Beyond the Frame Travels

11/03/2024

Day one on Avalon Passion in Amsterdam.

04/11/2023

Good morning, Algarve! ☕️

02/11/2023

Crazy weather today in Porto! Not the huge storm hitting England and France but windy enough! This is the mouth of the Douro river. 💨💨☔️ Glad we left for the Algarve 🤞🏻for☀️!

11/06/2023

I love it when my clients let me know how I helped make their vacation special!

"We’ve known Mary Pat for some time and since we had never traveled to Europe we asked for her help. She was phenomenal and we absolutely recommend her. She took care of everything but the hotels(we did that). Booked a 2 week trip to Italy that was amazing! Venice, Florence, Rome & Sorrento. Many wonderful semi-private and private tours that were fabulous, guides were great. Answered any questions we had. Calmed any anxieties. We had an issue in Rome (nothing she did) that required some replanning and it was taken care of ASAP. She uses an app that has all your info, directions, train tickets, tour vouchers, etc on it which was very helpful. Use Mary Pat as your travel planner, you won’t regret it. We’ve already given her name to several people."
🇮🇹

27/04/2023

My lovely clients Roxann and Mark went to London for five days and now are making their way through Wales and England hiking through National Parks. They say the weather is perfect for them right now! 🥾🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

17/04/2023

Have you ever considered going on a river cruise?

The consensus star of the expo I attended in Budapest last month is making it easier for me to help my clients gain this experience!

Why river cruising?

1. Perfectly planned itineraries - no need to worry about anything. Unpack once and enjoy!

2. Beautiful scenery - It is a unique way to experience historic cities.

3. Fun-filled activities - biking, hiking, wine-tasting, exploring, choose what you want to do.

4. Make new friends without a crowd - river cruises typically have around 150 passengers on board.

From complimentary land packages to guaranteed airfare to special offers to groups, now is a great time to have the discussion with me about the rivers you would like to sail.

#2023

17/04/2023

Have you ever considered going on a river cruise?

The consensus star of the expo I attended in Budapest last month is making it easier for me to help my clients gain this experience!

Why river cruising?
1. Perfectly planned itineraries - no need to worry about anything. Unpack once and enjoy!

2. Beautiful scenery - It is a unique way to experience historic cities.

3. Fun-filled activities - biking, hiking, wine-tasting, exploring, choose what you want to do.

4. Make new friends without a crowd - river cruises typically have around 150 passengers on board.

From complimentary land packages to guaranteed airfare to special offers to groups, now is a great time to have the discussion with me about the rivers you would like to sail.

#2023

21/11/2022

When traveling on many rivers worldwide, you may find the ship having to traverse locks. They are a feat of engineering! Here is a quick look at how it works (from the Rhine last week).

30/05/2022

Thank you to all who have sacrificed for our country.

27/05/2022

Clients in Ireland sent me this picture of their hotel room!

30/03/2022

Sicily, the largest Mediterranean island, is just off the "toe" of Italy's "boot." Its rich history is reflected in sites like the Valley of the Temples, the well-preserved ruins of 7 monumental, Doric-style Greek temples, and in the Byzantine mosaics at the Ca****la Palatina, a former royal chapel in capital city Palermo. On Sicily’s eastern edge is Mount Etna, one of Europe’s highest active volcanoes.

28/03/2022

Just off Sicily’s western coast in the southernmost part of Italy, an ancient landscape of sulphur, pumice and obsidian emerges from the inky waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Sparsely populated and slow-moving, the Aeolian Islands offer spectacular landscapes, fascinating traditions, sweet villages, and good honest food. Capers, figs, olives, wild fennel and lemons bigger than your fist grow abundantly in the dense volcanic soils. Enjoying a glass of Malvasia sweet wine, the islands’ biggest export, is the perfect sun-way to end your day. 🇮🇹

28/03/2022

Sardinia, a 9,301-square-mile island situated in the Mediterranean Sea, just west of the Italian mainland, lures travelers with its unique blend of ancient culture and arresting coastal views. In his travel book "Sea and Sardinia," D.H. Lawrence wrote that "Sardinia is different." And it's true. Not only can you lounge on a white beach or wade out into clear, turquoise waters, but you can enjoy a leisurely pranzo (lunch) complete with Sardinia's own take on pasta and wine.

The best time to visit Sardinia is from April to June when the flowers are in bloom, the sea waters are warm, and the temperatures haven't yet reached their July and August highs.

