Beautiful Bergamo

Our second day in Bergamo was another of the still clear days we had come to enjoy so much on this trip! In this northern part of Italy, however, such days it seems foster smog. Even smoggy, the day offered many wonderful sights and views. After being dropped off near a fountain by our courtesy shuttle and told this is where we would be picked up at 7.30pm, we had the obligatory cafe stop and set off to explore, headed for the "old" city up on the hill - where nearly all the very old and more exclusive parts of towns seem to be (historically, of course, it makes perfect sense). Here is what that looked like from below as we approached the furnicular to take the easy way up ;-) ... as you can see the "new" part of town has much wider vias than we have become used to and many pedestrian areas that felt very safe and spacious. Most of our day was spent wandering and exploring upper Bergamo.

There were, of course, the obligatory basilicas and cattedrales and chiesas abounding. Something different, though, was the positioning of the university for the study of Bergamo - we saw atleast four buildings spread around with that title and, it seemed, quite a few students milling about. Nice place to study! We also found a version of the Last Supper in a sanctuary room dedicated to Pope John XXIII (1958-65?) who was from Bergamo ... we decided that this would save us the bother in Milan of forking out for a max 15 minutes in front of the real thing - tight arse accountant I know! Anyway here is the Bergamo version and a couple of other images for you to devour.

(Far less tampered with) Bergamo
last supper fresco

Basilica S.Maria Maggiore &
Tempietto Santa (right)

Deb after visiting the pastry shop!

We also spent some time walking around the walls which offered some spectacular views in the afternoon sunshine and in a couple of these you can see the effect of the smog. Once again, travelling in autumn shows its own special charm for us sub-tropical coastal dwellers ...


Villas from Largo Colle Aperto



A view down Viale Delle Mura

Southern panorama from Viale Delle Mura

And three final shots to show off the end of a wonderful day of exploration in Bergamo ... the first captures what a wonderful time of day it was and how the right light can make a non-photographer look pretty good :-) ... being in the right place at the right time is clearly a skill they know well; for me, merely serendipitous! And we did walk back down (below right) rather than use the fernicular ... found a very nice cafe for late afternoon coffee and then a really nice fresh bowl of pasta each for dinner before our return shuttle (see later)


Looking up (more or less north)
along Viale delle Mura



Our road down - Via Sant'Allessandro
from Porta S.Giacomo



And finally, how is this for a way to remember the day we explored the old upper town of Bergamo?

Really!

You would think at our age such nonsense would be long forgotten ;-)

(it is the kids playground out of picture that must have

led to such behaviour)

P.S. I mentioned our 7.30pm pick-up by our courtesy shuttle ... well, two phone calls to the Hotel later his brother (!) turned up with another driver at 8.30pm ... the brother jumped out, issued some instructions to the driver in Italian, apologised to us for his brother being a problem and headed off into the night. But we did make it back to the Hotel safely. The Hotel staff were not impressed with the service of their contracted shuttle. John Miller did warn me!

Lago Como

So our two days in Bergamo added further weight to our contention that all Australian meteorologists need to study whatever it is they do in Europe to learn about forecasting. This has been reinforced again for our final days here in Milan, where as they had predicted almost to each quarter of the day it is raining heavily - so our visit to the city yesterday was indeed wise (but more on that in a later post).
Thursday we decided to head to Lake Como with the intention of driving around it. Our intended route was Lecco in the southeast corner to Bellagio to Como in the southwest corner and then up around the northern apex and back to Lecco (and Bergamo). I should really have known by now that distances on an Italian road map mean very little unless you are on the Autostradas! So, the 30km or so to Lecco took about 90 minutes - not withstanding a wrong turn at one point which led us up the eastern edge of the lake on a motorway when I wanted to be on the minor lakeside road ... so lots of swearing and cursing and muttering and finally finding a rather nice lakeside park to find my bearings and we were on our way :-). So here are a couple of shots from either side of the lake near Lecco (actually called Lago di Lecco on the map rather than Lago Como) which offer our first glimpse of why people say (quite rightly) it is so lovely.

Lago di Lecco from Oliveto Lario



Grigna Settentrionale & Oliveto Lario
from near Onno



Panorama from near Onno

As you can see the late morning was quite cloudy but with hints that the sun would get through as forecast around early afternoon. Even so, you can see how lovely and peaceful it is ... certainly a place that invites taking time to stop regularly and admire the views and imagine what it would be like in full sunshine on a spring or summer day. The water was crystal clear and surprising not too cold (atleast at the surface level!).

