 |
|
Traveling in Italy: Florence & Tuscany, Sorrento & the Amalfi Coast
Florence We arrived in Firenze on Monday, have gone to both the Mercato Centrale and the mercato at San Ambrogio. We have made dinner here both nights and will have our landlords, Massimo e Magda Carli join us here for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we go to San Gimignano. My amiche are at the Accademia right now, then this afternoon we are making spinach-ricotta gnocchi for our dinner, and will make chicken cacciatore and asparagus, also. The Carli's are bringing dolce e prosecco....
We just had a fantastic brunch here at our apartment. Prosecco with blood orange juice and a shot of limoncello, followed by an amazing frittata by Kristie, with oven roasted veggies, eggs and topped with shredded pepper cheese, pecorino, of course, then some Italian sausages and pancetta. It just doesn't get any better than this. Today in Florence it is raining, however, we are going to go for a walkabout later...Agnes is going to Mass, the rest of us are just hanging out here in the apartment, then we will walk later. In case anyone wonders, I love Italy, rain or shine. And I am travelling with a great group of women. We are having a blast. Buon giorno, amiche e familglia
Yesterday we walked through Florence, and found a great little group of food stalls in the Piazza by Santa Croce, that each booth featured specialities of different regions from Italy, so we had arancini from Sicily, some great salami from Umbria, limoncello from Sorrento. There were sausages and apple strudel from Tirol... we could not sample everything of course, but gave us a great example of the different types of food from each area. We did not go into Santa Croce yesterday, due to time constraints, but it is on our agenda for early next week. One of the ladies is already bemoaning the fact that she only has 10 more days in Italy. the others just keep telling her to be quiet when she says that, as no one wants to leave. What a beautiful country....I think I have said that before!! Scotti e Marco, I think I have eaten more than my share of striatticelli gelato. I hope there will be some for you when you come over!! Vernazza, Florence We are back in Firenze today. It is Saturday and we had spent the past four days away from our 'home'. What a marvelous 4 days it was, though. On Monday we went to Cinque Terre, and stayed for 3 nights in Vernazza. The weather was not the greatest, but on Tuesday, my friends were able to hike most of the Cinque Terre trail. Parts were closed for repair, or because of water on the trail
Then we walked back down to our hotel, which is on the main piazza, and walked up the 63 stairs to our room, and, as I had warned my group, the white wine from Vernazza gives the giggles, so they giggled all the way up the stairs, and continued to do so, for a long time. Wednesday was stormy. not too rainy but the wind was fierce. We knew we were in for it, when all the boats had been pulled out of the water on Monday, up onto the piazza where usually the restaurants set out tables now the water coming up over the breakfront, onto the sidewalk along the harbor, was spectacular. When I saw the waves coming up over the place where I had been the day before, taking pictures, it really made me appreciate the power of the sea. After a few hours, I began to worry about my friends, but when they finally got off the train with bags and bags trailing behind them, I knew - no hiking for them that day, they had gone shopping!! It beat the heck out of me, as I didn't know one could do that much shopping in the 5 villages of Cinque Terre, but of course, once again I was wrong. We had another wonderful seafood dinner then Thursday, some were able to hike again, I went with one of the gals to the different villages by train, savoring every last minute on the Cinque Terre. During that stay, I heard a local say to a visitor, "I am sorry the weather has been so bad for you" and the visitor replied, "It doesn't matter...I am here" That is pretty much how I felt, too. What a unique, exquisite area...not to be missed. We went from Cinque Terre to Viareggio. Our friends, the Carli's, picked us up at the train station, and got us settled into our apartment near the harbor. We then took a long walk along the waterfront, looking at yachts, that we would could not ever afford to put one foot on, and finally walked along the Promenade, found a great - yes - seafood restaurant, and another wonderful meal. Maybe we are obsessed with food and drink here, but I have got to tell you, so are the locals. Food and drink are a major part of life here, and it is part of our experience in Italy to enjoy as much of it