Quirky Traveller's Tales

Italy has its iconic, must-see sites that are sure to feature on many peoples’ bucket lists. St Mark’s Square and the canals of Venice, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Rome’s Trevi Fountain and the Vatican, the rolling hills of Tuscany… I could go on.

However, all these breathtaking icons of Italian tourism have literally hundreds of books, thousands of web pages and millions of photographs dedicated to them. More importantly, they are places that many people have already visited. So in this article we give you five quirky things to do in Italy for an Italian holiday with a difference.  Here’s an unusual, eccentric Italy; a little bit weird but all the more wonderful for it.

Join in an Orange Fight

Many people have heard of La Tomatina that takes place in Bunol, Spain. But real tough guys don’t mess about with soft tomatoes. Oh no, real tough guys come to Italy for the Battle of the Oranges! This peculiar and slightly dangerous festival takes place in Ivrea, about 70 miles West of Milan and what makes a huge fight with oranges even weirder and at least twice as wonderful, is that the fruit doesn’t even grow locally and the oranges (about 250,000kg) are brought from the South!

Stay in a Shepherd’s Hut

The Vatican is a great place to visit if you don’t mind hours of queuing and jostling for position amongst the fervent crowds of tourists in the vain hope of getting a glimpse of the latest elderly man in white robes giving a little wave. If you prefer your holiday to be a touch more tranquil, how about getting out into the wilderness of Sardinia?

The Fiummendosa Valley is stunning, a cornucopia of colour and scents created by swathes of wild flowers, trees and herbs. After a little too much Italian wine I somehow ended up bedding down with a friend of a friend of a friend in his shepherd’s hut. I can’t recommend it enough, although neither the sensational feeling of freedom it brings nor the lungful after lungful of fresh country air made me immune to hangovers.

The hardy amongst you could attempt to scale Sardinia’s highest peak, Punta la Mamora, which has an elevation of almost 2,000m. We decided against it, choosing instead a gentle stroll in the foothills where we found an amazing restaurant which served up a fine, stodgy but very tasty wild boar stew.

Go “fishing” for sea urchins

In many of Italy’s coastal towns sea urchins are a hugely popular delicacy. We tried them in Sardinia and with a squeeze of lemon they are an unusual, refreshing delight. We even tried to catch our own haul but after a few abortive attempts that resulted in perforated fingertips we decided eating was more fun that fishing!

When we ate the yellowy, gooey sludge that was served as “sea urchin roe”, we were a little unsure. But following the “when in Rome…” adage we tucked in. It was only later when I researched how a spiny spherical creature could be turned into said splodge that I found out we had been eating sea urchin gonads. Oh well, they  very were tasty.

Take a walk along World War I trails

For those who prefer a good walk over prickly aquatic gustatory pleasures, the Italian Dolomites near the Austrian border are a superb option. You’ll more than likely have the magnificent Alpine views, fields of wild flowers and clear blue lakes to yourself, or at least only have to share them with the local birdlife.

Many of the trails through the pastures, woods and forests were created by soldiers during the First World War and there are tunnels built into the hills, as well as an informative open air museum.

Visit Umbria’s dying town

Umbria has so much to offer, from historic Assisi, the stunning Subasio Natural Park and culinary delights such as black truffles and arguably the country’s finest olive oils. But that’s all a bit passé for us. We prefer Civita di Bagnoregio, the Etruscan town that pre-dates Christ and today has a population barely in double figures. Perched precariously atop a small rock formation, erosion means it may not be around too much longer, so visit this strange, beautiful town now, before it crumbles completely …

As you can see, there are plenty of quirky things to do in Italy with plenty of hidden delights magnificently complementing the more popular tourist spots. So, for an Italian trip with a difference, get off the beaten track and, if you fancy it, try some of those sea urchin gonads!

This article is brought to you by Headwater Holidays, creators of a global range of tailor-made soft-adventure holiday experiences, specialising in self-guided walking and cycling holidays, luxury accommodation and good food .

You can find them on Face Book and on Twitter @Headwaterhols

Ernest Hemingway wrote, “Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bull-fighters.” In the same spirit, I believe that as life goes by so fast there are only a few moments that you really live to the max. Walking the Camino de Santiago, as opposed to bullfighting which is not for me, was one of those times where I felt truly alive. For a few days, weeks or months, I was able to extract myself from my day to day routine and focus on myself.

