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The Via Aurelia, from Rome to Pisa

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Civitavecchia The Via Aurelia, from Rome to Pisa

Pirgo by Night. CC Image by Daniele Liberati (Flickr).

By ALEIX GWILLIAM

Rome provides a great starting point for various day trips that take you to places with a lot of history as well as offering a beautiful landscape. One drive is to follow the old Via Aurelia, the road from Rome to Pisa, built in the year 241 BC. The road goes along the Italian West Coast, a beautiful 200 mile trip, and today, the Italian motorway SS1 uses the same route. The Via Aurelia is an excellent choice for a day out during your stay in Rome apartments.

The road leaves from the Western part of the city, not far from The Vatican. After 18 miles you come across the town of Cerveteri, which was one of the most important Mediterranean commercial centres for over 200 years, from the 7th to the 5th centuries BC. Cerveteri was an Etruscan village, and although it’s not by the sea today, it used to be at the time. In Museo Nazionale di Cerveteri you can see all sorts of Etruscan remains and treasures that were taken from the Banditaccia Necropoli. The necropolis is laid out as a village with Etruscan huts and tombs.

Past the port of Civitavecchia, where you can get ferries to Spain, Sardinia, Corsica and France, you will find Tarquinia, another famous Etruscan centre, which holds one of the best archeological museums in Italy. The town is alleged to have been founded in the 12th century BC, and it also holds a necropolis. After Tarquinia, the road goes a bit inland and you can enjoy the change of scenery before it returns to the coast at the town of Orbetello.

The combination of Italian countryside and sea with villages on cliffs and tempting beaches makes the road a real joy to drive. If hunger kicks in, you can drive a few miles up the road to the town of Grosseto. Ideal for lunch to sample delicious Tuscan cuisine and try the typical schiaccia, an oven-baked bread with herbs. In Grosseto you can also visit its famous Medicean Walls, its 13th century cathedral or its many beautiful palaces.

After lunch, the beautiful drive up to Pisa goes past beaches such as Follonica and quiet towns like Castagneto Carducci, perfect for an afternoon’s coffee in the shadow of its cobbled piazzas. Less than an hour up the road you get to Pisa and its famous tower.

Consider renting apartments in Rome before your trip, then get behind the wheel and enjoy the western coast of Italy.

Aleix Gwilliam is a 24-year-old from Barcelona who looks English but thinks like a Catalan. He enjoys travelling, especially on old Czech trains, and trying to start conversations in Hungarian with people at Pecs station, even though his Hungarian is as good as his Bulgarian, in other words, not very good. He’s a trier.

Lounging in Lipe: Part 2

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img 2666 Lounging in Lipe: Part 2

By MATTHEW KEPNES

Paradise Found

We spent our days on the beach and our nights at the bar. I’d lost my flip flops and, in true island spirit, was going barefoot. Life was simple.

Most of the foreigners on the island had come years ago and, captured by this place, returned every season. There was Kelvin the crazy Welshman, Fred the Frenchman, Julie the Swiss girl who seemed to speak every language, and Chris the young, lazy Canadian backpacker.

My plan was to spend four days there before going back to the mainland. I didn’t leave until three weeks later. Ko Lipe had captured me and I was its willing prisoner. I had found my beach. We explored the island everyday – crisscrossing the interior, exploring the town, eating at all the restaurants, and swimming at all the beaches. We left no corner of the island unturned.

img 2686 Lounging in Lipe: Part 2We set out to explore the little island near my bungalow. During low tide you could walk to it – as long as you avoided the urchins! During high tide, you could leisurely swim there, letting the current push you. On the opposite side of the island, the shelf dropped off deep and the current kicked in. There was a lot of fish swimming around showing all the colors of the rainbow. Neon blues and pinks darted around us. It was beautiful. We looked continuously for reef sharks but, sadly, we never saw any.

Days passed. I got tanner. My backgammon game improved. We all bonded at the bar each night playing football, jamming to music, and laying out under the stars. We celebrated birthdays and festivals and just being there. It was like the beach and I imagined this was what Thailand was like before mass tourism hit the country.

