2016 – Italy – Marty Magic Travel

Venice in a Day

Sunday, July 3rd, Venice in a Day.

Considering our intense itinerary, today we allow ourselves to sleep until 7:30 and after an 8:00 A.M. breakfast at our pension, we walk to San Marco Square. It is nearly 9:00 A.M. when we purchase our tickets to the Dodge Palace and enter the palatial courtyard. Although the Palace opened at 8:30 we have beat the majority of the tourists and after checking John’s backpack and my purse, we follow the arrows through the ornate rooms of the Palace. The baroque frescoed ceilings and walls are iced and sculpted in a gilded froth and reproductions of Roman sculptures sit on pedestals along the walls. Having seen the real thing, these reproductions are bland. Glass displays showcase Roman coins, ornate jewelry and fragments of pottery. It is the immensity of the Palace where the governing of Venice took place, not the collections housed within that is of interest.

Dodge Palace Courtyard

Dodge Palace Ballroom

View from within the Dodge Palace

We follow the numbered arrows across the Bridge of Sighs where ill fated prisoners took their last look at freedom before going to the dungeons below. We wind through several floors of dungeon cells; impregnable and depressing with heavy steel bar mounted securely into the blocks of stone before being granted our freedom to exit into the bright sunlight of San Marco Square.

Dungeon doors and window bars

Detail of dungeon bars

John looking out from the Bridge of Sighs

Detail of stone window

Retracing yesterday’s route, we walk to the Zaha Hadid exhibit, get both a senior discount and a student discount and enter the elegant museum. This gorgeous Venetian style building is elegant and airy. Refined and delicate decorative paintings cover the walls and ceilings and when we reach the galleries, enormous and elaborate Murano Glass chandeliers decorate each room.

Staircase to the Zaha Hadid exhibit

Looking out the window

Murano Glass Chandelier

The building and the chandeliers are in great contrast to Zaha Hadid’s work. The exhibit is an excellent retrospective into her design, architecture and painting and we rest our feet and watch a video about her design process and her struggle to be acknowledged as a woman in her field. After all the classical Roman and Renaissance Art we have consumed over the past two weeks, this exhibit is a refreshing glimpse of a contemporary genius.

Zaha Hadid Sculpture

Zaha Hadid Painting

Airport design

Architectural model for an airport

Zaha Hadid exhibit

John, Zaha Hadid paintings

We stumble upon a back street Cafeteria Bar, the Bacaro da Fiore on Calle De Le Botteghe. We are finally beginning to understand the system of pricing and levels of cuisine in Italy. These Cafeterias are not like our cafeterias but tiny delis with platters of appetizers behind glass that we can point to. They are all made in house, fresh and inexpensive and the Campari, prosecco, wine and beer are affordable. In addition, it is much more fun to be in this environment than at a tourist café where location determines the price and the quality of food is disappointing. There are just 3 stools and two tiny tables and a couple is just leaving one of the tables and the three of us squeeze and sit togetherorder our drinks and a platter of Italian tapas and enjoy the ambience of back street Venice.

Bistro cafeteria bar

We eat grilled eggplant, fried sardines and a various assortment of croquettes stuffed with mysterious meats and fillings. The sardines are not my favorite but the other tapas are delicious and I hesitate to give up our table but we have other museums to visit and walk to the Correr Museum, included in our Doge Palace ticket. After the world class art and museums we have recently visited, this museum is disappointing and after an hour we leave to brave the line to visit the interior of Saint Marks Basilica. After 30 minutes in the sweltering sun we reach the entrance to the Basilica and are told that we must go check our back pack and purse. We walk down a nearby street to the bag check and return to the head of the line and enter this fabulous Basilica. No photos are allowed inside but the tiny mosaic tiles glitter in the dim interior and we circumnavigate the uneven and ornately tiled floors. Aside from Notre Dame in Paris, this is my favorite cathedral/basilica by far. Wanting to memorize and absorb the magic of this Basilica, we circle back around and find the stairs to the terrace above. There are less than 200 steps up to the terrace and we pay our 5 Euros each and circumnavigate the platform that overlooks Saint Marks square and the Canal beyond.

Art, Marty and John, St Marks Basilica

View from terrace of St Marks.

Forbidden photo of interior

According to the Rick Steve’s guidebook, Cathedral Madonna dell ‘Orto is a hidden jewel and we make our way towards this out of the way church. John feeds the pigeons in the square before we pay our entry of 5 Euros each and turn on the Rick Steve’s audio guide and circumnavigate the airy Cathedral admiring the many Tintoretto’s, the airy architecture and Tintoretto’s elaborate tomb guarded by exquisite lions.

John feeding pigeons

Lion guarded tomb, Madonna dell ‘Orto

Interior, Madonna dell ‘Orto Cathedral

We wander back towards our hotel stopping at a back street café where the timing is perfect and we are allowed to sit and order Campari Spritzers before the prime dinner crowd. A very gregarious British couple gives up their seat for us and when another tired family arrives looking for seating, we slide down and enjoy our game of musical chairs and conversation.

Campari Spritzers, Venice

Happy hour, Campari Spritzers

Fun with olives:)

We wander off in search of dinner and are fortunate to find a not too touristy restaurant where John orders a whole fish and the food is tasty and reasonably good.

Whole fish

Gone fish

Florence to Venice

Saturday, July 2nd Florence to Venice

Our train to Venice leaves at 10:15 a.m. and I relax and write this journal on our high speed train traveling 300 kilometers and hour. Just as on a plane flight, a stewardess offers us drinks and snacks and we arrive in Venice in just two hours. It is shortly after noon and Art rushes to the TI office to buy Vaporetto passes that includes a student museum discount card for John.

Canal scenes from the Vaporetto

Vaporetto stop for Pension Guerrato

Detail of Venetian architecture

Within minutes we are stepping onto the #1 Vaporetto that will take us to the Mercado Rialto canal stop for our Pension Guerrato, a Rick Steve’s recommendation. The Pension is just short walk from the Vaporetto stop through the fruit and vegetable market and left down a narrow cobbled alley. The inviting and informal lobby is on the second floor and our reservations are in order. We are presented with a very heavy brass key to our top floor room, five flights up with no elevator. John sighs and hauls both his and my suitcase up the creaky stairs. Our spacious room is delightful with a rooftop view of Venice and heavy crossed beams across the garret ceiling and a sparkling modern bathroom.

