Florence

Florence Italy

Since Florence is pretty well known, we won’t bore you with all about it’s being the heart of the Renaissance, and arguably having as much truly great art as the rest of the world all added up together; but you probably also know it’s overwhelming and that even a religious zealot can only truly appreciate so many Madonna e Bambinos or Christo dying on the croce. Paul is able to look at each work of art as a beautiful object rather than a religious subject, but Danice's eyes go blurry after 2-3 museums and 5-7 Chiesas.

In the Uffizi we worked our way through the centuries of great art, and when we got to the Botticelli room and saw that lovely naked Venus being blown ashore,

we were dazzled - absolutely beautiful and just what the world must have needed after all that art about sin and sorrow. Paul read that the leader of the San Marco monastery back then, Savonarola, viewed these Bottacellis as pagan and ordered them all burned. Rumor has it that Lorenzo De’Medici, lover of art he, helped to save those that survived to brighten our cathedral and museum visits.

At the Accademia the joy of Florence, Michelangelo’s incredible “David”, still all shiny and strong and innocent and naked. The Accademia, which kept the artwork to inspire their students, seemed more polished and museum-y than before, but we still and again loved Michelangelo’s workshop statues half-emerged from their marble, massive muscular men seeming to push their way out. It seemed to Paul that some of the unfinished works were not on display. He particularly missed the hunk of marble with multiple legs emerging, as Michelangelo was trying to find the sculpture within the marble. Also, they were having a Mapplethorpe show of beautiful male bodies that went well with the Michelangelos.

Other unforgettable art included some frescoes in the Brancaccio Chapel of S. Maria di Carmine on the south bank (our less touristy side) of the Arno. All were really great,

but the fresco of Adam and Eve banished from their cushy garden by their allegoric God were really emotionally powerful,

Masaccio made us feel their enduring shame and pain. These renaissance artists communicated bible stories to the illiterate masses through their art; and it seemed this one work got the feeling across like no other we had seen.

What we most enjoyed about Florence was the thing we initially found the most daunting - isn’t that the way it seems to work? We had taken a ferry from Rovinj, Croatia across the beautiful Adriatic to Venice, a vaporetta to the Venice train station, a train to Florence, and finally a taxi to our home exchange. The taxi went up and up and around and up and around and then up some more into the “country.” We had known we would be in the hills above Piazza Michelangelo, but didn’t realize how far it was, that there were no stores, only one somewhat over-priced restaurant, a surprisingly erratic bus schedule, and it would be a 40 minute walk downhill to Florence. We felt stranded! But we donned our hiking shoes and walked down the hill the first afternoon for basic supplies.

After hitting the local supermarket just south of the Ponte Vechio, we stepped into a wine tasting bar across from the Pitti Palace for a little refreshment. To our good fortune the place was run by the young Zeno who had a passion for wine only matched in our experience by our friend Betsy. Zeno was a bundle of energy and information, almost none of which we retained. As we sipped, we flipped through Zeno’s very interesting guest book. Many people have come under Zeno’s spell and he is planning to drink his way across the USA, staying with a number of his customers - once his girl friend turns 21.

We caught the bus into town 2 of our 6 days, but our walks turned out to be the best part of being in/near Florence. The views of all sorts of fields and trees and glimpses of the city’s domes were wonderful.

Galileo’s house was across the street and an astronomic observatory down the way. Pian de’ Guillari looks to be an upscale neighborhood filled with large villas and gardens behind walls and gates.

We might never have noticed one of Florence’s oldest buildings, the beautiful San Miniato church/monastery on a hill overlooking the city,

nor the neighborhood where locals read the Italian news in the bar, with nary a souvenir in sight.

We walked up the hill home twice and enjoyed it except for the getting sweaty part, but managed to catch the last bus going up at 7:30 other days.

