's not to say everywhere has that same ambience - driving through Malta's largest city, Birkirkara, felt quite grotty, and Gozo is definitely not as easy to navigate as the mainland.

    There are elements of familiarity with the UK too - the plug sockets are the same as ours, they also drive on the left, and English is spoken more fluently then any other Mediterranean country I've visited. For a country located so close to Italy, it surprised me how distinct Maltese is from other European languages, sounding more similar to Arabic than to any Romance language.

    If I had more time, I would have loved to visit M'dina, and to have spent more time in the streets of Valletta. But the journey calls, and my next stop is waiting for me across the Mediterranean Sea, in Sicily.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Catania

    August 26, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Salve, Sicilia! After disembarking in the small Sicilian town of Pozzallo last night, today I'm crossing the largest island in the Mediterranean coast-to-coast, stopping off at Sicily's two largest cities.

    The first city I'm exploring is Catania, sitting at the base of Europe's largest volcano - Mount Etna. Catania and Palermo have a great rivalry, which my Catanese tour guide explained and emphasised during the walking tour I joined. Catania owes its heritage more to Spain and Greece, while Palermo more to Arabs and Romans.

    My tour guide also dove into various aspects of Sicilian tradition, including their very strict eating rules - no milk or cream after lunch, no pizza until dinner, very rarely eat meat. She explained this was all based on how easy it is to digest your food at any time of day - since it's so hot here during the day you should give your body the best chance you can to function! To that end, I forewent the pizza for lunch and instead had a Linguine alla Siciliana.

    Catania's history has been greatly shaped by Mount Etna, whose regular volcanic activity nourished the soil of the surrounding area and allowed Catania to flourish. The areas surrounding the volcano produce the best durum wheat in Italy, the principal ingredient in pasta. It's also one of Italy's foremost wine-producing regions, with volcanic nutrients enhancing the flavour of this region's grapes.

    The volcanic activity not only contributed to Catania's food and drink, but also to the city itself - its historic buildings and streets are all made from cooled lava. This is evident not just in their post-1652 reconstruction of the city (after a lava flow demolished all but two buildings), but also in their ancient ruins - their Roman Amphitheatre is black!

    I liked Catania, it has a very Mediterranean feel and the people here are clearly very proud of their way of life.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler
    1

    Palermo

    Aug 26–27, 2025 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    Palermo certainly contrasts with Catania. While Catania's streets are wide, surrounded exclusively by Baroque buildings and planned out meticulously, Palermo's are far more narrow, noisy and chaotic. Palermo markets itself as the most conquered city in the world, and as such has influences from all over the Mediterranean and beyond. However, this variety is crushed by the "Sack of Palermo", a term used by locals to describe the barrage of shoddy apartment blocks that sprung up here since the Second World War.

    While I don't think much of the city itself, the food I've had here has been exceptional - the arancini, sfincione and fresh ricotta wrapped in pannelle were all absolutely delicious. The absolute standout, however, was Involtini Di Maiale alla Palermitana - gorgeous rolls of pork wrapped around a bread-and-onion stuffing containing salami, two different types of cheese, and sun dried tomatoes - it was absolutely gorgeous.

    A couple of non-food-related stand-outs included the view from the roof of the cathedral and the Capuchin Catacombs. The latter was extremely eerie, over 8,000 mummified bodies dressed in period clothes from when they were alive staring down at you from the walls of the crypt, some of them over 800 years old. I wasn't allowed to take photos while I was in the catacombs but have included one from Google here.

    On the whole, I would have preferred to spend a bit more time in Catania and less in Palermo. It's a nicer city with more going on (climbing an active volcano, for one!) While there is plenty to see in Palermo, particularly if you're into markets and churches, the city doesn't really suit my Google-and-Go style of sightseeing, and the public transport network here just doesn't support half-day trips or quickly dashing around the city. And frankly, given this is the home turf of the Mafia, I'm not too disappointed to be saying arrivederci to Palermo and heading to the Italian mainland overnight.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler
    1

    Introduction to Naples

    August 28, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    From everything I'd heard about Naples before setting out on this trip, I was worried it would be a bit of a dump. However, I could not be more pleased to be wrong.

