I just love, love, love driving in Italy! Everyone has warned me about it, and so many people know of Italy as the land of crazy drivers. Maybe that is why I like it so much, haha! No, no, actually I think the real story is that you just really have to be on the ball to drive here. The Italians are on the ball when they drive and expect everyone else to be too. So if you are on the ball when you drive there are no dramas. It is great! My favorite part is all of the windy roads through the hill and mountain sides. According to Lonely Planet over 75% of Italy is mountains. I love driving in the towns too, the streets are often barely wide enough to fit the one car. The lines on the road only appear to be suggestions. At any given time there are normally a number of people walking in the roads, bicycles, mopeds and motorbikes going in and out of everywhere. All of this and they drive at a speed that would cause most Americans or Australians to hold on for dear life. It is truly a land of no hesitation while driving. Driving in Naples was crazy, but fun I ended up going through the centre around rush hour and the 3 lane roads very quickly became 4-5 lane roads with everyone going every which way. On the Autostrade (motorway/freeways) the speeds are even faster and once again the lines on the roads are just suggestions. Many times I will be driving along at 140kph (~87mph) & will have most of the traffic flying past me, not just going past me slowly, but much faster. I only pass the trucks and occasional car as I go along at these speeds. The road signs say 90kph, but I have yet to see anyone go that speed.
Besides the crazy speeds, windy roads and constant obstruction in the road, I really like the road rules here that are followed. All the slower traffic moves & stays in the slow lane. When a car is flying up the Autostrade & there is a slower car in the fast lane they flash their lights to let the car know, “here I come, get out of the way.” Some of these cars are going 200 kph (~125mph), so it is nice to have a bit of a warning if you are only going 100kph (~60mph). Another signal I like here, is that if there is a traffic jam or if traffic is slowing down the cars at the end of the traffic jam put on their hazard lights to warn everyone further back that may not see. Such a great warning system! With all of these crazy traffic patterns I see very little dints or scratches on peoples cars which to me says that incidents are rare. I am sure they happen, but I have not seen anything yet.
Ok enough about driving, I have done a crazy tour coming most of Italy from as far North as Milan & Venice down to Naples & Matrae. I have explored a number of the larger cities and the small and mid sized villages. Tourist areas and non-tourist areas alike. I really loved all of the villages in the south, they are carved into the hillside and the streets are comprised of a number of steps up and down the hill. I went through the ruins in Pompaii & saw what the valcano had left behind. It was very interesting! I really enjoyed Matrae, a town where originally all of the homes were caves carved into the hillside. As there were a number of sanitary issues, most are no longer occupied, however they are upgrading a few and making them new homes. When I got into Matrae I discovered I had come at the perfect time! There was a festival on for all the local agriculture. I enjoyed sampling cheese, wine, olive oil, yogurt, and bread from the local area. Yum, yum, yum!! While I walked through the busy festival and enjoyed the entertainment with the locals, there was a great local band play some great tunes. Their instruments were made from all sorts of things. One of the girls had a washing board & a spoon. It was just great!!
In the north more of the villages sit on top of the hills, where in the south a lot sit on the side of hill. This is due to the different shapes of the hills and mountains. I have stopped by and seen a number of the must-see tourist attractions and have been to Naples, Rome, Venice, Florence & Leaning Tower of Pisa.
I had plans to meet up with a friend Marina in Milan & stay with her & her family after visiting Venice. I planned to leave Venice early enough to arrive in Milan a few extra hours before we were supposed to meet up. Unfortunately that night Murphy's Law was taking over. First, there was a lot of traffic coming out of Venice & I got stuck there for an extra hour or so, so there went my extra time. Next it took longer to go from Venice to Milan than I thought. Additionally the map I had of Milan was not very helpful & I had my first experience of getting lost here. Thankfully many locals were kind enough to give me the good old turn left, than right, than left, etc directions. So I got into Milan & near her place a couple hours after we were supposed to meet up, this being now around 11pm. On top of all the other fun I was having, my computer battery died (this had my map of Milan on it, I did not have a paper map yet). In the morning my phone credit ran out & since I got the sim card in Germany, none of the Italians could help me recharge it. So basically I had no way of contacting my friend to tell her I was running late. When I finally got to her place I realized she did not give me their apartment number, so I was standing out side her place with out much hope. I decided to go for a walk and see if I could find a way to get in contact with her when this Israel guy came up and started asking me for directions. After chatting to him for a few minutes and convincing him I was not the one to ask that night he let me use his phone & I finally was able to meet up with Marina! So we went out had a drink & I was able to catch up with Marina and a few of her friends & the Israeli guys that helped me out. They were really nice & offered when I get to Israel that I give them a call & they would show me around. So, I now have a contact in Israel, a good ending to a crazy evening.
Tomorrow I head out for Spain where I will be meeting up with my friend Aaron. I am quite excited to be traveling with friends again. Than just note on the pictures, they are me in Matre, Venice, Collosea in Rome & in front of the Cathedral in Milan. I was quite impressed with this Cathredral as I usually have a strong distaste for the Gothic style cathedrals. They actually tend to scare me and send a chill up my back. This one has recently been all cleaned up and the marble colors come out. I can now see why the Gothic style stuck around, it looks good when it is all clean and new. When they get all dark gray and black they look quite daunting.
To conclude this blog, I need to say this one more time, I love driving in Italy!! :)
