Europe – Page 9 – Destination NOW

Happy Birth Month to You!

Mike has a milestone birthday this year, and what better way to celebrate than with Italian food, wine and scenery? I couldn’t quite get the trip scheduled so that we would be in Italy on the actual date, but then we have never been good at following calendars.

In the past, I just used to declare that according to the Mayan calendar, the date was really—-and fill in the blank with whatever date we were celebrating.

But then I thought why not start for a new tradition? Instead of Birth Day, why not celebrate Birth Month? Think about it–you would have a full month to schedule that special event. The odds that you could find a day that would allow everyone to attend just increased 30 fold, except, of course, for those born in February. Sorry.

It is especially helpful for those of us that left the Homeland (Massachusetts) for the Hinterlands (New Jersey). My family has sorta gotten used to my inability to be calendar bound, although I DO usually get the month right. Anybody ready to join the Birth/Anniversary Month movement?

To celebrate Mike’s birth-month, we will be wandering through Tuscany, ending up in Sorrento. This will be our first trip with Grand Circle, a sister company of Overseas Adventure Travel. Although the group is a bit larger than we normally choose, we liked the itinerary, which has us plopped in two towns, each for one week. Another selling point was the number of optional trips, so we can stay with the group, or choose to strike out on our own, should we feel the need.

The best part? Our good friends, Shirley and Owen, will be on the tour.

We arrive in Rome, then head for a town I never knew existed, and whose name I am probably mispronouncing: Chianciano. It will be our base for a week, as we explore the other Tuscany towns shown on the map above.

Our second week will be in Sorrento, a great base for all of the incredible area attractions.

We already received a lovely welcome note from our guide, Anna (pronounced like Donna, without the D) Costes, full of helpful information. She very kindly responded to my questions about our day trip to Florence. We are off to a great start!

Memories…

Today’s snowfall looks like it could actually amount to something. The trees toppled by hurricane Sandy, lying every which way on the ground, might create some interesting sculptures.

Mr. and Mrs Cardinal are wisely loading up at the bird feeder. If the flakes keep falling, it might be a while before the feeder filler (otherwise known as Mike) gets back out there.

So, what’s a girl to do as she hunkers down for some serious indoor time? Why, start looking through photos of days filled with sun and fun. And, having just seen several of my Villa Buddies over Christmas –Diane, Karen, Denise, Emily, Wayne and Sandy– (We missed you, Greg and Sally!), I decided to take a trip down Memory Lane, all the way back to July, by reliving one of our day trips.

We had heard so much about Cinque Terra, we decided to venture forth from our villa to explore a couple of the five seaside villages.

The Lucca tourist office offers a series of regularly scheduled day trips, however the Cinque Terra trip wasn’t scheduled for the day we wanted. Instead, the tourist office helped us find a far better alternative: a private tour. Our driver, Wolfgang, picked us up at our villa, drove us to the ferry in Portovenere, got us our ferry tickets and an itinerary, then met us at the end of the day in Monterrosso, to return us to the villa.

Of course, we COULD have managed this on our own, but that would have meant driving in two separate cars, figuring out parking, the ferry schedule, taking a round trip ferry ride–nothing tremendously difficult, but the driving had fallen to the one person willing to brave the Italian roads, and it was time to give Diane a break.

We drove through La Spezia, the cruise ship port for those cruisers bound for Cinque Terra, on our way to Porto Venere, a cute little seaside town. We had just enough time for a cappuccino and pastry before boarding the ferry.

It was the perfect ferry ride: warm, with a cool breeze, clear skies, with spectacular views along the way. We could see the cultivated fields stretching up the side of the mountains.

I wouldn’t want to have to plant and weed THOSE gardens!

As you can see, stone was quite plentiful, and incorporated into the seaside buildings.

Why is it that even laundry looks picturesque in Italy?

P1040087_2 — Manarola’s bathing beauties

There was only time for a quick stroll up into the town, (and I do mean UP), then it was time to board the next ferry for our last stop, Monterrosso. We were told there is a hiking trail between the villages, but given that we were now in our lazy phase of the trip, decided to take the easy method of transportation. The trip UP into town may have helped us make that decision.

