The High Mountains of Portugal

“The High Mountains of Portugal” is the title of the book by Yann Martel. It retells three stories of love and loss, faith and lack of faith, which are interconnected with one another due to a quest started by Tomás. The young man stumbles upon an old journal in the archives of the National Museum of Antique Arts, in which he finds some information on an extraordinary artifact which might redefine and change history completely. After the death of his beloved girl, child and father in one week only, he has nothing to lose. So, he takes the adventure to look for and find out this artifact. In this connection he starts a travel in one of the earliest European automobiles to the High Mountains of Portugal.

Travel And Be An Artist

There have been plenty of books in recent years whose authors describe their lives and the complete change they make when they decide to take hard decisions to leave their daily life in their own country and to come to Europe. And again the “usual suspects”, are two of the sunniest European countries to the South – Italy and France. There’s no need to explain why…simply because they possess an extremely beautiful nature, long history and a great number of historic sites, strong traditions in cooking and wine-making, and charming locals.

Look At The World With a Child’s Eye

When one is a child, they want to be grown-ups. Little boys pretend to be true men with mustaches and muscles. Little girls use their mothers’ dresses and shoes on high heels as well as make-up. But what for? After some years kids will enter adults’ world and will always live in it later on. So, one should not be in a hurry wanting to become a grown-up. And when that moment comes one ought to keep the inner child as well as the bright memories of their childhood when ….

The Spicy Long-Short Journey

 “The Hundred-Foot Journey” by Richard C. Morais is neither the n^th culinary-love book nor a travel narrative. It’s a vivid story about life, love and the collision between two cultures and two cuisines as well as between old traditions and innovations.

Everything starts in Mumbai with Hassan’s grandparents. They are enterprising and initiative owners of a small and modest restaurant in the city. The passion for cooking is rooted in the whole family and is inherited by all its members. Hassan himself adopts culinary skills from his Mom who, unfortunately, dies when their restaurant is set on fire one evening. That circumstance forces his father to decide to move his family from India and restart their life far away from their homeland. Thus the Kadam family’s long journey begins from India to France through the UK.

Gusto and Passion

The profession of a travel writer and a gourmet cook is really exciting. I have come across several books whose authors depict the real tastes and pleasures of a foreign country by sharing their personal experience while living there as well as their passion for cooking and local cuisine. And again the “usual suspects”, are two of the sunniest European countries to the South – Italy and France. There’s no need to explain why…simply because they possess an extremely beautiful nature, long history and a great number of historic sites, strong traditions in cooking and wine-making, charming locals, and two particularly famous regions – Tuscany and Provence, respectively.

Find Your Island

Everyone of us has had unsuccessful love stories ending with a break-up. There is a period of time when Love Hurts, the pain is a bit great and the lack of illusions is our companion. But time heals and erases any of these bad memories, especially when we find out somebody or something that makes us live again and enjoy life.

Through the Three I-countries

Through Italy and India to Indonesia … This is the route of a young woman in her 30s, the main character and author of the blockbuster “Eat, Pray, Love”.

Elizabeth Gilbert has everything that a woman can dream of but she is still missing something and that makes her unhappy in marriage. That’s why she initiates a divorce that lasts for too long. She starts a relationship with a guy and it is not what she’s expected. Instead of enjoying it, it leaves her alone, depressed and ruined. The only solution for her is to take a one-year journey in order to get rid of the negative side of her past life and start to live again. And, yes, she chooses the three “Is” – Italy, India and Indonesia.

New Life for More Than 1000 Days

I don’t know why but Italy is one of the countries where people come mainly for a self-discovery in novels and movies. Is it because of the fluids in the air, or its cuisine and wines, or maybe Italian men with these wet eyes, charming smiles and gentlemanly attitude towards women. 😉 Whatever the reason is, it’s true that middle-aged ladies, main characters from famous novels, do come to the sunny country and their new lives start namely here. One of them is Marlena de Blasi who has always been a famous food journalist and restaurant critic, a popular food and wine consultant, whose love story starts in Venice.

G’day, mate!

G’day, mate. 🙂 This is the language visit card of Big Brother? And who is that Big Brother? Let me give you some clues.  It is one of the two countries that belong to the so called Down Under that is a collective name for two distant countries situated under the globe. It is not only a country but a whole southern continent with extremely hot weather but with heavy rains at the same time. Its capital is always mistaken with Sydney because of the world famous opera house there but in fact, it’s Canberra. It has a great diversity of wild animals like crocodiles, kangaroos and wild Dog Dingo. Last but not least it possesses desert central parts while its inhabitants live along a tiny sea coast to the east. Yes. 🙂 It’s the Big Brother as regards to New Zealand. It is situated “To the West of Eden” – the second book by Izabela Shopova.

The Long White Cloud

There are people who know it is situated so far from the rest of the world and often regard it as part of Australia. Some studied something about it at school and have slight memories but even cannot remember its capital (Wellington). Those who do know about Aotearoa (its Māori name) associate it with its humid and rainy weather or with the strong tectonic and volcanic activities only. And, yes, most of us have read about the extreme sports invented there like bungy jumping, jet-boats, sledging, black water (cave) rafting, zorbing, blokart and shweeb riding and so on and so on. Did you get it? Yes, sure. The land of the kiwis, the land of the “long white cloud”.