Day 35. Arrivederci

The village of Belgirate is so off the tourist map that it does not even get a mention in the Italian edition of Lonely Planet.

The little town is set on the western shore of Lake Maggiore, which is shared between Northern Italy and Switzerland.

Our walk today is unplanned, unmapped, unhurried and unbelievable. We walk along the unspoiled lake admiring the villas, gardens, parks and snow capped mountains in the distance. This playground of the 19^th Century nuevo rich is now a little down at heel but still retains its historic elegance. We walk to Lesa, the next village, and climb the hill into the old town unspoiled by tourists yet dripping with charm. We discover a cobbled lane that becomes a dirt track winding behind the village and linking Lesa to the village of Bilgirate. From here we look down into the grand gardens of the villas below. Some are beautifully manicured, others are over grown with privet, bamboo and blackberries.

Our hotel is criticized on Trip Advisor for being run down, with 1970s décor. In reality the décor is trapped in a 1950s time warp, which is actually delightfully retro. The staff are friendly, the risotto with mushroom, cheese and pear is sublime and the view is unbridled while the music playing softly in the background is Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra.

Unexpectedly, after dinner as we prepare to pack to come home, we hear a brass band playing in the street below. We throw on our warm clothes and rush downstairs to investigate and join the 9pm candle lit memorial procession through the narrow cobbled streets of the village in remembrance of the one who died for our sins. The march ends in a church service short on words but big on emotion, theatre and passion. We are moved and humbled to be included in the village’s Good Friday adoration. As they pass the peace we are greeted as family.

So ends Un Momento Prego (one moment – if you please). We are very grateful to have had this opportunity to explore many wonderful places and are so pleased that you, our friends and family have been able to share the adventure with us.

We are looking forward to coming home, but sad to leave Italia.

Arrivederci

Day 33,34. Touristica

On route to our penultimate destination we detour to visit Italy’s most famous civil engineering mistake, the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We find the tower a little out of town in a surprisingly grassy square. It is surrounded by other magnificent marble buildings, which are all very square to the horizon. We are amused by the truckloads of tourists all posing for the same photo, pretending to hold the tower up – we resist. The tower is impressive and the lean certainly makes you feel a little off centre.

By mid afternoon we are at La Spiaggia Hotel, Monterosso. The owner of the hotel, an overweight bald Italian, who bares a considerable likeness to Richard’s late father, gives us a nonchalant run down on the walks around the Cinque Terra and then without another word walks off to attend to other business. We get the impression we were required to be grateful for any words from the great man.

We catch the train to the furthest town (Riomaggiore) with a group of Italian hikers who are very conscientious about their sport. Their clothing, backpacks, boots, scarves and hiking sticks indicate they are serious walkers. As they get off the train the excitement level is feverish and we are a little overwhelmed by their passion. Sadly, the classic walk between the five famous towns is mostly closed due to the bad flooding in 2011, but there are many other hiking options through the hills above. On advice we catch a bus to Volastra, a town high up in the hills and like Amalfi we enjoy a wonderful and challenging walk descending through terraced agriculture to the picturesque hill top town of Corniglia. In contrast to the very serious Italian hikers we meet a family from Perth who are hiking in thongs (flip flops). She’ll be right!

The weather is a warm 22 degrees and the grey sand and pebbled beach is crowded with Europeans desperate for some sun. It’s all rather wonderful, but when it comes to beaches…it’s not exactly the Mid North Coast.

Days 30-32. Bentornato

On route back to the north, we stop at the fascinating town east of Rome, Tivoli. Much loved by those on their 18^th Century Grand Tour, Tivoli is famous for its garden and especially its waterfalls. Recent improvements by the Italian National Trust allowed us to walk around, down and past the natural and manmade flood mitigation falls.

Our second stop was Umbria’s stunning town Orvieto, perched on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff (nice wiki description). At the centre of this small stonewalled town is the huge and magnificent white limestone and green basalt striped cathedral, which dates back to the 13^th century. The gold and artwork on the outside are staggering, the inside as described by Wendy is marble, magnificent and very empty.

Near Florence we find our accommodation for three days, a villa in Tuscany. Villa il Poggiale is a 16^th century Renaissance family home now a tasteful guest house. We explore local villages, mingle with the locals at markets, discover more history and of course eat. 

