Category Archives: Italy

Saving the best for last?

Today was sadly the last day of our Sicily trip. We’ve been driving all over the island seeing the top sites, but today Wendy planned for us to stick closer to home. You might think this would mean that our itinerary would be less exciting, but in fact the things we saw today were some of our very favorite on the trip.

Right down the street from Chris and Wendy’s place is the main landmark of Mussomeli — Castello Manfredonico o di Mussomeli. We’ve been seeing this castle all week — it is impossible to miss as it juts high above the surrounding landscape, built on top of a huge outcropping of rock. (It’s kind of hard to see exactly where the rock ends and the castle begins.) But once we were able to go inside, it far exceeded our expectations.

The path wound up the rock, producing views that grew more breathtaking with each step. And substantial sections of the castle were still intact and available for exploration. We climbed spiral staircases to view the upper rooms, and descended into subterranean passages. Between the castle itself and the views stretching across the dramatic hills of Sicily in all directions, we all agreed this was one of the best places we’d visited.

Next up we drove a bit further away to visit Valley of the Temples, site of some of the most impressive ruins in Italy. One thing I’d never realized is that much of Sicily was controlled by ancient Greece. Archimedes was even born here! So what we saw both here and in Siracusa was layers of history building on top of each other. The ancient Greeks would build a temple, which would later be repurposed by the Romans, and then later by early Christians. So when viewing these sites, you’re seeing an amalgamation of different cultures. (One of the most interesting examples was in Siracusa, where there was a cathedral that was built onto a Greek temple to Athena and still contained very obvious Greek pillars running along both sides.)

This was no exception. The temples are situated along a long promenade with an ancient city wall running along one side and olive tree orchards growing along the other, and beautiful views of the surrounding landscape and the sea beyond. The temples are Greek, but Romans and early Christians left their mark here as well. The city walls were repurposed as a necropolis, and you could clearly see the resting places carved out of the rock and old staircases leading down into catacombs.

This was where we encountered the worst weather we had on the entire trip, by which I mean we felt about five raindrops fall on us when heading back to the car. We have been incredibly lucky here with abundant sunshine and 70-ish temperatures every day.

We thought we were done, but the Brookses pulled one last destination out of their sleeves — the nearby Scala dei Turchi (Turkish steps). These are not actual steps, as it turns out, but limestone cliffs at the edge of the sea. We skipped the long walk down to the beach at the bottom, but the view of the bright white layers of cliff descending into the blue-green Mediterranean was a sight not to be missed.

All that remained of the day was a celebratory dinner. We made the most of it like true Italians, with antipasti, main courses, desserts, and plenty of wine. By the time we got back, it was pretty late (largely because it’s just not done to have dinner before 8pm or so here). Tomorrow we’ll be rising at 5am for a trip to the airport, but we wouldn’t have missed a minute.

Mini vacation, part due

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Part two of our mini-vacation-within-a-vacation started slightly earlier than we expected. Although Jen and I got the prime bedroom — its windows opened onto a courtyard rather than the street, so it was presumed to be quieter. The courtyard, however, seems to be home to a rooster, who crowed at about 5 am. We managed to get back to sleep a bit, but there was some pressure this morning to get up and out early. Our checkout time was 10 am, and there were still things in Palermo that we wanted to see.

Palermo does not seem to be a place that would feature livestock in its courtyards. It very metropolitan, with many wide streets and sidewalks, and lots of traffic and bustle. Our accommodations were a block from the central train station, and there is an electric trolley that zips past our door. (Unexpectedly, there are small trains of the type that might chug around amusement parks — we have seen several of these here, only these wind right down the traffic lanes, presumably giving tourists a close up view of local commuters.)

Of course, Palermo has its share of narrow, cobblestone streets. Some are officially dedicated to pedestrian traffic, which appreciably cuts down on the number of cars trying to navigate among the walkers. Others are traditional Italian “yield to whomever blinks last” byways.

And then there are the streets that we looked for this morning — those lined with all kinds of fruits and vegetables, all manner of sea creatures, lots of spices and kitchen accessories. The Palermo food markets foiled us yesterday by closing down at 3 pm. We had planned to visit these markets for our street food dinner crawl last night, but everyone had already packed up shop. We ended up doing alright, of course, but we did want to walk through to get their flavor.

Then it was time to pack up the dogs and head out of town and up the coast. Cefalu is a beach community that shares a lot in appearance and atmosphere with the Cinque Terre villages we visisted last April. It is a little bigger, and less picturesqe than any of those towns, but it is much more accessible.

