Venice...Revisited

Our time in Aviano was nearing to a close. Joan and Sam said maybe we should revisit Venice. It is just an hour away by train and not expensive.  It would be a wonderful idea to concentrate on taking pictures of people instead of architecture. By now, we were very accustomed to getting to Sacile and the train station. Round trip train tickets in hand, validated and on the right train platform, we waited five minutes for the express, which was on time to minute. The ride seemed so short. I was starting to feel like all of the daily commuters, going to school or work!
Off of the train on track 4 in Venice/St Lucia. No change here, thousands of people lighting up cigarettes after their bout with nicotine withdrawal on the train. Quickly we walked out of the station to escape the smell and smoke!

Solvania and Croatia...Better Than Expected!

Saturday,  Oct 3, 2015

Time check 3am. No, the alarm hasn't gone off yet, but my biological clock certainly has and that is a normal occurrence for me. I didn't get up until a little after three thirty. We all did our bathroom thing and were ready and out the door by 4am. The bus pickup point is just three hundred feet around the corner. It was already there and we were first to board. A total of 12 people were signed up and all were early. Francesca, our tour guide, spoke Italian and oddly enough English with a pronounced British accent. Later we found out that her mother was Italian and father British!
The bus no soon started than it started to rain heavily with thunder and lighting. Francesca said that the boat Captain would cancelled the boat part of the tour if it was to choppy or visibility up to par. After dosing of for two and a half hours the bus descended into the town of Trieste. This is the last major city in Italy before we crossed into Slovenia. This is also a Euro National State and no border restriction or stops were encountered. 
From this sea level port our journey took us up into the mountains again. The road twisted and turn around many valleys and ridges. There were many farms with vineyards of grapes and orchards of olive trees. It had stopped raining and we now had a little hope that the tour would be a success or partial success and not a total washout.   
A little information here about the Croatia and the Istrian Coast. The length of the Istrian coast, along with islands and inlets is 324 miles. The west coast of Istria is more indented, and, together with islands, it is 202 miles long. East coast, together with inlets  is 131 miles long. The above information comes from the pamphlet  that Francesca gave us upon entering the bus.
Another interesting fact is on the Karst and the limestone grounds. The sinking of Karst recess created specific and branched bays, such as the Pula port, the Medulin bay, the Rovinj coast and the Porec coast that we visited. Lost in the spelling and pronunciation of the words above? So are we! (Above taken from tour literature)
The coast is well developed with lots of bays, deeper small bays and rivers mouth. 
The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. During the 2nd century BC, Roman Castrum was built on a tiny peninsula. 
Ok, enough of history of the area! Upon arriving at Paranzo (Porec) we walked towards the boat that we would be taking on our land and sea tour. Being a small group, we were early and had an hour to spend exploring the old port town. 
Many of the villages and towns in Europe have small cobbled stone streets, but Porec was very unique in that the street, in the old section, were narrow, but the cobbled stones were above the rest as far as patina is concerned. They were still wet from earlier rain and just had that magical glow that a photographer is looking for. It was  early and just a few people were out and about. This added to the charm of the pictures that I took. Francesca, happened to be walking in our direction and guided us to an ancient church. Some of the original mosaic floor was discovered three feet below the existing and was left opened to view and photograph. 
It was good to have the extra time before the cruise. As we walked toward the boat Monvi, the locals were opening their shops, hand sweeping the cobble stone streets, some were hosing their street dining areas and a few little old ladies were heading off to the market. 
One of the first things we did on the boat was checkout the best spots for viewing. Here again, Francesca gave us help hints. She said that the open top deck might be to hot if the sun came out. Speaking of sun, once underway we stopped at two other pickup points for more passengers and by than the sun came through for us again! The temperature climbed into the high seventies by the middle of the afternoon 
In about an hour an a half we made our first stop. Has we pulled in port of Rovigno (Rovinj) the towering church steeple came into view. Wow, what a view! 
A little history about Rovinj. Rovinj was already a settlement of Illyrian tribes before being captured by the Romans. This makes it very, very old. The town certainly has a long history. We disembarked from  the boat and Francesca gave us a couple of options to get to the church on top of the hill. She said, basically take the low (long gradual road) or the high road (up a quick, but strenuous) road. The first thing that we encountered was the local market with vendors begging you to sample food items. We did managed to sample some, but weren't interested in carrying larger bags around for the rest of the time in Rovinj. Walking through the many side streets, actually no main street to go up to the church, we were overwhelmed with the artist, vendors and photographic opportunities on the way home. 
A wedding in the church was about to take place. A lot of people were mulling around and taking photos. Francesca had told us that we could climb the bell tower, 192 steps, for a small fee of 3 Euro. Up we started, the first three steps were a foot high. The next 189 steps were all little steps of three to four inches. We took our time and  Joan, Helen a I made it to the very top. Sam, who has had two hip replacements elected to wait in the shade in front of the church.
Wow, what a view! All four sides were simply spectacular! We were five or six people at the top. I just happened to look at my watch, 12 noon it read. I wonder if they ring the bells? Bong, Bong! The giant bell four feet above my head was rocking back and forth as a huge hammer, three foot high inside the bell, did its thing! This wasn't bad enough, a pigeon just above, on a beam, let go! I don't mean let go of the beam! The adventures I put myself through!
Going down the stairs was a little harry also. Because the steps were not constant in height, one had to step over one foot while holding on to the railing and slowly head down to meet Sam.
From the church we took a direct path, well as direct as possible down to the bay. When we arrived we got twisted around for a second and headed for the other side of town. We quickly turned around toward the boat. One final stop was to buy some Chestnuts roasting on a propane fire at the outskirts of the market. 

