tennis & travel

Nothing is sweeter for me than the intersection of clay court tennis and Rome, Italy.

Today Rafa Nadal won the 7th Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Rome Masters) title defeating Roger Federer 6/1 6/3 in 1 hour and 9 minutes.

The Rome Masters (officially called the Internazionali BNL D’Italia) is held at Foro Italico, the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open. Tennis lovers pack the stadium. The fans are given white Panama-style hats and paddle hand fans to beat the heat  – so chic and totally expected for a mostly Italian and fashion-loving audience.

Foro Italico, Rome

Clay courts are found mainly in Europe. When I lived in Italy, I took lessons and played at the clay courts of Rimbalzello near Gardone Riviera on Lago di Garda. Italians are crazy for tennis although the sport is a bit ”snob” with limited public access to free courts like in the States.

Europhiles have huge opportunities to combine both travel and tennis. The European tour features matches in Spain, Germany, Italy and France.

You can also go there virtually. I recently subscribed to tennistv.com for a little over 16 euros a month to watch matches live on my computer. This morning I got a special treat listening Nadal speak quite good Italian during award presentations (Bravo Nadal!), as well as to the Italian judges and award presenters. Language lovers will appreciate this aspect of Tennis TV, which also offers some nice video clips on European life.

What’s next? Brussels, Nice, Strasbourg. Then clay will turn to grass with June’s Wimbledon. Non vedo l’ora!

el camino de santiago

Whether  for spiritual, religious, or cultural reasons, walking El Camino de Santiago is high on the wish list of many travelers, including mine. I hope to take this journey with my family when the kids are a bit older. There is something special about following a path walked by pilgrims for more than 1,000 years. Going farther back to pre-Christian times, El Camino was also the site of a popular spiritual walk that followed the stars of the milky way.

courtesy Love Mondegreens

The Way of St. James, or El Camino de Santiago, is a pilgrimage route in Northern Spain to the  Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia where tradition has it that the remains of St. James are buried. Because of this, it was one of the most important pilgrimage routes in the Middle Ages. In fact, from the 9th to 16th century, up to two million people a year walked hundreds of miles  from not only Spain, but also France, Britain, Germany, Scandinavia and Italy to worship at the burial site. The route continues to be popular today for modern-day pilgrims and travelers of all ages and from all over the world. According to Wikipedia, the route was declared the first European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe; it was also named one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites.

destination: Santiago
courtesy Love Mondegreens

There are five main Spanish pilgrimage routes with hostels and hotels offering walkers and their tired toesies a place for rest and food along the way.

Courtesy Love Mondegreens

There are many people who have chronicled this journey and each experience is unique.

Jack Hitt, author of “Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim’s Route Into Spain“, describes the experiences and challenges of hiking El Camino with his daughters in this recent NY Times article Hiking through History with your Daughters . (like he describes, I can only imagine the moment when my kids give up and then realize there’s no going back.  ) He describes the family’s adventures and gives additional resources for believers and non-believers wishing to make the trip.

Fellow blogger, gifted travel writer and brave soul Michelle at her blog Love Mondegreens – from Southern Spain to Northern Ireland writes about walking El Camino solo last Spring, and highlights in this post the people and stories she experienced along the way with some excellent photos that offer a firsthand peek into her journey. For her, the experience of hiking it alone was liberating.

Today’s pilgrims can carry a credencial or pilgrim passport and upon completion, receive a compostela , an official record of accomplishment. I’m sure it provides some satisfaction, but I imagine many who have made the hike would say it wasn’t about that.

Because it’s all about the journey, right?

Photos courtesy of Love Mondegreens

fresh air

Three countries. Three incredible hikes. When I travel locally or internationally, hiking is an important way I connect with a place. I’m drawn to the ocean and sea, so it’s by no surprise that three of my favorite hikes take place near water-  the  Zingaro Nature Reserve or Riserva naturale dello Zingaro near San Vito lo Capo, Sicily (Italy); the Costa Verde near Llanes, Spain; and Fort Cronkhite, Marin County, California, U.S.

Undiscovered? No, but these hikes and locations are less discovered. And all three offer free public access.

