I had a hot shower today - the first one in two weeks. I can already see the disgusted looks, but loathe not - I have been bathing daily. It's just that it's been so damn hot since we entered Italy (Picasa link) two weeks ago, that its been cold showers daily. Let me backtrack a bit. After our hike in the south of France we spent a wonderful week in Paris at Camille and Alice's place. We caught all the major sights as well as spent a lot of time walking the smaller streets in Paris and try out a lot of the local delicacies. Our daily breakfast consisted of one of us getting pastries and bread from the local bakery and having a nice relaxed meal with Camille before he headed out to work.
We'd then spend the day wandering around Paris, popping into some or the other museum or monument and then having dinner at some cafe. We also found time to catch a Woody Allen movie at a open-air theater and shop for some fresh veggies and cheese at one of their famed local markets. Having thus spent a thoroughly agreeable week in Paris, we headed to Italy.
Our first stop was to be La Speiza, where we'd planned on spending a day doing the Cinque Terre hike. This is a hike that makes the 'top 10 hikes in the world' or some similar list. The hike links five seaside villages that for the most part can only be accessed via a boat or a railway line. We first had to get there though. The plan was to get to Florence by 7AM on an overnight train from Paris and then catch a local train to La Spezia. Having set an alarm for 6.55AM, I woke up to see us chugging through a lush valley surrounded by steep mountains that looked suspiciously like the Alps. A lot of hand waving and sign language with the conductor who didn't speak a word of English or Marathi, I confirmed that it was indeed the case, and in the course of the night we had somehow managed to lose 7 hrs - this in a 11 hrs journey! Alighting at the next major station, we took a combination of 2 local trains and one mad bus ride to make it to La Spezia. We did the hike the next day and it was nothing short of spectacular. I won't even attempt to describe it in detail - I'll let the pictures (Picasa link) do the talking.
From La Spezia it was onto Florence where we got our history and Renaissance art fix. Having gaped at Michelangelo's brilliance and the greed of the Medici family - which ruled Florence for over four centuries - we made our way to Rome. The next four days we spent wandering around the Vatican City, doing a circuit of the Coliseum and learning more about the various Ceasers than we cared to know. Still - it wasn't all fun and games. We were also on a culinary mission and that required us to sample various pizzas, pastas, lasagnas, tiramisus and gelatos. I say it with pride that we did succeed in accomplishing our mission and report that Italy has some of the best food we've had so far on offer. One thing that did strike Awanti and me were the similarities between India and Italy, especially as we headed south. There are a lot of crazed moped riders all over the place, traffic lights are taken to be suggestions as against orders, garbage on the street, the sheer number of people, and the aforementioned heat. We fitted right in - though I must say Denver has softened us with regard to our heat tolerance.
Post Rome we headed to Venice, Padova, and Verona where we spent two fabulous days walking the canals and furthering our culinary mission. Next up were Naples and the Amalfi coast. We spent some time in Naples eating all the pizza we could - it is the birthplace of pizza after all, and then a day in the city of Pompeii. This city deserves a special mention. The city was a vibrant trading port and holiday location under the Romans when in 79 AD Vesuvius decided to crash the party. It blew up spectacularly and in the course of a few days completely covered the city under 40 feet of ash and stones. As are with these things, people soon forgot about the city and its exact location and it was only from the 16th century onwards that serious efforts were made to locate the city. However it managed to elude all attempts to locate it - the primary reason being it had gone from a sea-side port to being over two miles from the sea - courtesy of Vesuvius and the new shoreline it had created. It was only in the 19th century that the city was accidentally discovered when some Count or the other decided to build a villa on the now buried city. The city has been a permanent archeological site since and they've managed to unearth around 75% of it so far. What makes Pompeii so special is that the eruption allowed the it to be perfectly preserved under a layer for the last 2000 years allowing for a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the Romans. Right from the 23 fast-food stalls to the 30 odd bakeries, the fancy villas to the workers quarters, the passage from the port to the city brothel - you realize the Romans lived pretty much just as we do today. Having thus spent a fascinating day in Pompeii we moved onto the Amalfi Coast.
The Amalfi Coast is Italy's answer to the French Riviera. It stretches for around 30 miles (which can take over 2 hrs by car) from Sorrento to Salerno and is comprised of steep hillsides, hidden beaches and coves, and formerly small fishing villages - now over-run by tourists and million dollar villas that appear to tumble down the cliff-side into the sea. The entire coast is turning into a giant tourist trap, though all is not lost. On one of the days there we did a walk called the 'Path of the Gods' or 'Sentiero degli Dei' (Picasa link). Unlike the Cinque Terre hike, this walk stuck to the highlands and made its way along cliffs and gorges affording spectacular views of the Bay of Salerno and the villages at the bottom. Having thus earned our dinner, we retired to the Agriturismos that we were staying at for our three nights along the coast.
