cornetravel

London Calling

Posted on October 20, 2016 by cornetravel

London was always a hard sale for Clay. He doesn’t care for the royals, warm beer, or expensive cities. He also doesn’t think London has enough history to warrant a visit. So how did we end up there? One word…Brexit.

London was also the cheapest way to get us from Montenegro to Scotland, where we’d already made plans.

So here we were making a pit stop of a few days before heading North. Clay put me in charge of planning London. He wasn’t interested in being there so it was my job to make it interesting. Both of us agreed that no matter what, we would enjoy getting back in an English speaking country.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Helpful directions. In English!

True to form, we arrived at the airport many hours before our flight was to leave. Clay grew more paranoid as we traveled that we would miss our flights, trains and buses. To combat his paranoia we arrived at airports hours before the suggested hours normal people would arrive. We will never miss a flight because we arrived late.

Flying midday, we made it to London in time to see a bit of the city and eat dinner. First on the list was a free sunset walking tour along the south bank side of the Thames. One of the first sights was the London Eye. As Clay is not a fan of Ferris wheels, I knew it would be best to skip a ride on it.

While we didn’t catch a ride on the Eye, we were still able to catch a view of the Parliment building and Big Ben (excuse me… the Elizabeth Tower, as everyone will tell you Big Ben is actually the name of the bell inside the clock tower…Whatever). We enjoyed our little tour and getting the history of the Thames, visiting the Globe theater, and catching a glimpse of Tower Bridge.

“Who you gonna call?”

The London Eye

Parliament and Big Ben

The National Theater. I think it was hit with the ugly stick a few times.

I love that the architecture in London is so different.

Views across the Thames.

One of the many bridges that crosses the Thames.

THE Globe Theater

A very old pub.

This side of the Thames was known for being a bit rowdy and rough hence the theaters, old pubs and well the clink.

Tower bridge way in the distance.

I want to say these are some of the oldest pieces of London. Possible Roman built.

The statue shows that you are now entering the city of London within London.

St. Paul’s Cathedral in the distance.

Views of the river boats.

We only had three days in London and after this first tour, I realized we needed more time. For dinner we had our first taste of the British diet, fish and chips. Although the chips were a bit soggy (thanks to a dousing with malt vinegar), it was as good as expected if you like fried fish.

The next morning we had another free tour. This was with our trusty tour outfit, Sandeman’s. It covered the opposite side of the Thames. We visited Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, one other smaller palace, and Trafalgar Square. We learned the grisly details of Guy Fawkes, Jack the Ripper, and a few of the manipulations behind the Crown. Our guide also did a great job of condensing the WWII history of the UK into a few brief but powerful minutes as we sat on the steps next to the Churchill Museum. If you ever needed a reason to travel, you should so that you can experience history coming alive.

Sights from our free tour.

Trafalgar Square

Building for one of the oldest private social clubs.

Our tour perfectly timed with the changing of the guard. I think it starts at this smaller palace and then moves on to Buckingham.

Buckingham Palace. Based on the flag in front of the palace, the Queen was home.

This is the where the horses are kept, but it was also where the beach volleyball took place during the London Olympics . Whoo hoo!

WE loved Big Ben. It really is beautiful. It was amazing how the buildings in London looked so different from everywhere else we had been.

Sights from our free tour.

Westminster Abbey. Almost impossible to get in one picture.

He closed our tour describing what exactly consisted of being drawn and quartered. He did all this as we stood in front of Big Ben and the Parliament building. As he was somewhere around the bit about cutting out the insides and allowing them to now be outside your body as you are still alive to realize it, a young teenage in our group decided it was all a bit too much for him. So he fainted, right there in front of Queen and Country. It was awkward, but as he survived with no ill effects, quite humorous.

In the afternoon, we made plans to cross another London “to do” off our list – High Tea. I booked us a tea for two at Sketch. This two Michelin star restaurant is know for tea, but I think I visited more for the decor. A bathroom break at this restaurant should be required. Just look at it.

If you are unfamiliar with High Tea, you basically spend a small fortune to indulge in tea sandwiches, sweets, scones, and tea. At some places (like Sketch) these treats are all you can eat. Of course that appeals to the American in me (Clay’s note-for what we paid for tea, we better have gotten anything we asked for).

The bar area we waited in while our table was prepped.

Dishes for tea usually are usually decorative china. At Sketch its more playful.

Real men drink tea.

Delicious.

Scones. We got a plain one and one with fruit so we could share. Couple goals!

These were the surprise sweets that were not a part of the original tier of sweets and sandwiches. At this moment I thought I might explode.

The opposite side read, “Its not ok.” I guess its all about perspective.

Some more pictures of the playful dishes.

This room is completely pink. It seems that every room at Sketch is completely different.

We devoured Coronation Chicken, Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese, Pesto and Mozzarella, Quail Egg and Caviar and a Cucumber something tea sandwiches. We had scones with clotted cream, jams and butter. There were too many sweets to count. The tea topped it all off. High Tea is really only for special occasions, but we were hooked and looked to have afternoon tea at least a few more times before leaving the UK.

After eating our weight in finger sandwiches, we wandered around the city walking down Saville Row, Oxford Street, and Piccadilly Circus. We ended our wandering around the West End theater district to see The Mousetrap. Clay and I love live theater so we couldn’t miss seeing the longest running show on West End. Although it is more popular with tourists (as we ran into many London dwellers who had not seen it), this Agatha Christie murder mystery has been running for 64 years. It was a wonderful production and it is impressive that after all this time the twist ending is still kept a secret among those who have seen the performance.

We stopped by to pick up our tickets and had to take a picture in front of the neon sign. I love the way each theater markets their plays. Broadway only wishes it could be this decorative.

Typical tourists.

Harry Potter!

This was just a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown.

Inside theater shot.

If I had known we would be going to London, I would have worked my butt off to get preview tickets for this show.

After the show we headed out to our first English curry house. The British are known for their Indian curries and after our initial taste at Dishoom, I can see why. The curry was the cherry on top of our touring, wandering, High Tea adventure filled day.

The next morning was a little less structured. We started with a visit to the Victoria & Albert Museum. A great benefit of visiting London is most museums are free. The V&A museum was no different but we did pay a little extra so we could visit their exhibit on the history of underwear. Both the exhibit and the museum collection were wonderful and informative. Although we could have stayed for hours, we still had plenty of sights left to see in the city so we only stayed a few hours and then moved on. All in all we enjoyed our brief (pun intended) visit to the V&A.

Underwear exhibit.

Views at the V&A.

In the first day we marked fish & chips and curries off our “To Eat” list next up was meat pies at The Pie Shop. As an American, I am familiar with a chicken pot pie, but that is about where my meat pie education ends. Meat pies with lamb, pork, and beef are more popular in the UK. White or red meat, these are delicious. It feels like a home-cooked meal all in one handheld pie.

Meat pie deliciousness. Also pictured in the bottom right corner is my new favorite mustard.

What goes well with heavy stomach of meat and potatoes? Why ale of course. After our Sandeman’s Free Tour the previous day we were told about a new ale tour they have organized. They market the tour as a more adult pub crawl. We are not crazy about pub crawls but we do enjoy a good beer so this tour was perfect for us.

