shave ice & gelato

A peek inside the church:

Continue reading "part 3 ~ Santa Caterina del Sasso" »

View of the church:

Cloister outside of the church:

Continue reading "part 2 ~ Santa Caterina del Sasso" »

Wednesday, July 15th:
The skies were gray Wednesday morning. Not long after I woke up, it began to rain. I had two full days left in Stresa and both Santa Caterina del Sasso & Orta were on my list as places I definitely wanted to visit. Santa Caterina del Sasso, a monastery that was built in the 12th century on a rocky hillside, looked like the better choice for a cloudy/rainy day. After breakfast, the rain stopped for a bit. I took the 9:55 am boat (5.80 euros roundtrip) to Santa Caterina. For the history of this amazing monastery, check out Dana's blog post.

Continue reading "boat ride to Santa Caterina del Sasso" »

*Answer revealed at the end of this post...

No, this is not related to the Mystery Date game (for those old enough to remember).

I chose the title mystery door because I wanted to see if anyone can guess where this door in Florence is located. This is the same door (different shot) as the second photo in my last post - "tied"~ PhotoHunt.

I cropped the second photo from my last post so you can see the detail a little better.

And if anyone knows more about the history of this door, I am curious about the story of the one panel on the door that is carved like a flower. I tried googling this door but came up empty.

Woo Hoo!!! Sandra guessed the mystery door location!! :)

This was going to be my next clue...

These flags fly over this door.

The mystery door is...

the *other door* of the Palazzo Vecchio.

Can you spot the door in this photo of the Palazzo Vecchio?

I've decided to stretch the theme a little this week. Many years ago, horses and perhaps mules were tied to these...

(photo taken in Bologna)

(photo taken in Florence)

(photo taken in Lonato)