We had a fine afternoon exploring with the dogs in tow. We ate lunch in an alleyway just off the main square, then worked our way down to the shore where a stretch of sandy beach started where the city blocks ended. It was protected by a sturdy rock jetty that we could walk out on. From its furthest point, Jen took a 360-degree panoramic video of the town, beach, distant hill, and blue-green sea.

It seemed too difficult of a prospect to not stop for gelato on our way back up, though a different set of cobblestone walkways than the ones that had brought us down to the water.

We motored back to Mussomeli and got ourselves psyched for this evening’s challenge: navigating a Sicilian restaurant without Chris and Wendy.(Our Sicilian super-hosts were double booked for tonight and obliged to attend a friend’s going away party.) Our adventure veered toward disaster when the wait staff had trouble comprenending our request for a small aperitivo plate to open our meal. They solved the problem by bringing us two large aperitivo plates. The crisis was averted when I ate just about every small sandwich and french fry within reach. We all then were able to bring the primi pasta plates that we had planned to eat after just a sampling of aperitivo. It ended on a high note when the restaurant’s owner — like most people here, a friend of Chris and Wendy — saluted us with a round of a limoncello-like liquor called Aqua de Cedri.

Adventures on the road

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Last year when we were in Florence visiting Nadia, Bob talked at some length about the crazy traffic patterns. Well, Sicily takes that same attitude and turns it up to eleven.

To start with, Sicily is an extremely hilly place. Looking out across portions of the landscape, you find it hard to imagine that roads can get through it at all. Those that manage it are steep, curvy, and narrow (though, to give Sicicly their due, in remarkably good condition). Then you get into a city, and realize that you didn’t understand the true meaning of the word “narrow”. If a street seems reasonably wide when empty, there will be cars parked on both sides. If you think a street is surely one-way due to its narrowness, you are likely wrong. If you think you are surely on a footpath, where you can stretch out your arms and practically touch the buildings on either side, it won’t be long before a car zooms around the corner. And if you are on a pedestrian alley with crowds of people, vendor stalls, and restaurants lining either side, then you will soon encounter a motorcycle.

Chris is the real hero here, as our chauffeur throughout this trip. He and Wendy usually drive a little Mini Cooper, but for our visit they rented a six-person minivan so we could all travel together. (This is a good thing — if one of the four of us had to drive, we’d likely still be stuck at the airport, unable to merge.) Just driving to their parking area in this larger car had us all holding our breath as we passed though alleys and around blind turns with approximately an inch to spare on either side.

All six of us in the car is a little tight, but workable. (Wendy, fortunately not prone to car sickness, has nobly been taking the back seat.) So today we decided to really amp up the difficulty level and add Pippa and Arlo, their two Newfoundlands. (For those who have not met Pippa and Arlo, that is about 270 combined pounds of dog.) We were headed for an overnight trip-within-a-trip to Palermo and the coastal city of Cefalu. Luckily the dogs are very patient and calm, but Wendy’s seat in the back became considerably more challenging. In the end we managed to fit ourselves, the dogs, and all our overnight supplies into the car.

Against all odds, the car also made it up the steep incline out of town, and over the mountain ridges on the way to the coast. Palermo represented its own driving challenges. One of the main roads into town didn’t have lanes, and it was hard to predict at any given time how many cars would attempt to get abreast of each other. I think we counted five at one point. But in the end we made it into the town center, which featured a lovely series of pedestrian-ish streets (featuring the occasional car, van, or motorcycle). We strolled around and took endless photos of picturesque alleyways, cobblestones underfoot and laundry hanging above. We caught some glimpses of the blue-green sea. We met lots of locals, given that Pippa and Arlo attract a lot of attention.

Eventually we were able to check in to our airbnb, a lovely spacious apartment in a cool walkable neighborhood. Then, minus the dogs, we headed out again to sample some of the culinary delights of the city. We were seeking out a few things that this area is particularly known for –firstly, drinks and apertivo at a lovely cocktail bar. We then sought out something called “mangia e beve” (oddly, “food and drink”) that consists of green onions wrapped in bacon. We didn’t quite have room left for arancini, but made sure to have some of the famous cannoli, which come in many varieties of shells and fillings. (Sicily claims to have invented the cannoli. The place we bought them from had “since 1024” on their business sign, which seems to be a bit of a stretch.)

