3 posts tagged with "italy"

Lecco view of the Lake Como.

Just reading a book and enjoing a coffee. Niiice.

I've been contemplating of booking a cheap flight to Milan, only with a backpack, rent a car, drive all the way to Como to a hotel near the lake and stay for a couple of nights. And, while there, rent a bike, pack a sandwich and a San Benedetto, pick a couple of trails and don't look back. Maybe you should, too.

Found a nice hotel in Bellagio that had breakfast included, Seta. There was also a bike renting shop nearby, Bike It! Bellagio, and the best thing about it was that they had a website which contained a few bike trail suggestions, so it was easy to start the trip with minimum preparation. Bellagio, as a town is quite nice, but there was a lot of construction going around and there weren't many places to eat or have a coffee, at least I did not find any. That was not on the convenient side, but the main topic of the trip was biking, so I forgave the shortcoming.

Bellagio - Como and back​

A quite classic trip to start with, not very hard, but not very easy, as it involved a few ups and downs along the way. The first checkpoint was the town of Nesso, as it was almost half way to Como and had a couple of highlights: a waterfall and a small bridge, Orrido di Nesso. It's worth a visit, don't mind the reviews on Google, you don't need to be a pro climber to take the stairs. There is also a small bar nearby, Bar la Cascata, to recharge the batteries with a authentic Italian espresso and croissant.

View of the Alps on Como	Boat on the Como Lake

Back on the road and Como was not that far away, and the ride was pleasant. Legend says that George Clooney owns a villa somewhere in the area, but I was not lucky enough to find it. Dropping by and enjoing one cup of his Nespresso was totally planned for the trip. Shame. Anyway, arrived in Como, beautiful as ever, and quite crowded for March. The weather was nice, though, so I guess that was the reason for such a large audience. But there was not enough time to loiter, as daylight was not going to last forever in order to bike back to Bellagio. There was a ferry to catch in Griante in order to make it back to Bellagio. This second part of this trip was not that pleasant, since it involved picking up the pace and avoid being on the road at night.

That being said, even with the faster pace, I did manage to enjoy the splendid scenery Como has to offer. Every corner of water, every boat, every villa on the shore, every bird in the sky. Everything was just perfectly part of the scenery and it makes sense why owning a property on the lake is such a good idea. Just reading a book and enjoing a coffee. Niiice.

Overall it was 65km ride and someone deserved some rest.

Griante - Villa del Balbianello - Porlezza and back​

Day 2, and surprisingly, not everything was hurting that much. For the second part of the trip, I chose a route that involved going north all the way to Lake Lugano. It started by taking the ferry from Bellagio to Griante, and a short visit to Villa del Balbianello, in order to start things slow. After enjoying the very well trimmed courtyard, it was time to hit the road again, and the route went north to Menaggio but before entering the city, the route would diverge from the main road, and it was uphill time baby. After this challenging part, the route went west.

Lago di Piano	Villa del Balbianello

The route was actually not that scenic to be honest, but it had a special bike lane all the way, which was much appreciated. However, there was nothing that special about the countryside, just farms, villages and a few cows here and there. Lago de Piano was actually beautiful, with it being next to the mountains, and it proved to be a good place to take a break. After taking a few pics of this gorgeous mountain lake, it was time to finish the first half of the route, in Porlezza. This very cozy town, just next to Lake Lugano, has a very nice boardwalk to enjoy the lake from, and right next to it, a gelato place. How thoughtful!

After a very needed break with coffee and icecream to lift the spirits back up, it was time to head back home. The route back was different until Menaggio, and this time, it was pure torture. It was a lot, and a lot, and a lot of uphill. I died at least 5 times until reaching Naggio, the place where the route would change from uphill to full speed downhill. Which was supposed to be good, right? Wrong, as the downhill part was so steep, and it involved so many turns, it proved that all the torture involved for reaching it proved to be not such a good investment. Ideally, folks, do this one the other way around.

Anyway, the route was shorter than the first one, only 47km, but I believe it was quite more challenging, due to all that uphill part. But eating icecream next to the Lake Lugano? Priceless.