    Naples is a bustling city, filled with passionate people and fabulous food. Sure, it's not quite as picturesque as Florence or Venice, but the buzz and hum of the city is so vibrant, a real joy to experience.

    After disembarking the ferry and hiking up a hill to see the city under Mount Vesuvius' morning shadow, I went on a walking tour of Naples. During the tour, the guide took us to all of Naples' highlights while weaving the tale of this city's history - its Greek origins, followed by Roman rule, Ottoman invasion, French monarchs, Spanish monarchs, through to it becoming the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and eventually becoming a part of Italy during the Risorgimento. It was a very interesting tour and really highlighted the historical complexity of this part of the world.

    After this tour I went in search of the food that put Naples on the map. Never mind Malta's rabbit stew or Sicily's arancini, the one signature regional dish that I have been most looking forward to on this trip was a real, authentic Neapolitan pizza. Finding a restaurant that serves the best pizza in Naples was by far the most research I did into any one individual aspect of this trip, and it was so worth it. I ordered a Margherita, the absolute classic, and as you can imagine it hit the spot directly in the bullseye.

    After checking into my hostel, I then set off to a long-lost city, known only from passages in history books following a volcanic eruption that destroyed it in 79 AD, but it's not the city you might expect...    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Herculaneum

    August 28, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    In 79 AD, after Caecilius erat in horto and Grumio erat iratus, Mount Vesuvius, a volcano that had lain dormant for so long that the locals had forgotten it was anything other than a big mountain, violently erupted. The subsequent pyroclastic flow obliterated Pompeii, destroying the city and encasing the Roman citizens in a blizzard of fiery ash. This left the unfortunate victims literally petrified - their bodies encased in rock, left entombed for millennia until archaeologists excavated the site of the travesty millennia later. This much is common knowledge, but what's less well known is that this fate not only befell Pompeii but also the seaside town of Herculaneum.

    As a tourist attraction, in my opinion Herculaneum is leaps and bounds ahead of Pompeii. While the archaeological site of Pompeii is many times larger, its fame results in a daily inundation of tourists. It's also highly curated, with huge swathes of the site cut off to visitors. Herculaneum on the other hand is smaller, packing everything into 3 blocks of streets rather than Pompeii's city-scale layout, with historical relics and frescos that are much better preserved than at Pompeii. Unlike Pompeii, there isn't a set route through the site - you can more or less explore as you please - and it even has more roofs (some of them still intact after nearly 2,000 years!) and so more shade (my most overwhelming memory of Pompeii from 10 years ago was the unbearable 35ºC Italian heat with no shade to be found anywhere!)

    Overall I really enjoyed exploring Herculaneum, it was a window into Roman life nearly 2,000 years ago that has been unbelievably well preserved. I would recommend it to anyone with even a vague interest in how the Romans used to live.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Beneath Naples

    August 29, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Today, for the first time in 3 months, it rained in Naples. This totally scuppered my plans for a day trip to Ischia and forced me to think a little more creatively about what to do with my day.

    Fortunately, I was in an ideal city for a rainy day as deep underground Naples lies a labyrinth of over 120km of tunnels. These tunnels were created by the Greeks to bring freshwater to the population of the "Nea Polis".

    Naples, unlike many port towns, does not sit on a river. Instead, for a long time the freshwater demand of the population was met by diverting water from the aquifers underneath Vesuvius through a system of wells, underground aqueducts and cisterns. This resulted in an enormous network of underground tunnels, with each house in the city having access to a well from which fresh water could be collected from cisterns below.

    During the Second World War, these tunnels were repurposed. As a result of its strategically located port, Naples was one of the most bombed cities during the war. To preserve the lives of its citizens, the city authorities repurposed the old system of cisterns and water tunnels into ready-made air raid shelters. The extensive network could house the entire population of the city. While during the first half of the war, living in the tunnels would usually only last for a few hours at a time, after 1943 so many buildings had been destroyed that the tunnels had started to support a permanent population.

