Category Archives: Italy

Chores in Florence

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Having been back from Nice for a few days it was time to catch up on some chores. You know, those things you keep putting off because they are a bit difficult or mean going out of your way.

Well our chores revolved around a trip to Florence. Yes, alright, I can hear a chorus of “you poor hard-done-by things” reverberating around the world.

But, Florence is an hours drive away, and the parking is a bit of a trick, and it’s full of tourists, and it’s always warmer than around our place. Ok, reading this back it’s not really that much of a chore. And it is the birthplace of the Renaissance after all.

Anyway, we headed north on Wednesday with two planned chores and one that crept up on us over the last few days. My darling wife had an ear-ache – probably an ear infection. One of those that makes you miserable, hurts like hell and requires drugs – lots of them.

We decided to seek medical help in Florence because we had the name of an english speaking doctor who has a practice there – and we were going anyway.

On the drive north we called the doctor to find that, like most people in Italy, he was on holiday during August. He left some alternative places to visit, one of which was very close to the Duomo. Even we can find the Duomo in Florence so the plan was set.

We found the medical centre quite easily, signed in and waited for their ear specialist Dr Alonzo Attilio. He spoke very little English and our Italian is still a work in progress so things boded well for medical misadventure.

One thing we have noticed is that the Italian medical system – for people or dogs – seems very efficient. And sure enough our wait was only 5 minutes. We struggled to explain the ear problem to the Dr Alonzo but one look into Jean’s ear and he understood. He then explained, in great detail, what he was going to do to fix it none of which we understood.

Within ten minutes we knew what he had said – vaccum, prod, poke, vaccum, clean, prod, vaccum, syringe, poke, vaccum, a course of antibiotics, cortisone and pain klllers for an ear infection – grazie and arrivederci.

Jean said that if she had known what he was going to do she would have done a runner, so maybe a language barrier isn’t always a bad thing. Dr Alonzo must know his stuff as Jean’s ear is improving by the day.

On a happier note we then went to Tiffanys to collect a necklace for Jean and collected skin care products from the only pharmacy in Florence (or Siena) that stocks that particular brand – or in this case had to order them in especially for Jean.

On the way home we stopped at Piazza Michaelangelo which overlooks Florence and, along with about 1000 other visitors, took the classic photo of Florence.

All in all a successful day.

The day we didn’t get thrown out of the Palio

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Some of you may recall a previous post where Jean and I, and the dogs, were ejected from the Palio rehearsal back in early July and ended up walking through Siena in the rain feeling dejected, wet and alone. Not our finest moment.

Well there is a second Palio held each year in August. The very helpful family that own our cottage reminded us of this earlier in the week. They said it was busier than the July Palio and that there are rehearsals every morning at 9am (not really something we could contemplate) and at 7pm for the 3 days preceding the actual Palio race.

Here was our opportunity for redemption.

We planned this like a military operation. We knew that we had to get into Siena early so we aimed for 3pm. No dogs – sorry girls. The bars around the Campo are forced to shut at 3:30pm until 5pm while the track is watered. They reopen between 5pm and 6pm and then close until the rehearsal is over at 8pm. So the plan:

1) a late lunch at a wee cafe off the tourist track from 3pm to 5pm

2) a drink or two at our favourite Campo bar from 5pm to 6:30pm

3) into the centre of the Campo where the viewing is free

4) watch the rehearsal

5) back to the bar for dinner and drinks and then home.

For once our planning worked perfectly. At 7pm we found ourselves in the centre of the Campo along with about 5000 other people. All crammed in waiting for – well we didn’t know quite what to expect but given the other 5000 people standing with us, it had to be worth watching – I guess.

We saw the preparation of the track, the parade of the officials and the parading of the mounted Carabineri. All leading up to the main event – the Palio horses and riders mock racing around the track for a lap or two before pulling up and then the final parade – each contrada and their horse as they left the Campo.

Jean was particularly taken with the cavalry who did a first lap at a stately trot in formation but for the second lap were at full gallop with swords drawn – a god old fashioned cavalry charge.

It was interesting to watch the children from the competing contrada who had a special section of the stands. The kids had no hestitation to “have a go” at their competitors in chants or gestures, winning the palio was everything – a far cry from the political correctness of our homeland where winners and losers are frowned on and simply being involved is rewarded.

