Italy - Day 9 - Friends in High Places

Did I mention how beautiful Lake Maggiore is? The lake is dotted by what is known as the Borromean Islands. Today we took a short boat ride to one of those islands, Isola Bella and toured the Borromean Prince Palace.

Members of the Borromean family still reside in parts of the castle. The remainder of the castle has been turned into a museum. I am noticing that rich families in Italy go all the way to impress visitors with opulence and grandeur. This castle was no exception. Every turn was a wow moment.

As spectacular as the inside was, the real "wow" happen when we ventured outside. The palace gardens were worth the visit by themselves.

Not sure I have ever seen a pure white peacock. And this one played to the crowds. He would belt out a loud, heart pounding call. Once he had your attention, he would spread his plume for all to admire.

What looked like a castle itself, was a terraced garden, complete with stairs to the top. Once at the top, it offered 360 degree views of the entire island and lake. Wow!

After the castle tour, we skirted back to the mainland and took a bus ride to Lake Cumo. All of the lakes in this area compete to be the best. Lake Cumo is a man made lake. We toured the lake by boat, passing magnificent villas along the way.

Some of the rich and famous call Lake Cumo home. We passed by George Clooney's home. He could have popped out to at least say "hi". We also passed the outdoor garden where John Legend had his wedding reception.

After all of these lake cruises, we were needing to get ready for dinner. So it was back on the bus and back to the hotel.

Everyone got gussied up for dinner. By the way, that's not easy to do when you're living out of your suitcase and there are no irons. Did you know that irons in hotel rooms is illegal? Pat got good at ironing with the hair dryer in the bathroom. Fortunately, everyone was inundated with wrinkles so we didn't stand out. How do you think we got to dinner? You guessed it. We hopped on another boat and ventured to another island.

This is what as known as our, "Be my guest" dinner. We dined at a nice little restaurant on the lake that stayed open just for a tour group. The host seemed genuinely honored to have us over for dinner. I guess it pays to have friends in high places.

This was the perfect end to another busy, adventurous day. 

Italy - Day 8 - The Road to Paradise

Today we travel from Venice to Lake Maggiore. However, before we get to the lake, we have a couple really interesting stops.

Our first stop is in Verona. If you don't know this is the setting for Romeo and Juliette. Locals have attributed the story to actual families and places in Verona. Essentially, they have made this a true story. Not sure that I buy that, but it makes for interesting travel. We visited Juliette's famous courtyard balcony.

Juliette even indulged us for a quick photo. The entrance to the courtyard is marked by scores of messages from star crossed lovers.

From Verona we traveled to Milan, the fashion capital of the world. This is a very metropolitan city. A lot of glamorous shops.

Fashion is really important in Milan. It seems that everyone was really nicely dressed which made for sharp fashion statements... and a bit of self consciousness.

While in Milan, we toured The Galleria (shopping), the La Scala Opera House, and the Castello Sforza Museum (opera). All I keep thinking is, "We'll be watching Allison perform here someday."

We traveled from Milan to Lake Maggiore. This is a place I had never heard of. However, it turns out to be the most spectacular scenery of the entire trip. The massive lake is surrounded by mountains and dotted by small islands. The vegetation is lush and green. We even passed by a mountain where the Roman's quarried granite for their various building projects. The granite blocks traveled by barge over lakes, sea, and rivers to reach Rome. The entire journey took about 3 months!

Traveling to our hotel, we wind our way through a small village, pass many grand villas, hotels and resorts. Our hotel is very nice and the views from our room are awesome. We have a nice dinner in the hotel and venture out for a casual exploratory walk afterwards.

Finally, we turn in for the night. I can't wait to see more of this place tomorrow.

Italy - Day 7 - Quality Over Quantity

We rose early this morning and had a nice breakfast in the hotel. For breakfast there's typically a spread of various meats (salami, prosciutto), cheeses, breads and croissants. There's also scrambled eggs, some form of bacon, and sausages that are more like hot dogs. They are trying to cater to an American diet as these latter items are not included in a traditional Italian breakfast.

