Day 40!!!!! (Thursday) Florence to Venice

Most people apparently dream of visiting Venice and here we are at last!

Firstly though we had to catch the train in Florence - we were very sorry to leave Florence - certainly a place we would love to come back to and felt there was more to see and do. It was an interesting train trip. The first half was through Tuscany and because of the hilly country, most of it was through tunnels so you don't get to appreciate the Tuscan countryside  - but the bits we did see looked really beautiful. This area is on the wish list for a future bike ride so hopefully those hills we went through are not too high!! After Tuscany we travelled through very flat but obviously very fertile farmland with all sorts of crops including huge areas if grapes - very prosperous looking farmhouses, large rivers and lots of irrigation development.

Arrived in Venice at about 12.30 and had the instructions to get to the hotel which was supposed to be very close - only problem was that the instructions were a bit ambiguous so we crossed the "ponte" (bridge) the wrong way before finding we were supposed to go the other way so got to drag the luggage over all those steps again!! The  hotel WAS quite close to the station so we booked in OK and got all the info for our three days in this amazing city.

We spent the afternoon going for a very slow walk around to the Rialto bridge where coincidentally we stood right at the rail on the right side just as a huge boat-race approached with police boats clearing all the gondolas and other traffic. Crossed lots of "pontes" and canals and have seen lots of gondolas already so getting the feel of venice - it certainly is beautiful, unique and the crowds so far have been not so bad so we'll see how it goes.

Pretty ordinary dinner tonight - went to the closest Ristorante two doors down from the hotel and the food was OK - joined by about 50 Japanese in tour party which sort of destroyed the atmosphere!!

trivia:If anyone is wondering why we have been quiet on text messages, we have found out that we have no "roaming" carrier in Italy - we can't send/receive phone messages - sorry!

pictures -
* first view of gondolas - probably lots more to come!!
* Got to be the worst example of "kitch" we've ever seen - in a Venetian church - you don't light a candle- you just flick the switch and a light comes on!!!
* Boat race on the Grand canal - taken from the Rialto bridge

Day 39 (Wednesday) Florence

Florence is BEAUTIFUL - we certainly put it in the top few cities in our limited experience anyhow.The disadvantage of everything being so close is that there is no bus/tram/train ride to give you even a brief respite from the hard walking on cobbled streets.

First task of the morning (after breakfast that is) was to head to the station and get the tickets for Venice tomorrow. Used the beaut little auto booking machines they have in Italy and after a bit of sorting, out came or tickets, seat allocation and everything. Easy.

As predicted, we went to the "Duomo" - the amazing cathedral of Florence - joined the large queue but got in quite quickly. Huge surprise. For abuilding that is so decorated and complex on the outside, this is quite austere on the inside - a pleasant change from the usual gold and decoration. It is all the better for it - quite magnificent. Down into the crypt and you can go through the remains of the previous smaller cathedral which stood on this site until they demolished it to build this one, commencing in 1296. The "new" one is150metres long and 90 m wide - immense.

We followed the Miles "tradition"  -  where there is a dome, we will climb it - this time all 474 stairs!! As in St Paul's (London, not Maryborough) the climb brings you firstly to the interior of the dome so you look down on the nave of the church before entering the space between the internal and external domes to reach the lantern and emerge ouside to amazing views of Florence.

We then headed to the famous "Ponto Vecchio" across the Arno River with its beautiful jewellry shops built on the bridge - more gold and silver and diamonds and watches than we've ever seen. Resisted temptation. Marta our B&B lady had recommended San Bevitore's restaurant along the Via Spirito for a good lunch so we tried it out and weren't disappointed - probably the busiest restaurant we've ever been in but the food was magnificent (but please don't get the idea that we are just here to eat!!!!)

We have really just loved Florence. The shops are just amazing - incredible stock and beautifully displayed. The architecture is pure middle ages but reflects the huge wealth of Florence at that time - massive villa type buildings with lots of decoration and statues everywhere. After our magnificent lunch, very small dinner tonight close to the apartment.

Cheers all

Trivia: The Medici family were the source of most of the wealth in the Florence/Tuscany area. The were originally merchants who eventually owned the largest bank in Europe. As well as sponsoring such luminaries as Machiavelli and Michelangelo, they produced 4 Popes and 2 queens of France! they "ruled from the 1400's until1737.