Croatia ~ The ITT tour ~ Home Bound Status

Today is Friday, Oct 3
Tomorrow morning we will be boarding a tour bus at 4:30 am for our guided journey into Croatia. I will detail the adventure later this weekend. 
It now looks like we will be ending our time in Italy a little sooner than originally anticipated. The events in the Middle East have a bearing on our decision to leave a little early. I'll detail this in a later blog.

Mountain View Inn ~ Aviano Air Force Base

In the last couple of days, we've been taking it easy. Sam came down with a cold and we all needed to rest. It was a good time to catch up on the blog, emails and reading. On Wednesday evening, Helen prepared some soup and with Saltine crackers and all those different cheeses from the local market made a wonderful change from eating out every night! Mind you, we certainly enjoy eating out, but a change makes one appreciate those experiences a lot better. 
We walked over to the ITT office yesterday and canceled our "Cinque Terre" tour on the 24th of October. I really wanted to go to Cinque Terre as I have seen Rick Steve on Public Television explore. Cancellation was far enough in advance to get all of our money back except for a minor service charge. Some of you might be saying, "Why cancel?" I'll explain in future blog!

A Fig Tree nearly ready for harvest!

Helen and I have been trying to stay active as far as exercise. We make it a routine of walking a minimum of three miles around part of the base each day when we don't have anything planned. My Fitbit pedometer has been getting a workout! It keeps track of everything. Last week we had 31.05 miles, the week before 23.11 miles and 29.25 miles the week before. My goal is for 5 miles a day which I haven't been meeting, but at least we're moving. I really wanted to do some mountain hiking, but that isn't going to happen because we would have transportation issues to and from and I'm certainly OK with that! This Space "A" tour was and is a learning curve. We will be, hopefully, doing more of this type of trips. I really have to thank Sam and Joan for letting us tag along. It is not an easy thing to have four people travel together and for that matter live together. They have showed us, as they say, "The ropes". 

Tunnels galore here in the mountains!

I hope to share more tips and tricks in future blogs, when I can sit down and recall many experiences. 
While I'm thinking of one. On our road trip towards St Magdalena, in the town of Cortina, Sam had to find a restroom. We all got out of the car and walked toward the restaurant. As Sam entered, I noticed that we were parked in a "Pay to Park" lot. Low and behold, a meter maid was quickly checking for payment tickets in the windshields. Helen and I quickly walked towards our car with map in hand. She, the meter maid was starting to look down at the windshield when I asked, "which way to St Magdalena"? She said in broken English, "Is this your car? Where do you want to go?" I repeated the question and she gave me further directions and was on her way without checking the windshield and giving us a parking ticket. All of this diversion comes from an old magician friend Paul, who always said, "magic is nothing more than diversion". We were on our way, but in the wrong direction. It was a good thing that she left because Sam had the keys to the car and he was still at the restaurant restroom. This is just an example of little hurdles one can find on any trip in any place in the world. 

