Join Lenora Boyle in Italy, the land of passion and possibilities.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Italy Travel, Cinque Terre, September



During cold winter months, it's fun to plan and dream of warm vacations in Italy.

That's just what was found in a study done in the Netherlands, where 1,530 Dutch individuals answered a questionnaire about their happiness before and after a trip. The biggest increase in happiness came from the actual act of planning the vacation. The purpose of the study was to find the relationship between vacations and happiness.

If the participants of the study had a very relaxed vacation, then they were happier for a longer period post-trip. But, basically, there was no difference between a vacationers and non-vacationers post-trip happiness.

Unlike this study though, happiness will not drop back to basics when you return from Italy, because one of the purposes of The Italy Retreat for Women is to learn HOW to be happy and create la dolce vita, 'the sweet life' wherever you are! Triple whammy--it's a win-win-win। Happy planning, happy savoring Italy, and happy when you return. You'll learn how to change your limiting beliefs while on the workshop in Italy, which is a serious cause of unhappiness. The result is continued happiness long after your return home.

As poet Anna Akhmatova puts it, "Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life."

This Italy Retreat combines 2 1/2 days of workshop with 5 days of travel in the Italian Riviera. It's very affordable too.
Portovenere
You will learn to break away from outdated beliefs about
what's possible in your life. Also, you'll discover how to 'create' your life instead of being the victim of your circumstances.

Give yourself a gift of travel and freedom this year. You'll find the Ligurian Coast of Italy a paradise of turquoise waters and mountains. It's also known for its wine, olive oil, pesto, divine bread called focaccia, and much more.

The Cinque Terre (five lands) are linked by breathtaking trails. It's fun to hike, take the ferry to visit each town, or hop on the train. We stay at a wonderful hotel in Monterosso al Mare, the Cinque Terre town with the best beaches.

Find out more about Cinque Terre in other blog posts here.

Sallee Haerr, one of the women who attended last year's trip wrote a guest post I think you'd enjoy.

Find out more or just call me 641-472-0414. Deadline fast approaching.




Photo: Rocky sunbathing beside the long sandy beach at Monterosso, Cinque Terre, Italy
Photo: portal overlooking the Bay of Poets in Portovenere, Italy



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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Colorful Houses of Liguria Italy


























One of the many beautiful eye catching scenes that thrills me in the Italian Riviera is the colorful homes throughout the Ligurian Coast--Green, blue, yellow, pink, orange, and gold.

In one of Fred Plotkin's book, Recipes from Paradise, he comments that "Many Ligurian seafarers have told me that the reason each adjoining building in their towns is painted a different color is so they can be recognized from boats offshore. Again, Ligurian practicality has beautiful results."

On the surfaces of the buildings are painted pillars, ornamentation and other facades that from a distance look real or seems that it is made of marble. Some of the windows, balconies and geraniums are fake. I couldn't tell the difference between the illusions and the actual.

Liguria is the third smallest of the Italian regions and lies in the northwest area of Italy. It has always traded with the north so was influenced by the Scandinavians who decorated the exterior of their homes. Their seafaring lifestyle also brought back the art and architectural styles from Islamic countries.

I invite you to view some gorgeous photos of Liguria on my Flickr albums from last year's La Dolce Vita Women's Retreat in Monterosso.

In case you missed out, we'll be heading over once again to the Cinque Terre area again from September 11-19 for 8 nights to travel along the Italian Riviera and to participate in my 15 hour transformational workshop.

Have you been to the Ligurian region of Italy? What's your favorite spot?

Photo: Left top of grated window & flower pot are NOT real: from http://www.photobattaglini.it/liguriapainted.htm

Photo: Left bottom--My photo of street in Manarola, Cinque Terre.
Photo:Right--My photo of Portovenere (Port of Venus)



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Saturday, December 12, 2009

D.H. Lawrence on Italy

"To penetrate into Italy is like a most fascinating act of self-discovery--back, back down the old ways of time.  Strange and wonderful chords awake in us, and vibrate again after many hundreds of years of complete forgetfulness."
---D.H. Lawrence
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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Travel to Italy



The Italy Retreat I taught in September was a transformational workshop with a setting that was beyond beautiful overlooking the Mediterranean on the Italian Riviera.  We enjoyed adventuring to 10 different towns along the coast, interspersed with 15 hours of workshop time.  During the 8 day retreat each woman had time to listen to her deepest desires and learn techniques to take home so that she could continue to create the life she loves and love the life she's living.

