Summer 2019 Europa Tour. My daughter was going to Mallorca, Spain for a summer program. What a great chance to take a vacation!
Since we'd traveled through Spain in 2017, we decided to go on vacation to Italy. Weather, food, tons of stuff to see. Can't beat it.
ITALY
Naples / Amalfi Coast
We left Naples the next morning after a surprisingly good hotel breakfast. The train station was close by, and we found the local train that would take us to Pompeii, Vesuvius, and Sorrento.
Pompeii
The train lets you off very close to the ruins. You can leave luggage in the basement of the station for a small fee. Tickets, souvenirs, and cold drinks are all right there. It's well organized. I was surprised at the size of the ruined city and how well it was preserved after nearly 2,000 years. We wandered the streets guided by a map. It was HOT. We directed ourselves toward the main attractions. We walked down old streets, through town squares, and into ancient homes. There were statues, columns, and fountains—even a theater. And a few preserved bodies.
Vesuvius
After witnessing the destruction, we needed to visit the culprit. We took a bus from Pompeii to nearby Mount Vesuvius. The drive up and down the mountain involved many blind switchbacks on a narrow road. The drivers would honk when approaching the turns, and anybody coming the other way had better scram. It was crazy! The walk to the crater wasn't too bad, except that it was hot. And at the top, you looked down into the crater. A big hole. It was our first volcano.
When the bus got back, we collected our luggage and jumped on the next train to Sorrento. Easy!
Amalfi Coast
The next morning, we took a bus along the Amalfi Coast. The road ran up the mountains with cliffs overlooking the coast. There were so many switchbacks we lost count. The drivers here are constantly taking blind turns, and the buses are too big for the roads, so there isn't room for two to pass. So they're constantly slowing on turns and backing up to make room. The scenery is spectacular. Cliffs looking out on the Mediterranean.
We stopped at Positano. It's a town built over a cove. The bus lets you off above, and you walk a zillion stairs down into the town. Nowadays it's all touristy, but you can see the houses clinging to the edge of the cliffs with the town square, beach, and marina below. We enjoyed walking around and swimming at the beach. The water was colder than expected, but refreshing in the summer heat. We took a Positano bus back up the hill and continued on to Amalfi. This town wasn't quite as pretty, but it was a little larger. The guidebooks say Amalfi once rivaled Naples for regional superiority. Now there's mostly shopping and restaurants. So we looked at trinkets and ate.
From Amalfi, we took a boat back to Sorrento. We got to see the cliffs from the ocean side! It was the prettiest boat trip ever. Amazing! Sorrento from the sea is a natural fortress. The town is on a 40-foot cliff with only one long ramp and staircase up. All walled and fortified. It must have been imposing to potential invaders.
We enjoyed our hotel in Sorrento. Our hosts owned the floor of a building with great terraces. They made us great breakfasts and wonderful coffee! Italians know coffee!! One night we stumbled off the tourist trail and into a great local restaurant. Italian pasta and seafood. Yum.
From Sorrento, we took a local train (slow, hot, lots of stops) to Naples and then a Frecciarossa (Red Arrow) high-speed train from Naples to Rome. This train was lightning fast. At times, we were going 185 mph! We covered the 140 miles in a little over an hour. Super-fast!
Rome
We took the underground/Metro to our Airbnb. As we approached the address, we saw the Roman Colosseum right down the road from our building. The building had an immense front door—maybe 16 feet by 8 feet. There was a little door within the door that opened, maybe 4 feet by 2 feet. Built for hobbits. Matteo greeted us and showed us our apartment. It was spacious—a little dark and cluttered, but fine for us. After eating all our meals in restaurants, having a kitchen would save us money.
Staying so close to the Colosseum was unreal—sort of like stepping into a history book! It got us warmed up for tackling more big attractions. In Roman fashion, we came, we saw, and we conquered: the Vatican, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, Santa Maria Maggiore, Piazza Navona, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Circus Maximus, and Palatine Hill. We rode the Metro when possible, but we still ended up doing a lot of walking. One of the coolest parts was seeing how present-day Rome seamlessly built itself around two millennia of ancient history.
