Puglia
Having taken several hours to exit the boat whilst trying not to scratch( we both commented that we felt we had been crawled on in the night 🤢), we found our way into Bari. We had read that it was the seedier side of Puglia but thought it was worth a quick stop. We found a coffee shop and then set off to look for the resting place of St Nicholas. It was quite a busy little place with lots of people getting in Callum’s way and the crypt was quite small and busy. But we did see it and a little of Bari. Probably wouldn’t recommend a trip there though. A little underwhelming.
We drove south and arrived a few hours later at our Airbnb. It was 4 small studios with a pool. Luckily, we had it to ourselves for 3/4 days we were there and were only joined by some Americans for the last day or so- we did hear them talking about how many assault weapons they had which was slightly worrying. The pool was just gorgeous and the little studio just the right size.
We had had a call from Kate on Monday who had happened to find out that Ryanair flew Maastricht to Bari and so she decided that she would join/stalk us to write her paper in the sun. Callum drove back to Bari to pick her up and then we enjoyed a few days with her in her spot on the comfy seats writing about human trafficking whilst we lazed in the sun.
We did manage a few visits out though. We had a lovely meal in Ceglie Messapica as well as a quick trip for ice cream and supplies to Ostuni, both small white towns. By Saturday, Kate had just about finished her paper so we went to Lecce in the afternoon. We were a bit disappointed in it as it wasn’t as nice as some of the other towns we had been to though we did have the best bruschetta , Hugos ( elderflower version of an Aperol spritz) and ice cream there.
After checking out, we had a few hours before Kate’s flight and so went to the touristy Alberobello which is home to lots and lots of trulli. I loved that they had been designed so that they could pull out a keystone and the roof collapse should someone try to take taxes that were felt to be exorbitant by the baron. Sneaky!
We needed to feed Kate before she left so we went to Polignano A Mare along with the rest of Italy. It had sounded like a good idea but it was impossible to park or even find somewhere to eat. None of us were impressed by the beach either.
We dropped Kate and then drove across Italy to Paestum, our furthest stay south ready for some Roman and Greek ruins. My favourite!
Ruins- old and new (Paestum and Naples)
The drive was not really very pretty – a barren landscape with some really bad bad drivers and roads that felt like they were more pothole than road. Slightly anxious making when you see the car alongside us chatting up women in the next car out of the window at 100km an hour.
We arrived in Paestum to find probably our nicest hotel yet. We were expected , were given a welcome drink and told we were to have the breakfast we hadn’t paid for! We wandered down to the beach to find that there was live music and so sat and chilled.
The next morning after a run along the promenade, we made very good use of the free breakfast (quite posh too) and then we hopped on the free bikes and rode to see the Greek ruins of Paestum. They were billed as the best Greek ruins in the world and they didn’t disappoint. We saw them on a picture perfect day, with only a few Americans around us. There were 3 big temples across a large site with great explanations on the information boards – the kids know I like a good sign! We also went into the museum which I really liked and Callum put up with.
After that, we went down to the beach for probably our last beach afternoon of the trip. It looked like the resort’s too as they were packing up the hotel’s private beach. We would have stayed another day here but the weather had other ideas and so the next morning we set off for Pompeii after another huge breakfast.
As we headed towards Salerno and Naples, we should have known that things were taking a turn for the worse. We were quite surprised to see that the road included a lot of “ ladies of the night” every few km at 11.00am! Sights of a different sort! We drove along part of the Amalfi Coast and stopped in Amalfi itself which was pretty but shrouded in rain and mist.
We had a booked an Airbnb near Pompeii which we knew was not the most touristy area but the reviews had been ok. We had not expected it to look like Beirut! As we got closer, we locked the doors and counted down the km hoping for a miraculous change in the area. On arrival , we feared leaving the car even for the 2 minutes it took us to open the door, use the facilities and leave again. We cancelled the booking, drove to Sorrento and booked somewhere else all in the space of an hour! To be fair, the host did refund most of our money which was very decent of her. The whole thing was a bit unsettling and then I did find it quite hard to relax and feel safe again despite our new place being fine.
The next day, we had planned to go to Herculaneum however they now shut every Wednesday so the whole point of going to the area was lost anyway. Instead, we headed for Naples which was supposed to have some pretty areas. Unfortunately, just as our last visit to the area several years ago with the kids, we had thunderstorms and torrential rain. How someone could say the Naples is a good place to visit , we have no idea. Based on what we saw (the main sites), it was very dirty, covered in graffiti and totally underwhelming. There are very few pictures because I did not feel safe to have my phone in my hand! We stayed for pizza on the street where it was supposedly invented and then hot-footed it out of Dodge on the slowest train ever. We were happy to leave the area behind and head off to Rome where we would do some proper roaming.
