Return to Sorrento

Our final destination on Teri's tour of Italy, was the town Sam and I love to return to: Sorrento!

Those of you who know me remember that 11 years ago, I had the misfortune (or good fortune, depending on how you look at it!) of landing in the hospital in this little town on the Bay of Naples. I usually use the term "good fortune" because during my stay in the hospital of Sorrento, we met the family of Agostino Colonna, who was also being cared for in the cardiac ICU, and our lives were changed forever.

This kind and generous family owns two hotels and several rental apartments in the Sorrento area, so they speak English well, and they helped us with the language barrier we had with most of the hospital staff. They also allowed Sam to stay in their hotel, while he waited for me to be released. After we left Italy that year, we kept in touch with the man's son, Marco, and including this most recent visit, we have returned to Sorrento eight times!

Marco provided the three of us with two rooms at the Hotel Cristina, overlooking the Bay of Naples, with a spectacular view of Mt. Vesuvius to the north, and incredible sunsets toward the west.

While in Sorrento we explored the main town, shopped along the narrow pedestrian streets, saw the hospital I stayed in, and thanks to Marco's generosity, had a few dinners with him and members of his family. 

Using Sorrento as our base, we spent one day driving along the amazingly beautiful Amalfi Coast, something Sam and I have done many times.

Along the way, at one of the many stops we made for photos on this scenic route, there was a roadside vendor selling fruits, vegetables, and puppies! Now I'm not big on dogs (tend to be more of a cat person), but these little guys were adorable!

After reluctantly leaving the puppies, we headed a little farther up the coast and then up the steep, winding mountain roads to another one of our favorite places, the lovely town of Ravello.

There, we had a delicious lunch at a wonderful restaurant called Cumpa' Cosimo, run by a very cheerful Italian mama, who is called Nettie.  We have had our picture taken with her in the past: with our daughters in 2003, and with a family we led on a tour in 2007, so we thought it appropriate to do the same for Teri. Nettie hasn't changed a bit over the years, and her pasta is still yummy!

On our way back, we got lucky and found a spot in the town of Amalfi's parking lot, so we parked and walked into the main piazza. It was fairly crowded with locals and tourists, so we did a quick tour of the town; past the Cathedral of St. Andrew, and up the very narrow main street. We watched dozens of laughing children running down the street as they were let out of school, looked in shop windows, and then had our daily dose of gelato for dessert!

 

As the end of her trip drew near, I know it was very difficult for Teri to say goodbye to Italy. To be able to catch her early morning flight home, we needed to drive to Rome the day before (about a 3 hour drive from Sorrento), so we decided to make a stop at Pompeii on our way, and did our own short tour of the ancient ruins.

But all good things must come to an end, as they say, and after lunch, we continued on our way to Fiumicino, a beach town, where Leonardo DaVinci Airport is located on the outskirts of Rome. We watched the sunset as we drove along the autostrada.

And after a delicious last dinner at a really good restaurant near our hotel, we saw Teri's last Italian moon over the warm Tyrrhenian Sea.

(Don't forget to click on photos to enlarge, follow links when words show up in blue, go to my Flickr page to view a few more photos from this trip, or Sam's video for his video of this portion of the trip.)

Teri's Roman Holiday

After spending four fairly relaxing days in Venice, we hopped on a train to the Eternal City - Roma! It had actually been 9 years since Sam and I had last done anymore than catch a train or a plane in Rome, so it was really nice to have an excuse to share the sights of that remarkable city with Teri! 

As we exited the train station, we got in the queue for a taxi and Teri experienced her first crazy Italian cab ride! Since we were staying in an apartment in a quiet neighborhood instead of a hotel on a main street, the driver was less than certain how to get us to the address we gave him. 

While maneuvering his way out of the station lot, he hollered over to another cab driver for directions, but it seems the other driver steered him in the wrong direction - possibly on purpose! So while driving through heavy traffic, going in all directions, our driver started trying to look up the address in what appeared to be an Italian version of a Thomas Guide map book in his lap! Sam asked him where his GPS was, and the driver responded, "GPS makes you stupid!" He finally figured out the approximate location, and then stopped to ask a policeman where the address was. In his defense, our building was on kind of an alley way/parking area, not so easy to find, and it did make for a very entertaining ride to say the least!

After checking in with the landlord, and doing some grocery shopping for the next morning's breakfast, we had dinner at a pretty good restaurant just a stone's throw from our apartment, before getting a good night's sleep in preparation for a very busy day of sightseeing. 

A short walk from our apartment, in a quiet Jewish neighborhood, we could cross a busy street to see this lovely view of the Tiber River and Tiber Island.

Though rain was predicted, the day started out pretty nice as we walked from the apartment to Vatican City, our destination for the day. As you can see in this photo of us in front of the Castel Sant'Angelo, it was sunny with ominous clouds in the background.

Photo by Sam Parsons

It did start sprinkling as we joined a walking tour of the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica.

Main altar in St. Peter's Basilica

The Pope's Swiss Guard.