 Zingaro Nature Reserve (Riserva naturale dello Zingaro) San Vito lo Capo, Sicily

Near the small, picturesque, jewel of a town, San Vito lo Capo, and its beach,   in northwestern Sicily, is the Riserva naturale dello Zingaro.

Paths stretch along seven kilometers of unspoiled coast and bays overlooking   blue-green sparkling water.

Along the hike, claim your rock and spend the day in and out of the clean, clear sea.

The Zingaro also features an archeological past with a pretty spectacular-to-witness Uzzo Grotto or shelter cave, one of the first prehistoric human settlements in Sicily.

the Grotto

The Zingaro is top on my list of unforgettable experiences of beauty, hiking, sunbathing and swimming in the pristine waters of Northwestern Sicily, an area still undiscovered by many North Americans.

Costa Verde, Llanes, Spain

Just outside the colorful, super-Spanish, full-of-fiesta town of Llanes there is a hike that feels half Northern California for its seacliff paths, and half Swiss for its nearby lush green mountains. I’ve been here twice.

At one part of the hike, my friends and I had to make our way through ferns taller than we were.

Llanes lies to the north of the Picos de Europa mountain range.

And, since this is Asturias, Spain, what better place to “throw the cider”  (the bottle must be held above the head allowing for a long vertical pour) and enjoy an Asturian sidra after a long hike.

Ft. Cronkhite, Golden Gate National Parks, Marin County, California

I can hardly understand how I lived in San Francisco for almost 10 years and never came across the hiking paths at nearby Fort Cronkhite by Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands. Once a  WWII military post and part of the presidio, these coastal  hills offer hikers (and their dogs) miles of paths. We hiked up and around the old army gun batteries and lookout. The location is quiet and picture-perfect with unobstructed access to the water and views.  A woman (seen just barely below) found the perfect vista to pull up a beach chair and spend the afternoon in solitude.

Have you taken a hike that is unforgettable? Where is your favorite undiscovered or less discovered location to hike?

fine art photography for europhiles

Our home is a collection of old and new. When returning to the states after living in Europe, we shipped many of our favorite things that held sentimental value from our time spent there. Our yellow modern Italian couches and other furniture pieces, dishes, artwork such as framed antique maps, books, and, naturally, our Alessi favorites, as I describe in this past post.

But what had become a challenge was an update to our artwork. Over our modern Italian couches and near several framed black and white photographs, hung a fresco-like painting of Siena on canvas purchased in Italy. It held sentimental value but felt old-fashioned. In fact, much of today’s European and Italian design is more modern than those Americans promoting Tuscan kitchens would like to believe. Our Northern Italian friends have the latest in glass tile, and favor clean lines, modern art and appliances over a traditional look. While we have many traditional items in our home such as a large french-style kitchen pine table, it became clear it was time to update this piece of art on the wall. But how? How does a Europhile – lover of history and things old - accomplish this?

I found my solution last month, while perusing the shelves at our local bookstore downtown for Christmas presents. Above the books, I discovered artistic photographs displayed around the room. The art show was featuring the work of Northern California photographer Dee Conway.

“Room in the Louvre” Dee Conway

Several sepia-colored prints from photographs featuring European  architecture that appeared to be near or around Paris caught my attention. (The photos are archival prints on watercolor paper from a film negative).

Dee Conway

Dee Conway

One photograph in particular, shot wide angle by Conway from a circular window looking out onto the Louvre’s back courtyard produces a peaceful effect with its shadows, texture and clouds.  Quite large and framed in light wood, the photograph – for me – feels so familiar and represents why views like these in Europe never fail to catch my eye and keep me gazing; they fill my soul and spirit when I’m there. I never tire of it.

“The Louvre”, Dee Conway

One of her framed photographs has taken the place of the Siena fresco and, with the addition of a few Missoni-style, brightly-striped couch pillows, our room has been updated with the most perfect effect.

