We decided to tackle our biggest day trip today so headed south with our first stop Sarlat; bang smack in the middle of Foie Gras and walnut country and renowned for its concentration of Rennaissance and 17th Century architecture. As a destination Sarlat has itself very well organised to provide for and make the most of the millions of tourists who come here (apart from the rather dysfunctional toilet set up where out of four toilets in the toilet complex, only one would open its door!). It has a very good walking route with an excellent numbered brochure pointing out the interesting buildings and their features.
Nowhere here for a quick, light lunch, but nice to sit at a tablein the shade on the cobblestones outside a tiny café and order a Rose and a Heineken with something which turned out to be a fabulous “wholemeal crepe” with tasty vegetarian filling and a salad which I knew would have lettuce and tomato, but also had white asparagus, cucumber and heaps of lovely crisp radishes!
Leaving Sarlat the countryside here was once again farmed intensively (though always with forest groves) and now with tobacco, asparagus, sunflowers, lots of crops and now and again some fences and cattle! (Absolutely noteworthy!).
We were heading for a drive by of La Roque Gageac looking for cliff side troglodyte and medieval dwellings. Well, of course we didn’t just drive by, we were so amazed we stopped to look and next thing were aboard the boat for a cruise with commentary on the Dordogne. Fantastic.
Sadly we’d missed our chance to visit the nearby Chateax Marqueyssac with its 8 kms topiaries of box hedges, because we needed to get to the Cliffside village of Rocamadour. This village is unreal. Developed as a holy site after miracles happened, it clings to side of a massive gorge. Chateaux on the cliff top with ramparts which offer a panorama over the whole valley and then a sacred walk zig zagging down the cliff face with a shrine to each station of the cross in each zig and zag – really I think if you’re on a pilgrimage to you’re supposed to walk up the path rather than down, but wonderful Gretel had directed us to the top! At the end of the path, half way down the cliff is the sacred site of miracles where six varying sized chapels and churches cling to the rock face. A very impressive and memorable place. 274 steps further down is the village with quaint old buildings selling the usual tourist stuff and a lift to take us back to the top. Too late, the lift was closed.
We survived the ascent, fortified with a drink stop half way up, then homeward bound. A long journey, thunder, lightning, dark and again Gretel’s weird choice of roads, but we made it safe and sound and no counting sheep for sleep.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
June 27 Sunday settle in at St Pardoux
Washday at the Pa today and a quick trip up to the Nontron supermarket for more major supplies including a beaut fresh chicken which we popped in the oven early so that no matter how the day panned out we were set for dinner. Suddenly we found we had time to start thinking about the exploration opportunities this area offers and by 3.30ish we were feeling we could tackle some sightseeing and so headed for nearby Villar to view the limestone caves here.
The Dordogne region is a labyrinth of caves and boasts discoveries of some of the earliest human civilisation. The Grotte de Villars was amazing. A very well structured and presented route through a section of the 13 kilometres of caves had non slip paths created, handrails where necessary and excellent lighting to show up the breath-taking formations, plus an excellent commentary from our French guide who kindly did a second English commentary for us. Stalactites and stalagmites of all shapes and sizes from big fat pillars, to “candlesticks” and “spaghetti”, “curtains” of deposit hanging in folds like draperies, some so fine the light glowed through and further on bear scratching’s and cave drawings from 20,000 years ago!!!!
The Dordogne region also bristles with châteaux and we were near to the Chateaux de Puyguilhem so made that our first. Almost too late to gain entry was great as we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves and really enjoyed a few laughs and quirky photo opportunities in the great hall with its huge fireplace, the huge bedroom with four poster bed and the whopping kitchen with its massive fireplace and table.
Chicken good for dinner and more planning and bee sting bathing.s
The Dordogne region is a labyrinth of caves and boasts discoveries of some of the earliest human civilisation. The Grotte de Villars was amazing. A very well structured and presented route through a section of the 13 kilometres of caves had non slip paths created, handrails where necessary and excellent lighting to show up the breath-taking formations, plus an excellent commentary from our French guide who kindly did a second English commentary for us. Stalactites and stalagmites of all shapes and sizes from big fat pillars, to “candlesticks” and “spaghetti”, “curtains” of deposit hanging in folds like draperies, some so fine the light glowed through and further on bear scratching’s and cave drawings from 20,000 years ago!!!!
The Dordogne region also bristles with châteaux and we were near to the Chateaux de Puyguilhem so made that our first. Almost too late to gain entry was great as we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves and really enjoyed a few laughs and quirky photo opportunities in the great hall with its huge fireplace, the huge bedroom with four poster bed and the whopping kitchen with its massive fireplace and table.
Chicken good for dinner and more planning and bee sting bathing.s
June 26 Saturday Narbonne - St Pardoux Riviere
Thanks to Bruce and Diana who had found the train station in Narbonne and picked us up when our train arrived last night at about 9.00pm. They’d settled in at our Etap Hotel and whizzed us back there to a very welcome cup of tea and munchies. Still a rather average hotel, but inexpensive and cleaner than the last Etap in Menton and well located for getting away smartly for our big day’s travel this morning.
Heading West on a major route through rolling country with grapes, villages on every rise, knoll and vantage point and wind farms on the horizons. We pulled off to the first stop for a stand-up brekkie and fuel up and then on to Carcassonne.
We’d decided to take the time to visit this amazingly restored Medieval City and despite the fact that there is some criticism that the restoration has it all looking a bit too perfect, it is an absolutely captivating spectacle. It’s so much easier to get the feel of medieval life in such a well restored city without having to look at ruins and mentally restore them, though within the walls today the City bulges with tourists and eateries – we found that often the only way you could distinguish where one restaurant finished and the next began was by the different tablecloths and table settings! We found a little patisserie outside the walls where a very elderly, twinkly eyed French baker took pride in crafting us a beaut jambon and fromage roll.
Gretel the GPS was telling us five and a half hours to St Pardoux, so leaving Carcassonne it was Fred at the wheel with head down to tick off the miles. Miles of motorway and several toll gates, increasingly rugged country but easy driving with huge viaducts spanning any steep gorges and all so well treed with wonderful coverings of oak forests.
My turn to drive as we headed into the Dordogne district. Slowly but surely Gretel took us off the main highways and on to minor roads and in fact sometimes we thought make-believe roads, especially when there was grass down the middle. However, we’d chosen to follow her directions, so carried on through fascinating farmland with mown hay, big round bales, crops of grain and walnut groves, all the while with great swathes of oak forests.
