Susan Cotton Award

9.6.11 - 8.7.11

Naples > Madrid

NaplesAmalfi Coast

AgerolaAmalfi

Positano Pompeii

RomeCertaldoFlorence

Chianti regionPisa

BolognaModena

MilanCinque Terre

NiceSan Sebastian

BilbaoZaragozaBarcelona

ValenciaMadrid

I spent a month travelling from Naples to Madrid to experience the food and culture of Italy and Spain in order to gain inspiration for a recipe book that I am writing. Here are some snippets of the things that I came across on my journey. Since I returned from my trip, everyone keeps asking me what my favourite place was, or the best thing I had to eat. It is so hard to narrow it down. I had to make a few concessions and changes to my itinerary along the way but for the most part this was only for good reasons, so that I could stay longer in a particular city because I liked it so much. The only downfall to booking things along the way was that I risked hostels being booked up. I was caught out with this in Provence so I couldn’t go in the end. I am currently working on the recipes for my book and I am going to design it progressively throughout this year, fitting it around my course. On my trip I collected a lot of ephemera and researched Italian and Spanish graphic design to influence the aesthetic of the final book, and I will continue to develop this research.

Naples

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Naples

9.6.11 - 8.7.11NAPLES‘Lonely Planet - I don’t like the name of that book, the planet is not a lonely place’

I went to a street party with people from the hostel, including a Neapolitan. The party was to celebrate the inevitable result of an upcoming referendum. The people of Naples were out in force to celebrate a victory against Berlusconi’s government. The referendum was to decide on whether to privatise nuclear power and water, and to pass a bill that would allow court cases that involved government members to be delayed due to ‘government matters.’

Each square had a different celebration, live bands, tradi-tional folk dances; Tarantella, the dance of hands, the Tango, a giant barbeque of sausages. We stopped off to get some street food before the party, deep fried tiny fresh fish. One of the best things I have ever tasted, by far! Alici and Fravagli

There was an amazing atmosphere, everyone was having such a good time, dancing and singing. A brilliant way to start the trip!

The most lively and welcoming city, despite all of its prob-lems. It was a good place to find my feet and explore Italian life. I ate a lot of different traditional street food – arancini, pizza fritte and of course pizza Margherita!

I would love to go back to Naples for a longer period of time, to learn to speak Italian properly and soak up the culture and lifestyle.

Naples

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Naples

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Amalfi Coast

PATH OF THE MESSENGERS

2500 stone stepsCircumvesuviana train to a nearby town to where I was stayingAmazing scenery from a windy road with hundreds of hairpin turns. Finally made it to Agerola San Lazzaro! Amazing hostel in a tiny cliff top village. Very different to Napoli – a converted stables. From the look out point you could see Amalfi. Positano and Capri.

Mozzarella di Bufala – farm next door to the hostel. If I carry on eating as much cheese as I have been, I might have a heart attackThe local shop is like an amazing deli – local fresh produce

Made a friend – Hyerim!

Walked from San Lazzaro to Amalfi on the ancient path of the messengers down 2500 stone steps. So peaceful. Thousands of lemon groves and grape/olive vinesPhenomenal scenery! Too many tourists in Amalfi – a slight anti climax to the walk – improved by Ital-ian lunch and Gelati

Definitely didn’t walk back up the steps! Crammed onto a bus to go back up the mountain

When the people in the hostel guestbook said their legs were hurting 3 days after the walk to Amalfi, they weren’t wrong!

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Amalfi Coast

9.6.11 - 8.7.11AMALFI COAST

AgerolaAmalfi

PositanoPompeii

Rome

9.6.11 - 8.7.11ROMEExploring and wandering around Rome with someone I’d just met – lots of fun! It’s very easy to get lost in Rome, especially when the only map you have has adverts covering large parts of it.

Rome in a dayPanini – spinach, ricotta and sun dried tomatoCoffee from San EustachioChurch IgnacioPantheonColusseumForum

Dinner in Travestere area of town – old townRavioli with ricotta, sage butter and Parmesan

17.6Glad to be on my own againLast day in Rome – went to the famous market Campo dei FioriAmazing biscotti shopMore coffee

Tuscany

9.6.11 - 8.7.11TUSCANYCertaldoFlorenceChianti

Travel to Tuscany! – to a hostel in a converted monastery/ wineryGlad to be out of the city for a whileCertaldo is fantasticChilled out in hammocks, ate cherries and finished reading One DaySunset over the Tuscan hills and Certaldo AltoFirefliesRing of fire – little green man rulePuttanesca sauce – baptism of fire pimiento picante are small but very, very powerful!Good rule to live by – don’t experience life through a camera lens

Train to FlorenceDecided not to do any of the things that I ‘should’ do when sightsee-ing in Florence but I was much happier wandering than queuingTwo amazing exhibitionsLunch at traditional TrattoriaFabriano shop!Train back in time for the barbecue at the hostelAmazing food, wine and company at the barbecueMet some locals and drank with them – one of them even attempted a Scouse accent

