Florence....such a civilised city

Today we set off to score a few more brownie points in the Tourist Stakes.

By complete happenstance the Hotel Panorama, our current abode, is almost on the Piazza San Marco and consequently next door to the Galleria Academica, which houses Michaelangelo's David.

After breakfast on the 4th Floor, overlooking the Duomo and the city of Florence, we set off (slowly) to beat the crowds as David is very popular.

The Academy was originally, in the 16th century, a school of the arts. Many students who became famous painters attended and it had a music department as well. There were the usual endless versions of Madonna and child ( including a very beautiful Botticelli) , and lots of superb golden triptychs (too much of a good thing!) but there was also some very old musical instruments. Two Stradivarius instruments - one a completely intact violin, and one a tenor viola - from the mid-16th century were on display. There was also a Plaster cast room of many sculptures and a demonstration video of how the original plaster statues are converted into large marble pieces. Very interesting.

And of course, there was the ENORMOUS ( in every sense of the word) David himself. He is very impressive and beautifully sculpted, but I'm sure his hands are too big and not in proportion to his body. Anyway how would I know anything, having never been a sculptor of any sorts ( I don't think pottery at OT school counts!)

Then we headed for the Museo San Marco which turned out to be an old convent or monastery with lovely green cloisters and more pictures of Jesus on the cross than I have ever seen in my life! Every monk's cell had the same frescoe of Jesus painted  on the wall with some slight change to make it different to the one next door, but all of them with lots of dripping blood!

Ewan decided it was time to ice his sore foot so I headed off shopping on my own ( Yes!!!! Oops: I mean how sad for him). I spent a couple of hours perusing the markets and inhaling the smell of leather before buying a few purchases.

After lunch with Ewan (I couldn't desert him completely!) he headed off for the laundromat ( all he had to do was sit after all!) and I headed off for the Pitti Palazzo. That meant contending with the crowds around the Ponte Vecchio again. It seems to me there's thousands of tourists but not so many buyers of the gold jewellery on offer.

The Pitti Palace was the 16th Century palace of Cosimo Medici and his wife, and it would be fair to say that they went for quantity, in preference to quality - although the interiors were lovely. It's just huge and made from enormous blocks of stone: a very substantial palace from the outside.

There was a costume museum with lots of dresses and accessories from the last couple of centuries. The curators had assembled showcases of Haute couture gowns from the last few decades which I found fascinating. Also displayed in very dark rooms were the clothes that Cosimo, his wife and son were buried in. They died around the mid 16th century so the fabric was very fragile and the darkness designed to preserve what was left. Amazing!

Then I wandered around the exquisite Borbolino Gardens surrounding the palace. It was quite hilly but the gardens had topiary, a lemon grove, fountains, extensive lawns and pathways. Very relaxing on a hot day.

In order to revive myself for the walk home I needed another gelato of course. One a day is acceptable surely!

Florence is certainly a very civilised calm clean city, despite the throngs of tourists. Most of the central area is pedestrian access only and all of the 'things to see' are located in one district so walking is the way to go. My one attempt at using the bus today ended up with me going in the wrong direction completely: much better to go on foot!

After a delicious dinner in one of the piazzas at a very trendy place called Za Za's it's off to bed and then off to Lucca in the morning.

your on the move traveller

Dianne

Pounding the streets in Florence

SMITH HEALTH REPORT:

At the moment it is 11.00pm and Ewan is sitting with his sore foot resting on an ice pack on the bed.

The re-emergence of the foot problem may have been caused by our extensive sight seeing today.

Here's the list:

Walked for 10 minutes to the Duomo ( our hotel very convenient to all the must-see places in Florence!) and waited in line admiring the ornate pink green and white facade before wandering around admiring the simple decor inside the church.

- Climbed the 432 steps to get to the top of the dome on worn spiral steps for most of the way, and admired the 360 degree view over the terracotta rooftops of Florence. Then staggered back down ( which really hurt Ewan's foot).

- Visited the Museo of the Duomo to see Michaelangelo's Pieta and the real golden Doors of Paradise. In some ways it was fortunate that most of the Museum is being rebuilt so there wasn't a lot to see!

