ciao i tutti!
the last few hours roll around, and I can't believe it. A few days ago I was looking forward to seeing family and friends, and hanging out at home without having to worry about where we were to stay that night, but now I'm not so pleased to be heading out!!! How can we leave behind the great food, the beautiful people, the funny police sirens, and so many places yet to be discovered??? Bit of a sad feeling really to be leaving, at least on my side (sim). Em is keen to get started on the next adventure which will be physio placement at Box Hill again.
will def. be back - our visit to italy, and in particular, our last few days in rome, has ignited a desire in me to continue the language, return for a year or so, and try my luck with the work, the traffic and the housing. we will see.
cant wait to see you all - after the hideous flight of course!
love sim and em xxxx
nhulunbuy beach
Friday, 18 May 2007
Friday, 11 May 2007
the smart car
ciao i tutti!
so now that we are safely back, its time to come clean about our adventures of the past four days...
yes we took the plunge and hired a car from sorrento, to travel down to puglia (the 'heel' of italy) for a few days. it was an experience that was scary at times, but overall we adapted very well to not only driving on the right, but to the italian style of driving with a few exceptions (i.e. only 110 on the autostrada, instead of 200!). it was a little smart car, a two seater, which as you know is quite narrow, which was good as our first route planned was from sorrento to salerno, via the amalfi coast!!! lets just say it was great fun. em drove most of the way along the narrowest roads to amalfi, with great dexterity and calm. we landed at ravello, a gorgeous town 7kms inland and uphill from amalfi, with great views over the coast and beautiful hills surrounding. we enjoyed lunch at ravello, but chose not to take a walk through the gardens there due to the 5 euro pp entry fee!! sim took the wheel after lunch, and took the rest of the winding roads (which included being stuck behind two of the buses described in the previous post) to salerno, at which point we had our first taste of the italiano autostrada.รน
we motored along nicely until about 8pm, where we decided to rest our heads overnight in Martina Franca, a charming town just north of Taranto, or west of Bari. we ended up having to stay in a deluxe hotel, centrally located in the middle of parklands, within the city centre, because we hadnt booked anywhere and tried to wing it last minute style.
was actually quite amusing as we couldnt find the entry after a few laps around the hotel, at which point, em suggested that sim take a right into a big gate (which em maintains looked like a driveway), which turned out to be the aforementioned town gardens!! we drove in, did a u-ey australian style around the round about which was actually a garden bed, the only reason we made it was cos the car was so tiny!! we completed the turn, only to find ourselves pointing towards a now firmly closed gate, with the guard in front, about to call someone on the mobs. we both leapt out of the car at the same time, trying pitifully to explain in broken italian that we were australians, it was an accident, and we were really looking for the entrance of the hotel ducale. fortunately for us, he was a friendly man, smiled, and let us through, with a few correct directions. later when we parked in the real driveway, he came up and had a joke with us.
that night we headed out close by, and went to a pizzeria called don giovanni, at the start of the old town. just had to mention this as sim had previously sworn off pizza after napoli (ugh!) and this place was fantastic - crispy bases, and fantastic toppings (still italiano style not australiana). apparently they have different schools of pizza makers in italy... crazy but true. they take food v.seriously here we think - nice because we take eating very seriously too! one other interesting thing about italy is that most of the waiters are male, and the cooks female, unlike australia. the waiters are always fantastically helpful, and v.charming.
the next day we tripped past the trulli houses of puglia (see photos to come), we got to see inside an older trulli house made in the 1400's - it was amazing that 6 people fit inside!! apparently 4 sisters slept upstairs, in a space equivalent to a 3 man tent. from here, we hit the adriatic coast, found our place for the night, and then headed to ostuni, the so called white city, a gorgeous hill town with characteristic small cobblestone walkways, about 10 kms off the coast where we enjoyed what had to be one of the top 5 meals in italy so far... all hand made, and so well priced. the owner was great, and ended up telling us about a place he rented out in town that we will probably check out on our eventual return.
