Be Back Whenever

Be Back Whenever

Monthly Archive: November 2019

11/14 The rest of the trip!

The overnight ferry from Palermo went pretty well. Lots of people use the ferry with their dogs and we met quite a few dogs as we wandered the halls.  We headed to Pompeii via train to Naples from the port. 

Pompeii is a HUGE site. We highly recommend NOT visiting Pompeii in the summer. Even though the temps were only in the 70’s, the humidity was high and there’s not much shade. According to our B&B owner, at least 2 people die every year from heart attacks. Mark and I are pretty sure more people than that break or sprain an ankle on the site.

All of the devastation was caused by Mount Vesuvius exploding. Only about 2000 people died from the heat and ash that buried the city. Excavations keep lots of archaeologists busy!
The forum where everyone gathered. This is the most visited part of Pompeii and walking around here is pretty easy. Mt. Vesuvius is in the background
A city street. You can see why walking is quite interesting!
The frescos are amazing. You find them in a variety of houses just wandering around.
Grand fountain
Mount Vesuvius in the background framed by one city gate.

After Pompeii, we headed off to Capri right at the end of the season (ends on 10/31). Many shops and a few hotels were already closed, not to reopen to around Easter.  Restaurants and bars also close for the winter and workers head off for 3-4 months of holiday.  Several waiters and owners told us they work 12-14 hours every day from Easter until the end of October and are more than ready for a break.

Closed for the season. Capri is full of high end shops which we did not patronize!

80% of visitors to Capri are day trippers and we can believe that! Cruise ship tour groups and “regular” tour groups crowded the center of Capri every day; when evening came, we pretty much had the island to ourselves. 

View of Capri Bay from the main square
On Halloween, the local kids went trick or treating to the local businesses. This King Charles spaniel helped greet the children.
The streets are VERY narrow in Capri. Special trucks pick up garbage, deliver goods. This one is a medical ambulance.
St. Michele Church in Anacapri with a tile floor painted with the story of Adam and Eve. It’s now a museum and not a church. You can see the walkway around the floor to walk around the floor.
We think the apple tree in Adam and Eve became a lemon tree in this floor. Lemons are all over Capri!

Rome was our last city. How do you get to Rome from Capri??  Not easily, if you’re not with a tour group.

  • Walk from your hotel to the funicular in Capri to get to the port.
  • Buy a ticket and take the ferry to Sorrento (about 30 Minutes).
  • Walk or take the elevator (1 euro) UP from the port of Sorrento to the main town.  Best 1 euro you can spend!
  • Walk to the train station, dodging tour groups.
  • Take the local train to Naples – think 24 stops and 50 minutes, standing the whole way unless you luck out and find a seat.
  • Take the highspeed train to Rome and figure out how to get to where you’re staying once you’re in Rome. We opted for a taxi to our AirBnB.

We arrived in Rome on November 1, All Saints Day, and a holiday in many countries. Rome was packed with people for the weekend but calmed down come Monday.

A carved foot from 200 AD
Fresco from Case Romane del Celio
Sunday, we went to St. Peter’s to visit the church and ended up seeing Pope Francis giving his blessing – in Italian!
One of the many churches we saw. We met an Italian TV personality in Palermo (She does shows about important houses in Italy.) and she told us to stop in any church when we see it open. You never know when it will open again! So many churches are plain and boring on the outside but when you walk in – WOW!

To get home, we flew from Rome to Frankfurt, spent the night, and took the direct United flight to Denver with the crazy lady sitting directly in front of Mark.  Other than punching the call button ALL the time, ignoring her lap baby and 5-year old, and yelling at the flight attendants, she was your normal passenger.  Denver’s finest met her when she got off the plane and United supervisors were everywhere!  Mark told the flight attendants to call him if they need any backup for her behavior!

11/14 Palermo

Our month in Sicily ended with 3 nights in Palermo before we took an overnight ferry to Civitavecchia, the port for Rome.  We weren’t really expecting much from Palermo, having never read many great stories about the city. It’s the largest in Sicily with about 700,000 people and is supposed to be quite dirty and chaotic.  Even the other Sicilians (not from Palermo) we met didn’t speak highly of it and warned us that traffic in Palermo is the worst on the island – mass chaos!

We enjoyed Palermo overall but have to agree that stop signs and red lights appear to be optional; park wherever – if your flashers are on, you’re legal!