as we can. May 1 is a holiday all over Europe..everyone is on Holiday. The Carli's picked us up from our apartment, and took us on a picnic... up to Mutino, the wonderful farmhouse near Viareggio, the first place we had ever rented from the Carli's, in 2001. they had prepared a picnic lunch, and we had this glorious meal on the patio overlooking the valley and the village, the view that I had enjoyed so often, 8 years ago. I was able to show my friends my 'house', then Massimo took us on a walk down the path, up to the next house on this road....the wild flowers were blooming, the olive trees were just as they were those years ago, and what a great time to reminisce. Finally, we had to leave in order to catch our train back to Firenze. We were all tired, but as I said, it was a wonderful tiredness. So much beauty, and interaction with good friends, and so much good food and wine, in those 4 days. Florence
The Fiorentine, our team, played Torino, and our guys won, 1-0. The fans are continually singing the cheers to encourage the players. It was quite beautiful, actually, although I think that sometimes the fans can get a bit rowdy, as the Torino fans were all in one small section that had high fences on either side, one empty section between them and the Fiorentine fans, plus an entire group of security guards sitting in the empty section. There were no hot dog or beer vendors selling stuff to the crowd, although one could go down to the concession stand and get drinks and snacks, and consume them there. We really got into the spirit of things. Susan was singing right along with the crowd, to cheer the players on, although she did not know the words to the songs, and does not speak Italian, did that stop her?? No, and it was so much fun.
Today we were going to go to Siena, but since three of the gals are leaving on Wednesday, they decided to spend the day in Florence, as there is still so much to see and do.....in some cases, that means more shopping, but all 3 that are leaving, are also buying extra luggage today to carry home their treasures!! Myself, I have to go to the market, again.....the one thing we have not done here in Florence, is eat dinner out. We are all enjoying the camaraderie of preparing dinner here and enjoying our wine here. Everyone helps with the preparation and the clean up. I enjoy being able to cook, and have 5 sous-chefs (I call them slaves) to help with this. Now I have to keep track of things very carefully. One friend is arriving tomorrow...should have been today, but her flight got delayed one day...Another friend is coming in Wed. The 3 friends that have to leave for home, also leave on Wed.....Kristie and Susan are going to Venice for 2 nights, Gail and Michelle come in on Thursday, so it is like an Italian musical chairs!! Fiesole
Then, as we were invigorated, we took the #7 bus up to Fiesole, which is just about 25 minutes from Florence, on a hill overlooking the city of Florence.
We saw the soccer stadium, the Duomo and most of the obvious landmarks.
We wandered around the city a bit, then settled into a nice outdoor cafe for a pizza and wine, where we could enjoy the view of Florence. Finally, we caught a bus back to Florence, but what a wonderful several hours we spent up there. Now we are tired.....but we will get up bright and early and go to San Gimingnano tomorrow. we must take advantage of this beautiful weather. Assisi
This city is about a 2-1/2 hour train ride from Florence, southeast. It is very near the Appenines mountains, and sits on a hill top overlooking the most beautiful farmland I have ever seen. When we arrived at the train station, we had to take a bus up to the old city.
We checked into our hotel, which was lovely, with a great view of the valley, and extremely nice, friendly people running it, and then we took a walk through the old city, down to Saint Francis Basilica. It was such a humbling experience to be walking in the same paths that Saint Francis walked, nearly 800 years ago. We also learned about Saint Clare, who lived at the same time as Saint Francis, and has a church named for her, also. And both saints are buried in their respective churches. Assisi is a very hilly town, as you might expect. We walked up many stone stair cases, and up and down many hills. Today we did the Rick Steves' walking tour, from the amphitheater which is at the top of the city, down to St Francis' basilica, stopping to admire the view, or to take pictures, or just have fun.
We continued on, finally having lunch at a wonderful restaurant overlooking the valley, before we had to continue on down the streets, to our hotel to collect our luggage, and catch the bus to catch the train back to Firenze.
