Italy in Three Weeks: Hiking, Climbing, Camping & some typical touristy things too

To my surprise, I fell in love with Italy this summer. I will admit, Italy wasn’t high on my radar as a vacation spot but I am so glad my world traveling boyfriend, Dodo, and I were able to find three weeks to explore this amazing country. Italy has something to offer everyone – outdoor enthusiasts, foodies, art aficionados, wine connoisseurs and everyone in between. When planning our vacation, we decided to include as many hikes and outdoor excursions as possible while still finding the time to see the highlights of the main cities.  

Piazza del Plebiscito, Napoli

I’m including our basic itinerary below, with links to each place we visited in case you want to skip to a specific section to read about our adventures in that location only; otherwise scroll past the itinerary to read about the three weeks we spent immersing ourselves in Italy. We probably wouldn’t have been able to see as much as we did if we hadn’t rented a car on Day 7 in Naples and dropped it off in Rome the day before our flight back home. While driving was stressful and at times a tad scary, I would highly recommend renting a vehicle so you can cover more ground and don’t have to depend on public transportation, particularly in areas like the Dolomites & Tuscany. My second recommendation is for anyone who is lactose intolerant like we both are. Buy the biggest bottle of Lactaid pills you can find and take them with you; those little pills are miracle workers!

Our Itinerary

Day 1: Rome

Our flight got delayed 25 hours so we lost the one full day in Rome we had to sightsee. Sitting on the runway for several hours was worth it though because Delta gave us a full refund for the trip!

Day 2: Rome – arrived, Holiday Inn Aurelia

Day 3: Naples – Mt. Vesuvius hike, stayed with Dodo’s brother & sister-in-law in downtown Naples for 5 nights

Day 4: Naples – Amalfi Coast – Sentiero degli Dei hike

Day 5: Naples – Pompeii

Day 6: Naples – exploring Naples

Day 7: Naples to Lazio – Mount Redentore Trail/Path of the Redeemer, Airbnb in Lazio

Day 8: Lazio to Tuscany – Saturnia Spring,  Airbnb in San Chimento (Tuscany) for 3 nights

Day 9: Tuscany – Siena

Day 10: Tuscany – Il Fiume Elsa & San Gimignano

Day 11: Tuscany to Levanto via Pisa, Pian di Picche campsite in Levanto for 2 nights

Day 12: Cinque Terra – Sentiero Azurro hike

Day 13: Levanto to Verona, Airbnb in Verona

Day 14: Verona to Colfosco & Corvara (Dolomites), Hotel Christian for 2 nights

Day 15: Corvara (Dolomites) – Via Ferrata Les Cordes climb

Day 16: Coravara to Cortina (Dolomites) – Via Ferrata Tridentina climb, Hotel Nord

Day 17: Dolomites to Venice, Airbnb outside of Venice

Day 18: Venice to Florence – Uffuzi Museum, Casale le Pergole Agriturismo (Tuscany) for 2 nights

Day 19: Tuscany – town of Sieci

Day 20: Florence to Orvieto – Gallery Accademia, Orvieto, Airbnb in Ciconia

Day 21: Rome, Holiday Inn Aurelia

Day 22: Home to Tampa & my furbabies

Il Fiume Elsa in Tuscany

Roma

After a long night and most of a day traveling, we arrived in Rome and checked in to our hotel around 5pm. I had my first of many glasses of wine in Italy while we waited at the hotel bar for the 8pm shuttle to transport us to the metro station that would take us to downtown Rome to begin exploring. We had quite a whirlwind evening taking in as much as we could given that we had lost our one full day to sightsee in Italy’s historic capital.

