I had always thought that Italy was a romantic place but then as I got to know it better I started to see its many flaws. This bothered me at first - until I realised it was a package deal. Its charms and imperfections came bundled together. To enjoy one, I learnt to put up with the other and then we got on just fine. But hey, that's what real love is, right? To quote Shakespeare from memory, 'love looks not with the eyes but with the mind and thus is winged Cupid painted blind'.
We chose to go to Verona on this trip because I once saw a movie that had a great setting and I actually waited through the credits to see the shooting location - yep, you guessed it, 'Verona'. Retrospectively I can say that Verona was a major Italian highlight for me. If you are coming to Italy, I recommend arranging to spend a day or two in Verona!
We strolled down cobblestone streets into the old town centre, meandered down narrow alleyways, and eventually stumbled across what would become our favourite piazza (town square). We searched the menus and found horse meat as a menu item! We didn't try it this time, deciding to leave this curious experience for another day. (That day turned out to be a few weeks later where it was shaved like ham and piled on a gourmet pizza in Padua!)
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Find-a-word. Starts with 'H' and ends in 'orse'.
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The air was very hot and muggy and we were grateful for the many fountains in the town. I kept wetting my hair and occasionally my whole shirt in an effort to combat the heat. Yeah, I looked like a drowned rat but survival trumped looking my usual amazing self. Haha.
Verona is famed for housing the tragic lovers Romeo and Juliet. And while you can visit her balcony and house museum, hold the right breast of her bronze statue for luck in love, or graffiti her courtyard - the story is just that: a tale with no historical bearing.
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Graffiti on entrance to 'Juliet's courtyard'
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[Jahda: We also discovered that Verona has its own mini colosseum type structure. It's now used for a series of opera performances in summer evenings. Apparently, it's a 'bring your own cushion' affair as these Italian operas tend to go for a few hours and the amphitheater seats are just stone benches. We passed on the opera because it was a little expensive and neither of us can speak Italian (a minor consideration), but we enjoyed walking around the empty amphitheater the next day.
[J: We also went for an exploration drive (easier said than done on Verona's winding streets where 'minimalism' seems to be the favourite art form for the city's street signs). We were trying to find a lookout we had heard about. In the end we parked the car and kept exploring on foot - we were rewarded with a great little viewing area that looked out over the old town centre. Oh, and a water fountain, which is no small thing in Italy's summer heat!]
Our next stop was inspired by a great book, that is now a movie, called 'Love and War in the Appenines'. I couldn't find the exact location but I thought the cheap hotel I chose was close to the place in the book and conveniently on route to our next destination. This was my first book-a-place-in-the-middle-of-nowhere mistake. It was a laugh-in-hindsight experience with its pathetic excuse for a bathroom (Call that a shower? Where are we, rural Laos??), total isolation with zero charm, and seriously let-down driving scenery. Laughing while shaking our heads we left with optimism for the Cinque Terre (Italian for 'five towns').
Five cute old towns protected under UNESCO hug the coast in north-west Italy. After hours of searching with a dodgy internet connection that morning as we drove on towards this fairly remote area, we booked a few nights within walking distance to the western most town, Monterosso al mare - in the 'newer' area of Levanto. The road to get there was long, narrow, winding and pot holed. But at least you could take a car in - something not possible in most Cinque Terra towns. Once settled, we raced for the sea and our first ever swim in the Mediterranean with its grey sandy beach (rare for these parts as most swimming areas are directly off rocks) where I got my first yell-producing jellyfish sting! The jellyfish decided to hug my elbow in a hug of death, which left welts! A nice welcome to the Mediterranean. Thankfully vinegar for 10 mins and very hot water took the pain away.
The cinque terre towns are accessible by train, boat and walking trails. Our plans for hiking dwindled away as the sun beat down and we realised that the scenery was mostly scrub and cliff rocks - all baking in the sweltering sun - and being part of that was not our idea of fun. So we got in a shaded ferry boat and popped past each of the towns, enjoying some great views of the towns from the ocean, along with the deep blue water of the Mediterranean Sea.
We debated doing the short 15 minute famed 'lovers walk' but decided against it for the reasons above and because they now charge entry to this part of the hiking trails as it is so popular. Instead we spent our time exploring a slightly more distant town called Portovenere. This place is like what we imagine the French riviera to be, except that it has a fortress above it and sells tastebud-happy pesto!
[Jahda: There were boats everywhere, along with lots of Europeans and other holiday makers in their designer swimwear. We went exploring in the town and no, those flags are not English flags, but the local Portovenere flag! We also took the opportunity to go for a swim in the rich blue water - even though we had to clamber across some rocks first.]
On the way back from Portovenere we enjoyed walking through the five famous towns. Out the front of them by the waters edge were bronzed bodies resting on the rocks, boats tethered to posts and paint-faded buildings facing the ocean. We were glad we stayed where we did and just visited these towns. The majority of accomodation seemed to be holed up between the crowded buildings, with only the nicer parts of the town existing at the busy and rocky waterfronts.
We were struck by the incredible blue colour of the ocean (is it possible the water is bluer here?) and the popularity of focaccia! There are even shops dedicated solely to selling focaccia called (can you guess?) focacciaria's! I hope you've had one at some point in your life, but, if not, a focaccia is a square pizza with a thick base and no tomato paste and the Italians like them with only a few ingredients; just olives, or cherry tomatoes and oregano for example. Hopefully if you are having one with cheese you are okay with it being out in the hot air for about 10 hours because that's how they come...
We left the way we came, up the pot-holed, blind-cornered road and got out onto the highway. After driving for a while we saw signs for Pisa, as in, the leaning tower of Pisa. Initially we had actively avoided planning any travel through Pisa as there are other things to see and the area is super touristy and the 'push the tower over' photo is a little too common... ...
But we were so close!... ... So we found ourselves won over by a leaning tower because the pull was just too strong (I guess there is a lot of pull in that area). And, like everyone else, we stood on the grass beside the tower camera trigger happy and making funny poses.
[Jahda: It's ok, the tower is still there because there seemed to be about the same number of people holding it up as there were pushing - or in our case, kicking - it over.
Then it was back on the road as we headed for the rolling hills, vineyards and walled cities of Tuscany.
Amanda.
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