Now we are back in Firenze, relaxing.....Kristie has to leave tomorrow, Gail and Michelle will return from Cinque Terre tomorrow, and the Carli's are coming to dinner tomorrow night, to meet this group of friends of Dolly. We are going to cook an American dinner.....fried chicken, mashed potatoes, apple pie. We are doing it, as Massimo said when he was in America, he liked the Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut....we were appalled, but hopefully, he will enjoy Dolly's fried chicken just as much....we think they will both get a kick out of that. So now I will close...I think of all of you often, miss you, but am not ready to come home yet... Florence, Fiesole, Lucca
She came back and had to wait until 10:30 that night to catch her train again. But then she was here to help with dinner that we prepared for our landlords, Massimo and Magda. I had decided to prepare an American meal: fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green salad, vegetables and apple pie. It turned out great. The Carli's had never had chicken gravy before. (I did this, as Massimo had said one of his favorite foods when he visited the U.S. was Kentucky Fried Chicken). I made 2 apple pies, which we served with vanilla gelato. With this experiment, I found that cooking Italian in Italy is a whole lot easier than cooking American!! Thursday, Susan stayed in Florence, then took the bus to Fiesole and did some hiking up there.
After wandering around town for a full day, we caught the train back to Florence and immediately hit the refrigerator and feasted on the leftovers from the dinner the night before. Friday was also a busy day. 4 of the ladies went to the Uffizi, then Gail and Michelle went to Boboli Gardens. Susan and I went to San Ambrogio market, and got food for our farewell dinner for Gail and Michelle, as they left today for Rome. Also, while we had some quiet time yesterday, Susan and I planned our last 8 days of our vacation. We decided, and fortunately, Judy agreed with our plan, that when we leave the apartment on Wednesday, Shelora has to fly home to Portland, but Susan, Judy and I are going to go to Sorrento. We decided to just stay in Sorrento for our last week, as we can do day trips from there, to Amalfi Coast towns, Pompeii, the isle of Capri, as well as enjoy Sorrento. Today, Susan and I accompanied Gail and Michelle to the train station to send them off to Rome for their last few days of vacation.
We found a side street and escaped down to the river, and crossed the bridge to Oltrano area of Florence. It is quieter over there, and kind of funky. We went to Santo Spirito church, but were not able to walk through, as there was a Mass going on. We were getting hungry so we went to a little sidewalk cafe there in Santo Spirito Piazza. As we walked across the bridge again back toward Piazza Signoria, the sun shining on the Ponte Vecchio made the bridge glow like gold. It was beautiful. Finally, we made it home, got a gelato, and are relaxing... My vacation is drawing to a close. Only 12 days left. It has been wonderful, and I anticipate that the rest of the vacation will be just as great. Florence We have just finished our evening gelato, so will try to fit into this little spot at the table and write a small note.
The band uniforms were very stylish, there were 2 white horses, also, with uniformed riders. There were also caribinieri in their dress uniforms.
After the music was finished, the band marched back to San Marco, and we caught a bus nearby to the Piazzale Michelangelo. The view from up there is breath taking.
After that we had lunch at an outdoor cafe that overlooked the city of Florence. La dolce vita, indeed!!
On the way down, there was a grotto, where water trickled down, beautiful plants grew in the grotto, and in the pool beneath the grotto had lots of turtles. The picture I am sending you is of about 4 turtles, all stacked on top of each other...(They did it theirselves!) Weather is in the 80's today. Nice, with a great breeze tonight. Now we have to go to bed, as we are getting up early for our trip to Volterra. Volterra Today is going to be a sad day...it is our last day in Firenze. I am looking at stacks of stuff that need to be packed, and realize I won't be going to the San Ambrogio market anymore, this trip, anyway. We are all doing something different today: Susan is going on a bicycle trip in Chianti country, an all day trip. I am going to go to the Bargello museum, as I haven't gotten there yet, plus to the train station to buy our tickets for Sorrento. The other two have their own plans, too. Tonight we are going to dinner at the Carli's (our landlords). They are here in Firenze but staying in one of their apartments a few blocks away from here. I have wanted to see that apartment, anyway, for future reference.
