Vesuvius, the Volcano

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Vesuvius… Yes, as in the actual Volcano

A hike up to the top to see a crater that once ravaged a civilization.

If I heard “I hear it was going to blow today” or “…or it’ll blow” once last time from any more creative tourists walking on the rim of the crater, I think I might just have to give out flyers to the best discount taxi service from Ercolano.

In Ercolano, the taxi guys tried to convince us that there was snow and ice at the top and the bus was not going to allow us to get to the top parking lot. Well, I know how these Italians are down south, they always insist and basically know the best sales talk possible. But, we didn’t listen and of coarse they were right and we were completely wrong. Our bus stopped at the ice (shown in the link), we had to walk all the way up to the top parking lot and then 30 minutes more on the side of the crater. Walking uphill while stripping layers, we watch ourselves and the accompanying ‘5-Star’d fur coated highhealed tourists’ (who obviously didn’t expect such an adventure) slipping all over the ice coated pavement. Then of coarse, Mario and Luigi, the taxi drivers who spent forever trying to get our business, passed us by while smiling and rubbing it in with a wave.

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Christmas Sunset on Capri

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Christmas on Capri

Just another day spent enjoying the best of Italy!

Capri is a remote island destination where movie stars go for a breath of vacation air. On Christmas it was nothing too special, but absolutely the most uplifting experience I’ve had in awhile. From just walking around the island witnessing beautiful landscapes and blue water grottos, I was happy to be there. Fortunately, when the weather warms up the island is flooded with tourists but my visit was enjoyed in peace. I walked around in the sun and managed to get some amazing pictures. During my holiday away from home, it was hard to compare Christmas at home versus being on an island experiencing something new with beautiful weather.

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Pompei Is Still Ruined

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The Ruins in Pompei

An educational daytrip in one of Italy’s well known ruins.

Pompei contains the preserved building that survived the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius hundreds of years ago. Because ash preserves structures, the city still dwells for many people to visit. Ancient Greek civilization and an empire that ruled in its day belonged to Pompei. When the volcano erupted many people were buried in lava that surrounds and some people covered in lava are on display. This is the most visited site in the south of Italy and even in the winter many people were there visiting. It was a historical and educating experience although I wish I knew more about the history of Pompei before I visited.

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Naples, The Heart & Soul of Italy

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Naples, the Unexpected City!

Real Italians, Real Italy, a Really great time!.

Naples is by far the heart of Italy, and definitely my favorite portion of the trip. If you continue ignorance and avoid visiting this street smart place you are flat out stupid. People are friendly. Once you know one person they say you know them all. I went out to a bar one night and introduced myself to an Italian girl who turned around and introduced me to the entire building.

The attitude in Naples is very unique… No schedules and nothing planned, its all a surprise. The trains follow the same schedule. I went shopping on via Toledo and asked the workers of a store what time they were going to close and they replied “we don’t know… we really don’t know..” and that’s basically how everything runs.. no rules!

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Florence Will Always Be A Favorite

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Florence, Always A Favorite!

Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, Museo Archeologico, Accademia, and Uffizi.

Florence is always a great place to visit with a large amount of historical sites to see and many things to do. There were hardly many tourist but I can imagine how flooded the city can get during the summer, it must be hell. I experienced most of the typical tourist attractions and really enjoyed the time spent in the city. During this portion of the trip me and Sarah decided to spend time to ourselves and at the end of Florence both understood that we needed to venture on our own. Florence offers beauty, great food, art, and its definitely a place everyone should see.

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Selva Val Gardena Is Dolo Mite!

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Val Gardena…It’s Dolo Mite!

World Class Skiing in the North of Italy.

When arriving into Selva Val Gardena/Groden you’ll wonder if its still Italy. Dialects and accents sound completely German and everything else follows. Val Gardena is part of the ‘Dolomiti Superski’ which under one entity has to be one of the World’s Top 10 Ski Resorts. It isn’t the ‘Alps’ every American only knows about, its the ‘Dolomites’.

According to Euro’s who’ve been to both worlds, Dolomiti Superski and inclusive Val Gardena is much larger and arguably better than the Swiss, French, or Austrian Alps. At most, 20% of the ski area is equivalent to that of Vail, Squaw Valley, Mammoth, or Beaver Creek. This monstrously massive ski area can be unbelievable. With its Sellaronda Carrousel, you can access 12 huge ski basins, each comparable to Brekenridge, CO, into one infinite and endless ski world.

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Exploring The Canals of Venice

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The Canals of Venice

The Grand Canal, San Marco Basilica, Rialto Bridge, and much more.

