Category Archives: Italy

And so all good things must come to an end. We docked at around 6am and were awake not long after that but still before dawn. We didn’t *have* to be up for a while longer but sleep eluded us. So we got up and showered and tested our projected packing needs. We assumed that everything we had left out would fit into our carry on bags. We were almost right.

Then down to breakfast where I assumed that we would have the opportunity to say good bye to the wait staff who had take such good care of us – especially Mary who had taken on the charge of making sure I didn’t get sick on her watch. But none of the usuals were around. Not that the staff who brought our last breakfast weren’t nice; they just weren’t the “regular” staff. {sigh}

We then grabbed our bags and went to hangout in the lounge waiting for our turn to disembark. We had hoped to find the Canadians that we had spent the week running into and drinking with but that also didn’t happen. Then it was time to wait for our prearranged car to pick us up for the trip into Rome. We had arranged for the driver to meet us at 9am assuming that was a reasonable time yet we were off the ship and waiting at the cruise terminal by just after 8 am. He eventually arrived and found us about 8:25 so we were off to Rome which would take about and hour and 20 minutes because we needed to get to the center of town during morning traffic. While in the car, I got a call from the hotel asking where the driver should meet us at the port. Um, what? Apparently, when I had asked for assistance with getting from the port to the city, they had arranged for someone to pick us up. For some reason, I didn’t get the message about that – although they did send an email! – and had booked and paid someone else to pick us up! Seriously? How long has my brain been on vacation?

We got to the hotel in Rome just after 10am and checked in with a thousand apologies for the mix up. The hotel staff was super nice and very concerned about the situation. They had arranged for a driver to go to to port and he incurred gas, tolls, and other costs just for to be no shows. We decided that it would be fair for us to pay his actual costs which made sure that he wasn’t out of pocket and that the hotel saved face for being the ones who arranged the ride for the flakey tourist. Given how mortified I was about MY mistake, I was glad to have the opportunity to make things right.

We were able to get into our room very early (I think the poor girls on the desk felt bad for us at this point!) and head out to wander the city. We had been to Rome a few years earlier (I’m sure you’ve read all about it here) so we didn’t feel the need to do the typical tourist things. We did have a few items on the agenda – specifically searching for a model of an Alfa Romeo, Frank’s new car. We had Googled a few model shops in Rome and decided to use those as destinations for our transition day. We headed to the train station first to buy our tickets to the airport for tomorrow. Then off to the closest model shop… which didn’t exist.

Travel tip #28: Google isn’t always right.

We checked and rechecked the address and the place that Google quite clearly said was a model shop was, in fact, a diamond store. Not the same thing at all. So we retreated to a cafe for cappuccinos to decide what to do next when the wind picked up, the skies darkened, and then the rain came pouring down. Seriously? What next?

Over the next half hour or so, we made our way along broad tree lined streets by the American embassy jumping from sheltered spot to sheltered spot, be it a restaurant doorway or a tree canopy. We were working our way to the Borghese Museum – a destination I had quickly looked up as a possible place to visit that isn’t on most “Top 10 things to do in Rome” lists but would be a perfect destination in the rain. We made it there relatively dry only to find out that you need to buy tickets in advance and they were sold out. Seriously? What next?

Okay, maybe it was time to try the model idea again. There is another model shop in the north west corner of the city, well out of the tourist district, and we had originally crossed it off the list because of the location. It moved back to the top of the list but we were pressed for time: like many Italian businesses, it would be closed from 1- 4 and we would need to seriously move to make it before closing. Which we did amidst occasional sprinkles with some sun breaking through. And we arrived with 15 minutes to spare only to find that they had a VERY small selection of the kind of models we were in search of. Most were plastic kits or other create-it-yourself items. Seriously? What next?

And now we were destination-less. And hungry. So off to lunch. We found a great place by the Piazza Barberini that did gluten free options. This was no tourist place- down in a basement, we were the only non-Italians in the place. We had a fabulous lunch with excellent house wine and great pasta. Frank had wide noodles with a lamb ragout and I had GF spaghetti carbonara. YUM!

Then it was off for more wandering. Everywhere and no where. From the northeast of the city to the south west, we just walked. We headed back to the hotel late in the afternoon as I had a conference call – a president’s work is never done! – then it was time for a real Roman dinner. We found a restaurant around the corner from our hotel that had allergens clearly marked on their menu. We headed there and had an amazing meal: prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella to start, then steak for me and veal saltimbocca for Frank, followed by creme caramel and tiramisu. All of this accompanied by a lovely Montepulciano d’Abbruzo.

