Showing posts with label italy. Show all posts

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Italy: Learn Italian in Sorrento

Mature Solo Travel Readers: there is a special offer

SPECIAL OFFERS

26/02/2015
LEARN ITALIAN IN ITALY!

Study Italian in Italy - Special Offer for March 2015

Come and learn Italian in Italy at Sant'Anna In ... >>

Special offers

Study Italian in Italy - Special Offer 2015

Come and learn Italian in Italy at Sant'Anna Institute!

Are you looking for a complete and exciting Italian language program?

Choose Sant’Anna Institute (Sorrento, Italy) and get one of the following special offers reserved to you!

OFFER for Former students: students who come to attend a second course will get 20% off + Enrollment fee free of charge!!!! For each friend enrolling with you receive 20% off your course! Bring 5 friends and attend your course for FREE!

OFFER for New students: 10% off on the Italian course rates and Enrollment fee at 60€ instead of 75€.
If you want to stay for 2 weeks, book: 2 weeks Italian BASIC course + 2 weeks family accommodation B&B + enrollment fee at 590€

Deadline for Enrollments: March 20, 2015

Our Institute offers a wide range of high-quality Italian language courses for any level: from beginners to Italian teachers courses, all the year round (Italian language courses start every week).
Sant’Anna Institute provides:
- effective, flexible, modern and communication-oriented teaching method
- a friendly atmosphere
- qualified and motivated teachers
- small groups of students from different countries (a maximum of 12 people per class)
- Certificate of attendance
- Afternoon Cultural activities
- Trips and Excursions to Capri, Pompei and Amalfi coast
- Mediterranean cooking courses and tasting
- Pizza Making courses and tasting
- Ice-cream (Gelato) making courses and tasting
- Visit to Limoncello factory and tasting
- Tandem programs with local Italians
- Accommodation (host families, shared apartments, private apartments, hotels, B&B and more…)

Visit our FB page Lingua Italiana a Sorrento https://www.facebook.com/linguaitaliana.asorrento?fref=ts to discover the Sant’Anna world and get in touch with us!

For information contact us: info@santannainstitute.com

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Eating Solo: Great Variety in Florence, Italy Food Court

Solo Travelers can find great meal choices
at a new type of Food Court

Florence Mercato Centrale a great food hall for solo travelers, no more restaurants with only couples!

The San Lorenzo Market may be best know for the lively local market on the first floor: meats, fish, cheese, fruits and vegetables.

The building dates from 1874 with soaring ceilings and windows with wrought iron.

After many solo trips to Italy I try to develop a list of restaurants I am comfortable eating solo.
Leonardos is one place I stop on every trip.

With the conversion of the second floor to a massive upscale 'food court' the Mercato Centrale has become my BEST SOLO dining location.

Early in the day I could choose a coffee at a bar on the first floor where many of the vendors were stopping for a quick espresso or take a a cappuccino and cornetto on the second floor where there are many tables and no rush to vacate your seat.

Byafternoon the market slows before the dinner rush. This is a good time to try beef at La Carne e Salumi, Il Pesce Fresco (fresh fish), La Mozzaella di Bugala, I formaggi (with a wide assortment of cheeses) and the tempting il Cioccolato and il gelato bar.

Ramondo Mendolia, La Pasta Frsca

La Pasta Fresca was my choice for an early dinner. You choose from the selection of fresh pasta and a sauce. the pasta is cooked while you wait and served with chees on top.

The owner Ramondo Mendolia, was working and kindly chatted with me while my pasta was cooking. Having his own business had been his dream. He is hands on and the hours are long, from lunch to the late closing 7 days a week. When many restaurants close one or two days a week it is wonderful for the traveler to find a place where you can find a meal at any time of the day. Pasta and sauce is available to take home and enjoy.

Fresh breads, rolls and of course CAKE

Pizza by the slice with a variety of toppings.