At the bottom of Scalina Spagna

Our first stop (and ironically what would end up being our very last stop before flying home) was the Spanish Steps or Scalina Spagna; we had no idea just how many more steps we would be in for throughout the next 3 weeks! I also hadn’t realized how insanely crowded and hot it would be during our trip. The steps were packed with people but we managed to work our way to the second landing, taking photos and enjoying the music by the band playing at the bottom.  After descending, we walked to the breathtaking Trevi Fountain, one of the oldest water sources in Rome. Once there we were happily suckered into buying two polaroid photographs of us taken by a street photographer. Dodo and I also each took a turn throwing a coin over our shoulders into the fountain while making a wish. And to ensure a return trip to Rome per the fountain’s legend!

Making a wish!

80s Throwback

Our next stop was for food! I was starving by this time so we wandered down a side street and found a restaurant for our first Italian dinner. We were seated right behind the pasta maker who was pounding and rolling out pasta in the window while people on the street watched. It’s true. Spaghetti really is better in Rome! I had a bare bones plate of it with tomato sauce and fresh basil and it was the most heavenly pasta dish I’ve ever eaten. I don’t even like spaghetti! Unless in Italy I learned. I also learned Italians don’t like making substitutions to menu items so don't ask.

The first of many pasta dinners in Italy!

la Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi

Upon finishing our late dinner we hurried to visit the Pantheon and then Piazza Navona where the famous la Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi is located. We couldn’t go into the Pantheon but admired its impressive design, it continues to be the world’s largest unsupported concrete dome, and seemingly immaculate condition for a building that has been standing for almost 2,000 years! We took quite a few photos there and at the fountain which is another important source of water in Rome. Each of the four sculpted figures represents a major river: the Nile, the Danube, the Ganges, and the Plate.

Pantheon

By now it was almost 1am and we had long missed the last shuttle from the end of the metro line back to our hotel. But we started winding our way back towards the metro stop that would get us a bit closer to Aurelia. Of course we walked by a gelato shop with a sign that said over 150 flavors, including dairy free options, so we had to stop for our first gelato in Italy. To be honest, I ate so much gelato in Italy, I can’t remember what flavors I got that first night but I do remember it was delicious, hence the beginning of my gelato addiction.

Summer crowds at the beautiful Trevi fountain.

We successfully navigated the metro to the end of the line and realized that everyone exiting at our station was being picked up by friends, family, the dog, who knows! We wandered up and down the trash lined street for about 30 minutes desperately waving down the 2 taxis that drove by to no avail. Dodo called the Holiday Inn and asked the manager if they could call us a taxi and was promptly asked “Are you crazy. . . what are you doing out so late? You should have been back by now!” And no, they could not call us a cab. As I envisioned a night sleeping in a putrid blue dumpster, what must have been the last cab in all of Rome drove by and thankfully picked us up. Needless to say, we passed out until the next morning when Dodo’s brother was knocking on our hotel door at 10am to take us to our next stop, Napoli.

To be continued. . .

A Year of Aerial Arts

A close friend asked me if I had a blog today and when I said yes, but I hadn’t written a post for quite some time, she said I should be recording my forays into the world of aerial arts. And I agree! So here I go, ironically writing this post almost a year since my last one, which was about my first aerial class in Tampa.

Since taking my first class, which focused on silks (two pieces of fabric rigged from the ceiling), I have tried trapeze, lyra, rope, acro, and cloud swing. But I’ve gone full circle and am now focusing on silks, which in my opinion, is the most difficult of the aerial apparatuses. Trapeze and cloud swing are my favorite but a friend really wanted to try silks so I took a couple of classes with her in lieu of my weekly trapeze class, and in an effort to cajole her into continuing, signed us both up for The Keep’s spring showcase in May. One of the many things I love about The Keep is that even if you are beginner, you can perform in their yearly shows, as long as you commit to attending classes a couple of months prior to the show. Unfortunately, my friend decided she doesn’t have the time to participate, but now I am committed to the show and learning how to master the basics on silks which I have spent a year avoiding! But before going into the gory details of how that’s going, I want to share my experiences on the trapeze and cloud swing.