This village had an actual beach, with umbrellas and chairs for rent.

I, however, was more interested in this lovely alcoholic version of iced coffee. I got all of the benefits of the beach, without sand in my seat, or sunburned shoulders.

And since today is a day for looking through photos, I decided to include a couple from a trip Mike and I had taken in 2004 to Portofino, another seaside village further up the coast. Like Cinque Terra, the houses were sherbet colored, built tightly together.

It too was lovely, and for THAT trip, we actually DID stroll along the hillside trail. Take a look.

Come a little closer…

Although it lacked a beach, there was plenty to see on that day trip.

Ah, Italy– something tells me I’ll be back!

I Love a Parade

We were fortunate enough to be in Lucca during a festival. Several nights worth of parades with costumes, music, flags, scary weaponry…who could ask for anything more?

One question: What do you think would be more difficult–tossing and catching flags, or marching with a flag covering your face? These guys were masters at both.

True confession time: i just learned that WordPress will arrange photos into a collage, so I had to give it a try. Pretty cool, huh? And very easy–at least from my home computer.

Lucca Churches

I’m still thinking about Lucca’s amazing city wall. With a perimeter of approximately 2.5 miles, the interior space isn’t very big. I’ll leave it to the mathematicians to calculate the square footage within those walls. At times, though, it felt huge, particularly during the afternoon heat, when lost and walking in circles, for example. Not that I would have ever experienced anything like that..

So, what’s the point? Well, there is an incredible number of churches packed into that rather small patch of earth! The other walled cities I visited seemed to only have one or two churches within their enclosure, but Lucca had a whole overflowing collection basket load of them!

Fortunately, I didn’t feel compelled to photograph them all–just a few that caught my eye because to me, at least, they were rather unique.

I had never heard of San Frediano, and I still have no clue who he is, but he clearly was important enough to get a church named in his honor. The exterior wasn’t all that fancy, except for the beautiful mosaic balancing on that rather nondescript body.

It was particularly beautiful when the sun was directly shining on the gold, which it wasn’t when I took this photo, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

This next church has been re-purposed as an art museum. We never got around to going inside to see the Chagall exhibit, but I sure did like those green stripes decorating the arches, and posters fit so nicely under an arch, don’t you think?

This last one, built on the site of the old Roman Forum was my very favorite–the church of St. Michael, named after my husband, I believe.

You’ve got to love a church that looks like a wedding cake is balancing on its top. Instead of a bride and groom, however, this one has angels, spreading their wings and blowing their horns.

That brown fist on the right was not a church decoration. It was part of a citywide art exhibit. If it hadn’t taken me three months to write this blog, I probably would remember the name of the art festival, how MANY sculptures there were–but all I can recall is that they were all totally made from paper. AND that tourists and the locals were invited to vote for their favorite. (There is another sculpture in the photo of the church of San Frediano. It looks like a bunch of space vehicles suspended from strings).

Anyway, back to the church. St. Michael is definitely deserving of a closer look. The sculptor must have had that century’s equivalent of ADD, because each of the wedding cake’s columns is decorated differently. (I know–my future as an art expert has just been vaporized by my clumsy description of these edifices.)

P1030801 — The fake front of St Michael church, with all the cool, different columns

Check out the detail on the Archangel’s robe. (Click on the photo to enlarge for a better view).

P1030891 — Close up of the Archangel. I’m loving my camera’s zoom lens

That was definitely a labor of love, because you’d have to have super vision to see those “jewels” from the ground level. A tour guide told us that Michael is wearing a gold ring. We couldn’t tell one way or the other until my camera’s zoom lens disproved THAT claim.

I was thinking that Lucca’s churches were old Italy’s version of Starbucks …there was one on every corner. Then I happened to take a look at one of the arches.

Look closer…recognize anything?

P1030893 — Do they serve Starbuck’s here?

Looks like the command to “go forth and multiply” was also heeded by a certain Seattle company!

