Tag: Italy

Spy Films To Thrill You: Traitor And The American

Some great films from the early 2000s feature known stars, great acting and storylines, excellent direction, and beautiful cinematography.

Are you looking for a couple of spy/thriller type movies that do not fit into the James Bond or Jason Borne genre. Maybe something that makes you think just a little before the action starts? Maybe something you did not see when the movie first came out but still is a really good movie? Well, I have a couple of great films from the early 2000’s that feature known stars, great acting and storylines, and excellent direction and beautiful cinematography.

First up is TRAITOR (2008) starring Don Cheadle and Guy Pierce. The movie is beautifully rendered by Director Jeffrey Nachmanoff, who also wrote the screenplay that is based on a story written by Steve Martin. Yes, Steve (Wild and Crazy Guy) Martin.

Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 65% based on 169 reviews, and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 3 stars out of 4 and wrote in his review, “The movie proceeds quickly, seems to know its subject matter, is fascinating in its portrait of the inner politics and structure of the terrorist group, and comes uncomfortably close to reality. But what holds it together is the Cheadle character.”

This is a terrorism spy thriller that is both intelligent and exciting. Featuring the always interesting Don Cheadle, one of my favorite actors (and in person, a really nice guy), as a former Sudanese American US soldier with a background in explosives who seems to have crossed over and joined a terrorist organization. He is the prime suspect as the bomb-maker in a string of global terror explosions aimed at civilians. Hot on his trail is an FBI agent played by Guy Pierce, who as the movie progresses starts to wonder what Cheadle’s true intentions are.

“Traitor” weaves a web of conspiracy and intrigue, crosses politics with thriller elements, and never quite answers its central question: In the war between good and evil, how many good people is it justifiable for the good guys to kill? Maybe that question has no answer. It is probably not “none.” That ambiguity works in the film’s favor. As Cheadle’s character (Samir) enlists on the American side and then is seen as a remarkably effective agent for terrorist jihadists, we are kept wondering where his true loyalties lie.

This is not a typical terrorism film where all Middle Easterners are inherently anti-American and evil. This is a movie that takes the time to examine the beliefs and motivations behind the people who commit terrorism and the roots of terrorism. It tries to give us a reason why some people do these terrible things, and by doing that the “villains” all of a sudden, become people not just caricatures. It gives a depth and understanding to these characters that is chilling, extremely disturbing, but crystal clear as to what their motivations are.


Another thing that I (and Roger Ebert) found interesting about the movie was the way it goes inside the terrorist organizations – to the people who carry out the day-to-day operations of such groups. This is not a movie about the James Bond type villains who have billions of dollars and want world domination, or to bring America to its knees in one big explosion. This is a film about the little guys who do the grunt work. Who do what they do out of belief or anger or need, not the desire for world conquest.

Shot on location in Toronto (posing as Chicago), Marseille, France, and Marrakesh, Morrocco, the scenery is a beautiful background to the fast-paced action. The actors are all excellent from Cheadle and Pierce, to Said Taghmaoui, who plays Omar, one of the grunts who believes in the cause, but you can see his individual pain each step of the way. The film also co-stars Jeff Daniels, Neal McDonough and Archie Panjabi. This is a particularly good movie!

You can find TRAITOR currently available to stream with a subscription on STARZ for $9.99 / month. You can buy or rent Traitor for as low as $1.99 to rent or $5.99 to buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube, and AMC on Demand.

THE AMERICAN (2010)

It was early September 2010, and all that summer I had seen clips for The American, a new movie starring George Clooney. It looked like a typical spy/action-adventure movie with chases, girls, guns, and an undefined evil. Yet what did we get instead of a James Bond/Jason Borne retread? We get a sparse, tightly controlled movie filled with silence, long takes, and a growing sense of dread.

The American was loosely based on a 1990 book called A Very Private Gentleman by Martin Booth. It was adapted for the screen by Rowan Joffe.’ It was marketed as a high action-adventure spy thriller and the reaction to the film from the audience was disappointment. What they got for their money was a slowly paced story of a hardened yet haunted assassin. This is a quiet movie, a thoughtful movie, a movie built on character, not plot. Ironically, The American is very European in feel and style. It is filmed for the most part in Italy, and cinematographer Martin Ruhe filled the movie with beautiful lingering shots of a lonely Italian countryside that seems as old as time itself. This timeless quality makes you almost imagine that you are about to see some Roman legion marching over the next hill off to conquer some far-off place.

We never know what George Clooney’s character did or why anyone is after him, but from the first minute of the film, a chase is on. George’s character, Jack, is fleeing for his life from a group of Swedish hitmen. Yet the pace of the movie or this chase is slow and unhurried. Instead of watching the wild chases and unending action as spies trying to kill other spies for world domination or getting revenge for passed deeds, we descend into the life and mind of a skilled killer, an American version of a samurai warrior. Stoic, impervious and expert, with a focus so narrow it is defined only by his skills and his master.

The tale is straightforward, but many questions remain unanswered even at the end of the movie, but they are not really germane to the core story. The movie opens on a snow-covered field in Sweden. Jack and his current lover/friend are walking through the snow when shots ring out. In short order, Jack kills two unknown men out to kill him plus his completely innocent lady friend for no other reason than she happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. With fewer than 10 lines of dialog we learn that Jack is a skilled and ruthless killer, who will do anything necessary to stay alive. Who and why is Jack being hunted we never learn, but we get swept up in the chase as he flees for his life from the unknown “Swedes.”

We next find him getting off a train in Rome and arranging a meeting with the mysterious Pavel (Johan Leysen). Pavel is his handler/boss/agent/manager? It is never quite clear what the relationship is, or who Pavel, and by extension who Jack work for. Are they CIA, MI-5, free-lancers? This we never know. Yet it is clear that Jack works for Pavel or serves him, because he never questions Pavel’s orders (Just like a samurai following orders from his master). Even when every fiber of his being tells him that Pavel is setting him up.

