Italy 2016 – Travel day – Gubbio to Todi

Posted on May 28, 2016 by herktrav

Day 10 – Todi, Italy

Today we leave Castello di Petroia in the north of Umbria and head to the hill town of Todi in southern Umbria. We started out with a nice breakfast and got to say goodbye to one of our favorites at the Castello – Isabella.

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We had fun trying our Italian and having her applaud and give us a bellisimo or language instructions. We had more lessons than bellisimos, but we had fun trying. Though Isabella was our favorite, everyone at the Castello di Petroia was wonderful and made our stay perfect. Sad to leave, but the adventure continues. We checked out, loaded up the car, took a deep breath and hit the road.

Despite our worries, the ride over was not too bad. Sue had mapped out the route and is a first class navigator. For my part, I listened to her directions, watched the cars tail-gating and then zooming by and tried to avoid the crazy drivers on the highway. We only had one close call, but I’m writing this so you know we made it safely.

Arrived in Todi and started the winding drive up to the historical center of the city. When we turned into a small piazza our hotel was on the right – The Hotel Fonte Cesia.

Sue ran in to see where we should park and the two women at the desk came out with her and grabbed the bags. Then one of the younger girls hopped in the car with me and I thought we were driving back to Gubbio.

Since there are mostly one-way streets, we had to unwind down the city center to get to the parking area. The streets were so narrow, I had to close the mirrors in some spots. The hair pin turns were meant for horses or walking people – not cars. Finally we reached the parking area and I wedged in.

I’m sure we won’t ever see the car again; at least not if I have to find it.

Now, it was a climb back up to the hotel. Debenetta was bounding up the stairs, Tom was trying not to look like an escaped oxen while gasping for breath. Yikes!

By the time we arrived back at the hotel, Sue had already checked in and the luggage was up in the room. She met me in the lobby, I signed the paperwork and then she walked me up to the room. I knew something was up, but didn’t know what. When she opened the door, I knew what was up.

She was extremely excited about the room. It was spacious, nicely decorated and was sparkling clean. Then we discovered the additional surprise – the terrace. We thought it was one of those Juliet balconies where you could stand and look over the square, but it turned out to be a large, private terrace. Just gorgeous and it gets the afternoon shade – perfect!

Todi – Hotel Room
Todi – Hotel Room
Todi – Hotel Room
Todi – Hotel Room Terrace
Todi – Hotel Room

We relaxed for a while and had a glass of Prosecco out on the terrace. I could really get to like this.

Sue had made dinner reservations when we checked in at the hotel’s restaurant – Le Palme. We were both hungry by dinnertime, so this would be a treat. The woman at the counter told Sue she would make sure we had a nice table and she came through for us. Nothing like dining al fresco on a beautiful evening.

As for dinner, yum! We both started with a gnocchi dish; Sue’s with black truffles, mine with a gorgonzola cheese sauce. Both were scrumptious. Then I had a chicken breast filet with rustic baked potatoes, while Sue had thinly sliced veal with mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes. We enjoyed our first bottle of white wine – a Grecchetto from the Todi region that perfectly complimented our dinners. We were both so full, we even skipped dessert.

We waddled ourselves back up to the room to relax and digest our meals before bed. Weatherman says rain tomorrow, hopefully it won’t be a total washout.

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Italy 2016 – Enjoying the Castello di Petroia

Posted on May 26, 2016 by herktrav

Day 9 – Gubbio, Italy

Today was an absolutely perfect day – sunny, cloud-free skies, 75 degrees and a slight breeze. We walked back to the terrace after breakfast to decide what we wanted to do for the day. Sitting there, it became obvious.

We went upstairs, grabbed a little music and headed back to the terrace. Today, we would “non fare niente” or ‘do nothing’. Just relax, enjoy the beautiful views and appreciate where we were. Perfect!

There is a song by Mary-Chapin Carpenter called ‘What if we went to Italy’. It talks about relaxing, reading, eating and drinking campari and soda. We just substituted Prosecco and made it our song.

