What can we say about Italy? History abounds, graffiti is the national pastime, it is dirty and almost everyone smokes. There are no rules to ban smoking in restaurants although hotels had non-smoking rooms.

We found the Italians to be loud and gregarious but also quite reserved. We were told that most Italians do not speak English, even in high tourist areas. However,  if we greeted them with Buongiorno, or Buonasera, we got a big smile and helpful service. Along the border area of Austria, the Italians spoke German.

We discovered that although there is supposed to be a Eurovelo Route with the appropriate signage, sometimes the local route took precedence and the Eurovelo signage disappears. We followed the R3C and the Alpe di Aria.

Along the coast from La Spezia towards Rome there are fewer dedicated cycling routes. Although along the coast there were dedicated cycling paths for campers going to the beach areas. We opted to take the train from Bibbona as we were constantly getting misplaced trying to find the Eurovelo routes or other cycling routes.

There are lots of campsites in Italy. However, on the coast they are mainly for week-long stays and very few had spots for touring cyclists. Some of them had four-day minimum stays, which didn’t help us at all. There are also a lot of youth hostels, which were reasonably priced but varied tremendously in quality and cleanliness.

We eventually opted for hotels, (instead of camping) which broke the budget. However, it was nice after the heat of the day to cool off in a room with air-conditioning.

We ticked off all the major tourist places in Italy, including Venice, Cinque Terra, Pisa, Rome and Pompei. We also had a brief stop in Parma, which had a good Tourist Information Office who gave me maps for some nice cycling areas.

The area around Bibbona was lovely (Tuscany), again with some good cycling roads, if you weren’t fully loaded touring cyclists.

The Italians are cycling fans (in the north) and generally gave us space. As we got further south the drivers were more impatient.

We didn\’t have the opportunity to stay with any Italians (through warmshowers) or have a chat with them about their political situation. 

There is a lot of tourist money going into Italy. We could not see where that money is being spent on infrastructure, the buildings are crumbling and the roads are appalling.

We found the train system was excellent in Italy and we could get our bikes on local trains.  There were times when we might have a longer lay-over in a Town because we had to take local trains, instead of the high-speed or intercity trains.  However, there appeared to be at least one or two trains a day that we could take our bikes.

We enjoyed Italy, once we had stopped cycling.

August 8, 2018

We are home safe and sound after a long day of traveling and a good nights sleep.

Our taxi to the airport arrived early and we were able to get both bikes in the Mercedes van without any problems.

I hadn’t checked which terminal we were flying from but figured the taxi driver would know. As we came towards the terminals, I noticed that Terminal One did not have Air Transat on the boards, Terminal Three indicated all other Airlines. That is where the taxi driver left us.

We unloaded the mini-van and the taxi driver got us three carts! Two for the bikes and an extra one for the bags. I am not sure how he thought we would maneuver three carts. We loaded the bikes and bags onto the two carts and proceeded into the airport. Just our luck – earlier in the year Air Transat switched terminals and we were flying out of Terminal One. “Out the door, turn left – five minute walk” Five minutes with two bikes and luggage, I don’t think so, especially as I could not see over my bike box. Ralf lead the way and did not waver from his path, people had to move out of his way, otherwise they would get caught in the back of the legs by my hubby on a mission! I followed in his wake. It was like Moses parting the Red Sea.

Even with changing terminals, the bags and bikes were checked in within an hour. We had about three hours to wait before we could board the plane. As with other things in Italy there was no organization to the boarding. The plane is boarding at Gate 16, everyone get on at the same time! Chaos. However, that did not compare with the chaos at Montreal Airport when we landed.

The flight was good, the food was mediocre and there were a few bumpy bits as we came into land – turbulence on landing great. I held on to Ralf’s hand, this was it we were going to die.

