You don’t know about CCTV yet, you think I’m just an image on a computer. But moggie, I’m watching you! Things have moved along since you first pawed a laptop and back here I have your number! I see how your eyes narrow and your tail twitches when I do my twirly thing, how you salivate when I come closer to the screen and when I pussyfoot (pussyfoot, how’s that?) along the wire fence. In your dreams, Clarence, in your dreams. The future is here and it’s mine.
Amalfi, tiny and expensive is one of the easier coastal towns to walk around as it rises gently up the hillside from the waterfront rather than clinging vertically to it, like Positano for instance.
It is hard to believe that this very small town had a glorious history as a maritime republic on a par with Venice and Genoa, but Amalfi was a trade bridge between the Byzantine and western worlds for centuries with a population exceeding 70,000 (today, less than 5,000). Unfortunately, there are very few historical buildings of note to see as most of the old city, and its inhabitants, slid into the sea during the 1343 earthquake.
There is a delightful promenade along the waterfront and a marina full of colorful boats but the focal point of the historic center is the Piazza del Duomo with its striking cathedral dedicated to St. Andrew. There are sixty steps leading up to the Byzantine-style church with its Moorish-influenced arches and decoration and inside the church is a forest of columns and Arabesque arches and the hidden Cloister of Paradise, dating to 1266. The Piazza is lined with bars, cafes, gelaterias, artisan and tourist shops, and is a perfect place for people watching – if you can bag a table. It seems to be permanently busy. Don’t forget the water if you decide to walk up the steps, those 65 can feel like 100 when the sun is out.
Famous for the manufactire pf paper, the Paper Museum (Museo della Carta) is well worth a visit to see how the products were made by hand. There are still some family-owned paper mills that carry on the tradition of hand-made paper which can be bought in some of the high-end shops – good, if expensive buys, for that special present for someone who still likes to write letters.
However, the primary product of the area is lemons, enormous in size, picked fresh to make limoncello liqueur and to be used in local dishes. Lemon ice-cream features a lot in restaurants and gelaterias, the one by the town gate serving quite the biggest lemon sorbet I have every seen (or eaten).
If you don’t spend too much time over lunch or coffee, there will still be time to visit hilltop Ravello, full of historic, artistic, monumental and architectural treasures – another expensive town but exquisite in its layout, and its 13th century Villa Rufolo which has breathtaking views from gardens overlooking the sea. Famous names you’ll hear mentioned a lot in Ravello are Richard Wagner who was inspired by the Villa to compose some verses of the Parsifal, Boccaccio who stayed here while writing the Decameron, D. H. Lawrence who supposedly got inspiration for Lady Chatterley’s Lover while holidaying in the town and Gore Vidal who came for a visit and stayed for 30 years!
Shopping is rather special in Ravello too, as there are many craft and high-end fashion stops where you will find one-off garments – at a price, of course. Even the ice-cream advertises as ‘gourmet’ gelato though what that is I have no idea.
Restaurants bars and bistros abound, but walk around the interesting narrow backstreets of cobble-stones, peering in at dark interiors, looking over dry-stone walls fronting overgrown gardens and vegetable plots, if you want to see what this hill-top village is really like. Ravello is a great starting point for walks in the surrounding Lattari mountains along ancient paths.
Amalfi’s trading importance may have declined but its maritime importance continues, as you can hop ferries and hydrofoils to Capri, Salerno, and Positano. For me, the best way to view Amalfi is from the sea and the best way to do that is to take a boat trip around the bay, either in one of the 45-minute trips or by hiring a boat to take you to hidden coves to enjoy some private sun and surf. You will see the homes of Gina Llolabrigida, Sofia Loren, George Clooney (before he moved to Como I presume) and other famous names, smaller than you’d imagine because of their position built into the rocks. In the above slide show of scenes from the sea, the blue and white house set ino the hillside is that of Sofia Loren.