During the rehearsal race one of the Palio jockeys fell from his horse and was taken away by ambulance. As always the riderless horse kept racing but it shows the danger involved for both horse and rider on the narrow, tight Palio track. Particularly harrowing are the two 90 degree turns which, when taken at full speed are recipies for disaster.

After the rehearsal it was a drink and dinner, and then home. On the walk to our car we passed one of the contrada dinners. It was held in one of the main streets of Siena that had been closed for the occasion. And that’s what the Palio is really about – building and maintaining communities.

Update below pictures.

Update: The race the next day was won by the Giraffe Contrada – the red and white jockey in the photos. Four horses fell on the final lap however it appears none were seriously injured. There is ongoing controversy about animal welfare issues and the Palio. Despite there being a number of changes made over the last few years to make the race safer almost every year there are horses injured or killed. Interestingly the Palio was recently removed from the list of nominated Italian world heritage events as it was felt the backlash from animal rights groups could impact on the chances of approval for all the events being nominated.

For our part, we watched the race on TV the next day and agree with the animal rights groups.

Relaxing on the Cote d’Azur

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Before leaving New Zealand we had planned a weeks stay at Villefranche sur Mer on the coast just west of Nice. It was an ideal place to drop off our Peugeot lease car and collect our Renault lease car and to take a 4 day break from our holiday.

A holiday from our holiday if you will.

We stayed at our old favourite Hotel Welcome, right on the water, and were joined by Mike, Charmanie and James who had arrived in Nice a few days before us. This break was a chance to explore Villefranche a little more, sample some of the local cuisine, spend some time at the beach and soak up the atmosphere of the French Rivieria in peak season.

In the week we did all this. What else did we discover?

1) Much like other places some food is good and some isn’t

2) Meals tend to be less expensive and better quality further from the waterfront

3) The exception is La Mere Germaine right on the waterfront which we tried. Great food since 1938

3) Sitting on a beach is therapeutic no matter where you are in the world

4) The majority of French women have an urge to go topless on beaches. Some really, really shouldn’t

5) French service is more surly than Italian service but does warm up if you become a repeat customer

6) The girls are welcome everywhere we are which is great

7) Chateau Eza is always a great place for a drink – which costs about the same as a meal anywhere else.

Three countries in three days

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It’s been a hectic week. Starting last Saturday we headed home from Slovenia to our cottage in Tuscany. Two days later we headed north to Nice on the French Riviera to swap cars – and spend 5 days at Villefranche Sur Mer with Mike, Charmaine and James – then it was back home on Friday.

Daisy takes everything in her stride

Time for a cup of tea and a lie down I think.

It must be an Italian thing

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On the car trip home from Slovenia we were driving south from Bologna towards Florence on the A1 – Italy’s main north/south motorway – when we passed a flashing sign warning of an accident ahead and after another kilometre we gradually slowed and slowed and then stopped.

Both southbound lanes were blocked by cars as far as we could see. Clearly there had been some form of accident ahead and the road was blocked.

When it became clear the delay was more than just a momentary stop all around us car engines were turned off and the drivers and passengers got out of their cars to have a smoke, stretch their legs, have somethnig to eat or drink, or just chat with other motorists about what may have happened ahead.

Now we were not used to this behaviour but quite clearly in Italy this is what you do when there is a delay. No one seemed to be getting anxious or stressed, everyone just smoked, stretched, ate, drank and chatted until the traffic eventually started moving again about 25 minutes later.

This movement was short lived and 300 metres further down the motorway we stopped again. Same drill – the cars emptied out and the impromentu social gathering reconvened. We did our bit to amuse the locals by taking photos of the traffic and having Jean and the girls pose by the car.

After another 15 minutes we were on the move again, this time for good.

36 hours in Slovenia – an in-depth report*

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After all our visitors had headed off – Gill, Andre and the kids to Venice and Slovenia and Mike, Charmaine and James to Nice – it was time to get back to normal life in the cottage. For a week at least as we are driving to Nice to swap our lease cars over in early August and to catch up with Mike, Charmaine and young James.

