ellenbw

Below is a trip report outlining our time in Cinqueterre, Tuscany, Venice and Rome. This is a 2nd trip to Italy for me and a first for DS (14) and DH.

A few days before our trip we are madly packing up parts of our house in preparation for a remodel ... demolition to happen while we are gone. We are in a total packing frenzy until 1:00am (our departure is at 6:45 am .. not too much sleep going on here!. Up at 4:00am and off to the airport. The airport is a nasty suprise...a blocks long line at the SFO Delta counter. Apparently there is a software glitch and no one could check in on line or at the self check in stations. They clearly weren't staffed to handle the onslaught. The line takes about 2hrs and the plane is held for an nearly an hour so everyone can make it onboard. Then we wait another 45 min to take off since we lost our spot in the take off line up! Yikes! Not a good way to start our trip. We still make it in only 30 min late to JFK. We have connecting flight on AirItalia (booked through Delta). Once at JFK we doublecheck our connecting gate with a Delta rep. and head on over. DH double checks again and lo and behold, the 6:00pm Delta flight at gate 12 is not the same as the 6:00pm Delta Aitalia flight at gate 12. We must leave the security area and re-check in with Aitalia in another terminal. Not fun as we race through the terminal, stand in line (our bags are checked through, at least) and brave a pretty wild and winding security line to get to our gate just in time to board. Yikes. No duty free shopping today! Despite the horror stories I've heard about Alitalia, it's actually fine, and the food was decent!We arrive on time in Milan, albeit with little sleep, the bags are here and we are good to go! We pick up the keys to our car and are good to go. Well, almost. We cannot figure out how to start our car. It's a very nice Alfa Romeo 6 gear station wagon that I will come to hate.For 1/2 an hour we try to figure it out. We try to read the manual (in Italian), we ask random passersby .. we are about to go back to the desk (long walk) when we finally hit on the solution ..put in the key and put the car in 1st gear while pressing the start button. Hmmm. Finally, ready to go and I get my first taste of driving in Italy. I have driven in France before with no problems (with the exception of an unplanned drive through Paris). The Italian autostrade is modern and nice, but Italian drivers, yikes! If you are in the left lane to pass a truck and another driver wants to go faster, they are right up your tailpipe, everytime, lights flashing, regardless of the 3 tanker trucks in the right lane that make it impossible for you to immediately move over. In retrospect, we should have taken the train to Santa Margharita and stayed there, making the Cinqueterre and Portovenere an excursion by train and boat the following day. Between our pre-trip packing, long flight and little sleep, we were exhausted, cranky, and the long drive to Portovenere (4hrs) was really too much. Once we arrived in Portovenere, we dropped the car at the Grand Hotel Portovenere, where we stayed. As far as I was concerned, I didn't care if I ever saw it again! We have reserved a jr suite with a water view, but we are given a full suite-2 rooms and a view, which is quite comfortable although the rooms are rather plainly furnished. Portovenere is a very charming, small, medival town just south of Cinqueterre. Once there, we loved watching the boats going in and out and walking around the charming small town. While DH napped, DS and I explored the town, stopping for samples of delicious pesto and foccaccia. We share a piece at a delightful little store where a man makes his own pesto that is the best I've ever tried. Well it should be, he sells it bottled in jam jars for 10 Euro! We share a slab of foccaccia smeared with the wonderful pesto. We top off that snack with some wonderful gelato. My DS has decided that is going to be a great trip, especially when I announce that we will be sampling gelato everyday and sometimes twice!

