Zurers in Italy: 2006
Italy Itinerary - May 2006
May 4-7: Pavia
Day 1: Pavia
The plane trip from Dulles with a stopover in London is relatively painless. After an amazingly quick check in at Virgin Atlantic for our London flight, there are a couple of hitches.
Day 2: Pavia
We sleep through the night after our long travel day....which is remarkable since our room at the Hotel Moderno is right across from a busy bus stop at the train station and there are noisy buses coming and going--seemingly continuously.
Day 3: Pavia
Our new room at the hotel--looking out over an interior courtyard--is blessedly quiet and we have a much more peaceful morning than yesterday.Tomorrow we leave for Reggio nell'Emilia.
Day 4: Pavia-Reggio nell'Emilia
Leaving Pavia, we decide to make a stop enroute to Reggio nell'Emila in the town of Soncino as part of our research into Jewish Italy. Soncino--one of the towns controlled by the Sforza family in the Middle Ages--was the site of the first Hebrew printing shop in Italy in the late 15th century.
Day 5: Reggio nell'Emilia
Our hotel--the Hotel Posta--is quite comfortable and attractive. Part of the hotel is in a 13th century building and the breakfast room has high ceilings and is elaborately decorated.
Day 6: Reggio nell'Emilia
The weather has turned nasty...we wake up early today to very heavy thunderstorms and driving rain.
Day 7: Reggio nell'Emilia - San Quirico d'Orcia
The weather is overcast and threatening when we walk over to the theater for Diana to meet the group for this morning's school visit. I take this opportunity to stay in the hotel room for most of the morning and catch up on work and writing.
Day 8: San Quirico d'Orcia
We wake up to an angry sky and pouring rain.....so we have a leisurely morning.
Day 9: San Quirico d'Orcia
The sun is shining this morning--there is some mist over the mountains across the valley but it looks like it will be a beautiful day. We have a leisurely morning and, after breakfast, set out for a walk around town.
Day 10: San Quirico d'Orcia
After another very nice breakfast--today with Maureen and Franco--we sit out in the garden to enjoy the warm weather before taking them on a tour of the town. We are in the La Collegiata church (the one with the intarsia choir stalls) at the same time as an Italian tour group and when we ask the caretaker if we can go in back of the altar to see them up close, he says no because he doesn't want to let the big group go back there.
Day 11: San Quirico d'Orcia-Castellina in Chianti
Day 12: Castellina in Chianti
When we unpacked last night, I noticed that my phone charger was missing so I call the hotel in San Quirico d'Orcia to see if they had found it in our room. Since it is only about an hour drive, we decide to drive south today through back roads of Chianti and perhaps go to Sant'Antimo and Montalcino while in the area.
Day 13: Castellina in Chianti
It is a beautiful sunny day this morning, but after breakfast, we pack up our dirty laundry and drive to Siena to find the Onda Blu laundromat. I also want to check out the parking area in Siena that is close to the escalator that takes you up to the center of Siena.
Day 14: Castellina in Chianti
It is a little overcast this morning when we open the shutters and look at the beautiful view outside our window....but the sun is threatening to break through.
Day 15: Castellina in Chianti-Lerici
This morning, the sun is shining brightly...it is beautiful day as we prepare to leave Tuscany.
Day 16: Lerici
Even though today is the "vacation from the vacation", I wake up early and sit out on the terrace with my computer...watching the day get started in town and on the water.
Day 17: Lerici-Bordighera
It is overcast again this morning but I am still out on our room terrace early, writing and enjoying the view. After another delicious Doria Park breakfast and a last session on the wireless internet, we pack and wrestle the bags up the 70 + stairs to the parking lot.
Day 18: Bordighera
The wind has died down by the morning after blustering all night long. The sea is calm and the sun is out.
Day 19: Bordighera
A beautiful morning in Bordighera...we stand out on our balcony and watch the early risers out on the lungomare.
Day 20: Bordighera
The sea is calm and quiet this morning but the sky is overcast. We are able to sit outside for breaksfast in spite of the breeze.
Day 21: Bordighera
The sun has returned this morning and we have another very pleasant breakfast outside on the lungomare. After breakfast, we walk around the point to the port and up the hill through through the lovely pine-tree shaded park that overlooks the water.
