I'm back (for a couple of days)

 I got back late Friday night in the rain, having left Varenna on Lake Como that morning - also in the rain. I'm here for the weekend - unpacking, doing laundry, catching up, saying hi to DH and repacking - before I'm off to a sewing retreat in Wales.

My itinerary was to fly into Pisa where I made a one-night pitstop and strolled around the Piazza, dodging all the tourists pretending to hold up the Leaning Tower in photographs. Then by train to Levanto for 4 nights while I explored the Cinque Terres villages by boat and train. Then train to Milan for a one night stopover and a walk around the Duomo and some other sights, and a visit to the big Naviglio open-air antiques fair the next day along the canal.  Then train up to Varenna on Lake Como for five nights where I lake-hopped by boat to Bellagio, Menaggio, Tremezza, and Lenno, before flying out of Milan.  Everything went fine, I had a great time and saw many beautiful things. The weather worked out just how I'd hoped when I booked an end-of-season holiday to Italy: after a blistering 26 degrees the first day, it gradually cooled off over the next 10 days - transiting through pleasantly warm for several days to cooler in Lake Como and finally grey cloudy days just at the end.  Which was perfect for me, being fair-skinned, prone to skin cancer and easily overheated.

Part of the reason for this trip was to test out 'solo travel in retirement': will I enjoy it? can I still do it? how to do it? How would DH get on? etc. So in a way it was all one big experiment. The first 24 hours or so felt extremely odd and disorientating, I didn't feel happy at all. I've been travelling with DH for so long now that to be on a gratuitous holiday (as opposed to attending a course, or something with a purpose like visiting Paducah) without him, while he was working, just seemed wrong.  And I missed his support and company, and having someone to eat with and talk to.  But gradually my 30 year old memories of backpacking around Europe and Asia resurfaced and some of my previous knowledge as well.  It helped that all my destinations were solid first-world holiday destinations so I was surrounded by tourists from all over the world, it wasn't exactly roughing it. Gradually I relaxed and ended up feeling really content and happy. I did loads of walking, made of point of having a daily gelato (ice cream) or even two, went wherever I felt like, took breaks when I felt like it, and ended up taking over 800 photos because there were so many beautiful sights - don't worry, I won't post them all here.

The choice of taking a backpack had mixed success.  Total failure at the airport where almost every other person had wheeled luggage while I lumbered around like an elephant, and had to support all its weight myself through security queues, passport queues etc.  Total win in the mountainside villages I was staying in, where I saw many people trying to yank their recalcitrant wheeled cases over the cobbled streets or tow heavy cases up steep alleyways, or just wake the dead with the noise of their wheels over rough paving slabs. On balance though, I think I will look into getting a well made two-wheeled carry on which has good carrying handles for when you have to carry it yourself up steps etc.  I used or wore almost everything I packed apart from my swimsuit and a pair of dressier sandals, so I felt my packing had been appropriate. The only crucial thing I forgot was my wristwatch, so I bought a cheap one at Gatwick airport.  The travel daypack I sewed for myself continues to be a great success, comfortable and really useful. The hidden security pocket for my passport (on the back between the straps) is great, one less thing to worry about although I generally try to keep my daypack in front of me in crowded places anyway.

In terms of being alone, I would say also mixed success.  I'm quite happy on my own, being quite introverted.  I occasionally chatted to people in queues or on boats but was largely solitary which did feel a bit lonely at times.  Eating out was a big daily challenge, not least because I am gluten intolerant in the land of pizza and pasta.  So I might look at 10 restaurant menus before finding one that had possible gf options and didn't look too scary to sit in on my own. As a result, I ended up doing a lot of picnicking, hoarding gluten free supplies when I could find them. It turns out that larger Italian pharmacies sell gf bread and some other products, as did a supermarket in Levanto. A minority of restaurants indicate which menu items contain gluten, and I even found a gluten free pizza restaurant in cosmopolitan Bellagio so I got to eat a delicious Italian pizza after all.  I had a couple of good seafood meals which were delicious but also very expensive. I tried out the Mcdonald's gluten free cheeseburger in Milan (disgusting, nuked inside a plastic bag and soggy).  In Varenna I was staying in a self catering flat, so was able to cook my own gf pasta and make sandwiches.  The evenings were the times when I most felt the lack of a companion, spending most of them on my own in my room or flat, knitting and watching TV (both TVs had Youtube so I was able to watch the final week of the sumo tournament).  It's a lesson for next time, to plan for some evening activities like a food tour or maybe a show depending on what's available in a locality.

Language wasn't a problem, many Europeans are multi-lingual and anyone dealing regularly with tourists has at least some English.  I learned a handful of useful Italian words before going, although for the first several days I kept accidentally saying 'hai' in Japanese instead of 'si' in Italian which confused several gelato salespeople. There were a lot of French tourists and I was surprised at how much of my schoolgirl French was resurfacing as I listened to them speaking.

Levanto was a great base for the Cinque Terres, connected by boat and train but with

far fewer tourists.  Good amenities, nice beach, nice medieval part of town to

explore and some gorgeous villas dotting the shore.

The Cinque Terres are five small villages clinging to the fringe of the mountain coastline. They are now connected by road and rail but I think they all looked best when approached by the sea. I took the boat from Levanto along all of the coast towns to here, Riomaggiore, then worked my way back along by boat and by train exploring all five villages over a couple of days.

