wcelliot

(Repost with corrected formatting... sorry!)

I’m about 6 months overdue for this trip report… but particularly since I planned the trip about this time last year using the exceptional advice from this board, I thought I should go ahead…

Background: This was a high school graduation trip for my daughter. My wife and I agreed to her request that in lieu of a (used) car like we bought her older brother that we take her on a tour of some of the archeological sites in southern Italy.

Despite the fact that my wife is a first generation Italian, none of us spoke any Italian beyond “hello” and “thank you”… nor had been to Italy before… we were determined to avoid the American hotel chains and tour groups… absolutely the right decision for us (despite the fact we were occasionally lost, confused, or got something unexpected for a meal! )

Day 1 Saturday July 21, 2007 overnight on United from Dulles (IAD) and arrived at 08:50 Sunday (day 2) at FCO. First disaster was that my rented, tested, and fully charged cell phone was dead on arrival.

I used PICCELL mainly because I got a US number along with the phone… in retrospect that was unimportant and I should have bought a cheap phone and pay as you go SIM.

This caused a delay in meeting our driver (because we were early) then missed him when we came back… we booked the transfer though www.sleepinitaly.com and it was (52E).

Possibly a bit expensive, but not an expenditure we regretted as the driver was great, knew where we were going, and did an impromptu tour enroute.

I hesitate to talk about the apartment because I’m planning another trip to Italy this summer and if we spend any time in Rome I’d like to return. The location could not have been better (directly beside the Pantheon), the apartment far exceeded my expectations (the website does not do the place justice) and frankly I think it’s hugely underpriced at 160E. Via della Minerva #5
http://www.sleepinitaly.com/files/apt_minerva.html

Again the dead cell caused issues when the owner was delayed, couldn’t reach me, etc. I finally got change, found and figured out how to use a pay phone and got it sorted out…

On the recommendation of a Slow Travel posting, we sought out http://www.obika.it/ (a mozzarella bar) which was extremely impressive and fairly inexpensive (around 50E for a light lunch with wine for 3).
But our best meal for the money was just down the street at The Colony (Via Seminary, 2 blocks from the Pantheon)… much more food than we could eat, all of it excellent… plus more wine than we should have consumed given the jet lag… around 37E!

Day 3 Met Sonia Tavoletta [email protected] and we could not have asked for a better, more informed guide. Perfect English, was able to quickly see where our interests were, and adjusted the schedule “on the fly”… we did the basic “ancient Rome” tour in addition to some of the “Lost Underworld” sites. Not cheap… and worth every penny.

We could have spent several days on what we covered in several exhausting hours… did I mention that it was 38-42 C (100-108F) the entire time we were there? Non-chaffing, dry-wick clothing and underwear was worth EVERY penny…

Day 4 We scored the Scavi Tour! Email WELL in advance at [email protected] and immediately respond to their emails and request for payment. This was just about the highlight of our time in Rome… well worth the effort and the planning. We followed this by an exhausting tour of the Vatican museums and St Peters with Sonja. It was crowded and HOT… ironically this was one of the few times I felt like a pickpocket target… otherwise I felt safer everywhere in Italy than I would on a main street in Manhattan… I never wore the cool silk moneybelt that I got from Rick Steves… but I did carry backup cash and passport copies in my leather moneybelt (the one holding up my pants).

Speaking of pants… I have no idea where the idea that Italian men never wear shorts comes from. Maybe it was the heat, but even if the non-tourist towns we visited, the locals were clearly wearing shorts. Maybe the times have changed? More young than old wearing them, but still the full cross section seemed comfortable in them.

Day 5 on our on in Rome. Did some shopping (the Ferrari shop was cool and $$$$), hit the other big sites, and toured the Capuchin Crypt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capuchin_Crypt The caretaker upstairs let us see the REAL Shroud of Turin which was in a “private collection” in the back. I would have tipped him the same amount for the tour he gave… quite the scheme he has going…

Each day/evening we did some simple walking around getting lost… this was the best part. We stumbled on local festivals, an outdoor piano concert, etc… and sampled just about every gelato shop we passed.
Most notable food outside of the two places I’ve listed was in the Ghetto… well worth seeking out and more central than it might seem.

Day 6 Thursday. Got up early and took a taxi down to the big Via Sannio street market near San Giovanni… quite the experience… which we were able to put to good use later.

Then took a taxi to Roma Termini and grabbed a train to Napoli Centrale. Put Amtrak to shame… very very nice. In Napoli we shifted to the Circumvesuviana. This transition was not difficult at all (some had warned it was confusing/unsafe) and the Circumvesusiana was not nearly as bad as I had been prepared for. Maybe a notch below the DC Metro system and a few notches above the NYC Subway… this became our primary mode of travel over the next few days.

The first hotel we stayed at was the Hotel Settimo Cielo. http://www.hotelsettimocielo.com/ (Took a readily available taxi) Neat local hotel… small traditional European hotel rooms in need of some refreshing, but a great bar, great pool (which closed WAY too early each evening), and an AWESOME view.