What do you do with old telephone booths?
Turn them into neighborhood library booth!

Life in Aviano, at the Air Force Base, is getting into a routine. First I must say, that I've never seen a military base so quiet! Sure jet fighters leave from the runway just a thousand feet away from our apartment, but the building is so well insulated we never hear them unless we're outside. When we go for our walks in the morning, there is no noticeable traffic or personnel around. When at the end of the work day, the traffic does increase at the south gate, but that is for a very short period of time. This is a NATO base and a few Nations are present including United States, Britain and of course the Italian Forces. It would be a good place to be stationed. Our apartment complex is adjacent to the Base Exchange, the Commissary and just about everything else we need. Our church needs could be here in the Italian section or over in Area One which is a few miles away. As I have mentioned previously, Area One is completely surrounded by the town of Aviano. This not to say that one can walk into the area without being questioned.

The Italian church on Aviano AFB

A barrier is present around the entire area. You feel safe when inside our area. This not to say that we don't feel secure on the outside. The Italian's are a very friendly people and we've had many good communications and experiences with them. In another Italian experience, up in the mountains, in a small village, I heard one Italian say a few words to another tourist in French. I said to him in French, "Parlez vous Francais", (SP) he answered me. We had a brief enjoyable conversation!   

That is what we did and saw!

     

USA ~ "Rocky Mountain High" Italy~ "Dolomite Higher"

Google image of Dolomite Mountains
in Magdalena, Italy

Yes, finally time to explore the interior Dolomite Mountains also known as the “Italian Alps” . The weather on this day, sunny with limited clouds. Our destination was a very small village of Magdalena, Italy way up near the Austrian border. Why this village? Because every time, you Google, “Images of the Dolomite Mountains” this little village appears. According to Google maps it was 185 kilometers from Aviano, that’s about 114 miles.

After extending our, “on base lodging” for another three days, Sam took the wheel and we were off. Of course, we had a regional map and written directions. Now you must understand Italian routes are a little different from US routes. When you come to a round about, which there are many, directions are

This is where we stopped for directions and lunch!

given by towns. Not all towns are on the map and written directions are overwhelming. I had highlighted the route most of the way and we were doing just fine until we reached Cortina D’Ampezzo, the town which held the Winter Olympics several years ago. This town is overgrown with hotels, restaurants, ski and hiking enthusiast. Sam and I are good navigators, but we got turned around a couple of times before heading out on route 51, (in the wrong direction). All is not lost! It turned out to be a beautiful “circle tour". We all agreed it was time to eat. A wonderful Alpine styled restaurant just happened to appear next to a lake with people fishing and sightseeing. We were in “Parco Naturale D

Gnocchi was our choice for lunch and Karla
took care of us for directions!

olomiti di Sesto” (a mouthful, but we were after food). Low and behold a waitress, who spoke very good English. Karla was her name. She put an X on the map, gave us a direction and of course a delicious lunch of “Gnocchi”. I will put in a good travel review in Travelocity. Oh, the restaurant’s name is “Restaurant Duerrensee”. So, back to the road issue. We made a large circle and never had to back track any of our route. Also I haven’t mentioned anything about the scenic views! I think, we’ve been driving the last couple of hours with our mouths wide open in aah! I’ve never seen such grander around every corner! I can’t post every picture here on the blog, but I can tell you I’ve got plenty of keepers!

Gnocchi

From Cortina the route would be more isolated, but not deserted. Nearly every village or town had multiple skiing facilities. I mean large chair lifts, gondolas and ariel tramways! I mean multiple in each town. There was no end to this skiing mecca. From route 48, we took a right onto route 244. From here it was extremely difficult! In St Martino in Badia, we took our last recognized turn on route 29. We were one turn away on route 163 to our destination. It was now mid to late afternoon and we had to make a decision. Turn around and head back or find a place to stay. We turned around! I had plugged a geocache at ground zero which was 22.9 miles away. The problem with the Garmin GPS (handheld) was that the road switchback so fast that I kept loosing the satellite fixes.