A few people came and went over the course of the afternoon. We just smiled, gave them a friendly ‘buon giorno’ and went back to doing nothing. Some nice light jazz, a nice light breeze and then a little commotion…

Two snakes decided to use the terrace for some afternoon delight. Snakes aren’t my favorite creatures, so we informed the desk staff because their cats were also curious. Well in the commotion, the snakes left, the cats were fine and the desk treated us to a bottle of Prosecco. Now the afternoon was even more perfect!

Around 5:00 we headed up to the room to recharge batteries, check out tomorrow’s route and to get ready for dinner.

Are we bored of Italy? Weren’t there more towns to see? Shouldn’t we be more active? Should the strangozzi be served more al dente? Questions, questions, questions.

No, we are not bored at all, we’re having a great time. There are towns everywhere and we pass through them on our way to and from places. They are all gorgeous, but we can’t stop in every one or we’d never come home.

We are meanderers. There is no need to rush and do something every moment. Sometimes just sitting back and soaking it all in is good.  And if we miss something, there’s always next time!

And finally, the strangozzi is perfect. Also known as priest stranglers, it’s a perfect dish with veal ragu and red wine.

Dinner was a full house as most of the rooms are full. We went down a little early so I could take a few pictures. We enjoyed our last meal at the Castello and had a delicious bottle of Rosso di Montefalco. After dinner we started to organize things for the packing in the morning.

Next stop Todi.

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Italy 2016 – Visiting the town of Gubbio

Posted on May 25, 2016 by herktrav

Day 8 – Gubbio, Italy

So the Castello di Petroia is technically not right in the town of Gubbio, but rather in the outskirts, just past a town called Scritto. Today we will visit the actual town of Gubbio, famous as a beautiful medieval town and home to the Basilica of St Ubaldo.

Gubbio is also… ‘surprise’ … another hill town built on the slopes of Mount Ingino. As you may have guessed by now, that means lots of sloping streets and stairs. You don’t need to be a mathematician to know those angles will mean sore calves tomorrow. I digress.

We start out with a quick breakfast. We arrived after all the other guests, so we didn’t want to hold up the kitchen. Afterwards, gathered up our day bag and camera and off we went.

The town is only sixteen kilometers from here, so we were there in no time. I had read about a good place to park and we found that right away. It was just outside of the city walls, near to the roman ampitheatre. And it was free!

We made our way through the city gates and into the first of many squares we would see in Gubbio. The town is decorated with the flags of the four quarters as they just celebrated with a festival called the Ceri. More on that later.

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A couple little shops immediately caught our eye. One selling gluten free salami and the other with a tray of huge, white truffles for sale. Turning the corner, we saw the Gubbio Express, a tourist train rolling by and decided that it would be a splendid way to get to know the city. We only had to go a short distance to find it parked and taking on new passengers.

For 8 Euro, it’s a 45 minute ride around town pointing out many of the highlights. We hopped on board and away we went. Gubbio is actually bigger than it looks on the map.

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Gubbio is the town where St Francis tamed a wild wolf that was terrorizing the town folk, and is the start of the trek that many people took from Gubbio to Assisi. You see many references to St Francis throughout the town.

After our train ride, we went to the Palazzo dei Consoli. It was built back in the 1300’s and is today a museum. Inside the palazzo, you will find many historical items and paintings, with the jewel being the “Gubbio Tables’.

These are seven bronze plaques that date back to the 3rd century BC. They describe the religious ceremonies, customs and sub-divisions of the inhabitants according to their occupations. The fact that they were written in Gubbian and Latin allowed them to be translated by future generations.

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Gubbio Tables

Most of the frescoes and paintings contained within are of a religious nature, spanning many centuries. Climbing up the many stairs, there is a wonderful balcony with expansive views all around. A young girl offered to take our picture (probably figured we wouldn’t make it down).

On another level, there were old ceramics – plates, jugs and other artifacts that were fascinating to see given their age. One of paintings that made us chuckle showed eight guys on the bottom that reminded us of Platform 4 in Ferrara. The looks on their faces and their haircuts were a little scary.

