Looking back at my travels in 2010

I've been reading to sweetest post about travel memories by Liz Borod Wright of Travelogged and it made me realise how much I've travelled in 2010.

S'Ardia

After having left home in 1998, and spent seven years in Rome, two in Dublin and two in London, I finally made it back to my hometown, Sardinia, for quite a long while. This has given me the invaluable chance to spend some quality time with my parents, visit places I had never seen, carry out some research on the fascinating past of my island, meet interesting people, going down Europe's deepest canyon, participate to some of my favourite local festivals such as S'Ardia in Sedilo and the Mamuthones of Mamoiada, enjoy Sardinia's culinary delicacies and listening to my grandmother's extraordinary story of when she and my grandfather left the island to move to France in the late '50s.

Local getting ready for dune driving in Abu Dhabi desert

During the year I spent in Sardinia, I have also travelled to the Middle East, a region that has always captivated me. So far I've only been to the UAE, but I liked it so much that it won't take me long to go back and explore the rest of that charming corner of the planet. My short, yet unforgettable, stay in the Emirates gave me the chance to spark my passion for the desert, not only for the timeless beauty of its endless stretch of sandy dunes, but also because I could better understand the past and the culture of this young nation.

I thoroughly enjoyed dawdling about Dubai and admired its quirky skyline, but have been captured by the characters I met in Abu Dhabi local markets, the typical places where you can genuinely sense a country's identity.

Gordes, Provence

Before leaving Europe, I somehow felt compelled to make another trip within the Old Continent, and this is how, end of Mars, I ended up in the French region of Provence, where my aunt lives. Here I had the unique opportunity to visit the creepiest dolls' house I had ever seen, be able to picture how was the life of the infamous Marquis De Sade after the Catholic Church banned him and his works from public life, wander the streets of a ghost town, and enjoy a photo-trip in Gordes, picturesque village located right on the edge of a cliff.

After all this traveling around, I finally made it to my new hometown, and last July I landed in China. For who's been following my blog, it's not a mystery that the beginning of my stay in Shanghai has been quite a shock and more than once I thought I couldn't make it.

The Great Wall of China

Fortunately, however, my Sardinian roots provided me with a good deal of stubbornness and made me refuse to admit defeat. Now I'm glad I stuck to my original plan, otherwise I wouldn't have visited so many great places such as the Great Wall or picturesque water towns, I wouldn't have met such beautiful people, I wouldn't have had the chance to explore the fascinating culture of ancient China, and especially I would have missed the chance to challenge myself with studying Mandarin, activity with the unique feature of making me realise that the more I learn the less I understand.

Despite this barrier and my initial shock, I've been gradually collecting little defining moments in the "Country of the middle", conquests that are contributing in shaping my personality, enriching my life experience and opening my mind to a whole new set of priorities. In a nutshell, I'm applying for a visa extension.

2010 has been exciting and challenging, and I wish 2011 will be as constructive and inspiring. Happy New Year everybody!

Favourite destinations for solo female travelers? Emirates' timeless beauty

I'm honoured to host on my blog a guest post by Stephanie Lee, the author of "The Art of Solo Travel". Not only she gives very useful tips for any woman traveling alone, but I'm happy she has chosen the United Arab Emirates, one of my most favourite destinations.

When embarking on the adventure of solo travel for the first time, one of the first things that spring to mind is health and safety. As a solo female traveller who’s been around the globe, interestingly two of the cities in which I felt safest were Abu Dhabi and Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. Despite what the media frequently portrays, these cities in the UAE are forward metropolitan hubs with modern conveniences, friendly people, and have their fair share to offer any solo traveller without compromising on personal comfort and safety.
Some of the factors that contribute to this:

The city never sleeps

These two cities are high rollers with a busy and vibrant nightlife. Because there is always something going on in the city – be it 24-hour restaurants or clubs, the presence of people out socializing in the evenings and nights provided me with reassurance when going out after dark.

An international crowd

If travelling alone, it is guaranteed that you will meet other like-minded souls in these cities. Whether a fellow traveller or a working expat, making friends is easy, therefore there was never any reasons to feel lonely or unsafe. There are also ladies night in many places meaning free cocktails!

