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Italy 2003
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Off to Italy
Pam retired from the Grossmont High School District at the end of March 2003,
and our plans were to fly “space available” on a military flight to Europe and
spend a couple of months wandering around Italy, Spain and who knows where else.
We had been watching
Rick Steves
programs and had read his “Europe Through the Back Door” travel guide. We
loaded up with guide books, bought a rail pass, and sent emails to various Naval
Air Stations and Air Force Bases on the east coast and in Europe to get on the
Space-A waiting lists. We decided to fly to
Norfolk, Virginia and
attempt to get a seat on the weekly “Patriot Express” charter flight to Naples.
Thursday, 4/3/2003
We flew to Norfolk as planned, rented a car and checked into the Naval Station
BOQ. Then we went to visit some old Navy friends who own
Fellini’s an Italian restaurant. Had a great time, consumed lots of beer and
wine as well as more food than we usually eat in a day.
Wednesday afternoon we checked in to the air terminal to try for the Naples
flight, scheduled to leave at 9 pm. The flight was overbooked, but they told us
they normally have about 10% no shows. As a retiree I am “Category Six”
(there are six categories in total) so seats are available only if there is
nobody who has a more important reason to travel than some old fudd on vacation.
As it turned out, that was the case and we got on with no problem. The plane was
a charter Boeing 767
operated by North American Airlines. (We had never heard of them either!) Other
than being a 9 hour flight it was pretty decent. They served two hot meals, the
usual drinks etc.
Sorrento
Well, it took
us a while but we arrived safely in Italy.
We arrived at Naples about 1 PM, hit the ATM for some Euros, and caught a bus
from the airport for Sorrento. We didn’t plan on much sightseeing in Naples so
we saw no reason to stay there. We would rather seek more scenic and less
expensive lodgings elsewhere. From Sorrento you have a wonderful view of
Vesuvius. We were treated to a view of the mountain with snow for the first time
in 40 years. When we arrived in Sorrento (south of Naples) I bought a phone card
and started calling the hotels recommended in the
Rick Steves guidebook. I managed to
contact the first with no problem, but had to lapse into English when the
response from the hotel became voluminous. It turned out they were still closed
until the next week. The second hotel had rooms available. When we arrived, it
became apparent why they had vacancies. It is sort of a “Motel 6”. It had a bath
and shower so we decided it would do for a few days. In Italy the hotel
ratings (number of stars) is determined by the amenities available. The
old “pension” hotels are all one or two stars. The Hotel Mara is a
one-star establishment. Rick Steves describes it as a “dirty ashtray” sort
of place. However, the location was convenient and the old couple who runs it
were very nice. They speak no English, but we still managed to communicate
without a problem.
Tomorrow we will probably take the train to Naples to visit the
museum before we
go to Pompeii. Right now we are going to go find some food and head back to the
room. We are both beat!
We found a nice Internet Bar just off the main square and Pam just ordered us
the first coffee we have had so far. (She found someone who speaks Spanish!)
They directed us to a supermarket and we
picked up the
fixings for picnic lunches.
We made a picnic dinner to eat in our room last night, went to bed early with
intentions of getting an early start for Naples. We woke up 11 hours later.
Didn’t get around to eating breakfast. Took the train to Naples to go to the
Archaeology Museum.
They have a special exhibition on Pompeii and Herculaneum. Had a
great day bit the train broke down on the way back to Sorrento. We had to detour
through a couple of other towns. We’re still glad we didn’t stay in Naples.
Found the supermarket again and stocked up on a few things, then had dinner.
They just brought us two thimbles full of coffee. (Pam not real happy with
Italian coffee.)
We plan to visit Pompeii, Herculaneum. and Capri in the next three days, then go
up to Cinque Terre for a couple of days. Ran the battery down on the
camera. Hope it charges overnight.
I had first visited Pompeii while on a Med Cruise in 1964. It was
fascinating then and I was anxious to see how much more had been excavated.
