Summer Chronicle 2013

A tripartite adventure including Art and Ash in the Austrian alps, Patti and Art in Tuscany, and a

Mediterranean cruise.

WED 07 AUG and THU 08 AUG: Toronto to Lofer, Austria

Endless day: arrive at the airport by 4 p.m., leave at 8, a bit of sleep on the plane, train from Munich

to Salzburg, bus from Salzburg to Lofer, where we will undertake a seven-day exploration of the

Salburger Salaachtal, “hiking without baggage,” with Wanderweg, an organization that transports

your suitcase from village to village, enabling you to hike with only a daypack. Lofer, a charming ski

village, seems strangely empty even at the height of the tourist season.

FRI 09 AUG: Lofer Circuit

Much time wasted searching for the trailhead, but we get to see goats and take more pictures in the

village. “A good hiking day,” says our innkeeper, meaning, evidently, no views and a fair amount of

light rain. (A cave provides a dry lunch spot.) We reach Mariankirchental (the valley of St. Mary

Church) and continue on to the Wechsel (junction), enjoying the lovely sound of cowbells in three

different pitches.

SAT 10 AUG: Lofer to Unken

A ski gondola takes us to its midpoint (as far it goes in summer), then we hike two hours to the top of

the ski area, a broad meadow with more cows. A long descent along a forest road carries us past a

gorge. At the end of this six-hour day of hiking we enjoy wienerschnitzel made with pork instead of

veal.

SUN 11 AUG: Unken to Reith

Crossing Aschauer Gorge in the absence of a bridge is less challenging than getting around the

“closed” sign, a maneuver requiring swinging one’s body out over the gorge while holding onto safety

lines installed to help negotiate the very narrow path. The “Three Brothers Hotel,” in Reith, named

after a local mountain formation, offers hypermodern accommodations (in contrast to the old-

Austrian inn at Lofer and the sixties-modern hotel in Unken), and excellent ice cream.

MON 12 AUG: Reith to St. Martin

Our longest day (8 ½ hours) coincides with the best weather and the best views: high mountains and

alpine meadows, enhanced by cowbells, and all earned on foot—no gondolas this time. We spend the

night in a traditional Gasthaus in the middle of the charming village of St. Martin.

TUE 13 AUG: St. Martin to Weissbach

It had to rain one day and this was it, rain coming down so hard that after an hour we considered

bailing out. Happily we decided to press on, reaching a high alpine chapel by lunchtime, where we

found the usual bovine congregation augmented by an inquisitive, persistent goat. Just before

reaching our hotel in Weissbach we pass through the longest, deepest, most spectacular gorge yet on

our “Route of the Gorges.”

WED 14 AUG: Weissbach to Lofer

A day for scenic wonders: Lamprechtshöhle, the world’s largest multi-entrance cave, and

Vorderkassenklammer, a 400-meter long gorge, 80 meters deep. Returning to Lofer feels like coming

home, with the accumulated fatigue of the week disappearing with relief in the knowledge of having

successfully completed the “Route of the Gorges.”

THU 15 AUG: Munich

What do you think of when you think of Munich? No, I mean besides Hitler. No, I mean besides the

massacre at the 1972 Olympic Games. If you said, “Beer garden,” you get the prize. The Augustine

Keller, founded in 1328, offers a beer garden with fast-moving waiters carrying more than half a

dozen steins at a time, serving heavy Bavarian fare, with an oom-pah band in the background and two

men smoking cigars right behind us. A glorious evening, followed by a stroll along Marianplatz to

capture the magic of Munich by night.

FRI 16 AUG: Munich

Every day hundreds of tourists crowd Marienplatz to watch the mechanized figures in the Rathaus

clocktower. Wouldn’t it be fun to watch them at eye level, I thought? So, following the principle of

“climb every tower,” I proceeded to the sixth floor of Munich’s largest bookstore and enjoyed a pastry

and hot chocolate while waiting for the show to begin. Afterwards, I entered St. Michael’s Church,

where the organist was practicing the Bach Great C Minor prelude and fugue. Bells from the many

churches clang like cowbells in alpine meadows.

SAT 17 AUG: Munich to Rome to Loro Ciuffenna

Rise at 5:45, walk five minutes to the Hauptbahnhof, where an incredibly smooth, fast train whisks

me to the airport in 38 minutes and I quickly go through a security system run impersonally and

expeditiously, with none of the paranoia that makes air travel to or through the States so unpleasant.

Need some sleep? At the Munich airport you can rent a Napcab for 15 euros an hour and catch a few

winks. An hour later I join Patti in Rome, where we rent a car and head north to Tuscany. Most

people haven’t heard of Loro Ciuffenna, and I was even a bit doubtful that I’d find it on the roadmap

provided by the car rental agency. The tortuous path to La Ferriera, our home for a week, makes us

wonder if we’ll ever find our way out again. We meet a pleasant American couple at the introductory

reception and spend dinner comparing notes on psychotherapy (his profession), nutrition (hers), and

other subjects.

SUN 18 AUG: Catiglion Fibocchi and Arezzo

We drive toward Arezzo in a rented Fiat Panda, five forward gears of manual transmission, on a hilly

road only a lane and a half wide, with cyclists in both directions and no shoulders. I feel as if I’m

driving recklessly but cars pile up behind us, impatient with my timidity. An ancient hillside village,

Castiglion Fibocchi, feels like a ghost town—everyone is at church. The road carries us past

breathtaking fields of sunflowers. Arezzo has been a walled city since the time of the Etruscans, with

new defensive systems developing over the centuries, culminating in a five-sided fortress at its highest

point.