Solo Lunch: This is a much more crowded time of day and with limited Italian language skills I try to select something that is easy to pronounce or something I can point to. There is a pasta outlet with featured fresh pastas offered each day. Of course pizza, a vegetarian stand where you order fresh juices, soups and salads. I sampled the assortment of fried vegetables and chicken. I could not manage trying the fired rabbit........ So far the meals were all around $8 to $10 USA.

There is a cooking school in the market as well as several shops with kitchen products,

books and wine.

There is a large wine vendor where you can select a bottle or a glass.

The knowledgeable woman behind the counter knew exactly what to suggest to the man searching for a bottle.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Italy, Go Solo, Enjoy

Solo Travel In Italy

I usually post anything about Italy on http://www.hometoitaly.com, but Solo Travel In Italy some challenges I shall add to this blog as well.

Italy may have more travelers than many other countries in Europe.   After traveling there for years and for 4 to 6 weeks at a time, I fully understand why.
With all those ‘tourists’ being a traveler has some challenges.

I never thought it was ‘odd’ to travel solo. I am solo but not sad. I travel solo because I have no friends who would EVER travel in the style I do.   And the one perception I continue to receive is that only gay people travel solo. What?    During my 3 month sabbatical I became friends with two lovely much younger woman who I met at the local Internet café. While having dinner early in our friendship the both agreed that ‘no Italian woman would this’. I was VERY surprised.   Apparently it may not have been socially unacceptable but solo travel was NOT something an Italian woman would do…..

There are endless benefits to solo travel but I want to cover a few of the ‘challenges’ solo travel in Italy may present:
1. With the crowds of tourists in Italy it can be difficult to visit ‘tourist spots’ solo.    Tour buses do not know what to do with a solo. Other travelers do not want to sit with a solo person….
2. Reaction of Italians that solo travel is ‘odd’.   In Italy the family has great importance. It may not occur to Italians to go off by themselves and travel.
3. Economics: Italy as other countries are in an economic situation.   A solo traveler may be perceived as wealthy.    On one trip I wanted to compare living costs in Italy with the USA and as I compared the salaries with the USA, I understood this misconception.   Housing is expensive in Italy and this may be another reason family members remain at ‘home’ until they marry.
4. Travel in Italy during tourist season means crowds on buses and trains. Solo travel means you have no one to ‘watch your bags’ while you use the WC or even go to an ATM.
One year, before ATM’s were on each corner, I could not enter the money exchange at the Rome termini because they used a revolving door and my bag would not fit in the door!
5. You spend more time planning and organizing solo, no one to share the work.
6. For me dining is the hardest part of solo travel anywhere but the USA. Here in the USA we have so many casual restaurants and my favorite, diners, that you are mostly unnoticed. The disadvantage is you are unnoticed in some restaurants and service is ‘different’. I understand the tip will be less than a couple, but I also don’t take up as much time at the table.

In Italy eating is VERY important. Going to diner is the entertainment for the evening often taking hours.   I only remember seeing one other solo diner in a restaurant in Florence. And they put us next to each other.   I have had waiters look at me with pity and surprise that I am sitting alone.    Why do people assume solo is sad?

While these may be some challenges to solo travel, some of the perks in Italy:
vendors in markets will often chat with you
You can often observe without being noticed….take a peek into daily life.
You can walk by the same corner countless times while looking for the correct turn and no
             one notices, no one ridicules you, no one gets impatient.
You can stroll the town center without dragging a reluctant companion or child with you.

One of the sadist days in Sorrento was hearing a couple just off the cruise line for the day.
The husband loudly insisted, pick ONE thing you want to see.......implying that that was         enough    and back to the boat.    One look at the woman's face was enough for me to pledge to always go solo.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

NO SOLO SUPPLEMENT Italy: Classic Car Tour

NO SOLO SUPPLEMENT

Yle with Yltour in Puglia offers another wonderful event for independent travelers who want

a unique experience!

CLASSIC CAR EXPERIENCE IN PUGLIA

May 1 - 6, 2013

YLTOUR opens its 2013 season with an exclusive road experience from May 1 – 6 , 2013
in the beautiful Salento area, Italy.

