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Published: September 23rd 2007
I'm going to try to retrace the past 2 weeks as best I can, but our Italian Getaway was jampacked with so many sights, cities and bottles of Chianti and Sangiovase wines, it may be difficult to get it all straight. This might be a good opportunity for you to grab a drink yourself or take a washroom break because... she's a long one...
First of all, I want to apologize for my lack of "blogging" or whatever those people who created these things are calling it - Kirbi and mom have been running a tight ship and in fear of loosing a limb or being left behind, I could not stray from the itinerary. That being said, who am I to complain... 2 weeks in Italy!!
We flew into Rome where we were to pick up our car and drive down south to the Amalfi Coast. We had it all planned out - Kirbi and I were going to drive and navigate, putting mom in the back seat, as driving in Italy was the last thing she wanted to do. AND, her navigating in Italy was the last thing WE wanted her to do (she sometimes gets turned
around in the grocery store.. kidding ma'!).
So we get to the Hertz counter at the airport where we find out that not only am I too young to drive, Kirbi is too (I don't know what they're so worried about given our driving record - it's the rest of the Italian drivers they should be concerned about - that and they just put the car in mom's control... I can't describe the terror in her eyes).
We locate the car, our little silver Fiat, and mom wearily takes the wheel. Getting our of Rome was interesting, but she pulled through like a champ! At times I thought she might cry (Italian drivers are honestly nuts - the craziest drivers ever... more so the mopeds and scooters actually), but she pulled through.
We showed up in Sorrento around 7:00 pm and still didn't have a place to stay. Mom stayed in the car while Kirbi and I ran around from place to place trying to find a vacancy. We found a hotel, really basic, for 100 euros a night - Sorrento is quite touristy so accomodation is a little pricey and we're on a budget. The next
day we went on a boat cruise over to Capri and Amalfi, did a little swimming and sunning and rested up for our big Mt. Vesuvius climb and Pompei tour the next day.
The next day turned out to be a little cloudy, which we thought was a good thing considering the mountaineering we were going to be doing.. you know, not too hot. Boy were we wrong. The clouds turned into rain and thunder and lightening - not exactly what we had planned and dressed for (Kirbi in her spaghetti strap tank top - TYPICAL KIRBI PITT MANUEVER - and us in our t-shirts and shorts). We mustered up the courage and hiked the friggen volcano - all the way up to the misty, foggy, wet cloud covered crater. Visability was no more than a foot in front of us and we sure didn't need a weather girl to tell us that. Considering we could barely see eachother, the views of Naples below and the crater were unimpressive. If you ever are in the region, I would say skip the climb and buy a postcard!
Next stop - Pompei! For this we got an "official" guided tour
from an archeologist himself - Dr. Ciro Favicchio. He was a character, let me tell you. He was certainly not legit and his views on Pompei were a little fishy, but he provided some good entertainment and showed us all the sights - the baths, brothels, original fast food joints etc. Pompei was pretty amazing!
The next morning we did the 7 hour and 700 km drive up to Pisa. Mom got us there safely, but packed in her driving gloves when we got into the city - locating the hotel wasn't as easy as we had hoped, so this is when we sorta broke the rules (shhh, don't tell anyone) and I ended up getting in the drivers seat. We checked out the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which really does have a lean to it... 4.1 meters to be exact, did a little shopping (the Italian leather bags are everywhere and are sooo beautiful!) and called it a night.
From Pisa we took the train to Cinque Terra - 5 villages perched on the coastline between Genoa and La Spezia. It was just as everyone has described it, if not even more beautiful in real life. Most
of these towns don't allow cars, besides the few belonging to the locals, and can only be accessed by train or the hiking/walking trail between them, so they are quite peaceful. We stayed in the 4th town, Vernazza, which was in our opinion the best. It had such a laid back atmosphere, extremely friendly locals and wonderful food. I have never seen more steps and skinnier "roads" than in Cinque Terra though. I felt sorry for people that booked online and when they showed up, realized what a mountain they had to climb everytime they wanted to go back to the room. We, fortunately enough, were just up from the main Piazza and the harbour.