 

Living in a beautiful part of the world made it easy to feel happier and more peaceful.  Eating delicious aromatic food, surrounded by beauty and great conversations with others was satisfying on a deep level.  Sitting at meals sharing long hours with no sense of rushing gave us another level of experiencing la dolce vita, the sweet life.  No one was in a hurry.  Part of living the sweet life was that our meals were created from fresh locally grown ingredients.

 

Italy is home to some of the greatest art on the planet with its art museums, sculptures, churches, representing centuries of artistic achievement.  Some of the most wonderful art ever was created in Italy. We didn’t spend our time in museums, but everywhere we looked was pleasing to the eye, like an open air museum.

In Monterosso, where we stayed for 8 nights, orange and white umbrellas lined the beach.  Bright colorful blue, green, red fishing boats bobbed in the sea.  Bottles of olive oil, orange mandarin colored honey, local wine grown on the terraced hillsides, and mortar and pestles made from olive wood were artistically displayed.  More than that, the fragrance from the hillside herbs, lemon trees and vineyards surrounded us.   There was an unusual peace in the area also because the Cinque Terre (five lands) do not allow cars.  That may be one of the reasons the fragrances were so strongl.

 

It was easier there to be open to possibilities and to know that life is beautiful, even though we may have problems.

 

During the workshop, each woman found her clearer voice and purpose.  Many found their anger dissipating, their need to control to feel safe or loved diminishing, her fears and doubts changing to courage and clarity.  Moving beyond our old mindsets made it a powerful experience.

Join me in September 2010 in Italy for another La Dolce Vita Retreat. http://www.ChangeLimitingBeliefs.com
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Monday, November 16, 2009

Dream. Be Happy

Explore. Dream. Discover. Be Happy.

My second annual La Dolce Vita Women's Retreat will take place again in September 2010.  If you've every wanted to experience Italy, now is your chance. Begin to dream about it, and make it a reality. In addition to the beautiful art, food, architecture, history, wines, and breathtaking views, the air is filled with energizing light and prana (life force).  

 I love what Mark Twain so wisely said about sailing away from our safe harbors:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor and catch the trade winds in your sails. EXPLORE. DREAM. DISCOVER!"

Photos are from Verona, Italy during the Tocati Games Festival in October when we all were dancing in the piazza.   Second photo of me enjoying Lake Guarda northwest of Verona, Italy, and then hanging out in Venice, a magical city that seems to float on water.













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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Reflections on Italy--from a guest post





This is a guest blog from one of the amazing women who participated in my Italy Retreat in the Italian Riviera, September 12-20. Sallee writes on her Sparks on the Fringe blog.

Bella Italia!

A psychic friend of mine once told me that my eternal life path is aesthetics – that aesthetics is what I live and breathe for. Perhaps that is why I love Italy so much. Italy is home to some of the greatest art on the planet with its art museums, sculptures, churches, representing centuries of artistic achievement. Think of the Renaissance, Michelangelo, Da Vinci. Some of the most glorious art ever created was created in Italy. But to me it is more than that. On my trip with Lenora and company to the Cinque Terre, we didn’t spend our time in museums or visiting noted architectural masterpieces. We weren’t there for the art, but I couldn’t help but feel that I was immersed in a particular aesthetic experience.

It began when I saw the rows of dark green cypress trees neatly lining the fields of the countryside. Amidst the beautiful lush greens of late summer fields are houses and farmsteads of terracotta and gold. On the train ride out from Milan, everything seems so orderly and coherent, but also fluid and organically nestled into the rolling landscape.