Lecco​

Day 3, time to go back home. Since the flight was scheduled for the evening, Lecco was decided to become the third and last stop of the trip. The weather was a mix of sun and rain, which was not all bad, given the really great pictures I managed to take as a result of the shifting light. The town itself is quite nice to stop for half a day, but the best bits involve the scenery. The view towards Corni di Canzo is simply breathtaking, and I highly recommend going for a walk along the Como promenade and enjoy the views. Quite impressive, and, again, the sunlight really made it even better.

View of the Alps from Bellagio	Sunset over Como from Tremezzo

After going for a pizza (duuuh) at Pizzeria la Rosa and for a coffee (double duuh) at Coffee&Coffee, it was time to take the rental to the car lot, enjoy the airport van ride and the short trip back home. Biking on the Como proved to be an excellent choice for a weekend getaway, and there would be more such trips in the future for sure.

View of Etna from the Ancient Theatre in Taormina.

The food was delicious, from the Tagliere di Salumi e Formaggi to the Pesce Spada a Siciliana.

I had Sicily in mind for some time, and going to Catania was definitely something I looked forward to. Initially, Palermo was the preferred destination, until I realised I bought the tickets for Naples instead. Anyway, Catania was supposed to be better as it was closer to Etna and Taormina, so off we went to this place full of history. And cannoli.

Catania​

After arriving at the airport and getting into the car, I realised that I'm about to drive in Siciliy and that came a bit scary. Oh, and the parking. Bad move. However, after leaving the airport and arriving into town, I realised it's actually pretty straightforward. People are actually quite nice, since I did not know the way and struggled at times. If I was doing the same in Bucharest, outward chaos whould have ensued. Parking was a bit of a hassle, due to the limited space, but once we found a spot, we payed at a nearby parking meter and went on with our business. Quite nice.

The apartment was near the Teatro Massimo Bellini, a very popular and charismatic place with a plaza in front. Apparently, we stayed in (or near, I did not quite understand) a building that was built by Mussolini. Yeaaah. Anyway, it was close to the center, where we could stroll on the Via Etnea and explore the shops and restaurants, and there were quite a few of them. The place was quite popular all day long, and we enjoyed the very lively atmosphere, as well as the nearby monuments of Sant'Agata church, University Square and the Elephant Fountain.

Basilica Cattedrale di Sant'Agata	Teatro Massimo Bellini

Near the Etnea we found a very good (quite excelent, actually) restaurant, Deliziosa, and we enjoyed it so much we went there twice. The food was delicious, from the Tagliere di Salumi e Formaggi to the Pesce Spada a Siciliana. Again, most excelent, would totally return. Also near the center is the fish market, and it's exactly what you would expect from a good ol' Sicilian market. If you're into fried fish, make sure to check out Scirocco. If you're into a coffee spot with a quite charming host that does magic tricks, go to Ciao. I must say, overall, the whole experience was pretty unique.

We also walked away from the center a few times, but the sights were not as impressive. Sure, the city does have its charm, and there's no denying that it has rich history and charm, but it does feel that it needs a little more maintenance. And it's such a shame, given the city's potential. We walked towards the waterfront then through San Cristoforo all the way to the Porta Garibaldi, and although it was a relaxing walk, there was nothing much to see. Also, towards the north, the Piazza Carlo Alberto di Savoia is, again, not the best of sights. We had a pretty standard Italian coffee at a nearby coffee shop, ate a brioche and went back towards San Berillo.

Taormina and Aci Trezza​

The weather proved to be better than expected, so we took the car one day for a trip to Taormina, which was top of the go-to list. Once there, we parked and went into town, and again, even though the place was undenyingly beautiful, it felt that that it was not as great as we had hoped. Maybe the fact that we went there in November did not help either, and many places and restaurants were closed. We did find the Ancient Theatre open, and it was a great sight to see the Etna from this impressive monument built by the ancient Greeks. The weather was sunny and we were lucky to see the wonderful volcano in the distance very clearly. And it was incredible, I could've stared at it forever. The trip was totally worth it, even though we could not find much to do in the town itself.

Taormina Building	Aci Trezza

Consequently, we went back in the car and drove towards Catania, only to stop on the way in Aci Trezza, a small town on the beach. We went for a walk on the waterfront, enjoyed the town'n port and took pictures of the Cyclops. Unfortunately, apart from this, there was nothing else to do, so we turned back and drove all the way to Catania airport.

