italy

Lake Garda, Northern Italy

~ Bel Dunbar ~ Leave a comment

Lake Garda is a moody child. Clear, blue, calm and loving when the weather is fine. Grey, sleek, mysterious and dropping its lip when it’s cloudy. Sad, drab, frowning and stamping its foot when it’s raining.

The southern end of Lake Garda aligns with Milan & Brescia to the West, and Verona & Venice to the East. To its’ North, Switzerland and Austria and to its’ West, France. Our host tells us it’s very popular with German tourists and we notice many during the shoulder season. Lake Garda is somewhat of a cycling Mecca; we are wading through roadies in which ever direction we have taken these past 5 days. In this year’s Giro, part of the route was through Lake Garda’s mountainous terrain and we’re not at all surprised! The area is also well known for hiking and sailing, as well as other recreational water activities. It’s beautiful and we’ve loved our time there.

Sunday. The rain has finally eased off and Rod and I are keen to get out on foot and do some exploring. We are high up in the hills, about 150m above the waterline, but feel after all the steep steps, hills and walking we’ve done lately, we can surely walk into ‘town’ and back again. We mostly follow the narrow winding road and spot a landmark in the port area of Maderno. I set my phone navigation to that point. We find little walk throughs, to keep us off the road; they are sleek and slippery with the recent rains on top of the moss which has accumulated in the shady parts over the years. We are spat out into a little residential street which brings us directly to the front of the Church of Maderno. It was built in the 8th century, but upgraded to a Baptismal church in the 9th century (we don’t actually know what that means…). We walked in through the solid doors, worn smooth over the years with use, and looked around in amazement. Hamish has called these happenings ‘happy accidents’ where we accidentally find a little treasure. The church was incredible, with the added bonus of: no crowds, no queueing and no cost. It bore the same intricate designs and paintings that can be seen in the more well known churches.

We followed the coast and found an old mansion built by a wealthy family called Delai. It was palatial and still quite impressive; the original frescoes can be seen on the external walls. We found some steps which put us up on the main road North – this wasn’t a fun place to be, due to our proximity of the traffic and lack of space for pedestrians, but the views were beautiful. We eventually found a lesser road and started our ascent back home. Mostly this was OK, but the last few hundred metres was killer!

Monday. Our plan for the day was to drive to the northern most town of the lake (Riva del Garda) for some exploration and lunch. The roads (and Italian drivers) have really tested Rod’s nerve and skill – the road was multi-directional, hugged the coastline and largely consisted of tunnels of various form: new machine built (well lit, wide with good drainage), old machine built (pointed dome shape, cut out arches with views of the Lake, narrow lanes with varying degrees of drainage) and hand built (dark, damp cave-like and narrow).

We eventually found a real car park (after Apple Maps suggested a car park existed in a school) and were rewarded with half a day set in the most beautiful waterfront surrounds. Pedestrian areas make life much easier and Riva mostly had car free zones. We found a little restaurant in a side street and had a light lunch (caprese salad, vegetable soup, lasagne and spaghetti with olive oil and chilli). We then caught a very steep funicular to visit the Bastione Di Riva (ye olde castle ruins). Fun fact: the funicular was finished just as COVID started. Prior to this there was a chair lift. Of course, gelato was in order after this excursion and you’ll be pleased to know I’m branching out, and getting out of my ‘but I only like vanilla’ phase and ordered some sort of cherry swirl which was to die for. The ducks were cute and very interested in hanging out with the people. How can anyone be grumpy when there’s gelato AND ducks!

Tuesday. Rod has been wistfully watching the ferries cross each day, so it was only fair we explore the Eastern side of the lake by catching a ferry to Torri del Benaco. Torri is another small village and we’d done zero homework except for Rod checking out the ferry timetable. The ferry ride was smooth and in 30 minutes, we were walking off the gangway. We walked to our left and found another castle: The Scaliger castle, built in 1383 (although Rod tells me there was a castle there prior to that from the 10th century). The castle/museum was closed between 1230 and 1430 (typical Italy, closed for lunch) so we continued sauntering along the waterfront, which is a very pleasant way to spend some time. Plenty to see: water birds, buildings, statues, boats, mountains and the clearest water you can imagine. We ate lunch at a restaurant right on the lakefront and had pizza and pasta, and some refreshing rose wine (it seems to be sparkling here? – no complaints from us though!). Hamish fed the ducks with grissini and once again, we reminded ourselves how fortunate we are to be living this travelling life.

We lined up at precisely 230pm for the castle doors to be unlocked. The goal for Hamish and I was to visit the ramparts. The ferry was due to leave at 305pm so we dutifully walked through the other displays (fishing, olive oil production, something else…) before reaching the top of the castle, grabbing some quick pics, peering over the edges, before climbing the narrow stair case back down, collecting Rod on the floor below, then heading to the ferry. We made it with time to spare! Gelato was our reward back in Toscolano-Maderno, as well as the discovery of another gorgeous little church. We have seen 5 perfectly preserved, intricately decorated, old churches in Lake Garda, including one with a crypt – they have been very impressive, more happy accidents.

