Sorrento
The reason I wanted to come here in the first place is that I've been here years ago with my Dad. We didn't have enough time to really explore Sorrento or venture out to the Costiera Amalfitana.
Well, we finally made it down here. Driving here is insane, but fun at the same time (if you are a passenger, that is ;).) People drive generally the speed limit +30km/h's, they pass in the most impossible of curves, it's a matter of who pushes the gas pedal first goes first, no matter what the rules of traffic say. Even as a pedestrian you aren't safe, crosswalks seem to be painted on the streets for decoration, nobody will stop for you if you don't bravely jump on the road to cross it. Well, it is awesome, though, and it somehow works pretty effectively, a big fun organized chaos. This place is a great mix of locals and tourists, it is bursting with life and fun, the noise level is crazy.
Our hotel http://www.ilrosetosorrento.com/ is a gem, run by a young family, located on the busiest street in Sorrento (if there is such a thing, the streets are all crazy busy); it is hard to carry a conversation out there. However, when our host showed us our room, I was surprised by how quiet it is back here. The house built along the street shields the back building, where the guest rooms are located from the noise, and there is a beautiful garden that we look out onto. It is like a little oasis in the middle of this happy loud chaotic place.
There are tons of stores here, many tourist traps, but some also offering wonderful ceramic crafts from the area (and I am not really into that stuff, but since we're in Italy and I am biased towards everything Italian OF COURSE I like it!). You can buy limoncello, the lemon liquor, everywhere. Again, we took a break from the busy part of Sorrento by walking down to the Marina Grande. It was a wonderful change of pace, crazy city life up on the cliff, where the city center is, but quiet and calm fisher life at the little harbor of Marina Grande. Noah finally got to play on the beach for a little bit, and I got to take pictures of boats and sand and surf. It helped, that it was yet another overcast day, there were hardly any tourists there because it just wasn't a beach day...that's my kind of day...
The Costiera Amalfitana & Bob's mad driving skills
So, today we finally drove the Amalfi Coast, one of the last travel dreams of mine. The narrow road is carved into the rugged mountains of the Amalfi Coast and boasts bends and turns that you wouldn't believe as well as beautiful views of little villages and the coastline along the way. I always had wanted to see Positano, which used to be a small fishing village that seems to slide down into the sea like an avalanche. I am glad we did the drive, but there was no way we could have found parking anywhere close to the village and town centers along the way, I'm just glad we made it through them with our car undamaged. For the villages like Positano and Amalfi, we'll go back by bus! The weather wasn't the best, but we didn't get drenched like the days before, so I got to take some photos.
So, here's my story: I thought, the drive along the Amalfi Coast was insane, narrow roads, crazy drivers, but Bob is an awesome driver. On the way home, though, he decided to listen to the GPS and not to me, when she told him to hang it right into a TINY alley. Well, we damn near got stuck in that narrow road which had rock walls about 3 meters high to each side. This were the longest 250 m of my life. It took us about twenty minutes to get through it. Even Bob got a little nervous. There were maybe 2 cm space to each side, if that much. And bends, lamposts, and little houses along the way. Bob measured the road by stretching out his arms, and he could pretty much touch both walls at the same time. I kid you not. For those of you who know Bob, you know that "can't" or "this is impossible" are not part of his vocubulary, they are nothing more than a challenge to him. Nothing is impossible to Bob, and there is always a solution. Well, when Bob said "We can't make this", I lost my s***, ahem, composure...I saw the car wedged in the alley with Bob climbing out of the moonrof. If you wonder about what Noah did during this, he sat in the backseat, headphones on, watching a movie, oblivious to what went on around him. The Italians were highly entertained. They asked "WHY would you go THIS way?". Yeah, Bob. WHY? Despite the facts, that all the Italians along the way said, that there is NO way that Bob could get the car out of there, he made it. Once we were through, I highfived Bob and then slapped him on the head. Stupid GPS, the wife always knows best, haha! I tried to get Bob to reenact the whole scene so I could take a photo of it, but - and those of you knowing brave Bob will be shocked - he refused. This should tell you, just how close we were to being stuck in the car in an alley in Italy.
Italy & the Rain
Well, we left beautiful Tuscany a couple of days ago. Our drive down south was pretty uneventful, the rain got stronger the further we drove.
Yep. That's our windshield wiper in the picture...
