ITALY 2008

Hi all,

 

Thanks for visiting my travel blog. Recently, my husband (jbom), mother (Jean) and friend (Kathleen) traveled to Italy. We began with a cruise with OCEANIA CRUISES on their ship: INSIGNIA. We left from Venice and traveled all the way down the coast, through the Strait of Messina and up the western coast of Italy. We doubled-back and ended with a few days in Rome on our own. It was a wonderful time for all of us!

 

The blog is set up with posts by date. You will need to scroll down to the bottom in order to begin at the beginning and work your way back up. I hope you enjoy reading about our adventures!

 

ROME, ITALY – DAY THREE

 

 

ROME, ITALY – DAY 3

Saturday, June 7^th, 2008

 

Our last day in Rome…and our last day on this beautiful journey…

 

We checked out of The River Palace Hotel and put our bags back into hotel storage. The guide from Through Eternity Tours would be arriving at 10 a.m., so we needed to have everything ready to go for our driver that would be picking us up at 3 p.m. to take us to the hotel airport for the evening.

 

One more thing about the hotel worth mentioning… they have a really good continental breakfast. You really can’t say that it is “continental”, because it really had everything… eggs, sausage, bacon, rolls, yogurt, etc. In the end, we would have two really good morning breakfasts to start our day while staying at The River Palace Hotel.

 

At 10 a.m. our guide, Rob, arrived. Rob is an American that has lived in Rome for over 10 years now. He is one of the owners of Through Eternity Tours, so that was a real treat for us! We took the Metro right to the Forum and we began there. Today would be about The Forum and The Colleseum.

 

To be honest, I would say from the get-go that although this tour was very good and Rob is very knowledgeable, it was my least favorite of all the days touring. After two weeks of seeing the major highlights of Italy, one is very spoiled. And I’ll admit it, after two weeks as well, one is a little burned out with all of the fabulous history… it now takes a lot to get me excited as this journey has been so amazing from Day One.

 

With The Forum, you really have to use your imagination. The Colleseum is another story… as it still is very complete. And I was really looking forward to seeing The Colleseum with all of its history – and I’ll admit, thinking back about The Gladiator movie with Russell Crowe. J

 

We spent most of our time at the Forum, walking amongst the ruins, but as I said, you really have to use your imagination to picture what it was like in Rome at this time. Having been to Pompeii where many of the buildings are complete, you get more of a visual reference there. At The Forum you do not.

 

Our 11 Euro ticket bought us access to both locations and as they were right next to eachother, we ended at The Colleseum. The Colleseum is a very imposing structure and is still so complete. We took an elevator right to the third floor and Rob discussed how the location was used over the years. He ended with a bit of theatre for us from the slaying of Marc Anthony. It was pretty cool to imagine the time.

 

From there, we jumped in a taxi and headed back to the hotel. We had time for lunch at our local restaurant and had… pizza and salad… again! It is sooo good. Jbom had a bit of veal that he really enjoyed as well. And we met a man from Chicago that was there with his children for a month or so. They had rented an apartment and were staying in the area. Now that would be a fun thing to do… if you have the time… ugh… jbom and I do not. I have to win the lottery!!!!!

 

And most of us, except Jean (who was exercising restraint), finished with gelato from the corner shop. So very good… and nothing like we have at home.

 

So off to the airport… in a bigger vehicle this time. I imagine that our first ROMECABS driver told them to send a bigger vehicle this time for us and all of our luggage!!!! Our driver, who spoke a little English, took us around the to the front of The Vatican to Piazza Pio XII… the view of the Vatican that everyone sees on TV and it is where the Pope delivers his address. What a HUGE place! I am glad that we got the opportunity to see it, eventhough it was just a “drive by”.

 

We arrived at the Hilton Airport hotel in about 45 minutes… a quick trip. The hotel has a walkway to the terminal and I booked it for that very purpose. Our flight to Amsterdam on Sunday morning would be at 6:15 a.m. – yes, 6:15 a.m. – so we had to be at the airport by 4:15 a.m. What fun! We checked in and then walked over the concourse to locate KLM. It took a bit of looking around, but we found it and then had a look in the shops. Kathleen bought t-shirts for her grandchildren, and I used my broken Italian to help her out (yeah!).

 

That evening we had dinner at the hotel… big sandwiches and hamburgers that were expensive, but pretty good. No one slept very well as we were up at 3 a.m. and we didn’t want to oversleep and miss the flight. Jbom never slept at all… he just stayed up and watched CNN through the night. By early morning (still really nighttime) we got ourselves together, gathered our luggage, walked the concourse and checked in at KLM at 4 a.m. We were all tired, and ready to come home.

 

And so in the early morning we said goodbye to Rome and headed home. We arrived home about 1 p.m. after a change of planes to Northwest and a little delay in Amsterdam. During the connection time in Amsterdam, jbom bought a t-shirt with “Germany” on the front of it. I asked him “why?” and he said that he wanted a souvenir of the place that he really wanted to go to in the first place! Ugh… okay one day, Germany!   

 

We have been home now a few days and John, Jean and I are fully back to work physically, but mentally is another thing. Jbom spent part of the evening last night going through the 08/09 OCEANIA CRUISE brochure looking at options for another trip. I reminded him that it would have to be in 09 as we are mostly out of vacation days for the rest of 08!