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The Platform 4 people revisited

Back down in the main hall, there were miniature versions of the statues that are used during the race of the Ceri. The short story is that every May, on the second Sunday, the three saints of the area are set atop these pedestals and they hold a race around the city. The pedestals and the saint statues weigh about 1000 pounds and the streets and piazzas are packed with people making the ‘race’ more of an obstacle course. It has taken place for centuries and is an important festival for the town.

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Our next stop was the Palazzo Ducale. It’s a museum that used to be the Duke’s house. There are many paintings, furniture and an audio visual presentation telling the Duke’s story. Though it was in Italian, you could pretty much understand what was going on.

There was one painting that really caught our eye. It is a painting of Mary, seemingly giving Joseph instructions regarding baby Jesus. He just looks so miserable it was precious.

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Across from the palazzo was the Cathedral of Gubbio. Massive on the inside with beautiful stained glass behind the altar. It was empty when we arrived. Either the tourists and workers were all eating lunch or the walk up had them dropping.

So we decided next to take the gondola up to see the basilica of St Ubaldo. First we had to maneuver down the street to get to the right level. The east to west streets are fairly flat; the north and south routes require sheer will and determination as they are oh so steep.

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This is one of the N – S streets and the reason for sore calves.

Next we zigged and zagged our way over to the area where we saw the cables. Then we looked up to see the height and then we saw the bird cage gondola.

Luckily, or as Sue would say, miraculously, they were shut down for lunch. It looked a little scary and I’m sure I saw Sue crossing herself as we walked away.

Lunch was in order and we found a place that one of the other guest couples at the castello told us about. It was a nice little place, reasonably priced and the food was delicious. I had the menu of the day, while Sue had the gnocchi with shaved white truffle. Yum!! With full tummies, we decided to head back home for the day.

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On the walk back to the car, we passed by a group that was creating religious street art in preparation for the feast of Corpus Christi.  They used flowers and grass to make some beautiful images.

Finding the car park was easy, exiting the town was easy, finding the proper unmarked road – not so easy. What a pain. It took a couple tries before we caught the right road and headed off.

Tight, hairpin turns are no reason for Italian drivers to slow down. I just started pulling over when the line on my rear bumper got long and then took off when the coast was clear.

We rested up before dinner and since we were both still pretty full from lunch, we had a light dinner but made sure the prosecco was bubbly and the red wine was good. Someone had to do it!

Some light reading and a little music before heading off to bed.

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Italy 2016 – A visit to Assisi

Posted on May 25, 2016 by herktrav

Day 7 – Assisi, Italy

Woke up to the fog shrouding the surrounding hills. The sun is up and will hopefully burn it off early. Cleaned up and went down for breakfast. Looks like the others got off to an early start, no worries, they left plenty to eat.

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Back to the room to gather our things and off we go to Assisi. Assisi was the home town of St Francis and also St Clare. Both are entombed there and their followers built beautiful basilicas in their honor.

The short version of the story is St Francis was born to a wealthy family. He went away to war and was captured and imprisoned for a year. After being released, he made his way back to home and had an encounter in which he prayed for guidance and God spoke to him through a crucifix and told him his church needed saving. Francis turned his back on his comfortable material life – and declared his loyalty to God alone. He lived a very simplistic life, and together with his followers spread the word of God, leaving a legacy of humanism, equality and love of nature.

Assisi is not a huge town, but it attracts huge crowds of pilgrims and tourists. But today, the crowds were not too bad. Walking through town had a very calm feeling. Quite spiritual, despite souvenir shops everywhere. Most were quite tasteful, though St Francis bobble heads may have crossed the line.

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Assisi – St Clare Square View

We started our walk at the Basilica of St Clare, but they were closed for lunch. So, instead we walked on to the Temple of Minerva. The temple was originally built by the Romans in the 1st century BC. The Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva was added in the 9th century and the bell tower in the 13th century. On the inside, despite the mainly baroque look, there are still remnants of the original Roman temple stone floors. I love the stairs leading into the buildings. The steps are all different heights and can be a tad slick. Keeps you on your toes.

