Sorrento, Italy

We made it to Italy for a fun European excursion...and a three-week history and culture course for all of us!  Our first place to visit was the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento.  WOW!!!  What a beautiful and amazing place!  

I will start at the beginning.  We flew from Barcelona to Naples, an easy driving distance to Sorrento.  We rented a car.  That in itself has been quite the adventure.  I am at a loss for words to describe driving in Italy...or being a passenger.  After being in the car a very short time, Jacob said, "I've noticed that the drivers do not tend to stay in their own lane."  (It would be a challenge to determine drunk drivers in this country!)  That was just the beginning.  We had heard stories from friends, but it is quite different to experience it first hand.  Ray told me that I should video through the windshield so I could show everyone back home how often cars and scooters drive head on to us before moving back over to their lane.  They come SO CLOSE to one another, squeezing through tight spots with so many close calls.  For the Italians, is seems like a natural flow, and after a while, Ray said he likes the aggressive driving style and feels part Italian.  (Anyone surprised?)  There is EVIDENCE of the Italian driving techniques...if a car does not have dents, scrapes down the sides, or missing side mirrors or bumpers, it is probably a rental car.  I have some photos I will post of typical Italian car "features" (next post).

So, we arrived in Naples and were hungry.  We headed down the highway, got off, got lost, and ate our first pizza in Italy.  These photos were just before we dug in.  Sadly, it was not great pizza.  Fortunately, we were hungry, and the kids really don't care that much anyway.

A note about getting lost.  We opted out of getting a GPS because it cost more per day than the car did!  Here is the cause to our HOURS of getting lost, too many turn-arounds to mention in a book, continually second guessing what direction we were going, and some slight frustration by the driver.  @#$%&*!  On our way to Sorrento, we ended up going WAY out of the way on a VERY windy, switchback road through the mountains, probably 2 hours out of our way (we had no idea that we were going the wrong way until we got the the opposite side of the peninsula).  It was beautiful, yes, and we also drove along an amazing part of the coast we otherwise would not have seen.  Here are some photos taken by the boys from the back seat.

So many sticks bundled on the side of the road.  Everywhere!  We never figured out why...

So, we got to our hotel late in the evening, after lots of direction changes and stopping to ask anyone who could speak a little English.  Ray and Jacob go check in, and Ray comes back to the car and says, "Well, it's a place to sleep."  We used booking.com, and no where did it say we were staying at a convent!  Ray and I made the reservations online together, and in hindsight he kept saying, "What did we miss?"  To avoid the risk of sounding ungrateful or like a complainer, I will just say that this was an interesting place to stay.  It felt more like a dorm room, with comfort and functionality to match.  Even rules posted: be out of the room by 9:00am, back for the night by 11:30pm, leave your keys hanging in the common key area when you go out so they know you are gone, get your own supplies for the bathroom, do not speak in a loud voice, keep your things in order so cleaning is easier, etc.  Well, the Villaman's broke all the rules (sometimes now knowing it!).  The one good thing about the "hotel" was that it had a view.  The little old nuns in white were sweet, with only one (from India) who spoke English.  We committed to being out and about all day so that we only had to be there to sleep.  We left the nunnery and found a great place right on the sea to eat lunch.  Here are some photos:

Then, we attempted to find a store to get a SIM card so we can have cellular data (and GOOGLE MAPS!!!) on Ray's cell phone.  We were helped by a couple older Italian guys (who Ray met by asking them how to pay for parking) to park off road near a building.  They assisted Ray in great detail to park, and this is how they parked him!

We made our way to the shops, etc.  Oops, everything was closed...from 1:00-5:00!  So, off we go to find a beach, and it began to rain.  So instead of wandering around in the rain, or drive around and get lost in the car (we had done enough of that the day before), we went back to the nunnery!  We decided to do more online research on the area, find places to eat, etc.  There is ONE spot where wifi pick up...on the couch in the "lobby".  During this whole time, we were serenaded by the chanting/singing nuns, who kept it up the whole time we were there, and they were still going when we left.  It was an added touch.  :)  

We found a restaurant that looked promising for dinner (based on TripAdvisor reviews), but darn, not so great...again.  So far, we had not come across the amazing food in Italy people talk about.  However, afterwards, we went to get gelato.  :)  At this famous (but mediocre) gelato place, we met up with three gals from Washington State who were fun to talk to.  We invited them to come with us on a private boat trip the next day that we booked as a little "splurge" for ourselves.  It was already paid for, so why not have some good company?  They happily came along, and it was fabulous!  It was a trip to the island of Capri off the coast of Italy.

