12 May 2010 – Naples
Got up and finished packing for our trip down to Naples. Decided to get some breakfast at the corner bakery. I had a sticky fruit pastry. Lynn had a salami and cheese sandwich on some good bread.
Brian took us to the airport. Check-in was painless. Very painless. It was apparent that the airport was secure and the procedures were followed efficiently, but it was lacking that special brand of mouth-breather applied bureaucratic stupidity that we inflict on ourselves in the States. A wonderful counterpoint.
Flight to Naples was uneventful. It was cloudy down below, so we saw relatively little of the area we flew over. We arrived in Naples and deplaned via the old method – a ladder truck brought to the plane after parking, and then to a bus. Once all were aboard, the bus drove approximately 4 bus-lengths and we got off at the entrance to the terminal. Seriously. We then waited about half an hour for our bags to make the same 4-bus-length trip. There was no customs arrival process since we were coming from another EU country. Annie was there to greet us, and walked us out to the curb where Rob drove by shortly. We left the airport and stopped by one of the bases to exchange some more money and for Rob to run an errand. Then we entered the chaotic Neapolitan driving adventure to get to their home – the Lizard Castle.
After dropping our bags, getting the tour and visiting a bit, we headed out for dinner. They took us to a place they used to go to frequently when they were in Naples before – Dominic’s. It is located on a stretch of Mediterranean beach that is pretty much deserted now, but was once very busy and crowded. Rob says the business comes and goes, and the real estate just isn’t treated the same as in the States, where this area would compare to something like Virginia Beach.
The food was excellent. We shared a bunch of bruschetta and tomato and buffalo mozzarella with prosciutto as appetizers. Then I had some pasta with pesto and sausage. Lynn had some kind of folded pizza treat, like calzone, which was also quite delicious. We shifted out evening potables from beer to wine at this point in the trip. Went home and visited briefly, and then went to bed.
13 May 2010 – Florence
Got up early for a 0900 departure. Packed everything into Rob’s Camry and headed out to Florence. No real adventure driving up. Arrived a little after mid-day. Checked into our hotel, left our bags and started out on foot for the city. Picked up a cab (pretty cheap there) which dropped us off at the Duomo. We walked around a bit and decided to score some lunch. Found a nice little sidewalk eatery on one of the side streets that looked good, and it was. A few glasses of vino de tavolo and some good food. I had some pasta, a small salad and some roast pork. All delicious. Lynn had a large salad with artichokes, tomatoes and olives, but was a little disappointed that it was mostly iceberg lettuce and not a better mixture of “stuff.”
Walked around all day hitting all the little shops we could. Walked through the courtyard at the Uffizi on our way to Ponte Vecchia. Walked along the Arno towards the Michelangelo Piazza, stopping once for a break and a glass of wine before beginning the climb up to the piazza (you’ll notice I’m slipping into Italian now). The climb was steep and there were many, many steps. The view of the entire city from the top was magnificent, though. We took a lot of pictures.
Since the climb was pretty steep and we were all a bit tired, we decided to catch a cab back to the hotel for a brief “reposa” before dinner. Rob and Annie went back to their room and I went to ours. Lynn went out to see what else was in the vicinity of the hotel. After our reposa, we met for dinner, and again caught a cab to the Duomo. We noticed some lighting and movie scene paraphernalia set up at the Duomo, and were told there would be some filming going on for an Italian TV program. Decided to have a look after dinner.
We walked around for a good while, and finally decided on a place, which required about 20 minutes wait before we were seated. The food was excellent. I had some salad and antipasto appetizer stuff, then a “steak Florentine” which turned out to be about 20 ounces of thick steak grilled to rare perfection. I knew when I saw it I would not finish after all the appetizers I had. Rob finished his, but was miserable. Waddled out and caught a cab back to the hotel. Beddie-bye time.
14 May 2010 – San Gimignano
Got up and checkout out of the hotel so we could get on the road to San Gimignano. On the way onto the autostrada, saw a car get t-boned by a truck. All less that 5 miles/hour but still not a good day for the car. Car was merging (probably a bit too aggressively) and the truck wasn’t allowing any merging, even with that level of assertiveness. Didn’t work out.
