The travels of BBQboy

Cortona was our favorite place on this trip. It’s a small (and incredibly hilly) town on a large hill with great views in every direction (including Lake Trasimene – it was there in 217 BC that Hannibal and the Carthaginians defeated the Romans in the Battle of Lake Trasimene in which close to 20,000 men died).

The main street, Via Nazionale, is the only flat street in town and where most of the tourists walk up and down. The rest of the town is almost straight uphill and full of great views and churches. How can they have so many churches in one small town?? Each church required going higher and higher up the town until you basically get to a grassy knoll where there is a fort with fantastic views of the countryside. It was peaceful and there were no tourists which was a great relief because Italy is full of tourists (mostly middle–aged Americans – and I know some people will think that saying this is anti-American. It’s not, its just an observation.)

———

Hotel Italia was the best hotel we’ve encountered on these travels – fabulous room and the friendliest people (actually, everyone we met in Cortona was very friendly).

We love Italian food and have had some great food and wine on this trip. Our only complaint however is that there are not many choices – either you go to a sit down restaurant (another 3 hour meal…) or you try to find some kind of takeout which, in Tuscany at least, seems to be limited to the same old pizza. After two weeks of going to a restaurant every night or eating pizza, we were getting fed up. There were just no other options. One night we found a little supermarket and brought cheese, ham and bread back to the hotel to have with our wine – but in most places there were no such markets in the center of town. Anyway, we loved Italian food, we just missed some of the variety that we have at home. I think Tuscany would be a great place to invest in a take-out sushi place or a Lebanese –style Kabab restaurant…

The smaller towns and countryside of Tuscany are impossible to visit without a car. So I had booked a day tour with a company called Tuscan Escapes. What I wanted was simple: pick up in Sienna, a tour of San Gimignano, some wine tasting, some sightseeing (which I was leaving up to their judgment), and drop off in Cortona (which was our next destination).

Milo came to pick us up at 9:30 in Sienna – nice guy, very relaxed and pleasant. I knew we would have a good time with him. We drove though the countryside and he gave us some history on the region: the historical rivalry between Florence and Siena, the alignment of some of the towns in this rivalry, the history of the Palio and the resulting divisiveness of Sienese life where identification is with the neighborhood (or “contrade”) over anything else – Milo is from Bologna and says he wouldn’t be able to live in Siena, he just wouldn’t be accepted.

Our first stop was Monteriggioni, a small fortress town built on a hill by the Sienese as a front line in their wars with Florence. The town looks out over a valley (which Milo says used to be a swamp) across which San Gimignano lies on another far away hill (San Gimignano was aligned with Florence).

Our next stop, half an hour later, was San Gimignano. The town is famous for the towers built by its wealthiest citizens as symbols of their power – there used to be 72 towers in the town, only 14 are still standing. San Gimignano is also on the Via Francigena, the ancient road used by pilgrims linking England to Rome.

(below; San Gimignano’s skyline)

One thing I love about Italy are all the towers. I love climbing towers and seeing a place from its highest point. The Torre Grossa doesn’t look so high looking up from the piazza – but the views from the top were really impressive. Maybe it’s just because the weather suddenly cleared up for me, but the views from the top of Torre Grossa were actually the nicest that I had seen to date; the piazza seemed deceptively far below, the people like ants. And the views of the countryside were great. The town was very nice but the highlight for me was climbing that tower.

(The tower from the piazza)

After San Gimignano, we drove into the Chianti hills (really beautiful – would love to do some hiking here), the heart of the Chianti region and stopped in a few of the small towns; Castellina in Chianti and Radda in Chianti. Medieval little towns with towers, old buildings, and tunnels. This area is the heart of the Chianti Classico – only wines from this area can have the Chianti Classico label (the black rooster).

(below: Milo with the black rooster label)

Driving up higher into the hills we stopped at the Casamonte farm for some wine tasting. It’s beautiful estate where they not only produce their own Chianti Classico wines, but also Olive Oil and pork (from Sinta Senese pigs – rare pigs that they breed). We were given a tour of the facilities, including the meat lockers, and were really impressed (I was, lissette not so much – she’s a vegetarian so meat hanging from hooks isn’t so much of a turn-on for her).

Then we had the wine tasting. And that led to my fuck up.