I won’t give you the whole plot here – I hate that by reviewers that never really review. They just retell you the story. So why see the movie?

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Let just say that this is a wonderful movie. The director is Anton Corbijn, who shot the bio pic Control (2007), the story of Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division, who was a suicide at age 23. There is not a wrong shot. Every performance is tightly controlled. Clooney is in complete command of his effect. This is a wonderfully shot study of the loneliness of a bad man searching for redemption and a way out of the incredibly sad and terrible life he has created for himself.

For me one of the best movies of that year 2010.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating 66% based on 224 reviews. The website’s review states: “As beautifully shot as it is emotionally restrained, The American is an unusually divisive spy thriller—and one that rests on an unusually subdued performance from George Clooney.” Roger Ebert gave it 4 out of 4 stars saying, “Here is a gripping film with the focus of a Japanese drama. It is so rare to see a film this carefully crafted.” Leonard Maltin called it a “slowly paced, European-style mood piece, short on dialogue and action and long on atmosphere.”

Couple of interesting facts about the film are that the director purposely paid homage to the American spaghetti western in many of his scenes. In one scene the Sergio Leone film Once Upon the Time in The West plays on a TV set in the background while George Clooney eats alone in a restaurant. Also, whole chunks of dialogue that are spoken between Clooney and his prostitute lover, Clara, are lifted verbatim from Graham Greene’s The Honorary Consul.

You can find The American on Amazon Prime, Microsoft Store, iTunes, Vudu and Apple TV renting for 3.99 or to buy at 14.99. It is also available on Google Play and YouTube, but no pricing was available.

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The Amazing Splendor of Florence and Milan

It was near the end of my month-long tour around Italy, and I was headed back to Zurich, Switzerland to catch my flight back to Atlanta. I had spent the last week on the Amalfi coast sightseeing and unwinding from what had been a very tense time for me during the Pandemic.

It was near the end of my month-long tour around Italy, and I was headed back to Zurich, Switzerland to catch my flight back to Atlanta. I had spent the last week on the Amalfi coast sightseeing and unwinding from what had been a very tense time for me during the Pandemic. When Europe started to open again, I saw a flight for Switzerland in November and knew from there I could catch a train all the way down to the Amalfi coast. And now I was on my way back but there were still two stops that I wanted to make before I thought my trip would be complete.

Florence Duomo Cathedral on a rainy day

The first was to make a stop in Florence, also known as Firenze in Italian. I visited Florence once before during the summer of 2005, and everything they say about the crowds and the congestion and how hard it is to get around is absolutely true. It is very crowded. When you are visiting Florence during the summer bring your patience and your camera because the architecture, the art and the scenery are magnificent. You just must wait in line for everything.

Waiting in the rain to see the frescos of Florence Duomo Cathedral

This time I was making a stop just to see one of my favorite pieces of art for the second time. It is so impressive to see live that I wanted to do it again. It is (the) David statue sculpted by Michelangelo. Sculpted from white marble that he went up into the mountains to select himself, this statue is incredibly beautiful. Based on the biblical figure of David, the statue is a masterpiece of renaissance sculpture standing 17 feet tall and weighing over 6 tons. It was sculpted by Michelangelo between 1501 and 1504 and when completed was placed in front of the City Hall of Florence where it stood for well over two hundred years before being moved inside and replaced with a replica. The statue is currently housed at the Galleria dell’Accademia which is in the city center of Florence.

A replica of the statue of David
The Replica of David outside Florence City Hall

Florence is considered by many academics to have been the birthplace of the Renaissance, becoming a major artistic, cultural, commercial, political and economic center. During the time that Michelangelo sculpted the David, the city was filled with the artistic and cultural elite of Europe. Imagine walking down a Florence street in the early 1500s and passing the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael, and Niccolò Machiavelli, writer of the political handbook The Prince, which is about ruling and exercising power. All these artists and intellectuals were drawn to Florence by the power of the Medici family who ruled Florence and Tuscany and influenced Rome and the Catholic Church for well over three hundred years. The city attracts millions of tourists each year, and UNESCO declared the Historic Centre of Florence a World Heritage Site in 1982. Due to Florence’s artistic and architectural heritage, Forbes ranked it as the most beautiful city in the world in 2010.

View of Florence at Sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo

One of the most beautiful views of Florence is across the river and high on a hill that overlooks the city, the Piazzale Michelangelo. Offering spectacular views of the city especially at sunset as the fading sun reflects off the roofs of the city giving it a golden glow, the Piazzale Michelangelo is located in the Oltr’Arno section of the city (means literally ‘the other side of the river’) is an easy bus ride up into the hills and home to one of the famous sculptor’s three versions of David, offers stunning panoramic views of Florence. There are also restaurants, cafes and bars here, so you can enjoy a drink and a meal while you breathe it all in, often to the soundtrack of local musicians playing in the square. It is difficult to think of anywhere better suited to the quintessential Florentine experience.

DAVID by Michelangelo at the Galleria dell’Accademia

As you can tell from the photographs of (the) David by Michelangelo it portrays a naked man. During the Renaissance in Europe many paintings and sculptures portrayed naked women and men, or naked angels and saints. The human body was seen as something beautiful not something to be hidden away. I was reading recently where a teacher at a junior high school in Florida who had shown photographs of the David to her students was suspended for a few days when one or more of the parents complained about her showing one of the greatest works of European art to her students. The parents were upset that the statue was of a naked man. When the directors of the Galleria dell’Accademia heard about the American teacher being suspended, they offered her and a guest two business class round trip tickets to Florence so she could see the statue for herself for the first time. I am often confused by people who equate art showing naked people with pornography. These are two separate things. The human body by itself is not pornographic. It is beautiful. If you believe in a God, then that is how we were created. To take offense at having a teacher show a photograph of a world famous 600-year-old statue to her classroom, I think is ridiculous but that is my opinion. All I can say is if you are ever in Florence, the statue of David is worth standing in line to see. I have done it twice and I would not trade the experience for anything. It is truly a magnificent work of art.