And now it is time to rearrange things in the suitcases to complete the transition from vacation to visit. For tomorrow we abandon sunscreen for sweaters and head to Scotland.

Dubious data for today: 28, 242 steps and 21 floors. (Apparently, that’s almost 12 miles. My feet would agree.)
Nuns spotted: 10
Street markets perused: 2 Bottles of red consumed: 2ish

We awoke today to grey brooding skies that matched the mood of awakening on the last day of the cruise. We docked in Livorno harbor, the main port for Tuscany, where many of our fellow passengers would disembark and skitter off to Pisa or Florence on their organized tours. Since that’s not how we roll, we had reserved a car for the day with the idea of cruising through the Tuscan countryside visiting wineries. That idyllic scene did not contain rain clouds, however, so we spent some time at breakfast recallibrating our plans. We had heard several people mention that they were very excited to visit Cinque Terre – a group of five villages nestled along the coast of Liguria, north of Tuscany. Our weather apps said that the weather might be better there and it was a new place to visit so a new plan was hatched.

After breakfast, we disembarked and found the Avis counter inside the cruise terminal (score oe for Livorno port – very convenient!). Today’s driving pleasure would be in a Fiat Tipo – a substantially larger car than the Fiat 500 we had in Sicily. We took off to the north with clouds over head but the promise of sunshine coming in from the west. About 90 minutes into our drive, we arrived at the Cinque Terre National Park and then the geography got real. Apparenty you don’t get to go see the cute fishing villages nestled into the mountains without actually driving down the mountain! If we thought the drive to Etna was challenging, we were sorely mistaken. This route was just as twisty but hugged the cliff the entire time. Thus we were not only creeping along hairpin turns as we did in Sicily, but there was a sheer drop to the sea on one side of the car for the last one-third of the drive. I confess that I could not have done it but Frank did an amazing job, especially given that the Dutch couple in the Volvo infront of us were having some challenges with their wider car.

Eventually we made it to Vernazza, supposedly the most picturesque of the 5 villages. We parked outside the village – only residents can park closer and there aren’t any cars allowed in the village – and started the walk down to the sea. It started to sprinkle en route but rain never really materialized. It was enough to be tortuous since we were both dying for the toilet but not enough to warrent breaking out the rain jackets. We toured the entire village looking for a public toilet and wound up standing in the unreasonably long line at the train station for the only one in town.

Travel tip #25: scout out the public conveniences before you need them. You may not make the best decisions if your eyeballs are floating.

Suitably relieved, we decided to actually explore a bit. This was another stupidly picturesque place complete with stark church, churning seas, brightly colored albeit fading buildings, all built into the side of a mountaion at the edge of the sea. As we drove down, we terraced vinyards where grapes were growing at a pitch steep enough to make your nose bleed. And so were the buildings here. Stacked on top of each other between land and sea, it was intriguing toI think a) how they got this way, and b) how on earth anyone lives there now. Apparently, tourism is huge and there is a hiking trail that connects the 5 villages. It’s now on my bucket list.

We found a seafront cafe with a reasonable cover charge and ordered lunch.

Travel tip #26: when you are a captive audience, restaurants can charge you just to sit down. we paid 2 euros each for the pleasure of occupiying one of their chairs. {grrr}

Gluten free options were limited but we opted for the seafood risotto and a half liter of house white. Today I was nice enough to share some with Frank since he was not going to drink very much before the drive back up the mountain to get back to civilization. Of course I forgot that seafood would have come straight from the sea that I was sitting next to. The clams and muscles were fine, the calmari was probably frozen but that was okay too. The whole jumbo prawns with heads and everything attached nearly did me in. I managed to slay the sea creatures in the serving bowl and enjoyed the rest of the lunch.

Since the sun had come out during out lunch, we wandered about again taking new pictures of the scenery with clearer skies and brighter lighting. This included walking into a little cove where there were more cairns in one place than I have ever seen in my life. I know it’s a hiker thing and there were lots of hikers in town – more people were carrying hiking poles than were without them – but this was amazing!

Eventually we realized that it was time to head back so the climb back to the car park began. This was followed by the drive along the sometimes frightening road we took down into the village but somehow the rally driver in Frank rose to the challenge. I confess there were times when he was grinning like a madman and I just closed my eyes. But he’s happiest when he’s driving and I’m happiest when I’m not.