I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of Chianti Classico, I like my wines more round bodied and bold and so far on this trip I’ve bought mostly Super Tuscan wines – wines including Sangiovese grapes but also mixed with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in varying degrees. Chianti Classicos have a minimum of 80% Sangiovese grape which can be a little harsh. As Milo said, you have a Chianti Classico with food but a Super Tuscan you can just sit around a fire and drink.

So I wasn’t expecting anything that I would love. In fact I was blown away by the wines I had at Casamonte. So much so that I ordered a case for shipment to Montreal. The reason that I can’t describe the wine a bit better is that; 1) I can’t remember exactly what it tasted like and 2) I’m still waiting to take possession of the wine. My advice: never, never import wine into this fucking province. I’ve had over a month of run-around from DHL, then Canada Customs, then the SAQ (Société des alcools du Québec). I’ve had to go to DHL’s offices at the airport to pick up manifests, have had to send same to the SAQ. Then I had to pay $350 in fines to the SAQ for an import permit (on $570 worth of wine). I should be receiving the permit in the mail the next few days. Then I have to go back to the airport to get the permit stamped by Canada Customs, then finally, back to DHL who will, hopefully, finally, let me walk away with my case of wine. The most expensive case of wine I’ve ever fucking bought.

So please, if someone ever tells you “no problem, we ship all over Canada and the United States”, say thanks but no thanks.

(below: Casamonte farmhouse)

After Casamonte, we visited another winery close to the town of Gaiole in Chianti. The winery was actually on the grounds of a large castle which we were given a tour of; below are photos of underground tunnels and a small theatre (dating from the 14th century) within the castle. We were happy to see all this – unfortunately the wine wasn’t anything special (we bought a token 3 bottles but that was mainly as thanks for the castle tour).

That was the end of the official tour. Milo then drove us to Cortona (about an hour out of his way) and dropped us off at the hotel. We really enjoyed the tour, lots of fun and very informative. And Milo was great. It was expensive (400 Euros – ouch!) but I figured that if our time is money that it was worth it. We didn’t have to drag our bags around train stations or worry about anything, everything was taken care off. If only I hadn’t bought that wine…

We headed south after Pisa, the geography getting hillier and greener as we approached Siena.

Siena is a hilly, pretty city with one of the most beautiful piazzas in Italy (Piazza del campo), the 2nd highest tower in Italy (Torre del Mangia), and the most impressive Duomo (cathedral) I’ve ever seen (the interior is absolutely jaw dropping). It is a city full of churches, museums, and great views over the surrounding countryside.

We spent two enjoyable days here, the only downer was the mostly crappy weather.

The Piazza del Campo (below) is famous for the Palio, which is a no-holds-barred horse race run here twice a year. These races pit the 17 different neighborhoods of Siena against each other. You can’t go anywhere in Siena without hearing about the Palio, it is what unites but at the same time divides the Sienese more than anything else.

The Duomo di Siena (below) is stupendous. The interior is like a museum with its black and white marble pillars, intricate marble floor panels, beautiful renaissances frescos, a huge bronze dome, a sculpture of St. Peter by Michelangelo. What awed me the most are the 170-odd busts of popes lining the cathedral, all looking down at you in an almost menacing manner. The whole cathedral was painting, sculpted, and decorated by the most celebrated Italian artists of that time. I’m about as anti-religious as they come, but was awed by this cathedral for its sheer beauty. It is just amazing and I’m afraid these words and photos just don’t give it justice.

Views on the Piazza del Campo from the Torre (tower)

Italian fashion

Italians are very fashion conscious – they like brights colours (you don’t see too many North Americans wearing yellow pants) and the liberal use of hair gel. The preppy look has also made a comeback here. Suprisingly though, Italian fashion is more conservative and classical than fashion in Montreal – women in Montreal wear things that you would never see an Italian wear (I always say, quite proudly, that Montreal has the most skankily-dressed women on the globe).

(above: The preppy look. Urgg, reminds me of my high school days)

(ok, that last one is a joke. I found it on the internet)

———-

We stayed at the Villa Elda and both agreed it was overpriced (189 euros/night) and overrated (see Trip Advisor rating) for that price. It’s nice and clean but is not more than a 3 star hotel – the rooms in all the other places we stayed (including the 70 euro/night room in Vernazza) were superior to that in the Villa Elda. It’s the only place on our trip where I kicked myself for having grossly overpaid for a hotel.

