Monstering the Mozzarella

If you’re any kind of foodie at all you know about the different kinds of mozzarella and that most of the stuff in supermarkets is mass-produced and tasteless. Campania (of which Cilento is a part) has a Protected Geographical Origin status for its Mozzarella di Bufala di Campania – you can’t make something and call… Continue reading Monstering the Mozzarella

Pondering Paestum

If you didn’t know I was writing about Italy, you’d think these ruins were in Greece. You might have assumed they’re Roman. But the Greeks were here before the Romans amounted to much at all and they built plenty of temples and in fact a whole town. The town dates from the 6th century BC,… Continue reading Pondering Paestum

Ambulating Amalfi

“The Cinque Terre of Southern Italy” So, Amalfi coast – lemons, mountains, twisting winding road, 5 towns/villages some of which from a distance bear a passing resemblance to Cinque Terre (5T for short) in Liguria, Northern Italy. The two areas share various other characteristics – overpriced food in the center, crowds of tourists in the… Continue reading Ambulating Amalfi

Nipping into Napoli

We’ve all heard dread stories of Napoli, that den of iniquity, the streets are full of trash, it’s dirty. And to some extent, they’re right. The city does have an edge to it, it’s certainly not clean, there’s grafitti everywhere (not the good kind) and the people are somewhat more abrupt than in other parts… Continue reading Nipping into Napoli

‘Ello Ercolano

Everyone has heard of Pompeii, in fact it gets millions of visitors a year. There’s another site that’s part of the same UNESCO listing, closer to Naples in fact. Oddly Pompeii gets the crowds while Herculaneum, or Ercolano in Italian, is delightfully crush-free. Both towns suffered the same fate in the 79 AD eruption of… Continue reading ‘Ello Ercolano

(re)Visiting Vilnius

Dinner at Snekutis

First night fiasco averted Vilnius almost feels like home turf to me after a few trips there last year, so it was natural that I’d feel a lot more at ease here. To add a little local colour and continue the theme of starting out with ‘local food as eaten by locals’ my girlfriend had arranged… Continue reading (re)Visiting Vilnius