Our tour started in a historical area that we had not yet visited in London. This area held the hop exchange where merchants purchased hops for their household brews. On the tour we visited the actual hop exchange and separately the building called the hop exchange but was never used for its intended purpose.

The hop exchange that was not really a hop exchange. It became the egg exchange.

The actual hop exchange.

London.

The most beautiful bridge.

Ominous cloud over a cathedral we passed on our ale tour.

We visited The George Inn where William Shakespeare and Charles Dickinson had a pint. Next was The Rake, a pub that was known for the many wild and wonderful ales they keep on tap. The last pub (possibly the Market Porter) was once used as a filming location for Harry Potter but is known for its selection of small batches of ale. The tour combined history and beer and allowed for a lot of camaraderie within our tour group.

The George Inn

The Rake

A familiar face at The Rake. We also saw a Monday Night Brewing sticker.

After the tour we wandered over the Millennium Bridge to celebrate another successful day with Shake Shack burgers. I know some people do not like SS, but I love it. I was spoiled when one set up shop in Atlanta. When I saw the Shake Shack on our first day in London, I knew somehow, someway I was going to get my fix. We did and then I was disappointed because the Atlanta Shake Shack is better.

On the Millennium Bridge. Thankful no dementors were there.

Art on the Millennium bridge.

A graffiti artist paints the gum that is left on the bridge. Its a fun little way for him to stick it to the man since graffiti is illegal.

The Cheesegrater, Gherkin and Walkie Talkie. Real nicknames that are used.

The Shard.

Shake Shack.

Our last day in London began with some meandering around Tower Bridge. We planned to visit the Tower of London and see the crown jewels, but after seeing the line and the price we decided we could live with out seeing some diamonds and armor. We then continued our Sunday ritual and headed to Mass. I was thrilled to finally be in an English speaking country for church. I understood the homily and all the readings. It was so great that we decided to stay for tea and coffee with the congregation

Tower Bridge

Hare-Krishna festival…

Double-decker buses ruined a bunch of pictures. They love driving right in front of you.

Clay looking cute.

Visiting ancient London with a view of modern in the back.

Ancient London.

St. Paul’s Cathedral

We spoke to the priest for a bit and he even told us a little secret on how we could have gotten into the Tower of London for free that day (it involves praying and then sneaking about). Overall we enjoyed the hospitality of the parishioners. When we were ready to leave, the priest pointed us to the exit and casually mentioned that the alley way we will come out to was where one of Jack the Ripper’s victims met her demise. I’m not sure if he was telling the truth or just trying to scare us, but I did a little research and think it was the latter.

Our final hours were spent eating Chinese dumplings and more curries, visiting the national art gallery, Harry Potter sightseeing and getting ready to catch the night bus to Scotland.

A sample of the art in the National Art Gallery.

Clay loves the impressionists.

After standing in too long a line for this picture, I am finally heading to Hogwarts

He’ll never get to the platform with that apathy.

Sherlock Holmes.

The only place in London where you drive on the right side of the road.

Nerding out at King’s Cross.

What a fun building.

St. Pancreas international station. This was used in HP as the exterior of King’s Cross. It is beautiful.

It was a whirlwind but I think we made the most of the few days we had available in London. Clay even said he had a lot of fun and was surprised at how much he enjoyed it. Mission Accomplished.

Montenegro? Where is that?

Posted on October 17, 2016October 17, 2016 by cornetravel

We were talked out of Montenegro before we started our trip, but after learning more about it from people on the Camino, we decided we should give it a try.

After several bus rides from Dubrovnik, we made it to Zabljak, Montenegro. Home to Durmitor National Park and near Tara Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world (after the Grand Canyon). I had been eyeing this part of the globe for a while. Getting to raft through the Grand Canyon takes either years or thousands of dollars, sometimes both. Rafting down the Tara Canyon takes showing up to the river.

There is also quite a bit of hiking that can be done in Zabljak, something we were excited to do since we hadn’t had much exercise since the Camino (unless you count Elizabeth trying to kill me in Cinque Terre). Our hostel host provided us with a map and list of hikes in the area. We were excited to get a start the following day.

Our first adventure was a bike ride to a lookout of the Tara Canyon. During this expedition we learned just how bad Elizabeth was on a bike and just how terrible I am with directions. The scenery was magical, but our attitudes kept a dark cloud over the landscape. We got lost so many times, even though both of us attempted navigating, we ended up barely getting anywhere. Thankfully, we did get to see a few things including the Tara Canyon, otherwise one of us might have just headed back to the coast.

Dog was not invited into picture.

Lush.

Pretty boy.

Pretty girl.

The hills were alive

We love a good butterfly.

Our second day in Zabljak was more successful. Instead of navigating on two wheels we decided to stay on our feet all day. We joined a group of five other folks from our hostel and headed to the ice cave. It was a full day of hiking to get there and back. We covered around 26 KM over the course of 9 hours or so. We did a fair amount of stopping and breaking. I took plenty of photos and we all did yoga in a valley, elevation 1776 meters, fitting since it was Independence Day.

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Cartwheels are always appropriate

Amazing

Yoga!

Someone was a bit tired.

We eventually made it to the ice cave. What’s the ice cave? It’s basically a tiny glacier that runs into a cave. The cave had stalactites and stalagmites and ice versions too. It was quite cold down there, but I got some great photos. Elizabeth chose not to come down as the path was very treacherous.

A couple that hikes together, gets to take pics in front of an amazing view.

Pointing to the impending fog cloud.

Beware of the fog.

The crazy shepherd’s shack.

Things got a bit icy.

Climbing down was a bit dicey.

Then the fog rolled in and we all had to scurry back down the mountain to our hostel. We had our hostel host’s famous last words ringing in our ears “Do Not Walk Into The Clouds.”

Exhausted after a full day of hiking, we decided to spend the next day on the water. River rafting on the Tara Canyon river was an interesting experience and one I would never do again. At least I won’t be rafting with the same “company” again. It was a ragtag tour from the start. My least favorite part was the constant back and forth as we drove over the bridge that was connecting two sides of the 2nd deepest canyon in the world. We have no clue as to the point of the back and forth over the canyon. At one point, I told Elizabeth if he does it again, I’m getting out and walking home.

Once our driver made it to the river, we met our guide who provided no direction or instruction the entire time. He also wore no life jacket, carried a man bag, and talked on his cell phone, all while holding a cig, and using his oar as our rudder to steer us down the river. Needless to say there was not much whitewater in this rafting adventure.

It was totally worth it though because the river is incredibly beautiful as is the canyon itself. I would have paid double for the views we got.

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The rafting trip is more of sightseeing trip. At one point all the rafts stop to get a closer look at a waterfall. The rafts all stop again at some cliffs so that people can jump off if they choose. We were two of a very few who chose to jump. I assumed it was because people were afraid of the height, which was only probably 10 feet high or so. What I realized after landing in the water, post jump, was that I was the idiot who didn’t know the water was at hypothermia type temps and the current was swift. We both survived, but just barely.

Look at how brave we are.

The waterfall pitstop.

Flying squirrel.

Once are raft trip came to an end, the adventure continued. In our van ride home, we were surprised to find four additional people in the car. This was four more than the van could seat. We had children in the trunk area of the van, our guide was catching a lift with the van, and a small child was sitting in the front row bench seat begging to sit in the drivers lap to steer the van. It was a cluster. I am surprised no one died.

