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Our Italy Trip: Sicily, Rome and Florence
Terry and I had quite a trip. We began tour of Italia on Sunday morning leaving bright and early from Lanciano. George, the brave soul, packed us all up into his Lancia and we headed off onto the bucolic roads of Abruzzo province. All started well on our way to Naples with a planned stop in historic Pompeii. We had heard many stories about Italian drivers but, for a while, this didn’t seem to be the case. Aside from losing our way a couple of times we were fine. They don’t like to mark the roads clearly, in the hope, I imagine, that unsuspecting tourists will lose their way. How do you say “This road don’t go to Aintree, boy.” in Italian?
Pompeii was fantastic. It was raining a little but that did nothing to dampen our spirits. We walked the streets and marvelled at the complexity of the city. The most moving part was casts of the bodies lying as they would have been when they were overcome by the smoke and ash released from Mount Vesuvius. Believe it or not the most fascinating part was the brothel where they had painted pictures
depicting various sexual acts that were available – patrons simply had to point to what they wanted and there was a willing young lady ready to oblige!
After our tour of Pompeii, George, Debbie, Terry and I jumped back in the car and headed in to Naples to prepare to board the ferry that would take us to Palermo on the beautiful island of Sicily. What a great way to travel! George parked the car and we walked up to the reception desk to get the keys to our rooms. They were tiny but had a bathroom with a shower and two bunks, all the comforts of home. We got together in George and Debbie’s room for a picnic supper and a bottle of wine (or two) then it was off to bed and in the morning we stood on deck and watched the ship pull into the port at Palermo.
Palermo. Hmmmmmm. What can I say? A little bit of a disappointment. We visited a couple of beautiful cathedrals, checked out the market and the park as well as the waterfront and were not impressed. There is garbage everywhere and I began to think that Sicily was going to
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In our "State Room" on board the Ferry to Sicilybe less spectacular than I had expected. The city definitely has a lot of potential but, I guess, not the money to do much with it. The waterfront could be spectacular but there are no lovely little seaside cafes to sit and sip a glass of wine as the sun sets; it’s simply a big park with no flowers, some concrete benches covered with graffiti and some parched grass. Very sad. The highlight of our time there was a cathedral (I know Brian, again with the churches!) called Monreale perched high above the city which had absolutely spectacular mosaic work. I’m sorry I don’t have a lot of pictures of some of these places; Terry forgot that we would need the cord to download the pictures from the big camera to my computer. Oh St. Lucia, why have you forsaken me? That evening we had our first “Sicilian” meal in a lovely restaurant recommended by the hotel clerk. Oh, did I mention the hotel room reminded me of our room in Porto Portugal. Once again I felt like the heroine of a Victorian novel. Room with a View comes to mind!
We left Palermo, happily and continued on our journey
to a seaside town called Trapani. Leaving Palermo was indeed a challenge and the stories about Italian drivers all rang true. Poor George had to deal with the Italian police, the carbinieri, when he inadvertently ran a red light. I didn’t understand the problem; everyone else was doing it!
Trapani was better than Palermo but still not what I expected of Sicily. We saw (and smelled) the fish market, bought a nice lunch from a little market and continued on our merry way. Once on the autostrada we made good time but our calculations of how long it would take to get to Agrigento to see the Valley of the Temples were a little bit of an underestimation. It was a “drive by touristing” as we visited the spectacular temples built around 400 BC. “This is a little more like it!” I thought (although Debbie and I were disappointed that the picture in to guide book, with beautiful flowers in front of one of the temples, was a “little” misleading).
With the Valley of the Temples checked off of our list, we headed for our next stop, a seaside resort town called Trapani. Things just kept getting better. Because of
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Terry checking out the lemons inSicily traffic delays on the autostrada (probably not as long a delay as on the 401; they get those cars off the highway lickety-split) we arrived after sunset. Difficult for George who had to drive the winding roads up the mountainside but great for Terry, Debbie and I who had an amazing view of the town rising over us all lit up. It was beautiful! Dinner that evening was in a restaurant again recommended by the hotel receptionist and it was superb (I’m running out of adjectives). Wonderfully fresh fish, fresh pasta and some very tasty wines.
The next morning we awoke to a view of the ocean below us and a glimpse of Mount Etna. Breakfast was on the top floor of the hotel overlooking the sea. It soon clouded over however and it was a bit of a grey day as we toured the town. There is a Roman amphitheatre there which, like everything else in the town, has a view of the ocean and Mount Etna. Terry and I sat in the stands and joked about how we got such good seats. Flavius comped us. We did a bit more touring and had a fantastic pizza and a
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Our visit with the goats on "La Rocca" couple of glass of wine before we left for our next destination (George wasn’t drinking, don’t worry).
