Joelle Lifestyle

“Quando desperto, o sonho vira verdade.”
— Sunday por Nikonn DJ. Ravin

Luigi, o recepcionista do hotel, me agendou para todos os dia no Luigi (tantos Luigis neste país), nas Faraglioni Rocks e nos banhos Fontellina para o almoço. Caso eu esteja no barco, disse ele, a reserva continua. Meu admirador secreto, o orador latino, nada nestas águas nos finais de semana. Ele justifica falar comigo em latim dizendo que, ao ter “Piu lingue che anni” (mais idiomas que anos), eu deveria ser capaz de entendê-lo. Depois de ter meu Espresso Macchiato matinal e um croissant no Bar Tiberio na Piazzetta, inicio a minha caminhada pelo que foi estabelecido em anos pela rotina de Capri. Read more »

Branco brilhante, vermelho Pompéia, colunas, cúpulas e jardins secretos se exibem nas fascinantes villas de Capri, onde convidados famosos relaxam contemplando as estarrecedoras águas de um mar azul sobre o brilho extremo do Sol. Em nome da poesia ou da exaltada preguiça, as villas históricas de Capri invocam a vida, o júbilo, histórias de amor e o sofrimento dos grandes dos tempos de Roma até hoje. Augustus foi um dos visitantes assíduos da ilha, onde Tiberius passou os últimos 10 anos de sua vida.

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While packing last week from Spain I received an email from a friend in Miami and knowing I was on my way to Capri, askes me to check ” that new place ” opened last April, restyled by Florentine designer Michele Bonan the same one of Art Deco District in South Beach Casa Tua , where we had gone for dinner together last winter. My immediate answer to his request was that I ‘d do him the favor in a exchange of a weekend together in the “ New Place“. Having got myself a deal with my friend I then agreed to check it out as soon as I got in Capri. Read more »

” Ergo coge mori qvam sine te vivere coges “

(You force me to die because you force me living without you)

This is the text I received on my Blackberry when I got on the plane at Naples airport leaving the unforgettable island of Capri at sunset that afternoon.

The day I arrived, I had spent with my friends a wonderful day on their boat and on my way to the hotel near the Piazzetta thinking how desperate I was to get into a fresh shower and use the rest room, But I suddenly I hear myself shamefully scream out loud in front of two pieces of jewelry quickly perceived through a glass window. Read more »

After a few days in Seville I decide to go to visit the Alacazar.

The royal palace is one of the oldest in Europe, declared bu Unesco as Patrimony of Humanity, its a real jewel. It’s easy to be fooled into thinking this is a Moorish palace, some of the rooms and courtyards seem to come straight from the Alhambra. Most of them were actually built - by Moorish workmen it’s true - for King Pedro the Cruel of Castile in the 1360’s who, with his mistress Maria de Padilla, lived in and ruled from the Alcazar. Pedro embarked upon a complete rebuilding of the palace, employing workmen from Granada and utilising fragments of earlier Moorish buildings in Seville, Cordoba and Valencia. Read more »

“So near the desert, in its tentlike forest of supporting pillars” — Jan Morris

So many years have passed since I was born, and waited to be here…I had to travel all over the world passing from South America to India, Africa and Polynesia, scared to crossthis land, the land of my grandmother Sarah, a widely respected Sephardic Jewish teacher with bright blue eyes.. And now here I am.Martin Luther King once said… “Time is always right to do what it’s right.” And time now, is right.I simply had, during all these years, to be one more of the many traditional Jewish world errands, to find out that I am back where I should have been visiting far too longago. Apparently my soul and I weren’t ready. Read more »

“I am stunned by the pleasure of these baths,
For it seems as if the celestial sphere were here”
— Ibn Suhayd

While asking for my room key at the reception desk, Xavier asked me if I had been at the Arab Bath.”Senhorita , he says, ” you’ll feel so relaxed you should try it! ” . I asked for the address, apparently in a small street between Caille Aire de Dios and an old tobacco factory I would find the Arab bath house and teteria called Aire de Sevilla. Read more »

It’s 42 degrees Centigrade here in Seville.

” Hotel Casas de La Juderia por favor Senior.”

This small hotel, in heart of the old Barrio of Santa Cruz, near the Alamedas de las Cruzes , the magnificent Catedral , the Iglesia Santa Maria La Blanca and San Bartolome , lays in a street called La Juderia the old Jewish Quarter, at a time where Jewish, Muslims, and Christians all lived in Seville with no major difficulties.

It is installed in a palace from the 1600 once owned by the duke of Beja, a great character in the history of Spain’s aristocracy and known as the patron of Cervantes. Within easy walking distance of the cathedral and other sights, the building has been a hotel since 1991. It’s now one of the best places to stay in Seville. Read more »

“You can’t walk straight when the road bends”
Romani Proverb

It all started in New York City.

When a friend of mine from Brazil, a Tarot reader, reminded me while chatting on Skype that soon it would be the Gypsy festival, I searched nervously through the busy pages of the weekend session in the New York Times. Immediately found what I wanted, bought tickets on line, and rushed to the Lincoln Center where I watched The Albert Maysles music documentary in the style of Buena Vista Social Club, A Gypsy Caravan . Read more »