Our final day in Zabljak had the threat of inclement weather but we didn’t let that stop us. We had met/reintroduced ourselves to a couple of girls we had met during our Med Sailors yacht week. They didn’t know each other before the cruise, but they were put in the same room together and had been traveling together through the Balkans ever since. Together we decided to bike to the Devil’s lake. Named such for the dark circle within the lake. It is really just a plain lake shepherds bring their flock to. True to form, the clouds darkened, thunder and lightning crashed, but almost no rain came. We made it safely back to the hostel.

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That night we packed and prepped for another long day in a bus. We had extra space in our Airbnb so we struck up a deal with the girls we had biked with and decided to all head to Kotor together. There is only one bus that takes you from Zabljak to Kotor. That bus only travels on one of the two roads to Kotor, but as we learned you might have to take both roads especially if there is a wreck on the main one.

So away we went, headed down the back road to Kotor. None of us had any idea where exactly we were or how long it would take to get to our destination. A local, who also knew English, calmed our fears by letting us know this was the old “main” road some 20 years ago, before the new road was built. She said no one ever drove on it anymore.

Good thing too. It had room for 1 1/2 vehicles and not near enough guard rails. Of course at the speeds we were going, we would probably have driven right on through the rail and to our ultimate demise.

After our extended bus ride we eventually made it to Kotor and to our Airbnb.

Our time in Kotor was even less structured than in Croatia. We did venture into Old Town quite a few times, we took a bus to a little town called Risan and toured the bay on a 3 hour crusie. Other than those few things, we spent the week at the beach or inside hiding from the summer sun. We were spoiled by Zabljak’s nice cool weather. In Kotor we were back in the sweltering sun.

Kotor old town is a much, much smaller version of Dubrovnik. The two really don’t compare size wise. Dubrovnik is grand. Kotor’s is more compact and less commercialized because of it. One benefit was we were able to see all of Kotor in an afternoon.

Catholic church

Winding road

An orthodox church.

From the entry way into Koto

Views from the water

In front of Pippi Longstockings. There was a children festival in town.

The main attraction in Kotor is climbing to the top of the fortress for great views of the city and bay. Temps were around 100 degrees and we were miserable, but we still had something nice to look at.

The mountain we climbed.

This old church is about halfway up the mountain.

View inside the chapel halfway up.

View from the backside.

Climbing away.

This church was not on the main trail. To get here we climbed through a hole in a wall.

We made it to the top.

The USA sent money to help repair the trail. USA! USA! USA!

Unobstructive view.

The rest of our time in old town was spent perusing the many churches both Catholic and Orthodox, enjoying the children’s art festival in town or looking at all the cat merchandise, cat museum, living stray cats… Anything and everything about the Kotor cats.

Some Kid festival decorations.

Clay on the big boy bench.

Cat Museum

More kid festival fun.

Artifacts from the cat museum.

Kotor cats.

When we visited Risan, we were visiting more Roman ruins. Here we were again in another country further south and east than we had been on our trip and yet the Romans had been here too. The city has been around for thousands of years, since before the Greeks, but the mosaic ruins were only found a decade ago. It was great to get to see more history of the Roman Empire.

Mosaics!

Our final adventure in Kotor was our 3 hour cruise that took us to the blue cave, Perast and Lady of the Rocks. In the cave we had the opportunity to swim. I think everyone should swim in a cave when the chance comes their way.

Views from the water

See if you can spot the three churches.

Views from the water.

Our swimming hole.

Cave swimming, the best swimming.

Views from the water.

An old submarine tunnel.

The town we visited wasn’t particular special, but it was a picturesque small town on the coast. Our Lady of the Rocks was the real star of the tour. The story is that a perfectly preserved painting of the Madonna with Child washed up to the monastery that is in the middle of bay. The monks then began throwing stones where the painting was found. After a lot of rock throwing an island was created. On the island a church was built and the painting was stored in it.

Persat

Montenegro was definitely worth visiting. If you are ever in the area, do yourself a favor and spend a couple of days there. After our boat cruise, it was time to pack up and head to our next country… UK or bust!

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Painting of the portrait that led to the chapel in the bay.

Altar with the painting

A Clay.

The ironwork on the door was even on theme.

Views of the chapel ceiling

Our Lady of the Rocks.

Life at King’s Landing

Posted on October 6, 2016October 6, 2016 by cornetravel

We were the last to leave our yacht, as we had no where to be really. This turned out to be especially true when our cab driver called our Airbnb to get the exact address. After hanging up the phone our driver informed us we did not have a room at that location that night. Like a wave crashing on shore, we realized we had no place to stay for that night.

It turned out I had miscalculated the length of the cruise. It was not Sat-Sat, rather it was Sat-Fri. Because of that, the place we were set to stay was not actually ours until the next day, Saturday. And there were people still in there so we could not just move in a day early.

Thankfully, our Airbnb host knew some people in the area and we were able to find a room in a house nearby for a good price. This was easily our biggest scheduling debacle on the trip, but it worked out without us spending a fortune (unlike the Barcelona train mishap).

jfs62270

We didn’t do much that first night other than go out for dinner. We would have bought groceries and stayed in, but after our room snafu, we decided to wait to buy a weeks worth of groceries.

Our week in Dubrovnik was much like Split, our mornings and lunches revolved around the beach, eating in, taking a nap, hanging out. There were a few differences in our afternoons and nights since we had company to see in Dubrovnik, and it turned out to be a much more interesting town than Split.

Our second night in town, we went to dinner with a lovely Australian couple, Johnno and Jackie. They were our crew mates during the yacht week and we enjoyed their company. I like to think it speaks volumes if you are confined to a boat with people and you still want to be around them when you are set free… Stockholm syndrome maybe. Since we were all in Dubrovnik together, they offered to meet up a few nights and have dinner together before they left town. It was all quite convenient as it got us out of the house, into Dubrovnik (which is really cool), and we got to spend time with people other than each other.

After our day getting settled into the AirBnB, checking in on the right day this time, we met up with the Aussies for dinner by the bay and then headed outside the walls to watch Croatia play another match. Johnno had found a spot where the locals would be, a massive screen probably 25×15 ft on a projector screen. There were a couple of hundred fans in attendance, not sure how many of those were for the opposition.

Mussels

When we weren’t watching the game, this was our view.

Not the best picture, but fun times like this should be documented.

Set against Portugal and Ronaldo, Croatia bravely held their own for 90 minutes. Tied at 0-0, we had to head into extra time. With about three minutes left until sudden death shootout, Portugal sneaked a goal through.

It was brutal. Croatia had many great shots during the match, but just couldn’t get one in the goal. As time expired, we quickly fled the scene, not wanting to deal with any fan who may have had too much to drink. It was still a blast.

A couple of nights later, we headed to Dubrovnik early to walk the wall of the city. For anyone who watches Game of Thrones (we do not), it’s easy to recognize the city of Dubrovnik and the famous walls. For all the other people in the world, the walls of Dubrovnik are very famous and have been for several hundred years. The wall are a great feat and fun to walk. Less fun in the middle of the day like we did when the temps were in the 90’s with no breeze. Still, it was cool to see the city from above and get some great views of the area.

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We had dinner again with Johnno and Jackie, their last night in town. It was fun to see them again and sad to see them go. They were some of the most fun people we have met on our trip. An absolute blast to hang out with.