Day 22: Bordighera
Another beautiful morning in Bordighera and another extremely pleasant breakfast on the lungomare.Tomorrow we leave for Torino.
Day 23: Bordighera-Torino
After our last breakfast on the lungomare, we take a short walk on the rocks and pack up the car. We have enjoyed our stay in Bordighera and liked the Hotel Piccolo Lido very much.
Itinerary for October / November 2006
Day 1: Fermignano
The plane trip from Washington DC to Milan was tolerable though long. Since our tickets are paid for by miles, we have two connections en route.
Day 2: Fermignano
We sleep through the night and Diana woke me at 8:30...that should take care of any possible jet lag.
Day 3: Fermignano-Colletorto
No fog this morning...the sun is shining and we can see the beautiful vistas over the countryside from the Locanda.
Day 4: Colletorto
When we open the electric powered window blinds this morning at about 8 am, the balcony is wet and the sky is overcast. It had rained overnight and, although it isn't raining when we get up, we wonder how it will affect the plans to pick olives.
Day 5: Colletorto
Sunny again this morning.....after breakfast, we all get on the bus and head for Termoli, about an hour to the north and east--Molise's largest beach resort with an attractive ( and old) "centro storico"and the embarkation point for ferries for the Tremiti Islands and Croatia.
Day 6: Colletorto-Campobasso
Another sunny day......and a somewhat late start after the party last night.
Day 7: Campobasso
Breakfast at the Hotel San Giorgio is just okay but the cappuccino is the best that I have had in a while--hot and strong. The weather is again beautiful.
Day 8: Campobasso
Another sunny and warm day.....how long can this last? Today we head to Isernia in western Molise.
Day 9: Campobasso
Yet another sunny day....even warmer than yesterday and barely a cloud in the sky.
Day 10: Campobasso
The sun is shining again....it may be a little cooler than yesterday.
Day 11: Campobasso-Pompei
We say goodbye to Molise--it has been a wonderful eight days and we are now big Molise boosters--and get on the road towards Benevento. The road skirts the Matese mountain range but the landscape that we see as we enter Campania is still very hilly but much greener than most of the countryside in Molise.
Day 12: Pompei
We sleep well in spite of the fact that Pompei is not a quiet town. It is hard to tell from our window (which looks out on an interior courtyard) whether or not the sun is out but we can tell that it is warm and it hasn't rained.
Day 13: Pompei
The weather....warm, hazy and sunny--no change yet.
Day 14: Pompei
Today it is still sunny....but breezier and a little cooler than before--still nothing to complain about.
Day 15: Pompei - Bacoli
The sky is very blue this morning, the sun is shining and the temperature is on the cool side. This morning, we leave Pompei for Bacoli just on the other side of Naples.
Day 16: Bacoli
When we look out the window this morning, it is dark and cloudy---overcast and definitely cooler than it has been. But while we are eating breakfast, it looks like the sun is trying to break through.
Day 17: Bacoli
No rain this morning, but it is still overcast and as cool as it has been on this trip. After breakfast--we still seem to be the only guests at the hotel so we have the breakfast room to ourselves--we get specific directions from Rosanna, the desk clerk, about how to get to Naples by public transportation.
Day 18: Bacoli
Day 19: Bacoli-Frascati
We have to move on today.....our time in Bacoli was sort of fractured because of the car incident but we did enjoy the area and would think about coming back in the future.
Day 20: Frascati
Following up on a suggestion made by our friend Maureen in Rome, we have an appointment to visit the Tenuta Pantano Borghese, an agriturismo and large farm located about 30 minutes from Frascati. After breakfast--surprisingly ordinary for such a classy hotel, we find the right road which climbs steeply to the next town of Monte Porzio Cantone and then descends sharply into the valley where the Via Casalina runs.
Day 21: Frascati
Another bright, sunny morning as we set off to explore the the Colli Albani (Alban Hills). Our first stop is the old Roman city of Tusculum which is on the top of the hill/mountain over Frascati.
Day 22: Frascati
Yet another warm and sunny day......we continue to luck out with the weather.