- Climbed more stairs to get to the 16th century apartments of the Medici family at the Palazzo Vecchio including an enormous high- ceilinged painted hall, and rooms decorated to recognise the exploits of the family members. Apparently they were all strong, fearless and god-like judging by the frescoes, gold and artwork used. I particularly liked Elenora's apartment as she had superb frescoes and paintings depicting heroines of the Age.

- After a quick lunch - Yes! Some sitting down time!! - it was off to the Uffizi Gallery to make sure we arrived at the appointed time of 2.45pm. A few hours and many treasures later we exited and made straight to the nearest gelateria for some much needed sustenance: bacio, pistachio and hazelnut ice cream - delicious.

- Then to complete the sightseeing it was a quick walk across the Ponte Vecchio to admire the view, and the jewellery, none of which appealed as much too gaudy and sparkly for me.

- Finally homeward bound we walked through the shopping strip and had a quick peruse of the leather stalls at the market.

- But never ones to miss an opportunity to add to our lists of sights seen, and to fully utilise the Duomo ticket purchased earlier in the day, we stopped to briefly visit the Baptistero next to the Duomo. A chance to sit down and stretch our necks to admire the detailed golden mosaics in the dome.

So is it any wonder that Ewan has had to resort to the ice pack, voltaren, nurofen etc etc and a bandage to control the swelling??? No it is not!

We came back to the hotel and collapsed for a couple of hours before dragging ourselves to a very nice restaurant very nearby.

Gold stars for such a huge number of attractions seen today! But we are both totally pooped so it's off to bed!

your tired but content correspondent,

Dianne

What goes up must come down.......

The only sounds to lull us to sleep in the retro swiss ski lodge were the quiet tolling of the huge bells attached to the local cows as they quietly moved around the mountains. Apart from that - total silence.

As we made our way down from the top of the enormous mountains we drove through some more towns and continued to puzzle about how the population lived. As we approached the coast again there were more pastures and crops but not enough to support all of the mountain towns. It's a mystery.

We headed along the coast to Palermo, the largest city in Sicily, with the help of the GPS now christened Gloria (Mark 2). When we were in Botswana we used an amazing GPS who Erin christened "Gloria", so this is her Italian counterpart.

I have become a complete convert to all things technical: what a turn around I hear you say??!!

Firstly I did NOT bring any books with me at all, and have been using a Kindle app on the tablet. I was not convinced that I would enjoy this, but Ewan had downloaded lots of Scandinavian crime novels which are great. Although there is something a bit bizarre when reading about a murder mystery in Iceland whilst on a train in Italy!

Anyway, with the assistance of Gloria, we approached Palermo with some confidence that we could actually negotiate the tangle of streets. Despite a few small hiccups when she seemed to get confused (nothing to do with my navigation of course) we made our way to the Palazzo dei Normanni. It's the top attraction in Palermo - a medieval palace now used as Sicily's parliament. The most stunning aspect of it was a beautiful tiny chapel which outshone many of the far larger Duomos and Chiesas (churches) we'd seen. First built by Roger II in the 12th century it has been restored and was absolutely beautiful: carved and painted wooden ceilings, marbled Byzantine-style mosaics, tiny gold and coloured mosaics depicting biblical stories and stories of real life of the times. Sounds like very other church but this one was really special. Our appreciation of it may have been helped by an audio guide that actually made sense!

As anyone who knows Italy will tell you, the opportunity to overdose on churches is easy. In Palermo there were huge churches on every street corner whilst the population is crowded into old apartment buildings - typical of many Italian cities. Even in the tiny mountain towns there was a number of churches for each of them : surely one would suffice? Clearly they are all on a path to heaven!

Then we wandered around the Piazzas and old streets towards the port. There was some evidence of buildings which had been bombed in WWII that hadn't been rebuilt.

