Italy 2006

Italy 2006

Casey and I went to Italy for her Spring Break. It was a trip dedicated to family, photos, and food. This was our first Daddy, Casey trip. We've done the whole family. We've done Dad, Nathaniel, and Casey and we have done just Dad and Nathaniel, but never just Casey and Dad. We did not do the culture thing this time. We just enjoyed the people, the places, and the food. It was GREAT! The BIGGER you make your browser, the bigger these pictures will appear when you click on them.

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	This is a map that shows where we went on this trip. When you click on the map you will go to a bigger version. To see detail on the bigger version place the cursor over the map. A square with four blue arrows will appear in the lower right corner. Click on this square. Now you can scroll the map around and see a very detailed picture of the section of Italy we were in. Our route has been highlighted in blue. Masserano and Tellaro are pointed out by yellow arrows. We started in Milano, now at the center of the map. We spent one night in Magenta, just west of Milano. The next morning we drove to Masserano. That afternoon we drove via Autostrada (Interstate type highways indicated by thick green lines) to Genoa and then to La Spezia. Lots of tunnels, lots of really fast cars. There we got off and followed the littler and littler roads to Tellaro. Italian signage is so good we never had a problem. (Until the last day, more on that later.) On the small roads around Tellaro, Casey was in constant fear. If I said, "hey, look at that," she said, "stop looking and just drive."
	We landed at Milan's Malpensa Airport, got our rental car, and talked to the Tourist Information Agent at the airport. She did not have bed & breakfasts for Milan, only airport vicinity, but she advised us to go to the Tourist Office at the Piazza Duomo. She gave us maps of the metro system, advised us to park at the Molino Dorino station. (Casey and I loved saying Molino Dorino.) We found said station with no problem (amazing), and proceeded to central Milan. At the heart of Milan is the Duomo, the cathedral, and its surrounding Piazza, including the Teatro alla Scala. It is beautiful. We walked all over trying to find the tourist office. We finally asked and were told it was "right out front." We looked hard, but it took awhile to notice the huge banner on a building in the Piazza that said, "Tourist Information Center." Also engraved on the building in huge letters was "Palazzo di Tourismo." We went in and asked for a bed & breakfast west of Milan. The girl circled several for us to pick from.
	Right there, next to the Piazza Duomo, are the high rent fashion stores. Casey was counting on this. She really enjoyed going into Prada, Louis Vutton and others. We purchased some gifts and walked to the fashion "quadrilateral" where even more of thiese stores are located. All in all, a heady experience for an aspiring shopper like Casey.
	We picked a B&B in Magenta, a town outside of Milan to the west. In a final miraculous turn in a day filled with miraculous turns, the first street as we turned into Magenta was the one for our bed & breakfast. This is also a good shot of our little Fiat rental car. Note it well, as it will soon be running with the big guys on the aurostradea. The B&B was run by a delightful little couple who showed us our room, noted our passport numbers,
	and let us sleep the afternoon away to recover from our jet lag. The room was very nice, with two little beds and a very nice bathroom. As with all the rooms in Italy, it had a bidet. Some day I have to steel myself to use one of those things. The man told us he would show us an excellent restaurant when we were ready for dinner. When he mentioned the quality of the food he made a gesture that consisted of placing his right index finger at the corner of his mouth and rotating it back and forth. We assumed that meant "really good food."
	After we woke up he did indeed lead us to the restaurant. We followed his truck in our car. When we got there (a straight shot into the heart of Magenta and down an alley), he escorted us in, called us to the attention of the manager, and finally left after talking to some friends. We shared a mezzo litre (that's a half carafe to you non-Italians) of red wine. Casey had penne marinara and loved it. She was uniformly good about eating on this trip and vowed to try to make it without recourse to MacDonald's.
	The next morning we got up and got on the road to Masserano. As we approached we could see the Alps in the distance. The roads started out straight, but got progressively more narrow and twisty as we neared Masserano.
	We are just about to enter the town. As you can see, it is quite picturesque.
	We're there! The construction in the background proved to be pretty common. There seem to be a lot of new houses being built. They all look quite large, but of course they all seem to fit in with the character of the town.
	Here is a view of some nice houses on the edge of town overlooking a valley.
	This is a narrow alley leading to a walkway into the old residential area of town.
	This is the cathedral.
