Travel Tales

Gallery: Prague

almost_italian — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:15:00 GMT

Good Times

Prague

almost_italian — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Ok so got up way too early to catch our flight to Prague, for some this was unbearable, not too many words spoken all morning...well nice ones anyway.

Saw a basketball team at Charles de Gaulle, they were gigantic, one guy had the largest feet we'd ever seen must have been a size 18 to 20, and another guy had to duck to fit under the ceiling he had to be around 6 ft 10 at the absolute least. Other than that it was hard to believe we were still in Paris, kinda felt like being in an army barrack, we flew from terminal 3 which for those who have flown from there before will know it's a little primitive.

Landed in Prague after a little more fishtailing down the runway, must be how they do it here in Europe, the pilot announced very cheerfully that the temperature was a nice cool 0 degrees, yeah great! Had the pleasure of watching a sniffer dog complete his training, he did so well. (someone was having wicked flashbacks, but hid it well!!!) Found our private pickup guy, he was very talented indeed. He definitely gets first prize in boot packing, he managed to squeeze all our luggage into the boot of a sedan, still don't know how he did it. Dropped us at our door, the 3 Drums turned out to be quite a find, very cheap, awesome location and a very roomy 2 bedroom suite. Nice find indeed.

Walked around for a little while, braving the cold, and cold it was. Took us a little while to work out the currency conversion and seeing that the AUD is performing so awesomely well at the moment, was well in our favour. First stop was coffee and food, of course, second stop was a pair of leather gloves for the girls, did I happen to mention how freaking cold it was!?!

Saw the clock do it's thing, of course granny was left a little anti-climaxed, the rest of us thought it was pretty cool. Paul and Jo left the 2 girls sleeping for the afternoon and went out in search of Pilsner and food for the night. The Pilsner was great but our restaurant of choice booked out, so we booked us in for tomorrow instead. Praise the lord, they actually operate 2 identical restaurants, one smoking and one non-smoking....now why don't they do that everywhere over here??? Had to move today at lunch because we were all getting head spins from smoking a cigarette with the woman sitting next to us, was so bad, but the restaurant was unbelievably gorgeous. We are starting to get the feeling Australians are a little left of centre with their drinking habits, is the second time we have been asked if we were sure we wanted another beer (without food) Went back to get the other 2 for dinner a little bit pissy and absolutely freezing cold, another layer of clothing would be required if we were to face the weather for the evening, that brings it up to around 5 layers or around 1/2 a suitcase of clothing, no wonder we have been moving around like in slow motion, and we just thought it was granny's fault!

We landed quite an animated waitress who was quite intent on getting us drunk (obviously they don't have RSA requirements over here!) She recommend we have a Flambe drink, it's a very Czech thing to do and promised to warm us up from the inside out, we should have realised then what we were in for but no, come in spinner! She suggested we try the Becher, it's a local liqueuer made from herbs and is apparently quite cleansing....OMG. She filled up an entire wine glass full and then poured it in to a glass bigger then our heads, She warmed it up over a flame and brought it to the table flaming (hence the name flambe drink..in case you were wondering where they get the name from!) So we thought it was one to be shared between the 3 of us, but no, it was one that size each!! Was quite nice had an ambrosia flavour but was nearly impossible to drink, the fumes coming off it nearly burnt the hairs out of your nostrils and brought you to tears. There was only one way to do it, hold your breathe and shut your eyes.

We ordered dinner, 2 of us chose the Pork knuckle, one went with the fish and one went with the Pork Steak, we all had a side of potato dumplings, which was quite unnecessary once the size of our meals were revealed. I shit you not, the pork knuckles were the size of a Sunday roast, they had to be seen to be believed (kind of matched the size of the pre dinner drink!)The other 2 meals were perfect. About half way through dinner the Becher kicked in, well we couldn't stop laughing, Sharon lost all feeling in her tongue, and all our waitress could offer us was more alcohol, she said the more you drink the easier it is to finish the Pork roast!! Not likely, any more alcohol and there was no way we were walking outta there unassisted........and then Jo broke the serviette holder. Well another waitress, one we had never seen before was on us like a shot, very unimpressed, she demanded to have the broken piece of ceramic holder, and probably would have smacked Jo if she thought she could get away with it. In no time, all breakables were confiscated from our table, well we had to laugh at that........and then she gave us the bill, not so funny. The most expensive item on there was the broken serviette holder, not kidding. She must have done her training with the Swiss institute of customer service as well, because man, she was a sour dog. Jo asked if she could pay separate and told her she didn't break it on purpose, she just shrugged and charged her an extra 50 korouny, lucky the AUD is going so well!!! They shouldn't serve tourists so much alcohol on an empty stomach we say, it's lucky they have any crockery left. All in all, the food was delicious, the name of the restaurant "Staromacek" at number 4 Dlouha, in the old town of Prague. We still recommend it, but if you see a blonde haired waitress that looks like she sucks on lemons, be very careful with the crockery; and if you get asked if you want a flambe drink, sweetly suggest you'll have one to share!

See the photo's they are a little embarrassing of some, ie JO, but just too funny not to share.