Florence City Hall

The next morning, I got on a Euro-Star train which took me to the train station in Milan. The Milan train station (Milano Centrale) is a hub for travel for all of Italy and Europe itself. Located in the northern part of the country, if you are coming from Switzerland or from Germany or France you always stop in Milan to change trains to go to Rome, Naples or anywhere further south. Yet, I was not just coming to Milan for the train station, I was coming to spend time in this amazing city.

Milan is the second-most populous city in Italy after Rome. The city has a population of about 1.4 million. Its outer suburbs even stretch into the nearby country of Switzerland making it the fourth largest in the EU with 5.27 million inhabitants. According to national sources, the population within the wider Milan metropolitan area (also known as Greater Milan), is estimated between 8.2 million and 12.5 million making it by far the largest metropolitan area in Italy and one of the largest in the EU.

The city’s role as a major political center dates back to the late antiquity, when it served as the capital of the Western Roman Empire. Milan is recognized as one of the world’s four fashion capitals; many of the most famous luxury fashion brands in the world have their headquarters in the city, including: Armani, Prada, Versace, Moschino, Valentino and Zegna.

A fashion shoot in Milan

Milan is also a global center of tourism, receiving millions of visitors every year with museums and art galleries that include some of the most important collections in the world, such as major works by Leonardo da Vinci. In the field of sports, Milan is home to two of Europe’s most successful football teams, A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. The city will host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2026.

Some of the most famous sites to see in the city (of so many to see) are:

The Milan Cathedral also known locally as “The Duomo.”

Milan Cathedral is an artistic monument, well known for its stunning architecture. Also known as Duomo di Milano in Italian, this cathedral is one of the most iconic structures that is also serves as a symbol of Milan. This magnificent cathedral is noted for its Gothic-style architecture and impressive look. The structure was built over a period of six centuries, it is also known for being the third largest church in the world.

On the same plaza is world’s oldest shopping malls, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

One of the major landmarks in Milan, it was first opened back in 1877. The iron-and-glass architecture of the gallery is particularly notable as it was unprecedented in any shopping gallery of those days. It is home to many iconic stores and coffeehouses.

Ospedale Maggiore di Milano

The Policlinico of Milan also known as Ospedale Maggiore di Milano, is one of the oldest hospitals in Italy, founded in 1456. It is a monumental complex which now lies mere steps from the Milan Cathedral and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in the heart of the historic city center. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was decided that the hospital needed to be moved. This move coincided with the founding of the University of Milan. The University took over the historic building complex and it now serves as one of the ten campus buildings spread throughout central Milan. The University is one of the largest universities in Europe, with about 60,000 students, and a permanent teaching and research staff of about 2,000. The Ospedale Maggiore di Milano today it is a modern hospital with nine hundred beds, with wards for adults, pregnant women and children. During the first COVID-19 breakout in March 2020, 300 of those beds were readapted for COVID-19 patients.

LA SCALA OPERA HOUSE

La Scala Opera House is considered one of the greatest opera houses in the world on the same scale as the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Inaugurated in 1778, this legendary opera house is known for hosting the finest operatic artists in the world. Most of Italy’s greatest operatic artists, and many of the finest singers from around the world, have appeared at La Scala. Its impressive repertoire of music directors includes names such as Arturo Toscanini.

Mural – The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci

The Last Supper is a mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1495–1498, and is considered one of his major works. The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with the Twelve Apostles, as it is told in the Gospel of John – specifically the moment after Jesus announces that one of his apostles will betray him. Its handling of space, understanding of perspective, treatment of motion and complex display of human emotion has made it one of the Western world’s most recognizable paintings and among Leonardo’s most celebrated works. Due to the methods used, a variety of environmental factors, and intentional damage, little of the original painting remains today despite numerous restoration attempts, the last being completed in 1999. Housed in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. Reservations are required all year and tickets can only be booked up to four months in advance but usually sell out very quickly. The official ticket site, Cenacolo Vinciano, releases tickets for sale for periods of two to four months in advance. If you just show up to see it, you will be turned away.

On your next or first trip to Italy, make sure to give yourself time in each place to enjoy the amazing history, art, architecture and glory of these ancient and historically important modern cities.

All photos by James Carey, except the photo of The Last Supper @Wallpaper Cave.

Some information is provide by Wikipedia.

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Positano, Italy: City on a Cliff


Before I start my account about Positano, I owe my subscribers a bit of an apology. I promised this story to you almost three months ago and yet here it is the first time you’ve heard from me since August. My professional life has gotten very busy recently but that’s not an excuse. I just got lazy. Between directing a show, pre-production for a film, some acting jobs and being asked to write a film for a producer here in Atlanta, I just kept saying I’ll do the Positano story tomorrow. And of course I’m just getting to it now. So please pardon me and expect a lot more articles on Trips With James in the coming weeks.

Positano is the first village that you come to as you leave Sorrento, Italy on the Naples side of the Amalfi coast. It can be reached by bus along the cliffs, or you can take ferries from Naples and Sorrento to reach it by sea. Positano is a layer cake of houses and shops and churches built on a cliff side that reaches all the way down to the Bay of Naples.

The photographs and the short film that are part of this article describe much better than I can in words how beautiful and colorful Positano is. There’s one highway that comes into Positano and connects you with the rest of the Amalfi coast, and there is one road that goes through the village all the way down to the shoreline. Yet Positano is a city of steps and stairways that lead in all directions as you walk through the village. These steps and stairways and paths lead to plazas, elegant shops, beautiful homes, small churches, large cathedrals and everywhere restaurants. Each one of these places has a magnificent view of the Bay of Naples.

