Marseille

More family!! Spent 3 days with newly discovered relatives; Gilles, Silvie, Juliet and Lilou in their absolutely gorgeous little french villa in Marseille countryside. They have been unbelievably accomodating, and i've had a fantastic time. Yes, there is a castle in their village. Their local bottleshop is a strip of wineries. They live in a 16th century Chapel, and they eat crossaints for breakfast. Gilles and Sylvie are flight attendants, and get to travel all over the world for their job. Perfect lifestyle? I think so.

Gilles and Sylvie, first night

Their house

Local winery

Beautiful French architecture

Me, Gilles, Lilou and Juliet

Crème brulée, chocolate brownie and greek yogurt with honey

Lilou, 3yrs old; isn't she cute!!

Just another southern French village... (Gorde)

A gorgeous monastery that still houses Monks today, who live according to 300yr old tradition

Cinque Terre

Up until now, i hadn't been bothered by the fact that i'm essentially chasing the winter. But after pretty shitty weather in the gorgeous, picturesque province of Cinque Terre, i can't help but feel a little disappointment. Having said that, there were brief promises of sunshine, and even the rain and the cold couldn't hide the fact that this collection of 5 towns, each within walking distance, is one of the most incredible places in the world. The walk took about 7hrs, taking us from town 1 all the way to town 5 across the coast: starting in the first town, Riomaggiore.


All i have to do is get back there in the summertime to really take advantage of the transparent waters and long beautiful walks.

Literally a hole-in-the-wall shop in the middle of the track where a guy was selling freshly squeezed lemonade, lemoncello and wine

What does this sign mean exactly?

Mar-Mar: our beautiful hostel apartment

A kitchen!!

Justin, Kim and me

'Lover's Lane'

Florence Winery Tour

Went on a Tuscany wine tour around the Chianti Classico region. Despite the morning drizzle, we were all relieved when the sun finally came out in the afternoon. Visited a few wineries to taste their vino, olive oil, 30yr old balsamic vineagar and liquior.In between we ate a big lunch and explored some really great medievil towns, such as Castellina and San Gimignano. Oh, and have a try of supposidly the 'World's Best Gelato'. In addition to the gorgeous landscape (despite shitty weather) and pretty good wine, it was really nice to get to know people staying at the hostel.

Our driver

The medievil towns