Two days later, still in Dubrovnik, we ventured to an island called Lokrum. We started that morning in the city of Dubrovnik with a sub-par walking tour. Our guide was boring and didn’t provide much detail of the history of the city. He managed to cover less than what Jackie and Johnno had told us from their walking tour.

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We had a quick bite to eat at a burger place before setting off to the island. Before we get to the island bit, do not eat hamburgers in the Balkans. They are not really hamburgers. The meat they use, while probably beef, seems to be heavily salted and left overnight. It partially cooks the meat and completely changes the texture of the meat, turning it into almost a sausage. It was the second time we had tried to eat a burger in the Balkans. If that interests you, by all means order a hamburger, but it’s not gonna taste like a hamburger.

So back to the island, we arrived to this little slice of paradise and headed directly off for the nude beach. This was out first experience with a nude beach and it did not disappoint. Now you are probably waiting for a joke or something. There isn’t one. But the nude beach was not crowded, was not loud, was not anything other than naked.

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Easily one the best beach experiences of our trip. If having to walk naked past a stranger or two to hop in the water allows me a beach with plenty of space and solitude, sign me up for every nude beach. The water was great and the weather was perfect. Really the only downside was the extra sunscreen we needed.

But there was other stuff to see on the island, so we put our clothes back on and walked around. The island is replete with bunny rabbits and peacocks, so we have a ton of pictures of those adorable animals. We also hiked to the top of the island, to the fort, for great views of the surrounding ocean and to see the wall of Dubrovnik. We walked by the abandoned and crumbling monastery from many hundred years ago.

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And after all that was done and we had seen everything we wanted to, where did we go? Back to the nude beach for a little more quiet time. It was even less crowded and we almost had the entire section to ourselves. This time though, we were accosted with kayak tours and glass bottom boats that circle the island. Occasionally people would take pictures, yell, or wave. But for the most part, it was just about the perfect beach.

We eventually put our clothes back on and headed home.

Two days later, we had our final day in Croatia. Elizabeth had been wanting to visit Bosnia so she had found us a full day tour seeing several places of note. It was a fantastic tour, albeit lasting almost twelve hours.

Each stop was interesting in it’s own right. The first stop was to an ancient Muslim town, Pocitelj destroyed by the Croatian army in the Bosnian War. The fortifications are from as early at the 1300’s and were a very important part of Bosnia for several hundred years.

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The next stop was to Mostar, famous for its Old Bridge. It is also known for the crazies who will jump off the bridge if you raise enough money for them to do so. It was a beautiful bridge, as was the smaller version that hides in the town. After much walking, we managed to find the small bridge, built to ensure the larger version would hold up and get an idea of how it would look.

The Old Bridge was also destroyed during recent wars, only rebuilt a few years ago. It was rebuilt using the same methods as its original from five hundred years ago, of particular note was the mortar which includes egg whites and goat hair.

Mostar is an interesting town, split between Orthodoxy and Islam. It suffered a great deal during the wars, as much of Bosnia did. It’s still quite a neat little town and very cute. It’s also hotter than hell and apparently holds a record for highest temperature recorded in mainland Europe, so visit some other time.

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Stop three was to Medugorje, home to some kids who saw Mary on a hillside in the 1980’s. While not officially sanctioned by the Vatican as the site of a miracle, folks still show up in the tens of thousands to walk up the same hill the kids did that fateful day.

Front of the church.

Luminous mysteries

This is the altar that is used outside for the larger masses.

So much seating.

There’s no other reason to visit this area other than to see the hill. The church is unspectacular and the city probably has more Virgin Mary statues per capita for sale than even the Vatican. But people travel from all over the world apparently, as noted by more confessionals than we have ever seen in one place.

There is also a statue of Christ that leaks some type of fluid out of one of his knees. That’s another “miracle” too, as people line up in order grab a bit of the holy (non-sanctioned) liquid rolling down Jesus’ knee. It quite the sight to see. The statue certainly leaks/perspires, but I don’t know if it will cure anything.

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Our next to last stop was unscheduled, as our guide showed us an area where he used to play as a child. It turned out to be the site of a Roman villa in Bosnia. There were no mosaics on the ground, but it was still really awesome to be reminded how far the Roman Empire extended.

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We closed with roadside oysters. The oysters were free but you had to pay a buck to have it shucked. We had enough local money for one oyster each. Fresh and very briny, we enjoyed the little bit of Bosnia we were able to see and taste. We were disappointed we didn’t know more about the country and that we didn’t spend more time learning about the area. But I guess that’s why people don’t stop taking vacations.

We finally made it home for our last Croatian sunset. We were excited to be leaving, headed for a new country and adventure.

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Cruisin’ Croatia

Posted on September 29, 2016September 29, 2016 by cornetravel

After a week enjoying Split’s beach, we left to start our highly anticipated MedSailors vacation. Once we arrived in Trogir (note to self go back to Croatia to visit this town) we met our yacht a.k.a. Marot a.k.a. home for the next week. Next, we met our crew mates, four Aussie’s, two Kiwi’s, and an English skipper. Following introductions, we were briefed on the boat about general rules, a little safety, tour details, and a very intimate discussion about defecation on a boat with a pressurized system that had the potential to explode (likely in someone’s face) if not kept orderly.

After all the dirty details were taken care of we quickly set sail for the open waters of the Adriatic. Upon exiting the marina, something began knocking below deck. Our skipper determined it was a rouge pot not in its proper place. He asked me to hold the wheel while he dipped below for a moment to handle the clanking.

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I obliged. The moment my hands touched the wheel I manged to let the boat do a complete donut before the skipper could sprint back on deck.

It was not done on purpose mind you. When he let go of the wheel, we began to turn at an exceedingly quick rate. Having never steered a boat before, but recognizing one of the worst way to sail is in circles, while at the same time knowing that some of the worst accidents happen when people overcompensate while steering, I did what I though was best. I put my hands on the wheel and allowed us to continue our spin around the drain.

When our skipper realized what was happening, while we were also trying to get his attention to come back up to the boat, he darted back up confused as to why we were going in circles. He righted us, everyone made jokes at my expense, and we set back on the proper course. Only days later would anyone admit that I didn’t turn the boat that way, that in actuality we had started our quick turn before I got a hold of the wheel.

We spent the rest of the day and evening getting to know our new international company and getting accustomed to life on a yacht.

The cruise days can be summed up by saying we were either swimming or eating. Occasionally we sailed. Most of the time we were powered by motor.

The scenery was amazing. Our days were spent swimming and playing in the crystal clear water. Our nights were spent in different cities and villages.

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One of the first nights was in Hvar. This city was known for its wild party atmosphere. The party yacht companies (cough cough Yacht Week cough cough) spend multiple nights near the island. Our company only spends one night there and it was enough. The evening started out innocently enough with a hike to the local fortress. This provided amazing views of the area.

After our hike we had a drink at a beachside bar. It felt like we were living MTVs Spring Break. Music blaring, drinks flowing, and lots of mingling. I loved it.

The next party was after dinner at the Kiva Bar Hvar. This is where all the yacht people go to have a good time. Sweet Home Alabama was sung, more drinks were flowing, and fire codes were surely being broken. I also loved this.

It was a mess. A pretty good time, but a mess. The rain seemed to make everything especially sloppy.