I was not disappointed! We all had one of the greatest road trip explorations! Sam had done a great job driving all the way up here, some seven hours of aggressive driving! It was time for me to take over the wheel and get us back to Aviano. Sam had looked at our map and set a more direct route. We would be driving most of the switchback roads in daylight. Around 7:30pm, in this part of the world it does get dark.

We didn't make it to Magdalena, but I did get some awesome
photos!

It is no wonder that Italians make excellent road race drivers. Mario Andretti comes to mind. The thing you have to remember about left, right curves is this…in slow out fast! I soon got the feel and I was very comfortable and awake! We did stop one more time to photograph a village 3000 feet below the edge of the road.

That my friends is what we saw and did

Warm Sun ~ Cool Breeze @ Colle Santa Lucia

Mountain Roads...Local Backcountry

Firewood Art!

Mountain Road near Maniago!

Northern Italy is dotted with little villages.
This is true for the flat land as well as the mountains. You can look at a forested mountain right in front of you and say there is nothing up there. Well, that is not the case! First you start to follow a narrow road up a slight incline. Then, there is a sharp 180 degree turn followed by a steep rise in elevation. These switch backs repeat over and over until you are a thousand plus feet above
the valley floor. Soon one spots a little farm house, with no one around, but you know it is inhabited by the cordwood neatly stacked and hand tools around the sheds. It is hard to describe homesteads to a tee. The inhabitants must live a barren life up in the hills and mountains. The one reason we don’t see people too often is because, we tend to tour in early afternoon. Remember, everything slows down to a crawl from 12 noon to 3pm. When, we do see people they are usually picking mushrooms, splitting fire wood or tending to their gardens.
Our little four person expedition group really enjoys doing these mountain road rides. Sometimes, the road gets down to a one lane road. Sometimes the unexpected happens. We spotted bicyclers pumping up the never ending road. The guys are nearly always dressed in their colorful biking clothes…This reassuring us that we’re not on an abandoned road and lost in the wilderness. At some point, we’ve even gotten to where the road nearly got covered over with fallen leaves.

Log Sled Stored for Winter Use!

The wildlife in the mountains is sparse. At least, we haven’t seen any wild animals. There are bears we’re told, but a small size resembling a grizzly, but actually being the size of a Saint Bernard dog. A foot note on bears…Our town in named Berlin, which I am told is derived from the word bear or at least for Berlin, Germany. There are deer signs on the highway, but we haven’t run across any yet. We’ve seen grouse and hawks and that is about it for wildlife. The domestic animals that we’ve seen locally, donkeys, horses, milk cows Lammas, chickens and high up in the uplands, sheep.

Ornamental Cemetery!

Plant life in the foothills… Many varieties of fruit trees are present. To name a few; olive, apple, fig, pears, chestnuts, grapes and most of all mushrooms. If we did spot a single vehicle stopped along the country side road, it was someone walking in the forest, close by, harvesting mushrooms by the five gallon pal size.

Foot Hills in the Aviano Region!

In our countryside road trips, we also notice cemeteries. They were all marked by these distinct, very tall conifers. They were all well cared for and up to date with flowers, candles and pictures. This part of Italy has many quarries and their were no shortages of beautiful stone markers.

That is what we saw and did!

Venice...The Corn Maze of Italy!

Kids going to school on the train!

Yesterday (Friday was our big day to travel by train to Venice. It is about a one hour train ride from Sacile to Venice. Getting to the train, well that’s another story! Let me explain. A couple of days ago, we did a dry run to the train station. We ran into a construction detour and finally made the dry run to the station. On the way back, we ran into another detour on the detour route, apparently there was an accident or fire as two firemen were blocking the turn off. On the day of our departure, we again ran into still another detour, but were successful in making it to the station on time. We got our tickets at the news stand and then had a slight problem getting them validated in the machine. You have insert to the left and, after screwing up, insert with the pale arrow, nearly invisible, pointing in. Now after all of that, we discovered from another English speaking passenger, that we could catch the 7:52 “Express” with only four stops!

Gondolas, Canals and Girls!