Gallery: Belves

almost_italian — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:47:00 GMT

Gallery: Lourdes

almost_italian — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:56:00 GMT

Lourdes

almost_italian — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:32:00 GMT

Started the long trek home and decided to take a different route home. We called into a town called Pau, but not much there so everyone agreed to that seem it was not far to call into Lourdes. Lourdes is a sacred place for Catholics near the foot of the Pyrenees. In 1858, a 14 year old girl, Bernadette, saw the Virgin Mary in a series of 18 visions. We read that over five million pilgrims, visit annually including people who seek cures. Leading up to the Sanctuaries of the pilgrimage site, is a display of commercial exuberance that is unspeakably tacky and a bit unbelievable that they would do that to a sacred site. We visited the Notre Dame of Lourdes which is a huge religious complex that has emerged around the cave where Bernadettes visions took place. At the cave, a mass was taking place that made the visit a bit special. The girls lined up and went through the cave, while the skeptics hung near the river. Whether you believe or not, there was definitely a special ‘energy’ around the area. The Brother still waiting for a miracle and didn’t quite feel the energy. Went back to the car, Paul thought we were abut 50km from home but when he put Belves into Mr Navman, 348 km came up. The shock was a bit much for him and so had a bit of whinge but the great roads had us home in a bit over 3 hours. The ham and bread from San Sebastian levelled out his sugar levels. Thought we could get some alcohol and food in Belves, but, guess what, everything shut as usual when we arrived. Headed back to our little cottage and had a great meal of French baguettes, honey, goats cheese, Spanish ham, quail, pork, pate, potatoes, and anything else that was in the fridge plus every drop of wine and beer we could find. Even had to open up a bottle we had put aside for the Brother’s birthday on Friday. Finished off with some great Limoncello from Capri, it ended up a great night.

Gallery: San Sebastian

almost_italian — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:49:00 GMT

San Sebastian

almost_italian — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:26:00 GMT

Decided that we had had enough of medieval villages so for a change of pace decided to head to the Brothers favourite place, San Sebastian, Spain, 380 km away. Woke to a crisp 2 degrees celsius and headed off reasonably early for us. To break the journey we decided to call into Biarritz. Biarritz is a coastal town in Southern France and is known for having some of the best surfing beaches in Europe. As usual our timing was impeccable, as it was siesta and everything was closed. Despite this the beaches looked great, as we had all been deprived of rolling waves for a little too long. Made a mental note to ourselves that this would be a great place to visit when the weather was warmer, ie summer.

A few k’s down the road and we found San Sebastian. A quick walk to find accommodation in the ‘old quarter’. As we hadn’t had access to internet, unable to look up Doug’s recommendation for pension, and couldn't remember the name so after a few minutes settled on the first one we found. And you guessed it, when we were walking around afterwards, just around the corner there was Doug's recommendation!!

Spent the afternoon walking around the old town, and after looking at every shoe shop in the town, caught up with the boys. As we didn’t have lunch decided to hit the bars early, but discovered that while Jo had us looking at shoes, the boys had an even earlier start. We started with Egosari – highly recommended. We all had the best tapas ever, especially the brochettes. Moved on to another couple of bars where the highlights were the mussels and the fried chillies. There were so many different delicious morsels, we were like kids in a candy store. Didn’t know what to have. The hit of the night for the girls was the sangria, at a little bar where we had a night cap. Even the boys wished they had had it. We thought the guy behind the bar was making it up as he went, but incredibly was able to repeat the recipe exactly. He just kept pulling out random bottles from underneath the bar, including a healthy dose of Grand Marnier to finish, then stirred with technical bar utensils, ie the handle of a fork!

Spent the next morning, walking around the headland to try and walk off the tapas and enjoyed the beautiful coastline. Headed up to the Cathedral, while some went in search of Serrano ham. We were happy to finally have some decent coffee again. As the morning was getting on, decided we should go as had quite a trek to get back to Belves, but not before grabbing some take away supplies ie Serrano ham, bread and Portuguese tarts. All regretted that we only had a night here and definitely a place to return to in the future.