 

An unexpected highlight occurs as we are driving to a village north east of Florence. The Navlady tries to direct us through the middle of the city but we turn her off!  Detouring on maps and prayer we end up at the carpark near Piazzale Michelangelo with a panoramic view of the city and Duomo. At this point the first miracle occurs – we find a parking spot. Then a second miracle occurs- the car park is free (unique in Italy)! So we treck down the hill and across the river to spend the afternoon in Florence. Wendy, (the micro planner) remembers instantly the treasures missed, when we were in Florence for two days in 2008, so we explore the Medici Pitti Palace and soak up the sun in their extravagant backyard- the Bobili gardens.

We loved the south of Italy, but we feel the Quadrio northern Italian heritage whispering Bentornato (welcome back).

Day 29. Second time lucky

In June 2008 we did a day trip from Rome and intended to visit Pompeii and Naples. The day did not go according to plan. A strike meant that the Pompeii site was closed and after a trip to Mt Vesuvius we ran out of both time and energy and never made it to Naples. You can read about that day here. We were determined to try again.

We arrived at Pompeii early, checked our bags into our hotel and entered the huge archeological site before 10am. The Roman city captured in time by the volcanic eruptions of 79AD was worth coming back to see. The city was tragically covered with metres of ash and lava and lay buried for fifteen centuries. Exploration and investigation, particularly over the last 250 years, has revealed the size, scope, artistry and humanity of the first century Roman world. Most poignant are the plaster casts of the victims, which have been created by filling the voids in the ash left by human bodies. They represent the exact position of these people at the time of their death. Fountains, temples, villas and shops can all be viewed and compared with contemporary counterparts today.

By 1.20pm we were on a local train and on our way to Naples, Italy’s third largest city. The humble and rather dilapidated local train winds through the outer suburbs of Naples, delivering stunning views of Naples Harbour on our left and Mt Vesuvius on the right. This gritty, bustling and complex city lived up to our expectations. We enjoyed walking down an incredibly narrow street running east to west and dividing the city. Huge crowds of locals create a carnival-like atmosphere. People of all ages are enjoying the sun, the shops and the food on a balmy Saturday afternoon. To get to Naples early we had postponed lunch and that proved to be a good decision. We knew that Naples has a reputation for great pizza and ice- cream but our surprise treat was a different local fast food specialty. From a creatively decorated shop called il Cuoppo we ordered a wicked fry-up of deep fried zucchini, zucchini flowers, dumplings, polenta and ‘potate’ all served in a cardboard cone. We followed a crowd of tourists into a large but rather drab looking church, Gesu Nuove.  We were amazed to see that from the inside the church was one of the finest and most elegant churches we had ever seen. Our day ended with a quick look around the harbour, a tram ride back to the station and a train back to Pompeii.

In 2008 Pompeii and Naples defeated us. Today we returned in triumph, albeit rather weary after 26,000 Fitbit steps (14kms of walking).

Day 28. The road less travelled.

‘What about a walk?’ asked Richard.

‘Why not’ replied Wendy, trustingly.

What Richard had in mind was Il Sentiero degli Dei, a 4km walk from the Amalfi Coast hilltop towns of Agerola to Nocelle.

‘The good news is that the track is mostly downhill’, added Richard, not exactly explaining all the details.  

After a forty minute bus ride from Amalfi, the walk begins in the picturesque town of Agerola about 650 metres above sea level. The purchase of a couple of bread rolls and some prusciutto was Wendy’s clever idea to fuel the walkers. The track was subtly, but quite consistently marked, beginning in the village and then heading out through small farms.

As the walk unfolds the warning on the website, that the track was unsuitable for those suffering with vertigo, begins to make sense. The view is indeed panoramic, breathtaking and quite extraordinary. It is a rocky path, with some uneven steps and although mostly downhill, there are several uphill climbs as well. The track winds around the mountains, slowly descending towards the village of Nocelle.

Il Sentiero degli Dei translates as the ‘Path of the Gods’. The name indicates that even the locals recognise that this track is something very special. We have done many walks in many wonderful places around the world, and this track is definitely amongst the best we have ever enjoyed. Although mystically divine, humans deserve credit for engineering and maintaining the historic path, still used by farmers, woodsmen and shepherds. Vineyards, olive groves, vegetable gardens, chooks, goats and donkeys cling to the almost vertical cliffs with the ingenious use of stone terraces.

Arriving at the town of Nocelle about two hours later the choice is to either catch the bus or walk down the steps to Positano. Walking seems the best option. 1500 steps and 90 minutes later we arrive in the quintessential seaside town of Positano, as the descent was about 450 metres, we enjoy what is possibly the finest ice-cream in the history of hiking.  

On the bus back to Amalfi we can finally enjoy the view from the road, as we are not driving. Ankles, knees and legs feel their advancing age but ‘the road less traveled’ produces the greatest blessing.