Back to the room DH is sound asleep and DS and I fall asleep as well. forget dinner, we need sleep. We are up early the next morning, and ready for breakfast the moment it opens. Luckily it's a big breakfast with cereals, meats cheeses juice, croissants and cappuchino. Strangely, they serve mostly canned fruit, but some wonderful fresh cantelope. With breakfast taken care of, we are off to the Cinqueterre. We buy a boat pass, with full hop on and off privledges for all day at 20 Euro each and hop on the 1st boat of the day. With Rick Steves in hand, we explore each village, walking from Riomaggiore to Manarola. This is a fun and easy way to spend our first full day in Italy. At Manarola it begins to heat up and we decide to skip Corniglia and take the boat to Vernazza. On the boat we encounter some major tour groups from a cruise line all heading to Vernazza for lunch. We change our plans and stay on the boat, cruising to Monterosso for lunch instead. We follow Rick Steves suggestion of Restaurant Belvedere and have some of the best pesto with pasta that I have ever had. it is mixed with chunks of potato and green beans. Heavenly. We explore the town a bit, but quite frankly, these 5 towns are all starting to look alike to us. Off to Vernazza, it's pretty crowded, a walk through the town, a stop for gelato, a look at the harbor, poke into a few shops, and we're done, happy to get back on the boat and enjoy the beautiful coastline trip back to Portovenere. That night, we have seafood in a wonderful restaurant across from the hotel, and of course a little gelato to top off the evening. More to come!

LoveItaly

Hi ellenbw, love your trip report..and yes trying to drive in Italy after a long flight from SFO is tiring.

A suggestion. Can you make your paragraphs shorter so that they will be easier to read. Thanks. And I sure look forward to reading about the rest of your time in Italy.

JohnFitz

Terrific. I stayed 2 weeks in Lerici in June about 12 years ago and toured the region.I loved it .I drove a friends Fiat Fiesta ,which was one rung up from the Bambini ,on the autostrada to Pisa and reading your tales brought back the nervous tension.
I would be pleased to read details of your ratings of your Hotels and any others you liked the look of around where you stayed if you have that information and the inclination to do so .I seem to regularly come across peoplegoing there who know little and where to stay .
And pleased the Pesto sauce was good -it ought to have been given it is the regional dish of Liguria .
Looking forward to more .....

ellenbw

As far as hotels go, I think the Grand Hotel Portovenere is a 4 star and may be one of the nicer ones in town, but it isn't exactly stunning decor. More functional than that. Very clean, very good location and good breakfasts. Sorry but I didn't pay much attention to other hotels there.

On to day 3 of our adventure in Cinqueterre (I'll try to include paragraphs!). I decided to brave the roads again and take a drive to Santa Margharita Ligure (SML). My TA suggested that we stay here orginially, a favorite spot of hers, and I wanted to see what we might have missed.

Back on the autostrada through endless tunnels (always with a tanker truck at my side at inches away at 120KL). We turn off and have a series of treachorous turns on small winding roads and, of course, miss the turn off to SML. We wander through traffic in some unknown but pleasant small city until we ask a traffic cop for directions. We are a few miles away and once we finally reach SML, we are greeted with a pleasant coastline and plenty of parking. Upon parking we find ourselves stumped by the parking ticket machine and DS feels slightly nauseous from the winding roads. We parked in back of a diplomatic car and the secret service type agents, waiting with their car, help us out on the parking machine and even offer DS some water. Very nice people.

We take Rick Steves advice and have lunch at a little pizzeria, Gennaro. It's quite good and now that we are fortified, we're off to Portofino by boat which is across the street. For 7 Euro each we get round trip tickets and enjoy and incredible view of the the beautiful Portofino harbor. Just charming. We wander around, sample gelato (of course) and decide to check out the Splendido Hotel.

After a hike up 50,000 steps or so and a few hills, we come to this wonderful hotel perched on a hilltop. I am dripping with sweat and looking oh so attractive as we enter this lovely hotel. We check out the beautiful black and white photos of movie stars in the lobby and get a price list. Guess, We'll be back when we hit the lottery!Wish we had thought to have lunch here, though, it is a lovely outdoor dining area with a splendid view. We hop back on the boat and enjoy our lovely boat ride back to SML. DH strikes up a conversation with some French vacationers and everyone has a chuckle about the cost of Hotel Splendido.

We wander around SML, a small coastal city, and poke around in some stores. Suddenly, we are tired and ready to return to Portovenere. Our return trip is fast and uneventful.,,thank God! Dinner that night is at Trattoria Iseo, on the harbor and next door to last nights great restaurant (whose name I have forgotten). This is not as good as the previous night and more expensive. We also find out that the water we pay for is a carafe of tap water filled in the kitchen.

