Five lands

The Port at Portovenere

Cinqueterre – five lands – is part of the Italian Riviera. I had planned to walk the coastline – a somewhat ambitious project at the best of times given my current fitness level, however upon arriving and realising that the walking trail was more suitable for mountain goats, I was very glad for the hop-on-hop-off water taxi that visited four of the five towns. (A month before I visited a couple of Australian tourists had been badly injured in a landslide and the walking trails were closed anyway. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it!)

The towns are arranged around harbours at the base of steep hillsides and cliffs. Apparently it is a great area for seafood, which can surely be the only reason why their intrepid ancestors decided to settle in such an inhospitable environment. While the sun shines, it is gorgeous. The footpaths in the towns are very steep, full of staircases and with little motorised transport. Some of the houses set on the cliffs certainly look too steep to possibly have motorised transport to their door. And you wouldn’t want to sleepwalk – you might fall off a cliff! The steep terrain also causes periodic flooding (see here andhere) which send walls of mud down the hillside and through the towns. There is however a train line cut into the side of the hill, and roads can be seen at the top of the hills. And the walking path, when it is open.

Here are some of the best of the Cinqueterre photos.

Portovenere

Still a working port for local fisheries

View from our balcony, Monterosso

The stripy church that overlooks the entrance to the harbour at Portovenere reflects the stripy cliff-faces in the area.

If I won the lottery….Albergo Milano, Brunate

If I won the lottery, this is what I would buy…

High above Lake Como, perched on the top of a mountain by the funicular railway, sits an abandoned hotel. This imposing building has a majestic vantage point, overlooking the town of Como, the lake, and across the mountains and valleys into the distance.

The line up the hill is the funicular railway, below

The hotel is Albergo Milano, and it sits in the town of Brunate. I travelled by train from Milan to the town of Como, then walked around the edge of the lake to the funicular railway which took me to the top of the mountain. I didn’t realise it at the time, but I had left the town of Como and entered the town of Brunate.

Brunate is a town of over one thousand people, situated atop the mountains overlooking the lake and with views over range after range of mountains disappearing into the misty distance. The roads run between houses perched on steeply sloping land, each angled to capture the amazing views.

view from the top (above and below)

The hotel is currently fenced off, a dusty shuttered building sitting waiting for its next life. In front are two rows of manicured trees, a shaded garden that on e no doubt saw elegant ladies taking the air, children running between the trunks and swinging from the branches, and perhaps afternoon teas sheltered from the hot mountain sun.

The former elegance of the hotel shines through its current condition. The shuttered windows have a patient waiting feel to the building; it is sleeping, awaiting someone to come and gently wake it for its next life, restore it to its former glory.

(Albert, the guardian of Albergo Milano shows us around the hotel)

This hotel captured my imagination, and stayed with me even as I travelled back to my real life in Australia. Thanks to the miracle of google I managed to identify it and find a partial history.

Now I just need the lottery or a fairy godmother / godfather, so I can restore it to its former glory and live happily ever after in Italy.

Postscript: The hotel has apparently had fire damage – which was not really visible when I saw it.

the business of Venice

When you think of Venice, you think of canals, obviously. But other than the canals, there are no motorised vehicles in Venice. No cars, motorbikes, trucks. Nothing. And the narrow laneways lead to steps and bridges, making any form of wheeled or motorised vehicles impractical. So how does the business of Venice get done?

Given the difficulty of traversing the streets of Venice with wheels, everything goes via the narrow and sometimes crowded canals. An excellent documentary called Venice 24/7 looks at the practicalities of life in Venice – including street names and numbers that are non-continuous, making finding addresses for emergency services vey difficult. (I was unable to capture a fire brigade boat, but Venice 24/7 also follows the fire brigade.)

My other big question, is how on earth have they retrofitted an electricity grid system, running water and sewerage in an ancient town with established buildings, water all around, sinking an average 1cm per year into the mud flats (but not evenly), and regular flooding that also fills the basements and ground floor rooms of buildings, houses, hotels and shops.

