Ciao!
Ciao! (hello!)
or
Buon Giorno! (good day!)
That's how Italians
greet each other.
Italy.
It was the BIG,
cross-the-ocean item on my Bucket List.
First on my Bucket List was New York City. We went there in fall of 2016 with Steve and Glenda. We saw all the iconic things plus two Broadway musicals.
New York City.....check.
Next was/is to see New
England in the fall. I thought this would be the first thing on my list
to do, but as of today, it is still on the list.
But Italy was the trip I dreamed of. It was the "some day" trip. We’ve talked about it with our friends for a couple of years. And it was fun to think about because others said they would like to go as well. And what trip isn’t more fun with friends?
But you know... life. It
would have to be when the kids were all done with college and we had money
again, which meant it would be at least the fall of 2019.
But then 2 things
happened last winter. 1. In her sophomore year, Emily decided she didn't want
to finish college. Check! and 2. two months later Mike was asked to
work in Scotland for a year or so. Suddenly, it was time! It made complete
sense to do my dream trip while we were only a hop away. So, we told our
friends, "Next year is the year. Who's in?"
As it turned out, it was
the right time for Cristy and Wes and Glenda and Steve as well and they were
IN. So, for the last 6 months, we researched and made plans. And in
April, we made it happen.
Together in Rome! Our first of many meals together Pictured left to right Jodi, Cristy, Wes, Mike, Glenda, and Steve |
I honestly believe that
all the trips I have made since being here prepared me to be able to
plan this trip. I now have experience with foreign airports, with train
schedules and platforms (and directional trains), with B&Bs, tourist
taxes and dine-in service charges, and
with scheduling tours. My traveling experiences here have been a
HUGE factor in my ability to even think about the details that
needed to be thought-out to make things run smoothly. And I am so grateful for
it.
Even though this was THE trip on my Bucket List, it was not just MY trip. Everyone had things they wanted to do and see. So, over the course of 16 days, we managed to incorporate everything. We were able to be in 5 geographically
If you are my friend on
Facebook, you probably saw a handful of pictures from each place. And if you
aren't on FB, then I am sorry. I took about 1200 photos and I can only select a
few to post here, so they will probably not be of the iconic things, like the
Colosseum in Rome or Michaelangelo's "David" in Florence - things you
can see by just Googling. There simply is not enough room to talk about or show
everything. So instead, if you know me at all, you can expect me to talk about
and see pictures of the food and people.
But FYI, here is a quick
glimpse of our itinerary:
Rome – 3 nights
Catacombs
tour, Colosseum tour, Vatican tour, Segways tour
Sorrento – 3 nights
Day
trip to Naples – 6 hour walking/food tour
Day
trip to Pompeii
Umbria (Perugia) – 3 nights
Cooking
school every morning on-site, tour to winery, Assisi, and pottery in afternoons
Cinque Terre – 3 nights
Tour
of a small family winery, visited each of the five towns
Florence – 3 nights
Self-guided
walking tour, tour of David and the Duomo, 6 hour Vespa tour with wineries,
tasting and dinner
I got to make all the
plans and reservations for the first half which was Rome, Sorrento (including
Pompeii and Naples) and Umbria, while Wes planned and made all the reservations
for the second half - Cinque Terra and Florence. We did a great job!
Firstly, I would just like to say that this would have been a fun trip anyway, but sharing it with our best friends was the BEST part.
Secondly, I would say for me, Italy was a lot about the food.
Definitely the
food (which includes Italian wine).
It shouldn’t be
surprising, really, that each geographical region has its own specialty foods
that it is known for. So, my personal quest was to sample those particular
foods while in each region. I think we did a good job of sampling local foods
and Wes did a great job of selecting local wines that we all enjoyed. (With the
exception of the one bottle of carbonated wine, which we don't need to talk
about)
And thirdly, Italy was
about the feeling. The lovely Italian language. The colors - the
shades of terra cotta and green countrysides and lush vineyards. Italy did
not disappoint in this area.
GELATO. This food item gets its own category because
gelato is enjoyed across every region.
There is the ordinary,
mass-produced gelato that you can get anywhere, especially in the touristy
areas, and from past experience, I can say that it is pretty tasty.
See how she uses a large, flat scoop instead of a rounded ice cream scoop? |
Maybe NOT the most authentic gelato...... |
Great gelato is made with fresh ingredients and, and because of that, the colors are often muted (as opposed to bright, unnatural food colorings).
And of course, it is smooth and creamy and full of flavor.
Each city has its really
good artisanal gelato.
We made it our mission to find them.
We made it our mission to find them.
Although we had a quest
for finding the BEST gelato wherever we went, a truer test would have been to
compare the same flavors from shop to shop. But we just could not limit
ourselves in that way.
So, we tried some
standard flavors, like pistachio (apparently, this flavor is the test of quality),
mareno cherry, chocolate, and of course, java (my personal favorite, especially
combined with chocolate), but we also had some different ones, like ginger and
spicy chocolate.