    By the end of the war, so many homes had been destroyed that hundreds of families continued to live in the tunnels, with the last ones finally being vacated in 1951. In the post-war years, the mountains of debris left by the bombing campaign needed to be disposed of, and so the easiest way to clear it all was to throw the debris down into the tunnels. This included, amongst other unwanted items, statues erected in honour of Fascist Party leaders.

    By the 1970s, the tunnels were completely full. Today, the debris has started to be disposed of, with 15% of the 120km of tunnels now cleared.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Seeing the Holy See

    August 30, 2025 in Vatican City ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    After arriving in Rome, I decided to spend the afternoon quickly seeing the major sights. Over the next few days I'll spend more time actually going inside those I didn't already visit 10 years ago, but in the meantime I wanted to refamiliarise myself with the city.

    One part of Rome I didn't visit when I was last here is situated on the Western side of the Tiber - Vatican City. The Vatican is the smallest country in the world, located entirely within the far larger city of Rome.

    I'll spend more time visiting inside the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican museums later in the week, but as for now, I have officially visited 30 countries!    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Roaming around Rome

    August 30, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    I realised after walking around Rome how much I've learned since I was last here 10 years ago.

    In the last 10 years, I've developed a really passionate interest in history as a result of studying the History and Politics of Spain as one of my modules at uni, I can speak Spanish so much more comfortably now than I could then so picking up Italian is a lot easier, and I'm a much more experienced traveller, partly as a result of having been on more holidays but also as a result of having lived in 7 different places since then across 3 different cities. Taking a bus, metro or train in another country (or frankly even in the UK) used to be much more difficult for me to wrap my head around than it is now, and I think last time I was here I just followed the rest of my group without making any decisions myself. This has all led me to feel a lot more confident as I write this in Rome today than I did then.

    In the context of the Colosseum, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain, 10 years are a drop in the ocean but it feels very significant to me.

    As much as I know a lot more about Roman and Italian history now, I still found it very helpful to go to Welcome To Rome, a cinematic experience that brought the long history of this city to life and illustrated how the ancient structures here used to look. After that refresher, I was much more easily able to orient myself in both time and space, so enjoyed subsequently seeing Ancient Rome's historic sites, including a few I didn't get to see last time (partly because this time around it's about 10ºC cooler!)    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Orvieto

    August 31, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Since I've already been to a lot of the sights that Rome has to offer and I'm here for the longest of anywhere on my journey, today I fancied a day trip to somewhere a little less urban.

    Orvieto is a hilltop medieval town overlooking the region of Umbria. It's known for a couple of notable things. First, it was a centre of the Etruscan civilisation which inhabited parts of the Italian peninsula before the Romans took over. Second, it's in the heart of Italy's truffle country, and consequently also has a lot of wild boars.

    It also has Il Pozzo di San Patrizio, a well that looks remarkably similar to the well in Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, but I don't believe there's any connection between the two.

    It was a nice, quiet day out in a peaceful medieval town and the Pappardelle al Cinghiale with a glass of local wine was very enjoyable.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler
    1

    Vatican Round 2: the Holy Seequel

    September 1, 2025 in Vatican City ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    This morning I visited Vatican City again, this time entering the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel.

    I had expected the museums to be filled halls upon halls of Christian artwork, but in fact most of the museums' contents were devoted to the Catholic Church's collections of Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman statues and artifacts, which I found quite interesting to look at. Every room in the museum is incredibly grand - visiting the complex really highlighted the sheer wealth that the church has accumulated over the centuries.

    As expected, the museums were very busy and I'm glad I booked a skip-the-queue ticket in advance! The Sistine Chapel was also very impressive to look at; I wasn't allowed to take photos in the Chapel so I've stolen one from Google.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Piazza Venezia

    September 1, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    After touring the Vatican, I headed to the Piazza Venezia, Rome's enormous monument to Victor Emmanuel II and site of the Central Museum of the Risorgimento. The scale of it is huge, vastly more imposing than any of Rome's other structures. This is almost certainly a deliberate decision, used to help impress the national legend of Italy's creation upon the citizens of it's capital.

