Cinque Terra, God's gift to tourism

Our boy, Rick Steves, calls Cinque Terra God's gift to tourism.  We agree.  The first day in our hometown of Monterosso we were treated to an awesome fireworks display in which some were even shot into the water creating a cool effect.  

Cinque Terra means "5 lands" and is a group of 5 of the most pristine little italian villages on the Italian riviera.  They were completely in decline until tourism revived them into an amazing place for tourists to go.  We were very happy with Monterosso as it had the best beaches and parking for our glorious Fiat Panda.

Amazing water conditions.  Snorkeling was . . . good.

Our Italy chariot.  The very weak, but barely capable, Fiat Panda.

Out Hometown of Monterosso

A sweet bridge and photo opportunity

A Vista

The poster child of Cinque Terra, Varenna.

Great seafood streetfood in Varenna

Varenna from the other side.

Apparently the bridge of love, where most people put their locks, was closed due to a mudslide (that killed two people, don't know if they we in love).  We decide to leave our lock at a more convenience, less mudslidy, location.

The beach in Manarola has an awesome little circle you can swim in around the big rock and the mini channel on the right.

Overall, we loved Cinque Terra.  Delicous seafood, relaxing beach atmosphere, and beautiful scenery make for a great experience.  It's kind of like the italian Daytona with rocks, cliffs, and good food.

Lake Como. The most beautiful lake in the world.

We left the hustle and bustle of Venice for the tranquility of Lake Como.  Lake Como is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, and after being here for three days, I am granting it the title of the most beautiful lake in the world.

Several million years ago, God looked at Europe and said: "I need to make a place for George Clooney and Giovanni Versace to Summer.  They work so hard".  He just finished the fjords of Norway with some glaciers, so he set the glaciers to work and formed Lake Como in the foothills of the Alps.

The Romans and the Italians have used lake Como as a vacation destination for centuries.  The city of Bellagio has been the hangout of many a rich European.  It is so opulent in Bellagio, it makes the Bellagio casino in Vegas look like a video poker joint.

Our little town of Varenna

Varenna from the boat.  At the top of the mountain is the castle turret which is the destination of our hike.

Our first day of activities was to climb to a nearby roman road up the mountain to the local castle overlooking our town of Varenna.  Apparently, they have so many castles in Europe they can't even keep track of who built them.  This castle was one of those.  

The Roman road to the castle is on the left.  This ruin of past settlement is one of many on the road.  Who knows who lived here and what went on.  Nature has taken over.

A ghost of the castle.

 The castle puts tourists into casts every year to make ghosts.  Once the snow comes they disintegrate.  They make a very cool and spooky decoration.

Us from the side of the castle.

The "castle"

From the Ramparts

After a long day of hiking, jumping in the mountain water of Lake Como is ecstacy.

Coming from countries where it was certain sickness to drink from any water that was not bottled, it was refreshing to find drinking water on tap in the city.

I know what this statue is thinking: "Every day, every day, this damn bird with its stupid face, sits on my head".  I feel for you statue.

Our last night in Como.  To the left isVarenna, slightly to the right of that is Bellagio and the rightmost city is Menaggio.  Behind Menagio is the lesser known, yet much celebrated, Menaggitwaggio.

A Kosher Venice

Did you know that the word "ghetto" was first used to describe the area in Venice that the Jewish population was confined to from 1516 and until 1797 when Napoleon allowed the Jews to move freely about the city? The word "ghèto" was Venetian for foundries, and the "g" is actually silent or soft.  It is believed the Ashkenazi Jews, immigrating from Germany and Eastern Europe, added the hard "g," which is the way "ghetto" is pronounced today. During this time, the Venetian Jews were segregated and discriminated for their religion and origin. For example, all Jews were required to wear yellow hats so that they could be distinguished from the non-jews during this time. By the time Napoleon liberated them, they were an integral part of Venetian society, yet were confined to a tiny area. In fact, many Jews practiced medicine (and were some of the best in Venice/Italy), and were allowed to lend money, and run pawn shops. Sadly, it was not until 1870 that the Jews were emancipated and considered full citizens with equal rights in Italy. Even though they were confined to a very small area, the Venetian Jews built sky-rises (over 6 stories tall) to accommodate their growing population during the 1600s. This area is still intact and home to the current, but very small (less than 800 people), Venetian Jewish population today.  

