Sam and MaryMolly's Trip to Italy
June 19, 2007 to July 4, 2007, in detail
Individual Photo GaleriesRome Florence Pisa and Bolognia Venice Albania Southern Italy and the last day in Rome
MaryMolly's pictures
A shorter description.
The trip started out like any other, airports and planes.
The flight to Newark was only about an hour and a half but the flight to Rome was 9 hrs. It was a big 767, holding about 180 folks.
I would have slept but some very loud guys decided to congregate at the little island of bathrooms near us and relate their life stories, minute by minute.
Thus would begin my sleep deprivation.
The arrival in Rome was quick – very little immigration or customs check. We took a train to the main Rome station, Termini and after circling the station several times we found the office that would sell us the Rome Pass – which gets us unlimited metro service and covers admittance to museums.
We found our way to the Hotel Nerve, next to the ruins. Checked in and found a little place to eat, then went back to the Hotel and slept for a while. We took our first tour of the ruins, including the Palatine hills. We were only there about 2 hrs as the ruins close a half hour before sunset. We wandered around the area and got a nice meal a few steps from the hotel. MM then got her first of many Gelatos.
The hotel had a wonderful breakfast, melon (cantaloupe), prosciutto, cheese, warm bread, jams, half an orange and Cappuccino. We took the metro to the Vatican museum. The line was long but moved quickly. While in line I found a little stand that served cups of fresh fruit – I got watermelon.
The Vatican museums is very large and has many large rooms with 50 to a hundred items each, it took us over two hours.
Lots of painted ceilings, stautues, paintings, etc.
We finally made it to the Sistine Chapel. Most people ignored the signs outside the door and were loud and trying to take pictures –
both not allowed in the Chapel. The ceiling is awesome.
The famous central panel of God and Man, in my opinion, is not as impressive as the scenes around the edges.
They really stand out and have great depth.
After the Vatican we grabbed a pani (sandwich) from a street vendor, (we were starving) and ate sitting against the walls of the Vatican. We made our first check of email. Going without a constant news stream for two weeks is something we all should do. Then we went to St. Marks Square and saw St. Peters. Until you really stand there you just don’t get a sense of the size of the thing, both the basilica and the square – huge.
We metroed to the Spanish Steps. It's Ok. We walked to the top. Ok. Back to the hotel, napped and back to the Spanish steps area to eat. A really nice restaurant. The normal Italian meal is an antipasto, a primi (first course, usually a pasta), and a secondi (usually something heavier like a meat dish). We ate, drank wine and watched the other diners. The metro was closed when we finished so we walked back – did not take the best route, but we made it.
We walked to Trevia fountain. Ate lunch at a nice little pizza place, Pizza at Trevia.
There was music playing and we asked the waitress who it was. “Anriano Celentano. You do not know him? This is not possible!”
He has been a top singer since the 60’s. We then did the whole ‘throw-the-coin-in-the-fountain’ thing, ensuring we would return to Rome.
Next was a trip to the catacombs. We followed the guide book directions and ended up in a south east Rome suburb waiting on a bus. Well it did not seem far on the map – so we walked. Which was great, as long as there are sidewalks. When the sidewalks ended we squeezed in the 1 foot between the white line at the edge of the road and the vegetation. Must have walked about a mile like this. We found a bus stop and grabbed the next bus, which was one of the ‘stop and go’ tour busses that Rome runs. It cost us a bit, but they dropped us at the Catacombs of San Callisto.
A priest took a group on a tour. First descriptions of the catacombs, 3rd century, over 300 thousand were buried and over history they were looted many times. We went down. It’s was very cool. Lots of places to put bodies. At one time Popes were buried here (6 or 9). They eventually were removed back to the Vatican.
When we left we took another ‘Stop and go’ buss – already having our tickets for the day. It traveled down the route of the old Apian Way and skirted the walls of Rome then passed through one of the gates.
That night we walked over into the Jewish Ghetto looking for a specific restaurant, Da Giggetto. We kept finding stages being setup. In the late spring and summer the city of Rome (which still uses the initial S.P.Q.R.) has outdoor concerts. Since restaurants don’t normally open till 7:30 we walked, ate gelato and listed to some of the bands, including a rock folk US cover band. We heard piano music and went down this little dead end that backs onto the ruins of the Teatro Di Marcello. Down below us they were setting up one of these concerts (MM thinks it was a wedding). The pianist, a young woman was rehearsing and basically gave us a hour long concert. It was wonderful.
