ARTICLES

Haunted Mysteries of Pompeii

Haunting Images that will Add Pompeii to your Bucket List

One of the intrinsic benefits of luxury travel is getting to wander off the main tourist path and visit places that can be stimulating from an intellectual point of view. The ancient city of Pompeii on Italy’s west coast is just such a place. It experienced a catastrophic ending, and within 1 day, it was completely buried for the next 2,000 years. Today, it can be visited on foot thanks to over a century of archaeological excavations.

After reading her story, I encourage you to add Pompeii to your bucket list. It exploded on a beautiful August morning in 79AD. Mount Vesuvius had rumbled and grumbled for months. Residents in the wealthy city of Pompeii at the base of the mountain’s sunset side became used to their belching neighbor that kept emitting rude noises and smoky plumes on a regular basis. And so, they continued to go about their daily business. 

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Charms of Vernazza

Cinque Terre - The Gift that Keeps on Giving

For the luxury-minded traveler, Cinque Terra is the gift to yourself that never stops giving. It will provide you with a lifetime of memories that, because of the unusual scenic treasures, will stand out from the other trips you have taken in your lifetime. It is both a National Park as well as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

A masterpiece of coastal beauty, it shares words like insanely picturesque, deeply colorful and wildly natural all at the same time. Recently, it has been named the “Cinque Terre Riviera.”

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The Dark Mysteries of Italy's Caves

8 Jaw-Dropping Italian Caves

Let’s take luxury travel in a different direction: into the bowels of Italy. Not necessarily spelunking in the strict sense, but simply touring. Caves hold a mysterious fascination that pings a bell of intrigue in all of us. A benefit of Italian caves is that if you focus your travel around caves during the day, you will be close enough to civilization upon exiting, making it simple to find a nice bar afterward from which you can sip a cool martini and reflect on your day’s adventure. 

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Drone View of Florence

Getting High in Florence

Cameras have evolved into a permanent must-have part of our mainstream culture. Whether it is a part of a smart phone, or a high-end DSLR, we use them to communicate online and off, for email and social media, for business and education. When traveling, cameras have become as ubiquitous as a passport. Even more so, because some of us carry more than one type of camera.

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4 Horses of St. Mark's

7 Ways to visit St. Mark’s Square (Venice) while avoiding the crowds and staying cool

Everyone that visits Venice will go to St. Mark’s Square, period. And you must as well. But how can you do it differently than the millions of selfie-taking tourists while garnering food for your brain and staying cool to boot? Most consider St. Mark’s Square to consist ofthe Basilica, theDoges’ Palace, and theBell Tower. But this World Heritage site houses so much more for intellectually-driven luxury travelers; and those that enjoy moving at less than the break-neck pace to which the typical cruise ship tourists must adhere.

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6 Walled Cities of Tuscany - with a SURPRISE at the end!

Many luxury travelers have seen the major tourist cities in Italy such as Rome, Florence, and Venice. They have probably even visited the second-tier hot spots of Cinqueterre, the Amalfi Coast, and Sienna. An area of Italy that is difficult to visit is Tuscany. Not because it is hard to find nor even hard to get to. But because it is so vast and there are hundreds of tiny pockets of Italian goodness.

Point of fact: did you know that there are over 200 ancient walled cities in Tuscany? 

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