We cleared ourselves through passport control (electronic passports) and a cursory look by a border control guy. Then we headed to pick up the bikes and luggage. Eight flights had arrived around the same time. Now one would assume you would have 8 different carousels to deliver all the luggage. Nope, four flights on one carousel and four flights on another carousel. At one point they decided that they would switch carousels for the passengers from France to the same carousel that our luggage was supposed to arrive – five flights. A mass of people headed towards our carousel, absolute chaos.

The bikes arrived before our baggage – at first we were told they would arrive at 8A, then 2A. Ralf got those loaded on the carts and eventually after waiting for over 1.5 hours we headed out to meet our taxi driver.

He had tried to call us, but for some unknown reason, we didn’t get the call. He wasn’t sure if he had missed us. I am not sure how that would have been possible considering we had two huge bike boxes.  He contacted the dispatch to check on the phone number.  There were no announcements to the people waiting that there were delays with the baggage delivery.

A two hour drive home through thunder and lightening storms and we were home safe and sound, exhausted. Local time was 9:00 p.m. Italy time was 3:00 a.m. A quick shower and into bed.

Stay tuned to see where and when the next Adventure will take us.

August 5, 2018

Our last day in Rome. We have seen so much in the last week in Rome, it was well worth spending the extra days not to rush through all the touristy things. Some people come for a couple of days and rush through everything. When we were at the Coliseum one lady was so intent on getting to see the next thing, she missed spending time wandering around and enjoying the surroundings.

Today was a relaxing day, enjoying the gardens and villa of the Borghese Family.

The Gardens cover an area of 80 hectares (approximately 200 acres) and were developed in 1606 by Cardinal Scipione Borghese. The Villa Borghese was designed by the architect Flaminio Ponzio. It was referred to as a party house. Where the Borghese family (Cardinal Borghese) would entertain the nobility of Rome and also somewhere to keep his private art collection.

Unfortunately, we didn’t know that you had to book tickets in advance for the Villa – there were no “last minute” tickets available.

Oh well, we enjoyed the gardens and peered through one window which revealed a small portion of the extensive art collection.

The gardens became a public park in 1903. The gardens are well visited by the local population and tourists alike.

There is a small lake which was originally designed as a Fish Pond, but is now a small boating lake. Boats are rented at E3.00 for 20 minutes. There are still lots of large fish in the lake and turtles.

The property consists of many different areas, including a sports field, I thought it might be used for polo, or a good game of cricket.

One of the other forested areas was used for private hunting. Some of the gardens were a little overgrown and I wondered why they didn’t maintain them. However, as Ralf said if they were maintained they would have to charge to get into the park and it was so nice to be able to enjoy the park for free, along with hundreds of Italians having picnics etc.

There were a lot of fountains, some were well maintained and others towards the back of the property were less well maintained.

We spent about four hours wandering this extensive property.  We could have rented bikes, but they looked like a lot of hard work.

There were lots of statues throughout the garden, some were a little weird – like the statue holding the smiling head?

Again it was a very hot day, even the police horse was hot and the policeman was walking him, allowing him to cool down.

These two dogs knew how to keep cool, they lay down in the small culvert.

A lovely way to spend our last day in Rome.

Although we had a great day, there were moments which made you wonder about the other side of Rome. Today we saw a lot of homeless people, sleeping rough in the park. This fella was passed out at the end of a street car line!

Once again we are amazed at the graffiti throughout Rome, even on Metro Trains. How do they have the time to do this, especially as there are so many CTV cameras around.

We finished our last day with pizza and gelato. I have enjoyed the pizza, but I do not want to eat another one for a while, you can have too much of a good thing. The gelato is a different story I will really miss tasting all the different flavours.

Tomorrow we fly home. There will be a couple more posts – “Thoughts on… Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria and Italy. I will try to get those done as soon as I get home and organized.

August 4, 2018

I had a few administrative things to do today before updating the blog. Ralf was up and out of the room by 7:00 a.m. I had a nice lie-in until 8:00 a.m.