However, driving around the lake roads so you could take in the towns and villages was not unlike our earlier strenuous couple of hours navigating the Sorrento and Amalfi cliff roads. In this instance not as high, or quite as narrow, but enough to jangle the nerves and require 150% concentration. Plenty of trucks and buses to negotiate a passage with on very narrow turns - the big carriages like to blast their horns as they take corners, but not really sure what difference it makes given the speed at which they are travelling ... merely to offer you a sense of approaching calamity and hopeful redemption I fear! Thankfully we avoided both, but it was a rather harrowing days driving.

Now, we did make Bellagio for a very welcome walk around and found some fantastic views and a really nice little cafe for some soup(zuppa) and fresh lasagne for lunch. Like so many places, a quick visit likely does not do justice, but the flavour lingers for some time and is heightened as you move on to the next picturesque spot and get a glimpse of the lake from another angle in another light. So here are a few shots from around Bellagio, and you can see the sun had finally emerged and warmed things up to a furnace-like 10C ... mind looking at so many people wandering around you would ahve thought it was more like -10C!


Bellagio to nth part of Lake Como panorama



Monte di Tremezzo to west of
Bellagio

Argrento & M.Tremezzo a bit
further south

And so we headed on to Como having made far slower progress than intended (I had hoped for lunch in Como!) but as it turned out, it was a mad & busy metropolis after the winding roads around the lake and no small task to work out the parking, so we just motored on through and took the "low road" on the western side to meander through about 10kms of very private and plush waterfront and hillside mansions. The final shot for this post (below) shows a view back across the lake during a walking and wee stop - after having to pay so often to pee, I could not resist the temptation (well I just really needed to go!) to water a tree in the ritzy part of town ;-) ... thought it better than the lake! Ah, now that sounds like something that should end up in a blog!

M.Palanzone (1436) from Leglio

So, we decided that it would not be wise to attempt to continue around the lake and we headed back. Eventually, and after a VERY large pizza (each) along the way for dinner we found the Holiday Inn and did not take long to climb into bed and slept very well. While the lake, even on a relatively dull day was beautiful, driving on the windy narrow roads is not for the faint or weak hearted ... I doubt we could live in such parts, and have come to realise why they are the preserve of the rich - you need a helicopter or seaplane to get there and then a driver to take you anywhere, neither of which we will ever have access to.

Finally, like so much of Italy, and having noticed so many camping and caravan sites along the part of the lake we explored, this would be a treacherous place to be in summer. However, as Deb commented, the idea would be to stay put in one of the places with a ferry service and use that to explore the other places ... still, you need to get to your base ... but it is lovely!

A few missed happenings :-(

Our last few days have given us pause to reflect on several recent postings and draw breath as our odyssey draws to a close. Our last post about Venice and Vicenza was done in a little haste and not quite enough care so I could get it finished. Alas, a couple of interesting things that happened in Venice and one very incredible thing happened in Vicenza.

Steve, Deb, Jo & Dave

Vicenza first ...

We had a space in our B&B with two ensuite bedrooms and a shared living/kitchen area. An American couple vacated the other room after 2 nights and then we had one alone. Given it was wet, we took the chance to do some washing and had everything spread out around the rooms using the central heating for drying. We thought we had another night alone on the second rainy afternoon when Bob brought in new guests - eek! So we quickly retrieved the mess we had spread around while he showed our new room mates their room and explained how things worked.

The Australian accents were an immediate connection! Deb put the kettle on and started talking with Jo and I was chatting with Dave (the difference between "talking" and "chatting" is very deliberate I might add ;-) ... they went non-stop for about 15 minutes and we had to remind them that there was tea to drink). So as we sat down around the table at last (yes, I know ... the punch line is nigh!) and started drinking, Deb & Dave started to pay attention to one another and almost simultaneously realised they knew eachother ... turns out they are cousins who had not seen each other for around 30 years. Jo & Dave live in Mackay. So how incredible is it that you run into a long lost cousin in an Italian B&B sharing the same room?? Deb's mum couldn't believe it either when we called her for her birthday - helped make the call a little special so that was a treat too.

And as only Australians could, we dined together that night in a Chinese restaurant - SERIOUSLY good food too! I'm sure we will stay in touch. As an aside, Jacinta and mum informed us also that we were likely to have been in Pompeii the same day as a cousin of mine Virginia and her beau (also Steve), though we lay no lcaim to having run into them - that just would have been too incredible ;-).

Ok, a couple of quick omissions from Venice.