On our second visit to Zeno’s as we were sampling some reds, Paul recognized a regular from a sketch in the guest book, so Danice started talking to Masimo. He’s a very interesting guy who used to be a translator for the EU, but now owns a couple of bars ( small places that serve coffee, wine, beer and Panini). He had lots of information about what was happening in Florence and the area where we were staying, e.g. that our one local restaurant used to be a nice country place, but had gotten popular and upgraded its image and prices. As we sat at the bar, Zeno kept pouring Paul tastes of the wines he was opening - very delicious from small wineries. One was most remarkable as it smelled of porcini dust. We bought a Brunello d’ Montilcino, which was by far the best part of our salad and pasta dinner at home that night.

We steered ourselves away from the tourist meccas, avoiding the Duomo til the final day. One lovely afternoon we headed for Piazza SS Annuziata for coffee, to find a high-quality ceramics and craft fair going on. There were some very fine pieces tempting Paul, but the reality of trying to get a fragile piece back to the USA prevailed. Suddenly the crowd turned to see five musician /performers marching in, playing drums, saxophone, tuba lovely young woman standing on the shoulders of another performer. They put on a long comedic, acrobatic, musical show to the delight of everyone. Paul captured much of it on his Flip, here's a 3 minute clip.

Over 25 years earlier, with Stan Sesser’s help (the Chronicle food critic in the early 80s) we had found a wonderful Florentine restaurant named Cibreo where we had many happy memories of the wonderful food and the big-hearted chef-owner, Pici; so we set out to find it on our last day in Florence. It turns out Pici has been very successful in our absence and now controls a corner of Via Macci with a restaurant, a trattoria, a café and a private club anyone with 5 Euros can join. All the food comes out of one kitchen and the dishes are priced by the course, not the dish. The trattoria is high-side reasonably priced, the restaurant is very expensive. The café we thought looked more casual, and the club offers a buffet and some sort of entertainment nightly for about 30 euro/person. So, we had a delightful lunch at the Trattoria for about 50 Euro total, and we enjoyed it so much we decided, after ambling around Florence recovering from the lunch, to stay in town and join Cibreo’s private club to partake of the buffet and show. So we went back, filled out an elaborate questionnaire, read the humorous, but serious rules of the club, handed over our 10E, went inside and were told the buffet was totally booked for the night, come back another day. But this was our last day!!…they felt for us and suggested the café just across the street. It was a warm evening and we were happy to find an outdoor table. Service was wonderful, the menu was spoken only (as in the original), and was the same as the trattoria lunch, so we tried some of the other great dishes. At the end, we were a bit surprised to see a bill for 116E. The same menu from the same kitchen was more than twice the price at the café, and would have been even more at the restaurant. We guess Pici can justify the expensive foods, but still offers it for much less at the Trattoria to remember where he came from. Next time we'll look for a menu with prices, though.

Eating outdoors, watching a young mother managing a squirming, escaping baby, seeing the maitre d’ step in to pick up the tyke and squire him around as he did his work so mom could enjoy her meal (all so Italian) made it almost worth the added cost. (The food was quite good, but not as good as Paul remembered it. It is sort of refined rustic, and the restaurant does have a few more dishes than the café and trattoria. Go to the Trattoria or consider joining the Club and be sure to make reservations.)

We walked up the hill home to digest our food, enjoying the lights of the city below.

Rome

Well here we are again in Rome and this is one magical city. They started way before Jesus and just kept adding and re-doing, not always for the better. They kept building more housing and some major roadways on top of the great temples and forums, converting some from Pagan to Christian, but it apparently seemed like a good idea at the time.

Most of the history we see starts in the last century BC; does anyone know what they called the date then? The digging up of the various rulers palaces and forums (or foro) is pretty amazing.

They did keep the subway away from the antiquities so as not to interfere with the digs. Oh my, they built beautiful columns and arches back then.

It’s the true definition of awesome to see something that’s been around 2000 years or so. The Coliseum

would look a lot better had the Barberinis and the Pope not authorized “lifting” the marble to build their palace and St. Peter’s.

Our home exchange was great - right near the Spanish Steps, spacious and comfortable

with a lovely terrace for breakfasts and sunsets.

