Every October vacation when we’re in Italy Simon and Quinnie like to meet up with friends of ours in Finale Ligure to go rock climbing (you can read a previous post I wrote about it here if you want). Quinnie and friends climbing Quinnie climbing (and look at that water!) Can you see they guy […]

Dolcedo is an adorable little village not far from Oma and Opa’s place… We found another reason to keep going back- this awesome restaurant.. and of course one of our favorites- Amelia’s.. the homemade pasta is amazing No trip to Italy would be complete without many trips to Pasticceria Vittoria- the best gelato ever! Check […]

The Liguria region of Italy (where Simon’s parents have their home) is known for it’s incredible olives and olive oil. Friedel told us we could buy amazing olive oil just a 30 minute drive from their place. He said that Roi brand was voted the best olive oil in the world. I wanted to stock […]

Some friends of ours have a home in Pantasina and invited us to the town’s Chestnut Festival. I love these random little villages on hillsides.. inside the church pictured above.. Inside this building was a little second hand shop.. There was a little street fair where artists were selling their photography, paintings, and jewelry.. Simon […]

Dolceacqua (it means “sweet water” in Italian), is a small, charming village in the province of Imperia. We explored it for a day and had so much fun! The castle on the hill is believed to date back to the 11th century! It was damaged by invasions, and later a massive earthquake. running up the […]

Here are some pics from this year’s visit to Oma and Opa’s place/ neighborhood in Italy… the neighborhood church and school the first stop will always be the chicken coop (for the girls, at least) our walk to the car every day I actually love when it rains when we’re here. It means we can […]

Another one of my favorite places to visit! Cervo is an ancient town built on top of a hill, with around 1,200 residents. It overlooks the Sea and is gorgeous. one of the entrances map (so many winding streets to explore!) Quinnie and Papa taking in the views. LOTS of uphill walking here! There are […]

Bussana Vecchia is a really interesting place, with an even more interesting history. It’s a village that was built up on a hill in the 9th century. It was abandoned in 1887 after an earthquake destroyed it and killed over 2,000 people. It was considered a ghost town until the early 1960’s when it was […]

The girls looking for sea creatures on the jetty. They spent hours doing this every day. success! Papa teaching Kiera how to skip a rock card games Spinning Quinnie Kiera’s turn! sisters Quinnie and her friends burying Papa. By the way, the Papa of these girls is a childhood friend of Simon’s that he hadn’t […]

For our second visit to Italy this year (Easter vacation), we decided to drive. Growing up, if Simon and his family didn’t take the overnight train to Italy, they’d drive. It’s a gorgeous drive. My favorite part is going through Switzerland and seeing the Alps. SO beautiful! I was a little nervous about how the […]

This place was amazing. Italy has a whole network of caves, and this is one of the best (or so I’ve read). It’s still in the Liguria region- it took us a little over an hour to drive there. It was quite a steep hike to get up to the caves. They had metal stairs […]

Alassio is about a 30 minute drive from us. It’s another fun beach town to shop in. It was a bit overcast and windy the day we went, but we still had fun. Beautiful Door. / American Dog Bar?! cool candy store This tiny pizza place (take-out only) has been here for years and has […]

Oneglia is about a ten minute drive along the coast from us. There’s some great shopping there. Opa usually waits until he’s in Italy to get his hair cut in Oneglia by this really old barber he’s been going to for years. Simon got his hair cut by the same guy this visit. Simon hung […]

One of the closest (and most beautiful) beaches near our place in Italy is in Porto Maurizio. Usually one of the first things we do is walk the jetty to the lighthouses. October is our favorite month to come to Italy. The summer crowds are gone and it’s not too hot- perfect beach weather. stairs […]