Outbound flight: evening over San Francisco |
Dover cliffs |
Modern sculpture in plaza in front of church that is no big deal for Milan. If this church was transplanted to any USA city it would be a very big deal. Italian cities have a lot of these "pocket change" churches. You could outfit an American city with the lesser churches that an Italian city could find under its seat cushions. |
Milan: Mod cafe interior |
Milan: Not a cafe named after me, but just a random bar/cafe that just so happened to put their official "T" for tobacco sign right after "BAR". These shops are central to city life. You can buy chewing gum, bus tickets, coffee, cigs, ice cream, wine, lottery tickets, etc. in these little efficient bars. Sort of like a 7-11 but smaller and better. |
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Milan: Near cathederal. |
Milan: The cathedral (Duomo). |
Milan: cathedral rooftop |
Milan: We could not figure out what this place was selling. Pop style? |
Milan: Duomo roof detail |
Riomaggiore: A town in the Cinque Terre region. Our apartment had a great view over the city. It was very comfortable and quiet place. The only sounds were the church bell down the street and the shuffle of tourists up to a viewpoint in the morning. Nancy cooked up a great pasta meal here the next day. |
Riomaggiore: with storm battering the harbor. |
Riomaggiore: The harbor is tiny and no space is left unused |
Riomaggiore |
Riomaggiore |
Riomaggiore: Rainbow heralding an umbrella destroying thunderstorm about to pass over us as we are deep into the hillside. We got a little wet but it was glorious. |
Riomaggiore: down in the lower center. |
Riomaggiore: sunset from the overlook about a minute from our apartment. It was chilly but worth it. |
Riomaggiore: train station. There's a tunnel to the left as well and when the train arrives the front and back parts are in a tunnel, the middle looks out over the sea. We had a picnic lunch in the plaza overlooking this inlet, then boarded the train for Naples. |
Riomaggiore: We would pet this little kitty as we passed the church every day. On the day we left we had a picnic in the plaza and the kitty decided to join in. He was not trying to mooch, just wanted to be on our laps. |
This is where Carrara Marble is quarried |
Outside of Naples: Herculaneum (buried at the same time as Pompeii). Fast food joint. |
Herculaneum |
Herculaneum: Waiting for the train back to Naples. |
Naples: Festive hats over old city arcade. |
Naples: Street art. |
Naples |
Naples: Newsstand |
Naples: Perfume maker |
Naples: City with Vesuvius in the background. |
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Naples: L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele. Mobbed by tourists seeking their famous pies. Every minute a scooter would pull up and then drive off with a stack of six pizza boxes strapped to the back. It was chaotic but efficient. They only make two items so ordering is easy: pizza margherita or pizza marinara. Pick one. The Margherita was tasty. |
Naples: Unfortunate name for a burger joint. |
Naples |
Matera: These buildings are bigger than they look because the back part of the floorplan is carved into the soft rock that the city is built on. |
Matera: Door to their purgatory church. We didn't even know that there was such a thing as a purgatory church and then we started finding them in other cities. |
Matera: Our apartment which was also carved partially into the rock. |
Matera: Mushrooms from the market. Yum! |
Matera: Gorge separating the old city from even older caves in the other side of the valley. We hiked down and across the swing bridge in the lower middle. |
Matera: Could you try to be less scenic? |
Alberobello: These bright yellow cantaloupes were in season and all over the markets. |
Alberobello: Houses, barns, and sheds are built with these unique conical rock roofs and found clustered in this part of town as well as all around the countryside. They're called Trulli. |
Alberobello: More festive hats hanging over the street. Not sure what's up with that but I like it. |
Alberobello |
Alberobello: lit up at night. |
Polignano a Mare: We went here on a whim after seeing this place mentioned on Lidia's cooking show. Ate an octopus sandwich. |
Locorotondo: entrance to old town. |
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Putignano: Nancy keeps a cool as a four faced winged baby eating monster bursts through the pavement. We visited Putignano on a whim with the vague idea it would be interesting. It was. The city was dotted with these paper mache sculptures for a purgatory themed exhibition. Made a good lead up to Halloween. |
Putignano: You know those automated kiosks we have to fill jugs with purified water? In Puglia they have kiosks for wine. |
Alborobello: That ladder leads to the cone of our Trulli apartment. |
Ostuni: We used google maps to find routes because some of the old towns were a maze of one-way streets. This is one of the most circuituous routes it proposed. |
Otranto: we encountered this bike club during a walk in the countryside. |
Otranto: Lighthouse at the end of the world. |
Otranto: Harbor. Our glamping site is in the green forested area on the left. |
Lecce: is full of tiny bars that only open in the late evening. |
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Lecce: Our hotel's entrance in the old city. It was worth it. |
Lecce: Mod nightclub facade. You enter in the sphere on the right which is kind of like an airlock. There I guess the bouncer checks you out and decides whether you can continue to the disco. |
Lecce: The ornate facade of the main church. |
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Rome: Nancy descending the Spanish Steps. |
Rome: Our apartment was in a little neighborhood adjacent to the Vatican where there were shops catering to priests. They sold clothes for priests, nuns, and monks as well as items for the altar. |
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Rome: Where you can buy train tickets and wine in the same place. |
Rome: Walkway along Tiber river. |
Rome: Tomb of the anonymous soldier. |
Rome: I think this is the arena where their basketball team plays. |
Rome: One if this city's churches that they can find between the sofa seat cushions happens to have three Caravaggio paintings. |
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Not sure I'd want a shave at a place named machete. |
Rome: stone head peers over hedge. |
Rome: Marshmallow house as part of public art exhibition |
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Ever since Milan we kept seeing laurel leaf wearing students celebrating their graduation. These were in Rome |
Rome: mid-life crisis scooter. |
Rome: Italy is big on decorating parks with stone heads. |
Rome: Another church found in the seat cushions. This one has a random mix of columns that were salvaged from old Roman temples. Notice the inconsistency of the capitals. Santa Maria, Trastevere. |
click for a video from the roof of the Duomo |
click for a video of the sunset of Riomaggiore |
click for slo-mo waves crashing against Riomaggiore's only breakwater |
click for a video of the La Spezia train station |
click for crazy Naples traffic |
click to see the sun set over Matera |
click for a video of Pultignao |
click for a video of Alberobello |
click for a video of clouds over a Lecce gate |
click to see Piazza di Popoli |
click to see people walking on Ponte di Angelo |
click to see sunset over St. Peters |
click to see if you can find the picnic baby running around |