What a lovely breakfast. Everything from scrambled eggs, ham, cheese, meats and buns, fresh fruit, cereals, and croissants and pastries. This breakfast covered every possibility, of course there was really good coffee as well. I must admit, I ate enough to cover me until dinner time!

I have felt a little stressed the last few days, trying to get the logistics sorted out with taxis to the airport and whether to cycle home or get home some other way either by train or taxi. It was good to have a day on my own. When Ralf came back, it was obvious that he enjoyed his day on his own as well.

It’s good to be together, but it is good to have time apart as well.

At one point the cleaning staff came in to clean the room, I told them I had to work, but they could clean the room. They checked the fridge, to see if we needed more water.  We had bought some beer and wine for the week-end!

Nope, the fridge is fine! We both laughed.

Ralf’s comments on the day.

Vatican City Museums (VCM). I decided that I wanted to go to the Vatican Museums. So I was up at 6:30 am, breakfast at 7, out of the hotel doors by 7:27 and in the Vatican line up by 7:50. When I arrived, there must have been about 200 people in front of me, most of them were with large Asian tour groups, so things should move along well when the doors open at 9 am. I started my tour at 9:28, most people turned left for the shortened route, I turned right for the extended tour and the peace and quiet that came with that decision for the first few hours.

While waiting in the line, I was approached at least a dozen times to “Skip the Line”, you go in in 10 minutes for E35. The best deal I could get was 30 euro, not good enough for my tight wallet, knowing that it will only cost E17, and the Vatican doesn’t charge the tourist tax or to go to the WC.

Everything else be prepared to open your wallets big time. For example: a slice of Pizza and 500ml of water – E12 or $18, a muffin and coffee E8 or $12. Needless to say, I didn’t eat at VCM.

Once inside, you first go though security, then the groups turn right, the individual ticket purchasers turn left, and the ‘on line’ ticket holders are scanned in a separate area. Sounds well organized, but then again this is Italy, all the groups and ticket holders merge to go through four glass doors into the main courtyard or meeting area, and then can go their separate ways.

HISTORY: The VCM’s are Christian and art museums located within the city boundaries of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by Popes throughout the centuries including some of the most renowned classical sculptures and most important masterpieces of Renaissance art in the world. The museums contain roughly 70,000 works, of which 20,000 are on display. There are 26 museums, which comprise of 54 rooms. Not all are open to the public for various reasons, renovations, private viewings or the art is on loan to other museums.

I took over 250 photos and narrowed it down to 34 for the blog – including the Sistine Chapel (I will be struck by lighting, I’m sure). Wherever possible I will give you a little blurb for each picture and more history on the Sistine Chapel later. Enjoy.

Double Helix Staircase

The original Bramante staircase was built in 1505, it connects the Belvedere Palace of Pope Innocent VIII to the outside and stands in a square tower of the building. The modern double helix stair case commonly referred to as the \”Bramente Staircase\” was designed by Guiseppe Momo in 1932. Having two staircases allowing uninterrupted traffic ascending and descending.

Papal Cars

The Citroen Lictoria C6 was donated to Pius XI in June 1930 by Citroen Italy to celebrate both the Conciliation between the Church and the Italian State. Pius XII avoided its use during the difficult years of the Second World War, favouring the Graham Paige 837.

The Mercedes Benz 460 Nurburg limousine was also donated to Pius XI for the same reason as the Lictoria C6. For reasons of protocol the rear passenger compartment of the 460 Nurburg is equipped with a single seat in crimson brocade, recalling the papal throne.

You might well ask? A Volkswagen Beetle? Yes it was donated, and blessed by John Paul II in May of 2004. It was a gift from the president of VW Mexico, Louis Manuil Abella Armella. The Beetle was the last of a limited series of just 3000 car. You can just see the Pope behind the wheel? Right?