Delivery boat on the Grand Canal

And this is how goods and supplies are delivered to and from shops and businesses – handcarts. (above and below)

Police boats (above and below)

Water taxi

Delivery boat unloading in the narrow canals

Police boat in dock

Early morning hand-cart deliveries, as the garbage waits to be collected (also using hand-wheeled trolleys)

TNT postal deliveries

Delivery of building materials – sand, concrete, bricks – also comes via boat

Water buses

More early-morning deliveries – preparing for the day before the tourists are up and about and the canals are crowded with gondolas. Note the crane on the boat furthest away, for unloading heavy goods.

Buses leaving bus-stops on the Grand Canal.

The boat on the left is the Magistrato Alle Acque – Servizio Informazione (Magistrate of the Waters)

A row of Ambulance boats in dock near the hospital (above) and an ambulance on its way to a job (below)

Waterbus driver – or pilot? captain?

Bus route around the Islands of Venice

Coast Guard

prison guards

Venice in the evening

Piazza San Marco, with its distinctive pink (Murano) glass street lights.

Viva Venezia!

It’s been a while since I posted – and even longer since I posted something on travel.

In October 2012 I travelled across the north of Italy, starting in Venice, then travelling to Verona, Milan (with a side-tripe to Lake Como) and then to the gorgeous Cinqueterre.

Venice is, it is true, very touristy. But I love touristy places. Being surrounded not only by locals, but by travellers from the world over. I love that everything is there, available to the tourist, when you want it. Being able to wander around and just pick a restaurant when you are hungry without having to book in advance. I love the touristy shops, displays and the sightseeing, all available and on tap. And I love that everyone is so patient with my very poor language skills – after all, I am unlikely to get fluent in every language for every place I want to visit.

And we were lucky enough, arriving in the beginning of October, to miss the height of the tourist season, when Venice is packed, but still got good weather.

Venice, like all the best tourist cities, is a city for walking. Yes there are the famed canals, and a multitude of water craft to choose from – the very expensive gondolas (85 Euro for a 40 minute tour through the canals, with specific sights pointed out – Casanova’s House, Marco polo’s House, Mozart stayed there, etc), the comparatively cheap water buses and easy to use (20 Euro) or water taxis. However, having experienced all of these, wandering through the back-streets of the city centre will show you the sights as you (and, it has to be said, hundreds of other people) discover quiet canals, picturesque bridges and charmingly distressed buildings.

And of course, high-end shopping. Every designer worth their salt has a shop in Venice. Quite how they manage to save their stock and their shop-floors in the regular flooding – well I don’t know. But window shopping in this town is amazing.

Venice is also known for Venetian glass – or more accurately, Murano Glass. The Island of Murano is one of many that make up the city of Venice. A scenic water bus journey of about 50 minutes, or if you are in a rush, a water taxi of about 10 minutes, away, and a variety of glass techniques, glass blowing, and much to buy from museum grade pieces to cheap necklaces and tiny glass animals.

Below is selection of some of the best of my many (many) photographs of Venice.

Enjoy!

Tables with a water view…..

Venice sinks at about 1cm per year, so the buildings are constantly under strain as they sink unevenly into the mud.  Many Venetian buildings have damaged facades from centuries of slow subsidence, which only adds to the charm.

The famed Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal.  Note the traffic on the Grand Canal, where slow moving gondolas do battle with water buses, water taxis, private vehicles and the Venetian equivalent of trucks – boats moving everything from building supplies to retail goods to post office delivery trucks.

Gondola station on the Grand Canal.  There is a centuries-old law that says gondolas must be black.

Water buses leaving and approaching the floating bus-stop at the Rialto Bridge, on the Grand Canal.

Traffic on the Grand Canal, lined with restaurants and gondola stations.

.

Gondola Station.

View along the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge.

Parking lot for gondolas.  Just to the left around the corner is the Hard Rock Café.

Piazza San Marco, viewed from a gondola.

Another view of Piazza San Marco from the gondola

One of many quiet canals, viewed from under a bridge.

The Island of Murano, where Murano glass is made.

Shops in Murano.  The entire island seems to be glass shops, souvenir shops, and restaurants.

Main canal in Murano Island.

