Somma Lombardo

I took a cab with Carol, Dick, and Coleen from the Rick Steve's tour group from Orta to a hotel 5 min or so away from Malpensa (Milan Airport) where I was going to catch a flight to Nice the next morning. I walked into the little village for a late lunch. The town had its own castle and a large church. It seems all Italian villages do. The hotel (a Hilton Garden Inn) was a nice segue between my weeks in Italy and the beginning of my journey home - - a little bit American and a little bit Italian.

Orta - Last meal and departure

We had our last dinner together at the Olina Restaurant in town. Many courses, accompanied by wine as always, were beautifully presented (peaches with prosciutto, risotto with asparagus, saffron tortelloni and saffron, sirloin steak and tiramisu. The steak was cooked very rare on a sizzling hot stone brought to the table. We exchanged little gifts with our buddies. Some of the gifts, and some of the presentations, were very clever.

The next morning we gathered for breakfast in pretty room with a panoramic view of the town and lake. We began to leave in groups of 2 and 3 as our taxis arrived to take us to airports and train stations.

Orta San Giulio - View from Above

After a quick look around the church, I followed a road (more like a dirt path) that went up and then across the face of the steep hill behind the town. It was the first time on the whole trip that I walked on a relatively smooth, soft surface and could look at the view rather than my feet (so I wouldn’t trip on cobbles) or over my shoulder (so I wouldn’t be killed by an Italian driver who was choosing to ignore the “suggestion” of a stop sign or light). The view to the town and lake below and the mountains around was gorgeous.

Orta San Giulio - Church

On my way back to the hotel, I climbed up to the church that overlooks the town. On the way up (more cobbles, more steps) I heard what must have been a music lesson. It sounded lovely so several of us stopped, took a little break, and enjoyed the performance. The church was quite pretty inside, but I think I have had my fill of Italian churches for the next little while!

Isola di San Giulio

We docked at the little island in the middle of the lake. A a Benedictine monastery is in the center. Below that, a walk encircles the island, meant to be taken in silence and meditation. Below that is the surprisingly large Basilica of San Giulio and a ring of buildings that face the lake, former homes of the basilica's canons. The original church dates back to the 4th century, but it has been rebuilt more than once. I loved the colors of the brilliant frescos, some of which date to the 1400s, and started snapping pics until I looked closely at them. Each was worse than the last - - scenes of saints being tortured in horrible ways. What is it with Catholics and the graphic depiction of martyrs? Below the nave of the church is a catacomb with a very elaborate glass casket heavily encrusted with silver.

Lago d'Orta – Boat ride

After lunch, we took a ride around Lago d'Orta in a small boat. There were many beautiful, old mansions at intervals around the lake and an odd house that looked like a large toilet! Wonder if it is the summer home of someone whose millions came from plumbing? This lake is much less fashionable than Lake Maggiore or Como and so is quieter and more to my taste.

Orta San Giulio - Leon D'Oro

As soon as we settled in we walked down to the village of Orta San Giulio (more hills) and separated for lunch. I found a wonderful restaurant on a grape-vine-covered terrace projecting into the lake. As it was my last lunch in Italy, I toasted my month-long adventure with some wine and a great meal (after one or two experiences having wine for lunch along with everyone else, I had gone on the wagon). It was a perfect spot with a wonderful view of the little island in the center of the lake.

Lago d'Orta – Arrival

I really love this place and am very sorry I didn’t arrange to stay longer than one night, as had many of the other people in our group. Orta San Giulio itself is a small village with the usual stone streets and buildings decorated with window boxes full of flowers. It is right on a lovely lake that is several miles long and maybe a half-mile wide, surrounded by pretty mountains and some very lavish villas here and there. Above the town is a UNESCO world peace site, the Sacri Monto, with nine 16th and 17th century chapels and other religious buildings from all faiths. This region is also known for wine (e.g., Barolo) and Nutella (a chocolate-hazelnut spread that's extremely sweet but being touted as a healthy breakfast food!) I was given a wonderful room (again, sorry to be leaving so soon) in the Hotel La Bussola with a balcony and a smashing view of the lake and mountains.

Levanto - Surfs up

As we walked to the bus in Levanto along the seawall/promenade, we saw how the little storm the day before had transformed the Med - - proper surf had appeared and the local surfers were having a wonderful time.