Night three was in Vela Luka, another adorable little town on the coast.

Night four was in Korcula, probably my favorite town among the islands. We enjoyed sunset cocktails from a turret of some ancient castle/fort. Who would pass down a cocktail bar in a turret? Our dinner that night was “on our own” so we enjoyed an Asian street food dinner. All other nights restaurants are decided for you and you eat with the other members of your crew. We enjoyed the company from our boat, but we didn’t always enjoy the food.

Photo Credit to Jackie and Jono

Korcula was a nice change and our meal was one of the best in Croatia. For a nightcap, we watched Croatia pull out a win over Spain in the Euro Cup. This was a huge win for the country and everyone was out and excited.

Night five was a little different because when we got off the boat, we headed for a national park, Mljet . Not as beautiful as Plitviče , but we were able to go for a swim. Our crew rode bikes around the park, took a few swim breaks, avoided the sea churchins (sea urchins that live near the monastery in the middle of the lake in the middle of the park) and took in how lovely the island of Mljet was.

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Night six, our final night. The day was one of our favorites on the boat. By now we had gotten to know everyone relatively well and they were all pleasant people. We really enjoyed spending time with them. We had celebrated two of our crew’s birthday and by this day we were all soaking up our last full day on the water. During lunch our skipper would stop the boat and cook lunch for us. We used the time for swimming.

At our last lunch break our skipper found the most remarkable bay for us to swim in. We liked the bay so much that together we begged our Skipper, MedSailors Captain and anyone that would listen to let us stay there to swim the rest of the day away. It wasn’t in our cards so after an enjoyable swim we made our way to the other yachts to have a paddle board race. By now our boat was unified in one goal – win the paddle board race and make all the other yachts wish they let us stay in our perfect swimming hole.

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We lost…

We spent the rest afternoon having a dance party on the front of the yacht. The party continued once we arrived in Šipan. Collectively we were a mess and carried that on to the wee hours of the morning. There was accidental body slams, behind the bar djing, drinking from trophies (not ours of course we lost the race by a long shot), singing and most importantly a USA chant that was not started by the resident Americans. It was a great way to end our week long yachting adventure.

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Our final day on the boat, the waves were a little rough (not to mention the night before) which made for a difficult morning, but we managed to make it to Dubrovnik and then said our goodbyes to our roommates for the past week.

We enjoyed the company of our boatmates over the last week. We got to know each other and we were were sad to see them go. All in all, it was a wonderful experience. The scenery is unparalleled. The people we met were lovely. I don’t think there is a better way to see the island towns of Croatia. We would go back in a heartbeat.

Time to Split

Posted on September 24, 2016 by cornetravel

Arriving in Croatia midday was exciting. Unlike when we arrived in Italy, we would be able to get sorted in a new country with plenty of daylight. Of course getting into a new country requires a bit of adjusting. At our first stop to the grocery store we were met with confused faces when we tried speaking in an English/Italian hybrid. It was especially frustrating when we got home and remembered all the stuff we forgot to get. I was ready to eat something other than pizza or pasta and enjoy a break on the beaches of Croatia.

Our first stop in Croatia was Split and our location was incredible. It was on the water, in a little house, built who knows how long ago. The view was fantastic – islands, mountains, ocean, sand pebbled beaches. It was all I had hoped Croatia would be.

We spent the first four days doing nothing. We would go to the beach occasionally, avoiding the midday heat, otherwise we were sitting in our room staring out at Croatia. Some days we went for a run or to a large Croatian supermarket (almost identical to a Super Walmart).

Honest to God, walking into the large grocery store was as close to home as we had felt since March. Probably unnerving and sickening to get wistful of Walmart, but whatever.

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We also managed to snag some sweet Croatian football (soccer) jerseys. There was a large soccer tournament occurring in Europe while we were traveling and Croatia was doing relatively well. I had decided the next time Croatia was set to play, we would don our jerseys, head into town, and support the home team.

While we weren’t staying in the city of Split, we went into town to see Diocletian’s Palace. It’s a former Roman Emperor’s palace from the 300’s. He died not long after it was built and the palace had been reused and reworked over time. At this point, it’s more a collection of store and apartments oddly arranged next to one another, all situated next to the Adriatic. It’s not a palace in the same sense as a standard European “palace”.

On day five, we hopped in our rental car and headed to Plitviče Lakes. It’s a famous national park and one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I did all the driving, having not driving a car in almost four months and not driven a stick shift in about six years. It was touch and go on the road early, but I eventually got the hang of it and only killed the engine a handful of times.

There’s not too much to say about Plitviče . It’s the kind of place you would regret not going. Probably the coolest thing about walking around the lakes is not the color of the water or all the waterfalls, which are both beautiful. It’s the fact that you are walking on top of the lakes the entire time. The paths are not on dirt. It’s almost exclusively on wooden logs on posts directly above the water weaving around the entire park. I was never able to get a great picture of the water beneath us as we walked, but it was incredible.

We had packed a lunch and enjoyed out picnic next to one of the lovely lakes. We stayed as long as we could and began our way back. We had left in plenty of time to arrive back to drop off our rental car.

That all fell apart though while we were talking in the car and the GPS fell over. We were on a toll road, really the only road to and from our apartment and the national park. If you haven’t driven on a lot of toll roads, you may not be aware that many have very few exits. This was just such a road. I realized we had made a huge error when the GPS said we would arrive 20 minutes post our drop off time. Before the GPS had fallen over, we were set to arrive 20 minutes early.

I was very unhappy. I did not want to spend the extra money for another day of the car. And the car could not even reach the top speed limit on the road so there was no way I was going to be able to make up the time.

Luckily, when we exited the toll road to turn back around, I pulled a quick U turn and we were back on schedule to arrive before the place closed. Turned out the GPS had wanted us to drive about ten extra miles for that U turn. I was happy. Elizabeth was also happy but probably because I stopped swearing.

We made it back in time and celebrated with leftovers for dinner.

Our final day in Split was more of the same. We sat on the beach for a couple of hours, headed in for lunch, and then lounged about. On this night though, we put our new Croatia jerseys on and headed out on the town.

Croatia was set to play the Czech Republic. Knowing nothing about either team, we were determined to find an exciting spot to watch the match with as many locals as possible. We found it at the Riva, the promenade down by the port. Full of restaurants catering to the cruise crowd during the day, every place had a TV out ready for the big event.

After scoping out a few places we settled on one, grabbed a couple of beers, and enjoyed the excitement that came along with trying to have a rooting interest in a soccer game. As we were wearing native garb, people assumed we were fans. This would turn out to be a problem.

As the game wore on, Croatia proved to be the better team. Up 2-0 with fifteen minutes to go, things went south. And quickly. Czech Republic scored to bring it to 2-1 with fourteen minutes to play. This began to annoy the local fans, and they began to get nervous. The nervousness played out further as a local news cameraman was standing around filming footage for the nightly news, I assume.

One fan in particular was unhappy about being on camera and began to accost the cameraman, who had done nothing but stand about 10-15 feet away from everyone to film. He never said anything or did anything else. Apparently, this cameraman was bad luck or some such.

As the game continued, the lead Croatia had looked tenuous. Czech continued to dominate the game, getting more chances at or near the goal. And then hooligans at the game intervened. Morons, who ended up being Croatian fans, began to throw flares on to the field. This effectively stopped the game with time still left on the clock.

