An Adriatic AdVANture: Choose Your Own Adventure

Many moons ago I wrote about a prospective summer roadtrip, outlining the loosely made plans to travel around the Adriatic Sea. We did it and had a blast.

Now, with the prospect of a post-pandemic world (I've been optimistically proclaiming this since April 2020), it's time to dust off the old passports and start plotting. To pique some wanderlust, I took a jaunt down memory lane, reliving the seasides, the wine, the cheese, the misadventures and epic scenery of that summer.

This is a bit of a 'choose your own adventure' situation--Read in chronological order or click around the links. So where are we going first?!

Prerequisite reading- Time to Hit the Road!

• The Montenegrin Chapter
• The Croatian Chapter
• The Bosnian Chapter
• The Swiss Chapter
• The Italian Chapter 



The summer circuit!

An Adriatic AdVANture: The Italian Chapter

Prerequisite reading- Time to Hit the Road

Venice once was dear,
The pleasant place of all festivity,
The revel of the Earth, the masque of Italy.- Lord Byron

We had just flown back from Switzerland and after an indulgent week of chocolate, cheese, best friends, soft beds, cool sleeping temps and hot water showers we were ready to get on the road again for the last leg of our summer trip, Italia! 

We picked up our van and managed to find a meager parking spot of a campsite outside of Venice. Generally speaking we enjoy a bit more space and campy feel, so we did only stay one night in the area. We did however enjoy a pop-into the picture-postcard of a floating city. Although always charming, word to the wise, Venice is super crowded in the summer and super hot. Having visited previously in November, I would take a quiet empty-ish, dark and drizzly Venice over the hot, sticky summer crowds any day. But I mean, it's Venice, and who can really complain about a city that is just so enchanting and beautiful? Having previously spent four days in the city we had no must-sees, and no agenda but to wander the canals and visit as many bacaris as possible filling up on tapas-like Cicchetti and on-tap wine. Mission accomplished. 

Wanting to escape the crowds, we drove south and for no particular reason settled on the seaside town of Spiaggia Lido di Dante. Having nothing particularly noteworthy to report from this holiday town, other than one of most delicious pasta meals ever consumed, it gets an honourable mention. Otherwise, we continued to make our way south along the Adriatic sea, popping into various seaside towns and basically stuffing our faces for the full geographical length of Italy.

On our way by, we made a call into the Republic of San Marino, the oldest republic in the world. Technically it's its own country, but like the Vatican, no passport is needed and it feels an awful lot like you're still in Italy. Being small but mighty, San Marino is one of the oldest and wealthiest countries in the world. San Marino is perched way above sea-level, and it was a big old hill for a van like us to climb. Luckily for our transmission, there was a cable car that helped summit Mount Titan. Once you step off the cable car you are instantly taken back to the 4th century. There is no modern section of the city up there--it's all castle and medievally everywhere. 

Next we headed to Vico del Gargano, and found this amazingly spacious, relaxed and unpopulated campground. Having set-up in a lovely wooded area, propped up our camp chairs, and cracked a tinny, we began to become aware of the people around us...were not wearing pants. By that point we had committed to the campsite, and thought we'd just go for it. So much so, that we ended up staying 10 days. Besides the clothing optional liberties of life, the best part of the campground was the Italian home-cooking. Every evening, the Mama of the big house would cook up a huge feast, and if you wanted, you could come gather around the long table by the pool and have a big old family dinner. It was so so lovely, and where we had the best pomodoro gnocchi of life, complete with tomatos grown in the garden below the pool. This place was a little slice of heaven. Pasta&tanned-buttcheek-filled-heaven. 

Throughout the week we had the best time chatting with the folks around the campground (as one does), and one particularly spirited convo fuelled by San Marino liqueur, had us deciding that our best option and immediate urgent necessity of life was to drive across the country the next day to Naples. Home of PIZZA!

If you know me even a little bit, you know I love pizza. I love a thick American slice, I love a deep dish pie, I love a crispy thin woodfire crust, I love a Pizza Pop from 7-11. I love it all. So when we decided to make the 4 hour trek across Italy solely for pizza, it seemed completely justified. I know people rag on Naples for being dirty and dangerous, but all I saw was Aperol Spritz and pizza (and a bunch of graffiti and garbage, and certainly did not seek any cultural experiences. I was here for one thing and one thing only). By the end of the night I was just a happy meatball rolling around in bed, willing myself to digest as quickly as possible, because I knew I would be after another pizza or two before we left the next day. I went to sleep with a big old tomato sauce smile on my face that night. 