Belves

almost_italian — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:56:00 GMT

Headed off this morning for the other side of France, some 550 kilometres away. After Italy, Paul thought driving was a relative breeze on the French roads. Arrived at our destination of Belves in the Dordogne region in the mid afternoon. Belves, is a medieval village perched high on a rocky ridge (to the Edna’s dismay) and is brimming with magnificent gothic and renaissance homes. Our accommodation is a little 14th century cottage overlooking the beautiful Nauze Valley and a view of Belves township with its turreted houses and bell-towers, although two members of the group thought it was a smelly old house! A bit of dissension in the group. We headed up to the village for a quick walk and look, and three beers later and a gastronomical feast we waddled home sometime after 10pm. Jo suggested that we just needed something light for dinner, but we found a gorgeous little French restaurant called ‘Le Home’. Due to the fact that we couldn’t read the menu, Jo, Paul and Mal went with the 20 euro set menu. It was the liver screaming cuisine. The entrée was the foie gras, followed by duck confit and chocolate fondant to die for. Jo claims that it was the best fondant ever tasted. Paul and Mal declared it the best meal eaten for a long long time. Now, for those who don’t know how foie gras is made or forgotten let me remind you…Cute little ducks and geese live a carefree life in the fields, eating tender grass for the first three months of their life. Then their diet drastically changes. For three weeks they have a funnel down their throats and force fed a corn mush, three to six times a day at fixed hours. As a result their livers become enormous weighing between 400 and 1000 grams and voila a luxury food! Jo’s liver went into shock at all the fat she was eating. Made the scarmorza cheese look like fruit salad. Up mid morning, hustled everyone up and headed to the St Cyprien food markets. These would have been the best markets ever. Jo, who declared at breakfast that she was on a liquid diet was a bit slow to start. She declared she had a food hangover and was not going to buy anything but 30 minutes in and she started making up for lost time. We were in foodie heaven again. Fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs, olives, honey, jam, foie gras (Jo couldn’t look) , every meat in existence, sausages, pastries, bagettes, walnuts, oils, oh and the cheeses… it was all there. The most amazing food was the pork ribs, quails, chickens and ducks being cooked on a rotisserie. Underneath were small potatoes, so all the fat and juices from the meat dripped on them while they were cooking. Jo tried a potato on the way home in the car and all we could hear were sighs of ecstasy! Paul finally found the rabbit he has been keen to eat and loved every morsel, while Jo cringed behind his back. Only problem with the French is that they can’t make coffee, it has been very ordinary, I guess you can’t have everything. Oh yeah, and the buildings were cute and old. Headed back to Belves for a quiet afternoon. Some of us headed up to the village for a walk around. In the Place d’Armes, in the centre of the village were the Bell -tower and the covered market, both 15th century. Paul was fascinated by the neck cuffs displayed on one of the pillars. They were used on the miscreants, who would be collared and left to stand for either days or hours depending on the crime in the square. We continued walking along the western part of the village, and saw the Gothic Church of Notre-Dame-de Montcuq, which used to be a Benedictine priory. Totally different in style to the over-the top, gaudy Baroque style of Italy, we found the rustic simplistic realness quite refreshing and loved it. For Jo it was her favourite church so far. Seems we just can’t get enough of churches! A little further down another alley we chanced upon a tree of figs that tasted like fig jam they were so sweet. Perfect!

Gallery: Lyon

almost_italian — Thu, 8 Oct 2009 16:55:00 GMT

Gallery: Capri

almost_italian — Wed, 7 Oct 2009 07:07:00 GMT

Lyon - Foodies Paradise

almost_italian — Wed, 7 Oct 2009 02:54:00 GMT

We were all a little sad to leave Italy, and today was our last. Jo was quite depressed actually, to say the least, we headed to Naples airport, bid farewell to decent coffee, and caught our flight to Geneva. Wondered what Paul was going to do, as ‘prego’ had become his favourite word. He used it all the time, even when it was out of context. When in doubt say ‘prego’!

The weather was warm, but clouds were gathering so decided not to head to Chamonix as visibility would not be good from Mt Blanc, so set off in the direction of Annecy. The guy at the rentals gave us a bit of a bum steer with directions and ended up taking the scenic route. We wound our way through cute little French villages in the gorgeous countryside. By the time we hit Annecy, the day was almost done so found a hotel, and as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast headed off for an early dinner. Finally after a couple of hours settled on crepes and an early night.

Woke up to rain, so headed down to the ‘old town’. It was quite beautiful even in the rain. The rain finally got too much so we decided to leave and set off for Lyon, based on a tip brother Mal had. Lyon has the most restaurants/cafes per square metre anywhere in France is reputation for the ‘gastronomical’ centre of France. Sounded like the perfect place for us. So for those of you not interested in food, you can stop reading now, cause the next few days is all about the food….even more so than usual!! Lyon did not disappoint.

Arrived at Lyon in the rain, and after a couple of hours finally settled on a hotel, that we had found on the net the previous night. Went for walk in the afternoon and found our bearings and a quick look. Every second shop was a shoe shop and next door was a patisserie, so Jo particularly pleased and very distracted. Mal, the epitome of an Aussie male became a bit impatient and just kept walking anyway. Found where we were coming back to dinner that night, a little alley frequented by the locals, and a great tip from the lady in the info centre. Ended up in a great spot outside right in the middle of everything, loads to keep us occupied while we waited for our food to arrive. Dish of the night had to go to Paul's escargot with creamy mushroom and garlic sauce, well done everyone was wishing they had ordered it. All of our meals were more than satisfactory though and if this was a taste of things to come, our waistlines were in a lot of trouble.

Woke up the next day to more rain, even though a promise of some finer weather was made by the weatherman the night before....damn you weather man!! We decided to go inside and check out the covered markets "Les Halles" as we were a little over walking in the rain sightseeing by now and a little shelter was just what we needed. Well weren't we greeted with a bit of a treat, these food markets were out of this world, the standard and abundance of fine food mind blowing, only problem was we had only just eaten breakfast and were all still quite full, but oh the temptation!! The cheese, pastries, macarons, handmade chocolates, meats, Lyon sausages, fresh fruit and veg, seafood, and last but not least the ducks, chickens and whole fresh bunnies with skin and fur attached!! It was well and truly foodie heaven, you couldn't close your eyes and imagine anything better if you tried. Made a few purchases...of course we did, and even made some room in our full tummies for some samples, hence the purchasing!! Miraculously the sun was shining when we came out for air, and left us the entire afternoon to explore Lyon. We wandered through the old town, which was delightful, and even came across some of the old tunnels (traubles) that weave through, linking the buildings like little secret passageways. Very cool.