I have two brief tales of things that happened to me as I entered Positano. As some of you who have read this blog before know I am scared of heights. Not ones made by nature, but ones made by man himself. I am perfectly fine standing on a cliff or mountain but flying in an airplane or riding over a high bridge scare me stupid. Taking the bus from Sorrento towards Positano, I had climbed on board and sat on right side of the coach. The Italian roads around the Amalfi coast are very narrow but the bus drivers speed around those corners and curves like it’s the Indianapolis 500. To get from Sorrento to Positano you have to cross over a mountain and come down the other side and the views are incredible, but you are literally traveling on a road that is suspended over the ocean anywhere from 500 to 1000 feet above the Bay of Naples with all the views on my side of the bus. There was literally nothing next to us. We were completely supported on this tiny narrow road by man-made construction. There had never been a road there before and there really should not be a road there now. It was breathtakingly beautiful and incredibly scary as we whipped around those corners in this 30-foot bus.

As we arrived in the village an incident that took place was right out of any classic Italian genre comedy. What took place was so cliché that you almost would not believe that it happened, but it actually did. As I stated before the highway is very narrow and in the villages people actually park on both sides of the highway in many places so there’s only enough room for one car to get through one at a time, but Italians don’t wait for anybody they just keep going. As we pulled into the village there was a small pickup truck in front of our bus traveling in the same direction and coming from the opposite way was a very large Mercedes-Benz. They both arrived at the same place at the same time and neither one of them would move out of the way for the other. What ensued was 10 minutes of Italian drivers standing in the middle of the road screaming at each other and waving their hands around in that secret language of Italian hand gestures that only they understand. Our bus driver also got involved as he got out of the bus twice and went over to the group of screaming Italian men. He proceeded to yell and scream while jumping up and down a bit and then came back to the bus. With the cars stacking up behind us on the busy coastal road, drivers from 5, 6, 7 cars away would get out come to join the loud discussion and then walk back to their cars shaking their heads. Not knowing the language, I could only guess what the argument was about. It seemed that the driver of the Mercedes-Benz, a very elegantly dressed older man, seemed concerned that his Mercedes would get scratched by the pickup truck. The driver of the truck didn’t care and that seemed to be the main concern. Finally after 10 minutes of this comedy of errors in Italian, the elegantly dressed man got back in his Mercedes and actually could drive past the pickup truck. There had been really no reason for this entire kerfuffle to take place, but it was exciting to see that the cliches that you think happen in other countries like Italian drivers screaming at each other in the middle of a road actually do take place. No one pulled a gun, no one threw a punch, no one tried to stab anybody else, there was just a lot of yelling and screaming and gesticulating about who was supposed to go first or get out of the way.

It was a bright, clear and warm November day as I took my time wandering through Positano down staircases, across plazas, entering shops and the large cathedral there as I made my way down towards the shoreline. Arriving at the shore of the Bay of Naples, I turned around and realized what an amazing feat of architecture this was. It was a layer cake of colorful houses and shops, churches and plazas that are all built on top of each other. Places where people live and work and shop and eat and live their lives. It is incredible to behold, yet you wonder who was the first person to decide that we could build an entire village on a side of a cliff?

At the bottom of the cliff, the shoreline was filled with expensive eateries and restaurants that serve fresh seafood and amazing Italian pastas and wines. After lunch, of course, it took me a bit longer to go up the staircases to the road then to come down them. I almost missed the bus back to Sorrento because while there is a bus schedule it’s a little bit flexible in an Italian way. Most of these villages don’t have a bus station there’s just a place where people gather and if you miss the bus you may be there for another hour or so before one returns.

Positano is beautiful, colorful, and certainly worth the visit.





A Day in Positano, Italy: A Short Film

A short travel log about Positano, Italy

Positano (Campanian: Pasitano) is a village and comune on the Amalfi Coast (Province of Salerno), in Campania, Italy, mainly in an enclave in the hills leading down to the coast.

A Day in Positano, Italy

TRANSPORTATION TO POSITANO:

Positano can be reached by the SS163 Amalfitana national road, or by the SP425 provincial road. The nearest airports are the Napoli-Capodichino (NAP) and the Salerno-Pontecagnano Airport (QSR) and they have shuttle buses to destinations across the Amalfi Coast, including Positano. Ferries link Positano to other towns including Capri, Naples, Salerno, and Sorrento for transportation. The Sita bus links Positano to Amalfi and Sorrento.

Next Blog will be about Positano!

Film directed and edited by James Carey. All photos are by James Carey. Sources for the information are from Wikipedia and journals of James Carey. The film and this blog are copyrighted by CareyOn,LLC 2022.

Sorrento, Italy: Gateway to the Amalfi Coast

Sorrento is an ancient town on the Bay of Naples in southern Italy that dates from the 8th century BC. Sorrento is one of two towns that serve as gateways to the Amalfi Coast. Obviously, one is Sorento on the western side and Salerno on the east. Both of these towns are relatively small. Sorrento had a population of 17,000 in 2007, but if you are traveling by car or bus they’re the only ways to get to the Amalfi Coast. The only other way would be to come in by sea on a ferry or private boat.

Mount Vesuvius from Sorrento

From the cliffs surrounding Sorrento you can see Mt. Vesuvius which exploded and buried the city of Pompeii in tons of ash and lava in 79 AD. To the north directly across the bay is Naples the largest cosmopolitan city in the area and to the West is the famous island of Capri.

Sorrento has been a famous tourist destination since the 1700’s and before. Such famous people as Lord Byron, Frederick Nietzsche, Goethe, Keats, Henrik Ibsen, and many other famous people have either lived in or visited Sorrento through the years. Pizza and Neapolitan ice cream are two of the famous food items that supposedly were created in the area. Neapolitan was the original language/dialect spoken by the inhabitants of the area.