We had two unexpected treats (aren't they always the best ones)? One was a series of concerts celebrating the work of Vivaldi as autumn fell - not that we were lucky enough to actually attend, but it was wonderful to see a church set up ready for the concert series (see below). Associated with the Vivaldi concerts was an exhibition of very old musical instruments. The dates on the photo below suggest that these particular ones were made before dates had four figures :-) - the one shown circa 800 apparently ... and there were many other similar examples. A treat was to see a workshop display showing the tools and various stages of making string instruments.

The third photo below is the main alter in the Basilica Santa Maria della Salute showing people who were in singing prayer session - the sound was "divine" and had the effect of requesting you to pause for some time to sit or stand and listen to the exquisite sound under the main dome. Truely a treat.

Chiesa S.Vidal for Vivaldi concerts

Very old wind & string instruments

Santa Maria della Salute (singing)

That will do for now ... still to come before we head home some images and impressions from beautiful Bergamo and a gloomy Milan - the latter teaming with people the same way Rome was with traffic, a very wierd sensation!

Visiting Venice and vacating Vicenza - sun and snowcaps

So we have arrived this afternoon at our penultimate destination - Bergamo. We have settled into our room at the Holiday Inn Express, had dinner at a local 100 yr old trattoria and about to hit the sack in anticipation of a day driving around Lake Como - weather forecast being as accurate as they have been to date.

Yesterday, relying on those forecasts we headed off to Vencie and as predicted, the sun shone through mid-afternoon and the rain held off all day, allowing us a very cool but still day to wander the streets and canals. The single most striking thing was that Venice is the most commerialised of all the places we have visited so far - without a shadow of doubt. So I will comment on that no more and try to show you some much more enjoyable images :-)


Fancy - gondolas on the
Venice Grand Canal!



Not all hussle and bussle though

 After wandering around exploring all sorts of larger and smaller streets and canals, we were surprised at how clean and not smelly it all seemed - at times as though it all just been hosed down. That said, there was a lot of construction and renovation underway in many places which meant some of the views were not what they might have been ... and yet again, we were grateful to be here at this time of year for all the reasons mentioned in earlier posts. Next are a couple of "must sees" on the tourist trail ...



Ponte di Rialto



Piazza San Marco in the afternoon sun

We also managed to get some good shots with us included and some really interesting panoramas. I have included two below with one or both of us included and then one of the panoramas which was fortunate to catch rather a spectacular cloud pattern in the afternoon sun - a nice contrast to the gloom and damp of the previous few days ...

A remarkable photo getting
Deb so close to the canal

Deb looking far happier with a bridge
& a walkway around her



Canale di San Marco

And so you can, we hope, get some feel for the coolness of the day and also the change in the weather for the better over the time we were there. We will leave Venice with an image from dusk as we returned to the Stazione for our ride back to Vincenza - this is basically the same area as the first picture above, though looking back to the bride where that first photo was taken from. A nice final memory of Venice for us.



Ponte degli Scalzi near the
Stazione

 The title referred to snowcaps. It was so smoggy in Vincenza when we arrived that we did not even know there were mountains so close - let alone with snow on them! So, when we were on the train to Venice we saw them, and this morning on a beautiful clear sunny morning, we were able to get some snaps of them. We also managed so updated shots of Vicenza showing off the autumn colours in teh sunshine - quite lovely as you will see. And, with these we sill sign off until next time ... as always, the rain seems to bring everything to life again (of course, a couple of days is something you would mostly be longing for on the north coast :-) ...

Sunny Vicenza with snowcaps in the distance

Autumn on Viale Dalmazia
(snowcap right at the end)

Loggia Valmarana in Giardini Salvi

Piazza dei Signori

Sunny valley view through
a villa driveway

How about that for a
divine memory of Vicenza!

Steve's Sunday Sermon from Vicenza

Today the back garden
is actually a bit gloomier than this!

Today it is (for us) a rare rainy day. 

There are a couple more forecast coming up. 

So, it is Sunday, it's raining in Italy and Steve's taking time out to write a sermon. 

I can't really see the point in getting wet shoes and soggy socks despite having our rain jackets and an umbrella at hand.

However, we did manage to see a few highlights in Vicenza yesterday ...

so here are a few photos so you do not have to wait until the end of the sermon and perhaps miss them because you left before the sermon was over ;-) ...

Andrea Palladio's "La Rotonda" - a
seminal piece of architecture from
1566.

Santuario di Monte Berico



Panorama from Monte Berico



Villa Valmarana "Ai Nani"



Vicenza Chocolate expo


Now for that sermon is you are still interested.