 

I spoke with Jean, my mother, last night and when I asked her where she would like to return to… she immediately said “Rome” – we barely scratched the surface there. And of course, Kotor… it was a simply beautiful place that would be a wonderful for a seaside holiday. Jbom loved Sorrento and so did I… I can see us going back there ourselves in the not to distance future. As for Kathleen, well, Mum hasn’t heard from her yet… she is probably pouring over her pictures and sharing her memories with her children and grandchildren that she’ll have forever.

 

 

 

ROME, ITALY – DAY TWO

 

 

ROME, ITALY – DAY 2

Friday, June 6^th, 2008

 

Originally, we were due to meet up with Ian again for the Vatican tour. Earlier in the week, the group decided that six, albeit quality, hours in the Vatican would just be too much for us after all of the walking the past two weeks. So earlier in the week, I emailed Through Eternity Tours and they were very understanding. We also had another excursion booked with them for Saturday to see The Forum and The Colleseum, so cancelling wasn’t too much of an issue.

 

Saturday was, again, a beautiful day… not too hot or cold. Due to a work situation for jbom at The Blue Oval, he decided that he needed to stay back and make phone calls and handle email that was coming in furiously even while he was gone. As mentioned previously, we had our laptop and email access while on the trip… but sometimes issues crop up that require you having to take some time and address the situation first hand. We were all disappointed, but jbom decided it would be best to remain behind from the Vatican tour.

 

So being the “Rome experts” that we now were with one day in Rome under our belt, we took the Metro and headed to the Vatican. Three stops later we were OTTAVIANO which is the Metro stop for the Vatican. Signs were easy to follow, and we were up and walking towards The Vatican Museum. The evening before, Ian recommended that we sleep in and go about 11:30 a.m. – no sooner. And he was right. After arriving at the entrance, we literally walked in (no line), paid (no line), took the escalator up to the entrance (no line, no wait), bought our ENGLISH audio guide (no line, no wait) and WALKED RIGHT IN. Frankly, after all that I had heard and read about the 2 hour possible wait time… I couldn’t believe it. We came on the right day at the right time!

 

So the VATICAN MUSEUMS are pretty incredible. Period. I have seen people “ooh” and “aww” at fragments of pottery, statues with missing limbs, etc. at many other museums and special exhibitions.  I have been fortunate to have gone to the Louvre in Paris and the British Museum in London, on a few occasions. The biggest difference that The Vatican Museum has compared with all the rest for me is how complete that it is.  Complete… whole statues, bowls and ancient artifacts… with no missing parts. Most dramatically are the three halls that house all of the Greek and Roman statues that line the corridors. The halls were built specifically for the statues and are incredibly dramatic.

 

We made our way through the museum seeing ancient Egypt first and then working our way through the museum towards the Sistine Chapel.  The Vatican is a big place, so there was a good bit of walking… so we focused on getting to the Sistine Chapel and then going back to see what we had passed.

 

Through a series of corridors and hallways, we ended up taking a small passageway up and down stairs and then came into this naturally lit large room. It took a little while to register, but we were in the Sistine Chapel.  There were many people fighting for a seat along the wall, but we spent most of the time on our feet looking upwards. Our audioguides did a decent job of explaining what we were looking at, but admittedly, it was a little overwhelming. I looked for the signs that DaVinci had put into the ceiling that we’ve all heard about, but I couldn’t find the markings myself. It is a very spiritual place, but was continually overshadowed by an official calling out “silence” to those talking amongst eachother. That was the only part that ruined it for me.

 

After about 20 minutes of taking it all in, we left and returned to the main hall. There were a series of gift shop areas, so we were able to buy a few “memories” of the Vatican for ourselves and others. Kathleen bought a really nice calendar and I bought a few things for my in-laws being the “good Catholics” that they are. From there, we had a good break and had something to eat at the Vatican Café. It is surprising how good of a meal you can get in a museum café! We had a simple cheese and meat plate and bread and a drink… it was simple and satisfying.

 

From there, we headed back to the hotel… it was close to 5 p.m. when we returned. Jbom had gotten his work done and was glad he had remained behind. At every turn during the day, I was saying how I had wished he had been able to come along as The Vatican is truly an amazing place.

 

For dinner, we decided to remain at the hotel. fter all of the gourmet meals onboard INSIGNIA, we all just wanted a simple meal of salad and pasta. The pasta was really excellent. It had been a good day, but tomorrow would be our last in Rome. The time had come and gone so quickly.

 

 

 

ROME, ITALY – DAY ONE

 

 

ROME, ITALY – DAY 1

Thursday, June 5^th, 2008

 

After disembarking one last time from INSIGNIA, we easily gathered our bags and headed right out the door to the pick-up area. As the disembarkation process was so easy, we ended up waiting for half an hour until our ROMECABS driver arrived to take us to our hotel in Rome. We were early, he was right on time: 8:30 a.m.

 

When the driver arrived, we all were a little concerned that we couldn’t get all of us and all of our luggage into the Chrysler minivan… but surprise, he got all the bags in the vehicle and we set off for Rome.

 

The drive was long… almost 2 hours with the morning traffic… so it was a huge relief (in more ways than one) when we arrived at our hotel in Rome: THE RIVER PALACE HOTEL. Guidebooks, websites and other resources all can try to give you a good idea of what a hotel will be like, but until you get there for yourself, one can have reservations about any place. You have to go on faith.

 

Fortunately, we were in good shape. The hotel was not the Hilton in Venice, but for a European hotel in a major city, it was about 90 percent of what American travelers would expect from a hotel. The location, just off the Piazza del Popolo, couldn’t have been better… just off the Red Line of the METRO and just outside the gate to the Ancient City.