Day safaris

Join the plethora of day tours available in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Try your hand at crab-hunting in the Arabian Sea, go dune-bashing in the exotic desert, or watch belly-dancers entertaining you in front of a local feast. Whatever you decide, you will always have a small group of people enjoying a similar activity with you.

Visit the new wonders of the UAE

It is always safe to visit popular monuments as there will be many others doing exactly the same thing. Along with many other tourists in the city, spend a day or two visiting the new Burj Dubai, or gawk at old ones like the Burj-al-Arab and the Atlantis Hotel. Alternatively go shopping at the fantastic Mall of the Emirates where you can also go skiing.

Watch a concert at the Emirates Palace

With thousands of other screaming fans, it is impossible to feel unsafe. Many popular artists frequently hold concerts at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, and from personal experiences it is pretty spectacular to watch your favourite band put on a show for you in the middle of the desert.

Take the taxi

Taxis are cheap, clean, and the drivers in a smart uniform are polite, helpful and courteous. Don’t take the bus.

Other obvious things

Besides keeping in mind the obvious such as not walking down a dark alley or tunnel alone, and never bringing your valuables out with you, it is almost impossible to feel insecure or unsafe in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Although not the cheapest places to visit, a few days there wouldn’t hurt. So head over there and party like it’s 2011! Happy New Year to all solo travellers!

You can buy "The Art of Solo Travel" here.

Me and my camels

A while ago I had written about the "possibility" I've had to relocate to a camel farm in Turkey. At that time, I rejected the proposal, and now I understand the only reason I had done it was because I had never seen a camel. Live, at least.

During my latest trip to Middle East, I went on a Safari in Abu Dhabi desert, and one of the stops was at a camel farm. And there the epiphany: I love camels. They are discreet, sweet and shy. So shy that when I got close to the first one, he run away.

I took another chance, and it was mutual friendship. I started feeding them, that's why maybe they gave me the benefit of the doubt. I was thrilled, I forgot my camera somewhere in the farm, I wasn't even thinking about taking photos of the camels. In a nutshell, I forgot anything "modern", I thought perfectly normal of moving there and living in a tent. I was mesmerised.

"Ships of the desert", camels are part of the charm that desert lands evoke. Their being the undisputed stars of such timeless beauty, their role as constant travel companions to fascinating nomad tribes, Bedouins and Tuaregs, and their being a symbol of wealth and so loyal to their owners, inevitably play a strong role in tickling such a foreign curiosity.

It was a real wrench to tear myself from these sights, and from the very moment of our departure I've started picturing my next "camel-oriented" excursion. Mongolia?

Go local in Abu Dhabi visiting its carpet and fish markets

There's hardly a place where you can capture the quintessence of a country as much as in its local markets. More than tourist bazaars, where you are more likely to find mock-local products, especially made for tourists, hidden markets are busy with locals who, supposedly, know where to shop for grocery and other basic goods better than visitors.

When I lived in Rome, I used to go to two markets, the one in Via Trionfale for grocery, fresh bread, and food in general, and the one in Via Sannio for clothing, where I've always found fantastic deals for leather jackets.

In this kind of markets, local traders show their best, and grant customers with many pearls worth remembering: in Rome, for example, when a seller wants to convince you that his price is the excellent, he'll trump: "That's it! I want to ruin myself for you!" Said with Roman accent, it's truly memorable.

In Abu Dhabi, I spent a morning hanging around the carpet and the fish markets, and my expectations were widely met: if you want to buy truly local products, nowhere is better than a proper local market, mainly unknown by tourists. I went with a friend of mine who lives in Abu Dhabi and who wanted to buy a carpet. I'm proud to say that I have witnessed a proper bargain.

Acutally, my friend had already been there, had already chosen his carpet and had already started a negotiation, so we were to start the second round. I sat and enjoyed the show: both men (my friend and the carpet-seller) started shouting and waving at each other. As I'm Italian, and I know Arabs have a similar way of speaking with hands, I didn't worry about the dynamic talk.

I couldn't understand a word, as the bargaining was happening in Arabic, and I was somehow misled: "Good," I thought, "they are finding an agreement."

