Sorrento and Day Trips

Mom's request for this trip was the Amalfi Coast, so I set us up in Sorrento for a few days.  I ended up booking the same hotel I stayed at in 2010, Hotel Sorrento City, for it's comfort and proximity to the train station.  It was even better than I'd remembered.  We were on to top floor, and my room had a nice balcony over the Main Street.

Our first day there was May 1, or Worker's Day in Italy.  Not knowing what would be open, we decided to keep it simple and do a walking tour of town.  Turns out everything was open.  We meandered through the center into the Old City, to the cathedral with its beautiful inlaid doors and back down toward the cliffs.  We ended in Marina Grande for lunch, a delicious gnocchi and the adventurous mixed fried seafood for my dad.  I ate his octopus.  :).

The next day we had a driver for a ride along the Amalfi coast.  We used Monetti taxi, recommended in the Rick Steves books.  I was able to book it via email before leaving home.  It worked out amazing.  Our driver was Rafello, and he was friendly and knowledgeable.  We stopped first in Positano, where we had a coffee overlooking the water and walked down to the cathedral.  It was very similar to the one in Sorrento.  The scenery along the drive was a little grey but still beautiful.  We went all the way to Ravello, where we stopped for lunch and some shopping.  Mom got a gorgeous cobalt blue bowl and platter with lemons on it.  We ate Salvatore, which had a lot of creative dishes.   I enjoyed the artichokes 3 ways and the fried pasta cylendar.

On the way back we stopped briefly in Amalfi so we could see the water up close and I could show my parents the cathedral exterior.  The sun was just coming out so the pictures on the way home were much prettier.

It was pouring rain the next morning, but after a lot of back and forth we decided to take the train to Pompeii anyway.  I figured it might just be a train ride there and back, but the rain stopped and we had a couple of hours to explore the remains of the city.  We followed the Rick Steves audio guide, which gives a great route navigating through the streets.  We only got lost once, and saw the House of Donati as a bonus.  By the end of the tour, the sky was dark again so we decided to head back.  Lunch was at the train station, a yummy Caprese sandwich.  Then on the train again.  During the next few days I read a good book on Pompeii called Pompeii: City of Fire which definitely brought my visit to life.  The author used great details in the story.

Since the rain continued the next day, we didn't have many options.  My parents ended up indulging my historical proclivities and we took the train to Naples to see the Archaeology Museum. It's collection is phenomenal, from giant Roman statues from the baths to the mosaics, frescoes, and artifacts from Pompeii.  We did the RS audio guide walk through the museum which was great, but I hope to go back sometime and just focus more on the frescoes.  They were at the end of the tour and I went through them pretty quickly.  The fact that we can even study 2000 year old paintings is just so overwhelming that it's easy to miss the details.  The museum also had a great collection of in tact everyday objects from Pompeii, from cooking pots to glass wear.  I'm continually amazed that glass lasts so long when it is so fragile.  We also had some authentic pizza while there, and I ordered in nearly flawless Italian.  It was the high point of my language skills on the trip.

Overall our days in Sorrento were pleasant if rainy.  The pace was more relaxed, the sites more varied and the food delicious.  We really liked the Chantacler Restaurant for the lemon sauce and the pasta with zucchini.  Pizzeria Tasso was definitely not a pizzeria but had great food at high prices.  And the hotel had a great breakfast buffet each day.

Oh!  We also tried a lot of gelato around town.  Primavera and Raki ended up being our favorites.  We even braved rain storms for the gelato on our last night.  I definitely recommend the milk chocolate at Raki.