 

Everything was in order with our reservations, but as expected, our rooms were not ready yet… it was only 10:30 a.m.. The manager directed us to the lounge with comfy, modern furniture. He provided us with a map and tour information about what was in the area and close to the hotel. So we secured our baggage and set off for a walk to the Spanish Steps area, as it wasn’t far from our hotel. Our guide for the evening walk wasn’t coming until 5 p.m., so the timing was good for a walk to the Spanish Steps, grab lunch, and then head back to the hotel to check in.

 

So we set off… no guide, just us. I had previously read that we were in a “good area” full of shops and good hotels, but we were all coming from a cruise ship with wide open spaces and the sea to a big, big city. The environment was a complete change for all of us. And there was a little rain… but the hotel provided us with umbrellas, so we were all good (and the umbrellas were a nice touch). It took a little while, but we got familiar with our surroundings.

 

When we got to Piazza del Popolo we noticed that an area was roped off… we surmised that a foreign dignitary was in the area with all of the security as many were in town for the World Food Bank meetings. Later, we would come to find out that none other than Tom Hanks was in town filming a movie… the follow up to The Da Vinci Code: Angels and Demon’s… and a key site from the book was in this area. We got our hopes up, but we never saw Tom Hanks…

 

On first impression, Rome is a lot smaller than it looks. In no time we passed all of the upscale shops on Via del Babuino and arrived at The Spanish Steps. Mid-day it had many people sitting on the steps… enjoying their lunch. I can see why this is a meeting place for many. We took a few pictures and tried to find the McDonald’s that jbom had been in search of, but not wanting to go too far afield, we turned back towards the hotel.

 

So we back tracked and passed The Hotel de Russie… one of our hotel options through Northwest World Vacations. It had a very nice courtyard that we could see from the street… and more pricey than our current hotel. This would be a nice place to stay another time we come to Rome… one day soon I hope J

 

Time for lunch. Luckily there was a restaurant right near our hotel that looked busy. It was very much a “neighborhood-kind of place” that felt right. There was one table for 4 left, and we grabbed it. Lunch was very good… simple salad and pizza. We all had a good lunch and it wasn’t too expensive… even for the Euro and it being Rome. Jbom and I both thought the pizza was much better than what we had in San Gimignano. We were off to a good start!

 

Back at the hotel, we were taken to our rooms with all of our luggage. We were right down the hallway from eachother (Rooms 106 and 109), and right off of the courtyard. We had upgraded the rooms to a bit larger than the standard… and the A/C was good… Jbom was a happy man.

 

At 5 p.m. our guide, Ian, from THROUGH ETERNITY TOURS arrived. I had booked tours for us each day we were in Rome… the guide would pick us up at our hotel and take us on a walking tour of a different part of Rome. Tonight we took the Piazzas and Fountains by Twilight Tour. It would also give us an introduction to Rome and how to maneuver in this big city.

 

The tour was really wonderful. Ian, from Scotland and an archeologist from Oxford was our guide. He spends about 5 weeks a year on the Pompeii dig and then does the write-up the rest of the year in between giving Rome tours. He was a great guide and I would recommend him to anyone. Ian mapped out for us what we would see in our 3 hours. He adjusted our plan based on how much walking we could all handle. And then we headed off.

 

We went into the Metro at Flaminio, the station right near our hotel. Ian showed us how to buy tickets for the Metro and we were off. Being rush hour, it was a bit of a crush, but we made it keeping an eye on our bags the entire time. We started at the Spanish Steps (Spagna stop on the Metro) and began there. Along the way Ian discussed architecture, the influence of the Pope’s and how they changed the face of Rome, etc. The walking tour was just amazing… and if it hadn’t been for the tour, we would have walked right by major points of interest without even knowing it.

 

Specifically, Ian took us into a nondescript church on the outside, but inside, was the most magnificent church I’ve ever seen. The church housed two statues that Bernini sculpted that were added after the church was constructed. I need to email Ian and ask him the name of the church… I have to go back there next time I am in Rome. Kind of breathtaking to be honest…

 

On our three-hour tour that went by in a flash, we saw The Spanish Steps, The Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, The Monuments a Vittorio Emanuele II and then ended at The Forum with the Colleseum in the background. And there were many, many other points of interest along the way, including the killer gelato that we had at Ian’s favorite spot!

 

The tour was just perfect and we learned so much about Rome and it’s history… and we walked all around the Ancient City… feeling it was so accessible to us. And then it was getting dark.. so we were done for the evening. We thanked Ian and he put us in a cab and off we went back to the hotel. It was a fabulous first day and evening in Rome!

 

 

PORTOFINO, ITALY

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PORTOFINO, ITALY

Tuesday, June 3^rd, 2008

 

Cruising the Riviera of Italy…

 

The girls were off again on an excursion in the morning… this time to Genoa for the day. As we were coming to the end of the cruise, Jean and Kathleen admittedly felt a little “excursioned-out”. In every stop they had one kind of excursion planned, either with John and I, or on their own with the ship. So as we neared the end of the cruise, every down minute was spent on Deck 9 taking in the sun and just hanging on the ship relaxing with a book and a glass of wine.