 Here are some photos as we left the mainland

Toni, our captain

Kelly and Kat, two of our new friends

The boys and I hanging on the front of the boat

And there's the the island of Capri

Getting closer...

And here we are...

 Our third friend, Sadie (Kelly's daughter), is on the left looking out. 

We swam at a few spots in the clear, warm and wonderful waters of the Mediterranean

...and swam through the famous Green Grotto below (which was amazing!!) 

We stopped for lunch on the coast 

Then we hiked all the way to the top to the main town...LOTS of stairs and great exercise

Had gelato at the top (of course!), walked back down, and off for more beauty on the sea.  Sadie is on the right...how did I now get a better photo of Sadie...like her face?!

After a much bumpier and windier trip back, we arrive back to Sorrento

Here is a photo of the boat we rode on

We moved to a new part of the Amalfi Coast area (originally planned), just to see a different part of the area.  We ended up in an apartment type suite, which was completely different from the first place, and the same cost.  :)  I suppose you just can't tell what you are going to get with booking.com, even with the reviews!  Here is the boys' "suite".

And the outdoor gardens where we ate our first morning's breakfast.  Ray told me the woman who checked us in said she usually serves croissants with breakfast, so I asked for them the next morning. She said, "I'll check", and we saw her walk out the gate with her purse and come back a few minutes later with croissants!  I sure didn't mean to have her go to the store for them!

The second morning's breakfast was inside because of some light rain.  There was a huge salad with veggies from her organic garden!  (And croissants!)

 One day we took a trip to the Bay of Ieranto; the hike is about 30 minutes or so and beautiful!  Off we go...

And we are almost there.

Looking back up the steep steps we just came down, and will have to go back up on the return.  Again, good exercise!

The main activity for the boys was jumping off a 20-foot ledge into the clear blue water.  I opted out, but the boys did it, adding in all sorts of tricks...spins, flips, etc.  Ray jumped off with them at the same time (no tricks).  I have a video, but until I figure out how to post videos, this photo of rear ends will have to suffice.

I don't know why I didn't take more photos at the Bay of Ieranto!  

At the end of the day, the boys climbed into bed with books.

Next post we will be heading to Rome!

More Barcelona Adventures

OK, I know it has been WAY TOO LONG since I have posted.  We are currently in the midst of a 3 week excursion to Italy, but I am first going to blog about our time in Barcelona before we left on September 1st.  

First of all, we have had a long story of wifi issues, which has limited our time and speed and access to wifi at our apartment in Barcelona.  So any time we were able to use wifi, it was for essentials...like finding an apartment for the rest of our time here, and prepping for our appointment with the "police" to finalize our residency visas.  We finally have reliable wifi at a couple of rentals in Italy.  Hooray!

First, I will go through some photos on more exploration we have done in Barcelona.  

We found a tapas place called Tapas 24 where Nicholas actually liked the tapas, and Jacob said they were awesome.  Typically, tapas are meat oriented, so I do not eat much of them.  There was one egg tapa that I ate.  Very good.

We explored the area of the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, which is the part of Barcelona called Montjüic.  It is a huge area, with various buildings for the Olympics and lots of planned open space.

On our way to Montjüic, we got off the Metro stop called Plaça España and saw the old round bullring stadium...now turned into a modern mall.

And in the centre of the traffic "roundabout", this cool "center piece".  That is what is so great about this city.  It seems we are surprised with another fabulous statue, or plaza, or...

On our walk to Montjüic, we pass by this huge museum.  It is quite a hike to get up there, and they even have outdoor escalators for those who do not prefer all the steps.  You pass by these pillars on your way.

Getting closer...

And closer...

And we made it to the top with an awesome view!  

Here is La Sagrada Familia from afar (although I zoomed in quite a bit).

Then we walked behind the museum and to the Olympic space.  We first visited the Olympic stadium, then we explored the other areas.

 We have no idea what this tower is at Montjüic and have not researched it, but the boys enjoyed playing on it!

After Montjüic, we decided to enter THE BULLRING MALL to look for food.  The boys were thrilled to find this smoothie place.  We got a kick out of the name.  :)

At the very top of the bullring mall, there is an outdoor area around the whole thing for some amazing views.  This is that same statue in the center of Plaça España.