We enjoyed risotto for lunch - pear, gorgonzola and walnuts (superb!) - whilst we tried to book accommodation for the night and flights. Our hotel - the Hostel Casa Marconi - was not far from the centre of town and we took the advice  of the hotel owner and dined at a local outdoor Trattoria - Il Viccolo - to the sounds of a an accordion player busking in the Piazza. So very Italian!

The only down side was the huge piles of rubbish we encountered on the walk there: disgusting! Apparently there was a strike or some problem with the rubbish collectors who hadn't collected the rubbish for some time. Some years ago the whole of Naples closed down after the rubbish collectors went on strike for weeks - I hope that isn't the fate of Palermo.

This morning we were on a sad mission: we had to return the gorgeous little Fiat to Avis at the Airport. It had done well getting us around Sicily, but it was time for us to head for Florence and the joys of Tuscany.

Sicily was a wonderful trip and we didn't see even a third of it, or have any altercations with the Mafia. My only other sadness was that I hadn't been able to sample all of the desserts on offer, and I definitely didn't have enough of the ricotta and fruit-filled cannoli for which Sicily is famous ( then again that may be a good thing!).

The only fly in the ointment today was that accommodation in Florence was as scarce as hen's teeth and we had tried but failed to book any, so we found ourselves ringing possible places from the McDonalds outside the central Train station in Florence. Apparently we had arrived just before the commencement of - wait for it!- The World Cycling Championships!!!!  Well you might ask if one of our duo (and it wasn't me!) had any idea about the timing of this momentous event, but the other half of the duo assures me he had ABSOLUTELY NO idea. I will leave you to come to your own conclusions about this amazing coincidence.

Anyway we finally managed to locate the most expensive hotel we have stayed in so far, and it is not exactly luxurious for the price. But on the other hand the train station was looking as if it might be the only accommodation available so I am not complaining. It's also within walking distance of most of the 'Things to see" so that will be great for the next few days.

Now we're about to set off to get our bearings, and some dinner, so arrivederci for now.

Your excited traveller,

Dianne

Tips for driving in Sicily

Here is my list for surviving the challenges of driving in Sicily:

1. Make sure you buy or hire the smallest car possible, but check that you can fit your luggage in first as some of the cars are exceptionally small. Small is good so you can avoid getting trapped in very narrow roads or lanes.

2. Speed limits are optional so feel free to create your own - everybody else just goes at any speed they fancy.

3. Stopping for pedestrians at pedestrian crossings is optional. If you like the look of them or they have just ignored you and started to cross anyway, probably best to stop, but at another time feel free to go barging ahead.

4. Parking is an art form here. Be creative: any space that will fit three quarters of your car is big enough. If you can't quite fit in  - don't worry - just park your car with it's tail hanging out and have faith that all of the other drivers will be happy to go around you.

5. Your other option is to double park and walk away nonchalantly : what the hell!

6. Park on the corners of the streets in any town and don't worry about whether you are blocking access to the street: you don't have to pay for parking if you park outside the blue lines so the corner of the street, where there are never blue lines, is a great spot.

7. When you park and the streets are narrow try to remember to fold in the rear vision mirror on the roadside. Many of the cars here have distinctive scratches and dents on their mirrors. The good news however is that they will spring back into position if hit!

8. On narrow roads where one car has to give way to the other it is a fight of wills -  stand firm, you don't always have to be the one to pull over.

9. It is compulsory that you spend at least half of the time you are driving on a mobile phone at the same time, especially if you are a bus or taxi driver. Extra points go to the drivers who are also doing up their seatbelt or smoking at the same time.

10. You too can play the scratchie parking ticket game. Just when you think you have bought a scatchie ticket and may win a fortune your hopes will be dashed. It is a parking ticket that requires you to scratch out the time and date. Darn!

11. Last, but by no means least, remember 'He who hesitates is lost'. Nothing will be gained by being polite and giving way and waiting for people. The driver behind you will use their horn and shatter your nerves if you are too nice. Just go ahead and barge in without meeting the eyes of the driver you have narrowly missed. The Sicilians will not value your manliness or womanliness if you drive like a wimp. Go for it!!

