I’m a lucky guy – I’m spending two weeks working in three of my favorite cities.
In Paris – my all time fave place to eat is Mediterrano at the Odeon, (http://www.la-mediterranee.com/)
in Rome, it’d be Carbonara in Campo di fiori,
and in London – yes you CAN get great food especially if you go to Sheekeys!
@JSheekeyrest @RistoranteLaCarbonaraRoma
What are your fave places in these cities? I love to try new places!
Referendums
It’s been a tough few months out there. First, the disastrous vote on Brexit by the (get this) “Brexiteers” followed by the new reign of King Trump of Orange (no relation to William of Orange). And here I am with two passports, one British and one American, feeling that I need a stopgap. As it turns out, the UK parliament has decidedly voted to move Brexit into motion. What that means for me is that I face, along with every other pro-European, the uncertainty of access into the 27 other member countries of the EU. So, whoever thought up the idea of a referendum? Well, actually we have the Swiss to blame for that.
Around the 13th century,
the Swiss started it all and it still thrives there to this day. All you need to trigger one of these things is 100,000 votes. Well, as we know, it’s not all wine and roses. Hitler used the device to promote his populist rantings and managed to screw the entire western world over and kill a lot of innocent people in the process. Referendums gave him the dictatorial powers that enabled him to dominate the evil arena for over 12 years. In the USA, there’s no national mechanism for a referendum. Pity, as we could probably do something about Donald of Orange right now given his current standing! Still, 24 states hold referendums and Massachusetts became the most recent state to pass legalization of marijuana laws through this device. So, referendums are really not all that bad. It’s just that when you need them to fail, the failsafe doesn’t work. Brexit voters just caused the biggest upset in British politics…and what will happen to Scotland? After all, Romans thought it was wise to keep out the Scots by building a wall! Heard that somewhere before. Didn’t work then. Won’t work now!
My Only Hope – Ireland
My grandmother was from County Clare and according to Irish law that entitles me to apply for citizenship. Therefore, it’s a route back into the European sunshine of 27 states. I knew granny
would be good for something even though none of us could understand a word that she said! So, off I have been on the path of discovery to County Clare, the tiny town of Scarriff, and the even tinier hamlet of Aughram. I am looking at church records, the births and deaths register in Dublin, you name it, I am on it. And I am nearly there.
To be honest, it is exciting to retrace my heritage and the journey has been a journey of discovery and revelation. As it turns out, my grandmother was telling porkypies (lies) about her age and it seems porkypies about her name. But I got her! Even though the shocking news about name and age was difficult to take for my mother, the consolation for us all was that we can all get Irish passports. Unless, of course, the Brexit vote is reversed. Unlikely though with the way the world is shaping up at the moment. For Americans, think laterally. You may have relatives in Mexico or Canada and let’s face it, a Mexican or Canadian passport may be the only way you get to spend your vacations in Cancun. Of course, you may never be allowed back to the USA!
The other day while experiencing a 7.5-hour delay at the airport for a flight from New York to
Boston, the loudspeaker message came over stating they were looking for passengers prepared to take an alternative flight for a credit voucher on the same airline. Let the buyer beware, as we know with United Airlines, it’s not just good enough to say that you’re not interested, you are actually playing a game of poker with them. They’re offering you money but if nobody takes it then they double the money. If nobody takes it, they pick four unsuspecting people with no compensation and drag them off of the plane head first. It’s already bad enough having to deal with bad attitudes and entrenched values on traditional carriers such as United Airlines and American Airlines. But now we have to deal with the possibility that they can drag you off of the plane. I guess these big carriers have not seen what is under that tiny tip of an iceberg floating in a sea of air transportation called JetBlue and Norwegian Air. A warning to United…being competitive with JetBlue doesn’t work by removing the first three letters of your name. You tried that (Ted Airlines) and it did not work. A warning to American…receiving the reward for the worst airline two years in a row is not an accolade. Jesus, you’d think these guys would learn.
The territory of Alsace-Lorraine is not quite France but very much a part of it. We were headed 
to Strasbourg, the capital of the territory, to see this beautiful city that sits on the Rhine and its tributaries. It has fabulous wines and is the center of power for the European Parliament. Who knows, this would potentially be for me a last look at what it was like to see a Union Jack outside the Parliament building after Brexit.
