Holidaying with the Pope (sort of)

Recently, a couple of friends have pointed out that my little blog has a heavy food theme to it. A bigger helping of tomatoes than sunshine, shall we say. Being a self confessed food fanatic, (and by that I do mean that I prefer eating it to cooking it...) I shall continue to post regularly about various gelato/pasta/pizza/sweet treats that I scoff. Everyone needs a bit of #foodporn in their lives, don't they.

However, today's post doesn't actually revolve around food! Well, not completely anyway. Being in such a beautiful country, I have made it my objective to explore as much of it as possible. Last weekend I spent some time in stunning Cilento (and met up with some wonderful Twitter friends, click here for more on that!) and the weekend before that, my lovely Italian man treated me to a weekend in Castelgandolfo, which is about 15 miles south east of Rome. It's also home to the Pope's official holiday residence, dontcha know. Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend a day lounging by the pool with the head of the Catholic church (because yes, I'm quite certain that's what he does when he's on holiday...quite certain...) but we did stay in a lovely hotel (Hotel Castelvecchio), explored the winding cobbled streets, witnessed the marvellous Lake Albano and ate very well indeed (I said it wasn't a completely food-less post). Here are some snapshots of our little weekend away...

The child was not with me. And yes, I have of course unwittingly taken a photo of a Pasticceria...

Yes, we went out on a pedalo.

Just the start of our antipasto feast at a great restaurant called Arte & Vino.

The culinary delights just kept coming.

The stunning view from our hotel

 Hope you're all having a great week! :o)

A place to stay in Rome?

Last weekend myself and my man decided that driving from Puglia to Rome and back again was just too much to do in one day. So, we decided to stay the night in Rome. Just look at this fantastic place we found!

 The Hotel Selva Candida is a great place to stay if you are keen on avoiding the busy streets and smog of the city centre. There's public transport to and from the centre though, so if your comfortable using the bus and metro, it's perfect. It's also only about 15/20 minutes from Fiumicino airport.

The hotel seems like it's in its own little piece of the countryside, and the decor inside is gorgeous. The staff are friendly and helpful and the prices are very reasonable indeed. We paid €50 for the room (which was incredibly clean and consisted of not only a bedroom, but a very decent sized bathroom and an extra room with a sofa and desk), including breakfast. And what a breakfast it was: cake, croissants, cereal, fruit, bread, yogurt etc etc. There's also a big car park (free and no need for a reservation).

There doesn't seem to be much in terms of things to do in the immediate area, but there are a couple of places to eat, including a great pizzeria just along the road from the hotel. I had some of the best bruschetta ever. And the tiramisu? Out of this world.

So if you're looking for somewhere a bit more tranquilla whilst in Rome, go to Selva Candida. Have a look at the official website here!

Buona domenica!