Pictures:
* view of Florence from the top of the cathedral's dome
* the "Ponto Vecchio"
*David - this is a photo of the re-production outside the town hall, but this gives an idea of the size of the statue - not as beautiful as the marble original.

Day 38 (Tuesday) Riomaggiore to Florence

No doubt - the WOW! factor today has been Michelangelo's "David" - but more on that later!

Sadly left David and Julie and Riomaggiore and Cinque terra this morning per train and headed via Pisa to Florence. We decided that finding the leaning tower was not worth the time and effort involved - after all its only a belltower and we've done enough belltowers!

The train trip down the Arno River valley was very scenic. Especially interesting were the marble quarries and cutting workshops around Carerra - the high mountains are almost pure marble so huge quarries scar the sides of the mountains revealing pure white marble cliffs. Huge cubes of marble are stored in yards around the cutting works where massive cranes lift and then the cut slabs of all thicknesses can be seen.

Arrived in Florence about midday and easily found our B&B (La Residenza dell'Orafo) where a lovely Italian lady (as you would expect) explained all the things to do in Florence. Fortunately, most of it is within easy walking didtance so should be no problems. "Booking.com" has again not failed us - it is a lovely apartment in a central location and the staff are terrific. We were booked in to see "David" at 2.30 so headed for the "Accademia" where he is housed, collected the tickets and headed in.

No doubt about it, this is one of the most incredible man-made objects in existence. How someone can create something like this statue from a block of marble is incredible. The massive size takes you by surprise - much bigger than pictures suggest. The detail is also amazing. You can't take photos unfortunately (although phones and pads seem to manage)
(note: If David Henderson is reading this blog, we think David's hand is in proportion, and if you stand right at the end of the room it is definitely all in proportion)

Did some serious leather shopping and we each ended up with a new wallet. The leather salesman here are very similar to the carpet sellers of Istanbul - very hard to escape and desperate to do deals. Refused numerous beautiful leather jackets! - only 900 euros!!!

The world roadbike championships have just finished here so all the shops are still decorated with bikes, gear, jerseys etc. Unfortunately there are no reductions on jerseys as yet but we did buy the T-shirts!

Found (as usual) a great little ristorante down a side street - the Tuscany area is famous for beef cattle so I had roast beef and roast tomatoes and Elizabeth had a tuna salad - both beautiful as usual - chocolate pannacotta for sweets. mmmmm. Cheers all - let you know how our day of exploration in Florence goes - first impressions of Florence??? Absolutely beautiful

Trivia: The Guild of Woolmerchants commissioned Michelangelo to create "David" in 1501. It was finished in 1504

pictures:
*the narrow strets of old Florence (actually its nearly all VERY old!)
*the cathedral - known as "The Dome" - a most extraordinary building - will visit it tomorrow
*for the bikers - World roadracing championship display in the cafe where we enjoyed a'noon      tea

Day 37 (Monday) Riomaggiore

Memorable, beautiful day. Didn't start out that way - woke up to grey sky and by the time it was time to go and meet David and Julie, the rain was pelting down - BUT - we have found how you cure inclement Italian weather - you go and have a coffee and hey,presto! - by the time you finish coffee, the rain has stopped. Brilliant.

Bought our rail tickets to Florence for tomorrow, then took the train for the two minute trip to Manarola, th next village along the coast which we had missed yesterday. Beautiful village to explore by which time the sun was out and the day looking really good. Unfortunately, all the walking tracks were still closed so we took the train to Monterossa (the northernmost village) and headed for a ristorante we had decided yesterday looked pretty good.

We had the MOST beautiful lunch - georgeous spot overlooking the water and the cliffs and Elizabeth and I had seafood spaghetti and David and Julie a fish pasta. This would have to be the best food we have had on the whole trip thus far - absolutely beautiful and the tiramisu the end was also the best yet. Memorable.

Then decided to catch the ferry back to Riomaggiore. Ferry trips at home are nothing like this. There was a condiderable swell running and the ferry leaves from the most amazing spots - the gangplank is on rollers and swivels and the ferry just noses into the concrete platform amongst the rocks and the crew  shout "go-go-go" or "stop-stop-stop" as the boat moves around with the swell. It is absolutely incredible but somehow they get everyone on and off without incident. Miraculous.