Strasbourg is foremost a beautiful town – it’s very German in feel and therefore very organized. There are great restaurants and the pedestrian zone around the massive cathedral is worth the visit. It has this very Euro feeling to it and houses the second largest university in France. The constantly circulating river boats do sightseeing tours and allow you to see the beautiful old buildings adorning the river. There is lots of sightseeing activity on the river boats and at night, a walk to the main square to see the cathedral is an absolutely spectacular stroll. We ate in a couple of good Alsace restaurants and likely had way too much meat but greatly enjoyed the Rieslings and Pinot Blancs. It’s one of the few times that I allow myself to indulge in sautéed foie gras.
What is cool about this city is that it’s a base
to visit two other spectacular nearby places – Baden Baden and Colmar. For a French teacher, Colmar is a must and Baden Baden is a fabulous add-on across the border. We even got to see a baseball game outside the EU parliament. How strange, especially since baseball, so they say, is on the decline and soccer is on the rise. It seems here in the heart of Europe a flicker of faith was keeping the old ball game alive. Meanwhile, the Union Jack was flying high; a last flutter of the flag to denote that the great European experiment, alive and well everywhere, and created after the disaster of the second world war, was getting red carded in the U.K. Go on Scotland, declare independence and leave Auntie Britain and go live with your less superior relatives, The Euros. Ireland seems much happier living with its European neighbors since its divorce in 1922!
Boarding a plane domestically is getting to be 
just as bad as reading a magazine during a dental surgery knowing that almost certainly what happens inside is not going to be good.
Given the fact that there are so many different elite statuses, and the airlines charge for bags that are checked, everybody is bringing their rollies on-board. And of course, unless you get there first, you are not going to make the final cut and you will be sentenced to putting your bag in the hold of the plane. Good news though, it’s at zero cost and the bag is unlikely to get lost on the conveyer belts at the originating airport. Either way, it is a nightmare. Whatever system is employed, it usually fails – back to front, elite status first, ready-set-go, it all creates a pretty awful customer experience as people push each other to grab those important marker spaces to throw their bags in the overhead bins. Flight attendants are getting more diligent on where people are throwing their bags. If you think you will be throwing your bag in the business part of the plane if you’re traveling in coach, think again.
So why is it that with all this confusion, Southwest Airlines, which has been
operating the most basic system of all with no baggage surcharge if you check, is always considered the best system? It’s random, there’s no class distinction, you just line up in rows with numbers allocated and you cannot move until they tell you. And on the airplane, it’s a free for all so you choose your seat, have a nice day, and get over it. It works and that’s the way it goes. The domestic boarding experience is one of the most horrific experiences known in the airline industry and yet the glowing example of how to do it right is staring everybody in the face.
But Southwest Airlines, which sits at a comfortable number four in overall ranking for the best USA domestic airlines, is not where it wants to be in terms of overall ranking. Number one for the fourth year in a row is Alaska Airlines, number two for the second year in a row is Delta, number three is Virgin America, and number four is Southwest. Most people would probably guess that the worst airline out there would be Spirit Airlines but actually, Spirit beats out American Airlines coming in at number eight. However, American is at least consistent and retains its stronghold and the prize for the worst airline for 2016. It’s the worst in canceled flights, worst in tarmac delays, and worst in mishandled baggage. While Spirit hangs down at the bottom for delays and complaints, you have to ask who would complain 
about a $25 ticket on a 1,000-mile route? On the other hand, American is charging big bucks for crap service. Get a load of this – American’s numbers actually improved over last year. Alaska, which has just acquired Virgin America, looks like it will further improve its network and grab some of its strong points and push it over to what was its Virgin competitor.
While the overall performance of airlines is a lot better than it was a year ago, it’s good to know who you want to put your bag and your bet on. Need we say more but the most punctual airline in the USA was the beloved Seattle-based Alaskan at 86% and the tardiest was Spirit at 74%. So, the numbers are small and the differences are in the inches (leg room, on time performance, queuing up to get on the plane, etc.) but it does not take that much to look at who is best at what and adopt those practices throughout. If Southwest has the best boarding, copy it. If JetBlue has the best in-flight entertainment, emulate it. If American cannot figure that out, then somewhere somebody better start changing the structure of the management rather than the structure of the plane.
So I travel a lot and I love trains. They are simply better in Europe than anywhere else –
efficient, convenient, and quick. Frankly, it would be impossible to get much worse than an Amtrak train or even the so-called high-speed version, the Acela.
