Rome and Home

Getting back to Rome we decided to do what we did in Cinque Terra, a take a boat to view the Amalfi coast from the sea; a great decision and we had a relaxing trip to Naples. From here it was train to Rome. Once in Rome we got a pleasant surprise in our Hotel which put us into a lovely quiet apartment from which we could roam.

There are a lot of old buildings in Rome (understatement). But nevertheless these need to be visited as the history of the Roman empire is quite major really in world terms. We visited the usual, the Coloseum, Pantheon, Vatican and Trevi fountain (whilst passing a myriad of others), Plazza Venezia just to name a few. They are all magnificent pieces of art to be visited whist enduring (and enjoying) 30 plus degrees heat.

The Vatican is amazing in terms of history, size and extravagance. Marks comment was that the artworks and construction in St Peters alone would pay for feeding all the starving in the world for some considerable time. Mark had to say a prayer for his mum as he couldn’t light a candle as they don’t do that there.

For all its artistic and historic flare, Rome and in fact Italy was found wanting in terms of technology and transport. We endured so many RETARDO trains and buses (if you could find the bus or a timetable). The clincher was after visiting the Vatican when we decided to get the Metro only to be told it was out of action and that buses were working to take passengers instead. A quick look outside confirmed that if there were buses there weren’t enough as hordes of people fought to get onto the few buses that arrived. In 30 plus degree heat we did not feel like sharing the same spot in an airless bus with 100 other passengers for any time. So like us tourists wandered, shaking their heads, not knowing how to get to the next place on their agenda.

The air port was no different. The check in queues were miles long as none of the passport readers were working and check ins were taking ages. Then at the gate the sound system was so poor that static and muffled voices meant messages were incomprehensible.

Then there is the internet. Whereas Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain had easy free WIFI internet access at Hotels and other random places, in Italy there is nothing. We have struggled to find any WIFI only managing fixed line pay connections in Amalfi and Cinque Terra. Even more bizarrely, we went to use the Internet Kiosk at the airport and it would not let us unless we held our passport in front of a camera to identify ourselves!!!!!!.

By comparison we are now sitting in Incheon Seoul airport having checked our emails using free wifi and now finishing our blog. They even supply computers free of charge. The airport experience is far better than Italy also. In Italy we had to sit on cold metal mesh seats that dug into your rear whereas here you can lie across the comfortably upholstered wooden chairs.

Home is where we are headed and not looking forward to the weather so we are enjoying the last rays of sunshine in Seoul before we board the plan for the last journey home. Looking forward to catching up with everyone having missed you all terribly.

Southern Italy

We have added the pictures to our last blog if anyone wants to see the canal and boat. Couldn't do it on the poor internet connection at the time.

Being carless now we have to join the thousands of people who rely on the train networks of France to get them to and from their destination. So far our experiences of trains in France had been limited to a trip from Lyon to Dijon which went to time. However Sheree had alerted us to the fact that all was not sweet with trains having been held up for an hour in the middle of nowhere on her way to Albi from Lyon. However we were feeling positive that a night train from Rome from Paris across country boundaries would surely run to time. WRONG!!!

Waiting in Dijon Gare we see the train is to be an HOUR late. Not too bad as we find a comfortable seat in the Gare coffee shop and read and eat. But then the lights dim as to alert us to the fact that they are about to close. So it is onto the hard seating with the other people waiting for this train that is now expected to come in at quarter to 11 at night. It does arrive and we stumble onto this train with our luggage into rooms that already have sleeping people who had set off in Paris. We finally get ourselves settled for the night and let our fellow travellers get back to an uninterrupted sleep until our first stop in Italy – Milan.

I woke up for a loo stop at some ungodly hour but first had to negotiate a ladder from my top bunk. Doing this in the dark without waking everybody up was a real challenge. As it happened the train was slowing for a station and it was Lausanne – I had no ideas we were going through Switzerland but that was interesting. This might be why we were singled out by the guard for our passports which he held for the entire trip.

By the time I woke we were in Bologna but things were not good. We were now two hours behind schedule. We were to finally get to Rome two and a half hours late. Then it was onto a train again for two and a half hours to Naples – not air-conditioned. By the time we arrived we were so pleased we had booked a hotel before we left France so we could flop into air-conditioned bliss.

This bliss was about to be challenged when we got outside because although we had found heat and sunshine we had also found Naples. It is chaotic, filthy, drab and unkempt, reminiscent of a third world city. We did roam through the underfoot rubbish to see if there were any parts of Naples which had that edge that we thought Naples should have. We came across some interesting buildings, a huge waterfront and an interesting metro which had funiculars (lovely way to negotiate the hills in Naples) and underground metro (although this was filthy, tagged in a less than salubrious underground) that got us there and back.