I was not disappointed. It may be that I had just forgotten much of it,
but it was as if I had never been there
before. Of course, being there
with Pam made it all that much more fun. We were particularly fascinated
with the mosaics and frescoes.
It is truly amazing at how much has been reclaimed from the volcanic ash that
buried the city in 79 AD. You can almost imagine the old Romans wandering
the streets. Be sure to take a look at the photo album of Italy.
Both Pompeii and Herculaneum are located between
Sorrento and Naples, right on
the train route (each has a stop). Our second day we took the train to
Herculaneum to see the ruins. These ruins cover a smaller area, and are
located under the modern city. That is one of the reasons less has been
excavated. The other is the kind of material that buried the city.
While Pompeii was buried in ash, which is fairly easy to dig out, Herculaneum
was buried in material more like mud, which solidified to rock. It has to
be laboriously chipped away.
The upside is that much less of the site has
been carted off in the past. As in Pompeii, many of the best-preserved
works of art have been taken
to the museum in Naples.
We might have appreciated that museum more if we had visited Pompeii first, then the museum, then Herculaneum. Nevertheless, seeing these two sites made us appreciate the other places we visited later even more, as we had a good perspective of what everyday life must have been like in the Roman Empire.
When we returned from Herculaneum we had a nice dinner in Sorrento (in a
restaurant recommended by Rick Steves), then wandered around town for awhile.
We visited the Foreigner’s Club for a late night drink and had
an enjoyable conversation with a British ex-pat who seemed to spend most of his
time in the club bar. As the evening wore on we found that the club is a
center for the locals who like to dance. We left around midnight and
headed back to our hotel. To our surprise the streets
downtown
were
packed! Everyone was just strolling around, socializing. Quite a
difference from downtown La Mesa!
Right in the center of town, just a block from our hotel, is a large lemon
grove. It has a wall around the entire grove and is like a city park, with
walkways and benches throughout. Right in the center is a tasting booth
for the famous local product,
Limoncello,
which is a lemon liqueur. Naturally we had to stop for a free sample (a
couple of times). Pretty good stuff, but a little strong to drink
straight. We have subsequently learned that is it fabulous if pored over
pound cake.
Capri
We decided to devote our last day in Sorrento to a visit to the island of
Capri. Since it was early April, the weather was “brisk”. The boat
ride is less than an hour and quite comfortable. It is the waiting that is
cold.
There are two
main attractions on Capri (other than the towns). One is the “Blue
Grotto”, which we didn’t get to visit because of the high winds. The other
is the ruins of the Villa Jovis, once home to the ancient Roman Emperor
Tiberius. We decided to hike up to the villa (a nice uphill walk of a
couple of miles). Along the way we were treated to views of the bay as
well as several beautiful homes.
The ruins of Capri's largest and most luxurious imperial Roman villa (Villa Jovis) is located on a beautiful cliff on top of Mount Tiberio, about 1,200 feet above sea level. The villa was built for the Roman Emperor Tiberius at the beginning of the 1st century AD, and you may view the well preserved remains of this enormous structure, including the imperial quarters, grand halls, baths and gardens. The cliff on which this villa is perched is reputed to be the place where the Emperor Tiberius would throw off his displeasing subjects to their deaths. The remains of the ancient villa are impressive enough, but so too is the awesome natural beauty and scenery of the site.
Thursday
4/10/2003
After 5 wonderful days in Sorrento we took the train to Cinque Terre, the five
small towns (sort of) on the Italian Riviera. Decided to stay in the center one
of the five towns, Corniglia, which is the smallest, and quietest. We took a bus
from the train station up the hill to the “center” of town. There we found
a small square, a church, a restaurant, a bar and a pay phone! We called
one of the numbers in Rick Steve’s book and easily found a small apartment for
two nights. Has a beautiful view of the ocean, plenty of hot water and bright
lights.