The streets were lined with tables set out by the local restaurants, and packed with festive crowds enjoying food and drink. On our way back home on one of these streets, despite having already had our dessert, Chris was reeled in by a delicious burger smell so we all ended up having a late-night snack. It’s going to be hard for us to adjust to eating like normal people again once we return from this trip.

*Look out, there’s probably a motorcycle coming.*

Traveling through time

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Never underestimate the power of six people who are able to motivate and coordinate each other in such a way that all of them are ready to hit the road at 7:30. Just this feat suggests extraordinary accomplishments are possible.

Thus, we were feeling full of potenial as we headed out this morning for the city of Siracusa, about three hours away. Along with the pleasant sunshine and windshield-filling views of Mount Etna, one other thing buoyed our spirits. It was a tiny cup of goodness called Crema Freda — so good it could only be served in thimble-sized contaners at the highway rest area close to Catania. Ours got passeed around, and even people who only got a few sips were smiling for hours afterwards.

We got to Siracusa and parked our car well before the pleasant feelings wore off. Our mood was barely scratched by the ranks of school groups at our first tour stop of the day, the Necropolis Archeological Park. If getting up and out by 7:30 were not enough, now we would hop a few millennia back in time to when the Ancient Greeks had a colony in this area of Sicily. They built a grand amphitheater on a hillside, using stone quarried from higher up the hill. The resulting structure still stands largely intact, and the holes made by the quarrying are visible and explorable after serving a variety of functions, including as tombs, over the past 2,000 or so years. Much of the original rock of the amphitheater is currently covered by wooden planks because the place now serves as a venue for a summer concert series. This dampened the effect a little, but the location is still stunning — from the top you can look out over trees and city streets to the sea.

Also, we weren’t done time traveling yet. After a stroll through another quarry that left sizeable grottos that we could walk through (and whose accoustics the school groups could test out by screaming and whistling persistently) we found another amphitheater built by the Romans slightly fewer millenia ago than the first ruins we saw. This one seems to have less concert venue potential these days, but it did serve nicely as a wildflower breeding ground. The school groups were unimpressed and didn’t make it past the first viewing point.

Of course, by this time it was pretty much lunch time, and we had a general destination in mind: the island of Origia which is connected to the city by two short bridges and which shares the brunt of Siracusa’s tourist traffic with the Archeological park. People who like narrow cobblestone foot-traffic passages though sun showered two-story residential canyons would be very happy to get lost wandering around here. We were those people, even a little bit past the pont where were started to hope that the passage we were on would lead us to lunch, which one of them eventually did.

This was our first real pasta meal of the whole trip, and it did not disappoint, though only one of us decided to pursue Ortigia’s reputation for seafood. The penne with swordfish and eggplant was quite good, as were, reportedly, the carbonara, lasagna, pasta norma, and ragu.

From lunch we followed a general touring plan that was designed to hit major points in Otigia, which featrured multiple views of the Mediterranian. Perhaps the best view was back toward the city of Siracusa on the mainland with the white top of Mount Etna loomng above.
We also saw the island’s Duomo, which was built in the fifteenth century AD, incorporating pillars and other elements from a temple to Athena dating to the fifth century BC. This was not our first Duomo, but was quite memorable.
From here, we continued wandering until we reached the very tip of Ortigia, where the Maniace Castle projects a rather fort-like military presence with stark, thick walls all around and stairways leading off in improbable directons.

We didn’t actually go inside because our parking was about to run out.
Still, the walk back to the parking lot was as scenic a jorney as anyone in our mild state of hurry could hope for. We followed the shoreline on the opposide side of the island, which included some beaches where several people seemed to be considering the idea of wading into the still-chilly Mediterranean.

Food, wine, and new friends

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We had a relaxed start to our day today, enjoying the amazing views from the Brookses terrace and playing with the kittens. Eventually we meandered down to Chris and Wendy’s favorite cafe for breakfast pastries. I had some kind of amazing pistachio creation — apparently they are famous for pistachios here — and we enjoyed the fresh-squeezed orange juice. (Since we frequently see oranges hanging from the trees here, my guess is that it’s VERY fresh.)

After breakfast we took a short drive over the hills to take in some more amazing views. This region is extremely mountainous, with artistic pillars of rock jutting out dramatically. Sometimes buildings are constructed right into the rock, with it not being clear exactly where the rock ends and the building begins. In between are fields of crops and flowers covering the steep hillsides. We stopped to take some pictures of a large flock of sheep and enjoy the chiming of the hundreds of little bells that they wear around their necks.

