Je Suis Retourné...

Hello!

Yes, I'm back from a fantastic week of walking in the wonderful Haute Savoie region. I've pushed myself to my limits, on steep and rocky paths...

Wish I Was There Tuesday

I have a serious travel bug at the moment...itching to go somewhere exotic and unknown. Some very exciting plans are afoot.... more on them soon! But for today, I'm going to revamp an old feature I used to run way back when... well, when I was also hard pressed for new and exciting material to post on here.

Today, we're in one of my favourite European destinations....Italy!

Back in 2008, on a walking holiday in Tuscany that I wrote about here, we did a day trip to the Liguria region. A bit of a long haul on two separate and very infrequent trains (we made the second one by a whisker!) but we were finally on the rugged coastline called the Cinque Terre ("The Five Lands" composed of five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore). The hills above the villages are criss-crossed by a network of footpaths linking the villages and little dry-stone-walled vineyards.

Map found here

It was an incredibly hot day... the Italian Riveria in July is scorchio! The paths range from fairly easy going and smooth, to steep steps and rock-strewn. I found it a challenge to hike in parts and was grateful of my comfy, sturdy boots to negotiate some of the rougher paths. I was astounded to be overtaken in places by... ahem!...mature Italian ladies, tripping along in their flimsy high heeled, strappy sandals, not even breaking a sweat!

Superb views all the way....

Foccacia!

Feel free to join in with your very own WIWTT....

Wish I Was There Tuesday

There's a definite chill in the air this morning....summer is fast approaching an untimely end! Today I'm dreaming of the hot, hazy days I spent in Tuscany back in July 2008.

We were based in the Garfagnana region, in this lovely old converted farmhouse with a pool and views of the Apuan Aps, just perfect to come back to after a hard day's touring...

La Pozza

We were well-placed for exploring the walled cities of Lucca and Barga.....

Panorama of Lucca from Torre Guinigi

Barga

Barga

Barga

And for day-trips to the magnificent cities of Florence and Pisa...

The River Arno, Florence

Bartolomeo Ammanati's Fountain of Neptune (1563–1565), Piazza della Signoria, Florence

Leaning Tower of Pisa, Piazza del Duomo

Duomo, Pisa

Looking onto the Duomo from the top of the Leaning Tower

Where do you wish you were today?

La Dolce Vita - Part IV

Our last day dawned full of promise. Not a cloud in the sky, the rainwaters had receded and the coastal road had reopened. This would be our last shot at taking the Amalfi Drive...apparently also on the agenda for everyone else visiting Sorrento that day. There was a bit of a queue for the local bus service, but we struck it lucky and were first onto the second bus that pulled in, thereby securing seats on the good side (the sheer drop down the cliffs side). Spare a thought for those standing all the way - it takes around an hour and a half  to reach Amalfi....that's 90 minutes of heart-stopping, white-knuckle-inducing driving, with rapid breaking, frequent hooting and the odd tense stand-off between the bus driver and oncoming drivers. But the scenery is really stunning....

Once in Amalfi, we spent a couple of hours exploring the magnificent Duoma (cathedral) and the old streets, then had lunch in a traditional trattoria, just off the main touristy bit.

Duomo, Amalfi

Amalfi

Back on the bus to Sorrento....

As it was the last night of the holiday, the hotel laid on a special candle-lit dinner with a staggering six courses, and live entertainment in the shape of a suprisingly good pianist and tenor. A perfect end to a fabulous week.

La Dolce Vita - Part III

After two days of glorious sunshine, the rain came in.....and mamma mia! it poured down.

Rain, rain go away!

Undeterred, we donned rain jackets and strolled down into Sorrento to explore the shops and churches of the old town.

15th Century Cathedral

I was caught out in an awkward moment in the cathedral. B had already wandered outside, but I'd sat down on one of the pews to admire the frescos on the ceiling. Suddenly I noticed a funeral procession making their way up the aisle. With the back door of the cathedral closed, I could not make a discrete exit without disturbing the mourners who were settling into their pews. I was contemplating having to sit through the (possibly very long requiem) service....but thankfully managed to sneak out the side door behind the pallbearers.