Known as The Amalfi Drive (formally Strada Statale 163) the coast road along the shoreline from Sorrento to Amalfi (and on to Salerno) is one of the most poular drives in Italy. Originally built by the Romans, it is one of the most photographed coastal routes in the world, seen in countless films like Under the Tuscan Sun and the Humphrey Bogart classic Beat the Devil (1957) featuring a young Gina Lollobrigida. Gamers may recognize it as a setting for fictional tracks in Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo 4 games. UNESCO actually named the Amalfi Coast an outstanding example of Mediterranean landscape and gave it a place on the World Heritage List.
Carved out of the side of the coastal cliffs for the greater part of its route, the road gives vertiginous views down to the Tyrrhenian Sea and to the towering cliffs above. It passes through Positano, the village of the rich and famous where fabulous villas accessible only on foot from above, by helicopter from the air, or by yacht from the sea, are built into the sides of the mountain, making it a major tourist attraction.
We originally took the guided tour by coach as this seemed the easiest way to experience the drive, and we were right, but we enjoyed the trip so much that we took the local bus a few days later and enjoyed it even more.
We decided against stopping off at Positano however, having been warned against this by a fellow hotel guest who had been left standing for hours as the buses returning from Amalfi were all full when it reached Positano so no chance of getting on one. Amalfi filled the day however, and we managed to fit in a trip to Ravello as well.
I have no argument with those who say that the 50 Kilometre Amalfi Coast drive is probably the world’s most beautiful and thrilling, piece of tarmac-ed sightseeing in Europe. If you can ignore the hairpin bends, the crazy Italian driving, the narrowness of the road that means your vehicle could possibly plunge into the churning sea below, the views are spectacular. The road is built at a very steep angle, zigzagging backwards and forwards and from the window of your vehicle you can see craggy rocks thrusting through the foamy waters below.
Despite the heavy traffic, all fighting for space on hairpin bends, the Amalfi Drive is a fascinating trip with every corner revealing an even more stunning view protected by Unesco. Pastel-coloured villages are terraced into the mountainside, medieval watchtowers guard the coast, and here and there huge colourful ceramic urns In yellow, blue, green and red, announce a “ceramic factory”. Among the green slopes of the cliffs are scented lemon groves and a profusion of pink and white oleanders, and enticing restaurants locate on precipitous corners daring you to stop for a coffee. This white-knuckle ride is one of Italy’s greatest wonders but it is not for the faint of heart. It is 80 kl of narrow, S-curve roadway strung halfway up a cliff with the waves crashing below.
At the end of the Drive you have Amalfi, tiny, expensive but one of the easier towns of those strung along the coast to walk around. It rises gently up the hillside from the waterfront rather than clinging vertically to it like some of the other coastal towns, like Positano for instance. Hard to believe that this very touristy town had a glorious history as a maritime republic on a par with the better known Pisa, Venice and Genoa.
Nevertheless, Amalfi was a trade bridge between the Byzantine and western worlds for centuries with a population exceeding 70,000 (today, less than 5,000). Unfortunately, there are very few historical buildings of note as most of the old city, and its inhabitants, slid into the sea during the 1343 earthquake.
I had a sort of time-travel experience yesterday when a celebratory day out with friends took me from London Waterloo in sumptuous style to Windsor, recently the perfect setting for two royal weddings. We traveled in a ‘special event’ steam train of the Royal Windsor Steam Express.
On board the vintage Pullman carriages of the RWSE it is easy to imagine yourself back in the golden age of steam travel as you relax in the plush seats with plenty of legroom. The wood paneling on the walls of the carriage soothes the eye, and the starched white tablecloths on the tables take you back decades.
A champagne brunch is available in the Pullman dining carriages for £85 per person if you want the real luxe effect, but there is also the option of coffee, tea, wines and snacks from one of the charming hostesses on board in the Standard and First Class non-Pullman carriages.
Starting from London the Royal Windsor Steam Express passes many of London’s famous landmarks including the London Eye and Houses of Parliament, crossing the River Thames to reach leafy suburbs, reservoirs and lakes until it reaches the charming Royal Windsor & Eton Riverside Station designed by William Tite for the London & South Western Railway (LSWR). The steam engine used to pull the refurbished carriages is The Mayflower, an original British Rail engine built in 1948.
