sylvia’s travels

We now have two days to rest and do we need it! First thing is the little grocery store for some basics. I brought 1 cup bags of coffee so we had our american coffee. They only have espresso or capuccino which neither of us are that fond of. Straight black, that’s us. They have everything in this tiny market; ie deli with lovely fresh meats; all kinds of cheeses; wine beer, booze of all kinds, cereals, fresh bread, dairy, soaps, you name it they seem to have. The lady is from Hungary, has a husband and 1 daughter (11) living here as well. We buy a box of toast squares and some nice soft cheese to spread on it; some lunch stuff; ie fococcia bread, the most beautiful lean salami the size of a roast not in small rounds like we have. Really fun trying to figure what the items are as everything of course is in Italian.

After breakfast we head off for the beach. It is about 1 1/2 blocks through the woods, and under the highway; our place has a little shack that provides drinks etc with tables under the trees. Beautiful beach, nice and sandy, lounge chairs with a cover for your head and an umbrella table provided by our resort. We are on the Ligurian Sea which runs all the way up to Genoa and the French border – you can see north for many miles. South for about 5 miles as the peninsula containing Piombino juts out with the island of Elba (Napoleon held here) just off the coast.

We spend most of our two days here on the beach – wonderful weather and there is a little beach cafe with a deck we have our snacks, drinks and the wonderful italian gelato ice cream. The beach is not at all crowded but plenty to watch as there are many people walking up and down the beach, some out in catamarans, paddle or sail boats, very entertaining. Ahh the good life.

In the evening we eat at our little ristorante. They don’t open until 7:30 and even tho we are late eaters at home we find we are starving by the time they open so we are often the among the first to arrive. The food is excellent and all the people are of course tourists from all over so we have many interesting conversations. Many Canadians and of course lots of English. This is the end of relaxing (didn’t even go into town) as tomorrow we catch the train to Livorno to pick up our car. Another adventure.

We decide to walk thru the park toward the Colosseum as it is more direct and downhill. Across from the Colosseum we find our Angels, again we split into two groups, our guide is Jimmy, he majored in History and turns out to be great, and boy did he give us a lot of it.

We start with the Forum looking up toward Palatine Hill – this area is so vast and has so much history you cannot begin to take it all in. Our tour lasts 3 1/2 hours which only covers the Forum and the Colosseum so you can imagine how much history was thrown at us and he talked non stop. I did buy a picture book of the ruins we are seeing today then it has overlays of the way it was in ancient Roman times. The Forum was the political, religious and commercial center of the city, and as the empire expanded it became the center of the civilized world, spanning about 1,000 years. (500 B.C. to A.D. 500) It started as a republic governed by elected senators, over the last 500 years it was an empire ruled by a military-backed dictator. At her peak she controlled an empire that stretched from Scotland to Egypt and from Turkey to Morocco. America is only just over 200 years old, I wonder where we’re headed.

Next the Colosseum – we wait a short time in line but skip the really big line (sometimes it really pays to take a tour). Rick Steves guided us well.This 2,000 year old building is the great example of Roman engineering, built at Rome’s peak A.D. 80. They pioneered the use of concrete and the rounded arch. It held 50,000 spectators, covered by an enormous canvas awning pulled by armies of sailors for shade – the first domed stadium.

After saying goodbye to “Jimmy” we were going to see the Victor Emanuelle monument but it was way across the other side opposite to the way back to our hotel so we climbed the hill back thru the park, verrry slowly, back to our hotel.

Our train leaves at 2:09 pm for San Vincenzo and since we are walking to the train station figured we better get on the stick. We grab one of their wonderful unique pizza’s in the station restaurant and go in search of our track. Okay another adventure. The tracks we see in front of us go from 1 – 24 and our track is 25. Ok where is it? We go to #24 – figure it must be somewhere down here – about 6 blocks later pulling our luggage – walking pretty quickly as we have no idea how far, we find our car. Boy this is work! Today we have no assigned seat but we manage to find a couple where we can keep our luggage beside us.

Robert had printed out all the stops we go thru before San Vincenzo (pop around 2 – 300) so that made it really easy to identify where we get off. This time we are at street level – no problem figuring where the front of the station is. There are 2 taxi parking areas but no taxis. We wait around for a few minutes hoping one would pull up. Eventually Rod decides to walk into town to see what he can find. About 5 minutes later a taxi pulls up and Franco jumps out and says well here I am. okay now how was I going to find Rod. Franco says go on I’ll be right here with your luggage. Down the stairs in to town, walk up and down, no Rod, so back I go and within a few minutes here he comes. He had stopped in “Jimmy’s ristorante” and they called for a cab so Franco had to get on his phone and call him off.

Franco was full of information for us – showed us how to get out of town and on to the ocean road. There is only one way to get from the ocean road and town under the tracks to the highway running north and south, in days to come this comes into play big time for us after we pick up our car. Within about 10 minutes here we are at our Residenza dei Cavallageri. Lovely place, a bedroom, living room, kitchen & bathroom facing on to the pool area. Not a very large complex (ours that is) but there are 2 other condo type associations in our area with a restaurant, grocery store, beach shop, leather and jewelry store. We have plenty here to accommodate us for the next couple of days because we are going to do NOTHING.

Tonight we head over to the Ristorante in our little circle. Great little place, seats about 44 when full. Very extensive menu, all cooked fresh at the time. Wonderful pasta, fish dishes, pizza (Italian style), and a full litre of wine only 6 euro, 3/4 litre was 5.50 euro so we always opted for the litre. Great start to a great place.

Breakfast is served in a different area than last time - ground floor up by the door. The man who is on during the day is the owner and his wife assists in the breakfast room. He ... [Continue reading this entry]

Today we are going to do the Accademia (Galleria dell'Accademia) where Michaelangelo's David is located; also his unfinished "Prisoners". We have to pack up first as we will be leaving for Rome today. We enjoy our delightful ... [Continue reading this entry]

Hotel Cellai, via 27 Aprile 14, Firenze 50129 Italy. 4th floor up in a skinny little elevator (at least we have one). Nice breakfast at the Cellai hotel - usual fare so we're getting in to a routine of what to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Today we are off to St. Anthony's basilica. Our hotel hostess heads us in the right direction as all the streets in Italy just curve around all over the place - it's easy to get confused. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, guess what? Our time for the Scrovegni Chapel was 11 am. We woke up at 10:45 - and if you miss your time they don't give you another so you have to start all over again ... [Continue reading this entry]

Now remember all my friends and family - this is for my diary so I won't be offended if you find it all too long or boring to just move along or skip it entirely. Seeing countryside, people, great ... [Continue reading this entry]

Our trip is already done but no computers available wherever we went - didn't want to take time out to search them out so here we go now that we are back from our adventures. First day - 9/14/08 - ... [Continue reading this entry]