After overlanding to the Italian capital earlier this summer the return trip for JUSTIN COMISKEYand his young family was full of surprises, including a chance encounter with President McAleese along the way
ALL ROADS lead to Rome goes the saying, but not in our case – this time they were going in the opposite direction. After driving the family from Dublin to the Eternal City earlier this summer – taking in the UK, Holland, Germany, Austria and Italy over 10 days along the way – the return journey in late August through Italy and France proved no less exciting and turned up quite a few surprises.
The first of which saw us start off by heading south from Rome – instead of north in the direction of Dublin – to visit Pompeii near Naples. We left Rome early and covered the 225km to the capital of Campania in a little over two hours. There was plenty of pretty scenery along the way, including a glimpse of historic Monte Cassino, but the kids had eyes for one thing only – Mount Vesuvius. When the legendary volcano came into view I gasped at its proximity to Naples, which has a population of over a million, and at how the city swept up its lower slopes.
We found expensive but secure parking near Pompeii and, weighted down with water and plastered in factor 50, headed for the ruins. It had been 35 degrees in Rome, but Pompeii in August put that in the shade and in no time our water reserves were gone. Luckily, we replenished supplies at water fountains around the ancient Roman town – otherwise it would have been a very short visit.
My daughters had read about Pompeii in school and were fascinated to see its streetscapes, stadia and squares. They could also identify grooves in paving stones made by chariots more than 2,000 years ago.
A highlight was a visit to the Forum Baths with their delicate stucco work and mosaic floors. Nearby we came across casts of some of the victims of the volcanic eruption in 79AD which buried the town in ash – expressions of terror clearly visible on their faces.
The kids, though, could rarely get Vesuvius off their minds. “Would you like to have a closer look?” I asked. “Yes please,” they replied. So we got back in the car, drove through the Camorra stronghold of Torre del Greco and followed signposts for Parco nazionale del Vesuvio. Forty-five minutes of hairpin bends later we parked above lava fields near the volcano’s summit. The Bay of Naples, astonishingly beautiful and not a bit like Killiney Bay to which it’s sometimes compared, was below us but ahead was a tough hour’s hike to the summit. There was dissension in the ranks on the way up but the troops forgot all thoughts of mutiny when they looked down in to Vesuvius’s crater which, at more than 200m deep, 700m wide and 12km in circumference, is an awesome sight.
THE NEXT DAY, we headed for Assisi in Umbria to stay with a friend whose father hails from inside the walls of this medieval hillside town which is the birthplace of St Francis and St Clare. We arrived in the late morning and, after espresso in a cafe, walked through narrow laneways of pink and cream cut-stone houses. Our first port of call was Basilica di Santa Chiara, its fine Romanesque façade dominating a pretty piazza where olive groves on one side swept down to the valley below. Inside, there were notable frescoes to enjoy while it was equally impressive to witness the devotion of pilgrims in the crypt below where St Clare’s remains lie.
We lunched in our friend’s ancestral home just off Piazza Comune whose centrepiece is the Temple of Minerva – its classic portico dates back to the 1st century BC. Our friend’s father and aunt were full of stories of what it was like growing up in Assisi during the 1940s and 1950s when some 12,000 lived within its ancient walls. Now there are less than a thousand – the 1997 earthquake speeding up a steady decline that’s turning Assisi into a museum.
After lunch we made our way through cobbled streets to the landmark Basilica di San Francesco – a Unesco World Heritage site which houses works by Giotto. Divided into two main churches, the smaller lower part is the more memorable – its intimate setting allowing for an upfront experience with the frescoes and superb stonework.
With the kids growing restless, however, we headed back to Piazza Comune. It was a long uphill slog in the sun and I expected the troops to be out on their feet but, once in the piazza, they took off like demons and disappeared from view.
Alarmed, I gave chase only to find them a little later in the arms of a well-known lady who lives in the Phoenix Park. “Look who it is,” the kids shouted. “Howayeh Mary,” I said, totally taken aback. “How are yah,” said President McAleese and, turning to the kids, “Now, what are your names again?” She chatted for a while, posed for a family photo and wished us all the best.
THE NEXT DAY we headed for Genoa and broke the journey in Pisa, savouring the spectacular scenery of Umbria along the way while secretly salivating at the prospect of visiting towns we saw signposted, such as Cortona and Arezzo. Maybe next year.
We covered the 274km without incident until entering the centro storicoin Pisa – my satnav sending us into a pedestrianised zone for which we risked a €600 fine if caught. Luckily, however, we secured parking within five minutes' walk of what we'd come to see – Piazza dei Miracoli – which includes the recently restored leaning tower, one of the finest cathedrals in Italy and the country's largest baptistery.