Once out of the national park, the toll road back to town was far less than exciting. We returned the rental car and headed back to the ship to begin the dreaded “last night of the holiday”activy: packing. One thing that worked in our favor: the budget airline with the nonstop flight to Glasgow doesn’t fly on Thursdays so we have one night in Rome before flying on Friday. That means that we don’t have to do the “where to pack the liquids” shuffle just yet. Thee decisions are especially challenging on a cruise since your main luggage needs to be outside your cabin before bed. If you want to shower in the morning and have anything like, say, tootpaste available to you, it needs to go in your carry one that stays with you. If you are going straight to the airport, that can be challenging.

Travel tip #27: An extra day in Rome is never a bad thing.

So tomorrow we “have” to stay in Rome before beginning our visit to Scotland. It made our packing much easier so we had lots of time for our last night on the ship: the final visit to the Martini bar, the final dinner in the fancy French restaurant, and the final double Bailey’s nightcap.

Dubious data for today:
12,010 steps and 37 floors. (Not much walking but none of it flat!)
244 kilometers
39 miles to the gallon
47 swear words each on the scary road

We knew we were docked in Naples this morning before the cruise diretor’s announcement by the sounds of the port and the smell of desiel. Today was an early start for many people: lots of tours were heading out very early to go far away from the city to Pompeii, Sorrento, or the Amalfi coast. We thought we’d do something crazy and actually stay in the city instead of climbing aboard a bus for a 1-2 hour drive to somewhere else. We breakfasted on deck for a change and then wandered off the ship to see what Napoli had to offer.

Let’s be clear about something: I am interested in seeing Pompeii, Sorrento and the Amalfi coast but not if it means spending 4 hours on a bus to spend 2 hours in the place that we are visiting. We spoke to several people who loved their tours. We’ll just wait and visit those places anther time.

So we walked the city. From end to end. Starting with the quest to get an FC Napoli jersey for my nephew which took us to a team store in the central station. We had to walk through half a dozen construcgtion zones to get there and was nearly run down by two dozen scooters in the process but we made it. And then they didn’t have his size so we found a cafe where we couldn get good coffee to plan the next steps.

Travel tip #23: be prepared for people to expect you to love Starbucks even if you don’t. This shipe “proudly serves” the stuff which I assume is why I can’t drink the coffee in the dining room without cream (I usually take my coffee black.) In fact, we nearly paid for an upgraded drink package because it would come with unlimited specialty coffees. Then we got on board and realized that meant Starbucks so we were glad we didn’t spend the extra $300 dollars EACH (granted it also came with higher end liquors and bottled wine but we were just fine with the slumming liquors like Tito’s vodka and Bombay sapphire gin.)

After a lovely non-starbucks cappuchino, we headed west to find our way to see an few of the churches in town starting with the Duomo. Yet again the scarf came in handy to cover my sholders although the number of people who ignored the clearly posted “no tank top signs” was appalling. The cathedral was big and baroque and really something to see. Then it was off to the Jesuit church of the Gesu Nuovo which was even more ornate than the Duomo. Across the street was the church of Santa Chiara, a stark gothic church especially conpared to the first two. And these just scratched the surface!

We were hungry from being so holy so it was off to lunch. My GF restaurant finder app listed a place with great reviews from the GF community and it was right in the neighborhood. And my pizza was amazing. And Frank’s never arrived. After I was halfway done with mine, I went to see what was the problem and they hadn’t even made his! While I appreciate that they took good care of me, I didn’t appreciate that they didn’t notice that they forgot to make Frank’s. When it eventually arrived, he declared it to be the best pizza he had ever had and so he was willing to forgive the oversight. The fact that they threw in a couple of limonocellos helped a little.

By now we had spent some time wandering around the old part of town which meant there were lots of shops – including a FC Napoli team store that Google didn’t bother to tell us about! So football jersey secured, we started working on gifts for the 13 year old niece which meant visiting leather shops. And an Italian leather purse was thereby secured.

And then we headed to the final stop in the city: the Castle Saint Elmo. A fortification buit in medieval times to protect the kingdom on Napoli. It sits high up on a hill over looking the bay and requires a ride in a funicular to get there. But the visit is well worth it. The fort is very interesting and the views are breathtaking.

Travel tip #24: pay attention to things on tourist maps even if they aren’t recommended for a visit. We only found out about the castle because a map in a Rick Steve’s guide book indicated where the funicular was relative to things he recommended that people visit although it was not on the list of things to do.

We had walked across the entire city from the train station in the east to the castle in the west. So after appropriately admiring the beautiful scenes, it was back to the ship and our last dip in the pool and hot tub. We soaked in the lovely warmed water as the ship pulled out of the Bay of Naples headed north. Grabbing what might be our last happy hour cheese plate and wine, we sat on our balcony and watched as the seagulls accompanied us out of the harbor. We made a pit stop to the disco lounge for the 80s music quiz (we came in second to a group of about 5 women who weren’t even alive in the 80s but we won’t comment on that). Then dinner and the final show in the theather where they tried to shove every possible show of the cruise into one: aerial artists, dancers, magicians, dancers, etc. Can’t say I was impressed.