Having had such an amazing and HUGE lunch, and having watched a beautiful sunset over the water from a cliff-top bar, we decided to buy some cheese and crackers and sat on the balcony with Julie and David and had them, a bottle of wine and Limoncello. What better night could you have??? This has been a fantastic little section of our trip, being able to spend a couple of days in this amazing part of the world together with Julie and David - truly memorable

Trivia: The Cinque terra is a UNESCO world heritage listed site. There is no normal vehicle access to the area - you must come by boat or train so there are mercifully no tourist buses.

Pictures:
* The village of Manarola from the sea
* a very special lunch at Monterosso (note the size of the bowls!!!)
* the entry to our beaut little apartment "Alla Marina" in Riomaggiore

Day 36 (Sunday) Cinque Terra

Today was the day with everything - weather-wise and scenic-wise as well. In complete contrast to the past 4 weeks, we listened to loud thunder nearly all night. We had arranged to meet David and Julie at the station to work out what to do for the day, but at meeting time - 9.30 - there was a HUGE storm - wind and rain like we've never seen before. We got as far as the tunnel leading to the station (there are tunnels through the mountains everywhere here) but could go no further - there was a swirl of water at the end.

Nothing to do but wait it out and eventually things settled down and we met D & J at about 10.30 and had a coffee. The walking tracks were closed down for the day (wouldn't want to try anyway!!) so we got the all-day train ticket and took the train to each village to check them out.
The villages are Riomaggiore, Manarola,Corniglia, Vernazza and finally Monterosso - each beautiful, medieval and built with a small harbour, cafes all around the harbour and then narrow streets with shuttered villas going up the hills. The coastline is steep, rocky and of course spectacular.

After a very wet walk around Corniglia, we headed for Vernazza by which time the rain had stopped and the sun actually came out while we enjoyed a pizza linch on the harbourside. Off to Monterosso which has the largest township and amazing churches - and it started to rain again so four fairly wet wanderers headed back to Riomaggiore - but it was a great day which we really enjoyed spending with David and Julie and this is undoubtedly one of the "must see" parts of Italy - beautiful little villages with unique character along a spectacular coastline. From Monterosa you can actually look back along the coastal cliffs and see each village perched on the cliffs. Very special.

Trivia: In October 2011 there was also huge rainfall here and it caused massive mudslides which killed about 10 people and caused huge damage to roads, houses, walking tracks and the railway. Sections of the walking tracks are still closed for repair.

Pictures: not too many today as Elizabeth's camera battery died after about two photos. I managed lots of photos but my camera doesn't download to the tablet unfortunately. However here is:
*waiting for the train (short platforms so you often board in the tunnel !)
* Riomaggiore in the rain!
*part of the coastline cliffs

Day 35 (Saturday) Pompei to Riomaggiore

Every day when travelling brings with it its own challenges and today was no exception. It was planned as a "travel" day really - simply to get from Pompei up the West coast of italy through Naples and Rome to La Spezia and across to Riomaggiore, one of the "Cinque terra" villages.

Stage 1: Pompei to Naples by train. All OK except the local train was 20 mins "retardo" (late)
Stage 2: Naples to Rome by "Frecciorosso" (very fast) train - all OK and even avoided the pick-pockets and "helpers". Had nice lunch near museum in Rome in 2 hour gap between trains.
Stage 3: Rome to La Spezia by "Frecciobianco" (half fast) train. long (3.5 hr) trip but OK
Stage 4: La Spezia to Riomaggiore (7 minute trip) - had to buy ticket from machine. Problem. Americans (Michael and Melissa from Minnesota on their honeymoon) in front couldn't get the machine to work in English. I tried and it worked so we agreed to buy 4 tickets on my input. Machine ate all the coins we could muster between us and no ticket. Used 20 euro note and thankfully got change and ticket. Still no sign of eaten coins. We then reached the platform just as the train was leaving. Some searching for details of next train but eventually (more upstairs/downstairs with luggage) found new platform and train, left one hour after arrival at the station. Reached Riomaggiore 7 minutes later. Thankfully, Sandro our B&B owner waiting there with sign.