Small altar on the road to Positano

While people have been living around the area for almost 3000 years, legend has it that Sorrento was founded by the grandson of Ulysses and Circe, both figures from Greek mythology. It is probably certain that at one time it was a Greek colony or fishing village as its harbor is beautiful and safe, and the oldest archway that leads from the beach up the cliffs towards the city above was built by the ancient Greeks. The village soon came under the control of the Romans as their empire grew and its Roman name was Surrentum.

Walkway down to the beach and Marina

The other legend that dominates Sorrento’s history are the Sirens, also a famous staple of Greek and Roman mythology. The Sirens were three dangerous mermaid-like creatures who took up residence near Punta Campanella and sang such beautiful songs that they enchanted the sailors on passing ships to wreck their ships on the rocks in the surrounding waters. Even the legendary Ulysses had to figure out a way to resist the deadly song of the Sirens.

Where the mermaids were suppose to sing

As I left Lake Como in northern Italy, I traveled by train through Milano to Naples. The train ride took about 7 hours as I boarded a Eurostar high speed train. Once arriving in Naples at the main Naples train terminal, I boarded a local tram at the same station and after about 10 stops I found myself at the Sorrento train station. Sorrento has no hostels; it only has local hotels or Airbnbs. I chose a small hotel about two blocks from the train station that actually put me right in the middle of the town.

Sorrento on the cliffs

The center of Sorrento, Italy is quite compact, closed to the traffic and easy to explore on foot. Near my hotel was the Piazza Tasso, Sorrento’s main piazza, the best place to catch an expresso or drink and people watch. Piazza Tasso isn’t a particularly historic square…it dates back only about a century. It was built above the gorge which was once home to a number of mills. In the 1800’s, instead of cafés and shops, you would have seen local women hand-washing their laundry in the stream which ran from the hills behind down to the sea below. If you look down from the Piazza, you can still see the gorge known as the Valley of the Mills and, at the bottom, a number of abandoned mills which were powered by the force of the rushing water; unfortunately, the mills are closed to visitors.

Valley of the Mills

The main thoroughfare off the Piazza is Corso Italia lined with fashionable shops, boutiques and the eateries and cafes where both the tourists and the locals eat. While there are some cars and Vespa’s that occasional use the walkway, it’s mostly a pedestrian walkway where at night Italian families and tourists stroll up and down looking in windows, drink  espresso in the cafes, smoke cigarettes and talk to each other about family, Europeans football, the weather or Italian politics.

The town is filled with back alleys and small streets and winding walkways that lead off of the Corso Italia toward the cliffs above the Bay. Here you will pass tourist shops, art galleries, more restaurants, chapels and cathedrals. It’s very easy to get lost in this rabbit warren of small back alleyways between the main drag and the cliffs. Most of the town lies on the cliffs above the Bay. As you near the cliffs you will find a few walkways that lead down the face of the cliffs to the beach and Marina below past buildings that have been there for more than a few hundred years. It is an old town with its own history and its own culture and its own way of doing things, and it’s delightful.

Sea with Vesuvius on the distance

One of the most famous products that Sorrento produces is limoncello, their famous liqueur made from lemon rinds, water, sugar and alcohol. The lemon groves are throughout the town itself. There were two of them directly across the street from the hotel that I checked into, and you can find them everywhere in the town where they grow their own lemons and then they’ll sell you the limoncello right there.

Lemon grove right in the town, fruit not ripe yet.

I found Sorrento to be an extremely cordial town. Maybe it’s because they’ve been dealing with tourists for over 500 years or it’s just the small-town feel. While I was traveling by myself I spent five days based in Sorrento as I traveled around the area, and I totally enjoyed my entire time there, and given the opportunity I would go back in a second.

Another walkway down to the Marina

Plus I felt it was a perfect place to explore at least most of the Amalfi Coast without having to be on the coast. You can reach almost any of the small towns along the coast by bus which can be a harrowing experience as they travel at high speeds along the cliffs high above the Bay, making you feel sometimes like there is literally nothing underneath you. Or you come in by ferry or hydrofoil from either Sorento or Salerno. Each one of the separate villages along the Amalfi Coast have their own different feel and thing for which they are famous. You can find books and articles and travel blogs about what each one of those towns specialize in whether it’s their beach, food or their party or family atmosphere.

Positano from the shoreline.

If you’re looking for a slightly larger town then most of those small villages along the coast that has plenty of places to eat and a lot of things to do not only for kids but also adults, Sorrento is perfect place.

Source information in this blog comes from James Carey journals, Wikipedia, www.sorrentoinfo.com. All photos and short film by James Carey.

Copyright 2022 @CareyOn Creative LLC, Atlanta, GA

Best Laid Plans of Men, Not Mice!

The famous phrase “the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray” is taken from a poem by the Scottish poet, Robert Burns and it is also the basis for the title of John Steinbach’s book and play, Of Mice and Men. Basically the meaning of the phrase is that no matter how careful you plan for the future, something is probably going to go sideways at some point. That just recently happened to me this week.

I owe the faithful readers of this particular blog an apology because I haven’t written anything in about six or seven weeks. However, there was a reason for that. For the past few months while I’ve lived in Atlanta, I have been taking meetings and meeting people trying to get a few theater and film projects off the ground, and six weeks ago all of that work seemed to come to fruition at the same time. I was hired to direct 2 plays for a new theater group here and about the same time a short film script that I had written called Love Potion attracted the attention of local film producers. We did a reading of it, and they agreed to move forward with us and one of the producers actually wanted to be the lead in the movie. So quickly my summer went from being pretty empty, I had been planning a lot of travel, and all of a sudden it was full of projects. So, the blog and the three articles that I owe all of you on Italy – Sorrento, Positano and Milano got put on hold.

Yet, as the phrase says ‘the best laid plans of (mice and) men often go astray and that’s exactly what happened. This week in a matter of 16 hours, I lost every project. First, the plays and then the film. Suddenly my summer is completely wide open again.