So as regular time expired, extra time was added back in to make up for the flair bit. And what happened? With about 30 seconds left in the match, Czech scored to draw even.

It was a brutal blow to a team that had dominated for almost all the match. This caused much unhappiness amongst the fans. As Elizabeth and I turned to head home, a man with a microphone was there to greet me. With camera rolling, he began to ask me about the match. Of course I had no idea what he was saying, since it’s all in Croatian.

I apologized to him, explaining that I’m American and only know English. Much to my dismay, he switched over to English and asked me the same question. So now I am embarrassed and nervous.

I explained that Croatia gave the game away with that nonsense at the end, that it would have been nice for a win, but they were advancing anyway so it didn’t matter that they drew with Czech.

I had been keeping up a little with the tournament so I did know what I was talking about, I think. This interview bit did not sit well with the drunken fan who had already accosted the cameraman once. He began yelling at the news anchor and the cameraman. What he said, I don’t know. But after he began knocking chairs over while yelling and screaming at them (and probably me), they ran off.

We left too, disappointed that Croatia didn’t win and that we would never be able to find the news that night to watch me bumble my way around an interview about Croatian soccer.

Life’s a Pizza Party in Naples

Posted on September 21, 2016 by cornetravel

Our time in Naples was limited but we made sure to fill it with all the pizza. All of it. For six meals straight we ate pizza. The two times we ate breakfast, it was leftover pizza from the night before. Elizabeth has always said her favorite food is pizza. And while it wasn’t to the level of the gelato challenge, I think after six meals in a row, she could have used a break.

A few sweets to balance it out.

Pizza Meal #1

Our first pizza stop in Naples.

Pizza Meal #2/3

Pizza Meal #4

Pizza Meal #5/6

Of the pizza meals, one and four were the best. The first for it’s simplicity. The fourth for it’s craziness of doing a stuffed crust style with ricotta. Our favorite was the star shaped ricotta pizza. We also made sure to try the local sweets to balance out all the savory pizza.

During our only full day of Naples we ventured out to see one of the cities destroyed by the 79 AD Mt. Vesuvius eruption. I had talked Elizabeth into visiting Herculaneum instead of Pompeii. It was closer to Naples, less crowded, and we were able to see all of it in half a day.

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Herculaneum differs from Pompeii in a couple of ways. One way it is different is that all organic material survived the blast (due to how the ash/hot gases fell on this city). In Pompeii the organic material did not survive once it was covered in ash and that is why you get the molds of people cowering in the wake of the eruption. The first surge of ash from Vesuvius fell to the south and only a wee bit landed on Herculaneum. After the first dusting of ash, many were able to flee. Once the second round of ash/hot gases landed on the city the wood, food, roofs etc. were preserved. And you also get this…

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It was previously thought that all the inhabitants had escaped. Sadly these souls did not and were instantly killed by another ash cloud. These skeletons were not found until the 80’s. To be clear I’m not sure that these are real, they could be casts of the remains found in the 80’s.

Another difference between Pompeii and Herculaneum is that the latter was wealthier so the homes were more lavish. Some of the elaborately decorated houses are on display where you can view the brightly colored walls and mosaics.

*I highly suggest you click through the pictures to see the details better.

Although it was a quick trip, it was full of amazing sights and plenty of incredible stories about the city that was once so vibrant before being covered in ash. We eventually left Naples for Rome, our last overnight stay in Italy before moving over to the Adriatic side of the Mediterranean.

Our Date With Pope Francis

Posted on September 19, 2016September 20, 2016 by cornetravel

The next morning we got up to get a look at the major Rome attractions before all the other tourist started to mill about. It worked great. Excuse the athletic gear. We were on the fence if we wanted to make this a morning run, as you can see by the pastry breakfast we decided against the run.

Trevi Fountain

Cookies for breakfast

We had a big day of eating ahead of us. Our first food foray into the day was a tour of the area we were staying. Trastevere has become the hip, trendy, gentrifying area of Rome lately. It’s the Brooklyn of Rome. So we walked around eating ourselves sick. Food tours tend to cost a small fortune, but wow do they fill you with more to eat than you can stomach. Cookies from a 40 foot conveyor belt. Homemade Suppli. Porchetta. Fresh pasta and a wine list the size of a cinder block. And for dessert an ancient artifact in a cellar. While we were waiting on our dessert to finish cooking, they took us to the restaurant cellar and explained that someone managed to find a six foot bronze horse hanging out. Only a couple thousand years old. It is now in a museum.

Sweets

The wine “list”

Porchetta

Suppli

Cookies from the place with no sign.

After a long nap, we headed to our pasta making class. We loved the class in Barcelona and had high hopes about this one.

It was a blast. We had an incredible view of Rome from our rooftop cooking station. We had hilarious company from a couple of Canadians and an older guy from Dallas. The guy from Canada, with Italian heritage, managed to completely botch his pasta. Ours turned out great but Elizabeth was better. I’m hoping this gets me out of our kitchen so often. We made ravioli and a long pasta.

Elizabeth is a little unsure

Teamwork makes the dream work.

One of these is not like the others. That one is Elizabeths.

Both were really good. We had so much fun talking I forgot to take any pictures of the finished product.

Our final day in Rome was back to the Vatican. It was a Wednesday and Elizabeth had an appointment with the Pope. I had decided to sleep in while Elizabeth went the recommended 2-3 hours early to grab a sit in the summer sun. And wouldn’t you know it, good things come to those who wait.

After sleeping in an additional 2 hours, I decided to show up right at showtime. While I’m walking up, Pope Francis is driving around in Pope-mobile. As you can see from the pictures, I within about 10 feet of the Holy one. Somehow Elizabeth knew this was going to happen and reconciled that I probably needed to see him more than she did.

Here is Elizabeth’s best picture. Pretty good.

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Here is my picture. I think you can tell the improvement in quality.

The rest of our day involved pizza, pasta, and packing for Naples and Croatia. We were leaving Italy and headed to the Balkans. We would finally get the beach time I though I needed.

When In Roma

Posted on September 17, 2016 by cornetravel

Since we decided to take it easy in Rome, we booked only one tour for day three in the city. In case you didn’t know, Rome is city upon a city, upon a city. The ground underneath the current city is compared to a lasagna. There are layers and layers of history. On our tour we booked we explored some of the darker layers of that history lasagna. This 2-part tour visited bone chapels, catacombs, necropolises and later provided a walking tour filled with Rome’s haunted history.

Basilica of Our Lady

The first part of the tour was far more interesting than the night walking tour. It started with a visit to the crypt of a capuchin monk monastery (no photos allowed). Between the 1500s and 1800s, the bodies of the deceased monks were used as decorations for the crypts. The monks did not fear death Seeing the bones of their fellow monks gave them hope for the eternal life that awaits them after death. The bone decorations skirted a lot of lars. The government finally cracked down on the the monks. Now human bones are no longer allowed for decorations. This means that if any decorations fall off the wall, it cannot be replaced. It also means that all the monks that were buried in the chapel (awaiting decomposition and later use as art) can never be disturbed.

The second stop on our tour took us out of the city and into the catacombs in the countryside (also no pictures). It was at this stop that we walked through the underground labryinth. This was not the type of tour where you want to stray from the group. We learned about the particular burial practices of the time and how the practices changed over the years… from modest to the decorated, individual to family plots.