    The Risorgimento, the time period during which the various Italian-speaking provinces on Europe's largest peninsula united to form Italy, was in truth a messy affair. Italy's four "founding fathers" were often at each other's throats - the freedom fighting ideologues Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini were loathed by the Piedmont king Victor Emmanuel II and his prime minister, Camillo Benso Di Cavour. The Piedmontese faction were far more motivated by expanding the power of Turin than any notion of a united Italy, and often expressed total disdain for Southern provinces. Conversely, Mazzini was an avowed republican who never accepted the legitimacy of Victor Emmanuel II.

    The provinces they "liberated" were also rarely crying out to be saved. The Papal States and Venice were the last to be absorbed into the Kingdom of Italy - Venice was fairly content with Austrian rule while Rome had been ruled directly by the Pope for almost two millennia. Aside from Garibaldi's expedition to Sicily, the provinces that were merged into the Kingdom of Italy were not conquered militarily by Piedmont, instead most of them were handed to Italy by their allies during the 19th Century's post-Great Power conflict negotiations. One of the final cities to be brought into the Italian kingdom was Trieste, with apparently devastating consequences that I'll be seeing first-hand later on in this trip.

    As such, the extent to which the Heroes of the Risorgimento are celebrated today is quite comical - from Orvieto to Rome, Catania to Venice, every single Italian city I've visited has had at least one piazza or via named after each of the founding fathers. It feels very forced, particularly in the South and especially in Sicily. Most Italians I've met have been fiercely proud of their cities and their regions but their enthusiasm for Italy has varied quite considerably - all this is exemplified in Italy's famed north-south divide.

    Putting the propagandistic nature of the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II aside, its enormous size does offer one considerable benefit - the views of Rome from the top of it are spectacular, the photos unfortunately struggle to do it justice.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    The Villas of Tivoli

    September 1, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    In the afternoon I visited two villas in Tivoli, a small town in Lazio. The first, the Villa Adriano, was an enormous complex of Roman Ruins that used to be the preferred residence of the Emperor Hadrian. When he wasn't building walls to separate England from Scotland, executing senators or rebuilding the Pantheon, Hadrian would relax and unwind in this vast estate.

    It's impressive how many buildings and statues are still standing today, and the size of them. The site is over 1 km² in size - larger than Pompeii - and contains over 30 huge and intricately constructed buildings that still stand today, in and amongst water basins and nymphaea (fountains). I like the fact that these water basins have been filled with water, unlike in Pompeii or Herculaneum, and how carefully manicured trees have been planted where columns would have once stood - it gives you a much better sense of how these sites would have looked and felt 2,000 years ago. The water basins also contain fish and terrapins 🐟🐢. Despite how impressive the site is and its standing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the complex had very few visitors so walking around felt almost as if I was discovering a long-lost secret!

    The second villa I visited is a 16th century estate known as la Villa d'Este, belonging to the Este aristocratic family. The house has the usual fresco-covered artistic interior but what stands it apart is the gardens. Set across 4 vertical levels, they make creative use of fountains and water features to create a really serene atmosphere, it was very pleasant to walk around.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    A Rainy Day in Bologna

    September 2, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Today was a little sporadic. It's been raining so I spent most of my day in Bologna sheltering inside various buildings. To try to make the most of my time, I decided to use a neat website I recently came across - Atlas Obscura - to find alternative things to do in this city. This included visiting the oldest university in Europe (specifically its anatomy theatre in which lecturers would dissect the bodies of executed criminals in front of their students), seeing the various porticoes that can be found all over the city, and spending time in a library with a Roman ruin in the basement!

    During gaps in the rain, I went in search of Bologna's secret canals. These canals used to run all throughout the city, powering mills and tanneries, but for the most part they are now covered up or hidden underground, only visible today in a few spots.

    While I was here, I also couldn't resist finding a Ragù alla Bolognese to eat for lunch - it's the perfect place to eat it after all! Like many Italian classics, the dish was quite simple; it only used a few ingredients but they were of excellent quality so tasted delicious!