Entrance to Pension Guerrato

View from the window of our pension

Within minutes we head out to explore Venice and walk the maze of narrow streets towards Saint Mark’s Square. The square is blindly bright and mobbed with tourists and I feel a bit disoriented but Art is prepared with the Rick Steve’s audio guide tour and we plug in our head phones and listen to the orientation to Venice and find our bearings.

View of Saint Mark’s Square

Facade of Saint Mark’s Basilica

The line into Saint Mark’s Basilica is impossibly long so we put that off for tomorrow and wander the back streets of Venice towards La Balute, a point across from the Grand Canal. On the way, we find a tiny corner bistro/bar with three available stools inside and cool down with late afternoon Campari Spritzers.

Tapas at a back street Venetian bistro

Narrow canal scene

We pass an exhibit for Zaha Hadi and pop into the museum to inquire about ticket prices with plans to return tomorrow when we have more energy to enjoy the exhibit. Away from the throngs of tourists we sit at the point in the shade of the Della Dogana Museum, our legs hanging over the edge of the cement pier. Venetian style, Saint Mark’s square is across the inlet from where we sit and we watch the traffic jam of assorted boats zip by. Vaporettos, gondolas, shuttle taxi boats and private yachts motor by and when a large cruise ship passes in the distance, waves surge and splash our legs. Two artist’s sketch the scene and we are among just a handful of tourists and photographers enjoying this out of the way vantage point off the Grand Canal.

La Balute point, away from the throngs of tourists

Art on pier pilings, La Balute

The pier at La Balute

La Balute Plaza

Away from the throngs of tourists

We wind our way back through the maze of narrow streets, crossing tiny arched bridges and enjoying the intimacy of roads less traveled but the narrow streets soon join the main shopping street artery, swimming with streams of tourists.

Canal off the beaten tourist route

Main tourist artery, Venice

We pass shops of colorful Venetian glass, glittery jewelry and tacky tourist souvenir shops crammed with cheap and garish carnival masks, T-shirts and copies of Venetian sculpture. It is dinner time and in our usual dysfunctional manner, we read every restaurant menu before settling on a restaurant not far from our hotel. The restaurant only has inside seating and although, John and Art have a window view of those crossing the small adjoining bridge, I have no view and the restaurant feels claustrophobic. The food is not memorable and once again it is the affordable and very drinkable wine that puts a soft glow on the evening.

Evening light along the canals, Venice

Evening light, Venice

Outdoor cafe dining, Venice

The tide encroaches

We finish dinner shortly after 9:00 P.M. and the “football” game between Italy and Germany has just begun. Art and John want to watch but there are no restaurants that will allow us to sit and order just drinks without dinner. Around the corner from our Pension, a throng of young people gather, standing room only, drinking beer and watching the game on large outdoor screen. Art returns to our hotel and John and I continue to look for a bar where we can sit, drink and watch the game. Although there are dozens of restaurants spilling out along the canal, we must order dinner in order to sit. I notice that the tide is coming in and many of the table and chair legs are a few inches underwater.

Fans watching Italy vs Germany

Evening in Venice

We walk back to the square near our hotel where now charged and boisterous young people, stand, drink and cheer on the game. I leave John to enjoy the lively scene and walk the short distance back to our pension and climb the five flights to our room. As tired as I am, I am unable to sleep soundly until two hours later, I hear John softly enter our room. Italy lost to Germany.

Florence in a Day

Friday, July 1st, Florence in a Day.

Breakfast is included with our room and is reasonably good with unlimited cappuccinos, slices of ham and cheese and an array of rolls and croissants. We walk to the Duomo and wait briefly in the Florence Pass line and within minutes of opening are climbing the narrow winding stone staircase up to the dome. I am grateful that it is cool inside this stone cathedral but my heart pounds as I climb the stairway, prodded on by those behind me. Several hundred steps later we pop into the interior of the dome and I am able to catch my breath. Looking up, the glory of heaven and the depths of hell swirl around the elaborately painted ceiling of the dome.

Duomo dome painting

Detail painting of Hell

Down below the people are small specks on the floor of the vast cathedral. We circumnavigate half way around the interior walkway of the dome before resuming the climb up yet another spiral stone staircase. A final short and almost vertical stairway pops us out onto the view platform at the exterior of the dome. According to which guide book one reads, there are between 414 and 463 steps in total.

View of Florence from the Duomo

Final climb to the top of the Dome

Although it is just 9:00 A.M. the Florence sun is already brutal and a mirage of heat waves shimmer across on the red tile rooftops. We circle around the Duomo platform inhaling the 360-degree views of the Campanile, the Vatican and the Arno River with its many bridges. Although there does not seem to be a time limit, after 10 minutes we begin our winding descent and have a second chance to view the interior of the dome. We circumnavigate the other half of the interior walkway craning our necks to admire and memorize the exquisitely painted dome. The sunlight shocks our retinas when we exit the dark of the staircase and pop out onto the blinding plaza.

Across the plaza is the Duomo Museum and we spend two delicious hours wandering the timeless rooms filled with Roman sculptures, Gothic triptychs and a remarkable unfinished pieta carved by Michelangelo. The museum is beautifully curated, uncrowded and cool.

John admiring Gothic Triptych

Michelangelo’s unfinished Pieata

John admiring the Ghiberti Doors

Magdalena, carved in wood

We find a small café in the museum complex and sit for a cappuccino and a bite to eat before setting out across town to the Academia where we will see Michelangelo’s famed David. On our way we pass an TI (Tourist Information) and pop in to ask directions to Bank Italia which we believe is the sister bank to our bank back home. We retrace our steps to the indicated spot but there is no ATM and frustrated, we circle back towards the Academia. When we arrive, the lines snake down the block and the priority access line is so long that we leave feeling foolish for buying the expensive Firenze Card. We walk toward the Uffizi Gallery, also on our priority list and when we arrive, our Firenze Card gains us immediate entry and after a security and bag check we are free to wander the immense hallways and galleries of this world class museum.

