Since it was too expensive to fly back to Chicago this summer, we decided to go to Italy instead, which was not cheap either. Our first stop was Lake Garda, and thanks to Oscar, we didn't stay directly on the lake. We stayed in the foothills of Monte Baldo in a town called Pai.
I had made several reservations at hotels claiming that they allowed dogs, but they emailed me back saying "small dogs only." At 30 kg (66 pounds), Oscar is not a small dog. I finally found a place called Locanda San Marco that allowed large dogs in the village of Pai di Sopra. It was perfect! We had to walk down to the lake, which meant we had to climb back up, but Pai was quiet, unlike the touristy, crowded lakefront. Pai became lively only in the evening when everyone was outside in the main square eating, drinking and talking. One night they even had live music.
The boys brought their skateboards thinking they would be skating all over Italy. Lake Garda turned out to be the only place flat enough and safe enough for skating.
Because we knew Amalfi and Ferrara would be the cultural parts of our trip, we decide to do something touristy before driving farther south. We went to Gardaland. Gardaland is a large amusement park on the southern end of the lake. I don't usually like amusement parks, but this time I had a great time. Gardaland has a lot of roller coasters and water-based rides, nice on a hot day. And they have a 4D theater, which is just 3D with moving seats, but fun. It was very crowded, and since the waits for most rides were up to an hour, we spent an extra 48 Euros (after spending 113 Euros to get into the park) for express tickets. This meant we could stand in the express lines for only 10 or 15 minutes. Expensive, but worth it; otherwise, we would have ridden only half of the rides we did ride.
After a long day of driving south, past Bologna, Rome and Naples, we arrived on the Amalfi Coast. We rented a house built into the side of the cliffs overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. We parked the car in the garage off the street and walked DOWN many steps to our house and even more steps to the sea. It is amazing to me that people actually live here. The streets are narrow and twisting with three way traffic--the normal two way and the Vespas and motorcycles down the middle. There are no sidewalks, so everyone walks along the side of the road. I felt like we were risking our lives every time we left the house. And since it is not flat, we were either walking up- or downhill. (The top photo is a view from one of our balconies and the bottom is the house we rented.)
Our house was located about 500 meters up the hill from Minori and on the road toward Ravello, which overlooks Minori.
While on the Amalfi Coast, we went snorkeling off the rocks below our house,
took the ferry from Minori past Atrani, another coastal town,
to see the cathedral in the town of Amalfi.
While in Ravello, we checked out the pool at the Hotel Caruso.
And we spent time just hanging out on the balconies of our house.
But the best part of our time on the Amalfi was visiting Pompeii and climbing Vesuvius. I was expecting it be educational, but it was fascinating! There are the temples (to Jupiter, above),
the well preserved frescos,
and the snack bars. And so much more.
After Pompeii, we ascended Vesuvius. Our GPS took us up the old road, which apparently happens a lot, and so a tour operator has learned to take advantage of this. At the end of the paved road, if one wants to continue up, one must pay for a ticket on a 4WD bus that will take one up the dirt road. Yes, expensive, but it was fun riding up the winding road on a very bouncy bus. At the end of the dirt road, we walked the rest of the way up to the crater. Vesuvius may not be as impressive as Kilauea--there is no smoke and no smell of sulfur--but it is a volcano the way I always pictured volcanos. And it is active. It erupts every 100 years and the last eruption was in 1944.
From the Amalfi Coast, we drove straight east to the Gargano Peninsula. Here we rented a bungalow just outside of Vieste. On the way to Vieste, we stopped in Monte Sant'Angelo. Supposedly, St. Michael made several appearances here in the 5th Century, and now it is a popular pilgrimage site. Although we were not on a pilgrimage, we found the town very charming and very white.
Unfortunately, after arriving in Vieste, we were a little disappointed with our accommodations. The views were great,
and the pool rivaled Hotel Caruso's in Ravello. But the bungalow was in disrepair and very dusty, probably because of the dirt path that led up to the door--I thought camping in a tent would have been better and cleaner.
On the brighter side, the beach was not far, and the beaches of the Gargano coast are covered in soft, yellow sand, unlike the rocky beaches of Garda and Amalfi.
And the Adriatic Sea is not as tame as the Tyrrhenian. A couple of times we thought we were going to lose the boys.
Obviously, the seafood was great, and some of the restaurants are found in trabucci, wooden structures unique to the area and built for fishing.
Our last stop was Ferrara, and Ferrara is my kind of town--a college town, a medieval college town. It is the Italian version of Erlangen and Madison. There are students and bicycles everywhere. Of course, there is also a castle, Castello Estense, with a moat,
and a labyrinth of narrow streets in the medieval quarter to explore. If we should ever move to Italy....
Oscar also came along on this trip, and a couple of his photos are on his blog.
