Florence and Siena

 Alas, another vacation is coming to an end. As usual I'm feeling a little melancholy. I don't feel cheated for sure. This time around we traveled for more than 3 weeks which is more than Joani would normally be able to be away from family and home. Meeting up with Matthew, Mindy and Everest helped her with the homesick blues, but I know she will be happy to be getting back home. I'll be honest, I will too! Not necessarily happy to be going back to work next week but I do love home if just for normal food and patterns. I love traveling, but  I am always happy to walk through the front door of our house, and start planning our next trip.
 Italy has been great again, I won't say that I enjoyed it as much as the first time we were here, but it is still one of the most interesting and scenic countries I have ever seen and I think everyone should come here at least once. There is history, culture, food, and incredible scenery. Natural and manmade.
 After this visit though I will honestly give a slight warning for when you visit. At any point in time it seems like half the world is visiting! No matter where you are there are lineups, the traffic is crazy and it is no longer possible to find a hidden secret corner of  Italy. Everywhere you go is being exploited. Now don't get me wrong if you go to the website of  Unesco world  heritage sights Italy has the most in the world. They also have the 3rd most tourists per  year in the world behind the U.S. and China and they are a tiny country in comparison. It is crowded everywhere you go.
 Upon having saying that I still love visiting here, and this email will be about the last two sites on our trip, Florence and Siena. These two cities seem to be doing the best of all the places we visited.
 They were certainly the cleanest and most capable of handling the large amounts of tourists visiting every day. We didn't bother with the art galleries as we had visited them the last time around and didn't want to spend time in doors as the weather was so nice.

There was some discussion between Joani and Matthew about who had the nicest Duomo, or Cathedral. Venice, Florence, above or Siena below.

While I normally stay away from religious discussions, my money would be on the Siena model. You have never seen so much marble!

For sure Florence wins for the most sculptures around.

Perseus slaying Medusa.

Fountain of Neptune.

And a multitude of others including this one that stands at the Piazza Michelangelo.

This is one of three full size versions of the Statue of David in Florence. So you can go up to this Piazza to see it as well as the beautiful views of Florence spread out below.

And in case you think I've forgot about Siena, Let me show you the most beautiful Piazza in Italy!

This is the view as you enter through one of their tiny streets.

And this is where you can sit in the middle of the day, eating some pizza while soaking up some rays. Speaking of tiny streets.

Matthew, Mindy, Everest, Joani and I wandered down this tiny little Cul de Sac, just to see the gardens growing. Peoples' front doors actually open on to this small street!

So if you have seen enough of Italy this time.

Time to say goodbye.

Until our next trip.

 Joan and Garry

Medieval Towns

 We had a total of 6 days on the Amalfi coast and it was pretty cool. Crowded for sure, but very scenic. But after our day in Positano it was time to move on. We dropped Matthew, Mindy and Everest at the train station and drove to the Tuscany region, where we would spend the last week of our trip. 5 days in Lucca and 2 days in Sienna.
 Lucca would be our home base for visits to Pisa. Florence and San Gimignano and of course we would be spending a day in Lucca itself. We also intended to meet up with Matthew, Mindy and Everest again to hike Cinque Terre a second time but unfortunately weather intervened on that plan so we spent an extra day exploring Lucca. While we missed out on being able to see Cinque Terre a second time, the Tuscany region itself did not disappoint. The first thing you notice about all these medieval towns is that they all have their own Torture Museums. Kind of macabre admittedly, but I'm betting they found all these torture devices in the basements and dungeons of all the old castles, and thought, what the heck. Joani and I never bothered visiting any of them but I did take this photo of one Museum.

The first town we visited was San Gimignano. Almost completely pedestrian except for a few locals who have special permission to drive here. Another thing that you notice when entering these old towns is that you always have to enter through a stone gate. In the old days these gates would have gatekeepers in place to keep riffraff like me out, but Joani would always be welcome.

Beautiful scenery from the town walls.

More beautiful scenery.

How did this guy get in a picture? He's just showing you the towers that San Gimignano is famous for.

Another gate that Joani had to escort me through.

As always we had to take a hike around the outside of the town. Those are the walls behind Joani, that encircle the town.

Just threw in this shot because I thought it was artsy.

Anyone fancy a snack of wild boar sausage?

They love their colourful ceramics in Italy

We spent one whole day in San Gimignano and after a night's sleep headed for Pisa to take care of some unfinished business. The first time we had been to Pisa we found out that you couldn't get to climb the tower unless you book ahead. I have climbed the CN tower, The Eiffel tower, The rock of Gibraltar, The Great Wall of China, and mountains in the Rockies, Spain, France, and Greece. I had no intention of seeing the tower of Pisa and not climbing it to the top!

So climb it we did. Joani said that the climb to the top was tough, not because of the number of steps but the slant of these same steps. One might think that everyone who climbed this tower had a little too much to drink.

I found it humorous that they had defibrillators at every landing.

Of course we made it to the top. Was there ever any doubt?

Joani didn't allow me to ring the bell to announce our arrival.

The views were awesome.

People look tiny when you're way up.

The town of Pisa from way up.

And then it was time to climb down. Mission accomplished.

