Italy 2013 – Day 10 / Sorrento

Sorrento is just gorgeous!… more specifically: the view from Sorrento. I don’t remember much from our visit in 2003, but I do remember the phenomenal view and seeing it again is good for the soul!

 

 

Aside from that, I don’t have much more to say about the day…  it was the usual: walk, eat, walk, drink, walk, eat.  Sorrento is quite touristy, but not as much as other places I have visited in Italy, plus it’s nice ‘rest’ after Naples!

Out hotel is easily the best so far. We are almost smack in the middle of the main piazza, the place is modern and our room is HUGE!  Can’t believe the deal we got! It really does pay to book early!

I am exhausted! Time for bed :)

Italy 2013 – Day 9 part 2 / Naples

Well the rest of the day was a complete turn around! It stopped raining so we made it up to Vomero and the Castel’Elmo to get some amazing views over Naples. To get up to Vomero, you have to take the funicular; needless to say I now have ‘Yamma! Yamma! Yamma-Yamma-Ya! Funeeeeeculeeeee Funeeeeculaaaa’ in my head and it won’t get out!!!

Totally worth it, the views from up there were spectacular!!!! The Bay of Naples, Capri, Vesuvius…  gorgeous!

We also strolled around the park of Villa Floridiana where I got to play with some new friends!

 

You may have also noticed that from the knees down my jeans an shoes were still soaked! I rolled up the jeans because they were so heavy with water they were dragging on the ground!

Then it was off for our last supper in Naples, again we fell into a Tourist Trap with just OK food, but I don’t regret it because we had some sparkling red wine. I was dubious at first, but it was really quite good!

So that’s it for Naples. I liked it, but I feel like I need a holiday to recover from it!!! 

Onwards to Sorrento tomorrow…

Italy 2013 – Day 9 part 1 / Naples

This day so far is a total write off!!! It rained like CRAZY all day!!  Not just a little rain to slow you down but you can still get on with your day type of rain. No. This is hunker down under your umbrella and get soaked to skin type of rain.

I am a drowned rat. Even with my umbrella and rain coat, I am drenched to the bone. I can hear the squish squish of my shoes with every step I take, my jeans are heavy with water…  I am sure none of this will dry by tomorrow!

We didn’t let the weather totally stop us, but it slowed us down significantly. We went to the Archaeological  Museum in the morning, then by 11 we decided to slowly start making our way to the restaurant we had in mind for lunch (the pizzeria featured in the movie Eat Pray Love) figuring it will be close to noon by the time we got there. It took us over 90 minutes to find it because of the rain!  We missed so many streets and turns because we were tucked under our umbrellas, watching our feet and dodging ankle-deep puddles while avoiding the rivers in the streets!!! We made it eventually; the pizza was great and the bill was 12€ for 2 pizzas, 1 water and 1 beer!!

After lunch, with the water still pouring outside, we make our way to another café for a drink and just sat around. Really, it’s all we can do!

It’s a little after 3PM now, and the rain let up enough to be “Not ideal but tolerable while on vacation rain” we stopped by the hotel so my husband can change his pants – I don’t want to change because I only want ONE wet outfit to deal with. We have nothing more planned for the day other than just hitting one café after another until it’s really time to call it quits.

Please God, if it has to rain for the next few days as planned, let it be like right now: drizzle as opposed to a downpour!!!

Pregate per noi!!

Italy 2013 – Day 8 / Naples

Oh my God…  I am EXHAUSTED!  Naples has completely drained me.

It’s TOTAL CHAOS! I don’t necessarily mean that in a negative way, it’s just the best word I can find to describe the city. It’s loud, fast, noisy, busy, bustling, pulsing…  Vespas RACING down little roads ready to run you over if you make a false move. There is graffiti on EVERYTHING, nothing is sacred: buildings, signs, Churches, statues... There is garbage everywhere; and I don’t just mean litter like cigarette butts and bottle caps – I saw vacuum cleaners and mattresses… and lots of dog shit.

This all makes Naples sound awful, but somehow it’s not – you just have to know what to expect so you can find a way to love it. My guidebook sais: take time to look behind the grime and you’ll learn why true love was never meant to be easy.

We hit the ground running after checking into the hotel – which is excellently situated I must say!  We kept walking by it when we were looking for it today, and even when we decided to call it a night we missed it again. It’s behind an innocuous door on the street at opens up into a huge courtyard and the hotel is one floor up. It’s not much from the outside, but we like it.

Our room is almost in the lobby! I wonder how that will work out tonight? Here you can see what I mean – the bathroom sink & toilet are behind that couch!

