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First up, apologies for the long pause between drinks. We've moved to the north where internet access is dial up if it's available at all.
Don't give up on us though, the blogs will continue till the last episode and with our next hops being Venice and Paris they should be more frequent.
Capri
Spent the day at Capri today after the short 20 minute boat trip across the bay of Naples. It's easy to understand why it's the place to be seen and why you can pay in excess of a million euro for a small one or two bedroom apartment on one of many cliff faces.
Gucci, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Yves Saint Laurent, Hermes, just keep naming them. They are all there (and we mean side by side not just scattered around the place). It's 'lifestyles of the rich and famous' and one look in the window at the $700euro handbag or the $250euro ladies leather gloves and you'll know why. Capri is one of those strange oasis type places that even when you're there you can't believe exists.
For us it was as surreal as it was cliched, we never really got
the point. Possibly if we had more time we may have moved beyond the tourist face and discovered something more than the marketing.
No doubt Capri appeals to the young and or wealthy but a family of five on any type of a budget would be a square peg in a round hole here. I don't know what a fifteen euro ($30AUS) salmon and lettuce sandwich (my translation of their description) tastes like but it couldn't have been as good as the Vegemite and corn chip rolls we had with our girls in a private garden holding a free outdoor art exhibition!
Ah, La Dolce Vita, it's a personal thing !
The drive from Sorrento to Tuscany (PART 1)
or
Why it took Tim an hour and ten minutes to drive 1.5km and how Kerry drove the Amalfi Coast Road and lived.
It began like this...
“Elliott Tim. See here. You have not paid for the car hire”.
Visualise a grimy computer screen laboring under the weight of a thousand oily fingerprints no doubt applied after a thousand repetitions of the same conversation with other “touristo”.
After a ten minute discussion about how
Breakfast
This was the cafe that provided our daily breakfast from the B&B. I had booked the car through an agency and not with E-car direct, the bell to end round one came in the form of a telephone call. It was soon apparent from the tone, pace and frequent tutting that I was only the first aggravation the sales rep would endure this day. After placing the caller on hold and transferring them to a back office occupied only by a water cooler (let's call him team leader) and letting it ring out, it was gloves on and back to me. Jaded but not beaten by our first exchange I stepped forward, guard up. A brief yet somewhat firmer dialogue ensued with me offering re-assurance that I would ride to Tuscany on a hired donkey before I'd pay another $769euro for a beaten up Fiat Croma (not the Vovlo CX50 we booked). My friendly rep seemed stunned but my repost. Sensing blood in the water I quickly added that if Sorrento had a orifice where uncollected rental cars were deposited then possibly E-car might like to park it there!
Victory was mine!
Out to the street now and after casually flipping me the keys and telling me just to take
a right at the lights to reach our hotel, I swear heard her mutter something and I'm certain that the word Bastardo means the same no matter which part of Italy you're from! I should have known her rantings were “the curse of the Amalfi Coast Road”.
In peak hour traffic I proceeded to stall the car eight (8!) times in fifty metres. Manuals (which I have never owned and rarely driven) do not understand “avanti” when in third gear. Finally, on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car, forward movement was achieved. All good, now where's those lights? After fifteen minutes and various signs heralding “Farewell Sorrento” and “A35 Roma” it dawned on me that I may have been led astray.
After three laps of Sorrento (there's only one way in, which you can easily see from the overbridge. Which I did four times!!! ) three precarious gutter mountings (from trying to avoid head on collisions with Vespas which approach at something akin to light speed and in numbers equivalent to flys at a bar-b-que, I arrived (in a way that a dropped pie “arrives” on the floor) at the designated
parking station. … I proceeded to enter, via the exit ramp.
Fortunately it was quiet at that moment so, no harm no foul. I located a space and stalled the car with both my space and the one in front partially occupied (by me). I exited the vehicle and let fly a stream of profanity which dispelled forever any delusions I may have held that I am a gentleman! White and shaking I proceeded to the apartment, passed Kerry the keys, mumbled something about them having bad Ju-Ju and vowed never to drive in Italy again.
To this moment I am still sucking down blood pressure tablets as if they were Lifesavers!
The Road to Tuscany Part 2
or
How my Bella kicked my butt in the car driving department and why I'm happy about it.