Dubious data for today:
26,335 steps and 28 floors
Number of church domes visible from one side of the castle: 15
Number of nuns passed today: 6

Today we were due to dock in Messina, Sicily at 8am and for reasons neither of us can understand, we were both wide awake at 6am – long before sunrise. {sigh} So we made hotel coffee in the room and sat on the balcony waiting for the dining room to open for breakfast. (WTF, who have we become?!?) We wandered down to breakfast where I tried the kitchen’s best attempt at GF french toast. I’m sure it would be heavenly for someone but it didn’t really do it for me – especially the “pancake syrup” it was served with. We are completely syrup snobs now: it’s pure maple or don’t bother.

Then it was off to explore Sicily. The main attractions on this part of the island are Mount Etna and Taormina and the ship offered a tour to both places for a mere $229 per person. Seriously? We can’t bear the thought of following the umbrella to start with but you want us to pay $500 for that torture? No thank you. So we figured out that there is an Avis office a mere 6 walk from the port and so for a mere $27 we rented a Fiat 500 for the day and we were off!

Travel tip #19: book the rental car from home in advance if you can. I’m pretty sure that no one else got their car for 24 euro.

Now I realize for many people, driving in Italy would be something they would gladly pay anyone $500 to avoid but not Frank – he LOVES to drive. Even a little, under-powered Italian diesel. We made it out of Messina without mishap and on to the autostrade for the hour and a half journey to Mt. Etna. We drove south along the coastline in blazing sunshine through dozens of tunnels – lots of mountains here! Of the 98 kilometers, only about 30 is on highway and the rest is small back roads to climb the 1900 meters to get to the base area of Etna. The screenshot of the Google maps route would make most people weep but Frank reveled in it… until we got stuck behind a tour bus. So much for playing rally driver!

But we made it and realized that we hadn’t planned particularly well. It was cloudy and at least 20 degrees colder on Etna than it was at the coast. And unlike the people around us in jeans and anoraks, we were dressed for 80+ degrees and sunshine. And here is another place where the scarf/shawl in the purse came in handy – as a wrap to keep me warm. We wandered about a bit trying to figure things out and realized that this was a place where capitalism had failed. There were rows of kitchy shops all selling the same thing. There were a variety of tourist excursions. And there was no rhyme or reason to any of it. As an economist, I always hope that the free market works but this was just a mess. We decided against the cable car excursion as pointless given Frank’s vertigo and the level of the clouds. There was a “train” ride around the base level for only 10 euros that promised views that the cable cars couldn’t provide. Although we have a pathological problem with organized tours, we thought we’d try this one to see if we were being unreasonable. And we weren’t.

Travel tip #20: try new things whenever you can but if it doesn’t feel right, don’t feel that you need to try it.

The “train” was one of those little kiddie sized things with several cars that go about 20 mph tops. there was mostly Italians on this thing and there was narration in multiple languages. But the Italians talked over the English translation so we couldn’t really hear anything. And then we stopped at a local restaurant to try local products which felt like a high pressured sales pitch – or it would have if they bothered to speak any thing other than Italian. All in all, we decided our abhorrence of such organized tours was well founded. We didn’t even bother to climb to any of the intermediate levels (the peak is at ~3400 meters and requires special tour guides and permission) because the clouds were so low you couldn’t see anything.

So back down the mountain we went. No tour bus in front of this time so Frank had a great time rallying down the mountain, passing sluggish cars, and generally just enjoying the drive. On the way back to port we stopped at Taormina, another impossibly picturesque village built into a mountain. We found a great place for lunch with many gluten free options including pizza and beer! Then we wandered about enjoying the sights and scenery. I stopped by a church to light a candle for my mom as I do every chance I get. And we picked up a lovely watercolor by a local artist that shows what Etna looks like when you can actually see it.

And then it was time to head back. Down another hill and back to Messina to turn in the Fiat and get back aboard ship. The biggest crisis of the day: we lost a water bottle, probably under a seat in the car. It was my favorite purple one with my “Rochester Boat Club” sticker on it. So if anyone from Sicily ever shows up at the boathouse in Fairport….