Day 4, we are off to Tuscany by way of Pisa. many complain of Pisa as a tourist trap, and while I wouldn't stay there, it was a wonderful afternoon visit. DS and DH climbed the tower after a wait of about 1 hr 20 min (we ate lunch then, so no real wait).Yes, there are dozens of tacky tourist stalls, but you don't have to buy anything. We had some great paninni at a local restaurant and toured the grounds with a combo ticket. Parking was nearby and we followed Rick Steves suggestion on that.

Mid afternoon, we left and journeyed on to Greve in Chianti, to an agritourisimo, Vignamaggio. This is a working winery producing some very good wine. It is also the birthplace of the model for the Mona Lisa. We have trouble finding the place and stop off at the Vignamaggio tasting center. The woman in charge seems burdened with giving us directions and is downright rude when we need a repeat of the last instruction. Oh well, we hope the rest of the staff isn't like that. After a couple of hairpin trips, we find the place. We have reserved a double room with extra bed. Their rooms are supposed to be quite large. Instead, we get an apt in the farm building down the road a bit. It is lovely and spacious with a living room, kitchenette, bedroom and a tiny loft over the living room with a single bed and skylight. They have snacks and wine available, complimentary. We sign up for the special wine dinner offered that night ... very yummy!

Although we had planned to explore Florence the next day, we immediately amend our plans and decide we will just stay here and enjoy the pool, tennis and grounds. This was a 3 star property and our favorite place of the trip. We would go back in a heartbeat and maybe stay longer than the 4 nights we scheduled here. The apts do not include breakfast, which is pricey here, 15 Euro each, but the breakfast is included in the rooms in the main building. No problem, we get coffee in the morning and one day we do have the breakfast, which is lovely. We end up spending 2 days lazing around this property, hitting the Saturday market in Greve for fruits, cheeses and bread and just enjoying life. We have a special dinner in Lamole, a few hairpin turn miles down the road, on our last night, which is just spectacular.

Next, our day in Florence and on to Venice!

LCBoniti

Hello ellenbw-

Great trip report so far! More, please . . .

Anna1013

Really enjoying your report! I've never driven in Italy, only in England - was language an issue? I had a hard enough time reading the signs in England...and they were in English

I've always wanted to drive either in France or Italy, since that seems the best way to see the countryside - any problems with directions or signs...do you speak Italian?

ellenbw

Thanks for the comments! The signage in Italy is easy to follow and the Autostrada is a wonderful highway, it's just the aggressive driving that unnerved me. also, I haven't driven a stick in awhile and when I get flustered, I stall it and then accidentally put it in reverse. Not a great combo.

We took a tour later in Rome and the tour guide mentioned that Italians see driving rules as suggestions or guidelines and that really explains it, I think. Also, you have to remember that the left lane is for passing and for going faster than anyone else. If someone comes up faster, you are expected to move over, pronto! They stay right on your bumper with lights flashing, regardless of whether it's possible for you to move over at that moment or not.

On to Florence. We were still staying in Greve and decided that instead of driving the 45 min or so to get to Florence, we would take the bus. Great idea! We drove into town, parked in the free parking lots and caught the bus for 3.10 Euro each. It was quite comfortable and in 45 min, there we were! The bus terminal is right next to the train station. We had a couple of things on our must do agenda: David at the Accademia (without reservations since this was a spontaneous trip), Pontevecchio, a leather jacket for DS(his big souvenir to be purchased with his own money), if not too expensive, the Duomo and the Bargello sculpture museum. Of course gelato stops were a given!

Our 1st stop a cafe for morning panini and a little time to map out our strategy for the day. Then it was on to the straw market where DS found some jackets, but not exactly what he wanted. A very nice woman working there suggested that we go over to her store, a few blocks from the market where she had a bigger inventory. Although the store was closed (Sunday morning), she opened it up and found him exactly the right jacket. She sold it to us for the market price, cash $150 Euro. We thought that was a good price for the jacket quality. Although the store takes credit cards, she wouldn't give us that price with credit. The store name was Deni's Leather and there are several of them in Florence, in addition to the market.

