By Gabriela, on June 25th, 2009

(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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A little above the sea level, Comacchio is a small Venice, in the Delta Po. We arrived there early in the morning, while searching for the headquarters of the Delta Po Park. As everything else in Italy, this was not that easy to find and after trying to get by car to the headquarters, we gave up and started taking Comacchio on foot. We managed to find a tourism office in the end, and than after some more walking through the hot day we found it.

Unfortunately they are not really that well organized at the national parks in Italy and everything seems to be possible only if you announce them ahead. Otherwise everything is “divieto di acceso” (forbidden to enter). So no more Delta Po for us.

Since we had lost half a day with this task we did some exploration of Comacchio instead, and were charmed by the narrow streets and the canals. This is the only place where we could find some internet connection at the public library. From 4 computers connected to the internet, only one actually worked at a snail speed. Coming from a country where you can find internet connections basically everywhere…Italy was a huge disappointment.

After a few more hours we were on our way to the real Venice, and stopped for the night in a locality close to it. Here from a little pier we could watch the big ships passing by from the harbor.

Was not that much of an exciting day, but I will let the photos speak for themselves.

By Gabriela, on June 24th, 2009

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Beautiful and romantic Venice. No doubt it used to be, judging by the traces left by history and the beautiful buildings, but today Venice is an overpriced tourist destination that is filled (and I mean filled) with tourists and souvenir shops.

However since we were close to Venice, it would have been silly not to visit and form an opinion of my own. We parked the car in one of the private parkings offered by the city, close to the train station, and at the hear of the cost well it sort of ruined the start of the day. 24 euro no matter if you stay 1 hour or 12. For us it seemed rather expensive since we were planning for a 4 hour tops visit, thus the parking price didn’t seem to be justified. Even more, we had to leave the car open with the keys in ignition, and reading their rules showed that they are not to be held responsible for any theft of goods from the cars!!!!

Leaving the parking we searched for a place to buy a map which a few miles back we saw for 2.5 euro. Well in Venice, the exact same map was 5 euro.

We let our steps follow the flow of tourists which at that very early morning hour were crawling all over. As I said, Venice has its charm, but I was not that impressed. After discovering more and more new places, and admiring the multitude of venetian masks and murano glass all types of souvenirs we decided to stop and eat…what else but a …PIZZA…

Shocking again but we were served by Chinese personnel, and that pizza which was not that great was overpriced as well. I guess you just can’t do anything in Venice if you are not leaving behind a lot of money.

Anyway, enough with words…photos can tell a better story than I can. Enjoy!

By Gabriela, on May 29th, 2009

(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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In our desire to discover more of Italy as possible, we took off again by car, crossing through Napoli to visit the Vesuvio volcano, than towards Apuglia region in search of the Trulli. Napoli and Vesuvio Vulcano were somewhat of a disappointment since there were piles of garbage everywhere. The Vesuvio National Park was also a disappointment for the naturalists in us. A lot of fences everywhere on the way up and when you arrive up, you have to pay a parking fee of 2.5 euro, than 6 euro for a ticket. You can only walk up on a specific trail and leaded by a guide, who does not speak English!!! You cannot stop on the way to admire the flora and fauna, and even more you stumble on the hundreds of tourists. We were disappointed due to all of this so we left, or tried to leave, because all the big busses were blocking the access way, so I had to do a lot of maneuvers, going back and forth until I could exit the madness.

The highways around Napoli are in pretty bad shape and under construction, so even if we thought we would get away faster we still drove with 60 kmph.

Now let me tell you something about driving around Napoli or better said in the Campagnia region…it is CRAZY!!! There is no rule that these drivers respect. Driving on the opposite lane seems normal, passing cars in heavy traffic on the opposite way is also normal. The Italians on the little motorinos are also a danger, so you have to look for those squeezing between cars as well…Nobody pays any yielding to others even if they had a stop/yield sign. They honk for absolutely everything. If someone will tell me ever again that in Romania the traffic and drivers are bad, I will tell them to be ashamed. Today, driving in Bucharest seems heaven to me. I drove in all Europe and United States, and I have never seen anything like driving in Italy.

This being said, as we got further away from Napoli and passed in the Apulia region, the landscape totally changed…the garbage disappeared as well. Wonderful green hills and mountains, fields with grain with thousands of amazing wild yellow tulips which have a wonderful smell.

And what is Apulia? Apulia is a region in southeastern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its southern portion known as Salento, a peninsula, forms a high heel on the “boot” of Italy. This region has a lot to offer to the tourists. From the Gargano National Park, to the wonderful Castel del Monte, to the unique Trulli houses. It has something really picturesque about it.

However, the reason we headed to Apulia was the wonderful trulli, a traditional Apulian stone dwelling with a conical roof. The style of construction is specific to Itria Valley, in the Murge area of the Italian region of Apulia. Many of the trulli can be found in the towns of Alberobello, Locorotondo, Fasano, Cisternino, Martina Franca and Ceglie Messapica. Trulli were generally constructed as dwellings or storehouses. Traditionally they were built without any cement or mortar, thus avoiding taxation. This style of construction is also prevalent in the surrounding countryside where most of the fields are separated by dry-stone walls.

The roofs are constructed in two layers: an inner layer of limestone boulders, capped by a keystone, and an outer layer of limestone slabs ensuring that the structure is watertight. Originally, the conical structure would have been built directly on the ground, but most of the surviving structures are based on perimeter walls. In Alberobello atop a trullo’s cone there is normally a pinnacle, which may be one of many designs, chosen for symbolism. Additionally, the cone itself may have a symbol painted on it. Such symbols may include planetary symbols, the malochio (evil eye), the cross, a heart, a star and crescent, or quite a few others.

The walls are very thick, providing a cool environment in hot weather and insulating against the cold in the winter. The vast majority of trulli have one room under each conical roof: a multi-roomed trullo house has many cones representing a room each. Children would sleep in alcoves made in the wall with curtains hung in front.

There are many theories behind the origin of the design. One of the more popular theories is that due to high taxation on property the people of Puglia created dry wall constructions so that they could be dismantled when inspectors were in the area.

Today the surviving trulli are popular among English and German tourists and are often bought and restored for general use. Trulli are protected under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) world heritage law.

Sadly we had to keep on moving so we headed towards Gargano National Park.