“Travelling is part of a slow moving rhythm of transitions into another world. A constant awe of life around you”
-Modesta Tonan
Together with my S.O.F.T sisters we have made a pact to journey together every time we can, and celebrate us. We have the same beliefs to follow our hearts, feed our minds and sustain our souls. We have become addicted and crave the feeling of familiar and unfamiliar places and spaces. A true spiritual fulfillment of wanderlust.
Travelling together and experiencing glorious sights and art that take our breath away. Together we feel emotions of simple moments of the now and still to be.
We don’t need to fly away to feed our addiction we just need to be together. My S.O.F.T sisters are doers, adventurers, and lovers of life. Sometimes we can create trouble, and leave our mark wherever we wander and explore. At times some of us are pushed beyond our comfort zone and yet we love the gorgeous feeling of freedom from our spontaneous decisions. Our ongoing conversations of life, love, fears, desires and even “the art of doing nothing” are by far my favourite way to start and end our days. We have no drama, (and when we do we get through it)
We live with no regrets, have each other’s back, and not one of us will ever break our pact of “one for all; and all for one.”
Our journeys have taken us to Ireland known as the “Emerald Isle” because of its lush green countryside, and the quaint little seaside town of Cobh, the last port of the Titanic before it hit the iceberg. We took a horse drawn carriage through Vienna, Austria, and stared at The Kiss Painting by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, for hours. We drank champagne in San Tropez, and got lost in the alleyways of Èze, France.
We rode a gondola at sunset in Venice, drank wine in Tuscany and soaked up the rays in San Remo. As an Italian kid growing up we all saw our parents watch concerts here every Sunday. A night time stroll through DolceAqua a town so beautiful it inspired Monet to paint some of his most famous paintings. A sighting of the Pope in Rome. A fish tale from Taormina, Sicily. The best bread in Puglia, and just appreciating the uniqueness of Alberbello, and then there’s Matera one of the oldest towns in the world. There is no place like Matera that I have ever been to. Here you feel the ghosts of the past, a hauntingly beautiful space. Here we stayed in a cave prepared and cooked a seven course meal, and bonded like never before. Here we will return.
Let’s talk about the Alamafi Coast, Capri, Ravello, Sorrento and the glorious seaside town of Positano Italy.
John Steimbeck said it best when he described this magical Mediterranean town.
He said. “Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone.” Gosh that is the truth!
This writer was so smitten with Positano and Ravello that I had to write about it in my second book “I Love You Still.”
There are times when our plans and agenda can be simple, because we do not have any. This place told us to stay still and enjoy.
In Positano we just became one with the beach and watched the waves kiss the shore over and over again. We soaked in the enchantment and the beauty around us. We sipped on Prosecco, and ate pizza and olives on the beach. It all still seems like a dream to me.
Our journeys took us to Tropea, Calabria located in the gulf of St. Euphemia connected with the mainland by a narrow strip in the Tyrrhenian Sea. A view worthy of its title “Costa degli Dei” translated to English means “Coast of the Gods”
Here we also spent our days with the “Art Of Doing Nothing” and enjoyed the beauty around us. On our journeys we try to visit with family if we can.
My favourite place to visit is still my birthplace of Gimigliano, Catanzaro situated in the mountains of Calabria. A place my mother loved and called home. I always find a piece of her here, in the alleys she walked through, the churches she prayed in, and in the family she loved. Days filled with food, stories of yesteryear, and of course homemade wine.
And finally my favourite city in the whole wide world Verona “the city of love” this place stole my heart, changed my life forever and turned me into a storyteller.
We have learned history and have seen such beauty in our wonderful world. We have filled our days with castles and bookstores, pubs, food and beer of course wine, lots and lots of wine!
Travelling with my S.O.F.T sisters and experiencing their verve for life has given me my before and many afters. They mean more to me now as we come to the half way point of our fabulous lives.
I have also realized its not the journey or where it takes us but it’s who travels along beside you.
These women inspire me, motivate me, and empower me.
Through our adventures, we have become navigators and cheerleaders. We have chosen to open our wanderlust heart to feel, the beauty, and the pain of life..
In every place we go we find pieces of ourselves and we are becoming more of who we want to be.
We always come home with gratitude in our hearts and renewed energy in our soul.
How lucky are we to experience life’s movements and sways of travelling, and find bits of who we are, as we write our life story.
Love Love
Modesta Tonan