 

And again, it was another beautiful day in Italy! Portofino is a picture-postcard town and John and I took the tender off the ship to have a bit of a look around. As mentioned previously, they have all been exquisitely beautiful little towns. And it has been a joy to wake up every morning to see where our ship has brought us… adding another to our list of favorites. Portofino was no exception. This little town (and you can walk from one end of it to the other in about 10 minutes), is more of a club for the rich and famous.

 

The yachts that dock or anchor in the small harbor are beautiful and pristine as their crews wash and take loving care of them for their owners. The shopkeepers… or should I say “boutique” owners… ranging from Gucci to Prada to Louis Vuitton to, well, it seems everyone in this caliber are represented on the square. And of course, there are stalls of souvenirs providing memories for the less well-heeled.

 

John and I enjoyed our favorite trip past time – gelato – of course, before we headed back to the ship to enjoy the rest of the day by the pool. Limiting the number of excursions – especially at the end of the cruise – has been the right thing for us. We’ve enjoyed getting off of the ship while in port, but we also wanted to RELAX and just take it easy from time to time.

 

One day to go… can’t believe that it has gone so quickly… ugh!!!!

 

Before I sign off, a couple of observations worth noting…

*you’ll see in some of the pictures how beautiful the facade of the buildings are… almost gleeming right back at you in the sun. The interesting thing is that while some of the buildings are indeed of the old style, the newer buildings are painted… in the trompe o’leil style – meant literally “to fool the eye”. Almost Disney-esque.

*and for such a small town, they sure are good with the signs… one sign when you enter the harbor area with all of the directions as noted… all consolidated neatly onto one post instead of strewn about the town.

 

 

 

LA SPEZIA / CINQUE TERRE, ITALY

LA SPEZIA – CINQUE TERRE

Monday, June 2^nd, 2008

ITALY NATIONAL REPUBLIC DAY

 

La Spezia is the port, Cinque Terre is the attraction. Cinque Terre is a UNESCO-protected area that for most of its existence was cut off from civilization. Cinque means “five” in Italian and Terre refers to “towns” in this vernacular. Cinque Terre consists of five towns that are small villages that literally cling to the cliff side… much like the Almafi-Positano area, only more dramatic.

 

This is harsh terrain… only accessible by train or boat. There is one way in and one way out and it used to only be accessible via a six hour hike on foot. Today there is a train that provides service up and down the Cinque Terre via tunnels dug into the side of the cliff.

 

The land is terraced and the original residents “farmed” the area as it is lush in vegetation… the original reason the area was inhabited all those years ago. Original settlers lived in caves that were dug into the hillside and it was so remote that it protected them from their enemies. In most areas you cannot even approach one of the villages from boat unless the weather conditions are favorable. Fortunately, the weather gods were with us again today.

 

Being Italy’s Independence Day today, it was busy on the ship and busy in the town. All of the Italians from the north decided to come to Cinque Terre today!

 

We all took the day-trip boat from La Spezia and had a beautiful coastline journey seeing four of the five towns. The weather was a bit overcast, but it only added to the drama of the area. Once we landed in MANAROLA, we quickly disembarked off of the ship and were given a quick tour of the area. The town is small and evenmoreso than Positano, wasn’t much to behold past the harbor and a few quaint shops that lined the main “road”.

 

Quickly the town filled with tourists, and it was a bit of a crush to be honest. After several days in towns similar to this, we headed back to the harbor to wait for the local ship to return. The highlight was definitely the journey and not the destination.

 

 

 

 

LIVORNO, ITALY

 

LIVORNO – Florence, Pisa and Tuscany!

Sunday, June 1^st, 2008

 

Jean and Kathleen set out, once again, early in the morning. Today on their agenda was Florence and Pisa. We all set out from the Port of Livorno, a very, very large port the size of any major port in the USA (Newark and Long Beach, for example). It is a stopping point, not a destination by any means. The girls had a long day ahead of them as the coach ride to Florence as it was a good hour and a half drive to get there. Their excursion plan was to go directly to Florence and them head back west towards Pisa to see The Leaning Tower, and then head back to the ship.

 

John and I chose our own route again and had rented a car for a day trip in Tuscany. After our “experience” in Sicily, we had a definite plan in place… we were to drive directly to San Gimignano, near Siena, have a look around and then take the “scenic” route back to Livorno… essentially going in one big circle throughout the northern part of Tuscan region.

 

In each stop on the cruise, OCEANIA had provided a local guide that would come onto the ship early in the morning and provide onboard guests with local area information for those “going at it on their own”. On many occasions the local guide would give us great suggestions and sometimes provide us with even better maps than we had gotten on our own. They saved us a lot of time and headaches. The guide in Livorno was no exception… as she provided us with a quicker, more efficient route to get us to San Gimignano and it paid off in the end.

 

Months before while doing my research, I came across a car rental agency at the Port of Livorno called MAXIRENT. A car rental agency I had never heard off… but I had read a posting online where someone had rented a car from them in this location and they had opened the office on a Sunday for them. I went ahead and emailed back and forth with Claudio at the office and he assured me that someone would be there. I never got that kind of commitment from Hertz or Avis, so we crossed our fingers and hoped someone from the office would be there. And, true to his word, Claudio was there waiting for us on Sunday morning when we arrived at the car rental office. Thank you Claudio!

 

The trip to San Gimignano was a piece of cake there and back… our only trouble was getting out of the Port of Livorno. The GPS system that Claudio gave us for our LANCIA was a bit difficult to set up, but it did track our progress so we knew that we were on the correct road the entire time. The Lancia, on the other hand, was nothing like the Alfa Romero that we had in Sicily. It was not the greatest car, but well, it worked and I managed to only stall once the entire day… so mission accomplished!