Needless to say DS was thrilled and wanted to wear the jacket everywhere (ridiculous since it was so warm out). Every morning I would get up and find the jacket out on a chair, DS had tried it on each night, before bed. He absolutely loved it!

With our big purchase out of the way (and a rub of the pig's snout at the market for good luck), we wandered around exploring the city, walking on the Pontevecchio (notice how the closed shops look like suitcases!). We stopped for a snack of Pelligrino, fruit salad, and one pannini at a place called the Sun Cafe and were a little shocked at the steep check, about 37 Euro! I think we will stick with recommended cafes in tourist areas from now on! We check out the leather stores in the Santa Croce area, but don't find anything else that moves us. We try to visit the Santa Croce church to see Michaelangelo's tomb, but it is just opening and the line is long. We suddenly realize that if we want to see the Bargello, we had better act fast as it closes early today (1:40pm). We rush over, barely make it in, and do the whirlwind sculpture tour. Love it. There are numerous Donatello and some Michelangelo as well. No lines, a little gem of a place.

Next we are off to the Duomo. It is more fabulous outside than inside, but we enjoy it and especially enjoy the coolness of the interior. This is where we encounter the pickpocket! I am wearing a money belt for credit cards and cash, but carrying a small, multizippered, fabric travel purse for camera, sunglasses etc. As we left the Duomo, busy but not oppressively crowded, I felt a small nudge, someone squeezing past me next to the door jam. I turn around and here is a very tattooed guy in an odd t shirt, shaved head, bad teeth with a big open map. He quickly and dramatically said, 'oh excusi, excusi' and gestured to the map. He really didn't look like a tourist in the Duomo ...my radar was up... I look down at my purse and it has been unclasped -- I just put my camera back and carefully zipped and closed it ... I look back up, look him in the eye and yell "NO!!". He scurries off into the crowd and disappears. Since I have a million zippers to go through and the valuables aren't there anyway, he doesn't get anything, but I am mad!!
It's a good opportunity to admonish DH that he should be wearing his money belt, too (he hates the thing).

Off to the Accademia, we are hoping the lines have lessened since we are without reservations. No such luck. We time it and it is 1 hr 59 min before we enter the door. The people at the front of the line when we started had waited about 3 hrs, people at the end of the line when we got in, 1.5 hrs. When you are standing in line this long, you need to do something to amuse yourself.

I went to the little store across the street from the entrance ( recommended by Rick Steves) and got myself a sandwich to eat in line. It was a fabulous concoction, if I do say so myself: foccaccia bread, pesto, fresh mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, gilled eggplant. Yum!! We also had fun watching the street vendors (unlicensed) grab their goods and run when the polizia came by. As soon as they turned the corner, everyone was back out selling their wares in the street. Finally in and we get to witness the magnificent David. Lots of discussion about the big hand and what it means. There is also a display of musical instruments that is nice on the right side. Otherwise, the big draw is David. You could gaze at him for hours.

After that, we trek back to the bus stop, exhausted, and enjoy the trip back to Greve. We eat at a casual cafe on the main square that has great gelato and internet service. A great day and a wonderful Tuscan adventure. We drive back to our wonderful little apt, look over the gorgeous Tuscan hills and enjoy a glass of wine before bed. Now this is a vacation!

Next stop, Venice, where we eat, shop, shop, eat and meet up with friends!

ellenbw

Ok, on to Venice...we drive to Venice, which of course takes longer than we think it will...we make a quick stop for lunch at an Autogrille. Not knowing what to expect, we are pleasantly suprised with a nice selection of panini as well as a coffee bar and huge aray of drinks, picnic fixings and assorted snacks.

By the way, we were confused about Paninni. We always thought that pannini were those pressed sandwiches, but in Italy they are just warmed sandwiches and 'toast' is the pressed pannini that we are accoustomed to. You eat standing up at tall cocktail type tables. We picked up some italian cookies and toblerone for snacks and were on our way.