We continued on our way to the Basilica of St Francis walking down the main street known as Via San Francesco. Lots of small shops and restaurants line the narrow road. You have to squeeze against the walls when a vehicle drives through. After a last bend in the road, the basilica appears.

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Basilica of St Francis

It’s not overly ornate, but it is huge; and simple – the way St Francis would have preferred. There are three parts to the church: an upper basilica, a lower basilica and St Francis’ tomb. Unfortunately, no photos are allowed inside the basilica.

The lower basilica has a very subdued feel to it. There are frescoes around the walls telling stories of St Francis and Christ. The altar is located directly above St Francis’ tomb. Off to the side is a small chapel that is filled with relics of the Saint.

The upper basilica is brighter and built in a gothic style. The walls are lined with 28 frescoes that depict scenes from the life of St Francis. They are all very beautiful. There is also an area that is just plain plaster. This was the result of the earthquake in 1997 that caused a partial collapse and killed four people.

Back outside, the front lawn is planted with bushes that spell out PAX or peace and also St Francis’ “T” that he used.

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Heading back in the direction of St Clare’s Basilica, we stopped at the Chiesa Nuovo, a small church dedicated to the martyred friars. There were some pretty gory scenes depicted there. We definitely made fast work of that stop.

Our final destination was the Basilica of St Clare. Clare was a rich girl who fell in love with Francis’ message and made secret arrangements to meet him. She cut her hair, was clothed in a simple tunic and despite all of her father’s protests went on to found the Order of the Poor Clare’s.

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Basilica of St Clare

She spent the next 40 years of her life living in the convent of San Damiano. Her tomb is located under the basilica as well as many relics. It was a very inspiring day, but now it was time to head back to the castello.

The traffic was minimal as we wound our way through the country roads and small towns. Arriving back safely, it was time to relax before dinner.

Our favorite server, Isabella was here again tonight. She is so friendly and patient, especially while we try our best to mangle our orders in Italian. Another super dinner and back to the room to rest up for tomorrow’s adventure.

Just a little side note:  A woman guest we were chatting with asked if I had taken Italian lessons as she had heard me order dinner yesterday. Of course, it must have sounded impressive to people who won’t say anything in Italian besides buon giorno. Jeez!

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Italy 2016 – A day of rest and a Happy Anniversary

Posted on May 24, 2016 by herktrav

Day 6 – Gubbio, Italy

So after yesterday’s driving stress, we decided that today we would just chill at the Castello. There was a big storm that I slept through over night, at least that’s what Sue and the others at breakfast told me. When I’m tired, I’m tired – that’s all there is to say.

It’s been fun chatting with some of the other guests and hearing about places they are visiting. Sounds like many have an itinerary similar to ours, though the things they want to do or see are a bit different. Makes it interesting to share stories.

So after breakfast we did a little exploring around the castello. A couple sections date back to the 11th century; further building was done through the 16th century. They have renovated the inside throughout the years and the rooms are quite nice.

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Royalty at the Castello?

There are many, many antiques throughout the buildings. I’m afraid to sit in a chair fearing that the 15th century chair won’t hold up to a 20th century butt.

The castello ‘driveway’ is two kilometers long (glad I don’t have to shovel that!). The surrounding land is a mix of forest, pastures and olive groves. Lovely driving up to the gates. Hopefully the pictures do it justice.

After our walkaround, we headed up to the room to plan out tomorrow’s journey and to reorganize the suitcases. We even found time to sneak in a nap.

Dinner was here at the Castello. Besides not wanting to venture out in the dark, the chef and staff here are fantastic. With many choices on the menu and wine list, there’s no reason to head out. I’ll sneak a picture of the menu when nobody is looking.

Our server, Isabella, added a couple candles to our tiramisu and brought over a couple glasses of bubbly to celebrate our anniversary. Not a bad place to spend our 36th anniversary.

