Florence, Italy

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Florence-Pano-20140607-_ALL4028

Florence, or Firenza as they say, is a required stop for any newbie traveling Italy.  It is big on the museum side with the Uffizi Gallery, among many, and one certainly needs to see the most famous sculpture in the world, Michelangelo’s David.  This iconic statue has had a hard life. When first unveiled it was greeted with jeering, rock throwing and general disapproval.  Later, during some riot in the 1500’s a bench was tossed at David which broke the left arm in three places.  Still later a crazed, jealous artist smashed the toe with a hammer.  It was also greatly damaged by a museum cleaning with hydrochloric acid.  The statue sat outside in the elements for over a hundred years.  David stands proudly today in the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, alone in a large open room built just for it.
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Typical Florence – Ten Characteristics Revealed

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Typical FlorenceThis photo reveals so much about Florence!  It is often my goal to find that scene which can convey the most about the character of the town or place I am visiting.  This is one of my favorite photos for that reason.  Here is part of what this photo shows:

1)  The addresses can tell the informed traveler this is Florence.  The numbering starts over for each street, which is often quite short.   So there will be lots of apartments with the number 1 or numbers less than 10.  Businesses have a different number sequence than residences.  Here the business address 14 is in red and the residential address is a blue number 6.  The business address would be written 14r which tells the Florentine person it is a rosso or red address.  The foreigner can mistakenly think this is an r for residential which is normally a black number, but is blue here.  The numbering system does not even follow the simple rule of odd on one side of the street and even on the other.   The distinction between what is a residence and what is a business is not always clear, such as searching for a bed and breakfast place which is a residence run as a business.  Fed-X has their work cut out for them.
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Siena Italy

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Il Campo Square

Siena is the largest of  the mountain towns in Tuscany.  These mountain towns were built high on hills and are surrounded by tall walls.  These fortifications came in handy when they found it necessary to dump hot oil on the invaders from neighboring towns fighting for dominance of the region and control of trade.  I never thought I would be reading articles on the unification of Italy on my own and with interest….  The main attraction in Siena is the huge brick courtyard, Il Campo.  Here the tradition is for young lovers to chase away the flocks of pigeons and have a picnic on the hot bricks… hummm we skipped that part.

Tower ViewIl Campo PanoramaIl Campo Clock Tower

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San Quirico d’Orcia, Tuscan Countryside

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Val d'Orcia Church

We have all seen photos of the Tuscan landscape and the beautiful green or gold rolling hills, depending on the time of year.  We visited in the spring so all was very lush and green.  Photos of Tuscany were responsible for Italy being such a large part of our initial trip to Europe.  In particular, I was interested in the often photographed Vitaleta Chapel pictured above.   We stayed at a working vineyard and olive farm in San Quirico d’Orcia primarily for me to have easy access to this chapel and many other vistas.  As it turns out, the light was never quite right for photographing the chapel, but the surrounding area was still wonderful.

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Rome, Italy

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Trevi FountainThe short story on Rome is…. If you ever get a chance to visit Roma, do so!  To understand Roma, it helps to realize it has been a vibrant city for over 2,500 years.  Walking around this ancient city one can turn the corner and suddenly see the Roman Colosseum, Pantheon, Saint Peter’s Basilica, another statue of Romulus and Remus,  or some other site we were required to study in school.   Everything Rome has done seems to be over the top in excess and grandeur.  For example, Trevi Fountain is so large it basically occupies the entire plaza where it was built.

We have all heard the saying, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”  So my Dad asked me to find out what it is the Romans do.