The second day in Vernazza we did the hike from our town to the first town, Riomaggiore, and hit the towns 3 and 2 along the way. Each town was slightly different, but all so beautiful with bright colored buildings and cobblestone paths everywhere. The trail joining these towns was just as amazing, spotted with olive groves, fig trees and vineyards along the way. Later that day we laid around on the rocks by the beach and swam in a few of the natural
caves around the cove, which used to be inhabited by pirates. Watch out for the purple jellyfish though - they were everyone and everyone was running around with welts on their bodies. The locals weren't too concerned though, I guess it's normal. Their skin is probably so leathered from the sun they don't even feel it...
The next day it was time to say goodbye to Cinque Terra and hello to Tuscany. After driving through miles and miles of vineyards, along the most beautiful country road, we arrived at our little farmhouse, Podere Villuzza, just 4 kms outside of San Gimignano. It was so cute and quaint, perched on top of a rolling hill with views of nothing but grape vines and olive trees going on forever, Kind of the perfect place in the whole world really, except there was no beach so we had to settle for hte farmhouse pool.
We had on adn off sun while we were there, and then thunder, lightening and WIND, but eventually it would pass and things would heat up again. We met up with mom's cousin Irene, her husband Pere Henrik and their twin daughters Hedda and Henrietta for dinner
one night. They have rented a house a few towns over for the next 9 months or so (pretty nice huh?) so since we were in the "neighbourhood" they just swung by. It was great seeing them and they say hello to the family!
While we were in San Gimignano we did a wine tasting tour at one of the local vineyards. It was awesome and so informative. Now we know what we have actually been drinking!!! We learned all about how all the different grapes are processed etc etc but I think where we really shined was when it actually came to tasting them.
The next day we left Tuscany and headed for ROMA - our last stop in Italy. We got a little mixed up on the way in but since "all roads lead to Rome", we found our way eventually (again with mom in the back seat - it's just easier and less stressful for everyone). FIRST IMPRESSION of ROMA: gridlock traffic, a million and a half scooters zipping in, out and everywhere like ants or lemmings or something and of course, the prostitutes.. lining all major routes into town. And these prostitutes are nothing
slightly discreet like the ones back home in the downtown eastside of Vancouver - no no... we're talking a g-string thong and a ratty old bra, prancing around like she just got a promotion - talk about job satisfaction! Ahh, when in Rome!
Besides the prostitutes and traffic, Rome was a pretty cool city. The first day we went and saw the Colosseum, of course. It was pretty neat to see how it was all laid out... how they organized the rankings of social class, men from woman, and of course where the lions were kept. We explored more of Rome visiting the Roman Forum, the original city centre before the fall of the empire, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and a few other famous Piazzas. The next day was the big Vatican City Tour. We joined a guided tour for this because a) our knowledge of Catholicism is bascially non-existant and b) it would have been absolutely impossible to get in without a guide since it was around 10:00 am, the ques were about 2 km long and still they still weren't letting any average joe in before all the guided tours had entered. We saw it all...
The Raphael Museums, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basillica and the Crypt of the Popes. It was a pretty amazing 27 hours in Rome, taking in a lot. By the end of it though, we were all so exhausted - definitely looking forward to some relaxing time spent with none other than the Grecian Gods! Next stop was Athens for the night and then onto Santorini the next day. Stay tuned for some updates from the Greek Islands!
xoxox Meg (and Kirbi and Mom)
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Mo DiDonato
non-member comment
Looking good in Italy Pitt
Hey Megs!! Wow, you guys did good in Italy, you made me proud dude!! Some great stories, and awesome pics too! I love the pic of the Colesseum!!!! And the great places you visited, can you pronounce them all...lol Good job trying to erect the tower!! Hope your trip is going GREAT! Mo