The piazza, also a World Heritage site, was packed with visitors pretending to “hold up” the tower for photographs. Recently stabilised at an angle of four degrees, back from 5.5 degrees in the 1990s, the tower is still a mind-boggling sight and is even odder in real life as, given that its upper floors were built with one side taller than the other, it is curved and was even a little banana-shaped to my eyes. We enquired about climbing the tower but, alas, numbers were strictly limited. The adjacent cathedral, however, more than compensated – its magnificent mosaics hinting at a strong Byzantine influence.
Back in the car by mid afternoon, we were really looking forward to the drive up the Tuscan coast to Liguria but, barely underway, we hit some traffico intensoand waited out the jam on the beach at the upmarket resort of Viareggio. It was strange cooling down in the sea from the 35-degree heat while you could see snow on the jagged peaks of the nearby Alpi Apuane. We left after dinner, arriving in Genoa late – but those 140km, through narrow tunnels and over twisty roads with the locals up to all sorts of mad manoeuvres, were the most demanding of the entire trip.
Next morning we hopped on the metro for the short ride to the port area of Genoa and a visit to the city’s renowned aquarium. While not cheap – tickets for the six of us cost €58 – Europe’s second largest aquarium was sensational.
The kids were bowled over time and again: first by the huge shark tank (with enough fearsome fangs to make Jaws gulp); then by the saw fish, dolphins and seals; but the real show-stopper was the penguin enclosure where cute Gentoos dived in and out of the water to olés from the crowd. We also saw caymans, giant turtles, barracuda, large jellyfish with illuminous rings and petted passing rays.
After lunch in the city centre and a saunter around historic Piazza de Ferrari, we hit the road in the late afternoon, first crossing the Appenines, then the flat-as-a-pancake plains of Lombardy before swinging a left around Turin and heading for France. After being amazed at the dramatic beauty of the Italian Alps – for the second time on this holiday – we crossed into France through the 13km Frejus tunnel and made it to the spa town of Aix-les-Bains with enough time for a late evening stroll followed by delicious crepes before bed.
Given the amount of travelling we’d done, some time savouring the terrific thermal baths in Aix-les-Bains would have been right up our street – but we had to press on, through the eye-catching Auvergne, to a purpose-built family holiday resort in a quiet corner of the Loire valley 190km south of Paris.
Les Alicourts, where we were staying with Canvas Holidays for four nights, was exactly what we needed at this stage – somewhere to kick-back and relax with lots of family-friendly facilities. The kids spent their mornings on organised activities, their afternoons having fun with newly-acquired friends on the slides at the pool and their evenings enjoying shows at the resort’s amphitheatre.
Our accommodation, in a mobile home, was comfortable and clean, while the resort was surprisingly easy to get around. The Canvas team kept us up to speed with the multitude of goings on at the resort: anything from creative workshops to family canoeing on the lake.
There was also plenty nearby, too, with lots of fine chateaux to visit, including the former royal residence of Chambord. Located in one of Europe’s largest enclosed parks, its magnificence – which Leonardo da Vinci is thought to have had a hand in designing – wowed the kids and drew wondrous looks from the adults.
We reluctantly left Les Alicourts early on our final day in France. The electrical storm outside matched the mood as our first adventure as a family was coming to a close. By 10am we were passing Rennes on our way to Roscoff when one of my daughters spotted something she hadn’t seen for a long time – an IRL sticker on the back of a car. “They’re boggers from Cork,” she said as we passed them by.
Luckily, the electrical storm had moved on by the time we arrived in Roscoff. After a lunch of crepes and coffee, we wandered around the pretty old town – all cut-granite houses, small churches, bakeries and friendly locals – and enjoyed views to Brittany’s famed Pink Granite coastline nearby.
We put off boarding the ferry to Rosslare till the last possible moment. Driving up the gangway I asked the kids: “Would you like to do it all again next year?” They loudly answered in the affirmative. I looked at the missus – it was a nice moment.
- Justin Comiskey and family were guests of Canvas Holidays at Les Alicourts. A week’s rent for a tent in 2012 at Les Alicourts – sleeping two adults and four kids – costs from €145, while a mobile home costs from €242.
The journey
Distance
2,591km covered over nine days. Leaving early in the morning is key to keeping everything on schedule.
Cost
€440.50 in motorway charges in France and Italy.
Fuel
Our 1.9ltr VW Transporter consumed €303 of diesel over the nine-day journey.
Route planning
Viamichelin.com
Navigation
TomTom Via 110 but we also brought a hard copy road atlas of Europe (just in case).