Uffizi Gallery hallway

The Botticelli room is one of the highlights, but each gallery is a visual treat and seeing the familiar paintings is like visiting old friends. I see tears welling in Art’s eyes as he gazes at some of the masterpieces he has only seen in pictures and I feel great satisfaction watching our son’s appreciation as he drinks in the centuries of art and history. The octagonal Tribura Room is a tiny jewel of a gallery where we are only allowed to peek through the doorways into the opulent interior.

Art, Venus of Urbino, Titian

Drawing, Giovanni Bellini

Octagonal Tribuna Room, 1584, Uffizi

Detail of Spring, Botticelli

The Birth of Venus, Botticelli

Not far from the Uffizi is the Bargullo Gallery, a must-see according to Rick Steve’s. We slip inside the ancient museum and after the crowds in the Uffizi, it is strange and wonderful to have this museum virtually to ourselves. This museum houses Donatello’s famed David and a number of other remarkable bronze sculptures. Although the Uffizi Museum certainly deserves its fame, it is interesting how this jewel of a museum is virtually tourist free.

Bargello Museum

Marty, Donatello’s David

It is 4:30 when we walk back towards the Academia Museum for a final try at entry to admire Michelangelo’s David. Our feet throb and the afternoon is hot and humid and the priority line into the museum is still long. There are simply too many people already inside to allow immediate access. Disenchanted, we stroll around the block, find an outside café to rest and order drinks. Art and I order Campari Spritzers and John orders a Negri and the cool sweet alcoholic drinks take the stress out of the lines and puts a glow on our late afternoon. We order second rounds accompanied by savory appetizers and revived and fortified we walk back to the Academia for a third try at entry.

Michaelangelo’s David

We have timed it perfectly and get immediate access to the Academia Museum with a 40 minute window before closing. The last time I saw David was some 30 years ago and he was exhibited outside. Today he stands monumental at the end of the Academia Museum’s immense gallery. Crowds of tourists gaze up at the flawless white Carrera marble David admiring his fine features, immense hands and his nudity. Seeing David in this interior venue is inspiring and the perfect culmination for our day in Florence.

Ponte Vecchio Bridge

Crossing the Ponte Vecchio Bridge

Our near perfect day in Florence complete, we wander slowly back towards our hotel, crossing the Ponte Vecchio Bridge and paralleling the river. We stop and read countless menus but cannot agree on a restaurant for dinner. Art leaves us in frustration and returns to the hotel. We have been wandering a labyrinth of cobblestone streets that open onto a plaza. The evening light casts a warm glow over the square and John and I choose an outdoor café and enjoy a simple dinner of salad, a cheese and meat platter and a bottle of white wine. We talk and laugh and enjoy people watching from our corner table adjoining the square. Our meal is exactly 40 Euros or about $45.00. In most instances, service is built into the prices and tipping is not expected.

Back at the hotel, I call to reserve a hotel in Venice and am fortunate that one of the Rick Steve’s recommendations, Pension Guerrato, has availability. Art walks the short distance to the train station to buy us train tickets to Venice tomorrow morning.

Pompeii to Florence

June 30th, Sorrento to Pompeii to Florence

Art wants to add a Florence leg to our Italian itinerary so we wake early, eat a quick breakfast in the garden and Gioseppina drives us to the nearby train station. There are no fast trains between Sorrento and Pompeii and the local train stops at all the stations. We arrive at the Pompeii Scavi stop at 8:00 A.M. The opening information in our guidebook is wrong and Pompeii opens at 9:00 A.M, not 8:30. We are one of the first in line but the morning is already hot and we stand impatiently in line to purchase our tickets. Like bulls out of the shoot, we rush into the site along with throngs of other early bird tourists.

Hurrying to enter Pompeii

Immense paving stones to slow chariots

Pompeii Central Forum

Pompeii Forum

Column detail, Pompeii

Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and put an end to the prospering city of Pompeii. The impressive archeological site spans many acres and we attempt to follow the Rick Steve’s pod cast but many of the routes have been diverted and some ‘avenues’ closed for renovation so we are frustrated and confused following the audio narrative. Nevertheless, Pompeii is amazing and I am in awe of the public squares and forums with immense, if incomplete, columns surrounding the perimeters.

Listing to our Audio Guide

Streets of Pompeii

We enter a stunning and beautifully preserved public bath house with ornate carvings still intact and faded frescoes on the walls.

Public bath house Pompeii

Ceiling decor

Detail of bath house

The stone streets are paved with immense stone blocks with obvious chariot wheel grooves cut deep into the rocks. This city prospered in the first century A.D. prior to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and had a sophisticated aqueduct and lead pipe water delivery system. We see remains of private estates with re-created manicured gardens and shopping streets where restaurants once thrived.

Private estate garden

Stone work

Estate fresco

Restaurant counter with cooking holes

Art heads for the entrance but John and we retrace our path along uneven stone streets in the sweltering heat until we come to the plaster casts. Discovered in the 1748 the body cavities within the ash have been filled with plaster and we gaze with compassion at these figures who suffocated in the ash some 2000 years ago.

Plaster casts of Pompeii casualties

Before going to our prearranged meeting place to meet Art; John and I visit the exquisite Temple of Isis and the impressive Amphitheater.

Amphitheater, Pompeii

When we arrive, Art is just leaving the Amphitheater so after our intense four-hour visit of Pompeii we rush to the train station to catch yet another slow local train to Naples where we will change trains to Florence. We are traveling well as a family, each of us contributing in our own way. John with his youthful strength hauls suitcases up and down stairways and carries our day pack; Art figures out train schedules and our plan of attack for Florence and I keep our tickets organized and our valuables safe. Once on the train between Naples and Florence we all relax and nap to the rhythm of the train.

The fast train to Florence

We have no hotel accommodations in Florence but walk across the plaza to the Tourist Information Office and while I am buying our Florence sightseeing passes, Art calls a nearby hotel that happily has a triple room available for two nights. The Florence pass is expensive, 72 Euros for 72 hours of sights and we expect to be in Florence for just 36 hours and to use these passes for just one full day of sightseeing. Nevertheless, the pass will allow us to skip the lines and we have come to Florence to see the art.

Hotel Montreal, a two-star hotel just two blocks from the station is simple but acceptable. Our triple room costs 109 Euros and although worn, is clean and has a great bathroom which we immediately take advantage of to wash the Pompeii dust and sweat from our bodies. Refreshed we head out to get our bearings and to find dinner. Florence is a small jewel of a city and the Duomo is within walking distance.