	We wanted to visit the cemetery and check for Savios. We found a few, but mostly Bozzenettis and Bozzones. Apparently we are Bozzenti-Savios.
	This crypt was of a Savio family. After going back to town and asking about a hotel and restaurant, and a fruitless trip to a closed restaurant (open Wed-Sat, this was Monday), we went to a nearby town that is quite a bit larger, Cossato. We found a nice Pizzeria-Trattoria and had a very good lunch. We returned to Masserano and walked around some more. Since we couldn't stay there, we decided to just move on to our goal of the Ligurian coast. Casey continued to be a great navigator. I don't have pictures of the roads, but if you look a the map you will see the Autostrada into (and out of) Genoa is very curvy and has lots of tunnels. The Italians drive quite fast, and even if you are going quite fast too, some always comes by and blows your doors off. They are much more organized though. Everyone moves right except to pass. They don't overtake you if you are overtaking someone else and need to pass. We managed to make all the right turns again and ended up in Lerici. It was really crowded and had no parking spaces. I was worried, but we decided to continue on to Tellaro.
	We got to Tellaro about 5:30. It was still light. We picke a hotel, the Locanda Miranda, and asked about rooms and "cuando costa?" It "costa" 100 Euros a night which was a little more than I wnated to pay, but not bad, so we moved in. This was the view from our room. After we got back I discovered that the Locanda Miranda is highly recommended and that it's restaurant has a Michelin star. Not bad!
	Now I did not seem to be able to stop taking pictures. Masserano had been beautiful and now this was like one postcard after another. This is the view form our window a little later in the evening. We walked downtown, found restaurants don't open until at least "sete mezzo," seven thirty, returned to the hotel and later found an open restaurant next door. (Our hotel dining room was not open on Mondays.)
	As we returned to the hotel, I shot this picture of the Tellaro tower, lit a dusk. Very pretty. Casey and I would walk a few steps and go "look a that." Everything was breathtaking.
	The next morning I looked out the window at the Gulf of Poets, so called because Shelly and Byron resided in Lerici for quite a while. Shelly died when his 22 foot sail boat was wrecked in a storm as he returned from Livorno down the coast. D. H. Lawrence (Lady Chatterley's Lover, et. al.) actually stayed right in Tellaro.
	Every place we saw in Italy was immaculate. Evey morning this man would patrol the street (only one street here) of Tellaro, sweep up the gutters, pick up what little litter there might be, and then go have a ber at one of the bars.
	This is our hotel. It only has seven rooms, but they are really nice, with private baths.
	This is a view as you walk the road into the heart of the village.
	Another picture as we go to the Piazza which is at the end of the dead-end street that goes into Tellaro.
	The first morning Casey dressed nicely and we started with a little cappuccino on a terrace overlooking the sea.
	WE went through the Piazza and down a little narrow walkway until we came to the Tellaro Marina. All the boats were out of the water because this is still prior to the "season."
	This is a nice shot of the roofs of the village around the tower by the sea. All, and I mean ALL the roofs we saw were terra cotta tile. Some were a little different orange than others, but that was it.
	The tower again, this time in late afternoon...
	and again at sunset.
	Every morning we had colazione (breakfast) at the hotel. It was included. It was coffee (choice of cappuccino, espresso, cafe latte, or eve cafe Americano, which is just espresso served with a pitcher of hot water to pour into it), toast, croissants, butter and jams, orange juice, and yogurt if you wanted it (we did not). The hotel was very pretty.
	Every day, before we started our explorations of the surrounding area, we stopped at this Alimentaria and this lady made us lunch. We twice had procciutto and pecorino cheese sandwiches, a slice of a quichey kind of thing, and a bottle of wine. The day she did not have bread we went with procciutto, pecorino, fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers in oil, quiche and wine. It was really good. It was pretty economical too. The lady was very nice. Did I mention that there were very few English speakers on our trip. WE got by quite well though. On our last day she gave us a jar of olive spread as a gift.
	So...Back to exploring Tellaro. More labyrinthine little walkways.
	Really labyrinthine .
	This is the little old church. I am not sure if it was here, or at the nearby tower, that legend has it a giant Octopus grabbed the bell pull one night and awaked the inhabitants to flee a raid by the Saracens.
	The view to the south of Tellaro.