Travel-stars aligned once more, and we met up with New Brunswickers Mike and Serenity for the night!

After a mere 12 hours in Naples we were back on the road, essentially back towards the direction we had just come from. Along the way, we stopped in the amazing city of Matera. 

Matera is a city of caves that line the banks of a massive canyon. The city of Matera is thought to have been lived in since the year 10,000 BC (yes, you read that correctly) and could possibly be one of the oldest continually lived in settlements in the world...up until the 1950's when the entire city was condemned due to dire living conditions. The city lay empty and abandoned until the 1980's (a mere blip in relative time), when the once considered stain and embarrassment of Italy, was then repaired to a national treasure and tourist destination. So much so, that the city was given UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1993, and named a European Capital of Culture in 2019. Both titles totally justified.

This is definitely one of the coolest cities I have ever been in. he entire city is made up of caves! (Actually just watched the new James Bond last night and the film's opening scene is set in Matera) We spent the day wandering about, and then drove to the other side of the canyon and parked up for the night over looking the twinkling lights of the caves. In the night we were awaken by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, in that a gaggle of drunken Italian boys showed up around 3am to finish off their night by singing (assumed) traditional Italian songs. Albeit, a bit annoying, it couldn't have been more wholesome. In the morning we hiked down the canyon and checked out some of the more rudimentary caves (less homey, and more squatter-y, underage drink-y hovels). Yeah, they smelled like pee, but it was still cool. The whole city felt like a living nativity scene, intriguing, and a must-see if you are traveling throughout Italy! 

Finally we landed in on our final destination- Bari. Being a port city, and one of the main ferry routes from Albania to Italy, we never heard anyone rave about Bari. We really weren't expecting anything except a night's sleep and perhaps something yummy to nibble. However, turns out Bari has an amazingly beautiful seaside and walled city. 

I just wish for each of you to find someone who looks at you like I look at cured meats and cheeses.

The next day we got on the 8 hr ferry back to Albania. Not thinking about the fact that it was going to be daytime, we booked ourselves a cabin, and prepared ourselves for a proper boat party. One last hurrah before our summer vacation was over! 

The biggest take away from our roadtrip through Italy was that gas stations across the country serves better Italian food than any high-end Italian restaurant I've been too outside Italy (with the exception of Albania). 

Although we haven't seen it all (still want to visit Sardinia, and Florence) a wise friend once said, "Always leave something behind, so you have a reason to come back!" So, until next time Italia, arrivederci!

Rome'n Around

Is there anything more romantic than a Valentine's Day long weekend spent in Rome frolicking in piazzas, indulging in nightly aperitivo and buzzing from shots of rich espresso? I think not.

In contrast, what do you think about hanging around in foreign hospitals? Albeit, different and less romantic--Also intriguing, right?...Due to a stint of pneumonia and an eye-opening tour of Albania's healthcare facilities, our Valentine's Day Rome-cation was only slightly postponed til Tyler's lungs got themselves together. But boy, was it worth the wait!

Not exactly the Rome-antic weekend we had planned.

Alas! We lucked out with a generous hotelier who offered to postpone our reservations, and our credit cards gave us a touch of travel insurance, making the flights easy to change. A month later, with a clean bill of health, we were off to live la bella vita!

FRIDAY

With only two days in the Eternal City we had a lot of first-timer Roma highlights to hit! After touching down and hitting la bottega for some libations, we rambled over to the Trevi Fountain and threw a few coins over our shoulders--One coin to return to Rome, two coins for a new romance and three coins for marriage! Even though we're converting Albanian lek(↓) to Euros (↑), we couldn't leave anything to chance! Fun little ditti about the Trevi Fountain; The coins are collected with a big vacuum a few times each week, sorted, counted and donated to a non-profit organization that provides aid for poor and homeless within Rome. (Although these numbers seem unbelievable, I can't seem to find info to contradict, so..) With 1,200 visitors stopping by the fountain every hour, the fountain does a little crowd funding to the tune of 1.4 million Euros each year.

Also, should be noted that those numbers probably seem a bit unreasonable to us as we visited the fountain at 11pm...in March. Not exactly the height of coin-flinging, fountain season. Nonetheless, I'd highly recommend visiting the fountain at an off-peak hour/month to be able to enjoy it without the reported throngs of people. For the rest of the evening we consumed piazzas, gelato, wine on repeat.

