So, picking up after our stay in Rome...
We drove to the Tivoli Gardens, an Italian renaissance garden that was started in the 1550s and includes an organ fountain that plays music while spraying water up in the air. It was a beautiful little stop and we did our first purchase of our meat and cheese lunch that kept us full and happy throughout Italy. We left Tivoli, struggling, but succeeding with Italian roadsigns and headed to Orvieto. We met two of Jennifer's friends from her architecture program and shared a delicious meal in a restaurant in a grotto! Truffles are currently in season, so, of course, I ate pasta with truffles (the start of a three night run of this). Incredible.
We camped outside of Orvieto that night near a little town called La Rocca. The campsite was beautiful and full of peach, cherry and apple trees, but unfortunately, it rained on us and clothes were quite wet. It also precipitated a sharp drop in temperature, so camping was put on hold for the time being. We headed back into town and Jennifer wisely recommended that we go down St. Patrick's Well in Orvieto. It is a well that was built in the 16th century and is 175 deep and 45 feet wide. It was an impressive double helix, so we went down one spiral staircase and returned up the other.
After Orvieto, we hopped on the road to go to Siena, driving through beautiful green and yellow Tuscany. Jennifer wanted to show us the star fort in Siena and I decided that I wanted to stop. We were able to make a quick reservation near Il Campo (the center of Siena) and Rick Steves again recommended a delicious dinner (risotto with truffles for me and it was everything I dreamed it would be). It was good we didn't camp as it was cold, cold, cold in Siena.
The next day, we headed to Volterra and opted to stay there that night. Our inn was perfect: the old seminary built in 1002 and showed to us by a very entertaining Italian priest (perhaps). Our room was huge, albeit cold and the place felt nearly vacant. Sterling thought that it would be his next work project. I could get behind that if I got to stay in Volterra, which was my favorite of the little towns that we saw. Perched on the cliffs that inspired Dante's cliffs of hell with alabaster shops lining the streets, it was nice to be in such a quaint little town (that incidentally, has a Medici fortress in the center that is a maximum security prison for 60 prisoners).
The next morning was our last full day, so we got on the road for Cinque Terre. Pisa was on the way, so we decided to make a brief stop in the city. I got to experience filing a "dinuncia" with the Italian police who were very kind and helpful, but other than that, Pisa was obviously a bust and you shouldn't go there ever. Sterling, Jennifer and I are on a three person campaign to destroy the tourist industry in the town. We do not like Pisa.
But, we LOVE Cinque Terre and it was a beautiful drive into the town. Antonella, who was in charge of our little inn, was very helpful and made us a very last minute reservation at Trattoria dal Billy, which camp highly recommended by Antonella and Rick.
The next morning, we hopped back on the road for another leg of the beautiful trip... driving through Switzerland (expensive, but clean!) and Liechtenstein (it's always sunny in Liecthenstein) and pulled into Esslingen. It was a lot of time in the car, but our Pandas did well and it was fun to zip around the streets and highways of Italy. The food never disappointed and the majority of the people we met were fabulously friendly and helpful. It was a great trip to Italy, but of course, it's nice to be in Germany. Very practical dressers and very orderly road signs. And the cutest little curly-haired family living in town that are great, entertaining hosts. Happy to be here!
Comments