day three, we spent a lazy day at the beach, in a beautiful nature reserve. it was fantastic - white sands & crystal clear warmish water. we set up a little shade McGirlver style, and read, swam and ate fresh rolls for lunch!
we packed up around 5 and headed to Matera, our base for the next mornings trip back to sorrento. although we didnt get to spend much time there, it is def. worth a visit and interestingly, was used as the set for Jerusalem in Mel Gibson's the Passion of the Christ, and you can see why - the town was originally comprised of cave like dwellings housing about 15000 people up until the 60's, where the residents were forcibly removed and rehoused nearby by the Govt due to poverty, disease (maleria and other) - basically third world conditions. we walked through the old town and enjoyed a great dinner on a terrace overlooking the Sassi houses, as they are called. a little spooky to walk through late at night as the renovations are still in progress, and many of the cave houses are still empty and open (though most of them are renovated hotels/houses/restaurants etc which are neatly hidden to preserve the look of the old town).
an early morning today then - 6 am start to get the car back in time, and to potentially meet Em's brother Phil who had just arrived in italy last night, although this is now prob not likely. we are planning to finish up here, have a relax down at Marina Grande for a couple of hours, then head to the station to catch the long train to Pizzo (on the calabrian coast - the toe of italy), our destination for the next three nights.
following this, we will head to sicily for a day and a half - the plan so far is to check out the volcano Mt Etna which apparently still has snow on it, Siracusa, site of greek ruins, and possibly taormina. an overnight sleeper train from messina on the 15th will see us back in roma on the 16th for our last few days of adventure!! the time is going too quickly - we are not really focused on it though, as the travel adventure is still v.much in progress.
thanks for all the messages, and hope all is well in melbourne.
love em and sim xxx
so now that we are safely back, its time to come clean about our adventures of the past four days...
yes we took the plunge and hired a car from sorrento, to travel down to puglia (the 'heel' of italy) for a few days. it was an experience that was scary at times, but overall we adapted very well to not only driving on the right, but to the italian style of driving with a few exceptions (i.e. only 110 on the autostrada, instead of 200!). it was a little smart car, a two seater, which as you know is quite narrow, which was good as our first route planned was from sorrento to salerno, via the amalfi coast!!! lets just say it was great fun. em drove most of the way along the narrowest roads to amalfi, with great dexterity and calm. we landed at ravello, a gorgeous town 7kms inland and uphill from amalfi, with great views over the coast and beautiful hills surrounding. we enjoyed lunch at ravello, but chose not to take a walk through the gardens there due to the 5 euro pp entry fee!! sim took the wheel after lunch, and took the rest of the winding roads (which included being stuck behind two of the buses described in the previous post) to salerno, at which point we had our first taste of the italiano autostrada.รน
we motored along nicely until about 8pm, where we decided to rest our heads overnight in Martina Franca, a charming town just north of Taranto, or west of Bari. we ended up having to stay in a deluxe hotel, centrally located in the middle of parklands, within the city centre, because we hadnt booked anywhere and tried to wing it last minute style.
was actually quite amusing as we couldnt find the entry after a few laps around the hotel, at which point, em suggested that sim take a right into a big gate (which em maintains looked like a driveway), which turned out to be the aforementioned town gardens!! we drove in, did a u-ey australian style around the round about which was actually a garden bed, the only reason we made it was cos the car was so tiny!! we completed the turn, only to find ourselves pointing towards a now firmly closed gate, with the guard in front, about to call someone on the mobs. we both leapt out of the car at the same time, trying pitifully to explain in broken italian that we were australians, it was an accident, and we were really looking for the entrance of the hotel ducale. fortunately for us, he was a friendly man, smiled, and let us through, with a few correct directions. later when we parked in the real driveway, he came up and had a joke with us.