The locals of the island were native sea gypsies and historically nomadic fishermen but with increased tourism to the island were slowly exchanging fishing poles for bars and restaurants. Being there long term allowed me to get to know them really well. There was the owner of the sandwich shops, Mai, who I visited everyday. She always had my food ready (I’m a creature of habit) and always taught me Thai. Her family and I conversed over breakfast or lunch. There was also the local soup shop owner, who didn’t speak any English but was always happy to see us come in and always had a smile on his face. The locals took time out to ask us about our day and always waved and smiled as we went by.

img 2730 Lounging in Lipe: Part 2But paradise slowly faded as we all began to trickle off the island though. Nothing perfect last forever. First the German couple left, then my friend, followed by Chris, and then finally me. Paul and Jane stayed longer but my visa was expiring and it was time to go.

After Christmas, I reluctantly boarded the ferry back to the mainland; sadden by the fact I’d have to wear footwear again. I never have made it back there. Maybe it’s a good thing. Ko Lipe was my utopia. Any return trip might ruin the dream in my head. Somewhere out there there’s another Lipe waiting to be discovered.

Matthew Kepnes is a travel blogger at Nomadic Matt’s Travel Site. For more pictures from Thailand and the rest of the world, take a look at Matt’s Travel Photos.

Lounging in Lipe: Part 1

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img 2597 Lounging in Lipe: Part 1By MATTHEW KEPNES

I stared at the ferry I was going to sit on for three hours. I watched as they packed more and more people. I hope it doesn’t sink, I said to myself. I dropped my bag below deck. People were waiting about. There didn’t seem to be too many single travelers here. Maybe it would be different on the island. I went up above to get a tan.

I was heading to Ko Lipe, a small island of the southern coast of Thailand. Located hours from the mainland, it doesn’t see many tourists. I’d never even heard of the island until my friend emailed me saying she was there. It wasn’t in my guidebook and my fellow travelers were just as clueless. She described it as paradise – cheap, deserted, and beautiful.

With a description like that, I couldn’t resist. I was in Ko Phi Phi, the exact opposite. Ko Phi Phi is expensive, touristy, and crowded but this place sounded different- like paradise. I read the words over again. Cheap. Beautiful. Deserted. It was my dream. It was my own personal “beach”. (The Beach is a novel by Alex Garland about finding paradise and then destroying it.) I took the next ferry back to the mainland, bought a bus ticket, and eventually, I was offloaded at the ferry.

img 2640 Lounging in Lipe: Part 1Play It Again Sam

I had made my way up to the front of the deck. Around me were various couples – British, German, and French. I sat down near them but without the nerve too talk. They were all in conversation. I felt awkward. Quietly, I just took in the sun. The British couple had a guitar and was playing a few songs while merrily chatting away. After awhile, I worked up the nerve to talk to them.

“Hey,” I said. “You’re pretty good. Know any Jack Johnson?”

And that was all it took. They introduced themselves as Paul and Jane. They had met in Australia a few years back, had been traveling for years, and were on their way to moving to New Zealand. It’s funny how you can connect with random strangers. We spent our time on the boat chatting. To this day we remain good friends.

“So, where are you meeting your friend?” They asked.

“I have no idea,” I said. “It’s a small island. I’m sure I’ll run into her.”

We had hopped in a longboat and headed to the shore. There’s no dock on the island so you need to be ferried from the boat. Landing on one of the beaches, I heard my name called. I looked around and there was my friend on the beach.

img 27391 Lounging in Lipe: Part 1We hugged. We chatted. I went to find a room. It was about 3pm after I checked into my bungalow. The wooden bungalows were on a hill, shrouded by large trees, and overlooking the ocean. Below was a tiny secluded beach and, out in the distance, a small island, surrounded by coral that looked prefect to swim to and explore. Staring at my surroundings, it looked like a post card. This was clearly paradise.

Matthew Kepnes is a travel blogger at Nomadic Matt’s Travel Site.