Pisa – We passed through Pisa for a couple of hours on our way from Lucca to Sienna. Overall, there isn’t much to see it Pisa; it was heavily bombed during WW II and much of it was destroyed. Most of the remaining historical sights are concentrated north of the river Arno, the most famous of which is (duh!) the leaning tower of Pisa.

Probably everyone has seen photos of the tower; still, it took me by surprise by; 1) it is shorter than what I expected from seeing in pictures and 2) seen from the right angle, you can really see the lean. It didn’t seem so pronounced in pictures I’ve seen.

The whole area is very, very touristy and we didn’t spend much time. Still, as a little day trip (we had stored our baggage at the train station) it was worthwhile for a few hours to see the tower, but also the Cathedral. Everyone makes a big deal about the tower because it’s leaning (and I thought I’d gag if I saw one more tourist doing that thing where they’re pretending to be supporting the tower) but I was actually more impressed with the immensity of the Cathedral and the whiteness of it all.

(“Look at us, we are doing something original that nobody’s ever done before. We’re mavericks!”. Urgg…)

(The Arno river)

We both agreed that while Lucca was a nice town in many ways, neither of us were wowed.

The ramparts ringing the town were the highlight for us; a wide elevated pathway hedged on both sides by trees, it is a park-like setting that is great for biking and jogging with nice views over the town and the wall (which in itself is really impressive). Walking the entire wall took about an hour.

The old town, within the walls, didn’t do much for us. The narrow streets were overly crowed with pedestrians and bikers and there were a lot of chi-chi shops if you like shopping (we’re not big on shopping). We went up the Torre delle Ore for a view over the town which was probably the highlight of the in-town sights for us (although, again, nothing to blow your socks off). Piazza Anfiteatro was the biggest disappointment – I guess I was somehow expecting the remains of an old Roman theatre/coliseum (the movie “Gladiator” came to mind). What we saw was an oval plaza filled with stores and restaurants. “So where’s this coliseum?” asked Lissette. I read the entry in the guidebook: there was an old anfiteatro here, but it had been built over and was currently under about 9 feet of stones and tiles. “Gotta use your imagination” I told her (by this time I was adding a lot of “a”s to my words. It didn’t help that we had brought several seasons of “The Sopranos” and would fall asleep watching them on the computer…).

(above) Piazza Anfiteatro

(“You gotta fuckin problem?” “Yeah, didn’t think so”)

In conclusion: a nice town but I have to admit we were just a little disappointed.

——————-

We did have our best meal yet in Italy – Pizzeria Scusa Ameri , outside of the walls just out of the Porta Elisa gate. Great pasta, pizza and salads as well as really good (and cheap) housewine.

We stayed at the Villa Romantica, just outside the walls. Nice hotel (130 euros/night) on beautiful grounds a 5 min walk away from the walls. Clean room, good mattress, toilet seat was falling off for some reason (maybe we were spending too much time on it, hehe). We are giving it a 3.5 out of 5.

October 6, 2010 – Vernazza was our first stop on our Italian holiday (we actually flew into Florence – but that will be covered later after we spend some more time there). Vernazza, one of the 5 villages in the Cinque Terra, is idyllic in many ways – in other ways it is another example of rampant tourism.

Geographically it is gorgeous – the town is built up on the steep cliffs that surround the harbor. Pastel colored houses, small windy alleys decorated with potted plants, laundry hung out to dry from green-shuttered windows. A small fort on the harbor. It is a walker’s delight, each alley seems to bring yet another beautiful view on the town and harbor. A photographer’s dream, Vernazza is ideal, picture-perfect Italy.

The problem is that it is far from being undiscovered – there are TONS of tourists, especially on weekends, but also on weekdays when daytrippers come in. Only on weekday evenings do you get a sense of what Vernazza was like before mass tourism. Forget about trying to find a room last minute – I booked 3 months in advance and even then I had many rejections before finding something. Restaurants and bars are jam packed at mid-day with daytrippers, you may even have to make a reservation to sit down for lunch.