Once we got to Venice we were confused by the signs and ended up in some commercial district. Many times.In circles. I felt like I was in that GroundHog Day movie or maybe this was a circle of Dante's hell that I was destined to inhabit ... the car circle. I could not wait to unload that car and stop driving and going in the wrong direction. Finally we break through the maze, stop at a gas station and get directions. We get our receipt and go to the vaparetto. Yay! Car Free!

I have to say that I went to Venice with some trepidation. I was there 17 years ago with a friend and we both hated it. We had bad food, met rude people and were lost most of the time. DH and DS really wanted to see Venice, and so many people love it, I agreed to give it a go.

We have reserved an apt. with La Calcina in the Dorosduro area. It is a block from the hotel, but you get all of the hotel amenities, like breakfast each morning and advise from the front desk. The apt is Guiglia (on their website). It meets our needs well, it's not luxurious, but it's got character, space, comfort and makes us feel like we are Venetians for the next 3 days. We dine at their restaurant, right on the water, the first night and have a lovely meal. Breakfast is great, including made to order omelets, croissants, homemade jams and cappuchino, of course.

The next morning we meet up with friends whose vacation plans coincided with ours. They have 14 yr old DD, a classmate of our DS. The kids are happy to have each other for company. We haven't shopped much during our trip and neither have they, but we all find ourselves drawn to it in Venice. Just before meeting, we find a great shop right on the Rialto Bridge for Venetian masks and arrange to have them shipped. (They have arrived, in perfect condition).We tell our friends about it and they end up buying there, too. DS finds a leather wallet, pocket knife and belt, our friends buy purses and a beautiful Murano glass lamp. We all buy Murano glass trinkets. We ask a local at the Produce Market about a good place for Pizza and he sends us to 900 jazz and Pizza, a great place, since we love Jazz, too.

Here are the highlights of our trip: The Jewish ghetto, San Marco Sq at night, a gondola ride on our last night (all 6 of us), and great gelato! We love the look of Venice and the twists and turns, and even getting lost there. Venice is magical and I would love to return.

After 3 nights, we are off to Rome, by train, 1st class. We use the opportunity to sleep a bit - a lot of late nights in Venice! Next installment: apt life in Rome... the Colloseum, Vatican, Angels and Demons tours.

hester

Great trip report! I'm looking forward to the next installment.

LoveItaly

A charming, fun and interesting report ellenbw. I travelled along with you and your family..and I so look forward to your next installment.

5alive

Ellenbw, I'm really enjoying your trip report. You take the time to share your impressions of a place and not just your itinerary.

Incidentally, I think it's "panini" with one less "n" than you're using.

After helping navigate the Italian roads, I can visualize the drivers you encountered all too well! We also had concluded that for Italians, the Rules of the Road were just "suggestions." The same went for the little dotted lines that divided traffic lanes on a highway. If four cars could fit on lanes designed for three, well, why not?

AmanteDelLimoncello

bookmarking

sarge56

bookmarking. Can't wait to hear about the Angels & Demons tour, as my 29-yr-old DD has it on the top of her list for our October trip.

TRSW

bm

marigross

bookmarking - March 2008

ellenem

enjoying your report--waiting for Rome!

ellenbw

Warning! Most of this section deals with renting apts in Rome. I'll post about Rome in the following post.

First, a few more comments about Venice. We visited the Accademia museum, it can be done in an hour or two, tops. 2 people can use 1 cassette. I really liked the story of Ursula. Very interesting, but not airconditioned, so if it’s a very hot day, you might want to skip it. We enjoyed osteria da Carla, a little hard to find, but very good. We went to Harry’s bar and although the bellini is quite good, there is no atmosphere and the experience will set you back 15 euro each. The second that we were done with our drinks, I felt like we got the bums rush out of there. It’s an experience you can miss.