Deb has discovered Patience (Solitaire) on the computer and here I am reflecting on the following question for this post (sermon): So what does one make of Italy?

Each new day and each new place has bought a different appreciation, a new perspective, timely reminders of so much that has transpired for us to be enjoying the world as it is now.  Paradoxically, that appreciation, perspective and reminder serve to highlight the rapid rate at which we seem intent on "ruining the ruins" and moving about way too conveniently to notice what is here!

There in lies a challenge. A puzzle better captures my point.  Without the travel, the ease of getting from A to B, no matter where A and B happen to be, would the appreciation, perspective and reminder be highlighted?  How many trips is necessary for what is always highlighted (with hindsight, of course) to be recognised?

Based on the generous and almost routine travel I have enjoyed since 2003, I am seriously starting to feel guilty of contributing to the demise of our planet ... and those of you who know what a sceptic I am may well be as suprised to read this acknowledgement as I am to write it!

It has become very clear, because of the contrasts on this trip especially, that urbanisation and economic growth/globalisation are the modern day plagues we have let loose.

The drive across the central north of Italy from Levanto to Vincenza highlighted all that is unpleasant and distasteful ... but it was so easy to get so far!  There seemed ever-decreasing pockets of rich alluvial farmland being smothered by huge (and I mean huge) industrial and distribution sheds/complexes.  And the smog was quite oppressive - as bad as I have experienced in Hong Kong.  Worse still was the extent to which the motorways are clogged with trucks.  Seriously, I believe on these northern motorways the ratio of cars to trucks is very close to 50:50!

This makes me ponder our impending Ballina-Alstonville-Wollongbar bypasses.  For someone who has heard about it all their life and know where the Alstonville bypass was going for as long, it is a milestone in my life to see it come to fruition.  But when I ponder the southward urban spread from Brisbane/Gold Coast as that freeway system has extended, I admit to despair.  I really fear that far too soon it will end up here (well, I mean Wollongbar) ... that is especially sad because it has taken so long here (I mean Italy).  Taken so long but the rapid rate of change is plain to see.

As you fly along from A to B you get glimpses of what used to be.  In some places the freeway is so close to the old buildings you could touch them.  A potential positive of these bypasses and at least cutting out all the through traffic is the village has a chance to slow down, to reinvigorate perhaps, to return to a way that once was?  But how do you keep the young involved; where do they work; how do they accept what they cannot have when they visit those urban centres?

Don't you just love rainy days? :-)

So back to my original question.  Of course, there is nearly always light on a rainy day!  Even within the gloom above there are bright lights.  A madder example of urban sprawl will not be found than Rome.  And still there are many jewels that offer glimpses of earlier and far grander times.  Equally, there are stark reminders that the 'have nots' in those grander times did it far tougher than many today - there really were consequences in those days!  No one else to blame or call on either!  The grandeur, the wealth and the complacency of the church are plain to see ... in so may ways, in my view, this is a very powerful reminder of current commercial and global excesses ... decay (in many forms) follows.  For every magnificent edifice to a god that you see maintained there must be 10 not maintained, so not on show - replaced rather than maintained.  Not unlike pockets of empty shops and industrial sites in atrophy.

Then there are the real jewels!  Get out of the uban areas.  Hear, see, talk with people who literally live of the earth.  Montone and Cinque Terre.  Here even the weeds are ploughed back into the earth rather than put into plastic recycle bins for transport and sorting!  Fruit and veges are left on the stem to harvest seeds to grow the next crop because you have to grow what you eat - too bloody difficult to get the bags back from the supermarket to the hillside terraces or the hilltop villages!  But the simplicity, the self reliance and the acceptance of the seasons is very plain to see.  You see no waste.  The air is clear and clean and fresh!  And you really seldom need a car ... unless you need (as opposed to want) to get from A to B.

It has been wonderful to have time.  Time to look, time to admire the good, the bad and the ugly, and think about the implications.  We all know that it is the thought that counts - cynicism rules of course.

The best part of the trip has been seeing Deb enjoy turning 50.  A passage of time that seemed quite remote more than once.  That she has been able to survive the madness and grandeur of Rome, and the cliff driving of Sorrento, and relax in the tranquillity of Montone and Cinque Terre and enjoy the hill climbs of Cinque Terre and wandering the cobblestones of Pompeii are true testimony to her spirit and passion for life (and the strength in her chicken legs from all that gym work).  The joy of hearing her say "it's better than I had imagined" so many times is the best birthday gift.  That she has had time to soak up so many things that she had hoped to experience, on this and earlier trips, is what life is about.  To enjoy them so much is a bonus.

