Slow Travel is a state of mind.

As I am writing my Diary of a Slow Traveller as a reflective diary,  I have good reason to scan the thousands of photos I took while traveling through Italy. They are definitely snapshots that capture a moment rather than a work of art.

My favourites are the ones that look out over an expanse of water. Sometimes its just looking out to see or across a lake, other times it’s at a lone sailing boat or a lone fishing boat.

Lake Como

Lone Sailor – Ortigia

Lone fisherman – Ortigia

These photos  were taken at Lake Como and Ortigia, Siracusa.  All were taken at a time when I could immerse myself for perhaps a few seconds or minutes in the scene.

They provided me a “sense of place”.

Lake Como is generally considered a plaything of the rich and tourist paradise for many months of the year, yet at the time we were there I so often felt I had the lake very much to myself.

Then, in our weeks in Ortigia, again it was so often possible for me to be able to walk around the island and find myself gazing out to sea where there was perhaps a yacht or fishing boat and again feeling very much that I had it all to myself.

Slow Travel is about a sense of place. It’s about being in the moment without a need to be focused on what to do next or where to go next.  For me, it’s about now and allowing it to wash over you.

So picking up on the theme of the Daily Post theme, I guess my thought as I pressed the button for these photos was about a sense of place, as to me this is a central aspect of Slow Travel.