Everyone knows that eating gelato (or ice cream) is not like eating food. You don’t have to be hungry. You don't even have to have room for it. You just eat it. And enjoy it. Every day. All 3 scoops, whether you want it or not. Because, you know…. when in Rome…..
Let's just say that we
did what we had to do (although, I do believe there was one day that we did not
have any gelato). But through the process, I do think we
found some exceptional gelato. There was the place in Rome that we found at
about 10 pm the night before we left (darn!) and the one in Perugia. I think we
would all agree they were the best.
ROME: Roman artichokes. They are large and can
be fried or baked (or was that sauteed?) Anyway, they were really good. Rome is probably known for other foods, but we were focused on gelato those first few days....
Gelato (as mentioned
above)
SORRENTO is known for its limoncello, a lemon
liqueur. This was easy to believe as we saw lemons and oranges hanging on all
the trees as we walked around town.. The
house we stayed in had its own orange trees. The owner picked fresh oranges
every day and thanks to Cristy and Mike, we had fresh squeezed orange juice
every morning.
They also had GIANT
lemons. They are supposed to be sweeter, and Cristy bought one to see what they
were like, but it turned out to be a LOT of rind and very little lemon.
this is Ciara - our tour guide - enjoying pizza with us |
The pizza here has a VERY thin crust. Apparently, thin crust is authentic Napoleon pizza, but it’s not the crispy thin crust that I love. Napoleon pizza is soft and floppy so that you have to fold it over on itself to eat it.
The food in Naples deserves a little more space. This is where we took a 6-hour walking food tour called "Culinary Backstreets." It was fabulous.
We tasted a wide variety
of traditional Napoleon foods, visiting small, local, often family-run
businesses that have often been in the family for generations, hearing how they are run and, of course, tasting their specialty
food.
A list of the foods
would be meaningless to you, so I will just name a
few highlights.
We tasted salt cod,
called 'baccala,' which is fresh cod that has been salt-dried and then slowly
rehydrated. We had 'baba a rum,' which is a rum-soaked cake. We learned
about the wonders of buffalo mozzarella cheese and ate at one of the top 4
pizza places in Naples. That was fun.
these people are waiting to get a table in the pizza place we ate at |
We tasted limoncello that was made in small batches. I don’t really care for limoncello, but I tasted a creamy version and found I liked it. We also had a variety of fried foods and baked goods - all things that are commonly consumed by the locals of Naples. Ahh. It was a very satisfying day. Especially since we finished off this day of eating with another round of artisanal gelato.
UMBRIA is probably known for its pasta. We
certainly ate a lot of it there.
The town of Perugia had one of the best gelato shops and also the BEST
restaurant/food/service we had on the whole trip.
The owner/chef of the wonderful restaurant |
And to think that we
almost didn’t eat there.
chocolate liqueur |
We are SO glad we
didn’t!
Truffles were a
specialty item in Perugia.
I think you can't go wrong if you order the specialty.....
I think you can't go wrong if you order the specialty.....
Going to Italy was not just about consuming wonderful food, but also about learning some things that I might tuck into my belt for future use. And Umbria is where we did that.
Umbria is where we had cooking lessons.
Raffaella, our hostess, had 4 apartments on her property, so we stayed on-site, had a 3-4 hour cooking lesson in her tiny kitchen each morning (which just went to show that you don’t need a big or fancy kitchen to create fabulous homemade meals),
8 of us plus Raffaella in her kitchen |
then we sat around her large dining table and consumed the meal we had made, served with Raffaella’s wine from her own vineyards.
We made full-course meals – appetizers, homemade pastas, homemade sauces, and desserts, including tiramisu.
that's Raffaella standing in the apron |
We also learned how much
we love pecorino cheese!
THE CINQUE TERRE (pronounced 'Chinkwa Terra') is on the northwestern coast of Italy and consists of 5 small towns with brightly-colored buildings that sit right at the water or on the hills/cliffs above.
There is a road between
each town for cars, a train stop at each town, and also a trail that goes along
the water, sometimes quite steeply over a hill so that people can walk from
town to town. Sadly, we did not get to do that.
But the food...mmmm.
There were a few things this area is known for: sardines, pesto and
walnut sauce. We did try the sardines -
TWICE!
Once we had them fried. They were crispy on the outside. And once they were chopped up and mixed in with a bruschetta. Mmm. They are NOT like the sardines that come in a can. That would be like comparing fresh asparagus with canned asparagus. Yuck.
TWICE!
Once we had them fried. They were crispy on the outside. And once they were chopped up and mixed in with a bruschetta. Mmm. They are NOT like the sardines that come in a can. That would be like comparing fresh asparagus with canned asparagus. Yuck.
this does not look as fantastic as it tasted! |
We did have the regular
pesto (always on fresh pasta) and I can tell you it was fabulous!
FLORENCE
Apparently, steak is a specialty in Florence, especially Florentine steak. It seemed pretty popular for large hunks of meat to be hanging in the restaurant windows. Mike and Steve ended up ordering and sharing a kilo of steak (that’s 2 ½ pounds!!) They were practically drooling over it and, quite frankly, were a little giddy about ordering it. Maybe it’s because we had eaten so much pasta that they had gone on a ‘real’ meat/beef withdrawal.