We went back to Da Giggetto’s and took a seat outside. The food was super, the waiter actually made us change some of our selections so they would go better together. The antipasto was a fried artichoke – oh my gawd! – one of the best things I have ever tasted. After the dinner, which took about 2 hrs, we walked back to where the pianist was, but the concert proper was done.
Feeling sticky we took showers at the hotel. Out of curiosity we had the TV on and I found “The Nanny” dubbed into German. It was a hoot.
This morning we were walking to the Pantheon and there was a motorcade,
Carabinieri on motor cycles and in cars several black, tinted window Mercedes and a follow van that looked like it had press.
I think it was the Prime Minister (my story and I am sticking with it).
We got to the Pantheon early, before the crowds. A magnificent structure with it’s perfect dome. It is now a church and houses the crypts of several of the Italian Kings. We went off to our next stop the Piazza Navona. Not too impressed. We did stop in at one of the nearby city museums – some of the exhibits were closed. It focused on the muckiy mucks of the 18th century Rome. We went back to the Pantheon and got lunch. One of the antipasto items we fell in love with was “Prosciutto e Mello”. Simply it’s several slices of cantaloupe with prosciutto (ham), and it’s wonderful together.
We walked over the Tiber to Giancolense park. It is a large botanical garden. We walked around a bit – including up to a vantage point above Rome. Walking back we got a bowl of cherries from one of the street fruit stands. Awesome! These things were about the size of a ping-pong ball.
We went back to the ruins and entered from the north, seeing what we had not before. We walked to the Coliseum and found a tour group. We had seen these in the past a group with a guide, everyone having radios. Very good choice. Good descriptions and history, and we did not have to wait in lines. Well worth the extra 10 euros.
That night was our only bad eating experience. The food was so-so and the service sucked.
Checked out and off to the train station. After some mix up about the train (Eurail passes do NOT include the best trains)
we zipped up to Florence. Found our hotel. They sent us out around the corner to an annex, a group of rooms in an adjacent building.
Nice room, big bathroom. We did a load of laundry – which was just 3 doors down. All Americans, including the fella servicing the machines.
One guy was in Florence studying Italian and writing a book on the Renaissance.
The Duomo, huge central church, was only 5 min away, and past that was the Uffisi gallery. We had not gotten reservations in advance so could not get in. This is Sunday and museums normally close on Mondays. We also had not gotten reservations at the Academia, which houses Michelangelo’s David. We proceeded to the Vecchio bridge. It’s one of the only remaining pre-WWII bridges. It has on it jewelry shops. We walked up and entered the Boboli Gardens from the top. The gardens were the private gardens for the powerful Medici family. Very nice, beautiful scenes some art, landscaping, fountains. We walked down to the Medici family palace, Palazzo Pitti but did not go in. We walked back across the Vecchio Bridge.
After a snack we had another great meal in the Piazza Republica. On the Piazza were a group that obviously had Ultimate players
After dinner we missed our turn and circumnavigated Florence. This did allow us to see fireworks.
The breakfast for the Annex is across the hall. Same sort of food as in Rome. We were off to Pisa. We caught the correct buss,
but it was headed in the wrong direction. It ascended one of the mountains around Florence and back about an hour out of our way.
We found a train to Pisa and zipped off
In Pisa we found the way to the tower and entered a little off to the side. We had a nice meal within sight of the tower.
It’s a tower, it leans, it’s on nicely manicured grounds with the Pisa Duomo. We found an internet café, it’s a college town really. Back to the train, but not without a gelato break. Back to Florience and a late meal.
We tried to get tickets to the Academeia, but no luck. So we forged on to Bologna.
At the train station I got a book on Bolognia with a map – the book was more interesting.
We wandered around and finally settled on a restaurant. I had the Tortellini in broth, then a wide noodle “a la Bolognia”,
in a special meat sauce. Note that “bolognaise” is NOT in the Bolognia style. This may have been the best meal I had. AWESOME.
I now want to learn to make my own pasta. Back on the train to Venice
In Venice we, after some work, found where we would get our metro-museum passes, then hiked off to find our hostel. This lead to a little tour of that part of Venice. Note, it smells like the beach, it does not stink. Unless you think salt water is stinky. We finally found the obscure red door. At the desk was a girl helping a backpacked traveler. He was a German who called himself a ‘pilgrim’ and just needed a place to lay his head. The girl was super helpful – she showed us things on the map, including an international modern art festival. Our rooms were in a suite that was 3 minutes from St. Marks square. A nice lady led us there by Vaporetto (water bus, Vapo). Our room had AC and a detached bathroom.