By the time we were finished touring the Vatican, and were ready to walk back to our apartment, it was pouring!!  It was so bad at one point, we had to duck into a shop doorway, with other soaked tourists and locals, hoping it would let up a bit. It seemed only to worsen, so we braved the rain and got completely drenched (despite the umbrellas we each had), but ended up having a delicious pizza and wine dinner in a cafe on Piazza Navona! Once our bellies were full and we were warm with wine, the rain had stopped and we wandered around the Piazza where one of the scenes in Angels and Demons took place. The obelisk in this photo's background is the Fountain of the Four Rivers, where the fourth victim was drowned.

The following day, we walked to the Colosseum, and joined a tour given by an older, professorial-type gentleman, who reminded me a lot of Roberto Benigni of "Life is Beautiful" fame. (I took no photos because I was trying to keep my camera dry, but Sam got our guide in his video.) It was raining most of the time we were there, but our guide was quite entertaining and informative. The second half of the tour was on the Palatine Hill, and was lead by an American doctoral student from Colorado, who was very smart and well versed in Roman history and politics.

The dome of St. Peter's Basilica, seen off in the distance from atop Palatine Hill.

After wandering through the ruins of the Forum, and before returning to our apartment that evening, we walked back by the Colosseum for this amazing night time view.

And surprise, surprise - a wedding shoot!

When the sun came out on our last full day, we managed to walk all over much of the rest of the city. We took in the Campo dei Fiori (translation: Field of Flowers, an open air market with food, clothing, souvenirs, and of course, flowers for sale),

the Pantheon, an amazing structure rebuilt in 126 AD, after being destroyed by fire,

Its most incredible feature being the rotunda, molded with approximately 5000 tons of concrete, and with an oculus at the top, allowing natural light (and rain) into the interior.

the extremely crowded Spanish Steps,

and the famous Trevi Fountain,

where Teri made more than one wish (think: Three Coins in a Fountain)! I'm pretty sure I know what she wished for!
 
If you've been to Rome, you know that you cannot walk very far without seeing archeological digs and ruins. Because so much of the city has stuff like this under the surface, it has been very difficult to build a comprehensive subway system, making the traffic in this city of almost 3 million (plus tourists) pretty awful!

Feral cats love these old ruins. There were dozens of them in this particular area!

I don't know how many miles we walked that day, but it was lots! Of course on foot, you will see things you might not notice from a car or bus, like this interesting graffiti on a postal box,

an exotic beverage shop window filled with colorful, and no doubt intoxicating liquors,

shrines on the sides of buildings,

 or a reluctant photo subject.

This guy happens to be a member of an elite group of Italian soldiers known as Alpini. We wanted a picture of him because of his funny, feathered hat, but he wasn't having it!

(Don't forget to click on photos to enlarge, follow links when words show up in blue, and go to my Flickr page to view a few more photos from this trip.)

Teri Meets Venice

On Teri's fourth day, we said au revoir to Paris, and caught our short flight to Venice! Although it may be preferable to arrive by train and step through the main doors of the station to get one's first glimpse of Venice, taking a bus from the Marco Polo Airport and arriving at the huge bus terminal isn't too bad either. After all, it is Venice! I will never forget the first time I saw it. It looked like Disneyland, or as I have since discovered, Las Vegas. It did not seem to be real, but indeed it was! There simply is no place on earth like it, and it is one of our favorite destinations.

We met up with our landlord, Marcello, right away and he showed us to our cute two bedroom apartment in a quiet neighborhood next to the university.

Of course, we did lots of walking - all over the city, enjoying many of the local sites: 

the Campanile in the always crowded Piazza San Marco,

the Bridge of Sighs (where prisoners crossing over to the prison sighed as they got their last glimpse of the outside world before going to the dungeon and their death),

the shop where the craftsmen build the gondolas by hand,

the interesting graffiti,

 and of course my favorite, doors and windows.

Buying a multi-day pass for the vaporettos (water buses, Venetian-style public transit) is the best way to get around to see various parts of the city and the outlying islands,

like Giudecca Island,

Burano Island (which we didn't visit on this trip, but did in 2009),

and of course Murano Island, home of the world-famous glassblowing artisans.

 

It was rainy while we were there, so we stopped for lunch, and Teri had some nice hot soup!

Having only 4 nights in Venice, we weren't able to see everything, but I think Teri got a pretty good taste of this incredible Italian city. Speaking of taste, the last two dinners we had in our neighborhood were amazing! Some of the best food on our trip! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures those nights, but I think Sam included some shots in his video. 

Aaaahhhh... just thinking about it makes me long to return - something I hope we'll do in 2015, once again to experience La Biennale, the international art exhibit that takes over the city every other summer. 

Oh, and just one more shot before I close this post...

I told you! Wherever we go, we always see weddings! I guess that's not surprising since we often go to the most romantic locations on earth!

(Don't forget to click on photos to enlarge, follow links when words show up blue, and go to my Flickr page to view a few more photos of this trip.)