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After a wonderful meal, we headed upstairs to finish mapping out tomorrow’s journey. I need to get my driving mojo back.

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Italy 2016 – Travel Day – Venice to Gubbio

Posted on May 22, 2016 by herktrav

Day 5 – Gubbio, Italy

This was a day I don’t want to think too much about. We checked out of the hotel after a very nice stay. I always recommend Hotel Antiche Figure to anyone who asks about a place in Venice.

Our train was on time and it was a very comfortable trip from Venice to Florence. The second train was also on time, this one from Florence to Perugia. We arrived right on time and things were looking up.

Over to the Maggiore car rental and our car was ready for us. It’s a deep blue Mercedes C180. Very nice and comfortable. Packed our luggage, sent away the person that wanted a ride and off we went.

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Our Umbrian wheels – Don’t park under tress

Sounds nice, except for the fact that we went round in circles while it was raining for almost 90 minutes before we could find the way to Gubbio. I only swore twice!

Picture being in Buffalo and wanting to go to Hamburg. Imagine the road sign going towards Hamburg saying Syracuse. That’s why we couldn’t find our way. The town wasn’t even on our map it was so far away. Since it was the only direction we hadn’t tried by that time, we headed towards Cesena. After a few kilometers, we finally saw a sign that referenced Gubbio. We chose wisely – finally!

It took about 40 minutes to get to the hotel. It’s called the Castello di Petroia and is a beautiful place to stay. It literally is a renovated castle with some parts dating back to the 11th century. We were frazzled from the drive and the warm welcome we received was wonderful.

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Our room is in the portion of the castle that has been recently renovated. You walk through stone walls a meter thick and then get to a room with all the modern comforts of home. The room is spacious, comfortable and quiet. We have a view over the valley that is gorgeous.

Chilling after the drive
Huge bathroom and tub
Large room
Great views
Great views

We ate dinner at the hotel and all I can say is – Wow! Just about everything is made fresh or grown on the property. Vegetables, herbs, cattle, breads, jam, honey, eggs – you get the picture. Our meals were delicious, the wine was a Sagrantino from Montefalco and our starter glass of prosecco was refreshing.

It was a fine ending to an otherwise stressful day of travel.

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Italy 2016 – A Tour on the Venetian Canals

Posted on May 21, 2016 by herktrav

Day 4 – Venezia, Italy

Sunday, our last day in Venice, was a day to just relax and enjoy the not so touristy parts of the city – even though we were taking a tour.

We started off with a good breakfast at the hotel and then went up to the room to finish charging every electronic gadget we brought with. Then, powered up, we headed over to San Marco’s Square to meet with the tour group.

The vaporetto ride over was jam packed. We got on early and it was pretty full, but each stop added more people. Two would get off and four would get on. We finally got a little breathing room at the Rialto Bridge where many exited. Just a few more minutes and we were at St Mark’s.

Lots and lots of people were out today. There were four cruise ships in port, day trippers by train and even a few Venetians wandering the square.

We booked a tour with the folks at ‘Walks of Italy’ to cruise the canals and to visit the island of St Giorgio. Our meeting spot was beneath the column of the winged lion. As it turned out, there were six of us on the tour, plus our guide Barbara. We had a boat waiting, so we were off right on time.

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Our Venice Guide – Barbara

Barbara was fantastic. She is a “real Venetian” and shared her knowledge of the city and her wit as we cruised around. Our boat mates were all pleasant and we had lots of laughs as we drifted along. You don’t really zoom along because the speed limit is only 5 mph. That keeps the wakes small and the erosion to a minimum.

Some of the sights we saw were a gondola workshop, the local hospital, a very old bookshop, some quaint little bridges, and the jewish ghetto. After turning onto the Grand Canal, we saw the Venice Casino, a couple museums, the old red light district, the fish market, some grand hotels and some nice residential homes.

Our final stop was at the island of San Giorgio. It lies directly across from San Marcos and provides incredible views from the top of the bell tower. Since you all know us, yes, there was an elevator or you would have seen pictures from the shoreline.