We walked the 3 minutes to St. Marks. MM feed the pigeons, I did not. I think pigeons are disgusting, but the whole feeding thing is a ‘tradition’. There was some water in the square. Other wise quite nice. We wandered around a bit and found a little restaurant. I had a canteloni and a salad (big thing Italian Salads). MM had a pizza.
We looked for a breakfast and got a pastry and cappuccino. We then picked up a Vapo to the art festival.
The festival is in a park with about 30 buildings. Most buildings are only big enough for one artist.
Though the main building is quite large. The art ranged from “… eh, ok”, to good, and great.
You could see where some of the artists wanted to go and their trying to get there. Some had made it. I liked the struggle the best.
After seeing as much as we could we walked back, stopping to get gelato (I had an outstanding peach) and grabbed some
tangerines for breakfast.
We got back on the Vapo and circumnavigated the main islands, including traveling out to Murano. Lots of fun actually even when it started to rain. We reached our stop and ended up running from awning to awning. At one point stopping at the door of a restaurant to tie shoes. I got a good look at the menu. Back to our room and dried out. We went back to the restaurant and had a great meal, a seafood risotto for me – best seafood so far.
We walked to the Rialto bridge just at sunset. Beautiful. We ended the night walking around.
We found a little shop, run by two sisters, where we got pastry and cappuccino which was very, very good.
We took the Vapo over to the island of Murano. Murano is famous for it’s glass working. We found the Museum
and found out more about the history of Murano glass that could be absorbed in a week. We did find a ‘foundry’ that had a little demo.
They made a vase and a glass horse.
We then took the Vapo off to the island of Burano which is know for it’s lace. Museum, where they had live demos of lace making. Several old women chatting with each other and making the lace knots so fast they were a blur. Burano is also know for it’s brightly colored houses. Very lively/
Back to the main islands. Some pictures of St. Marks Square and the Bridge of Sighs then off to the Rialto bridge where we have dinner. We walk around afterward and I see a shop with original art.
Visited the Academia Museum. A very nice museum that focuses in on art from Venice. Included some salvaged ceiling frescos and very large works. Then did some shopping before getting our bags and taking a bus to the airport. here is a small part of Venice with wheeled vehicles.
The flight to Albania was on Alitalia, think about 20 years behind. The transport to the plane was by bus and the food was horrible. It was a sandwich serves as “Vegetarian or non vegetarian”. When asked “what’s in the non vegetarian” the answer was “Non vegetarian”. We arrived at the airport in Tirana Albania about mid night and went through customs pretty quickly – though it did cost 10 euro to enter.
We were met by our friend Chris and his friend Aldo, who has a car, and were driven back to Durres.
The terrain and sparseness reminded me of being west of Winston Salem.
We arrived at their apartment, very small and slept on borrowed air mattresses.
In the morning, after being woken by the sound of the horse cart, we had a breakfast of pastries and coffee. The view from the window is of a small street with a little fruit stand and abandoned bunker. The previous communist regime was afraid of invasion so it built these little circular domed bunkers all over. The plan was that everyone would go to their bunker and stage a defense. They are everywhere
The little fruit stands are also everywhere. What we found out that Albanians, if they see a business that is successful will very likely open one of their own. There is a women’s clothing shop that one brother owned next to his brothers barber shop. One day the second brother closed his barber shop and opened a nearly identical cloths store. There is a great deal of business duplication.
Chris has tried to get Aldo, who owns an internet café, to start something new, like a hosting company. I gave some suggestions and hope he gives it a try
We took in the national history museum, where Chris does some of his work. One of the curators, Arta, took us on a tour. This is standard for Albanian museums, you get a guide who gives you the info. Really allows good focus. The tour only covered the Illyan, Greek and Roman periods as the funds for the rest of the museum dried up. We did note some glass that was probably from Venice. It looked identical to items we saw at the glass museum in Murano. One thing we found is that Durras was the other side of the Apian Way, that we saw in Rome. It led from here to Constantinople.
We went to the old Roman period Amphitheater. The amphitheater is open to the public so we just wandered around. Luckily Chris is in the know about these things
We then went up to the highest point in Durres, on the way Chris knew an overseer at a new dig and he let us in. It was a probable a Roman era burial site. The highest point gives a grand view of the cost and city.
That evening we took our hosts, Chris and Carroll out to dinner at a good local restaurant. They ‘ordered for the table’
and we would just grab what we wanted. They like French fries. Good veggies, great meat dishes and good wine.