On our last day in Venice on Sunday, Michael and I visited the Jewish Ghetto of Venice and decided to take the synagogue tour offered by the Jewish Museum (website here).  It was a really interesting hour long tour of the 3 of the 4 accessible synagogues in the Ghetto. We would recommend the tour to anyone who is interested in these sorts of things.  Below are some of the photos from the tour.  Unfortunately, we were prohibited from taking photos inside of the synagogues, but you can view photos of the other synagogues online if you search Venetian Synagogues on google (or any search engine of your choice).

This is the only sign directing you to the Ghetto from the main street in Venice.

This is a photo from the interwebs of the Ashkenazi synagogue. You can see the Baroque decor, which was highly fashionable at the time.

A view from the street of the Jewish Ghetto.  The funky heights of the buildings show the area's need to build upwards within such a small area during the 16-1700s.

Since a small Jewish population still lives in Venice, one can find a few kosher shops, Jewish art galleries, and gift shops in the ghetto.  Here  are some yummy kosher Italian treats I sadly refrained from eating.

In order to protect themselves, there were no signs of a synagogue from the outside of the buildings.  Instead, the Venetian Jews would build their synagogues on the top floor of their apartment buildings with the only outside sign being the 5 windows shown here and in the photo below. The Hebrew on the top was added much later on.

Another secret synagogue with the 5 windows on the left.

Here in the upper left portion you can see the Torah arc from the outside.  This was another way for Jews to find the synagogues in Venice.

A photo of a ketubah (marriage contract) from the 1700s.  The art reminds me of Michael and my Ketubah!

Getting lost in Venice.

 Venice is built on 117 islands formed by 177 canals.  That in itself is nice, but what really makes Venice special is that every building, on every canal and street in the entire city has its own unique decor and charm.  The main attraction to see in Venice is Venice itself.  Rick Steves recommends to spend some time just getting lost in Venice.  And that is exactly what we did

We were supposed to walk through this.  Apparently a dead end.

Ar night the canals seem to hide something.

These signs are typical for the type of guidance you get in Venice.

Rialto Bridge

We finally make it to Rialto Bridge which is a sign that you are close to the main square of Piazza San Marco.  It was a very complicated path, but every time we made a wrong turn we saw some new magical part of the city.

Legend:  Blue=water
R=Restaurant
Goal= Get to Piazza San Marco

In case anyone is going to  Venice, I thought it would be nice to draw up a simplified map of the town.  All the other maps are really too complicated.  Just download and keep it handy so you don't get lost.

The line for St Marks.

 We had a great night the next day we did all the tourist destination.  St. Marks had a 3 hour line so we used the Rick Steves recommendation and skipped the line(it's a secret how that works lol).

View of us, with the Venice lagoon in the background.

The Doges Palace

 To say Venice is nice is like saying the Vatican skimped on the decor.  Venice spent hundreds of years being the main trading post between Asia and Europe.  That money built what the city is today.  The Doges palace is where the progressive(for that time) government did their deeds.  This is basically the DMV for Venice.

Sondra makes Venice look good.

A panorama of a beautiful city

Another Side of Istanbul...

On Wednesday, Michael and I joined "The Other Tour" for a different tour of Istanbul not involving the centuries old mosques and tourist-heavy areas. At 9:00 AM, we met up with our "tour guide," Bulent and his cousin/co-guide, Hakan, for a day of seeing, learning, and experiencing the "real" Istanbul. Lucky for us, (maybe not so lucky for Bulent and Hakan), Michael and I were the only two participants that day.

This was the last photo of the night and we are all buddies after a long day. From the Left: Michael, Hakan, me, and Bulent

Bulent and his brother, Fethi, created The Other Tour to give visitors to Istanbul the opportunity to see the Istanbul that tourists rarely see.  The concept was something Michael and I never heard of, but we were really excited to go beyond the typical tourist route of the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia and the Old Town.  You can find out more about the Other Tour here.