These are working farms that Awanti had found online that also operate five to ten room bed & breakfasts on the side. We had stayed in similar places during our hike in France and really wanted to experience the Italian take on it. Well - they're fabulous. Set on steep hill-sides away from the tourist centers, they consist of a couple of hectares of land on which is grown a variety of fruits and vegetables including grapes, olives, lemons, and tomatoes. The second farm we stayed at also kept a pony, two cows, couple of sheep and goats, as well as some dogs and birds to ensure a well-rounded menagerie. We opted to have dinner at these places, and as was the case in France, they were multi-course affairs cooked using ingredients from the farm itself. To anyone heading to this region anytime soon, I highly recommend skipping the big sea-side hotels and opting for these farms instead. The views are great, the food delicious, and you'll receive great service from the family who owns the joint. Oh also, being situated at a much higher elevation, the nights are cooler - hence my first hot shower!
- Ashish
PS: There have been a few comments on the great pictures and I must give credit where it's due. All the pictures are courtesy Awanti's skill with a relatively simple 'point and shoot'.
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| Breakfast at Camille's |
Our first stop was to be La Speiza, where we'd planned on spending a day doing the Cinque Terre hike. This is a hike that makes the 'top 10 hikes in the world' or some similar list. The hike links five seaside villages that for the most part can only be accessed via a boat or a railway line. We first had to get there though. The plan was to get to Florence by 7AM on an overnight train from Paris and then catch a local train to La Spezia. Having set an alarm for 6.55AM, I woke up to see us chugging through a lush valley surrounded by steep mountains that looked suspiciously like the Alps. A lot of hand waving and sign language with the conductor who didn't speak a word of English or Marathi, I confirmed that it was indeed the case, and in the course of the night we had somehow managed to lose 7 hrs - this in a 11 hrs journey! Alighting at the next major station, we took a combination of 2 local trains and one mad bus ride to make it to La Spezia. We did the hike the next day and it was nothing short of spectacular. I won't even attempt to describe it in detail - I'll let the pictures (Picasa link) do the talking.
From La Spezia it was onto Florence where we got our history and Renaissance art fix. Having gaped at Michelangelo's brilliance and the greed of the Medici family - which ruled Florence for over four centuries - we made our way to Rome. The next four days we spent wandering around the Vatican City, doing a circuit of the Coliseum and learning more about the various Ceasers than we cared to know. Still - it wasn't all fun and games. We were also on a culinary mission and that required us to sample various pizzas, pastas, lasagnas, tiramisus and gelatos. I say it with pride that we did succeed in accomplishing our mission and report that Italy has some of the best food we've had so far on offer. One thing that did strike Awanti and me were the similarities between India and Italy, especially as we headed south. There are a lot of crazed moped riders all over the place, traffic lights are taken to be suggestions as against orders, garbage on the street, the sheer number of people, and the aforementioned heat. We fitted right in - though I must say Denver has softened us with regard to our heat tolerance.
Post Rome we headed to Venice, Padova, and Verona where we spent two fabulous days walking the canals and furthering our culinary mission. Next up were Naples and the Amalfi coast. We spent some time in Naples eating all the pizza we could - it is the birthplace of pizza after all, and then a day in the city of Pompeii. This city deserves a special mention. The city was a vibrant trading port and holiday location under the Romans when in 79 AD Vesuvius decided to crash the party. It blew up spectacularly and in the course of a few days completely covered the city under 40 feet of ash and stones. As are with these things, people soon forgot about the city and its exact location and it was only from the 16th century onwards that serious efforts were made to locate the city. However it managed to elude all attempts to locate it - the primary reason being it had gone from a sea-side port to being over two miles from the sea - courtesy of Vesuvius and the new shoreline it had created. It was only in the 19th century that the city was accidentally discovered when some Count or the other decided to build a villa on the now buried city. The city has been a permanent archeological site since and they've managed to unearth around 75% of it so far. What makes Pompeii so special is that the eruption allowed the it to be perfectly preserved under a layer for the last 2000 years allowing for a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the Romans. Right from the 23 fast-food stalls to the 30 odd bakeries, the fancy villas to the workers quarters, the passage from the port to the city brothel - you realize the Romans lived pretty much just as we do today. Having thus spent a fascinating day in Pompeii we moved onto the Amalfi Coast.
The Amalfi Coast is Italy's answer to the French Riviera. It stretches for around 30 miles (which can take over 2 hrs by car) from Sorrento to Salerno and is comprised of steep hillsides, hidden beaches and coves, and formerly small fishing villages - now over-run by tourists and million dollar villas that appear to tumble down the cliff-side into the sea. The entire coast is turning into a giant tourist trap, though all is not lost. On one of the days there we did a walk called the 'Path of the Gods' or 'Sentiero degli Dei' (Picasa link). Unlike the Cinque Terre hike, this walk stuck to the highlands and made its way along cliffs and gorges affording spectacular views of the Bay of Salerno and the villages at the bottom. Having thus earned our dinner, we retired to the Agriturismos that we were staying at for our three nights along the coast.
- Ashish
PS: There have been a few comments on the great pictures and I must give credit where it's due. All the pictures are courtesy Awanti's skill with a relatively simple 'point and shoot'.
The Pompeii story is very interesting! Also, my favorite part is reading about your culinary experiences, especially those on the bed and bath farms! Lovely pictures by the way.
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