This is an amazing place - built on side of very high cliff with sea at the bottom. More of that tomorrow, but negotiating steps with the luggage was "quite interesting" but got settled in and contacted Julie and David (my sister and her husband) who had also (by incredible coincidence) booked into Riomaggiore for the next few days as well as part of their Italy trip. Went to a restaurant just beside our building's front door with Julie and David for dinner - absolutely beautiful and a great night.

Weather forecast for tomorrow is not good but if walking is off the agenda we can take trains from village to village.

no trivia - yeah!!! - unless you want to know that "cinque-terra" simply means "five villages" in Italian.

pictures:
*Our favourite dinner spot near the cathedral square in Pompei
*Dinner with David and Julie at "Dau Cila" in Riomaggiore

Day 34 (Friday) Mt Vesuvius (Sfondo del Vesuvio!!)

Whew!! - we made it up and back to/from the crater of Vesuvius without incident. We took the public bus from just near the hotel up to the entrance to the national park, then you walk for about 3000metres to reach the rim of the crater and the track leads around the rim for about half the circumference.

The ride up in the bus is worth the fare of euro10 return. Blind curve after blind curve with the bus sounding its horn almost continuously as it needed all the road to get around. Sitting near the front was quite exciting as the front of the bus seemed to extend beyond the edge of the road with just air between us and a straight drop - over 1000mtrs down!

Steep climb up the track to reach the summit/rim - luckily the Greek ride gave us good
"mountain legs" (and lungs) so we had no problem, but there were a lot of people having "breathers" along the way. Brilliant views of the cities spread out in the plains way below, including the old city of Pompei clearly identifiable. Made us wonder what they pay for earthquake insurance around here as when the next eruption hits (as it will one day) there is going to be incredible damage.

Again, it is hard to describe the size of the crater - and this is small compared with the gap caused by the 79A.D. eruption. The diameter is about 500metres and it is about 240 meters deep - almost sheer cliffs to the bottom (with eroded material making the cone shape). There is steam rising from some parts but no sulphur smell - obviously a fair amount of heat involved though.

Another "discovery" when we returned - had some lovely panini for lunch and at the end the cafe owner shouted us (as they often seem to do here) a "limoncello" - a liquer based on the local lemons which grow on the mountains all around this area - they are a sweeter type of lemon and edible in raw form. Boy is this stuff good (30% alcohol by volume) so we bought a bottle to enjoy over the remainded of the trip. Will need to check if Dan Murphys will stock it!!! Too close to the weight limit to bring any home unfortunately.

Most challenging part of the day was purchasing two postage stamps at the local post office. First the second air-lock door refused to open - stuck between two doors!! Worked out you have to almost push on the door for it to open. Again take a number for service, but there are 5 service options (all in Italian of course) so you don't quite know if you've picked the right counter. (no, my schoolboy Italian is not THAT good) ; number appears, go to the counter and ask for two stamps pe favore, get blank look; ask again, get totally confused look; take out post cards, point to corner; get smile of recognition, "un momento pe favore" and disappears out the back! sounds of conversation, see her go with key to a drawer and eventually comes back with two stamps - worth euro1.70! Trouble is, when we got back to the hotel we realised that we  really need another  one!
 
Another adventure - noticed Giovanni the hairdresser just around the corner, so decided to "pop in" for a haircut on the way back to the hotel. lesson - you don't just "pop in" to Italian barbers. Got the full treatment - shampoo, dry, shave - the whole lot (for euro15!!) - and unquestionably the best haircut I have ever had.

Last dinner in Pompei was whole sea bass -beautiful. On a sad note, while we were having our dinner across from the town square, a huge funeral came past with two coffins. Waiter told us it was a young policeman and his wife killed in a road accident near Rome, leaving a 6 year old and three year old - tragedy.

Trivia: Vesuvius last erupted in 1944 with a six-mile long lava flow still clearly visible and the funicular railway to the  summit was also destroyed.The summit is 1281 metres above sea level. Its other major eruption besides 79A.D. occurred in 1631

Pictures:
* me and Giovanni - the full treatment!
*the crater at Vesuvius
*part of the 1944 lava flow