Gozo the rural sister of Malta

Crystal clear waters during this season with a visibility of 50 meters. Looking through the Azure Window at Gozo's west coast.

What a stellar horse waiting for his human friend. He didn't move at all fixing his eyes on his keeper!

Salt fields cover the entire shore line here, it looks so pretty.

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Empty romantic streets and lots of vineyards, Fields that provide everything for the Gozitan and those ever present cactus keeping the fields clear of visitors. Gozo is a sleeping beauty ideal for mountain bike tours and long reading hours. once there lived giant women who helped built the Gigantes temple. Obese figures without heads were found. Today the Gozitan is of normal height. I saw no giants anywhere. I fell in love with Gozo.   

This is Europe's 3rd largest cupola tying the place with Mosta on Malta. All white. I had to set my camera on the floor and still I could't manage with 24 mm to get it all on the photo.

Empty Met Museum of New York

What do you say when one of your close friends invites you to wander through one of the world's most famous museums before opening hours? You say yes. Within seconds. Then you spend the next week not being able to sleep at night. When the day of the tour finally arrived, I walked through the museum left speechless and as if for the very first time. I wish you could all experience the Met while empty, but for now these pictures will have to suffice.

Malta in color

The Luzzu (pronounced lutsu) is the Maltese Fisher boat 

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Oh my, so much history and the kindest of all people! 5600 year old Megalith temples and Valetta, the capital city founded in 1566 more than 120 years before NYC! Visiting Malta for only 4 days is not enough at all. The coast of Malta is my favorite, I always love the shoreline, where the sea meets the land and how people make use of that. We didn't visit all of the 365 churches, but thought that St. John is the most amazingly decorated cathedral we have ever seen. 

Carlo, our driver and guide, made us read the signs in the streets and writings on cars and it was his special joy to hear us fail. I have never come across a language so different yet so similar, something between Arabic and Italian, with influences form English and Portuguese. Yes, and then they have all of the additional letters and silent letters .... 

He is a local hero able to open doors for us when we wanted to see special locations just with a nod of his head. Carlo will tell the most fascinating stories about Malta but when it comes to have lunch he will show you his biggest smile and will opt out. He is the only Maltese allergic to fish! So offer him steak and he is in. 

We stayed at the Xara Palace Relais and Chateau and enjoyed the walks through he medieval city of Mdina, say: I-mdina! 
Those colorful doors and matching windows, I couldn't resist taking pictures every other step. 

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On my way down Republic Street 

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Red letter pillars and Frisco-like streets 

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Mdina is the coolest I think, almost car free! Only residents can have a tiny car as the streets are narrow and winding.

The 13 Redin Towersand one on Comino span in sight of each other around the coast line and so in case of an unexpected attack or pirates hiding behind Comino before they hoped to surprise  Malta, the people would be prepared to defend themselves and they did so very successfully.

Ħaġar Qim (pronounced: Hascharkim) the stone-age people built their temple facing the sun to announce summer and winter solstice. Not much more can be said about their rituals, still fascinating. At this time of year Malta is covered with flowers in all colors. So pretty!

Shades of blue at the Blue Grotto, lined with purple and orange corals

Spring in DC

I guess to say that I like to travel would be quite the understatement. But, for me it's not really how far away from home I travel, but more to capture specific moments of everyday beauty. It sounds cheesy, but it's more the experience and the people I'm with that matter beyond the actual destination. Perhaps you could say it's the act of traveling that fascinates me. Why else would anyone sit on a bus for 9 hours in one day just to spend 6 hours wandering the streets of Washington, DC trying to find leftover cherry blossom trees. It's ironic that the feeling of being uprooted through a change in location makes me feel more at peace, but I think these pictures might convince you that a trip to Washington (view my guide on what to do here) during spring is just as necessary as having cupcakes at Baked and Wired in Georgetown. Join me for up-to-date adventures over on instagram.

P.S. I've included links to my hat and some other spring favorites at the end of this post and as always in our shop tab.

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Weekend in Boston

Last weekend I ventured up to Boston for the first time in 10 years. It was my first time traveling through the US by greyhound bus, and I have to admit it felt quintessentially American. The only thing I remember about my last trip to Boston was a crippling ear infection, a high fever and my mom trying to find medicine for me in the middle of the night. Needless to say this trip was a breath of fresh air in comparison. I love how calm Boston is in comparison to New York, especially the Beacon Hill area, with its little cobble stone streets and brick townhouses. Acorn street (pictured above) was unbelievably picturesque. I loved the Boston Public Library and was impressed by the pieces at the Museum of Fine Arts. My favorite place to eat was definitely Tatte Bakery with their refreshing salads and incredible pastries (get the chocolate rose and the almond plum tarts). We spent a lot of time at Harvard with friends experiencing campus life for the first time and exploring the beautiful, historic campus.