I LOVE cloud swing, a single rope suspended 12 feet above the ground, or higher, that you swing and do tricks on. I took a 6 week class series with 10 other women, that was very challenging and pushed me out of my comfort zone every week. We were harnessed in for safety, and to get on and off the swing, had to climb a silk or rope up to the level of the swing before transitioning on or off of it. The first week we focused on breathing while up there and the basic swing. It takes a surprising amount of arm strength to get the momentum up to really swing both on your knees and while standing. When standing, you almost want to be horizontal to the ground with your face towards it, while in the back you want your back to be almost horizontal with feet in front of you. Simply swinging on it is terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time. I felt like a child again at 39 years of age and it brought back memories of jumping off swings and having contests as a kid to see who could go the highest. 

Each week we learned a new trick including hanging upside down by our ankles, hanging in a T shaped position from the front of the swing, doing a forward roll, and the ultimate trick - the leap out. I have to admit, I completely froze when it came to doing the leap out; you basically are standing on the rope with it wrapped around your ankles and you dive forward out of it. I really thought I would do it but once I was up there I couldn't get my body to leap forward! When I finally did it - it was more of a slow motion forward fold with no momentum and at the wrong time. But I was able to do a back dive which seemed much easier to me because you pretty much just let go and fall backwards without being able to see the ground. Needless to say, when our 6 week class was over, I was pretty sad but will definitely register for the next session offered. In the meantime. . .  preparing for my rapidly approaching silks performance. 

I also really enjoy trapeze and got to perform on the triple trap with two other lovely ladies at our winter showcase with a Game of Thrones theme! We represented the Ironborn of the Iron Islands, "What is Dead, May Never Die." I had been going to an intro to trapeze class once a week pretty consistently and had a few basic moves down when signups for the showcase were posted but learning our short three minute routine was more difficult than I anticipated and required some extra classes to master. I've always considered myself fairly strong, I can do a few pull-ups and pushups, but after running through our full routine 2 or 3 times in one hour, I felt exhausted and my arms were trembling. As we neared the performance date, I wasn't sure I would have the arm strength go get through it in front of an audience. I think adrenaline kicks in though before any performance and helped carry me through. We were able to  pretty much perfectly time and coordinate all of our moves during the dress rehearsal the night before the show, and everything went as planned show night! 

I was very grateful to have my mom and several close friends in the audience for support. We were one of the last acts in the show and waiting was pretty nerve wracking as I don't consider myself a performer/center of stage kind of person. (Perhaps ironically since I teach!) Once we got up there, there was a delay in starting so we did have to stand on the trapeze in front of the audience for what seemed like half an hour, but was probably only one minute. I think my body took over when our song (War of the Vikings OST - Drums of Odin) started and I enjoyed every moment of our performance! 

Aerial Adventures

Prior to leaving Hawaii in 2012, I took an aerial silks class with several girlfriends and we loved it. Our classroom was a park in Hawaii Kai, and the silks we used to learn to climb were rigged in an old, rugged tree. I tried to find classes in Tampa Bay that offered aerial silks but didn’t have any luck until two months ago, when I saw the Aerial Dragons perform live on silks and a lyra, a suspended hoop, at Gasparilla Music Festival. I realized a studio offering classes, The Keep, had opened up at a crossfit gym in Ybor about a year ago. I quickly registered for a beginning silks class and convinced one of my girlfriends to come with me on a Saturday morning.

Hawaii 2012

We had so much fun! Our instructor was wonderful – very encouraging and supportive, and she taught us quite a few tricks in our 90 minute session. We learned the basic climb, how to wrap the silk around your leg, and use your arms and legs to pull yourself up into a standing position and repeat to slowly make your way up the silk. We were also able to go upside down which we incorporated into a short but fun routine. I knew I was hooked. I was very excited to learn the studio offered classes on many different circus apparatus, including the trapeze, lyra and cube, and Spanish rope. Flying on a trapeze had immediate appeal to me so I signed up for my first trapeze class the following week. 