Not as quite. My friend darted out the door and the carpet-trader, undisturbed, still sitting on one of his carpets, whispered a wise "Aaahhh!". A little troubled, suddenly aware I had got it all wrong, I ran after my friend, more disappointed than the carpet-seller, who's certainly used to such activities and doesn't really look to rush with his sales.

In his white tunic and his desert in mind, he smiled at us as if thinking: "I know you are coming back." And he was quite right, actually: my friend stopped by the other sellers, but they were all loyal to their colleague and didn't offer a lower price.

"He's a very proud man, he must come from the desert, they are very strong people," said my friend patiently. I kept hoping to go back to see that man, I begged him to bring me there again and keep bargaining so that I could enjoy the show, but not a chance. Even if I couldn't understand what they were saying, there was something ancestral in their discussion, more genuine than sales in big department stores.

Never mind, we were off to the fish market, just opposite, near Abu Dhabi port.

The first thing I noticed is that it was spotless. After photographing some weird fish on display, and the biggest prawns and crabs ever, I ended up in the area where fast fish-cleaners prepare the fish according to the cooking needs of the customers. So they spend their day peeling, chopping, slicing and scaling any kind of fish bought from the neighbouring stalls.

Our morning ended at the Emirates Palace, claim to fame of Abu Dhabi luxury, certainly in striking contrast with the previous little markets, but also undoubtedly less lively.

Sex in public: a sign of freedom?

Recently, I have read an interesting post on Travel Blissful about "love customs" in different countries. The writer, Erica, stresses the importance of respecting every country we are visiting. Rightly so, I would add.

I'll never get tired (or maybe at some point I will) of pointing out that belonging to a specific culture doesn't make that culture necessarily right or the best one. People, wherever they are, should consider natural to respect their neighbours, but more so if they are travelling to a foreign country.

I have just got back from to the UAE, country that in the western public mind is very conservative and strict, and I struggle to understand why much of the British press gives a rather negative coverage of the Emirate. 

Two years ago a British couple got arrested in Dubai because they were having sex on a beach, and the police charged them with the count of offending public decency. In Italy they would have got arrested too.

In today's news, another British couple got into trouble in Dubai for having allegedly breached the local law and kissed in public. Kissing in public might be appreciated in some countries, but the UAE tourism office ask tourists to respect local laws. I think visitors can make this enormous effort until they get back home.

British people are usually obsessively respectful of the law, so this persistency reeks a bit of arrogance.

During the two years I spent in London, for quite a few times I've had the impression that the word decency was gradually disappearing from the dictionary, at least during the weekends. I, myself, have witnessed, in Shoreditch on a Friday night, very degrading performances involving young women boasting their "cool" drunkenness, and instead of feeling "emancipated", I felt outraged. 

But that's just me, I don't like such behaviours so I try to avoid places where I know they're common habit.

You feel unable to respect another country's laws and traditions? Stay home.

Out in the desert, dune driving

During my stay in Abu Dhabi I spent a day out in the desert. Needless to say, I loved it so much that I didn't want to leave, I would have gladly spent the night in a tent.

I'm not exactly a "risk-lover", though, so when I was told that we were about to go dune driving in a four-wheel-drive, I artlessly went: "I can't take photos if I'm in the car!"

"Nice try," must have thought our driver, but politely replied: "Don't worry, we will stop and you'll be able to photograph the cars behind us."

So, after having skillfully bypassed any London or Dublin car hire for four years in order to spare myself from driving on the wrong side traffic, now I was about to let a stranger bring me up and down huge sandy dunes.

"You know, cars can get stuck in the sand, drivers must be *really* good. You know, cars can somersault in dunes' peaks, drivers must be *really* good!" Those were just some of the warnings that went past my mind when our driver started up. Of course I was hoping he was *really* good. And he was, indeed.

Fifteen 4x4 Land Cruisers darting up and down the dunes were spectacular, and minute after minute the light in the desert seemed to change while we approached the sunset time, and every photo seems taken in different deserts.

This yellowish empty landscape has always fascinated me and I'm realising many people are attracted by such boundless view, but not as many can explain why. Maybe it's the very fact of being somewhere limitless, maybe it's due to the mysterious history that lies behind those territories, or maybe it's the charm of the "Arabian nights" that still lives in our secret thoughts.