    For dinner, since I'm in the food capital of Italy, I decided to indulge a little. I had mortadela with 36-month aged parmigiano reggiano for a starter and strozzapeti emiliani con guanciale, pomodorini e pecorino romano for "primo", all washed down with a fruity Sangiovese red wine from Emilia Romagna. It was absolutely divine, epitomising the Italian culinary philosophy of simplicity with high quality ingredients.

    Overall, a combination of the weather and various closures forced my hand a little today so I couldn't see quite as much, but I don't think that's a bad thing. I ate some absolutely delicious food, I saw a tonne yesterday and I'll definitely be seeing a lot tomorrow too as I go in search of Europe's least-visited country...    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    The Serene Republic of San Marino

    September 3, 2025 in San Marino ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    On 3rd September 301 AD, a stonemason known as Saint Marinus led a group of Christians who were fleeing religious persecution from present-day Croatia to the top of Mount Titano in the Appenine mountains. There, he established the Serene Republic of San Marino, the oldest republic in the world.

    On the 1,724th anniversary of its founding, during the national holiday known as The Feast of Saint Marinus and the Republic, I arrived in this tiny nation, entirely unaware that it was the most important day in the Sammarinese calendar.

    It's not overly surprising that San Marino is the least visited country in Europe. It takes 3 hours to get there from Bologna, changing from a train to a bus at the Adriatic coastal city of Rimini. The bus takes you high into the hills overlooking the city, where eventually it stumbles upon the microstate.

    The capital, also called San Marino, is arranged vertically across a number of terraces built into the hillside, overlooked by 3 towers - the Tre Torri. These old towers have been used for centuries to defend the Republic from invasion. While the ownership of the land surrounding this tiny country has changed hands between different powers constantly since the fall of the Roman Empire, San Marino has (mostly) maintained its independence and self-governance.

    This desire for elected leadership, independence and self-determination has always been the driving philosophy of San Marino, epitomised by the single word "libertas" emblazoned on the country's flag. While these fundamental concepts of liberty are not unusual today, in 301 AD these were revolutionary ideas.

    All this is celebrated during the Feast of Saint Marinus and the Republic, a day filled with festivities including parades, fireworks and even crossbow competitions! But in the morning, following Mass, there is a solemn procession of Saint Marinus' relics from the Basilica through the streets. I watched this procession and even saw San Marino's two Co-Heads of State (known as Captains Regent) up close!

    Overall, I loved visiting this tiny country. Besides the evident national pride from the Sammarinese people on their National Day, the views from the city are spectacular, overlooking the peaks of Apennine mountains on one side and the Adriatic coast on the other. The streets are cobbled with an eclectic collection of tax-free shops, including some selling certain items I'd only expect to find in the US. The food was also nice, fairly similar to North Italian staples; their signature dish is Piadina, which I asked to be filled with ham, mozzarella, tomatoes and lettuce, and the national dessert is Tarta Tre Monti, a three-layered wafer inspired by the three towers overlooking this most serene nation.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Crossing the Rubicon

    September 3, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    While I was planning my trip, I noticed that the train from Bologna to Rimini crossed over a tiny, fairly insignificant-looking river. This river, however, held a huge significance for the Roman Republic back in 49 BC, marking Rome's northeastern border with Cisalpine Gaul. Its name is the Rubicon.

    In 49 BC, Julius Caesar, Consul of Rome, Proconsul of Gaul and Illyricum, and member of Rome's ruling Triumvirate, was returning from the Gallic Wars. After his string of military victories and significant achievements, including invading Britannia and building a bridge over the Rhine, his successes were threatening to overshadow his fellow Consul, Pompey the Great.

    In an attempt to preserve his power, Pompey set about aligning himself with the Senate and in 50 BC, following the conclusion of the Gallic Wars and the approaching expiration of Caesar's command, he ordered Caesar to return to Rome.

    Roman law at the time stated that any magistrate (such as a consul) who entered lands directly controlled by Rome at the head of an army immediately forfeited his command, and continuing to lead an army from that point was a capital offence. As such, when Caesar reached the border of Roman-controlled lands and proceeded to cross the river, he remarked "the die is cast" - in Latin, "ālea iactus est".

