Sorrento and Tuscany

SORRENTO


Another 4 hour stress filled drive on the auto strada and we arrive at the  lovely Amalfi Coast.  We are staying at the Hotel La Solara.  We were greeted  by many older Italian men and, the best part is, we were upgraded (at no extra charge...much to Paul's delight) to a junior suite (which just means a large room with a queen and two single beds).  The room is older but spotless and the pool and pool side bar were fabulous.  The best part of the hotel was we were the youngest adults by at least 20 years and we were not British.  Here we come with very loud, singing all the time Serena and Luke and we burst out onto the pool side.  Many gray heads lift from reading their books and give us the a quiet look and then return to their books.  We jump and splash and have fun while the over  60 crowd looks on.  I loved the place because I felt like a young spring chicken at the pool side.  Luke and Serena thoroughly enjoyed the pool as it was hot and sunny (30 degrees).


The main town of Sorrento is filled with many wonderful little shops, filled with all sorts of lemon products.  Lemon orchards are very popular along this coast.  Limoncello is my new favourite liquer (spelling??).  You can wander the streets until late in the evening as most shops are open until 11 pm.  You can look out onto the ocean down from the top of sheer high cliffs that plunge into the gorgeous blue waters.  


The Beach??
After so many long days of walking in Rome we decide to find a local beach.  Lets just say this is not Hawaii.  We wander down a long road and find a ramshackle little fisherman's village with run down buildings and restaurants.  The beach is full of rocks, not sand and it is  a little hmm how can I say this...not so clean.  But we think we have found a little tucked away beach over a stone wall and down a small cliff.  There are very few people on this beach and they are all tucked up against the cliff which we thought meant we could set up our towel closer to the water.  Well, we had our backs to the ocean and I hear Paul yell at us but too late...BAM smacked by these huge roller waves (from passing cruise ships) and soaked and almost washed out to sea.  Now we know why the locals are against the cliffs.  So back to the crowded not so clean local beach.  We collect a ton of sea glass, which Luke and Serena love, but you could tell the locals thought we were weird for picking up the "garbage".


Our second day in Sorrento was supposed to be a trip to Capri but I was feeling a little under the weather (lets just say I could not be far from our hotel washroom...if you know what I mean).  So a little more pool time and town time.


Our final day their and we set out to find another local beach.  This time it was sandy but we were the only tourists among hundreds and hundreds of local Italians.  They kept staring at Lukes rash guard shirt like it was a foreign animal.  Do they not see how white and red (sunburn) he is??  All those swarthy Italians, even the little ones are tanned and glowing. And what is with all the Italians making out in the water...everywhere you looked young teenagers making out like crazy (I felt like I should cover Luke and Serena's eyes).  Our final conclusion is Sorrento just isn't a beach destination.


I asked Paul if we could take a drive down the Amalfi Coast but a look of sheer terror crossed his face.  The roads are narrow, tight and twisting back and forth.  You need to be quick on the gas, brakes and the wheel if you hope to avoid vespas, pedestrians and oncoming vehicles.  So we settled in for another night on the town.  We wander down to another fisherman's village where many outdoor restaurants await.  I order sea bass ( from Emilio's restaurant) and expect to see it done like it is back home  but instead it is the whole fish...head, eyes, tail, fins etc. staring back at me.  Now I know what a sea bass really looks like, right down to the colour of its eyes...yikes!  


Overall we loved Sorrento (except for the beaches).  It is a beautiful little town where you could walk the streets for hours looking into all the quaint little shops and enjoying the awesome views over the ocean.  We would definitely go back!


TO TUSCANY


Yet another painful (the power of the gelato has worn off and Luke and Serena bicker for the entire drive even with the threat of no gelato) 4 hour drive brings us to our Cortona farmhouse.  It is nice and quaint.  It is our home base for seeing the Tuscan country side.


Siena
Our first day in Tuscany and we head to Siena,( a small city of 60,000) to see the preparations for the Palio (a famous horse race around the town square, where 10 different neighbourhoods have a horse entered into the race).  Each neighbourhood has a dinner for its residents which you can see set out in the hundreds and hundreds of tables end on end in each of their local squares.  Then 60,000 people pack the main Piazza to watch this race.  It has been described as Stampede on steroids and is not recommended for little travellers.


 While in Siena we climb to the top of the famous 400 year old bell tower .  The stairway in encased in stone and steep and narrow.  Luke is constantly worried the tower is going to fall over while Serena goes all the way to the top repeating very loudly how she is such a brave girl.  At the top of the tower you are treated to the most amazing 360 degree views of Tuscany...breathtaking.  We also do the amazing Duomo church, buy some gelato (well just for me as the kids can't seem to get along and have lost their daily gelato) and call it a day as it is over 40 degrees in the town center. 


Cortona
We head out to Cortona (the town made famous in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun) that night after dinner to join the crazys watching Italy vs. Spain for the Euro 2012 cup.  It is our first trip there and what we are taken with is not the ancient town but the thousands of black birds frantically screaming across the sky above the town center...its like being in Alfred Hitchcock's the "Birds".  We barely make it to the town square when Luke shrieks...his eyes are filled with tears and he keeps repeating oh crap, oh crap (not really appropriate language for a 9 year old)  but he is right.  His whole arm if covered with bird poo...YUCK!  Italy loses and the crowd is sad and we head home.  
If anyone has seen the movie, Under the Tuscan Sun, Sandra Oh refers to the tall cypress tress as evil Italian trees...and there are lots of them around Cortona.


HOT HOT HOT DAYS!
Every day in Tuscany has been between 37 and 40 degrees.  Unseasonably warm we have been told.  So Paul decides as a treat for the kids we would find a water park.  Hmmm....water park in Tuscany, can't wait for this one.     But it is 39 degrees and the kids are excited. The waterpark is NOT NICE I am totally out of my cleanliness comfort zone but I grin and bear it for over two hours.  The water is this weird colour with clumps of stuff (hair??) floating on the bottom and I was just hoping we could all make it out without getting eye and or ear infections.  This place was awful and Paul was shocked I made it the two hours and even he thought it was kind of gross (that tells you how bad it was) but the kids loved it so hopefully it was worth it (I will keep you posted).  If you want to know the name of it I can let you know where not to go.


Our next few days are going to be excursions into various hillside towns...Arezzo, Assisi, Montepulciano and to Val di Chiana (where there is an outlet mall Italian Style, open to 11 pm...can you believe my luck over 140 Italian stores...looking forward to that one).  Hope all is well with everyone back home.  And oh, next week we still do not have any place to stay...OMG!  


Ciao for now...