A note on Cycling: we haven’t.

We’re now in France, in a medieval village called Roquebrune in Cap Martin. It is tucked into the corner of France and Italy, with Monaco a mere 9km away. We’re here for 4 more nights – more stunning views which make the wine taste even sweeter.

Tuscany

~ Bel Dunbar ~ 2 Comments

This post comes to you from the confines of our cosy apartment in the lush hills of Toscolano-Moderna, Lake Garda. Lake Garda is the biggest lake in Italy and we are situated on the western side. We arrived mid afternoon Friday – it’s been raining for the past 4 days so our activities have been curtailed to an extent.

Rod’s note to self: Rookie mistake.

After collecting our lovely lease car in Rome we need to refill the tank fairly soon. I pull off the motorway and stop at a bowser and am pleasantly surprised when an attendant offers to do the job. (It can be confusing working out the system in a different country.) It seems expensive when I look at the total, as I have seen fuel much cheaper already on this trip. Whilst waiting for Belinda and Hamish to return from the Autogrill (and trying to figure out how to lock the car*) I check out the price per litre at a bowser. It seems comparable to others I have seen. I wander over to the bowser where I was refilled and it is more than 30 cents per litre more expensive! I have learned that there are two choices- Self or Service. I will not make this mistake again.

* The car locks automatically when you walk a few paces away with the key. We have a spare key, which was still in the car. So it would not lock.

Santa Brigida – We stayed 3 nights in this quintessential Tuscan village. When you picture Tuscany in your mind (take a few seconds to do that now) I’m sure the images popping into your head are some of these: an abundance of olive trees, wineries, hills and mountains, rivers, stone walls, narrow roads, elderly people conversing on corners and houses the colour of an “Autumn” eyeshadow pallet. This is exactly what we experienced – we wished we’d stayed longer.

During our stay, we successfully attempted two day trips to Florence, catching the train from Sieci which was a 10 minute drive from our village. On our first day in Florence, we headed to the famous Ponte Vecchio which spans the Arno River. We had a basic (but expensive) lunch and walked across the bridge and then headed to the Michaelangelo Pallazo (the highest lookout in Florence). At this point in time, it was a bit drizzly, but not too bad. I had an umbrella, Rod had his waterproof jacket and Hamish had his puffy. I tried to share my umbrella with Hamish, but this was tricky on the narrow paths. The weather was 20-ish degrees, so we were sweaty as well as being rain drenched – such a lovely combination. Once at the lookout, there wasn’t much to see due to the grey skies, drizzle and cloud cover, so we looked for a toilet (it was closed) and then the heavens decided to really open up. We made our way into a very flash hotel for some afternoon tea and plan our escape back to Santa Brigida – no taxis, no buses…it was looking like we were going to have to walk in the pouring rain, but then at the last minute, a taxi dropped off a couple and we jumped in.

Not to be deterred, we planned a second trip to Florence. A note here about us and being organised: we are not. We barely made the train in time due to the post office visit taking way longer than expected and then, not being able to find a car park at the train station – and all this after giving ourselves PLENTY of time. We are going to have to lift our game for December, when we will be travelling between countries on trains. Back to our Florence trip – we felt we were more organised this time with wet weather gear and walked around the Duomo and had purchased tickets for the Galileo Museum. The museum was an interesting look at the evolution of science and technology over time, from early telescopes, microscopes, scales, electrical equipment and medical models. Galileo’s middle finger is preserved and just sits there; thin and papery, jutting out from a glass vase – apparently it was removed when he was relocated from one burial site to another.

This map was made in 1688
Weigh chair

As we left the museum, the rain ramped up. At one point we sheltered in the Lego store with others! The wet weather gear was no match for the torrential rain (well, my umbrella was great, but my shoes were drenched and my jeans wet up to my knees – Rod and Hamish didn’t fare particularly well either, but their torsos were dry!) Florence’s buildings have no overhanging rooftops, which meant most visitors in Florence that day suffered and/or huddled in doorways. We eventually made it back to the train station and had afternoon tea, before catching the train back home. The rest of the day was spent drying clothes: jackets, shoes and bags.