Greek

The last time the Grand Gala Berlin passed the streets of Rome was when Pope Pius IX travelled to the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo for the the celebration of 8 Sept. 1870. A few days later, with the Breach of Porta Pia, the Papal States ceased to exist and the Grand Gala Berlin was no longer used.

At the end of the Museums there is the Sistine Chapel. Pope Sixtus IV commissioned Botticelli and Rosselli to decorate the chapel. At this point, the Sistine Chapel\’s ceiling was painted like a simple blue sky with stars. But Pope Julius insisted, and Michelangelo began work on his famous frescoed ceiling in 1508, for four years. The chapel was built between 1473 and 1481.

You are not allowed to take photos inside of the Sistine Chapel. I had my camera pointing upwards, but was not obviously taking photos. The photos I took are not bad considering the way they were taken.

Sistine chapel.

However, I did witness two people being escorted out of the Chapel by security. Security had told the two young men not to take photos, the men continued taking photos, they were told again, the third time they were escorted out of the Chapel – one with his arm twisted up his back.

August 3, 2018

Our main concern today was to move all our stuff and boxed bikes 500 metres up the road to the Best Western.

At about 10:30 I walked up to the Best Western and asked if we could put the bikes and luggage in their storage area while we waited to check-in at 2:00 p.m. Just a moment the kind man at the desk said, I will check to see if your room is ready. Yes Madam, your room is ready, you can register.

I went back to the hostel and we started hauling everything to the hotel, it took us about 45 minutes. The bikes wouldn’t fit easily in the Best Western\’s “left luggage” room so they took them downstairs to their storage area. Everything else went in our lovely air-conditioned room that we have for three nights.

We decided to take it easy for the rest of the day. We took a short walk to a shopping mall, to see how the real Italians shop. O.k. it was a fancy shopping mall with prices to match, not where the average Italian shops.

Ralf and I had the same thought about the amount of grafitti we have seen in Italy.  We both noticed these garbage trucks, how quickly things get tagged.

My other concern was how we were going to get from the airport to home and the cost. I did the calculation and to cycle home (3 nights hotel, food etc.) would cost almost as much as getting a taxi. The weather forecast is for thunderstorms and very hot humid weather for Tuesday and hot temperatures Wednesday and Thursday (29 C feeling like 35-39C). We quickly contacted two taxi companies in Brockville and we are taking a taxi home. It is expensive, but at least we will be home on Monday night, exhausted but home.

Everything is arranged to get home, the taxi to the airport, the flights (although I still have to pre-book the seats) the bikes are boxed and we have a taxi to take us home.

Ralf asked if I wanted to go to the Vatican Museums. He was willing to get up early and stand in line. I had no desire to see the artifacts that the Church has \”collected\” over the years. I think I would probably be arrested by the Swiss Guard because I would have to rant about the excesses. Ralf has decided to go to the Vatican Museums tomorrow and I will update the blog. 

August 2, 2018

Happy Birthday Chris.

My feet are killing me, another great day in Rome.

The history is absolutely incredible. Today was a visit to the Coliseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. We had spoken to a couple of girls this morning who had done the tour yesterday and said “with the right tour guide it is great”. They were a little disappointed with the morning tour guide, but the afternoon guide was great. They warned us about the hawkers around the metro station.

Again we took the Metro to the Coliseum. The Metro is really easy to use – a one-way ticket is E1.50 each or you can buy a 24 hour ticket for E7.00 each. If you are going to hop on and off the metro, it is worth getting the E7.00 ticket. We bought the one-way tickets.

There were a lot of hawkers, we told them we already had tickets and stood in line. The line was long and eventually Ralf went to one of the “Tour Guides” and asked how much to “Skip the Line.” For a tour guide and visiting all the sites – Coliseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum it cost us 30 E each. If we had stayed in line for an hour or more it would have been 48 E for the two of us, it was worth skipping the line.

The Coliseum guide was tiny (really tiny, smaller than me). She held a telescopic pole with lace tied to the top and away she went. Trying to keep up with her through all the crowds, to get our tickets was very difficult. Eventually, after a security check, we were inside the Coliseum.

