Prisoner of Hopes

Category: History

  • Valley of the Castles: Travel Goals

    We are up at dawn. This is the first real adventure with my extended family. My brother drives us over the mountain in his rental car. I am now in the backseat. No longer the driver or the navigator, I am left to look out the side window. I try not to be a backseat…

  • The End of the Road: Travel Goals

    Wanderlust…our internal yearning of wanting to see new things, hear new sounds, smell new smells….means that every day we venture out to parts unknown. We try to keep the destination within two hours drive to ensure we have enough time to enjoy each new spot without tiring or feeling rushed. We never know what we…

  • Stranded: Travel Goals

    Sometimes things are not as you want them to be. You just have to take a deep breath and deal with them as they are. We wanted to take the ferry to Intra and then on Isola Madre, the last Borromean island we hadn’t visited. It was market day in Intra…and I love market day.…

  • Been There: Travel Goals

    I am a contrary traveler. I don’t mean to be, but I almost never enjoy the “it” places. I read the guidebooks and just to say we have been there, we dutifully go, to the “must see” places and I am almost always disappointed. I don’t like crowds. I don’t like the so called “ugly”…

  • In Search of Counts and Kings: Travel Goals

    It is still raining on the banks of lake Maggiore. Today we took a long drive to the city of the Kings of Savoy, Venaria Reale. It is sunny there. The drive took just under three hours as we rejected the autostrade in favor of backroads.. We saw farm houses and vineyards as we meandered…

  • Rainy Day In Milano: Travel Goals

    Today was a washout. It rained all night and all day. Outside adventures at the Lake looked dismal. I searched the radar for anywhere dry and came up empty. So we headed to Arona, parked blocks away from the train station, and walked through the flood to buy a round trip ticket to Milan. We…

  • Convents, Cable Cars, and Clothing: Travel Goals

    The day was overcast as we drove around the lake to Santa Caterina del Sasso. An ancient monastery along Lake Maggiore, Santa Caterina is carved into the rock. It hangs above the lake as if suspended by magic. After parking and trying to decipher signs that seemed to suggest the monastery was is two different…

  • Climbing the Sacred Mountain After Sailing to the Island of Silence: Travel Goals

    Saturday in Northern Italy is marked by hordes of men on bicycles taking over the roadways. These biker gangs are problematic because the roads are narrow as they curve up and down the foothills of the Alps. The general rule I’ve determined is the narrower the road and the more blind curves, the more cyclists…

  • Along the Via Novara: Travel Goals

    We started out with no expectations for the day. We were visiting the Italian city of Novara for no other reason that our wonderful neighbors’ family is from the area. We wanted to explore and send pictures to honor our friends. The town had about 100,000 people and we approached through farm country. Gorgonzola cheese…

  • Lost in Time: Travel Goals

    Isola Pescatori, the island of the fishermen, was meant to be a brief stop. We sought out a quiet restaurant on a remote alley, away from the tourist boat crowds. The waiter took us up flights of chairs and seated us in a window overlooking the rooftops. The pasta was fresh and regional, accompanied by…