We met some lovely people, ate some good food, and visited more churches, of course!

Best granite we had in a month. Granite is like a slushy but made with fresh fruit and some sugar. This one just used fresh lemons and ice. It was very tart and yummy!
Palermo twist on aperol spritz – limoncello, prosecco, tonic water, and a scoop of granite on the top. This was the best one!
It’s hard to see but the sign on the left side is a Water Closet sign. First time we saw it, we thought it had been moved. Second time, we figured out the sign points to a WC BEHIND the altar! We saw a few people coming out from there.
The Royal Chapel covered in mosaics on all walls and floors. It’s spectacular but small when we compared it to Monreale the next day.
Translation – horse meat. We didn’t go check out the various cuts you can buy.
We needed a beef burger after all the pasta and pizza that dominate most Italian menus. This restaurant let us choose between donkey, buffalo, pork, horse, chicken , veggie. Yes, beef is on the menu but didn’t make the picture.
Mark found this ingenious cat perch one day.

11/4 – A day in Erice

Erice is a tiny village perched on a mountain top above Trapani. You can reach it either by road or by cable car. We opted for cable car and spent a nice day wandering around the little town, losing our way in the lanes and streets with no names. Why would you want to know where you are??

We visited the obligatory church. This one had an amazing carved ceiling.
The truck fit, but barely. The streets were all paved in stones of various patterns. This was an easy one to walk on. Some of the others – not so much!
The view from Erice looking down!
Police station working hours. I guess you can’t report a crime any other time of day.

11/4 Sicilian questions

I’m so far behind updating our trip.  Can I blame it on slow connections?  Or maybe just having too much fun??

We spent 8 days in Trapani, just hanging out at a really nice AirBnb with a balcony overlooking the sea.  We had the best hosts EVER!  They supplied us with some Trapanese food specialties so we’d try them.  After we asked for a recommendation for the best cannoli, they stopped by the next day with 2 fresh cannoli for us!  “The best place was too far for you to walk.” They even gave us a ride to the bus station when we checked out.   

View from our balcony while we had a little Happy Hour.
This is the bay by Trapani. Lots of sailing, fishing, snorkeling goes on here. Our apt. was across the street from the bay
This is businate pasta, a regional specialty. The pasta is twisted and is a bit chewy but is yummy with sauce and garlic and seafood.
Salt is a product of the area. These salt pans are flooded with sea water and after the water evaporates, the salt is harvested. Harvesting season was over for the year.
Harvested salt!
Yes … that is harvested salt sitting at the dock waiting for shipment but we don’t no to where!

As we’ve traveled around the island, we’ve made some observations. Here goes!

  • Low to the floor beds!  5 out 6 beds have been ridiculously low to the ground.  Why?? Only one bed has had box springs – just fairly good mattresses.  We wonder what someone who grew up here thinks the first time he/she sees a U.S mattress and box springs on a high bed frame??  Mark says all the pillows are flat, too!
  • “Transition” coats – We learned this term from a German friend who says there’s no good English translation for the German word but it amounts to a light Fall jacket.  We see people in puffy coats all the time; meanwhile, Mark waers his shorts and Susan wears capris and no jackets. 
  • Sicilians don’t seem to be very fond of A/C or draughts either. Scarves are everywhere and not for decoration.  One of the ladies working in the Poste had a heavy scarf around her neck. We couldn’t even tell any A/C might be on!
  • Signage in National Archeological Parks or the lack thereof – After visiting 3 of these sites, we’ve determined no extra money is spent on signage to guide visitors around the sites in a logical – or even illogical order.  One site had a pretty good map; one had a barely useful map; and one had none at all!  The ticket guy just shrugged when I asked for one. Why would I need a map?
  • A few arrows along the way would help visitors decide if the track leads someplace – like to a temple – or if it’s just a track made by visitors? When they do have a “path”, let’s just say some of the paths would never quite be approved by the U.S. NPS!
  • Laundry  … just typical European washing machines – The wash and rinse process takes a minimum of 90 minutes. Why do our clothes need rinsed and spun 3 times??
  • Toilets – our grades for public toilets are based on 4 things: toilet paper, soap, water, and a hand dryer/paper towels. We haven’t found many that score 4/4. We carry TP and a hand towel with us along with hand sanitizer.
(c) Susan Athey