The City Walls of Lucca, Italy

It’s a rainy day in New Jersey–the perfect time to indulge in Part Three of this summer’s trip to Italy. To me, travel is composed of three equally enjoyable segments. Part One is the planning stage. Part Two is the actual travel, and Part Three occurs when your mind leaves your body as you relive those travel highs.

Our villa was a few miles from Lucca, a short (but harrowing) drive to the city gates. It was close enough so that we could see Lucca’s towers from the patio outside my room. The photo at the top of this post (if the”featured image” application works, that is) was taken from that very patio. But just in case it doesn’t, here’s the photo again.

There are city walls, and then there are CITY WALLS. Lucca’s are the latter. We are talking big, serious structures.

One day, we rented a “bicycle built for four” and tooled around the entire periphery.

And yes, those ARE trees growing on top of the wall.

That photo doesn’t give you an idea of how big the walls are, or how high up that bike path is–so here are a couple more shots to put it into perspective.

P1030859 — Restaurant and bar on Lucca’s wall

In fact, the wall is big enough for a restaurant and bar (the site of my birthday prosecco celebration), and a sculpture garden.

P1030972 — The July birthday girls, after several glasses of that bubbly stuff

Lucca also has an old Roman amphitheater within its walls.

No, I didn’t hang from a helicopter to take that aerial view. That is a photo of a poster in the Lucca Tourist office.

The Italians, being masters of recycling, built houses out of amphitheater walls. Originally, poorer people lived in those structures, but now it is a very trendy locale, with great little cafes and shops.

That’s all for today–but that’s not all there is to Lucca!

A tale of two cities –Maglione and Capalbio

If you are thinking that I’d be tired of Italian hilltop towns by now, you’d be dead wrong. I love them! I love the walls, the winding streets, the little outdoor cafes, the cobblestones.

The prior post contains photos of the walls of Magliano, way in the distance, as seen from our Fattoria. Some of the more intrepid bikers actually rode into town during the heat of day, when all wise Italians were eating or snoozin’ and this American was cooling her easy–not moderate–biker body in the pool. They discovered there was not much to do in medieval Italian towns between 2 PM and 4 PM, other than sweat profusely and drink copious amounts of water.

My Best Biking Buddy Beth, and the rest of us wimps didn’t miss out though, because one night, we rode the van into Magliano for dinner.

P1030612 — A spectacular view of the countryside from one of the city gates

If a city has a wall, and said wall can be climbed, you’d best be believin’ I’m on it! My timing was perfect. I hustled to the top of the wall in time to capture the gorgeous sunset.

While peering through the slit, I found it easy to conjure up a brave knight of yesteryear. Can’t you just envision him on the wall, looking out into the countryside, ready to defend God, king and castle, while he rosined up his bow (or was that what the fiddler did)? Or maybe the Maglianese warriors dumped boiling oil on any invaders that attempted to storm the castle. If so, I sure hope it wasn’t the extra virgin stuff. Especially not after it had been cold pressed. (Hey, we learned all about that stuff on our tour of the olive farm).

Also while on the wall, girl scout songs kept running through my head, “the golden sun sinks in the west—something, something– calling girl scouts to rest… Day is done, gone the sun, from the east, from the west, from the sky. All is well…”. And it WAS.

Between the songs and my visions of manly knighthood, it’s a wonder I had the time or the energy to take photos, but I dug deep and managed to fire off a few shots for the folks back home.

I couldn’t decide which sunset photo I liked better, so I’m posting both. You get to be the judge.

For those of you that have had enough of the sunsets, amber waves of hay, old castle walls, here’s a change of pace. They DO hang colorful laundry out their windows, now don’t they?

On to the next subject. Talk about luck… We managed to be in town for the Soccer semi-finals, a very festive and exciting occasion. Big Screen TVs were strategically located in outdoor bars throughout the town, and it sure felt like the entire population gathered to root for the home team.

P1030624 — watching the soccer semifinals

Despite being the underdog, Italy trounced Germany. Unfortunately, a few days later they lost to Spain, but at least for that one glorious night, victory was oh, so sweet. Especially for sweet Angelo, our guide. Viva Italia!!

