travelswithalice

June 25, 2022

Verona

Friday, 24 June.

Dinner at Bertoldo. Highlight was the starter of cold meats: salada Trentina and poached pear with spiced fruit jam, carpaccio with sweet gorgonzola, and roast veal with mustard cream, all served with crispy polenta crackers.

Saturday, 25.

Lunch at Osteria Sottoriva.

We seem to be reprising our 2012 Verona trip with Margarita and Maurizio: from Bertoldo, to Sottoriva, to the arena.

The only difference is the hotel. We’ve traded in Due Torri for Accademia.

At the Arena di Verona for Nabucco.

I thoroughly enjoyed the production even if the story’s migration to a different time and place and people never really made sense to me.

There are several first night glitches. Getting twelve horses to strut onstage can be tricky especially when rifles keep firing, frightening them and me as well. And by the time the storyline really gets going, and the music gets really engrossing, the show has gone on far too long.

So when the Slaves Chorus is being wildly applauded with calls of Bis! Bis!, I’m really hoping they wouldn’t oblige and just get on with the show.

But does any of that really matter?

As always, only the spectacle matters. This is Verdi in the Verona Arena. The extravagant sets, the sumptuous music, the wonder and delight that is opera.

And the glory of it all is that the theatre itself is even more spectacular than what is onstage.

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones # June 25, 2022

June 20, 2022

Back on the Lido

Tuesday, June 21.

We’re back on the Lido at the Ausonia & Hungaria. At this point in our two-month holiday, we feel we’ve found the right balance: a place between not too hectic and not too dead; where there’s life after 9.

Across the street, there’s Sunday night jazz at Roxy Bar.

My plan for this week is to not do anything but rest, be comfortable, and unwind from the running around of the past two months. Stuart though can’t stay put; he goes off on the ferry everyday.

Mondays are usually quiet because most places are closed so I joined him for a quick trip to the mainland. The ferry was full but St Mark’s was relatively uncrowded; you could actually see the pavement you’re walking on.

After taking a we-were-here selfie, we’re happy to just turn around and go back.

I went inside the Fortuny shop just to be surrounded by beautiful things, chat with the nice shop lady, look at the lovely lamps and exquisite little purses, touch the luscious fabrics.

Stuart then smartly headed to the #1 ferry so we got on before it filled up.

We like going to Bar Lepanto, a cheerful local neighbourhood bar around the corner from the hotel. They’re open all day, serving drinks and snacks.

Obviously a favourite with locals, the place fills up at passeggiata time and empties by 8:30.

Wednesday, 22.

At Lepanto, I ask Angio where he would go for a nice dinner. He points us to a place further up the road, beside an inner canal.

It’s a nice street, mainly residential. Small dinghies and motorboats are parked alongside the canal.

There are elegant houses, a small hotel, no shops or bars. There’s a laundromat, nice and quiet, with only one person sitting in front of a large table.

Ristorante Andri is on the ground floor of an Italian Liberty style house.

A sign saying “Sorry, we’re fully booked” is on a table outside. There’s a table available only until 9. It’s all the time we need.

The restaurant is delightfully decorated in bright cheerful colours. There’s art on the walls and on the table. The table itself is painted in lovely colours and the glassware on it is beautiful.

There are moments on holiday when it’s a comfort to find that English is spoken. This is one of those moments. Our charming young waiter went to Oxford, so what’s he doing waiting tables on the Lido, I wonder?

We enjoyed our dinner so we’re going back tomorrow. I must ask him then.

Thursday, 23.

Last day on the Lido was much like every other. We’re going to miss this.

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones # June 20, 2022

June 16, 2022

Murano

Thursday, June 16.

On the hotel launch.

Hyatt Centric porters are on hand to meet our launch.

A very late lunch at a friendly neighbourhood bar. The sign said Beware of the Dog but we only saw a pet tortoise.

Murano is like Cannaregio, only quieter. The place goes to sleep before 9.

I’ve been through this route before but only just noticed the monument standing on the water in front of the Cimitero.

It’s a bronze sculpture called “Dante’s Barque”, a reference to Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. It’s a haunting memorial to honour the dead buried there.

Friday, 17.

It took us close to three hours to find our way through the ferry circuit to get to Lido for three important errands: lunch, barber shop, and laundry. We scored well on the first two but didn’t feel up to the last.

Coming back was more straightforward, arriving right at our doorstep.

We can actually watch the ferries, we can see the stop, from our window.

Saturday, 18.

The hotel is nice, the location in front of the ferry wharf is great, very convenient if you intend to make Murano a base from which to come and go. Trouble is, the ferry is not convenient.

You need more than one ferry to get to and from anywhere. They tend to be overcrowded as they pick up from several stops, so you may not even get on and have to wait for another one.

Sunday,19.

After three days, we realise there’s really nothing for us to see and do here. We’re leaving and moving to the Lido.

In the evening, we went to leave some of our luggage for the next day at the Lido hotel then hurried back to Murano for dinner.

The evening 5.2 ferry takes a longer route so we took the Alilaguna water bus to Colonna and walked the rest of the way. By the time we got to Murano the restaurants had closed for the day.

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones # June 16, 2022

June 13, 2022

Palermo

Saturday, June 11.

There’s nothing grand about Grand Hotel Wagner. Their booking adverts lied. No old-world charm here, it’s just old and dreary, shabby and neglected.

They offer us two other rooms, neither of which is any better than the one we’re already in. It’s 8 p.m., surely too late to change hotels, but Stuart goes out to try anyway.

He’s back in a few minutes saying the magic words: We’re leaving!

