Situated just off the beautiful Piazza delle Erbe is the Torre dei Lamberti – the tallest of Verona’s towers. It was built by the powerful Lamberti family in 1172 and belongs to a group of towers next to the Palazzo della Ragione. Overlooking the historic city, this 84-metre high tower boasts 360-degree views for those brave enough to reach the terrace and belfry.
Famed for its association with Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels, Volterra is a walled town situated in the Pisa province, not far from Siena and Florence. It’s believed the author wanted a fictional city “Volturin” in Tuscany that had a square and clock tower from which to set the series. It’s understood Volterra was used in the Twilight series but for the New Moon film, the Volterra scenes were actually filmed in Montepulciano in Italy.
We’d travelled for years before POD arrived one snowy Christmas Day. While our holidays have changed since she was born back in 2010 (jungle sleepovers are definitely out), POD is just as much of an adventurer are we are. Suffice to say, we always travel together unless one of us has a press or work-based trip. We didn’t even realise until recently but over the past 7 years, we’ve never been away as a couple. While this is partly because we don’t have childcare locally, we genuinely enjoy going away as a family of three. Recently, however, we got to go to Verona in Northern Italy without the small one. Don’t get me wrong we missed her like crazy and it was weird at times but we had a good time. It turns out you can squeeze an awful lot into a weekend without a small one in tow too.
While we were in Tuscany, when we stayed at the stunning Villa Le Capanne from Bookings For You, we drove over to Florence. It was just over 1.5 hours away from our wonderful villa and somewhere we’d wanted to spend a day exploring. Some of us had visited before and others hadn’t but we were all keen to discover more of this beautiful city. We had two tours organised with LivItaly, the first was a private food tour and gelato making class. The other (to be covered in another post) a walking tour of the city which included a visit to the David.
If you fancy heading to Paris but the thought of taking the kids doesn’t appeal, check out what we got up while we were there as a family. We always find the key to success is in the planning so we have a good combination of activities that keep everyone occupied. We like to do things on the spur of the moment though too. We had such an amazing time in Paris as a family, we were kicking ourselves for not heading back to this wonderful city earlier.
We’ve always believed we can travel to most cities with six year old POD providing we’ve researched what we’re doing and there’s enough to keep the three of us occupied. When we booked a long weekend in Paris with Eurostar, we did consider spending part of it at Disneyland but opted to explore the historical city instead. Although we’ve visited Paris many times before as a couple, the city has a lot on offer for kids too. We had a feeling POD would love the French capital just as much as we did. These are just a few of our top tips when thinking about a city break and how you can make the most of your time away.
Meliá Hotels International is one of the largest hotel groups in the world with 370 hotels in 43 countries offering everything from exclusive luxury through to family holidays. The Meliá Hotels & Resorts brand operates in cities and popular holiday destinations across the globe. In Paris alone we had our pick from of the Champs-Elysées, Notre-Dame, Tour Eiffel, Place Vendome and the Paris Opéra. We opted for the 4* Meliá París La Défense as it’s a bit different. Uniquely designed in the shape of a ship’s hull, it offers panoramic views across the city as well as being family friendly.
Designed and built in the 19th century by Gustave Eiffel’s company, the Eiffel Tower was created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Standing 324m tall, it’s recognised today as one of the most iconic monuments in the world, much like the Empire State Building in New York, The View From The Shard in London and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai which is the world’s tallest building.
Such a brilliant weekend was had by all in Germany’s capital city. We saw numerous sights and attractions including the historic Berlin Wall, East Side Gallery and Wall Museum. There are over 400 galleries in Berlin but there’s an abundance of public art to be found too. Not just at the 1.3km long East Side Gallery (where you’ll find the renowned “fraternal kiss” either. Much like London, street art can be found all over Berlin. Work by International artists such as ROA, Victor Ash, Os Gemeos, Romero and Flix can be found here along with local talent like Bimer, Bonk and El Bocho. When looking for the best places to find street art in London, I knew exactly what to look for and where. We didn’t have the time to do a full street art tour in Berlin but that’s not to say we could seek out a few of those well-known murals.
If you’ve not visited Germany’s capital before you might presume it’s not geared up for kids. In actual fact there are an enormous number of sights, attractions and parks to discover as a family. Not only that our recent Jet2CityBreak saw us take advantage of the Berlin Welcome Card which gives you free train and bus travel plus up to 50% off the top 200 attractions.