The station is right in the town and as soon as you exit you can see stunning Windsor Castle on the hill opposite. Windsor Castle is the largest and oldest inhabited castle in the world and is the Queen’s favourite weekend home.
The River Thames runs through the town and a boat trip along this stretch of the river is highly recommended. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for this: I had done it before but would have very much liked to do it again had we not spent so much time lunching by the river and ambling around the town.
The Royal Borough has a rich mix of history, culture and heritage and if time allows a walk through the town is both practical and easy. If not, the hop-on-hop-off bus will transport you to the main sights in Windsor and next-door Eton. If you can time your visit to take in the colourful spectacle of the Guards marching through the streets of Windsor for the Changing the Guard ceremony within Windsor Castle’s walls, this unique sight could well be the icing on the cake.
Notes:
Windsor Tourist Office: https://www.windsor.gov.uk/visitor-information/visitor-information-centre
The steam train service runs every Tuesday from 4th June – 3rd September, with three daily services each way between Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside station. Fares from £35 one way. Tel: 01483 209888 Website: SunsetSteamExpress.co.uk
1-Hour Boat Trips on the Thames at Windsor in an 1898 Steam Boat – 4 minutes walk from the station. £14 per person FrenchBrothers.co.uk Tel: 01753 837345
Hop-on Hop-Off Windsor Bus Tour £20. theoriginaltour.com/windsor Tel: 0208 877 2120
The Spanish Steps
I’ve often wondered why people flock to the Spanish Steps, a stairway composed of 135 of the widest steps in Europe, but they are an institution in Rome so never one to miss out on an institution, I took myself off there. I know the popularity of the steps has a lot to do with the William Wyler film A Roman Holiday which starred Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, just as The Trevi Fountain owes much of its popularity to Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and its stars Anita Eksburg and Marcello Mastroioni, but nevertheless, I struggle to see the attraction here when the nearby gardens of the Villa Borghese are almost empty.
Built in the 18th century, this ultra-wide staircase was called the Spanish Steps because although designed by an Italian architect and financed by a French diplomat, it took the name from the Piazza di Spagna at their foot, in turn named after the nearby Spanish Embassy. The steps were built to connect the Embassy with the Trinita dei Monti church which stands in the Piazza at the top of the steps.
The English poet John Keats once lived in the building at the bottom of the steps in what is now the Keats & Shelley Museum to the left of which is Babington’s, the famous tea-house serving homesick Brits since 1893.
The steps may seem the perfect place to tuck into a takeaway, a sandwich or an ice-cream but this is something you must not do. Roman regulations forbids consuming anything on these steps, part of an effort to keep them looking pristine. After the latest restoration this rule is being vigorously enforced.
Rome city buses are too big to negotiate the narrow streets around the Spanish Steps so if you are not going to walk to it, take Linea A (red line) on the Metro and exit at Spagna. The station is right next to the Spanish Steps.
The Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain is the largest Baroque fountain in Rome and one of the most famous fountains in the world having been featured in several notable films, including the above-mentioned Roman Holiday, Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, the eponymous Three Coins in the Fountain, and Sabrina Goes to Rome. It is a non-stop photo opportunity from early morning until well after midnight, with a never-ending mass of people milling about, most of them with huge selfie-sticks and a disinclination to make room for others. If you need peace and quiet plan to visit very early in the morning.
The fountain is said to date back to ancient Roman days, to the 19th century BC in fact, when the Aqua Virgo Aqueduct that provided water to the Roman baths and the fountains of central Rome was constructed, at the junction of three roads (tre vie) which give the Trevi Fountain its name.
It is is almost 50 metres across and heavily adorned with sculptures of Roman gods, tritons and horses, and is packed with visitors from morning till night.
Approximately €3,000 is thrown into the fountain every day as people follow the tradition of throwing in coins. Legend has it that a coin thrown into the fountain will ensure a return to Rome, a legend that dates back to the ancient Romans who threw coins in water to ensure the water gods would bring them safely home.