Abu Dhabi desert has lived up to my expectations, and now I'm following Islam's greatest traveller, Ibn Battutah, in his adventures through the tales of Tim Mackintosh-Smith, and I feel proud everytime I read about a place I have visited too, and dream of spots I still have to discover.

From Europe to the Middle East

I've just got back from the Middle East and am missing it already. I've travelled with British Airways and I was very happy with their services: food is not bad, entertainment is more than enough and for literally any liking, since we could choose among a wide range of movies, tv shows, videogames and music (we could even create our own cd picking up one or more songs from the available albums!).

Admittedly this time I haven't searched or compared different prices or deals, as I stayed at friends' place. I've only compared a couple of airlines flying from Europe to Abu Dhabi, but it could be worth trying to pick up a Hotels.com discount code at VoucherCodes.co.uk to save on travelling.

I have loved my short stay in the Emirates and already thinking about going back. When I was there I didn't get the chance to write a lot, only a small post on Dubai, but now I'll be posting more on Abu Dhabi, my desert experience and what I've learnt about their society, tellingly, quite different from the views our media give us.

I have sadly noticed, since I came back, a very negative reaction here in Europe every time I say something positive about the UAE and, astonishingly, mainly from people who have never even been there and have no clue of how their society works nor what their culture is.

I'm not sure if this hostility stems from plain prejudice (that most of the times stems from ignorance and the fear of the unknown), or an unconscious jealousy that things are working quite well in the Emirates, while Europe is collapsing every day more due to the incompetence and corruption of our current (and past) crop of politicians.


Whatever the reason is, I'm very happy for the Emirate people, and hope they'll keep enjoying the resources of their beautiful country. This being said, I'm ready to tackle every aspect of the UAE I managed to acknowledge and write about it, before heading to Southern France at the end of the month.

Dubai, dawdling about the vertical city

I knew Dubai was a cluster of buildings little matching each other either for style or design, but looking at pictures is nowhere similar to staring at those steely beasts for real. Coming from the elegant Abu Dhabi, along Sheikh Zayed Rd, the impact of so many huge buildings close to each other is one of bewilderment.

My friend compared it to a face that went through too much facial surgery, and I can hardly disagree. It gives the impression of a reckless building rush, but it does have its own charm.

During my quick stroll around Dubai, I got to see the Jumeirah Souk Madinat (souk is the Arabic version of bazaar), a huge classy bazaar in a very Arabian style. The plan is to reproduce an easygoing market atmosphere, but once inside Jumeirah Souk you'll inevitably find yourself dwadling about luxurious shops and costly handmade products.

A walk in Jumeirah bazaar is very pleasant: I admit I have a soft spot for the Arabian style, so being immersed in such atmosphere was a real treat for me.

Within the Jumeirah complex there is also the worldwide famous hotel Burj Al Arab. I had heard plenty about it, seen hundreds of pictures of it, from every angle and lighting, however, as soon as we got closer, it did strike a chord. It sits on a tiny island of Dubai's coast and is built with a lovely taste of simple elegance. Impressive.

After leaving Jumeirah, we headed to the biggest shopping centre in the Middle East: the Dubai Mall. Seven floors of stores, nine floors of car parking, the Mall houses every majour fashion brand in the world and offers entertainment, a wide range of dining places, events and attractions, among which the most targeted is a huge aquarium (and its connected underwater zoo) hosting any kind of fish, with the possibility for divers to dive themselves and feed the fish directly. I admit, I'm not a fan of zoos or aquariums, as I can't bear the sight of animals kept in captivity.

I have only spent one day in Dubai, so I by no means have the knowledge to judge or even write extensively about the city altogether. However, I had the impression that the government, led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, acts to meet the population's needs. This may seem obvious, but as used as I am to seeing Italian, and European, leaders approving laws for their sole personal interests and neglecting what the electorate had voted for, the Emirates' way to operate is totally new to me.

Dubai, as a purely financial and commercial capital, has inevitably suffered from the world's recession, from lower housing prices to a higher level of unemployment, but Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum can say without any doubt that he strongly managed to put his Emirate on the world map.