Our last stop for the day tour took us back into Rome to the Basilica of Saint Clement that was sits atop a necropolis. A necropolis by definition is a city that was once above ground, at city level, but over years was buried. Below the church are remnants of older churches and a pagan Mithra chapel. By the pagan chapel you could identify a street with apartments on each side. It is amazing to think that a city can be changed so much that roads and buildings could be covered and forgotten

The current church on top of the older chapels.

Ruins throughout the city

After this last stop, part one of our tour ended and we headed back to our apartment for dinner. Clay cooked another delicious pasta dish. Before we met up for the second part of our tour, we grabbed our daily gelato. At this point, we were no longer enthused about gelato. It didn’t help that at this particular shop it was gross. I didn’t know there could be such a thing as bad gelato, but we had found it. After this evening, gelato eating became a chore.

Sadly the gelato was only a sign of the tour to come. The second part of our tour had no ghosts and very little substance. It did provide a nice, quiet walk along the river and city as it changed from twilight to dark. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a nice way to end the day.

The next day was a big one. It was Vatican day. As a Catholic, this was at the top of my list of things to see. Clay was nice enough to oblige. To get a proper look at the place, we booked another Context tour. This tour was courtesy of Clay’s sister and her husband. When you are doing certain things in life, you don’t want to do them halfway. And the Context tour provides an excellent informational tour of the Vatican.

Elizabeth with a building in the background

sculpture

building

sculpture

mosaic

awesome art

massive bowl of marble

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marble that no longer exists

The Vatican hosts an amazing collection of all sorts of Italy, from paintings to tapestries, to sculptures and architecture, it has it all. They even have a modern art museum with a Dali in the collection.

pope stuff

Dali

other modern art

art

art

in the hallway of Italy

Hallway of Italy

The downside of course is the crowds. Worse than any football game I’ve ever been to. Almost the entire time you feel like being on a conveyor belt squashed between people. Seeing the Sistine Chapel, was akin to being crammed like sardines in a well painted tin can. It’s nice, but we both felt like the buildup was more than the actual place. There are a lot of incredible things to see in Italy, moreover Rome, that are not near as crowded. Even some of the rooms before getting the Sistine Chapel are really remarkable, but you don’t feel like you can enjoy it because of A. The crowds and B. You are rushing to get to the finish line aka: The Sistine Chapel.

We eventually exited to St. Peter’s. Tough to be crowded in a place so big. There are many remarkable things in the church, but we will only mention two here. First the canopy/baldachin. It is incredible large an ornate. Like most things in the Vatican it has a bit of a sinister side. All the bronze used to create the canopy was melted down from the pantheon.

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The second is the stained glass widow behind the canopy. It looks like stained glass, but it’s really marble of different thickness to let in more or less light. It is also surprisingly large. It was and I’m sure continues to be beautiful. jfs60985

After a quick lunch break for pizza and gelato, we headed back to the Vatican. Not for more churching (as Clay likes to call it), but for what’s under the Vatican. I got us tickets to the Scavi tour. This is a Vatican run tour of the Necropolis and St. Peter’s tomb sitting beneath the Vatican. This not a typical tour that people go on. You have to be flexible when getting tickets. Instead of picking a tour time, you tell the Vatican when you will be in town and they tell you when you can go on the tour. We were excited and intrigued about what to expect, especially when the tour closes with us getting to see the bones of the first Pope of the Catholic church, St. Peter. The Peter of the apostles in the bible, Peter. The one with the keys and on this rock I will build my church… that Peter.

Before the tour starts, we are having to pass through the Swiss guards to get to our meeting point. I am already feeling excited. Then we get the whole no picture talk before the tour suddenly (in Clay’s words) takes a CIA/Da Vinci Code turn. We head to a glass door only opened with a special pass. Our small group crammed into a small hallway so that door can close completely before the next glass door is allowed to open with our guide’s special pass.

It was not easy to get down there. Most of the tour was interesting. We learned how the necropolis was not originally a Christian burial place, but eventually turned into one. After a fair amount of walking around, we go through a long process of explaining about Peter’s bones. Then the guide showed a hole in a wall that was illuminated. Inside the hole is a Plexiglass box filled with bones of a man who is believed to be Peter. They are sure the tomb is Peter’s, but they are less sure of the bones. The bones are of the time period and the bones are surrounded with lore, but no one can really say for sure.

Nevertheless, it was a fascinating tour and the Vatican does an excellent job of not sugar coating what they seem to know or not know.

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Rome in Ruins

Posted on August 28, 2016 by cornetravel

They say you need a whole lifetime to see everything in Rome. That may be true, but we stayed for a whole week and managed to see enough to satisfy us… At least for now.

For Italy we had loose schedules created. For Rome in particular we used the website Visit A City to help create a 7 day schedule. The website creates daily schedules based on distances and opening/closing times. Instead of consulting 394 different websites, we were able to just use this one to create an appropriate schedule for us.

Our adventure started mid day when we met our AirBnB host in Trastevere. Normally we do not have anything of note to say about our hosts, but this guy went above and beyond. As you may remember, our first stop once we get settled is to go buy groceries. At our new home in Trastevere, our host had already purchased groceries for us. It was amazing how thoughtful he was to stock the cupboard for the week. We still went to the store, but fresh pasta demands that kind of trip.

Once settled, we raced on to complete our to-do list of the day (as determined by our Visit A City schedule). Our first steps in Rome were to a church naturally. We made a visit to Santa Sabine. This church is extremely old and also provides an amazing view of Rome.

The next stop on the list was a walk to the Baths of Caracalla. These Roman baths are some of the largest in Rome. The baths gave us beautiful views of mosaic floors. Most of the designs I would want in my own home. Clay was beside himself. It never gets old looking at Roman mosaics and Clay sought them out in most all the countries we visited. You may remember that we had a look at Morocco mosaics. (We also made a trip in Montenegro to see them. Whenever we get the blog caught up, you will get to see those.)

Besides the mosaics, the sheer size of the bath house structure was amazing. It still baffles me how structures of this size were created and how long they have stood.

After our visit to the baths we took a walk to visit a pyramid from year 12 BC. So there is that, just hanging out at an intersection. It was a little bizarre to see in the city.

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We then headed on to a better view of the city in time for sunset. While on our walk we noticed a line of people at the front door of a building. People were queuing up to the door and taking a peek through the door’s keyhole. After taking a look, most giggled to their comrades or took pictures through the hole and then went on their way. I (Elizabeth), ever afraid of missing out, had to know what everyone was getting a gander of. Clay, ever the one with little patience, decided to keep walking to the sunset viewpoint. It took me about 30 mins or so to get to the keyhole. I had no idea what to expect when I took a peek. As I approached I had only a few thoughts of what it could be:

Something that was going to scare me. No one had peeked and jumped, but I was still slightly afraid.
A beautiful statue. Italy is covered in beautiful works of art. I thought it may be just a marble statue in a garden and people are only allowed to view it through the keyhole. Clay joked that it was an enlarged version of The David’s most prized area.
At this point I should say that I was convinced there was a garden inside. The question for me was what was in the garden. I finally settled on a quite group of animals hanging out in a garden behind the door.

As you might have guessed, all my hypothesis were wrong. Instead behind the keyhole was… Well I guess you are just going to have to see for yourself. It would be a pity to spoil such a surprise.