All photos by permission of Dee Conway photography at http://deeconway.com/

hobson-jobson

I’m interested in words. Language is fascinating  – its history, progression and influence. I’m curious how certain words came to be and where they came from. The idea that if Dante Aligheri were alive today, we would have a conversation in his little-changed Tuscan Italian is mind-blowing. I’ve read that the Italian greeting “ciao” comes from the word “schiao” – Venetian dialect shortened for “sono vostro schiavo” or “I am your slave.”  “Salve” – a greeting used frequently in Northern Italy where we lived but unfamiliar to most people outside the region - comes from the latin verb “salvere” or to be in good health.

Then there are informal contractions used out of context or awkwardly. I lie awake at night when my Italian PhD student friend  and European business owner-acquaintance use the English word “wanna” in their written correspondence. I haven’t had the heart to confront them, but my insides knot up  to see an inappropriate use of “want to.”  But, somewhere and somehow Euro-English – the official language of the European Union –  has decided that “wanna” is okay – even in formal correspondence. But I digress.

It’s interesting to hear how words have been borrowed and imitated and transformed by foreigners. When I taught Business English in Italy, I heard “chattare” ( an Italian verb rooted in the English Internet word “chat”), along with “stress”, “weekend”, “computer”, “video”, “blog” and “clic.” I would love to collect these words in some sort of index or glossary.

Which brings me to Hobson-Jobson.

“A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms etymological, historical, geographical and discursive. By Colonel Henry Yule and AC Burnell.”

More than 100  years ago Yule and Burnell collected more than 2,000 entries - with notes –  of Indian words borrowed, used and sometimes changed by the English living there. This legendary dictionary of British India was called the Hobson-Jobson, a scholarly but fun glossary published in 1886 - and lists Anglo-Indian words like shampoo  (from the Indian word “champi or head massage), bungalow, pyjama, curry and bangle. The book also – perhaps indirectly - gives us a historical and social snapshot of the relationship between the two countries. The book can be seen as a memoir, BBC News writes, of colonial India.

For example, the Indian word dam is defined as originating from the damri coin that once existed but now means something is worthless (Damri - Dam – Damn). An exceprt from the Hobson-Jobson text reads:

“Damn  is a common enough expression for the infinitesimal in coin, and one has often heard a Briton in India say : ” No, I  won’t give a dumree!” with but a
vague notion what a damri meant, as in Scotland we have heard, ” I won’t
give a plack” though certainly the speaker could not have stated the
value of that ancient coin.”

Word lovers can get their hands on a new edition of the Hobson-Jobson next year launched as part of the Oxford World Classics Series. You can learn more about it here via BBC which is broadcasting a radio program focusing on the ever loved Hobson-Jobson.

words photo credit: National Institutes of Health NIDCD

i dolomiti

The Dolomites, or i Dolomiti in Italian, the breathtaking mountain range in the Trentino - Alto Adige region of northeastern Italy, is  one of my favorite places to visit. While not what most North Americans expect in Italy, this region feels most certainly its geographic position on the crossroads of Italy and Austria. When we lived nearby at Lago di Garda, we took day trips to Trento or weekends up to Bolzano. We hiked near Canazei and took in the panorama of the alps at the Sass Pordoi.

I have sentimental reasons for loving this place too. My favorite wine of the Dolomites is maker Mezzacorona .  I like their white wines, particularly their Pinot Grigio which I can find in my local market in Northern California. If you are in the area, take their informative - and fun – wine tour where you can learn about winemaking in the region, and have the opportunity to taste a wide range of their quality wines. The facility is modern and artistic.

In fact, it was this entertaining  wine tasting experience at Mezzacorona followed by a carpaccio dinner in the nearby city of Trento, that has become a memorable family story. (I found out the next day I was four weeks pregnant with our daughter. I can assure you that sparkling wine and raw meat didn’t harm her!).

Trento is never far from my heart and mind. My wedding band is from Trento’s historic city center by a  jeweler founded in 1872, Gioielleria D. Cortelletti.

Trento

During the winter Trento has some of the best known and beloved Christmas street markets. We especially loved to visit during this time. There we found a wide variety of sausages (like what you’d typically find in Germany or Austria) and delicious soup mixes for sale.