Our main event of the day was a tour and tasting Wendy had arranged for us at a nearby winery. Our guide, Aldo, was friendly and knowledgeable, and the setting was amazing. The family that owns the winery bought and restored a hilltop villa — on the highest point for miles around — to use as a tasting room. There were breathtaking vistas in every direction. We tasted five of the wines, all made from grapes exclusive to this region of Sicily. Aldo also had a feast of local delicacies for us, with the winery’s own olive oil and locally made breads, meats, and cheeses.

On our way back, Chris and Wendy wanted to make a stop to introduce us to their friend Gianni. He is an artist with a country house near the winery. It’s the perfect setting for an artist, with lovely views and an amazing garden that we wandered around in. Gianni showed us many of his paintings — he’s working on a series of noteworthy women from around the world — and bonded with Tom over art. He even gave Karen and I each a painting to bring home.

We were all a little too tired to venture out for dinner, so we ended the day with delicious pizza from a nearby pizzaria. We’re preparing for an early start and a full day tomorrow.

Potluck in Sicily

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One of the main things in our lives that we do not write about in this blog is Potluck, which tends to happen once a week. It happens at home, or at least close to home, which is why you never find it in our travel blog.

Except now we are combing our home life with our travel life in rural Sicily. We have packed up Potluck staples Karen and Tom Palmer and traveled here to visit original Potluck co-founding family Chris and Wendy Brooks in their lovely European headquarters.

In fact, we haven’t seen Chris and Wendy for quite some time because they have been preparing this place for us. It should also be noted that if not for schduling conflicts we may well have the remaining club members, Michael and Carla, along with us.

But they went to London last week instead, and now they are missing out.

What are they missing out on? Well…

We had a totally comfortable and not-at-all stressful succession of flights from Boston to Munich to Catania, one of the larger cities on Sicily. It was marred only when Karen’s suitcase failed to come out onto the baggage carousel. Lufthansa’s miscue ate up a little of our first day, and caused Karen a wee bit of stress, but managed to pick it up later in the day because…

We took a few hours to hike around on Mount Etna, which towers over Catania, is still topped with a frosting of snow, and is an active volcano! We drove up to where the snow starts and where a ski resort operates for at least part of the year. While there are slaloming trails visible in the remaining snow, it looks like the ski resort has shut down for the spring. Some people were sledding on the lower patches, but most people were hiking around the non-snowy parts or even taking atv tours. We chose a short walk around a crater that was created by eruptions 1892 and looked over a lava fields from various eruptions, some starting to show vegetation growing on them, and some still new enough to be completely black. We also had a sweeping view of the city of Catania and the ocean beyond it.

It was chilly up on the mountainside — we were at about 6,200 feet in altitude — and we retreated into a cafe near the parking lot to warm up. Here, we got to try this trip’s first Italian delicacy (the first of many, we expect) — arancini. These are fried rice balls with meat and cheese in the middle. The Sicilian version (we are learning there is a Sicilian version of a lot of things), is not round, but pointed at the top in homage to pointy-topped Mount Etna.

As we were riding back down the mountain back into Catania, we decided to check in at the airport to relay a suitable address for the airline to deliver Karen’s suitcase, should it ever be located. Chris and Wendy’s address was deemed not suitable for reasons we’ll see a little later. It turns out that they had managed to locate Karen’s suitcase and it was waiting for her at the airport when she checked in. What good news!

The only bad news was that all this driving up and down hills was making me carsick. This did not improve as we neared the Brooks’ home in a lovely city called Mussomeli in the Sicilian hill country. There was really nothing to be done. In order for us to get to our destination, we had to get through a tapestry of curves and switchbacks. Mussomeli was visible on its hillside for quite a while, but for much of the drive it did not seem to be getting any closer.

We did finally make it into town and got into our new accommodations. I recovered significanly once I got out of the car and saw the place. I even helped Chris walk the two local celebrities, the Brooks’ Newfoundlands Pippa and Arlo, though the narrow, winding cobblestone alleys of their neighborhood in the heart of Mussomeli’s historic s old district. Then I fell asleep pretty much as soon as I lay down in bed because it had been such a long day. Any lingering feeling of carsickness melted away overnight and was completel obliterated when I got up the next morning to see…

The lovely expanse of Sicilian countryside visible from Chris and Wendy’s sunroom. It beckoned us to explore, which we did for most of our first full day in town. Everywhere we walked in Mussomeli, people would call out to Wendy and ask where the dogs were. We got to meet many of Brooks’ new friends and neighbors and wander even more of the cobblestone streets.

