Things to do in Charlottesville, Virginia

Charlottesville has surprised me.  I came here expecting to be neutral on it at best, but man was I wrong.  It has all the elements of the best kind of college town: a burgeoning local food movement, independent shops and boutiques, an absolutely beautiful campus, and free public transportation (bonus!).  I was in an adorable home goods and stationary shop in downtown Charlottesville today when I overheard a woman say “I just love Charlottesville.  I’ve been tryin to move down here for years from Manhattan, and this is my year.  I’m just going to do it.  There’s no better city around.” 

Right as she said that, I looked outside as two shirtless and very sweaty young men ran by.  Hmm, maybe this broad is onto something here...

There are beautiful and healthy people here, most of which have dogs that they are more than happy to let you pet.  It’s the kind of place where people feel comfortable leaving their bikes unlocked and their dogs tied up outside of stores or restaurants while they are inside. This place has great people, puppies, street art, sustainable shops, cupcake delivery vehicles, food trucks…I love it!

The modern street art, chalk walls, and super cool music scene gives Charlottesville a modern feel.  What makes these splashes of modern great here in Charlottesville is their juxtaposition with the always-visible past.  Charlottesville is old.  The buildings were designed by ole Father Jefferson himself, and everyone here would love to tell you about it.  It’s a sweet tea and fried green tomato kind of place, but hey – if you want some Bikram yoga and a barre class next to your old timey and wonderfully delicious local ice cream shop, then this is the place for you.

As I take time out of life to think about my next travel steps, I decided to give Charlottesville a good ole fashioned walking tour.  Check out what I found.

Great Shopping.  Two that I loved were Roxie & Daisy and Bittersweet downtown. 

Great food.  I stopped in for a quick lunch at Revolutionary Soup and had crab and corn chowder and a raspberry goat cheese spinach salad with balsamic vinaigrette.  A dog that really wanted to snuggle waited for me by the front door.

After lunch – the obligatory ice cream stop.  Chaps had the best chocolate ice cream.  It tasted like straight up brownie batter, and you can’t beat that.  It has been left alone throughout the years and still retains the 40s style diner appeal.  I loved posting up at Chaps with one scoop (that eventually turned into two…).

I thought DC’s Eastern Market could never be replaced in my heart, but I was wrong.  Charlottesville’s City Market on Water Street downtown is a great way to spend a Saturday morning.  I bought the best granola I have had in my entire life there, and browsed through enough food stalls to make my heart content. 

For a quick and ridiculously good sandwich, head to the Belair Market inside the Exxon gas station on Old Ivy Street.  There is no sign to indicate good food inside, but let yourself be guided by the full parking lot.  We had the Birdwood Sanwich and the Farmington.  I am in love. 

After lunch, a walk through UVA’s very collegiate looking campus is a good calorie burner.  We live on University Circle for now, and the scenery is just lovely.  Big open and well manicured green spaces next to columns on columns on columns.  There is so much pastel / Vineyard Vines / Brooks Brothers here that it sort of feels like someone threw confetti onto a big Thomas Jefferson cake.  It’s kind of awesome. 

After a few conversations with Charlottesville insiders and city exploration by yours truly, here is a list of what to do on a weekend trip to C-ville.

Fun Activities:

Monticello – word on the street is to wait until fall.  The view is supposed to be stunning as the leaves start to turn.

Hiking and Kayaking – The lake in Crozet, VA.  The area has lots of trails to roam around on in case you aren’t into a Saturday kayaking expedition.

Vineyards – Pippin Hill has the nicest view.  Kings Family has better wine.  Pollack is also a winner.

Breweries – Devil’s Backbone is the local favorite.  The food is great, and it’s right by Wintergreen, the area ski resort.

Wintergreen – Ski resort 45 minutes outside of Charlottesville.  I don’t ski, but I’m definitely working that out this year.

Farmer’s Market – Saturday mornings downtown on Water Street.

Trivia Tuesday ­– Mellow Mushroom

Dinner, Brunch, Lunch, and Coffee Spots:

Dinner - Zocalo, Ten Sushi, Fiest, Continental Divide, Tavola, Mas, Maya ($10 Tuesdays!), Crozet Pizza, Milan Indian Food, C&O, The Virginian (for the mac and cheese).