26/03/2022

Lipari is the largest and most developed of the Aeolian Islands with hotels, shops, and restaurants. It has an historic center dominated by a fortress. Ferries and hydrofoils from Messina on Sicily and Reggio di Calabria on the mainland bring travelers.

26/03/2022

From the Trulli town of Alberobello (so cute!) to the town on the hill, Locorotondo and then to Martina Franca, it was another gorgeous day in Beautiful Puglia!

25/03/2022

Built in the local soft creamy limestone with dazzling architectural surprises around every corner, Lecce is a minor Baroque masterpiece. Its spider's web of streets offers plenty of opportunities to explore.
Supported by a history going back at least 2,500 years, modern-day Lecce is the main town on Puglia's Salento peninsula and a major draw for the area's tourism industry. Its 95,000 inhabitants haven't forgotten their roots, however, and the production and sale of olive oil, wine and ceramics continues to be the mainstay of the local economy.

Lecce is the perfect base for exploring the Salento peninsula – which is exactly what I am doing today! Stay tuned for pictures and updates. 🇮🇹

25/03/2022

Yesterday we visited Matera. I posted last week about it but had to post my own photos of this magnificent place. You can stay in a cave hotel!

24/03/2022

Ravenna is known as the city of mosaics because of the stunning 5th- and 6th-century mosaics that decorate the walls of its churches and monuments, and because it is still one of Italy's top producers of mosaics.

Ravenna has eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites, plus Roman sites, museums and Dante's tomb.

Ravenna can be easily reached by train from Bologna. 🇮🇹

24/03/2022

I am a sucker for narrow walkways and arches! Plenty of those in Lecce ❤️, including the Napoli gate to the old town and an original Roman column that was marking the beginning of the Appian way.

23/03/2022

Oh my - this hotel. The sites, the sounds - perfectly your idea of Italy. Not to mention the town of Lecce and its city center!

23/03/2022

Ever dreamed of getting married in a medieval tower? I have found the spot for your destination wedding 👰🏼 🇮🇹

23/03/2022

Wow - if you are thinking of a destination wedding, I have found the spot. 🇮🇹

23/03/2022

Beautiful Otranto on the Adriatic Sea is a seaside town that is popular in the summer. Such a long history between the fort and the basilica!

21/03/2022

This is one of the things I am most excited to see on my trip to Italy.

The trulli, typical limestone dwellings of Alberobello in the southern Italian region of Puglia, are remarkable examples of corbelled dry-stone construction, a prehistoric building technique still in use in this region. These structures, dating from as early as the mid-14th century, characteristically feature pyramidal, domed, or conical roofs built up of corbelled limestone slabs.

Although rural trulli can be found all along the Itria Valley, their highest concentration and best preserved examples of this architectural form are in the town of Alberobello, where there are over 1500 structures in the quarters of Rione Monti and Aja Piccola.

While Puglia was largely ignored by tourists in the past, the region has become much more popular. Consider visiting in Spring or Fall when the crowds are elsewhere. 🇮🇹

21/03/2022

Scenes for a wander through Lecce. Such a great city center!

20/03/2022

19/03/2022

I will see this next week!

Gallipoli means “beautiful city”, and the town lives up to its name.

Gallipoli in Italy may not be as famous as the World War 1 battle in the city of the same name in Turkey. But it has a long, varied history and excellent beaches.

The old town centre sits on a tiny island connected to the mainland by a 17th century bridge. It is almost completely surrounded by defensive walls, built mainly in the 14th century. The east side is dominated by a robust fortress dating back to the 13th century, but largely rebuilt in the 1500s when the town fell under Angevin control. 🇮🇹

15/03/2022

I will get get to see this with my own eyes this month!

Matera, Basilicata's jewel, may be the world's third-longest continuously inhabited human settlement. Natural caves in the tufa limestone attracted the first inhabitants perhaps 7000 years ago. More elaborate structures were built atop them. Today, looking across the gorge to Matera’s huddled sassi (cave dwellings) it seems you've been transported back to the ancient Holy Land.

Old Matera is split into two sections – the Sasso Barisano and the Sasso Caveoso – separated by a ridge upon which sits Matera’s gracious duomo (cathedral). The sassi, many little more than one-room caves, once contained such appalling poverty and unthinkable living conditions that in the 1950s Matera was denounced as the 'Shame of Italy', and the sassi-dwellers were moved on. Only in later decades has the value of this extraordinarily built environment been recognised, and in 2019 the city was recognised as a European Capital of Culture. 🇮🇹