 

Most importantly, the ride through Tuscany was again, such a picture postcard. The weather was ideal, again, and the roads were dry and well marked. Once off of the main highway: LI-PI-FI (Livorno to Pisa to Firenze – aka Florence) we had a beautiful drive. The 2-lane roads were flanked on each side of the road by tall trees…some naturally growing and others planned many years ago. On several occasions we passed several peloton of cyclists out for their Sunday ride… or prepping for the upcoming Tour of Italy.

 

Much of the area reminded me of the Napa Valley… as the road began to lazily wind up the hillside as we climbed towards San Gimignano. We came across vineyard after vineyard with beautiful villas setback from the road – their entrances marked much as they are in Napa and Sonoma with grand stone porticos with custom signage in natural materials.

 

We arrived at the outskirts of San Gimignano around Noon… you could see the approach to the city with the tall towers that dotted the landscape. Back in the Renaissance, competing noble families would build towers proclaiming their wealth and high standing… each trying to outdo each other by building the higher tower. Only 14 towers remain in the city today, but at one time I read that there were about 65.

 

San Gimignano is also a walled city… so no driving in the city. We drove around for a while and ended up coming back to a parking lot that we passed while coming into town. Due to the time of day the parking was scarce… so remembering what we went through in Taormina, we dived into a parking area and made our own spot. Jbom and I were both confident that we would not get towed… fingers crossed.

 

So the city itself is vastly different to what we have seen previously. The entire place is built of stone… in a brownish-red color. It is very monochromatic. The only color is from the shopkeepers signs, but they are in the shop windows and nothing juts out into the “street”. There is one cathedral in San Gimignano, the Collegiate Cathedral… so we went in and had a look. BUT, I was wearing shorts… ugh… they gave me what amounted to surgical draping that I had to put around my waist to cover my knees. I had forgotten the covered knees, covered shoulders policy!

 

The cathedral was pretty incredible (again, yes, getting boring… there are no ugly churches in Italy!)… the walls were completely covered in frescos depicting the main stories in the bible. They were militant about taking pictures… so sorry that I don’t have any to share. We did buy a book when we first got into town to get a map of the area and it has some really good images of the frescos in the cathedral. In retrospect, the church reminded me a lot of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

 

Lunch was a quick pizza and frankly, killer gelato. We hadn’t had gelato yet… and this was really, really good. Jbom and I both had a combo of strawberry and chocolate… not something that I would choose, but the two together was worth all the wait!

 

So, after a bit of a further mooch around town, we climbed back in the car and continued on. We took the scenic route back passing Cole Val d’Elsa and VOLTERRA. We didn’t stop… but the day was getting on and we needed to get back to the Port of Livorno comfortably by 5 p.m. We were not under the gun driving-wise, but we figured, better safe than sorry. We arrived back to the car rental agency just as planned. It was a lot of driving, but well worth the experience… and we didn’t get lost! Yeah!

 

Okay, there was one corny thing that I have to report regarding OCEANIA. Mid-cruise I guess that it is custom for members of the crew to welcome back guests at the end of the day. There were a number of busses that did the Florence excursion so when they came back, guests were welcomed back to the ship with a red carpet, the jazz band and the crew clapping them in. Drinks were passed out as they got off the busses. Mum and Kathleen loved it… at first they didn’t know what was going on, but admitted later that they thought it was a nice touch.

 

Speaking of the girls, well they had a long day in Florence. They saw The Duomo,
The Cathedral, and all the major monuments. Jean wasn’t too impressed with Pisa and they stayed near the motorcoach instead of getting closer to it for a look. They did a tremendous amount of walking that day and they were “pooped” when we saw them later in the evening. They had a really nice time, but it was 11 hours long overall… a very long day for them.

 

 

 

ALMAFI / POSITANO, ITALY

 

ALMAFI / POSITANO

Saturday, May 31^st, 2008

 

After our adventure in Sorrento the day prior, it was difficult to get out of bed and go for another outing… but, of course, we did! Originally, Jean and Kathleen were going to take the Almafi-Positano excursion on their own, but I decided to join them and jbom stayed behind to relax.

 

As usual, we set off in the morning on our tender about 9 a.m. and again, it was a beautiful day. We’ve been lucky this entire trip… really lucky. The weather has been wonderful – we’ve been waking up most mornings to clear blue skies with the sun shining. And the temperature has been favorable… ranging in the low 70s in Venice up to the high 80s in Corfu, Greece.

 

Almafi and Positano were no exception. And getting to Positano was more than half the fun. We disembarked the tender in Almafi and immediately jumped onto another day-trip type boat with upper and lower seating for the 30 minute boat ride to Positano. The ride along the coast was really breathtaking and lived up to all of the hype… houses dotting the steep side of the coast in yellow, blue and green to emulate the sun, the water and the land… all tightly stacked together in a random, yet organized formation.

 

After the 30 minute narrative by one of the guides en route, we disembarked on Positano and had the rest of the time to ourselves. Positano is tiny by most standards and first existed as a fishing village and then grew into a tourist business. Most of these villages along the coast have transformed themselves… and as we had come to Italy at the early part of the “tourist season”, we at times felt a bit of the crush of the tourists that surrounded us from time to time.

