With our time in our charming trullo in Alberobello at an end, it was time to drive to Bari for a final night before catching a flight back to Paris. We planned to make the most of the day, setting out in the morning to make some highlight stops along the coast en route. I was especially looking forward to Polignano a Mare whose picturesque beach at Lama Monachile features in many enticing photos of Puglia. I’d also read great things about Monopoli, just south of Polignano a Mare, so decided to stop there first.read more
Our second daytrip from Alberobello in the Puglia region of Italy took us to the town of Matera in the adjoining Basilicata region. While Puglia lies in the heel of Italy’s “boot,” Basilicata lies more inland with its much shorter waterfront in the arch or instep of the boot. Matera exceeded expectations and I found myself excited to be there from my first expansive view of the city. I love travel, am eternally curious, and truly enjoy 90+ percent of my travels wholeheartedly. (There’s always some measure of aggravation and things going wrong in any activity.) But, it’s just a fact that after so much travel over so many years, it does get a little harder to impress. It’s not that I’m jaded, at least I hope not, but I do sometimes envy those experiencing the magical firsts of seeing somewhere new and entirely unfamiliar. I felt the touch of that thrill in Matera.read more
It’s fun daytripping around the Puglia region of Italy from our trullo in Alberobello. There are so many interesting options in easy driving distance. Scanning the map and reading up on some favorites suggested by our host, we decided to make Ostuni the ultimate destination for our first such explore, with stops at Martina Franca and Cisternino along the way.
In just under thirty minutes, we parked in a public lot in Martina Franca then walked a short distance uphill to Piazza Roma, a triangular plaza in front of the 17th Palazzo Ducale. We enjoyed browsing the elaborately-painted public rooms of this former palace of local dukes along with a temporary art exhibit that was in the process of being installed.read more
Trulli (singular trullo) are the iconic conical-roofed homes and shelters of the Puglia region located in the southern “heel” of Italy. I’d wanted to stay in a trullo for a while and explore the area, and finally that was happening! I’ve already outlined how this trip came together and how I chose Alberobello in an earlier post, so I’ll just mention again that beautiful Alberobello is home to the largest concentration of trulli in Puglia.
Well, maybe before I get to Alberobello, I should say we arrived in Bari via a Frecciarossa high-speed train from Bologna (booked directly with Trenitalia). The trip takes 5h45m and our first class seats were comfortable and the trip smooth with only a minor delay. The delay may have had something to do with the pouring rain that pelted the train starting only a short distance out of Bologna. It was six days later before we learned we’d left Bologna the day before massive flooding hit the city. Ignorance is bliss! Happily the rain had mostly subsided by the time we arrived at Bari Centrale and collected our fire engine red Locauto rental car. In a little over an hour, we were in the town of Alberobello.read more
I couldn’t resist the title of this post since every time I type the name of this venerable Italian city, the Oscar Meyer jingle runs through my head and sticks there long after I put away my laptop. Any American of a certain age should sympathize.
After visiting the tiny republic of San Marino, we spent three nights in Belle Arti Gallery House, an apartment in the university quarter of Bologna. Although I’ve traveled extensively in Italy, I’d never made it to Bologna, the reputed culinary capital of the country. Given the worldwide popularity of Italian cuisine, that’s saying a lot and my food-loving husband was particularly keen to check out the city.read more
A recent 9-night trip grew from a friend pointing out that the only European country I hadn’t visited was San Marino, a tiny republic surrounded by Italy. On a lark, I started researching San Marino and quickly decided (1) it looked beautiful, intriguing and merited an overnight stay, and (2) it was an easy drive from Bologna, a city I wanted to visit and a short flight from our home in Paris. My plans grew from there. I’ve been to Italy many times, visited lots of towns and cities in many regions, but I’d yet to stay in one of the iconic conical houses known as trulli (singular trullo) in Puglia, a region in the “heel” of Italy. Why not add that to this trip? A little more research revealed a direct high-speed Frecciarossa train from Bologna in the north to Bari in Puglia where we could rent a car. I confirmed there were direct flights from Bari back to Paris and learned that the nearby town of Alberobello was known for its beauty and had the largest concentration of trulli in Puglia. It sounded like the perfect base to explore Puglia. I quickly finalized our trip.read more
Drop-off point for shuttles to and from the Civitavecchia cruise port. Note Hertz sign circled in green across the street where rent car companies pick up their customers. Cruise shuttles let passengers off in a big parking lot to the right of where I’m standing to take this photo.
Our month cruise from Singapore to Italy was better than we could have hoped for, but now it was time to be back on our own and we were looking forward to it. Civitavecchia is the nearest port to Rome and most information about the port assumes people are going to Rome either to stay or to fly out of the airport. We’d used a driver in the past to get from the port to Rome, but this time we were skipping the Italian capital and heading north. I wanted to rent a car for the 2+ weeks we planned to tool around Umbria and Tuscany, but I had trouble finding clear info online. I knew the port was too big to walk out of and that passengers not wanting to rely on expensive cruise ship excursions and transfers needed to get out of the main port gate to get to other modes of transport–taxi, train, rent cars–but the info was vague. This short post is just to clarify transport options and the lay of the land at the Port of Civitavecchia.