First the executive director of the theatre organization that had hired me 5 weeks ago called to tell me that because of budgetary concerns and some internal struggles on their board of directors, they were changing course in how the plays were being done. I was sad, but I still had the film, and I was most excited about that anyway. Yet, 16 hours later as I was working on the fund-raising campaign for the film, my two producers called with wonderful news for them, but it was bad news for me. They had just signed a four-picture deal with a movie studio in Hollywood. I was extremely happy for them. They are wonderful guys who I have worked with before and they deserve all the credit and all the opportunities that come their way. However, now their schedule did not allow for a short film, so it was back to the drawing board.

I will not say that it did not discourage me to lose all my projects at the same time but to quote another old phrase ‘that’s the way the cookie crumbles’. But it’s left me ‘at sixes and sevens’ which is another old phrase from the 1500’s which means you’re uncertain on what to do next.

In the meantime, I’m going to return to the blog and write those three articles that I promised you many weeks ago and they’ll be coming very quickly because at this point – I really don’t have anything else to do.

I want to thank you my loyal readers for hanging around and a lot of stuff will soon be coming your way.

As a bonus for you the last blog that I did was a short film about Sorento and I’ve attached that to the bottom of this blog.

Enjoy and more will be coming.


Copyright 2022, CareyOn Creative, LLC., Atlanta, GA.

A DAY IN SORRENTO, ITALY – A SHORT FILM

A SHORT FILM – A DAY IN SORRENTO,ITALY

A SHORT FILM – A DAY IN SORRENTO,ITALY

Sorrento, Italy is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. Sorrento is a coastal town in southwestern Italy, facing the Bay of Naples on the Sorrentine Peninsula. Perched atop cliffs that separate the town from its busy marinas, it’s known for sweeping water views and Piazza Tasso, a cafe-lined square. The historic center is a warren of narrow alleys that’s home to the Chiesa di San Francesco, a 14th-century church.

Looking across the Bay of Naples toward Mt. Vesuvius.

A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located within easy access from Naples and Pompei. The town is widely known for its small ceramics, lacework and marquetry (woodwork) shops. It also serves as one of two gateway cities to the famous Amalfi Coast. From Sorrento you can have views of Naples, Mt. Vesuvius and the Isle of Capri. The Amalfi Coast Drive connecting Sorrento and Amalfi, is a narrow road along the high cliffs above the Tyrrhenian Sea. Ferries and hydrofoils also connect the town to Naples, Amalfi, Positano, Capri, Ischia.

The city is also famous for its Limoncello, a liqueur made from lemon rinds, alcohol, water and sugar, which is grown in lemon groves right inside the town.

My next blog will be about traveling to Sorrento and things to do there.

Film directed and edited by James Carey.

All photos are by James Carey.

Sources for the information are from Wikipedia and journals of James Carey

The film and this blog are copyrighted by CareyOn,LLC 2022.

The 5 Best Things to Do in Lake Como

If you only have five days to spend in Lake Como these are the things that I recommend that you do.

Lake Como is a spectacular place with an incredibly beautiful lake, views of the mountains, interesting villages that date back to the Roman times and the entire area filled with history and beauty. There are enough things to do there to keep you busy for weeks on end, but if you only had five days to spend in Lake Como these are the things that I would recommend that you do.

The Como–Brunate Funicular

The Como–Brunate funicular (Italian: Funicolare Como-Brunate) is a historic single-track funicular railway that connects the town of Como on the lakeside with the village of Brunate at the top of the mountain. The line has been carrying passengers both tourist and local up and down the steep mountain slope between the two towns since 1894.

The 7-minute ride up the steep 55% incline is breathtaking with its sweeping views of the Lake Como area. The current price is 5.70 Euro per person over 12 and cheaper for under 12 for a return trip. Most days it runs every 15 min. Be prepared to wait for your trip up and down as this is an extremely popular attraction. The wait is worth it though as you have splendid views from the top and you can go hiking in the area around historic Brunate as well. The railway starts operating with the first trip around 6 AM and the last trip down is 10 PM. Make sure you are in line early to go back down because they do close off the line after a certain point. Then your only options are to walk down or take a bus or cab.

The address for the funicular is Piazza Alcide de Gasperi, 4, Como CO, Italy. The incline can be seen from every place in Lake Como and the ticket office/boarding station it right on the lake side, so it is quite easy to find. Enjoy!

Two Beautiful Hikes

These hikes are very different from each other. One is within the municipality of Como itself and the other you must take a short bus ride to the village of Colonno for a somewhat strenuous 10-kilometer hike through beautiful villages and spectacular views of the lake.

Greenway del Lago di Como at Colonno

The Greenway is a leisurely and pleasant hike between Colonno and Cadenabbia following traces of the Antica Strada Regina, the antique connection road that was built by the Romans. This 10 km long itinerary leads through ancient villages with wonderful examples of architecture, along villas and gardens with charming views.

While the guides and brochures say that The Greenway is an easy hike that is not always true. The trail wanders through neighborhoods and parking lots and backyards and ancient trails. It can go up or down flights of stairs. Some places you walk along the small two-lane roadway that is next to the lake. Cars and buses zip by. The Italians pay no mind to the traffic, but for less trusting people that busy roadway can be a little intimidating.

In the spring and summer it is beautiful, but you must remember that you are also in the foothills of the Alps. The altitude in the Lake Como area is around 650 feet but when you are hiking along the Greenway it can go from 650 ft to 900 ft and then drop back down in a short time. The trail in places has very rough pavement. The entire path is paved but each community takes care of the Greenway in their own way. For someone who is out of shape this might not be the best hike for you. While the grade of the trail itself is between a grade 1 and a grade 2 it can be quite strenuous in places. And the hike is certainly not for casual shoes, it requires hiking shoes. But the payoffs are spectacular views of things that you will never see from either the lake or from the highway as it passes next to graveyards, small out of the way churches, ancient villas and spectacular views of the lake and the islands around Colonno. Utterly worth it!