Back on board we decompressed with a few glasses of wine before heading out to specialty dinner number 3: the Brazilian steakhouse. It was Meatfest night! This is the place where men carrying sharp sticks with meat stop by the table and give you as much meat as you can stomach. And we stomached way too much. We nearly didn’t have room for our double Bailey’s nightcap while we watched the absolutely hysterical juggler in the evening show. It will take a long tome to digest everything but hopefully we’ll be less sluggish in the morning so we can enjoy Napoli!
Dubious data for today:
14,346 steps and 36 floors (Sicily is also not flat)
Kilometers driven: 199
Approximate gas mileage: 70 mpg

Total cost of the day including rental car, diesel, parking, and tolls: $72

No alarms today as it is our last full day in Italy and there is no where we need to be at any particular time.  Of course I’m up first after a fitful night sleep where I had bad dreams all night about not having our boarding passes and having to pay Ryan Air 70 euros EACH to reprint them when the plane ticket cost that much.  It didn’t help that I awoke to an email reminding me that we hadn’t yet checked in and, oh by the way, don’t forget about the outrageous fee if you don’t do it in time….

So the family slowly came to consciousness as I messed around on the computer trying to find somewhere to print the PDF of the boarding passes I created when I did the online check in.  Frank and Gillian managed to use all the hot water – so Duncan and I claim first showers tomorrow! – and breakfast was an entertaining affair as people rotated between the shower and the table.  Duncan even figured out how to work the electric cooktop that had no instructions and brewed some “coffee” in the weird Italian percolator. (He liked it but it was a tad to thick for my taste.)  Eventually we were all bathed and fed and we headed out to enjoy our last full day of Italy.

Which started at the internet cafe around the corner from the apartment so I could print of the stupid boarding passes and be done with it! Now I’ll be able to sleep tonight!  We walked downtown to catch the funicular railway to the old city.  We then walked through the old town to get to the second funicular to get to the highest point in the city: the Castello de San Viglio.  The castle itself isn’t much to speak of but the views were stunning! If it wasn’t so hazy, I would swear we could see from Venice to Milan.  I know we could see the Swiss alps as they are big honking mountains and hard to hide even in the haze.

Once we’d had our fill of the view, we opted to walk back down to the old city and begin exploring in earnest. It was interesting being in yet another walled city after the day in San Gimignano so we could do a comparison between the two.  Bergamo is larger and less quaint  and seems to be more of a living city.  There were plenty of shops and restaurants but it seemed like just as many of them catered to the locals as the tourists.  The kitschy souvenir shops were few and far between and there were butchers and even a yarn store (which I kept myself from entering as I have to worry about suitcase space for the evil airline tomorrow!) After a fair amount of walking (we hit our 10K steps by 12:30 – a new record) and getting oriented in the town, we started to look for somewhere to lunch. 

I had gotten several recommendations from folks but we found a funky little cafe (sculptures of hands holding tomatoes coming out of the walls) with GF items marked on the menu so we were set.  I had a polenta cake stuffed with cheese and covered with crushed tomatoes and a truffle cream sauce.  It was unlike anything I have ever had before and completely delicious.  Gillian had grilled tuna and Duncan and Frank opted for the 2 course lunch special.  Both had the zuchinni and salmon risotto for their secondi piatti but Duncan had chicken salad to start and Frank had the tomato soup.  A bottle of lovely white wine went well with the entire meal and I even opted for desert since they had merengues with cream and passion fruit sauce.  I even got to eat my first fresh passion fruit – heavenly!

Then to get some culture.  We hiked around to the Rocca, an old fort and garden that, again, had spectacular views.  We stopped at the Museo Storico, a local history museum that would probably have been spectacular if there was any other language posted but Italian!  For each section of the museum, there was a separate paper flyer explaining the history and the artifacts for that section.  In Italian.  There was an English version available at the front desk but you’d need to get one of each of the 25 or so flyers to be able to follow along.  Not a very green endeavor and we were not impressed.

Then off to the Ex Convento di San Francesco – no nuns but supposedly now a museum.  But not really.  There was one corridor and a room of paintings (all explained in Italian only) and then what looked like a bar or function room.  That was it.  Thumbs down there as well.

So we started on the churches.  There are ten within the walls of the old city alone and my family isn’t that patient!  I think we covered 3 or 4.  One, dedicated to Saint Agnes, was under restoration and they had an excellent display explaining what the issues were, how they were being fixed and how the funds for it were being raised.  In multiple languages.  Very interesting and very well done.  We made a small donation to the cause.