After a little R&R, we set off for another taste sensation in our little alleyway, finally settled on a restaurant that we were all happy with, I'm not going to mention anything else other than the Creme Brulee, we had a great meal, but the Creme Brulee was exceptional, something we will be talking about when we're all old and wrinkly and sitting in our wheel chairs in the sunny spot on the verandah of our nursing homes!!! Honestly.

Capri

almost_italian — Mon, 5 Oct 2009 02:51:00 GMT

The ferry ride to Capri was a long and depressing one for some of us, luckily Franco, the owner of Il Giardino dell’Arte, was waiting for us at Capri and took us to his piece of paradise on earth. We had charming rooms with our own courtyards overlooking the water, among beautiful gardens. Too perfect. We went shopping in Anacapri and needless to say all bought hand-made sandals, at Antonio’s. Our brother, Mal, joined us in the afternoon and that was pretty much the day, ending with a Franco recommendation at a local restaurant, Il Cucciolo. The restaurant was good with lots of wine and a limoncello that tasted like sambucca?? But the ride there and back was memorable. We were picked up by the restaurant service, it reminded us of the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland. You’ve gotta give it to the Italians, they sure know how to drive. Tiny narrow alleys ways, certainly not streets, and we were weaving left and right at a speed that we don’t want to think about. After a delicious breakfast of fresh figs, pastries and yoghurt, served on the terrace, Franco organised a private boat tour around the Island, on the ‘Gracie’. We were extremely lucky and had the perfect weather, with skies too blue to be real and deep ink coloured calm water. First stop was the Blue Grotto, of course. This has to be the biggest tourist trap that we have come across in Italy. 10.50 euro each for about 2 minutes, but it is something you have to do. It is what it is. Our little guy didn’t even sing but was very concerned about his tip afterwards. Having said that, the colour of the water is amazing, but hard to capture on camera. The entertainment was provided by Mother. When trying to get back onto the ‘Gracie’ the guy pushed her up from behind. She flopped onto the deck of our boat like a seal, face down, and had us all in stitches. She then got the giggles and couldn’t get up. I was fortunate to capture all on camera but she won’t let us load the pictures up!! We continued around the Island and stopped at many other Grottos. At the Grotto Verdi, we all dived in and swam through the Grotto. The water is so clear and the colours amazing. The sun was bouncing of the surface of the water like diamonds. A truly memorable experience for all. After a delicious lunch by the water, we headed back to Anacapri. Some of us just lazed around, while the more energetic headed down for a walk to check the ruins of Villa Damecuta. The Villa was actually damaged by the eruption of AD79 and thought to have been abandoned not long after. The views were spectacular and looked back to Naples and Vesuvius. After another great meal at La Arcate, for our last night in Italy. After too much wine, pizza and a delicious meal, we headed sadly headed home to pack. Thanks Tiffany for the tip, you’ve redeemed yourself on the polenta in Brunate. Our tip is to stay longer and stay at Il Giardino dell’Arte. Franco is the best and made our stay truly memorable. We just questioned why we were leaving. One concluding word on Italy…… the Aussie men need to lift there game and need to come to Italian finishing school for boys. We loved the way the men cradled their lovers heads in their hands and whispered sweet nothings in their ears. Their attentiveness was beautiful to watch. They even carry their bags for them. Why do we put up with it is the question????

