Travel: Bari, Italy

If you follow me on Twitter you'll know I spent the last few days with family in Italy.

Now, when it comes to travelling, I'm pretty organised... to the point where I was pretty much packed a week in advance. So when it came to 10:30am on Saturday, I'd been ready for around four hours already.

I was pretty gutted I didn't grab the window seat on the plane - hello, where is the obligatory shot of the sky?! 

We arrived in Bari by 9pm and headed straight to my Aunt's for food.
The view from the balcony was a bit soggy and grey the next morning but the life on that street was like no other.

The temptation to pick that plump lemon from the tree was very strong! I just about managed to resist. I'm hoping, one day, I'll have a little place of my own with enough room for beautiful things like lemon trees and flowers.

An abandoned, derelict cinema in Santo Spirito - it was exquisite! It would have been great to have a nosey inside but unfortunately it was all boarded up. 

Imagine turning it in to a house!

Later that night, me and a few others took the dog for a walk and somehow managed to slip in to a little cake shop - we may or may not have left with around 16 of these beauties.

Despite it being a little early in the season for blood oranges we were lucky enough to get our hands on a few. My, oh my, they were perfect!  

It was lovely to take the weekend off - no phone, internet, boring stuff - and just spend it with family. It's not often I'll have the opportunity to do things like this, soaking up the atmosphere, people, culture... and food.

❊

London Coffee Festival!

This year the London Coffee Festival hit Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane. It opened on Thursday and Friday (3rd-4th of April) to trade. Then, during the weekend (5th-6th of April), they let consumers run loose. And boy, what fun did we have!

On the way in we picked up one of The Coffee Festival magazines. It's full great stuff! Articles including: 'The Science of Espresso' and 'The Importance of Water'. The writing is outstandingly articulate, easy for full blown coffee geeks and those just starting out to understand. Concise and clear. The images inside are also worth a mention. The photography shown is of the highest quality, making coffee and the different processes look beautiful.

We then headed downstairs to the True Artisan Café where the majority of coffee served was free - in response to this they kindly asked that you made a donation to Project Waterfall. This is a charity that focuses on providing safe drinking water and good hygiene to some of the poorest communities in the coffee growing regions of Africa. Undeniably a cause worth reading about and getting involved with.

The music downstairs was mind blowing! One DJ supplying the whole place with the most easy on the ears mixes - some of the best I've ever heard. It created an unimaginable atmosphere (and definitely kept everyone on their toes).

I was lucky enough to sample Nude Espresso's cold brew. Brewed for 18 hours with beans from Kenya gave it an overwhelming fruity taste that I just couldn't get enough of. That's my summer drink sorted!

The entire set up worked fantastically! Easy to move around, observe and talk to different stands and people interested in coffee (roasting, brewing, the science behind it etc). Everything you could have needed was right there.

The Festival also brought along a few treats! Everyone who entered was given a tote bag with a few goodies inside. The London Coffee Guide was also available to buy - I'm looking forward to having a read of that one!

All in all it was a cracking event - well planned, and executed. Bring on 2015!

You can find all of The London Coffee Festival's Links here:

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Mixcloud

❊