Morning in Certaldo Watched the sunrise out of the windowChilled out in hammocksMet Stefano – he offered to show me around when I go to BolognaWine tour of Chianti regionCastellina in ChiantiHuman cart race!San Giovese grapesGreve in ChiantiBought some wine – more stuff to cram into my rucksack!Jeremy and Margaret‘Imposter syndrome’ – Why am I here? I don’t know what I’m talking about, why are they letting me do this?Elevator testHomemade pasta with roasted pumpkinWineYoung Pecorino and fig chutneyVin Santo and biscotti

20.6Travel to Pisa to stay with Harrison (friend from college)Tower very underwhelming – disappointing because it’s the thing that I’ve always wanted to see in Italy since I was a kidHad a nice time with Harrison but his English Erasmus friends were pretty annoying.Nice pizza – pecorino, pancetta, tartufo olio bianco, mozzarella, pomodoro

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Bologna

Bologna

BOLOGNACOOKING SCHOOL

I learnt to make:Homemade Sfoglia Pasta

TortelloniTortelliniGnochhi

Ragu alla BologneseDeep fried Zucchini flowers

Tiramisu

9.6.11 - 8.7.11BOLOGNA

So what do you think of this bloody town?

Beautiful porticos with vaulted ceilings throughout the cityFound a really nice fairtrade café and had rooibos vanilla

ZUPPUMSPapier mache sculptures of torsos protruding from the walls! Tutti frutti tequilaaa bandAperitivo barPenne with pesto/tomatoBulgar wheat saladHomemade houmousGarlic bread3 plates of food and 2 large beers for €8If I ever run a bar I want it to be like this one. I wish I could’ve stayed all night but I had to get the bus to my out of town hos-tel… Didn’t get around to going back before I left either

MAMboScritti Politti 1978 Skank Bloc BolognaRadio Alice

Stefano and Milano MikeyStracchiatella Fromagi (cow) acidicTigella bread – typical of Emilia RomagnaOsteria – last one of its kind in Bolognaonly serve beer, wine or watercan bring your own food in from the market

STEFANO CAVEDONI

Modena

BALSAMICOMODENA

24.6Day trip to Modena

Quiet, hardly any tourists, lots of bikes

Mercat Albinelli – nice graphics, disappointing food

Famous for Balsamico!

Sheltered from the heat in a bar called Juta. Nick Drake, b&w punk photos and random furniture

Decided to book all of the rest of my hostels after being caught out, not able to find anywhere af-fordable in Provence

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Cinque Terre

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CINQUE TERREParque Nazionale

Riomaggiore ManorolaCornigliaVernazza

Monterosso

I was really looking forward to going to Cinque Terre but when I went I was really stressed about running out of money, I had no cash and my card wouldn’t work. It took ages to get there on the train too so I only had time to go to two of the villages.

36 HOUR JOURNEY DOOR TO DOOR

Ventimiglia > Nice > Barcelona > San Sebastian

27.6Travel day (or two) Its days like this where I wish that I’d packed lightI finally made my reservation for the train to San Sebastian but it was such a hassle. I wasn’t allowed to reserve trains that crossed borders – ridiculous rule! Had to change my route and it took a lot longer than it was supposed to.

Spent a few hours in Nice whilst waiting for my night train, eating crepes and drinking cidre.

Night train to Barcelona – had to change trains at 5am, nearly didn’t wake up in time!

Another few hours to wait and then the final leg of the journey to San Sebastian36 hours after leaving the hostel in Milan, I finally arrived in Basque country, San Sebastian.

Bilbao

SAN SEBASTIAN

PINTXOS – MEANS SPIKE IN BASQUE.

BILBAOGuggenheim Museum

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Zaragoza

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Barcelona

9.6.11 - 8.7.11BARCELONARaval District

I spent my time in Barcelona exploring the Raval district. The Barcelona Design Festival was on whilst I was there so I couldn’t resist going. It gave me a good chance to research Spanish graphic design. I also picked up some interesting publications about life in Barcelona, with an interesting article about how big guerrilla gardening and food growing is getting there. By reading these publications I also found out about live art events that were happening in the city whilst I was there. One of the ones that I went to was the Wall People, pictured below. The idea was that people could come and stick an image to the wall that was personal to them or represented them in some way.

MY FAVOURITE PLACE IN

BARCELONA

Mercat Boqueria

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Naples

Valencia

Madrid

MADRID

I spent the final few days of my trip in Madrid with my flat-mate who came out to celebrate my 21st birthday with me. My friend is vegan but we were pleasantly surprised to find out that there were quite a few vegan restaurants in Madrid.

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HIGHLIGHTS

Street party in NaplesBologna Cooking School

Watching the sunset over the Tuscan hillsPintxos bars in San SebastianGuggenheim Museum Bilbao

Shopping in Mercat Boqueria, Barcelona

COLLECTED:A bottle of Chianti

A coffee potPasta cutterRecipe book

ApronHomemade walnut liquor

Balsamico Crème from ModenaFabriano sketchbooks

IdeasA coffee addiction

THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY

9.6.11 - 8.7.11

THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY