These are the compiled travel-logs with photos from Kristin and my trip to Italy in May of 2009. We were on vacation for 18 days, in three different locales.
Kristin had been planning the trip to Italy for a year. Travel from San Francisco to Siena was at least a full day. We took a flight from SFO to New York, and a second flight to Rome. Then we got on a transfer train to the main depot in Rome where we had a 5 hour layover, then the real train to Siena. Finally, we caught a cab to the bed and breakfast, Agriturismo Marciano. We left our house at 7 AM on the 7th and got to our room at 9PM (Italy time) on the 8th. Whew!
On the plane... not sleeping.
We were up bright and early our first day. Kristin always says morning light is the best light to paint by and we managed to get out and set up her watercolors in time to watch sunrise.
Sunrise from in front of our B&B.
It was our plan to shock our internal clocks with copious sun and exercise, so after breakfast we walked into Siena. Well walk we did... it was 4.1 Km before we got to Il Campo, the shallow, shell shaped amphitheater that serves as the center of town.
My photo of the Piazza de Campo ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
At Il Campo, we settled down to paint and take pictures in the shade of the large tower that overlooked the plaza. Unfortunately, we had to move every 15 minutes, since it was not a particularly wide tower and the shadow kept moving. :P Then we got lunch and wandered around Siena until we got tired and walked back to our room.
Kristin and I in the classic tourist photo. Oh yeah.
The next day was recovery day... we had heard that there was an optional dinner at the inn that evening, so we put our names on the list and resolved ourselves to some serious relaxation. Kristin painted, I read and did crossword puzzles, we both drank wine and ate cheeses.
Agriturismo Marciano (ahgrow-toor-eezmoh marchee-ah-noe). The bed and breakfast we are staying at, lit by sunrise. It is a bed and breakfast and a working vinyard... go organic Italian wine!
Then around 8 o'clock we began what was one of the best dinners of my life. For serious. It was a five course extravaganza the likes of which I have never seen. Plus all the wines were from the agriturismo's own vinyards.
Having dinner with the other guests. Seriously, this was one of the best meals I have ever had. 5 courses, 3 types of wine, and a dessert wine with... dessert. OMG ifalldownnow.
Il Menu
1. Antipasto - Various sliced meats with olive garnish - wine: white wine
2. Primi - Penne-like hand rolled pastas with olive oil and asparagus that had been cooked until it turned into a paste-like sauce (trust me, it was amazing) - wine: Chianti
3. Secondi - Beef, roasted rare buried under a pile of rock salt(the salt was brushed off before slicing), whole baby onions caramelized in vinegar, and whitebean salad - wine: bold fruity red
4. ? - soft cheese slices with a sweet green-tomato chutney spread
5. Dessert - Lemon cakes and Biscotti, wine: a sweet dessert wine (which was a limited vintage from their winery that was unavailable for purchase)
Then we tottered back to our rooms for some well deserved falling over.
Our room. The wide angle lens makes it look huge...
The third day, we went back into Siena on a mission to do some more photography, painting, and general sight seeing. Our mission was a success. We returned tired, but the walk wasn't as bad that time around. Go little atrophied muscles! Go!
This is the La Basilica Cateriniana di San Domenico ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
As a reward, there was another dinner at the Agriturismo Marciano when we got back. It was also delicious and men will sing its praise long after it has passed.
This was one of the antipasti we had at the Agriturismo Marciano's guest dinners in Siena Italy. It consisted of various sliced meats topped with fresh artichokes. The artichokes were uncooked, and thinly sliced, with a little bit of lemon juice to keep them from browning.
Day four, was our day trip to Firenze (Florence). I'd like to say that we spent all day studying famous works and museum hopping, but that just sounded so tiring. Kristin and I both agreed that we'd walk the town and see what we saw, but taking tours or waiting in line for tickets was just not happening.
The street market in Firenze was a blast. This is a scarf vendor's booth.
We spent an hour or two sketching and painting, we saw went to the plaza which has Michaelangelo's David and a slew of other amazing sculptures, we saw the Santa Croce (big building with lots of sculptures and gargoyles), and sundry other historical things. My favorite sculpture I dubbed "Dude Knows How To Party". I'm not sure what it really was about, but dude had two nekkid ladies and some wine. Word. Also, Poseidon and his peeps were chillin' in a big fountain.
The other thing we did in Firenze was shop for leather goods. They've got leather coat stores coming out the ears and we both got two new leather jackets each for less combined than one new would have been at home.
Day 5 was Wednesday, and on Wednesdays there is a street market in Siena! Kristin was on a mission to buy some stylish Italian shoes and who doesn't love a street market? We wandered the stall-maze and I took some photos. Aside from that, it was a very chill day.
Firenze (Florence), in all its crazy glory.
The only other really noteworthy thing that happened that day was my awesome sea-monster salad. It was called an insalata de mare, but really it was various ocean going critters chopped up, cooked, and sprinkled with olive oil for my consumption/amusement. Tentacles are delicious.
Insalata del Mare or, as I like to think of it, Sea Monster Salad! It was tentacular!
The only dressing was olive oil, parsley, salt, and some crushed garlic.
The only dressing was olive oil, parsley, salt, and some crushed garlic.
The next day we walked into Siena to catch the bus out to San Gimignano (about an hour away). San Gimignano is a fairly large hamlet set atop a huge hill. It has a couple churches and a fort up at the top that were fun to visit. It is also famous for being home to the worldwide gelato (Italian ice cream) champion. We sampled some of their offerings and it was quite delicious.
The view from atop the fort in San Gimignano.
Though there is not much to remark on specifically, San Gimignano was remarkable as a whole, and a wonderful day trip. We were rewarded on our return with another of Agriturismo Marciano's incredible dinners, and a bit too much wine. :)
The streets in the old towns here are just unbelievable. It's like being launched back in time... with about 300 people other people wearing t-shirts and sun screen.
Day 7 brings us to Lamolle, a small town about a half hour drive from Siena, deep in the heart of Tuscany. The previous night at dinner, two of the other guests, John and Kendall, had invited us to go on a walk with them in Lamolle. They are a really wonderful couple from just outside London, and we all thought it a smashing idea. Kristin and I were so excited that I forgot I had hurt my foot the day before, running to catch a bus. It wasn't the running so much as the tripping and falling part. It was rather spectacular, since I managed to do a crazy ninja roll saving both myself and my backpack filled with camera gear. Onlookers were duly impressed, if somewhat concerned. But back to Lamolle...
After the drive, we struck out on the trail head. The guide book was excruciatingly exact in its instructions, down to things like "You will turn left onto the road opposite the house with the red brick veranda. After 50 meters you will look out onto a scenic view."
After the drive, we struck out on the trail head. The guide book was excruciatingly exact in its instructions, down to things like "You will turn left onto the road opposite the house with the red brick veranda. After 50 meters you will look out onto a scenic view."
These are the friends we made at the Agriturismo Marciano, Kendal and John. We hit it off at the dinners the agriturismo held. They invited us out to go on a hike with them on our last day there. This is us being very excited that we had found our way back to the trail head...
Well, our walk turned out to be more of a hike. We trotted up and down the mountainside drinking in breathtaking vistas blanketed with farms and hamlets. Everything was green or in bloom. It was overcast and drizzly, but it was only enough to keep us cool, not enough to really wet us. Perfect spring weather.
What's this? More jaw dropping landscapes? After a while, the Tuscan countryside sort of blurs together into a big montage of picturesque mountains, farms, and hamlets.
The halfway point had a restaurant so we stopped for lunch. I ordered some kind of baked smoked cheese with tomatoes. It was knee-weakeningly delicious.
Smoked soft cheeses, baked in a bowl with basil and tomatoes. Spread on hearty Italian bread, this was divine.
Thus fortified we walked the rest of the way to finish the loop back where we began. It was a good three hour hike, minus lunch. Needless to say, my foot did not approve and I was limping for the next couple days.
Safely back at the car, we decided to head back to San Gimignano for some art, museums, and dinner.
San Gimignano goes dead at sunset. There were only a couple stragglers and us left heading back to our bus/cars by the time I took this.
Kristin and I split off to paint and take photos, while John and Kendall went Church/Museum hopping, and we all met back for dinner and gelato.
Kristin paints in San Gimignano. Note the snazzy navy leather coat she's got there...
We ate at the world famous gelato place again. This time I got champaign-saffron, and strawberry-rosemary flavors. I'm not making that up. Yes, they were amazing.
The next day was taken up mostly with travel to Southern Italy. We took a cab and two trains to Sorrento, a coastal town perched atop a cliff side on the Northern half of Italy's "toe".
We had booked a bungalow at a resort about a mile outside of town. I have to say, it was seriously weird... First of all, the hot water was not on so reception turned it on remotely via computer. Oookay... second the room safe was neither roomy, nor safe, as it was not actually bolted to the wall or anything.
This is me holding our "Room Safe"... it is neither roomy, nor safe. I am going to bring it to the front desk when we check out and suggest they affix it to the wall via the convenient mounting holes in the back.
Then we find out the "queen" bed is two twins scooted together. Add onto that the surrealistically over sized (4+ ft tall) white pots around the grounds, reminding me of a super mario level, and "Jackie Hall" the 70s-meets-Ikea themed lounge named for and featuring large pictures of Jackie Onassis... well you start to get the idea.
This is the infamous "Jackie Hall". The Esperidi resort had this lounge that was like Ikea and a 70s James Bond film had an interior-design-baby, postered with giant photos of Jaqueline Onassis Kennedy.
Our first full day there, we walked into Sorrento to wander, see the sights, and orient ourselves since it was the jumping off point for any day trips along the coast.
There was not as much to see or do in Sorrento as in Siena. In Siena it felt like every single thing was scenic or rustic or some other cool thing ending in "ic". Sorrento just seems like a coastal town with a wealth of hotels and chachki shops. It looks prettiest from outside the town down the coast. Mostly, we just shopped around and enjoyed the coastal view. That and Limoncello. They have lemons here the size of Nixon's head. Awe inspiring. Sunset was very pretty and the food did not disappoint.
Sorrento, as seen from a place not in Sorrento...
Our second day in Southern Italy we decided to go to Pompei. Pompei was humbling and terrible and beautiful. Words and photos are not sufficient to describe Pompei. The most succinct way to put it would be:
Pompei was.
When I've seen ruins before, it has always been a large monument or maybe some architecture which has been built over top of. Pompei was just... there. All of it. Or as much as survived a tidal wave of hot ash.
Pompei was.
When I've seen ruins before, it has always been a large monument or maybe some architecture which has been built over top of. Pompei was just... there. All of it. Or as much as survived a tidal wave of hot ash.
This was taken in the middle of Pompei, on one of the main streets going west. This photo gives the best impression of how large a city it really was.
There were large mansions, temples, and theatres, but there was also a huge amount of just regular city. What were probably shops, apartments, cafes, and the like. We walked around for what must have been four hours. There's a picture of Kristin when we were in the heart of Pompei and you can see buildings stretching off into the distance.
A meeting place of some kind in Pomei... or a screen shot from the video game Elderscrolls: Oblivion. Take your pick.
Once the scope of it set in, we were able to pay attention to more of the details. In some places the tiny and intricate marble mosaic floors had survived. Pompei was apparently famous at the time for it's brothels and a keen eye could spy occasional business signs of an inappropriate nature still carved into the stone.
The next day we took a boat out to the island of Capri. Then we walked up to the center of the town of Capri. Yes, walked. That was one hell of a climb up winding paths and stairways. Had we thought to ask, we would have found out there was a little red monorail train car that went up at regular intervals... but it was worth the climb.
This is Capri's clock tower and central square. We walked a bojillion miles up this winding path/stairway to get here.
Once at the top we could look out over most of the island and out to sea. It was so humid and hazy that there was not really a horizon so much as a gradient, fading to white where, ostensibly, sky met water.
Capri was filled with narrow streets winding between white plastered buildings and intensely expensive fashion boutiques. It was really bizarre to walk on cobblestone and look into a store pumping techno and selling mens pants for $500. Ok, they weren't pumping techno, but they wanted to. I could tell.
We struck out to the far western part of the island in search of "natural arches", but decided that it was not worth the trouble when we saw the sign that said "Natural Arches - 300 meters" pointing down a zig-zagging cliff-side path. We opted instead to take some photos from the top and head back.
After even MORE walking, we got around to the western side of the island of Capri and took photos. There was a sign pointing down that said "Natural Arches 300 meters", but we did not fancy going down a third of a kilometer and then back up.
After our adventures in Capri, our feet and legs were just short of outright rebellion at the thought of doing another day trip anyplace. Besides, it was May 20th... my birthday! We decided to take an easy day bumming around the hotel and Sorrento.
Kristin had been looking for "le scarpe" (italian for "the shoes") since we landed in Italy, but everything was either ugly, expensive or both. Well, luckily, we happened across this tiny shop in Sorrento. It was about 10ftx10ft and every surface was covered in shoes. Kristin picked a heel, strap style, and color for two pairs of shoes and they made them for her. Like with hammers and nails. We came back a few hours later to pick up her custom-made, hand-crafted, italian-leather, sexy-strappy lady shoes.
Kristin was on a serious mission to get some Italian leather shoes. Well she finally got "le scarpe" (the shoes) in a teensy shop where two men took your order and made them for you the same day. With hammers.
To celebrate my birthday we went out to dinner at a cafe overlooking the coastline at sunset. We ordered an antipasto of aged, dried, salt-beef sliced so thin you could see the pattern on the plate underneath it. After dinner I enjoyed some 16 year old single malt whiskey. Success.
Day 13 we decided to take a day trip to the Amalfi coast. We had heard it was one of the most beautiful drives in all of Italy. We also heard from some lady that Amalfi and Positano were dirty and crowded... but luckily she was either blind or insane. Before we could see any of this alleged beauty, however, we had to pass "The Test". The test being that we had to successfully find and board a bus to Positano.
This is the stray cat who kept the lizard population in check around our bunker... I mean "bungalow" near Sorrento. I named him Sir Wheezicat because of the accordion-like sound he made when he was breathing heavily.
Having had luck with the bus system in Siena, we did not think it would be hard. After waiting for an hour and a half at a stop we had been assured by multiple people was the correct one for a bi-hourly bus, we took the train to the main bus stop in Sorrento. I guess they just didn't feel like leaving, or took an alternate route. Once there we boarded the correct bus and were on our way a mere two hours later after we should have.
Positano! This is a town between Sorrento and Amalfi, along the Amalfi coast. We took a bus here, then walked down to the beach along winding picturesque streets.
The drive was very scenic, though it was a little distracting barreling along a cliff side road that was so narrow the bus driver would honk while going around corners. We stopped at Positano, which, like Capri, was built into the side of a steep mountain.
After meandering down to the beach, checking out a church, and getting some lunch at a sea-side cafe, we were not exactly excited to climb back up and wait for another bus. Lucky for us, we noticed that it was only 6 Euros to catch a boat to Amalfi! And so we did.
Kristin hanging out on the docks in Positano while we wait for our boat to Amalfi. Oh man was it hot there... the dock was made out of that rock and it was like sitting on a giant pizza stone.
Were we ever glad we took that boat. The ride was just stunning. We saw the coast in a way that the bus ride just couldn't show us: Golden cliffs, bursting from the sea, decked with green foliage and the occasional town or hotel.
The Amalfi coast was just beautiful. We were both really glad we took the boat, instead of going back up the hill and catching the bus.
Once in Amalfi, we wandered around for a bit and took in the sights. We got some candied, chocolate dipped lemon and orange peel slices that were awesome! On the steps in front of the big church, there was this guy I dubbed 'mini-pope', since he was wearing a bunch of crazy robes and had a silly hat. I couldn't tell if he was a street performer or legitimate clergy. Once we'd had our fill of historical architecture and shopping, we moseyed back toward the bus depot. This was to be our downfall.
Amalfi! It was very pretty.
Leaving Amalfi was even harder than getting there. It took us another hour and a half to catch a bi-hourly bus. I will spare the details, but suffice to say that I was so frustrated with the bus system in southern Italy that I think I bruised my soul.
Still, Positano and Amalfi were lovely, and the boat ride was just breathtaking.
More preety. This wasn't far from Amalfi.
Our last two days were in Rome. Well, one and a half days when you subtract travel...
The hotel we stayed in was close to the metro and right smack in the middle of Rome. Ancient wonders were only a few blocks' walk any direction. The hotel itself was the nicest place I've stayed in in a long time, too. Everything was marble or covered in patterned fabric. Seriously. Instead of wall paper, they had patterned fabric with rope chasers. Swanky. Oh, and the craziest shower of them all. It was a shower pod that had 5 different settings which would shoot water out of either the top, sides, a wand, or a foot massager thing.
The hotel we stayed in was close to the metro and right smack in the middle of Rome. Ancient wonders were only a few blocks' walk any direction. The hotel itself was the nicest place I've stayed in in a long time, too. Everything was marble or covered in patterned fabric. Seriously. Instead of wall paper, they had patterned fabric with rope chasers. Swanky. Oh, and the craziest shower of them all. It was a shower pod that had 5 different settings which would shoot water out of either the top, sides, a wand, or a foot massager thing.
Our oh-so-opulent hotel room at the "Roma Antiqua". That is fabric on the wall, by the way, not wall paper.
Once we'd settled in, we just hit the streets with our trusty tourist map and wandered around. We hit the Trevi Fountain, since it was only 3 or 4 blocks away. We went into a shopping mall that was all done in marble pillars with stained glass ceilings and mosaic floor ( it contained terrifyingly expensive clothing stores). We mostly just bounced around hitting nearby points of interest on our map until dinner.
Yay for Rome! This isn't too far from our hotel... in fact our hotel was two or three blocks away from TONS of historic and Roman hot spots.
Rome was where we really went nuts on the dinners. We only had two nights left, so we decided to go to some really nice places. Both nights we just ordered what we wanted without regard for price. Totally worth it.
The first night, we shared a bottle of wine and got a bit tipsy. After dinner, Kristin hung out in the room and I took the camera (sans heavy backpack, woo!) and wandered the streets of Rome. It was so cool. I got myself a crepe, took some night photos, and made silly faces behind the backs of people who were trying to take pictures of their spouse/son/daughter in front of the fountains (one girl busted up laughing).
The Fontana Del Tritone (Fountain of Triton) or "Trevi Fountain". Also only threeish blocks from our hotel.
http://www.italyguides.it/
http://www.italyguides.it/
Rome, by night. I wandered the streets for a bit with only my camera and a few Euros after Kristin retired for the evening. Also after splitting a bottle of wine with her. :)
While I was hanging out, this guy in a suit with a bouquet tapped a woman on the shoulder. When she turned around, he grabbed her and started kissing her! The woman was surprised, but then seemed to recognize him. I got the impression she didn't expect to see him in Rome at all. It was very cinematic. I managed to snap a few surreptitious photos as I walked past.
Rendezvous in Rome.
The second day was or only full day there, and we had booked a walking tour of ancient Rome. We met in front of the Four Rivers Fountain at 10AM. If you go to Rome, get up at 8AM and go to the big public attractions... no one is awake except police and street cleaners. The whole city magically woke up and filled up between 9:45 and 10:15. It was like vendors grew up out from between the cobblestones!
This is the Fontana Dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers). This is where we started our walking tour of Rome
http://www.italyguides.it/
http://www.italyguides.it/
Our tour took us first to the Pantheon. It was beautiful, but it was the first of many stops where much of the art had been destroyed or recycled by the church or some emperor in order to make something else. The ceiling and doors used to be covered with ornate bronze work, but it was all stripped and melted down for canons or other bronze statues around the city... the only reason the building was still standing was because it was converted into a Catholic church, rather than being demolished.
The Pantheon. The sad history of how its bronze doors and ceiling were stripped and melted by the church is... sad to say the least.
http://www.italyguides.it/
http://www.italyguides.it/
We were extraordinarily lucky, because it was open to the public when we arrived. We went in and saw the domed ceiling with it's skylight that shot a beam of sunlight onto the back wall... very pretty and dramatic. Then, not 5 minutes later, they kicked everyone out and shut the doors for Sunday mass or whatever they were doing. Perfect timing!
Panorama inside The Pantheon. We were really lucky because not two minutes later the kicked everyone out and closed the doors, since it was Sunday and this is a church now.
Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain, which we'd already visited several times, and then on to the Roman Forum!
Panorama of the Roman Forum
http://www.italyguides.it/
http://www.italyguides.it/
The forum epitomized how I felt about Rome in general. Rome, to me, was like a giant soup-pot of new, old, beautiful, ugly, hypnotic, terrible, wonderful, dirty, ornate, classic, and gaudy. The city was like a child playing dress-up with mother's pearls, but it was also like a corpse made beautiful by the mortician. There was not one place in the forum that had not been torn up and recycled for parts to make something else. The most depressing thing I saw there was the ruins of an apartment where one of the walls had apparently been made by stacking broken off pieces of marble facade from what must have been a 5 foot wide pillar. Just tore it off and used it like bricks.
This is our guide showing us an artistic rendering of what ancient Rome looked like before it got dismantled for parts. It's so depressing how much of ancient Rome was simply recycled.
After we had made our way through the ruins of the ancient Roman forum, it was off to the Colosseum. Apparently, it was not called the Colosseum, back in the day. It picked up that nickname later, because of the giant colossus statue that used to be in front of it. I can't recall what it was really called, but it is historically inaccurate if they refer to the Colosseum as such in a movie or tv show in ancient Rome.
Woo! Go tourist photo! It was so very, very hot there.
The first thing you notice about the Colosseum when you go inside is that it is big. The ground level arched walkways, under the bleachers were two stories tall. You could go to the edge of the arena area and look down below what was the arena floor into the maze of tunnels and rooms where the animals were kept and raised through trap doors to fight the gladiators. Apparently, it also had a huge sunshade that ran the circumference, draping red cloth inwards over the heads of the spectators. That would have been unbelievably awesome to have seen.
Panorama of the Colosseum. It was really cool to see down into the rooms under the floor level where they could raise animals through trap doors and things.
http://www.italyguides.it/
http://www.italyguides.it/
Then it was time to head home and collapse. Walking on reflective stone in the middle of the day in Rome is draining... It was bright, hot, sweaty, hot, and we walked for 3 hours straight. We didn't really leave the room after that until it cooled down. Around 5 or 6 we went exploring again and got or final meal in Italy.
The Arch of Constantine, next to the Colosseum.
To make sure we caught our flight, we left the hotel at 5 AM and got to the airport at 5:40. Unfortunately, the airport terminal does not open until 6AM! So we sat around until they opened the doors at 6:15. After that it was the usual travel story, except that I got sick and started sneezing in the last hour of the last leg of our return flight... and was sick for two days after! Having to call in sick to work after being on a three week vacation seems a little lame, but at least it was after we got back.
It's been fun, but we are ready to be home again.
And so ends our magical journey to Italy.