Italy 2015 - Ciao!

This is the final post about our Italian trip. The previous posts are:

1. Milano
2. Venezia
3. Firenze
4. Bagnoregio
5. Assisi
6. Orvieto
7. Roma
8. Pompei and Napoli
9. Pisa
10. Cinque Terre
11. Cinque Terre

Well, life got in the way for a couple of months there, but I finally got back around to writing the last few posts.

We shot a lot of great video on the trip. Now that the photos and blog posts are all done I'll find time to work on that.

This trip was perfect in every way. We had perfect weather every single day. We saw all the sights we wanted to see. We enjoyed great food and gelato every day. We stayed in wonderful lodgings and found our way around when we wanted and got lost when we wanted that. We spent two very enjoyable days with my old friend Phil in Venice.

The girls got to be immersed in a different culture and language. Audrey, in particular, got adjusted to the Italian meal traditions.

Carol's favorite memory is all the great family conversations we had over meals.

We pushed the girls much harder than we originally envisioned when imagining this trip, but for the most part they remained energetic and enthusiastic. Of course we had moments where they were weary but we would take some down time and they recovered quickly.

It was a wonderful family experience. We've already spent time discussing our next international trip. The current consensus is England and Scotland.

We're already saving for it!

Italy 2015 - Genova

This is post number eleven about our Italian trip. The previous posts are:

1. Milano
2. Venezia
3. Firenze
4. Bagnoregio
5. Assisi
6. Orvieto
7. Roma
8. Pompei and Napoli
9. Pisa
10. Cinque Terre

We actually tried to rent a car for our last-day journey from Vernazza to our late afternoon flight home from Milan, but we had terrible luck with rental cars on our trip. They kept messing up our reservations, or claiming we never had one. So we went with a train itinerary even though it involved four trains. But the train itinerary had the benefit of a 2-hour layover in Genova where none of us had ever been. It's the birthplace of Christopher Columbus!

We wandered down toward the waterfront and enjoyed a stroll through a flea market and past the aquarium. Then we stumbled across a beautiful church, the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato.

Soon it was time to find a snack and board our next train to Milan. Maybe we'll get a chance to explore Genoa more in a future visit.

Italy 2015 - Cinque Terre

This is post number ten about our Italian trip. The previous posts are:

1. Milano
2. Venezia
3. Firenze
4. Bagnoregio
5. Assisi
6. Orvieto
7. Roma
8. Pompei and Napoli
9. Pisa

Our grand tour of Italy was sort of a clockwise loop starting and ending and Milan. The Cinque Terre is along the "9 o'clock" arm of that route. While planning the trip, we decided to spend two nights there so we would have a full day to hike the trail between the villages. We also decided to splurge a little and go above our nightly accommodation budget to get a deluxe Airbnb lodging right in the village center of Vernazza. We were very happy that we made both of those decisions.

We arrived at Vernazza just before sunset, which added to the considerable charm Vernazza already possesses. We met up with our host and climbed the steps to our lovely apartment (I meant to count those steps but I kept forgetting). Then we had a delicious dinner outdoors in the main square.

The trail that links the five villages is famous. In 2001 Carol and I hiked the entire length, starting at Monterosso in the north and ending at Riomaggiorre in the south. This year, however, most sections of the trail between the villages are closed due to recent landslides or maintenance. The most scenic portion, between Monterosso and Vernazza, was open. That's the hardest portion, but also about the right length for a hike with the girls.

We got up Friday morning and had breakfast in our apartment. Then we made our way up to the train station for the short trip to Monterosso. It only takes five minutes or so to travel between villages by train!

Monterosso is also charming, although in a different way since it is not in a ravine like Vernazza but instead has two wide beaches along with beachfront architecture and restaurants. We started our hike along the boardwalk and then ascended out the south end of the village. The views start out nice and just keep getting better.

Once the trail leaves the village it starts to climb fairly steeply. We took a couple of breaks.

At one point we passed a trailside house with a mute old man selling fresh oranges, water, wine and baked goods. We bought an orange from him and stopped a bit down the trail to enjoy it. All of us thought it was the best orange we have ever eaten. I think the setting contributed to that perception. But we wished we would have bought more. And some wine!

We had brought a lunch and a while farther down the trail we came across a beautiful grotto where a stream tumbled under a bridge carrying the trail. We stopped to eat our lunch on a flat rock in the grotto. It was another of many enchanting moments of the trip: eating our lunch listening to the burbling of the stream in the shade.

About two thirds of the way along the trail the picturesque views of Vernazza begin. We kept stopping to take more photos because around every corner was a view that seemed more beautiful than the last.

Immediately after we arrived back in Vernazza the girls decided they wanted to go swimming. We found a little shop with a cute old man who spoke no English and bought swimsuits for the girls. We hadn't packed any, on purpose, because it was Spring and we figured it would be too cold for swimming most places and we weren't staying anywhere with a pool. But they needed new suits anyway for the summer.