Sicily

Something new for me!  I'm not sure whose idea Sicily was, by my parents and I all liked the chance to see this lovely island.  We were able to fly from Rome to Catania cheaply, and stay along the water just north of the city in Ari Castillo.  Our hotel had nice sea views and a decent restaurant across the street. There was no beach there, just dramatic black volcanic rocks.  The hotel had a shuttle to downtown, so we took that into the city to see the sites.  We had a great lunch near the Piazza Universitat, and then went to the Roman theater.  Blood oranges were in season so bought some from a fruit stand and we ate them by the elephant fountain.  The church opened in late afternoon, a massive space.  What most impressed me was the collection of mattresses and blankets in one corner- either the church lets people sleep inside at night, or they let people store their belongings there during the day.

I'd planned a 'down day' of beach and pool, but my parents were raring to go for more.  We ended up renting a car and driving to the center-south section of the island to see the Valley of the Temples.  It was definitely a WOW site.  Of course it was rainy all day and the skies just completely opened up when we got there, but hey, what's five euro for an umbrella?  Or three?  The site is basically a long road connecting temple remains, from the impressive temple of Hera at one end to the huge in tact Temple of Concordia in the center to the impressive columns from the Temple of Hercules.  At the other end was the much more ruined temple of Zeus.  It was a great collection of history, and despite the weather we had a good day.  The drive back was long, but beautiful crossing through the green hills of central Sicily.

Our last day we drove north to Taormina, location of another Greek ruin.  The Main Street through town was really cute and it ended at the ancient theater.  We had great cannoli along the walk and lunch on the way back.  The theater was situated on the hill with sweeping views of the coastline beyond.  Definitely a postcard type of site.  After lunch we drove around Mt Etna, following a Lonely Planet driving route in reverse.  We stopped in Bronte for pistachio gelato and I got really lost and drove the rental Jeep down some narrow medieval streets not meant for Jeeps.  Yay, adventure!  Then we stopped in Agrio to see the medieval castle there.  I loved it!  Such a cool little Norman fortress in the middle of this classic Italian city.  Me being me, aka a little nuts, decided that since we had the car and gas, we should drive down to Sicily for dinner.  We didn't get to see much, but there was a rather large Temple of Apollo near the parking lot so at least that was something.  Dinner wasn't great.  This was a poorly planed excursion.

Overall, I feel like we barely scratched the surface of Sicily, even though we saw a good portion of the Eastern side of the island.  I'll definitely be back here some day.

Rome and Day Trips

There is just something about Italy for me.  It's my happy place.  I'm no where near as starry eyed about it as I used to be, but I just can't help but smile when I'm there.  Even when it's raining, even when it's crowded, even when I just can't eat any more tomato sauce.  I love it.  I love it all.

I ended up with an extra day in Rome due to the train strikes in France, so I choose a few things I hadn't done before.  But that's getting ahead.  I arrived mid afternoon, navigated easily to the Westin Excelsior where I'd gotten a great last minute reservation, and then crashed in the room for a few hours.  As evening descended, I set out explore.  Down the street to Piazza Barbarini, then over to the Trevi fountain.  I tossed in my coin, then wandered.  Past the ancient battle column (Hadrian's?  Not Trajan.  I forget who.). I found a gelato place M had recommended while I was in Barcelona, Giolotto, so I braved the crowd and tried the hazelnut and fig flavors. Then I kept wander.  I accidentally found the Pantheon, took a few photos, then kept going.  I navigated to Piazza Navonna, circled the 4 Rivers Fountain, then ended up at the river.  I took pictures of the sunset, then headed back.  Trying to avoid the crowd and the hill at the Spanish Steps, I headed south and then back around to Via Venetian.  I stopped at Ristorante Rosselli for dinner, a delicious glass of wine and plate of cacio e pepe.  I got the waiter's nod of approval!  And managed to order in broken Italian as well.  It was just one of the best evenings I've had in a very long time.

I had to switch hotels the next day, so after that I walked through the city (accidentally found the Pantheon again!).  I had a "pay by weight" pizza slices for lunch which were actually pretty good, and then spent the afternoon at the Capitoline museums.  I loved the collection of ancient statues that they had there.  The only drawback was that there was no hint of polychromy in the museum.  I guess, though, that these statues aren't really new discoveries but long known statues, so no one could tell their original colors.  My favorite part was the view from the Tabularium, looking down into the Forum.