Brunch – Bluegrass Grill (enthusiastically referred to as the “hands down best brunch in town”), Beer Run, Pigeon Hole, and West Main

Lunch – Belair Market (in the Exxon gas station on Old Ivy), Sushi to-go from Food of All Nations. 

Coffee -  Mudhouse, Shenandoah Joe’s

Definitely head to Charlottesville if you are looking for a weekend trip from DC.  Such a gorgeous and fun town!

Welcome Home - To Viterbo

Close your eyes.  Try to imagine that place you always retreat to.  Is it a beach?  On top of a mountain?  Or is it just away – far away from your desk and your computer?  For me, it is Italy.  Since the day I set foot back on American soil after my first study abroad in 2008, I was heartsick for it.  I didn’t realize how heavy the weight of missing Italy actually was until four days ago. 

Standing in front of a beautiful yellow church in Ischia Ponte during a religious ceremony, fireworks started to explode overhead.  And with those fireworks, I felt myself almost lifted up.  I wasn’t sure at first what the feeling was, but I think I’ve got it now: pure and complete joy.  Relief even.  What I experienced was a feeling of coming home after a long absence.

 In the spring of 2008, I left the U.S. for the first time for Viterbo.  Situated above Rome in the middle of Lazio, it is completely off the tourist track.  And by off the tourist track, I mean not even on the radar screen. 

For five months, I lived an entirely new life in a foreign country.  I spoke Italian every single day, ate everything Italian I could get my hands on, learned how to cook, and made incredible friends (friends I still have now).  I traveled around Europe, experienced my first long distance relationship, and grew in ways that were incomprehensible to me at the time.  I began examining life in a different way – replacing all of the “how is that even possible” with new words…”why not?” What happened in Italy has since spurred an insatiable thirst for exploration, and I have devoted the last six years of my life figuring out how to do as much of it as possible.  So far, I’ve been pretty successful.

 But now I’m at one of those crossroads.  School is over, and there are jobs on the horizon.  But I keep coming back to the same question: can I give this up? 

I was walking through a cemetery in Ischia on my birthday (morose, so what), and I stopped to think for a while.  Rich, poor, white, black, happy, unhappy – we all end up in the ground.  That’s it.  How you spend your years doesn’t change the end result.  We are all going to die.  So why not roam and run while we can?  The obvious answer – money – is the one that comes to my mind immediately.  It makes me wonder.  What if money were no object?  How would my life and the life of my loved ones be different?  What would we do? 

For the next month, I’ll be in Viterbo doing some thinking about the future and living out my daydream for the last 5 years.  While a month is hardly enough, my heart is happier now than it has ever been.  Have any of you ever been somewhere that you became attached to in such a strong way?  

Communion in the Piazza – Don Pasta live in Viterbo

“Sei vivo ora - Mangiare merda fritta! (You are alive now – eat fried shit!)” screams writer/philosopher/poet/chef Daniele De Michele.  We have stumbled across Don Pasta’s latest project, Food Sound System: part jam band, part slam poetry exhibition, part cooking show.  The band lays down a background track that sounds to me like it could be the bridge from just about any Widespread Panic song, while the De Michele goes to work with his hand-crank pasta maker and his make-shift stove.  When the food is prepared, he jumps on a chair at the front of the stage, seizes the mic with both hands and launches into an emotional monologue bordering on frenzy in praise of the Italian cuisine and its rightful place as a centerpiece of the culture.  It is truly a spectacle to behold.  A video says a million words:

At the conclusion of the speech, he feeds each member of the band a handful of the pasta dish he has made (yep, a handful, not a fork full) and then takes his pot out into the audience, to share his creation with the crowd.  He works his way through the seats, and everyone takes a bite; hands or a shared fork are the preferred method of delivery.  Then, when he runs out of pasta, he returns to the stage to begin the creative process again.

Auguri in Ischia

The day Alex and I booked our flights for this five month trip through Europe, Turkey, and the Middle East, I was online booking a long weekend in Ischia.  I had the perfect place saved on AirBnB, and I knew it was exactly where I wanted to spend my birthday on May 31.  