We didn’t really have a sightseeing plan for today, we just walked everywhere for about 5 –6 hours in all, not really playing attention to the locations, and not trying to check off all the sights in my guidebook, but just rather to soak up the atmosphere. Boy did we ever! We soaked it up so much that I am completely worn out!

  

Naples is know for being the birthplace of Pizza, so we went to a pizzeria that is listed on all the “top 10” lists of pizzerias in Naples: Sorbillo. HUGE pizzas starting at 3.50€!! Amazing!  Plus it was full of locals which is always a good sign, but at those prices it’s hardly a mystery to see why! The wait was about 30 minutes to get a table, you give your name at the desk then wait around in the street outside for your name to be called. It was PACKED!

It was a liquid super to me tonight after that HUGE and CHEAP lunch :) I could not eat another bite today even it I tried!

Ciao!

Italy 2013 – Day 7 / Orvieto

We went to Orvieto today – a great excursion from Rome!  Visually the place is stunning; perched high up on a cliff, you take a funicular up from the train station to get there. As you can imagine, the views from up there are awesome!!

I would recommend Orvieto over San Gimignano any day of the week. To me, S.G. was all shopping (which I don't do) and while there were the requisite shopping spots in Orvieto; there were plenty of things to do too.

We started off by gawking at the church. It was amazing!!!  A real feast for the eyes.

Once we picked our jaws up off the floor, we took a tour of the caves under the city. A series of 440 caves used for millennia, we visited two. (it was enough to get the point!)

Lunch was forgettable. The typical Tourist Trap – we should have know when it was all Americans, but the atmosphere was so nice that we dove in. I suppose that’s what all the Tourists did! (Orvieto was PACKED with American Tourists).

After lunch, we climbed down St Patrick’s well.  Looking down the shaft was neat from the top, but as you make your way down down down, the windows you see here are only about knee height and I was scared out of my mind to lean over and look!!  The feeling of being pulled in was strong!!

Then it was back to Rome for possibly our last night Roman Night out. We’ll pass through again next Friday, but we don't know yet if we will spend anytime in the city… all depends on what time we leave Sorrento etc.

Tomorrow morning, it’s an early wake up call. Check out. Onwards to Napoli!

Ciao

Italy 2013 – Day 6 / Rome

We did a lot of walking and sitting today!

Like on Monday, we took the bus from the hotel for just a few stops and got off when the surroundings got interesting.  This time it was around Piazza Della Repubblica.

Shortly after we stopped for breakfast; a REAL one, not just dessert – which is what Italian breakfasts tend to be. I just had a croissant, but my husband went all out with bacon and eggs.

From there we walked aimlessly and eventually to see the Bocca della Verita, one of Rome’s many curiosities.

Then it onwards to Trastevere again, where we had our second stop: drinks in the Piazza facing the Basilica… so relaxing!

Sufficiently hydrated, we walked part way up Gianicolo to see the Tempietto: A temple built by Bramante on the spot where St Peter was crucified. Frankly, I am not sure if we saw it because nothing extra special caught my eye and we were getting a little hot so our willingness to search was waning. I will have to compare my pictures to what I find on Google.

Nice views of Rome from up there though!

We finally stopped for lunch around 1:30 and I think we left around 3 with not a lot of energy left! It was getting hot so we were looking for a shady route to get to our next destination: the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. Because we did not take a direct route, we ended up far from it so we gave up and bussed it!

We also visited the Scala Santa but did not punish our knees! (Hard to get good shots while still respecting the Believers!)

Still feeling hot and sluggish, we took the metro back and ended up at a café facing the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore for super. I was still so full from lunch, that all I had was water and an Aperol Spritz – my husband had a salad.

As we sat and relaxed, we realized we had supper at the same place during our previous visit in 2006. Go figure.

Now it’s time to recharge and prepare for tomorrow. Ciao!

Italy 2013 – Day 5 / Arezzo

Today (which also happens to be our anniversary) we went to Arezzo. It’s a lovely little place, very little to do…  not convinced that it’s worth the 2.5 hours by train from Rome, but still I am glad I went. I am a huge fan of the movie “Life is Beautiful” so I got a little kick out of seeing some of the locations where the movie was filmed!

I had to resist standing below the window of this building and calling out: Maria! La chiave! 

Arezzo is very small, so we covered most of it no time… there aren’t a TON of attractions; we visited some of the churches and the Cathedral, but the hands-down best part of the day was lunch. It was the best anniversary lunch ever!! We had a great meal in the Piazza Grande, a great view, some excellent wine…  it was all perfect! I tried taking a million pictures with my Ipod but none can do it justice!

 

 

We didn’t do much when we got back to Rome, the train was over 30 minutes late getting in, so we stayed close to the area around the hotel for the evening, had some Chinese food (delicious!) and turned in for the day.