At the time my phone only took black&white photos--Luckily Rome lends itself well to monochrome!

SATURDAY

 

The next morning we woke up uncharacteristically early (unbeknownst to us, there's a time change from Albania) and headed to the smallest country in the world, Vatican City. Having heard that the lines would be long, and having totally flaked on the advice to buy the 'Skip the Line tickets', we were happy to join a relatively modest line. About an hour later, as we neared the security scanners, it suddenly dawned on us that we weren't totally sure what we had lined up for (the previous evening's escapades had left us somewhat dull). Whatever it was, we were pretty sure we wanted to see it. So we turned around to the person behind us and without shame asked a very friendly face, "What is this line even for?" To which they replied way nicer than they had to be, "Ughhh, St. Peter's Basilica?" Riiiigghhhttt.

So St. Peter's Basilica was a seriously impressive superstructure chocked full of mosaics, alters, statues, artwork, shrines and relics. As neither of us are Roman Catholic, it was certainly not a religious experience, however it is definitely a very impressive church and was worth the bewildered wait.

Next we made the short jaunt around the corner to the Vatican Museums. We waited in line fooorrrever (Again, BUY THE SKIP THE LINE TICKETS), and by the time we reached the doors we were feeling less than enthusiastic about the crowd we were being herded along with, thinking that we wouldn't have the chance to truly appreciate any of the artwork inside. But HEEELLOOO! The Vatican Museums! Wow. Since the Museums consist of about 1400 rooms, we were aiming to hit the highlights, but turns out there were so, so many! Among our faves were the Gallery of Statues and Hall of Busts, the Gallery of Maps, Tapestries Gallery....and of course The Sistine Chapel.

A word about the Sistine Chapel. You are moved along by the steady stream of tourists into a big empty room in which you find yourself standing in the middle, all the while an oximoronic  loud speaker is very ungracefully reminding you to be quiet. There are security guards everywhere making sure people aren't taking pictures. All in all you are not generally feeling the air of an art appreciation atmosphere. Then, you look up and you see it!

☞ ☜

The sheer size and beauty, the details along with the over 'big picture'--the Chapel's ceiling is truly awe-inspiring (Please forgive my uneducated art review). What I mean to say is it was super. Really, really super. So altho, yes, we were feeling a bit icky and conflicted about financially supporting the Catholic Church (in particular to the Vatican) and their habits to embed and offer safe haven to pedophiles, it was definitely a spectacular collection.

So after a suffice amount of arts and culture we needed to satisfy the growing urge for an Aperol spritz, pasta, gelati, pizza, wine...You know the drill.

In pasta heaven!

SUNDAY

Sunday we headed to the heart of the Ancient City, the site of the Roman Forum. Where politics, business, trials, socializing, and the general hustle and bustle expected of the year 29 BC all went down. It was super cool to walk amidst the temples, ruins, markets, banks, bath houses ---- all the while knowing these were the very streets Julius Caesar took his afternoon jaunts. Coming from Canada (having just celebrating its 150 birthday, heyooo!) it is truly mind-boggling to be standing in a place that is 2000++ years old. Colour us impressed.

And of course the Colosseum, Il Colosseo, or the Flavian Amphitheater. Altho not really needing any explanation (you've all seen Gladiator), I offer you five fun facts;

1. To spice things up beyond the run-of-the-mill gladiator fight (boooorrrinngg), the Colosseum would be flooded to accommodate mock naval battles. Gotta keep the troops entertained!

2. While the most iconic Colosseum is in Rome, there are 230 Roman amphitheatres dispersed around the Roman empire. We visited another one in Pula, Croatia! These people liked to party!
3. It's one of the new seven wonders of the world (others include the Great Wall of China, Chichen Itza, Petra, Machu Picchu, Christ the Redeemer and the Taj Mahal).

4. Although one million animals and half a million people were killed there, the Colosseum is now used as a symbol in the campaign against capital punishment. It is lit up every time a death sentence is pardoned or completely done away with in a country.

5. The thumbs up gesture originated in the Colosseum--Meaning, it was time for the gladiator to die.   👍👍👍

With only two days in Rome, we hit the major-est of tourist attractions and did not even begin to scratch the surface of this beautiful city (but you've got to start somewhere, right?). With a flight to catch back to Albania, all we could say is 'arrivederci', and dream of our next Italian vacanza!