Bolzano farther north, was well worth the extra time in the car to visit. Its mediaeval city center, churches and castles – and mix of Italian and Austrian influence -give the city a unique flavor.

Bolzano

One of our all-time favorite trips was staying at an inn at Cortina d’Ampezzo near Canazei - long known as a winter sports center – in the northern region of Alto-Adige and hiking the upper part of Val di Fassa.

Cortina d’Ampezzo

We visited off season and hiked in unbelievably remote and beautiful parts. We rested our feet at an outdoor cafe clinging to the edge of a mountain. We took the funivia (cable car) to the unforgettable Sass Pordoi, called the terrazza or terrace of the Dolomites , at 2,950 meters. (We purchased jackets from a wise man selling them before our ascent.) It has one of the most spectacular panoramas of the alps!

At almost 3,000 meters at sass pordoi overlooking the alps.

The Trentino - Alto Adige region of Italy - its people, food and culture – may not remind you of the Italy you are accustomed to visiting or hearing about – but it is well worth adding to your itinerary. In fact, it couldn’t be more what Italy truly is, a mix of diverse cultures and history.

ave maria di lourdes

I’m convinced that you can relive memories through your senses more accurately than flipping through a photo album.

When our kids are asked what they remember most about our summer trip to Italy, they often say the taste of rich gelato. More recently, my daughter mentions the memory and sound of bells chiming from church towers.

I know exactly what day she is remembering. We were staying in the hills just south of Florence taking a walk overlooking the olive trees surrounding our apartment.

A nearby church tower began chiming. Then another joined in from farther away. And another. They played off each other and continued for a good five or ten minutes. The bell chimes bounced off the distant hills and filled the air. This chorus of bells against a backdrop of silence stopped us in our tracks as we listened. When my husband and I lived in Italy, the sounds of church bells were an everyday occurrence – we hardly noticed some days. But on that day it was a beautiful and memorable shared experience between mother and daughter.

My daughter’s memory reminds me that I do miss the church bells. I don’t hear them at home. When we lived in Italy,  the local town church chimed an unfogettable and beautiful song only on Sundays. So over the years, I’d often sit on our balcony high up on the hill and listen. I knew I could count on hearing it each week. My mother recognized the song as ”Ave Maria di Lourdes” because she listened to it as a child growing up in Germany. To confirm it was the song, I found a version on youtube.  Take a listen and perhaps it will take you back to a country or time that is special to you.

travel is the best investment for kids

It’s back to school time and I agree with whoever said public schools should sponsor and promote ‘travel teams’ much like sports teams, because of the  life lessons the act of traveling provides young people. Our trip to Italy earlier this summer has left a lasting impression on our two children and reinforced a key family value of the importance of exposing them to different cultures from an early age – even if it’s a trade-off to a bigger house, newer appliances or a nicer car.

Stazione Santa Lucia, Venice

Read about my tips on traveling in Italy with kids here through my interview this month with travel, art and culture blog, This is My Happiness.

my two favorite places to learn italian in italy

With an independent spirit, a love for European languages, culture and travel and a passport tucked in my back pocket, I have discovered the  valuable experience of participating in a language and culture program abroad.  Over the last 15 years and after much research, I had the opportunity to enroll at language schools in the beautiful cities of Siena in the Toscana region and Verona in the Veneto region.

Dante Aligheri Society of Siena

I enrolled in my first study abroad program when I was in my mid 20s. I left a career job to spend four months traveling in Europe, partly alone and partly meeting up with friends and family. For one month of the trip I enrolled in the distinguished Dante Aligheri Society in Siena. The program included daily morning language classes and afternoon cultural excursions. While I had the option to rent an apartment on my own or with classmates, I opted for a homestay with an Italian family – a good choice as it allowed me the experience of living with an Italian family and practice of the language.