that night we headed out close by, and went to a pizzeria called don giovanni, at the start of the old town. just had to mention this as sim had previously sworn off pizza after napoli (ugh!) and this place was fantastic - crispy bases, and fantastic toppings (still italiano style not australiana). apparently they have different schools of pizza makers in italy... crazy but true. they take food v.seriously here we think - nice because we take eating very seriously too! one other interesting thing about italy is that most of the waiters are male, and the cooks female, unlike australia. the waiters are always fantastically helpful, and v.charming.
the next day we tripped past the trulli houses of puglia (see photos to come), we got to see inside an older trulli house made in the 1400's - it was amazing that 6 people fit inside!! apparently 4 sisters slept upstairs, in a space equivalent to a 3 man tent. from here, we hit the adriatic coast, found our place for the night, and then headed to ostuni, the so called white city, a gorgeous hill town with characteristic small cobblestone walkways, about 10 kms off the coast where we enjoyed what had to be one of the top 5 meals in italy so far... all hand made, and so well priced. the owner was great, and ended up telling us about a place he rented out in town that we will probably check out on our eventual return.
day three, we spent a lazy day at the beach, in a beautiful nature reserve. it was fantastic - white sands & crystal clear warmish water. we set up a little shade McGirlver style, and read, swam and ate fresh rolls for lunch!
we packed up around 5 and headed to Matera, our base for the next mornings trip back to sorrento. although we didnt get to spend much time there, it is def. worth a visit and interestingly, was used as the set for Jerusalem in Mel Gibson's the Passion of the Christ, and you can see why - the town was originally comprised of cave like dwellings housing about 15000 people up until the 60's, where the residents were forcibly removed and rehoused nearby by the Govt due to poverty, disease (maleria and other) - basically third world conditions. we walked through the old town and enjoyed a great dinner on a terrace overlooking the Sassi houses, as they are called. a little spooky to walk through late at night as the renovations are still in progress, and many of the cave houses are still empty and open (though most of them are renovated hotels/houses/restaurants etc which are neatly hidden to preserve the look of the old town).
an early morning today then - 6 am start to get the car back in time, and to potentially meet Em's brother Phil who had just arrived in italy last night, although this is now prob not likely. we are planning to finish up here, have a relax down at Marina Grande for a couple of hours, then head to the station to catch the long train to Pizzo (on the calabrian coast - the toe of italy), our destination for the next three nights.
following this, we will head to sicily for a day and a half - the plan so far is to check out the volcano Mt Etna which apparently still has snow on it, Siracusa, site of greek ruins, and possibly taormina. an overnight sleeper train from messina on the 15th will see us back in roma on the 16th for our last few days of adventure!! the time is going too quickly - we are not really focused on it though, as the travel adventure is still v.much in progress.
thanks for all the messages, and hope all is well in melbourne.
love em and sim xxx
sorrento
ciao i tutti!
a bit of time has past since we last wrote - getting more tardy as the time ticks by... sorry to all our fans out there!
just to close on Napoli, while our trip to the Museo didnt eventuate, we did stop by the Catacombs for a personal tour - very interesting but em was hoping to see bones strewn about the place but all of the excavated remains from the tombs had been buried in a nearby cemetary. was still pretty cool though, it had a functioning underground chapel, and we learned that it acted as a bomb shelter, refugee camp, and hospital in WW2 (given that Napoli was a big target cos of its massive port).
the rest of the time in Napoli was spent wandering around the streets, trying out the famous pizza, and negotiating our way around the chaos that is traffic in the city. its totally different to any other city we have seen in italy - by far the dirtiest and craziest. as far as first visit impressions go, it was a must do, however sim was on high alert all the time due to crime, traffic, smog, smokers, (you see the general trend) and so it was a very mentally tiring experience.
it was great then, to board the ferry to sorrento after a couple of days in the big smoke. mt vesuvius looked incredible - it was massive, and cant believe so many people are living just a km away from the peak!! apparently scientists predict that it should erupt every 35 or so years, and given that the last one was in the early 40s, it is well overdue!! we didnt climb it this time, maybe next visit.