The Duomo facade

The Duomo, Florence

The evening light casts a golden glow on the multicolor marble of the immense cathedral and we stroll around the bustling plaza, people-watching and stopping to admire the bronze Ghiberti doors of the Baptistery. These doors are old friends of mine but are no less impressive on my fifth visit to Florence.

Harikrishna

Sunset on the Arno River

Ponte Vecchio Bridge

We walk down to Arno River and across the Ponte Trinita Bridge. Bicyclists and a parade of Harikrishna are just part of the entertainment. The late afternoon light is magical and we sit upon the stone block banister of the Ponte Trinita bridge and see the covered Ponte Vecchio Bridge beyond.

We have worked up an appetite and meander back along narrow cobblestone streets in the direction of our hotel reading all the restaurant menus. We suffer our usual indecision but eventually settle on a small restaurant just down the street from our hotel. Art orders a mushroom fettuchinni, John a pizza and I order a chicken breast in wine sauce which is served pitifully naked and unaccompanied on a plate. I ask to taste the red house wine before ordering a carafe that is sadly uninspired and the waiter bring me a taste of another red wine, also uninspired. Resigned, I settle on a carafe of the house wine for 9 Euros. We share the warm and watery wine, pay the modest bill and return exhausted to our hotel.

Amalfi – The Coastline of the Rich and Famous

Wednesday, June 29th, The Amalfi Coast

Giuseppina serves us breakfast in her garden and her two tiny dogs bounce around our legs begging for food. There is plenty of bread, butter and jam and freshly squeezed orange juice, but only one cup of coffee each and I wish for a second cup.

Amalfi Coast Beachfront

Breakfast in the Garden

We walk ten minutes down the road to Hotel Antiche Mura, our pick-up location for our chauffeured tour down the Amalfi Coast. We are the first three of six passengers and Art sits in the front seat of the pearl grey Mercedes mini-van. John and I choose the window seat that will face the ocean on our drive down the coastline. John sits beside me with a clear view ahead and to my right. Next we pick up a well-dressed Finnish/Russian couple, followed by a young woman from New York who works for a Jewish Birthright non-profit and is taking a short break in Sorrento. Antonio, our experienced driver, is charming and narrates his well-rehearsed commentary as he expertly maneuvers the car along the narrow and twisty road.

Amalfi Coast Hillside Villages

Village houses cling precariously to the cliff sides high above the Tyrrhenian Sea. The rugged coastline is very Big-Sur-esque and I snap hundreds of bad photos out the van window, most of which I later delete. We have read about the white knuckle Amalfi Coast road but I feel no angst with our competent driver and a stone guardrail separating us from the sea below. We make a rest stop at an upscale café/tourist shop and John and I order cappuccinos. The blue of the counter visually melts with the blue of the ocean beyond.

Blissful, Amalfi Coast Cappuccino

Amalfi Coast Vista

Too Cool on the Amalfi Coast

The ocean below is dotted with boats and some extremely large yachts. Our driver tells us that many of the hotel rooms in the area rent for over $1,000 a night, making owning a yacht rather like having an upscale motor home. We stop at the Emerald Grotto and take the elevator down to the beach, pay our 5 euros each and enter a small cave with a few stalagmites and stalactites. The six of us climb into a long wooden boat with bench seats and our guide rows us around the tiny cave giving us a lame and repetitive commentary. The grotto tour is short and we are grateful that our guide does not break into song like the boat tour before ours.

Our next stop is Ravello, the furthest town south on our Amalfi Coast itinerary. By stopping at Ravello first and returning North along the Amalfi Coast we hope to avoid the majority of the cruise ship day trippers. These famous and picturesque towns are all built into the hillside and Antonio drops us off at the top of Ravello town so that we may walk downhill into the town center. He suggests that we start with the view at an upscale hotel and we walk into a plush lobby overlooking the valley and ocean beyond. The terraced hillside is picture postcard perfect, dotted with villas, vineyards and olive and lemon trees.

We have precisely two hours to visit this hillside town and to partake of lunch. Antonio recommends a rustic restaurant in the lower part of town but we are not charmed by their inside tables or the prices on the menu. We wish to celebrate this beautiful day outside and we find a deli where we buy sandwiches and tiny bottles of Campari Orange and champagne and have a picnic in the nearby park. The view is delicious and the champagne goes down like water and we soon send John back to the deli for more of the tiny bottles of libations and enjoy a perfect al fresco lunch overlooking the terraced valley beyond.

Al Fresco Picnic with Campari and Champagne in Ravello

I am not interested in the touristy shopping street so we climb the stairs back to the upper plaza, drink cappuccinos at an outdoor café and eventually wind our way back down along narrow cobblestone lanes and through the tunnel to a congested parking area where we meet Antonio to continue our Amalfi Coast drive.

Walkways in Ravella

Cappuccinos in Ravella

Antonio drives North towards Sorrento and we keep our seating positions so that those on the inside of the van earlier now have the cliffside vistas. The road winds down to beach level and we have an hour in Positano Village. Sun worshippers rent yellow and green beach umbrellas and recline in their shade, the umbrellas so closely spaced that they touch each other.

Positano Beach Umbrellas

We start our walk from the jam-packed beach parking area and climb up into the town crowded with tourists and lined with gift shops. John and Art pop into a knife shop and John buys a ship in a bottle for a friend, but the tourist souvenirs and shops selling crisp linen clothes and Italian pottery have no appeal to me. Precisely an hour later we are back in our van and heading north to Amalfi.

Amalfi Coast Beachfront

In spite of the fabulous vistas, I grow sleepy on the return drive and find myself nodding off as we are chauffeured to Amalfi. This time we are deposited at the top of the town and walk down the cobbled shop-lined street. An overhead trellis of bougainvillea shades much of the pedestrian walkway. We find a café and sit down for service but after being ignored for five minutes by at least four idle waiters we leave and order cappuccinos at the stand up bar instead. The drive from Amalfi to Sorrento is less than an hour and we watch the countryside scroll past and inhale the dramatic views of the coastline far below.

Because we are the first of our group to be dropped off, Antonio drops us off at the bottom of our hill and we hike back to the Lemon House to shower and change before enjoying our final dinner in Sorrento.