And then; St Pardoux here we are! A weir on the river, a quaint stone bridge, past the petanque grounds and clubhouse, then the camping grounds and finally to Liz and Peter’s St Pardoux Cottage. What a wonderful place and how lucky we are to be able to stay here for a week! A stone farm cottage where the full basement once housed the animals (now with a concrete floor and used for laundry and storage) and the upper level housed the farmer and family. Set on a couple of acres of lush pasture sloping up to forest behind there’s a picture book French scene to look out on when the shutters and windows of the bedrooms are flung open.
But, there was no immediate flinging open of shutters and window in our bedroom as a hive of bees had decided that the 20cm wide space between the shutters and the windows was a great place to build their hive! How does one deal with that predicament in France?
On our arrival we’d had a cheery “Bonjour” from a neighbour across the road so he was our first port of call. He had no idea what we were, with much buzzing and miming of flying etc, trying to explain and I think he was feeling a little cautious when dragged into the cottage by a bunch of jabbering, gesticulating kiwis! But he was quickly to the rescue, dashing off to engage our knight in shining armour, the 80 year old, ex-farmer from next door. In no time at all he appeared, clad in his apiarist gear, ladder under one arm, smoking canister in the other hand. Diana and I left it to the blokes and popped into town to stock up with essentials and check out the pizzeria for takeaways for dinner. Meantime, back at the cottage, our wonderful neighbour had brought an empty beehive and placed below the window and teetered at the top of his borer infested ladder with brave Freddie holding the ladder steady for him and for his efforts sustaining an angry beesting right on his eyebrow!!! (photos one day I hope!). Slowly but surely the puffing of the smoke encouraged the bees to move out and eventually we were all at the kitchen table sharing a well-earned drink. A lot of talking but very little comprehension, though I’m sure we managed to convey our gratitude!
Heading West on a major route through rolling country with grapes, villages on every rise, knoll and vantage point and wind farms on the horizons. We pulled off to the first stop for a stand-up brekkie and fuel up and then on to Carcassonne.
We’d decided to take the time to visit this amazingly restored Medieval City and despite the fact that there is some criticism that the restoration has it all looking a bit too perfect, it is an absolutely captivating spectacle. It’s so much easier to get the feel of medieval life in such a well restored city without having to look at ruins and mentally restore them, though within the walls today the City bulges with tourists and eateries – we found that often the only way you could distinguish where one restaurant finished and the next began was by the different tablecloths and table settings! We found a little patisserie outside the walls where a very elderly, twinkly eyed French baker took pride in crafting us a beaut jambon and fromage roll.
Gretel the GPS was telling us five and a half hours to St Pardoux, so leaving Carcassonne it was Fred at the wheel with head down to tick off the miles. Miles of motorway and several toll gates, increasingly rugged country but easy driving with huge viaducts spanning any steep gorges and all so well treed with wonderful coverings of oak forests.
My turn to drive as we headed into the Dordogne district. Slowly but surely Gretel took us off the main highways and on to minor roads and in fact sometimes we thought make-believe roads, especially when there was grass down the middle. However, we’d chosen to follow her directions, so carried on through fascinating farmland with mown hay, big round bales, crops of grain and walnut groves, all the while with great swathes of oak forests.
And then; St Pardoux here we are! A weir on the river, a quaint stone bridge, past the petanque grounds and clubhouse, then the camping grounds and finally to Liz and Peter’s St Pardoux Cottage. What a wonderful place and how lucky we are to be able to stay here for a week! A stone farm cottage where the full basement once housed the animals (now with a concrete floor and used for laundry and storage) and the upper level housed the farmer and family. Set on a couple of acres of lush pasture sloping up to forest behind there’s a picture book French scene to look out on when the shutters and windows of the bedrooms are flung open.
But, there was no immediate flinging open of shutters and window in our bedroom as a hive of bees had decided that the 20cm wide space between the shutters and the windows was a great place to build their hive! How does one deal with that predicament in France?
On our arrival we’d had a cheery “Bonjour” from a neighbour across the road so he was our first port of call. He had no idea what we were, with much buzzing and miming of flying etc, trying to explain and I think he was feeling a little cautious when dragged into the cottage by a bunch of jabbering, gesticulating kiwis! But he was quickly to the rescue, dashing off to engage our knight in shining armour, the 80 year old, ex-farmer from next door. In no time at all he appeared, clad in his apiarist gear, ladder under one arm, smoking canister in the other hand. Diana and I left it to the blokes and popped into town to stock up with essentials and check out the pizzeria for takeaways for dinner. Meantime, back at the cottage, our wonderful neighbour had brought an empty beehive and placed below the window and teetered at the top of his borer infested ladder with brave Freddie holding the ladder steady for him and for his efforts sustaining an angry beesting right on his eyebrow!!! (photos one day I hope!). Slowly but surely the puffing of the smoke encouraged the bees to move out and eventually we were all at the kitchen table sharing a well-earned drink. A lot of talking but very little comprehension, though I’m sure we managed to convey our gratitude!
June 25 Friday Spain back to France
A leisurely start today and after phone calls home we set off to provision for the weekend. A special weekend for Gemma and David with Gemma’s Mum and Dad arriving today and her sister and family plus aunty tomorrow, to celebrate her Mum’s birthday.
Firstly into Rupia for two little loaves of bread plus a big crusty artisan loaf, next the Carnisserie (and this one didn’t specify execucionnerie as well, as some did!) and finally to the “grocers” for the newspaper then off to the market in nearby La Bisbal. En route we passed out best field of sunflowers to date so with great delight snatched the photo opportunity.
The market at La Bispal was absolutely fantastic! Trestles groaned under towering piles of cured meat chunks and slices, with legs of meat hanging like draperies around the stalls, while mountains of fruit and veges glistened and glowed with rainbow colours and a challenging array of varieties (including, to our patriotic delight, some NZ kiwifruit!). Lots of looking, lots of tasting and lots of buying!
Keeping a car even moderately clean with no garage in dry, dusty, rural Spain, is not high on the priority list of locals and we were wondering how Gemma managed to see through her windscreen so, to Gemma and David’s amusement, Fred decided he must repay some of their kindness with a quick car wash which he tackled as soon as we were home.
Next thing Gemma’s Mum and Dad arrived and in no time we were gathered around the table in the shade on the terrace with a magnificent oxtail stew (with tomatoes, bayleaf, wine, onions and mushrooms), fried potatoes, home-made meatballs and rice, plus bread, salad and Cava!! It was so nice to meet Gemma’s parents as we felt like part of their NZ family and were greeted as such despite them having no English and us no Spanish (though we did have good interpreters!)
Then back on the train and goodbye Spain. No Trevi fountain to throw a “come back” coin in here, but Catalonia and the Catalonians we met certainly impressed us.
Firstly into Rupia for two little loaves of bread plus a big crusty artisan loaf, next the Carnisserie (and this one didn’t specify execucionnerie as well, as some did!) and finally to the “grocers” for the newspaper then off to the market in nearby La Bisbal. En route we passed out best field of sunflowers to date so with great delight snatched the photo opportunity.