Med to Mountains

In the morning we drove up and over the Appenines near the coast, across a relatively flat plain, and then toward the mountains in the north where our last stop will be in the town of Orta San Giulio on Lago d’Orta. This small lake is located just beyond the Lombardy region in the Piedmont. On the way, we stopped at another truck stop and found the same delicious food that there’s been everywhere else - - freshly baked croissants, orange juices squeezed to order, all sorts of fresh fruit. Even there, the Italian demand for good tasting, fresh food is always met. We crossed over the Po River and began to see the snow-covered Alps in the distance. It was interesting to drive through miles of rice paddies watered by a ditch system similar to that I’ve seen in California.

Levanto – Albergo Primavera

After checking out some of the little towns and trails of the Cinque Terre, I took the train for a 15-minute ride back to Levanto. I arrived in a downpour, and discovered that the rain jacket I bought 7 years ago in Ireland has lost its protective powers! I warmed up with a shower and spent a few hours reading and giving my ankle a break. That evening, the hotel put on a wonderful buffet banquet for us. There were all sorts of delicious vegetables, fish, regional dishes and LOTS of wine and after dinner drinks (limoncello and something made from walnuts that were lethal!). What a feast! The picture shows Dominic taking a picture of the owner of the hotel (who was also responsible for our dinner). Even tho’ it seems that all we’ve been doing is eating and drinking since the tour began, I don’t think I’ve gained any weight because we’ve done so much walking. As advertised, Rick Steves tours are NOT sedentary!

Cinque Terre – Lunch in Manrola

The town at the other end of the Via Dell'amore is Manrola. It is a cute little town, with the vividly colored buildings that I have seen anywhere in Italy. We had a wonderful seafood lunch at Il Picciola (recommended in the Rick Steve's book) sitting on a streetside terrace between beached boats. I'm not sure why they were on the street rather than in the water. It could have been that the weather was changing - - it rained later in the afternoon and the sea got quite rough.

Cinque Terre – Via Dell’amore

I finally did a bit of shopping in Riomaggiore - - I bought a flapper-type hat with a charming little silk flower, another gift for the Morays, and something for the group gift exchange. Then, I started on the Via Dell'amore with Cathy from the tour group. This is the most civilized part of the trail - - it is completely paved, relatively wide, and has a railing on the downhill side. All along the trail are little locks attached by young married couples who throw away the key symbolizing the permanence of their union. However, I also saw a few combination locks and wonder if those couples thought they might be changing their minds? Except for the fact that there were a lot of people also taking the walk, it was really wonderful with spectacular views.

Cinque Terre - Riomaggiore

It had been hot the day before, so we left bright and early for the Cinque Terra and our hike along the coast. The whole group walked to the train station and caught the train south, and then got off at different little towns to pick up the trail that they wanted to hike. The trails are simply carved into the (very steep) hillside, and climb steeply up as they leave each town, then steeply down as they approach the next. I took the train all the way to the southern-most town (Riomaggiore) where I wandered around little. It is a nice little town, very touristy, with very steep streets going up from the coast. The whole length of the long tunnel that connects the train station with the town is decorated with mosaics done in a combination of tiles, pebbles and slabs of rock. They are wonderful and I took about 30 or 40 pictures as I walked the length.

Levanto - Arrival

We stayed in the beach town of Levanto, just north of the Cinque Terre, connected to the towns to the south by a train, boats, and hiking trails. It is much flatter than the towns we'd been visiting (although not flat. Nothing in Italy is flat!) and has the feeling of a family resort town. I finally got a room with a little view and a nice balcony in the Albergo Primavera.

Cinque Terre – Boat ride up the Coast

We boarded another boat and traveled north along the coast past the Cinque Terre, which is five small, colorful villages that cling to the foot of the Ligurian cliffs along Italy’s west coast. Originally fishing villages, they now rely primarily on tourism. Although very popular with American, German and Italian tourists, they weren’t too crowded when I was there. The towns are linked by boats, a train and a popular hiking trail that cuts across the cliff below almost vertical vineyards. Different segments of the trail vary in difficulty and one was closed due to two landslides when I was there. For example, there are 360 steps on the Corniglia-Manrola segment and there are places along all but the Rioaggiore-Manrola segment where the trail becomes little more than a narrow ledge with a steep drop to the sea below with no railing. The area is simply beautiful.

Cinque Terre – Portovenere Fortress

These pictures show the view at the northern end of the town north up the coast toward the Cinque Terre. At the end of my rambles, I was sitting at the bottom of the very old stairs that skirted around the back of yet another old fortress (shown in the previous post) when a hardy group of German tourists clomped down the steep stairs with heavy hiking boots and two walking sticks that look like ski poles. Very weird looking. But, like the rest of us, all they were in search of was a nice gelato. There was a lovely WW1 memorial in the town square (where we gathered to eat our gelato) - - with a great art-deco woman carved in relief on marble. Very different than anything I'd seen so far.

