October 28, 2014

Going back a few week to when I was in Matera, Locorotunda and Alberobello, I'd like to pick-up where I left off.  I will lump these locations together, because they share a similarity in that they are famous for their unusual housing arrangements.  Matera is quite different form the other two, and of course they are all very ancient and interesting sites.  It so happens that Matera is vying for the designation of Euro Capital of Culture for the year 2017 (or is it 2019?), and so there is a big push for restoration of decrepit buildings. The results of their efforts to restore and renovate, win or lose the honorarium, will be huge publicity and the resulting influx of tourism dollars.  The spill over into the surrounding area will also be significant, and it's easy to imagine that there will be swarms and swarms of tourists in the very near future. So, plan your trip now. It's already firmly on the tourist route, for good reason.

It's hard to know what to say about Matera. It's beautiful and amazing. The town was basically built out of the cliffs, and many buildings began life as a cave.  It's very organic, steep and crazy!

You basically start at the bottom and work your way up to the top. I had a really great meal there. In typical Italian tradition, the restaurants don't open before 8:00pm for dinner service - so anything would have tasted great! We stayed in a lovely B&B which, as usual proved to be very hard to locate, but then once we found it was SO obvious. Better signage would have been helpful, though.

Onward from Matera to Locorotundo and Alberobello (can you roll your r's?), one finds another peculiar style of house - a trullo (singular) which is a round structures with a conical slate roof.  There doesn't seem to be a definitive explanation as to why these structures came in to being, but they are all over the place in this area of Puglia, and ultra charming.  So charming, in fact, that they are still being built in the traditional style, and in some instances added to more recent buildings, in a commercially advantageous style. Whole neighbourhoods of trulli (plural) exist in Alberobello, where folks live their normal lives, as well as neighbourhoods that have become tourist havens. It was lovely to drive through the country side seeing these peculiar fairy tale buildings, and to walk through neighbourhoods where I expected elves to emerge at any moment. Alas, it was regular Italian folk who live within - fair enough!

I should say that Locorotunda had only a few of the trulli homes, but that the cento storico of this town was very, very charming and warranted a good look around, which I gave it!

Sorry about this being sideways...

Pulgia is a very beautiful regione of Italy and I would happily return some day to explore more.

October 28, 2014

Yesterday I did venture out to the terme, the hot spring, and I spent about 3 hours lounging and soaking in the medicinal effects of the healing waters.  And my back feels somewhat better for it!!!! Fall is definitely in the air here, and so the suns' warmth was diminished by the chill breeze, so I didn't linger overly on the lounge chair, which I poached.

Most of the day was devoted to doing the Terme dei Papi visit, including public transit to and fro, and being in no particular rush in either direction.

Upon return to Viterbo, I checked in with the owner of my B&B and made some complaints about the state of repair of my room. Most notably was the fact that I had to keep on any and all warm clothing that I could dig out of my suitcase in order to be warm enough to "relax" in my room (for which I am paying almost E60/night - about C$80.) On top of that, the included breakfast has moved to the local caffe bar up the street a couple of blocks. Never mind the grungey shower cabinet, and filthy dishware in the kitchenette, with no dish soap or towel to clean them (I asked the day before, and was refused). A waste basket in the bathroom would be a good inclusion.  How about the burnt out light bulbs? The proprietress, who speaks only Polish and Italian despite claims of speaking English on the website, basically ripped off a tirade in Italian to me, little of which I understood, leaving me to walk away in disappointment.  She must have a small bit of softness in her heart, because she knocked at my door a few minutes later and offered to show me a different room. Now we're talkin'.  This was a much better option, and I was surprised that she didn't provide me with this room in the first place.  But I shouldn't have been, because I have come to realize that when you are a solo traveller, it is too often the case that establishments seem to think they can get away with somewhat unacceptable accommodation at full price. Anyways, now I have a warm room with a waste basket in the bathroom and a clean shower. The kitchenette has clean dishes AND dishsoap - what a concept! Anyways, there are a lot of B&B options in Viterbo, as I have discovered in my wanderings, and I'm certain that there are better ones that the one I chose (one of two) off Booking.com.  It's fine now, except for intermittent wifi connection, but the first two nights were less than good value.Still this is a fine area to visit and I recommend it to anyone.

An example of exterior decoration of over 1000yrs old.

Pomegranites in the evening sun.

The male equivalent of Artemisia. Those are bulls testicles. Boys will be boys...

View from my bedroom window. Tranquilla.

 

Farnese family crest. The Farnese family owned A LOT of properties.