Main canal in Murano island

Murano

Murano.  We had lunch at the restaurant on the right, under the white canopy.

Canal in Murano Island, taken from a bridge.

Murano

Canal in Murano Island, taken from a bridge.

Gondoliers ply their trade on the Grand Canal near Piazza San Marco.  Photo taken from a restaurant.  Note how many people are in the one gondola out in the water.  Given the price, this is not a bad solution!

Gondola station near Piazza San Marco

Detail of one of the shopping arcades that line Piazza San Marco.

Basilica San Marco, and tourists.  A moth after we were here, the entire piazza was underwater in one of their frequent Acqua Alta – which appears to be a very high tide.  News photographs showed people in bathers floating over the top of the chairs in the foreground.

Tourists in Piazza San Marco, and the very distinctive pink glass street lights.

Gondola station near Piazza San Marco (another photograph taken from a restaurant table).

Venice is a town for walking, with narrow laneways, stepped bridges over smaller canals, occasionally opening up to massive stone churches, elaborately decorated (above and more detail below)

Cruising for Trouble

Cruise Ships and a tall ship in the Bay of Sorrento, off Sorrento, Italy, 2011. No reason to think any of these have had trouble though!

Guess what I got for Christmas?

I got a brochure for a cruise around the Mediterranean stopping off at points north, south, east and west of the sea – a quick jaunt around fifteen countries (ish) without having to unpack or move hotels. Sounds fab?

January 13: The cruise ship the Costa Concordia hit a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea just off the eastern shore of Isola del Giglio, off the western coast of Italy. The Captain, it is alleged, steered the ship too close to the shore – allegedly a common practice to give passengers and people ashore better views – and then bailed out in one of the first lifeboats that was launched. Investigations continue – at least 30 dead.

February 27: A fire on the cruise ship the Costa Allegra left that ship without power and adrift in the Indian Ocean 200 miles southwest of the Seychelles. This area is frequented by pirate ships.

March 31: Cruise ship the Azamara Quest is adrift powerless in the waters south of the Philippines following a fire that took out its engines.

Alarmingly, googling “cruise ships 2012 incidents” brought up way too much information – much more than I really wanted to know. (If this is your thing, or you want to scare yourself precruise, try here and here.)

Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something?

Where Da Vinci lived

Da Vinci spent his last few years in the picturesque town of Amboise, where he was provided with a house and gardens by his patron. This property is now preserved as a tourist attraction providing interesting insights into the many and varied inventions of Da Vinci – and a copy of the Mona Lisa!

The house is set in a large well-kept gardens. While the house itself is furnished much as Da Vinci would have known it, the basement area is full of replicas of some of his inventions – some which were not made in his day, but built from his drawings. Notably a large number of these are weapons of some sort – more accurate long-range cannons, machine gun, etc. Presumably this was at least in part due to who his funders and patrons were at the time, and the type of inventions they required of him.

The gardens feature a number of large working models of other inventions which are sturdy enough for children to play and experiment with, as well as some posters of his diagrams of anatomy.

Da Vinci was trained or self-taught in many areas of endeavour – anatomy, botany, engineering, art, geometry. In an era where we are encouraged to specialise in one area of study from mid-secondary school, he is a salient lesson in following your interests, and the intersection of many fields of endeavour.

screw-based helicopter

replica tank made up as a children's roundabout

screw pump for raising water

wheel for lifting heavy objects

poster displays of Da Vinci's anatomical drawings

two layered bridge to combat the plague (waste went across lower level, people on upper level)

working kitchen garden

Want more photos of France? Here are a few more….
Arrival in Paris
Caves of Lascaux
Notre Dame
French menus
Standing Stones of Carnac
Les Grottos en France
The Louvre
Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel)
Streets of Paris
Arc de Triomphe
The troglodytes of Maison Fort de Reignac
Fontainebleau – Versailles without the queues
Chartres
La Seine
Theme Parks, French Style

The Amalfi Coast

view over Sorrento

In our recent European sojourn (actually it was May 2011 – time flies) we spent not-enough-time in Italy, based in Sorrento. On our first day in Sorrento we thought we were booked into a tour of Pompeii and Vesuvius but turns out it was the second day. So this left us with an unplanned day. We hopped on a tour of the Amalfi Peninsula. If I had but known, I would probably have taken the boat to Capri, but I didn’t work out how close it was until halfway through the tour. Nonetheless, it was fabulous exploring the peninsula, and I do like a tour where somebody who knows what they are talking about tells you what you are looking at.