It was a beautiful afternoon and we were sitting by the pool – as you do – when a text arrived from Gill. They had arrived in the capital of Slovenia – Ljubljana pronounced Lubiana – and were getting ready to celebrate young Jordan’s 6th birthday the following day. The text effectively said “am I being silly but what about you coming to Slovenia for Jordan’s birthday?”

Initially we dismissed the idea out of hand, let’s face it we didn’t know exactly where Slovenia was anyway – but then we got to thinking. How long would the drive be? Around a six hour drive – easily do-able. Can the dogs travel to Slovenia? It’s part of the EU so they can. Can the mighty Peugeot go to Slovenia? It’s on the list of eligible countries. Can we find our way around? TomTom maps for Eastern Europe are available and downloadable. Where could we stay for a couple of nights? Booking.com have a list of 23 hotels in Lubiana. Did we have anything else to do? Not really.

Within an hour we had all the answers – and we were off to Slovenia the next morning!

Driving from Italy into Slovenia you notice two things. Firstly the terrain goes from the dry, yellow/brown and hot Italian plains to the mountainous and green Slovakian hills and mountains. Secondly the architecture changes from Italian villas to Austrian style mountain houses. This isn’t surprising considering Sovenia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918.

We had booked a boutique hotel in the centre of the old part of Lubiana. An area overshadowed by the historic castle on the hill which dominates the capital city. Sadly our recently purchased (24 hours earlier) Eastern Europe TomTom maps didn’t take account of the fact that the heart of the city was largely a pedestrian area and blocked off to traffic other than that of residents. This caused problems as we circled the city centre trying to find a way in to our hotel and getting more frustrated by the minute. Eventually the good old “get out and walk approach” did the trick and we located the hotel who kindly provided access for our car to off load us, the dogs and the bags.

Our hotel was in a restored historic residence. We had booked a suite and it turned out to be a complete apartment with kitchen, dining room, lounge, bedroom and terrace. At 100sq metres it was about 3 times the size of our tuscan cottage. The dogs loved the space and intially did laps exploring, sliding across the parquet floors, and generally enjoying the freedom to run around.

We met the Mays at a nearby restaurant and celebrated Jordan’s birthday in style. The food, wine and service were superb. Apparently horse meat is a local delicacy and Andre, sticking to his mantra of trying anything once, had “Black Beauty” as a main. The rest of us did not.

Lubiana is a pretty city which has put time and effort into making the “old city” a tourist friendly place to be. A river runs through the city and the banks are lined with restaurants, cafes and shops. The river has been named 7 times due it’s habit of diassapearing for a period of time and then reappearing. Over time it has been called the Trbuhovica, Obrh, Stržen, Rak, Pivka, Unica and Ljubljanica.

Although the official language is Slovene, English was spoken by pretty much everyone we encountered so communication is easy. Prices are also cheap compared to Western Europe so your Euro goes that bit further.

The temperature was around 25 – 28 degrees although we were greeted at the Slovenian/Italian border with thunder storms, torrential rain and a 12 degree drop in temperature. For the next two days, however, it was warm, sunny and settled as we explored the cities sights, cafe’s and bars.

We left Slovenia with fond memories. This is definitely somewhere to add to your next European holiday – ideally for a little longer than 36 hours.

*This great title is borrowed and adapted from P J O’Rourke and one of the stories in his book “Holidays from Hell”.

Cheats guide to Rome

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Jean and I have been to Rome many times over the last few years. We have got to know the major sights as nodding acquaintances. Sitting in Piazza Navona having lunch or ambling past the Trevi Fountain after an evening meal was our forte and while we had a general idea of the history of these places it was in no way a detailed knowledge.

On our recent trip to Rome with Mike, Charmaine and James it became clear that our “and there’s the Trevi Fountain…” approach to tour guidance was not going to be sufficient. When was it built? Why is it here? Who was the sculpture? Quite rightly, all these questions came up and clearly we needed to know more.

Thankfully with the help of our iPhones and local data roaming we could instantaneously turn into Rome tour experts. As it takes a few minutes to walk between sights, we had time to secretly search Wikipedia about upcoming attractions, learn the key facts and then be able to dazzle with our knowledge when we arrived.