Arriving in Monterosso, the scene is festive. It’s a hot Saturday afternoon and everyone is at the beach. Orange and white striped umbrellas snake along the back of the beach in an undulating curve, and the Mediterranean Ocean pulls back turquoise to a deep marine out to the horizon and upward into the blue dome. The soft earthy peaches and pinks of the houses of Monterosso climb in a seemingly random arrangement up the hillside under vineyards and forests at the top.

Against this backdrop of sublime color and beauty, another aesthetic is moving and breathing – the one of the life of an Italian village. After supervising the salting of the “acciuge” (anchovies) tenderly layered in the chunky glass jars, a local restaurateur, “Ciak”, is out for a walk with his dog before the dinnertime crowds fill his outdoor café for mussels and spaghetti or fish soup or the giant bowls of insalata mista.

Around the corner at Pizzeria Ely the grandchildren of the owner are playing in the street while grandpa oversees his operation making sure the waiters tend to their guests, and the florist next door is wrapping potted plants with a green wire mesh and pink raffia making sure it is absolutely perfect and impeccable before she is ready to let it go out the door. It is life in the details, and pride in the details of every moment that defines this aesthetic for me. No one is hurried, no one is willing to sacrifice their sense of ease and perfection – everyone moves with grace, beauty, and calmness. There is no hint that it is otherwise. I imagine that even the woman, shouting her tirade at someone from a hidden room up above us in one of the houses up the hill, is only angry because something was done in haste and not with perfection and in the spirit of La Dolce Vita.

Sallee Haerr blog http://sparksonthefringe.blogspot.com/

Photo: Photo: preparing flowers, and Ciak, the chef at Ristorante Ciak

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Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sestri Levante, Italy





My friend, Francesco, grew up near Sestri Levante, and he recommended we that we eat at Ristorante dei Castelli  on the Ligurian Riviera in the province of Genoa, or dine at Mario Polpo, both owned by his friend,  Rudy. (Polpo was  also recommended by Fred Plotkin in one of his fantastic books, Italy for the Gourmet Traveler). After a very very long day of visiting four different towns, and swimming in the cove at San Frutuosso near Portofino, we arrived by train at Sestri Levante, a peninsula that used to be an island.
We decided to walk to Ristorante dei Castelli. Each person that we asked along the street assured us that we only had to walk another 10 minutes, but it was a good 35 minutes from the train station before we found the mysterious door in the side of a mountainside, to the castle restaurant.
We were looking for the ‘lift’ to take us up to the castle restaurant so that we didn't have to walk up the winding hillside road in the dark.
We opened the door in the side of the mountain, to see a long tunnel with a few lights on the sidelines. After an eery walk in the cave, we find the door, push the button and finally an elevator appears and we go up. When we looked in the elevator mirror, we looked disheveled but happy, because earlier that day we had spent an hour or more on beautiful windy ferry rides, walked in the rain with towels on our heads at Portofino, and then swam at the isolated monastery beach at San Frutuosso.

When we exited the elevator, we walked into a beautiful room with a statue of Venus in the center, but it was quiet, with no sign of a restaurant. After such a mysterious adventure to just find the castle, we began to wonder if we'd ever find the restaurant! We walked through several rooms in the castle, seeing no one else nor any signs, until we found the very beautiful restaurant overlooking the Bay of Silence and the Bay of Fables (Hans Christian Anderson visited  Sestri). 
We were served by four waiters who gave us devoted service.  The food was excellent. The view of the sea was wonderful.  And Rudy, the owner of the restaurant, came out to greet us and send good wishes back to our mutual friend, Francesco. (see his photo above with some of us).

When we were ready to leave at 9:30pm, the taxis has shut down for the night, (which seemed strange to us) so our head waiter arranged for someone from the hotel to drive us back to the train station.  It was a long day, as we had left our hotel at 9:30 am but we were happy with our adventures for the day, the beauty we saw, and the incredible food we ate.

Photos: Statue in the castle, the mysterious hallway in the cave that lead us to the elevator.
Photo: Food:  testarole pasta with cream sauce, Catch of the day served with olive leaves, sprig of herbs, and olives.  
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