Camino Frances sign – photo c/o Follow the Camino

Lately, I walked the Camino Frances from St Jean de Pied to Pamplona with a company called Follow the Camino, which organises accommodation, meals, maps and heavenly luggage transfers. They have added a twist to the Camino that really attracted me and made my journey so much easier.  This twist was to link one of my favourite authors, Ernest Hemingway, to the Camino. The American author based his first and most celebrated novel ‘The Sun Also Rises’ during the Pamplona Festival, the San Fermin, which he used to attend regularly.

Bull-running Monument in Pamplona – photo by Владимир Шеляпин

The storyline follows a group of American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights. The setting was unique and memorable, showing the seedy café life in Paris, and the excitement of the Pamplona festival, with a middle section devoted to descriptions of a fishing trip in the Pyrenees and end sections in San Sebastian and Madrid.

Follow the Camino therefore launched a new walking holiday called the Camino Heming-Way where you walk in the footsteps of Jake and Bill, two of the main protagonists of the book, from Saint St Jean de Pied in France to Pamplona in Spain. It is undoubtedly one of the most scenic, challenging and rewarding of all the Camino routes and a unique journey through time and literature.

Vierge D’Orisson in French Pyrenees - photo c/o Follow the Camino

The Camino Operator booked me into charming 2-3* hotels along the Way, which was a very welcom comfort. The staff were simply lovely and so typically French and Spanish! I did not want to try walking the Camino without pre-booking hostels etc. Although this option might suit some, I find it difficult to cope with the stress of not knowing where I am sleeping and if I will find a dorm before arriving in a town. Not to mention the snoring, little levels of comforts and the smell… No, I was more than delighted to pay the tour operator services so I had my own room, bathroom and all I needed to rest and refresh after a hard day’s walk. And then was I ready for a few tapas and vino! I never had to use their 24/7 emergency phone, thank God! 

St Jean Pied de Port – photo c/o Follow the Camino

The route departs Saint Jean Pied de Port, a quaint French market village in the heart of the Pyrenee. There are lots of things to see including the ancient bridge, historic buildings, full of history and a lovely old Church for pilgrims. In only five days,  I crossed the Pyrenees (tough but so exhilarating having achieved it), experienced French gastronomy - think yummy cheese, locally-produced charcuterie and traditional baguette, discovered the legendary Basque country and finally arrived in beautiful Pamplona. En route I stayed in the small quiet village of Burguete, on the Irati River where the two friends (from the book) fished.

Hemingway’s house at Burguete – photo by Phillip Capper

In Pamplona, they treated me to a Heming-Way style city tour. Thanks to Mickel, our lovely Spanish guide I found the Cafe Iruna and had a drink beside Hemingway’s statue.  I also had the chance to try a special Hemingway favourite: trout stuffed with chorizo.  I recommend this tour to Hemingway enthusiasts and anyone looking for an alternative to the last 100km of the French Way, the most popular section. So why not follow this route and take the walk from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Pamplona?  And if you are able to make it for the San Fermin Festival in July, you’ll be able to celebrate this famous Festival in true Heming-Way style!

Hemingway at Cafe Iruna Pamplona  - photo c/o Follow the Camino

This post is brought to you by Follow the Camino, a world-wide leading tour operator specialising in organising walking, cycling and horse riding holidays along the Camino de Santiago since 2006.  They created a new approach to this ancestral pilgrimage, respecting its spirit and enhancing its values, whilst making it more accessible, enjoyable and achievable for all. Find out more about the Camino Heming-Way here.

Via de la Plata Santiago de Compostela – c/o Follow the Camino

If you like walking you will enjoy ‘Fell Wandering – Slow Travel at its best’ and also

What’s the view like from your office window? I work from home so it’s usually the road outside, semi-detached house opposite and if I stand up tall, the tips of Cumbria fells.  For World Travel Blogger Natalie Morawietz it’s a different view every day.  Since beginning of 2011 she’s been travelling around the world in a truck. She’s a tour leader, a driver and mechanic, driving overland trucks from Cairo to Capetown and Rio de Janeiro to Quito. 

I’ve always loved travelling.  Being from Germany I was blessed with almost seven weeks holidays a year. But after a while three weeks holiday trips weren’t enough. I was bored with my office job, not challenged anymore and had seen almost all of Europe on my business trips. I knew there had to be something more out there.  However, I wasn’t quite sure what it was. Backpacking? Volunteering? Getting a job with an NGO? I decided to take my time …

During a half year sabbatical I went backpacking in West Africa, a place I’d always wanted to see but which is too difficult to travel for a short holiday. And as soon I was out there I knew I couldn’t go back to my old office job. I felt the freedom of the road … and it magically dragged me away. I decided to take a job which would allow me to travel while working.