But I do have some complaints on European train stations. Firstly, for all of its glitzy grandeur, how did they invent the terminal at St. Pancras in such a lousy way? St. Pancras offers all of the familiar shopping mall amenities outside the terminal, but once you get inside and pass through security, you are locked in a tiny little world with one bad coffee shop and a badly stocked newspaper place. That is it. While I love the beauty of riding between London and Paris in a superfast train, I just think that they can do a better job of tidying up the stations at the end. On the other end, the Gare du Nord is one of 
the saddest examples of how not to make a great impression on your visit to such an amazing place like Paris. And it feels seedy, the taxi set up is appalling and you know that someone is specifically out there with a view to ripping you off. Of course, it happened to me.
This time it was the taxi scam. You wait in the taxi line, you get to the cab, you jump in the cab, and then you notice that the taxi meter, as you are driving through the streets, has €50 stuck on it. If you have made that trip before, you look at that €50 suspiciously. When you ask the cab driver if there is something wrong with his meter, he happens to say, “No monsieur, you are in a premier taxi.” You ask him what is premier about this taxi as you lined up with everyone else on the regular taxi stand – not a premier taxi stand. He only restates that you are in a premier taxi. So more or less, in French, you say, “Listen man, I am not going to pay you €50. I know the fare is supposed to be €15. But I am most certainly going to call the police.” The gauntlet is down. He either stops the cab and kicks you out in the middle of nowhere, or he gets it. This cab driver got it and delivered us to our hotel. I gave him €15 and told him I was the Angel of Death. Bottom line – check the meter when you jump in a cab!
It seems like an eternity but I remember well when England used pounds, shillings, and pence. The term £sd stood for librae, solidi, and denarii. The measurement was based on Roman weights and measures and a pound of silver was divided into 240 denarius. Remarkably and unfathomably, that stood through my childhood – 240 pence to a pound.
I was thinking the other day of that hilarious bit in Monty Python’s Life of Brian. What did the Romans do for us? Apart from roads, sanitation, baths, building, currency etc. So, there we were in the UK and Ireland pretty much using a Roman system for currency when the rest of the world had left us way behind and fled to decimalization. Hey, that’s not going to happen again. Yeah right, Brexit! Screw those Europeans and all that Roman stuff. We will show them. Oh crikey!
So how bizarre was it to order a pint of beer for ten pence, egg and chips for just one and five, and a bag of chips for just four pence. Four of chips please! Or you could buy something classy for 19 and 11. Imagine things like twopence and threepence, sixpence was called a tanner, and a shilling was called a bob. “He is worth a few bob” meant that he was rich. A pound was, and still is, called a quid or a knicker. Half of a pound was a ten bob note or a tenner. Lend me a tenner! They even made a funny play about a tenor and a tenner and the play on words. Two shillings and sixpence was half a crown or half a dollar. Confused!? Exactly!
But actually, the transition to decimalization surprisingly went remarkably well. Prices rose, of course, but it was the British version of unification in Germany. I mean we were nearly as efficient as the Germans! Not as impressive but not bad. Of course, the Italians did change currency along with most of the European countries by adopting the Euro on January 1st, 1999. The Brits stuck with the pound!
So, I bought some coins the other day at a museum and it made me laugh. I thought of egg and chips for one and six at the local café. Travel changes lives.
I hadn’t been to the Marché aux Puces for 30 years. It’s a foggy memory but I know that we 
went there because D was involved in antiques at the time. She needed some things for her shop and we needed some stuff for the house.
Recently, a few days before we left for our trip in Paris, I was looking at a beautiful belle époque light fixture and I remembered that we had bought it at that flea market all those years ago. Low and behold, there I was on a rainy, Saturday morning in Paris heading out with the family to check it out again.
This time I did my homework in preparation. The Marché aux Puces is the largest flea market in the world and attracts around 12M visitors per year. But the key to this is that you have to get a map of the actual flea market. It is HUGE. The market has two entrances and both are off of Rue de Rosiers. We took the Metro and got off at the Porte de Clignancourt on Line 4. There is also a bus service to the heart of the marché – take the 85. From Clignancourt, it’s a bit of a hike on foot through the tacky peripheral shops selling t-shirts and cheap, nasty knick-knacks. But the treasure lies within from the street off the Rue de Rosiers. There are 14 submarkets, both indoors and outdoors wrapped around alleys and passageways; you name it, there are stands everywhere. The individual markets all have different names which you can see on the map. The more interesting items are on display as you go deeper inside the market.