By mid morning, the skies seemed to be clearing, and we (foolishly) decided we'd take a bus trip along the Amalfi Coast, to Positano. Originally built by the Romans, the Amalfi Drive (from Sorrento to Amalfi) is rated as one of the most beautiful drives in Europe. The road is carved out of the side of the coastal cliffs, affording superb views down to the Tyrrhenian Sea and on the other side up to the towering cliffs above. Not that we saw much that day....the bus was no sooner out of Sorrento than the clouds descended and we were almost completely enveloped in mist. We hopped off at Positano, which appears to cling to the side of a hill. As we started winding our way down the only road that runs through this vertical town, it started to rain again...hard! We dashed into the first restaurant we saw...luckily it was a good choice and we enjoyed a lovely fresh lasagna, watching the rain bucket down.

Positano

With no respite in sight, we agreed to call it a day and climb (or rather swim) back up the road and take the first bus back to Sorrento. By this stage the water was flowing like a river down the streets...we were ankle deep and absolutely soaked through. Finally, we made it back to the bus stop, where we struck up a conversation with an elderly American gent that helped pass the time waiting in the torrential rain until the bus arrived...full of drenched tourists from Amalfi  and smelling strongly of wet dog (I suppose that explains the old saying "Only mad dogs and Englishmen..."). Very glad to be back in the hotel, I took a long, hot bath....

The next day, the rain was still with us...so rather than spend another day looking like drowned rats, we mooched around the hotel, relaxing with a good book. That evening, we sat on our balcony watching an amazing sunset, hoping that it boded well for the morrow....

Red sky at night....tourist's delight?

And it did....well, at least it did stopped raining. However, our penultimate day started on a rather bad note. We'd decided to give the Amalfi Drive another go...and take the bus all the way to Amalfi. But, it was not to be! All that rain of the previous two days had shifted the rocks and mud on the cliff faces and the road was closed due to rockfalls. So, onto Plan B....take the once-daily ferry to the island of Ischia. We dashed across town and down those 155 steps to Marina Grande, arriving with just 5 minutes to spare before the scheduled departure....only to discover the Ischia-bound ferries had stopped running and the only way to get to the island was to take a ferry to Naples then connect to Ischia. This all sounded like way too much effort and there was the chance the ferries to Ischia from Naples weren't running. Deciding to cut our losses, we instead took the train to Ercolano, to visit the other town destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius. As a residential town, much smaller and less grand than Pompeii, Herculaneum is in some ways much better preserved and easier to navigate.

Vesuvius, Ercolano and Herculaneum

We inadvertently picked up a personal tour guide at the start of the site...but he proved to be worth the tip as he pointed out many features we probably would have missed by ourselves, most notably the ancient plumbing, complete with outlets "for the piss and the shit, see?". Si! Pee was in fact a valuable comodity for the Romans, collected in large vats and used for laundry purposes.

'Taking the piss' pot

Just as we were leaving the site, the rain started falling softly, thereby putting paid to any notions we'd entertained of taking a hike to the crater of Vesuvius, now shrouded in cloud. We instead had a mini adventure getting back to Sorrento...in our ignorance, we assumed we were on the correct train, but were actually heading for a who-knows-where as the train line branches shortly after Ercolano. Luckily, an Italian gent sitting opposite us must have overheard us saying something about Sorrento as, with a mixture of Italian and English and much wild gesturing, he managed to convince us to get off the train at the next stop and change platforms. Grazie!

Back in Sorrento, it was time for gelato and cappuccino...

La Dolce Vita - Part II

It was Day 2 of the Italian holiday, and we woke to a spectacular sunrise...

Sunrise over Sorrento

Before too long we were on our way to Pompeii Scavi on the Circumvesuviana train. Once we'd negotiated the "tourist traps" (stalls selling guide books and snacks at ridiculously inflated prices) that line the route from the train station to the entrance and bypassed the hordes of guides offering tours, we were onto the site and were observing the preserved time capsule of an ancient culture. I won't bore you with the details of the archaeological masterpiece of Pompeii....you can read all about it here.

All the guide books advise you to "not attempt to see the whole of Pompeii" in one day...so naturally, that's exactly what we tried to do! The highlights of the day for me were:

1. The beautiful floor mosaics and wall frescos in the baths, houses and temples...

Mosaics and frescos from Pompeii and Herculaneum*

2. The amphitheatre - standing in the centre and imagining being a gladiator, soon to face an opponent....or an early Christian, about to get devoured by a rather large puddy tat....

Amphitheatre

3. The plaster casts of the preserved bodies...yes, just a tad morbid but fascinating all the same.

Seated man

 4. The temples....

Temple of Apollo

5. Thermopolia (the McDonalds of the time) - marble counters inlaid with terraccota pots that would have been filled with hot food.

