We headed for Florence today - and another walking tour. Saw Michelangelo’s David, and a had brief look at the town, before hitting the shops. We had special previews at a gold shop, and a leather shop - lovely jackets of the softest leather. Both of us indulged in the leather shop. More details when we get home!
We are now at Montecatini, about 40 minutes further north. Off to France tomorrow.
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Monday, May 19, 2008
17,000 steps
They had us out the door by 7am on Saturday morning to join the queues at Vatican City. Tours are let in earlier than the public opening times, but we were still in a long line. We saw the Vatican museum, the Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Basilica. Although it was all pretty amazing, we found it a little shocking to see such money and effort invested in decoration. I found the Chapel a bit too much - every square inch is painted, but you couldn’t move for people. The Basilica was pretty special - it is even bigger than St Paul’s which we saw in London, but a completely different style.
After a very short break, we were off on another walking tour, this time to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. These places were built 2000 years ago and there is a surprising amount remaining intact.
After a very short break, we were off on another walking tour, this time to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. These places were built 2000 years ago and there is a surprising amount remaining intact.
After a couple of hours off, we were off on our third walking tour. The highlight of this was the Pantheon - stunning! The top of its dome is open to the air - a hole of several metres. It is now a church and when it rains, the rain spirals down to the floor in quite a spectacular way. We finished with really Italian pizza in a vibrant little restaurant in a narrow lane. A quintessential Italian experience to end our time in Rome.
It was a shattering day in terms of distances walked, over largely cobbled uneven streets, and time spent standing in queues, or moving at a snail’s pace in the crowds, but we both loved the history and charm of Rome, and I’d come back just to watch the traffic!
Ferraris in Ferrara
At this stage in our trip, we are doing big distances each day - up to 600km. I guess that’s why we’ve got three two-nighters in a row.
We’ve arrived in Rome (outskirts only so far). We had a lovely stop in a smallish town called Ferrara - we all agreed that it gave us what we had hoped for in Venice - much cleaner and in a better state of repair.
As we drove in we saw dozens of classic sports cars - Ferraris, Triumphs, etc. The boys were all grieved to find that they had gone by the time we came back to photograph them. There were some markets in the town too, with good bargains to be had, so there was a bit of a division of the sexes.
Our Italian coach driver has gone on a couple of days mandatory rest so we have a substitute, also Italian. The new one is a little more hair raising, so people have been honking at us a bit on the road today!
Party night tonight! We went to an Italian Restaurant in Rome - another one where entertainment is part of the package. We had five courses to our meal, including an excellent macaroni, and a lasagne (both before the main course!) The entertainment was in the form of a very flirtatious waiter, who delivered meals with a kiss on the cheek to some of the ladies, and a rose and two kisses to all of us at the end, plus a fabulous flute player, and a singing guitarist. It was a lot of fun.
After that, we had a bus tour of Rome by night. We saw many of the monuments, beautifully lit, and visited the Trevi Fountain The crowds were phenomenal, even at that time of night.
Even more spectacular was the traffic - they pay no heed to the rules. The most bizarre event was when we were in one of the tunnels in a traffic jam. The two lanes were chokka with buses and cars, so several cars from further back decided they would commandeer the lane belonging to the oncoming traffic - who just had to wait! Italian drivers have no fear and no patience! The pedestrians are the same really and we were told to be pushy and not let any one pass us. Very hard to keep our group together in such crowds.
We’ve arrived in Rome (outskirts only so far). We had a lovely stop in a smallish town called Ferrara - we all agreed that it gave us what we had hoped for in Venice - much cleaner and in a better state of repair.
As we drove in we saw dozens of classic sports cars - Ferraris, Triumphs, etc. The boys were all grieved to find that they had gone by the time we came back to photograph them. There were some markets in the town too, with good bargains to be had, so there was a bit of a division of the sexes.
Our Italian coach driver has gone on a couple of days mandatory rest so we have a substitute, also Italian. The new one is a little more hair raising, so people have been honking at us a bit on the road today!