The worst thing about all these tourists is that it has led to “tourist fatigue”. Lissette and I were both reminded of Ko Phi Phi in Thailand where over-tourism has changed the people. Ko Phi Phi is no longer Thai, its people no longer the warm, hospitable, smiling people they used to be. They bear the tourists and count the money. The same has happened in Vernazza – the locals working in the tourism industry tend to be surly and snappy, they rarely look you in the eye when talking to you and I haven’t received a mere hint of a smile from anyone in the restaurant industry in Vernazza. Restaurant food is drab and uninventive – tourist food. From that point of view Vernazza was a disappointment – the destination is what takes you somewhere, but in the end it is the people that bring you back.

Anyway, forgetting about the less than friendly locals (and we did after a few days, realizing it was nothing personal) we still really enjoyed Vernazza. It is beautiful spot. We climbed a lot of steps, took tons of photos, and drank beer / wine / expressos while people-gazing. The gelatos were also great. Vernazza was still many of the things I expected coming here.

—————-

We were lucky to get a great room in Vernazza at 70 Euros/night. If someone is interested they can contact me, otherwise I’ll keep it a secret considering the scarcity of accommodation.

June 7, 2010 – Every year I try to get together with my mom for a week somewhere. This year we met up in Lindau, in Southern Germany, and explored a few places in the region. It was a quick trip, the week was cut short by the day and a half I was stuck transiting through Paris (damn volcanic cloud). So it ended up being a bit of a rushed trip and we didn’t quite explore as much as we would have wanted. Anyway, here is a quick summary of places covered over 5 days:

Lindau – a pretty little town surrounded by some beautiful geography. The mountains seem to change constantly depending on the light and clouds, the lake is beautiful. The town has some pretty old buildings and is an interesting place to walk around. Attracts many elderly tourists, it’s a relaxing kind of place. Lindau was my favorite place on this holiday.

Sigmaringen – well, not much to this town (situated on the Danube) other than the castle. Suprisingly devoid of any traces of history as most of the buildings in this town look like they were build in the 1970s or 80s. Visited the castle, took a walk along the river. Saw some interesting looking birds. A few hours of sun, then the shitty weather started and basically didn’t let up the rest of the week.

Freiburg – a university city in the Black forest which is quite popular with tourists. Surrounded by hills. It also has a small river cutting through the city, so there are some nice green spaces. They’ve done a good job preserving the façade of historical buildings around a modern core (isn’t it great when you see a historical building, then, upon closer inspection, realize that it’s a McDonalds?). The Münster (church) is the highlight of the city and I climbed to the top. The views are supposed to be fabulous but they weren’t anything special on this day because of the crappy weather. Wet, cold, and just plain shitty.
Anyway, my mom and I agreed that it would probably be a nice city to live in. I wouldn’t exactly say that I was blown away as a visitor though…

Breisach – a small town on the Rhine, France just across the river. A cute little town with some nice old buildings. The highlight was the münster (no pic below, was covered in scafolding..), which is up on a hill overlooking the town. Breisach is quite nice and, although not swamped by tourists it has a good tourist infrastructure. A good place to rent a bike and do some cycling. Not such a great place that I would want to come back, but a nice town not worth avoiding (how’s that for an off-handed compliment?)

Neuf-Brisach (4 km across the river from Breisach in France). This place is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Aerial photos of Neuf-Brisach, with its octagonal fortifications surrounding the town, are very impressive.
We took the bus to Neuf-Brisach. After a nice ride in green countryside, the bus went through a brick gate (impressive we thought), into a town unlike any other. Deserted streets barren of people, no storefronts, no trees, a concrete landscape of non-descript 1 and 2 storey houses. Every street looked the same, until we reached a square in the middle of the town where we were dropped off. We were right in front of the tourist office – it was Saturday and it was closed. The square was called Place D’Armes; a large square with a fountain in the middle. Unfortunately the square was a cement parking lot and the fountain wasn’t functioning.
We walked down deserted streets half expecting to be attacked by a pack of stray dogs. Neuf-Brisach is an ugly and utterly depressing town devoid of life.
Things only changed when we got out of the town gates and walked along the outside walls of the town. The fortifications are amazingly – we circled the town, seeing nothing but these huge brick walls (below).

We got back to town, making sure to get back in time for the bus to get us out of Neuf-Brisach. The place has so much potential, the fortifications are really impressive – but honestly, the town really is a bloody armpit. I remarked to my mom that the French should just swallow their pride and hand it over to the Germans (who do a much better job of preserving their historical monuments).