Gallery: Amalfi

almost_italian — Thu, 1 Oct 2009 07:32:00 GMT

Amalfi

almost_italian — Thu, 1 Oct 2009 02:48:00 GMT

After a great night’s sleep at Portanova, we set our sights on Amalfi. With ferry timetable in hand, we said ‘ciao’ to Angelo, who god bless him, carried our luggage yet again, to the front door, and off we set. Decided against the taxi, we were experts at dragging our luggage across the cobble stoned streets of Napoli by now, and after the walk from the train station, the ferry port was a piece of cake! As we approached the ticket office, as casual as you like, this Italian man drawled to Jo, whilst smoking a cigarette, that the ferries to Amalfi were closed for the winter and we would have to walk back and organise our transport over at another office (his). We didn’t know if he was trying to scam us or not, because he said he could drive us there in a private mini bus for 100 euro, ‘yeah right’, we thought, so we thought we’d check it out for ourselves…..as it turned out he was totally right and it was going to be quite a hassle to arrange a train and a bus, so we set off to find him to see if his offer still stood. Smug as, “ahhh so you changed your mind! I told you, but you not listen” was his response, he turned out to be quite the character, and entertained us the entire way with his stories and love of Napoli. Once in Amalfi we had to board a bus to Ravello, which for anyone who has ever done this will appreciate how hard this is to do with luggage! But the bus driver was pretty cool, and let us know when our stop was, which was pretty much at the door of Punta Civita, our B&B. Of all the accommodation we have had so far, I think this has to be the most endearing to us. Roberto and Nada, the couple who owned and ran the property, were absolutely wonderful. It was so idyllic, set into the cliff over looking Atrani, and was a working lemon grove and gardens. Roberto is a man who never stops, and was so kind and informative about the area. Nada, was very sweet, and made delicious cakes (and amarena jam), which were served for breakfast every morning on the terrace with views to die for. As there were 4 of us, we were given the entire bottom floor, with our own terrace and garden area. If there was going to be anywhere we were never going to want to leave it was going to be Punta Civita, for so many reasons. After we settled in we were given directions to walk into Atrani, the cutest little place ever, a little village on the coast just before Amalfi. I’m sure we must have walked down about 450 stairs, maybe more, but was such a gorgeous walk down. We were all not looking forward to the trek up though. Found a nice place for lunch, Jo’s life has been forever altered by this place, but that’s a whole other story, and it’s a long one, so we’ll just leave it at that! The walk up was as deadly as we feared, waiting for the bus never looked so attractive! The Amalfi Coast has a bit of a rivalry thing going on with the Cinque Terre, easy to see why, but they are both amazing, hard to choose which is better. The water is so clear you can see right to the bottom even from up on top of the cliff face, the coastline is rugged, and is amazing what they have done there with buildings and homes and gardens. Ravello was about a 5 minute bus ride up the cliff (no way we were going to walk this one, not up any way!) We were lucky in that the bus stop was at our front gate. Ravello is gorgeous. It’s so hard to put in to words, as gorgeous, quaint, beautiful, amazing, get a bit boring after you use them so much, but Ravello is all of that. Wandered through it’s little stoned streets all morning, Jo dropped a bit of cash in the ceramic store, but was money well spent. Is supposed to be chip proof, but couldn’t be guaranteed to be kid proof, so we’ll see how long it lasts. At least she’ll have an excuse to come back to replenish her set if any gets broken!! As we were walking along we came across a big white rabbit, not a statue, a real one. It was just hopping around, and was quite tame, Jo was able to pat it, as we left, it decided to follow us, kind of like a puppy, was the most bizarre thing. After lunch, a Panini, which tore all our mouths to smitherines, (you know you’ve had a great bread roll when it shreds the roof of your mouth) we went to have a look in Villa Rufolo. It’s a 13th century Villa that in it’s heyday, boasted to have “more rooms than there are days in the year” It was truly unique of its kind, the gardens were exceptional, as were the views. It was a shame it was a little overcast on the day we were there, as a haze was cast over the horizon, and our photo’s would have been so much more spectacular with that gorgeous blue sky as a backdrop instead. We wandered around here for a couple of hours then decided to make our way home… on foot. It was easy to find which path to take back to Punta, and we passed so many other gardens and homes built into the cliff on the way. Such an awesome lifestyle these families lead….then there were the stairs, I kid you not, from the top of the landing they went for so long and were so steep you couldn’t see the bottom. Unbelievable! No idea exactly how many there were, we forgot to count them, but there must have been well over 600, so glad we were coming down!! Positano was next on our agenda, we decided to catch the ferry there for the day. Was a very pleasant trip, and such a perfect day, the sun was shining and the water was too good to be true. Positano was very nice, but we were all glad we decided not to stay there and just do a day trip instead. (Thanks Tiffy) Was very commercial and touristy, with not much to do but shop, swim and eat, which is ok if you have lots of cash (was 20 euro for ½ hour to hire 2 sun lounges) and don’t mind lots of people. We got to see a few brides, one in the church and one having her photo’s taken before her big moment, have to say quite a spectacular location to get married, her photo’s will be amazing. Spent most of the day here, looked in a few shops, went on a bit of a walk, the views from the bus stop were probably the most picturesque. We all wished we were swimming, the colour of the water was indescribable, and we were all hot from the trek up to the bus stop. The bus trip back to Amalfi will probably be the most memorable from the entire trip. Again with the one way windy streets posing as dual carriageways, with sheer drops of about 200m, with only a small guardrail to stop you from plummeting to your death on the cliff side, that looked so frail a bicycle could break it’s barrier!! The fun began when 2 buses needed to pass each other on several occasions, have to take your hat off to some of the drivers, they so have their shit together, didn’t even break a sweat….as for the passengers (well the foreign ones) most were wishing they had taken the ferry back…including us!! We did make it back alive and without incident though, and decided to have a little browse around Amalfi for the afternoon as we hadn’t yet done that. We really liked it, more so than Positano, and even made a few purchases. We put the Edna on a bus, and decided to tackle the stairs, just for fun!! Jo and Paul (after constant nagging for about 20 minutes) decided to go for a swim. After much deliberation, we ended up jumping off the rocks near Atrani. There was nobody else in the water, and only fisherman lined the coast. The water was just the right temperature, but because the sun was going down, it had lost that aqua hue, was still very refreshing though. We got a bit worried when some local boys started laughing at us, and after saw a sign that prohibited something, we couldn’t understand what though as it was in Italian. All we got was Veitato and scoglio, turned out it was just a sign prohibiting diving off the rocks as there was a reef all the way along the coast. The stairs were even shittier the second time around, especially in wet swimmers! Drove to Scala for dinner, which was quite an experience, and had a really nice meal of hand made pasta, with an even nicer bottle of red, the restaurants very own label. It was called La Margherita, and was set into the cliff that over looked Ravello. The views were stunning. Had a little incident going up a dead end street with no room to turn around, a couple of local men helped direct us out of there though. Learned at breakfast that Roberto had had a bad accident the previous day. He was carrying 2 heavy bottles and had tripped over falling onto them, the broken bottles had cut into his arm and he was most likely going to end up having surgery to repair the damage. Poor Roberto. We set off for Pompei after breakfast, with a little help from our friend Ms Navman. Just through the entrance, conned into a tour, with Guiseppe, though Jo gave it a miss. He turned out to be quite knowledgeable and made the tour quite interesting, otherwise it would have been just a heap of ruins. He had quite the manner for explaining things. Kept the tour moving very briskly, because as he explained the young girls in the ‘family’ would get bored, based on his experiences of dating women. He moved so quick, that as Sharon was getting one more photo in a house, came out and the ‘family’ had disappeared. That was the end of the tour for her. Lucky it was at the end and only missed the brothel. After lunch we decided to drive up to Vesuvius, it was only ½ hour away, you could drive about ¾ of the way up and then you had to walk the rest. We were running out of time as we had to have the car back by 6, but had just enough time to get there at a stretch. The views on the way were fantastic overlooking Napoli. By the time we eventually made it we were cutting it really fine, but we had come too far not to climb the mountain now, so Sharon and Jo set off, leaving a Paul and a whinging Edna in the car park!! It was so uneven and rocky, we were thankful to be handed a walking stick each on the way up. It was supposed to take about 20-25 mins to get to the top, we double timed it and made it in under 15. It was so cold up there, our lungs were heaving from breathing in the cold air, but it was so worth it. The views from up there were unbeatable, the haze was setting in though, next time we would probably go up the mountain first, when it was fine and clear, then do Pompei in the afternoon. Was so worth the effort though, we were rewarded with a little piece of Vesuvius when we got down, by the man who gave us the walking stick…just have to get it past customs!! Got the car back with seriously 1 minute to spare. Was all too perfect. To celebrate we decided to head down those stairs one more time into Atrani, have a nice cold beer and get something to eat so off we went back to the little life altering café. We ended up having some mighty fine spaghetti, and a couple of nice cold beers. Met some hilarious boys from the UK, who had us in stitches for a while, but unfortunately had to leave to take the Edna home some dinner. The quote of the evening had to go to Luigi, when Paul asked him if it would be a problem to get something to take away for the mama, his reply was “the problem is only for you….for the women, there is no problem!!” Love it, the Australian boys have so much to learn. Reluctantly left to tackle the stairs for the last time, was actually easier to go up a little bit pissy than stone cold sober…nice surprise! It was with much regret and a heavy heart that we left our beloved Punta Civita, we caught a taxi to the ferry in Amalfi first thing in the morning, and had one last look out the window as we passed the gorgeous coastline.