The islands, the mountains, the coast....it's Sicily

Over the past couple of days we've seen the coast, and now the mountains of Sicily. I am reporting in from a very isolated faux swiss chalet at the top of the Madonnie Mountains in central Sicily.

But let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start, as Julie Andrews would say):

SMITH HEALTH REPORT:

Whether it was due to the mystery injection, the weird bandaging or the night's rest, Ewan's foot was much better yesterday morning. He ripped off the bandages, the swelling had gone down and he was able to walk and drive, so that was a relief (particularly the latter as I was not looking forward to driving) . Panadol Osteo and Nurofen have kept things under control and not interrupted our attempts to be the best tourists possible.

So we headed to Milazzo from Messina to catch a cruise to go to some of the Aeolian Islands. The cruise ship was enormous and we were rather dismayed to see buses of passengers being ushered on board. But we sat on the top deck and there was plenty of room and a great view.
The Aeolian Islands are an essential for every tourist so numerous ferries and hydrofoils go every day. They are basically a row of 7 volcanoes whose uppermost parts protrude above the water. The whole trip took about 10 hours including a few hours spent on each of the islands.

First stop was Panarea, a tiny dot in the sea which had some beaches, delightful boutiques and enticing resort hotels. Most of the passengers headed for the rocks or the shore to have a swim. Rather than inflicting the sight of my body in bathers on an unsuspecting public (although after some of the sights I saw....!!) I decided to sit on the rocks and dangle my feet in the cool water, following Ewan, who called it hydrotherapy for his foot. We sat in the peace and quiet watching the azure blue Mediterranean lap quietly on the shore and then..........a huge hydrofoil went racing past and caused a huge wake which swamped us and left us dripping! Fortunately it was really warm and a walk around the island soon dried us out.

Then it was back on the boat heading towards Stromboli, one of the few volcanoes that are still active. We could see white steam slowly drifting from the top of its crater, interspersed with grey cloud when it actually erupted slightly. Surprisingly there are a couple of villages on Stromboli (on the side that doesn't have lava flowing - excellent choice!), so we wandered around one of them and read our books for a while before climbing on board again.

We were most amused to see signs showing emergency access paths from the beach to the crater in case of tsunami! I would have been much more concerned about large eruptions from the crater and how to leave the island as rapidly as possible. Apparently there were 2 significant eruptions in 2007 so I'm not sure it would be the top of my list for potential places to live!

After pasta for dinner we stood on deck as darkness fell to see the glowing fountain of lava that Stromboli spurts into the sky every few seconds. During daylight you see nothing, but once it is dark you can see bright orange spurts of lava. It was spectacular, but unfortunately my camera didn't cope so I'll have to get the postcard!!

We set sail for Milazzo and the hotel for a good night's sleep  - and some moisturiser as I was rather pink from too much sun.

Today we packed up the Fiat 500 (so cute) and headed in the direction of Palermo on the northern cast. We had no idea where we would end up so it has been quite an adventure. We met some Australians on the boat and they had absolutely everything booked before they left home : sounded very boring really.

Anyway we headed for Cefalu which is a beautiful old coastal town with lots of cobblestoned alleyways full of fascinating shops ( I really will have to get rid of Ewan so I can go shopping sometime soon). But most importantly the beach had real sand!!! The first we've seen.

Because the Mediterranean is so calm - it was like a mill pond when we were on the cruise - there are lots of buildings right on the rocks on the shore line. We went for a lovely walk along the buildings and the sea wall on rocky steps that had been created from the local rocks. Obviously the tide doesn't change much otherwise the buildings would wash away as they are a matter of only a few metres from the water.

We visited a lovely old 12th Century Norman church and treated ourselves to coffee and cake. (We were both a bit vague about the history of the Normans and their conquests so we might need a history lesson when we return Dad).

The Sicilians love of desserts is going to be disastrous for both of us. Every cake is an artwork and usually multicoloured: almost a shame to eat them.

Then we decided it was time to see some of the mountains for which Sicily is famous. Along the coast from Milazzo to Cefalu the main highway consists of tunnels cut through mountains and high bridges: for more than an hour we never actually drove on land: truly a triumph of engineering.