“The Pantheon – built in 31BC by Marcus Agrippa and rennovated in 126AD by Emperor Hadrian. The dome is 142 feet high and the diameter is also 142 feet. The largest unsupported concrete dome in the world. Originally had bronze sheeting under the portico but this was removed by Pope Urban VIII …..”.

It worked a treat.

So next time you’re in Rome and would like a guided tour by expert english speaking guides, give us a call.

Somewhere to relax and watch the world go by

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Rome is absolutely full of restaurants and cafes. Every famous monument is surrounded by them and they are on every street corner.

A place to relax - Cafe Angelina, Rome

So to pick one above the others is a big call but here goes.

We like Cafe Angelina on the corner of Via Poli and Via del Bufalo. It is a small cafe next to the apartment that Mike and Charmaine rented in Rome.

It doesn’t have a view of anything famous, in fact it has a view of the other side of the street. It doesn’t have a reputation as being a “spot to be seen”. It doesn’t have fantastic designer decor.

It does have two comfy leather armchairs facing the road, good coffee, good food, friendly staff and a constant stream of tourists and locals past the door. In the hurley burley that is Rome, this place is a wee oasis.

Next time you’re there, try it out.

From a hotel balcony

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Our room in Hotel Barocco overlooked Piazza Barberini with it’s imposing fountain the Fontana di Tritone by Bernini.  It is height of the tourist season and from our balcony you could watch an endless stream of people posing by the fountain for photos.

For the local authorities this was a perfect time to drain the fountain for maintenance much to the amusement of the aforementioned visitors to Rome.  Having said that, the workers had the fountain back and operating within 24 hours.

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Roman Holiday

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After the departure of Gill, Andre, Josh and Jordan to Venice and Slovenia, the remaining team headed south along the A1 to Rome.  We arrived on Saturday and drove around Rome (scary) dropping Mike and Charmaine at their apartment, their rental car at the Hertz depot and then finding our hotel.  We had discovered a place to stay – Hotel Barocco – online.  It is located on Piazza Barberini and, importantly for us, it welcomed dogs (unlike the hotel we usually stay at in Rome – Barberini).

The temperature over the weekend was around 29 degrees so the girls could come along on our walks.  They got to see the sights and, more importantly, for them sample the smells of Rome.

The first night we left the girls in our hotel room when we went out for dinner, thinking they would sleep after the drive south.  We arrived back at about 11pm and were informed by a slightly disturbed front desk clerk that the girls had barked and kept other guests awake all evening.  We were in danger of being evicted.

Barking struck us as unusual as the girls are normally quiet unless disturbed.  It turned out that a poor housemaid had gone into our room to turn down the bed and was met by a barrage of barking, growling and general dogginess.  She left the room in double quick time but the damage had been done and girls kept on barking.

Suffice it to say from that point on we made extensive use of the “do not disturb” sign when they were in the room and in the evenings the girls came along with us to experience dinner in some of Romes most popular restaurants.

A Top Gear Challenge

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It was simple.  Charmaine, Mike and James on a high speed train from Naples to Florence.  Jean and I and the dogs in the mighty Peugeot doing the same trip aiming to arrive before the train so we could help them collect a rental car and then follow us to our place south of Siena.

As with all Top Gear challenges there was a twist.  We left Positano at 11am and drove hell for leather north to Florence – a five and a half hour trip.  They left Naples at 1:50pm and were due to arrive in Florence at 4:50pm.

It was always going to be tight.  But I always thought the mighty Peugeot had the edge.  And so it proved as we blasted north along Italy’s version of SH1.

We were just south of Rome when the train was due to leave Naples which gave us a lead of 1 hour.  An hour that would be quickly eroded as the train hit it’s maximum speed of 300km/h on the straights between Naples and Rome.

So we put the hammer down and and spent considerable time close to the 150km/h mark.

But no challenge is that simple.  We got a text from the train travellers that they had run into problems – the train had stopped just 15 minutes out of Naples.  We continued on, extending the gap as quickly as possible.