Caffe Propaganda

Waking up in Rome felt different than I had expected. I've wanted to visit for such a long time that I could barely believe it was happening while I was really there. The city seemed almost mythical to me with architecture from copious centuries interspersed throughout the city. 

As per usual, when I feel out of place, I inevitably have to return to comfort foods, and by that I mean any type of carbohydrate you could possibly picture, but to make it easier for you to picture dear reader, I took pictures of my meal of course, because I love you so very dearly. When we walked into Caffe Propaganda (which is literally in view of the Collosseum, and it doesn't get much more Roman than that honestly) I felt transported back to New York, more specifically Williamsburg in Brooklyn, I mean let's face it, this place isn't remotely Roman apart from their excellent food. In keeping with virtually every single meal I had in Rome, I had to have Cacio e Pepe pasta, but let's be honest, you can't really go wrong when in Rome.

Find them here the next time you're in Rome and craving a restaurant void of tourists:

 

Sunday Snapshots - Vatican City

In order to avoid the crowds that storm Vatican City and especially St Peter's Basilica every day, we got up at 6 am and ended up being the first people climbing to the top of the dome. The light was still slanted creating a beautiful haze for these pictures. Standing at the top of the dome, Rome truly felt like an eternal city, with gorgeous rooftops as far as my eyes could see.

Rome Shortlist

Roma, where do I begin.... I felt such a strong affinity towards this city as soon as I arrived, brushing up on Italian and getting to know the place my dad grew up in, not to mention the stunning food and gelato at every corner. Any country that serves huge portions of pasta as casual appetizers is good in my book! I love the way history is interspersed with city buildings and you drink your coffee at the bar with cornetti in the mornings.

Where to stay... the beautiful Hotel de Russie with its stunning courtyard and beautiful views over Piazza del Popolo.

Where to eat... My favorites were Roscioli (Make sure you try all the types of prosciutto and parmesan. Obviously.) and Caffe Propaganda for lunch and Dal Bolognese, Alla Campana and Al Ceppo for dinners. As for gelato you can't really go very wrong, but you can check my post on Don Nino Artisan Gelateria here.

What to see... My favorite view was actually from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo, because you can see the entire city and have Vatican City at your feet. Other favorites include the Pantheon, the Forum Romanum and the Pallatine Hill and of course the Collosseum. Vatican City is a must see for any Rome visit, read on for how to avoid crowds below. If you have the time, wander through the small streets and see all the different Piazzas to get a feel for Roman life at its best.

Avoid the crowds.... When it comes to visiting Vatican City and St Peter's Basilica, you definitely want to avoid the crazy crowds and either prebook tickets with a guide, letting you skip the lines or get up really early to enter the Basilica at 7 am when it opens (we actually went up the dome at 7:30 when it opened and got to enjoy the view all to ourselves, which I highly recommend).

Gelateria Don Nino

If you follow me on instagram, you'll already know that I've been in Rome for the past few days. I can't believe it's taken me this long to visit this incredible city. My dad was born in Rome and is fluent in Italian, so walking through these beautiful streets certainly felt like home. I have more detailed posts on what to do and see here, but I quickly wanted to share this cute little Gelateria near the Pantheon with you. I've sampled my fair share of gelato while here and there are a lot of really good ones out there, but I really loved the interiors here and the Bronte Pistachio and Creme Caramel flavors at Gelateria da Nino near the Pantheon were simply to die for. That being said, you can't really go too wrong with gelato anywhere in Rome, and let's be honest, Pizza is great but there's nothing better than strolling through little cobblestone streets, gelato in hand (even if mine may or may not drip all over myself in a much less picturesque manner).

I'd love to know what your favorite things about Rome were! Have you been to Rome?

Find them here:

 

Miami Shortlist

I by no means consider myself an expert on Miami or what to do in Miami, especially not after spending less than three full days here. Even less so considering the fact that we were faced with Monsoon style rains my entire first day there. We made the best of it and spent our day eating and went to the movies to escape the rain (by the way, if you haven't seen Focus yet, I thought it was incredibly entertaining, but I might be wrong seeing as I was the only person laughing hysterically at Will Smith). Besides the obvious going to South Beach and visiting the Wynwood area of Miami to do some gallery hopping, I wanted to share my food favorites with you: Panther Coffee, Matador Room and Joe's for dinners (arrive fairly early in the night, they don't take reservations and the wait is pretty long, but the Lobster Mac and Cheese is worth it), Makoto for Japanese, Jugofresh for Acai bowls and juices, and of course Versailles for cortaditos and Cuban Sandwiches. One of my highlights was definitely the Vizcaya Mansion with its extensive gardens, spiral staircases and walls made of coral, it feels like a completely different world within Miami.