The coins are collected every night and given to the Italian charity Caritas which has a supermarket program giving rechargeable cards to Rome’s needy to help them get groceries.
The streets around the area are lined with trattorias, gelaterias and restaurants, most serving food and drink at reasonable prices, despite its touristic position. Many shops sell wooden toys of the sort we don’t see nowadays, including Pinocchios from miniature to life-size. Nearby Via di San Vincenzo and Via della Dataria will lead you to the Quirinal Palace, as well as the Piazza del Quirinale with its obelisk and fountain of Castor and Pollux.
Most of Rome’s famous sights are within walking distance of the centre but there is a hop-on hop-off bus that leaves from the left-hand side of Vittorio Emmanuel ll every 20 mintues or so and this is an excellent way of getting to know where things are. Vittorio Emmanuel ll and The Colosseum are quite near each other, so can be visited at the same time and the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain can be reached in about an hour from there, taking it at a leisurely pace.
My trip to Rome coincided with the heat wave which, although welcome in that it meant I didn’t need to carry a shower-proof jacket (just in case), did mean I had to carry a paper umbrella bought from a street trader, He must have thought his birthday and Christmas had come along on the same time, so many were the customers queuing up to buy his parasols.
Rome is wonderful in any weather but walking in 34ᵒ heat this time made sight-seeing a trifle difficult. It did, however, allow for many more granitas and gelato stops, even as it cut down on the photography.
We stayed at the wonderful Forum Hotel, so named because it faces the Forum. To wake up every morning and look out on the sprawl of ancient pillars and stones glowing from the rising sun, was magical. We had the same view from the breakfast terrace on the rooftop, so although I usually forego breakfast, in this case it was a must.
The Forum was ancient Rome’s showpiece centre, a site originally developed in the 7th century BC from a marshy burial ground which grew into the social, commercial and political hub of the Roman Empire. It was a handsome district of temples, basilicas and bustling public spaces which, with a little imagination is easy to people with toga-clad inhabitants going about their business accompanied by their slaves.
Part of the Forum is open for wandering around but to see it all one needs to pay. However, I would say leave this until the end of your stay, because a) you can see some of it without charge and b) there is so much else to see in Rome and you can always return to it if you wish.
It is but a short walk from the Forum to the Colosseum, the hugely impressive, troubling monument to Roman imperial power and cruelty. Inside this emblem of Rome, behind the serried ranks of Tuscan, Iconic and Corinthian columns, and three storeys of superimposed arches, Romans for centuries cold-bloodedly killed thousands of people for amusement, and sent gladiators to their death as they fought wild animals like lions, tigers and leopards for the amusement of the rulers and the populace.
The Colosseum is now a mere shadow of its former self as only about one-third of the original building still stands, its glistening marble and stone having been carried away and used in the building of palaces and churches by Roman popes and aristocrats who coveted it. Nearby Palazzo Venezia and the Tiber’s river defences are just two examples of this.
Originally the largest amphitheatre in the Roman world, a pleasure palace built for the people by the emperor Vespasian (69-79) to a design worked out before the building began, it was capable of holding 50,000 spectators,
It is difficult not to quote sizes and quantities in such an undertaking, suffice to say that drains were built 8m beneath the structure to take away the streams that flow from the valleys and hills that surround Rome: the foundations under the outer walls and seating are 12-13m deep while under the inner part of the arena they are only 4m deep. The spoil dug from the foundations was used to raise the surround level by over 6m.
Sometimes quoting facts and figures like these can take away from the brooding power of the Colosseum, but I never fail to be moved by an atmosphere still inside those walls.
The Victor Emmanuel Palace.
Also known as ‘Il Vittoriano’ and sometimes referred to as The Wedding Cake Palace by the locals, this monument to King Victor Emanuel II, is a bombastic monument of sparkling white marble decorated with numerous allegorical statues, reliefs and murals. At the center of the monument is the colossal equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel, and on either side are fountains representing the seas that border Italy, the Adriatic Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea. At the foot of the statue Guards of honor, selected from the marine, infantry and air divisions, guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier day and night.