The rest of the drive was uneventful. Stopped at a winery (a bit early for tasting, but hey, it’s Italy) and tasted a couple of wines. Moved on and got to San Gimignano before noon. Parked the car and walked around the city for a couple of hours and then decided to have lunch. Found a nice restaurant with a beautiful view of the Tuscan landscape. I had some penne with Tuscan meat ragout and Lynn had a salad. Rob had some creamy lasagna made with a bechemel base, and Annie had spaghetti al arabbiatta. All good stuff. Walked around a little more, then headed out to find out hotel.
Finding the Podere Bellavista was challenging. Our GPS kept resetting due to the hilly area and its apparent unfamiliarity with the small roads in the area. After making a couple of loopbacks and covering the same old ground with the same old missed connections, we called the place. The girl there was very helpful, and was able to convey enough information with enough recognizable landmarks with enough recognizable English that we were able to get there. It was definitely tucked away, well off the beaten path. You will not end up there by accident.
The property was beautiful. It was a Tuscan farm that had been converted into a hotel. The main house served as the office, kitchen, dining room and wine tasting area. There were also several rooms in the main house. The outbuildings also had rooms in them, how many I could not say. Lynn and I stayed in one of them; Rob and Annie in one in the main house. The rooms were quaint and comfortable. It really did feel like you were staying in somebody’s garden cottage.
We tasted some wine, and had a brief reposa period and then decided to head out to another walled city – Volterra. The city of Volterra was about 40 minutes away by car, mostly due to the winding mountain roads. It is another Tuscan city, perched atop a mountain and walled in to keep out the other warring city folk. We took a bunch of pictures once we arrived, and then began our pillage of this town too. Right outside the city gate were several shops and a place that sold the local specialty – alabaster. Rob and I toured the alabaster joint, and then joined the girls in tasting some wine (so-so) and tasting some olive oils (bad) and some salami (great, and we bought some). Then entered the city, walked all around, taking photos everywhere, and tasting wine whenever it struck us. Finally it was getting late in the day and we were thinking about food again. Since we had been tasting wine, and Annie doesn’t drink, she got the driving duty. The decision was made to abandon Volterra for dinner and head back to San Gimignano to eat so we could avoid a winding drive at night, and also to avoid having to find the wonderful but cleverly hidden Podere Bellavista in the dark and from the wrong direction.
We drove back to San G. and started circling, looking for a good place to eat without going back into the touristy walled part. After several frustrating reverses, we decided to head back towards Poggibonsi and settled on a hotel restaurant on that road. We got the last available table and sat down. From then on, it got worse. My salad and veal was good. Rob’s fagioli were terrible – pretty much just boiled beans with a “hint” of sage – no flavor at all. He said his Tuscan ragout pasta was “OK” though. Lynn liked her pasta, but Annie didn’t look too excited about her food (bread soup). We were fed, but not terribly satisfied. Went back to Bellavista and slept hard.
15 May 2010 – Naples
It started raining during the night, and was still coming down steadily after we got up. We decided to start heading back, and if it improved, we would tour some more of the Tuscan wine country, and if it stayed rainy we would just continue home. It did not improve until we got back to Naples. We drove roughly south-east from San Gimignano toward Poggibonsi, then south toward Siena, which we passed alongside, and then caught the A1 autostrada to head south the Naples – no fuss, no muss, no excitement.
Once in Naples, we headed to the base again for Rob to pick up his cleaning, and also for us to look around a bit again. After puttering there for a bit, we decided to go to the local Italian pseudo-WalMart – Auchon. Rob stayed with the car while Annie, Lynn and I went in. Not exactly WalMart, but close. There was a tremendous scope of food available, and we picked out a bunch of fresh Parmesan cheese, some salami and some olive oil and balsamic vinegar to ship home. Yummy!
After shopping, we went home, unpacked the car and wound down a bit. Then we walked down the hill to Panda Pizza and had some pizza for dinner. It was good, and quick. Pizza in Italy is cheaper, and comes mostly in individual servings which are pizzas that are about 12” in diameter. The crust and toppings are not as heavy as in the States, so it makes a pretty sensible meal.
After dinner, we sat around and had some more wine, and agreed on the plan for the next day – our trip to Sorrento. Then to bed.
16 May 2010 – Sorrento
Got up, packed a day bag for our overnight trip to Sorrento and got in Annie’s Panda. Headed south on the autostrada and got a little lost about the time we got to Castellamare – almost half way there. Drove around in circles for a while, started to get frustrated, and pulled over for gas and a map. Got ourselves back on track and drove down the coast to Sorrento. There were some gorgeous views from up high. The Amalfi Coast is very picturesque. We arrived in Sorrento about mid-day and checked into our hotel – La Terrazza – perched atop the cliff over the sea, and next door to the famous Excelsior Hotel. It was an absolutely beautiful location.