• ITINERARY: Colonno, Sala Comacina, Ossuccio, Lenno, Mezzegra, Tremezzo, Griante
• TOTAL WALKING TIME: 3.30 hrs.
• ASCENT: 100 m.
• DIFFICULTY: easy walk suitable all year round
• TRAIL SIGNS: green metal signs on the pavement and road signs
• CONNECTIONS to Colonno by bus – C10, from Griante: by bus – C10 or ferry
• See: http://www.lakecomo.it/sites/default/files/allegati/sezione/The%20Greenway.pdf for map and description.

Villa Olmo and Parco Di Villa Olmo and the paths beyond

The Villa Olmo stands at the north-western end of the city of Como, at the end of the Lino Gelpi lakeside promenade. The villa was named after an elm tree planted in the middle of the ornate gardens, which is no longer alive today. It was acquired in 1924 by the municipality of Como and today is open to the public only during exhibitions, while the lakeside gardens are freely accessible during the daytime.

Walking along the promenade and admiring the stately homes overlooking the lake you can perceive that romantic feeling that between 1700 and 1800, made the shores of the Lario a coveted destination of the Grand Tour of the European nobility and that Villa Olmo, with its park, still evokes today.

The park (Parco di Villa Olmo) behind the Villa, accessed through two side porticoes, is the main public park in the city of Como: it extends for about five hectares, excluding the surfaces of the various buildings and represents one of the most important historical parks not only in the city but in the whole province. The park offers different pathways that lead to pleasant clearings that offer panoramic views among the tree patches beyond which you can see the lake and the mountains above.

Once you pass through the park you come to a bridge which crosses the highway to Colonno and on the other side are paths that wander up into the hills. This entire area is full of villas from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries when this was a playground for the wealthy nobility of Italy and Europe. Some of these villas are now closed, some are still privately held, and others are owned by the city of Como. While these pathways and different estates have no overriding theme or focus, the walks through this area are incredibly gorgeous. You can walk far up into the hills, or you can stay near the lakeshore, and you will see some amazing architecture but eventually you come to the beautiful Villa del Grumello which is owned by a private association and is used for special events and social engagements.

While you will not find a dedicated hike that goes from point A to point B, you can wander the forest path ways and estates taking in the wonderful architecture and views of the lake and the surrounding mountains. You get a real sense of the grandeur of Lake Como when wealthy nobility traveled to this serene place in the foothills of the Alps.

Trip of Bellagio and Ferries Rides on Lake Como

While there are guided boat tours that cruise up and down the lake and stop off at various villages, I recommend that you save (depending on the size of your party) money and do the tour on your own. I am not taking anything away from the tour guides but if you read any of the comments on Tripadvisor.com you find that certain people feel that the guided tour is not worth the money.

The public boat service connects the major towns along the shores of Lake Como. Navigazione Laghi, the operating company, has a fleet consisting of three types of boats including hydrofoils. Lake Como ferry prices depend on the destination and type of ferry. There are three types: speedy ferry, regular ferry, or a ferry goes around Lake Como. Ferry tickets can be bought at the ticket office near the dock. In case there is no ticket office in the town, you can also purchase tickets for the ferry on board. Ferries from Lake Como connect to the following cities: Bellagio, Varenna, Menaggio and Cadenabbia.

Nestled at the tip of a promontory jutting into Lake Como, Bellagio boasts unparalleled shoreline and Alpine views. Add in boutique-lined cobblestone streets, Italian villas, and fragrant gardens, and it is no secret why Bellagio is known as the Pearl of Lake Como.

Bellagio is a small village which only takes short while to experience. The village is on two levels, the lower one by the lakeside where there are outdoor eateries that cater to the tourist and the upper level, which is more residential, and where the main road comes into the village. The two levels are linked by steep stone-paved alleyways and along these alleyways are restaurants, shops, and homes. The village walkways are no place for casual high heel shoes. You should have a good pair of flat walking shoes to enjoy your tour Bellagio.
Other things to see in Bellagio besides the quaint village and cobble stone stepped lanes are the Villa Serbelloni Park, an 18th-century terraced garden with lake views, the Tower of the Arts, a venue for exhibitions and performances, and the Romanesque San Giacomo Church.

The easiest way to access Bellagio is via ferry. A hydrofoil runs from Como to Bellagio, making stops at the other towns on Lake Como along the way. Bellagio is accessible on either side of the Larian Triangle by slow, narrow and winding roads from Como or Lecco. It is much safer to drive from Como up to Cadenabbia and use the reasonably priced car ferry for the quick trip across to Bellagio. An alternative is to take the four-lane road on the eastern shore of the right arm of the lake to Varenna, then take the ferry to Bellagio. For more information, visit Gestione Governativa Navigazione Laghi. Narrow stone stairs make most of Bellagio inaccessible to cars. Public buses run daily from Como to Bellagio.

Sea Plane Tours

And finally, for something a little more exciting then hikes or cruises on the lake might be a seaplane tour of theLlake Como area. A little farther past the docks where you find the ferry and cruise boats, you will find the Aero Club Como where you can take a flight lesson in a seaplane, or you can take a 30 minute tour in a seaplane that takes off from Lake Como and flies over some of the most spectacular villages and villas in the area. On any day you can watch the crews push the seaplanes from the hangers out onto the lake and then whether it is a lesson or a tour you watch people climb onto the pontoons and then into the plane. You watch the plane cruise out to the designated takeoff and landing area on the water and off they go.

While you are in the cockpit of the seaplane you get to experience the pleasure of being able to observe the instrument panel, and help guide the aircraft. You also get to experience the speed of a thrilling takeoff and landing on water, or to observe the scenery that flashes quickly past your eyes. Tours consist of 30-minute flights for two people at about 140 Euro. Must book at least 4 days ahead during peak summer season. Maximum group size four.

https://www.lakecomo.is/project/seaplane/
Address Viale Masia 44
Phone 031 57 44 95
Website www.aeroclubcomo.com
Price per 30min flight per person €90

All photos are by James Carey.

