Prisoner of Hopes

Category: Perspectives

  • Markets and Mountains: Travel Goals

    Today is my favorite day! When I travel in Italy, I can’t wait for market day, the day that a town has a pop up outdoor market. Usually each town has a set day for the market. In that way vendors can go from town to town, and the townspeople can plan their shopping. This…

  • A Walk On the Wild Side: Travel Goals

    After several weeks of touring historic sites and churches, we decided to broaden our Italian experience. Our destination for a local weekend experience was the Pombia Safari park. It is essentially a drive through zoo. You could drive your own car or ride in their safari wagon. We opted to drive. We arrived early, parked,…

  • 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…

  • Gardens and Galleries in Verbania: Travel Goals

    Some days just exceed expectations. I woke up to a beautiful pink sunrise. The rain had washed the earth clean and the birds were singing their thanks. We had no where to be and took our time, lingering over coffee. We drove around the lake to Verbania and the Villa Taranto. I wasn’t expecting much.…

  • 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…

  • Mottarone, the tiniest Alp: Travel Goals

    The morning broke cool and cloudy. Because the forecast for the rest of the week included rain, we decided to drive up to the top of Mottarone. The smallest mountain in the Alps. The tiniest Alp. The road was surprisingly busy, and unsurprisingly winding and narrow. Gangs of cyclists clogged the road. Once we got…