Erika Bisbocci
Erika is an avid traveler and explorer of over ninety countries on six different continents. Since 2011, she has spent time studying Arabic in the Middle East, teaching English in Namibia and working as a flight attendant for a major US airline. When not traveling overseas, she loves exploring her own backyard in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
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Two Day Amalfi Coast and Capri Itinerary
The string of fabled towns that line Italy’s Amalfi Coast offer some of the most incredible coastal scenery in Europe. Connected by a winding ribbon of road, the villages cling to emerald mountains and overlook the sapphire sea. Here, precipitous mountains plunge into the sea, picturesque villages maintain the charm of a bygone era and miles of hiking trails offer travelers the opportunity to explore the area on foot. Simply put, the Amalfi Coast is one of the most beautiful places in Italy. VISITING THE AMALFI AND CAPRI IN…
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Visiting Pompeii: A City Preserved Under Ash
Pompeii has long been lauded as one of the top places to visit in Italy. In a country famed for its ancient relics and well-preserved ruins, the archeological site in Mount Vesuvius’ shadow may just be the cream of the crop. Visiting Pompeii is a poignant reminder of the incredible power and breadth of the Roman empire. I have now seen Roman ruins from Morocco to the United Kingdom and from Tunisia to rose-colored ruins of Palmyra, Syria. And yet, the ruins extend even beyond what I have seen. The Roman…
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Southern Italy Road Trip: Exploring the Puglia Region
Italy is like my second home. As the daughter of an Italian mother and an Italo-American father, I spent many of my childhood summers visiting family in the Marche region of Central Italy. When I was old enough to appreciate traveling, my parents began taking me on road trips through Tuscany, Umbria and Abruzzo. By the time I graduated high school, I’d already been to Italy nearly a dozen times and seen the country from top to bottom. But—save for a short road trip when I was six years old—I’d…
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One Million Golden Onion Domes: The Churches of Kiev
Of all the great European capitals, I never expected Kiev to be so high on my list of must-see places. In my mind, Ukraine had always conjured images of a flat wasteland with little more than rolling plains and large, industrial cities. I never imagined its capital to be so vibrant, culturally significant and dazzlingly beautiful. We visited Kiev because we were looking for a city near Chisinau that was connected to Italy by budget flights. After a bit of research, the closest places we could find were Cluj (our entrance…
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Traveling to Transistria: The Country that Doesn’t Exist
Ever heard of Transnistria? Before researching Moldova for my Eastern European course in university, I hadn’t either. And that may very well be because—according to the United Nations and every other government in the world—Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria is a country that doesn’t exist. Where (and What) is Transnistria? Transnistria is a little strip of land about 20km wide that fought fiercely for its independence from Moldova after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Though nobody takes it seriously, Transnistria remains adamant about its place in the world. The…
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Is This Still Europe? Visiting Chisinau, Moldova
Last Spring, I took a course called Ethnicity and Nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe because I felt as though, despite my familiarity with the area as a tourist, I knew next to nothing about its history. In the course, we studied the ethnic makeup of the countries, their postwar histories and life before and after Communism. The class gave me an informative, sweeping history of the area that served as a reference point during much of my trip. The course also gave me the opportunity to study one particular…