The market at La Bispal was absolutely fantastic! Trestles groaned under towering piles of cured meat chunks and slices, with legs of meat hanging like draperies around the stalls, while mountains of fruit and veges glistened and glowed with rainbow colours and a challenging array of varieties (including, to our patriotic delight, some NZ kiwifruit!). Lots of looking, lots of tasting and lots of buying!
Keeping a car even moderately clean with no garage in dry, dusty, rural Spain, is not high on the priority list of locals and we were wondering how Gemma managed to see through her windscreen so, to Gemma and David’s amusement, Fred decided he must repay some of their kindness with a quick car wash which he tackled as soon as we were home.
Next thing Gemma’s Mum and Dad arrived and in no time we were gathered around the table in the shade on the terrace with a magnificent oxtail stew (with tomatoes, bayleaf, wine, onions and mushrooms), fried potatoes, home-made meatballs and rice, plus bread, salad and Cava!! It was so nice to meet Gemma’s parents as we felt like part of their NZ family and were greeted as such despite them having no English and us no Spanish (though we did have good interpreters!)
Then back on the train and goodbye Spain. No Trevi fountain to throw a “come back” coin in here, but Catalonia and the Catalonians we met certainly impressed us.
24 June Thurs Exploring ex Rupia
God bless shutters! When did you last sleep in till 11.00 a.m.! I can’t remember when I last slept in that long, but with the darkness of shutters closed and the silence of the day after the party, no one stirred till very late.
Both Gemma and David were on holiday today and wanted to take us sightseeing so we’d suggested a meal at our expense somewhere along the way. After a leisurely start we headed for Pals a delightful medieval hilltop village which new research suggests could be where Christopher Columbus prepared for his trip which discovered America rather than Palo which has always clained fame for this fact. Fascinating detail has been adhered to in the reconstruction here, right through to the “street lights” which were firewood fires lit in metal containers on metal poles. An aperitif (beer or a tasty aromatic white wine) and tapas at a friend’s café was a great start for lunch; my tapas choice a large anchovy/small sardine and Fred’s some cured duck, Mmmmm.
Then for lunch proper, to Calella-de-Palafrugell, a seaside town with 3 tiny bays tucked between rocky outcrops. Here another friend has a Restaurant on the beach. We suggested Gemma and David order for us all and we were very happy with starters of steamed mussels, tasty shrimps and a simple but scrummy tomato, white onion and tuna salad, followed by a Paella made with local rice and brimming with locally caught mussels, shrimps, lobsters, squid and sausages plus a robust stock. Yes, I know sausages sound a weird addition to a seafood paella and yes, we did ask why. The explanation was that this is a traditional village recipe born from the days when there was no refrigeration, so that if Mama had bought sausages for dinner but Papa came in with a good seafood catch, no worries, it all went into the paella and so the dish became common practice. An interesting combination and a distinctively hearty paella. Matched with a beautiful Spanish white wine and positioned so that we could watch the rigid inflatable ferry owners to and from the myriad of craft moored in the Bay, it was a wonderful leisurely Spanish lunch finished with good coffee and then a generously offered complimentary muscatel dessert wine.
After lunch was time to take a walk along the beach above the sunbathers, topless or otherwise, crammed on the coarse, golden sand (reminiscent of Golden Bay sand but not quite as golden). The path lead around the rocky headlands linking the three little bays here on the Costa Brava so that the views unfolded as we walked. It's easy to see why mussells are such a staple seafood here; the craggy rocky coast is perfect for mussell growing and we felt as if at any moment we might spot a smuggler or a pirate hiding amongst the rocks.
Big juicy cactus defy the conditions and flourish amongst the rocks and Gemma told us that once the buds had flowered the fruits were edible, if you can manage to get past the prickles and through the skin. The picturebook villages in each bay are crammed with typical white and terracotta Meditterranena style houses gazing out over a few pine trees and incredibly clean blue sea. This beautiful area is rapidly being "discovered" by tourists and the locals are very concerned to maintain it's prisitine condition and protect it from pollution and litter, so tarriffs are high here.
By the time we reached home again everyone was ready for a late siesta which saw us awake in time to watch the Japan/Denmark World Cup Soccer match with nibbles of bread, ham, salami, hard tasty goats milk cheese and their butcher's yummy pork and mushroom roll.
Both Gemma and David were on holiday today and wanted to take us sightseeing so we’d suggested a meal at our expense somewhere along the way. After a leisurely start we headed for Pals a delightful medieval hilltop village which new research suggests could be where Christopher Columbus prepared for his trip which discovered America rather than Palo which has always clained fame for this fact. Fascinating detail has been adhered to in the reconstruction here, right through to the “street lights” which were firewood fires lit in metal containers on metal poles. An aperitif (beer or a tasty aromatic white wine) and tapas at a friend’s café was a great start for lunch; my tapas choice a large anchovy/small sardine and Fred’s some cured duck, Mmmmm.
Then for lunch proper, to Calella-de-Palafrugell, a seaside town with 3 tiny bays tucked between rocky outcrops. Here another friend has a Restaurant on the beach. We suggested Gemma and David order for us all and we were very happy with starters of steamed mussels, tasty shrimps and a simple but scrummy tomato, white onion and tuna salad, followed by a Paella made with local rice and brimming with locally caught mussels, shrimps, lobsters, squid and sausages plus a robust stock. Yes, I know sausages sound a weird addition to a seafood paella and yes, we did ask why. The explanation was that this is a traditional village recipe born from the days when there was no refrigeration, so that if Mama had bought sausages for dinner but Papa came in with a good seafood catch, no worries, it all went into the paella and so the dish became common practice. An interesting combination and a distinctively hearty paella. Matched with a beautiful Spanish white wine and positioned so that we could watch the rigid inflatable ferry owners to and from the myriad of craft moored in the Bay, it was a wonderful leisurely Spanish lunch finished with good coffee and then a generously offered complimentary muscatel dessert wine.
After lunch was time to take a walk along the beach above the sunbathers, topless or otherwise, crammed on the coarse, golden sand (reminiscent of Golden Bay sand but not quite as golden). The path lead around the rocky headlands linking the three little bays here on the Costa Brava so that the views unfolded as we walked. It's easy to see why mussells are such a staple seafood here; the craggy rocky coast is perfect for mussell growing and we felt as if at any moment we might spot a smuggler or a pirate hiding amongst the rocks.
Big juicy cactus defy the conditions and flourish amongst the rocks and Gemma told us that once the buds had flowered the fruits were edible, if you can manage to get past the prickles and through the skin. The picturebook villages in each bay are crammed with typical white and terracotta Meditterranena style houses gazing out over a few pine trees and incredibly clean blue sea. This beautiful area is rapidly being "discovered" by tourists and the locals are very concerned to maintain it's prisitine condition and protect it from pollution and litter, so tarriffs are high here.
