Europe

Last Night In Florence

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April 24, 2002
On the last day in Florence our room was booked by someone else and we had to move a few doors up the street to the Hotel Abaci. We had the Boticelli Room-pretty fancy compared to what we were used to. Many of the eight rooms in the hotel were right off the small dining area set up in the hall, so during breakfast people were coming out of their rooms in their jammies to cross the dining area to get to the WC around the corner-but they didn’t seem to mind a bit and neither did we-this is Europe.

In Florence I found internet nirvana. The young guys configured my computer so I could connect to their server and cut and paste my travel reports. Funniest experience was in Bayonne France where I asked to do this and they insisted I could just plug my phone wire into the wall and I’d be on the internet! The Senegalese guy at the local computer school really got a laugh out of that one. By the way, one of my readers says that her adult children, who are all computer nerds, contend that the reason the internet is not prominent in France is because the telephone wiring hasn’t been updated (except in the south) since World War I and doesn’t have the capacity.

In the old city near the Duomo where we were staying we passed a small church that was offering a concert with about 12 versions of Ave Maria sung by a young tenor. I thought I’d gone to heaven-for awhile anyway. Except for the American pop music played in most public venues, I realized we weren’t getting much good music, which, as a friend reminded us, is balm for the soul.

Cinque Terre

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Took a train to the Cinque Terre (Five Lands..or villages) area on the northern Italian Riviera.

The Ligurian coast between Cinque Terre and Portovenere is a cultural landscape of great scenic and cultural value. The layout and disposition of the small towns and the shaping of the surrounding landscape, overcoming the disadvantages of a steep, uneven terrain, encapsulate the continuous history of human settlement in this region over the past millennium. The area is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The towns, jutting out into the Mediterranean and straight up the hills on the coast are connected by walking trails through eighteen kilometers of sheer rocky coastline with terraced hills and vineyards sloping steeply down to the sea. The five little villages are built into the rocks between the beach and the hills. You can hike, swim, drink red wine, and watch blazing Mediterranean sunsets far away from the tourist throngs in the Italian cities and the French Riviera. Centuries old footpaths and mule tracks wind about 500 to 1,000 feet above the sea, leading through olive groves and vineyards, orchards and chestnut woods.

Each village has its own character, they are a few minutes apart by train. The main railway between Rome and Paris runs along the coast, mainly in tunnels. Bob compares the trail to the Nepali Trail on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. Extremely picturesque and very charming.

Vernazza is many peoples favorite village, dominated by the Round Tower and by the ruins of the medieval fortifications. It has a small harbor next to the village square.

Monterosso is pretty split into two by the tunnel and the mountains. If you are walking down from Vernazza, the old town is the first beached section and is well worth a walk around as it is loaded with lots of small, character-filled streets.

Famous for its vineyards and olive groves, Corniglia stands on the principal road over a rocky cliff dropping to the sea; it is the only village far from the sea but it can be reached by some steps.

Founded during the 12th century, Manarola probably is the most characteristic village of the Cinque Terre; the old church of San Lorenzo is in baroque style.

From Manarola starts the picturesque trail called ” Via dell’ Amore “, carved out of the rock above the sea, that joins Manarola to Riomaggiore. We stayed in Riomaggiore…the least touristed of the towns. Bob keeps calling it Rigamoroni!

The local internet was owned by a family that also rents out rooms. The woman was an American married to an Italian whose family has lived in the town for over a hundred years. I asked her how these towns supported
themselves before tourism. She said that tourism has actually been pretty good for about 30 years but not to the extent that it is now (especially since Rick Steves has reported that it is one of the off-the-beaten-track areas of Europe!!)

Years ago the men would leave on ships for months at a time-dealing in contraband-which they apparently could get away with due to its geographic isolation from the rest of the country. We continued talking-about my trip to Europe in 1965 and that the countries were very poor-even found dirt floors in rural France. She said that yes, after WWII the US pumped a lot of money into the Marshall Plan to reconstruct Europe but it took another 20-30 years for it all to trickle down and affect the living standards of the people generally.

