To Casperia and back by train (April 2025)…

This is becoming a bit of a regular blog every 12~18 months or so. A brief report of our Interrail trips down to Casperia and La Torretta in the Sabine Hills north of Rome. This time incorporating stops in Paris, Zurich, Lucca, Munich and Brussels.

My 2022 blog covered urban design of Light Rail (LR) systems with reference to Lloyd George Avenue in Cardiff, bus networks and integration, and post Brexit regret and anger

My 2024 blog reflected on similar issues and especially transport, urban design, Electric Vehicles (EV) and rubbish collections
This 2019 blog on Sourdough , Paradores and Casperia also worth a look perhaps?

This time I’ll summarise a few of the same issues and conclude briefly with a more foody narrative! Here we go…

Frictionless payment systems are the future for public transport

What we have in Cardiff via Cardiff Bus and now TfW’s CVL Meto services with bank card-based tap on/tap off “Pay as you go” (PAYG), is the gold standard for easy frictionless payment for Public Transport (PT). No tickets, no cash, no apps, no problem – especially for visitors to the city. (Although we will need Bus Reform legislation established in Wales to see a fully integrated offer re multi-modal tickets & fares, etc)

Now many places and/or systems in Europe do have similar provision, for example Lyon, Brussels, the Manchester Metrolink and of course London. However, some places are still lumbered with the cost and complexity and the resulting “lack of friction” of bespoke travel cards and passes (like the now less used Oyster card) and offer multiple ticket types. In particular, Paris has its Navigo card, multiple ticket types and multiple card payment options – now including phone app-based options. However, for me, the Android based RATP App didn’t work well. I loaded by Navigo pass – and whilst it worked on some buses, at the gates on the Paris Metro I was refused entry, the valid Navigo day pass on my phone was shrugged away. On the first occasion an unhelpful member of staff made me pay again for a paper ticket. On another day a very helpful member of staff could see I had paid for the Navigo pass, that it was on my phone and that there was a technical issue and so let me through the gate!

Last year I experienced the bank card tap and PAYG simplicity in Lyon and this year in Brussles. Other cities/regions need to follow the Lyon, Cardiff, London and Brussels example. Paris is over complex and not as easy as it could be for visitors! Yes, it does have a very comprehensive integrated rail, bus and LR network….but it is not as frictionless as it could be!

Gate Lines get in the way and again add friction!

I did cover briefly last year; in Germany and Belgium the lack of gate lines was a pleasure making access/wayfinding to from and in/out of stations much easier. They are also less costly as they avoid the need to install and staff costly pieces of kit (that need maintenance) all over your transport network. I think we need to go this way in the CCR for the Metro (like the Manchester Metrolink for example) and in particular at Cardiff Central which is designing in expensive gate lines as part of the “Metro Central” station upgrade. I would deal with fare evasion with much bigger fines and the use of packs of roving customer service staff. That would also mean addressing the need for a “guard” to be on every Metro service and the adoption of full Driver Only Operation (DOO). I covered this issue in two earlier blogs; one on tough choices and another on my advice to TfW Board and WG

Rubbish collections (Lucca)

As I saw in Marseille last year, many places use neighbourhood refuse bins – so no rubbish collections from every home. Lucca is the same, lots of communal rubbish collection points which people use on a daily basis to deposit their segregated domestic waste, recycling etc . These communal bins looked like they were emptied at least every other day. Something we need to consider in Cardiff? Why do we expect the council to come to every house to collect our waste.

The right Electric Vehicles (EVs) for cities

Trump wonders why no one wants their souped-up petrol SUVs in Europe. They are big, heavy, costly, carbon spewing, pothole causing, dangerous (leading to increased Road Traffic Accidents – RTAs – and especially child fatalities in the US) and frankly they don’t fit our infrastructure. The future of the urban car in Europe has to be fewer of them, EV based and importantly small and light. I noted the Citroen Ami last year. This year this Fiat caught our attention (see below)

More of this please – less of your oversized Wankpanzas Mr Trump! (or your chlorinated chicken or chemical filled food thank you – we also wish to maintain higher standards for animal welfare and food quality in the EU AND the UK)

I actually covered a lot on cars, car dependency (including the stats on RTAs) and their externalities in a chapter in my book, “How to build a Metro”

Back to the food. I love my food abroad and especially Italian food and Pasta – so let’s recount the most memorable dishes.

Let’s start in Paris. The Jambon Beurre is a French institution, and I got an early morning taste at the famous Le Petite Vendome. It was so good we also booked for a lunch. This is a very French establishment and very busy. Sat at our table squeezed in among the other diners I ordered the fantastic Eggs Meurette to start. Then I thought I was ordering (having seen the Lamb on the online menu) a shoulder of Lamb with potatoes for my main. In fact, what I actually ordered and what arrived – to nods of appreciation and respect from the seasoned French diners surrounding us was “Pied et paquets (agneau) de chez Charles a Maussane“. This was Lambs feet (and I think toes!) wrapped in tripe with carrots and potatoes. This is a food nightmare for me as I am not a fan of offal or jiggly bits and certainly not what I was hoping for. However, I was under the gaze of the hardy locals and so ate my way through most of it! It wasn’t as bad as I expected….but I would select more carefully next time! Geraldine ate a fantastic egg mayonnaise (identified as ASOM: Association for the Protection of Egg Mayonnaise) and we concluded with a very good Crème Brule. I will definitely go back next time I visit Paris! (PS we also popped into a big church)

After a few days we arrived in Lucca and found some amazing local produce, dishes, and local pasta, especially the Tordelli Lucchesi which is a kind of ravioli containing beef and/or pork served with a ragu or tomato sauce.

Three restaurants stood out, Osteria Miranda, SottoSotto and Vino & Spuntino. Aside from the various excellent Tordelli dishes, I also ate a very good Deer Ragu and a fantastic pork dish (see picture) at Osteria Miranda.

Also for those of you old enough to remember it also seems like the Mysterons have set up home in Lucca!

Good as the food was in Lucca, once we had arrived in Casperia the prize as always for me, combing local simplicity and vista, was that served up at Bar Ce in the nearby village of Poggio Catino. This time my vegetarian wife Geraldine ordered Amatriciana by mistake. She ate it and, as I suspected, found it to be fantastic! I had, as usual, the Carbonara. We ate from the pans looking out over the best dining view one can have – with Rome in the distance!

A hearty mention also to L’asprese in Casperia for their pizzas and Vigna for their coffees, aperitivo and sunsets.

Casperia as ever was fantastic. The views, the food and especially as I get to see my aunty Mo, uncle Robbie and cousins Kathleen and Jenny – Alan was out of town. I’ll say it again the B&B they run in the village is unique and amazing. Take a look at La Torretta ! Give Jenny Scheda at La Torretta a call!