Siena is a wonderful, awesome city full of history – really, strangely frozen  in time. An ideal place to study Italian language, history and art, the excursions to Siena’s old churches and private buildings normally not open to the public were worth the program cost alone.  I was there during the Palio horse race, and the family I was staying with  gave me an unforgettable  private tour of their contrada’s museum with items dating back many centuries.

palio horse race, siena

 

I also won’t forget the must-do-at-least-once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing the Palio race while standing inside the piazza (worth the hours required to wait if you want a prime spot) or witnessing horses inside Catholic churches being blessed by priests before the race started as locals poured into the streets .  But don’t expect to immediately begin mixing with the locals. Siena locals or Sienese, to me, are quite reserved and I felt a distinct separation between students and residents.

Lingua It, Verona

Fast forward from Siena about ten years  and I find myself, in my 30s, living in Northern Italy not far from Verona, the beautiful city setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (the original “balcony” tucked in an alley is still a favorite of tourists).

juliet’s famous balcony in verona

By luck, I learn of the fabulous Lingua it Italian language school in Verona. There I took individual and group lessons on a weekly basis. Opened up by my Italian friend and his friends, the school has expanded from a wide range of language courses to guided tours and courses on art history, literature and cinema, cooking and more. Located in the historic center, Lingua it’s personable and passionate staff and my fellow students became  an extended family for me. In fact, the group of friends I met through this school eventually threw me a baby shower before my little girl was born. With the Roman Arena (we saw Aida there under the stars), symphonies at the local concert hall (Mozart once played there) to the numerous beautiful piazzas and gardens and nearby wineries, Verona has become one of my favorite cities in Italy.

Have you studied a language abroad? If so, where?  Do you have a favorite program to share?

Click here to learn more about the Dante Aligheri Society in Siena.

Click here to learn more about Lingua It in Verona.

Palio race picture credit: aboutsiena.com

top 3 new experiences this spring in Italy

On our trip back to Italy last month, we walked a lot down memory lane – visiting our old apartments, old jobs, old friends, favorite beaches, buildings, bars and restaurants. The children were gracious, my oldest posing in front of the hospital she was born and standing on the lungolago for a picture where I strolled her endlessly years ago.

But what was equally enjoyable was the creation of new memories with our children through new experiences in an old country with endless things to discover.

Three of our favorite new Italian finds this Spring include:

Visiting the Madame Fisscher exhibit at Palazzo Grassi, Venice (through July 15, 2012)

Even if you are not a contemporary art fan or have had enough of Venice (but is that possible in the city that never gets old?), it may be worth visiting this exhibit if only to  enter the breathtaking Palazzo Grassi for the first time.

From the brochure, “The exhibit offers a journey through Urs Fischer’s artistic career from the nineties to today.  His work, characterized by humor, penchant for paradox and virtuosity of execution, employes simultaneously an extraordinary diversity of media and materials.  It calls into question the history of art and sculpture, our relationship to the body, the notion of time and the status of the object.”  Our favorites include “Untitled”,  two men in candle wax allowing visitors to witness the transformation as the flame burns (the head representing Fischer himself had fallen into his hands when we were there) and the idea of the importance of all processes of transformation, the body’s endurance and duration of artwork; Jeff Koons monumental pink “Balloon Dog” (which is used to contrast a nearby Fischer work);  “A Light Sigh is the Sound of my Life”,  an enormous sphere, slowly rotating on itself made of different materials (what looked like skin and hair). My daughter also gave a thumbs up to the “floating” cigarette box  hung by a thin wire from the ceiling while the naked professional model/woman in the ”Necrophonia” room was a surprise.

Eating at GustaPizza, Florence

Near Piazza Santo Spirito in Florence I ate some of the best pizza I’ve had in central and northern Italy. Our friend who lives in the area introduced it to us. Delicious and affordable,  my pizza came with rucola and grana (above) while the kids had Margherita. If you are traveling in the area this summer, this casual restaurant is not to miss.

Renting a motorboat, Lago di Garda

All the years we lived on the lake, while we enjoyed its stunning water by ferry-boat and swimming, it’s hard to believe we never rented a boat. On the lungolago in our old village of Toscolano Maderno, you can rent a motor boat for an hour for 75 euros. While a splurge for us, the kids agree it was one of the best activities we chose to do on the trip. The views of the villas and castles and mountains lining the coast are best experienced by boat. The boats go fast enough to feel the thrill of bumping over small waves and wind through the hair.