    Thus followed Caesar's civil war between himself and Pompey the Great, the fall of the Roman Republic, his ascent to Dictator for Life ("Dictator Perpetuo"), and, following his death, his adopted son Octavian became the first Roman Emperor, Augustus. His legacy has lasted for thousands of years - the Roman emperors continued to call themselves "Caesar" long after his death, the German word "Kaiser" and Russian word "Tsar" both derived from his own name, and the legacy of one charismatic man's rise to ultimate power and toppling long-established out-of-touch institutions continues to echo to this day. And let's not forget Caesarian sections, Caesar ciphers or Caesar salads!

    Today, the site of Caesar's crossing can be found in the small, unassuming town of Savignano sul Rubicone. I had hoped to cross through the river itself as I knew there was a very shallow section with large, pebbly islands but unfortunately there were works going on there so I crossed over the Roman bridge instead. On what used to be the Roman side of the bridge is a statue of Caesar, labelled in his Roman style from after he had seized power, while on the Gallic side is a road sign indicating you are now leaving Gaul and entering Rome.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Trieste & Reflections on Italy

    September 4, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    I certainly feel that I've travelled a long way from Malta. Out the window of the train to Trieste this morning I could see the Alps! The land here is much greener and more mountainous, and as I look out over the Adriatic sea, the land I see further down the coastline belongs not to any Western European country, but to the Balkans.

    Trieste is a real blend of different cultures. While on the surface it's clearly Italian - the language spoken here is Italian, the Italian tricolour flies from flagpoles, people can't have a conversation without energetic use of their hands - if you look a little deeper there are strong Austrian and Slavic influences.

    Many of the grandest buildings here would look slightly out of place in Rome, but in Vienna they'd fit in neatly. The food is very Central European. For lunch I ordered a gnocchi dish with sea bass, in which the gnocchi were served as three large dumpling-sized balls. For dinner I ordered a Trieste-style goulash with polenta. While of course it's possible to find pasta and pizza here, all the items on the menu that are labelled as traditional Trieste dishes are much heavier than those further south, and definitely speak to Austro-Hungarian and Slavic roots, sometimes with an Italian twist.

    Given the history of this city, it's unsurprising that the building blocks of the culture here are so Austro-Hungarian. This city was Austria-Hungary's primary port until 1918. In the aftermath of the First World War, Austria and Hungary were broken up and large chunks of their territory handed to numerous Allied countries, leaving Italy with Trieste and Austria and Hungary both landlocked. This also broke Trieste's economic supply chains, and the city struggled to remain as relevant to a country with as much coastline as Italy.

    Despite this setback, Trieste is a very pleasant city to walk around, with grand, impressive piazzas (or should I say Plätze!) overlooking the sea. It's a fitting location for me to finish my journey through Italy and reflect a little on the country I've spent two weeks travelling through.

    Each city I've visited has felt fundamentally quite different. While on the surface they share many characteristics - they all speak Italian, they all have piazzas, streets and monuments named after heroes of the Risorgimento, they almost all have Roman ruins, they all strongly object to the idea of shops and restaurants being open between 3pm and 6pm - each one has felt distinct.

    Each one too has felt very proud of their own regions and local traditions, in a way which I believe reflects the smorgasbord of different ruling powers that have governed the various portions of this peninsula. The Italian symbolism feels quite surface-level, but the evident pride in the various regional identities I've seen are evidence of far deeper roots underneath.

    Italy is a fantastic country, and I could easily spend far longer here than I have had time to. If I were to come back, I'd love to see some of the more northern cities - Milan and Turin for example - as well as some less urban spots that have been just a little too difficult to get to by train, bus or ferry. I could also have spent so much longer in Rome, despite having visited before and having allocated more time to it than any other city on the trip.

    So it's "a presto" to Italy, not "addio". And tomorrow, it's "zdravo" to Slovenia!    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Ljubljana

    Sep 5–8, 2025 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Ljubljana is a very pleasant capital. It's a compact city, fittingly for a country as small as Slovenia, but its city centre is very charming. The centre of the city is built on both banks of the River Ljubljanica and is entirely pedestrianised, so the many shops, restaurants and bars that fill the capital's cobbled streets spill out invitingly for the many people strolling through.