We left Rome in a car—which was very scary. Termini Station is massive, and getting a rental car is a strange process. You take a deli ticket from your rental car agency and wait for your number to be called. Some agencies had upwards of 70 numbers waiting. Once called, it's much like in the US: your car is assigned based on what you reserved. I was intimidated by what I'd seen in Naples and Amalfi, so I made sure to get a car with GPS. As luck would have it, they upgraded us to a giant SUV. It was comfortable, but difficult to maneuver through small streets (and parking!). We were off to Siena!
Arch of Constantine
Forum
Palatine Hill
Largo di Torre Argentina
Pantheon
Trevi Fountain
Spanish Steps
Ponte Sisto / Tiber River / Trastevere
Florence / Tuscany
Italian highways are fine—mostly two or three lanes each way. Lanes are maybe a little narrower than US interstates. The speed limit is usually 55–70 mph. We didn't hit much traffic. But the highways aren't the fun part; getting off them is. Tuscany is beautiful—everything we imagined. You see the pictures at Olive Garden, and here they come to life: hills, vineyards, and centuries-old stone walls. So cool.
Siena is a hill town—a big fort built on a high hill. What's surprising is how big the walled city is inside. There are little neighborhoods within it, and it was fun to explore. And by explore, I mean eat our way through the city! In the center were the main piazza and cathedral. They were gearing up for some kind of horse race in the square, with riders representing the different neighborhoods.
We stayed in a picturesque inn in the Tuscan countryside. Beautiful views. Great food. Sometimes you get lucky and a place meets all your expectations and more. This was the case. We opened our second-story, shutter-style windows and were greeted by a real-life postcard view. Breathtaking.
We continued on to Pisa. I'd heard about the Leaning Tower of Pisa since I was a kid, but when we got there, it was disappointing. It was leaning for sure, but it wasn't even that tall—maybe eight stories? We looked at it, snapped a few photos, and we were done. I've got to believe there are worse architectural blunders to be found.
It was a quick one-hour drive from Pisa to Florence, where we returned the car at the extremely difficult-to-locate return lot. No matter, Florence is a walkable city. I immediately liked it—much more pleasant than Naples or Rome. We had reserved a place in the area of the Duomo. After a bit of a wait, we were able to enter the Duomo and climb the 450 steps to the terrace. Frescoes on the inside and a great view of the city on the outside! We crossed the Ponte Vecchio bridge and meandered to Piazzale Michelangelo, where we saw a bronze replica statue of David. The next day we paid a ransom to enter the Accademia to see Michelangelo’s marble David statue. The proportions and detail are amazing.
From Florence, we took another high-speed train to Venice. This one stopped a few times, and the track conditions kept us from going quite as fast, but we were still traveling around 110–115 mph. The Italians know their trains.
Siena
Quercegrossa, Tuscan Countryside
Pisa
Venice
Arriving in Venice is a trip. You leave this big train station, follow the sign for the water buses (vaporetti), and there it is: the Grand Canal. It's wide and super busy. So much activity. The canal is a boat highway.
We were in Venice for three days and stayed in an Airbnb. I guess it was a residential area, but in Venice, nothing seems real. No cars. No bikes. Just people walking on stone walkways—some wide, some narrow. Canals with bridges. Churches. Squares. Restaurants. We were a 10- or 15-minute walk to St. Mark's Square, but each time we walked, we went a different way. The fun of Venice is walking around and stumbling onto cool things.
St. Mark's Square is beautiful. The Basilica is breathtaking. The Clocktower is cool. Doge's Palace is interesting. So many grand meeting rooms! I lost track of which served what purpose. Then you cross the Bridge of Sighs, and you see the dungeons. The Rialto Bridge is a functional photo op. The vaporetto close to our apartment took us to the islands.
We walked around Burano with its colorful houses. Such a pleasant place with a relaxed pace. Then we went to Lido and found a beach town that reminded me of Martha's Vineyard. We swam in the Adriatic!
Milan
We took a Superfast train from Venice to Milan. In the distance, we could see mountains to the north. Northern Italy is green. It would be a great place to spend some time.
Milan felt like a big city. More modern than Rome. The Piazza del Duomo is vast, and the Duomo itself is enormous. Awesome. We walked to the top and saw the whole city. Right next to the Duomo is the super-high-end shopping mall Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II: Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Ferrari. My kind of place. Hah! Those were the only attractions we saw in Milan. We walked around the streets a bit. It felt like a very livable city. People seemed nice.