Roaming in Rome
We arrived in Rome mid afternoon and were met by the most enthusiastic and helpful receptionist ever. Our apartment was lovely and after a quick lunch, we headed to the Vatican which was about a half an hours walk. It was fairly quiet in the square and we were into St Peter’s in about 10 minutes. It really is the most amazing place even for us non-believers. I really liked the parts that they had sectioned off not just for people like us to look around but to properly worship. They were quite rightly fairly strict on this. Callum spotted a sign to the crypts, that we hadn’t seen before. We really enjoyed pottering round the Basilica and taking it all in. After a walk through the area around Castel S’Angelo, we wandered back to our apartment. We were in need of something basic for dinner and so had the best fish fingers and chips ever cooked whilst watching Angels and Demons as it is set all around the centre of Rome.
The next day, we had bought the tickets for the Colosseum so after a lazy start, we wandered through some of the receptionist’s recommended places that we hadn’t been to before seeing some lovely piazzas.
After a Bounty and Snickers ice cream stop, we headed to the main event. The Colosseum wasn’t too busy due to Covid restrictions on numbers and we spent a few hours there despite having been there twice before. They have a good app now that comes with the tickets and we learnt some new information from that and by surreptitious listening in of a few tour guides which were impossible to miss. The addition of the Christian areas seemed really incongruous with its past but also really interesting. We headed into the basilica next to the forum and found what I believe us the most peaceful and beautiful church I’ve ever been in – the Basilica di SantaFrancesca Romana. If you ever get the chance to go in, it’s a must do.
This was followed by Aperols (to give Callum some strength for more history) which were accompanied by crisps and bread crusts which were coated in something spicy – delicious. We spent so long there, the entrance to the forum was shut- when we eventually found it . They had moved it, annoyingly, so it was pizza for dinner and more Aperol before heading back for the next film in the trilogy- The Da Vinci Code.
On our last day, we got the metro to the Forum and spent the whole morning there. We saw so much more than last time though it did make us laugh to hear an American having a “discussion” with a stropy teenager at the entrance – it took us back! We were really lucky with the weather as it was still 22C so wandering round was really lovely. We then started our exploration game . It is an app called Questo and it is linked to the Angels and Demons film where we were the main character and had to solve puzzles like in the film. It took us to some places we hadn’t seen before but it did mean that our feet were killing us so the long walk to Travestere felt like a trek. More pizza and wine helped before the Metro back and the last film in the trilogy set in Florence (our next stop).
As always we really enjoyed Rome, it is so relaxing for a city break despite the ridiculous number of steps we did. It felt remarkably easy to see everything and incredibly safe compared with Naples. Next time we come, we will add some more of the unusual stops and maybe even a museum or too if I can convince Callum! Off to Tuscany next.
Tuscany
We had a long drive from Rome and after a stop to buy provisions as we knew we were on a vineyard in the middle of nowhere, we had some trouble finding our Airbnb. At several places, we had been left a nice bottle of wine and we thought this might happen at the vineyard since they made their own chianti. However, there was no such luck and when we looked it up, their wine was €40 a bottle so we let them off.
After a slow start with a bit of exercise, we went to San Gimignano, which, though touristy, was rather nice. We did a bit of Christmas shopping there, and tried “the worlds best ice cream” (winners 2006-9) which we weren’t best impressed with. Standards have definitely slipped! Next, we went to Siena, which was alright. It didn’t rate highly on the Rossie scale of pretty places. We had an extortionate thimble of coffee in the Piazzo Del Campo and Callum had the smallest salmon roll ever! We headed back to homemade pasta and 3 chiantis. We decided we would taste test different bottles to see if Callum could spot the most expensive from the mid priced one and the tetra pack that cost €1.19 for a litre. Callum did get the blind testing order right but actually really liked the tetra pack! Such a sensitive palate!
The next day, we booked a day on some e-bikes that meant negotiating Florences traffic and parking quite early. We picked them up from a lovely Scottish man who provided us with a route that included a vineyard stop where we would be expected. We had some difficulty with the directions getting out of the city but after that had the best day! The views were amazing- cycling through pine forests, vineyards, olive trees and with spectacular views of Florence as a whole. The bikes were fab and we overtook some very serious, well kitted out, proper cyclists effortlessly up some steep hills. We did feel slightly guilty but it didn’t stop us pressing turbo each time! We stopped at the vineyard and had wine with a meat platter in the sunshine. Just lovely. After cutting Callum off due to safety concerns, I corked the bottle and we moved on. We cycled along a river, clocking over 30km an hour at one point (honestly boys!), stopped at a copy of David and then headed back into the city.
We ended the day with a walk around Florence and our final pizza near the Duomo. We thoroughly enjoyed this day and loved Florence though I did think next time we must get into the art galleries etc even if one of us isn’t keen. We had one more night in Italy after a long drive north. We stayed just north of Verona in a pretty small town Thiene in the best Airbnb yet. It was just like being at home but without our animals!
And that was Italy- at least for the time being! Off to Austria and Germany for beer and bratwurst to replace the wine and pizza!
Rossies Go Roaming 