7 months traveling – or why we despair of Italy slowly

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7 months traveling – or why we are desperate for Italy

Traveling has become exhausting. I am not sure if it is the duration of our trip, the currently difficult circumstances (more about that), or Italy. It’s probably a mix of everything. A roundabout.

I would like to stay positive. And a basic requirement has been improving enormously for a few weeks: the weather. Now, in Sardinia, we have glorious spring. I have not frozen as much in any winter of my life as in southern Europe. But since mid-March, the Mediterranean climate has been reminiscent of our northern European expectations, blessing us with sunshine and temperatures that are almost enough for a T-shirt, at least in combination with a cardigan. This fact makes our life easier. It makes sense, why the peak season of all people is summer.

Blue sky, blue sea: In sunshine, life is better! (View from the terrace of our apartment in Sciacca, Sicily.)

Content of this article

Rubber boots on the boot

From our week in Apulia, The first on Italian soil, there is currently every Tuesday in the blog a little something to read. That it was rainy and cold and our accommodation horrible, I did not hide directly. Since then, I want to write a blog post on how to book through portals like AirBnB and, above all, how not. One day I will come to that, I hope …

Apulia is totally beautiful! If it stops raining for five minutes … (We were credibly assured that it’s usually not so cold and, above all, not so wet at the end of March, which helped us a little further …)

It followed two days in Calabria (the boot tip), during which it also rained consistently. That’s why we saw little of the region. But we had at least a nice little apartment. The accommodation is so much in the general mood.

The view from the window was more than bleak. Our accommodation in Vibo Marina was quite nice.

Sicily: Between calm and storm

Then ten days came to Sicily, and they were mostly great. For three days we visited a wonderful couchsurfing family in Catania at the foot of the Etna. One and a half of them Janis had a snapped up gastrointestinal virus (the Silas had already gone through in Puglia, but since that was hardly significant anyway). So we both missed the dance on the volcano to which our hosts ran the other half of the family.

Sledding on the Etna – Silas and Martin came into this enjoyment, Janis and I unfortunately not (the black dots in the photo are sledging children, by the way – just for info …).

But already the visit of the huge one fish market and a ramble through the small baroque town and the family connection made this stopover more than worthwhile.

Fish market in Catania. I had no idea that you can eat sea urchins too!

Our four days in Sciacca I really liked the southwest coast of Sicily. Our apartment was tiny, but chic and (reasonably) warm. The weather finally got better (apart from the doomsday storm and the power blackout for hours in the episode that hit us the first day). We took a trip to the Greek ruined city Agrigento, Goethe already raved about it and visited it Castello Incantato, the Enchanted Castle of the Thousand Heads, about which I already told in the blog.

In Agrigento in Sicily one of the best preserved Greek temples can be found.

After this break, we were halfway prepared for three days in Palermo. The capital of the island is buzzing, loud and hair-raising when it comes to traffic. And that was it, even for me for a change in the front left in the car, because Martin had to do otherwise these days (I would not like to be more concrete at this point, but someone must indeed after our return to earn the buns, which I as a bustless artist not just a lot of home wear). Remains to be noted: Driving on Sicily is not for the faint of heart! Driving in Italy is generally hell, at least in the south. But Sicily, especially Palermo, topped even Albania and Pristina! One only has to look at one’s opponents in this breakneck game of skill to know that strictly Darwinian selection is being carried out here. A faded drooping mirrors is nothing unusual, cars without dents are the absolute exception. It is close to a miracle that we (and in addition to that I!) since we got out without a paint scratch (which we only got in Rome, as the neighbor’s Bambino rammed the passenger door heartily into our side, without mother or son even batting an eyelid or even with us, which we miss stood, apologized). Apart from that, Palermo is well worth seeing and offers quite tasty Street Food – someday I’ll write about it again …

Palermo has beautiful corners.

Ferries in Italy: getting used to

To get to the capital in time, we have the Palermo Ferry to Naples taken. Also Italian ferries are not for beginners. Although this has made a much more confidence-inspiring impression than the soul seller with whom we sailed from Albania to Bari. The Processing from ticket purchase to parking on board but that’s the way it is hair-raising confusing, that I can not handle the drama in three sentences (and – as always – one day I would write extensively). In any case financially worth the trip, since we both fuel and the (astronomical!) Motorway toll as well as an overnight stay.

Once in the volcano, makes 36 euros for a family of four.

At seven o’clock in the morning we drove off the ferry and had until our check-in in Rome about 300 kilometers further north still enough time, a look in the Vesuvius to throw (steep entrance fees, but you have to have seen) and Herculaneum to visit (nicer and clearer than Pompeii, but although the entrance fee is not just cheap, you will learn without additional audio guide or private guide hardly anything about the story).

Antique “McDonald’s” – the remains of the Roman snack bar in Herkulaneum fascinate the boys – even though I have to resort to my dusty knowledge of 15 years ago to explain the purpose of the building, because much information is available for the standard Entrance fee not.

