South south south (and a bit of East at the end!)
Just a short 50 minutes drive due south on the Autostrada and one finds themselves in the undisputed (unless you are French and from Paris,or American and from New York...) heavyweight Fashion Capital of the Universe - no not Narre Warren South but... Milano!
Many people expect to hit Milan and start seeing a plethora (yes I got that from "The Three Amigos") of fashion shops. Well, yes, but at the end of the day really no more than you will find in any other big European city. So I often tell people that Milan is not necessarily the place to do your fashion shopping and often Florence can be a better place for that as its a smaller city and far more manageable to get around. (And not too many tours actually spend much time in Milan!)
Having said that what does one then do with a couple of hours up their Dolce & Gabbana sleeve in Milan? Well one can easily become "all-churched-out" in Europe but there are some that are on the must-see list. The Duomo in Milan is one of them! Amazing detail in beautiful white marble and a trip up to the roof is also worthwhile if you can manage the 166 steps. (That's actually not many as far as church climbs go in Europe!). Those that do are rewarded with beautiful close-up views of its intricate detailed architecture and also great views over the city back up to the Italian and Swiss alps around the lake district).
Right near the Cathedral in the main square of Piazza del Duomo is another architectural highlight of the city - the Galleria Emmanuel Vittorio II. Er, no, "Emm Vitt" wasn't some famous fashion designer up there with the rest of them in Italy but he was actually the first King of the unified Republic of Italy way back from around the mid 1800's. Hard to get away from his name in Italy and even the famous margherita pizza was named after his wife , Queen Margherita!(Tomatoes for red, Mozarella for white and basil for green - and voila - the Italian flag!)
Anyhow the Galleria was built in the mid-late 1800's as this type of covered shopping area that was becoming all the craze at the time and this was the biggest apparently built when it went up in the 1860's or so. Filled with ritzy cafes and designer shops you really have to be a big name to get a store-front in here. Just watch those marble floors though, mighty slippery! The Italians (like most European countries), rightfully don't feel the need to caution the general public about safety in EVERY aspect of their lives - hey if you can't figure it out that it might be dangerous then don't walk on it! Bravo!)
Just take a look at some of the Galleria's "guest-list"....
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| Louis V... |
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| ..Gucci.. |
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| ..Mercedes.. |
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| .."The Devil Wears..." |
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| You know you've really made it when you have a place in here! |
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| Home of The Last Supper - if you can get in there! |
So once you've seen these two ,there is also Leonardo's (he and I go way back,well at least as far as my blog from Amboise anyway!) Last Supper. That famous fresco of his is on a wall of a dining hall in the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie about a 15minute walk from the main square. Thanks to all the purported "symbolism" that he put into this fading piece of genius, Dan Brown and others seemed to garner some inspiration to come up with all their conspiracy theories regarding Mary Magdalene and secret societies! Maybe its just a damn good painting and too much is read into it! I wonder if Ken Done or Andy Warhol in centuries to come will inspire similar conspiracies!? Anyway I didn't have the foresight (or time) to organise a reservation so (as usual!) it was completely booked out for the day - I had to be happy with all the prints and copies being flogged on the streets instead.
And then some of my favourite "other "versions....!
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| Gelato!Nice but wait til Florence! |
Feeling peckish and that now I was well and truly in Italy the gelati displays start to become pretty impressive so it was appropriate to get a "copo medza" for the road and head down to the coast. (Having said that it was going to be Florence where the TRUE gelati masterpieces would appear!)
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| Il Mediterraneo! |
Heading south one finally hits the coast and is on the Mediterranean around Christopher Columbus' birthplace, Genoa. The number of tunnels the Italians have cut into the highway which hugs this undulating, rocky and steep coast is quite amazing. If ever there was a need for auto-dimming sunglasses then driving here would be the reason. (I take my hat off to all my coach drivers who have driven me along this leg from "Pizza Services" near the French/Italian border down to Pisa with the 165-ish tunnels!) Grazie mile!