By the time we reached home again everyone was ready for a late siesta which saw us awake in time to watch the Japan/Denmark World Cup Soccer match with nibbles of bread, ham, salami, hard tasty goats milk cheese and their butcher's yummy pork and mushroom roll.
June 23 Wed Barcelona and St Johns Festival
David was working today and Gemma enjoying a day off and preparation for the Festival of St John, Catalonia’s biggest annual festival. Each year this festival celebrates the shortest night of the year and welcomes in summer and the longest day. Communities gather, bringing food for a shared meal (if four of you come, you bring food for six!) which doesn’t start till sundown (9.30ish). There’s a small fee which buys wine for the tables plus generous helpings of their St John’s cake “Coca” , (a cross between bread and Madeira Cake, decorated with glace fruit and pine nuts) which is washed down with Cava. Cava is what we would know as French Champagne (Moet). Same grapes, same terrain, same process, same company; just not allowed to be called champagne since the border shifted between France and Spain! The festival is a great celebration, with fireworks, bonfires (if you’re on the beach or somewhere safe) feasting, drinking, music and dancing till dawn (if you’re still on the go when the dew falls in the morning you’ll grow younger – wait till you see me next!!!).
With a day at our disposal Fred and I headed for Barcelona for a brief look at this exciting City. We also needed to buy tickets to travel back from Spain to Narbonne early on Friday to link up with Bruce and Diana. Thankfully we had Gemma translating with the woman at the ticket office as the only words we could understand were “bloody French” as she explained that we’d need to try for tickets in Barcelona, but that the French rail workers were on strike till Friday morning, which in fact wiped out any train service from Spain to France till Friday lunch time. So, to Barcelona, where after three discussions with the ticket sellers, three times in the queue and a couple of phone conferences with Bruce we were sorted and off to explore the City.
Barcelona is amazing! What a vibrant, energising City! Wide tree lined streets with totally specific cycle lanes and bikes you can buy an annual pass to use! Once again plane trees march architecturally down the streets, but being interspersed with palm trees moves the image from the European cliché, to a much more southern Mediterranean look. Once again it’s a city with history but a city of fascinating shapes and colours. The city was originally laid out thoughtfully and then modernised completely with the refurbishment for the 1992 Olympic Games. 100,000 volunteers gave time and labour in the lead up to the Games; no wonder the City hums with a sense of pride and worth! Apparently one of the biggest challenges now is how to deal with the huge numbers of tourists and visitors attracted here, while still keeping Barcelona a comfortable and pleasant home and workplace for its own residents.
With just a few hours here we opted for a bus tour through the City. Fantastic seats on the open top deck gave us great views and the commentary was fantastic so we managed to cram in many of the sights plus lunch of filled and folded flatbreads cooked on a huge hotplate (four cheese filling for Fred, mozarella and spinach for me) before our time ran out. By this stage one of Fred’s sandals had fallen apart and my need for a haircut was becoming pressing so with a detour through a monster department store we sorted both problems and were back on the train for Rupia (or Flaca actually – the little station nearest to Rupia).
Our timing was ideal with just time to freshen up before heading into the village with our plates, cutlery, glasses and pot luck dish for the celebrations. What a buzz! Every local, man, woman and child was there, plus most of the weekenders who had come up to Rupia for the weekend (tomorrow is a holiday and most people have taken Friday off to make a long weekend). Crackers - mostly bangers, including very big bangers which are now unavailable in NZ- were going off intermittently, most of them let off by the children. The biggest impact ones were let off resoundlingly in the stone “tunnel” made by an arch about 25 feet long over the lane! If you ever come to Spain Dan I really think you should aim to be here 23rd June!
As darkness fell the “pretty” fireworks came out and the littlies had fun with sparklers. As with any pot luck meal there was an amazing variety of dishes and so we were very fortunate to have an opportunity to sample all sorts of wonderful dishes and the coca was yummy and the Cava supreme!
Then the music started and soon everyone was up dancing. No one went home. Parents danced and socialised with babies in front packs, preschoolers were tucked up on the warm stone benches as they fell asleep, the junior school girls danced and cartwheeled on the cobblestones while the bigger girls teased the boys who then terrorised them with crackers.
Dew or no dew, we were home well before dawn though we did need to shut all doors, windows and shutters to keep out the noise of explosions! Gemma and David enjoyed the company and fun considerably longer, leaving at dawn as others were doing a Trinny and Susannah on the barman.
With a day at our disposal Fred and I headed for Barcelona for a brief look at this exciting City. We also needed to buy tickets to travel back from Spain to Narbonne early on Friday to link up with Bruce and Diana. Thankfully we had Gemma translating with the woman at the ticket office as the only words we could understand were “bloody French” as she explained that we’d need to try for tickets in Barcelona, but that the French rail workers were on strike till Friday morning, which in fact wiped out any train service from Spain to France till Friday lunch time. So, to Barcelona, where after three discussions with the ticket sellers, three times in the queue and a couple of phone conferences with Bruce we were sorted and off to explore the City.
Barcelona is amazing! What a vibrant, energising City! Wide tree lined streets with totally specific cycle lanes and bikes you can buy an annual pass to use! Once again plane trees march architecturally down the streets, but being interspersed with palm trees moves the image from the European cliché, to a much more southern Mediterranean look. Once again it’s a city with history but a city of fascinating shapes and colours. The city was originally laid out thoughtfully and then modernised completely with the refurbishment for the 1992 Olympic Games. 100,000 volunteers gave time and labour in the lead up to the Games; no wonder the City hums with a sense of pride and worth! Apparently one of the biggest challenges now is how to deal with the huge numbers of tourists and visitors attracted here, while still keeping Barcelona a comfortable and pleasant home and workplace for its own residents.
With just a few hours here we opted for a bus tour through the City. Fantastic seats on the open top deck gave us great views and the commentary was fantastic so we managed to cram in many of the sights plus lunch of filled and folded flatbreads cooked on a huge hotplate (four cheese filling for Fred, mozarella and spinach for me) before our time ran out. By this stage one of Fred’s sandals had fallen apart and my need for a haircut was becoming pressing so with a detour through a monster department store we sorted both problems and were back on the train for Rupia (or Flaca actually – the little station nearest to Rupia).