A few minutes later both girls were swimming in the Mediterranean.

Carol and I lazed on the rocks with our feet in the water.

After swimming we decided to explore one or two of the other villages. We took the train (again, for about five minutes) to Manarola and walked around a bit. It's center is very small and we didn't see a restaurant that rang our bell. So we got back on the train the other direction and returned to Monterosso to try the beach restaurants we had seen in the morning.

We found a great tavern with a patio overlooking the beach, where we enjoyed a lovely, leisurely, last dinner in Italy.

The next morning we departed early to take four trains that would eventually deliver us to the airport in Milan for our afternoon flight.

But along the way, we got to see a little bit of Genoa...

Italy 2015 - Pisa

This is post number nine about our Italian trip. The previous posts are:

1. Milano
2. Venezia
3. Firenze
4. Bagnoregio
5. Assisi
6. Orvieto
7. Roma
8. Pompei and Napoli

In addition to the canals of Venice, the ruins of Pompeii and the splendor of Rome, the other place that caused both girls to choose Italy as our destination was the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Pisa lies right on the rail line between Rome and our final stop of the grand tour: the Cinque Terre. So we stopped there for a few hours along the way.

On the train from Rome to Pisa we happened to have a compartment with fold out sleeper seats. Even though it was only 10:00 am, we of course had to fold out the seats just for the novelty. Italians gave us some strange looks, but it sure was comfortable!

Once in Pisa we walked about 20 minutes or so from the station to the complex where the Duomo, Baptistry and Tower are. When Carol and I were there in 2001 the tower was still undergoing its most recent stabilization and it was not open. Now the restoration and stabilization are complete and it is open to tours. Entry costs a fortune ($18 each), but of course it's what you've come to see so you fork it over.

It's interesting climbing a tilted staircase. I leaned against the wall many times. There was one terrified woman at the top who had been convinced to climb it by her friend but was subsequently paralyzed by fear.

There are great bells at the top. Unfortunately we were only allowed to stay at the top for about ten minutes (entry to the tower is timed, every half hour) and they kicked us off the top very shortly before the bells rang.

After the tower we toured the Duomo. It is filled with gorgeous paintings.

Then we spent a few minutes recreating photos from 2001, shopped for souvenir t-shirts and then found the bus back to the train station to continue our journey to the Cinque Terre.

Italy 2015 - Pompei and Napoli

This is post number eight about our Italian trip. The previous posts are:

1. Milano
2. Venezia
3. Firenze
4. Bagnoregio
5. Assisi
6. Orvieto
7. Roma

Pompeii

Wanting to see Pompeii was one of the main reasons the girls chose Italy as the destination for our first international trip. On our third day staying in Rome we took a day trip to Pompeii and Naples.

The Italian train system has three levels of fast train: Frecciabianca ("white", goes 120mph), Frecciaagento ("silver", goes 160mph) and Frecciarossa ("red", goes 180mph). The Rome to Naples route was our first chance to ride a red train and go really fast. Then from Naples one takes a much slower regional or commuter train to Pompeii.

However, it turns out there are two train stations in Pompeii served by different lines. We ended up at the station that serves the modern city of Pompeii and then we walked about a mile to the entrance to the ruins. We turned down a taxi ride but it would have been worth it. Oh well, live and learn. Every foreign trip has to include a death march or two.

The ruins were great. We visited a bakery with grain mills; a city gate; walked along the town walls; visited a merchant's house with very pretty murals; and a huge public bath complex. We finished up with a visit to the two large amphitheaters. The girls were too hot and tired to make it to the largest amphitheater in the far corner of the ruins, but we saw a lot and got a good sense of life in the ancient city.

We enjoyed a snack back at the train station before taking the train back to Naples.

Naples

Naples has a reputation as a rough city with a particular problem with pickpockets. Carol was nervous but I wasn't too concerned about it. I just move my wallet to my front pocket and keep my hand on it when I'm in a crowded area of high risk.

Naples is famous for pizza. I read online reviews and found a place that sounded promising only a few blocks from the station.

We headed there but arrived about 5:30 and they told us they opened at 6:00. We walked to a nearby square to hang out and people watch until they opened.

But when we returned at 6:00 they told us they didn't open until 6:30.

Stupid tourists wanting dinner at 6:00pm!

I thought the neighborhood was pretty cool. Rick Steeves describes Naples as a "beautiful mess" and that pretty well describes the parts we saw. For one thing, there is laundry hanging everywhere.

I especially liked the street we walked down near the station that was filled with stalls selling all kinds of everyday stuff. We also walked past a couple of auto parts "stores" that were very small spaces crammed with parts from floor to ceiling.

Since we had to bail on our first choice, we ducked into a snack bar that also had Neapolitan pizza. It was really good! That shop was also a bakery that had lots of treats so we stocked up on those for the train trip back to Rome.