Venice is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. No cars anywhere, and boats everywhere. The Grand Canal feeds lots of “rivers” that go into the neighborhoods.
Their public transportation system is the vaporetto boats, so to get somewhere we’re crammed in usually with lots of people (during the day, it’s less crowded at night) while gondolas, water taxis and motorboats with goods are all zipping around. Then you get off and walk the maze of pedestrian lanes that vary from 15 to 6 feet wide. But you still feel the water below you from the rolling vaporetto. Most walking trips include a vaporetto ride just to get across the Grand Canal since there are only 3 bridges across it.
Approaching a vaporetto stop, on the right, along the grand canal.We’re probably the only people who’d get excited about seeing kayakers in Venice!This is getting to be a thing, we saw Bradonia in New Zealand, a bar in Volterra with double d chandeliers and Venice’s Bacaro Jazz Bar is similarly decorated.In keeping with the high rent theme…a Big Mac is 8.10 euros ($9.50).Bacari” bars away from touristy areas offer inexpensive drinks and finger food in the early evening. Wine’s 2-3 euros and a “cicchetti” toothpick munchie is 1 euro or so. They attract crowds of pub crawling young locals who don’t have to worry about driving home.
A freebie at Piazza San Marco are the dueling bands at several restaurants. Four piece combos are set up on the piazza, a seat at a table comes with a 6 euro band charge, but standing and swaying to the music is gratis
And now the answer you’re waiting for!
The ice cream was 19.50 euros (about $23.00) no kidding. But we had it at Caffe Florian which has been a Venetian institution since 1720, it’s totally beautiful, and a band plays outside as you eat.
Cinque is Italian for the number five.
And, there’s a group of five towns in Italy that are known as the Cinque Terre. We had a three night visit planned there.
The five Cinque Terre towns are nestled in the Ligurian Sea coast.
We arrived in the Cinque Terre town Monterosso and did all the touristy things; take a ferry ride between towns, walk each town (which ain’t easy cause these towns are built on steep cliffs), watch the rock divers, eat gelato, dine on catch-of-the-day fish, etc. etc.
Ferry boats connect the towns, serving up postcard views at each stopThe Ligurian Sea seems be pretty warm, we haven’t dipped a toe yet, but others have.
Leaving Cinque Terre we headed to Lucca, the birthplace of Puccini, for opera, an easy bike ride on the towns medieval wall and everything else Rick Steve’s Italy guidebook told us to do.
Highlight of Lucca was a opera recital at the Church of Santi Giovanni e Reparata, it was a lovely hour of Puccini and Verdi selections.
Bike riding on Lucca’s two and a half mile wall.
After that we had a five night open spot in our calendar, aka being homeless. Talking about what to do for the next five nights, we figured we could go to a couple more towns maybe Genoa or Turin for sightseeing with the attendant train rides, schedules and decisions, or…
Maybe just relax and do NOTHING!
The perfect place to do that?
The exquisite Cinque Terre for five more nights!
We’ve found a great place to stay with a water and sunset view from the patio, and a bright cozy bedroom, this’ll be perfect.
We first heard a variation of this phrase when we were booking a rafting trip in New Zealand and it seems appropriate to reuse it for our few days in Naples, Italy.
To quote from “Rick Steves Italy 2017” “Naples is Italy in the extreme” it’s Italy’s third largest city and the densest city in Europe with over a million people in a tight area.
Crime scene(s) illustration.
Our arrival in Naples was greeted by a pickpocket who had his fingers in Cindy’s backpack within a few blocks of the train station. I’d turned to see if she was behind me and saw him tight to her back. He saw me see him and quickly heeled around and scurried away. I yelled to Cindy “Check your stuff right now.” She turned to look and the pack was open, her small purse dangling open. The only thing that had been in there was a single credit card. We called and cancelled it immediately and made our way to the Airbnb.
The not-much-wider-than-a-tiny-car cobblestone streets are hemmed in on each side by five-story apartment buildings, we walked with gobs of people who seem to live a good part of their life in on those streets.
Tiny cafes, al fresco dining, and mid block bar/cafes are everywhere and all day until past midnight everyone is out walking, drinking, eating and talking. This city is alive! Out host is a longtime Naples resident and she said sometimes it takes an hour to walk a block after greeting, chatting, and coffee-ing with the neighbors.
Naples street life.Of course one of our top Naples sights was a delicious Neapolitan pizza stuffed with ham, ricotta and salami from Lombardi 1892, at Via Foria 12, Cindy had gnocchi.
Naples was our base for Pompeii which is easily reached for a bargain 1.20 euros ($1.35) via the “Circumvesuviana” train line.
Pompeii street, that’s Mt. Vesuvius through the arch.
After Pompeii we visited the Museo Archeologico archaeological museum where the frescos from Pompeii reside.
After Pompeii we visited the Museo Archeologico archaeological museum where the frescos from Pompeii reside.This is from the “Secret Room” at the Museo Archeologico, I’m thinking it’d make a great art fair craft item.
Later back at our room we heard a commotion outside, peeked out and saw the street was barricaded for several buildings next to us. Apparently a small pink suitcase in the street was reported as a possible bomb threat. I heard a loud bang. The plastic pink pack was shot by a bomb robot, our host shared her pic of the action with us…
Pink suitcase getting plugged.
Our two intense days in Naples at an end, we walked in a downpour to the train station. Greeting us there was another of the pickpocket gang, as I turned to check on Cindy a block from the station I saw him shadowing her, his hands at her pack. I yelled at “YO” at him, he removed his hands from her empty purse, raised them to show they’re empty and scurried off.
After all this, Cindy’s the “keen” on Naples, loving the vitality and game of the streets, Art’s the “not so much”.
