Donuz

Lugano is on the south tip of Switzerland, closer to Italy in terms of its lifestyle than it is to the other parts of Switzerland. Lugano is indeed in the Italian-speaking canton of Switzerland, called Ticino. Ticino shares a border with the north of Italy, is approximately only an hour car-ride from Lombardy; and shares also the Lake of Lugano with Italy. In fact, travel guides usually recommend tourists to carry their passports on them, when and if they plan to take a lake tour. You can never tell when you stride into the Italian territory…

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Istanbul is unlike NYC, in the sense that you don’t see a lot of people out in their shorts and t-shirts, running about and around the streets. The traffic is high, the dusk is too much and the streets may get too overwhelming to shoulder others even to walk through, let alone run… There are nevertheless “some” jogging districts and some important “jogging” events, such as the Eurasia Run, which I will help you discover with this article.

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via NYTimes

Recently, I was back in Milan very briefly for a special occasion. More specifically, I was in Cusago, a municipality in the Province of Milan, about 11 km away –to the west- from the central commune of Milan itself.

From the couple of hours I spent there, what I have gathered about Cusago is that it is a less hectic commune than Milan, and that it is more like the countryside with a variety of farm houses turned either into local locandas / trattorias (restaurants) cooking home-cooked, authentic meals; or beauty farms –not spas-, offering solitude and health treatments to their clients. There are also many storage houses, as well as large logistic companies. Thus, it is a half industrial half solitary, silent commune.

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Photos via LondonEater

For a long time, between 1995 and 2003, the Italian scene in Istanbul has been limited to Mezzaluna Restaurant. Mezzaluna lost some of its appeal in the interim and has diversified its scope and services by opening its fast-food branch, the Mezzaluna Express –delivery of express Italian meals for those in a hurry. That said, Mezzaluna continues to hold the quality of its service and meals, ceased, nevertheless a long time ago, being the first-date restaurant of the city. Now just a good choice for an informal meal, found in a corner in every shopping mall.

Da Mario of the Doors Entertainment Group, received the flag from Mezzaluna; and proved itself to be an upscale, romantic Italian Restaurant on the hills of Etiler. The menu, too, is designed to offer plenty of Italian tastes, including the Osso Buco, as well as oven-baked pizzas and good Italian wine. Criticism remains to be made still for the heavy spices used in the pasta sauces, which has turned my stomach upside down more than a few times. Some also comment that, “it used to be a cool place”; now frequented by business people for business lunches and by families or mid-aged couples on weekends. Still a possibility on the list of date, business, romantic and serious dinner restaurants and has been chosen once the “Best Restaurant in Istanbul” by the Financial Times in its special Turkey additional copy –year unknown and unannounced…

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