More travel today - sometimes it feels like all we do is buy public transportation tickets, which in Italy you have to buy at a tobacco shop. We are constantly on the lookout for tobacco shops, which is strange for us dedicated non-smokers! A funicular to the port, a ferry to Sorrento, a bus to the main level of Sorrento...and then finally, freedom in the form of a VW Golf. Today we picked up our rental car - and we appear to have been upgraded from some sort of mini Italian Lanzia to a VW Golf.
Our (large, oversized, American) luggage fit, which was good news. Then we hit the roads. When I asked Rich about his day of driving, he said "Italians are XXXXing crazy"...and I concur. No spaghetti sized inch of road is too small for a scooter to try and pass you, and once you hit the main large highway, the "Autostrada", you run into what we've heard referred to as the Italian straddle...the highway is two lanes, but really the Italians just hover over the middle line waiting for an oppportunity to pass. There are lots of automated speed traps here, but our GPS is really paying off, as it seems to know where these are, and warns us accordingly. Though Rich was rarely over the limit - but the many Porches and Fiats that pass us must surely come home to many a traffic violation fine. A high point of driving is the that the Italians love eating too much to relegate rest stop food to fast food...the "Auto Grills" as they are called have all the typical courses any true Italian would expect. We sat near people eating T-bone steaks with all the appropriate sides. Here is the shared lunch we opted for
- actually quite tasty. It was about 4 hours (with stop) from Sorrento to Orvieto, where we are
stopped for the night. Orvieto's claim to fame is an incredible church that is covered in the most elaborate gothic artwork you can imagine, and houses a holy relic claimed to be a miracle that turned bread into the body of Christ (corpus christi).
The town itself is Medieval, and we've certainly noticed an increase in the lack of English speakers and tourists. It's actually pretty quiet here, which is a nice change from the hubbub on the Amalfi coast.
The cuisine changed too - from an emphasis on fish and pizza in the Neopolitan south, to a truffle and wild boar-based cuisine here in Umbria. We sampled both (you can guess who ate what....) and were very happy with our meal tonight. (And there was more gelato as well - today we took it as Italians do, earlier in the evening). I think it will be an early tonight - tommorow, we do some driving into Tuscany.
No comments:
Post a Comment