Rome - A pleasant drive back to Florence - Weekend Trains - You Wanted Heat, You Got It - So much history, So little time.

 We left fairly early from the Cinque Terre headed towards Florence to catch our train to Rome. The drive was fairly fast since we had opted not to stop at Pisa or Lucca. Beautiful coast country until you turn east to Florence. Mary napped part of the time so I just enjoyed the views.

 Arriving at the airport where we returned the call we had to wait for a shuttle that took us down to the train station. 10 or 15 other folks waited with us and Mary realized that she had left something in the car. I hustled back and got to the car just before they moved it to another location. Hustled back and got there just before the shuttle.

 I thought I was being smart when I booked a weekend train since it was 2 for 1 tickets and found the first class cabins were nearly as packed as second class. 

Arriving at  Roma Termini we headed out for the two bedroom apartment that we had rented. It was very nice though sparsely furnished. The building had a, again, sparsely furnished roof as well, but provided nice views of the eternal city.

 We walked down to the Coliseum, then on to Roman Forum, the Circus Maximus, a walk along the River Tiber and finally a lunch on the west bank.

 

 Our second day, June 2nd, is Italy's Republic Day. The day before we had seen bleachers erected along the Via dei Fiori Imperiali in preparation for a huge parade on the 2nd. Loads of folks out enjoying the holiday.

 As we walked on this very warm day (in the 90's), we found a line of at least a hundred people standing at we found out to be a open house at the Quirinal Palace (President of Italy's home). Being a Sunday there were lots of elderly ladies dressed in black in line. 

We moved on to the Pantheon where the line was so long we passed and moved on to the Piazza Novona. It dates from the 1st century AD and has lots of restaurants, shops and some of the most impressive statues and fountains.

 The most impressive is  Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or Fountain of the Four Rivers from 1651 by Bernini. 

 

 In the background is the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone from the 17th Century. We had a glass of wine and a snack and then moved on towards the Trevi Fountain.

 There were so many people there that there was absolutely no way to work down to toss a coin in the fountain to guarantee a return trip. 

 We retraced our steps back to the  Quirinal Palace where there were now ambulances and several EMT's attending to folks that had fainted due to the long wait and heat of the day. Very scary for those folks.

On Monday the 3rd we headed towards the Vatican passing by the Castel Sant'Angelo on the Tiber. Mary didn't feel like going through the Vatican museum to see the Sistine Chapel but we did join a long, slow line to go into Saint Peter's. I got up to the metal screening machines and had to go through like three times before I got all of my metal out of my pockets. It was a bit embarrassing.

On the 4th, which was our last day in Italy, we visited the Capitoline Museum in a building designed by Michaelangelo. Many beautiful statues and the plaza overlooks the Roman Forum. Then took a tour of  the "wedding cake", better known as the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II.

 The next morning we walked over to the train station and caught our train to the airport ending a great month touring Italy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cinque Terre - FORBIDDEN - Back Roads - A seemingly deserted village

 On May 25th we headed out from San Vito di Caldore towards the Cinque Terre. Another overcast day and as we approached the Autostrada near Brixen, the rains came. Maybe a downpour would be more descriptive. Made for a fun drive south.

 Rain continued all the way south past Verona, finally clearing as we turned west in the direction on Milan. This part of Italy is more industrialize than the south. We passed Reggio Emilia and Parma before once again heading south. 

On the outskirts of La Spezia, our directions took us into the hill country where (we weren't using GPS but rather road by road directions that I had written down) we got a little lost. We hit one little town where we executed the old right turn, right turn, right turn manuever. Fortunately it didn't last long as we decided to pick a road and go for it. 

 Holiday House Il Sole di Valletona (yes, that's how it's listed) is situated on a hillside over looking the Mediterranean Sea a couple of kilometers from Corniglia a small (150 Pop.) town built on a bluff.

We arrived in the late afternoon, hauled our bags up the steep steps to the house and settled in. Nice place, but the upstairs bathroom had a shower that was a challenge for me with a wicked step up that was tough to navigate at night. 

We had a bottle of wine and snacks watching the sun set.

 The next day with still fair weather we walked about a quarter mile down the narrow road to a driveway that took us to the Sentiero Azzurro, the Blue Trail. 