The five towns in Cinque Terre are connected by a train that runs about every
half hour. There is also a foot path, but that wasn’t really an attractive
option to us in the rain. We decided to
take the train to visit each of the
towns today and then we will take the train to Florence tomorrow, where we will
stay two nights. We reached the northernmost town, Monterosso, late in the
day. We wandered around a bit, found an internet site
where we checked the
Email, then decided to have dinner. The restaurant we selected happened to
be located under the railroad overpass. To say under the overpass is no
exaggeration. The ceiling of the restaurant was the concrete bottom of the
railroad overpass. Every half hour we were treated to the rumble of a
passing train. Being from California, we thought at first we were
experiencing an earthquake. What makes that meal the most memorable event
was the minestrone soup with pesto. We’ve never had anything like before
or since. We hope to return there someday just for the soup.
We took the
train back to La Spezia and changed to the train for Florence.
We just
returned from climbing the Giotti tower next to the Duomo. All 414 steps!
Wonderful view. (We trained for this event on the steps at Corniglia.) Now we
know why we don’t see many fat Italians.
It has rained off and on since we arrived and our cheapo umbrellas have really
come in handy. Still having a great time. About to go to the laundromat, then
dinner somewhere. Chinese is starting to sound good. (We are getting a little
tired of Italian food.) We passed a place earlier, now we are going to try
to find it again. We bought a pretty good map, so we have wandered all over
town without
getting (very) lost. We did find the Chinese food and it was great. They
did serve the rice and noodles first, but the menu was pretty much as we would
find in San Diego.
We visited the Academia and the Ufizzi today. Also walked a lot. We saw
the famous bridge across the Arno from the Ufizzi, so we plan on crossing it
tomorrow and visiting the Bobbolli gardens. The weather for the next 10 days
looks pretty good, which will serve us well in Rome. We still don’t know where
we will be tomorrow night. Maybe in the train station.......
We have been fortunate to find rooms with a bath and shower so far. The showers
are typically about 27 inches square. I measured the opening -- 13 inches. Good
thing we went on diets. The shower in Florence was a bit larger, except the
toilet was in the shower. We don’t consider any of these things as
inconveniences. It is all part of the experience we came here for.
We were located near the central market in Florence, just like a big continuous
swap meet, with lots of leather coats and accessories. One thing that has been
very noticeable to us is the lack of assimilation of immigrants. There was a
sizeable
population of people from Africa in Florence. At the market, they sold
only sunglasses, CD’s and cheap trinkets. Either they didn’t have the capital to
acquire the more substantial merchandise or the Italians didn’t let them in.
From Florence it’s on to Rome for 10 days. We emailed for reservations, so we’ll
be waiting anxiously for the next few hours to see if we have a place to stay
over Easter. We are really anxious to see the Pope on Easter Sunday. We
heard about the strike on Armed Forces Radio before we left Corniglia, so we
delayed our planned trip to Rome until Monday. We still aren’t sure where we
will sleep Sunday night, but we hope the place we are now will have a
cancellation.
Roma
Before we
start writing about our visit to Rome, I would like to describe some of the
cultural differences that we have noticed.
Transportation: The train and bus system over here is incredible. It makes
travelling quite easy. The Italians are very thrifty when
it comes to travel.
They utilize the public transportation or they buy very small cars (Smart Car),
but the majority seem to drive motor scooters. Possibly because of this, there
seems to be very little traffic congestion, unless there is a demonstration of
some kind (which appears to occur daily somewhere). Parking is very interesting.
Also, only foreigners seem to worry about traffic lights.
Hotels are plentiful, in a large variety. The hotels are ranked by one to four
stars, according to amenities. Therefore, the places we are staying (pensioni)
are all one or two stars. Many hotels of this kind are family-run, with 6 to 10
rooms. Most are on the 2nd or third floor, with no elevators. (Yes, we brought
too much luggage with us!) Pam always complains when she has to carry our bags
up two or three flights. I keep reminding her I am a senior citizen!
We are staying just a couple of blocks from the train station, in the
Hotel Fenicia. Our hotel room is
neat but tiny. On the plus side, we have a refrigerator, so we can have cereal
in the morning. Also, there is a McDonalds a block away that is a source of
passable coffee.