Venice has a rich history and we learned a little bit more on the tour.

We made our way back to the hotel and checked for a place to have dinner. We found a place that had good reviews and was pretty close by the hotel. It’s called Al Bacco Felice – The Laughing Bacchus and it was just what we were looking for.

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It was on a small side street, is just a small family run restaurant and had great food. As the evening skies turned dark, it became a nice, romantic dinner. We even had a strolling accordion player pass by. I felt like I was in Italy – oh wait, nevermind.

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We started with our prosecco, as always, and both had a pasta dish and then we shared one of their fabulous pizzas with a liter of house red wine. Our server, who is also one of the owners, was very friendly and made us feel very welcome. Can’t be positive, but we think we were the only non-locals dining. At the end, we made a point of saying goodbye to him as he was inside and he poured us a glass of limoncello to digest. Highly recommended, great food and extremely reasonable pricing.

A lovely stroll back to the hotel to relax. Tomorrow we leave Venice.

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Italy 2016 – Ravenna and her mosaics

Posted on May 20, 2016 by herktrav

Day 3 – Ravenna, Italy

Saturday’s adventure was a day trip to Ravenna to see the Unesco World Heritage sites. The sites are mosaics dating back as far as the 5th century, when Ravenna was the capital of the Roman Empire.

The day started off easy enough. Up early, breakfast and then across the canal to the train station. We took a train to the town of Ferrara and then transferred to another train to get to Ravenna. Everything went smoothly and in no time we arrived. We made up a little sign with the name of our Tour guide – Manuela, so we could find each other easily.

Her train arrived and we easily connected. We found Manuela through ToursByLocals. They have tour guides available just about anywhere you would travel. Prices are reasonable too!

For our tour we chose a six hour tour of Ravenna. We visited the Unesco sites, which were mainly churches and a museum, then Dante’s tomb and Theodoric the Great’s mausaleum. Manuela provided us with a great history and art lesson and enough walking exercise to last a week. Yikes!

In addition to my narrative, I hope the pictures will give a glimpse of how marvelous the mosaics actually were. Keep in mind that the mosaics are made up of thousands of multi colored tiles and sometimes jewels. No paint, just stone fragments.

Our first stop was at an Arian Baptistery which dated back to around 525 AD. The Arians were a Christian sect that stressed the human side of Jesus rather than the divine side. The mosaics show Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist. The unique quality of this mosaic is it shows Jesus’ partially obscured genitalia – which is never seen in Roman catholic images. The Arians were eventually branded as heretics and wiped out by the Roman emperor Justinian.

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Baptism of Jesus – Arian Baptistry Ravenna

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Ravenna – Arian Bastistry

Continuing on our journey, we headed to the Church of San Francesco. Just before reaching the church, we pass by the tomb of Dante.

As you may remember, Dante was famous for writing The Divine Comedy. Unfortunately, Dante fell out of favor in Florence for his political beliefs and lived out his life in Ravenna. Posthumously, Florence forgave the now famous poet, and wanted to bring his bones back to Florence. Ravenna said “No” and hid the bones inside the walls of the San Francesco monastery.  They stayed there for three centuries before being rediscovered and placed in the tomb.

There is also a burial mound in a small cemetery where the bones were buried during WWII to protect them.

We made a quick stop at the Church of San Francesco.  Over the years it has sunk and its tiled floor has been submerged by the ground water.  There are now fish that swim there and I guess they get to enjoy the mosaics too!

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Floor mosaic and fish at the Basilica of San Francesco

Next up was the Basilica di San Vitale. It’s 540 AD, Rome has been looted by barbarians and Justinian is emperor of the eastern Roman empire. Ravenna is now the capital of the empire under Justinian with close ties to Constantinople. The mosaics portray Justinian as the leader of the church and the state. On the opposite wall was his wife Theodora with her entourage. Theodora was a “dancer” who became Justinian’s wife and then empress. Make’s me wonder if during our youthful days of going to the Canadian ballet, if we had seen a future empress?