October 26, 2014

There is a huge gap in my postings here, and I know there is no way I will be able to fill it in before I arrive back at home.  So, I will jump to today, where I am in the small (60,000) city of Viterbo, north of Rome. How did I get here, and why?  I returned the rental car to Naples airport a couple of days early, and I needed to decide where to hang out for a about a week before my flight to NYC. I've seen enough of Rome and Naples to satisfy for the time being; Tuscany just seemed to far away; Sorrento/Amalfi too crowded. Hmm... I had read a little about Cittavecchia, Tarquinia, and Viterbo somewhere, so I decided to stay one night in Naples and do some research, after which I decided on Viterbo.  Next I needed to confirm the logistics about getting there by rail from Naples. Fortunately the railway station is a few hundred metres from my hotel, and so it was easy to hop over there to get the information necessary to force my decision.  All systems were go, and so I left next morning for Viterbo, requiring train to Rome, metro to Ostiense, train to Viterbo. It's only about 70 or 80 kms from Rome, but the milk-run train takes 2 hours.

I booked my accommodation online and di solito, as usual, the directions on how to get to the B&B were confusing, incomplete and wrong. What should have been about a 10 minute walk from the station (but which stazione - Viterbo Porto Romano or Viterbo Porto Fiorintina???), took almost an hour, with the kind assistance of helpful citizens to point the way (thank goodness I understand poco poco italiano).

Viterbo Centro Storico, is a walled medieval city.  My accommodation is inside the walls, and it is truly a marvellous place to get lost in.  I had some idea as to the nature of its history - but not this!!! It is extremely well preserved, and it's citizens are obviously very proud of their beautiful town.  Of course, it is a very tiny rabbit warren of streets and piazzas, all of which have absolutely charming and amazing buildings that go back to the 11th century.  People live in them!  And do business! I'm staying in one - more on that later.

Of  course there are many many important churches and palazzos in the mix.  Because they are much older, the churches are very different from what you would find in nearby Rome or Florence.  Pre-dating the Renaissance by several hundred years, they are smaller, and austere both inside and out.

Today is Sunday, and the streets were almost abandoned for most of the day.  A few places were open for business in the medieval quarter, but not many, so I was happy to come across a locals' restaurant at about 1:00 (2:00 by my watch, which I had not realized I should have moved back by an hour the night before for daylight Euro saving time).  So the thing is, we all talk about how the Mediterranean diet is the healthiest diet on the planet, right? So, what's with all the bread and sweets? Dinner consists of appertivo, primo, secondo, contorni, and dolci. And vino, aqua, and coperto (cover - that is: cover-up for an non-exempt 2 euro charge for a basket of bread. As if I need more bread. Take it or leave it, you still pay).And don't get me started on "breakfast". It's actually not always easy to have a healthy diet here, especially with regard to getting in your fruits and veggies.  That's not to say they aren't available - there's lots at the markets.  But the restaurants don't necessarily have salad on the menu. Anyway, getting back to my restaurant this afternoon, I was really quite hungry, having only eaten a bowl of cornflakes for breakfast, and then stopping for a caffe latte and cornetto an hour or so later (more bread!).  I knew that I would be going through the same routine at 7:00p.m. - trying to find a restaurant that was open (many don't open before 8:00 pm for dinner service), before I dropped dead from hunger.  So, I decided to do the full meal deal for lunch, and skip supper altogether.  It was a good choice, actually.  For 15 euros (about C$21) I had a basket of bread, a nice small appertivo plate including bruschetta (bread), a not too large serving of tagliatelli with artichokes, a very good insalata mista, some sort of salsiccia, sausage, (with toasted bread...), a 1/4 lt of vino rosso, and an espresso.  All in all it was very tasty, and even with not eating the bread it was enough food to keep me going until my next italian breakfast. And the donna who was working the tables all alone, was of great good cheer to boot!

My wanderings after "lunch" took me past an olive oil frantoio (crusher).  It just happens to be very nearby where I'm staying, and when I discovered what it was, I prevailed upon the staff to let me have a look,  which they did willingly. It's a very small production plant, and the method for extracting oil is the same as it ever was, just slightly modernized from human and donkey power to electric motors.  This is not state-of-the-art technology, but needn't be for the local purposes.  The proprietress did not speak any English, but one of her employees (a Bangladeshi who speaks 5 languages) does and so he showed me through the operation. And gave me a wee sample to taste - pure, fresh, fragrant, delicious!

                                              Cleaned olives with (most of) the leaves removed.

 The crusher stones are those big rollers up top. They grind the olives into a paste which is the spread on the                                                          discs in front of the worker.

