Vet Judy

After Rome, I went south to Sorrento, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast.

Sorrento was a nice quiet town. This entire coastal region is covered in terraced fruit and olive orchards. The rocks are steep, the roads are narrow, and riding along the coast in a bus is similar to an amusement park ride. The buses honk going around the corners as there is not enough room for two vehicles.

When the road is wide enough for two vehicles, then scooters feel obligated to squeeze beside and in between.

In some small towns along the coast I am sure the bus window was close enough to the entry of a café, I could have gotten coffee handed to me through the window. That is how narrow the road is.

It fascinates me, how much effort goes into making the land productive through the use of terracing. It also cuts down the avalanche risk by keeping the soil stable. The food was average when compared to the north. I felt that way about the food in all of these locations.

I took a boat ride between Amalfi and Sorrento in the evening. It was beautiful and a nice way to end up the trip.

After Sorrento and area, I had to head back to Rome for the flight home. I flew from Rome to Amsterdam, then Minneapolis and home to Edmonton.

The trip was long but uneventful.

The time spent in Italy went fast but I was glad to be home.

Here goes Venice and the train trip there. Once again through Milan train station, I am getting familiar with the set up in this train station.

I arrived early evening into Venice and caught the traditional boat bus from the train station to the pensione I was staying at. The name of the place was Wildner, and it was pretty close to the Piazza San Marco ( the main tourist attraction). It was by far the nicest place I stayed at for 80 Euro a night since I left home. They had a nice restaurant attached also for breakfast and if you had enough Euro, they had a very nice dinner menu.

I spent the late afternoon walking along the Grand Canal and into a park used by locals walking and playing with their dogs. It was very beautiful and the fall leaves were at their peak.

The following day I had a few hours to use in the middle of the afternoon and I spent time looking in the glass blowing furnaces and shops. I am not sure why, but there were a few shops where I must have looked worthy of their time, because they took me in the so called back rooms or 3^rd floors where the “real collector” pieces were kept. I saw a turtle worth 10,000 Euro there, and many items that were in the same price range. It is hard to imagine the degree of talent and expertise that goes into a piece of that magnitude. After I spent some time in the back room, I could walk through a lot of the stores on the main street and spot lesser quality stuff. I am not so sure that helped me, because now I have to save my money and go back to get a magnificent piece of artwork instead of just settling for a glass souvenir.

While boating down the canal it was interesting to see how life is adapted to having to do everything via the water. There were police boats, postal boats, ambulance boats, garbage boats etc. The grocery and wine delivery was most interesting. There must be thousands of boats in the morning taking small boxes to shops all over the place.

Got to spend the day in Riomaggiore and then took a short train ride to Monterosso. There is a beach there which is small but nice. Took a hike up in the hills in the morning and could hardly move the legs in the afternoon. Spent some time by the ocean enjoying the sound of the waves and the cool breeze. It was cloudy today, which I was grateful for. Yesterday was brutally hot for me.

Today I ventured up the coast, from Lucca to Cinque Terre National Park. It consists of 5 villages on the rocky coastline. They can be reached by train and a lot of hill climbing. I want to stress a lot of hill climbing. It seems I have been doing nothing but climbing hills since I got here, so I gave up the suitcase in lieu of a backpack. Didn’t make the climb any less, but saves the wrenching on the back from the one side.

I am staying in Riomaggiore for the next day or two. There is beautiful coastline from here to Genoa where I am headed anyway. So I think I will hop the train, hike the hills, and basically enjoy the view. It is spectacular.

Had to ride the train for a short time in the early evening today: we were packed in like cattle and holly hot was the trip. I was grateful it was only a 20 minute train ride. I think it was the Sunday crowd going home after spending time in the national park on the weekend. I can only hope tomorrow is better for train travel, as that little work out almost resulted in fainting.

Today I headed off to Lucca. Now this is a cool place for me. It is a city surrounded by a wall. You can rent bikes to bike around the city, sit in an open patio restaurant and drink while watching people wander by in any of the main squares. It is flatter here, thank goodness. My legs needed a break. It is relatively easy to find your way around town and there is less traffic and people in the streets. I shall stay here a couple of days and it is a short trip by train from here to Pisa for the leaning tower. I will have to fit that in while I am here.