Next was the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. It is a small, humble looking building that contains the oldest and most precious mosaics. They are 95% original and absolutely beautiful. One interesting aspect of the mausoleum is that Galla Placidia is not buried there. She died in Rome and was buried there.

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Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

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Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

Next came the Neonian Baptistery and the Archbishop’s museum. Besides the mosaics, the museum, which has been re-purposed, contains the small chapel of Sant’Andrea and an ivory chair that was used by the bishop when attending mass.

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Neonian Baptistery

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Sant’Apollinare Nuovo was our final mosaic stop. It’s a beautiful 6th century church that features mosaics that show a procession of haloed virgins on one side bringing gifts to the Madonna and Christ child. On the opposite side, Christ is on his throne with four angels awaiting a procession of 26 martyrs. Visually stunning and made even better with glints of sunshine reflecting off some of the pieces.

Since Manuela thought we were good walkers, we finished off by taking a long, hot walk to see the Mausoleum of Theodoric. After the beautiful mosaics and artworks, this was a little less interesting. It was just a large stone structure – not ornate at all.

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Mausoleum of Theodoric

At this point we said our goodbyes to Manuela and had a little time to rest up before our train arrived. Nothing says rest in Italy like some Gelato, and we just so happened to be standing in front of a geleateria. Such luck!

Our train arrived about 15 minutes late, but we were back on the tracks to Ferrara. Arriving, we noticed our connecting train to Venice was already gone. Ruh – roh!

Luckily, there was another train in two hours so we’d just grab a little something to eat and find a happy place to sit. If anyone tells you that the best place to be at night is the train station, you can tell them you know someone who disagrees.

Night train people on Platform 4 in Ferrara are the people that weird songs are written about. We were waiting with people who pace back and forth while arguing loudly on their phones, people who were talking to themselves and an assortment of others who we normally don’t hang with. When the train finally arrived, we were very happy to be on our way back to Venice.

We finally got back to the hotel a little before midnight. The worst part was we didn’t get our evening prosecco.

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Italy 2016 – Venetian Sunshine

Posted on May 20, 2016 by herktrav

Day 2 – Venezia, Italy

So yesterday’s clouds and rain departed and today was beautiful. Nice temperature and bright sunshine all day long meant lots of walking and sunglasses.

Started with breakfast at the hotel. It’s a nice standard breakfast with lots of choices and fresh breads and pastries. While Sue tends to go for the granola and yoghurt, I found my way to the ham, salami and cheese. Small rolls, some orange juice and a cappuccino and I was buzzed and ready to roll.

Our first stop was right next door at the Church of San Simeon. Just a small little church, but very nice and spiritual feeling.

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Church of San Simeon (L) – Antiche Figure (R)

Next we zig-zagged our way over to the Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (St Mary’s of the Friars). The church is very large and contains many beautiful pieces of art. The main object that most people visit to see is “The Assumption”. It is huge and it is beautiful. Some say that it is one of the most beautiful paintings of all time. In addition, there were masterpieces by Bellini and Veneziani that were also beautiful. And overall, it is quite a bargain at 3 Euro.

Back out into the sunshine as we made our way over to the Rialto Bridge area. Walking through the passageways and along the canals was very relaxing, even though the cruise people were out in full force along with the day-trippers. We were told that the crowds are nothing compared to the high season. I wouldn’t want to be here during the high season.

Finally made our way over the bridge and started winding through the small streets until we found our destination – Santa Maria dei Miracoli. If Groucho Marx was with us, he’d say “it was a miracle that we found it”, but he isn’t. It’s just a small church again dedicated to the Friars, but very beautiful. Feeling determined to become holy, our next stop would be the Basilica of San Marco.

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San Marco Cathedral

The streets are fun to walk down, very narrow, very twisty, lots of shops and signs that point to your destination in both directions. It only took about fifteen minutes to get to Piazza San Marco. Turning the corner, we could see the lines of people waiting to get into the Basilica.