Dropped our bags and headed into town on foot to look around. Made our way through many little shops on the little streets, and found a place to stop for lunch. I had some penne pasta (al Sorrentino) with a salad and an early cappuccino (before the meal – got a funny look there). Food was delicious.
Walked around some more shops and wore Rob out to the point he suggested we take the “tour train” around the city, which we did. It was fun, and we got to see some more of the city with some English explanation over earphones. It was nice. Then Rob voted for reposa, which we granted, and then back out for dinner at 2000. Walked around to find a different place in a different area from where we had been most of the day, and found a place inside that was like an indoor garden.
The food was very good. The service was also very good, but we noticed every time the waiters came out the kitchen with a tray full of food, they took it to a table off to the side where a lady looked it over before it went out to the table it was going to. We observed this the whole time we were there. After we had finished our meal and were on our way out, Lynn asked about it, and received an evasive answer about having to track inventory. Strange. We went back to our hotel and slept soundly.
16 May 2010 – Sorrento and Naples
Got up and and enjoyed a magnificent view from the terrace. The sun was out, and there was a nice big 4-masted sailing ship anchored offshore. It was a cruise ship that had pulled in for the day. We took a bunch of pictures of the great view before meeting Rob and Annie for breakfast. We walked in to the nearby square and Rob and I found a cafe where we ordered some coffee and pastries while the girls went back to a particular leather vendor to pick up a handbag that was deemed irresistible. The croissant (“coronet”) was filled with a chocolate filling very much like (or possibly exactly like) Nutella. It went well with my coffee. The girls eventually joined us and had a similar breakfast. We took our time, since the hotel proprietor (Andre) was notoriously “European” and kept late hours at night and likewise rose late in the mornings. Rob was hoping to call him around 1000. As it turned out, that was still a tad early for Andre.
I didn’t catch up my notes for a day or so here…
The Capri trip day, 18 May 2010
Annie gave us a ride to the airport, where we picked up “the Alibus” to the ferry terminal downtown (by the Castel Nuovo, same one you saw). Side note: Back 25 years ago when I was on my first Navy cruise to the Med, the whole area around the castle was heavily infested with what we rather indelicately called “he-shes” after dark. I forgot what the Italians called them, but it wasn’t polite either. Anyway, we caught the ferry without seeing any interesting life around the castle, and went on our way. The trip got a little bumpy, and people were getting a little green around the gills. Lynn did not feel great either, but the lady next to her had carefully folded her tourist map into a pretty clever container to upchuck into. Thankfully, we did not have to discover if it would hold any or all of it, as the crew began dispensing plastic bags to the greener looking passengers. Our friend surrendered her origami puke basin, and promptly filled her plastic bag. The bags were almost transparent, so you could see all the chunkies….mmmm…yuck! Lynn just leaned back and closed her eyes, and made it ashore alright.
Once ashore, we bought a ticket to ride the funicular up to the little town above the ferry terminal, and once up there, wandered around and took pictures. We looked around, checked out some stores, and then checked the tourist info counter to see what else we could do in the several hours we had before the ferry left again. Got a map and planned a hike. Had some lunch (something Italian, looking out over the Med…typical) and then started our journey. We hiked over to the other side of the island so where we could see the southern Amalfi Coast ( toward Salerno), and saw some amazing homes. All the kinds of things you see in the Bond movies, and in the movies and fashion adverts from the early 1960s. The hike went down pretty far toward the water, and then back up the rocky cliffside of Capri. I don’t remember how many miles it was, but the hike was pretty strenuous, and we were parched when we got back. We just had time to get a bottle of water and hike down the hill to the ferry once we reached the place where we started.
Ferry ride back was much calmer and we took a nap. Once back at the Naples terminal, we waited about an hour and a half for the Alibus to return. The posted schedule must be a decoration, because we never saw any of the buses advertised come by, and ours certainly did not arrive at any posted time. But the crowd waiting for it grew, so we figured we were OK. Anyway, finally got it, and rode back to the airport. Called Annie to come pick us up there and went home, packed and got ready to depart for Rome in the morning.
Ah, Rome! If only I had finished my notes! Perhaps someday…