Art vs the Lobster

O Canonico Restaurant

O Canonico Restaurant, Sorrento

We splurge on an upscale dinner at Restaurant ‘O Canonico in the main square. We sit on the restaurant’s raised outdoor terrace and are welcomed with a glass of prosecco and a vegetable and crouton appetizer. Our main entrees are a delicious lemon and butter baked fish, a lobster pasta and duck in a balsamic wine reduction. We share a bottle of red wine and when the bill arrives, are surprised that the bill has already been paid? John paid the bill earlier in the evening when he excused himself to go to the restroom. It’s been a lovely evening and a lovely surprise to be treated to dinner by our remarkable son.

Early evening in Sorrento

In Sorrento, the main street is closed to traffic at 8:00 p.m. each evening so that pedestrians may stroll, shop and drink. Art and John buy gelatos and we continue our stroll. Eventually we find an outdoor café where we can sit and order drinks. Art discusses the Brexit with the Irish couple sitting at the adjoining table. The walk back to our Air B&B seems especially long tonight.

Over-hyped – Ile de Capri

Tuesday, June 28th, Sorrento to Capri Island

Art wants to spend a relaxed day in Sorrento while John and I go to Capri to visit the Blue Grotto. The three of us walk the long and now familiar hill from our Air BnB down into Sorrento. John and I are catching the early ferry to Capri in hopes of beating all the tourists visiting the Blue Grotto. We part ways above the marina leaving Art to wander in search of his morning cappuccino at the perfect café.

Arriving in Capri Harbor

The Ferryboat to Capri

When John and I arrive on Capri, we find that the Blue Grotto is closed because of the tides. We wander the touristy and very boring waterfront hoping that the tide situation will change but when it does not, John and I choose to take an around-the-island tour instead. Our island tour doesn’t depart until 10:00 a.m. and we buy sandwiches and drinks for the boat and overpriced flip flops for John. Our open boat is lovely and there are about 20 of us on board. We cruise past the Blue Grotto with its entrance mostly submerged by the tide. I wonder if this situation is more the norm than the exception but that tourists aren’t informed of this so that we continue to take the ferry boats out to Capri and book other excursions instead? Our boat continues to motor around the island stopping at the Emerald Cove and squeezing through an impossibly small arch opening in the rock. The weather is blissful and it’s a lovely two hour circumnavigation of the island and we are only slightly disappointed that we are not allowed to swim. The passengers from the private boats are swimming cliffside in the intoxicating blue-green waters.

Emerald Cove, Capri Island

Cliffside Caves of Capri

Silhouetted Rock Archways

Back at the Capri harbor, John goes swimming off the narrow pebbly beach where young and old, thin and fat, play in the mild surf and sun bathe on blankets. Although I am happy to be experiencing this pebbly beach, I question how this island and the Amalfi coast became so popular for the rich and famous? In my mind it lacks just about everything that the perfect beach should have. One cannot leave footprints in non-existent sand and the pebbly impressions on my behind are less than glamorous. Where are the beautiful people? I am just one more flawed tourist on this over-hyped beach although I see eyes turning to admire John’s youthful physic and his confident swagger.

John on Capri’s Beach

Sunbathers on Capri’s Beach

Cordoned Swim Area – Capri’s Beach

We catch a 1:00 p.m. fast ferry back to Sorrento, walk the boardwalk beneath the vertical cliff back to the elevator and whoosh up to Sorrento above.

John and I hike back to our Air BnB. Art is resting and John and I shower and get horizontal for an hour before walking back into town to arrange tomorrow’s tour along the Amalfi Coast. The tourist information office is very helpful, giving us directions to the chauffeur and car rental service we request. Naturally, the office is on the other side of town but after a few wrong turns we find the office and manage to book a shared car and driver for tomorrow. We will be the first three to be picked up in front of a central Sorrento luxury hotel (unfortunately, we are not guests at this hotel). We are promised that there will be no more than 7 of us, plus driver, for an all-day excursion along the Amalfi Coast in a Mercedes mini-van. The price for this is 85 euros per person; or about $300 for the three of us.

John and I are famished and we search desperately for a place to sit, relax and to eat a late afternoon snack. As is typical, one or the other of us find something wrong with each café we pass. It is hot, we are all tired and we are not having a good time. Eventually, Art suggests we go to the restaurant where he had breakfast earlier but naturally we have strolled in the opposite direction. We turn around and walk the several blocks back and enter a lovely garden café with rabbits grazing in the grass. Cool drinks and a light lunch revive both our bodies and our spirits.

Sorrento Garden Cafe

Garden Cafe Rabbit

The fact that our Air BnB is not centrally located is putting a damper on our Sorrento experience but as we walk back to our hotel, we pass a shop with a ceramic octopus in its shop window. Inside the artist is cutting intaglio octopus carvings into the surface of ceramic cups and bowls. His work is delightful so we buy several of his pieces and Art takes a photo of me with the artist and his octopus sculpture.

Sorrento Ceramic Artist with Octopus Sculpture

We trudge back uphill to the Lemon House to clean up and to rest before dinner.

Hiking Home to the Lemon House

Scott, my ex-husband, and his wife Shari have been to Sorrento several times, love the town and have suggested that we eat dinner at the Foreigners’ Club. Music is playing as we enter the open air dining patio and we are escorted to a table not far from the railing overlooking the ocean below. Unfortunately, dinner is far from memorable and the music is not to our taste. Art is unusually quiet and eventually tells us that he doesn’t feel well. Two wedding receptions are in full swing on the expansive patio and we amuse ourselves watching one of the parties perform overly choreographed line dancing at the same time trying to control one very drunk and out-of-control guest. Three limoncellas accompany the bill and we slurp down the too sweet liquor and return to our hotel.

Sorrento

Monday, June 27^th, Rome to Naples to Sorrento

View of the Sorrento Harbor

Our morning train to Naples is delayed 40 minutes. We know that when we arrive in Naples we must transfer to a different train line for Sorrento. When we arrive, Art asks a cluster of loitering men for directions to the local trainline platform. One disheveled, middle aged man, reeking of alcohol, takes it upon himself to escort us through the terminal and to the local line. I’m quite sure that his escort will come with a price, but he does his best to reassure and charm us and repeatedly tries to help me with my luggage. Indeed, when we are reach the ticket turn style, he asks Art for ten euros. Art chuckles and hands him five and we join the other passengers gathered on the platform to wait for the local train. It arrives shortly and there is a rush and push to board the crowded train and we stand, sardine-style, much of the way to Sorrento. During the push to get aboard, Art is blocked and jostled by several men and when he settles on board he discovers that the button to his cargo pants pocket is undone. He is upset, but fortunately, still has his wallet. (This episode will inspire Art to purchase a decoy wallet in Sorrento into which he will put a small amount of cash and keep in his upper accessible pants pocket. He will also buy a pack of safety pins to pin closed his lower cargo pants pocket where his will keep his real wallet.)

