We spent two solid weeks in Italy. Our plan was to use public transportation for most of the trip as we didn’t want to drive in Rome and wouldn’t be able to drive in Venice or the Cinque Terre. Having been to Italy before, I was also well aware that Italy is old and treasures its traditions and old buildings. In order for old buildings to maintain their authenticity and charm, they cannot easily accommodate many of the modern conveniences we take for granted in America. This includes things like air conditioning and elevators. We knew that packing smart would allow us to save our energy for fun on this trip. We each had a carry-on size roller bag and a backpack. Packing smart really paid off!
We spent 15 nights in Italy and only 6 of them were in facilities that had elevators. We climbed a lot of stairs on this trip! So, even though we ate extremely well, we only gained a couple of pounds apiece on this trip.
Our first four nights were in Rome where we stayed in a B&B in an apartment building around the corner from the Coliseum. Thankfully, the B&B owner had arranged a driver to bring us from the airport as we never would have found it otherwise. The other benefit was that we were also spared any unnecessary wandering around with our luggage in tow. The building had an old cage elevator – rickety but functional. Rome was easy. On to Venice.
How Packing Smart Paid Off in Venice
Venice is the epitome of an old Italian state in a glorious state of decay. There’s not a building in all of Venice that hasn’t had part of its façade crumble to reveal the beautiful brick beneath. Many of these buildings have a pink hue to them which creates a truly unique glow that is reflected in the waters of the canals. Sunset in Venice is simply magical.
We had taken the train from Rome to Venice and jumped on a vaparetto (water bus) to get us close to our hotel which was midway between Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge. We had a short walk from the vaparetto stop to the hotel. However, while Venice is beautiful, it is also a place you can easily get lost in. This can be a lot of fun as every turn brings a photo opp but it’s not so fun when toting luggage. With backpacks on our shoulders and relatively lightweight roller bags (thanks to packing smart), our walk, while confusing at first, wasn’t too bad.
Our hotel did not have an elevator; we knew it would not have an elevator. What we did not know was that the hotel had four floors and that, of course, our room was on the fourth floor – 72 stairs up from the lobby. The breakfast room was on the first floor above the lobby. So it was 54 stairs down to breakfast each morning, 54 stairs back up to our room to finish preparing for the day and 72 stairs down to head out. Then 72 stairs up to get ready for dinner and our evening activities and 72 stairs down to head out; finishing with 72 stairs up to retire for the night. We spent three nights in Venice but it was a mere prelude to what awaited us in the Cinque Terre.
Packing Smart Proves Valuable in the Cinque Terre
The Cinque Terre is a Unesco Heritage Site and national park in Italy, just south of Genoa, consisting of five villages nestled between the sea and the hills that are connected to each other by rail, boat, and hiking trails. In order, north to south – Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. We had reservations for one night in Vernazza (in a private rented room) and three in Monterosso (in a hotel).
First, Vernazza. We had received directions from Elisabetta, our hostess in Vernazza, to her house from the train station. The e-mail had included instructions on how to access our room if we arrived after 5:00 pm when she would no longer be home to let us in. This became important because the train we initially thought we would catch in Venice was sold out and we had to take a later train. Our transit route included changing trains several times, the last of which got cancelled just before we got to that station, further adding to our delay. Needless to say it was after 6:00 by the time we got to Vernazza.
We followed Elisabetta’s directions – walk down the main street, turn left at the Pharmacy and follow the road to House #62 where she would have left us a key to our room. The “road” to House #62 was a stairway that had been carved into the rock. With our backpacks and carry-on bags, we started up the stairs. About twenty stairs in we were only at House #8; another twenty or so stairs and we were at House #15. Dave let me know that I was in danger of losing my “best trip planner” award. Another twenty or so stairs brought us to House #24. All in all, it was 108 stairs to get to House #62. But, there’s more. Because we were late, Elisabetta had taped a note for us to her door, “For Catherine. Your room is located upstairs. Your name is written on the door and the key is on the door. Regards, Elisabetta.” So, another sixteen stairs and we were in. What a view! Our room was in a tower above the town with views of the sea and the vineyards behind us. Wonderful … but exhausting. If not for packing smart, we would not have had the energy to go back down all these stairs to town for dinner!
The next day it was off to Monterosso, where packing smart again saved us. We took the train which lets you off in the newer side of town (where I had been ten years earlier). Thinking I knew where I was going, I, naturally, took us in the wrong direction from our hotel which was in the old town. Once we figured that out it was a good half-mile hike along the coast to old town, luggage in tow. Then we couldn’t find the hotel so wandered around for another 30 minutes or so until somebody gave us directions. Of course, we had gone too far up the hill and our hotel was just a block or so from the main square and the beach. And it was really warm. As might be expected, we were a little out of sorts when we finally did arrive at the hotel.
When we told the man at the desk our name, a panicked look came over his face and he informed us that he had messed up our reservation and didn’t have a room for us until the next day. However, since it was his mistake, he had gotten us a room at a nearby hotel that was actually, in his words, “one star better than mine,” and he would cover the difference in room rates. He said he would walk us over there and check us in. He grabbed my bags, leaving Dave to manage his own, and we followed him a couple of blocks over to the other hotel. It was nice … and it had an elevator though we were only on the second floor. The next day we were to go about our business as if we were in the right hotel and he would come and move our luggage to our room at his hotel where he promised that he would give us his best room. Everything worked according to plan. Late the next afternoon we returned to his hotel and he took us to his best room – the penthouse room 80 stairs up. We’re convinced that the one-star difference was due to the elevator. We spent three lovely nights in Monterosso – two in the penthouse. However, the crowning stairway achievement was yet to come.
The one thing I wanted to do more than anything in the Cinque Terre was hike between the towns. Dave was game. We thought we’d start with the easy hike between Riomaggiore and Manarola, named Via dell’Amore or “romantic road”. However, it was still closed for repair as a result of the 2011 storm that caused massive mudslides which all but eliminated some of the trails. So instead we tackled the hike from our home base in Monterosso to Vernazza, the longest and one of the most difficult stretches of the trail system. The trail takes you up, down, around and through the hills, vineyards, and forest between the two villages. And, yes, the ups and downs are stairs – hundreds upon hundreds of uneven stairs carved into the hillside and wide enough to hike single file with nothing between you and the cliff edge. The rewards were stunning views of the sea and the villages and a surprising jewelry shopping experience about half-way through. We started our hike shortly after breakfast and, with all the stops for photos (and shopping) didn’t finish until lunch which we greatly enjoyed in a little place in Vernazza where we sat next to and conversed with a couple of ladies traveling from Minnesota.
Epilog
The rest of our trip, in Tuscany, was a piece of cake. We had a car and we only had one flight of stairs to our room in our villa outside of Florence. We did do a lot of uphill walking in the hill towns of the region but without luggage. And on our final night, on the sea near the airport in Rome, our hotel had an elevator.
I hope our tales have helped you understand why packing smart matters. We continue to refine our approach to packing smart and have found you really don’t need to leave home prepared for any and all situations. In fact, we have actually had a lot of fun shopping clearance racks overseas to find things that we didn’t realize we would need until we got there. My next post will provide details on packing smart that you can use. Stay tuned!
For more stories in Italy, the following are available:
Intro to Europe: What Could Go Wrong?
Immerse Yourself in the Old World in Southern Italy