Driving a truck around the world enables you to see the world in a very different perspective. I have been working in the craziest places, workshops and industrial areas in Nairobi, Addis Ababa or Cusco. I have met so many friendly locals always happy to help out to jump start the truck or direct you the right way. An overland truck makes you independent and it withstands the worst road conditions – well, most of the time.  Not so funny to change a spring in the middle of the Sudan desert!

You can stop pretty much anywhere and enjoy nature and the outdoors to its full extend. I have seen the most amazing wildlife in Africa driving my truck through such wonderful places as the Etosha National Park in the heart of  Namibia.

I’ve never regretted swapping my business costume for dirty trousers. I absolutely love what I do and although it can be pretty hard from time to time, no other “office window” can give you these amazing views. Who else can say that the view from their office window changes every day?  I’ve seen everything out there from elephants, lions and zebras to hundreds of waving people, 4000 m high peaks in Ethiopia, Bolivia and Peru, oceans and deserts.

Coming up soon – glaciers, volcanoes and, hopefully, big bears in Alaska!  I am taking a break from travelling – in a way. Because I love the idea of having my own overland vehicle so much, I decided to go a step further and start my own company together with Dave Patrick, who I met whilst working in Africa.  We have set up Infinite Adventures, offering overland adventure trips in a remodelled school bus in Alaska. I can’t wait to see my first bear – maybe hanging out on the viewing platform we’ve put on the top of our bus.

Natalie Morawietz loves to travel and drive big trucks around the world. After Africa and South America she is now in the United States remodelling an old yellow school bus into her own overland vehicle – ready to take like-minded people up to Alaska to have an amazing outdoor and wildlife adventure.  You can discover more about Natalie on her blog, follow her on Twitter @InfiniteAdv and on her Face Book Page InfiniteAdventures

For more quirky adventures in Alaska check out cycling enthusiast Ken Roberts article on another converted school bus – this time one you can stay in!

Any seasoned traveller will tell you that Morocco is famous for its confusing medinas (the older area of a city) and even the most confident of visitors are likely to get lost wandering around these wonderfully perplexing places.

Have no fear though, losing your way is all part of the fun on a trip to Morocco and with a number of ways to get yourself back on track again, why not embrace the unknown and take the opportunity to really immerse yourself in North African life?

Here are some top tips from Audley Travel for finding your way if you get lost in one of Morocco’s medinas:

1.  In each city, make sure you know how to get back to your hotel from a main tourist site, then ask for directions to this area if you get lost. In Marrakesh, for example, ask for directions back to the Djemaa El Fna.

2.  Take a photo of easily identifiable landmarks near to your hotel and use these as a guide if you get lost. Taller buildings that can be clearly spotted throughout the city are best.

3.  Keep your hotel address handy when out and about. As Arabic is the official language of Morocco, ask your hotel to write the address in Arabic for you before you leave. It is also worth writing it down in French as this too is widely spoken.

4.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help, there are always plenty of friendly people around. But perhaps ask a stall owner – someone behind a counter is less likely to accompany you on your onward journey!

5.  Don’t panic!  The sprawling alleyways and seemingly endless twists and turns of Morocco’s medinas can seem a bit intimidating and overwhelming if you do find yourself lost, but never fear, we haven’t heard of anyone not making it back to their hotel yet!

If you use these tips, you will get back on track eventually and, in the meantime, enjoy your surroundings –  it’s all part of a trip to Morocco!

This post is brought to you by Audley Travel, an award–winning tour operator specialising in tailor-made trips and small group tours for the discerning traveller, to over 80 countries around the world.

The scenery whirling by outside the window was reminscent of Narnia before that bad witch got her come-uppance.  Endless pine forests gracefully clothed in brilliant white snow spread out in all directions, with the occasional wooden house breaking up the vista. We were on our way to the Finn Jann Husky Farm, where, according to the holiday blurb, the huskies “… are eagerly awaiting your arrival to whisk you off on your unforgettable safari.”  

I was on a Mighty Fine Winter Adventure Holiday  in Finland, just within the Arctic Circle at the fjell-top resort of Iso-Syöte.  I had already been on a snowmobile excursion to visit a reindeer farm, stooped low into an igloo and discovered curious facts about local life.  Today we were to experience a Husky Safari.