The downside was that it was a more arduous walk (especially in the 100+ temps) from the train station than others had indicated. We would typically get back to the train station exhausted after a day of touring… then face the long walk uphill to the hotel to get cleaned up to walk back into town to eat and shop then walk back up. The hotel was worth the effort, but in retrospect we should have either spent the money on taxis or figured out the bus schedule (which we didn’t even attempt).

Day 7 took the train to Pompeii and walked around for hours while my daughter photographed every stone. We did this without a guide… in retrospect that was a mistake as we ended up rather unfocused and expended more time and energy than we really needed to.

Our favorite meal was stopping at the local grocer for cheese, meat, bread, and wine then taking it back to our balcony…

Day 8 Took the train into Herculaneum (Ercolano). Walked down to the site. Was picked up by a guide who essentially spoke no English… but gave us one of the best tours we had. When this happens, negotiate a fee up front… his was about half what I would have thought. (2 hours for 25E). It was market day in Ercolano and we enjoyed walking though. Had awesome pizza at a little shop there on the main drag near the train station.

Then back on the train to Naples to the museum. http://www.marketplace.it/museo.nazi...museo_home.htm Left our map at home. Went one stop too many (past the train station) and ended up getting an unnecessary tour of Naples by a profiteering taxi driver.

After the museum (not as extensive as I had envisioned but well worth the effort) we walked back to the train station. Even on some dark back alleys I felt safer than on many side streets in NYC.

Day 9 Sunday We had initially planned to do Pompeii and Vesuvius the same day. Given the exhaustion following Pompeii and the vastly underrated effort necessary to climb Vesuvius (remember the temps), we’re thrilled we split up the time.

But on the way we decided to get off the train a few stops early and take the cable car up to Mt Faito from Vico Equense. This was a worthwhile diversion though we were pressed for time and could have spent the entire day up there.

We had booked a tour of Vesuvius at the Sorrento train station… you get an all-day train ticket then transportation to and from the volcano from the Pompeii station as well as a guide. This was a good deal, but as with many tours, we felt a bit rushed on the climb… I felt sorry for some of the elderly folks who were along. This was much more arduous than has been alluded to on prior posts…

Oh, and taxis on Sundays essentially double their rates… be prepared…

Day 10 Monday. Did laundry at a laundrymat at the edge of town. Then picked up our car at Hertz at the Hotel Ascot. Surprisingly, no guidance or driver education was provided… I guess they assumed I knew what I was doing. Thank God for American levels of AC in the car… the first time we had really been cool in 10 days…
We drove down to Paestum via the Amalfi Coast. This was an awesome drive and more than lived up to its billing. In retrospect, we should have budgeted more time to stop and visit the towns along the way rather than just driving through them.

We did have our most impressive meal of the trip… as well as the most expensive… at Ristorante Capo D’Orso perched on the edge of a cliff right on the highway near Amalfi. http://www.capodorso.org/ If you’re a well-heeled foodie you might want to check this out.

Overnight in Paestum at the Hotel Schuhmann (which seems to cater mainly to German tourists). The rooms and food (half board) were good (not great), right on the beach which was very nice, but otherwise from our nosing about town, I wouldn’t recommend Paestum as a destination for more than a night (though the museum and the ruins are impressive and well worth the trip.) For somewhere to stay for the night, Schuhmann was passable and likely one of the better choices in the area for the money…
http://www.hotelschuhmann.com/uk/

Day 11 Spent the morning touring Paestum and the nice modern museum (better than the Naples museum in many ways) then drove the back roads/countryside to Matera. This was great fun and we stayed lost half the time… but we weren’t REALLY lost until we got into Matera (much larger than we had anticipated) and could not find the hotel with the map I had. (Not nearly detailed enough).

Eventually, after some frustrating driving in circles, down dead end streets, etc, we “lucked” onto it. When the hotel offered to take care of the car for us we gladly agreed. We stayed in one of the Sassi hotels:
http://www.locandadisanmartino.it/locandaeng.html which at 120E was much better than I had anticipated. Their advice of a restaurant just next door was excellent.

Day 12 Their advice of a local guide was even better and we toured around the town with her. Also very inexpensive and well worth the effort. This was one of our favorite days… and her restaurant recommendation was even better than the hotel’s.

Day 13 We spent the morning at the archeological park across the gorge from Matera. We should have spent a full day hiking it and could have used our guide again… actually as interesting as the town (of not more so…)

Afterwards, we drove to Ginosa (wife’s family) and it was market day. My daughter bought a suitcase full of new dresses… no one here spoke any English and one of the vendors took my attempts to get him to repeat the pricing was a negotiation tact, so he kept coming back with lower numbers!