The Sunday after my aerial silks class, my boyfriend and I went to Empower Adventures, a zipline and aerial obstacle facility that recently opened up in Oldsmar. We spent a fun afternoon traversing 5 ziplines and completing several obstacles including rope and cable bridges, and a log swing. The only drawback was waiting for everyone to take a turn completing each zip or obstacle so there was a little more standing around and waiting then we would have liked. The highlight, and what I considered to be a terrifying obstacle involved climbing up a 20 foot telephone pole, standing on your feet on the top with nothing to hold onto or use to pull yourself up onto, and then jumping off of the top (while in a harness and attached to a belay line of course so it wasn’t a free fall). I don’t mind climbing up things but I have a fear of  heights and jumping off of things so I knew it was going to push me way outside of my comfort zone. 

One of the other guys in our group of 10, volunteered to try it first. He didn’t have much problem climbing up but once at the top, he wasn’t able to pull himself into a standing position. He ended up “jumping” off the side of the pole and being belayed down. Two teenage boys in our group completed the task easily and I wasn’t sure if seeing them do it was reassuring me or making me more nervous as more time passed to opt out of the activity. Another guy successfully completed it but his friend butt scooted into a jump from the top which I thought, worst case scenario, I could go for the butt scoot too. Eric went next and made it seem effortless. He had no problem getting on his feet at the top of the pole and jumping off. I was next. I climbed up but as I expected, struggled to make the final push onto both feet on the top. I had one foot up, with my leg bent, but couldn’t bring myself to push up all the way. Eric and the rest of our group below were cheering me on and offering advice on how to best stand up. I think I was probably in a half squatting position for almost 10 minutes before I somehow managed to accomplish a fully upright position! It was liberating and I felt very proud of myself. Next was the jump, which took a few more minutes of contemplation before I was able to do it. My heart was racing as our group leader lowered me to the ground, but I felt accomplished for facing two of my fears. 

In continuing my adventures in aerial sports, I attended the trapeze class on Tuesday evening. The class was fairly large and had varying levels in it; one other woman and myself were the only brand new students. We both jumped right in though and completed the warm up of pulling yourself up and over the bar 10 times.  Our instructor, the founder of the Keep, was wonderfully supportive, and she showed us moves to work on under the direction of more advanced students while other aerial enthusiasts used the main bar in the class to elaborate on a routine they were learning. Once we successfully mastered a few moves on the bar, we then went to the main bar to serve as flyers to the students who were the base. As a base, you have to hang upside down on the trapeze with your knees hooked over the bar, and as the flyer, you grasp the forearms of the base and pull yourself upside down and into various positions. It was quite challenging but also an amazing experience and I knew I would be back the following Tuesday for more. 

Puerto Rico 70.3, My First Half-Ironman

Completing Puerto Rico 70.3 was one of the hardest things I have done and I found it significantly more challenging than running a marathon. Though I was straight up terrified of the swim (and never swam more than 1200 yards training), I knew the bike would be the toughest part mentally. I assumed that I would be able to get through the run reasonably well since that is my strongest event of the three, but I underestimated the heat in Puerto Rico and the hills in the course.

To my surprise, the swim was my favorite part, and the easiest by far. I felt a bit panicked initially after starting but when I realized I was able to remain with other yellow caps and started passing people in the wave before me, I relaxed and was able to segment the course buoy by buoy and finish 2 minutes quicker than my anticipated time of 50+.