The story of how the market evolved is interesting too. It started around the late 19th century when some enterprising folks began wandering the streets of Paris “moon fishing” – going through the discards of the wealthy neighborhoods (all quite legal) and bringing the haul to market at the decidedly less salubrious neighborhood around Clignancourt. Little by little, the fashionable and wealthy began spending their Sundays wandering the streets looking for things that probably belonged to them in the first place! Now the market is open Friday mornings (but this is mainly for dealers) and on Saturday and Sunday the stores are open 8 am to 6 pm. On Mondays, the dealers come again and you can make an appointment to meet with a vendor during the day.
There are lots of cafés and places to eat around and about the marché including one treasure inside of the market, the fun and lively Chez Louisette. This place is wild. Buried inside of the flea market, it’s an institution that started in the 1930’s. It’s a kitsch cabaret show of Edith Piaf songs and typical French fare. The food is really funky and un-chic from rabbit to beef bourguignon. This place is an original guinguette with singing, some dancing, and a wait staff filled with comedians. It’s worth a stop, if only for the show. Its hours are 8:30 am to 6:30 pm and it is only open on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. Get there early because it is popular and attracts people from all over the world. Nobody goes there for the food – but it helps if you’re hungry!
The bottom line on the largest flea market in the world – this is the real deal. There are bargains and amazing things to discover. If you are planning to create a new interior to your house, you could do much worse from a financial point of view and ship a huge crate of this incredible stuff back. I am heading back in April just to buy a horse from a carousel!
When I travel, I use a man bag. I can’t take all of the crap constantly in my pockets and don’t like those awful Italian hard bags that look ridiculous and nothing fits in them anyway. My usual travel attire is a backpack (Tumi) and another bag which is great for easy access on the plane for my headsets, iPad, Kindle, and passport. I use the backpack as an extra and sometimes I even pack it in my suitcase. I like to travel with a compact Briggs and Riley four-spinner suitcase. It’s always carry-on friendly and it fits above every plane but has an expandable pop out if you need it.
My usual travel attire is a backpack (Tumi) and another bag which is great for easy access on the plane for my headsets, iPad, Kindle, and passport. I use the backpack as an extra and sometimes I even pack it in my suitcase. I like to travel with a compact Briggs and Riley four-spinner suitcase. It’s always carry-on friendly and it fits above every plane but has an expandable pop out if you need it.
So back to the man bag. I found the perfect man bag recently and bought my son a bag two years ago on the website Mr. Porter when they were having a great sale. It is a waxed cotton weekender bag and it looked really cool. So a month ago, he was traveling with it and I had forgotten that I bought it for him! I took a photo of it, wrote down the maker of the bag (Ally Capellino), and sourced down the store looking for a small cross-over bag for all my essential stuff. On their website, they had a great looking compact bag, but I really needed to see the bag for myself.
So, I found myself in London last month, headed to their store on Lambs Conduit Street…wow, wait, what’s that name all about?! Funny you asked. Named after William Lambe for his contribution to a dam (a conduit) that was restored along the River Fleet. I thought it was a place that lambs were led to the slaughter or something more terrible, but alas, it really was not a game changer of a name. Nowadays, the area is super cool in Bloomsbury with lots of fun shops and bars and a great pub called…you guessed it, “The Lamb”. But, getting back to the story – this area is most importantly home to the wonderful Ally Capellino store. So this place is a real gem. They have awesome bags, great designs, and although a little pricey, not crazy. It’s my working briefcase on a daily basis, my travel companion on planes, and a sure-fire way to keep me organized. And I think it doesn’t look ridiculous. What do you think?
I have a bank, People’s Bank, and it’s about a 5-minute walk from my house. The other night I wandered into the bank as I needed some statements. I ended up chatting with two of the tellers and when I did, I detected an accent. So I asked where they were from. One said she was from Bulgaria, had a Green Card, and was married to a Ukrainian guy. They loved Boston and she was going to apply for US citizenship. She first came here on a J1 Visa for work travel and she fell in love with America. Although she was anxious about it, she wanted to apply for a US passport but new administration policies made her concerned.
The other teller was from Nepal. She had won the lottery pick offered after the tragic earthquake in Katmandhu and she had received a work visa for the USA. They have since discontinued the lottery but she is hopeful that her fiancée will one day get to come here. She was in Kathmandu when the earthquake hit and went a week living out in the open for fear of more tremors. She was so nice and so helpful. Then, out of the blue, the manager came over. He was from Armenia originally, his wife was from Russia, they spoke Russian at home, and loved the USA. Three immigrants loving this place. How naive to have short sightedness on such a fundamental premise of the USA. There is nothing more American than being an immigrant! Travel changes lives.