The traffic was another challenge. We were so pleased that we weren’t driving here as there seems to be no rules and people beeped their horns all the time. Crossing the road is a real adrenaline rush – like playing chicken. You actually just claim the road and go – he who hesitates will be left waiting for ever. Once in the middle of the road, the cars and motorbikes simply swerve and adapt speed to avoid you. We are now confident road runners.

The morning we prepared to leave we encountered a large market. What we were surprised to see people selling cheap imitations of clothes, handbags and shoes, pirated DVDs and we even got offered a laptop for 150 euro(yeah right). We felt that we could have been back in Bali or Thailand with the traffic and markets and rubbish lined streets.

From Naples we were off to the Amalfi coast where we had booked four days R & R before heading back to Roma for 2 days and then home. The boutique hotel we booked called LA PERGOLA was set on a hillside amongst lemon groves and when we arrived were pleasantly surprised to be upgraded to a huge room and our own patio – not bad really. Our own loungers and outside area at a private end of the hotel; what a great way to finish off the trip.

Amalfi coast is not unlike the Cinque terra except that the villages are spread over a larger area of coast. This is a pretty coast with houses and fences draped in bougainvillea and roadsides lined with cream and pink oleander. Here the terraced hills do not have grape wines instead lemon trees are hung up on pergolas on the terraces. They grow incredible lemons here (both in size and flavour) and are exquisitely used to make a wicked liqueur called Limoncello; a must have at the end of an evening meal.

Having no car means we are reliant on public transport now and this means we have to think about what we are doing and plan more. First thing is that we need to catch a bus from our Hotel to go anywhere but the stop is right at the door. Second thing is to sus out connections that may be needed after that. First day was a 1 hr 40 min trip by bus to Sorrento, a lovely place to roam around but very touristy beach spot. With no natural beaches of its own it has made them by putting a load of rocks out from the lands edge and connecting these with a platform that is then lined with seats and umbrellas(which you have to pay to use). You go for a swim by climbing down a ladder from the platform into the sea.

Then we caught the train to Pompei. Pompei is a truly amazing find. We felt that archeologists must have thought it a sacrilege to have people walking round their precious find but nevertheless like all things it probably comes down to money for upkeep and restoration work. A find like this showing civilisation 2000 years back is really interesting. Mark and I enjoyed wandering around and looking at the architecture, paintings and tiling patterns of the time as well as the primitive plumbing. We endured 30 plus degree heat to do this but promised ourselves a huge beer at the end.

The bus trips along the Amalfi coast road are an adrenalin rush on their own. Apart from the amazing scenery as these towns and roads are built on the hillsides high above the sea, we watch our extremely skilful drivers negotiate our large bus down a two laned road that is barely more than one lane in size and has incredibly tight corners. The buses make an incredible racket as at each corner they sound their air horns to let approaching coming vehicles know they are coming.

Next day Mark was determined to have a swim. Now this is not a short trot down to the beach. But instead there were 372 steps to be negotiated before getting to a tiny rocky and stoney beach. Once there the water was beautifully clean and blue but the chore of climbing back up meant that you were sweating harder when you got back. But a quiet day was intended and under the huge heat of mid-day we cowered in shady places checking out more local beers, pastas and pizza for a long and leisurely lunch in Amalfi itself.

Amalfi is a lovely town, once again full of tourist shops and eating places but quaintly nested between rock and sea with an amazing cathedral at its centre as well as the obligatory fountain where people took water for drinking and washed themselves to cooloff. Amalfi has the privilege of going from beach level up so it has a readily accessible beach if you can find it under the umbrellas.

On the canal boat in Burgundy

With only 10 days to go we are relishing the last two days on the boat as it has truly been a chance to unwind and relax away from the rigors of hotel rooms and daily travel. It took me two days to get out of my comatose state and get into the swing of canal boating. Mark is obviously more resilient and has relished the challenge of being boat assistant from day one.

Being on a canal is a great way to experience rural France away from the crowds of tourists and bustling lifestyles. We have stopped in small villages and biked around them only seeing only one or two people. But these are very rural communities in full harvest mode as load after load of grain can be seen going along roads and into huge granaries that we have passed along the way. We are in the heart of a cropping region with most of the animals we have seen being in barns.

The rural villages have some truly beautiful homes with amazing court yards. The flower pots are out and in full bloom and the gardens are looking stunning. The flower pots add a different dimension to these places as without them the monotonous house exterior colours would been quiet unappealing.