Saint Marco's Square

Another surprise was the number of school kids that ride the train to a couple of stops down the rail. This train is a high speed train! When another train is going in the other direction, at the moment the lead engine bisect, there’s a noticeable bang, much like a jet breaking the sound barrier. I must also point out that the train is extremely quiet with none of the clack, clack of the wheels rolling over the rails. The trains run on overhead electricity makes them even more quiet. The seats face each other making it easier to converse, if you’re sitting with another couple. We weren’t so fortunate as the train is jammed packed! We were lucky, at least to get seats! When arriving in Venice, at the station, one can’t help notice that there are 15 tracks that dead end into the station. These trains are several hundred feet long. That tells you that there’s a lot of people going and coming into this city.
The journey begins walking into the station and start noticing many, many Nationalities from all over the world! The next noticeable difference is the tobacco smell! Walking out the front of the station, one finds a new world staring at the “Grand Canal” much like looking at a busy main street, only with every kind of boat instead of cars and trucks! Did I mention people? Wow, much like New York with hundreds of people walking in many directions along the Grand Canal. Soon, we were swamped with vendors, from souvenirs to food. Our plan was to get away from the army of people and get a pastry and Cappuccino. It actually to some time walking before the crowds started to dissipate. Ah… finally, that pastry and the famous Cappuccino hit the spot!

Ambulances ready for emergency calls!

Joan had a city map and let me tell you, that Venice is much like a “Corn Maze” . No streets go into a straight line. Some go into a square, may be 100’ by 100’, others are even smaller. Some streets are marked, some are not! Some streets are 30 feet wide and some are literally 3 feet wide. When we were here several years ago, our tour guide said not to wonder too far and he was absolutely right. It is a wonderful experience to walk around Venice, but it is very, very easy to be disoriented going around three and four story old buildings that look similar. What an experience! I loved it!

Typical Canal scene in Venice!

Photography in Venice: There’s unlimited composition possibilities! A photographer is always looking for composition. Venice, a photographer’s paradise, has unlimited possibilities and so, I took hundreds of photos! From houses, to people, to gondolas, to everything else you can imagine. I’m not the only one who feels that way, as everywhere you turn someone has a camera. Locals in Venice are probably photographed more than anyone else in the world. It is such an unusual place, uncommon to most of the rest of the world. There are cobbled stone streets, but water canals bisect every section of the city. I’m told this ideology was to protect the city from invasion. In any event, it is a city that I love to keep my finger on the camera trigger constantly.

A selfie using a mirrored door!

With our Cappuccino break over, our plan was to head in the direction of the hospital, where Sam and Joan’s friends and former landlords live. Laura, is a traveling nurse and at the moment, has her hands full taking care of her elderly mother and father. She is also taking care of her mother in-law who is in hospice.

Kids and pigeons...St Marco's Square

Sam has a very good sense of direction and even with that and a map, we struggled to get into the neighborhood. Once we made it to the “Cannale delle Sacche”, Sam got his bearings and easily found the hospital, a marker close to Laura’s parents home. Speaking of usual Venice anomalies… How does a city of this size get to people who need emergency care? Of course, it is with an ambulance. The only difference is that they are boat ambulances. How does one pickup trash? Well, you guessed it, but the difference here is that men with small carts wheel around the streets and collect the trash and then meet the “trash boat” at a certain spots in the canal. Food deliveries are handled in the same reverse manner.
Back to our walk to Laura’s parents home. Walking down Fundament Nuove, Sam pointed out an island across the Cannale which was St Michele Cimitero (cemetery). Arriving at the hospital square, we gazed at all of the building architecture and people. Helen and I entered a large church to get a glimpse and as with most churches around here, it was spectacular!
From the square, it was just a few hundred feet to Lara’s parents home. While walking down the narrow street, Laura spotted us. She was expecting us as we had called her earlier. She had been to the market. All of the residential doors are always locked. We were buzzed in by here parents on the second floor. Ironically, no residential dwellings are on the first floor. This is due to an occasional high tide and water seepage. It was a nice reunion for Sam and Joan. We also felt glad to be able to meet and to talk to native Italians. Laura spoke very well in a broken English and was a good translator for her mom and dad (Angelina and Tony)

Laura and Sam

After our visit and goodbyes, it was time to hit the cobble stone again. A little corner deli caught our eye and lunch was in order. Our plan from here was to walk towards the famous Rialto bridge over the Grande Canal. You just can’t walk in a straight line! Someone had to put a building smack darn in the middle and you’d think you’d just could walk around and continue, but on the other side, the alleys or streets go into a totally different direction. You’ve got to “Love Adventure” and I do! So, after walking and walking, we wound up at “Plaza de Saint Marco” and never came close to the Rialto Bridge, but that’s ok… because, we’ve seen the bridge on a previous tour. At the plaza, which is huge, thousands of people were also gazing at the beauty and grander of the Basilica of St Marco and the very tall tower.