Our timing was ideal with just time to freshen up before heading into the village with our plates, cutlery, glasses and pot luck dish for the celebrations. What a buzz! Every local, man, woman and child was there, plus most of the weekenders who had come up to Rupia for the weekend (tomorrow is a holiday and most people have taken Friday off to make a long weekend). Crackers - mostly bangers, including very big bangers which are now unavailable in NZ- were going off intermittently, most of them let off by the children. The biggest impact ones were let off resoundlingly in the stone “tunnel” made by an arch about 25 feet long over the lane! If you ever come to Spain Dan I really think you should aim to be here 23rd June!
As darkness fell the “pretty” fireworks came out and the littlies had fun with sparklers. As with any pot luck meal there was an amazing variety of dishes and so we were very fortunate to have an opportunity to sample all sorts of wonderful dishes and the coca was yummy and the Cava supreme!
Then the music started and soon everyone was up dancing. No one went home. Parents danced and socialised with babies in front packs, preschoolers were tucked up on the warm stone benches as they fell asleep, the junior school girls danced and cartwheeled on the cobblestones while the bigger girls teased the boys who then terrorised them with crackers.
Dew or no dew, we were home well before dawn though we did need to shut all doors, windows and shutters to keep out the noise of explosions! Gemma and David enjoyed the company and fun considerably longer, leaving at dawn as others were doing a Trinny and Susannah on the barman.
June 22 Tuesday Spain here we come
Was it the soothing effect of the lavender that made us sleep like the dead last night? Very good anyway and so we were well refreshed to pack up for the next leg of our adventure, 3 nights in Spain with Gemma and David who had boarded in Nelson with Dan and Andrea for several months in 2008 when they were at NMIT improving their English. Once again we minimised our bits and pieces to a little backpack each and left everything else with Bruce and Diana and the car so that we could travel lightly on the train.
Over to Tarascon, a town of 11,000 on the Rhone. It’s symbol is the Tarascon – ½ fish, ½ animal monster - which apparently terrorised the villagers for years until Saint Martha befriended and tamed it at which stage the villagers promptly killed it anyway! To this day they hold an annual celebration in its honour!!! Very weird.
Anyway; our train duly left from here at 12.45 and we headed South on our best French train to date. 20 minutes to Nimes, 40 to Montpellier, traditional plaster and tile houses, ochre and terracotta colours as the land flattened out in the Languedoc/Rouissillon district. Here vineyards stretched for acres and acres, sheltered by windbreaks of cypress, occasionally interspersed with stone fruit groves, artichoke gardens, kiwifruit and many wind farms. Narbonne, Beziers; on we raced through land which provides the season's earliest French apricots and cherries plus ½ of France’s table wine, though apparently changes are happening here in the wine industry as they move away from the couple of varieties traditionally grown, to a greater variety of more aromatic style wines.
On we went toward the Coast - much of the coastal land here has been developed from mosquito infested marshland to productive land with beautiful family friendly seaside resorts. Here on the Coast, are huge salt farms. Then suddenly train tunnels heralded the approach of the foothills of the Pyrenees and the proximity of the French/Spanish border.
Crossing the border here required a passport check by French police in Cebere, then a check by Spanish police in Portbou, plus an adjustment to the train wheel gauges as the Spanish train tracks have a wider gauge than those in France.
With glimpses of the rocky coast of the Costa Brava we raced on through tiny villages and little towns to our destination, Girona; the nearest centre to Gemma and Davids that we could leave this train.
And there they were to meet us, 8.15 as planned. Looking great; exactly as we remembered them from NZ and so welcoming! Both of them speak such excellent English now but I guess for us the biggest change was with Gemma's English which now is so fluently conversational! Both of them still so full of life and fun, so you can imagine what a cacophony it was driving the 20 minutes to their new home town of Rupia!
Since Christmas Gemma and David have opted for the rural life. David has had a change of genre with his reporting and is very busy with that, plus overseeing a team, but able to do so from home which he finds just great. Meantime Gemma commutes daily by train into Barcleona for her work - two and a half hours each way, but managing that OK. They've let their Barcelona apartment and rent a three bedroom, 2 bathroom, three level apartment in Rupia (an old but beautifully refurbished home). The living, dining and kitchen take up the first floor and all open out on to terraces with wisteria and other climbers tumbling over the pergolas to provide much needed shade and temperature control.Gemma is really enjoying having pots brimming with geraniums, cactus, herbs and flowers here, while in the courtyard on ground level she's created a raised vege garden with some great veges coming into production.
Rupia is a tiny medieval town with ancient stone buildings crowding in on narrow cobbled streets and lanes. It boasts a bar which opens on to the square, a bakery churning out delicious breads and pastries all cooked in a wood fired oven, plus a butchery which has existed there for generations and concocts the most delicious cured, vaccuum packed meats (my favourite was their pork and mushroom roll and Fred's the cured sirloin!). The village has just 200 permanent residents with over half the properties owned by out of towners as holiday homes (weekend escapes from Barcelona often). The bar is the centre of the community offering appertives from midday till 2.00, then opening again about 4.00 after which locals gather for a chat and a drink. Euro 1.50 for a stubbie of beer and Euro 1.50 for a glass of wine. All residents live within a two minute walk of this Placa/Square.
By the time we'd driven home, popped our gear inside and had a quick tour of the premises, the day was at its best with the scorching heat gone and everyone gathering at the bar for a cold refreshing beer. Fred always love sampling different beers so enjoyed David's choices, while I went with their recommendation of wine which was very yummy.
Eventually a relaxed amble the 100 metres home for David to whip up a scrumptious Catalonian chicken dish brimming with the biggest mushrooms you can imagine! Mushrooms are a prized ingredient in Catalonian cuisine and we were lucky enough to enjoy them several times while here. Dinner was at 10.30, which in summer in Spain is pretty standard and makes bedtime around 1.00 and a siesta a good idea!
Over to Tarascon, a town of 11,000 on the Rhone. It’s symbol is the Tarascon – ½ fish, ½ animal monster - which apparently terrorised the villagers for years until Saint Martha befriended and tamed it at which stage the villagers promptly killed it anyway! To this day they hold an annual celebration in its honour!!! Very weird.
Anyway; our train duly left from here at 12.45 and we headed South on our best French train to date. 20 minutes to Nimes, 40 to Montpellier, traditional plaster and tile houses, ochre and terracotta colours as the land flattened out in the Languedoc/Rouissillon district. Here vineyards stretched for acres and acres, sheltered by windbreaks of cypress, occasionally interspersed with stone fruit groves, artichoke gardens, kiwifruit and many wind farms. Narbonne, Beziers; on we raced through land which provides the season's earliest French apricots and cherries plus ½ of France’s table wine, though apparently changes are happening here in the wine industry as they move away from the couple of varieties traditionally grown, to a greater variety of more aromatic style wines.
On we went toward the Coast - much of the coastal land here has been developed from mosquito infested marshland to productive land with beautiful family friendly seaside resorts. Here on the Coast, are huge salt farms. Then suddenly train tunnels heralded the approach of the foothills of the Pyrenees and the proximity of the French/Spanish border.