So these photos were taken from a tour bus touring the Amalfi coast. Unfortunately I can’t remember all of the details of the sights we saw – the lighthouse rocks on Capri (viewed from the Mainland), the islands of the Sirens. But I can clearly remember the lemon orchards, sheltered from the weather by brush structures – and a renowned source of Limoncello, which I came to love so much as an after-dinner aperitif!

When in Sorrento we frequently had lemon sorbet as a dessert (yes I know it is supposed to be an appetite refresher between courses, but, none-the-less) and we have reproduced it at home. Basically the dessert runs like this: lemon sorbet, very finely grated lime zest, couple of spoonfuls of Limoncello. If you don’t have Limoncello, use vodka. This is an amazingly simple and yummy dessert and very refreshing, particularly if you like lemon. Which I do.

So please enjoy some photos from the Amalfi Coast. I am hoping to be back there soon.

lemon trees growing in the shade

hotel up a steep cliff from the road

Capri

Capri, with Lighthouse Rock formation on left

tall ship off Sorrento

fruit shop - featuring a giant yellow citrus fruit called Cidra

Sorrento

If you liked this post, you might also like:
A childhood dream (Pompeii)
Sorrento – an after-thought
Vesuvius
More Pompeii photos

More Pompeii photos

gymnasium – change-rooms and storage-rooms are built into the walls around the edge

The amazing thing about Pompeii is how large it is, The town was considered to have a population of anywhere between 12,000 and 22,000. It was a modern metropolis in 79AD when it was destroyed. It boasted plumbing – water piped into homes through lead pipes – storm-water drains, sign-posts on the street corners. The streets were paved and had footpaths and stepping-stones so you could cross the streets without walking in the horse manure. It had theatres, a gymnasium, bars, bakeries, a large fresh food market, and most famously, brothels. This was not a farming community, this was a city. When we visited, our guide was asked why we didn’t visit both of the amphitheatres. His answer was that if we had wanted to visit the other one it would have entailed a hour’s walk from the first one. It is a big place. (It was also quite hot and very humid when we were there.)

So here are a few (OK, really a lot) more photos from our visit to Pompeii last year. You might also like to Google Street-view of Pompeii (which will show you the exteriors of the buildings, but also the massive size of the place). Almost all of the rooves were destroyed in Pompeii, so where you see rooves on buildings, they are probably reconstructions to protect the interiors of the buildings.

And yes, unless you are an archeologist with a job on the digs, everywhere you go in Pompeii there will be tourists. Lots of them. But it was a city, so maybe it was about this busy when Vesuvius exploded in 79AD.

For further information on Pompeii there are plenty of books with fabulous photographs of the site and the treasures that have been found both here and at Herculaneum. Here are a few suggestions:

The Last Days Of Pompeii

Bodies From the Ash: Life and Death in Ancient Pompeii

The Wonders Of Pompeii

The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found

amphitheatre inside the theatre

detail of carvings on one of the columns at the gymnasium

amphitheatre

details of the gymnasium / theatre complex

detail of the marble counter-top in the bar

paved street with raised footpaths

stepping-stones to cross the street without stepping in manure. The stepping-stones are wide enough apart to allow the wheels of chariots to pass through easily

some of the brothel "menu"

a stone "bed" in a brothel room. Presumably there must have been a mattress!

more "menu"

more "menu"

menu in the brothel

bar - theatre in the background.. The basins in the counter are for cooling jugs of wine.

shop with oven (possibly a bakery)

water fountain (drinking water)