We stayed in a private apartment owned by a nice old gentleman who “selected” us at the train station. The apartment hung on the side of a hill about 600 feet above the Mediterranean-couldn’t take your eyes off the view!

Nice

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From Avignon we took a train southeast to Nice on the Mediterranean and stayed there in a virtual apartment in the Hotel Constadt a block from the water. Spent most of the two days basking in the sun…with a few topless sun-worshippers…people watching on the Promenade…peaceful at this time of year…the sky filled with colorful kites.

Avignon France

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Took the train from Barcelona to Avignon in the Provence area in the south of France. Stayed at Hotel Mignon on rue Joseph-Vernet. Cute little French hotel room but the smallest loo yet! Sitting on the stool, you find your knees sticking out the door!

We tried to eat at Christian Etienne’s famous restaurant so I could report to Josh but they were full up. They referred us to another restaurant with a respected chef, the Piedoie where we had a wonderful dinner at half the price.

At another fine restaurant a woman had her dog sitting on her lap during the meal. Must be acceptable in France.

Avignon is an old Roman city with narrow winding streets and is entirely enclosed by ancient Roman walls. The highlight is the Palace of the Popes-so called because the Vatican moved it’s center from Rome to Avignon for a time. Attached to the Palace is the Church of Notre Dame. Bob went to Easter mass there the morning we left. Capturing some of the incredible music on the camcorder, he reported that the chief celebrant was a cardinal…if a big red hat means anything.

In the 14th century, this city in the South of France was the seat of the papacy. The Palais des Papes, an austere-looking fortress lavishly decorated by Simone Martini and Matteo Giovanetti, dominates the city, the surrounding ramparts and the remains of a 12th-century bridge over the Rhone. Beneath this outstanding example of Gothic architecture, the Petit Palais and the Romanesque Cathedral of Notre-Dame-des-Doms complete an exceptional group of monuments that testify to the leading role played by Avignon in 14th-century Christian Europe. Avignon is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Lagos, Portugal

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Bob was hell-bent on going to Lagos, a resort area on the south coast of Portugal thinking it would be a nice break from the cold wind and one and two star hotel rooms. I resisted-thinking it would take three precious days away from either Provence France or Italy both of which I was really looking forward to. But the tour boss-guide won out and we took the bus and spent two nights in a cold and windy tourist-town.

As we got off the bus a lady from the small town cornered Bob and off we went following her to her apartment house-Residential Samana-no breakfast but nice big room with WC, shower and bidet and french doors opening onto a large balcony and internet around the corner. I spent a whole day in a bar writing the last travelogue while Bob jogged up the coast to a lighthouse. Before we left we had our whole wardrobe laundered and bought bread, cheese, ham and apples at a market for the bus trip to Seville Spain.

European Popular Culture

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Most days in Europe you would see at least once a wonderful display of affection between two young people-playful and sensuous-mostly kissing-but never offensive. And then they walk on as if nothing had happened. Bob finds it uncomfortable…but no one else on the street seems to pay any attention to it at all. Portugal is a bit more restrained…the play, Vagina Monologues, advertised all over Britain and France but is no where to be seen in Spain and Portugal.

Fashions
In the urban centers you see beautiful people with beautiful clothes (and in Paris the women smelled wonderful as they passed you by on the street) so I caved in and made my first purchase-some perfume not exported by France. Women love sweaters. Fully 2-3 out of all people under 40 wear black leather jackets and often the women are in full length ones. Clothing is very expensive so you know these folks have a little money. In Salamanca, especially on the weekend, early evenings reveal mostly older couples strolling through the streets and in the town square dressed as if they were going to the opera-women in very expensive cloth coats and men in perfectly pressed slacks and jackets with tie-often pushing a stroller with what apparently is the grandchild. They eat dinner between 8pm and 11pm. Then the older folks disappear and the streets become filled with the young. I marveled at what appeared on the surface to be an ideal small village society focused around the family and at the center a cultural center (plaza) where everyone could go and socialize.