————

That was our trip. Although we didn’t love everywhere we went, we always like discovering new places even if it sometimes means disappointment. We had lots of good food, beer, and wine, plus more importantly, we got to spend some time together which is rare these days.

Montreal, April 29, 2010.
“Café des bois” is situated on the corner of Avenue Mont-Royal and Fullum and is owned by a friendly/ crazy Quebecker called Sylvain. Sylvain loves hockey and wears these thick rimmed glasses that make him look like one of the Hansen brothers from that movie Slaphot.

We dropped by last Friday, April the 23rd and saw the above on a small table; a framed picture of three of the greatest Montreal Canadien players ever (Jean Beliveau, Maurice Richard, Guy Lafleur), a magazine cover featuring a big-boobed woman wearing Canadien colours, a small bowl of water (out of the picture), 7 candles (only the 5th was lit), and an old flashlight that looked like a big brass dildo.

“What’s this?” I asked. Sylvain explained that it was his shrine to the Canadiens. He demonstrated by kneeling in front of the table, doing the signs of the cross, taking the brass dildo and dipping it into the water. He then shook water from the dildo in the direction of “the hockey gods” and “the Madonna”. The candles represented the games in the series against the Washington Capitals; the fifth candle was lit because the Canadiens were in Washington that night to play the fifth game of their series against the #1 ranked Washington Capital (the Canadiens were losing 3 games to 1 and were on the verge of elimination). “This will give the Canadiens good luck” he said.

I was fascinated and impressed by his dedication; I took the above picture and talked a bit of hockey with Sylvain.

—–

Montreal won Game 5 that night by a score of 2-1. They came back to Montreal for game 6 and won again, this time 4-1. This meant a deciding game 7 which they played last night. They won 2-1, eliminating the Capitals.

To put it in perspective: It was the first time in history that an 8th place team came back from 3 games to 1 to win a playoff series against the #1 team. Washington had a 54-15-13 record during the season, 33 points more than Montreal (who had a record of 39-33-10). The Capitals lost a total of 5 home games all season (Montreal beat them 3 times at home in this series alone) and the Caps also scored 318 goals during the season compared to Montreal’s 217. Yet the Canadiens shut them down, 3 games in a row. In all the years of watching the Canadiens play hockey and win Stanley Cups, I’ve never seen a comeback like this – they might not have the talent of some of the Canadien teams of the past, but I’ve never seen a grittier, tougher performance then I did in this series.

Only in Montreal can you go to a public place and start waving a brass dildo in the direction of a photo of a large-breasted woman and be cheered for it. That makes it a pretty special place.

I mentioned my new job in the last post – no time for travel, so I’m afraid pictures of boats loading wheat is as exciting as it gets for now.

Jan 7, 2010 – This is the first ship that we’ve loaded for our new company; a little over 30,000 metric tons of wheat loading in Montreal for delivery in West Africa. People who know me will see the irony in the name of the ship.

We arrived to the above – it was lunch time so there was no activity. The ship was sitting there, it’s hatches closed. Below is a view in the other direction towards the Jaques Cartier bridge.

We boarded the ship and were invited for lunch by the Indian captain (a lot of ship crews are Indian). Below are pictures from the Captain’s office looking out over the ship (note the closed hatches) and from the mess (ie. the kitchen)

At 1 pm the ship started loading again, the hatches open and the wheat spewing from the spouts. The wheat may look like sand, but I’m told that if you fall in it you’ll sink in there like its quicksand, the grain being so fine. It’s happened. Another story I heard was about a guy slipping on the dock and falling in the crack separating the ship from the dock. They never found the body (just the ship rocking a bit would have pulverized the guy’s body into the shape of a thin pancake).

The ship still loading as we left:

I guess there’s more exciting things then a ship loading wheat in the middle of winter, but it’s always amazed me how these guys come here for a few days, enduring -30C temps at times, then cross the North Atlantic (just thinking about it makes me want to spew from both ends) to finally cross the equator and see land, arriving at a port of call which might be 60 degrees warmer then where they came from. I think it makes most of our travel stories pale in comparison.

December 24, 2009
It’s cold and there’s snow on the ground in Montreal. I’m going through a job change and haven’t had time to go on any trips or fool around with photography – so I’m posting my mother’s recent trip to Chiang Dao in Northern Thailand (my mom is retired and spends 8 months of the year in Thailand – so she’s become a bit of a Thai expert).

(note: that’s not my mom)