So where’s Ischia?

A one hour ferry ride from the Molo Beverello Port in Naples lies Ischia, Capri’s neighbor.  All I knew about the island was that three Italian friends told me they loved it.  I didn’t ask why, what was there, or where to stay....(turns out you should stay in Ischia Ponte, there are lots of spas and shopping, and there are castles and aqueducts…that’s pretty much all there is to know).

Fortunately, we ended up here.

With Gina Menegazzi, Italian grandmamma extraordinaire.  Her two-bedroom apartment overlooks the stunning Castello Aragonese, the azure sea in front, and a row of pastel colored houses weathered from the ocean winds.  The sea is so close to the windows that you can hear the waves lapping all day and night, and you feel a sort of constant drowsiness and relaxation.  I slept better there than I have since the cave in Cappadocia, and that’s saying something. 

Breakfast every morning was fresh baked bread with fresh honey, butter, and lemon and orange jam made by Gina herself. On May 31^st, I woke up to happy birthdays from my tempory grandmother and Alex, and a wonderful breakfast by the sea. 

Next it was shopping and pizza by the water, followed by an absolutely incredible dinner at Il Pontille.  In case you ever find yourself in Italy, do yourself a favor: just tell the waiters to surprise you.  It ends well.

After the owner insisted that Alex was in fact Matt Damon, we were given four glasses of prosecco and some birthday cake.  We were so full that we forgot to go home and light the candle on the lemon cake we bought that afternoon.

No matter, we had it for breakfast the next morning overlooking that gorgeous ocean.

When I blew out my candle, I made the obligatory wish.  Guess what it was? 

That 26 would be as good as 25.  What an incredible end to another fabulous year.

The Pizza Scene in Naples

From the time that I booked a flight to Naples, I was thinking about pizza. Alex and I landed around 11 a.m. – just in time for lunch.  As soon as we dropped our bags in our cheap hotel, we were heading to the much heralded Mecca of pizza in Naples – Da Michele. 

Lines.  Long, long lines.  While it has been a local favorite for years, Da Michele now has a cult status among the ladies courtesy of Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love.  They say the lines move fast and the waiters will kick you out of your seat if you’re lingering, so maybe try it if you have the chance.  We chose not to.  We ended up at Pizzeria Trianon just up the street, and the pizza was absolutely perfect (and three euros). 

The next day, it was time for round two.  After getting the nod from our hotel owner, we headed to Pizzeria Di Matteo on Via Dei Tribunali.  Tribunali is one of the most casually delicious streets I have ever seen – pizza and street food galore.  I’m not sure how it was possible to beat our first stop, but this pie did – hands down.  For two euros, we grabbed a large margherita to go.  The pie was piping hot, and the sauce was bright and perfectly fresh.  The crust was soft but lightly charred, and the cheese was a little more sparse that you might find at a restaurant with tables and inside service, but seriously, this is perfect street pizza.  No complaints. At all.  They also sell slightly smaller pizzas for a single Euro apiece, which may be the best bargain in Europe.

While waiting for our pizza, I noticed a small photo of a young President Clinton on the wall.  This is the pizzeria he visited during the 1994 G7 summit in Naples.  WJC knows his food, so I knew we had picked an absolute gem.

A few doors down from Di Matteo are two stunning churches sandwiching Via dei Tribunali in between them.  We cracked open our box, folded the pizza in fourths, and ate with sauce dripping down our hands. 

The pizza was plenty of food, but we had to sample the other goods on offer.  Meet crocche - mashed potatoes filled with fresh mozzarella that are battered then fried.  (I forgot to take a photo, so excuse this terrible one borrowed from the internet). 

It might not surprise you that we were back for dinner.  In addition to our pizza, we tried deep-fried zucchini blossoms and arancini di rossa.  Arancini di rossa are baseball-sized rice balls filled with meat, cheese, tomato, and peas.  This is sort of a fried, Italian shepherd’s pie, and it is delicious fat kid food.

While walking towards Di Matteo for the second time, I noticed this. 