It's 7.5 mile trail that connects the villages on the Cinque Terre from Monterosso to Riomaggiore. Portions are often closed due to landslides especially between Manarola to Riomaggiore, which happened during our stay. Steep in some sections with uneven stairs and (during our time) often muddy portions, the Blue Trail is why most tourists visit the Cinque Terre. 

 At the end of the driveway was a cluster of "apartments" that folks could stay at as well as a nifty little bar,  Bar Il Gabbiano. Heading south towards Corniglia was a pleasant downhill walk. The trail was muddy in places but not particularly crowded. 

  

 At Corniglia was a little kiosk that had a employee who sold and checked day passes on the trail. It was around noon when we got to town and the narrow little streets were packed with tourists. We had planned to have a glass and lunch but every thing was packed. Instead we opted for gelato. Mine was my usual Coconut and Mary had Basil, which was suprisingly good. On the way back we stopped at Bar Il Gabbiano snagged a little table by the window with a view of Corniglia.

 The next day, as we headed to La Spezia for groceries we saw a little hilltop town that was up the hill from where we were staying that led to San Bernardino. We pulled over and took a walk through the mostly deserted town with a view of hillside vineyards and the sea. We'd come back for that.

 On May 28th, we headed North on the Blue Trail destined to Vernazza. On this nice trail, though muddy again, we met a woman on the trail who stopped us, pointed at Mary's Chaco sandals and said in a big voice "FORBIDDEN". Guess she didn't like Mary's choice of footwear. I think Mary might have said something about hiking in Chaco's for years, but since she didn't flash a badge, we kept going.  

  

 Mary and her forbidden footwear.

 

 Vernazza has a small port that was crowded not only with fishing boats, one of which was painted like a Jack Daniels bottle. Lots of tourists again but we walked thru the small streets checking out the views before starting back.

 At the kiosk where a gentleman was checking passes, I skillfully avoided paying the fee since it's only about two miles or so to where we get off the trail and pointed uphill and said "San Bernadino casa". My way of saying we weren't going to Corniglia. He looked at us for a moment, then waved us on.

 On the 30th we walked down the trail to Corniglia and headed towards the train station to go to Manarola. Since Corniglia is on a hilltop bluff you have to go down a a steep 400 step staircase called the Scalinata Lardarina. We purchased our tickets and got on the crowded train.

 Manarola's population is only about 350 but when it's swollen with tourists it's very crowded, not only at the train station but also the cafes, bars and streets. Very picturesque.

 We noticed folks coming out of a shop with paper cones of fried fish, so we picked two of them up. It had some calamari, little fishes with heads on and a couple other varieties. Neither of us finished them.

 We headed uphill through the back streets and got away from the masses and found a great view of the town.

 

 On our last day in the Cinque Terre, we headed back up hill to San Bernadino to hike a trail that I had found on the internet. It headed North towards Vernazza but stayed in the valley. It crossed a couple farms where we weren't sure about trespassing but figured it was okay. 

 

 A pleasant hike that rewarded us with views down toward Vernazza and the sea.

     

 We got up early the next morning to leave and when passing San Bernadino, we came upon15 or 20 men with either rifles or shotguns. Don't think it was a posse but have no idea what they were hunting. I was glad we weren't walking on the trails around there. Off to Florence and Roma.

 

San Vito di Cadore. Way too much snow for May. Cortina d'Ampezzo. Meeting the locals. Still some good hikes.

 May 18th and we're on our way to the Dolomites. This time I took the Autostrada (A27) to San Vito di Caldore where we had rented a two bedroom apartment.

 Cute little town with about 1700 people, it sits just 6 miles south of Cortina d"Ampezzo, one of the host cities for the 2026 Olympics. Surrounded by mountains on the East and West sides, it's very scenic (when the clouds aren't obscuring the peaks).

We arrived around noon and our host gave us a slightly bigger apartment, which was nice. We were just off the SS51 which gave us easy access. Our first order of business was a walk around town to see what was what. 

  

  San Vito has great access to hiking trails on both sides of town. The east side trails go up to the ski area and refugio's further up on Monte Antelao. On the west side, trails go up towards Cima D'Ambrizzola. It also has a Rail to Trail path that runs all the way to Cortina from Zuel about 9 miles total.

  

 One of the former train stations on the path.

 It being off season most of the restaurants were closed so we drove up to Cortina, found a "pub" named Hacker Pschorr Haus and had beers and food. 