On our last biking day, we rode to Capalbio, another beautiful hilltop town with the requisite wall, castle and church. But this town had something that the others didn’t…a statue of Beth.

P1030670 — Beth, demonstrating how she modeled for the statue.

I can’t resist posting one last walled Italian city shot, so here it is. I’ll spare you the ones of the countryside taken from the wall. They look a lot like the other countryside photos. Beloved by me, but most likely boring to others.

And now it is time to end the bike trip saga. What better way, than to show the lengths to which I will go to get just the right shot. Here’s what I was photographing:

P1030579 — The grounds of Fattoria di Magliano

P1030581 — If I were good at panoramic shots, this would be on the right side of the photo above

And here’s what I had to do to make sure those wires didn’t appear in the photos. Thanks, Diane, for capturing my “good” side. See, Mike–I DO have one…

Although the bike trip has ended–Sally, Diane, Karen and I headed off for two more glorious weeks, sharing a villa in Italy, with yet another cast of characters.

Day Trippin’

If you are following this blog, you have probably guessed that this is not a day by day chronicle of the VBT bike trip. Our visit to Giglio Island occurred smack dab in the middle, and given how hot it had been, the timing was perfect. After all that pedaling along sunny roads, I was more than ready for some ocean breezes.

First stop, Porto Santo Stefano, where we had free time to wander thru the markets before boarding the ferry.

In addition to open-air meat, fish, cheese and flower markets, there were some clothing shops, where Becky made a purchase. She still hadn’t received her luggage–but somehow managed to always look great. And clean!!

P1030416 — Becky, wearing her favorite (and only) outfit.

P1030421 — Porto Santo Stefano, as viewed from the ferry

On the boat, I was captivated by this charming Italian, who waved and said “ciao, ciao” to me. Finally, someone whose command of Italian equalled mine! (Yes, I DO have a thing for blue eyed males…)

Remember that Costa Cruise ship that sank off the coast of Italy? The captain abandoned his ship and passengers died? I hadn’t realized that it happened off the coast of Giglio Island.

P1030441 — Tourist attraction? The Costa Concordia

What was truly amazing was how close the ship was to shore when it sank.

P1030469 — Costa cruise ship in the background

The port was lovely, with all the usual shops, restaurants, gelato stands, pastel buildings and clean, clear water.

Fortunately we didn’t have to walk all the way up to Giglio Castello, which, like all good fortresses, was built at the highest point of island, to protect the citizenry from invaders.

P1030505 — The well, an important water source when the castle was under siege.

P1030516 — One of the many winding paths within the castle

The staircases were built on the outside of the houses to save space within. Can you imagine an exterior staircase in northern New England? Try climbing stairs like these during a blizzard!

Ipads and iPhones were everywhere. I caught sight of this castle resident using hers. Maybe reception is better near the window?

P1030511 — modern technology in ancient castle

After our tour of the castle, it was time for lunch on Campese Beach. Ordinarily, VBT offers an optional hike along the Faraglione cliffs, but with the temperature hovering over 100 degrees, all agreed hiking under the Tuscan sun would not be a pleasant alternative. Some of the group hit the beach. Others (that would be me) found yet another great gelato stand and indulged, while enjoying the scenery.

Finally, we headed to our next lodging, Fattoria di Magliano, another beautiful agritourismo location, with incredible food and wine, a million dollar view, and a wonderful pool. Such luxury!

P1030527 — Magliano, as seen from the Fattoria

This was the perfect opportunity to see what my Lumix zoom could do. I probably should have manually adjusted the focus. Oh well. You get the idea.

Next post–the grand finale–our visits to Magliano and Capalbio

Bike, Sweat, and Drink a whole lot more…

I’m not sure why it is taking me so long to finish posting about our VBT bike trip. I can’t use a bad wifi connection as an excuse, nor can I blame the tediousness of blogging via ipad. It could just be those lazy, hazy days of summer have made me even lazier and hazier than usual.