So we headed for the Madonnie Mountains driving towards central Sicily and away from the coast. The temperature dropped as we climbed higher through enormous sheer mountains which appeared uninhabited,. Finally we spotted what appeared to be a row of houses perched on the top of a high ridge: it was Polizzi Generosamo. This was a remarkable, and quite large, town isolated by the mountains around it. We wandered around trying to work out exactly why it was there. Apparently it was a fortress town and that made a lot of sense as you could see for many kilometres.

We'd brought a picnic of bread, cheese, salmi and ham , spiced up by some tiny pickled fish, so we sat and ate lunch on the steps of a very old derelict church overlooking the valleys below. A few local goats with constantly tolling bells seemed concerned at our presence.

From there we weren't sure whether to forge ahead even higher into the mountains, but decided to be brave and take a look at a place called Piano Baglia which turned out to be a ski village (although no snow currently as it's Autumn). We wound our way upwards on some tiny deserted  roads and finally decided we would try to get to the only Hotel in the area in the hope that was open.

So here I sit at the Hotel Pomeria which reminds me of an old ski lodge......

The  owner just came rushing over to me saying "Look! Look!" and when I peered out the window there was a family of wild pigs including a whole lot of piglets, rooting around in the garden. The locals soon put me straight: they are bad as there are too many of them. So there you go!

It's really very quaint this hotel, sort of 1960's swiss ski lodge decor: old photos, lots of wood, card tables and soft armchairs: all very comfortable . So our adventure has been quite a success today!

your adventurer

Dianne

Sicily... and what a first day!

We finally arrived on the shores of Sicily at the Messina docks at about 11pm.

It seems that more than half of the passengers were truck drivers and we were the only pedestrians who didn't have a car or someone to pick them up. In the pitch black we trundled along hauling our suitcases jumping off the road whenever a huge semitrailer went past. A reflector light on the back of our bags would have been good : Ewan used the torch on his phone to let the drivers know we were there.

We found the hotel, collected the key from under the doormat and discovered that we had booked a very cheap room that was a suite of rooms: two bedrooms, a kitchen, our own terrace: very nice.

Today we have had quite a few unexpected experiences, both good and bad:

Our first task was to rent a car. After doing the rounds of the car hire firms, we finally hired a very cool Fiat 500 with sunroof (after we had a good look to make sure it wasn't so small we wouldn't be able to fit our bags in!). Smaller is definitely better when it comes to cars here-the narrow roads and the parking are a challenge.

The second task was to find a laundromat: very boring I know, but essential when you are travelling.

Once we'd handed over the bag of dirty clothes to a very chatty young laundry assistant we set off to complete the third and most challenging task: to find a doctor. Ewan's achilles heel was inflamed and his ankle very swollen so we thought that as we didn't have our usual (almost) doctor to hand (aka Lauren) we would have our first contact with the Italian health services at the local hospital.

Ewan managed to stay on the right side of the road to get there and to park legally without any problem. He limped into the Emergency Department to find it almost completely deserted in terms of patients but with lots of staff, none of whom was working at breakneck speed. And so the comedy began: although I'm not sure whether Ewan would couch it in those terms. Charades was essential as none of the staff spoke any English: lots of pointing and me trying to use the Italian-English dictionary to no avail ( it seemed to very strong on renting hotel rooms rather than health issues!). To cut a lo-o-o-ong story very short he saw about 4 doctors, received an injection in the backside (of what we don't know), had his leg bandaged in a way that makes no sense for the injury (and included bandages that had blue strings attached ??!!)  and finally was left sitting in a wheelchair waiting to be given crutches which never arrived. The  orthopedic specialist appeared to have arrived straight from a sitcom : distinguished long grey hair, jeans, sneakers and sunglasses which he never took off. He gave Ewan a list of instructions, of which the only word we can understand is "ice" and the rest of which even Google translate can't translate. And he was told he needed an "Echogram Musculatore" which they couldn't provide.