– Image by © Alan Schein
It’s the middle of winter, the snow has just started, the temperature is jumping down into the teens most days in Boston, and the days are desperately short. I know what, let’s go to Iceland for a winter break and get away from it all!! I know it sounds crazy and for sure it cannot match with a one-week getaway in the Caribbean, but in my mind it’s actually better than that. This, after all, is the land that the Vikings populated over 1,000 years ago and a chance for all of us to get a glimpse of where they lived and what Vikings really looked like. Believe me, not much has changed. Iceland has a population of just over 300,000 people. Believe it or not, everybody that you bump into on the street looks like they could have been a Viking or a Viking’s wife, and they all love it here.
The last time I had visited Iceland was a couple of years ago. When I went in July, it was not balmy but the sun literally never set. However, this time I went in the beginning of January. There is barely five hours of daylight, it’s dark when you wake up, and what little light there is disappears soon into the afternoon. Truly, it’s a crazy place to go! But you know what? I loved it.
The arrival morning in Reykjavik was not great. We rented a car but lashing rain and freezing conditions were not inviting. The guy at Hertz thought it would be a bad idea to cancel the reservation even though visibility and my local knowledge were nonexistent. Still I ended up cancelling the car. Good Idea. But we decided to take a cab. Bad idea. $200 later, the meter gave me the nasty news. Recommendation: Never take cabs in Reykjavik. There are bus services everywhere and they are cheap and reliable. Actually, it’s the only thing that is cheap in Iceland!
Reykjavik is a totally different city in the winter. The weather is unpredictable – a blizzard, some rain, freezing conditions, clear skies, it’s got the lot. The museums are great and informative, especially the Settlement Exhibition and Viking World. The food scene in general is terrific with great restaurants and late bookings. Two restaurants I liked were The Fish Market, next to the Centrum Hotel, and The Sjavargrillid Seafood Grill on Skolavoroustigur 14. The bars are lively to say the least. Weekend last calls will outlast all but the intrepid youth; 4 to 5 A.M. and they’re still lining up to get in. There are also several great bars off of the same street that the seafood grill is on. The food scene is dominated by fish, with lots of cod and arctic char, the occasional puffin or reindeer thrown into the mix for those who can deal with it, and a dash of mink whale if you can deal with that also. Juice bars are everywhere and the food is pretty healthy. The two main squares are loaded with things to do and places to see and the harbor is undergoing development with spectacular views across the bay of the snowcapped mountains. There is a real youthful feel to the city.
We did all of the tourist stuff including the Golden Circle tour to see the Geysir, the Gullfoss Waterfalls, and the tectonic plates at Pingvellir. In between, in the brief hours of daylight that we had, there were spectacular views of the faraway mountains and volcanoes. We even saw the northern lights. Yes, we actually went hunting for them with a northern light expert looking for holes in the clouds. There were blizzard conditions and we almost gave up hope when suddenly the clouds moved apart and this dazzling magical light show started. It was like nothing I had ever seen. The Blue Lagoon was fun. We had a reservation at night and it proved to be a clear night with a bright half-moon. Such a spectacular way to hang out before a late night dinner. So in winter there’s actually plenty of things that make Reykjavik a fabulous city to visit for a three-day stay.
Iceland has plenty of unique features. The great news about Iceland is that it’s expensive so there is absolutely nothing to buy. In fact, sometimes the prices border on crazy (hence the crazy taxi fare), but in the restaurants and bars, you can navigate these prices. As most of the excursions are included when you travel to Iceland, you escape the harsh reality of the nasty excursion bill. The Icelandic language is authentic and unchanged from its original Viking days. It is absolutely impossible to understand but everybody speaks English as the kids in school are taught English from the age of four. There is a great sign as you enter the airport. It says that all of Iceland’s electricity comes from renewable energy sources – earth, wind, and fire. So, yeah, they keep the Christmas lights on a little bit longer and the Blue Lagoon is lit up way into the night. But with practically no electricity bill, it’s not an issue. The quality of life in Iceland is at such a high level that practically no one wants to leave over the long-term.
The great thing about Iceland is that each season offers different opportunities. My advice is to go there if you had never been, to return there if you had never been and sample a different season, and if you are a teacher, take your group for a short break or combine it with London. If you are a STEM teacher, there is so much to do and so much to study, that it is probably the greatest outdoor classroom in the world.
