‘Trips and events’ Archives
Let’s call it a week – in Holland
If I have to find a word to describe how the past week has been, the first that comes in my mind is crazy: everything started with the flight to Amsterdam to visit my friend Anni for a week of vacation. I was a bit disappointed with the maximum allowance weight for the cabin baggage with Alitalia – 5kg – even though it was a great idea to [...]
An update from Bologna
As usual I missed to add new posts for long time: last one was written more than 3 months ago, just after my visit to Venice for the Carnival. Is not that nothing happened, just my lazyness sometime reaches levels that cannot be imagined. I probably don't remember everything, but looking at my photos - yes, I am not lazy to take photos at least [...]
Venice Carnival 2010
Last Saturday I've been (again) in Venice; this time was a one-day-only visit in order to see one of the most famous Carnivals in the World. One day is enough to see many things there, even though the festival lasts 2 weeks and every day you can find different masks and costumes. The train is quite comfortable, but late: it needs about 3 hours [...]
New Year 2010’s adventures
After more than a week of trips and walkings I'm finally (or not?) back home; it has been a pleasant - even with some issues - trip around Italy with my georgian friend Anni: tiresome, but really nice. Our destinations were three of the most beautiful cities in Italy: Venice, with its water-roads, Florence and its art and the wonderful Rome; [...]
Visiting Davit Gareji
The day is started in the most awful way: trip planned and stomach ache cannot be room mates; bot me and Mzia were feeling bad in the morning, but we didn't want to miss a nice trip: thanks to the holy medicines, we decided to face our destiny and go anyway, destination Davit Gareji. The monastery is a complex situated in the Kakheti region, on [...]
A day at the lake
Tbilisi has been little cold in the previous days, but yesterday the sun was going to come back in the sky; waking up quite late in the morning, without any plan in our minds, we decided to have a walk in the market to buy something. Not far from our house is Machakhela, probably the best place where you can eat good georgian food for very few [...]
A new trip to Tbilisi
I can't believe I'm sitting here, in such place, writing this post; yes, because from the very beginning, everything seemed to be going to be terrible - a sort of attempt by the destiny to avoid our trip to Tbilisi. It was long ago when me and my friend Anna decided to spend some time in my favorite country, sharing a flat and an experience [...]
Palio delle Contrade 2009 – the final result
Last Sunday the Palio delle Contrade has finished: the weekend was full of funny games, both for children and adults, and people preparing the decorations. Saturday evening was the time of the competition with the agnolotti and the dance competition. In the first game, one guy had to eat as more agnolotti as he could, but without using his [...]
Palio delle Contrade – first day
As in most of the Italian towns, also Portalbera is divided in districts, called contrade, which every year play some funny games to denote which one is the best. The contrada where I live is named Contrada dei Santi, the Saints' district, did not partecipate last year, but had a great return in the first day of the challenge. There are several [...]
A day at the hospital
Lazy day today, at home, listening music, having rest, preparing some lunch and looking the horrible hot outside the window: no way to go out with such weather, better to wait and have a nice evening then. And so it was: plan was to meet Mzika to give her some things and then go to pizzeria with some other friends. I had a nice walk in the crazy [...]
Shatili Shatili!
Day I The trip to Shatili didn't start in the best way: the initial plan was to go to another town on georgian mountains, Omalo in Tusheti, but for a series of reason we had to change our mind and Shatini, in Khevsureti region, was the choice. I've argued for many stupid organization problems with Mzika for long, especially the day before the [...]
On the Black Sea
The most famous thing that tourists like in Georgia are its beautiful mountains: the Caucasus are one of the most beautiful ones, according to many of the lucky, and brave, people who decided to breast them. But Georgia is also sea: located on the East of the Black Sea, it offers a series of nice towns where you can spend your time if you are, as [...]
Italian-georgian-english terrible dinner party
It's Friday evening and nothing is better than a dinner with friends; there are two options: an expensive evening at the restaurant or a funny and tasty dinner at home, and with our great cooking skills we decided to choose the second option. Since it was our first cooking experience together, me and Mzika decided the menu had to be [...]
The first day in Tbilisi
Malpensa airport, Milano, 4:25pm. More than one hour is missing to the flight to Istanbul, first step to go to Tbilisi. Nothing better than buying a book to read to avoid getting mad waiting and the Da Vinci Code is the choice. Actually, I've read it already, but in italian, so it will be a good exercise to improove my english. Waiting is not such [...]
