Can I go back yet?

Family and friends have politely inquired about my trip to Italy. Just in case some of you really do want to hear and see more, this blog's for you. Feel free to browse. Obviously the posting dates won't have any remote connection to the days of the trip, but you'll figure it out. Should you feel inclined to add a comment, go for it. I would love to hear from all of you.

Our trip itinerary:
Two nights in Vernazza, Cinque Terre
Four nights in Rome
Five nights in Siena, Tuscany with day trips to Florence and around the region
One night in Venice
Two nights in Milan

Here we go!

Blurry Eyes and Happy Faces

Thirteen hours in the air to Milan, followed by 3 hours in the car. My fellow road warriors and I arrive in Vernazza a bit tousled but full of excitement. We must park outside the town and then walk in. Thank goodness we limited our luggage to one rolling carry-on each.

Cast of Road Warriors:
Front row - Marianne Bach, Me
Back row - Tom Bach, Jill Tackabery, Neal Tackabery

A note about Italian roads

Love the Superstrade (like our interstate highways) and Autostrade (major toll road) that connect major destinations.

Especially love the Autogrills on the Superstrade...but more on that later.

Never, ever travel without a map. On the roads, the signage will not help unless one already has a pretty good idea of how to get where one is going. Having a driver and a navigator helps. In our car, we did even better--we had a driver and four navigators.

The cities/towns do not have blocks but rather a willy-nilly network of vehicular and pedestrian pathways. Even with a map, we got lost. So we learned to look up. The duomo in every town and city rises above the surrounding buildings. We could site our location just like mariners do with the North Star.

Love the traffic circles, but the signage there won't help, either. We saw many traffic circles with multiple exit options for the same destination. Like taking directions from the Scarecrow in Oz.

I think the Italians like us, I really do. However, there must be a small rebel group in charge of directions. And not just on the roads. We'll get to that in Pompeii.

Vernazza

The five villages of Cinque Terre nestle into the coastal hillside along the Italian Riviera. Running from east to west, Riomaggiore, Manarollo, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso comprise the five villages.

Vernazza originated in 1000 AD. Residents built the castle overlooking the Ligurian Sea in the 1500s as protection against pirates. Around 570 families live in Vernazza today, many descendants of original families.

Our Digs

We stayed at a small private hotel owned by a gentle, quiet woman named Enrica.

The hotel sits on the main, well, the only, street in Vernazza, right next door to a gelateria and a few doors up from an enoteca (wine shop).

Can you see the clothesline in the bottom of the windows? Only rain kept the ever-present clotheslines clear. An environmentally and economically sound practice by the Italians.

Mornings

Vernazza comes to life slowly, but starts early. Bars open in the morning to serve coffee and pastries. I think the same bakery supplies them all with the delicious brioche found in each.

Women run most of the bars in Vernazza in the morning, and their friends gather to start the day off with a bit of gossip.

I loved to go out early, purchase a cappuccino and a brioche and head to the piazza. Not many tourists visit in October, but I found a few others sitting at tables, enjoying the gentle start to the day. So different from the alarm clock buzz, leap out of bed habit at home.

Caffeine Delivery Systems

I love my morning coffee. Three cups and the newspaper. I expected the same leisurely approach in Italy. After all, I'd heard so much about people gathering in piazzas and campos to talk and watch the world go by.

Not so much. Morning visitors to the caffe bar, especially in larger cities, are all about ingesting caffeine efficiently. So one bellies up to the bar, orders an expresso or cappuccino, slugs it down and leaves. In many bars, the clients pay extra for the privilege of sitting.

So, number one on my list of things I missed most about home is my morning coffee ritual. Number one on my list of things I will miss most about Italy is the yummy cappuccinos.

Up, Up, UP!

Vernazza developed up rather than out. Buildings seem stacked on top of one another. We climbed 100 stairs to the restaurant where we ate dinner our first night.




Repairs to structures continue daily. I would not want to have the job of hauling the building materials up those stairs, even with this nifty cart with "tank wheels!"

In Cinque Terre even horticulture goes up, with vineyards and olive tree groves terraced into the hillsides.