We then drove on to Montescaglioso, the mountain/monastery town her father is from. This was a neat little town really stuck in time and way off the tourist track… we could easily return here for a couple of weeks just to relax…

Finally, after a full day we drove into Alberobello where we rented the Trullo "Canèle" http://www.trullidea.it/index.php?op...+Your+Visit%21

This was the surprise of the trip. At 142E, this was a big stone house on several acres of land out of town (but within walking distance to a quality resturant)… again the website didn’t do this justice… it was much, much better and we didn’t want to leave.

Day 14 So other than touring Aberbello and a morning driving around the region (Polignano a Mare, etc) we didn’t.

Day 15 Saturday
Our first (and last) day on the Autostrada. An easy, uneventful into Rome to drop the car off at FCO (in retrospect a mistake) then a check into the
Hilton- the most expensive place we stayed and a real anti-climax.

We took a taxi over to Ostia-Antica http://www.ostia-antica.org/ and was blown away by the scope… we had no idea this was the size and quality that it was and were amazed that this wasn’t higher profile on tourist agendas… I think more people would get more out of this tour than Pompeii.

We were there too late for the museum… and realized we had left our (finally working) cell phone back at the Hilton and were stuck out there with no phone and no taxis around. The guard at the gate kindly called a taxi for us and it showed up nearly an hour later… don’t go out there without transportation.

We did take advantage of the free Hilton shuttle into Rome for a final meal at the Ghetto and a visit to the favorite gelato shop… then had to speedwalk back in time to catch the last shuttle back…

Our flight back to Dulles the next morning was uneventful… the best way to end an enjoyable (if exhausting) vacation…

Lessons learned:

You can spend a lot more money than you intend to by “winging” it, but in some cases, it’s worth the expense. I think that’s one of the advantages of being a well-seasoned traveler.

Clarks walking shoes are worth every penny, as are the quick-dry wicking underwear and shirts. I should have brought shorts…

They really DO shut down EVERYTHING for 3 hours every afternoon outside of the tourist areas.

The house wine is always a good choice... we never had a bad glass of wine and rarely paid more than a few dollars for a bottle.

We had “built in” a lot of “flex time” into the schedule, but severely underestimated the time and effort of our agenda. We sometimes ended up missing meals, etc though trying to get somewhere on time. We could have easily spent 50% more time everywhere and STILL have been a little rushed…

Our favorite parts were off the tourist trail… but our lack of language skills somewhat limited us there… not in the ability to get from here to there or get food, etc, but in our ability to better get to know the friendly locals we were dealing with…

Thanks again for the advice… I’m sure I’ll be “back for more”!

Bill

StuDudley

Thanks Bill

Stu Dudley

ekscrunchy

Bill thanks for the info about the car. We would certainly rent an automatic...

Here is your earlier post with my question, in case anyone is interested:


http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35098208

CasaDelCipresso

Thanks so much for sharing! I really enjoyed reading abbout your trip.

Have you fouond a decent guidebook that covers Matera? - I still haven't found much useful for inland Campania, Basilicata and the bordering portion of Puglia...Blue Guide is ok...but still searching for something better!
Thanks!
Nicole

wcelliot

We never found a guidebook that we liked... even in Matera itself. That's why the guide was so critical here...

It appears there are some significant politics involved with the tourist efforts in Matera (at least according to our vocal guide who is a city native) and that may be a limiting factor in getting better info out there.

As an example, I did not even know of the existence of the very cool archeolgical park across the gorge until our guide pointed it out. (Apparently there is an additional certification process to guide there...)

Bill

CasaDelCipresso

yes ;-( that is the case with many sites in the South.....you tend to just stumble upon seeing (for instance) a little sign on the road...a bit like a scavenger hunt

dickensdad

Glad to hear that the transfer to the Circumvesuviana was not too difficult. We will be traveling from Rome to Sorrento in March, and are thinking of taking the train to Naples and then transferring to the Circumvesuviana for the rest of the trip.

Toucan2

I enjoyed your report. Thanks also for the links, it's fun to "see" the places you are talking about.

yipper

Thanks for the report. I love to read about parts of Southern Italy that I have not been to and would love to see.

Yipper

Jean

Thank you for your excellent report and for mentioning the extra time needed to do/see everything you planned. So many first-timers plan too much and then resent (or ignore) the advice of more experienced travelers to slow down and see more by doing less.

wcelliot

Thanks for the kind words.

I neglected to mention that a large part of what made our travels easier (such as the train transfer in Naples which is really like walking between two terminals in a small US airport)was packing light... only 1 roll-on each.

That made it easy for everyone to caary their own load, for 3 of us to easily fit in a taxi, and for travelling with luggage on the sometimes crowded Circumvesuviana.

Speaking of that transfer... I think it would be further/more difficult/potentially more risky to find your way outside to a taxi or limo...

Bill

Ralstonlan

Thanks for the great information. I'm saving it for our next Italy trip

MomDDTravel

bookmarking

Jan_604

bkmk