Apparently, steak is a specialty in Florence, especially Florentine steak. It seemed pretty popular for large hunks of meat to be hanging in the restaurant windows. Mike and Steve ended up ordering and sharing a kilo of steak (that’s 2 ½ pounds!!) They were practically drooling over it and, quite frankly, were a little giddy about ordering it. Maybe it’s because we had eaten so much pasta that they had gone on a ‘real’ meat/beef withdrawal.
The other regional food
here was the Chianti wine. You may
think of Chianti wine as the wine in those straw-covered bottles. It is the
most popular wine consumed in Italy and is grown and made right there in the
area around Florence and Siena – the Chianti region of Tuscany.
The black rooster on the
label is the sign that it is authentic Chianti wine.
We took a tour on
Vespas one afternoon. We were transported by van from downtown Florence to the rolling
green hills around it. Then we rode on regular two-lane roads past rolling green hills and vineyards.
Sadly, it rained for the whole time we rode them!
I was so busy trying to keep my eyes on the road that I couldn’t really look around and enjoy the beauty of the countryside, and I definitely could not take pictures, either.
Sadly, it rained for the whole time we rode them!
I was so busy trying to keep my eyes on the road that I couldn’t really look around and enjoy the beauty of the countryside, and I definitely could not take pictures, either.
But it truly was beautiful. I think I would like to go back to this area in particular in the summer time and stay in a lovely B&B in the middle of a vineyard and sip Chianti.
COFFEE I love my coffee, and I was
looking forward to Italian coffee. But after 2 weeks in Italy, I am not
convinced that coffee is what Italy does well. First, the cups are just too
small, and second, they only fill them half full!!
People walk up to the bar at the coffee shop and just stand because they are
served a tiny cup with, literally, either one gulp or two sips of coffee in it!
And then they are done and on their way. It takes longer to pull the shot than
to drink it.
what's wrong with this picture??? what I wanted could not be gotten from that coffee maker..... |
I wonder what that shop worker thought about those silly Americans.
Probably that they
didn't know the first thing about drinking and appreciating good coffee.
Oh my, YES!
Need I say more?
So that's the gist of the food and wine.
We ate well.
There could be one just
about the tours we took. We had really great tour guides (with the exception of
1, which, for all the tours we took, we all agreed was a pretty good
percentage).
view of Monterosso from the hillside vineyard |
There could be one about all the fun things we did and funny things that were said.
I didn’t get to tell you
about the fun we had on the trains. Sometimes we played games. We played card
games and tile games and that silly game where you put your phone on your
forehead and your team gives you clues for you to guess the word. Of course, we
played guys against girls. People surely got an impression of us when we did
that!
We played cards in the
homes we stayed in- at the kitchen table and outside under the gazebo. Cristy
and Wes taught us “Gotcha” and “31,” which turned out to be
favorites that we played over and over with a lot of laughter.
There was the phrase,
“more or less,” which was a running phrase throughout our time.
And
“Andiamo!” Our tour guide at Pompeii used this word throughout
the tour. It means, “let’s go,” and became the thing to say for the rest of our
trip. One person would say, “Andiamo!” and everyone would echo, “Andiamo!” And
then we would all laugh.
Francesca. Francesca
was the name of Raffaella's helper. While we were in the kitchen making
sauces or frying meat, Francesca was setting things up on the table. While we
were rolling out pasta, Francesca was in the kitchen washing dishes and putting
things away. But the really funny thing was that on the second day of cooking
school, a different woman came to help Raffaella, and her name just happened to
be Francesca as well! So, we all adamantly agreed that we each need our
own Francesca!
see the train platform below? |
this was the house in Rome |
I'm wishing that I had
taken a picture of those flights of stairs in Florence.
Actually, ALL of our places had lots of stairs...
Actually, ALL of our places had lots of stairs...
Stairs stairs stairs.
And on top of that, we walked everywhere!
Glenda had a step
counter on her which recorded that we had walked 80 miles over our 16 days
(that was 195,842 steps!!).
That must be how we were
able to eat pasta and gelato every day!
And that, I
believe, must be the secret for eating your way around Italy.
I think we could even
offer up our itinerary for anyone who would like to duplicate our trip.
Wes did a great job of figuring out the different trains and stations and schedules. We didn’t miss a single train and we were only asked to move from first class once (and no, it was not while we were playing that phone word game on your head).
Mike did an excellent job at getting us from Point A to Point B consistently and on-time. (He learned a lot from our time in Venice last summer)
We even have the names
of the best gelato shops that we visited, on the chance that you don't have the
time to explore and do your own testing.
It was a wonderful trip. A memorable trip. It was the trip I had hoped for. And I would do it again with our friends.
Sounds like a great trip. Definitely a bucket list worthy event. :)
ReplyDeleteLove all these wonderful photos. You had a great trip. That was a once in a lifetime experience. I’m so glad you shared this with us.
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