Crossing the border here required a passport check by French police in Cebere, then a check by Spanish police in Portbou, plus an adjustment to the train wheel gauges as the Spanish train tracks have a wider gauge than those in France.
With glimpses of the rocky coast of the Costa Brava we raced on through tiny villages and little towns to our destination, Girona; the nearest centre to Gemma and Davids that we could leave this train.
And there they were to meet us, 8.15 as planned. Looking great; exactly as we remembered them from NZ and so welcoming! Both of them speak such excellent English now but I guess for us the biggest change was with Gemma's English which now is so fluently conversational! Both of them still so full of life and fun, so you can imagine what a cacophony it was driving the 20 minutes to their new home town of Rupia!
Since Christmas Gemma and David have opted for the rural life. David has had a change of genre with his reporting and is very busy with that, plus overseeing a team, but able to do so from home which he finds just great. Meantime Gemma commutes daily by train into Barcleona for her work - two and a half hours each way, but managing that OK. They've let their Barcelona apartment and rent a three bedroom, 2 bathroom, three level apartment in Rupia (an old but beautifully refurbished home). The living, dining and kitchen take up the first floor and all open out on to terraces with wisteria and other climbers tumbling over the pergolas to provide much needed shade and temperature control.Gemma is really enjoying having pots brimming with geraniums, cactus, herbs and flowers here, while in the courtyard on ground level she's created a raised vege garden with some great veges coming into production.
Rupia is a tiny medieval town with ancient stone buildings crowding in on narrow cobbled streets and lanes. It boasts a bar which opens on to the square, a bakery churning out delicious breads and pastries all cooked in a wood fired oven, plus a butchery which has existed there for generations and concocts the most delicious cured, vaccuum packed meats (my favourite was their pork and mushroom roll and Fred's the cured sirloin!). The village has just 200 permanent residents with over half the properties owned by out of towners as holiday homes (weekend escapes from Barcelona often). The bar is the centre of the community offering appertives from midday till 2.00, then opening again about 4.00 after which locals gather for a chat and a drink. Euro 1.50 for a stubbie of beer and Euro 1.50 for a glass of wine. All residents live within a two minute walk of this Placa/Square.
By the time we'd driven home, popped our gear inside and had a quick tour of the premises, the day was at its best with the scorching heat gone and everyone gathering at the bar for a cold refreshing beer. Fred always love sampling different beers so enjoyed David's choices, while I went with their recommendation of wine which was very yummy.
Eventually a relaxed amble the 100 metres home for David to whip up a scrumptious Catalonian chicken dish brimming with the biggest mushrooms you can imagine! Mushrooms are a prized ingredient in Catalonian cuisine and we were lucky enough to enjoy them several times while here. Dinner was at 10.30, which in summer in Spain is pretty standard and makes bedtime around 1.00 and a siesta a good idea!
Tuesday. More posts at last!
Sorry it's been such a long time since I put anything on herebut we're finally settled in St Pardoux Riviere and I've caught up with my diary, so here goes!
:-) Olwyn
:-) Olwyn
Thursday, June 24, 2010
AKL Coe's
0640 on Friday 25 June
Bruce & Diana had a very full day yesterday.
We set out to explore the lavender growing areas of Provence. As has already been said the season is late this year but we had our fingers crossed to see more.
We ended up doing 190 km's through the Apt, Sault and Gordes areas including the famous Cistercian Abbey. lovely countryside, windy roads, ultra small villages and plenty of lavender fields but not in full bloom!! Also saw miles and miles of grapes as well as cherries, apples and pears.
Heaps of cyclists around because apparently Mt Ventoux is a cyclists heaven! heaven if you want lots of hills that is!
Trivia: A "group" of old MG's and an Austin Healy, Sat next to a Swiss couple at lunch in Sault who had a little English. They were from Basel and in France for a few days break - 6 hours drive to Provence. Loved there wine. He said that when he was young he had a ticket to come to NZ to emigrate BUT then met his wife so tore up the ticket.
Gretel the GPS was mainly good to us but did end up in one village on a wrong turn that had the wing mirrors almost touching the walls.
Weather was good to us and in fact was up to 35 outside in Gordes as we left there at 1800.
A good day but a bit longer than we thought at 9 hours so had dinner at our place and got ready for our departure today to Narbonne to rejoin Fred and Olwyn. Missed the NZ Paraguay game but saw so much more.
Weather looks like it will be good again today so a last explore of St Remy/Glanum before we leave town.
We have loved our accommodation at Les Sources and special thanks to Allan and Elizabeth Edie for putting us on to it. Avern the manager says that they love NZers and have them coming though all the time. They are full right now including 4 NZ families. Pool still too cold to tempt us yet but it was all so good that we would like to come back.
Au Revoir for today
Bruce & Diana had a very full day yesterday.
We set out to explore the lavender growing areas of Provence. As has already been said the season is late this year but we had our fingers crossed to see more.
We ended up doing 190 km's through the Apt, Sault and Gordes areas including the famous Cistercian Abbey. lovely countryside, windy roads, ultra small villages and plenty of lavender fields but not in full bloom!! Also saw miles and miles of grapes as well as cherries, apples and pears.
Heaps of cyclists around because apparently Mt Ventoux is a cyclists heaven! heaven if you want lots of hills that is!
Trivia: A "group" of old MG's and an Austin Healy, Sat next to a Swiss couple at lunch in Sault who had a little English. They were from Basel and in France for a few days break - 6 hours drive to Provence. Loved there wine. He said that when he was young he had a ticket to come to NZ to emigrate BUT then met his wife so tore up the ticket.
Gretel the GPS was mainly good to us but did end up in one village on a wrong turn that had the wing mirrors almost touching the walls.
Weather was good to us and in fact was up to 35 outside in Gordes as we left there at 1800.
A good day but a bit longer than we thought at 9 hours so had dinner at our place and got ready for our departure today to Narbonne to rejoin Fred and Olwyn. Missed the NZ Paraguay game but saw so much more.
Weather looks like it will be good again today so a last explore of St Remy/Glanum before we leave town.
We have loved our accommodation at Les Sources and special thanks to Allan and Elizabeth Edie for putting us on to it. Avern the manager says that they love NZers and have them coming though all the time. They are full right now including 4 NZ families. Pool still too cold to tempt us yet but it was all so good that we would like to come back.