Party night tonight! We went to an Italian Restaurant in Rome - another one where entertainment is part of the package. We had five courses to our meal, including an excellent macaroni, and a lasagne (both before the main course!) The entertainment was in the form of a very flirtatious waiter, who delivered meals with a kiss on the cheek to some of the ladies, and a rose and two kisses to all of us at the end, plus a fabulous flute player, and a singing guitarist. It was a lot of fun.
After that, we had a bus tour of Rome by night. We saw many of the monuments, beautifully lit, and visited the Trevi Fountain The crowds were phenomenal, even at that time of night.
Even more spectacular was the traffic - they pay no heed to the rules. The most bizarre event was when we were in one of the tunnels in a traffic jam. The two lanes were chokka with buses and cars, so several cars from further back decided they would commandeer the lane belonging to the oncoming traffic - who just had to wait! Italian drivers have no fear and no patience! The pedestrians are the same really and we were told to be pushy and not let any one pass us. Very hard to keep our group together in such crowds.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Boats and more boats
We were taken on a bit of a harbour cruise this morning (Thursday), and delivered to the Moreno glass factory. Here, they make exquisite, world famous Venetian Glass by hand, so we watched a demo and then had the sales pitch. The piece I liked cost 2700 euros (double that for NZ$s), so I resisted, you‘ll be pleased to know!
This was followed by another walking tour through a palace and a basilica. There was a strict dress code for the basilica which meant no shorts, mini skirts, or bare shoulders, so we were all back to jeans, even though it was really hot.
Our last official appointment for the day was a gondola ride, accompanied by an accordionist and a singer. We went through narrow little canals, seeing the ‘backyards’ of a lot of homes. It was a lovely way to pass an afternoon.
It has been good to come to Venice - it is so different, with its canals and its city built on wooden piles, but the water is fairly putrid, the town a bit grubby, the building walls are disintegrating and the people quite aggressive - we got growled at for eating our lunch on some steps leading up to a small statue. Don’t think this city would be in my top 10 - Lucerne is still my number one for Europe.
This was followed by another walking tour through a palace and a basilica. There was a strict dress code for the basilica which meant no shorts, mini skirts, or bare shoulders, so we were all back to jeans, even though it was really hot.
Our last official appointment for the day was a gondola ride, accompanied by an accordionist and a singer. We went through narrow little canals, seeing the ‘backyards’ of a lot of homes. It was a lovely way to pass an afternoon.
It has been good to come to Venice - it is so different, with its canals and its city built on wooden piles, but the water is fairly putrid, the town a bit grubby, the building walls are disintegrating and the people quite aggressive - we got growled at for eating our lunch on some steps leading up to a small statue. Don’t think this city would be in my top 10 - Lucerne is still my number one for Europe.
Viva Italia!
Well, after a very long day driving, we are finally (Wednesday) in Italy. We were warned that it would be vastly different to the previous countries we have visited. The Germanic countries are very structured and organised…Italy is not!
We saw evidence of this on the outskirts of town, when we hit the traffic. Chaos reigned and there was much ooh and aahing as little cars cut in front of us, and trucks did the same to little cars.
We had a quick turn around at the hotel before going out to an Italian Restaurant for dinner. Service appears to be a haphazard thing in this city, but the meal was nice enough. We’ve been told that tourists flock to Venice in such numbers that there is no need for the locals to go out of their way to please anyone but themselves, so they don’t.
We saw evidence of this on the outskirts of town, when we hit the traffic. Chaos reigned and there was much ooh and aahing as little cars cut in front of us, and trucks did the same to little cars.
We had a quick turn around at the hotel before going out to an Italian Restaurant for dinner. Service appears to be a haphazard thing in this city, but the meal was nice enough. We’ve been told that tourists flock to Venice in such numbers that there is no need for the locals to go out of their way to please anyone but themselves, so they don’t.
After dinner, we took a stroll around St Mark’s Square, which was very pretty with the lights coming on and little orchestras playing along the sides.
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