The ship offered a free motor coach shuttle to an area just outside the port gates where other transportation is offered. Buses for the train station pick up here for €2 per person. Rent car pick up is just across the street. I’d booked us a Hertz rent car and emailed with them from the previous port. When we left the ship, I called them (Hooray again for T-Mobile international!) and a van arrived to pick us up shortly after we got off the ship’s shuttle. Another 5-minute drive and we were at the Hertz office in a nearby strip center where we did paperwork and were on our way in short order.
David and I are happily back in Antwerp, Belgium, for 6 weeks once again cat- and house-sitting for some of our favorite people and cats in one of our favorite cities. As always when in Belgium, we’ll be exploring this beautiful country and scouting great beer. We’ll spend a month in Paris when we leave here, just to touch base in my old home and enjoy the holiday season before heading back stateside.
Coming up in the spring [March-June]: Another Korean Air First Class mega-flight from DFW to Seoul to Singapore(!), a few weeks in Indonesia (Bali, Java, etc.), then back to Singapore to catch a month cruise to Europe (via Sri Lanka, India (Cochin, Goa, Mumbai), Oman, UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi), Suez Canal, Jordan (Petra), Greece, Italy). When we get off the ship in Italy, we’ll spend a couple of weeks in Umbria (in an agrotourism farm) and Tuscany (at a small-town apartment) before flying from Florence back to Antwerp.
If any of these interest you, check back in. I’m also always open to suggestions!
Venice for most of us means wine, not beer. But, for my awesome husband, everywhere now means beer. Craft beer, to be specific. So, I can’t leave Venice without a quick nod to Il Santo Bevitore, the fun little beer pub we found (after much wandering and inquiring of strangers).
Il Santo Bevitore
To explain David’s and my fascination with good beer, you need to understand that in the last couple of years, we have spent a couple of months a year–in 1-month stretches–in Antwerp, Belgium. We cat- and house-sit there for a couple who have become friends and to whose cats and home city we’re always happy to return. We’ve developed a real love affair with tiny Belgium and along with that a real love for fine beer. David, in particular, has become very knowledgeable about all things beer and we’ve been privileged to make some world-class “beer pilgrimages:” We’ve made multiple trips to the monastery at Westvleteren, Belgium, scoring cases of rare “Westy 12,” the Holy Grail for many beer enthusiasts; we’ve visited the Cantillon beer brewery and museum, to taste unique samples of that legendary sour beer; we’re regulars at renowned beer bar/reliquary/dive “Kulminator” in Antwerp.
My older son gave David the “Beer Bible” as a Christmas gift and I was soon joking that I’d married a man who read the “Bible” every night. David quipped back that he is a “beer evangelist,” and he has accrued scattered “acolytes” with whom he swaps pictures of beer. [The Beer Bible is available on Amazon in paper and Kindle formats.] As you can see, as people who formerly drank wine almost exclusively, we’ve gone a little beer nuts (not that we’ll ever give up wine!). Anyway, the point of all this is that, no matter where we go, David seeks out local craft beers and beer pubs and I plan to give these finds their own posts and category.
So, background aside, Beer Post #1 is Venice where we spent a happy afternoon celebrating David’s birthday. We found a large selection of craft beers on tap from several countries in the tiny little pub. The Italian beers David was most intrigued by were available only in bottles, but we had fun sampling them and buying one to take back to our apartment. Cicchetti, or small bar snacks made of toasted bread with a variety of toppings, were tasty and provided a light lunch in anticipation of the evening’s big meal…and a little buffer for the alcohol.
Cicchetti and beer!
Il Santo Bevitore’s line up of taps
As with a restaurant our first night in Venice, we had trouble finding Pub Venezia because Google Maps put the address in the wrong physical location. This is a common problem in Venice as Google Maps seems to struggle with the Byzantine maze of narrow streets and canals and addresses (like that of Il Santo Bevitore) are often just a general neighborhood and a number. If you look up Il Santo Bevitore, the address you get is “Cannaregio 2393/A – 30121 Venezia.” Not helpful. Luckily, you have us: Il Santo Bevitore is located on Fondamenta Diedo, just beside the bridge that crosses Rio di Santa Fosca from Campo Santa Fosca, a small paved plaza with the statue of Paolo Sarpi at its center. Fondamenta Diedo shows up on Google Maps as a short stretch of canal-side street, so you should have no trouble finding the pub. Below is a photo of the outside of the pub as viewed from the bridge:
Il Santo Bevitore pub viewed from the bridge, with Campo Santa Fosca behind the photographer
Our 3-week Caribbean and trans-Atlantic cruise on the Costa “Deliziosa” dropped us off in Venice, Italy, on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016. It was my 4th time in Venice and David’s 2nd, but our first time together in that magical city and we were excited. It was my first time to arrive by ship and I was surprised to find that our large ship was allowed to dock just beyond the main train station. Undoubtedly convenient, given the 2-minute ride to the train station on the super-cheap “People Mover” to which we walked from the ship, it’s still disturbing to think of allowing these sea-going behemoths so close to the fragile old city. We heard later that there are plans to ban such ships from docking so close and I can’t help but think it’s wise. If you’re going to Venice by ship, I’d keep tabs on that potential dock change.