We even got to take in the city’s the first ever auto race! The race cars had been parked along the main road the day before so Chris and Wendy looked into it and found some times when the cars would likely be zooming by. We were among a small crowd at the finish line and got to see several of the cars — all hatchbacks — navigate a traffic cone s-curve and then sprint up the hill to the end of the race. It was not something we had imagined we would get to see.

After seeing seven or eight cars finish the race, we contined our wanderings through town, taking in urban wildflowers and periodic vews of the farmland on the facing hillside. We made it to the dramatic Castle Manfredonico, which wraps itself around a giant pillar of craggy rock just outside of town. It was closed today, but we took the initiative to try to hike around the base of the stony island it sits on. At this point, it is not actually clear to us if there is a trail that goes all the way around it. We found a trail, but among the few thing we became certain about were that it puts you in close proximity to a lot of thorny thistle, and there is a random mud patch that took us all by surprise and muddied us up considerably. We abandoned our circumnavigation not long after the mud.

Still, there was more excitement to come. We saw two motorcyclists escape hot pursuit by the Carabinieri. We had a nice aperitivo on the sun porch. We played extensively with the two tiny kittens Chris and Wendy adopted just in time for our visit.

And we finished the evening in the most appropriate way possible: a potluck dinner thrown by some of Wendy’s friends in the old town’s main square.

Summing up

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Our travel day home went pretty smoothly, despite a very early start and extremely long passport-control lines at Logan. Thanks to the Milan airport, we were finally able to try out an airport lounge! We declined to hit the bar at 8am (though some other people had to compunctions), but we did get a nice breakfast, cappucino, and a relaxing place to sit.

Some last thoughts about Italy. First, a few practicalities:

1. Italy was a good value! From past experience, we expected Europe to be pretty expensive. But that was not the case here. Even though we were staying and eating in the heart of the tourist areas, prices were quite reasonable. We got huge panini on foccacia bread for under $9, and could easily find high-quality pizza and pasta for around $10-$15 — and that included tax and didn’t require a tip.

Hitting the buffet at the airport lounge

Even drinks could be had economically. The house wine was usually a good deal at most restaurants, but it was not unusually to see cocktails for under $10 (again, with no added tax or tip). As an example, we ordered a liter of sangria at a restaurant in the heart of Cinque Terre, sitting on a terrace overlooking the beach near the train station (so, as touristy as you could get), and served with little trays of snacks — and it was about $23 total and served all four of us. Our morning cappucini could be had for 2 euros, if we found the right spot.

2. Getting the Firenze Card, which gives free access to a long list of museums and attractions, was a great deal for us. When it comes to museums, we’re more of a quick-browsing type family rather than a “spend hours studying each painting” type family, so it was great to be able to dip in and out of various places without worrying about the cost. (Psychologically, I also prefer to pay a lump sum in advance and then have everything be “free” rather than paying as I go.) l It was a bit of a hassle for a couple of the major places where we had to make advance reservations by phone, but also allowed us to skip long ticket lines. With the card, we saw the Uffizi, the Gallerie dell’Academia, the Palazzo Vecchio (including climbing the tower), the Galileo science museum, the Bardini Villa & Gardens, Boboli Gardens, and Pitti Palace. Many of these were just quick trips but all were worthwhile. Best of all, Lanie being under 18 meant she was added to our Firenze Card for free.

Getting our inexpensive spritzes to go from one of Nadia’s favorite spots

3. Seventeen is a golden age for visiting Italy. Lanie was young enough to get in to most attractions free or at a reduced price (see above), but old enough that she could order drinks anywhere without any questions.

4. Everyone we came across spoke English. This was the case even when we got away from the prime tourist areas in Milan. Everyone was kind and helpful, and we didn’t encounter any anti-American sentiment. However, everything was also CROWDED, especially in Florence. The major tourist areas around the Uffizi/Palazzo Vecchio (which is where Nadia lives) were jam-packed at all hours.

One of our favorite museum exhibits was fashion through the ages, at Pitti Palace.

5. Trains in Italy were very easy to use, and the train stations were beautiful. As recommended by Nadia, I used the Omio app to purchase our tickets, which were all online. However, bathrooms were very hard to find, and required payment, in both Milan and Florence.