Our hosts were too generous, meeting our train, offering to drive us out to Tivoli and to take us to the airport when we leave, and one night taking us out for a very good typical Roman dinner. We were determined to grab the bill, but Gerardo ran the bathroom fake and picked it up before we knew what happened. He says we can buy their dinner when they are next in San Francisco. He is a former liberal senator; his smart, vivacious daughter Giorgia who arranged the exchange studies math at a university in Rome. Wonderful charming, intelligent people we are delighted to know.

Re-visiting the major sites, we were amazed by the huge crowds, even in October.

On our first day we walked to the Borghese Gallery to see a show on Bacon and Carrvaggio, but it was booked until 4 days later, so we made reservations and enjoyed the show then as much as the beautiful palace filled with Bernini and other sculptures. Particularly interesting was the room designed when everything Egyptian was in vogue. Then it’s surrounded by the beautiful Borghese Gardens.

On the weekend we wandered all over town, continually amazed that the place was crawling with people. We happened into several churches,

one with beautiful Michelangelo paintings, two having weddings. We’ll have to come in winter to see Rome with the locals. We found sanctuary from the crowds on quiet Via Giulia, filled with15^th and 16^th century palaces. We recommend this walk to anyone visiting Rome.

In addition to the Borghese, we saw some interesting art and fabulous Palaces: the collection at the Palazzo Barberini, at the baroque Palazzo Colonna with fabulous paintings of Venus, at the Scuterie del Quirinale a show of ancient Roman frescoes, and at the Capitoline a show on Dada and Surrealism.

Paul’s eye was caught by the only modern building we saw in the ancient part of Rome. It turned out to be the Ara Pacis, designed by Richard Meier and containing a model of a peace temple commissioned by Augustus. It’s a beautiful building, filled with light and lots of white marble, a great space.

Another favorite walk began by locating an old favorite Gelateria near the Piazza Colonna (email us night or day for directions). We continued on to visit a number of ancient ruins en route to the Testaccio district, where we had rented an apartment four years ago. We loved a row of white marble columns near the Pantheon, but couldn't figure out what they're called.

Temples A B C and D from early Roman times, (they are designated such because the archeologists are not sure what they are).

Teatro Marcellus,

Temple of Venus near the Tevere.

From there we climbed the Avantino hill and descended to the Testaccio and the fabulous Volpetti cafeteria and specialty shop where we had aged Reggiano Parmigiano vacuum sealed to take home. We walked home short-cutting through Trastevere, stopping at the favorite Gelateria again to fortify ourselves for the last half kilometer home - to change and head out for dinner.

We had time to wander around areas away from the center, stopping at small bars for either our mid-morning (11:30ish) or late afternoon café and pastry, and/or home cooked lunches (2:00ish). We found these "tavola calda" lunches to be some of the best food we had, particularly the vegetables tossed with fabulous olive oil….loved the stuffed peppers, cabbage, zucchini, zucchini blossoms and tomatoes. (Fortunately, employing the walking - eating combo, we didn't gain weight.)

On one walk we were caught in a sudden rain squall, so took refuge in a small bar in Quirinale we had enjoyed years before. The only patrons, we had a great time drinking a glass of wine and beer, reminiscing about when Danice first met Paul’s parents, laughing so much we hope the bar man didn’t think us strange. This put us in such a good mood, we walked home in the rain, picking up a Rosso d’Montalcino (stepping down a notch from the Brunello in Florence) for a pasta dinner at home.

Our last two nights we relocated a very old, favorite restaurant, La Campana, that still has really well prepared foods with great depth of taste. Paul loved the Porcini Arrosto so much the first night he had to order them again our last night.

Next morning Gerardo’s helper Angelo drove us to the airport. Conversing in broken English and Italian, he gave us a farewell tour of Rome's major ruins and buildings. We once again felt a strong sense of the Roman's special pride in being Roman. Leaving Rome is such sweet sorrow - walking the streets day and night the beauty is all around you - it really is a magical place.

As with Paris, we promise ourselves we'll be back.

