Venice

( Click on the pictures for a slide show) These next six photos are of the ferry ride to the harbor where we were bussed to our hotel on Lido where the International Film Festival had been held. Originally we had been booked into a hotel right on the island of Venice which would have meant easier access to the grand canal and tourist attractions. However; once we got to our hotel on Lido, which is a sand bar on the Adriatic sea, not a single person was unhappy as it was luxurious by Italian standards. We had beds that were soft!!!!!  Previously it felt like we were sleeping on the box springs instead of mattresses.

 I do NOT exaggerate! Comfort and air conditioning does not seem to be part of these tours. The bathrooms however are incredible.

 Ok back to Venice. As you can see, cruise ships etc. have no problem entering into the main area of the city.

 A side "street".

 Here we are getting closer to the main attractions of the city.










Below is the dome of  St. Marks Bascillica 

The "bling".

Check out the marble patterns. They must have mined the best of the best for these cathedrals. 















The Murano glass blowing factory where you were not supposed to take pictures. How could I not risk arrest for sneaking a pic of this fabulous horse? We really didn't want to take this tour because we have seen glass blowers locally but this place truly is in a class of it's own. The glass makers apprentice for approximately twenty years before they are considered masters. We have never seen such beautiful glass work and the prices reflect the quality.

These masks, not the gondolas or the glass works or cathedrals, are what define Venice for me. I couldn't wait to see them and and those elaborate designs. Of course it was no photos allowed, I'm such a rebel and risk taker!

 Since I was born in August and am a Leo I would have to choose this mask but it seems too masculine to me so would either select the one above or one of the next three.

Picturesque.

Colorful and organic.

Outrageous

No comment.

 Here they are, the famous gondolas on the canals of Venice. This one shows the traffic jam that happens quite regularly between the motor boats and the gondolas.

How to get around the tight corners.

A quiet canal. Quite picturesque though.

Interesting sculpture at the military site.

The Bridge of Sighs ruined with the banners advertising something to do with the film festival. Ignore all the blue parts as graffiti and look at the bridge part in the middle over the water. This was the bridge connecting the jail to the place of execution and the view through the windows was the last view of the outside world to the prisoners being lead across to their departure from this world. They would sigh at the beauty and sadness of the situation thus giving the bridge it's name.

This is the end of our visit to Italy but we must pay tribute to this handsome Italian named Antonio who was our tour director and caretaker for the entire trip. He loved his job, is passionate about the history of his country to the point of stretching the truth a bit, but took excellent care of us. We became Antonio's family and like all family dynamics we annoyed each other, amused each other but mostly cared and appreciated each other. Some of us (E) fell head over heels for this charismatic man and who can blame her. I fell for his lyrical voice and have a video at the end just as a souvenir of it. To anyone thinking of taking a tour of Italy, Trafalgar does give service and if you are lucky you will get this man as your guide. 

Ferrara

 This is a castle complete with moat in a little village called Ferrara that is between Florence and Venice. It is a prosperous village and the employment rate is high, unusual for Italy apparently, and we loved it. They are environmentally conscientious and vehicle use is discouraged so it is mostly bikes and pedestrians. The place is clean, the people friendly and we highly recommend it as a place to stop for anyone doing a self guided tour of Italy.

The drawbridge, how cool is that!














Below is a side road with one cyclist, talk about rush hour.

Florence

 Here were are in Florence and driving in circles trying to get to our hotel as the authority kept closing streets to buses to enable traffic to flow better. Yeah right! However it gave me the opportunity to snap a picture of this lovely sunset on the sixth pass over this bridge.

 The Duomo in Florence is one elaborate building to say the least. The dome that you see in the background was absent and wide open for 200 years because no one knew how to construct a dome. Then Brunelleshi came along, said that he knew how to do it and it was done in 16 years. The interesting part is than when he was finished he destroyed all paperwork so that no one could copy his work and architects and engineers of today have not been able to figure it out. You can climb up into it but it's about 400 steps and we certainly weren't up to that.

A group of statues near the top.

 Check out the details on the building. All of this was done over a span of a hundred and seventy years. The nice part is that they have cleaned the side that I'm showing here of a thousand years of dirt and grime. and it is well worth the effort to do so.

 The front view.

 Zooming in on the circular window near the top.

Really zooming in. Just a single statue is breathtaking but when you combine the marble details the rope effect in the carvings and the intricate patterns the ability of the craftsmen is mind boggling.


We didn't go inside but the interior is apparently subdued in comparison.

The main entrance door to the cathedral.

The door to the Baptistery. It took twenty one years to make a twenty eight paneled door of bronze which is on the south side of the Baptistery. This one of gold took twenty seven years to make and faces the Duomo. His entire career was spent making two complete sets of doors. The original had panels of solid gold but during a severe flooding of the town due to the dam breaking, it was underwater. When the waters receded, the panels were found blocks away from the location and so they were replicated and the originals are safely stored away.

A close up of one of the panels.
There are so many stories in the pictures and panels of these religious buildings as well as the homes. I think it might have been due to illiteracy of a high percentage of the population.

The view of the tower and dome from the other side. Cleaned and in the process of being cleaned.

 Now we are in the Piazza Signoria. The fountain has Neptune as the central figure, apparently the likeness of Cosimo. The fountain and two other statues are in front of a building that used to be the town hall.  It was seized by Cosimo de Medici as his own property and turned into a home for his wife and numerous children.

 This is the closest we got to seeing a statue of David. We arrived on a Monday and all the museums were closed so we could not get in to see the original David. It has been moved inside to preserve him. The statue in the fountain is glaring at David.