The Cinque Terres villages are beautiful but pretty much completely overwhelmed by tourists unless you could be there early or late in the day. And this was late season, I shudder to think what it must be like in July or August.  As it was, by midday you were literally having to queue to pass through narrow streets or along walkways, every restaurant was packed, facilities such as rubbish bins and the very few public toilets completely overwhelmed. My out-of-date secondhand guidebook described Vernazza as 'the jewel in the crown' but I was there at midday and you could barely see the town for the numbers of people crowding every street and every available sitting-down surface. DH would have hated it.  I didn't do any of the goat-track hiking on the mountain trails connecting the five towns, but I did do a lot of walking around and exploring each town.  As pretty as they were, I think they are the victims of their own success now.  They were all beautiful from the sea, but otherwise I would recommend only going first thing in the day or late afternoon.

Typical tourist choked street in Corniglia

My final day I took the boat all the way to Portevenere, sometimes referred to as the 'sixth Cinque Terre town' and it was lovely. The train doesn't go there, so there are far fewer tourists. The location is stunning and it has all the elements of ruined castle, medieval churches, mountainside staircase-lanes, harbourside restaurants etc.  I also took the boat tour from here around the three nearby islands, all incredibly scenic. It felt like a real holiday destination.

In Milan, in comparison, everything seemed huge: huge station, huge cathedral, huge castle etc.

Inside the Duomo, like a redwood forest of marble columns

The canalside antiques market in Naviglio stretched along

the canal as far as four bridges-worth, selling everything from jewellery to

early 20thC furniture.

I found two little vintage sewing kits which open up to reveal

cotton reels and needle storage.  I also found a vintage Italian model

kit for DH that he is pleased with.

Varenna on Lake Como.

Lake Como is a whole different ballpark from Cinque Terres. The Lakes have been

millionaires' playgrounds for centuries. Everything is more sophisticated, more lavish,

more tamed.  Cosmopolitan Italians and other Europeans fill the cafes, or drift through

the shopping streets in silk dresses and big hats amongst the tourists, and you hear so many different languages.

Each lakeside town follows a similar pattern: there is usually a ruined medieval watchtower, a huge 19thC grand hotel, the ferry dock, the tourist square with souvenir shops and cafes, the gorgeous villas with their exotic gardens running down to the lakeshore and their private boathouses, the lakeside promenades etc.  Several of the villas or their botanic gardens are open to the public, so in Varenna I visited Villa Cipressi and Villa Monastere, in Bellagio it was Villa Melzi, in Tremezzo it was Villa Carlotta, and in Lenno I walked out to Villa Balbianello famously used to film some of the Star Wars prequel scenes. 

Thanks to microclimates around the lake, the botanical gardens were amazing and

filled with exotic plants, sculptures, pavilions etc. They have multiple levels with lots of winding paths to explore.

Villa Carlotta

I took so many pictures of gorgeous lake views like this one.

And lots from the boat

I found a tiny quilt shop in Riomaggiore of all places, stocked with very expensive Moda fabric (6 euros for an FQ). She said it's only tourists that purchase, the locals don't quilt. I bought two autumn placemat panels.

The arrowhead lace scarf I started knitting on the trip. It took me a while but I've eventually memorised the pattern.

I finished quilting the Mennonite top on the frame, the morning I was going to the airport. I wanted to get it done because I knew I would lose the muscle memory for the panto while I was away. I chose a curvy leaf-motif design - I did look at various Christmas designs but I didn't think my skills were up to them.  The semi-rotten antique part of the top tore in a couple of places as I was quilting it, so I need to do some repair work once it's off the frame. This will definitely be a Christmas decoration rather than a daily use quilt.

The day after I got back was the Makit Fenland lace fair, which this year had nearly as many quilting vendors as it did lace vendors.  I had a ticket but was in two minds as to whether to go out on my first day back. But I wanted to support the event and DH was willing to drive me over to St Ives and it was a lovely sunny morning so off we went.  I think it was a bit smaller this year but still lots of nice things to look at.  I picked up some fabric with vintage Simplicity pattern images, a couple of cake-themed FQs, a bird ornament, two charity donation quilting books, and a lace pattern.  All the bobbin suppliers of course had commemorative bobbins for the late Queen Elizabeth - I chose one from my favourite supplier Margaret Walls. Meanwhile DH strolled into town and found a market where he got some tasty lunch food for himself so he was happy.

So today I've been re-packing to get ready for the sewing retreat in Wales.  I had prepared the various sewing projects ahead of time, so it is really just sorting out clothes and what bag to take. Ironically, although it's a shorter trip, I'm having to take a big suitcase just to accommodate all the sewing stuff and my back support cushion (apparently the chairs in the sewing room are a bit low and hard so we've been recommended to bring cushions).  I'm off tomorrow and should be back Friday except that the local train network has decided to join the national train strike on Thursday plus strike additionally on Friday and Saturday as well.  So my pre-booked Friday morning train has been cancelled and I'll have to take my chances with what they are describing as 'extremely limited service - only travel if absolutely necessary'.  Perhaps I will be in Wales longer than I am expecting.... but hey, I'm retired :)