Wrapping up​

I'm going back to Sicily for sure, and will try to visit Palermo and the surroundings next time, maybe even Syracuse, given its rich ancient history. I did like the trip, for sure, although it was not my favorite out of 2023. Maybe the Palermo option will be different, let's see, there's only one way to find out.

Photo by Silviu Alexandru Avram

It was a lovely day of spring, on the 19th of March to be exact. I am a very big fan of the lazy Sunday concept, but somehow I always manage to ruin it in a spectacular fashion. And this one was no exception. It was a great day for science and productivity in general, or at least that's how I felt. As I closed my laptop after finishing a PR for downshift, I took a last sip of my Starbucks matcha tea latte and decided to check the horoscope (skyscanner.net).

Fueled by the warm sensation of accomplishment, I submitted a search for all the flights in the remainder of March, without any specific destination. And just like that, the stars aligned, the planets made love, and the horoscope whispered that I should book a flight to Perugia, from the 26th to the 30th, for a total price of 40 bucks.

Intriguing, I know. The horoscope gave me the answer I was looking for, but I had to find my own answers to questions like ... what is Perugia anyway? So after a bit of google google guess what I found out. Perugia is a lovely city in the middle of Italy, the capital of the Umbria region, at equal distance between Florence and Rome, two beautiful cities that I enjoyed very much in the past.

And this wasn't the best part. Right next to Perugia there is this big lake called Trasimeno. And if you enjoyed history in school as much as I did, you may remember about a certain battle of Lake Trasimene, where the Romans got their butts kicked by Hannibal's Celtic mercenaries. A bit of history always works well with coffee and tiramisu, if you ask me.

Oh, and there's also this other town near Perugia called Assisi, full of big churches and with a castle, a bit of a mix of Sighisoara and Brasov.

It was looking good so far, as far as I saw it. Plenty of stuff to do for a 4 day trip. First 2 days aperol spritzing in Perugia, one day for a Lake Trasimeno bike ride, and one last lazy day for church visits and lazy walks. To be sure about everything, I checked the second horoscope (booking.com) and Mercury was generous there as well. Found a decent apartment close to the train station, booked everything and I was all set for one of my spontaneous Italian trip.

Perugia Day #1​

I passed trough a few small airports in my life, but San Francesco airport is on another level. It's like a small train station. The airplane pulls up right next to the airport. Because it's most likely to be the only plane in the airport at the time. You just hop off and walk inside, go through the immigration room, and directly outside. If it's your first time there and you're looking for an obvious way to get a bus into town, you're in the wrong place. It became immediately obvious that renting a car would have been a good idea.

That aside, we got to Perugia by bus eventually, and while the apartment was getting ready, we made for the city center. Not ideal when you have bags, but we were excited to walk the city for the first time and not take public transport just yet. And it's not a long walk, 25 minutes max. As we realised that the walk was more like a climb and we also had the bags with us, public transport suddenly sounded like the better alternative.

So there we were in the city center, which was the only place with people. We found nobody on our way there, and we started wondering if the town is dead or if there was a holiday. Once in the center, we went for Piazza IV Novembre and visited the National Gallery in Palazzo dei Priori. The place looked good on the outside, but the gallery itself was a bit disappointing. Do you know those weird medival religious paintings usesd to make memes out of? Yep, that was the place.

As the tour was over, we left our bags at the apartment and went back to the center to do some exploring and content creation for the gram. This time, we used a public transport called the Minimetro, which is an automatic train cabin that serves a few stops, including the city center and the train station. Never used anything like it before, it was actually very exciting!

Cloudy skies over Perugia	Church of Sant'Ercolano

We found Terrazza del Mercato with a gorgeous view of Umbria and the mountains to the East. Great place to sip your aperol and enjoy the graphics of life. We also found a few places to eat, obviously, and the most important were the O Sole Mio pizzeria and the Lick gelato place. Top tip: if you go to Italy, always, always, locate the take away pizza place conveniently situated, where you can enjoy a few slices of great pizza and a beer. Italian restaurands are very (VERY) picky about their time of serving lunch and dinner, so if you're caught off hours, the pizza place is your ultimate salvation. It saved us 4 times in total, with great pizza, arancini and Ichnusa. And I'm not even slighly mad about that.