We travelled through Tuscan countryside, and kept climbing higher and higher on a good road, but many S-curves. Susan wished she were on her motorcycle. It is a perfect road for bikes, and we saw several of them along the way. The colors... it is so hard to describe the beauty of that area, the greens, farmland, rolling hills interspersed with olive trees, grapevines, then more rolling hills that have cypress trees.
Volterra is another ancient city, older yet that ones we have been to. It was one of the more important Etruscan cities, dating back more than 2,000 years. In the Etruscan museum we saw artifacts that dated back 3 or 4 centuries B.C.
We walked along the old city walls, viewed the Roman amphitheater below us, But the view!! Whenever we came to a view point we could not move any further.
Finally, we had to tear ourselves away, and catch the bus back to our home in Firenze. Then we made a late dinner of whatever was left in the refrigerator. I made macaroni and cheese, we had caprese salad, salami and finished a bottle of Chianti. Now I must close, as the girls are picking up stuff and packing all around me. I will write from Sorrento, if we get internet access. Judy, Susan and I are going there tomorrow, and have decided to just stay in Sorrento for the next week, and take day trips to as much of the southern part of Italy as we can cram into one week. Shelora is going home to Portland tomorrow, arriving home around midnight and has to teach a class the following day. I hope her students learn something - she will probably be sending out for cappuchini during the class. I believe her record for Cappuchini consumption is four in a day, andwe won't even talk about the group's gelato consumption. I know it was considerable We are all hopeful that all the walking and the stair climbing has helped keep our weight at least not more than it was when we left home. Sorrento, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast By now you must have thought we fell off into the Tyrrhenian Sea - not quite but we have been busy. Wednesday we left Florence by train, and changed trains in Napoli. After avoiding all the would-be porters that wanted to carry our luggage for us, and the beggar that stood right by my side as I purchased tickets, with his hand out for the change, we made it to the Circumvesuviana, the local train that runs between Napoli and Sorrento. The train was very crowded, so we had to stand up for about half the way to Sorrento. The trip was just over an hour, so not too bad. We had reservations at Ulissee hostel for 6 nights, but not for the first night. So we treated ourselves to a night of luxury, at the Antiche Mura hotel. It was indeed lovely.
Later we walked through town, stopping to view the beautiful sea, and the Isle of Capri right there, almost close enough to touch. We accidentally had dinner at a Rick Steves' recommended restaurant, which was very good. The owner and his wife and our waiter all wanted to read my book and see what Rick had said about them. Pretty fun. The following day we packed up and hiked across town to the Ulissee. It is really a very nice hotel, with some hostel rooms. Our room is large, and comfortable. We walked down to the Marina Grande that night for dinner right near the water. It was a very nice restaurant, and food was excellent. We were seated at a table on the deck with water splashing on the rocks below us.
This restaurant was smaller, but the fried fishes were delicious. The walk to the Marina Grande is just 10 to 15 minutes, not bad at all.
Nico showed up at 9:00 this morning is his black Mercedes sedan, and took us for a lovely day trip. He drove along this marvelous area, stopping frequently for photo ops, then took us to Positano, where he left us for an hour.
When we got to the city of Amalfi, again he dropped us off, and gave us close to an hour to explore by ourselves. When we were back in the car again, he took us up the hill to Ravello. Oh, my, the view from up there was breathtaking. He pointed us in the direction of a restaurant that overlooked the lemon trees, the hillsides and below us the blue, blue sea, and the town of Salerno. We had a nice lunch, then wandered the village streets. He gave us 2 hours in that town. Then when he picked us up again, we just came back the Amalfi coast to Sorrento. No more stops, but that was OK with us as we were tired by then. We got home again at 5:00 p.m. and we all took a nap. That was such a wonderful way to see Amalfi. Nico was born and raised in Sorrento, and spoke fluent English, so that made our trip even more enjoyable. He really seemed to enjoy showing us this area. Hope all is well at home, and we will be there soon. I hope you have enjoyed the travelog!