At the end of an Albanian meal there is always a bowl of fruit, usually some sort of melon.
We took in the Xhiro (gero). This is when they close off a street and people walk up and down – sorta like cruising. We had a bag of little donuts (hot fresh), covered in powered sugar.
One guy knew Chris and showed us his work on an ancient Turkish bath. He is restoring it on his own, though it is a government owned site. He is going to make the steaming room, the largest, into an art gallery.
We traveled to a little mountain village, Kruja, that had some great views and museums. The trip was in a van called a
vergon (sp?). These are vans that go to a place when they have enough passengers. Like an unscheduled mini bus.
On the way we exchanged some euros for Albanian Lek.
This is done on a certain street corner – the best rates, we are told.
We caught the wrong vergon and got a view of the beach area – very packed. We also got to ride a city bus back. They have a ticket taker on the bus, a woman who knows who gets on the buss and who does not.
We took the trip up the mountain on a winding road with steep drops on one side and sheer rises on the other. In Kruja we went up to the castle area and took in the Ethnographic museum. This is a house that was used about 200 yrs ago by a very rich family. The guide showed us how the family and the servants lived. It was a very tiered society, men on the top and women and servants very much below. We walked around the walls of the castle, took in the views and had a nice lunch.
We did meet a man, by chance, who is the custodian (?) of a religious site. It is one of the minor Islamic religions (Bábí, Bahá'í or Berghouata). He took us to a beautiful circular room, gave us candy and talked about peace. Carol had to translate. We then went up on the roof of the building. A very nice guy
On the trip back we had to wait about 45 minutes for the vergon to get enough people to make it worth his while.
Back in Durras we got a quick meal of Sluvacki (sp.). Just like a gero but topped with French fries slathered in ketchup and mustard. Really good.
We hopped on the ferry and cut across the Adriatic to Bari, Italy. We had a small cabin with bunk beds.
In Bari we did find out that often the US Passport will get you jumped to the front of a customs line.
We grabbed a cab and went to the train station where we were told that the EuroStar that could take us to Naples was full,
but we could, in about the same amount of time, take a train then bus. We took the train and buss.
The train took us south to Taranto where we caught a bus. Nice bus, like the kind used for private tours in the US. The bus traveled over the southern part of Italy, across the arch of the foot. Mountains, valleys, towns tucked on hill tops. Some of the fields had just been plowed and the earth was rich and black.
Pulled in around 5. Found the local bus that would take us to the hostel. We almost got our pockets picked. We made it to the hostel, Hostel of the Sun, without further incident. The hostel was great, nice people at the desk, comfortable room. We shared a bathroom, actually 3, in this one. The folks at the desk told us how to get to one of the good pizza places. Naples is where pizza was invented.
Unfortunately Naples is filthy. Cigarette butts, trash, dirt, not nice. We did get to the restaurant had a great pizza and walked home. The one museum I wanted to go to was closed the next day so we decided to hop back to Rome early.
Had breakfast at the hostel, checked out email and made it back to the train station. We got the next train and arrived in Rome at around noon. We took the metro to a stop a little north of the Vatican, started to walk, looking for a cab stand. You can only get cabs at a taxi stand. Hunger got the best of us and we had a nice meal. We found the taxi stand and were brought to the hostel. The less said about this place the better, it was horrible.
We took the metro and found our way to the Villa Borghese park and to the gallery. We got a 5pm reservation and walked the grounds until then. Nice park, it has a little zoo, a replica of the globe theatre, a small circus maximus and an area for horses.
The gallery was awesome. Really great works of art. There were two statues by Bernini that really got me. One was “Apollo e Daphne”. In the mythology Apollo is smitten with Daphne, the maiden daughter of the river god Peneus. Apollo gives chase to Daphne who pleads with her father to change her form into something that Apollo won’t want. So he changes her into a tree, in mid run. Bernini tells the tale in the statue, life size, with two Daphne’s, one running and the second, just in front of the first, being turned into a tree. Great!
The other was his David. Unlike the Michelangelo’s David, Bernini made him not so brawny and brooding. He put David in motion. His sling taunt between his hands, ready to swing. His gaze intent upon a target, his bottom lip curled in slightly in concentration. There was some other art in that room but it just didn’t register with me.
After we finally left we went to the nearby Spanish Steps area, had a snack and a drink and decide to get dinner. It was a good meal, even though I fell asleep waiting for my Primi. Not that the service was slow, I was just exhausted. The metro was closed so we caught a cab.
The trip back... 9 hr flight, customs in Newark... a run to catch our flight.