Well, those dogs were certainly eager.  There are over 70 cross-breed Huskies here and it seemed every single one of them was ‘eagerly’ yelping to be chosen to take us out… the noise of their barking could surely be heard at Santa’s home at the North Pole.  In spite of the noise,, they were really friendly and quite happy to have a hug from a besotted English woman.

Gerralda, the Hotel Iso-Syöte Marketing Manager and I were put together and owner Timo showed us how to operate our sleighs.   Then … we were off.  It was exhilarating and exciting – the dogs go really fast and the scenery whizzes by in a snowy blur.  I enjoyed being a passenger very much, lying back and simply enjoying the drive.

The only sounds were the swish of the sledge runners, the panting of the dogs and the snapping of twigs as we hurtled through thick pine trees cushioned on either side by deep pillows of snow.  In front of us our six strong dogs, bred for their speed and stamina, enthusiastically strained to keep up with a caravanserai of sturdy sledges.

I did have a rather scary experience when I tried driving.  You only have a small metal bar at the back of the sleigh to brake 6 powerful, enthusiastic hounds to stop them careening off across the countryside.  When we were crossing a frozen lake, a sleigh in front overturned and their dogs raced away out of sight.  Timo caught them on his snowmobile whilst the rest of waited with our packs of dogs almost beside themselves with energy to escape too.  As our sledge slipped and slid below my feet, I wondered if I could keep the brake on… Eventually Timo caught the runaways, the lead couple got back onto their vehicle and we set off once more. It was a huge relief when we were all back together again and I quickly returned to my reclining seat and let Gerralda do the driving.

Relaxing on comfy blankets, covered in smooth, soft reindeer skins, I felt like the Queen of Narnia before the thaw – in the nicest possible way of course..  As we returned to the farm, the sun was sinking low in the sky and there was an ethereal glow all around.  It was a snapshot that will linger in my memory for a very long time.

Thanks very much to online travel agents The Mighty Fine Company  for a truly exciting Winter Adventure in Finland.

2013 looks set to be one of the best years to gaze up into the skies and be awestruck by nature’s very own fireworks display.  Here are some of the key dates for stargazing in 2013.  Make a note in your diary, clean the lens of your telescope or brush off your binoculars and better still, book a holiday somewhere different for the Greatest Show Above Earth.

Stargazing events 2013 – imgur.com

Apparently many of us in Europe, Africa, Australia and most of Asia will be able to see the partial Eclipse of the Moon in April, but not if you’re in North America. If you want to experience May’s ‘Annular Eclipse of the Sun’ then Papua New Guinea, along with some of the nearby Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean or southern Australia look like your best bet for a memorable holiday. If you’re lucky enough to be in Hawaii you should get a sight of the partial eclipse as well as some excellent surfing.

Here’s a simple explanation of Solar Eclipses – even I could vaguely understand it

Solar Eclipses Observer’s Guide – space.com

If you missed the total eclipse then there’s a ‘Hybrid Eclipse’ (see infogram) which you might glimpse from the balcony of your all-inclusive villa on Bermuda.  Apparently viewers on North American Atlantic coast will not be very impressed but holiday-makers (and locals of course) on Cape Verde Islands should get a great view from their hotel.  Liberia is the place to be for longest ‘totality’ but may not be top of everyone’s vacation list … You’ll may be better off booking a nice little hotel in Gabon, Congo, Uganda or Kenya – or preparing for sunset at the Ethiopia-Somalia border – or maybe not …

If dancing’s your thing then it looks like Mars, Venus and Jupiter will be tripping the light fantastic for a week later in May and in the year’s biggest Full Moon in June should make you swoon, wherever you are …  The Moon’s ‘Penumbral’ eclipse (whatever that means!) will apparently be seen in most parts of Asia, Europe and Africa with central and eastern area of North America getting a darkened Hunters’ Moon early evening.  Werewolves and vampires take note …

Comets and meteor showers showcase their astronomical charms beauty throughout the year but the biggest STAR (sorry) is the rather unromantically named Comet ISON, apparently called after International Scientific Optical Network telescope that found it in 2012.  It will be passing within a gnat’s whisker of the earth (40 million miles) and you should be able to see it from your very own backyard, wherever that is on this glorious planet …

The reason I wrote this article is because a friend sent me a copy of the dates and asked me to share it. Hope you enjoy it Sandie! I did a bit of research and found Mother Nature Network from where I got all this fascinating info – minus the holiday tips … Apologies to any serious astronomers and Prof Brian Cox You can find out about BBC2 Stargazing Live Events around the UK here