I am not a bona fide tour guide...I just love Europe, especially Italy, and have travelled to Europe many times. I try to arrange trips where the visitor can not only enjoy the most famous sights and landmarks, but also fit into everyday life of the country they are visiting. Travel is my passion and I would love to help make your trip the most enjoyable vacation ever.
|
Editor's Note: Our dear friend Dolly recently traveled to Italy with some of her girlfriends, and was kind enough to share her reports with us:
I could just walk and walk and walk in this beautiful city. We are very close to Piazza Annunziata, as well as the Duomo. We are enjoying just slightly cool weather, but it is not raining....perfect for walking...
We arrived in Vernazza this morning. It is chilly here, but not raining. We just finished a delicious lunch of pizza and beer, so are just wandering through the town, everyone doing their own thing... shopping, climbing up to the castle, writing e-mails. I had to go to an Internet cafe, as we cannot get internet connection in our hotel. That is OK but you will have to wait until we return to Florence to get pictures.
I am glad that so many of you loved the Sunday Brunch pictures. As Ron, my son, pointed out, we must be having fun, as there were more bottles on the table that there were people at the table. Well, really, we did not drink all that in one setting, you can be sure. The vino and the limoncello are so good!! 
I stayed in Vernazza, I walked around the town, sat and drank capuccino, read my book, watching the weather. That evening we went to a small restaurant and had the most wonderful dinner ever... seafood salad, pasta, white wine from the region, and ended with Sciacchetera, a wonderful dessert wine from the region, extremely expensive, molto bene.
I started to write last night, but never quite got it done....my were all so excited after coming back from the soccer game. I had never been to a professional soccer game, and it was a great experience.
While the rest of us were content with buying and wearing our purple Fiorentine t-shirts and scarves, Susan went one step further and bought a Fiorentine motorcycle helmet. It is beautiful, with the Fiorentine fleur-di-lis on the side. It will be perfect when she rides her purple Harley Sportster, with her purple Firenze t-shirt....now, how to get the helmet home... uhmmm... didn't think about that, now, did she???
Today was such a glorious sunny day in Firenze, that Judy, Shelora and I took full advantage of it. This morning, right after breakfast, we went to the Boboli Gardens and the Pitti Palace. Now the peonies were in full bloom in the gardens.
We went through nearly all the exhibits in the Pitti Palace, then, and walked our tired feet back to the apartment, stopping for a late lunch along the Via Calzuoili. I suggested that we all take an hour break, to either nap, read or just relax, which we did.
We hiked up the hill to a park where we had a great view of Florence.
Between Fiesole and Florence are these beautiful rolling green fields and hills with mansions of the rich and famous (I guess they are famous, or at least wealthy).
The Dolly Tour Group has just returned from an overnight stay in Assisi.
What a beautiful city it is.....amazingly, once we walked through the stone arches into the city, there was a feeling of quiet, of peacefulness, that we had not experienced anywhere else. And all of us felt it.
The picture of us with the little truck is my prediction of how the Dolly tours are going to travel from now on. I love those little Ape trucks....the men that were using it for legitimate work, could not understand why I wanted a picture of the truck, but they obliged us anyway....
The dog....now that was so cute....he was behind a gate, and when we saw him, he ran down the path, wagging his tail, sticking his nose through the gate, and thoroughly enjoying the ladies petting him. But when I said, "bon giorno, cane", he really got excited, started whining to come to us, and nearly wagged his tail off. We loved it.