    According to my tour guide, Ljubljana is Europe's greenest capital, which I can certainly believe (though I think Vaduz may give it a run for its money, or Dublin on Paddy's Day!) To my mind, this is what all major European cities should aspire to - attractive pedestrianised streets, lined with greenery, filled with "third places" for friends and family to gather and socialise. It also has a castle on top of a hill overlooking the city, which is always a welcome bonus!

    I went on two tours while I was here. The first focused on the main sites of the city, including the main square (Prešernov trg), the many bridges that cross the Ljubljanica, and the University. The University was notable not only for being Melania Trump's Alma mater, but also for being the site of both the birth and death of Slovenian communism, which was the focus of the second tour.

    Despite having been the capital of the wealthiest state in Yugoslavia, Ljubljana contains barely any remnants of the communist regime. It only really has one vast, bleak, brutalist square dominated by soul crushing plain towers, located in front of the parliament building. A huge digital clock overlooks this square, a monument to the obliteration of form in favour of function. This Republic (formerly Revolution) Square is located in front of Slovenia's parliament building, and is a totally empty void in an otherwise bustling city.

    Despite the general lack of communist monuments, the tour gave an interesting insight into Josep Tito's relatively softer form of communism than some of the other former Eastern Bloc countries I've visited. Yugoslavia permitted foreign travel to both East and West, was officially non-aligned during the Cold War, and generally favoured a decentralised model rather than the Soviet Union's centralised preference. As a result, both my tour guides described the Tito dictatorship as "soft communism", a bit like a left-wing variant of Spain's "dictablanda".

    In 1991, Slovenia won independence democratically and without any notable violence, unlike its fellow Yugoslav states. This was the first time in over 1,000 years that Slovenian speakers had their own country, having previously been an Austrian dominion for about a millennium.

    While Ljubljana has its quiet charm, it is nevertheless a small city. Despite this, it's still by far the largest city in Slovenia, since so many Slovenians live in the countryside. Despite its small size, Slovenia contains many different environments, including mountain ranges, coastal plains, and dense forests. It's this rural wealth that offers the most to tourists visiting this country, and so tomorrow, to finish off my holiday, I look forward to visiting this country's most iconic rural gem.    Read more

  • Laurie BowdenItaly and Beyond, 2025Traveler

    Lake Bled

    September 7, 2025 in Slovenia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    I started this trip from an island in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea; I'm now finishing it overlooking an island at the feet of the Alps.

    To get here, I have travelled by plane, by bus, by coach, by train, by motorboat and by ferry. I've visited 23 towns and cities in 5 different countries. It has been my longest solo trip so far, and an incredibly enjoyable adventure.

    Lake Bled is home to the only island in the entire country of Slovenia. Its waters are crystal clear and from a distance look almost turquoise. From atop a nearby cliff, a castle watches over the lake. And on the island itself, the bells of the Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Maria ring out to the nearby towns and resorts. This lake is considered by many to be the most picturesque location in Europe, and I'd struggle to disagree.

    The best view is from a lookout point called Mala Osojnica. From this vista, you can see the island, the lake, the castle and, in the background, the Julian Alps. The climb to get up here is absolutely brutal but the view is completely worth it. For a while I even had the viewpoint entirely to myself since I arrived quite early!

    It's a very tranquil place to finish the holiday. Its location at the foothills of the Alps places me not too far from my previous trips through Central Europe, so if I had a little longer I could have continued on to meet up with my previous journeys in Vienna.

    This would also be a fantastic starting point for a different journey, similar to the one I just completed but down the Eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, through the Balkans and on to Greece. I really enjoyed the seafaring moments of this trip, which felt quite distinct from my previous interrailing holidays and created a real feeling of adventure, so I'm sure another coastal route would be very fun!

    However, I don't want to get ahead of myself; right now I don't know where my next trip will take me, but wherever it is I hope it will be just as enjoyable as this one.    Read more

    Trip end
    September 8, 2025
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