Travel

On the morning after the procession, we went back to Troia so Jim could return to the tourist info office and ask some more questions. The man who spoke English well was there and he said that his friend’s mother was a DiDedda, so he offered to make a call to see if she could…

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, we decided to return to Troia in the evening to observe the procession for the Cathedral of Beata Maria Vergine Assunta in Cielo’s celebration of its six patron saints, Eleuterio, Ponziano, Anastasio, Secondidino, Urban, and Anza. When we arrived, the band had already assembled and was warming up. The…

Yesterday, we drove 40 minutes from our hotel in Lucera (Grand Hotel Vigna Nocelli) to the hometown of Jim’s grandparents, Troia, in Puglia, which is located on the eastern side of the mountains, and Naples is on the west coast of Italy. Jim had done quite a bit of research over the past few years,…

So, everything was going so smoothly yesterday as we left Capri. Breakfast at 8:30, shuttle at 8:55, bought tickets for the SuperJet and left the Island at 9:35, and on the road out of Naples by 10:30. I hadn’t even gotten sick on the trip back across the Gulf of Naples. Thank you, original-formula Dramamine.…

After a week of whirlwind sightseeing, we’ve entered the quiet phase of our trip. Yesterday, settled in our hotel in Anacapri, Hotel Il Girasole, we had breakfast in the dining room and then sat outside in the shade while I updated my blog posts and Jim wrote out postcards. Later, we ordered lunch and had…

Yes, I am Ann Silverthorn, and I am afraid of heights. I don’t need any desensitizing therapy for this. I just avoid situations that challenge this fear. But they can’t all be avoided, can they? More about that in a moment. Getting out of Radda in Chianti was nothing compared to trying to get out…

Yesterday, we were scheduled to leave Florence and head to a small inn, Relais Vignale, located at Radda in Chianti, a small, walled town about 90 minutes south of Florence. Our 12-hour tour guide, Gabriel, had suggested that we take the scenic route rather than the Autostrade, which is just a big toll highway. It…

Yesterday, Gabriel from City Tours (www.caftours.com) picked us up at our hotel at 8:30 a.m. for our luxury minivan tour of Siena, Monteriggioni, San Gimignana, and Pisa. Already on the van was a family from Rochester, MN; a couple with three young-adult offspring. Their son is in college and the next oldest is a girl…

Here we are in Florence. Yesterday, when we were driving here, I mentioned that it would be nice if there were road signs for Florence, and that’s when Jim informed me that the signs I was seeing for Firenze were actually for Florence. So confusing. The only things those two words have in common is…

Well, we were supposed to pick up our rental car this morning at a location about an eight-minute walk from our hotel. Now, first, Jim had to map out the walking route to the rental car place. We actually made it there, but guess what? The car was missing. We had made a change to…