Coming out of the swim, I felt great and jogged the half a mile to the transition. I continued to feel great through about half of the bike course, maintaining the speed of 16+ mph that was my goal, but about halfway through I felt myself losing steam. The wind picked up and was working against us and my neck was throbbing. I took a quick stretch break halfway through, refilled my water bottles, and told myself I could do it. I got to mile 40 and tried to convince myself that I was almost done but those last 16 miles were pure hell. I knew there was no way I would hit my goal of a 3.5 hour bike and simply wanted to finish, hopefully before noon so I would make the swim/T1/bike cutoff time of 5 hours. Again, at mile 50, I told myself I was on the home stretch and it would be downhill from there but of course it was literally all uphill, still in the wind. It took everything I had to remain on my bike and not start walking it. I’m honestly still at a loss as to why people love biking and can go for hours, because I really don’t love it the way I love running. And I’m not sure if that will ever change. I will say for anyone considering a half, bike as much as you can before the race because you spend most of your time in the saddle. After seeing Eric and my parents at the end of my bike ride and realizing I made the 5 hour cutoff, albeit barely, I headed out for the run.

Starting the run was almost as difficult as finishing the bike. I simply did not want to do it and it became a mind game of pushing through the first two miles at which point I finally found a rhythm. The run course in Puerto Rico was definitely the hardest run I’ve ever completed. I started at noon in the hot sun, and the hills were so steep there was no point in wasting energy running up them. Luckily, the race was very well organized and there were a lot of aid stations with ice, as well as hoses set up along the route. I took it mile by mile, mentally checking off each one as I finished.  Eric was a great support, cheering, and telling me I could do it. He ran close by me for a couple of miles in the middle and at the end, which kept me going.

Overall, I am proud that I finished the race (total time of 7:36); completing a half ironman has been on my bucket list for several years now. I don’t think I trained enough but I’m not sure if many of us ever think we do. Puerto Rico is probably not the best first half to do but it’s a beautiful place to vacation and you might as well go big, so I’m glad I chose it. (Would I do that race again? Probably not; once was more than enough.) Thank you, Sally, for recommending it; I’m giving you credit for the push to finally go for it! I am also very thankful that I had support from my boyfriend and parents because they definitely kept me going when I questioned my ability to do so. Love you all!

Gasparilla 15K - 2016

The Gasparilla 15K was my first race since my half marathon in NC and part of my training for the Delaware Coastal Marathon which I signed up for on a whim over Christmas break. I was very happy with my race and thought I had achieved a new PR until I looked at my 2014 results and realized I was 40 seconds slower this year. In 2014, I finished the 15K in 1:20:09 at an 8:35 mile per minute and this year it was 1:20:46 at an 8:39 pace. But this year, I ran to the start from my house to increase my mileage in keeping with my somewhat informal marathon training plan, so considering my three mile warm up, I was still very happy with my results.

I kept the first three miles around a 10 minute mile so I wouldn't tire out my legs too much. Once I got to the start with about 15 minutes to spare, I really had to use the bathroom but when I saw how long the lines were, decided I would hold it and go during the race if necessary. I didn't see anyone I knew and ducked into the corral where one of the gates was cracked open. Conveniently, I ended up pretty close to the 8:30 pacer and decided I would do my best to stick with her. Because of the huge crowd, I ended up a bit behind her once we started and spent my first mile trying to catch up.

Running along Bayshore towards the finish line!

I stayed right behind the 8:30 group for the next 4 miles but started to slow down as we raced back down Bayshore after the turn around point. It was warm in the sun and I had to get water at a couple of stops (I'm not sure the pacer stopped to rehydrate at all!) to drink and pour on my head. The last mile felt pretty horrendous and I really wanted to walk but I kept pushing myself as best as I could, knowing the finish line wasn't too far off. 

The best part of the race was seeing lots of familiar faces once I crossed the finish line! I truly love the running community in Tampa and was happy to see friends who were out to spectate and provide support, and lots of friends who raced. I walked around for a bit, chatting with people, and then made my way to the finishing area where there was live music and beer. The restaurant Ulele had a tent set up and offered an amazing honey craft beer for free to race finishers (I can't remember the name of the beer but I would definitely buy it at the restaurant once I figured it out). After getting some food and socializing, I went home and napped. And no I didn't run back home; I hitched a ride with a friend!

With Charity and Emily in front of the Gasparilla pirate ship post race!

As usual, I didn't love any of the professional race photos but I included the two I thought were the best.