Finally an update
I don't update the site since long time ago, so I'm finally back today, writing a very little update; I will try to keep the site more up-to-date. First of all, I want to wish an happy Easter to all the Catholics and a nice Palm's Sunday (hope it is called so) to Orthodox. Greetings to anyone else too, of course. I want to tell a particular [...]
Georgian hospitality part II
I always forget how far it is Chavchavadze ave. from my house in Saburtalo: I wouldn't have said to Tako “let's go by foot„ if it was so. We went there walking for some business at the Magti office and then she suggested me to try a good georgian restaurant for lunch. The place is called მაჭახელი (Machaxeli) and you can find [...]
Everybody wants to know Italian
I am not getting used of the georgian timezone at all: I still wake up quite late and go to bed in the deep night and today my day started in the afternoon. Using the bus to go to the downtown, in the famous Rustaveli avenue of Tbilisi, lets me save a lot of money: it seemed harder, but once you are able to read a bit of georgian the problems [...]
Georgian hospitality
Georgians say that their country is the land of the hospitality: actually you can think they just want to praise it, but you should try and probably you would realize that it is not so wrong. I had an appointment with my friend Natia to go to Nariyala, a really wonderful part of Tbilisi, but before our meeting I received an invitation from an [...]
Back in the U.S.S.R.
After several days feeling bad for the flu, the time to take the flight to Georgia has come. This time is different, since I am flying with Turkish Airlines: Milano-Istanbul-Tbilisi. photo:3152399343(small)photo:3153236482(small) I arrived at the airport quite early, since nobody was in the street on December 26th; I supposed not many [...]
Thanks everyone
I would like to thanks everyone who partecipated to the donations for the victims of this Summer war in Georgia: at last, donations reached the 300 €. I've just sent the last ones received to the fund of Bank of Georgia: thanks again!
Trevi’s fountain description
For those who want to know everything about Trevi's Fountain in Rome. The video is in italian but with english subtitles: enjoy!
My post on Georgia Today
My article about helping georgian people has appeared on Georgia Today, a Georgian english-language newspaper. The article, titled Humanitarian Assistance for War Victims Within and Outside of Georgia and written by Tamar Kikacheishvili, can be read here or you may click on the image below to see the scan.
Donations for Georgia
Money I collect throught PayPal will be sent to the fund of Bank of Georgia.You may donate directly there or using your credit card (see details below). Thank you in advance! After 5 days of fighting, situation in Georgia seems slowly coming back to normality: everywhere you can find news and photos about the war began on August, 8th 2008, while [...]
Stop Russia’s Unlawful Military Invasion in Georgia
As we were in the Middle Age, Russian is doing a mad military invasion in Georgia, bombing outside the conflict zone in South Ossetia; they had thrown bombs near Abkhazia, where the conflict could expand, in Poti, where there is an important port on the Black Sea, near Georgia's capital Tbilisi (pretty far from the conflict zone), in Gori, where [...]
I found your camera
While we were in Roma for holidays, my friend lost her digital camera: we are still trying to find it and, searching online, I have found an interesting website: http://ifoundyourcamera.blogspot.com/. I think the idea is pretty nice: anyone who found a camera, or a memory card, somewhere in the World can send some of the pictures to the webmaster [...]
Weekend in Roma
Finally I've been in Roma, capital of my wonderful Italy and «caput mundi», capital of the world. The trip was pretty cool: I left from Milano on 24th by plane with Marco and Matteo, flying to Ciampino's airport in about one hour; landing was not perfect, but we arrived safe and sound at about 18:40, on time. Reach Roma from there is pretty [...]
Weekend in Roma: plans
I will finally see Roma; it is strange that I have seen London, and more strange I was in Tbilisi for two times, and I have never seen our capital city: but time has come and I will go there on July, 24th. It will be just for a weekend, long weekend in fact, so we are planning everything to see as more beautiful things as we can. Actually I have [...]
Spring in Georgia
Second time in Georgia, this time in Spring; departure from Milano Malpensa. I was lucky not to lose my flight, because from my town to the airport I found lot of traffic and I arrived just 5 minutes before the check-in closure. The first flight, from Milan to Wien, was in time; then I had to wait about two hours in Wien for the second one: [...]
New Year’s day in Georgia
First time for me for a travel alone; and first time in a place that almost nobody in Italy knows: Georgia, also known as Saqartvelo by georgians. This wonderful country is situated on the East of the Black Sea, under the Russia; it was part of the U.S.S.R. and became independant on 1991. The beginning of the trip was good: it was the first time [...]