In the middle of this debacle I had to rush off to retrieve the clothes from the Lavanderia before it closed. I had 20 minutes to get there so I decided to see if I could drive the car. Well, it has been a long time since I drove a manual car, and I simply couldn't get it into reverse ( it apparently has a silver ring on the gear stick that you have to pull up to get the gears to engage! Who knew?....not me) So my only alternative was to walk/jog and do a 20 minute trip in10 minutes! Got there in time but then had to turn around and walk back up the hill carrying a huge bag of clean clothes. I arrived back at the car in time to see Ewan hobbling down the street on his newly-bandaged leg minus any crutches. We piled into the car and escaped before any irate medical practitioner came running after us!

After that excitement, we decided to take a spin in our newly-acquired and very cool car down the coast to Taormina. I'm not sure what I was expecting of the Sicilian coastline but Taormina was a mountainous coastal town with some lovely coves ( although grey sand/mud!) and beautiful blue Mediterranean waters. Being so steep so close to the coast meant that we went around in circles trying to get to the centre of town, and then there was absolutely nowhere to park, so we went to the top of the mountain and turned around and came down again. We returned to Messina in another hour along the coastal road. Really stunning scenery. And we could see Reggio Calabria on the tip of the Italian mainland.

We stopped for lunch and sampled some of the traditional Sicilian pastries : the ricotta cannoli was great - crisp cannoli shell filled with a mixture of ricotta, fruit and pistachios. A Weight watchers delight I'm sure!

On the way home my navigation skills and the blue dot on the Google map had some misunderstanding and we ended up in a suburb of Messina with lanes so narrow that if another car came one of you had to pull off the road completely. Took some time to recover and escape, but we eventually made it home in one piece!

After some reviving drinks on our terrace we headed for Amici Meie - a delightful little restaurant very close to the hotel (so Ewan wouldn't have to hobble too far).

Another interesting and challenging day had by all!

your hopeless driver

Dianne

 

The anniversary cruise ....or maybe not

There's never a dull moment travelling except when you're waiting for buses and trains to arrive... and expecting them to be on time.

We started the day by packing up and heading for the bus stop: the bus was due at 9.35am and after many empty tour buses rushed by finally the blue Sita Sud bus arrived. The only problem was that it was the first bus of the morning and was bursting with people so we didn't have a hope of squeezing on with our bags. So, another wait with the only entertainment being a few altercations between rival buses going in opposite directions around a very tight corner.

Another bus trip to Amalfi and a quick change onto the bus for Salerno, more than an hour away. The roads seemed even narrower than before and certainly more precarious. The travel advice is to make sure you sit on the right hand side of the bus going south so you can look out to sea and enjoy the picturesque coast. Excellent advice until you find yourself peering down sheer cliffs hundreds of metres above the sea, and only a small stone wall between you and the cliff face.. At one point our driver - the first female driver we've seen - had to do a 6-point turn to get around a hairpin bend past another bus. Reverse a few feet...... go forward.....reverse again ......and so on. Certainly more thrilling than the usual bus ride in Melbourne!

As we approached the huge city of Salerno we could see a huge white boat with Carente Turistico in huge letters on the side. Our luxury cruiser ...or was it? I wondered whether this was the luxury cruise liner Ewan had booked as a 30th anniversary surprise??!!
As we walked towards the ship we realised we were surrounded by truck drivers loading their trucks onto it. When Ewan realised that one of them was full of live pigs I realised that perhaps this wasn't the QE2 or similar.

We couldn't see any other passengers approaching the ship at all and I thought that maybe he'd booked us on a cargo ship. We found ourselves on a long deck of the ship designed for trucks, and were pleased to see a person beckoning to us in the distance. We did feel a little odd wheeling our bags along the huge open deck!

Luckily (for Ewan)  there is a very pleasant passenger section with a bar and a restaurant. We are currently esconsed on some very comfy padded chairs to while away the 9 hours of the trip. I've done a promenade of the deck and we have enjoyed antipasto and risotto for lunch, with a very nice Sicilian apple cake to follow. Sicily is known for its amazing array of desserts so that will be something for me to enjoy, when we finally arrive.