Gallery: Naples

almost_italian — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:27:00 GMT

NAPLES- Quest for the Perfect Pizza

almost_italian — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:10:00 GMT

We were a little apprehensive about Naples, we had heard and read so many stories, and none of them shone a very positive light on the city of the perfect pizza. We really didn’t know what to expect and had stirred each other the entire way from Rome about it. As it turned out we had nothing to worry about, we all loved this charming and charismatic city; it was so alive and colourful. From what we had heard we were expecting the ‘Bronx’, however, we never felt unsafe for a second. Some of our travelling party had almost made us cancel they were so psyched out about coming here, and couldn’t believe we would come all this way, and risk our lives even, just for a slice of pizza!!! (Humble pie for some!) Well we tried to explain this was no ordinary ‘run of the mill’ pizza, and our stop over in Napoli was well and truly justified. After getting off the train we went out in search of a taxi, the place we were staying was a little too far to walk with our luggage, but not too far away, about 1km actually, so we were advised to catch a cab. We were approached by 3 different ‘cabbies’, but after realising where we wanted to go, we were palmed off to someone else, who in turn palmed us on to someone else. It was quite hilarious, no one wanted to take us, until the last guy pretty much told us to walk!!! So walk we did, it was hot and our luggage weighed a tonne, but we eventually found our little place, after weaving in and out of the little back alleys that is central Naples. Portanova, the little B&B we were staying at, turned out to be a little gem, and our host a complete gentleman, he even hoisted our bags up the 2 flights of stairs to our rooms….Thanks Angelo. Highly recommended!!