 The next day being a Sunday, we walked up from the village to the Refugio Senes, a hotel, which was closed. A quarter mile or so further we found the Capitello Madonna degli Alpini. It's a small shrine for climbers heading further up into the mountains. The paved road turned to dirt through a forest of pines and meadows. 

 

 On Monday we headed north through Cortina up to go hiking on a trail that I had found only to be blocked by a little snow.

 

 That's the trail behind us. It was a harbinger of things to come.

We did a road trip towards Canazei, a little town that I had spent a couple nights in before. Lots of snow on the passes but the sun had come out and we finally saw more of the Dolomite peaks.

 

We even caught sight of either an avalanche or a waterfall from the road.

Later that evening we were walking around town when we saw some ladies harvesting a plant. Mary went up to them and talked a bit and they explained, well maybe communicated via gestures that you could put it on a lot of things. They were kind enough to give her some and she made a wonder dish with farro for dinner that night. She researched it and found the Italian name is strigoli o carletti

 

 She was also partial to the Beet Ravoli's that we found at the bakery in town. Personally I'm not a beet fan, but these were really good.

 Our last road trip was towards the Tre Cime di Lavardo which I had visited on a previous trip. You can hike a circuit around them that takes you through some amazing World War I trenches and tunnels. But unfortunately the road was closed way short of the parking area. We debated going on up, as we'd seen other cars doing, but being tourists we weren't sure about it.

 We left and headed towards Misurina, where I had found some other trails that might afford us a view of the Tre Cima. The lake was still partly ice covered but it was a beautiful day and we walked around the lake.

 

  

 From the it was on to Auronzo where we walked around it's lake and found a picnic area with nice views.

 

 The weather was still nice on our last day in San Vito. Mary decided to take a hike up past Refugio Senes and I decided to walk around town. After a while I changed my mind and drove the car up to the Refugio and headed uphill as well. I met up with Mary at Taula Regoietes, which is just a wood hut that would serve as a shelter if the weather got bad. Not much too it, just a stove and wooden bunks.

 We continued on up the road to where it turned into a single track that led up to the next Taula. I'd had enough so I headed down while Mary headed up.

 

 

 I waited for Mary to come down and we drove back into town. We then walked over to our favorite little outside bar, "Bar Antelao" for a snack and Dolomiti beer. 

  

 For our last night we revisited La Stua. I remember that they had great Spaetzle. And they had a nice waiter, Stefoni, who spoke good English and took good care of us. That evening, while we were dining, a bus load of Chinese tourists pulled up in front and came into the restaurant. Stefoni came by to check on us and informed us that they spoke no Italian or English and explaining the menu was a lot of fun.

 Now we're off to the Cinque Terre.    

 

 

Venice. A late arrival (so sorry). Crowded parking. Water taxi's. Spots away from the crowds.

 On May 16th, we got up early, caught a taxi to the airport and picked up our rental car for mostly the rest of the trip and headed to Venice.

 I wanted to take some back roads to Venice rather than jumping on the Autostrada (think Interstate). We drove through the Tuscan hill country and ultimately arrived at Forli, where we got a bit lost but soon back on the way towards Ravenna and Venice. 

I thought this would be much quicker than the roundabout way the autostrada went, but figured wrong. Lots of little coastal towns with both auto and truck traffic. I also later got a speeding ticket from one of the little towns. Oh well. 

 On the drive we got several calls from our Venice host wondering when we would arrive. I tried telling her where we were at various times, guess my Italian pronunciation wasn't great because she had no idea what I was saying. 

 We eventually got on the long causeway out to Venice and found a parking garage that was packed. Got on a water taxi to the stop that the host had provided and arrived at our cute little 2 floor condo. She was a bit miffed since she had taken time away from work and waited for us, but after a few apologies, she seemed to understand what had taken so long.

 One of the fun things about Venice (at least for me) was finding little piazza's where there weren't a lot of tourists. That afternoon we found one and had a glass of wine and a small appetizer in the sunshine.

 

 The next day was our "Grand Tour" of Venice. We walked along the Grand Canal, visited the Basilica Santa Maria della Saulete, found that the Piazza San Marco was way too crowded to be believed and went off grid to a little piazza on the less visited North side of Venice.