We also visited the Cathedral which was very impressive. The foundation dates back to the 5th century with more building in the early 9th and most of the current structure from the 13th century.  The paintings were very impressive, as was the dome, and the bishops crypt was incredible:  constructed in the early 20th century in a very plain style and every bishop since 1900 is entombed there including the most recently deceased who passed away in 2009.  The best part of the tour, IMHO, was the archeological museum underneath the cathedral which showed what they found during some of the restoration work including parts of the original foundation, some of a Roman road, and artifacts from the 12th and 13th centuries.  Really interesting stuff!

And last but not least, en route to our daily gelato, we stumbled into the Basilica di Sana Maria Maggiore which looks like a big stone lump with some lions outside and is incredibly beautiful with gilt trim and ancient tapestries inside.   The lady chapel was particularly spectacular so that’s where mom’s candle for today got lit.

By now we were starting to drag so we found the chosen frozen food and then started walking down to the new town. We were supposed to meet our landlady at 7 to make payment and such since we were heading out early – earlier than I expected too!  I thought our flight left at noon.  It *lands* at noon and leaves here at 10:45 so it will be an early start for everyone tomorrow.

We spent some time letting the legs recuperate – and lightening the wine load for the evil baggage Nazis of Ryan Air tomorrow – before ignoring, yet again, everyone’s recommendations and setting out for a place that has a 3 page menu of gluten free pizza options.  Yes, my family loves me. 

We got to Byron’s restaurant 

a little early (just before 8) and thank goodness we did.  It filled up quickly and, yet again, we were the only people of the 50+ in the place who were speaking English.  So, yet again, we got the only English speaking waiter even though the menu was only in Italian. For me, the “senza glutine” customer, I got my cutlery delivered in a paper bag, a separate plate of GF bread and a GF beer.  Then, the pizzas.  Yum! Mine had mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, zucchini and shrimp. Gillian opted for the basic margherita, Frank’s was ham and mushrooms, and Duncan still isn’t sure what he ordered but he says it was awesome.  He thinks there was speck (type of meat), mozzarella, red cabbage, tomatoes and Gorgonzola. None of us needed to finish our pizzas yet we did anyway!

Then came the interesting walk home.  We had seen signs for some summer festival in the old town earlier and later on it looked like some stands were being set up  but we were completely unprepared for the street party we stumbled into!  Every major street in the downtown area was shut off and there were picnic tables and bars set up in the streets.  Every third or fourth shop had a DJ out front – the streets were closed, but the shops were open.  We got some microbrews and sangria and wandered the streets dancing to covers of 80’s music and watching Italian’s line dancing in the street.  This was no tourist attraction: the city of Bergamo has about 120,000 residents and they were all in the streets tonight and they brought their friends.  It was an amazing thing to be part of.  I’d like to think they were sending us off in style, so I’ll stick to that story and try not to complain when my alarm goes off at zero dark thirty in the morning.

Steps: 30,700 (most of them walking downhill or dancing in the street) or 13.25 miles

Nuns: 1 (which is odd given the number of churches we were in today)

Well today was one for the books.  Managed to get the family up, bathed, packed and fed in time to head out of Florence by 10am.   On our way out of the hotel room, an “adorable” little scorpion scurried out from behind the refrigerator.  It was no more than an inch or so long but it was still a FRICKIN SCORPION! It was definitely time to say Arreviderchi Firenze! 

We headed north on the autostrade toward Milan and took a slight detour north of Bologna to the lovely little town of Marenello – home to the Ferrari museum.  We spent an hour (and at least 2 GB of photos) wandering through a very nicely laid out tribute to the legendary automobile.  Frank was thrilled by pretty much everything in the museum, except the prices in the gift shop, but my favorite part was the “Ferrari in the movies” exhibit where they had a continuous reel of snippets of every scene in every movie that contained a shot of a Ferrari – including Ferris Bueller and Cars!  Very fun!

Once Frank had his fill – and filled the memory card on his camera! – we were off to grab some lunch.  We found a swanky little bistro place that looked like I could find something on the menu.  I mentioned the magic words of “senze glutine” when asking about the “riso with ham and red chicory” and the waiter looked seriously at me for a minute and then said “si” and took everyone else’s order.  It was clear that we were no longer in a major tourist area as we were the only one’s in the place speaking English and were apparently assigned the only waiter in the place that spoke English.  He was great though – checking back in with me after a few minutes to let me know that it would take an extra ten minutes for my meal as they were taking care to make sure it was “senza glutine”.  Then we all got appetizers – I got a plate of prosciutto and everyone else got a slice of an egg and cheese quiche thing with some salad and pickled tomatoes.  I’m assuming that this is what the 2 euro per person “cover charge” was for – although we’ve been in many places this trip which charged such things without any freebies.  And when my meal came, it was fabulous!  I think that the “red chicory” was raddichio and there certainly was ham in the dish but I was suprised that what I got was pink risotto!  Ere squisto!