Sorrento

The Lemon-House; Air BnB Sorrento Italy

Our Air BnB host, Gisieppie, picks us up at the train station and drives us the ten minutes to our accommodation at the Lemon House. She is in her mid 50s, large and gregarious, and we are grateful for the direct delivery to our room. This is the first Air BnB that we have stayed at and the room is exactly what is pictured on the web site. Unfortunately, the drive to the Lemon House is mostly uphill and I realize that the “short walk to town” will be more like a hike. We settle into the immaculate and spacious room with a queen bed and a pull-out sofa for John. The bathroom is updated and more than adequate, but Gisieppie rambles on with complicated instructions about how to close the shower door properly. She suggests tours to Capri and tours along the Amalfi Coast and although we want to do both, I simply want to be left alone and to read travel details in the Rick Steves guide book and check my email. I feel that she is annoyed that I don’t commit to one of her tour suggestions where she likely receives a commission but I feel equally annoyed and pressured by her. She eventually leaves us alone in our room and we attempt to log onto the Lemon House wireless. The connection is painfully slow and will continue to be problematic over the next several days.

Waiting for our laundry to wash

Technical challenges – soap dispenser

We bag up our dirty laundry and, with map in hand, walk into town with finding a Laundromat first on our agenda. Once again, our friend Rick Steves gets us directly to one of the two laundromats in town and I watch with amusement as Art and John try to figure out how to purchase soap from the dispenser and operate the washing machine. (I have learned that trying to help in these “technical” situations only leads to disharmony). When the comedy of errors is over and the machine is agitating our laundry instead of the men, Art and John tell me they are off to buy sandwiches and leave me to guard our laundry. They are gone a very long time, but in the meantime I make many friends at the laundromat.

Although I am alone to begin with, a newlywed couple arrives, the young woman looking terrified with the prospects of domestic duties. Soon a group of seasoned and gregarious Australians arrive and the sterile laundromat turns into a party as they open bags of dirty laundry and bottles of beer. They struggle to operate the machines but I watched Art and John carefully and I am forthright in disclosing the idiosyncrasies of the machines. Art and John return just in time to decipher the mysteries of the dryer cycle and to confess that they have been watching a soccer game while I watched the laundry spin.

With stuff bags filled with clean laundry, we set out to explore the more interesting parts of Sorrento. It is late afternoon and the sun basks the city in a golden glow. The Italy versus Spain soccer game is underway followed by the England and Iceland game and all the cafés are filled with enthusiastic fans. Art and John want to watch and they manage to find a shared table at an outdoor café where they can sit, watch and drink beer.

Art and John watching a Soccer Game in Sorrento Italy

A winning soccer maneuver, Sorrento

Not a sports fan, I take this opportunity to stroll the picturesque city alone and I stumble upon a cliffside elevator down to the marina several hundred feet below where I hope to investigate times and prices of tickets to Ill de Capri. The elevator pops me out at beach level and although it is late in the day there are still people enjoying the fading sunlight.

Private beachside cabanas

Peter’s Beach, Sorrento

The various beaches are all private with deck chairs and dressing cabanas alongside a narrow boardwalk that winds between the steep cliff and the various beach enclosures. The scene is picturesque and I make the mistake of stepping onto a private deck to take a photograph and am reprimanded for my intrusion. The marina is just a short walk ahead and when I arrive I find the ferry office still open and pick up a printed schedule so that we can plan tomorrow’s trip to Capri.

The New Marina, Sorrento

I meander back on the narrow boardwalk, enter through the turnstile for the cliffside elevator, pay my half euro, and am quickly transported back up to Sorrento. The elevator regurgitates me onto the cliffside square and I walk to the railing to admire the view of the marina below. After inhaling the view, I leave the park and see a Franciscan Church adjoining the square.

Sorrento View

Franciscan Cloister

I have read about this church cloister in our Rick Steves guide book and step into the courtyard. The courtyard glows in the late afternoon sunlight; bougainvillea bright against the Gothic stone archways. I stroll the perimeter and decompress before heading back to the main street to join Art and John and to partake of the soccer festivities. In between cheers for the teams, Art is in conversation with two British couples and they heatedly discuss Brexit and what it signifies for the U.K. and the European Union.

When the game finally ends, we walk down to the Grande Marina in search of dinner. The winding cobblestone pathway descends steeply toward the sea and we arrive at the marina just in time for sunset.

Walking down to the Grande Marina

Sunset at the Grande Marina

Sunset over the Marina

The lighting is magical and we are in good spirits. Because it is sunset, the many inviting restaurants are filling up quickly and choosing which one to dine at is stressful but we see one with an available table at the edge of the patio and sit down impulsively.

Grande Marina Sorrento, Italy

Close up at the Grande Marina

The silver sheen on the water is lovely but the service is slow and although Art’s seafood pasta is good, John’s and my dinners are disappointing. We stroll along the waterfront after dinner, find the bus that departs every 30 minutes and take it back up into town. The evening is balmy and we enjoy after dinner drinks at an outdoor café, and when the bill arrives they also bring us shots of limoncello, the local aperitif that Sorrento is famous for. The thick sweet liquor tastes like melted lemon jello with a kick.

Campari and Limoncello

Limoncellos

From there we hoof it through the town center and uphill “the short walk” to our Lemon House Air BnB. When we crawl into our beds it is after 11:00 P.M.

Our Roman Holiday – Part Four

Sunday, June 26^th – The Pantheon and the Heart of Rome Walk.

Pantheon

Taxis are affordable in Rome and we take an early morning taxi to the Pantheon and enter the cool and uncrowded building. Art has downloaded the Rick Steve’s audio guide onto our phones and we listen to the history of this monumental Roman temple and admire the immense dome that inspired the domes of Brunelleschi’s Duomo in Florence and Michelangelo’s St. Peter’s Dome.