This is your chance to explore the area on board on of these magnificent cars along with luxury catering and accommodation. The car will have a driver.

YLTOUR offers you, your friends and customers the finest classic car experience in Puglia: a taste of luxury, wine tasting and gourmet dining, a culinary experience, a city tour, visits to local vineyards and five star hotels.

We will accompany you on selected dream routes, with the wind in your hair while living

la dolce vita lifestyle in the lovely Salento area.

Cost: € 1.600,00 per person no single supplement and include the following:
Promotional price until March 10, 2013 E 1.500.00

- accommodation in 4 and 5 stars stylish hotels

- breakfast, lunch and dinner

- a gala dinner

- rally plates and souvenir plaque

- comprehensive road book with daily detailed route notes and timed itineraries

- 1 cooking class

- 1 city tour

- 1 wine tasting + meal in a winery

- services of a Tour director throughout the tour

- transportation from/to Bari and Brindisi airport

- all ground transportation

All photos courtesy of Yltour and may NOT be the actual cars used for the tour

Not included are the following:
Airfare and travel insurance
YLTOUR (www.yltourcongressi.com) can make your plane and train reservations as well.
Find more on: info@yltourcongressi.com (Yle) or leelaurino@eartlink.net (Lee)

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

No Solo Supplement: Italy, photo evenet

-- [Calling all Photographers:

A Creative Break in Puglia, Italy

Take a photography holiday in Puglia and capture the images of our traditional villages and scenic roads off the tourist trail, vineyards, old palaces, farmers on their estates, seaside villages, the countryside and the people of this part of Italy that is less traveled.

Experienced photographers and non-professional photographers will find Puglia an incredible place. Puglia has spectacular landscapes and natural light, not to mention the beauty of old farmhouses and country houses with their Mediterranean colors (in the Salento style), baroque details and local villagers, pizzica dancers, intimate details and so much more.

Become a photographer and capture the genuine beauty of Puglia through its most hidden and unconventional landscapes and settings. Our local experts will enable you to take unique pictures and meet inspiring local people: they will concentrate on your particular interests. Prior to your visit we will ask questions to better understand your photo style and expectations, in order to provide you with the very best settings. Each holiday is custom tailored with dedication and focuses on photography. Yltour knows the best locations but also restaurants where you can taste the delicious local food and wine.

Our accommodations are off the beaten-path places: dimore (old houses), farmhouses, villas fully equipped. We use an air conditioned van or private cars to arrive at our shooting locations and meals are taken in top places.

Partners, who are not photographers, can join other interesting activities: cooking classes, a wine tour, a bike tour or simply relax by.

Discover and capture the Puglia we love.

This unique opportunity is limited to small groups to insure individual attention.

A minimum number of four bookings are required to run this tour.

Cost: 1,500 euros Special price for bookings prior to March 30, 2013.

Creative Break Includes:

• 7 nights in exclusive properties, breakfast included

• 5 lunches with wine: at local trattorias and private family farmhouses

• 5 dinners with wine

• 2 cooking classes

• 2 wine tastings at top producers and 1 vineyard tour

• olive farm visit with olive oil tasting and tour of the olive groves

• a special visit to a private farm with a demonstration on the making of ricotta, a cheese tasting

• visit to an open air market

• photo tour of historic Lecce, Gallipoli, Otranto, Itria Valley

• morning photography unique experiences

• air-conditioned deluxe motor coach

• a few surprises, as the occasion allows

Not included:

• airfare

• meals not listed on the itinerary

• optional trip insurance

• items of a personal nature, laundry, telephone charges

• passport fees

This tour is available in June and November

Email us: info@yltourcongressi.com ask for promo price listed on solomaturetravel.com

Turn your next vacation in to a travel adventure.....

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Solo Travelers: would you be interested in a creative break

CREATIVE BREAKS:

If you enjoy traveling, learning, meeting the locals and immersing yourself in a culture than you need to know about a special series of programs offered by yltour.com in Italy!

Mature Solo Travel

Off the Beaten Path in German