On day 2 in Rome, I walked down the river to the Trastavere neighborhood.  I did the Rick Steves audio tour there.  I've never explored that neighborhood before, and it was nice to get away from the big tour groups.  I had pizza for lunch sitting at a sidewalk cafe before heading back to the hotel.  My parents were arriving that night!  They made it without incident, checked in, and then we went to a funky little place for dinner.  It was called Obladi Oblada, and the owner was this crazy old hippie.  I didn't love my food but I loved the experience.

Next day we did basically the same walk I followed on the first night, but headed down to the ancient core of the city after lunch on Piazza Navonna.  Stupidly we decided to walk down to the Colosseum, which was dumb because it was far and crowded and just made everyone too tired.  We ended the day  at the Valentino house tour, which I'd accidentally booked in Spanish. Taught me to look at more than just times and availabilities on websites.  I felt so bad for my parents- I at least could understand some of it.  So much for Juli the tour guide.  It was a long day, capped off with a great dinner.

We had made Vatican reservations ahead of time, and it was pretty crowded when we got there.  We were shoved along through the crowds to the Raphael rooms, which dad really wanted to see.  They were great, but so crowded.  Two tips for the Vatican Museums, if anyone in charge ever reads this: 1- limit entry tickets per hour, and 2- don't allow groups tours.  Give everyone an audio guide and let them go individually.  The groups clog things up, they stick up stupid antenaeas to block the view of others, they tend to 'freeze' in place while listening which often traps others from moving through rooms- you get the idea.  I had groups in museums.  Bleh.  Anyway, we saw the rooms and the Sistene Chapel and then collapsed in the cafeteria for lunch.  After lunch, we did go into the Pinacotek, which I'd never had the energy for in the past.  It definitely wasn't a huge collection but I enjoyed the Raphaels.  We walked over to St. Peter's Sq after but the line to go into the church was crazy long and in the sun, so we skipped it.

Next day was Florence, my favorite place in the world!  My dad wanted to see frescoes, so I started the visit at Santa Maria Novella and the Ghirlandaio frescoes behind the altar there, along with Masaccio's Trinity and the remains of the Uccello Deluge frescoes in the cloisters.  Then e went to the Medici Palace to see the Adoration of the Magi, which has fascinated my father for years.  I'm so glad I finally got to tour them through the sites.  Then we walked down past the dome and Orsanmichele to the river, and crossed to 4 Leone for lunch.  I had made a reservation so that we were guaranteed a table and plates of delicious fiochetti.  My favorite food in the world.  Heaven.

After lunch we had gelato at St. Trinita and then walked up through the Uffizi courtyard and Piazza Della Signoria to see the statues in the Loggia.  We kept with the statue theme at the Bargello, where I gave dad a little whirlwind tour of my favorite ninja turtle artists, then we got in line to go into the Duomo.  I got to run downstairs to see Brunelleschi's tomb in the basement (In. The. Gift shop!). Our last stop of the day was the leathermarkets, where I did some souvenir shopping.  We had dinner with my friend who lives int he city and then took the train back down to Rome.  It was a LONG day and my parents were pretty exhausted after three days of intensive walking.

Luckily, the next day was a dream.  We took the train to Orvieto, then road the funicular up to the old town.  The cathedral there was just gorgeous, one of the most beautiful buildings Ive ever seen.  I loved the exterior carving and mosaics, but also the interior frescoes.  Some were by Fra Angelico, others were buy lesser known artists.  We spent quite a while just walking around taking photos of the scenery.  For lunch, dad found a great place down an alley.  I had a delicious chingalle pasta, which is wild boar.d I really liked it!  It's a speciality of the region.  The day was just lovely, with good Umbrian views, pleasant weather, and minimal walking.  A good end to our time in Central Rome.