Pantheon

Interior dome of the Pantheon

Interior of the Pantheon

We leave the cool of the marbled Pantheon and are stuck by the heat as we wander towards Plaza Navona to admire the Plazas three fountains. At one end of the plaza is a fountain of Neptune wrestling a giant octopus and coincidentally, Art is wearing an Octopus T-shirt from Apo Islands in the Philippines. John takes photos of Art beside the fountain.

Fountain of Neptune battling a giant octopus.

Art wearing Octopus T-shirt

The center fountain is the most famous; the baroque Bernini, Four Rivers fountain that is crowned by an Egyptian Obelisk and where horses plunge through rocks and exotic flora and fauna. The third fountain at the opposite end of the plaza is a Moor wrestling with a dolphin but it is the Octopus fountain that most impresses me.

Four Rivers Fountain by Bernini

Four Rivers Fountain

John wants to go to Castel Sant’Angelo, a middle age castle, prison and tomb for emperors. The formidable castle is build of ancient bricks and stands at the edge of the Tiber River. John walks the quay while Art and I stroll above and towards the elegant bridge to cross to the Castle. Our Roma passes get us a deep discount and we spend two hours within its stonewalls looking at armory and admiring the structure itself. The view of the St. Peters Basilica, the Vatican and Rome from the battlements is wonderful.

Panoramic View of St Peter’s Basilica from Castel Sant’Angelo

Art, John, St Peter’s Basilica

Castel Sant’Angelo

River view, Castel Sant’Angelo

View of the Tiber River from Castel Sant’Angelo

We continue the “Heart of Rome” walk; step into a stunning Cathedral and pass the crowded Trevi Fountain again and eventually pop down into the Metro near the Spanish Steps.

Interior, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

Tree installation, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

Egyptian Obelisk

We take the metro to the train Station to buy tomorrows tickets to Naples and onto Sorrento. John and I hope to still make it to the Catacombs of Priscilla (open on Sunday) but by the time we have figured out the train tickets, time is short. Art is more interested in horizontal time than exploring the Catacombs and we part ways. Our three-day Roma passes get us free bus and metro travel and the bus to the Catacombs leaves from the train station. As we wait for our bus, I pull out my Roma pass and realize that I have Art’s pass as well. I don’t want him to have to walk back to our hotel and scan the plaza in front of the train station. Miraculously, I spot him crossing the street a block away and John sprints towards him. When we catch up I give Art his pass and John and I return to wait for the bus but it’s after 3:00 P.M. and last entry to the Catacombs is at 4:30. Reevaluating, I am afraid that this might be a wasted trip and when I scan the plaza I see National Sculpture Museum of Rome at a far corner. This is the main branch and according to Rick Steve’s, our new best friend in Rome, houses the greatest collection of Roman art anywhere. John and I flash our Roma passes, get a nice discount and spend two hours looking at the collections of Roman Sculptures and an extensive collection of Roman coins.

Bronze Sculpture

Discus Thrower – Roman Copy

Fish Mosaic

Mosaic

Marble Roman Carving

Ancient Roman Coin

Last night, John made reservations for dinner at a Monti neighborhood restaurant. Our reservations are at 8:00 P.M. and we have a reserved table on the street. It is by far the best meal we have had in Rome and I regret that I didn’t jot down the restaurant’s name or what dishes we ordered.

Roman Holiday – Part Three

Saturday, June 24^th The Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and Borghese Gallery

We enjoy our first generous and delicious breakfast in the charming dining room of our hotel . We are welcomed with strong coffee with milk, croissants, cured slices of ham and thick slices of cheese, yogurt and orange juice.

Breakfast at Hotel Antica Locanda

The morning is brutally hot as we walk to the Roman Forum. Our Roma passes allow us to skip the lines and John rents an audio guide which isn’t well organized and we wander the extensive grounds of the Forum in a disorganized manner. We drink water constantly, refilling our water bottles from the stone water fountains throughout the vast Forum.

Arch of Titus, Roman Forum

Temple of Antonius, Pius & Faustian

Although I don’t know for sure, it feels like the temperature is over 100 and we try to keep to the shade. We climb the many stairways, wander the ruins, and when I am about to expire, we cool down in the museum.

View of the Roman Forum

Looking up to Palatino Hill

View of the Roman Forum

View of the Temple of Vesta

Museum Murals

Palatino Hill Plaza

Palatino Hill Courtyard

Palatino Hill adjoins the Forum but it is high on the hillside above requiring the climbing of many stone steps. At the top there is another small museum and I rest gratefully and watch a short movie about Palatino Hill. For the first time I grasp the essence of the cultured and brutal civilization that inhabited these ruins and how the civilizations rose and fell and how this extensive city morphed throughout the ages. We spend five hours exploring the Forum and Palatino Hill and I am exhausted by the time we start the walk back towards our hotel.

We have lunch at the same restaurant around the corner from our hotel and the air conditioning and food revives me. Art and I order excellent artichoke and chicken salads and John orders a squid cannelloni. After refreshing showers we set our alarms and sleep for two hours to be recharged for our 5:00 P.M. reservation to the Borghese Gallery.

Pauline Borghese as Venus

Bernini’s David

One needs prior reservations to visit the Borghese Gallery with its renowned collection of Baroque sculpture by Bernini, and paintings by Caravaggio, Raphael, Titian and Rubens. We take a taxi to the museum and use our Roma pass to pick up our reserved tickets downstairs. There are many disappointed people who didn’t know that reservations were required or who paid for online reservations but because they were traveling, were unable to print out their ticket vouchers. After collecting our tickets we have just enough time to grab a cappuccino at the museum café; much needed to clear the cobwebs of our brains after our afternoon siesta. We are required to check all bags including my purse and the museum check provides a small clear plastic bag into which I may put just my wallet, passport and phone to carry inside. Precisely at 5:00 P.M. we are allowed entrance into this sumptuous jewel of a museum.