The stacked dics are squeezed under pressure to extract the oil and water.

The water is separated out, and here is the 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Meraviglioso!

There is another reason I came to Viterbo that I haven't mentioned.  Termi.  Hot springs.  I will go tomorrow to "take the healing waters" and hope for the miracle cure for my back... Stay tuned!

October 5th, continued...

The Certosa e Museo di San Martino on the very high point of Naples is one of the finest churches best museums I've been to. The chiesa, the church, is incredibly beautiful, with its magnificent inlay of semi precious stone patterns on the floors, alters, and walls, not to mention many magnificent paintings. 

The cloister is a large room and a smaller room of finely detailed wood marquetry scenes on all the walls, with gorgeous paintings above.

A must see, for anyone going to Naples. It doesn't stop there, though. Continue on to the convent gardens, and rooms with non-religious themes. To me the most interesting of these is the gallery of presepe, miniature (but not mini) nativity scenes and depictitions of every day life, back in the 18th century. They are really quite remarkable, and the traditional Napoli craft is a continuing one to this day, albeit not with quite the finesse of these rare pieces on display here.

October 5th 2014.

It has been too long since my last entry and I know that I won't remember half of what I have seen in the meantime. Well, here goes an attempt to do some catching up.

Naples continued to amaze and confound me. With its teeming mass of humanity, this place has been a hub since who-knows-when? Well, I'm certain that historians know when the Greeks established Neapolis, and likely there were already folks there long before the Greeks. They might well be a little alarmed if they could step into the city now, with its decayed infrastructure, heinous traffic, and garbage EVERYWHERE. But there is something endearing about Naples, and so I had a very memorable visit there, for about 5 days.

One of the most interesting areas of the city is the Quartieri Spagnoli, the Spanish Quarters. Val and I happened to end up there at the end of a long day of walking and visiting museums.  We had been at the Museo di San Martino, on the highest point in Naples, and decided to walk back down, down, down, kind of, sort of knowing where we would end up.  Turned out to be a bit of good luck being there on a Saturday evening, when everyone seemed to be out on the streets, for the weekly passagiata, Saturday stroll, visiting, shopping, eating, drinking, hanging out with one another.  The streets are very narrow here, averaging about 3 metres, but that doesn't stop anyone from driving down them - pedestrians just have to step aside. It was so lively and colourful that we both decided it would be worth a return visit on our walk-about the next day. Well, it sure felt different, and we were warned by an Indian Neopolitan not to walk around those streets. I really don't think it was unsafe or risky, but we did decide that it just wasn't as interesting on a Sunday or Monday during the day, as it had been on Saturday evening. Unfortunately for me, my camera had run out of juice by the time we got to the Spanish Quarters, so I only have pictures from the second venture into this interesting neighbourhood.

                                              Down, down, down, to Quartieri Spagnoli

Pescatore 

Street in Quartieri Spangnoli with Chiesa San Martino 'way 'way up there.

Rome. A church dome. Can't remember which one!

Some  more recent Roman art.

                                                  La Pieta in Basilica San Pietro, Rome

The dome and main alter, San Pietro.

                                     Some of my favorites -Barlotti beans - in Testaccio market, Rome

Today, September 26, Val and I left Roma and boarded the train for Napoli. We were very lucky to get two seats together after juggling around a bit and trying to keep an eye on our luggage a row away, in the aisle of the carroza, the train car. It was a crowded journey of almost 3 hrs, and did not present too many outstanding views of the "countryside" between the two major centres. As were moved through the outskirts of Roma there was yet more evidence of the mighty Roman Empire including a long stretch of aqueduct -another piece of ho-hum ancient architecture to the most-likey blase modern Romans.

We arrived in Napoli exactly on schedule (must have been some Swiss involved...) and easily found our way to our accommodation (I often just get right down to business and approach a cop to ask for directions - works every time), just a few blocks from Napoli Centrale Stazione. I pre-booked a room in a rather lovely, almost old world hotel, with "fine" furnishings and charm to spare. Our room is small, but clean and complete with the modern convenience of fully functioning wifi (unlike my second location in Roma, which had lamentably disfunctioning wifi - so bad, in fact as to be pretty much a non-starter, for 5 days). Okay, so the air-con isn't exactly fully functioning here, but we can open the window and let the cool night air waft through without being disturbed by traffic noise.