Now for our time in Lucca. The most amazing thing about Lucca is the walls surrounding this town. These walls are not your normal medieval wall 3,4,or 5 feet thick. These wall are thick enough that there are roads on top of them! Trees planted on either side of these roads. Walking paths on either side of these trees. Playgrounds and Parks adorn the top of these walls. We are talking enormous. They were originally built as defensive stalwarts in olden times, but never were used for that purpose and mostly just became tourist attractions. But they were built completely around the old town and so worth seeing.

This is a photo of the top section of a portion of this wall. On the right you can see the town.

 You have to walk down a flight of stairs to walk through this town!

There are private gates for the locals to drive into.

Inside the walls is a network of tunnels.

They welcomed Joani with open arms and doors.

But as usual, I had a bit of a problem until Joani put in a good word for me.

I didn't bother with too many photos of the interior of Lucca. Not that it was not a nice town, but I definitely felt it's most striking feature was the exterior.

I did see this tree top tower the last time we were here but Joani hadn't, so we had to find it,

and of course, climb it!

Joani as usual made friends with the locals. This guy played us a tune as we left. I grouped the towns together but will cover Florence in another entry.

On to Sienna for the last two days of our vacation.

 Garry

Capri and Positano

 I'm really not keeping up here. We had Matthew, Mindy, and Everest with us, which made it quite busy at times and at other times, I've had some issues with writer's block. I'm not saying I'm a great writer, but even a bad writer like me can be at a loss for words, which is where I've been for a lot of this vacation. Part of my problem is that this is the first time that Joani and I have revisited a major vacation destination.
 From the first time we visited Italy I have wanted to return! That time was almost 9 years ago and I had terrific memories of that first trip, so this time, I wondered whether or not it would live up to the expectations that my memories had created. These expectations have also helped create my writer's block! I will admit that this time around hasn't seemed to live up to that first trip in terms of excitement and wonder. I think that is for a combination of reasons.  I will confess that my first time to Italy, being my first trip to Europe as well, I wandered around like a wide eyed child seeing a lot of things that I had only ever dreamed of, and everything seemed surreal. But even though this time, I'm a little more accustomed to seeing things that I read about and saw pictures of, in books, I also am very sure that Italy has changed! Even though in the grand scheme of history, 9 years is not that much, I can honestly say that in that short time, Italy has become much more commercial! The scenery has stayed the same but there are so many more people crawling all over. Everywhere we drive, there is a traffic jam. Whenever we reach a destination, there are already hundreds or thousands of people ahead of us. Almost everything seems like a crowded tourist trap.
 I still think this is one of the most important destinations in the world to visit but it can be incredibly frustrating as well as exciting, and there doesn't seem to be any quiet places or moments to be had.
 Upon having said that I'm going to tell you about some of the extremely scenic tourist traps we visited in the last few days. The first time we came, we went to the Isle of Capri off the Amalfi coast and I wanted to visit the "Blue Grotto" or "Grotta Azzurra" as the Italians call it. The first time we visited Capri we couldn't get to the Grotto because the water was too rough and as it's a cave with a water inlet, the water around the opening has to be calm. This time, being as we were in Sorrento for 4 days, we checked the long range weather and made sure we were going to Capri on the day with the best weather and the plan worked. We went with Matthew and Mindy and were all successful in seeing the Grotto. While it was very busy and we waited 45 minutes on a large boat waiting our turn to unload onto small rowboats to get into the Grotto I can honestly say it was worth the wait.

If you take a close look at this photo as well as the next one,

You can see a chain that runs from the cliffside into the Grotto. As you near the Grotto on these small row boats you are actually sitting higher on the water than the opening to enter and the passengers have to lie low in the boat while the oarsman waits for the lowest point of a wave sequence and then uses the chain to pull you even lower in the water and into the Grotto.

This is your view as you enter this aqua wonderland.

After a time of floating on this beautiful blue impressionist picture,

the oarsman takes you back toward the opening

and you exit through the same opening you entered. Although it was a short trip, Joani described it the best. It was an original experience, unlike anything else we've ever done.

Once we left the Blue Grotto, we explored a bit of Capri and had lunch

I took the time to make friends with a naked lady made completely out of bicycle chains, and we left Capri.

The next day we headed to Positano. The traffic between Sorrento and Positano was brutal so we all agreed that we would do our touring around the perimeter. It was afternoon before we arrived so we decided to have lunch at a place called La Tagliata. An amazing place that hangs off the cliffside above Positano. 

The seating areas are on 3 different terraces and the views overlooking Positano are spectacular to say the least. The food and the staff were both outstanding and eating here was truly an epic experience.

It was not just a restaurant, but a family farm where they raised their own food.

Chickens,

as well as pigs. Sorry to the vegetarians.

They also grew their own produce.

I don't know if this guy was a pet but he was very cool looking!

After lunch we hiked some thing called: "the Path of the Gods"

or in Italian: "Sentiero degli Dei"

The house above is just a gratuitous shot to show you the cliffside we were on.

Joani and I on the path.

And a couple of more of Joani on the path, she is my muse after all!

I forgot to mention that this 5 mast ship had arrived the evening before, so on our morning before we  left for Positano we saw the scene above from our private terrace.

And in the evening as we got home the same ship was lit up like a Christmas tree. A beautiful  piece of scenery added to our already beautiful vantage point.

Some overpopulated areas perhaps, but very beautiful scenery nevertheless.

Garry