Yep
It just had to be like that, of course. Whenever I go to Italy, there will be rain. I went to Calabria on the tip of the Itialian boot a few years ago with a good friend of mine, in the height of summer, and we had days of terrestrial thunderstorms. We decided to drive to Tuscany...still rainy. The first time Bob and I went to Venice was in February. It was raining badly, but we couldn't use an umbrella cause the wind was so terrible that it flipped the umbrella. I was about to give up and say let's just go home, when we got the first view of the Canale Grande and the chruch of Santa Maria della Salute. We waited out the worst of the weather in a little bar, and continued to check out Venice in the rain. Once, we rented a little Beetle convertible to drive around Lake Garda, I think it was in May. Needless to say, we took the top down once in the whole week we had the car. Well, so here we are, in Sorrento, in the beginning of September, and it's raining. It seems like it's dying down, though, so I am hopeful for the next few days. And, even if it continues to rain - at least it's warm, and we always make the best of it :)
Tourists...
Yesterday was our last day in Tuscany. We started they day out by driving to Volterra, another one of these great old towns that are so very well preserved. Our GPS lead us clearly off the beaten path, we drove mainly on gravel roads, but the views were out of this world beautiful. Well, we saw a sign that said "Pisa 63km", so after Volterra, we drove there.
Having Bob as a driver is like hitting the lottery, we pretty much always find parking in the midst of action and at hours when it should be impossible to find a tiny little parking spot. I am hoping, that I haven't jinxed us now...Well, Noah was almost a little impressed by the leaning tower. Pisa is so "touristy", but that's why we all want to go there, and to all the other "touristy" places in the world. The reason why it is "touristy" is obvious, though. The Piazza dei Miracoli, the square of miracles, with the leaning tower, the duomo, the baptistery, are so well preserved monuments to history. It is not surprising tourists want to see that and flock here from allover the world. I have to be honest, I hate being a "tourist" but I wouldn't want to miss the touristy stuff, not in Italy and not anywhere. It is touristy for a reason! Well, here is my tourist shot (this is all Noah had patience for) of Pisa...
In the evening, we went back to San Gimignano for one last time. No matter from where you approach the town, you can see it sitting on the hilltop from a distance.
San Gimignano during the day is overrun by tourists, but again, righteously so. It is beautiful during the day, but we were lucky enough to stay in an agroturismo closeby, so we stayed untill it got dark. You kind of can imagine what it must have been like there in medieval times when the stores have closed, most people left the town, and it gets dark and quiet. Our agriturismo http://www.agriturismocesani.it/ , by the way, was fantastic, everybody was superfriendly, and the views...well...this is what I woke up to this morning...
So, not too bad, right? Well, on this trip, I am learning to embrace my inner tourist, I love to do backroads travelling and to finding places and to me, the countryside and landscapes will always be more attractive than a city, but then again, as I was reminded in Pisa, the tourist attractions are visited by so many because they are something special, in this case something that mankind created on a green field and made it a miracle...wow, that's cheesy, right ;)
Tuscany
Well, it was a long drive to Tuscany. Very long. While I thought I was supersmart to not plan our vacation for August, when pretty much all of Italy is on vacation, mainly within its own country, I failed to realize that we started our drive on SATURDAY, the 1st of September. This meant, that all of Italy was on its way home from vacation within its own country. For a drive that should have taken us maybe 9 to 10 hours, we needed almost 14 hours. We barely made it to our agriturismo before it closed for the night. However, it seems to have meant to be. Five minutes before we got to the place, we drove by San Gimignano in the distance, and - I kid you not - there was a double rainbow in the sky. I promise, this is not a photoshop trick, the rainbow was right there.
The reason why I wanted to come to Tuscany in the first place was, that I had this image in my mind... I wanted to see the Tuscany of rolling hills, fields, cypress lined winding roads connecting small villages. On the quest to find it, we made our way to Siena. The Piazza del Campo really is beautiful, a big fan shaped place surrounded by medieval buildings, most prominent the Palazzo Communale with its tall tower. Noah got to run around and chase pigeons, so the kid was happy :) The piazza has to be wonderulf in the evening hours, when there is music and people sitting there laughing and chatting. I would love to go to Siena when the Palio is going on, the horse race that is based on so many traditions, but lasts less than two minutes.
From Siena, we went on to Pienza where I found what I've been looking for...