Sacrificial Altar in the temple of Diana and Apollo

temple of Diana and her brother, Apollo, statue of Apollo

statue in the temple of Diana and Apollo

statue in the temple of Diana and Apollo

statue in the temple of Diana and Apollo

urns and other relics in the storage area, in the former food markets

reconstruction of a body, urns and other relics

cart, body and urns

reconstruction of a dog

plaster reconstruction of a body, surrounded by urns and other relics

not a pleasant death

Fish and wheat market

detail of carving on a column in the storage area of the markets

urns and other artefacts in storage area in the markets

meat and fish markets

paintings of the menu in the markets

row of shop fronts on the street

rain catchment in the front room of a house

a bar - the basins on the counter are for cooling wine

a bakery, with ovens visible

shop counters

wide city streets

lead pipes for plumbing. They presumably didn't know the dangers of lead poisoning.

storm-water drain in the street

tourists on a street

apparently a "good-luck" symbol, carved in the road. These are all over Pompeii on walls and roads.

main square

main square

main square

courtyard entrance to public baths

courtyard entrance to public baths

public baths

public baths

detail of wall carvings inside the public baths

detail of wall carvings inside the public baths

public baths

font inside the public baths

font in the Roman Baths

detail of marble craftsmanship inside the Roman Baths

exterior of private house

entrance to private house, mosaic "cave canem" - beware of the dog

courtyard letting light into the centre of a private house

private house looking to front entrance through atrium with rainwater collector

wall mural inside private house

household altar in the courtyard

household altar in a private house

streets of Pompeii

monument in the graveyard / mausoleum section, outside the city gates of Pompeii

exterior of a farmhouse outside the city gates of Pompeii. The roof is a reconstruction.

machine for pressing grapes

elaborate and bright murals inside the farmhouse. Experts are unsure whether this represents a cross-dressing cult or same-sex marriage....they knew how to party in Roman Pompeii!

atrium with rainwater catchment

farmhouse outside the gates of Pompeii. The roof is a reconstruction.

courtyard in farmhouse

farmhouse decoration - either men dressing as women based on Bacchus, or a woman being prepared for marriage

If you liked this post, you might also like:
A childhood dream (Pompeii)
Sorrento – an after-thought
Vesuvius
The Amalfi Coast

Vesuvius

Vesuvius looms over the scene of its destruction - the town square at Pompeii

No visit to Pompeii would be complete without visiting the origin of the destruction – the volcano, Mount Vesuvius.

Vesuvius is located approximately 11km from Pompeii and is clearly visible looming over the town from the market square. It is considered to be an active volcano, well over-due another eruption, but currently lies dormant. And lucky too – the very populous city of Naples is also on the slopes and adjacent to Vesuvius.

Pictures of Vesuvius found in the ruins of Pompeii show it to be a pointed mountain with heavy forests all over it. This is taken to indicate that it had probably been dormant for some time prior to its famous 79AD eruption which blew the top off the mountain, gassed and then buried the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Vesuvius is a volcano inside a volcano. Standing at the top adjacent to the crater, a much larger crater is visible around the edges. Many lava flows from previous centuries are also visible on the slopes as unvegetated areas.

The climb to the top is very steep on soft gravel pathways – not recommended for those with cardio, pulmonary or mobility issues. When we reached the top it started raining – sweet relief for those of us who are extremely unfit (me). The crater itself is cordoned off and is extremely steep, dropping a couple of hundred metres. A small wisp of smoke was rising from one side of the crater, near the top.

one of the plaster replicas at Pompeii. They were gassed, then their bodies encased in ash. When the ashes were dug out about 200 years ago, plaster was poured into the cavities in the ash and replicas of the bodies of humans and animals - and whole families - were found.

view of the City of Naples from the top of Vesuvius. Hope they have an evacuation plan and plenty of warning! The brown area without foliage in the middle of the photo is previous lava flows

detail of the rock inside the crater

vertical crater wall

view of the upper section of the path that winds around Vesuvius - it's steeper than it looks

a wisp of smoke rising from the crater wall

the rim of the outer crater that Vesuvius sits within

this section of the outer crater is known as The Man - because it looks like a face in profile

If you liked this post, you might also like:
A childhood dream (Pompeii)
Sorrento – an after-thought