 

The main “street” of Positano is all walking… and you spend your time either looking at the sea sitting in one of the many café’s or browsing in one of the many shops. Kathleen has been on a mission the entire trip to keep an eye out for anything her grandchildren, other family or friends would like. She doesn’t speak Italian, but before you know it, she has run in and run out of a shop with a gift or two to capture her memories of her time in Italy!

 

We walked up the hill at a leisurely pace and stopped in the shops to have a look… mostly beach and summer wear along with knickknack shops full of souvenirs… some really nice and others, well, from China with a Positano logo on them. It was easy to spot the mediocre stuff. Positano is known for their blue, green and yellow pottery.. really beautiful and vibrant earthenware.

 

I mentioned the walking path… well, the path was beautiful…big flagstones on the ground and the same stones that made the walls of the buildings all joined together. In order to beat the summer heat, a covered trellis of bougenvea (again!) in bright magenta covered the area over our heads. The locals had trained a canopy overhead the majority of the way up the main shopping path.  Another beautiful place.

 

Back on board the day-trip boat, we got lucky and grabbed a seat up top and had a fabulous view all the way back to Almafi. The sun was shining and it was a lovely boat ride back. Once back on the shore in Almafi, we were talking about going back on the tender to hang on the ship, but a man from the cruise overheard us and said that we had to just “go and take a look through the arch ahead”. We took his advice and walked through the arch into Almafi. Before us was an incredible Renaissance-style church at the top of many steps. It was incredible… the design was so brilliant that the pictures (again) do not do it justice.

 

We walked up the stone steps and into the church to have a look. To our surprise, there was a wedding going on… and we almost walked in right at the end of the recessional. Fortunately, we didn’t interrupt and quietly took a seat at the back of the church. It was such a beautiful place to have a wedding! The ushers did a good job of clearing the massive staircase so the bride and groom could have it to themselves as they walked down the stairs to their awaiting family and bridal car.

 

Afterwards, Kathleen bought a few more postcards and then we headed back to the ship to enjoy the rest of the day onboard. I would say that the boat ride back and forth to Positano was the highlight as well as the church in Almafi. After a while, you get a little tired of all of the shops to browse in and it is a bit of the “been there, done that” mentality. I found it important to take a mental moment of the surroundings that house the shops to keep in mind the absolute natural beauty of the area… as it was this reason that people first came to this area in the first place.

 

After our day in Sorrento, the boat ride to Positano and our time in Alfmai, this to date, is really the area that I have loved the best for its sheer natural beauty. It has lived up to all of the hype from all of the pictures in all of the travel books and in all of the movies that have been shot in this area. I hope that you get the opportunity one day to see it for your self!

 

SORRENTO, ITALY

 

SORRENTO, ITALY

Friday, May 30^th, 2008

 

Sorrento, Pompeii and a day of gastronomique delights!

 

This day could not have been any better… and it seems the highlight of the trip for everyone. It was that good – no, not good…  but great!

 

Gianpiero Fiorentino is a local guide that I found on www.tripadvisor.com. He is a jewel along with the jewel of a city called Sorrento. Months ago I was on tripadvisor.com and was looking for a day excursion for all of us that was not through the cruise line. We wanted to get a true flavor of what the area was like from a local, enjoy the scenery, see Pompeii and have a traditional Italian lunch.

 

Gianpiero met us at the Sorrento dock when we tendered off of our ship in the morning. He and I had corresponded frequently via email, but you never really know what you are going to get when you hire a local guide. We had pushed back our pick up time as we were on an independent excursion from the ship and had to wait a bit before we could take the tender. Fortunately, Janel from the Destinations Office on the ship, was able to maneuver to get us off of the ship on the first tender… so in the end, we were about half an hour earlier than expected.

 

Once Gianpiero arrived we spotted eachother immediately and made the introductions all around. He had a very comfortable Mercedes van and we set off for the day. He explained what we would do for the day as we had discussed via email. We had him for the entire day as the ship was not leaving until the following morning. The itinerary included:

*a drive through Sorrento to an olive oil manufacturing facility

*continuing onward to Pompeii for a visit

*and finishing with lunch at a local osteria (family-run restaurant).

 

As we drove up towards the crest of Sorrento on small driving lanes twisting up switchback roads, Gianpiero told us about the local area. Due to the favorable climate and the sea air, there is an abundance of vegetation. Farmers and residents utilize every part of the land to grow fruits, vegetables and most importantly, olives, for the production of olive oil.

 

Gianpiero quickly put us at ease and he is a friendly man that has lived in the Sorrento area his entire life. He knows many people in Sorrento… from cab drivers to the local carbinneri (police officers). He has been a guide for about 15 years and it shows… he really gave us an education throughout the day of what it is like to be Italian and to be from Sorrento. He introduced us to Jackie and Marko who made our day extra special.

 

After a short drive up the cliff side of Sorrento, we arrived at Girgiulo – a manufacturer of olive oil. This is where we met Jackie. Jackie, originally from Poland – who looks and speaks like an Italian – is the international sales rep for this premium brand of olive oil. She has known Gianpiero for years and took us through the entire manufacturing process. We saw the old and new manufacturing process and learned how they harvest the olives. The process reminded me of how Napa Valley works in many ways like a cooperative… the local land owners harvest the olives and bring them to a local manufacturer, where they are sorted and turned into olive oil. The farmer/resident then receive payment for their olives based on the overall harvest. Pretty fascinating…

 

After the tour we got an opportunity to sample different kinds of olive oil including the premium D.O.P. – which is probably a couple of steps up from EVOO in our world. And then there was lemon infused olive oil which was 20 percent lemons from the surrounding area. Lemons grow in ABUNDANCE in this area… you just pick what you want. And the quality of the lemon oil is so pungent… so much better than what we have at home… likely because we just picked the lemon off of the tree and it hadn’t been sitting in a crate for weeks coming from Spain.