Au Revoir for today
AKL Coe's
0900 here in St Remy-de-Provence on Thursday 24 June which is our last day here. Weather is gorgeous and expected to reach 27 or higher. Skies are blue and very little wind after the Mistral of earlier in our week here. A brief note on our day yesterday. 0900 off into town as it was market day. The market took over most of the town and you should have seen the food - cheeses of all kinds, sausages, fish, salami, nougat, nuts and heaps more. Plus the usual lavender thingy's and cloths and knives and bric a brac. it took us 5 hours to get back to our motel but it did include a caffe break and a sandwich lunch break and a visit to the Van Gogh museum as he spent a year here before he died and did 150 paintings here. Fred called during this to say that because of a rail strike they would not get to Narbonne until 2015 on Friday. This meant a cange of schedule so we will stay in narbonne for the night rather than Toulouse
By the time we did the market and sorted out the schedule it was siesta time so into bed.
Got up about 1700 in time for pre- dinner drinks/nibbles and met new neighbours from Browns Bay before going off to dinner at la Cignale? Diana had pork and I had steak/scallops with a half litre of wine. Got home at about 2200 for strawberries and nougat on our terrace. Hit the sack at 2345.
By the time we did the market and sorted out the schedule it was siesta time so into bed.
Got up about 1700 in time for pre- dinner drinks/nibbles and met new neighbours from Browns Bay before going off to dinner at la Cignale? Diana had pork and I had steak/scallops with a half litre of wine. Got home at about 2200 for strawberries and nougat on our terrace. Hit the sack at 2345.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Avignon and Lavendar Farm
North out of town today with Gretel our GPS taking us the most direct route along narrow little back roads past apple and pear orchards, and tunnel houses full of whopping zuchini plants and tomatoes almost ready for their summer crop. Once she linked us back on to a more major route we found each intersection (even if only a T intersection) is managed by a roundabout which is an interesting feature of traffic management in these parts.
A straightforward trip to Avignon and relatively easly into the centre of the the historic city and a carpark building. Our Puegeot 5008 has been a perfect size to comfortably cart us about and discreetly carry our luggage but if you're thiking of hiring a car in Europe I'd definitely suggest the smaller the better as country and inner city roads as well as the carpark buildings are designed for very small cars (and very clever parkers! Well done Bruce and Fred for some awesome efforts!)
Avignon is a very attractive City on the banks of the Rhone (in fact many times in its history it's been under the waters of the Rhone) and for a few hundred years was the seat of the Papacy so has all the fabulous trappings Papal money brings such as magnificent Basilica and Papal palace. Our first visit to a church where someone has been playing the organ - just the organist having a practice but fabulous to listen to!
We decided to take an orientation ride on the little tourist "train" which meanders through the narrow streets with a commentary on points of interest. Well worth it as it gave us a great overview before we split up with two hours to explore. Bruce and Diana took a tour through the Palace while Fred and I went to the Bridge of Avignon with a wonderful audioguide about its history. Even thought they didn't really dance on the bridge,but under the bridge, we still followed the custom and sang Sur le Pont de Avignon (as best we could remember) and danced, though rather briefly as we thought we may be blow away by the Mistral which was still howling today. I've read more about the mistral and the word means "masterly"!
From Avignon we headed to a lavendar farm we'd plotted the GPS for. The 20 kilometres ended up taking us an hour and half after Gretel being very confused helping us exit the City and then being diverted because of an accident on the route we were using. So Mel it sounds like you biking for miles to see lavendar, we drove for miles and when we arrived it was really just a lavendar museum as opposed to lavendar fields! However, there was lots of lavendar growing around the complex, the display of farming the lavendar and distilling the oil was great and the museum of stills etc very interesting and then, of course, was the shop with the products! We asked the young woman where the fields were and she said 40km away in the mountains, very narrow and winding and the lavendar wouldn't be flowering till August this year.
Dinner at home tonight and an early night. Tomorrow fred and I are off to Spain; Gemma and Davi'ds in Catalonia, then day trip to Barcelona Wednesday but back to Catlonia to join the Annual celbration of St John's Day - the big Catalonian celebration.
I'm leaving the netpad with Bruce and Diana so may not add any more posts till we meet up and settle into St Pardoux. Will still clear emails. Take care everyone. Bye for now
A straightforward trip to Avignon and relatively easly into the centre of the the historic city and a carpark building. Our Puegeot 5008 has been a perfect size to comfortably cart us about and discreetly carry our luggage but if you're thiking of hiring a car in Europe I'd definitely suggest the smaller the better as country and inner city roads as well as the carpark buildings are designed for very small cars (and very clever parkers! Well done Bruce and Fred for some awesome efforts!)
Avignon is a very attractive City on the banks of the Rhone (in fact many times in its history it's been under the waters of the Rhone) and for a few hundred years was the seat of the Papacy so has all the fabulous trappings Papal money brings such as magnificent Basilica and Papal palace. Our first visit to a church where someone has been playing the organ - just the organist having a practice but fabulous to listen to!
We decided to take an orientation ride on the little tourist "train" which meanders through the narrow streets with a commentary on points of interest. Well worth it as it gave us a great overview before we split up with two hours to explore. Bruce and Diana took a tour through the Palace while Fred and I went to the Bridge of Avignon with a wonderful audioguide about its history. Even thought they didn't really dance on the bridge,but under the bridge, we still followed the custom and sang Sur le Pont de Avignon (as best we could remember) and danced, though rather briefly as we thought we may be blow away by the Mistral which was still howling today. I've read more about the mistral and the word means "masterly"!
From Avignon we headed to a lavendar farm we'd plotted the GPS for. The 20 kilometres ended up taking us an hour and half after Gretel being very confused helping us exit the City and then being diverted because of an accident on the route we were using. So Mel it sounds like you biking for miles to see lavendar, we drove for miles and when we arrived it was really just a lavendar museum as opposed to lavendar fields! However, there was lots of lavendar growing around the complex, the display of farming the lavendar and distilling the oil was great and the museum of stills etc very interesting and then, of course, was the shop with the products! We asked the young woman where the fields were and she said 40km away in the mountains, very narrow and winding and the lavendar wouldn't be flowering till August this year.
Dinner at home tonight and an early night. Tomorrow fred and I are off to Spain; Gemma and Davi'ds in Catalonia, then day trip to Barcelona Wednesday but back to Catlonia to join the Annual celbration of St John's Day - the big Catalonian celebration.
I'm leaving the netpad with Bruce and Diana so may not add any more posts till we meet up and settle into St Pardoux. Will still clear emails. Take care everyone. Bye for now
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Look in older posts
Well I'm not having a lot of success adding pics here and seem to have to add each one as a separate post, so I'm going to give up as it makestoo many entires. If you've lost the diary entries you'll need to go back to "older post"
Chrz everyone. Mistral howling again today but we're off to Avignon anda lavendar farm as well!!
Chrz everyone. Mistral howling again today but we're off to Avignon anda lavendar farm as well!!