Gino Bartali Museum – earlier this year, my friend Trent (workmate and cycling aficionado) had loaned me a book about an Italian cyclist (Gino Bartali) who was a professional cyclist for 20 years, won two Tour de France races, 10 years apart, as well as two Giro d’Italia’s two years in a row. He also is perhaps less well known for his work for the Italian Resistance: carrying messages in his bike frame, hiding Jewish families, working with a priest in Florence to provide false documents and leading Jews to the Swiss Alps. As he was somewhat of a national treasure the Nazi’s were loathe to upset the general population, so left him, largely, to his own devices. He would ride in his racing jersey with his name on it, all in the name of ‘training’ – hiding in plain sight. His home town of Ponte a Ema was only a short drive from our village of Santa Brigida, so we visited the museum on our way to Lake Garda. The museum is only open on a few days, for a few hours, so the planets aligned for us! The museum is about cycling and the progression of bike technology, not about his resistance work, but it was very interesting for Rod and I. Bartali’s TdF winning bike was on display, as well as a few of his jerseys. Other Italian cyclists have jerseys and bikes housed there, such as Vincenzo Nibali – I could lift his bike with one finger! (Bertali’s bike on the other hand, is made of steel) and look at the size of that jersey! Incredibly privileged to be able to visit this museum.

Front press brake
Want to change a gear? Pull these levers!
Gino’s Maglia Rosa

We are staying at Lake Garda until Wednesday. The weather is due to clear up tomorrow afternoon and we’re keen to hire some bikes Monday and do a bit of exploring around the lake. Some of my cycling friends would love the amount of climbs, elevation and switchbacks here, but for the rest of us humans, we just look in awe.

3 Days in Rome

~ Bel Dunbar ~ Leave a comment

Today is Tuesday October 15. It’s currently 10pm and we’re sitting around our very beautiful apartment in the Tuscan hills north of Florence, in fact, in a small village called Santa Brigida. (Edit: It’s not 10am Wednesday morning…) We collected our leased Peugeot 308 today from the Rome depot (we’ve done this twice before, once in Rome and once in France) and we will have it for the next month. Let me know if this is something you’d like to hear more about – hiring cars in Europe can be tricky and expensive, but we’ve found this lease company great to deal with.

In other news, since our departure 3 weeks ago, Hamish has grown and is now the tallest member of the family. Something I was acutely aware of when we got into the car today. He’s going to be wanting some front seat leg room!

Back to Rome – let’s start with Transport:

Departing Athens was straightforward – Uber and an airport bus. The bus is a dedicated airport bus, but has nowhere to store luggage. We just placed our bags flat in the central, circular, concertina area mid-wickets; no one seemed to care and no doubt we’re not the first ones to do this. Moving day is always lengthy and tiring. Always. We flew with ‘Sky Express’ a Greek airline and were rewarded with seats in the 3rd row – the curtained off area! Sounds fancy, but Sky Express are a bit like Jetstar inasmuch as you pay pay pay for everything (extra bags, food, seats etc). We had a 15kg checked luggage allowance and a 8kg carry on limit, but with a bit of prior rearrangement of heavier gear, did this easily.

I’d pre booked tickets on an airport bus from Rome Airport (Fiumicino) to the central train station (Termini) as it was half the price of the direct train – the Leonardo Express. Everything was running smoothly until we got to Termini and had to find our next platform, to catch a local train to a stop near our suburb. Rod bought our 48 hour public transport passes (Roma 48) and we eventually found the station Laziali – separate from Termini altogether. The ‘station’ and ‘platform’ looked like a scene from a post apocalyptic film – unmanned station, no one around, grass growing up through the tracks, a two carriage train, a teen jumping the barrier. Was there even a driver? Who knew. As the train pulled in we spoke to the driver “Saint Elena?” (That was our stop) “Si, yes, we stop” – so we got on. Like I said, not an ordinary train at all. Two steps up, very high into the carriage and then single rows of seats either side of the carriage. No button to press to alert our stop is coming up – we looked confused at best and thankfully a young man with his family talked to us and helped us out. Our plan was when the train stopped, I’d jump down and Rod would pass the luggage out as quickly as possible! It worked out in the end, and in fact, we caught that little weird train again today to get back to the Termini.

Whilst in Rome we used the metro – it was fast and efficient and the trains arrived (unlike the busses in Athens). But like Athens, most of the trips we experienced had 4 or 5 times the amount of people who can actually fit into a carriage. You just keep moving forward and moving forward, making sure you can reach one of the grab rails. It’s definitely a novelty, but it wore off quickly. Hamish was quick to spot someone getting up off a seat and would try to position himself ready to sit down.

Accommodation: Last week our Rome accommodation was cancelled and I rebooked a 2 bedroom apartment in a SE suburb of Rome called Pigneto. I’d ummed and aarhed about Pigneto from Australia months and months ago, but had gone with something a little closer and let’s be honest, a little cheaper. Rome is expensive! Pigneto is described as ‘hipster’ and this was apparent by the cool bars, restaurants and the trendy people riding bikes: fats, fold up electric, single speeds and cruisers. The vibe of the suburb wasn’t apparent until we headed out for dinner – the place was vibrant and we loved it. Our apartment would not have been out of place in Fitzroy or Brunswick, for example, but the only thing we didn’t enjoy were the neighbours who would activate modes: ‘yelling loudly’ or ‘singing badly’ as their only form of communication. Fortunately we have adjusted our meals times already (dinner at 8pm-ish), so we didn’t have to bear the noise for long.