 

 The Grand Canal

 

 

 The Basilica

 

 

 

 A view of San Marco from the Basilica and Mary at the Piazza San Marco

 

 After fleeing San Marco we made our way to the less visited part of Venice and found another little Piazza where we had a glass of wine and rested my weary legs.

 

 One of the many back streets.

 

 A short visit to Venice, but long enough to tire of the crowds. The next morning we boarded a water taxi to the garage and spent an uncomfortable 45 or so minutes while the attendants tried to locate our rental car. I was a bit panicked for a bit there.

  

 

 Mary waiting for the water taxi.

 

We heard the mountains calling and we knew we must go. Off to the Dolomites.

 

  

Florence. The result of so many travel shows. A word about Italian trains.

On May 9th we had a long travel day from Piano di Sorrento to Florence. After a final quick cleaning of our rental in Piano, we walked the quarter of a mile to the train station to catch the local to Naples where we'd switch over to the national train line (Trenitalia) to go to Florence.

 Not a terrible wait at the Naples station, though as I remember the train was a little late in arriving. Several trips ago to Italy I purchased a ticket from a broker from Tropea to Naples and she booked me 2nd Class. It was a cattle call in boarding, with little baggage storage space. Being new to traveling on their trains I didn't realize there were assigned seats but a really nice couple traveling with their 2 children realized that I had no clue and let me stay in my aisle seat to hold on to my luggage. Lesson learned, plus I found that traveling from Naples to Rome via 1st class wasn't that much more than 2nd class. So from Naples to Florence (direct with a short stop in Rome) we went 1st class. Lots of room, mostly empty with plenty of storage space.

 We arrived mid afternoon, found a very nice taxi driver who spoke English and  heading to our apartment on the South bank of the Arno. We were located on the Via dei Bastoni just outside the city walls. Our landlady, Rossana Ciapetti, was a teacher also spoke great English, she was very sweet. When we left later that week, she gave Mary a cute little painting of the Tuscan countryside.

 That evening we followed the hordes of people walking up the lane to the Piazzale Michelangelo to catch the sunset. 

 

 One of the fun things was that a couple were having wedding pictures taken on the step and the crowd was very kind to them in letting them have center stage with out too many photobombers.

 Here's the sunset overlooking Florence.

 

  

 Our days were filled with lots to see, except the David, which required reservations months in advance. Some of the highlights were the Piazza della Signoria with its crowds of tourist and a visit to a sandwich shop that Mary's niece told her about. I had a sandwich with cold cuts and black truffles. I already took a bite.

 

It was a busy place, but not a long wait from ordering to getting our sandwiches which we took back to the Piazza and ate and watched the other tourists. 

 

 

 We also visited the Uffizi Museum which was marvelous. We saw a painting Mary ( and I really didn't know about) wanted to see as well as the Birth of Venus by Botticelli.

 Here's the Medusa by Caravaggio. Very cool. 

 

 

 

 We also visited the Iris garden which had hundreds of Irises from around the world.    

 We caught a sunset from the Ponte Vecchio.

  

 And we had walks along the River Arno, climbed Giotto's Bell Tower at the Cathedral and visited the Baptistery of St. John.

 Mary on top of the Bell Tower.

 

 The view towards the river and the Tuscan hills.

  The gold fresco of the Baptistery.

 

Lastly, our neighborhood bar,  I Bastioni di San Niccolo Trattoria. Great pizza and cold beer.

 Next Stop Venice.

 

 

 

 

 

Catching Up. Visits to Pompei and the Amalfi Coast. A train scare. No Sorrento. Crowded buses.

 I can't believe that it's been six years since we traveled to Italy. I've been meaning to update this blog with photos and details of the rest of the trip, but things have just gotten away from me. So here's a quick catch up.

 On May 7th, Mary and I went by train first to Pompeii. We got there early with just a few tourist groups having arrived before us. Here's a shot of the main street from near the entrance.

 

 

 

Lots of very nice murals and statues inside of some of the houses that were open. 

 

Evidently the bigger the penis, the richer the merchant. Is that why Elon Musk has 400 children?

 

 

 

 

 

After a half day at Pompeii we boarded the train again to travel on to Ercolano. Smaller than Pompeii but it seemed that the houses were much more open and in better shape than the ones we went through in Pompeii.