P.S. it is not quite as cold as everybody says. In fact, today, in Boston, it is 7° Fahrenheit and it sure did not feel that cold in the Blue Lagoon a few nights ago!
But renting a car and driving into town after the final of the All-Ireland Gaelic Football game that Dublin won is a whole different world. The GPS could navigate me into the center but what it did not tell me was that I had to avoid the remnants of celebration walking randomly in front of me as I drove to the Conrad Dublin Hotel by St. Stephen’s Green. We made it eventually and the hotel was absolutely great. It was party night in Dublin. Not a better place in all of the world.
The drive to Sligo uses a fairly modern highway. We drove out passing the St. James’s Gate and the Guinness Factory, and followed the River Liffey for several miles. We traced peat bogs and at one point intersected with the River Shannon at Roosky before arriving in Sligo about 2.5 hours after departure.
The west of Ireland is truly a magnificent part of this tiny country. Sligo sits in the northwestern part quite close to the Northern Ireland border. The wealth that came to Sligo because of the port trade gave it the Cathedral of John the Baptist whose original foundation was built in the 13th century although it was completed in the 18th century. About 30,000 people emigrated from Sligo during the Great Famine in the 19th century. In the early part of the 20th century, Sligo became a hotbed for Republicanism. Today, Sligo has the feel of an old colonial Garrison town with beautiful stone houses and on the outskirts there are some massive estates. The Sligo area was popular with the British aristocracy even after Partition in 1921.
To me, walking through Sligo was a reminder of England in the late 1950’s/early 1960’s; shops were closed on Sunday, family stores, traditional clothing stores, butcher shops, pubs with the patron’s name on it, and tiny terraced houses with barely room to move between the door and the road. Sligo has its beautiful River Garavogue that has created some activity and a bustle of shops and cafes that 15 years ago did not exist.
It is easy to get here from Dublin by rental car, by bus, or a three-hour train service. We stayed at the Glasshouse Hotel which was modest but ample and right on the Hyde Bridge – not fancy but the location was superb and the staff and amenities were brilliant. Sligo is absolutely worthwhile adding to your list.
We drove out of Rome past the Protestant Cemetery and stopped to take a look at Eataly.
The building itself was constructed with public funds and opened in 1989 as the air terminal to handle the traffic from the 1990 World Cup. It was designed by the Spanish architect, Julio Lafuente, and is a very retro building that easily could have been designed in 1960’s. From the beginning, nobody could find taxis (in those days it was in the middle of nowhere) and it was not easy to cart luggage from the nearby Ostiense train station across to the air terminal. Ultimately it was abandoned and remained empty for years until it was purchased for not a lot by the financiers of Eataly. What luck that Eataly picked up on this slightly dilapidated post-modern structure!
For me, I would rather do my shopping in the Campo di Fiore but I shouldn’t knock it – Eataly is coming to Boston and opening in the next few weeks. Just imagine, wheels of parmesan, hocks of prosciutto, pasta from every region, restaurants and shops galore, and all within walking distance of my house! I’ll take that any day.
After a scattering of fairly dull seaside places, we eventually got to Anzio where the allies landed in 1944. It is a fairly unmemorable town but there is the haunting Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial there which we visited.
This is the Martha’s Vineyard of the Roman World. Ponza is one of six islands in an archipelago that sits a short distance from the Italian mainland. We carried on our journey and the landscape brightened up quite a bit.
We eventually ran into a lovely town called Sperlonga only about one hour outside of Rome. Sperlonga is probably the nicest, closest resort to Rome. There are lots of stabilimenti, beachside restaurants and cafes, and the climb up to the top of the town is lovely. It may not be a Greek village like Symi but after all, you are only an hour away from Rome.
We were halfway to Naples and after a delightful spaghetti alle vongole everything went downhill fast. Trash started to pop up everywhere. The trash collection services in most of these southern coastal towns gave up long ago. We were in Mafia country now. There are 4,000 deaths every year around this part of the world.
The traffic was starting to build up as we moved into Naples proper and we had some time to get off and head into the center. Many people get nervous about Naples but I actually love it. It has great restaurants, beautiful architecture, and with its location facing the island of Ischia and only 45 minutes’ drive from Sorrento, it becomes a tempting place to stay. However, you have to be careful and mindful of all of the usual city stuff in the evening. We were moving on pretty quickly and picked up the small road that takes you literally through the Bay of Naples and into the town of Sorrento. We were nearly there.