Inside the monument is the Museo Centrale del Risorgimento, which charts the events that led to the unification of Italy, with a display of paintings, documents, photographs and memorabilia, the entrance to which is to the left of the monument, at the Via di San Pietro in Carcere.
During the 1930’s, the Italian dictator, Mussolini, delivered his speeches to the populace from the terraces and balconies of this building.
The Victor Emmanuel Monument cannot be considered one of Rome’s most beautiful buildings and its stark whiteness does not fit well into the soft ochre color of the surrounding buildings. Nevertheless, it is well worth the visit if only for the great views from the top (which is also connected to the Capitoline Square which may also be on your list).
A useful tip for visitors: You will see lots of advertisements – everywhere – to buy tickets that “skip-the-queues” and indeed you do skip the line for tickets. But unfortunately, after many years of this, the queue for the “skip-the-queue” line is much longer than the normal one to buy tickets at the office, so take my advice, ignore this (and ignore the touts who will offer you tickets for immediate entry), join the queue for tickets and you’ll be through in no time.
Next post: Piazza Navona, The Pantheon, Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain.
Just to say that I’ve heard nothing from any of you lovely bloggers out there whose posts regularly pop into my Inbox to cheer me up. Finally, feeling both frustrated and cross, I approached WP for a reason as I knew you would all be posting and they suggested I check my Notifications page.
So I did. And guess what. A gremlin, or something, or somebody, had been in there an ticked the box to block all notifications. I am at a loss to account for this as I’ve never even seen this page to my knowledge.
But anyway, just so you know why you haven’t had any comments from me. I’m still here, not able to post due to pressure of things, but hoping to start soon, and meantime, I shall try and catch up with everyone’s recent posts.
Mari
Just back from a trip to the Spanish Pyrenees, staying in a village high in the mountains where I endeavoured to improve my Spanish and conquer my fear of the subjunctive in the company of 5 other like-minded people! My once good grasp of the language was getting rusty and when I read about a course in the Basque area (Navarre), I signed up. The Pyrennean Experience promised mountain walks, good company, magnificent scenery and total immersion in the language and it delivered on all counts.
Our home for the period was in a farmhouse in the hamlet of Ameztia, 4km from the quintessentially Basque village of Ituren in the valley of Baztan nestled in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees. It was about an hour from the smart city of San Sebastian, approximately the same from Bilbao, and Biarritz on the French side was only 90 minutes away.
Located on a hill encircled by white-washed villages and ringed by mountain ridges, there was nothing near the farmhouse to distract from the learning process or the bonding of the six mature students, two teachers, and the owner and organizer of the Pyrenean Experience, Georgina.
What was a distraction was the constantly changing scenery, the glow of the bracken, the shadows on the beech and chestnut woods, and the intense green of the surrounding fields cropped to a velvety smoothness by flocks of sheep, the muffled sound of whose bells was the only sound to punctuate the silence of the valley.
To describe the views from the house as stunning is an understatement. From dawn till dusk the changing views from the terrace of my room were a constant delight. In the early morning, clouds nestled in the valleys below the mountains as the rising sun edged the clouds pink and the warmth of the red tiled roof attracted the house cats to snooze there for most of the day. In the evenings we watched the distant mountains darken and eagles wheeling in slow motion in the sky above.
Those nights looking out on the mountains and watching the birds overhead made it all too possible to believe in the Basque myths, a belief that helps keep alive the tradition of appeasing witches. Most of the houses in the vicinity will have pinned to their door one of the symbols said to repel witches (see image below).
Belief in witches in the villages of Navarre has existed for many years. Once socially functional, a means of explaining why strange things occurred, acting to discourage undesirable behaviour and used as a form of social control, it has a long history. Douglas Gifford in his book Witchcraft and the Problem of Evil in a Basque Village (1979) tells us that the phrase ‘bad neighbours‘ (malos vecinos) in the Basque region was synonymous with ‘bruja’, meaning ‘witch’, a belief that seems to have followed on from the witch hunts in the area during the Inquisition and from the 17th century influx of refugees from France who brought stories of the witches’ Sabbath and devil worship.