After breakfast, we boarded a boat for the island of Giudecca and had a glass blowing demonstration. Venetian glass is considered the best in the world.

After the demonstration, they ushered us into a huge showroom filled with beautiful Venetian glass chandeliers, drinking glasses, figurines, jewelry, statues, mirrors, and on and on. This place was huge. Once on the showroom, they of course, tried to convince us to buy. The sales pitch was good, but the prices indicated that these were more like investments. Not sure Courtney and Brandon would appreciate an inheritance of Venetian glassware.

After the glassblowing it was back to the main island for a more in depth tour of San Marco Square and St. Mark's Basilica.

Note: I won't  have pictures inside the basilica as photography is not allowed. However,  within the square there were a couple interesting sites.

 We will visit Pisa in a few days, but Venice has it's own leaning tower.

Also, this is a bridge between two buildings. These were traditionally the court and the prison. The bridge is known as "The Bridge of Sighs". This was the place where family members could get their last glimpse of the convicted as they were led to prison.

We had a light lunch as we are planning for an early dinner. We took another boat ride to the island of Burano. This is another quaint island in the Venice lagoon.

While walking the island, we ran into a 102 year old resident. I asked if I could take a picture with him and he obliged.

I certainly don't know this man and he spoke no English. However, he seemed to have a very good quality of life. He got around really well, was well dressed, and exited what appeared to be a very nice home. I never thought I wanted to live that long, but if I can do it like that, count me in.

While touring Burano, I discover they have their own leaning tower. What's with all the leaning towers in Italy?

While in Burano, we had dinner at an amazing restaurant. In Italy, meals are served in courses. We had seafood risotto, black risotto made with squid ink, shrimp, calamari, fish, and almond brittle. Of course we had gallons of wine with everything. This restaurant was just like you might imagine.  It seemed the whole community was there eating together... laughing together... talking really loud together.

It's our last night in Venice, but I experienced what it means to put quality over quantity. They make quality glass. They have quality food. They live quality lives. Ciao Venice.

Italy - Day 6 - Water is the Spring of Life

On our way to Venice! We passed through Bologna and stopped is in Ferrara for lunch.

This is one of my favorite pictures as Pat passionately makes her point like a true

Italian.

A funny thing happen at this little cafe. After Pat and I ordered, we left the table to use the toilet (also bathroom). When we returned to our table, one of our tour mates warned us not to eat the bread that arrived while we were away. She had witnessed one of the many pigeons eating from our bread bowl. I decided to request (in Italian) a new order of bread because the pigeon had contaminated ours. In the process I somehow called the waitress "a queer bird". Oh well. Better stick to my mother tongue.

I took thisthis picture in McDonalds. Notice the pastry and coffee counter. After reviewing this picture, I got a kick out of the young lady's expression in the foreground. What do you think she's thinking?

We arrive in Venice and, unfortunately, my words won't do it justice. Venice is actually a lagoon dotted by several small islands. It was actually swamp land that villagers fled to to hide from conquering armies.

There are no vehicles in Venice. None. Nada. It is completely surrounded by water. There are only two forms of transportation, foot or boat. The policemen are in boats. The ambulance is a boat. The fire truck, the garbage truck, the postman are all boats. Our luggage was unloaded from the coach onto a barge and shipped to the hotel. There are four primary bridges that cross Venice's Grand Canal.

Our hotel was very historic (code for old) and authentic (another code for old). It was centrally located with easy access to much of Venice. When traveling in Italy, you have to put aside traditional notions of hotels (code for old). You have to live in the moment and embrace the experience (code for old). After a brief rest, we took an orientation tour. 

 St. Marco Square is the main gathering spot in Venice. Again, it is lined with all sorts of shops and restaurants.

 

Romance was all around us and we had to do the gondola cruise around the lagoon. Complete with a musician and Itailian singer. It was just like in the movies and we kissed as we passed under the Rialto Bridge.

 We headed back to the hotel for a nice dinner. Ready for more of Venice tomorrow.

