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Published: January 6th 2011
Happy New Year!
Rome was our jumping off point for our time in Italy. After traveling through Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey (all of which are predominately Muslim countries), we were greeted with holiday songs playing, streets lit with strings of lights, and decorated pine trees reminding us that Christmas was just around the corner!
Although we had both been to Rome before on previous trips to Italy, we felt it was worth returning to. Loaded with history, there's something interesting to see around each corner and exploring by foot was our preferred way to get around. On our first day, we managed to log 11 km including some hilly parts:
Walking route To keep our energy up, we made a point of doing some research on restaurant reviews and planning our route to include delicious lunch spots. Delicious and authentic Italian cuisine was as much of a highlight for us as was the Colosseum! Make sure you leave lots of time to enjoy your meals, which typically include numerous courses such as an appetizer, pasta, meat, salad, cheese and (if you have worn stretchy pants and have any room left) dessert!
We picked up a rental car and
made our way through heavy holiday traffic southeast to the region of Puglia and the town of Panni where Jason's father is from, and where we were going to spend Christmas with family. We were warmly welcomed when we arrived in Panni, a small hilltop town with a population of roughly 1000, where we visited with family, ate heaps of delicious home cooking (and possibly the best olive oil in the world), slept, ate some more, explored the other nearby villages, oh – and did we mention we ate a ton? Being healthy and happy, getting to spend time with family, and enjoying great food – what else could you want for a very Merry Christmas?
Our next stop was the Tuscan city of Siena for a few days where we explored the medieval town with its gothic architecture and nearby San Gimignano. Siena is truly a lovely place, and we enjoyed the relative quiet since it wasn't too busy with other tourists at this time of the year. Here's a tip for anyone planning a trip to Siena with a rental car, as visitors are not allowed to drive within the the city centre: there's a free parking
lot about 1 km away (you'll go right past it driving into the old part of the city) which is serviced by a regular shuttle bus that costs 1 euro a trip. Alternative parking lots cost about 25 euro per day. Ask your hotel proprietor when making your reservation, as they should be able to provide more info.
Our route from Siena to Venice had an important stop planned. One of Jason's favourite pastimes is playing bocce, and he started www.bocce.ca to promote the 'sport.' The best bocce balls are made made by Perfetta, and since were were driving by the factory, we had to pop in to see where the magic happens. There is no real magic on site – no Italian version of Willy Wonka with bocce oompaloompas at the factory – but the one of the owners kindly met with Jason and he was very pleased with the visit.
We managed to arrive in Venice, drop off the rental car and get to our B&B without too much trouble. About a week before, we had seen scenes of a flooded St. Mark's square on the news and worried that our New Year's plans might be
washed away! Luckily, the skies were clear and the sun was shinning. Our B&B was supposed to be a 20 minute walk from St. Mark's; however, we managed to get a little (and sometimes very) lost each time we made the trip and never took the same route twice.
To ring in 2011, we made dinner reservations in advance and then made our way back to St. Mark's square where we got squished in the crazy crowd for the new year's countdown! We didn't stay for too long (the official event was scheduled to go until 3 am), and even as we were leaving swarms of people were still arriving. It was a once in a lifetime experience, meaning that once you've done it one time, that's probably enough😊
Our next port of call had us hopping on a train for a 3 hour jaunt to Bolzano (or Bolzen as many of the Germans in the area refer to it). The train ride was lovely as we made out way up the Po river valley flood plains and into the famed Dolomite mountains. The Dolomites, incidentally, are a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site. We provided the list of
the man made natural wonders so to satisfy our collective curiosities, here is a list of all 1000+ (we wonder if our back yard might qualify?!):
UNESCO World Heritage Sites Although this southern Tyrolean region is in Italy, the German influence is very strong, Signs and labels are in both languages, and the cuisine includes the best of both worlds. Given our backgrounds, it's no surprise that we love the mix!
Our arrival was met with a good amount of skepticism. When the ski rental guy saw that we were from Vancouver, he said with a mild look of disbelief 'what are you doing HERE?'... which was similarly asked all throughout our stay in the Dolomites. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as bad as the question would have suggested!
We stayed in Ortisei (also known as St. Ulrich to the Germans) half way up the famed Val Gardena valley. Jason spent the days skiing while Sabrina read and relaxed in the hotel (her preference being the apres ski part). Skiing in Europe is quite the experience. Due to the history of ski culture and the large population base, the infrastructure and extensive trail systems is amazing and extremely well developed. The
Dolomiti SuperSki region encompasses 200 lifts (200!) and 500km of trails. There is a special circuit called the Sella Ronda where skiers can circumnavigate the Sella Gruppe (a mass of sheer rock faced mountains). This involves taking ~17 lifts and skiing 34kms. The tour book recommends starting this trek before 10am or else one risks getting stranded in a distant valley due to the lifts closing at 4pm... this could be an expensive mistake as cabs in the valley are few and expensive!
During Jason's ski experience, he rode:
* Gondolas (ranging from 6-100 riders)
* Ski lifts (ranging from 2-6 riders)
* Escalators (there were more than one... highly convenient)
*Underground metro (there was one that traveled 800m underground from one side of the valley to the other)
* Moving sidewalks (like at airports)
The weather was ideal as the area was in the middle of an arctic outbreak. Temperatures were chilly (-5 up top and -13 in the valley... an inversion) which meant clear windless skies. The snow conditions were decent. Valley base of 60cm with upwards of 150cm up top. The valley elevations ranged from 3500-5000 feet while the top of the ski hills were
anywhere from 6500-8000 feet. There was a lift to 11,000 feet but it wasn't open; we suspect it is only open in the summer.
Coming back to the infrastructure, everything is very well organized. There are restaurants literally on every ski run and often a couple. The culture of wearing helmets has finally been accepted in Italy (not sure about the rest of Europe) with it mandatory for children under the age of 14 to wear helmets and about 50% of adults also chosing to protect their heads. Surprisingly, snowboarding was not as prevalent as expected. Only ~5-10% of people were on snowboards.
In general everything was either similarly priced as Whistler or less expensive. Life tickets were $60CAD/day. Lunch cost $10CAD while full ski/boot/pole/helmet rental set me back $40CAD/day... not too bad. Surely Austria, Switzerland and southern Germany are pricier given that the majority of tourists were Italian, German (and Russian... the Russians are everywhere now!).
We are now aboard a 10 hour train trip from Bolzano to Monte Carlo to visit with Sabrina's high school friend Erika. We'll spend 2 nights there, then fly to Paris and then we're off to St. Martin in the
Caribbean for 9 days... and then home! After 2 and a half months away, we're very excited to come home to Tino, family and friends.
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Charlotte
non-member comment
Sounds fantastic! Enjoy the rest of your adventure, and we look forward to seeing you when you get home, Charlotte xo