Cinque Terre – Portovenere Town

We boarded the first boat and traveled north up the coast to the next town, Portovenere. Although not properly the Cinque Terre yet, this was my favorite of the steep little hill towns perched on the edge of the coastal mountains above the sea. It is also a UNESCO World Heritge site. There is another wonderful fortress with a medieval church at one end, a beautiful church in the center, and a row of the tallest, skinniest most brightly colored houses that I've seen anywhere in Italy. As has been the case in most of the places we've visited, the streets are stone. But here, they are smooth pavers rather than cobbles, and very steep. So steep, in fact, that many could be reached only by steep flights of stairs. The first group of pictures are of the town itself.

Cinque Terre – Lunch in Lerici

We arrived in our first town on the Med at lunchtime. Lerici has a brooding fortress on a promontory jutting out into the sea. Apparently, pirates were a plague in early days. While we were there, we watched the national testing of prospective Italian life guards on the beach - - lots of artificial respiration being done on one rubber dummy and dragging of "victims" from the water onto the beach. As always, the food was wonderful - - the only thing that keeps all Italians from weighing 300 lbs is all the walking and biking they seem to do (and the hills! Lots of hills!)

Carrera - From the marble mountain to the sea

We visited the immense marble mountains above the town of Carrera. The shining, white, jagged tops of the mountains look just like the snow-capped Alps. People have mined stone from these mountains since early Etruscan times. This was the source of all of the marble with which Bernini and Michelangelo created their masterpieces. Our guide (a cute redhead, Sarah from Carrera) said that there is estimated to be 3 cubic MILES of marble still in the mountains above the three valleys, even though more marble has been taken out in the last 50 years using modern methods than in all of the preceding centuries combined. The bus ride up the mountain was relatively terrifying, even though our bus driver, Mario has been excellent. We went up the same narrow mountainous road that the empty trucks take, and then down the same road as the filled trucks. Far below we could see the sprawling town spreading out to the ports along the Med.

Carrera - Marble mining museum

We stopped high in the mountains surrounded by all sorts of mining activities to hear about how marble is mined then and now and to see the implements used. A lovely old man who created and runs the museum told us wonderful stories about the early days. Before modern mining equipment was available, it would take two men all day to saw through THREE INCHES of marble to free a cubic meter chunk of marble from the mountain. I didn't realize that marble is just calcium carbonate and is one of the end products of a sedimentary process that started with shells from long-ago oceans. Or, that marble dust is an ingredient in all sorts of products, including toothpaste. It is incredibly heavy and there are all sorts of rules about the weight of the loads that the trucks can haul down the mountain. Driving down in front of one of these very heavily-loaded trucks reminded me of the early days on Hwy 17!

Lucca – Puccini and Mozart Concert

At 7:00 this evening a group of us attended a wonderful concert of music written by Mozart and Puccini. Puccini was born in Lucca to a poor family in the 1850s. Apparently, he and his work were dismissed by the people who ran the town (because of his humble beginnings), even as he became world famous. However, he is now Lucca's favorite son and there are signs of him everywhere - - after all, his operas have been presented more often than those of any other composer. Since 2004, a different concert, such as the one we saw, has been presented every night, 365 days per year. Hundreds of thousand of tourists have attended, although only only .01% of the audience are either Luccese or Italian. The setting was wonderful - - in the nave of a very old church and the pictures of Puccii shown as a stage backdrop were wonderful. He had such a brooding romantic look to him. The night that we were there, the performers consisted of a pianist and two young singers, a soprano and a tenor.

Lucca – Bike Around the Wall

Napoleon’s sister had the wonderful idea of making a park out of the tall, wide wall that encircles Lucca. Today, there is a wide biking and hiking path with grass and benches on each side, lovely views of the surrounding countryside, mountains, and different views of the city. We rented bicycles and rode around the wall once or twice. It was lovely, even tho’ the day had become quite hot (somewhere in the 90s) and humid. After I cooled off, I had a small, cool, tasty lunch in one of the restaurants Peggy recommended - - Ammodonostro. Then, for entertainment, I went to the local Laundromat. What an experience. There were 2 Canadians, a South African, and an Aussie airline pilot. It took all of us to figure out how to use the machines. Then, we sat and sweated as our clothes went round and round and drank beers provided by the Canadians; actually quite fun.