 David is looking at Hercules and Cacus

 Before long the seized building (which is huge) wasn't big enough for the wife and so it reverted to being the town hall again. Cosimo  was afraid of assassination during his walks to work so he built the corridor above the shops on this bridge for his safe passage from his new home to the town hall.

Another view.

 These three statues are in the same Piazza Signoria

This is Perseus with the head of Medusa, a bronze done by Cellini

This one is Hercules slaying the centaur Nessus by Boulogne and Francavilla

This is Rape of the Polyxena by Pio Fedi





A personal comment here, most of the statues and a lot of the pictures were full of violence. Today we think crime is bad but if these art works are true depictions of the time then we are fortunate to be living in current times.

The interior of the "town hall" when it was a home. 
The name of the town hall is the Palazzo Vecchio if anyone wants to check for more information.We wanted to see more of it but you are not allowed to take backpacks in and mine had my valuables so no way was I leaving it with anyone.

 We closed out our day with a Be My Guest Tuscan dinner at a residence outside of Florence called Fattoria Di Maiano where we had a lovely dinner and incredible wine in this peaceful setting.

This is also where the movie Room With a View was made. They make a marvelous olive oil here.

Amalfi Coast, Positano and Minori and Isle of Capri

This is the coast line and beach across the street from our hotel in Maiori. What a peaceful little town on the coast line. We felt so safe and relaxed there after the hustle and bustle of Rome.

These villages along the coast line are literally clinging to the base of the hills and then they go up and up. Between the buildings you can see the orchards and also homes terracing up the side of the hills. They grow the most wonderful fruit on those hills, nourished by the ash of the volcanoes.

How would you like to have this climb to your home after a hard days work or even worse after tipping back a few with your buddies. Good thing our hotel wasn't up one of these flights of stairs carved out of the rock or I would have been making use of our medical insurance. There is little or no space for parking cars so most have the smallest cars you can buy and they squeeze them so close to the rock and leave only about six inches between the car in front and the one in back.

We took an excursion to the little town of Positano and this is what the road looked like. Doesn't look like there is room for two buses to pass at the same time does it. Well these are skilled drivers who help each other, know just when to stop and when to proceed. We saw virtually no road rage while there and there were a lot of incidents where there could have been. These people work together. We were on two mini buses because of the narrowness of the road but those are full sized buses from the cruise ships coming towards us.

The drivers would have to reach out and fold in their mirrors or lose them as there were just inches between.

Crazy bikers checking to see if there was enough room to slip through and if there was they were giving it the gas and going through it. Quite entertaining some times but scary too as we thought we might be seeing some horrid accidents. 

This is the amount of room on the other side. We could have picked a bouquet of flowers if our windows had been opened. The drive  was half the fun of the trip except for some people who had a fear of heights. Coming back we were on the sea side of the road and you could only see down, no road was visible.

Look how beautiful. The water was so clear and blue because there is no silt. Where there is some sand the water is milky.

You have to do a lot of stair climbing in this country.

The little village built up the hillside.

 
We took a break and stopped at this fruit stand for some fresh squeezed orange juice, delicious, and a look at the view.  Fantastic!

 
Yes this is a lemon!. These big boys are a thick skinned, sweeter version of the ones we are used to. The Italians make a liqueur  called Limoncello that apparently is delicious but it packs a punch of 24% alcohol. I wouldn't try it in case I liked it so stuck to their delicious wine.

See that guard rail in the middle of the picture? That's the road we were on to get where we are. I don't like the way it seems to sag in places but it did the job for us. Can't imagine what it is like when it's pouring rain.

 
Now here is where I get confused. I don't know if this is Positano or Minori but I don't think it matters a lot, I will just tell you about what we are looking at. All along this coast there were constant attacks from the Moors and Etruscans.  As a result there are different styles of buildings and a definite Moorish influence in the finishes. The religious buildings have tiled domes and fronts. We didn't go inside but I'm sure they are quite different from the cathedrals in the other places.

 There were square and round towers one of which was the Norman style and the other style escapes me for the minute. My hubby is researching for me. Team effort here.  Bless him,  he came through ... it is Norman (French) and Saracen (Arabs). The Normans did the square towers and the Saracens the round ones.

A closer view of the tile work. 

Yes they really do hang their clothes out to dry on the balcony!

Now I'm pretty sure but not positive that this is in Minori and the style is definitely Moorish. A Muslim guide showed us the village before we caught the boat to the Isle of Capri. There is a warren of small alley ways behind the larger buildings and one would have to know their way or get lost fairly quickly. Part of the reason was to trap invaders in dead ends of these alleyways and then safely shoot them from above or pour boiling oil on them. 

The area is famous for the ceramic work, a small sampling. You can find large tables complete with chairs to match done in this style.

On the boat to the Isle of Capri in the background.

 
We had to take a tram from the harbor to the village shopping area half way up the island. It was quite smoggy that day so I didn't think the views were that great but those from our group that took the extra tour to the very top of the island said the views were incredible. 

This was originally a monastery  but is now the school for the residents of the island.

Our director mentioned that we would not want to take the walk down to the beach. Could this be why? Down is ok, up..forget it. 

The modern day version of the glass slipper. My foot sure wouldn't have fit because my feet were so swollen so guess I'm descended from the ugly step sisters. One of the best things about coming home was normal looking feet and no more heat rash!










I hope this video works for everyone.  I wanted to show the traffic situation on Capri and it is actually a sampling of what it is like to drive in any crowded part of the tourist areas. The best part is that when I was filming it I wasn't paying much attention to the people, just the lady directing traffic. Then when I was watching it for the tenth time and saying crazy tourists oblivious to how close they came to being hit, I realized that it was the people from our tour group heading out for their trip to the top of the island. Heads up guys, smile you're on candid camera.