The guide gave us a lot of information, about the building of the Coliseum in 72 AD. The building was completed in 8 years by Jewish slaves (Prisoners of War) and Jewish money after the conquering of Judea.

On the outside of the Coliseum there are marble plaques that indicate what area you were to sit.  The marble seating has been reconstructed to show what the stadium would have looked like during the \”games\”.

The Coliseum was used as an arena to provide entertainment to the masses – “Give them games and food and they will be happy”. The games and food were provided by person who hosted the games. Often someone who wanted votes to be elected to a position of power. The morning entertainment was always the contests with the animals – not much of a contest, when you had lions etc. entering the ring with unarmed combatants.   The animals were killed for their meat and to feed the masses.

The mid-morning/early afternoon entertainment was usually the executions. These were criminals who could fight for their lives! Again unarmed combatants against well-armed Gladiators.

The afternoon and early evening was for the gladiators. People would scratch the names of their favorite gladiator on the seats – graffiti has always existed in Rome!

During each part of the games the “scenery” was changed. A series of doors and winches were used to bring the animals and combatants to the arena floor.

After the history lesson we were allowed to wander around the two-levels that were accessible.

The subterranean level was where the animals and criminals were kept.We finished our wanderings at about 1:00 and our afternoon tour of the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum would start at 2:30. We were to meet our second tour guide outside of the Coliseum.

As we exited the Coliseum we were confronted by dozens of migrants with bags full of water bottles selling water at one Euro per bottle. I showed my iced water bottles and we made our way through. Within seconds, they all started running for the top road, a well worn path. The local police had arrived in a car to move them on. They waited until the police had got back in their car and then descended on the tourists again. This happened several times, it was like a game of cat and mouse.

We had an hour to kill, we found a great place for lunch down a side street leading away from the Coliseum called Simplece. A lovely pasta salad, with fruit and a cold drink for E6.00, you can find cheaper places to eat if you look. The young woman behind the counter was really friendly and had a great smile and lively personality.

At 2:30 we met out tour guide (Stan) and walked the short distance to the Palatine Hill. Our group had expanded from about 30 people to almost 60 people. Fortunately, the afternoon tour guide was very tall and had a voice that everyone could hear.

He gave us the history of Palatine Hill which is where the first six emperors of Rome resided. Then we were told about the Roman Forum. This area is full of history. He told us that in one area there is a piece of marble (which is not actually marble it is Porphyry stone) called Emperor’s Marble and is worth about 200,000 Euro per cubic inch. There is a bath in the Vatican museum which was Nero’s bath, which is made from this marble and is worth approximately 2 billion Euro’s.

After Stan had given us a history lesson which took about an hour and a half we wandered the Palatine hill and gardens and then went down to the Roman Forum. Stan told us where to enter the forum and how to get back to the metro station.  He told us to head for the Roman McDonald\’s (three arches) and turn right or left down the Via del Corso. and you can find the exit.

One kid asked his Mom if they could go to the McDonald\’s, he really needed a McDonald\’s.  His younger sister had to explain the joke to him.

The afternoon photos, didn’t turn out as well, as there was a smudge on the lense. However, you get the general idea.

The Romans liked to build large arches to show their triumphs in war.  This one depicted their success in Judea and the spoils of war.

A really interesting day. Full of facts and figures that I have forgotten already, but very interesting and exhausting. Again it was really hot and we headed back to the Gelataria and ate more gelato before going to the supermarket to buy dinner – a nice salad tonight.

Ralf packed the bikes ready for our move to the Best Western tomorrow and ready for the flight home on Monday. I am a little concerned about the size of Ralf’s bike box, it is very big. The Best Western will call the taxi service tomorrow and reserve a mini-van for us. Fingers crossed his box will fit in. We haven’t been successful in the past, with taxis but maybe our luck will change and everything will run smoothly.