  

 

 

  

 

Two things stood out on this day, first while we were waiting on the train, a older lady who was in are car got a late start on exiting. Don't know if she didn't realize it was her stop but as she walked through the doors they suddenly closed catching her foot. These are very heavy doors and not easy to bump open. She fell and the train started moving. A gentlemen jumped to her aid but it didn't appear that he could get her get her foot loose. It was incredibly chaotic. Women screaming and the train did not stop for several hundred yards. We watched the news later than night and didn't see anything about the incident. All we could do is hope she was okay.

 

On our way back from Ercolano, we thought we were on the correct train (the tracks split at Pompeii) but as we got to the Pompei city stop a older gentleman looked at us and asked "Sorrento". I nodded and said "Si" and he goes "No Sorrento". Very kind of him to straighten us out. We got off quickly with a British couple (who's names I've forgotten) just before the doors closed. As it turned out the gentleman was nicer than the people at the ticket office who just basically pointed in a direction and that was it. 

 

Turned out okay as we got to see downtown Pompei. Fairly easy to find the right direction and the four of us had a wonderful conversation and finally caught the right train back to Piano.

 

On May 8th we caught a bus destined for the Amalfi Coast. Our destination was Ravello, a hill town some 10 or so miles from Amalfi. The bus ride out from Sorrento was everything I remember from previous trips to the area. Hairpin curves with big buses made it exciting to say the least. 

 

 

 

 

  

Once we got to Amalfi, the fun began. One would think that even though it was early May, that there wouldn't be all that many tourists. One would be wrong in that thinking. And one would think that the Italian tourist buses would have plenty of buses and room. Another wrong assumption. 

 

As we walked along the streets of Amalfi, we ran into our British friends and had a good laugh about the previous day and running into each other.

 

We caught the bus to Ravello without any real issue, but it was crowded. Once in town we walked up to the main square, checked out the church and then explored some of the neighborhoods. After we walked thru a narrow plant covered lane, we ended up at the Hotel Caruso.

 

 

 

 

 

 As you can see, they have a great patio with wonderful views of the sea. We had a glass of wine and some appetizers.  

  

 

 

 

The way back to Sorrento was much more interesting due to the lack of buses. Both to Amalfi and on to Sorrento were absolutely packed and difficult to get on. On the last leg into town, when we finally got seats. Mary was sitting with a lady who spoke very good English from North Korea. I had no idea that North Koreans were allowed to leave the country to study abroad.

 

We ended the day with a nice meal in Sorrento at a restaurant that I had eaten a previous. The  O'Parruccchiano La Favorita. It's a great place with glass enclosed rooms and a wonderful patio and our waiter was fabulous.

 

 

 

 

 I had the Frutti Di Mare pasta, which was very yummy.

 

  

 

 Off to Florence the next morning after a very nice week in Piano di Sorrento.

Off day. Exploring Meta.

Meta di Sorrento is the next town over as you head towards Naples. It’s even less touristy than Piano with steeper streets as it sits closer to the  mountains that separate the metro area from the peninsula.

We were pleasantly surprised to find find that the street next to us was blocked off for market day though the market was more about clothes than produce. Didn’t really matter as we were looking for a cheese factory that our host Candida had recommended as the best Mozarella in Piano.

As with all directions we found the area but not the store. Mary asked a gentleman and he pointed us down a ramp to the entrance.

The lady behind the counter was very nice and patient when trying to describe in her limited English the different cheeses that they sold. Mary bought a half of a kilo which might be too much as we’re planning dinner in Sorrento one of the next two nights. We won’t throw it out.

From there were took a meandering walk looking for the entrance to a peninsula that had a camping area that thought we could see from our balcony. Turns out we found it but it wasn’t the view we thought it was but nice regardless.

Glamping European style.

From there we continued on to Meta di Sorrento to explore some more.

After walking along the main road and practically dodging cars and trucks, Mary led us off in another direction on a narrow street.

We circled around town through some back streets and narrow alleys and arrived at a staircase that led down to sea level.

The waves were 6 or 8 feet and crashing against the breakwater.

We had a great lunch at Giosue a Mare.

I’d tell you all about it but I’m so frustrated at using this website on my IPad that I’ve decided to quit for this trip. I won’t make the mistake of taking an IPad on vacation ever again.

Sorry. Will update you via email when I feel like it.

Ciao for now.