Croatia September 2009

We've been in Europe 2.5 weeks, in Florence 4 days, and we're just getting the first two weeks in Croatia published because this is the first day that hasn't been blue skies and Paul cannot bear to spend any time indoors when the sun shines. For those of you who prefer a high-level, here's the executive summary:
. Croatia has some really beautiful old historic places, with amazing fortifying stone walls.
. We saw only a few, but the islands are fantastic, both historic and resort-ful.
. Croatia ended up with one of the longest, most breathtaking coastlines we've seen, with stony mountains running right along the coast.
. Prices are about half what they are in major US or EU cities.
. The food is really good, especially grilled sea food. Spectacular oysters in Ston.

Following are lots of details, for those who have plenty of time.

Dubrovnik
A short 19 hours and 4 legs after departing San Francisco, we arrived in Dubrovnik September 16th, and were most delighted when our luggage was delivered early the following morning, We’d anticipated this eventuality and carried sundries, undies, meds and computer. Our apartment rental hosts (found via the home exchange web site) Pero and Rachael, met our plane, spoke fluent Croatian to the nice Lost Luggage Lady, then gave us a quick orientation of old town Dubrovnik (Wow!).

Our first two days we visited every church, synagogue and museum in old town; the pictures of the 120 young men who lost their lives defending Dubrovnik from the Serbs gave us a more visceral understanding of the tragedies of the 1991-1992 Serbian invasion. Then we climbed the hills (especially nice at sunset) to view the amazing fortification walls and forts from above with pink skies and the blue Adriatic sea beyond.




















Third day a boat trip to three islands with a freshly grilled fish picnic and barely enough time to hike to an ancient fort at the top of one island,














then to scamper back down for a quick dip in the refreshing Adriatic.

We met people from many parts of the world, most noisily eight (8) Texans who shared the objective of getting drunk 11 days in a row. Free wine on the boat and bar visits on each island helped them to once again achieve their goal. I overheard one say that Obama doesn’t have a birth certificate, but decided it best to leave him in his ignorance.

On the other hand, we met a quiet, just retired, family doctor from Canada who wondered why the US is making such a big deal about universal health care. He and Paul had a rousing time agreeing on every point. On the third hand, the Croatians seem to be a gentle civilized people who love one another and speak in gentle tones, but never ask me (Danice) to compare them to the Italians with their joy for life.

The fourth day we hung around Dubrovniks old port like old timers, ate lots of grilled squids, mussels, etc., watched swimmers and divers, and then just before sunset took a long walk atop the town’s fortified walls, rebuilt after the bombings of 1992. Great time of day - not too hot, beautiful light, great views down across the town and out to sea. Then beers at Buza II, a bar on the rocks high above the Adriatic that played good Joe Cocker blues and provided an incredible view of the sunset at sea. Or perhaps the sea at sunset?




















Montenegro
Monday we picked up a rental car and drove south to Kotor, on an incredible Montenegro bay, Surrounded by mountains it is a beautiful place. The huge glassy smooth bay is well protected due to a bottleneck opening that was easily defended throughout history.



Kotor was one of many cities under the control of Venice during their turn at power in the Mediterranean. Guidebooks indicated much of the architecture was in the Venetian style, but they mostly just looked old.








For us the most interesting sight was the great wall making it’s way over 700 feet up the mountain. One can walk the wall, but on this hot day we skipped the experience. We saved ourselves, as it turned out, for a better wall to come in Ston.

















On the way back to Dubrovnik we stopped at a little town, Perast, right on the bay. Very charming and the view was gorgeous. A town that was very prosperous until the plague hit it in the 14th century.















The fall was most evident in the partly finished church, financed by a Venetian who apparently
lost his fortune as a result of the plague and left town.

















Up the Dalmatian Coast
Next day we drove north along an amazing coast to Ston on the Peljesac peninsula, where we climbed and walked a huge wonderful wall, then rewarded ourselves with a lunch of the best raw oysters ever, scampi and octopus salad.














We drove further up the peninsula, following a slow moving truck through the narrow, twisting mountain roads,nervously arriving just in time to catch the ferry to Korcula.