We arrived in Rome via Eurostar, very relaxing! Getting a taxi was a bit daunting and I was really glad that our rental service let me know that a taxi to the apt. should cost 12-15 Euro, including bags. We encountered some very friendly taxis who wanted to charge us 30 euro. No thanks. Some didn’t want to take us to our destination, even though we had a central location. Finally we got pretty aggressive about securing a taxi, sure enough, only 12 Euro.

The taxi drops us off on a busy street (bordering the river) in front of a graffiti filled building, but lots of buildings have graffiti in Rome. We rented through sleepinitaly. I’m going to give you some detail here on apt. renting since that is a common topic on this site.

I’ve never rented an Apt before and it felt a bit risky to do this in a city I’ve never been to, where I don’t speak the language, no cellphone and holding a lot of cash- the apt requires cash for your stay, only the 1st night’s deposit is charged. We have made an appointment with the owner for 2:00pm. We get there early and stew a bit about what we will do if they don’t show up. At 2:10pm a rep for the owner arrives and takes us into the building with a lots of detailed instructions. He shows us how to use the numerous locks, and has us try them to be sure we understand. Inside the apt, he gives us detailed instructions for using the washer, hot water instructions, AC operation, where extra linens are and everything else we need to know.

About the apt: it has terrific view of Castel St Angelo across the river. It has lovely parquet wood floors in the living room and bedroom, high ceilings, a modern marble bathroom, a kitchenette, tv, but only Italian stations. Very clean. It has some very ugly industrial type carpeting in the entry and hallway. The apt is in a great old building with an old fashioned elevator. It has been divided into 2 units (each with their own lock) and it shares an outside locking door.

Now here is the downside of apt rental. Our neighbor (Canadian) tells us that on the 1st night she and her young son were locked out of their apt. due to a lock that is not supposed to be used, because it locks from the inside only. The person renting the other apt had locked it anyway, and got scared when they knocked on the door late at night, asking her to unlock it. She did not speak English and did not understand what was going on and would not unlock it. Finally the woman had to rent a hotel for the night. Of course something like this would never happen in a hotel. On the positive side, the place met our needs well, was well priced and well located. DH is totally sold on apt rentals. I am a little more cautious about it, because I missed some of the hotel services like advise on things and calling a taxi for you, but would consider it again, especially in areas that I am already quite familiar with (like Paris). Actually when we left, DH went to the owners’ business, a few blocks from us and they called the taxi for us, they were a very nice couple. The apt service will also arrange transportation shuttle for you if you prefer, you just have to be a little more independent.For families the apt situation is so much more comfortable!

Ok, on to Rome: We took 2 tours with Presto tours, the Vatican and the Colosseum. We took 1 tour with Dark Rome, this was the Angels and Demons tour. We enjoyed all of our tour guides.

First, Presto:They limit the tours to 15 people. The guides were quite well educated in their tour topic (MS in Italian History, Theology, etc). They were both impressive in their knowledge. We did have to wait in line at the Vatican, nearly an hour, but our tour guide spent the entire time talking to us about Vatican history. We had earphones to hear him which were especially helpful in the Vatican and St. Peters. He really enriched our experience with the historical information. The Sistine Chapel looked very different from what I had imagined and I was amazed at the bright blue colors. We were amazed and exhausted when we finished. The Pieta in St. Peters is so beautiful, it's an emotional experience to gaze at it. We were absolutely exhausted after this tour. My brain was so chock full of data, it was on overload. I think the tour lasted about 3 hours, not including time in line. I was pleased and would use them again, but I would also check into tours directly with the Vatican that allow you to skip the line, especially if it is going to be in the heat of the summer when you visit.

I'm afraid that I may run out of room here, so I'll finish in one more installment.

Pago

So we figure DH=Dumb Husband?

Travelnut

Dear Husband, of course.

ellenbw

That's right,
DH - dear husband
DS - dear son
DD - dear daughter
BF - best friend

I'll write more soon, was in the middle of the last segment when we had an emergency .. .our sweet little dog ate rat poison. He is at the emergency clinic getting vitamin K and plasma. We caught it in time, but it was so scary.