MON 19 AUG: Loro Ciuffenna

Monday is market day in Loro Ciuffenna, with a caravan of trucks raising awnings and dropping side

panels to display foodstuffs and clothing. The only actual “industry” we can discover in this medieval

village is “l’antico mulino,” whose still-functioning water-driven mechanism the miller happily

displays.

TUE 20 AUG: Florence

We pass a relaxing day in Florence, having seen all the obligatory sights in a previous visit. We walk

past the Duomo, wander down the multi-vowelled Via de Calzaiouli, enjoy lunch in sight of David and

Perseus in the Piazza della Signoria (where we encounter a municipal employee whose sole

responsibility appears to be chastising tourists who touch the lion), then stroll along the Arno, swept

by the crowd across the Ponte Vecchio. We cross back via the Ponte Santa Trinita, then enjoy an ice

cream stop before driving home.

WED 21 AUG: Chianti Tour

We join two other couples for a guided tour of the Chianti region, beginning with a brief stop for

panoramic views at Radda in Chianti, followed by wine-tasting at local vineyard. We proceed to San

Gimignano, described by Rick Steves as a “perfectly preserved tourist trap,” left by the plague in a

“14th-century architectural time warp.” Then on to Siena, with its Duomo, one of the most impressive

churches we have ever seen, followed by a relaxing end-of-the-afternoon stop at the enormous Piazza

del Campo, where horses still race twice a year.

FRI 23 AUG: Cortona

If I thought my mountain climbing ended in Austria, I hadn’t counted on Cortona. The main road

climbs a considerable distance from the valley floor and an escalator rises from the parking lot to the

town’s several piazzas. But reaching the basilica of Santa Margherita, the town’s patron saint,

demands a strenuous half-hour climb. Lunch includes a delicious pizza and an unusual vegetable

dish, with unbelievably yummy gelato in mid-afternoon.

SAT 24 AUG: Loro to Rome

We drive to Rome and surrender our rental car. About Italian drivers Rick Steves, resolutely non-

judgmental, writes, “Be warned that Italian drivers can be aggressive. They tailgate as if it were

required. They pass where Americans are taught not to—on blind corners and just before tunnels.”

The way I figure it, most Italian motorists think they’re driving motorcycles. I was relieved to be done

with it. Our ship, Legend of the Seas, seems to be predicated on the notion that people on a cruise

abhor silence. I spend a blissful half hour listening to a jazz trio perform, but as soon as they break,

the guitarist turns a switch to fill the room with Muzak. Most cruise ships have at least a few nooks to

which one can escape—the library, say, or a quiet lounge on the highest deck. But no—the Royal

Caribbean engineers have systematically eradicated all such aberrations. Let Muzak reign supreme.

SUN 25 AUG: Three Pearls of Paradise Gulf

The Italian Riviera has attracted European aristocrats since the 18th century and Hollywood stars—

America’s equivalent—since the middle of the 20th. Some might consider the absence of sandy

beaches to be a drawback, but imported palm trees and trompe l’oeil moldings enhance the charm of

these seaside villages. We enjoy a snack in Rapallo then head by boat to Portofino (port of the

dolphins), once a secret hideaway, now a tourist town. A hike to St. George Church and the lighthouse

offers great views, but by the time we reach our third destination, Santa Margherita, we’re content to

wander narrow streets in search of a gelateria.

MON 26 AUG: Cassis, France

A bus takes us to Cassis, a charming French seaside tourist town, not all that different from charming

Italian seaside tourist towns.

TUE 27 AUG: Barcelona—Montserrat

As our ship draws slowly into Barcelona harbor I am reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog, a

wickedly funny examination of privileged French society, and observe the levels of privilege locally as

the Aida occupies a berth within walking distance of the Columbus Tower whereas we come to rest a

mile away beside the cargo container ships. A truly vertiginous road spirals to the top of Montserrat

(literally, “serrated mountain”), whose weird shapes inspired Gaudi’s distinct style. The Benedictine

monks of the Montserrat monastery administer the Escolania, a world-famous choir school founded

in the 13th century. We hear the boy choir perform at the end of the midday Salve service. Returning

to the city we ramble down Las Ramblas, where Patti receives a benediction from an angel.

WED 28 AUG: Palma de Mallorca

The cathedral of Mallorca, dating from the beginning of the 14th century, includes a number of

alterations by 20th-century architect Antonio Gaudi, including a rose window, the pulpit canopy, and a

remarkable baldequin. After wandering about the winding streets in the vicinity of the cathedral, we

head to the beach, whose sands have given Mallorca the nickname “Europe’s Florida.” Throughout

the day, planes fly at roughly three-minute intervals into this holiday island.

THU 29 AUG: Valencia

The cathedral at Valencia encompasses a dozen intermediate chapels, a great dome, representations

of angelic musicians, and a climbable tower. I mount the 279 steps just in time to stand beside the

highest bell as it tolls twelve. The Plaça Redona, a renovated plaza, offers Valencia’s version of a

circular strip mall, with an emphasis on haberdashery. Architectural details abound throughout the

city, including a first-rate dome in the central market and remarkable bas-reliefs at the ceramics

museum.

FRI 30 AUG: Crossing the Mediterranean

SAT 31 AUG: Rome - Home