I did share with Clay what I saw behind the keyhole. He will probably tell you if you buy him a good beer or BBQ dinner.

We ended our day at Eatly to buy some fresh pasta. Since we had been in Italy a while and had devoured several meals for “inspiration”, we were ready to try our hand at cooking fresh pasta on our own. Clay successfully made a few pasta dishes for us to enjoy as we booked tours for our stay in Rome. Word to the wise: It may not always be better to plan ahead, but it definitely would be less stressful.

The next morning we started with a free walking tour around the city. As usual the tour was a great introduction to Rome. We got to see our first Vatican building (one of the few outside Vatican City), Trajan’s Column, the Spanish Steps (closed for renovations), the Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. It was a lot to see before lunch, but I think that can sum up Rome.

In the afternoon we went to the Borghese Gallery. We booked a tour of the gallery the night before so we weren’t exactly sure what we were getting into. The gallery is a smallish collection of impressive art. There were mosaics, marble statues, and traditional paintings. Two of the more memorable pieces we saw were Bernini statues. One statue titled Apollo and Daphne, although only one piece, told the whole myth of Apollo and Daphne. Our guide did an excellent job telling us the story while also walking us around the statue as it played out. The second statue by Bernini is The Rape of Proserpina. This is so detailed that you have to stare at it for several minutes before you accept that it is only marble.

We ended our stay at the gallery by strolling through the gardens. We only saw a small part of the gardens. It is worth sticking around the gardens for a bit. We didn’t get to see near enough of it.

After our walk through the gardens, Clay was determine to see the Colosseum. I wanted to see it too, so we made the forty minute trek across town to get a good look at what we would be touring the following morning.

For our dinner we bucked tradition and made reservations at a more modern restaurant. We were treated to an array of wonderful dishes. Our prix fixe meal was for seven courses, but those seven multiplied to 12 and we left with our stomachs busting at the seams.

The next day we went back to the Colosseum for a proper tour of the place. This tour was with Context. We highly recommend this company. Although their tours are on the pricey side, it is basically private. Our tour group consisted of four people. The tour guide (an archaeologist who actually worked on site at the Roman Forum), us and one other tourist.

Our guide’s love for Roman history was contagious. He first took us to the Colosseum where we learned that it’s actually Flavian’s Amphitheater. There are a lot of Colosseums, but there is only one Flavian’s Amphitheater. In our small group of four, we (I mean Clay) had the opportunity to ask all the questions we wanted. Clay could not have been happier with this arrangement.

After all of Clay’s questions were answered and we got a good look around the amphitheater we headed out to the Roman Forum. This ancient plaza played host to many of the government buildings at the time. The large size of the plaza is difficult to take in. In some areas you have a full front of a building, in others you have just the rough blueprint from the foundation stones. There are rouge columns with ornate capitals here and there. It really is an impressive sight to explore.

After our usual tour ended, our guide walked us to the area we wanted to eat lunch in. He also stopped into a church that we thought might be interesting. Again the tour company and our guide were great and went above and beyond.

We later visited the Capitoline Museum. Although the museum was great, we mainly were there for another view of the Roman Forum.

After all the touring we headed back to Trastevere and stopped at a fresh pasta shop to buy provisions for dinner. This shop was owned by two sisters from Sardinia. We would learn on another tour that the brothers of the sisters own the restaurant across the street. Although our own Sardinian, Rachele, was back home we were always reminded of her.

Flotown Art and Food

Posted on August 13, 2016 by cornetravel

Fresh off a our large bus tour around Italy, we were ready to actually enjoy the city of Florence. Our scheduled tour had notified us that we would be the only two people on the tour. Music to our ears. Of course the downside was we wouldn’t be the only people at the Uffizi Gallery or the Accademia.

The Uffizi is a real museum. It houses a lot of different pieces and had several “masterpieces”. Elizabeth seems to have taken a shine to Botticelli based on her experience at the Uffizi. She also liked the 400 some odd portraits that line the Uffizi’s walls like crown moulding. All the portraits were painted by one man who captured the most famous nobility, clergy, artists, etc. of the time. I was also pleasantly surprised with the Uffizi. Our tour covered many different artists and styles, not focusing on anything in particular.

A familiar sight. This was part of series of paintings depicting Florence at the time. It was like looking at an old photograph.

The ceiling is adorned in oyster shells.

Post coffee break, we headed to the Accademia. Everyone goes here for just the David statue. Our guide also showed a few works here worth viewing, but only after viewing the David.

The statue is worth every penny. Massive and beautiful, it’s truly incredible.

The other things to view at the Uffizi

Includes the Medici coat of arms.

Not done with enjoying art for the day. We also headed to a modern art exhibit in town. Having exhausted my appetite for old European paintings, I suggested we visit a traveling Guggenheim collection.

We were not able to visit the Guggenheim in Venice and I was bitterly disappointed. Luckily, this exhibit seemed to have left the Venice location dry. It was quite extensive. Sadly, I still don’t like modern art, particularly the collections from the Guggenheim, but I knew this before I entered.

Then why go? Because it was different from anything we saw in all of Europe. These collections of “art” hardly qualify, but we find it interesting nonetheless.

The rest of our day was spent walking along the city streets. We stopped into the Duomo and discovered it was not as spectacular on the inside. The final highlight of the day was me ordering dinner in Italian. Food, drink, numbers, cash exchange, the whole bit. The guy working didn’t even need me to repeat anything. Truly a high-water mark for my Italian immersion.

During our last day in Florence we attempted to get a better understanding of city. One of the best ways to get to know a place is to taste it. Acting on a friend’s recommendation we booked a Walks of Italy food tour. We love food tours. Not only is it a good way to experience a city, but it also can challenge you to eat something that wouldn’t normally be on your own personal menu.

Our food tour started, as all good tours should, with wine. We were given free reign to just fill up our glasses as we wanted to sample the local wine and to accompany the crostini provided. Talk about a breakfast of champions…

A glass a day…

Next up we tasted one of the more exotic delicacies – Lampredotto. This is typical dish of the city and is made from the fourth stomach of a cow. We were some of the few that ventured to try the dish. We were able to try the meat in two different sauces. It is usually served in sandwich form but we were happy to eat it with fork.

Yum!

Although it doesn’t look like much, it was actually quite tasty.

After we had our fill, we made our way to the local market. It was here that we saw Food Network star Giada. She was filming for her show in the market. Our guide did not take notice. Instead she snaked us around the stalls and took us to a stand in the back corner. At this stand we learned about (and tasted) the more traditional cuts of meat like prosciutto. At the stand we also sampled a variety of cheeses and olives. We ate until we were stuffed.

After the antipasti, we headed to another part of the market to have lunch. I wasn’t sure how much more we could eat, but somehow we managed to devour our pasta, salad and a couple of glasses of chianti. The tour ended with a stop for gelato. We were thankful that we met our gelato quota, but most thankful that we didn’t have to eat another thing.

We spent the rest of the day walking off lunch. We visited the Basilica of St. Croce where Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Galileo and others are buried. We ended our time in Florence by meandering up to Piazzale Michangelo for a last view of Florence and enjoying another beer at Archea and pizza at GustaPizza (P.S. We highly recommend this pizza place). The next day we left Florence and headed to Rome.