Copyright 2022 by Carey On Creative, LLC., Atlanta, GA.

Tripswithjames.com is a trademark of Carey On Creative, LLC.

Traveling by Train to Lake Como, Italy

It was the first week of November and I was seating in a lakeside cafe in Lake Como, Italy. It was 54 degrees Fahrenheit; the sun was shining and the small city was crowded with tourists. Since the month was just starting, I could only imagine how crowded this popular tourist destination was during the summer. I was eating shrimp ravioli in a saffron and cream sauce while working my way through a half carafe of Italian Chardonnay. I’d been in Italy about five hours, and I was as happy as a clam. Lake Como was beautiful beyond belief and after spending four days in the gray rainy dreariness of Zurich, Switzerland to be sitting in the sunshine watching beautiful girls pass by I felt like I had won the lottery.

Yet it wasn’t easy to get here. While I had spent several hours online getting all the required documents and certifications that I needed to travel from the United States to Switzerland to meet all the COVID restrictions, I spent almost as much time getting the documents that I needed to travel from Switzerland to Italy. Because Switzerland is neutral, and Italy is part of the European Union, I had to acquire a complete new set of documents.

The main form that I needed was called the EU Digital Passenger Location Form also known as the dPLF. You can find the form at this web address https://app.euplf.eu/#/ .

The form is fairly simple to fill out. It’s only three pages long and has sections that include your permanent address, where you’re staying in Italy, how you’re entering the country either by train or by plane, how long you’re going to be there, what countries you’ve traveled to in the past 10 days and also if you were vaccinated. And then it has a declaration stating that you are vaccinated or have had a rapid test to prove that you do not have COVID. I filled out the form online and then downloaded the PDF onto my phone and also onto my computer. There is also a “Green Pass” QR code that you can use. This is the Italian version of the Swiss “Green Pass” which allows you to enter restaurants or concerts or museums. However, I found it very difficult to download even in its QR form. Unless you’re a citizen or are planning to stay there for a long time, the short-term passenger finds when they download the Italian Green Pass that it is only good for a couple of days and then you have to reapply for it. Instead of downloading their green pass, I just carried around my American passport with my vaccination card and that allowed me to get into any place that I needed to go.

So a warning for anyone who’s traveling to Italy from another part of Europe by train. No one will check your digital pass for the EU when you board the train. You must show it to the conductor when he comes through which was 30 minutes after I had boarded the train and we were already 20 miles down the tracks. When we crossed from Switzerland into Italy, the train stopped at the nearest station, and it was checked again. The conductor wanted to see my dPLF document and my vaccination card, because just like Switzerland they take this very seriously. If you don’t have the required material they will kick you off the train at the next station, and on many trains that cross borders there are armed police to enforce rules.

As you cross the border from Switzerland into Italy you will notice a very funny thing that happens. Switzerland is a very organized country. Its grass is cut, fences are fixed and there seems to be no trash anywhere. It’s not only a beautiful country, but also a well-maintained country as well. I saw little to no graffiti anywhere the entire time I was in Switzerland. Italy has a completely different mindset that is more relaxed about graffiti, the care of their lawns and their fences or their trash pickup. It’s as noticeable as night and day as you cross from Switzerland into Italy. Italy is a gorgeous country, it’s just a different way of life.

I had bought a ticket at the main train station in Zurich. The train from Zurich to Lake Como is about 3 hours. Traveling to Europe, you can be told if you’re an American that you need to buy a EuroRail pass online before you travel to Europe. That is not true at all. Europe is full of trains running in all different directions. Local trains, regional trains, and high-speed trains that cross borders. Trains are the main way that most people travel in Europe going from one place to another. It is not difficult to buy a train ticket, and the savings that you will get by buying a European Rail Pass in America online are not that significant. I personally just find it easier to go to the train station and buy the ticket that I need instead of worrying about which train my Rail Pass will allow me to get on.

I chose an excellent hostel that was located very close to the train station and was only four blocks from the main city square and two blocks from the lake shore. The hostel I chose is the Ostello Bello Lake Como Hostel and their address is Viale Fratelli Rosselli 9 Como, Italy 22100. I prefer staying in hostels as opposed to hotels for a couple of reasons. One they’re cheaper and two there is a built-in community of people who are doing the exact same thing that you are. It is an easy way to meet people. You already have something in common and they may have wonderful advice on places that you need to go see and things that you should do. I rented a single room with an ensuite bathroom. I’m just too old to share a dorm room with three or four other people. The room that I had rented was lovely with a view of a private garden and a bathroom with plenty of hot water.

Ostello Bello is a chain of hostels all throughout Italy, and you receive a discount of 10% to 20% at the other locations when you book through them. They have locations in Como, Florence, Milano, Rome as well as others though out the country. The hostels are all different in size and accommodations but the staff in each one is very friendly. I highly recommend them.

The town of Lake Como is not very big. The city centre is probably 10 blocks by 10 blocks and filled with cobblestone walkways, old churches and timeworn buildings but also filled with tons of restaurants and modern upscale shops. The city was founded by the Romans as a holiday getaway for the ultra-rich of Rome, and the gorgeous scenery of the lake and mountains is unparalleled with blue skies and snow-covered mountain peaks.

In my next blog, I write about all the things to do in Como from museums to visiting the ancient lakeside town of Bellagio.

Till then Ciao!

All photos and film by James Carey. Copyright CareyOn,LLC 2022.

Lake Como, Italy – A Short Film

An Amazing Italian Lake Vacation!

A short travel video of Lake Como, Italy from this year! A blog about traveling in Italy during COVID will be loaded soon. Happy Holidays 2021.

James Carey

Copyright 2021 – a film by James Carey @ CAREYON,LLC

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