Perugia Day #2​

Still hungry for instagram content, as the first day was not very productive, we went full on exploring the next day, even though the rainy weather was better fit for sensual bachata. We found some very good places such as the Garducci Gardens, the Acquedotto Medievale, the Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo, and the Chiesa di Sant'Agostino.

In order to be able to walk, visit and take pictures, good coffee plays an important part, and the Pinturicchio Cafe did not disappoint. Caffee Arco was fine as well, but did not compare.

Overall, it was a good day for visiting and content creation. We felt that we saw enough of Perugia and we were satisfied about it. The next day was supposed to be sunny, which was necessary to achieve our next objective.

Lago Trasimeno​

After a short train ride we were in the town of Passignano sul Trasimeno, the starting point of what was supposed to be our Trasimeno lake bike ride. We rented the bikes and off we went, towards the almost middle point of the journey, Castiglione del Lago. According to Google Maps, we had enough time to perform a full circle around the lake in our time frame of 7 hours, lunch and cofee stops included. Consequently, we started our journey full of optimism and joy, like Gaius Flaminius and his friends.

As we got closer to a checkpoint, namely Campo del Sole, lunch hour was drawing to a close, so we decided to abandon the main road, and head over to the town of Tuoro sul Trasimeno and have something to eat. We were the only people in the town when we arrived, along with a couple of others, probably the mayor and some people at the local bar. Everything else looked deserted and closed. Eventually, we found one open restaurant, Osteria dell'Accademia, which had really good food and service, with the best bread I had for a while. Coperto well spent.

Silviu riding a bike near Lago Trasimeno	Sunset over Lago Trasimeno

Back on the road, we resumed the journey, with a few stops along the way, one of which was a field of daffodils. No, not your usual Instagram rapeseed photos, this was with actual daffodils. Glorious. Eventually, we arrived in Castiglione at about 16:30, 4 hours after leaving Passignano. Unfortunately, we did not visit the town, as it required us to leave the bikes and climb, because, obviously, the town was on a steep hill. Climbing would not have been a problem, but as we were doing the math, it would have been impossible to go round the lake and reach the end point by 19:30, the time we had to return the bikes.

Either Italian Google Maps tricked us, or we were just outrageously slow, because it turned out that the actual time it took us to reach a certain point by bike was two times the one estimated by Italian Google. And on that bombshell, we had to abandon the original plan of doing a full circle around the lake and go back the way we came. Italian Google clearly said it would take 1 hour to get back. It took us 2, like the priest.

With a bit of disappointment and much hunger, we dined in Passignano and got the (last) train back to Perugia. It was not all negative though. The weather was great, we took many pictures, and no army ambushed us along the way.

Assisi​

The third and final stop of the trip was the town of Assisi, a few kilometers from Perugia. There isn't much to tell about the town, to be honest. Just your usual medieval town full of churches and a castle on top of a hill. The weather, this time, sucked big time. There were gusts of wind that reminded me of the Grozavesti intersection.

Assisi Castle	View from Assisi

On the (brief) bright side, the churches were very beautiful, especially the main one, Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi. Apart from them and the view point near the castle, the town was cute, but it did not blow our hats off. The wind did that.

Final Thoughts​

Overall, I enjoyed the trip, the towns of Assisi and Perugia are definitely worth visiting. Also, if you plan to go to Lago Trasimeno and intend to do a full circle, make sure you are really fast, or maybe stop for the night along the way. I'd go woth the second option, as a romantic stop at a hotel with a lake view is probably a good idea.

If I would do it all over again, I would also rent a car, and buy accomodation in multiple places: two nights in Perugia, one in Assisi, one or two at the lake, and so on. You would probably get more out of the Umbria trip like that, instead of having your accomodation in a single place and take trains and buses to the other points of interest. Just make sure to heed advice #1: pizza place that is conveniently situated.

Allora, that's all folks. Wrapping this one and will publish it. It has been a productive Sunday, on the 2nd of April, I am pretty happy about everything, to be honest. Hmm, I wonder what the horoscope has to say about it.