Italy - Day 5 - Reflecting on the Road

I haven't shared much about how we are getting around Italy. For the most part, we are traveling via a large motorcoach. It is quite comfortable especially for some of the longer legs of the journey. Our tour guide creates a rotating seating chart to make sure everyone gets a variety of coach locations and views. The ride is a bit bumpier in the back and there appears to be more legroom in different spots. The bus is equipped with wifi. In some of the smaller villages, we transfer from the large bus to a couple smaller vans.

It is on the bus that many of us are getting our sleep in. We have also traveled by tram, and vaperato. Mostly however we are using our feet. We are walking a lot. Pat is putting some serious mileage on her fit bit.

Today we traveled from Sorrento to Assisi.  On the longer drives, we typically stop periodically to use the water closet (bathroom), stretch our legs, and purchase snacks. The places where we stop are similar to truck stops but they often have freshly prepared pastas and sandwiches.  When you buy snacks and merchandise, it works like it does in the US. However, when it comes to coffee, you pay at the register first. You then get a ticket you present to the barista.

In addition to the normal stops, today we stopped at a WWII cemetary dedicated to the British Commonwealth.

It is located in a town named Cassino. An important battle took place here. The monastery at Cassino was completely destroyed in the process. A group of British veterans happen to be there when we visited. 

We checked into our hotel in Assisi and took a few minutes to freshen up and catch our breaths. Then it was off to tour St. Francis Basilica. St. Francis dedicated his life focused on the poor. This is quite interesting given the fact that he came from a very wealthy family. This is also the name adopted by the current Pope.

St. Francis Basilica is like a little city itself. Priests from all over the world reside there. When you arrive, you are down below and have to trek up to the church. Along the way you pass through narrow streets lined with merchants.

You may notice that I don't have a lot of pictures inside the basilica. That's because they are very holy places with very strict rules. No hats for men and women must have their shoulders and knees covered. Never is any flash photography allowed and sometimes no photography is allowed. I just play it safe and put the camera away. Trust me. They are over the top ornate... all of them.

Back to the hotel for dinner. Arrivederci. 

Italy - Day 4 - How the Other Ten Percent Live

Today was a very busy day. From Sorrento we took a ferry to the Isle of Capri. No Tim. Not the casino. The actual island. This is the place where the rich and famous go to play. We didn't see any celebrities and I assume that's because they stay away during tourist season. This again is very hilly terrain. Capri is laced with small passage ways and steep steps. There are very few vehicles on the island. Small, narrow trucks are used for city services (trash, ambulances, police, etc), but no other forms of transportation. Not even bicycles as they would not be practical for the many stairs.

 Those who grow up on the island have grown very accustomed to all of the walking. Interestingly, we took a gondola from the main landing in Capri to the top of the mountain where all of the shops are.

After taking the gondola back down, we had a light lunch in one of the small cafes. We then took a boat ride (not to be confused with the large ferry) around the island. This was a way to her a unique view of the rock formations and grottoes that make up the island.

After returning for this unique tour of the island, we hopped back on the ferry and returned to the mainland of Sorrento.

We returned to our hotel for a brief respite before dinner. What I didn't realize was that dinner would be the highlight of the trip so far for me.

We had dinner at a Sorrento farm. This is a working farm that has been operated by the same family for generations. They grow olives, oranges, grapes, apricots and other crops. The have a couple cows and a few geese and chickens. All on 4 acres!

 They also make fresh mozzerla and olive oil on site. Extra virgin olive oil comes from the initial pressing within 24 hours of picking the olives. Virgin olive oil is also the first pressing, but after 24 hours of picking.

 Some of our travel mates actually made Margherita pizza as part of a demonstration which we consumed later. I was amazed at how quickly the pizza cooked in the large outdoor oven. Maybe 3-4 minutes.

It was really cool to see how this farming tradition has persisted for so long. The grandmother making the mozzarella didn't speak much English, but when we went to take her picture, she said, "cheese!"

It was back to the hotel for some quick sleep and ready for what tomorrow holds.