So now completely exhausted, our arms about an inch longer from dragging our luggage, and our tummies quite ready for the Pizza we have come to sample, we set off for our first destination, da Michele, one of the oldest Pizzerias in Napoli and the one with the best reputation. We arrived to a line of people out the door waiting to be seated….a good sign we assured our companions, who wanted to go somewhere else where they didn’t have to wait. We got ourselves a ticket, stood in line and waited for our number to be called. A bit like Yum Cha. It took about an hour to get inside, it was the most unassuming place, the menu simple, 2 choices; Margherita with double mozzarella if you liked, or a Marinara, which is basically no cheese. The drinks menu just as simple, all one price, you could chose between Coke, Fanta, Water, or Beer, I know! bit of a no brainer. We ordered a couple of beers, and 3 pizzas to share between the 4 of us, double mozzarella of course. We had such high expectations of this place that we were starting to get a bit nervous, especially after dragging ½ of our travelling party almost against their will, here just for this (and even more especially because one said companion doesn’t even like pizza!!) Our pizza’s arrived, no one said a word, I have to say these aren’t the prettiest of pizzas definitely no prizes for presentation would be won here, but the proof is in the tasting right!?!? Were they good??? Good they were, no ‘great’ they were, absolutely amazing, their reputation very well deserved, by far the best pizza any of us had ever tasted, or will ever taste, even the non-pizza lover was in raptures. Our expectations were totally and completely met. It’s all in the base; so crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, but still thin, divine, with that charred flavour only a wood fired oven can produce, da Michele you rocked our world!! Thank you. A few apologies were made from the non-believers, and lunch was devoured by all. Well done us!! was so worth the effort. Next we set off for our little walking tour of Naples, we walked down to the wharfs, to the Duomo (of course), and basically just moseyed around. We come across this gorgeous little section of alley-ways that had miniatures and caricatures for sale, as well as chillies, little man chillies, keyring chillies, blown glass chillies, never seen so many chillies!! We later found out they are for good fortune. The little alleys were absolutely special though, and reminded Sharon of Asia, much to Jo’s dismay (they reminded her of Italy!!!!) Everything was made by hand, the shopkeepers were continuously making things while we stood and watched. Pizza recommendation number 2 was from Angelo our kind host, and took us back to these alleys for another sampling. Let me say, after the sun goes down…different story completely! Looked like something out of a movie I’ve seen, think ‘I Am Legend’!!! All the cute shop fronts were boarded up and pad locked with massive metal bolts worthy of Fort Knox, and the others had thick metal roller doors alla Legend status, we were expecting to run into some dark seekers on any corner!! Kind of gave us that ‘wrong place, wrong time’ feeling, needless to say we walked pretty fast! Was all good though. The Pizza at Sorbillos was great, not quite in the da Michele league, but by far the best we had tried compared to the rest of the country. We lashed out and tried a Sicilian, and naturally, a Margherita (have to compare apples with apples yeah?) …all washed down with a Nastro, of course, pizzas best friend. A good time was had by all. Only one more thing to do before we headed for home, you guessed it, gelati!! It just wouldn’t be a day in Italy without it!!! Only regret....... we didn't stay longer!

Gallery: Roma

almost_italian — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 08:32:00 GMT

Roma

almost_italian — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:07:00 GMT

With a tinge of sadness we parted our little villa in Tuscany for Roma. To break the trip we stopped in pretty little Orvieto for lunch. Orvieto is a pretty medieval village that sits on a volcanic tufa rock., with underground tunnels and an amazing Duomo. First stop was the Cathedral, of course, which was just as impressive and beautiful as all the others. We were fortunate enough to be there when a wedding started. It was a little strange as there were the wedding guests seated and the rest of the Cathedral was filled with tourists. We waited and waited for the bride to appear and thought she must have changed her mind. When she walked through the door she looked so beautiful but as she got closer, she shocked us all with her large bump in front. A radiant bride indeed!!!

We arrived in Rome mid afternoon and despite the stories we have heard about driving in Rome, was no worse than Sydney. Found our accommodation with little trouble. It was a bit of surprise with bars and rolla door over the only the window (see pictures), but nicely fitted out inside, though a bit small for four. Found the location was actually perfect for what we did and lots of cafes, bars and restaurants. As it was early evening by the time we settled in, we headed down to the Trevi Fountain. We spent most of the night there, took too many pictures and just sat people watching.

First day in Rome and we had prebooked a private tour guide for an Ancient Rome Tour. We visited the usual spots, Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Pantheon and ended in the Piazza Navona. Federica turned out to be the best find of the holiday so far, we loved her. For anyone visiting Rome, she comes highly recommended from us (www.touristinrome.com )

That night we had dinner at a Trattoria that was close by. Dinner is only mentioned because two of our party decided to try ‘Scamorza alla Piastra’ . Sounds great but ended up being a plate of melted cheese (refer to picture). A memorable meal for the wrong reasons. We are still walking the fat off our butts. The bored waiter that hustles diners out the front also provided a little entertainment with his blatant ogling and drooling of every young female that walked past. He caught us laughing at him and then decided that we were his new best friends and then wanted to share his ‘ogling’ with Paul. After dinner – off to the Trevi where two pairs of undercover cops provided amusement trying to pick girls up. Easy to see where the Italian men get their reputation from.