After President Clinton’s visit to Di Matteo, the brother of the pizzaiolo at Di Matteo opened up his own restaurant – named after Clinton – just down the block.  We also saw that the daughter of the brother of the pizzaiolo (confused yet?) opened up a spot too.  We didn’t get to try hers, but I guess this gives us another reason to go back?

Our time in Naples was probably the most pizza packed two days in my life.  We were each downing entire pies sometimes twice a day...a tradition that has carried over to Ischia.  If you get the chance to head to Naples, you absolutely cannot miss the chance to put down your own pie.  No, you may not eat just one slice or two...it's the entire thing - right down the hatch.  Buon appetito!

Alex on Sardinia by Road

We left Sardinia at seven o’clock this morning via the Olbia/Costa Smeralda airport, and tonight I am writing on the balcony of a cheap hotel in Naples.  I loved Sardinia.  The people are friendly; the food is great; and they have my new favorite flag. 

The biggest tip I would offer someone visiting the island is, “rent a car!”  Yes, it is a little expensive compared to the bus/train option, but all the best beaches, the best walks, and the best food that we found were inaccessible by any other means.  Basically, I don’t think public transportation is really an option if you want to have control of your days.  As a bonus, driving in Sardinia is really easy and since there seem to be no traffic cops on the island’s winding roads, you are always in an unofficial race with the locals, who are perfectly willing to swerve into oncoming traffic in order to pass you. 

I think we discovered Sardinia’s charms on our second day.  We left our hotel in Quartucciu on a mission to find a beach, our little white Smart Car buzzing down the road while the Sardinians in their normal and mostly road-worthy cars fly by like we are standing still.   Anyone who has rented a Smart Car knows that this is par for the course; 50 miles an hour feels like 80, and 80 is probably not possible. 

This time there was another reason for our slow speed. Sardinia is one of the few places in Europe where you can find the Greater Flamingo, and these beautiful pink and white birds hang out in the marshes right next to the highway outside Cagliari. 

I imagine there is a point where you get used to the pink flamingos, and you stop looking at them, but I am not there yet.  You can try to stop and take pictures on the side of the highway, but if that is not picturesque enough for you, keep on going out to Chia Laguna where the birds flock to the still water in a more peaceful setting.

We drove on to Pula, a little beach town much like other beach towns except for the bakery (pasticceria) that makes dynamite ammaretti and .  The plan was to visit the sea turtle sanctuary just down the road in Nora, but no dice.  (Insider tip: The sanctuary seems to have no internet presence aside from a mention in a NYT article, but they are open to visitors Friday-Sunday.)

The best part about driving in Sardinia is that your day will never be wasted unless you choose to waste it.  My advice: follow the signs for “Spiaggia”, and you can’t go wrong.  You may have to hike a bit or drive your rented SmartCar down roads better suited to 4-wheelers and mountain goats, but the end of the road never disappoints.

Nest stop was Dorgali, a small village in the province of Nuoro, slightly inland from Cala Gonone and the Gulf of Orosei.  The town has a sort of industrial and rough around the edges feel and for a moment I questioned our choice of location.  However, we had no trouble at all (unless you count the little boy I found trying to lift my tiny car off the ground by the wheel-well), and the town turned out to be a very old, very cool maze of tiny streets, and shops.

Also Nuoro is regarded as the best area in Sardinia for food, and based on my limited sampling, I would back that up.   We followed Anthony Bourdain’s suggestion and had a meal of truly epic proportions at Su Gologone.  There is some debate about how this restaurant stacks up (has it become a tourist trap now?), but if you like meat, pasta, and homemade cheese, this place is pretty doggone good.

I had high hopes for Sardinia, and I was not in the least disappointed.  However, Costa Smeralda was kind of a zero for me.  The Emerald Coast is one of those “playgrounds for the rich and famous” with all that entails, and I imagine that in July you might find yourself catching some rays next to models, athletes, and, if you are really lucky, Silvio Berlusconi. 

There is no denying that Costa Smeralda is beautiful, but here is the catch: the rest of the country is equally beautiful and still retains the charm of a place that time forgot at least for now.