I think I said to someone that we could do with a couple of overcast days and that has happened. And it has allowed us to see the many different moods of the canal. We have gone from sunshine, to thunderstorm, to brilliant sunsets, and steaming canals in the space of 30 minutes. We see pecheurs (fishermen) all along the canal as this appears to be a really popular pastime for mainly men and sometimes children.

The canal locks (ecluses) have been mastered by Mark as he has ably assisted the eclusiers to open and close gates (when they are not electronic). We have got ourselves into quite a good rhythm, with Jeanette driving the boat, Mark and Catherine manning either side of the boat and me, well I am cook. We boat till lunch time by which time I have lunch ready (our main meal) and then hold up for a couple of hours. To work off lunch we investigate the local village and then return to do a couple more hours boating before tying up for the night. There is one more daily routine that is not to be overlooked, the continuing desire of Mark’s to find the best bread in France. This means that every morning he is off on his bike to find a Boulanger, having gone as far as 10km on one day, to get bread. We should have kept a diary of Boulangeries I reckon.

The canals are largely beautifully tree lined and serene to motor along with fields of crops rising away into the distance. But best of all, this is a truly great way for us to wind down as we think about heading to Amalfi coast and home. We did not realise how much we needed to do this until we got here. But now we have to psyche ourselves up for an overnight train trip to Rome and them down to Naples and Amalfi. An overnight train was one of the other things that we wanted to do on our trip. We are a little concerned however because our sleepers seem to be along way apart although we are in the same carriage. But we will sort it out when we get on the train. Meanwhile two more days of boating and then it is farewell, au revoir to Catherine and Jeanette and onto our last adventures in Europe.

Last wanderings with our car

We had one more day in Levanto and one more town to investigate that was an hours walk away. As before the views of the Med along the walk were stunning and we arrived to find a quaint village with a lovely beach but on closer inspection was made up of fine pebbles that seemed to get into all the wrong places. Once again we appreciated the fine sand we have in NZ but take for granted. Back in Levanto we had lunch at a restaurant that it appeared only Mark and I were to eat at. We had a lovely young man, about 15 years old serve us and seemed a little shy to start with. We ordered a red wine and he brought us a white. We sent him away and he returned with a red one but one sip and both our faces screwed up as it was vinegar. So we called him back and told him his wine was “mal”. He took it away and came back with a better one and a smile on his face saying “it was vinegar” in broken English realising the wine had been truly horrible. We thanked him and ordered our meals. He then asked us if we wanted oil and balsamic for our salad and laughed again and said “not the wine”. SO he had a sense of humor. We got talking and he told us he wanted to come to NZ when he finished school and that his sport was tennis. We told him he would need to brush up on his rugby if he came to NZ.

Leaving Cinque Terra we had decided to return to France via a more northern route that took us past Turin and through the mountains. We drove over countryside that was full of crops and hay making. We passed an old man in a remote village raking with a common garden rake the hay that the mechanical rowers had left behind between the rows before the baler arrived so that nothing was wasted – you wouldn’t see that in NZ. Another interesting site was coming across a very dark skinned beautiful girl sitting on the side of the highway on a chair. As we passed we thought it odd but carried on. Further along there were more of the girls on the roadside. We can only conclude that they were prostitutes plying their trade to passing truckies. What a life eh.

We went around Turin deciding that we had had enough of big cities and churches and museums and galleries. We drove on to a place called Asti for a lunch break. We stopped and thought it a particularly unattractive town as the Italian towns we have seen do not have a gardened, often fountained and statuted central square like the French around which are restaurants are found. Instead we had to go hunting along streets for a place to eat. We found a menu that sounded nice and were taken into what was probably and old underground waterway that had been turned into a restaurant with absolutely stunning skill. It had bricked semicircular rooms and most exquisite design features. We were served up truly tasty food and a better than average wine (at least compared to what we had tasted in Italy so far). It was a wonderful dining experience in an otherwise ordinary looking town. It showed some of the design flair that I would expect to see in Italy.

Now over the mountains to Francia. We knew we were to go through a 14 km or so tunnel and were looking forward to the experience but you should have seen Mark and my mouth drop open as they requested approx $70 for the privilege and there was no turning back. SO we swallowed hard, paid up and drove in this dark underground cavern for 10 minutes or so. Then we were back in France and travelling along the truly beautiful mountain roads that we had enjoyed on our last visit. However the temperatures were much improved and the greenery more lush as the cold weather had gone and summer had arrived.