Today we leave for Tuscany. Ah, Tuscany. After an excellent but hectic week in Rome and something similar in Sorrento we all looked forward to a week in the country. Fresh air, sunshine, rolling hills, Tuscany. Time to revive and live out the middle week of our holiday at a stately pace.
A local taxi driver advised us that it
was only 25kms along the Amalfi Coast Road before you head inland and join the motorway bound for Lucignano. A beautiful drive with views to die for and a last chance to say farewell to Sorrento.
Our designated driver today is Kerry (and for every day hereon just quietly). Within a few short metres Kerry received her own baptism of fire on driving in Italy. No amount of explaining on my (or anyone else's) part can prepare you for your first Vespa hurtling toward you like the Starship frigging Enterprise only to zip away left or right at less than the last possible moment. Still, she handled it with considerably more aplomb than I (my first gutter mounting) resorting to only colourful description heavily edited as the children where with us. The “Farewell Sorrento” sign was soon in our sights, for me bringing back fond memories of the day before, and it was out onto the coast road we headed.
Most if not all of you back in AUS will have driven Bulli Pass. Imagine if you will 25km of Bulli Pass, on the wrong side of the road, wrong side of the car. Add to that, that
the average drop off is around a thousand feet minimum, the Vespas are out as though somebody wacked their nest with a stick (Vespa litteraly means wasp) and there is approximately one foot of road less than there are cars coming in each direction.
“Views to die for” I wonder why he said that, now I knew. Plummet into the sea below or pucker up and kiss the cliff face........Bastardo!
If I must give Kerry credit for one thing (believe me there were many) it would be for her unending ability to virtually ignore me squealing like a nine year old school girl each time she chose the cliff face over the oncoming traffic (on our side of the road) or the drop off.
The autostrada quickly arrived and never before had we been so glad to see 300km of straight road. We had been told of the autostrada and the speed with which to expect vehicles to approach and pass. Kerry “I'm not comfortable going over 120km with the kids in the car”. Ah, a high ideal! It was amazing how quickly my Bella became comfortable with 150-160km and we were still in the slow lane.
She somehow now wore a cheeky smile and hurtled into oblivion as we churned through 300km in short order. We saw at least fifty signs warning us of speed cameras and saw three actual Police cars. We made sure not to pass them and sat behind them at a respectable 130km. That was until they were passed for the fourth time by others doing we estimate 160. Well, you know what they say, when in Rome... so we did. The boys in blue (Armani blue of course) didn't bat an eyelid.
Just a point of interest. Every 20km there are autostops. No not a just a Mobil station with a fridge, these are the real deal. Steak, seafood, mini-market. You name it they've got it. Never thought you'd pay 50cents to pee. You will here, and be glad you did. The loo's are staffed by cleaners who wander in and out as you “refresh” yourself. They don't care and after the first time neither will you. Clean loo's, big winner with the ladies !
Lucignano
We arrived in Tuscany road weary and ready for a rest. Our accommodation is IL Caserra a 600 year old castle with
a 700 year old tower in the walled village of Lucignano. As you walk the streets of the village we keep expecting to see Harry, Ron & Hermione (for you Potter fans) come around the next corner. The images tell the story.
Our hosts are Luigi and Antonella. As Luigi, a highly patriotic Italian will tell you, Lucignano was once the subject of a great battle between Arezzo and Sienna and his home IL Cassera stood directly between the two. Also that he and Antonella had their first kiss in the shadow of the leaning tower of Pisa, that IL Cassera was once used to film a movie starring Marchelo Mastreani and many, many other local historical facts (he can talk the legs off a table). Lucignano will be the base for our days trips around Tuscany due to its central location to all major sites.
Our first wander around the village led us to a quaint sovenier shop. It still makes our heads spin that it is owned by Ken who, believe it or not, comes from Rangiori in NZ. Bloody Kiwis!
Next stops, Cortona, Siena, San Gimignano & Florence
Ciao for now.
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pamapples
pam elliott
"Are we feeling relaxed yet ??
Now you know why the Italians drink so much wine, it's so they can face the drive home with all those Stupido touristas coming the other way, and it's not even full on tourist season yet. Tim --Never, Never comment on women drivers again ! Kerry -- Well done, one point to us. Girls -- Take no notice of the screaming, Daddy has plenty of medication with him.