Already, after only 4 hours of being in Naples we noticed the price differences from Roma.  For instance our accommodation in Roma for 5 nights came to about 390 euros. Here in Napoli at this lovely place, it is about 250 euros for the same number of nights.  On top of that, in Roma there was a 3.5 euro/p/n city hotel tax. In Napoli it is 1.5 euros/p/n.  Our dinner tonight was also less money than what we would have had to pay in Roma. Mine was an excellent dish of risotto with lemon, cream and shrimp and a perfect half bottle of Greco di Tufa d.o.g.c. vino bianchi. Val had pizza, for which Napoli is famoso. It was also superb - literally paper thin crust.  I'm holding out until I find a hole-the-wall type vendor, in the next few days. There is all together too much pizza available in Italy, and I have a personal commitment to no over indulge in it. But when in Napoli, one must eat pizza, because this is where it was born. So I will, and am looking forward to having my first pizza so far, this trip.

Blogspot is still failing to allow me to include photos in my posts. I can't figure out why I can't attach my photos from my Picasa web album (a Google product) onto my Blogspot (another Google product) post, like I used to be able to.  So, I guess I will have to upload them to Google + (you guessed it - another Google product) until I can get help from my I.T. support maestro, who happens to live in Vancouver...

The next few days will be filled with adventures in this chaotic city, which is entirely different from Roma. The buildings are more like Austro-Hungarian in appearance(although obviously they are Neoplolitan): the traffic is UNBELIEVABLE and pretty much seems to go on Aussie rules (a complete free-for-all with little to no regard for traffic lights on the part of vehicles AND pedestrians - worse even than Bangkok); the people are 'way, 'way less attractively dressed and made up - clothing styles are  much less classy than in Roma, and folks are just less attractive as a result (Romans OOZE style. Here it's pretty much a kitchy cheese fest.)  It is immediately evident that there is much less wealth in Napoli than in Roma. Real estate prices are a good testament to that!  Anyway, there is a lot to see and do here, and I plan to make the most of the next few days. Stay tuned.

 

First cena, dinner, in Napoli.

My risotto. Delizioso!

 Mosaic at the National Archeological Museum. Rich or poor, we all meet the same in the end.
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  I think Aubrey Beardsley took his inspiration from ancient Greek frescoes in the "Fourth Style"

Much copied, this is the real one. Isn't it lovely?

           A small piece of Naples from San Martino, which has just about the best museum of all!

We walked down down down from San Martino (highest point in Naples) and into il Quartieri Spangola. 

It's been a fine time these past few days in Rome.  I've seen a LOT of churches (there are just SO MANY of them - all stunning!).  In addition I have been to a museum or two , and areas of the city that warrant poking around at leisure.  Today I went on a one hour tour of the Jewish Ghetto.  I learned that Rome has the oldest Jewish community in Europe, and that the Jews who came here originally came from the Holy Land and so were neither Ashkenazi or Sephardic Jews, but are a third distinct group - Italian Jews.  They had a pretty rough go of it due to Papal restrictions on their ability to do business and move about. A wall was built around the Ghetto and for three centuries they were subjected to a curfew. The wall was taken down and the Tiber river was walled throughout the city in the late1800's (?), thus preventing the regular flooding of the ghetto, and thus allowing for healthier, cleaner conditions.

The area of Trastevere (across the Tiber) is a very interesting part of Rome, just south of Vatican City. Although it is absolutely crammed with tourists, it has a quint, small town feel to it.  The buildings have a different style to those in il rioni di Termini.

Two nights ago I was joined by my friend Valerie.  She had been travelling in places north of Rome, and took the train from Cinque Terre to Rome to meet me.. At least that was the plan - to meet at Statzione Termini just after her train was due to arrive at 18:00. Well, she didn't arrive and so I decided I had to make my way to our accommodation without her (I was shifting from the hostel to a small pensione near Il Vaticano, where we had a room booked for 5 nights). We had no way of communicating, both being phoneless, and the internet connection at Termini was hopeless (she finally got my messages this morning!). But she did have the address and so I hoped she would just hope a cab when she arrived. Problem is, there is no "reception" at such establishments and I had no way of knowing when she would arrive, short of parking myself outside on the sidewalk, waiting for her.  It was after 8:00 and I still hadn't eaten, so I left a note on the locked gated entrance, and headed to a nearby, rather nice restaurant.  It was a great relief to look up from my piatti di gnocchi and see Val peering through the window, looking for me!  She had had an epic day of travelling to Rome due to rail line wash-outs, and was bumped to a bus. She was over two hours longer, but arrived safe and sound, if more than a little weary.
So, we have had a couple of good days, one together and today on our separate ways.  Val's hip is much worse than my back, which is troublesome enough, so after logging several kms in Trastevere yesterday, she opted for the hop-on/hop-off bus tour, while I did my own walk-about .
On my way back to our room, as I was making my way up the street opposite the Vatican walls, I looked ahead and I say to myself "OMG that's Teresa Spinelli!"  And sure enough, it was.  Istopped her by saying her name, and she said "Yes" and I said "I'm from Edmonton".  There are about 4 million residents in Rome and probably half a million tourists.  What are the chances?  E uno piccolo mondo, no? We had a brief chat, I told her how long I've been shopping at her store, she took our selfie, and said to look her up next time I'm in the store. Pazzo. Crazy.