Back to the mountains! Daily circular walks were guided by Georgina, sometimes accompanied by one of the teachers, but we spoke Spanish at all times – an essential part of the teaching. The walks were graded from moderate to intermediate level, from lazy walks from village to village to high level ridge walks at over 1,000 metres. To walk in this virtually unexplored medieval landscape of the Basque Pyrenees is humbling: it is both beautiful and awe-inspiring, the hospitality of the people is unbelievable, and the flora will have you reaching for your camera every few minutes.
Ituren, the nearest inhabited spot, is a delightful village with a school, 2 bars, 3 restaurants, a village shop, a butcher, a chemist and a hairdresser. Hand-made bracken stacks along the road are a feature of the area as are the dry-stone walls which enclose the fields.
There was a wine tasting one evening, courtesy of a Navarre wine producer, an informal musical evening by a professional guitarist, and lots of late night conversations over unlimited bottles of wine.
Trips to other villages were made, visits to neighbouring farmhouses where we ate home-made cheese and drank home-made cider (the local tipple), and delightful lunches were laid on in outlying villages to coincide with walks and sight-seeing.
Meals were taken together, breakfasts being a ‘help yourself to whatever you want from the kitchen when you get up’, and Begoña, our cook, produced meals that satisfied everyone and even let us help sometimes!
The Basque area has been side-lined for decades and starved of budgets to promote itself. The dairy cattle industry has collapsed, as it has in a lot of other countries, and the farmers have now turned to sheep farming to survive. Artisans, artists, millers, and Michelin-recommended restaurants struggle to make a living because the world is hardly aware of the existence of this region of peace and tranquility with scenery to rival anything that Europe has to offer. Nearby San Sebastian hosts world-renowned restaurants, Bilbao has the Guggenheim Museum, and Biarritz has trendy shops so the area really offers everything.
What will take me back to that area again will be the sense of time-unchanging, the slow tempo of life, a dozen or more children coming together to play on the community Pelota Court, and above all, the silence of the mountains, the only sound the distant bells of the sheep in the fields or the horses coming home from the fields.
My Pyrenean Experience was a house-party like no other I’ve experienced, a room with a view to die for, and the chance to walk on paths only traversed by animals and a few intrepid humans. What more is needed to heal the soul?
Check out the website to get an idea of what’s on offer. The photographs tell the whole story. If you like walking in the mountains, you’ll love this. No need to learn Spanish, you can just go for the walking, the camaraderie and a Spanish experience you won’t forget. www.pyreneanexperience.com Tel: 34 6507 13759
This photograph is about ten years old. I rediscovered it when searching for something else.
At the time as I took this photograph I remember photographing monkeys playing on the telephone wires that rang from pole to pole along the street and musing on the risks to life one encountered in that lovely country.
Things have come a long way since then, I know, but up-country the same risky scaffolding can be found. It’s to be hoped that the workers are as nimble as these ones were ten years ago.
Featured image credit: andyasskwoo from Pixabay
It’s one of those OMG moments when something I’d been told about but could scarcely believe, actually happened.
I wrote about the Australian Cassowarry in a post a few months ago and now today I read that the bird has actually killed someone.
The cassowary, a large, flightless bird native to Australia and PNG, kept as a breeding bird, had attacked and killed its Florida owner on his own property in Gaineville, Alachua County, when he fell last Friday. It is thought the bird killed his victim using its long 10cm. dagger-like claws.
Cassowaries can be 1.8 metres (6 ft.) tall and the website of the San Diego Zoo describes them as the worlds most dangerous birds and says that it can slice open any predator with a single swift kick.
So, our Australian guide wasn’t just winding me up when he told me about them. Sorry, I misjudged you, Ray!
MARI'S TRAVELS WITH HER CAMERA 