The biggest crowd-puller was the lupanarium (brothel), complete with its risque frescos....bit overhyped, I thought.

All in, an exhausting but fascinating day.

* Visited later in the week

La Dolce Vita - Part I

You know you’ve arrived in Italy when everyone is wearing designer suits....and huge sunglasses, inside the terminal building. We arrived at Naples mid morning after a good flight - smooth and clear most of the way, with spectacular views of the sunrise and the snow-capped Alps - and were waiting for our luggage to fall onto the conveyer belt, when a plane load of Italians emptied into the hall, immediately filling it with their animated conversation, designer gear and requisite shades. Ciao!

Luggage retrieved, we were herded by the efficient holiday reps onto the correct buses (unlike our last package holiday in Egypt where, in keeping with the general chaos of that magnificent country, at least three people ended up on the wrong bus and subsequently in the wrong resort). A couple of hours later, we’d checked into our fabulous hotel just outside the main hub of Sorrento and were admiring the views from our balcony....

View of Sorrento from our balcony

Vesuvius at dusk

By now, our stomachs were growling (that slightly odd in-flight breakfast seemed a long time ago) so we decided to grab a quick lunch at the hotel restaurant before heading out to explore our surroundings. With the first of many pizzas that would be consumed in a high-carb-fuelled week in our tums, we set off on the 15-minute walk down the hill to Sorrento town centre. What goes down must come back up again, as we quickly discovered. The Neapolitan peninsula is a very hilly terrain...there are 155 rocky steps down to the Marina Piccolo...our first “port of call” and the place to which all passengers on cruise liners docking in the bay arrive, and from where we knew we’d have to catch the hydrofoils to the islands of Capri and Ischia, both on our list of “Would Like To Visit”. Another stop by the Sorrento station and we were thus equipped with every boat, bus and train timetable that would enable us to traverse the peninsula over the coming days.

Time for a cappuccino at The Foreigners’ Club, overlooking the bay and then a hour or two of haphazard wandering through the narrow streets and alleyways of old Sorrento town. We’d been warned to watch out for scooters...and for good reason! B almost got taken out by demon drivers on Vespas no less than three times that week and on one momentous occasion, an elderly gent on a bicycle. A huge gelato (ice cream) at one of the many gelaterias (again the first of many consumed that week) gave us the energy to walk back up the hill to the hotel for a nap before dinner.

Sorrento

The next day dawned bright and sunny and we were up early to catch one of the first hydrofoils to the island of Capri (about a 20-minute crossing). A quick trip up the funicular from Capri’s bustling Marina Grande and we were in the heart of Capri town, Piazza Umberto I. From here we meandered through the narrow old streets, up the steep Via Croce and past exclusive villas out to the Arco Naturale, an impressive phenomenon of natural erosion.

Arco Naturale

Quite close to the Arco is “Le Grotelle” restaurant, a superb spot to stop and have a cappuccino and admire the view, before we began the trek up to the ruins of Villa Jovis, which was the largest and most luxurious of Emperor Tiberius’ many villas on Capri. It was here that Tiberius retired in AD 27, reportedly to lead a life of vice and debauchery, and to take revenge on his enemies...many of whom he apparently had thrown off the cliff face. Stunning views from here, all the same....

View of the peninsula from Villa Jovis

Back down along the streets with designer shops to Capri town for a delicious lunch of prosciutto and melon followed by fresh ravioli at “Buca di Bacco da Serafina”, where we were lucky to snag the only table with a window overlooking Marina Grande. Then it was time to take the hair-raising ride on the local bus up to Anacapri....the road makes a rapid ascent, with a sheer (barrier-free) drop on the side, made ever more terrifying by the Italian style of driving...rapid speed ups with sharp and erratic breaking...plus the added bonus that we were standing right in front of the windscreen. We stepped off the bus in Anacapri, pumped full of adrenaline....probably just as well, as the next part of the journey required a touch of gung ho for anyone with vertigo. Taking the chair lift to the highest point on the island, Monte Salaro, was strangely relaxing and the 360-degree views of the bay and particularly of I Faraglioni were spectacular.

I Faraglioni

It was almost evening by now and time to make our way back down to Capri town and down to the Marina for the return hydrofoil to the mainland. On our way, we paused to gawp at a film crew shooting a cafe scene in Piazza Umberto.

Chair lift back to Anacapri

Film crew in Piazza Umberto

Clock tower on Capri

 

We joined the masses of day trippers leaving the island, resolving to return one day and stay awhile to enjoy the beauty of Capri by night.