In Pigneto and Vatican City we noticed a couple of street artworks we recognised from Paris 9 years ago: Space Invader. Invader is a French street artist who is known for tile mosaics based on the space invader game. A good pick up from Rod!

Food & Drinks: We have eaten well in Rome, very well. Pizza, focaccia, pasta, gelato, wine, aperol spritz, various cured meats and cheese – we have loved it all!

Activities: Day 1 – self-guided tourism. Before arriving in Rome, we were aware of the major restoration works being undertaken for the 25 year jubilee (it’s a religious thing) that is happening next year. So we were expecting scaffolding and barrier tape, but we didn’t care. The city is still impressive and we loved wandering the streets and side alleyways.

Spanish Steps – Trevi Fountain – Pantheon – Colosseum – Roman Forum – Palatine Hill

Day 2 itinerary – organised tours. We’d planned months ago to do separate activities today based on interest and it worked well. On this trip, Hamish would like to go to as many micro-nations as we can squeeze is, starting with Vatican City, the most micro of them all.

Rod and Hamish – Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel (written by Rod and Hamish)

We arrive quite early, since we all took the same train and Belinda’s tour starts 30 minutes before ours. It’s very quiet in and around the Vatican at this hour. We look for our meeting point, which is a shop, but it is closed, so we walk around the corner for an early morning tea. No complaints from Hamish!

We start on time, after the shop does open and begin the walk to the Vatican museum, smugly strolling past queues at least 100 m long, with little evidence of movement. But then we get planted somewhere in a queue and the whining starts from some of our group. Why are we waiting? We paid extra for this! (Boomers!)

But the wait is brief and we are underway. It is quite overwhelming, with non-stop art/artifacts amidst a constant throng of shuffling people. We keep moving and observing; statues, gardens, views, paintings, fountains, tapestries, sarcophagi and more, before finally landing in the Sistine chapel with its abundance of art works and tourists craning their necks to view the ceiling. Our guide is good and the bluetooth works well. Hamish agrees that was a fascinating journey.

Hamish: it was amazing going to a teeny tiny country. A micro nation is a country less than 2km squared and I don’t know why I am interested in them, I just am. To me it did feel like a different country, due to, I don’t know, just the vibe. TBH is was amazing going to the Vatican – it was cool.

Belinda – St Peter’s Basilica, Papal Crypts & Dome climb.

I learned quite a bit about The Vatican (for ease, I think I’ll just combine Vatican/Vatican City/Catholic Church and call it “The Vatican”) from the guide on my 3 hour tour, but none of it was endearing. I tried to be open minded and non-judgemental, but it was a challenge…Here are a few (objective) facts:

The Vatican is not subject to regular laws and rules, including tax laws. Near the end of WW2 they protected a high level Nazi (I won’t name names, but he was instrumental in the ‘Final Solution’) by giving him false documentation/passport to escape to Brazil (in return, he allowed a few Jewish people to live).

There is strict, state run media – no free press.

All visitors are subject to CCTV

The current Pope is 88 and is confined to a wheelchair – he tried to be progressive once by showing support for all people and their right to marry, but this backfired and now he espouses a woman’s place is bringing up children and men should work to support their families

The current St Peter’s Basilica incorporates the old Basilica (which was destroyed thousands of years ago) and is a very impressive cathedral. It’s beautiful.

There are 550 steps to the top of the Dome – some are wide and flat, some are steep and worn. The Dome is the highest point in Rome – nothing is allowed to be higher. Many people climbed it, including me and when you get to the top, you get a photo and start the descent. I’m OK with heights, but at one point the dome is starting to curve in, but you’re still walking in a straight line – it messed up my proprioception for a bit, as my poor little brain tried to make sense of what was happening!

The ‘paintings’ in the Basilica are actually glass mosaics, due to the lack of temperature/humidity control. The original paintings are stored somewhere else.

During reconstruction of part of the building a full male skeleton was found: this was said to be St Peter. No carbon dating, no scientific proof – could be anyone, but The Vatican says it’s him, so it’s him.

And finally, the tour guide didn’t like it when I mentioned The Vatican protected “an Australian Cardinal” – did I care? No. His response was along the lines of ‘you shouldn’t let your personal life become public’ – I could have (should have) stood up for the lives of many Australians who have been abused by Catholic priests, but didn’t want to be escorted from the premises, or taken out by a Swiss Guard.

And just before I go, you can select a picture to make it full sized and don’t forget, you can have this blog delivered to your inbox by hitting subscribe at the bottom of the blog.

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