It is a beautiful island town jutting out on a peninsula (this geography, much like Dubrovnik‘s made it easy to defend).




















There were, regrettably, the dreaded cruise ships, but the cruisees go back to the boat for dinner so we had the island in a pleasant off season mode at night.

Two ferries back to the mainland














and we found a wonderful beach town, Brela, further up the coast. One of the things that makes Brela so physically attractive is how the trees c0me right down to the water. We had a great room just off the beach so decided to invest in more sunscreen and stay another night.

The Adriatic is warm and inviting, with island mountain vistas across the way, the town had good restaurants, our local bar had great domestic brandy, there were just enough people parading the beach walk, and the sun really knows how to set.














We spent one night in Split, to see (heck live in) Diocletian’s Palace, built as his retirement home by the Roman Emperor of the same name around 305.














When we arrived late morning all the cafes were mobbed with young people. This party continued until the middle of the afternoon, when (we guessed) they went to lunch. The original outer walls are still pretty much intact and provide the back wall to businesses and homes now occupying the palace.

It was great to see the town after the tour groups had left. At night the atmospherics are terrific. The lighting is subtle. The din of all the out door cafes and restaurants is more of a hum. Drinking the local brandy in the small courtyard of our local bar, the warm summer breezes, the low buzz of the conversation, the ancient walls created a total atmospheric hit. The real entertainment at the café was a beautiful young woman hosting what seemed to be a promotional party for Beck’s beer. She was flitting around in some of the longest thin legs, tightest jeans, highest heels, flowing blond hair and an off one shoulder Beck’s black tee shirt. Paul almost had a heart attack when we were first sitting down and she asked him to join the party. He turned her down, and she may never get over it.





Next day we pushed North along a coastline that makes us want to throw rocks at Big Sur. We stopped to see a beautiful Gothic and Venetian cathedral in Sibenik,
















with a huge statue of the architect out front… I’m sure (my ex) Patrick deserves but has not yet received such tribute,
Heading on north along the coast; however, our new GPS we call Gertie led us terribly astray. We told Gertie no toll roads to keep us along the coast, so she routed us up a long peninsula which apparently requires a ferry ride, with no regard for schedules, to rejoin the mainland. We discovered the error and were so angry over the time lost, which could impact our sunset drive, that we turned her off for the remainder of the day, hoping by the next day she would be chastised. This "time-out" apparently worked.

in Karlobad we found a nice lady, Nada, sitting on the highway corner advertising a Sobe in her house for $40/nite. An OK place, so we took it and still made it to the waterfront in time for sunset.














Then to a Pizzeria for a grilled squid dinner.

Here we explain what we understand about Sobes. These are rooms or apartments in private homes - sort of. They can range from a single room with shared bath to an apartment with kitchen, living room, etc. What makes them particularly attractive to the retired traveled is their price. Staying in the old town in Korcula was $50, in Diocletian’s Palace $90, staying right on the beach in Brela was $70. By contrast a hotel room in the middle of old town in Rovinj was $200. Of course, we never would consider a shared bath.

Croatia’s Istria Peninsula
On up the coast towards Opatija on the beautiful Istria peninsula… Gertie the GPS proved her value getting us into and right back out of an overcrowded resort, casino, port city. Carrying sufficient fruit we were not desperate for a touristy lunch. We held out for authentic food in Pazin.



















This was like visiting the large port cities in Italy, then finally going inland to the hill towns; well not that good, but like that. We spent the night in Motovun, a very lovely hill town with spectacular views.


































Paul watched the only channel we got, a terrible Snypes/Harrelson/Lopez action drama about the NY subway police; terribly implausible and badly written, but hey it was in English.

Toured more hill towns, then on to Rovinj or Rovigno as the Italians call it (the Italians essentially controlled the peninsula until 1945 when Tito and the Slavs took control, and in retribution for their oppression under the ethnic Italians caused a mass exodus of the Italians).













v
So close to Italy we can smell the garlic, but not there yet. Sept 30th we take a 7:00AM Ferry to Venice, then the train to Florence.