In Venice you will find one of the most beautiful places in all of Italy and Europe. It reflects its pictures and what you imagined. To see it in real life will make you happy you visited. The entire experience of Venice was excellent. The first night we walk around forever trying to find a hotel worth paying for. Luckily, great social skills came into play when the receptionist finally offered me a great price for a hotel perfectly located in the middle of San Marco. Venice is quite expensive as it attracts many tourists each year so bargaining helped us to survive. During our time, we bargained a good price for a gondola ride through the canals, experienced a Sunday service in the Basilica of San Marco, visited the Musei San Marco, took boat rides along the Grand Canal, and viewed many other sites. During the summer its overcrowded, higher priced, and apparently smells like fish, so we were able to avoid all of this and make our time in Venice a relaxing and spacious one.

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Leaning For Pisa

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Leaning for Pisa

Just minutes late to go up to the top of the tower coincidentally on re-opening day.

From the Cinque Terre via La Spezia we arrived for a few hours in Pisa to see the tower, Duomo, and necessary landmarks. We originally didn’t plan to visit Pisa, but decided to after being mislead with train schedules from a lady. Very funny.

The good news was that we came to Pisa the reopening day of the tower since the early 1990’s. The bad new was that we figured this out a bit late and didn’t have ourselves together in time to be the last tour up to the top of the tower. But you can say we were the first to see the last of the first people go up?….. Ok, I know we suck.

Many people told me that going to Pisa was a waste of time because there is really nothing else to do. I will be the second person to say the same thing. Going to Pisa to see the tower only makes sense if its on the way to your next destination, otherwise I would not plan my life around it if I were you. We were en route to Florence so it was kinda on the way… kinda. We stopped in Bologna and next time I go to Italy Bologna I get off that train.

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Cinque Terre And Those Prickly Things

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Cinque Terre

During the winter its empty, but still nice to relax.

We arrived into Riomaggiore, one of five villages in the Cinque Terre, confronting overcasted weather the first day and doubts about the city meeting its expectations. In Lonely Planet, and according to people who have been, the Cinque Terre is suppose to be beautiful all year round. But with snow falling during the night from cold temperatures near the ocean, our ‘layout in the sun’ hopes were a big laugh. So instead, the trail between the five villages kept us busy, taking into consideration it was the ONLY thing to do. The weather permitted us to complete 3 out of the 5 villages, touching Riomaggiore, Manarola, and Corniglia, but missing out on Vernazzo and Monterosso. The next morning made up for everything with clear skies and beautiful weather.

I think Cinque Terre is a place you should see but only if you have time to spare. I think Cinque Terre would be charming had I not known about it and stumbled across it by accident… and, if it was sunny. There is really not much to do, not even a beach to sit out and play. The coast is rocks and cliffs, but beautiful. I bet in the summer it’s bustling. When we travelled there it was peaceful, almost a ghost town.

We stayed at a an aparmento that overlooked the entire village. When we arrived in the Riomaggiore we had no accomodations lined up so we consulted with a travel specialist when we walked through town. We were lucky to find a place to sleep because it was pretty late and dark. This Italian grandma walked us up a gazillion flight of stairs, opened up our apartmento and showed us the view. We were so tired at that point, we just said thank you.

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A Short Stop In Genoa

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A Sleepwalk Through Genoa

Our first day in Italy’s salami country, tired from an early morning flight.

We arrived safely, avoiding all the skyscrapers of Genoa by a few inches. The city is a small ocean industrial city with scenic ocean ports. We walked through the Thursday market and immediately got the best impression of Italy’s finest foods and delicatessens. We bought some wine and then traditionally went into the church. It was big and nice. Genoa was really interesting and hearing nothing about it made it even better. No expectations is the way I like to travel and not seeing any pictures or reading anything about it allowed me to really make my own experience more exciting. Genoa is known for it’s salami and when we arrived we tried many different slices of the delicious salami just walking around the streets. This was my first time walking in Italy and I definitely felt stimulated from little things like crossing a street. One thing that really stuck with me was seeing little bakery and pizza places along the way serving delicious home style thick crusted pizzas. It reminded me of my grandpa’s home cooking and it was so delicious, flavors that no Wolfgang Pucks or any other restaurant can ever re-create. In Genoa I noticed the many different bottles of virgin olive oil in the stores and later saw them in many stores across Italy.

Genoa was just our entry point into Italy and where we flew into to go to Cinque Terre. We took Ryanair Airlines from London for very very cheap, probably around $20. Ryanair has some great specials and is the way to travel. Many Americans like to do the package deals and just throw all their money away because they don’t know the secrets of travelling and where to stay. So as my little recommendation to those travelling from London to Italy, I highly recommend flying here with Ryanair. You will be surprised how cheap you can find flights to all the locations in Italia!!!

During our romp through Genoa we were low on sleep so it was quite the walk through the city… tiring, but a time to remember.

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