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The 'Eat Pray Love' real world travel destinations

In honor of Julia Robert's new film "Eat Pray Love," based on Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir, we look at the locations her character visits: Italy, India and Bali.

In the film, Julia Roberts plays Elizabeth Gilbert, a journalist who leaves her drab life in New York and goes on a journey of self-discovery. Her first stop is Italy, where Gilbert finds the people embrace "dolce far niente" or "the joy of doing nothing," says writer Mary Beth Sheridan.

In the film, Julia Roberts plays Elizabeth Gilbert, a journalist who leaves her drab life in New York and goes on a journey of self-discovery. Her first stop is Italy, where Gilbert finds the people embrace "dolce far niente" or "the joy of doing nothing," says writer Mary Beth Sheridan.

Sony Pictures

In the film, Rome is an idealized city where there's no graffiti, dirty streets, traffic or tourists.<br><br>"The city's beauty, of course, truly is spellbinding, as Italians and tourists alike would admit. Still, this is a lush, postcard Rome, the antidote to Gilbert's flavorless life in New York. In the real Rome, it does occasionally rain," Sheridan writes.

In the film, Rome is an idealized city where there's no graffiti, dirty streets, traffic or tourists.

"The city's beauty, of course, truly is spellbinding, as Italians and tourists alike would admit. Still, this is a lush, postcard Rome, the antidote to Gilbert's flavorless life in New York. In the real Rome, it does occasionally rain," Sheridan writes.

Alberto Pizzoli-AFP/Getty Images

Sheridan writes: "Gilbert finds consolation in an unexpected place: the mausoleum of the emperor Caesar Augustus (pictured here). She picks her way with her friends through the ruined shell, now occupied by a few homeless men. Looking at the rubble, and contemplating what the building witnessed, she begins to gain perspective. 'I was reassured,' she recounts. "Maybe my life hasn't been so chaotic.'"

Sheridan writes: "Gilbert finds consolation in an unexpected place: the mausoleum of the emperor Caesar Augustus (pictured here). She picks her way with her friends through the ruined shell, now occupied by a few homeless men. Looking at the rubble, and contemplating what the building witnessed, she begins to gain perspective. 'I was reassured,' she recounts. "Maybe my life hasn't been so chaotic.'"

Alamy

When Gilbert leaves behind a loveless marriage in New York, she finds a new love in Italy: food. "The photography captures the extraordinary aesthetic sense of Italians; even such simple items as a fried artichoke become a thing of beauty," Sheridan writes.<br><br>Gilbert indulges so much that she needs to buy bigger pants. But she doesn't worry, instead embracing her new guilt-free attitude toward calories.

When Gilbert leaves behind a loveless marriage in New York, she finds a new love in Italy: food. "The photography captures the extraordinary aesthetic sense of Italians; even such simple items as a fried artichoke become a thing of beauty," Sheridan writes.

Gilbert indulges so much that she needs to buy bigger pants. But she doesn't worry, instead embracing her new guilt-free attitude toward calories.

Alamy

"One of the first people Elizabeth Gilbert encounters on moving to Rome is her new landlady - an old Italian woman, squat and pimpled, filling a bathtub with a boiling teakettle. Only one thing really matters in life, she lectures Liz: La famiglia!!," Sheridan writes. The film is packed with similar Italian cliches and stereotypes.

"One of the first people Elizabeth Gilbert encounters on moving to Rome is her new landlady - an old Italian woman, squat and pimpled, filling a bathtub with a boiling teakettle. Only one thing really matters in life, she lectures Liz: La famiglia!!," Sheridan writes. The film is packed with similar Italian cliches and stereotypes.

Fran Ois Duhamel -Copyright 2010 CTMG

When Gilbert visits India, she escapes the busy streets and goes to an ashram where she adopts "the hippie-mysticism/find-yourself/find-God" attitude that writer Molly Moore, who lived in the country, hates.

The film does ring true when portraying the messy social complications of arranged marriage and "a tourist's first sip of the favorite national soft drink brand, Thumbs Up," Moore writes.

Pictured, Roberts and Richard Jenkins as Richard from Texas.

Fran Ois Duhamel -Copyright 2010 CTMG

Instead of going Gilbert's route, Moore suggests discovering the country religious festivals. "Diwali, the fall Festival of Lights, transforms even the most impoverished villages into magical fairylands with hundreds of candles, lanterns and fireworks. During the spring holiday of Holi, markets are filled with mountains of powdered dyes used to pelt one and all in a visual simulation of man and nature casting off the gloom of winter and exulting in the colors and new life of spring."<br><br>Pictured, the Nityanand Swami temple.

Instead of going Gilbert's route, Moore suggests discovering the country religious festivals. "Diwali, the fall Festival of Lights, transforms even the most impoverished villages into magical fairylands with hundreds of candles, lanterns and fireworks. During the spring holiday of Holi, markets are filled with mountains of powdered dyes used to pelt one and all in a visual simulation of man and nature casting off the gloom of winter and exulting in the colors and new life of spring."

Pictured, the Nityanand Swami temple.

Copyright Dinodia Images-Alamy

Finally, Gilbert visits Bali. While the film does use Gilbert's romance with a Brazilian (played by Javier Bardem), "it still catches the textures, the colors, the backdrop of the place and, most important, the narrator's voice, with its rare blend of wonder and irreverence," Lyer writes.<br><br> "Gilbert's Bali is human and imperfect in part because she is; anyone can live in paradise, as she implies throughout, but it takes shrewdness, resilience and honest self-questioning to live in the real world," writes Lyer.

Finally, Gilbert visits Bali. While the film does use Gilbert's romance with a Brazilian (played by Javier Bardem), "it still catches the textures, the colors, the backdrop of the place and, most important, the narrator's voice, with its rare blend of wonder and irreverence," Lyer writes.

"Gilbert's Bali is human and imperfect in part because she is; anyone can live in paradise, as she implies throughout, but it takes shrewdness, resilience and honest self-questioning to live in the real world," writes Lyer.

Copyright J Marshall - Tribaleye Images-Alamy

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