I am disappointed in the long term forecast, rain again all weekend!  BOOOOO!!!!  hope it changes…  but tomorrow looks like another great day! :)

Italy 2013 – Day 4 / Rome

I have to start with an apology for lying to you yesterday.  I said we did not visit the Basilica in Trastevere yesterday… but we did.  Too much wine with lunch perhaps so I forgot as soon as I left? LOL HA! Cathedral-Fatigue must be kicking in already!!

Another great vacation day, even if we did get SOAKED TO THE SKIN this afternoon during a thunderstorm. Sure we had our jackets and umbrellas, but my shoes got so soaked I doubt they will be dry by tomorrow!!

Instead of taking the metro in the morning, we like taking the bus because we can see out and enjoy the city. This morning, the weather was so great (=nice and cool in the shade), so we got off the bus at Porta Pia and walked to the old part of town. When we passed Piazza Barberini we got side tracked by a visit to the ossuary in the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Concezione…  it was amazing!!!  but no pictures allowed so you will have to Google to see why.

From there we continued hoofing it, passing the Trevi Fountain again and eventually ending up in the Piazza della Rotonda again (Pantheon) where we decided to stop for a mid-morning snack. Excellent timing because barely 5 minutes after we sat down, it began to rain.

We waited until we thought the rain had stopped before carrying on, but the respite lasted only about 20 minutes and then the downpour started. We ended up ducking into “just anywhere” to have lunch with the intention to wait it out again. My husband liked his meal, mine left a lot to be desire plus the wine was not great either. spleh.

I think by about 2PM or so the coast became clear and we eventually made it to our goal: St Peter’s.

It was just as impressive (and CROWDED) as last time; we had a great time (what’s not to love?) Thankfully the sun cleared up after that visit and we continued on our foot journey – onwards to Piazza Popolo and the Tridente, stopping for supper around 6:30.

 

This picture makes me laugh! Check out the suspicious waiter and the guy pulling up his pants after his meal!! LOL

Still filled with a little energy after supper, we decided to see how far to home our feet would carry us, and just jump on a bus once we got fed up. We made it all the way to Porta Pia again…  not bad!

On the way, we walked by the Palazzo Barberini where I was able to take my requisite cat-shots! So cute.

So that’s it for today, an early night because we have to get up early tomorrow morning to catch the train for our day trip to Arezzo.

Good night!

Italy 2013 – Day 3 / Rome & Ostia Antica

As predicted, another great day!

It was supposed to rain but didn’t (not while we were out and about anyway – now that we are back at the hotel, the thunder is pretty bad) so that was a nice turn of events! Although, it would have been nicer to have known FOR SURE so that we could have skipped lugging the umbrellas and jackets around all day!! LOL

We started the day with an excursion to Ostia Antica; Rome’s Pompeii. It was nice, glad I did it, a nice way to kill a few hours but I think I am done with Roman (and Greek) ruins for life. I hit my quota.

We were thankful for the overcast-its-almost-gonna-rain-but-didn't-rain weather, because there was a wind in the air that kept the temps down. Would have been murder without the cloud cover because it’s all wide open spaces with ZERO shade.

  

After that, we spend a little time walking around the grassy basin that once was the Circus Maximus, then crossed the Tiber to have lunch in Travestere.  Good meal, shitty service and therefore too pricy for the overall experience…  but it did feel good to take a load off! (I had a Caprese salad and eggplant parmesan)

Much to our surprise, it was around 3PM when we got out of there! We spent the next few hours exploring Travestere but skipped the inside of the Basilica di Santa Maria; been there done that.

After that, we just wandered aimlessly around town, hung out briefly in Saint Peter’s Square but since it’s on the agenda for tomorrow we didn’t linger.  We eventually decided to see if we could get a table with a view in Pizza Navona and sit, have a drink and watch the world go by. Luck was on our side, it was about 6PM when arrived and we got an excellent table at one of the many cafés and kicked into full chillax-mode. It was so ideal, we decided to stay and have supper there too; after our huge lunch we just had enough room for a small plate of pasta – not a bite more! (I had Tagliatelli with mushrooms)

This picture makes me laugh because it looks like the guy at the table behind me and I are sitting together! ha!

On the way home, we stopped at Piazza Della Repubblica to get some night shots:

And we also got a shot of the controversial JP2 statue outside Termini Station.  I don’t really see what all the fuss is about; I like it!

As far as my Laptop goes, blogging with it is not bad, but the picture organizing is not going as smoothly as I thought. It’s all so small and I find I am quite useless without a mouse!! Not convinced that this was worth the investment, but I have it now so I will keep practicing!!

That’s it for today, Goodnight!