Secondly, I was going to write about each person’s favorite activity, but I encountered a rare unanimity of opinions. All of us counted the hike in Cinque Terre from Monterosso into Vernazza to be a real stand-out. We wished we were able to hike between more of the towns, but were foiled by needing to stay available for Lanie’s suitcase delivery, and a section of trail being closed. In general, we all loved Cinque Terre and would happily return.

Other highlights mentioned included the Uffizi, the Bardini Gardens (site of the Amazing Race), the Iris Garden in Florence (only open 3 weeks of the year; we got lucky!), and our cooking class.

Off the beaten path in Milan

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After all the excitement of the past several days, we decided to take it a bit easier today. We hadn’t planned or reserved anything, and didn’t really have any must-see agenda items. (The biggest attraction here is the Duomo cathedral/museum complex, and we half-heartedly checked for tickets in the morning, but none were available. Given all the art and churches that we’ve seen, no one was too devastated by this.) Bob and I let the girls sleep, and it was a record 11:30 before we made it out of the hotel.

Sforzesco Castle

I was googling “top things to do in Milan” and having trouble coming up with a good agenda for the day — everything was advertisements for fancy guided tours and/or more museums — when I finally had the bright idea of googling “free things to do in Milan”, which gave us a couple of better ideas. I plotted out a walking route and we set off for our first destination, Parco Sempione.

Milan seems to be full of beautiful parks, and this one might have been the crown jewel of them all. We saw online that there was an aquarium within the park — Nadia loves aquariums — so we made that our first stop. It was in a beautiful old building with a cool fountain out front, and — being pretty small and low-key — was the perfect antidote to all the crowds that we’ve been encountering everywhere. We spent a relaxing hour or two strolling through the exhibits and gardens. (One of the coolest things was that in a random corner of the basement, near the bathrooms, we found a gorgeous shell collection — and saw that some of them were from the collections of Linnaeus and Lemarck.) Total cost: 13 euro (about $15) for all four of us.

Continuing through the park, we next came upon the Sforzesco Castle. This was a large, imposing structure with multiple segments and courtyards. The interior housed an art museum, which we didn’t go into, but just the exterior areas were very impressive. (I was tempted to buy tickets for the Panoramic Battlements Walk, but wasn’t sensing a lot of interest from the troops in climbing a bunch of stairs.)

Next on the agenda was a walk past the Duomo, to at least see the exterior. Here we found the crowds again. The area of Milan where we’re staying is very urban and modern, but we found that the area around the Duomo is much more like Florence, but with even more beautiful architecture everywhere you looked. (Despite the crowds, walking was considerably easier because Milan has created actual pedestrian areas, rather than streets that appear to be pedestrian until a random taxi or delivery truck edges by.) It was definitely worth the trip to see the Duomo and all the amazing buildings around it.

That’s a real flamingo!

The restaurants around the Duomo were all crowded and expensive, so we veered off the tourist track again to find a place for a late lunch. We found ourselves walking through what was clearly a wealthy area of quiet streets and picturesque buildings. At one point we saw a tall wrought iron fence surrounding an area of greenery, with a few people peering inside. To our surprise we found that it was a large enclosed yard full of flamingos. We didn’t see any signs or public access, so we can only assume this was some rich person’s backyard. Eventually we got out of the wealthy area

Maybe Lanie didn’t want to share her pasta

and into a normal city neighborhood, to reach the fresh pasta restaurant that Nadia had found online. (They had about 8 different types of fresh pasta and even more types of sauces and cheeses, and you could construct your own meal. All were delicious.)

Next we headed to another park — the Gardens of Porta Venezia. This one houses a planetarium, where we were planning to take in a show. Unfortunately we found that the only shows that day were intended for children, so we had to skip that part of the agenda. We still enjoyed strolling the cool, shady paths of the park, watching the fashionable Milanese pass by, and the dogs playing in the large leash-free field. (Lots of people

We didn’t have time to check out the Natural History museum, in the same park as the planetarium.

in Italy have daschunds, which are particularly fun and comical to watch.)

Our last stop was the Secret Rooms escape room. Our family always enjoys escape rooms — and we usually do pretty well at them — but we hadn’t fit one in yet on this trip. Unfortuately, we found that Zoe is a key reason for our success, and we didn’t do all that well without her. We had to get several hints and were a minute or two late in finishing the challenge. Still, it was a fun way to spend an hour. On the way back to the apartment we rewarded ourselves with pastries from a local bakery.