Detail of the Rape of Proserpina

The Rape of Proserpina, Bernini

This 17^th century museum was the Cardinal Scipione Borghese mansion and Cardinal Borghese collected much of the finest Renaissance art of the times. Each room features a Baroque masterpiece and the intimate experience is awe inspiring. The breathtaking Carrera marble sculpture of Pauline Borghese as Venus, by Antonio Canova reclines scandalously in the first gallery. In another room, Bernini’s David puts a rock into his sling to slay Goliath but it is Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne that takes my breath away. Daphne’s fingers and toes morph into roots and leaves as she is magically transformed into a tree to escape the advances of Apollo.

Apollo and Daphne, Bernini

Detail of Apollo and Daphne

Bernini’s, The Rape of Proserpina, created when he was just 24 years, is masterful and he turns the marble into living flesh. The immense hands and fingers of her captor leave impressions on Proserpina’s voluptuous flesh and a single tear slips down her face. The painting galleries are upstairs and there is an entire room devoted to the work of Caravaggio and Titian.

Caravaggio

Titian

Each gallery showcases one exceptional piece but is also filled with other remarkable works and the walls and ceilings are sumptuously painted with frescos, rococo iced and gilded with gold leaf.

Borghese Gallery fresco

Borghese Gallery ceiling fresco

We loose John somewhere in the museum and Art and I wander together through rooms filled with remarkable masterpieces. In the midst of all these masterpieces, a small painting by Jacopo Zucchi, the Allegoria Della Scoperta dell’ America, captures my eye. Water nymphs hold coral and rays and shells ripe with pearls. A jeweled treasure of shells and coral surrounds Neptune, crowned with coral. When we catch up with John later he remarks on this painting and tells me it his favorite painting in the museum.

Allegoria Della Scoperta dell’ America

Our Roman Holiday – Part Two

Friday, June 24^rd – The Vatican Museum and Roman Coliseum.

Our alarm goes off at 6:00 A.M. and we shower and dress quickly. The hotel calls for a taxi and minutes later we are zipping through an already warm Rome and by 6:45 we are deposited at the entrance to the Sistine Chapel. I have arranged for an “early entrance tour” with the tour company “The Roman Guy” and already there are groups of tourists with their guides gathering on the stairway across the street. We joke that soon there will be an ‘’early early entrance tour” for an “extra extra” charge. We sit at an outdoors tourist café and each order a cappuccino (mine a double) and share two toasted ham and cheese sandwiches. By Starbuck standards, our espresso drinks are excellent but about as pricy and we pay the 30 Euro bill for our minimal breakfast and walk back to find our tour group. Booking a Vatican/Sistine Chapel/Saint Peter’s Basilica tour is complicated. There were literally hundreds of tour companies to choose from and pricing was varied vastly depending on the company, entry time and number in each tour. There is even a special private evening tour for some $3500 per person.

View of Vatican City and Saint Peter’s Basilica

Vatican Cafe

When our tour is over we will rate our guide as mediocre at best but twelve of us dutifully follow her to the snaking line in front of the museum and shortly after 8:00 A.M. we are gliding along the polished marble floors of gorgeous Vatican Museum galleries. Although there were many other early entry groups, the Vatican Museum is immense and for a delicious 45 minutes we have expansive views of the hallways and galleries mostly to ourselves.

Vatican Museum Gallery Hallways

Marty, Vatican Museum

We wander through a hallway of tapestries, a marvelous cartography hallway and galleries of Greek, Roman and Egyptian sculpture.

Cartography Gallery Hallway

Map detail

Art, Marty, John, Cartography Gallery

The walls and ceilings are frescoed, frosted and gilded and we crane our necks to admire the swirling scenes above us.

Ceiling Fresco, Vatican Museum

Looking Up, Vatican Museum

The highlight is of course Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel where talking and photography are not permitted. Our guide briefs us prior to entry and we are allowed twenty minutes inside the Chapel where I desperately try to absorb and retain the genius of this place. The famous ceiling consists of nine panels of scenes from the Book of Genesis but it is the immense end wall with the painting of the Last Judgment that takes my breath away. The frescos have been recently cleaned and the colors are vibrant. I’ve visited the Sistine Chapel several times before but my last visit was some thirty years ago and at that time, the colors were muted and parts of the Chapel were cordoned off with scaffolding.

We continue touring the vast museum stopping to admire Raphael’s famous painting of the School of Athens.

School of Athens, Raphael

Battle Scene

Our three-hour tour includes and ends at St Peters Basilica, the largest Cathedral in the smallest country in the world. We circumnavigate the cool interior of this vast Basilica, admiring its opulence and gazing up at the immense dome.

Crowds inside Saint Peter’s Basilica

Saint Peter’s Basilica

Interior dome, Saint Peter’s Basilica

Angel, Saint Peter’s Basilica

John wants to climb to the top of the dome but I’m not up to it in the heat and my still jet lagged state. When we exit, the heat and bright sunlight outside is a shock to my senses. I wait by a large drinking fountain, in the shade of a courtyard while John and Art make the climb.

We head back to the Monti district and find a restaurant just around the corner from our hotel that seems to please all of us. Back at our hotel we take showers and a much needed two-hour siesta.

Panorama of the Roman Colosseum

When possible, we travel with the Rick Steve’s guidebook and he recommends purchasing the Roma pass, not so much because it can save some money but because it allows you to skip the lines and in the height of the tourist season, lines are terrible. At 4:30 we walk to the Colosseum, activate our Roma passes and skip the line. We are fortunate that there is room on the 5:15 P.M. guided tour that proves to be excellent. A young French woman, studying for her PHD in archeological restoration, leads our tour and afterwards we wander the perimeter of the adjoining Forum, which is closed for the day.

John, Marty, Art, Roman Colosseum

Roman Colosseum

Wedding Photos

Our guide has recommended two restaurants but we are unable to find either but leisurely stroll in the direction of our hotel in search of dinner. We follow another suggestion and back track several block finding the suggested restaurant but they are fully booked for the night. Once again, we end up at yet another second rate restaurant and order three prix fix dinners. The pasta course is good but my roast chicken leg and thigh is inedible and the salad is pathetic. We are obviously not doing well in the gourmet department and it is the Campari Spritzers and a good and inexpensive bottle of a crisp white wine that saves the evening.

Bistro Bar in the Monti District

End of the day toast

Although it is already late we have after dinner drinks at a colorful restaurant/bar in the Monti. Art orders another Campari, John a Negroni and I order another bottle of white wine to share. It is a refreshing blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio and the wine goes down like water on this still warm evening. We get to bed just before midnight.