Being gentle lemmings, we got in line and then noticed a much shorter line. Checking it out, we were in the line for people with reservations. When we moved to the line for people and groups without reservations, we walked right in. Good thing those people paid their fee to skip the lines.

This is a no pictures allowed inside location, but pictures would not have done it justice anyways. The ceiling is done in a Byzantine style with a gold background and mosaics that jump out at you. The domes feature the same gold background with scenes painted around the inside of the dome. Absolutely beautiful.

By now, we were a little tired of walking and decided to head to the waterfront to catch a vaporetto back to the hotel. The breeze coming off the lagoon felt great in the sunshine. The skies being clear, we were able to take some pictures across to San Giorgio and along the shore before we headed into the canal. All the boats were full to the brim with people heading towards the train station and the cruise docks.

Across the lagoon to San Giorgio

With a few hours until dinner, we found a nice shady spot outside of the hotel and enjoyed some prosecco while people and canal watching. Nice way to spend an afternoon.

One of the gentlemen at the hotel desk recommended a place for dinner – “La Rosa Dei Venti” and made reservations for us. In the meantime, we headed upstairs to clean up and relax.

Right after we left, a guy with an accordion stopped to serenade the folks outside. We ended up listening and watching from our window and leading the applause section. Sue ran a tip down to him, I thought we could have just tossed it, and told him how much we enjoyed it. Somehow, the translation was missed and he ended up playing Happy Birthday to me. Who was I to ruin it, it would eventually be my birthday.

Dinner was interesting. The restaurant looked like it was a tourist joint, especially when we were shown to a table in the back room. But the meal ended up being awesome. Fresh fish with a medley of vegetables, a liter of house wine and two very happy people strolling along the canal back to the hotel.

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Italy 2016 – Venice in the rain

Posted on May 19, 2016 by herktrav

Day 1 – Venice, Italy

We arrived in Venice safely and a few minutes early. It was raining when we landed and was pretty much overcast and rainy all day. No worries though, it’s still Venice. Breezed through passport control. Our bags arrived with us this trip, though one was just about the last one off the plane just to get our hearts pumping.

Just needed to buy our bus ticket and we’d be off to the islands. Passed my first Italian test buying the tickets and off we went. It actually takes about twenty-five minutes to get from the airport to the bus drop-off at Piazzale Roma.  You can hire a water taxi and pay a fortune or just take the bus.

Our hotel – Hotel Antiche Figure – is only a five minute walk from the bus stop. Two small bridges, made harder by dragging along our bags, and we were there.

The hotel was just like we remembered it. The people at the desk were just as friendly as the last time and our room was just as nice. This time they bumped us up to a king size bed too. Since we were a little early, they offered us a glass of welcoming prosecco and we didn’t say “No”.

Francesca, our new long-lost friend, chatted with us about dinner places and things to see while we were waiting for the room. We also met an Australian couple, Brad and Sharon, who are on the last leg of a 24 day cruise holiday. Very nice people.

When our room was ready, we headed up to wash up and take a little nap before the concert this evening. Neither of us were excited about sightseeing in the rain and the rest would be welcome.

We were able to buy a 24 hour Vaporetto pass at the hotel desk. Since there are no streets in Venice, the vaporetto is a water bus. You can get from one end to the other of the grand canal in about a half hour, which is what we needed to do to get to the concert.

With about five stops left before we reached ours, the skies opened up and the rain poured down. A little thunder and lightning was added in for effect and we hoped it was just a cloudburst – It wasn’t!

Had to make a mad dash to the Chiesa San Vidal and we all know I don’t dash like I used to. Absolutely drenched by the time we reached the doors. Yuck! The good news, if you can call it good, was that there were others arriving at the same time who were equally soaked. Oh well..

The concert itself was delightful. The group performing is called Interpreti Veneziani and they were awesome. They perform regularly in Venice and on this night they were performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.  And very well I might add.

The ride back home after the concert was nice and dry. We stopped to pick up a quick sandwich before heading back to the room for the evening and had our own little Venetian picnic. Then off to bed to try and catch up on a little sleep.

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