There was a soccer game happening in Milan that evening, which Bob and Nadia had considered going to — but the 8:45pm start time was off-putting, given that we had to get up for our flight home at 5:30 the next morning. As a compromise, we tried to find a bar to watch the first part of the game — but sports bars seem a little harder to find here than at home. We tried a couple of places that didn’t work out, so eventually we just had a delicious Indian dinner and went back to our apartment for packing and an early bedtime.

The lovely courtyard in our apartment building

We finish Florence in amazing fashion

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There are clearly many surprises left to be discovered in Florence (like, who, exactly is sitting behind those little doors in the wall waiting to dispense glasses of wine?), but we have limited time here. Today gave us our last few hours of exploring.

As in previous days, we relied upon the Firenze Card, which gets us access to most of the city’s museums. It is a good deal if you like to browse through these places to catch the highlights and the general atmosphere. For someone who likes to methodically investigate a museum’s collection over the course of the day, it might not be such a bargain.

Before we could explore we had to vacate our lovely temporary apartment and find storage for our bags for the day (about 18 euro for three bags in an automated locker facility near the train station). Then we headed off to the Boboli Gardens for a pre-planned rendezvous with Nadia.

The gardens were elaborate and lovely, if a little unkempt in places. They featured a broad central boulevard which led to a circular lagoon with an island in the middle. The island was filled with all kind of flowers and fruit trees, but we could not get out to it. They were being watered; maybe they open the gates after that is done.

From there the boulevard slopes steeply upwards, and we managed our way to the top to find a field surrounded by sculpture and a view the the Pitti Palace spread out below us. This was all nudging us closer to a major goal of the day, and perhaps the whole trip.

A few seasons back, our family favorite show The Amazing Race visited Florence and there was a pivotal sequence that took place on a veranda above the city. Nadia was able to locate the site and pointed it out to us — it’s right across the river from her apartment. We have since been trying to get up there, and the Boboli Gardens provided our route. After strolling the upper portion of the gadens for a while — taking care not to follow any appealing trails back down towards the city, we found an exit that was only a five-minute (relatively level) walk to the Villa Bardini, which houses the famous (to us) Amazing Race Terrace.

Before we knew it, we were in the very same place where the Amazing Race contestant — who was a life coach and motivational speaker — came very close to having a complete breakdown because she could not figure out the task of carving a model of Michaelangelo’s David (that guy is literally everywhere you turn in Florence) from a block of plaster. Right behind it was the patio where teammates had to sit and watch the action take place. It’s a coffee shop now.

We reveled in reliving such a momentous event (this particular team wound up eliminated from the race, largely because of what happened on the Bardini terrace). It also has a very nice view of the city.

It’s worth noting now that since we got off the train from Monterosso on Monday, we have not been on any vehicles — with the exception of the ebikes from the tour yesterday. All day, all week, we have been walking around on our own feet. And we have been moving about a fair bit. Our legs and feet are starting to get worn out a bit.

Except for Nadia, who has had months of training at this. She led us down through the Bardini Gardens and across the river to her favorite sandwhich shop, where they slice up the fine artisinal sandwich meats right there in front of you. Then she brought us to another of her favorite spots, the Michaelangelo Gardens and terrace back in the hills above the city. Somewhere in there, she even found us a reviving spritz at one of her favorite corner cantinas.

Once back in the hills, even Nadia got a surprise because a special portion of the gardens recently opened up for a month or so. For the second time today, our march up the hill was tempered by such beauty as to lift the spirit and move our feet steadily along. Flowers can do that to a person.

The top of the Iris Garden led directly to Piazalle Michaelangelo, which is the most popular terrace overlooking Florence for people who are not Amazing Race fans. Thankfully, there are stands there selling refreshments, because our Italian sandwiches were salty and the water fountains in the Iris Garden were labeled non-potable.

From here, we worked our way slowly down through the adjacent gardents, stopping at Nadia’s favorite shady benches. She left us about halfway down to strike out for her apartment and pack for this evening’s train.

Faced with about two hours of waiting before departure, we decided to take in one more museum. The Pitti Palace was not far from our luggage and the train station. It was the third Firenze Card event of the day (the pass got us into the Boboli Gardens and the Villa Bardini — the Michaelangelo Gardens are free to the public). Here, we got to roam the extensive palace while visiting a fashion exhibit and the “modern art” wing, which, eventually, wound its way through the renaissance to make it to the late 19th century.