Rome: extremely awful and extremely great

For Rome, we have allowed ourselves a full week and – to afford this – a surprisingly nice Apartment jwd by the sea booked. From the last metro station in the direction of Ostia we drove a quarter of an hour by car along the coast, so that the morning arrival to the Sightseeing in the city center already one and a half hours cost. Nevertheless, this would have been well worth the bottom line for us – if not on the penultimate day in the parking lot at the metro station our Car broke up would have been. For months we have parked in countries like Bulgaria, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia partly in the darkest backyards, and never has something happened. But on a Sunday afternoon in Rome, well visible both from the entrance of the metro and from the street. “Romanians, no Italians“Said the policeman, as he glanced at the mess. If his English had not been so miserable, I would have liked to tell him that we were completely unmolested in Romania for four weeks. Stupid was nothing by the way (probably the alarm system but then deterrent effect, and anyway nothing worth mentioning had been in it), and the new car we have at least got for a narrow 60 euros. But a whole day has passed since finding a workshop without knowing Italian and getting in touch with it is, to say the least, a challenge and does not contribute to improving the mood.

Rome is stupid: Shortly after sunset, our car looks like this …

This incident has spoiled the Italian capital. In addition, Rome is bursting at the seams just before Easter tourists. The city center is horribly crowded, the snakes everywhere are long, that Ice cream is expensive and the ubiquitous selfie-stick sellers and others Farmers annoy creepy. But there is no way around the realization that this city brimming with history, grandiose and absolutely worth seeing is. I can only throw a few keywords at this point – Vatican Museums, Colosseum, Roman Forum, everything super exciting (and super crowded) – and ever from the Food Tour rave about which I will definitely report in detail very soon (and for a change not sometime, but at the latest next week).

Child in the Colosseum – how recommendable that really is, I’ll tell – hopefully – sometime soon, as soon as I find the time …

The best thing about Rome was for me, of course, an imported product from Germany: For five days my dearest friend Stefan visited us.

Together in Rome and happy about it: Stefan and me.

Our new means of transport: a wheelchair

Now it becomes a bit difficult to convey our route guidance. Logistical constraints such as (Stefan’s) flight prices and ferry times prompted us to travel from Naples directly to Rome and then back from Rome to Naples, or a few miles away Caserta. In the Greek Patras we had weeks before the Long-term cyclists Marco and Tiphaine met (by the way also blogging, in Italian and French). Marco comes from Caserta and has invited us so warmly and emphatically to his parents‘ house that we could not have said no even if we had wanted. And it was too great to meet Marcos mother and sister Martina and to get to know another Italian family “from the inside”! Unfortunately, when unloading our luggage, Martin stumbled over one of the thousand potholes on the pavement (which more or less accompanied us since we passed the southern border of Austria). His foot swelled within minutes, was inconceivable, more likely to ligament rupture. It was not that bad, just one ligaments sprain, but two days after the car history and at that time still without side window we were served for the time being. Even worse than the injury (after all, as a rule, man heals by itself again) was the statement that my dear man not only on his foot, but superfluous then on the Smartphone in the back pocket had fallen: write-off. Too bad for the many money, and super annoying for me as a blogger, because we had not secured a lot of photos yet.

After a long internet search and some self-diagnosis, we decided against spending a whole day with the entire family in the emergency room (because we would have needed it, and in the miserable English, that even high educated classes speak here, we would not have understood the diagnosis anyway). Vanda, our hostess, signified us with hands and feet and Google Translator, what to do. She really proved to be Savior in distress, conjured up a bandage, Martin doctored by hand and prescribed restraint. And so that our bad luck did not take us all the sightseeing, she even conjured up a wheelchair that had belonged to her dead mother! We did not dare to take the bus to Naples – where I was so looking forward to the Archaeological Museum with the Alexander mosaic from Pompeii (Vanda and Martina’s explanations of how public transport works in Naples suddenly made Bucharest really sympathetic ). But we saw that Baroque palace of Caserta, who likes to compare with Versailles in its immense splendor and size. Sightseeing with a wheelchair, moreover, in Italy, is an experience that teaches humility, and deep gratitude that our condition was only temporary nature. This day was one of the most educational and exhausting of our journey so far.

Sightseeing in a wheelchair is damn exhausting for everyone involved.

Sardinia: Finally a haven of peace!

Actually, I should have put a question mark in the subheading, because we are only since yesterday here and the day after tomorrow again homeless without connecting book – but I need this exclamation point for the preservation of my mental health. And so far, the second largest Mediterranean island is doing really well. The Weather is fantastic (So, there were several showers, and on the night ferry it rocked so that I had to hold on to the four steps into the bathroom on the bed and door frame and had reservations whether the Schwapprichtung the toilet lid to open, but you will be modest). We have a small apartment near the sea, which costs almost twice as much as comparable accommodation in the Balkans, but it is also pretty pretty. Martin’s foot does us a favor and swells slowly but surely. I went back up to Civitavecchia near Rome (because ferries leave for Sardinia on Saturdays, not from Naples), got into the belly of the ship and then crossed the island with Martin in the passenger seat. The car has stayed healthy, I have not had a heart attack, and Martin and I have only occasionally shouted – who knows the Italian road traffic, knows that this is an enormous achievement.

It continues, this time towards the dream beach, to relax.

Actually, we wanted a lot here hike walk. Instead we turn down a gear (something we’ve been doing for a long time, but Europe is so big and eleven months so short …). The kids are sitting over their exercise books, playing in the garden, digging on the beach and are very happy with the development of things (except point one, of course). We have Easter behind us, with provisional egg hunt on the balcony. Martin takes care of our accommodation problem, and actually it is a very pleasant feeling to know that worst case a painfully expensive hotel, not a night under the bridge. And I’m finally blogging again …

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Christina Cherry
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