Despite the Easter crowds, we had a fabulous time in Venice. Our AirBnB apartment was one of the best we’ve had: beautiful and well-equipped, a short distance from the Gritti Palace vaporetto stop, a few blocks from San Marco square, a charming building on a picturesque courtyard, on the gondola path, with one of my favorite mobile amenities, a mobile hotspot so David and I had wi-fi throughout the city and nearby islands, and great hosts (one of whom, Francesca, spent over an hour getting us acquainted with the neighborhood and pointing out her favorite restaurants and those to avoid). One night, we celebrated David’s birthday at Michelin-starred Il Ridotto. We enjoyed their creative holiday prix fixe meal, but after 4+ hours we were ready to surrender!
Because it seems a crime to gloss over Venice entirely, below are a few photos.
Gondola jam beneath our bedroom windowBuildings lit up in the colors of the Belgian flag to show solidarity after the Brussels bombingsEaster menu at Il Ridotto (minus a couple off-menu courses)Roasted pilgrim scallops (“cappesante”):
GoOpti
After several days in Venice, it was time to begin our much-anticipated Balkan adventure. Research yielded the surprising news that no trains run between Venice and nearby Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The trip can be made, but you have to train to the border, taxi across and then catch a Slovenian train. More hassle than we wanted. We also didn’t want to drive given Venice traffic restrictions and the cost of taking a rent car across a border, even within the EU. After weighing options, we decided to book with GoOpti, a van service that offers a sliding price scale depending on when you book and whether you are willing to share a ride. https://www.goopti.com/en/ I booked almost 3 months in advance and it was far cheaper than flying and without the attendant expense, hassle, and time always required for flying. (Our total cost for GoOpti was €48; €24pp–a great deal.) Even on budget airlines and traveling light to avoid luggage surcharges, you’ve got to factor in transportation to airports which are nearly always a distance from town as well as ever-increasing security delays. For short flights, it’s often quicker to travel by land.
For GoOpti, you choose from offered departure points and departure time windows (of 1-3 hours depending on the time of day) with a maximum arrive-by time at your destination given for each departure time window. GoOpti says they will text and email you the day before departure with a precise time, so wi-fi or phone service is necessary. As promised, GoOpti emailed us the day before saying pick-up would be at 2pm, but emailed again shortly afterward to say 1:30pm. The van arrived promptly. We chose Piazzale Roma (the plaza just across the canal from the main Venice train station, by the big pedestrian bridge) for our departure point. My only uneasiness about the arrangement was the failure of GoOpti to provide any details as to where in the big, busy piazza we were to meet our van. This meant we arrived extra early to allow time to find the van and David waited with our luggage on one side of the plaza while I made a circuit, asking random strangers and vendors about GoOpti to no avail. We finally decided to postition ourselves near the only traffic entrance to the plaza. Eventually, I spotted a GoOpti van stuck in traffic and was able to get him to roll down the window. While he wasn’t our driver, he pointed us in the right direction. So, here’s the scoop: If you arrive by vaporetto, motoscafi, etc., just walk away from the canal, past all the large buses and you’ll find a few benches built into a long planter where you can sit, facing away from the canal and buses, to wait for the GoOpti van. Just walk over to the van and identify yourself when it arrives. The GoOpti vans will simply park, head-on into one of the regular parking spaces. Walk up to the driver and identify yourself. They’ll have your name and reservation or direct you to the driver who does.
GoOpti van picking up customersGoOpti van parking with bench/planter seating to the right of the man in blue. The People Mover station where you arrive from the cruise port is behind him.
Although we booked a shared ride, there was only us in the 9-person van. (This was a Wednesday.) The van was immaculate; our Slovenian driver, Petra, very friendly and English-speaking. We had control of our own air conditioning in the back. She stopped for a little snack and bathroom break when asked about 1.5 hours into the trip, but would have stopped, she said, whenever we asked. You can buy sandwiches and drinks (coffee, soft drinks, water, beer, etc.) at the convenience store/filling station where she stops. There’s also free wi-fi and clean toilets. The drive from Venice to the Ljubljana Airport took 3 hours. Highways and roads are excellent; the drive smooth and uneventful.
GoOpti provides transfers to many locations in northern Italy, as well as quite a few in Slovenia and Croatia. It also has connections as far as Munich, Vienna and Budapest.
Although we planned to spend some time in Ljubljana, we chose to be dropped off at the airport so we could pick up a rent car as well as the Slovenian Visitor SIM card I’d pre-ordered and had delivered to an airport café. A terrific convenience! More about that in the next post.