Then it was time to collect our bags, re-unite with Nadia at the station, and give our feet a rest while we enjoyed a two-hour train ride to Milan.

At the end of the ride we found a much more cosmopolitan atmosphere, with clear boundaries as to where cars and people were supposed to walk. We found our new temporary lodgings, and, on a whim, abandoned Italian food for a nearby — and very good — ramen restaurant.

E-bikes and wine: what could go wrong?

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Nadia suggested that sometime during the trip we Bob and I might like to do some kind of wine tasting tour, while she and Lanie went shopping. It may have been a ploy to get rid of us for the day, but it was a suggestion that we were on board with. I found a winery tour of Chianti (the region of Tuscany that we’re in) by e-bike, and we were sold.

Bob’s post yesterday about the roads here neglected to mention the bike factor. Amongst the crowds of pedestrians and incongruous cars (and golf carts, and scooters, etc.), there is a constant stream of bikes weaving in and out. There seems to be no consideration given to lanes of any kind — the cars/bikes/people just flow in whatever direction there seems to be space. We have had bikes zooming by us everywhere we walk — but today we got to experience the other side of the equation.

Our tour started right in the city center, so we had to wind our way through town. We started out right behind our guide, Iacopo, which is just where I wanted to be. Much less chance of getting lost or making some kind of traffic mistake. After about 10 minutes of riding through the city, the landscape pretty quickly changed to quiet streets lined with greenery and stone walls — and hills. It was extremely satisfying to start struggling on a hill and then just click the magic button that turned up the electricity and let you zoom forward almost effortlessly.

Iacopo was an excellent guide — knowledgeable and funny and friendly — but he was not one to dawdle. A little way outside town we found we’d lost three members of our group somewhere along the way. Our route had had several twists and turns, and apparently they hadn’t kept up. Eventually Iacopo decided that we had to continue on without them. He sent his friend Simone (who was along for the ride and had no affiliation with the tour company at all) back to try to round them up. (“He has a map,” Iacopo declared confidently.)

The route was beautiful, winding through the hills with gorgeous views of Tuscany opening up on either side. We wound through vineyards and olive groves and the occasional town. Once in a while we’d stop to take in the views. As we were about to leave one of these stops, Iacopo began to whoop and whistle. Simone and the errant Italians had appeared in the distance. (Although Iacopo had sent Simone off to find them and bring them back to us, he was clearly astonished that Simone had actually managed to do so.)

For the rest of the trip, my main goal was to try to avoid getting behind them. Even after the getting lost incident, they didn’t seem to be in any rush to keep up with the group. One of them in particular didn’t really seem

This was a sculpture in a town famous for popularizing Italian terra cotta.

to know how to ride a bike, and when nearby I was constantly hearing the grinding of gears. I kept getting stuck behind them, watching the distance to the rest of the group grow, and then eventually having to pass. I much preferred being up front with Iacopo and the punctual Germans, where I didn’t have to worry about being left behind in the hopes that Simone would find me.

We stopped at a family winery for lunch and wine tasting. The food, as always, was delicious. The winery also makes olive oil, but apparently this is so labor-intensive that it’s not very profitable. We got to enjoy some with our lunch, though. On the way back we stopped at a couple of viewpoints with amazing views back over Florence (and very steep downhill descents). After we returned to the city we went to another bar for some more wine tasting and snacks. (We declined seconds on the wine, being mindful of the upcoming periously journey back through the city.) Even though I ended up at the very back of the line and there

Line at Zaza

were a few touch-and-go intersections, we made it back without getting lost or colliding with any pedestrians. I made ample use of my bell.

After all the excitement it was time to meet back up with the girls. Our friends the Sullivans are also in town visiting their study-abroad son, and invited us over for apertivi on their terrace. We picked up the ingredients for limoncello spritzes on the way over, and they were pretty good even though we accidentally bought still water instead of sparkling water.

Nadia had made a dinner reservation for us at her favorite (and apparently, everyone’s favorite) restaurant, Trattoria Zaza. We were able to swoop in past the long, long lines and enjoy a delicious dinner on their patio. Afterwards we went to Nadia’s favorite gelato shop, which had a very long line even at 10:30pm. We can only hope that the miles and miles of walking that we’re doing is burning off some of the many, many calories we’re eating and drinking.