We have been in Rome since Monday. The weather is greatly improved. Sunny and
warm. We decided to stay 10 days, so we could see everything. The first
day we took the local “Tourist Bus” which gives a good overview of the area. We
are now in a better position to recognize buildings/areas when we are walking.
We picked up a
good street map and started walking.
Yesterday we toured the National Museum, and then Pam spotted these big, white
marble steps. After climbing the 414 steps up the Giotti tower in Florence, Pam
is hooked on steps. We climbed this tall staircase next to the Victor Emmanual
monument (thinking we were headed there) and found they went to a small church
(which was closed). Back down the 250 or so steps, then next door to the main
steps to the monument. Up we went again, another 300 or so steps. Great view
from the top though. Looks right down on the forum. Everyone must stay in
shape in Italy by walking and climbing stairs. (That’s how they get in those
little showers!) We seldom see a fat Italian.
We have been
riding the city bus system. So far, we haven’t gotten lost. We
visited the Scavi Argentina (Argentina excavations?) w
hich is a fairly small
area named after the adjacent street. It contains some small temples, but
seems to be best known for the large numbers of cats that live there. They
are fed by the neighbours and seem to be in charge of the area.
There is so much to do and see in Rome that the ten days we spent there went by
in a flash. We have found that non-stop sightseeing can be very tiring, so
we usually take a day or so to catch up on housekeeping duties – shopping and
doing laundry. We always manage to locate a supermarket of sorts so we can
stock up on things for our picnic lunches and wine. Our dining routine is
usually breakfast at the hotel (nearly always included), picnic lunch while
sightseeing, then dinner in a small restaurant somewhere. In Italy we
found table wine in small cartons (just like the juice that kids take to school
in their lunches!), along with fruit, juice (apricot nectar, our favourite),
proscuitto and cheese. Doesn’t get much better than that, sitting in the
shade where the Romans strolled 2000 years ago.
Many of the
Roman ruins are just low walls or piles of bricks. Many (or most) of the
buildings had been mined for building materials over the years, so they look
nowhere like they must have when they were in daily use. The few
exceptions seem to be the areas that were buried (e.g. Pompeii and Herculaneum)
or buildings that were taken over and used by the Christians. An example
of this is the Pantheon.
This building
is a wonderful example of Roman construction with concrete. The large open
dome is very distinctive and can be seen from all over the city. The
interior is not unchanged, but it has not been destroyed by scavenging for
building materials either.
The reason for this is clear from the Christian altars that grace the inside.
We paid a visit to a suburb called EUR. This is a city constructed by
Mussolini to demonstrate his concept of modern design. Our reason for
visiting was to see the Museum of Roman Civilization. This museum,
surprisingly, is overlooked by most people. Many of the exhibits are
copies, but they have a large display of Roman weapons and battle techniques.
There is also a scale model of the city of Rome as it was around 300 C.E.
Click on the picture to the left to expand it. You can see the Circus
Maximus in the foreground (remember Ben Hur?). It is still there, though
the buildings have deteriorated to mounds of dirt. When we were there a
soccer game was being played at one end. It really is huge. Above
the Circus Maximus between it and the Colosseum, is the Palatine Hill.
This was the site of the
emperors’
palaces. (The word palace comes from Palatine.)
Between the right end of the Circus and the Colosseum, leading to the right from
Palatine Hill, was a large aqueduct which provided water to the palaces.
Part of this is still there. Above the Palatine in the model, to the left
of the Colosseum, is the Forum. This area contained several temples and
large open areas, all paved. The new (modern era) Victor Emmanuel monument is
just beyond the forum. It’s fascinating to think what this city looked
like back then, and then to attempt to relate it to the ruins we see today.
One of the buildings that I found most spectacular was the Basilica of
Constantine. Click on the picture to the right to get an idea of how big
this building was. The ruins
that remain
were just a fraction of the total building. That tiny figure just to the
right of center is Pam.
We walked up to the Palatine Hill to see the remains of some of the palaces.
The photo to the left conveys some idea of what these buildings must have been
like. The photo of the Emperor Domitian’s palace shows just a remnant of
the original structure. Others were larger.