Grand Hotel et Des Palmes, only a two-minute walk from the Wagner, is a world away. As the doorman whisks open the door and swiftly relieves us of our luggage, I’m transported to a happy place.

The lobby is full of light, there’s lively jazz music in the air, and bright smiling faces at the front desk.

We go straight to dinner in the hotel’s rooftop restaurant. The evening gets even better as we take our bottle of lovely Sicilian white onto the terrace where a jazz band is playing.

Sunday, 12.

We have only two items on today’s agenda: lunch and the Serpotta sculptures.

As it’s Sunday and already past 3, we have limited options for lunch.

Bistrot 107 is packed. Mostly with hulking big men in black leather and heavy gold and silver jewellery. Hell’s bells, they’re Hells Angels!

Not the convivial atmosphere we like to linger in but the sardine involtini and the grilled gamberoni are really very good. We decide to take out the seafood risotto.

The back streets of Palermo don’t exactly fill one with a sense of well-being. The narrow lane we’re in fills me with dread. Are we on the right track for the oratory, I wonder.

Tucked away in a grubby street replete with graffiti is the Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita.

This is a magical place where stories traditionally told in paintings and illustrated in stained glass are here rendered in stunning 3D by Rococo sculptor Giacomo Serpotta.

Scenes from the life of Christ celebrated in the mysteries of the rosary are staged theatrically in a series of dioramas.

Biblical figures, allegorical characters, mythical creatures are all elaborately sculpted in meticulous detail in snow-white stucco.

Adorable impish putti frolic among fruits and flowers and cavort around windows, climb up to the ceiling, and dangle from sills.

It's closing time, so I rush to see the adjoining chapel which has original 16th century decorations.

It’s miraculous how this ancient structure, seriously damaged by WW2 bombs, has managed to retain this hoard of precious jewels of art.

There’s a mighty roar on the street as we come out of the Oratorio. Our lunch companions are on the move.

Monday, 13.

A profusion of architectural styles traces the history of the city.

Tuesday, 14.

Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele.

The opera house, the largest theatre in Italy, is renowned for its perfect acoustics.

That iconic scene from The Godfather 3, Al Pacino’s agonised silent scream when Sofia Coppola gets shot, is played out on these steps.

Teatro Politeama Garibaldi, home of the Sinfonica Siciliana, is an elegant Neoclassical structure.

Our day at the market fell flat at lunch, our worst meal on holiday. Stuart sent back his fish fry.

We’ve had several delicious meals at this osteria near the hotel.

Thursday, 16.

Arrivederci, Sicilia!

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones # June 13, 2022

June 09, 2022

Taormina

Wednesday, June 8.

Another train, another adventure!

Now experienced train travellers, we know how to get a taxi from the station. Having called our hotel to send us one, we soon leave behind a number of tired, frustrated, befuddled other travellers still trying to work the call-phone at the taxi stand.

We’re in Taormina. It’s so beautiful here.

Perched on a mountain slope 400 meters above sea level, it has astonishingly gorgeous views across the Ionian Sea and Mount Etna, the hyperactive volcano that locals affectionately call “Mongibello”, beautiful mountain.

At dinner in NH Collection’s rooftop restaurant Zefiro, Giuseppe our waiter cheerfully informs us that Etna is currently erupting.

After helping us choose the wine, explaining the evening’s specialties, and introducing the restaurant’s chef, another Giuseppe, he then takes us around the rooftop balcony to point out the most beautiful spots in his town.

So we’re 20 miles from Mount Etna, Europe‘s largest and most dangerous volcano. It is, at this very moment, erupting. Should we worry?

Well, we’ve just had a marvellous dinner with a bottle of very nice wine, so we’re really in no mood to worry about anything at all. After all, I’m told that Mongibello is not known to hurt people.

Thursday, 9.

We spent the morning at poolside, finally taking the time to just laze and read. We’ve really fallen off the wagon this time and it’s not even lunchtime yet!

In the evening, dinner at family owned and run Malvasia. We loved the food and the informality. Our bill was handled by the matriarch. She was wearing a large kitchen apron so I asked if she was the chef.

Yes, chef and “padrone”, she said.

Taormina is an elegant town. The architecture ranges from ancient Greek and Roman to Medieval to Baroque. There are many smart bistros and romantic scenic restaurants. People tend to dress for dinner.

The tourist souvenir shops are all on Via Teatro Greco, the street leading to the amphitheater. Main street Corso Umberto has the smarter shops and big name luxury brands. Dior has a beautiful store in a splendid Baroque building.

The wind started to blow a gale as we walked back to the hotel. Later, for the first time since we arrived here, stars were bright in the night sky.

Friday, 10.

Our last day in town was reserved for the two famous theatres of Taormina.

The Odeon, the small Roman theatre, was built in 21 BCE but was only just discovered, accidentally, in 1892.

Intended only to host musical and literary presentations for the elite, it sits less than 200. Built of red clay bricks, it’s now sadly mostly rubble.

The Greek Theatre of Taormina, built in the 3rd century BCE, was dug directly into the hard rock of Mount Tauro. With seating for thousands of spectators, its design follows the Greek building tradition of incorporating natural scenery into the architecture.

I wish we could stay to watch a performance.

Later, we had Negroni and Etna Spritz on the terrace of Hotel Timeo.

Rain has been forecast for days now so we canceled our booking at Malvasia and went instead to Trattoria Tutti Cca (I believe it means everybody’s here), the pretty restaurant on the twisty steps beside the Roman theatrette.

It did start to rain after dinner and we had to make a mad dash for the hotel. Luckily it’s just a few steps up and across the road.

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones # June 09, 2022