Does this reconcile with the well-being of the planet?  The appreciation, perspective and reminder I wrote of earlier? Nope!  I think that I have always been more of a philosopher than an engineer (hopeless at anything remotely like either!) so blogging about it is far easier than answering!  Enjoy it while it is here, because if we do not, I fear it is not going to be here to enjoy at all - see the connundrum ... live local and miss it all :-( because the pictures are definately not as good as the real thing, ever ... or go see it and bugger things up more quickly.

Deb's still playing solitaire and the drizzle is still shading the light ...

PS: for any pedants wondering how Deb could be blogging on the same computer, you will have to use your imagination :-)

The jewel that is Cinque Terre!

Choosing a first photo to share with you took some doing ... yesterday was a lovely day, but today, well ... take a look at this for a view from having a morning cuppa - no offence to Barry, but the R block coffee cart kind of pales by comparison ...



Riomaggiore

We are not sure what it is about travelling in October, but it seems to turn on excellent weather in the northern hemisphere ... or perhaps we are just lucky! Whatever the reason, we feel even if the next 10 days provides lousy weather we have been blessed (very droll, I know ... it's Italy!) and certainly have several photo albums worth of wonderful photos for memories.



Our base - B&B Vignola

 Yesterday was a very big day for us. We are staying just north of Cinque Terre at B&B Vignola on the outskirts of Levanto. Ever want a recommendation as a base for exploring - this is it ... wonderful and helpful hosts (Ghianni & Karen) and just take a look it - even if you just stayed here you could not help but feel good and be relaxed!

So Wednesday we headed off on the train to the northern most village - Monterosso al Mare - to begin our exploration. Takes all of five minutes on the train! However, we were soon to find out that the path  to Vernazza is the toughest of the easy tracks, but extremely spectacular. Just when we felt like it was getting tough we came on a party of 3 heading in the opposite direction, one of whom was vision impaired and using a walking cane ... OK, so no room for any grumbles! We made it just fine and there are loads of wonderful places to rest along the way - and loads of people like us taking the rests :-). Here are a couple of images to show off what was so fantastic (not expressed lightly) and why Deb felt at the end of the day that she had seen what we came for.

The first one is right at the start of the walk, the second showing the climb ahead about 1/3 the way BUT a hell of a lot of steps up, much of it narrow and steep ... but clearly spectacular given teh view back to where the first shot was taken from sea level!

Monterosso



We were headed for the top
of those vines!



The view back from the top
of the vines.

Of course, once you go up, you normally make it back down again. While there were plenty of smaller ups and downs in between, there is what was at the end of this leg of a wonderful, if tough for us trek ... we were to find out today that this was the much tougher end to tackle first ... no mucking about with warm-ups or any kind of acclimatisation for this pair - straight into it!


Vernazza prior to descent



Vernazza looking back to
where we came from

Like driving in Italy, you come to realise how we are far too precious about so many rules and regulations that stifle our ability to show off beauty like this across our own great country. We were reflecting over dinner tonight about all the hassle currently in play to get a walk/bike path from Ballina to Lennox ... too close to the cliff edge, blah, blah, bloody blah ... and when you see what has been done here, the volume of traffic it takes and just what it shows off, you realise Mark Webber had a very strong point when he labelled us the "granny country". Seeing what the grannies do in these parts every day make you realise how pampered and precious we are about rules and regulations ... I am more convinced than ever that lawyers have a lot to answer for! And we keep electing them to parliament ... ah, what's a blog if you can't have a rave?

So, here are a couple more images from today, even more magnificant weather if you can believe that. This was a mere dawdlw compared to yesterday, with even, paved wide walkways that almost passed for "broadwalks". As you can see we are being very spoiled but lapping up every minute of every day.


Leaving Riomaggiore behind



Boarding the ferry - no worries about
ramming wharves here!



Sure beats R Block!

Manarola

I could go on ... but I forget you have to read this ... and we are here.

So tomorrow we leave this jewel. I am sure these few images give you a sense of why the reputation that precedes Cinque Terre is well earned, in our experience. If you ever get the opportunity, I trust you will have such wonderful weather - like everywhere else though, this would be unpleasant in tourist season - far too many people and way too hot we would caution.

On the road again. Off across to the North East and Vicenza to spend 5 days with Bob & Jenny at their B&B. Planning to train to Venice (at least one day) and have another one just to kick back and ponder how really wonderful this trip has been.