The Tour started off in the New Town near the Bosphorus. After a quick Turkish Breakfast and Turkish Coffee (which is delicious and thick and crack-like) at a local cafe, we boarded a large yacht all to ourselves to cruise the Bosphorus with 2 bottles of wine for the four of us at 11:00 am.  At this point, we knew we picked the right tour, and Bulent and Hakan knew we were ready for anything.

The view from the yacht. 

Baller status right here.

After our boat ride, the four of us took a stroll down the main drag in Istanbul's New Town, İstiklal Avenue in Beyoğlu, near Taksim Square.  Here we indulged in some baklava and great conversation about the current situation in Istanbul and how good we have it in America, save for the quick access to baklava and Turkish coffee.

It tasted as delicious as it looks.

The protests and rising unrest in Istanbul is more complex than this relaxed globe-trotter can explain on this blog. However, I will give it a quick try. The short story: the Turkish government attempted to develop, thereby destroy, Taksim Square Park to make way for a shopping mall. Mind you, the area immediately surrounding Taksim Square is a giant shopping/restaurants/hotel area and Taksim Square Park is one of the only green-spaces in the area and is the hang-out place for many young people, including artists, political activists, and LGBTs.  

The government basically made the decision to demolish the park without any public hearing and many people were against the destruction.  A sit-in took place on May 28, 2013 and it was violently disrupted, which, in turn, resulted in a public outcry and the protests begun. The protests have evolved from the preservation of Taksim square to a more general protest to the actions of the current government, including the government's moves to make Turkey's laws more Islamic based thereby ignoring the secular state that has been in power for many centuries.  Unsurprisingly, the government, namely Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,who has been in office since 2003, has responded with violence and military and police forces to stop the protests and basically silence any of his opponents.  In fact, it is now a requirement to pledge that you will not publicly protest at soccer games in Istanbul or risk being fined or imprisoned!

tldr; Protests are now about the government and the government is fighting back with an iron fist.

Here is an Turkish Police Officer patrolling Taksim Square. I think that gun is meant to intimidate... 

People enjoying the beautiful weather in Taksim Square.  The policeman in the previous picture is facing this statue.

After visiting Taksim Square, we went to Bulent's house where his mother cooked us a delicious traditional Turkish lunch.  We stuffed our bellies and traded some good music with Hakan.

While walking around some of the more local areas, we came across these three boys who asked me to take their picture.  They were very flirtatious!

Another cat, ruling the world.

We ended up at a very cool cafe to play some Okey, the Turkish name for Rummy Cube.  I kicked ass and won at least 6 rounds.  I stopped counting at 6.  One of the locals, Mr. Ali, helped Michael and I play.  He told us Michael was, how do I put this gently, "a loser!"  I think I found my new sport...

This was after one of the many rounds I won. 

After we played Okey, we experienced a Turkish bath. And what an experience it was! Since this was a co-ed bath, Michael and I were able to relax in the expansive marble room together.  Some requisites for a Turkish bath: 1) disrobe and hang out in a sauna in a very thin cloth that barely covers your bottom if you want it to cover your boobs; 2) for about 20 minutes sit near a faucet on a marble step and frequently douse yourself with warm to hot water to open your pores; 3) lay on a marble slab and be scrubbed down from head to toe with a rough sponge by a big burly man (as shown below), or in my case, enter a private room with a big burly woman; 4) after losing all of your dead skin, get covered in bubbly soap and oil and massaged to the point of tears by said man or woman; 5) get splashed with freezing cold water; and 6) bask in the lightness and your new-found appreciation for life in the sauna for another 10 minutes. 

Michael with his masseur, or the cub and his bear... this really happened.

After our Turkish Bath, we enjoyed some cold brewskies and watched the sunset over the Bosphorus and Old Town.  We ended the night at a very hip rooftop restaurant and enjoyed some Turkish meatballs and pizza.  We truly had a remarkable time with Bulent and Hakan on the Other Tour and would recommend it to most of our friends and family.  I only say "most" because it is definitely not for everyone. How about this, you call me if you want to go and I will let you know what I think? All jokes aside, we really hope we can see Bulent and Hakan either in the states or in a second trip to Istanbul, which I would love to do again in the future.

After the massage, Michael's butt is sending us a message in graffiti. 

A final look of Istanbul from the Galata Tower in New Town.