Many young women who have good figures seem to get up in the morning and pour themselves into their jeans (a la mons pubis) before they go out-the younger ones in faded ones with the hem rolled up six inches-jeans I mean. Levi Jeans are very popular as well as levi jackets. On the way from Paris to Bayonne we had a three hour layover in Bordeaux so we ate lunch at an outdoor cafe-four people had on levi jackets. Btw, levi material was invented by the Levi Strauss company in a small city nearby. American companies in San Francisco imported the strong material in the 1800’s to sell to workers in the gold mines and on the docks…and the material came to be associated with America.

The Proletariat
After a few days in the city centers, we go looking for the working class. In Paris, the Belleville section was the most colorful and interesting. There are also Muslim and African neighborhoods. In Paris there are no green men with green brooms in these neighborhoods. The subways are full of piss and the streets full of litter. Guess they dn’t expect the tourists to go to these
neighborhoods.

Lisbon reputedly is the gay-lesbian capital of Europe but don’t know why it would be Lisbon. People are generally very kind in Spain and Portugal. Lots of people of African extract in Portugal and they often flash big wonderful smiles!

Continuing saga of the internet: went searching for the internet in Lisbon. An Austrian woman was waiting her turn to pay a $12 deposit which gets returned to you when you are finished. I told her about my internet saga in France and she laughed and laughed. I mentioned that I thought that the French “attitude” was a big act because it was so exagerated. Surprisingly she agreed and said that the French were known all over Europe for it and that no one takes it seriously. So I guess I won’t either.

Spain and Portugal play movies with original language and add their own subtitles. Hilarious, is to see an American made movie in France with George Clooney speaking French!

United Colors of Benneton everywhere. Starbucks on every corner in London but not a one in France, Spain and Portugal-god love them! Actually it would devestate hundreds of local cafes that really are at the heart of the culture of these countries.

Even though most of the little shops and banks and restaurants close down in the afternoon 1-4 in Spain and 1-3 in Portugal, the modern shopping mall businesses stay open. Whole countries of people disappear off the streets during these hours!

Lisbon

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Roosters are symbols of Portuguese culture so we felt that it was appropriate that after staying one night in a boring part of Lisbon, Portugal in a hotel room offered to us by a “tout” at a train station we woke to a rooster crowing at 5am.

The next day we moved to a small two star hotel-Residencial Santana Pensao at Rua Luciano Cordeiro-located up a steep narrow side street on a hill at the center of the city in the Bairro Alto district. (“Lets Go” travel book says “Bairro” is the hip name for Chiado-the Portuguese word for district.) The hotel can also be reached via the Ascensor Gloria from Pr. Restauradoes-like the cable cars in San Francisco. The hotel was up one flight of stairs off street-no lift.

We have learned more history on hop-on hop-off tour buses than we did in all of high school and college put together! In Portugal there is a law against killing the bull in bullfights-and the horse plays a very important role. In 1965 my traveling companion and I saw a bullfight in Pamplona Spain when we were there for the running of the bulls (that Hemingway made famous in the US). It was a sickening thing to watch and we left in the middle before the bull died.

As Bob says, Lisbon has some degree of decay but perhaps that is the charm-by its appearance we realize that it’s hey-day was 4-5 centuries ago. Amazing to think that at one time Portugal was one of the foremost powers of the world! One of the monuments of Lisbon is a huge building that was built as a seminary and church with 15% of the profits that came from the spice trade in India. It is now called the “pepper building.”

Next day, after a lunch of very good chicken and rice and a sandwich of beef slices cooked in broth, we strolled out into an empty square in the rain. I was offered contraband from a guy selling sun glasses…sunglasses in the rain?

Was helped at internet by young woman who was fluent in English. (Very difficult to find anyone over the age of 20 that knows English. This girl, however, had had 8 years of English and told us that all children from first grade on are now taught English in school.)