This bike trip was far more than just peddling my bony butt through Italy. It was far, FAR more–it was a trip of self discovery. (Voyage of self discovery SOUNDS so much better, but alas–you don’t “voyage” on a bike. At least not intentionally. )

Here’s the big insight: I learned, much to my chagrin (an SAT word that I so rarely get to use) , that I am easy. I THOUGHT I might have moved on up to easy/moderate, but one very long trek up a very steep hill brought me to my senses. In fact, I got brought to my senses a whole lot faster than I got to the top of that damn hill (which in my mind, and probably my mind alone, was more of a mini mountain).

The true beauty of VBT however is that you are able to design the trip that YOU want to take. So, in keeping with my new philosophy of “if it’s not fun, I ain’t doing it”, whenever I encountered a steep hill I shifted — not gears, but from 2 wheels to 4. I was humming that Lionel Ritchie song “That’s why I’m easy, e-e-ZEEE like Sunday mo-oo-r-nING”, while waving to my sweating friends as we zipped on by them, en route to the pool.

So, the biking photos you will see are all of flat lands, yet still lovely in their own special way.

P1030564 — Yet another beautiful hilltop town

Here’s Angelo, on “granny” duty. Okay, so technically, I’m NOT a grandmother–I just ride like one. And yes, I am smiling, because of my recent self discovery, happy in the knowledge that I have nothing to prove and that the van will be there when I need it.

Yet another great feature of VBT trips was no matter what your skill level, there was always SOMEONE you could ride with. For me, on THIS trip it was my BBBB (that’s my “Best Biking Buddy, Beth” in text talk). Last trip it was sweet Victoria. Here we are, ready to toss down some wine before lunch, after biking all morning.

Beth’s daughter, Susan (the baby of the group) was a biking superstar, going the distance every day. She and Diane paired up and truly earned those serious biker outfits!

In addition to the biking, there are always special events. One day we visited an olive farm, where we had a tour, snorted extra virgin olive oil and then had a fantastic lunch, cooked by the owner. Best pasta EVER, fresh vegetables, beans–delicious!

The tour was called “Tuscany by the Sea”, so of course, there were more beaches to visit. The last beach had the “school locker” type changing rooms. THIS one had bushes. And driftwood. But the water was great–and the beach was not rocky.

I’m not positive what the sign meant, but I wasn’t going to mess with “waters not sured for unsafety service”! But hey, their English is far better than my Italian, or Spanish for that matter, so I’m not poking fun. I’m just reporting what I saw.

Our evening in Orbetello was great fun. First,a stop for what Franco insisted was the best gelato anywhere. And it was indeed quite amazing. The best part is you can get three different flavors at no additional charge So, of course I did. The next time you are in Orbetello, stop in at Le Logde and see for yourself!

Next, we experienced what the brochure described as a “romantic” cruise…see for yourself…are we not what you envision when you think of “romance”?

Finally, a whirl around the city then dinner at Tony’s on the waterfront, where we enjoyed great food and a beautiful sunset.

P1030393 — Sun, slowly sinking over the water

Bike, Sweat, Drink…(with apologies to Elizabeth Gilbert)

The fantasy has ended. Sigh. Although I am now back in the good ol USA, my body still appears to be on Italy time, because I am awakening at a god awful hour. And when I wake up, at least for the first few seconds, I think I’m back in the villa. Fortunately, the bathrooms both in the villa and my bedroom at home are in the same direction, and by the time I arrive at my destination I’ve got it all figured out. (No bidet in the USA).

Anyway, my blogging, one again, has lagged way behind my travels. Here’s the thing. Blogging on an i-pad, especially when you have sporadic wi-fi connectivity, is not what one would describe as fun. At least not when the “one” in the preceding sentence happens to be me. Indeed, it began to resemble work. And at this stage of my life, if it ain’t fun, I’m not doing it. I think that might become one of the pillars of my current philosophy of life. Does that make me a Hedonist? I’ve been called worse.

But let’s get to that bike trip. Here’s a map of the ground we covered.