 

We thanked Jackie for her time after buying a good bit of olive oil to take home and enjoy ourselves (and for some of our friends!)… not the lightest stuff for our luggage, but will be worth it in the end!

 

Off to POMPEII. Okay, the drive was not the best… the garbage along the route in Napoli (Naples) is pretty bad. There is a bit of a garbage war going on within the local government and the community. It is piled up everywhere. Gianpiero tells me that they do come and pick it up, but the community is so large that they can’t keep up with it.. and it has become an embarrassment to the rest of Italy.

 

When we got to Pompeii we decided to have a look around on our own. Gianpiero dropped us off at the entrance and we bought our tickets. We tried to get audioguides (MP3 pl.ayers with headsets), but all of the English-language was sold out. As we had a little over an hour, we didn’t want to pay for a guide… so we grabbed a map and headed in.

 

In a previous blog I had mentioned that the Italian historic sites are not the best about providing information in multiple languages, ie. English. Well, this was also the case in Pompeii. The local map was in Italian only… nothing in English. We had to wing it a bit and just take in as much as we could on our own, while overhearing the English-speaking guides walking around with other groups.

 

Considering that we were on our own, we were not lost in the fact of what was around us… from the ruins themselves, to the details of the frescos that still partially remain. We also came across a mid-size home that was very much in tact and had tiled floors and frescos still very visible on the walls. You could make out where the kitchen was and the entire main living area. Many Pompeii residents had inner open-air courtyards with plants trees. That would be nice to have at home!

 

I would say that within the timeframe that we had, we were able to see about one-third of the site. It is much larger than I expected, and only one-half or so of the site has been excavated. Monies collected from tourists are going towards further excavation which is visible as you exit the ruins. Some areas are blocked off to tourists as they have deteriorated further with the foot traffic. I guess it is a double-edged sword… they want people to see the site to help generate funding, but what has/what will it do to the site in the long term?

 

Of what we did see, we were in awe of how it has been maintained and you can only imagine what the residents of Pompeii went through when Mt. Vesevius erupted and what a horrific death those had that remained behind.

 

So now, time for lunch! We set off back towards Sorrento ready to have our traditional Italian meal. We had no idea what we were in store for…

 

Once in Sorrento, we drove further up the mountainside through back lanes that barely one vehicle could fit through. These roads were not built for motorized vehicles… donkeys and carts, yes, but not vehicles! I am amazed at the homes that were built all the way up the side of the mountain.. and how beautifully they have been maintained. When you buy a home in this area it is not meant to be remodeled… it remains with the landscape and you just modify the interior with plumbing and heating, etc… the buildings are many feet thick made of layers and layers of stones.

 

We arrived at Cantina Torre Ferano Osteria. The osteria (restaurant) is owned by a book publisher and managed by Marco. Gianpiero has known Marco for many years (of course) and worked out an arrangement that he would bring his clients up here from time to time for lunch. We were the only ones at the restaurant. Okay, it isn’t a restaurant per se, but a villa with a wine cellar that has been converted to an osteria.

 

It is really, really difficult to describe this place. I would just say that it was a bit of Heaven. The view was just incredible. Gianpiero took us around and showed us the place first. Marco then took us into the wine cellar where they make their own wine from the locally harvested grapes that are adjacent to the villa. Marco gets up early each morning and makes his own buffalo mozzarella in the stone building adjacent to his house just below the villa on the lower ridge. During the day, he prepares meals for the locals… no tourists… such an out of the way place. He uses only local ingredients and farms the stone walls for the different herbs (thyme, basil, rosemary, mint, etc.) that grow naturally between the outcropping of rocks on the side of the building. I am not making this up. Heaven.

 

After a glass of white and a glass of red in the wine cellar, we were taken up to the terrace that was adjacent to the main building. It was a warm and sunny day (thankfully), so the Mediterranean breeze relieved the heat a bit as we sat at our table under the natural palm shaded canopy. Lunch, well, the best meal in so many ways. It was more than a meal, it was an event.

 

We started with rustic Italian bread (is there any other kind?) and had locally made salami, the buffalo mozzarella that Marco had made that morning, along with freshest ricotta cheese… the kind of which I have never had nor will probably have again, unless of course, for our next visit! Following, we had a tomato salad with onions, basil, balsamic dressing and brown bread mixed in. Jean was dying over the tomatoes… the best she has had. It was all so good…

 

So we thought that we were done. We were all so happy and then next came out the best eggplant parmesan that I have ever had. I am not a fan of eggplant parmesan, but this was so tender and so flavorful. After that, we had two different types of pasta: one with mussels and the other with beans. From there, Marco brought out the most tender beef (Tuscan ribeye) that we shared along with potatoes with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top… sort of a gourmet steak frittes.

 

Okay, not done… samples of dolce (dessert)… panna cotta with raspberry sauce that jbom is still talking about, to lemon cake and strawberry cake… all small samples for each of us to try. Much was still warm as they had made them while we began our meal. We were all “puffed out” as Jean says with regularity after most meals (indicating that she is full!)