On our weekly Spanish class excursion, we went by "4 Cats" (or "Els Quatre Gats" in Catalan, the regional language here) bar and restaurant (following 2 photos), which opened in 1897 and is a famous spot where well known authors and artists would meet.

We returned to the area Diagonal Mar (mentioned in a previous blog) to what is called an "urban adventure park".  It was essentially a ropes course with various ways to get from pole to pole on ropes...sometimes zip lines, swings, etc.  Jacob and Nicholas found it an easy but fun course.  

Nearby there is a cool building that is skinny and pointed.  Ray found it curious and took these photos.  He kept saying that this was not efficient use of space.  :)

Right next to the pointy building is this amazingly designed science museum.  

Walking around it, it's hard to figure out how the weight around all the sides are held up.  

We met some new friends in the city to explore another neighborhood festival.  We started out at this big slide complex.  Even I went down a slide.  :)

 On two different streets of the festivities, there was a long line of firecrackers set off down the centre of a narrow street: they were SO loud and the spectators had to watch out!  (I only have a video of that experience!)  After the firecrackers, a group of drummers came through with a fun beat and lots of enthusiasm!

Here are some of the decorations we thought were fun.  

Here we are with two ladies from our Spanish classes.  The one on the left is Julie from Denmark.  She has finished Spanish classes, but is in Barcelona for a couple more months doing an internship for a Danish travel agency.  The other is Gemma from England, who has already returned home to begin college.

We all got haircuts, and Jacob decided to go a little GREEN.  :) 

Nicholas said "maybe next time" for the color.

So now a little more detail about our appointment in getting our residency cards...  For our appointment with the "police", it was required that we have an apartment for at least the next 6 months, so we were scrambling to get that set.  We had to set this appointment almost 4 weeks ahead (and making the appointment took over a week and required a lawyer to help us!), and just a few days after the appointment, we left for Italy, so we HAD to get approved for residency. Otherwise, we would not have enough time on our temporary visas (which we received in the US) to get our residence visas in Spain.  In the end we did not get an apartment, but the rental agency we were renting from the first month gave us a letter that approved us to rent the same apartment for the following 10 months (which we do not want to do, but the letter was important for residency).  

We have heard crazy stories about getting through all the legal hoops in Spain...and how much delay there can be.  Sometimes it is not so much legal, but rather WILLINGNESS to help.  We took the advice of a friend who spent a year in Spain and secured a lawyer to help us through the process.  He met us at the police office, and the challenges began!  It was 5 hours of waiting and government resistance at every turn, challenges with appointments, getting more approvals, and making taxi trips to another police location.  (I won't bore you with all the details.)  Oh my!  We were on the edge our seats the whole ride!  Even though it looked like obstacles were continually arising, I just inherently knew we were going to get through this.  The lawyer was invaluable, I must say.  He was a rockstar and was VERY determined.  He did not take "no" for an answer.  Also, he had told me ahead of time the documentation to come with, but I brought EVERYTHING I could think that I would need.  And I needed it!  He would doubtfully turn to me and ask if I had some document or another (i.e., birth certificates, proof of payment for the apartment, etc.), and I would pull it out to his surprise and relief.  I have to thank all those who told me to be over-prepared!  :)  

I will tell the tail end of the story.  After being delayed at another police station, we had a short time to return for our original appointment, which had been long past, but which the lawyer had gotten verbal approval that we could come back for.  The boys and I had to take a cab with the lawyer (cabs only fit four passengers), while Ray would take another after us once he found one (we waited for the first cab for too long...time was running short).  We arrived just before the 2:00 closing for the day (it's the government!).  Our lawyer worked his way in with us and urged an employee to take us and do the fingerprinting (which is the final step before we get our cards a few weeks later).  It ended up that three ladies had to help us.  They were all extremely unhappy, kept complaining about the time, called over the manager who tried to stop the process, did not want to help Ray (who arrived late and out of breath because he ran all the way there after not finding a cab).  In the end, they stayed an extra 30 minutes to get us all fingerprinted!  We walked out of there, and our lawyer said we just completed "mission impossible".  We were all SO happy!  

As for our apartment, we will just rent an apartment on a daily/weekly basis (like a vacation rental) until we find a permanent place.  Easy solution!  But it will be nice to get settled into a final place for the remainder of the year.

Next blog will be about Italy!