Then came the long haul – 2.5 hours up the autostrade to Venice before heading west to Bergamo.  We pulled into town about 4:30 and tried to find the B&B I had booked.  It took some doing and when we got there, the owner launched into a detailed apology about how she didn’t have a room for us anymore because people who had booked a double showed up with four in the party and took our room for four but she has an apartment downtown that we can use and she’ll show us on her scooter and pay for our parking and can we just please wait for five minutes while she gets her helmet and she’s very sorry. (Inhale deeply now.)

So it turns our our hotel room wasn’t there and we followed her through the maze of city streets to a nondescript, but somewhat graffiti covered, building closer to the center of town.  Instead of a hotel room for four, we have a spacious efficiency apartment with a full kitchen and two double beds.  She showed Frank where to park and she’s going to deduct the 15 euros per day parking fee from our bill.  The apartment is bright and clean but not air conditioned and the whole building looks like it isn’t quite done being renovated yet.  But we’ll look at this as an adventure and see what happens from here!

Our “landlord” Elena tried to explain several details to us about where to go in town and how to work things in the apartment but we were not doing a very good job communicating.  When I turned to Duncan to find out how to say something in Italian (because I knew he had been reading up on it), she asked if he spoke more Italian than I did.  I mentioned that he actually spoke Spanish and she then launched into detailed Spanish and conversed with Duncan about all the details that she was having trouble explaining in English.  (Insert stupid monolingual American joke here… sigh.)

All our details taken care of, we headed out to explore the town.  As it was now getting late, and well past gelato time, we started walking and got our frozen treat – best gelato we’ve had in Italy yet – as we explored the “new town” which is different from the “old town” by several hundred years and several hundred feet!  The old city of Bergamo sits atop a hill and is most easily accessed by funicular – which we opted not to take tonight choosing to walk up to one of the gates instead. 

And walk up we did.  And up.  And then up some more!  Eventually we got to a place where we could enter the old city but decided to save that for tomorrow so we headed back down, (and down, and down, etc.) and finally hit our 10K steps just after 7pm.  Then off to scout for dinner.  After coming from Rome and Florence where you can’t walk 20 paces without tripping over a ristourante, this place was quite a challenge.  We saw many a caffe and pizzeria but they weren’t really good options for GF offerings. A quick check of Trip Advisor revealed that we were a few blocks away from a highly rated trattatoria specializing in sea food.  The Trattoria Camozzi da Claudio is a small place where, again, we were the only ones speaking English and had to tax our Italian (and the waiter’s English) but they were patient, understood “senza glutine” and brought us a great meal with a lovely bottle of wine for a very reasonable price.  I had tuna and grilled vegetables, Duncan the sea bass with asparagus and prawn, Gillian the monster ziti with spicy tomato sauce and olives, and Frank the Italian version of flank steak.  Again, this restaurant charged the 2 euro per person cover charge but tonight we got glasses of prosecco to have with our bruschetta, none of which appeared on our bill. 

We are now pleasantly stuffed and settling into our new accomodations.  Tomorrow we’ll explore the old town, which apparently has a fort and more churches than you can shake a stick at, and prepare for our transition  to Scotland on Friday.  The most important item on the agenda tomorrow is to find somewhere to print our boarding passes as we are flying the evil Ryan Air who already sent us an ominous email indicating that bad things would happen if we showed up at the airport without boarding passes.

Step count: 16,159 or 7 miles (most of which was up and down hills after 5pm tonight.)

Nun count: 0.  They must not like Ferraris.

Today’s plans required an early start so the alarm went off at 7am much to the chagrin of the younger set.  We grabbed our breakfast and the car and set off for Chianti for, guess what?  Wine tasting!  We started at the Verrazzano Castle and Winery outside Greve in Tuscany. We got to hear the history of Giovanni Verranzzano who discovered the Bay of New York and many other areas of the east coast in 1524 and for whom the Verranzzano Narrows bridge is named. We toured the Italian gardens and the wine cellars in buildings dating back to 1000 AD. And the views over the Tuscan hills were spectacular!