We took a day
to visit the Vatican and the Vatican Museum. We took lots of pictures
which you can see in the photo album (see upper right corner of this web page).
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos in the Sistine Chapel. We
did get a couple of photos of Michelangelo’s Pieta, which is in St. Peter’s
Basilica.
We spent most of the morning today at the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel.
It was
everything we expected. Afterward we found a park bench in the shade and
ate our picnic lunch. (The usual—cheese, salami, crackers fruit and wine.)
We still had the Forum and a whole bunch of other things to see. We were trying
to plan around Easter, as most things will probably be closed that day. We were
still trying to decide if we would join the crowd to hear the Pope. Getting
there is no problem. Getting away with everyone trying to leave at the same time
may be more difficult.
Checking our street map, we realized we were only two or three blocks from the
Rome USO. We stopped there to use the internet and to get our CNN fix.
Then we learned that the Monday after Easter is also a holiday. We decided
we would leave Rome then and go to Vicenza. We made reservations at the hotel on
the Army base there, and we plan to stay four days, to allow for day trips to
Venice and
other area
towns.
We had time for another day trip, this time to Ostia Antigua. This was
formerly the seaport for
Rome, but was abandoned for that purpose as the river
silted up. One of the distinctive features of this town was the commercial
district, where the shipping brokers were located. Each of their stalls
had mosaics which showed the kind of business they were engaged in.
Another memorable feature of Ostia Antigua is the well-preserved public
latrines.
As long as everything else was going to be cl
osed, we decided we may as well go
to St. Peter’s to see the Pope on Easter Sunday. Tickets were free but
limited distribution and we were able to get
two at the USO. This would
get us into the seating area. We were part of an audience of thousands,
and we could just see the stage. Fortunately they provided big screen TVs
for the audience to get close-up views. The weather wasn’t the best.
We had intermittent showers all morning. It was kind of funny to watch the
crowd. Most of us had umbrellas, which we would pop open when it started
to rain, then close when the
shower had
passed over. It was quite an unusual experience to actually be there, even
for us agnostics.
Vicenza, Venice and Verona
Monday we caught the train to Vicenza, which was to be our base for the next few
days. At the train station we found a couple of people who spoke English
and were able
to tell us which bus to take to “the base”. Cursing our excess luggage, we
successfully made our way across town. The US Army is a tenant at an
Italian-owned base, so the gate guards were all Italian Army. We got
on
base with no difficulty and followed directions to the Army Inn, about a mile
away. We were again reminded of the importance of wheels on your suitcase!
We were welcomed at Ederle Inn and were delighted to be back in some more
familiar US-type housing.
The next day we caught the bus into town and took the train to Venice, about an
hour’s ride. We had gotten an early start so we had a full day of
sightseeing. First on the list was St. Mark’s Square. There were
just as many pigeons as we expected to see from all the movies and TV
commercials we had experienced. There are also several restaurants
around the
square, one of which had a string quartet to entertain the patrons.
We toured the Doge’s palace, a must-see in Venice. I took a
wrong turn in
the dungeon and Pam had to come rescue me. They had an interesting form of
government in Venice. Apparently the Doge was the head of the government,
but he had no real power. He was more than a figurehead, but less than a
ruler. We
never quite figured it out.
We walked all
over town and took a ride on the Grand Canal. Didn’t get around to taking
a gondola ride though. They were all busy with the rich tourists. We
did watch four gondolas arrive at an intersection at the same time. We
were expecting a grand collision, but they seemed to avoid each other.
They must have a lot of practice.
The next day
we decided to visit Verona. The town has made a big deal of Romeo and
Juliet for
the tourists, but in fact Verona was settled by the Romans and there
is still an amphitheatre and a theatre in pretty good repair. Both are
still in use today for concerts and other productions.
The following day we wandered around Vicenza and rested up for our long trip to
Spain. It was train to Milan and then Hotel Train overnight from Milan to
Barcelona. Look at the section on
Spain to continue with us on our
travels.
Ciao!