sorrento was a breath of fresh air, literally, from napoli. the ferry was definitely the best way to approach given the amazing coastal views. the town itself is quite touristy, and most shop keepers speak excellent english, however we keep trying to practice our italian on them, and find that it often is more appreciated and warmly welcomed.
we spent four nights overall in the town, in which time we visited and explored pompeii (really interesting - massive, so it took up a good 5 hrs and we didnt even see the whole lot!), took a trip (bus there, ferry back) to the amalfi coast, explored sorrento itself, and Marina Grande, where, as some of you might know, sim's nonni was grew up. we even found out that we were staying on the exact site that nonni was born - an olive grove that her parents leased to work the land.
the amalfi coast was amazingly spectacular. em has put it as no.1 above the great ocean road, which must be saying something!! the bus trip down was slightly hairy, narrow roads, steep cliffs, and tiny villages with numerous near misses (millimetres, not feet!!), all seemingly a normal part of the experience. we saw a huge bank up just out of amalfi, with two buses coming each way, blocking the entire road (even the scooters stopped, and thats something!!).
it was great to see Marina Grande, finally, after I (sim) had heard and seen so much of it second hand. we explored the rock pools where nonni would of played, and walked the same streets - it
was a little surreal actually. we also found the school where nonni went, but were too shy to buzz ourselves in on a school day as the friendly old italian man suggested we do after giving us directions. we found a trattoria on marina grande that had been there for 60 years, and enjoyed some of the best fish yet.
that's our sorrento experience, in a nut shell!
a bit of time has past since we last wrote - getting more tardy as the time ticks by... sorry to all our fans out there!
just to close on Napoli, while our trip to the Museo didnt eventuate, we did stop by the Catacombs for a personal tour - very interesting but em was hoping to see bones strewn about the place but all of the excavated remains from the tombs had been buried in a nearby cemetary. was still pretty cool though, it had a functioning underground chapel, and we learned that it acted as a bomb shelter, refugee camp, and hospital in WW2 (given that Napoli was a big target cos of its massive port).
the rest of the time in Napoli was spent wandering around the streets, trying out the famous pizza, and negotiating our way around the chaos that is traffic in the city. its totally different to any other city we have seen in italy - by far the dirtiest and craziest. as far as first visit impressions go, it was a must do, however sim was on high alert all the time due to crime, traffic, smog, smokers, (you see the general trend) and so it was a very mentally tiring experience.
it was great then, to board the ferry to sorrento after a couple of days in the big smoke. mt vesuvius looked incredible - it was massive, and cant believe so many people are living just a km away from the peak!! apparently scientists predict that it should erupt every 35 or so years, and given that the last one was in the early 40s, it is well overdue!! we didnt climb it this time, maybe next visit.
sorrento was a breath of fresh air, literally, from napoli. the ferry was definitely the best way to approach given the amazing coastal views. the town itself is quite touristy, and most shop keepers speak excellent english, however we keep trying to practice our italian on them, and find that it often is more appreciated and warmly welcomed.
we spent four nights overall in the town, in which time we visited and explored pompeii (really interesting - massive, so it took up a good 5 hrs and we didnt even see the whole lot!), took a trip (bus there, ferry back) to the amalfi coast, explored sorrento itself, and Marina Grande, where, as some of you might know, sim's nonni was grew up. we even found out that we were staying on the exact site that nonni was born - an olive grove that her parents leased to work the land.
the amalfi coast was amazingly spectacular. em has put it as no.1 above the great ocean road, which must be saying something!! the bus trip down was slightly hairy, narrow roads, steep cliffs, and tiny villages with numerous near misses (millimetres, not feet!!), all seemingly a normal part of the experience. we saw a huge bank up just out of amalfi, with two buses coming each way, blocking the entire road (even the scooters stopped, and thats something!!).
it was great to see Marina Grande, finally, after I (sim) had heard and seen so much of it second hand. we explored the rock pools where nonni would of played, and walked the same streets - it
was a little surreal actually. we also found the school where nonni went, but were too shy to buzz ourselves in on a school day as the friendly old italian man suggested we do after giving us directions. we found a trattoria on marina grande that had been there for 60 years, and enjoyed some of the best fish yet.
that's our sorrento experience, in a nut shell!