We started in Parrina, staying at the Antica Fattoria for three nights, then moved to Magliano, where we stayed at another Fattoria (Farm). The longest ride, according to the literature, was 35 miles, with options if a shorter ride was desired. And, for one of the days, there was no biking at all–just a ferry ride To Giglio Island. This was an “easy/moderate” ride. No sweat. Or so I thought.

On our first day of serious cycling, we headed to Talamone, a medieval fortress village on the coast, small enough not to make it to the map above, so you’ll have to trust me when I tell you that it is north of La Parrina. The scenery along the way made you almost forget how hot it was. (We, unfortunately, were there during record breaking high temperatures.)

It took tremendous self control to keep from stopping for a photo every 100 feet or so. It is easy to understand how Frances Meyes fell in love with the area.

Here’s what we saw as we rolled down the “rolling hill” that we had just strained our way up.

Yep, that’s a fortress all right. And those of you that know me well have probably guessed that I’d be planning to get up close and personal with that fortress real soon. But first a stop at the renown beach. At least, that’s how our guides described it.

What looks like school lockers are actually the changing rooms. And they ARE about the size of school lockers, only slightly taller. To add to the fun, only ONE is available for public use, so we all got to share. Fortunately not at the same time.

The water was crystal clear, which was a good thing, because those big rocks that you see peeking out of the water had a bunch of little rock friends under the surface.

Next on the day’s agenda was a picnic lunch. As usual, our group chose to take the more adventurous route to our destination, which just happened to be the way to the fortress.

Not only did we get to stretch our leg muscles, but we also got an even better view of the beach, which I am only too happy to share with all of you.

The picnic lunch was wonderful.

Angelo was a bit surprised when 16 female heads turned in his direction for a moment of silence, followed by peals of laughter. He quickly learned that “sanitary napkins” was NOT the correct term for “wipes”.

We ended the day with a visit to the farm’s store, where we had a wine and cheese tasting event. Most of the products in the store come from the farm. It was unfortunate that we were there so early in the trip. Had we not had weeks more of travel time, I would have certainly purchased oil, vinegar, cheese and wine.

We ended this perfect day with the biscotti cooking lesson and an amazing dinner on the terrace.

Last look at Orvieto

There’s something about towers that I find irresistible. And Orvieto’s was no exception, so Diane and I decided late in the day was the perfect time to climb it. Seen from this angle, it didn’t look all that high.

Inside had a bit of a different feel to it.

The view was well worth every one of those 250 steps.

I would have had to hang off the side to get a better shot of the front of the Duomo, but this gives you an idea of the size of that building.

We knew Torre del Moro was a clock tower, but we were not prepared for how loud the bell sounded when it is only a few feet away. By the way, it doesn’t only BOINNNNG on the hour. That sucker was sounding off every 15 minutes. We didn’t linger more than a half an hour–two ear drum piercing tolls were enough for us!

And now for some random memories of Orvieto:
Sally and I found a little wine shop that gave us a private wine tasting. After trying three local reds and four whites, we decided that this label was our favorite. Although, after all that wine, she could have poured us rat pee and we would have thought it was quite refreshing. (we don’t taste and spit…we are far too ladylike for that. Besides, why waste good wine?)

We managed to catch a couple of weddings on Saturday, and my favorite shot was this one. Bad news, little girls. If you think the sandals are uncomfortable, wait till you graduate to big girl shoes–platform stilettos.

Sister, let’s get these shoes off. My doggies are KILLING me!

Wild boar is considered quite the delicacy here in Tuscany. And yes, I DID try cingale, twice. Even after I saw this guy’s head outside of the restaurant.

Saturday night a group from Michigan State performed a trumpet concerto in one of the squares, so we sat in a little cafe, drank wine and enjoyed the music. Sally figured that since she lives in Florida and they were from Michigan, these guys were practically neighbors she should introduce herself, so she did.

The courtyard of Hotel Duomo was our favorite gathering spot for our evening wine, cheese and fruit party.

Everywhere we looked we saw something beautiful.

The city expanded beyond its walls and at the base of the hill.

Next post–the actual bike trip.

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