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| Santa Margherita Ligure |
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| Pretty Portofino |
As one heads east south east along the coast there are some beautiful resorts well-worth a visit. Sante Margherita Ligure is a VERY popular Italian resort with nice beaches and great restaurants however it is Portofino just around the corner which is the jewel in Italian Riviera's crown. A gorgeous little resort just a 6-7 minute sail around from Sante Margherita. If you want to rub shoulders and or your very fancy motor-yacht / SHIP with the well-to-do then if you can't make it up to the French Riviera then this is your next choice! BYO big toys around here and flaunt flaunt flaunt! Spectacular clear azure waters, beautiful pastel coloured villas, a fortress atop a nearby hill that affords amazing view back over the village, the Mediterraneo and all the floating palaces make this a place to be and to be seen.
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| BYO toys! |
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| Big, bigger, HUGE! |
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| Best mussels EVER! |
Unfortunately no time to relax with the jet-set in Portofino - I was on a serious hunt back in Sante Margherita for a decent traditional seafood meal from one of its many great restaurants.
Again it took all of about three minutes to find the perfect place. A nice chilled white from the region accompanying probably the BEST mussels I have ever eaten then followed up by an incredible spaghetti vongole and I was wondering if I would continue down to Portovenere for the night where my hotel was waiting or simply stay here!
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| Spaghetti al vongole, molto delizioso! |
Deciding against a "secondo piatti" ( I knew I would be back!) I hit the road (another parking fine later! Must be something about the French number plates!) Just over an hour later on the autostrada I hit the coastal (yet pretty ugly in my book!) town of La Spezia which is one of the main bases for the Italian navy. Following the coast around a bit further one hits the very pretty village of Portovenere which is just a 25-30 minute sail from the Unesco World Heritage, Cinque Terre region.
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| Portovenere by day... |
Portovenere is a great little place with a gravelly grey beach that is only just large enough for a volleyball court (quite literally!) and has a nice old fortress up on its hill. No complaints about my hotel - well yes there were but when a building was a monastery for 400 years and then converted into a hotel you have to expect a few compromises (a 2 person lift that frustratingly took 65 seconds to go 4 floors!I timed it!Stairs from now on!) However the view from my balcony made up for every short-coming as when evening fell the view was simply something else!
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| ...and by night! |
A great day over and I managed to survive the Italian drivers on the road ( I think they keep clear of me because of my French number plates!) In fact I have noticed my driving each day becoming more and more like that of the locals - "when in Rome"- beware anyone driving around port Melbourne from mid September upon my return! So with that, sleep was calling and the Cinque Terre which was just a little more than a stones throw around the bluff was waiting for me in the morning!
Buona notte!ZZZzzzzzzzzz...........
Many people expect to hit Milan and start seeing a plethora (yes I got that from "The Three Amigos") of fashion shops. Well, yes, but at the end of the day really no more than you will find in any other big European city. So I often tell people that Milan is not necessarily the place to do your fashion shopping and often Florence can be a better place for that as its a smaller city and far more manageable to get around. (And not too many tours actually spend much time in Milan!)
Having said that what does one then do with a couple of hours up their Dolce & Gabbana sleeve in Milan? Well one can easily become "all-churched-out" in Europe but there are some that are on the must-see list. The Duomo in Milan is one of them! Amazing detail in beautiful white marble and a trip up to the roof is also worthwhile if you can manage the 166 steps. (That's actually not many as far as church climbs go in Europe!). Those that do are rewarded with beautiful close-up views of its intricate detailed architecture and also great views over the city back up to the Italian and Swiss alps around the lake district).
Right near the Cathedral in the main square of Piazza del Duomo is another architectural highlight of the city - the Galleria Emmanuel Vittorio II. Er, no, "Emm Vitt" wasn't some famous fashion designer up there with the rest of them in Italy but he was actually the first King of the unified Republic of Italy way back from around the mid 1800's. Hard to get away from his name in Italy and even the famous margherita pizza was named after his wife , Queen Margherita!(Tomatoes for red, Mozarella for white and basil for green - and voila - the Italian flag!)
Anyhow the Galleria was built in the mid-late 1800's as this type of covered shopping area that was becoming all the craze at the time and this was the biggest apparently built when it went up in the 1860's or so. Filled with ritzy cafes and designer shops you really have to be a big name to get a store-front in here. Just watch those marble floors though, mighty slippery! The Italians (like most European countries), rightfully don't feel the need to caution the general public about safety in EVERY aspect of their lives - hey if you can't figure it out that it might be dangerous then don't walk on it! Bravo!)
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