Always looking for the next shot!

We watched as kids were feeding pigeons. A big thing was to have the pigeons on your arms while some family member took a photo. Joan wanted to hear the bells ring at half pass the hour, but for some reason they didn’t. Leaving the square, Joan spotted the statue of “Punta de Salute” across the “Canale della Giudecca”. She wanted to have more of a quiet time and relax, which to all of us wasn’t a bad idea. To get to the point across the waterway, we walked along the canal until we found a bridge to cross. The canal here is very wide and we walked a long distance through a lot of back streets until we finally arrived at a bridge. By now, we had walked for several miles. A note here: Total walking miles for the day was 9 miles according to my FitBit pedometer!
From the bridge to the point was considerably short walking time, because of a more direct route available to us. I must say that walking wasn’t a bad thing. We got to see a lot of Venice that most people don’t even come close to seeing. Arriving at the “Punta d Salute”, Joan noted that a statue wasn’t there anymore. Sam and Joan sat on the steps of “Saint Maria della Salute” Basilica, while Helen and I walked into the basilica and admired the beautiful church. Some of these churches you have to pay to visit, but this one was free. There was actually a mass that was starting, but of course in Italian. Moving along the circular interior of the church, I took more photos, of course without a flash.
Walking towards the Stazione (Railroad Station), we had a little time to look up Lara’s husband’s business, who is a Dental Technician. He was still at work when we rang the door bell, Giorgio answered the door and we quickly had a chance to say hello. Next, on the agenda, was dinner. By Venice standards, it was too early to have dinner at most restaurants. This gave us little choices. The restaurant that we chose looked charming, but the food was not up to par. Sam and I had spaghetti which was the equivalent of “canned spaghetti” with a gourmet city price! This was the only not perfect experience in Venice.
All day long, I kept thinking off and on about our return train trip to Sacile. How would we find the right train? Thirteen tracks to choose from! How would we know when to get at the right station? Well, here is the answer: The train departure leader board didn’t show Sacile, problem solved by asking a cleanup worker. He said, “You have to read the fine print’, “track 13”. How to get off, answer; Talk to passengers and listen carefully to the on board train public address which does say it in English! It was a long day, but a satisfying journey. We may go to Venice again before our departure from Italy.

That is what we saw and did!

Moving Day!

Our large kitchen in the efficiency apartment!

Mission of the day: Checking out of our room for 11:00am and then a wait for 2pm to check into an efficiency apartment. We drove down to Aviano Center to the market. I noticed that some of the vendors were the same as the Market in Maniago. Still there was plenty to see. At lunch time, it was a return to the Menza (Italian Military Mess hall). We drove around a little in Aviano, stopped at the car rental company and because of a warning light on the dash, we were given a Peugeot sedan, a newer model year…we were happy! It seemed that we were waiting for that 2pm change of room and we were. We are now in a building across the street. It is actually closer to the Base Exchange and Commissary. We are adjusting to share the family style efficiency apartment. The apartment has a large full kitchen, living room, two separate bedrooms, washer dryer and the shared bathroom.

Our Dinning Restaurante!

Baby Clams and Pasta!

The rest of the afternoon was spent resting. It was sort of a good thing. We were on the move for a full week and it was time to recharge. This evening it was dinner at a new, for us, restaurant called “La Locanda” Helen is always trying something different and she had baby clams and pasta. Sam and I wanted to eat a little lighter and just ordered a Margarita, tomato, mozzarella cheese and garlic pizza! Joan, well she had something Italian that I can never remember, but she said it was delicious.
We are now back in the apartment watching American TV and writing my blog for the day. I am thinking that I will be posting also to wordpress.com. I believe they “Wordpress” have a better app for inserting more photos! If this proves to be true, I will post both in Blogspot.com and Wordpress.com. Stay tuned for updates.

That is what we saw and did!