An update from the train said the delay would be lengthy so we revised our plans.   Mike and Charmaine were picking up a rental car in Florence and were going to follow us south but the rental depot closed at 7pm and with the train delay we were not sure if they would arrive in Florence in time.  We would go to Florence via our cottage in Tuscany, drop off bags and then proceed to Florence with enough room to carry them if required.

Update – the train was moving again and halfway to Rome.  We were on our way to the cottage, it was going to be close.

Update – the train had arrived in Rome.  We were still on our way to the cottage, it was going to be really close.

Update – the train is halfway to Florence.  We had dropped our bags and were on the highway north, we were in trouble.

Update – the train has arrived in Florence.  We were still 30kms short of Florence.  Game over. I could almost hear Clarkson yelling “loser” with the dreaded right-handed “L” to the forehead.

Moral of the story – never race a high speed train.  The trip from Rome to Florence should, according to the train timetable, have taken about 90 minutes.  The train did it is less than 60 minutes – clealry they have a “little slack” in the timetable.

Visitors

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Over the last week or so blog posts have been infrequent – so infrequent that there haven’t been any actually. The reason is simply because we’ve had visitors – from New Zealand and the UK. We have been busy – a complete novelty after 3 months of doing, well, nothing.

In addition to Charmaine, Mike and little James we’ve had Danny Malone a mate from KiwiRail arrive on his latest European trip and Gill, Andre and Josh and Jordan jet in from the UK.

In the last few days we’ve been sightseeing in Pisa, Florence, Siena, San Gimignano and Volterra. We’ve eaten out in cafe’s, our local pizza restaurant and a restaurant with a carpark that turns into seating at night. We’ve laid by the pool, we’ve made a dent in the national stock levels of Chianti and Birra and generally had a great time.

A mixed assortment of pictures follow.

Goodbye Positano

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We have had a fantastic time in Positano. The apartment was great, the weather hot (too hot on occasions) and having Charmaine, Mike & James arrive near the end of our stay a real bonus.

As always we were spoiled by the wonderful people at Eden Roc Hotel who made us feel very welcome. But all good things come to an end and on Saturday morning we headed for Tuscany.

We enjoyed the stay at Villa Greta so much we are sure we’ll be back. So it’s not so much goodbye to Positano, more “au revoir”.

Positano from Villa Greta roof terrace

So you own a villa that needs major renovation…

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But the villa is way below the road and there’s a lot of building materials that needs to be moved down and lots of rubbish that needs to be moved up.

What do you do?  No problem, just put in a bit of scaffolding for a hoist up to the road.

I’m not sure that a kiwi health and safety person would be completely happy with the Amalfi Coast approach.

Today is a big day

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Today Jean’s sister, brother-in-law and their wee baby arrive in Positano. Charmaine, Mike and James have been in Europe for the last 2 weeks visiting London and Paris. They should be well acclimatised and ready to tackle the frantic pace of life that is Positano.

This is their first trip to Italy and we are really excited to have the chance to show them around.

They fly into Naples airport later this afternoon (Wednesday) and we have arranged for a car and driver to pick them up and bring them over the hill to Positano. We’ve already asked them not to judge Italy by what they see during the drive. While there are parts of Naples that are beautiful the parts you pass through on the way to the Amalfi peninsula are not those ones. I’ve never really experienced the third world but I imagine it’s a bit like southern Naples.

The Amalfi Coast with the coast road cut into the cliffs - look closely and you'll spot it

The good news is that all that is forgotten when you crest the backbone of the peninsular and the view is the blue sea with the thin ribbon of road winding along the coast cut precariously into the cliffs and with small villages hanging to the cliffs in seemingly impossible places.

We’ve also warned them about the width of the roads (or lack thereof) and the propensity of Italians driving everything from scooters to tour buses to overtake or undertake or to do u-turns or simply stop for no reason at all.

Thankfully the limousine drivers are experts at negotiating these roads however I do recall one occasion a few years ago when almost all the luxury Mercedes car that we started the trip in made it to the end.

It had a wing mirror removed by a passing car that got a little too close. All I remember was the sound of tearing metal and smashing glass, and the sight of the mirror flying past the side window of the car. No one stopped but we did learn a few choice Italian phrases that we could use if we found ourselves in a similar situation.

Charmaine, Mike and James – welcome to Italy.