We went looking for a place called Aix le Bains and unfortunately we found it and wished we hadn’t. We couldn’t find a park and it had no appeal but as it was after 6 in the evening we had to find a place to stay. So we did, most ordinary really but we set ourselves up for a more interesting day tomorrow – mountain biking. We found a town called Hautesville Lompnes, only 30km away, that hired bikes and had tracks. We were out on bikes again and we really enjoyed getting out and about in the forests and countryside again. We are well out of practice though. There are heaps of mountain bike tracks in this part of the Rhone Alps but there are few places that hire bikes. We have already decided that if we come back to France again we would bring our mountain bikes and hire a stationwagon and travel the tracks.

One of the things we love doing is stopping at out of the way places for lunch (our main meal of the day as we have our own nibbles for dinner). However, seldom have we found ourselves in this predicament – 5 course meal including wine and coffee for equiv $25each. But we forced ourselves to eat all courses. Most interesting was the cheese board – this huge dish covered in packets of all sorts of cheeses and you simply chose what you wanted from it (no making sure you didn’t get too much). We discovered this cheese, I can’t remember the name of, that was a viscous liquid and tasted like melted Camembert. I would like to try some more of that – it was a heavenly elixir.

We decided to try out a camp ground with bungalows as a place to stay and whilst driving along just enjoying the scenery we stumbled across this awesome little camping spot with amazing scenery and nestled next to a lake. The French do camping so well. There are heaps of camp grounds in France and so many beautiful places to put them. We truly enjoyed our little stop at one of these. There were people from Germany, Netherlands, England, Belgium and of course France as well as us kiwis of course.

Exploring the heart of red wines in France meant we needed to check out the Beaujolais region. Well we can only say that this is a truly beautiful part of the country. First of all it is now well and truly summer so all the flowers are out and have changed France from a sea of green to a mass of colour. This was particularly evident in this wine growing region. The towns possessed awesome gardens and potplants – they were picture perfect. I finally saw flowering roses at the start of each row of vines. The wine plants are different in France being largely single untied bushes and somewhat smaller than we see in NZ. Also this and the region next door we found dotted with chateaus that dominate the skyline from afar. Although we have little interest in visiting the buildings themselves, they added to the landscape.

We are now heading for Lyon but wanted another day of mountainbiking. However we were having trouble finding places that hired bikes. We finally managed to get a day out in a place called Trevoux and rode in 30 + degree heat through crops and villages around the Soane river. Not real mountainbiking but a good day out.

Lyon was the last stop before we returned our car to Peugeot. We spent a day investigating Lyon (Roman Ruins and a cathedral called Notre Dame! We had one last day to catch up with Jocelyn’s daughter Sheree who was also in Lyon. We spent it exploring an area called Dombres where there is a series of ponds which are not only farmed for fish but where they are emptied every second year and used for cropping. The fish are harvested every autumn by empting the ponds (cheats) into a previously farmed area. Cool idea though.

We were told of a Medieval town called Perouges that we shouldn’t miss. So set out to visit it for lunch. Well it was a fascinating town and the restaurant we went to for lunch had replicated the medieval effects, with corn hanging from the ceiling, a set of armour in the corner and the menu in ancient script. This made a menu that was already difficult to comprehend because of language issues all the more difficult to decipher. But as with most times when we have largely ordered blind, we were not disappointed by the lovely meals.

We went to Exupery airport out of Lyon to drop our car back and were impressed with the beautiful architecture, not dissimilar to that seen in Valencia. We had no problem about missing hubcaps – the guy had a slight smile as if to say this happens often.

We enjoyed Lyon, finding it to have a relaxed bustle about it if you know what I mean. Staying in a Hotel right by the Part Dieu train station was a great people watching place. The French are not shy about showing emotion so seeing young couples clinging to each other as one is obviously about to depart on a train was common. Also we saw another facet of travel that we hadn’t seen in other places – the fold out scooter. Men and women of all ages would get off trains and buses with their scooter under their arm, flick it open and away they would go to work.

The next facet of travel is now by train – we don’t have a car no more. First journey is three hour trip to catch up with Catherine and Jeanette on their house boat north of Dijon. They have been cruising along the Bourgogne canal. We went to Montbard a day ahead of our planned rendezvous, but thought a day exploring before we got on the boat wouldn’t go amiss. Similarly Catherine and Jeanette, not wanting to be late for the rendezvous, had travelled further than they thought and arrived early as well (unbeknown to us). We were in the tourist office with our bags, checking out accommodation when we see this person on a distinctive bike go past and we both say “there goes Jeanette”. So we run out and surprised them. A great story.