Next morning we headed off to the Spanish Steps. Couple of minutes there and we were in search of coffee. Didn’t take us long to track down Café Greco, that has the reputation as one of the oldest Cafes in Rome. The Café was gorgeous and Jo wanted to sit down. One look at the menu, and the more thrifty of us decided that no coffee could be that good to warrant the price (7 euro for cappuccino). After greatly embarrassing Jo, up we got and ordered at the bar (1.30 euro!). The coffee was the best we had tasted, not to mention the cannoli’s. We spent to rest of the morning shopping. We found a Fendi store and Jo was in heaven. The only problem was getting her out of there – Bags, sunglasses, shoes, jewellery, watches everything Fendi was in that store. Jo nearly convinced Sharon that she could not live without a Fendi wallet but common sense prevailed. After hunting down a birthday present, we headed, yet again, to the Trevi fountain for lunch. Didn’t have the same appeal as it does in the night.

We headed back to our little ‘I am Legend’ hole and dropped off ‘the Edna’. We then headed down to another Church, because we hadn’t seen enough, the San Maria Maggiore, one of the four papal churches in Rome. It was spectacular and contains Bernini’s tomb. We then headed back to the ruins and visited Circus Maximus, very disappointing and a shadow of its former self. Looked like an abandoned cow paddock, but we noted that they appear to be doing more excavations there. We hung around and waited for the sunset and took far too many pictures of the Colosseum at dusk. Finally made it home in time for dinner. We got sucked in by Franco, who was waiting for us to hustle us into a nearby trattoria. Promised us home cooking with ‘no Bangladeshi’. Warning to anyone if they are near Via Palermo, Rome and come across a character named Franco, promising home cooking … run! Jo is still recovering. We got the usual basket of bread on the table but didn’t eat it all. No problem, they just recycle and give to the next customer. After dinner, Jo and Sharon headed, you guessed it, back to the Trevi. We had read about a Gelateria called San Crispino and as it was not opened on Tuesdays, it had to be tonight or never We made a wish in the fountain before indulging in the best gelato ever. The taste of the gelato made it hard to believe that we were even eating gelato. The flavours were so intense. Needless to say, the fig gelato has bumped Florence off the top spot, followed closely by the Zabiolone.

The next day we had to meet Federica again for a tour of the Vatican and wouldn’t have done it any other way. This was one of the main reasons for the trip, to fulfil Mothers dream of seeing the Sistine Chapel. We started off in the Museums, went through the Raphael rooms, and the Sistine Chapel before finishing in St Peter’s. Did the Sistine Chapel live up to expectations?? For some yes but others maybe not. The Raphael rooms were the most stunning for some of us. Another great tip for lunch from Federica, was followed by gelato from ‘Old Bridge’, in Via Michelangelo. A must for anyone visiting the Vatican. We all got three scoops, which was then topped with whipped cream as high as the gelati for 2 euros!

With a belly full of panini and gelato, we headed back to St Peters. We left Mother at the Basilica, while the rest of us decided to climb the Dome. Thought we were back in Manarola, but reminded the others, it takes hard work to reach heaven. As we got higher, the stairs became more windy and narrow. Right at the top, the curve of the walls of the dome meant that we were walking with a lean. It was well worth the effort, as the views were spectacular, over Roma, not to mention the cool breeze. Had to fight our way to get to the railing, as there we so many people up there. The close up view of the mosaics of the inside of the Dome, made us realise how remarkable it was. It did our head in when you think of the time and brilliance to do this. We ended up in the souvenir shop on the roof top. Sharon bought a cross from a nun. Had a chuckle as one of the nun’s offered Jo a ticket to the Pope’s blessing in the square the next morning. Had to decline as we were heading to Naples the next morning. Jo was a bit worried and thought she must have looked like a sinner and in need of a blessing! Finally met up with Edna and walked through the tombs before making our way home. We were a bit taken back by all the young girls that were all sobbing in front of Pope John Paul 11’s tomb. They were quite distressed.

Got the train back and got a quick coffee and a pastry at the Illy Café near our ‘I am Legend’ hole. Nothing like an Illy coffee in Roma, and not like the Illy in Sydney at all. By the time we got home, quick change and needed to find somewhere for dinner. We lost Jo in the Furla store on the way, and after a bit of heated discussion about where to go, convinced them to try a Pizza shop across the road from our apartment. What a find, the Café has been there since 1885, and the pizza was up there with the best. The Edna, talked Jo into a ‘fungi’ pizza while the Lowe’s shared a pumpkin flower and anchovies. Feeling quite sorry for Jo, Sharon shared hers with her. Jo hasn’t offered to share with Mother ever again. Oh… and just to end our stay in Roma, Jo and Sharon headed back to the Trevi, yet again, where we threw more coins and made more wishes. We only threw two coins into the fountain, as the third coin means you will come back, fall in love and marry an Italian. We decided we didn’t want to marry an Italian, just a fling will do! And then it was off to San Crispino, decisions decision decisions. It took us a while but we basically ended up with what we got the night before. Jo boldly tried the plum but at the end of the day the fig and zabalione reign supreme.

Gallery: Florence

almost_italian — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:13:00 GMT

Mixed

Gallery: Tuscany

almost_italian — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:03:00 GMT