Cefalu (pronounced Chefalu) was a beautiful, quiet seaside town that hasn’t really been discovered by a lot of the tourists yet. We toured around that evening and had yet another wonderful dinner, went to bed and awoke to a beautiful sunny hot day. Although the locals were still wearing winter coats, we were on the beach that day in shorts and even hazarded a dip into the ocean up to our ankles. The highlight of the stop in Cefalu had to be the large rock outcropping that is smack in the middle of the town. They named it; wait for it, La Rocca or The Rock. Imaginative don’t you think? La Rocca is 268 metres above sea level and, you guessed it, we climbed the sucker. I looked high and low when we came back down but I couldn’t find a shop selling T-shirts that said “I Climbed La Rocca” with a picture of a goat on it. It think there’s an opportunity for you there Brian. About the goats, there were lots, mommy goats, baby goats and, of course the billy goats.
The next day we headed off for the dreaded streets of Palermo once again and after fighting the traffic and dodging crazy Italians on motorcycles we arrived back at the port and were on the ferry back to Naples. Again we dined in our “state room” feasting on salami, prosciutto, cheese, olives and wine. Yummy! The next morning we were in Naples and were on the road bright and early on our way to Sorrento and the Amalfi coast. We arrived early and got settled in to our hotel before finding a bus to take us up, up, up, up to the beautiful town of Ravello. It was a cloudy, rainy day but up in this tiny spectacular town we were in and sometimes above the clouds. I cannot describe how spectacularly beautiful it was and I don’t think the pictures do it justice either.
Terry and I set off the next day on the train from Sorrento to Naples to connect with our train for Rome while Debbie and George headed back to Lanciano, another great adventure. The trip was uneventful and we managed to find our hotel in Rome without too much trouble. The room was lovely, a
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Looking out at the clouds in Ravello small sitting room with beautiful high windows that opened on to a little balcony. Upstairs, in the loft was the bedroom. Quite luxurious for two country folk from out near Desbarats. Two days in Rome lay ahead of us and Terry and I walked EVERYWHERE! It turned out to be the weekend of the Rome Marathon which is right up there with the Boston and New York marathons in prestige. Just by chance Terry and I caught the leading runners as they neared the finish line. Terry was quite impressed. I said Annie would love to run this one, up and down the hills of Rome, no problem after St. Joseph Island's back roads. It was also the 150th anniversary of the reunification of Italy so there was lots going on and we managed, just by luck to run into many of the festivities and all of the crowds. It didn’t deter us however. We visited the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, more fantastic cathedrals, we walked along the Tiber River and dined in a street side cafe where we had pizza and, you guessed it, more great wine. On Sunday we visited
the Vatican and managed to catch the Pope’s Sunday address. Standing in St. Peter’s Square it’s difficult to tell if it’s the Pope or a really big puppet that someone is manipulating from behind but I guess we have to have faith that they wouldn’t do that to us and it really was the big guy waaaaaay up there in the window. He sounded like a nice guy. After his address, we went inside the Basilica and saw the one sight I will remember for the rest of my life-the Pieta, a sculpture of Mary holding Christ’s dead body after the crucifixion. Religion aside, it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Michelangelo was able to capture a look on her face that was universal to all mothers who lose a child. Yes, I cried.
After two days we said “Arrevederci Roma” and caught our train to Florence. About the trains in Italy. They have a big board that tells passengers which track (bin) the train will arrive at but, and this is a big but, they can change that anytime they like and, although they do have some announcements in English, that announcement isn’t one of them.
Now my Italian has improved significantly but I have difficulty understanding announcement in the subways in Toronto, in English so it’s kind of a foregone conclusion that I didn’t catch nay of the Italian announcements. So, we learned to watch the Italians; when they moved en masse from one track to another we blindly followed and occasionally asked “El trano per Firenzie????”
We eventually got to Florence and oh my. What a city. Our hotel was close to the train station and close to all of the attractions. On our first day there we thought we would relax and simply wander around, take in the market and familiarize ourselves with the city. The market is outstanding. Leather goods are the big draw and the coats are really cheap. On one of the bridges spanning the Arno River, the Ponte Vecchio there are jewellery shops. They sell all kinds of jewellery but their specialty is gold and the prices are excellent, never what they say on the price tag; there’s always a “sale”. The second day we had booked tickets to see the Uffizi Gallery. The Uffizi (offices in Italian) are the original offices of the Medici family, a family that
ruled Florence for over 200 years. They were credited with providing the impetus for the Renaissance movement in Europe. The art work in there is amazing. There are works by Caravaggio, Bernini, Botticelli, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Renoir and many, many more. It took us a good three hours to go through it all and I have to say my head was really spinning by the time we left.
The next day we visited The Academia Gallery to see, above all else, Michelangelo’s David. It is truly a spectacular accomplishment. Terry and I walked around and around it and sat for about 10 minutes just staring at it. It is difficult to grasp how he could have accomplished something so magnificent.
There is so much more that I cannot find the words to express. I hope the pictures can give you some sense of the beauty and culture this country affords us. I really have to say it is “Bella Italia, più bella Italia.”
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Deborah Rutherford
non-member comment
Hi Christine Great job - so much packed in. Love the picture of you and Terry at the beach.