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The Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica

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Saint Peters Dome, View from our condo

Saint Peter’s Dome, View from our condo

I will leave to others to try and describe the immensity, beauty and grandeur of  St. Peter’s Basilica and all the Vatican offers.  It is simply over the top in every aspect.  The guide told us that they did what they could to make it appear smaller than it is, as the size was unnerving to many who visited.  There are arches and domes of differing sizes that intersect, resulting in incredibly complex architectural lines.  One of the photos in the Gallery is named ‘Complexity’ for this reason.  On display is Michelangelo’s beautiful Pieta, now behind glass every since a crazy man chipped off part of Mary’s nose….  Among the crowd are tourists busily snapping one photo after another, wandering around with heads always strained toward the ceiling, as well as nuns quietly experiencing the meaning of the place in silence.  There is likely no more beautiful and ornate building on earth.  However, I am no expert in this area as I have yet to see the Taj Mahal, Palace of Versailles and many other places, so much to see….
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Pompeii and Herculaneum Italy (Plus a Bonus)

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Herculaneum Italy

Herculaneum Italy

While staying in Sorrento, Italy we visited both the towns that were buried by Mount Vesuvius almost 2,000 years ago, Pompeii and Herculanium.  The only train between Sorrento and Naples passes right by these excavations.  Theese towns once had the ocean right at their doorstep but are now set back due to the massive amounts of volcanic ash and lava.  The bright colors are striking.  My photos show apparently I was impressed by the varied brick work and textures, but decided not to include those here.

Pompeii Skull
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Sorrento, Italy

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Sorrento Gellato-cropped-20140507-_ALL1845-EditSorrento, Italy was a milestone in our home free adventure.  Making it to Sorrento means we made it through Italian customs (there wasn’t any), negotiated our way from the Port of Civitavecchia to Sorrento using two bus lines, three trains, and successfully meeting our landlord on the other end.  Had it not been for our years of experience riding the subways of Chicago, we never would have made it on the Circumvesuviana train car in Naples.  Running past many train cars which appeared to be 110% full, we managed to push and shove our way onto the last car with our two large suitcases, two back packs and two carry-ons.  It may sound like we over packed, but I brought along 30 pounds of camera gear and a large tripod which required a large suit case.  Also, I packed rain gear for Ireland and Scotland.  Generally, the rule is to not pack more for a 6 month trip than for a several week trip.  However when packing for hot and cold weather as well as strenuous hiking trips, the volume expands.
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Isle of Capri and ‘The Blue Grotto’

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Island of Capri

Island of Capri

As a side note, big ships and cruises are a bit of a sterile way to see the world.  This is not meant to be derogatory, just one does not have to make decisions or confront the many travel issues one is required to do when traveling on your own.  While cruising one travels in a controlled environment and if they wish can elect to go on a ship-organized shore excursion, again in a controlled environment of an air conditioned bus, a fluent guide and prearranged sites of interest.

For our cruise stop in Naples, Italy we chose to go on our own to the Blue Grotto on the Island of Capri.  The ship did not offer this as a shore excursion.  This is not a difficult adventure, but one must catch three boats and get back to the ship on time.  We are certainly not great world travelers at this point and all of this is still a challenge, dealing with language barriers and getting back to a ship which announces it will leave without us….  So we booked a hydrofoil boat to the town of Capri on the Island of Capri from the Naples harbor.   Unknowingly, we left ourselves just minutes to catch-all the connections.  So here is how the adventure unfolded…  Do not expect any big issues or surprises, as all went very well.  First you see the Island of Capri with steep cliffs, blue waters and brightly colored houses.  The piles of luggage on the boat indicate that many people stay on the Island, so Capri is their home for the next several days.
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Graffiti in Cagliari, Sardinia Italy

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Slide Show of Seven Photos

Visits to many of these port towns in Italy remind us that ‘graffiti’ is an Italian word.  It seems that every spot, every corner is tagged with spray paint. There also is not much evidence that anybody is trying to stop it, no places sprayed over with tan or gray paint to hide the artwork.  An investment in a spray paint producing company seems like a good idea.  However, I wish to stress that Cagliari was a very pleasant, attractive town to explore on our own, no ship excursion.  Preparing for the next phase of our European adventure, I bought our Italian phone here and a SIM card.  The theory is that this will be cheaper than using our existing phones and paying Verizon for the additional usage abroad.  So we got a new phone and new phone number and we should be ready to call our future landlords in Europe to arrange meeting places.