I know that Assisi will be on my list of places that I will return to. We all slept well last night, and I just feel that the peacefulness that St Francis advocated during his lifetime, was with us during our short stay there.
We have been busy the past few days. Kristie was leaving for Salzburg Wednesday morning...we saw her off, then a few hours later she was back. She had gotten as far as Bolzano when she remembered that her passport was still locked in the safe here in the apartment.
The rest of us went to Lucca. We had a wonderful day there. Shelora, Gail and Michelle biked the ramparts, while Judy and I relaxed with a gelato. The others also climbed to the top of Guinigi Tower, where the trees grow on top. Lucca is such a wonderful town to wander around in.
In the late afternoon, we went for a walk through town. First stop was a pasta making demonstration at the kitchen store down the street. Then we went to a pipe organ concert in Santa Margherita church in the old town. That was so beautiful, and we walked out onto the street to watch a demonstration parade of young people extolling the virtues of Communism. Scary!!
One thing about travelling with Dolly, you have to be flexible. We lingered too long over breakfast, so decided that going to church was not going to happen.
We started off for San Marco Piazza to catch a bus up to Piazzale Michelangelo. Right away, 2 things happened to change our plans: Number One: there was not a bus leaving from San Marco that went up to the Piazzale, and Number Two, a parade with a marching band was getting organized to march somewhere, so we hung around until they started marching, and we followed them to Piazza della Independenza.
The parade stopped at the monument to Bettino Ricasoli. There was a wreath on his monument, but it is neither his birthday nor the day he died, so we don't know why the parade, but it was fun anyway. No speeches, just music. It was fun hearing the band play John Philip Sousa marches, but they also played the Italian national anthem, which is such a beautiful tune.
We also walked even further up the hill to the church, San Miniato. Construction on that church started in 1429. There are many frescoes on the walls inside the church. Very simple but beautiful.
We decided to forgo the bus on the way home, and walked back home from there.
Yesterday we went to Volterra. This is a hill town, further southwest from San Gimignano. We went by bus, and had to change in a little town called Colle val d'Elsa. It took about 2 hours to get there, but the trip itself was worth the cost and effort it took to get there.
Occasionally we could see a farmhouse with outbuildings, but not many. We turned a corner, and then the fields, as far as we could see, were full of blue flowers among the green grass, which, on the next curves, changed to fields with red poppies among the green, then the yellow broom bushes.
Once in awhile we would catch a glimpse of another far off hill with an old castle on it. Far in the distance, too, we would occasionally be able to see San Gimignano. We got off the bus in Volterra, with our visual sense overwhelmed, or so we thought.
Alabaster, not marble, is the stone of choice here, and we saw fabulous alabaster carvings - this is a thriving industry in Volterra now, so fo course, there were many alabaster shops along the way. 
We could see for miles and miles in all directions. Of course, we went into many churches, also. All these little towns have so many churches, each with their own personality.
After we checked in, we had lunch by the pool. Then Susan and Judy changed into their bathing suits, and I brought my book down, secured a lounge chair and we spent the afternoon by the pool.
Yesterday we got up and out of here around 9:00, took the train to Pompeii. We explored that excavated city for about 3-1/2 hours. We were very tired when we got back to Sorrento, so rested a bit, then walked again to the Marina Grande and had dinner at another Rick Steves' recommended restaurant near the water.
Today we did the Amalfi Coast. When we were looking at options to see this beautiful area, I came across information about hiring a driver rather than take the bus. So, again, we treated ourselves.
Then back into the car, on our way to Amalfi, again, stopping whenever he thought we needed to see something. It was such a great way to see this area.
Bella European Tours: Thinking of going to Europe? I can help you plan your trip. I like to work with individuals or small groups. First, we will plan the itinerary, then I can help you decide on, and book, hotels or apartments, transportation within Europe. What are your interests? We can fit your itinerary to be specific for your wants and needs. I have also accompanied small groups to Italy, acting as an unofficial tour guide.