	A cove reachable only by boat. It is viewed from a lookout on a cliff next to a trail just outside of town.
	Casey on said trail. She was initially dressed to be cute, with slippers on her feet. They were not working oon these steep trails, so we returned to the hotel and changed clothes. By the way. I thought Europeans, including Italians, did not wear jeans so much. That is a crock. All they were are jeans. I brought three pairs of slacks and one pair of jeans. I soon gave up and started wearing only the jeans. I eventually washed them out in the shower at the hotel.
	Another view of the trail south of Tellaro. We did not have a trail map the first day. We just followed our noses and it worked out very nicely.
	Everything is terraced, as well it might be. There are olive trees everywhere. We ended up in Zanga, a little village inland a bit with a view of the sea and the Apuan Alps. There was a sign for a bed and breakfast. Casey wrote down the number. We decided to turn around, return to Tellaro and look for a spot to picnic.
	On the way back we found a nice rock overlooking the sea. We ate lunch and ended up staying there about 31/2 hours. We napped, sunbathed, ate, drank our wine, and generally unwound. It was great. Casey eating her sandwich. Did I mention she ate everything!
	Got to have a few pictures of dad.
	One evening we had cappuccinos in the lounge at the hotel.
	This is a map of the trails around the area. I highlighted the ones we walked. As you can see, we barely scratched the surface. Once again, if you want to see the detail, after you click on the thumbnail here, just move the mouse over the picture until you get the square with arrows in the lower right, then click on that. Then you can scroll around the trail map and see it very clearly. We also drove most of the roads you see on the trail map. We went to Montemarcello, Boca di Magra, Ameglia, and Lerici. Everyone is as picturesque as the last.
	The next day we were off again. This time we were armed with a map of the trail system furnished by the hotel. This time we noticed the trail markings and the corresponding numbers on the map. It was really quite nice. This time we were on our way to Fiascherino, the little village that virtually runs into Tellaro to the north. We were going by way of mountain trails above the villages.
	There were all sorts of picturesque sights like these (apparently) farm buildings.
	As we approached Fiascherino, the houses began to peek through the trees.
	We had no idea that the trail would go right through the village and end up at the sea. Another great picnic spot. We perched on a pile of little stones that was both dry and comfortable. Once again we enjoyed lunch and did some sunbathing. Since we were there before the "season," almost no one else was around. We pretty much had the trails, beaches, and everything else to ourselves. I heartily recommend this time of year. I gues you would need to be lucky with the weather, but we were.
	Casey on the beach.
	Departing Fiascherino.
	More terraces with olive trees.
	We continued to tour Tellaro in between our hikes. How is this for a post card.
	On our last full day we went to Lerici. It was drizzling in the morning, so we returned to the hotel in Tellaro and then, when the sun came back out we went back to Lerici. It may be fairly big and quite busy, but it is also beautiful. It had the full "marina, look that makes such a nice picture.
	A close up of the marina. They even had a sailing school.
	That evening we ate our lunch on our balcony and went down stairs to have cappuccinos and dolci. We knew the dolci was great because we had eaten in the hotel dining room the second night. It was unbelievably good. We both had gnocchi with shrimp. Casey even ate some shrimp. The dessert the waitress recommended was Zambaione, or something like that. It was exquisite. We both had it the last night. In the morning we got up and began our trip back to Milan.
	In our inimitable fashion, we spent our last night at nothing other than an Italian farm. That is what you get when you don't plan ahead. Milan was quite full due to exhibitions and conventions, so the lady at the tourist office was only able to find this. It was wonderful. It had just been refurbished. The rooms were beautiful, the private baths brand new. We had a whole bunch of adventures getting into Milan and back. More on that later.
	This is another building on the farm. A little tumble down, but very pretty. We ended up eating at a restaurant recommended by the farm manager. It was very large. We had driven by it as landmark on where to turn onto the (very small) road to the farm. She even gave us a voucher. It did not look like much but... WOW, it was the best meal ever. Everything melted in your mouth. We were also underdressed, still in jeans. We had a table next to the large fireplace with a real fire in it. The place was full of Italians, obviously enjoying themselves. The next morning it was up at 4 to get to the airport and fly home. We both considered staying and getting jobs.
We did not get lost once, very seldom even made a wrong turn, until the last half of the last day. Then we tried to make up for the rest of the time. TBA.