Thursday, 3 May 2007
napoli
ciao i tutti!
sim and i have made it to naples after a gloriously lazy half day in Ponza eating pasticceria specialities and drinking coffee (yes I have aquired the taste as long as it has two sugars!), and reading in the sun.
we have found a very laid back alternative cool (bordering on pompous)area, somewhat akin to fitzroy - in which we have enjoyed watching the last half of the semi final of the UEFA cup between AC Milan and Manchester United. Unfortunately for me, AC Milan were victorious and have made it through to the final against Liverpool. As usual, I was going for the underdog and given that we are in Italy, and everyone else was going for Milan (inc. Sim), I couldnt possibly throw my support that way as well.
Yesterday Sim and I had a great day exploring the isle of Ponza on a dilapidated old hire scooter that couldnt pass 35kms/hr to save itself. probably a good thing as I was in control with Sim as pillion passenger half the time (nb. in australia you need at least a year's experience before this is allowed, and here I had but two minutes experience as a solo driver). I was going so well - taking the turns like a pro, until we had to do a 180 degree turn - unfortunately we didnt quite make it and ended up driving on the side of the embankment on the left hand side of the road (wrong wrong wrong in Italia!!) I tried to put the brakes on but it was so close to the accelerator that I merely succeeded in accelerating further up the hill. Once we came to a stop, we gracefully slid back down to the level of the road, not without the left hand side of the scooter coated in dirt and grass. Not to worry, we emerged relatively unscathed- ready to take on the next few kms. The views along the road were amazing, and the trip as a whole was completely relaxing and therefore very worthwhile (although recommended in April or May during the week - molto tranquillo!).
tomorrow we are heading to the Museo Archiologica di Napoli and the Catacombs nearby (plus a bit of shopping on the side, and taste testing of the famous Napoli pizza of course!).
Ciao for now! Tanti baci, Em. xx
sim and i have made it to naples after a gloriously lazy half day in Ponza eating pasticceria specialities and drinking coffee (yes I have aquired the taste as long as it has two sugars!), and reading in the sun.
we have found a very laid back alternative cool (bordering on pompous)area, somewhat akin to fitzroy - in which we have enjoyed watching the last half of the semi final of the UEFA cup between AC Milan and Manchester United. Unfortunately for me, AC Milan were victorious and have made it through to the final against Liverpool. As usual, I was going for the underdog and given that we are in Italy, and everyone else was going for Milan (inc. Sim), I couldnt possibly throw my support that way as well.
Yesterday Sim and I had a great day exploring the isle of Ponza on a dilapidated old hire scooter that couldnt pass 35kms/hr to save itself. probably a good thing as I was in control with Sim as pillion passenger half the time (nb. in australia you need at least a year's experience before this is allowed, and here I had but two minutes experience as a solo driver). I was going so well - taking the turns like a pro, until we had to do a 180 degree turn - unfortunately we didnt quite make it and ended up driving on the side of the embankment on the left hand side of the road (wrong wrong wrong in Italia!!) I tried to put the brakes on but it was so close to the accelerator that I merely succeeded in accelerating further up the hill. Once we came to a stop, we gracefully slid back down to the level of the road, not without the left hand side of the scooter coated in dirt and grass. Not to worry, we emerged relatively unscathed- ready to take on the next few kms. The views along the road were amazing, and the trip as a whole was completely relaxing and therefore very worthwhile (although recommended in April or May during the week - molto tranquillo!).
tomorrow we are heading to the Museo Archiologica di Napoli and the Catacombs nearby (plus a bit of shopping on the side, and taste testing of the famous Napoli pizza of course!).
Ciao for now! Tanti baci, Em. xx
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so where the hell are we?
