Today on The Nomad Files I’m proud to present Tiffany of A Girl and Her Passport. Tiffany is an American expat living in Qatar and loves blogging about the culture, history and food she comes across on her travels. Tiffany has a great story and I’m so excited to share her story on a place that I’d never heard of until now.
Hi Tiffany, when did you discover that you were a travel fiend and what was the influencing factor?
I have been traveling since I was a baby. My parents would take me places and then as I got older my grandparents would take me and my sister on trips. One summer we traveled all over the U.S in the car with the highlight of the trip being Yellowstone National Park. In 2009, I moved briefly to the small island of Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands for a volunteer job and met many expats. This is when I decided to move abroad and work, so I could travel more
Can you let us in on a secret? What is one discovery you have made through your travels that really felt like ‘the road less travelled’?
This summer I went on a road trip through Italy. Driving in Italy for some is probably “the road less travelled” because of the high rate of speed and the sudden moves of Italian drivers. I was visiting some friends of mine in Umbria and they kept telling me they were going to take me to Monster Park.
Being that I like to have no expectations with travel, I decided not to do any research on it beforehand. I wanted it to be a surprise. Wow, was I surprised. Monster Park is just across the river in Lazio. It is a place you won’t find unless someone takes you there or tells you about it. Even then you might not get to go because there is no public transportation to get you there.
Is Monster Park known for anything in particular?
My friends had told me that it was a sculpture park. What they didn’t tell me was that the sculptures were huge and carved out of the natural rock found there. The park contains a collection of strange and some frightening pieces of sculpture. The sculptures have been carved out of rock found in the woods.
An Italian nobleman named Pier Francesco Orsini in memory of his wife, Giulia Farnese, built the garden in the 16th century. The brochure that was given to us states that the architect was Pirro Ligorio, who completed parts of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. However, some online research says that Michelangelo was the architect, and his student’s completed the work. Either way, this is a unique experience and is not to be missed.
What took you there and how did you find out about it?
My friends! My friends live in a small town in Italy about an hour and a half north of Rome. I met this wonderful couple while I was living in the Turks and Caicos Islands. He is Italian and she is Italian-American. They are retired and enjoying their quiet life in Italy. They were kind enough to host me at their home for three days this summer on my road trip through Italy.
I imagine there isn’t unique foodie culture in the Monster Park itself, but I know there is in Italy. Did you have any stand out meals?
I had one the best meals of my life on this trip to Italy. My friends took me to a place call Il Fontanile, which is in Montecchio, Italy. I had the pork shin, which in Italian is called the Stinco! Not a very appealing name, but it tastes amazing. The pork shin is slow cooked all day with rosemary. It was divine. The meat was very tender and the flavor was rich and fragrant. I want to go back to Italy just to eat this again!
Monster Park really sounds out of the way, how easy do you think it would be visit without the knowledge your local friends?
I don’t speak Italian and understand very little, but thanks to my friend, I was better able to understand things. If I had been in the small towns or Monster Park without him, I might not have gotten so far and might have starved. I couldn’t read any of the menus in the towns we ate in as they do not cater to tourists.
I very much enjoyed seeing what daily life was like in their small town. Each night the older people on their street would bring out plastic chairs into the street and talk for hours. My friends say they talk about the same things all the time and that my visit would probably be talked about for weeks!
Do you have any tips on how to best experience Monster Park?
Rent a car in Italy and go to the small villages and towns. Many villages have castles with their own unique history. The castle in my friends’ town has an amazing fresco on the walls of Saint Francis of Assisi.
Can you recommend any of your favourite travel blogs?
Currently, I am loving The Overseas Escape by Margo and Around the World in 80 Pairs of Shoes by Kelley.
Last question, where do you live on the internet and social media for us to all come visit?
Website A Girl and Her Passport
Facebook A Girl and Her Passport
Instagram A Girl and Her Passport
Twitter @agirlpassport
Thanks for joining us today Tiffany, and everyone else, make sure you go say hi to her on her blog on one of her social channels.
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