Then came the wine tasting.  We got to learn about the sangiovese grape, what makes a wine a chianti classico versus a chianti classico reserva.  We even tasted a lovely rose from the same sangiovese grapes.  There was about 20 people in our tour group including us:  two from Israel, two from Portland and then everyone else seemed to be from Texas!  During the tasting, they brought out big platters of bread soaked in olive oil from olive trees on the property.  But I was prepared!  I had brought several slices of GF bread with me and so I only asked for some oil to dip it in.  When I explained about “senza glutine”, the guide popped into the kitchen then came out and told me that they’d see to me shortly.  I waited what seemed like an extraordinary amount of time to deliver some olive oil but what I got was freshly baked GF bread soaked in olive oil!  Ten gold stars for this winery! We decided to buy a bottle of the Chianti Classico Reserva, the rosé and the olive oil.  Ere squisito!

Then we were off to explore Greve in Chianti – often referred to as la porta di Chianti or the door to Chianti.  While we found the market place very quaint, the town didn’t speak to us so we moved on to Panzano.  And were very glad we did.  This is a charming village (about 1000 residents, but with 3 butcher shops!) built into a hill over looking acres of vineyards.  The views were incredible!  We stopped there for lunch and found a lovely little trattoria with a walled garden offering simple but delicious food.  I had a salad with tuna and olives, Frank had the best pasta with tomato sauce he says he’s ever had.  Gillian loved her chicken with olives and roast potatoes and Duncan’s beef strips and white beans were very tasty.  There was no searching for “senza glutine” menus or anything so complicated.  Just good, simple yet delicious food.

Then on to the next winery!  Fattoria Le Fonti – a family run winery down the hill from the church in Panzano.  No organized tours, no thousand year old gardens, no ancestors who discovered a new world.  Just the woman who works in the office and the four of us in the wine cellar tasting about 7 wines – including two vertical tastings for the Chianti Classico and their “Supertuscan” wine.  We decided that we really liked the rosé and the supertuscan wine and walked off with bottle of each.  No fancy bread or tasting fee but we did get to spend time petting the family dog.

Next stop:  San Gimignano, a medieval walled town to the west of Panzano.  We arrived in the late afternoon and parked outside the city walls.  The entire city is contained within the medieval walls and the town is a spectacular example of historical preservation.  We wandered the steep, cobbled streets and popped into many shops selling leather, ceramic, original art and other magnificent items.  We visited the cathedral which was really interesting:  there were frescos covering the walls on both sides of the church.  We did a great job playing “guess the New Testament story” for one set of paintings but didn’t do so well with the Old Testament version.

Then the obligatory gelato stop before the serious souvenir shopping began. I wanted to find a ceramic olive oil pourer that didn’t have “tourist to Italy” written all over it.  Duncan wasn’t looking for anything in particular but in one of the art galleries we stopped at, the work by Antonio Breschi really spoke to him and so he has an original work of ink on paper as his birthday gift.  I also got a smaller one to frame and hang in my office.  We got the obligatory water color of the town from a local artist and were all set to leave when….. it happened.  We wandered past a shoe shop which I normally wouldn’t have looked at twice but Frank noticed some boots that he thought I might like.  I decided to humor him and look at the boots when I saw them:  the cutest hand made Italian leather shoes ever created just for me.  I am so enamored of these shoes that I can’t even take a photo of them yet because they are just so adorable.  And completely impractical and not even something my podiatrist would countenance.  But I bought them anyway!  And as soon as I have figured out which clothes do them justice, I’ll post a photo but for now, you’ll just have to use your imagination.

Needless to say, we closed most of the shops in the lovely Tuscan town, so we headed back to Florence for our last night in Tuscany.  Frank is becoming quite adept at the Italian style of driving: no blinkers, ignoring lane lines, pretending scooters and motorcycles aren’t there, etc.  So we made it back into town with little hassle.  We were a little skittish trying to decide where to eat dinner tonight after last nights extortionately expensive fiasco so we picked a restaurant from the guide book we brought with us and headed out to find the designated trattoria.  And we never made it because within three blocks of the hotel, we found another restaurant advertising a “senza glutine” menu and we thought we’d try just one more time…

And we are so very glad we did.  The food was excellent and reasonable priced – as was the wine.  I had homemade GF tagliatelle with wild boar sauce!  And GF chocolate souffle for desert!  Gillian had roast pork, similar to what I had in Pisa yesterday, and the boys decided to go for the local specialty:  bisteak Florentine, aka a T-bone steak.  While they decided it was very tasty, it wasn’t anything  better than we could get at home.  But they enjoyed it just the same.

And so, our time in Tuscany comes to a close.  We head tomorrow for Lombardy in the north for our final days in Italy before battling the evil Ryan Air to take us to see family in Scotland.

Step count:  a measly 12, 945 or 5.57 miles (we spent too much time in the car on twisty Tuscan roads!)

Nun count: just one.  But a very happy and smiling nun she was.