Day 27. The roads to Amalfi

Some of the challenges of driving in Italy are the mountains, there are lots of mountains. The roads around and though these mountains show off some pretty amazing Italian engineering. Our drive from the south to the Amalfi Coast is long and mountainous and quite dramatic at the finish.

It is no easy feat to build fast freeways through mountains. The road from Sicily to Naples is stunning. It is a series of tunnels and bridges. A tunnel through a mountain followed by a bridge over a valley, followed by another tunnel through a mountain followed by another huge bridge over a valley. And so it goes for hundreds of kilometres. The tunnels are up to two kilometres long and the bridges are often hundreds of metres high, yet the road barely undulates.

Deciding to detour, off the highway to the seaside for lunch seems like a good idea. The sun is shining, the surf is up and the sand is black. The secondary road adds another couple of hours to an already long trip. The road is good but winds around the mountains and as there are no overtaking lanes so it’s a slow journey stuck behind three very large trucks.

Twenty kilometres from our destination we relax feeling we have almost arrived when we encounter another engineering marvel, The Amalfi Coast Road. Again the problem is the mountains, which literally descend into the sea. The road is carved into the side of the cliff and is incredibly picturesque, apparently. Enjoying the scenery is not an option as we try desperately not to scrape the little brown frog (Citroen C4) on a cliff or a passing car, or both at the same time. It is breathtakingly narrow and includes many blind corners. In theory the speed limit is 30km/h and overtaking is not an option. In practice the cars, vans, trucks and buses are traveling fast and overtaking regularly and aggressively. Cars are parked in non-parking zones, motorcyclists talk on their mobile phones while riding, a group of cyclists take up a whole lane and pedestrians meander along the road, there is no footpath. At one point we are overtaken on a blind corner, a car appears around the bend, we screech to a halt allowing the guy on the wrong side to zoom back into our lane, the driver coming in the other direction is nonchalantly talking on his mobile phone. We age ten years. Strangely, if you are driving cautiously you often get an unmerciful blast on the horn from the car behind, but when someone overtakes on the wrong side and almost causes a head on collision, the response seems to be…respect!

After a long day in the car we make it to Amalfi, which at first glance seems to be worth all the effort. However, if we ever decide to come back… we might catch the bus!.  

           

Day 26. A taste of Sicily.

Sicily is not a travel destination for the faint hearted. It is not the simplest place to get to from the mainland of Italy and is a little undersupplied with infrastructure. It’s reputation for corruption and the mafia does not encourage the timid traveler. Finally, it’s drivers make the mainland drivers seem calm, cautious and civil and that is saying something. Most however would agree that there is one very good reason to make the ferry trip worthwhile... the food.  So this blog is dedicated to a our favourite tastes of Sicily.

Lets begin with pasta. Lunch at a highly recommended trattoria in the backstreets of Taormina is pasta perfection. It begins with a complimentary entrée of bruschetta, rich with tomato and dripping in the finest olive oil. Richard’s main course choice is handmade macaroni, cheese, tomato and eggplant. The macaroni is  about 10 cm long, cooked al dente and the sauce is  rich and smooth with just a hint of pepper. It is  topped with grilled eggplant, breadcrumbs and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. Wendy’s choice is fresh ravioli filed with salmon and served in a rich cheese and pistachio sauce. Bread is supplied for cleaning up the plate in true Italian style – but water, as always, is bottled and added to the tab.

In Sicily we are spoilt for choice with desserts, but again it is in the small shops at the edge of town that we find wonderful handmade examples of the local delicacies. Cannoli we have enjoyed in the past from the North Ryde Italian Deli but here the shells are crisper and more like a biscuit, not too sweet and very crunchy. The filling is abundant and sweet and only added after we have ordered. Filling options are pistachio cream, vanilla cream or ricotta cream- what a burden to have to choose.

Another dessert classic in the south is cassata, which we thought meant (like Mr. Pisa Gelato) ice cream. How wrong we were! Traditional Sicilian cassata is a layered sponge cake, filled with a flavorsome, but not too rich, ricotta cream and topped with green marzipan icing and a glazed cherry. We are encouraged to try a modern adaption of the traditional cassata. It is more like a ricotta cake with a firm base and just the hint of rum.  All these desserts are made locally and cost only a couple of euro ($3 AUD).

We also enjoy having a kitchen at our hostel and dine like kings with food from the vegetable barrow man and the local supermarket for about $8 AUD.  Our creative menu is a spiraled Italian sausage, frozen vegetable patties, a fresh salad of tomato, lettuce, red cabbage and grated carrot and of course pane di casa. Squisito!