Ate dinner at restaurant around the corner with Fado Music. Fado is Portuguese old style blues which is a kind of high-pitched lamenting. I had heard that Fado was very beautiful and that the singing would break your heart but I didn’t like the classical version-very loud and harsh singing and then they want to sell you their CDs afterward. Have been told the contemporary Fado is better. The next day we took a train trip to Caicais on the outskirts of Lisbon.

On the last day we took the tram up to the Alfama district-old Moorish district of town-lots of Muslim shop owners. We visited a church that was displaying “Order of Malta” artifacts and we remembered reading about the order in a college history or religion class. We trekked up a steep hill in the rain to the Castile de Jorge, an old Roman fortification, and I took a pee into a little waterfall (urinal) against the fortification wall behind a copper shield with my stand-up peeing device used by women in the US Forest Service.

Sampled port wine (the indiginous favorite in Portugal) in a shop across from the wall with a young woman proprietor who spoke very good English. When my port was finished I told her thank you in Portuguese and she said “that is Portuguese for thank you.” I said, “yes, I know, I am thanking you for the port.” She laughed and said, “oh, sorry, many people say gracias (Spanish) and we find it very insulting!” Bob and I do seem to “get into trouble” on a pretty regular basis with the locals but we were lucky that time. Bob remarked to her that he noticed that she had an American accent. She said that yes, her English teacher from Britain gave her low marks in English class because of her American accent but that she didn’t care!

On the way down the hill, soaked wet and freezing cold, we looked into a small restaurant window and saw a huge pile of crab on the counter with a table full of people eating and laughing loudly-the entire scene pulling us uncontrollably in where we participated in the festivities.

Bayonne & Biarritz

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Bayonne is a beautiful Basque town in the south of France. I would not be surprised if the movie “Chocolat” was made here. We were told that Bayonne had almost a hundred chocolate shops; when the Jews were trying to avoid the Pogroms they made a living by making chocolate candy.

Upon inquiring about accessing the internet in my room, the young girl at the front desk in my hotel said vehemently “I __ate the internet!” I asked why and she said because it was difficult and besides that it was new! I told her about my troubles finding the internet in Paris. She laughed; she understood perfectly, she said! Later, I walked into a computer education store that was run by a man whose first language was Senegalese but who had married and had been living in France 20 years. I told him all about all my internet experiences and he laughed. “Yes, France is a little slow with the internet” he says.

Biarritz, on the Pacific coast, is the surfing capital of Europe…young kids with surf boards and kayaks covering the beaches.

A Good Thing

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It’s a Good Thing to take along a tour guide and in this group that will be Bob-most probably because he has the greatest need to know where he is located at all times. On the train yesterday leaving Paris he is standing looking out the window for an interminably long time. Fnally he turned around to sit down and said “I guess they know where they are going!”

TVG Trains Better Than Hitching

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High speed (TVG) trains travel over 200,mph. In 1965 when a college friend and I traveled through Europe; it took all night to get from Dover to Ostergard on a roller coaster boat! But then in 1965 the Captain invited us up to the steerage! In 1965 we also hitchhiked…which I wouldn’t recommend doing now either. Can you imagine just having to get from one city to the next in the rain having to stick your head in the window of a stopped car or truck to get a “hit” about how safe it was!

In Bayonne France; having breakfast in a small hotel built in the 1700’s we talked to an English woman at the next table who is now living in Spain and who also traveled through Europe and South America by hitching rides-but she quickly added that it was no longer safe for anyone to hitch (or “autostop” as it was called in Europe.

Incidentally, in the summer of 1965 John Kennedy called up the first group of “advisors” to go to Viet Nam: The rumor spread like wildfire that there was going to be a draft call up before the summer was over! Young hitchhiking American males were abandoning their travel and enrolling in any summer school program they could find in Europe by the hundreds to avoid the draft. That summer that I turned 21 jerked me into one of my most early formative experiences.