Rome, September 20, 2014

It was 5 years ago that I was in Rome. I intended to return a lot sooner that this, but I finally made it.  Good thing I wasn't too cheap to toss a coin into Trevi Fountain, or I mightn't have made it!

Before arriving in Rome I spent a few days in Vancouver visiting with my daughter Caitlin and her partner Chris, and my son Ryan and his wife Guin and their two boys, Kallan, 2 3/4 yrs., and new baby Tobin, one month. It was a gift to spend some family time together with them - something I get precious little of. My son Colin joined us via Face Time for a visit from Halifax.

The flight to Rome was routed through Toronto, and the second leg of the journey was quite an ordeal.  The seats are small and cramped and even with the additional assistance from melatonin, sleep did not come easily. But I made it, safe and sound, to my hostel accommodation not too far from Termini Station. But it was before check-in time, so I left my suitcase there and headed out to get my bearings.

With my Rick Steves guidebook for Rome firmly in my grasp I ventured into terrain that was a little familiar to me from five years ago. I planned to see some of the same sites again, to orient myself, and test my route finding skills. RUSTY is how I would describe them, but getting better. And anyways half the fun of travelling big cities is in the getting lost part. Right?

First observations: Rome is busier, more crowded with immigrants and tourists, noisier, and dirtier, than it was in 2009. Still, there are places you can find that offer quiet respite from the madding crowds and hustle. Mostly those places are churches, of which there is an unbelievable abundance.  This you already know. I do too, but it still amazes me, the sheer number of chiesi and basilichi. And always with very beautifully adorned interiors.

It's hot. Really hot. Plus 31 today with no wind and lots of  humidity.  I need lighter clothes. Maybe I should go shopping. Or not. Maybe after my friend Val joins me, tomorrow night. She's got more style than I do and would be a good critic.

Today I spent half the day at Appia Antica.  Did I mention that it's hot? Really hot? Yes, indeed. I'm still not quite over the time change and found myself almost sleep walking there. Anyways, it's a pretty old road dating back to Aurelius. One of his public work projects, it provided an ancient highway from Rome to Taranto in the deep south. Paved with basalt stones, there are still parts of it  in place.  There are a couple of catacombs there as well, and the Church of San Sebastian which has two sculptures by Bernini..

The other sites I've gone to have been in central Rome, and included re-visiting Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Campo di Fiori and some of the churches in the vicinties.  Crowds galore. One of the big disappointments is that Trevi Fountain isn't accepting coin tosses right now, as it is undergoing restoration and maintenance. It's draped from top to bottom in tarps, drained and the taps are turned off. So are a lot of expectant tourists - I witnessed yelling match between an italian tourist and his italian tour guide that seemed very heated. I imagine that the tourist was stating that he paid to see the fountain and the tour company probably knows full well that it is a bust, but saw their way clear to bringing the unsuspecting walking tour guests past it anyway. Now they can say the have seen Trevi Fountain. Save your coins for next time, folks.

Just spoke with a dorm-mate, who toured Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums today.  The crowds are so bad there that you are shoulder to shoulder all the way through.  I'm having second thoughts about going there, now.  I know it's about as good as it gets, but too many people just takes too much away from the experience. See what Val says.

I am experiencing some problems with how to post pictures on this blog. Google has made changes to it since I last used it in 2010.  I will need to do some searching to find out how to proceed.

Meanwhile, it's time to start thinking about supper, cena. Hopefully I can find something decent that won't break the bank. My first night here I went next door to a lovely enoteca. I had a dish of four gnodi (different from gnocchi), made with ricotta and spinach, each about the size of a golf ball. A glass of white wine was perfectly matched, and finished with an espresso. That's all I had - no salad, no desert, no second glass of wine (although I was tempted). 20 euros. That's about C$30. It was very delish, but....  last night I only spent 13 euros for a bowl of broth with ravioli, a tomato salad, a tiny veal scalopini, a carafe of red wine (completely unremarkable) and fruit. Better price but boring, very ordinary. Ka-ching!