 

“Puffed out” turned into “pooped” as we all needed a nap by then. We talked about stringing a hammock across the area and taking a rest… what an afternoon…. Gianpiero loved “pooped” and in a recent email mentioned how “pupd” he is… his new word! J

 

The meal just far exceeded our expectations. I can’t say any more. It was an experience that we’ll have forever. Thank you Gianpiero for making our day and our trip so memorable!

 

 

 

 

 

TAORMINA, SICILY

 

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TAORMINA, SICILY

Thursday, May 29^th, 2008

 

A Journey to Mount Etna… for all four of us in a couple of different ways.

 

Jean and Kathleen decided to go on the cruise excursion to Mt. Etna. They did it the traditional way: going on a motorcoach, via the main city (Catania), up the main road, to the main welcome center, to the main viewing area, etc. jbom and I, on the other hand, did not go the traditional way.

 

This was jbom’s day. He had the choice of what we would do today. His father’s family is from Sicily (remember the notation about the Venetian’s in Dubrovnik), well, it was jbom’s choice of where he wanted to go for the day. He set the agenda as we had a car rented through EuropCar for the day.

 

But before I go any further, I have to say that I am so relieved that I have my laptop with internet service. It’s not just for the blog or for work from time to time, but for anything unusual that pops up that you need to get in contact with someone. Well, another surprise happened — the port location was changed from Messina (north of Taormina), and the location of our car rental agency, to Giardini di Naxos (south of Taormina). So I scrambled. I contacted EuropCar via email and fortunately without too much fanfare, I got the reservation cancelled in one and added to the other.

 

So we picked up the car and headed out on the morning – an Alfa Romeo 159 with a manual transmission.  Fortunately jbom and I can both drive manual transmissions, but he let me drive (yeah – or so I thought!).

 

I had read in Kathleen’s guidebook (Fodor’s) that the less hectic way of seeing Mt. Etna is to go via Linguaglossa – a small town that has spectacular scenery all the way up the mountain. Okay, so we set off. We found our way just fine and I loved driving the car. The road signs were challenging as you would come to an area and there were no less than 8 signs for different areas to go to. You first look for the color (highways in green and state roads in blue – this would come to haunt me later) and then look for the city. As we got closer, the national monuments are in brown and white (just like in the USA), so it was easy to follow the signs to: Etna Nord, or Mt. Etna North.

 

During the ride up we passed a number of sleepy towns that were so picturesque… places like Calatabiano, Linguaglossa, Mareneve and Fornazzo. After that, we couldn’t find ourselves on the Michelin atlas but we felt that we were headed in the right direction. We made it to the summit – ie. the end of the road, but there wasn’t much there… just a few mobile trailers selling Mt. Etna knickknacks and hiking trails. I imagine that they use mobile trailers so they can be moved as the lava flows move over the mountain. This is a big area in the winter for snowboarding and skiing.

 

We hiked up as far as we could go. Unfortunately not much to see, but pretty cool scenery… especially the lava flows and piles and piles of lava rocks and ash surrounding the area… a bit like walking on the moon, I would expect.

 

So we headed down the mountain and, well, made a wrong turn. We were headed in the right direction towards Taormina, but not on the state surface road, but on the highway. I followed the wrong color. To make matters worse, here we were, at the toll booth with no man to give us a ticket, no button to press and no ticket that had popped out of any machine, anywhere.

 

If you recall, I mentioned that in Italy they break for lunch in the afternoon? Well, I guess the “ticket man” was taking a break. No one in site. What do I do????? Well, drive right through the ticket booth with the alarms blazing!!! I figured that I would ask for mercy on the other side when I was to present my ticket (billet) at our exit.

 

Okay, I admit that during this time I was more than a little stressed out… I was hoping that the local police (“polizia”) would not show up. We quickly ducked into the rest stop a few miles up the road to regroup. Okay, I had to regoup. We grabbed a sandwich and a couple of drinks and began trying to figure out how to say “I did not have a ticket”. The best I could find was “I lost my ticket.” That would have to do.

 

We finished our sandwiches and set off for the Taormina exit. Only 2 miles up the road we got off and came to the man in the tollbooth. Okay, be brave I said to myself and smile and apologize A LOT. I asked him if he spoke English and he, of course, did not. I told him in broken Italian that I didn’t have a ticket and he said: “no problemo!” We paid an extra Euro or two and we were off! Phew!!!! Okay, no more following of the green highway signs, or is it blue?!!!

 

We drove a little ways to TAORMINA a picturesque town high on the cliff. Okay, picturesque is not the word, it doesn’t begin to describe it. It was a beautiful drive up the cliff-side passing bougainvillea trees, cactus (yes, really cactus), flowers and flowers, etc… just a beautiful place.

 

We had about an hour and a half before we had to be back with the car, so we tried to find a place to park and walk around, but it was packed. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and no real spot to park. The lanes were very tight and many of them were one way. We just ended up driving around the area and then back down again to the main state road before returning the car. I was disappointed that we couldn’t park, but I was more worried about getting TOWED. Nikki, from my office, had her car towed last time in Italy and she was staying locally so she could work it out. We had a cruise ship to catch, so I didn’t want to risk it. Fortunately, on the walk back to the pier, we found a “pay and display” parking box that was in Italian and ENGLISH. We noted the directions so that we’ll be all set for our day trip in Tuscany in a couple of days.

 

The best part for me was the drive itself. I loved the car and loved driving in the lanes. When in England visiting family, I never really drive as I am fortunate to have everyone cart me around. I had forgotten how much fun it is!