June 15-16 Sat, Sun. St Remy de Provence, Carmague,
The town of St Remy-de-Provence, mid way between Arle and Avignon, is a wonderfully central location from which to explore Provence and the South of France. It's also a town fiercely proud and protective of its Provencal way of life, to the extent of refusing to let any chain store or franchise set up in town, so that all accomodation, dining etc is authentically local! Great move!
We also had St Remy highly recommended as our Provence base because of the great accomodation here at Les Sources owned by Avern and Jeanclaire. Smart, standalone, self contained units with fresh and modern French inspired decor nestle comfortably into manicured leafy grounds. They're well laid out and equipped and our hosts have been very helpful - even washing and drying the mountain of laundry we'd acculmulated over the last week.
Saturday was a "housekeeping" day. Checking and dealing with emails, (great wifi connection here!) bank balances and blog entries, before taking a walk into St Remy to orientate ourselves and check out the supermarket. The town was buzzing with Saturday morning activity - wonderful pastisserries filling the streets with irresistably delicious smells, vege shops brimming with fresh produce from tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, lettuces, radishes etc to fresh dates, figs, cherries and strawberries. The butcher shops are fascinating to visit with fresh slabs and cuts, a fascinating array of value added products from stuffed fresh rabbit, bacon wrapped quail, to iffy looking sausages, while their ready to eat products such as hams, proscuittos, roast pork and even potato and cous cous salads sit right alongside the fresh products. A wedding ceremony was just completing as we walked past the church and it seems that part of the tradition is to load the bridal party into the cars after the ceremony and wend through the crowded streets with horns blasting!
We took on the task of providing for lunch, so went with the French bread stick, cheese and salami idea. Two different bread sticks and then a big mission at the deli with a totally French speaking deli assistant who tried to "explain" the various bries, blues and goudas we asked about. She was so wonderfully happy to try to help and we were very happy with our purchases on consumption!
After lunch Fred and I drove through to Varascon, the nearest train station, to book our seats to Spain. We had the dates and destination written down and the French phrase book at the ready, but the young woman here was very helpful with enough English to make things work, so the job was done very easily. We'd got familiar with a few Italian words and phrases to help us get by in Italy, but of course now we're doing a crash course on trying to get the odd French word or two to roll easily off the tongue (none too easily yet, though I'm good at "bonjour" and "merci" and even "merci beaucoup" and today threw in the occasional "voila".
We decided a BBQ at home would be nice, so off to the Supermarket again for ratatouille veges and NZ lamb chops which were by far the best value meat buy!! Avern's BBQ was a bit of a dead loss, but we got there in the end and it was nice to just be relaxed at home making plans for the next day. The wine selection here is amazing and the prices just riciculously cheap! So many Roses here and we've had a couple of beautiful Cabernet Sauvignons as well as a Voignier which was similar to what we're used to and much enjoyed, a light delicate Sauvignan Blanc and even a ver scrumptious dessert wine.
Today Sunday saw us on the go early heading for Arles in a howling Mistral. This cold, furious wind (named after the poet Frederic Mistral who wrote in the native Provencal Language and won a Nobel Prize) howls across the flat countryside lashing crops of wheat, sunflowers and more, and leaving even the trademark avenues of big old Plane Trees with a windswept lean.
Arles is a really great place to visit. As soon as you arrive, the huge amount of Roman history here is apparent and yet, in comparison to trying to take in history in Rome, the compact scale, great preservation and excellent services for visitors here in Arles (everything from clear road signs to great restoration projects, tourist information and packages) seems to make it so much easier to deal with.We really enjoyed our visit to the partially restored Amphitheatre where, to this day, they hold bull events (not fight to the death). The Roman Theatre is wonderful and once again,currently used for shows! There are also Roman baths and the inspiring St Triophimes Cloister of Arles.
After lunch we headed further South across the delta formed by the mouth of the big, wide Rhone River to Carmague. This is vastly different countryside; still flat, but now often marshy (sometimes rice growing) with a Spanish influence; white horses, cowboys, bull events and a haven for a huge variety of seabisrds including flamingo who winter over here. If we'd stayed till 4.30 we could have watched a bull "fight" but our next destination called.
Drivng North again we entered limestone country with massive outcrops and cliffs towering above plunging valleys. Last on our visit list was Les Baux-de-Provence a tiny perched village centred around the Chateau de Baux thought to date from around the 10th Century. The village is very quaint with delightful shops plus a couple of churches. The smaller church has really lovely painted murals depicting Provencal shepherds looking after their sheep then involved in the Christmas story. But the big ticket item is the Chateau. Once you've paid the eight Euro entrance there is a free audio guide explaining the excellent displays and a fantastic video flying over the towns and countryside of Provence. Views from high up in the chateau are awesome over the valleys below and the breathtaking olive groves, vineyards and orchards. Olive growing in this region is very highly regarded and while France cannot compete with the quantity produced by big olive oil producing countries they work very hard on making a niche in the market with quality.
If anything, the wind velocity increased while we were here making our walk high up in the ruins of the Chateau even more overwhelming by roaring around and beating on the rocks and crumbling walls.
To top the lot, as we drove home we say flamingoes! So what a day of amazing variety which I guess must sum up this extraordinary place.
We also had St Remy highly recommended as our Provence base because of the great accomodation here at Les Sources owned by Avern and Jeanclaire. Smart, standalone, self contained units with fresh and modern French inspired decor nestle comfortably into manicured leafy grounds. They're well laid out and equipped and our hosts have been very helpful - even washing and drying the mountain of laundry we'd acculmulated over the last week.
Saturday was a "housekeeping" day. Checking and dealing with emails, (great wifi connection here!) bank balances and blog entries, before taking a walk into St Remy to orientate ourselves and check out the supermarket. The town was buzzing with Saturday morning activity - wonderful pastisserries filling the streets with irresistably delicious smells, vege shops brimming with fresh produce from tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, lettuces, radishes etc to fresh dates, figs, cherries and strawberries. The butcher shops are fascinating to visit with fresh slabs and cuts, a fascinating array of value added products from stuffed fresh rabbit, bacon wrapped quail, to iffy looking sausages, while their ready to eat products such as hams, proscuittos, roast pork and even potato and cous cous salads sit right alongside the fresh products. A wedding ceremony was just completing as we walked past the church and it seems that part of the tradition is to load the bridal party into the cars after the ceremony and wend through the crowded streets with horns blasting!
We took on the task of providing for lunch, so went with the French bread stick, cheese and salami idea. Two different bread sticks and then a big mission at the deli with a totally French speaking deli assistant who tried to "explain" the various bries, blues and goudas we asked about. She was so wonderfully happy to try to help and we were very happy with our purchases on consumption!
After lunch Fred and I drove through to Varascon, the nearest train station, to book our seats to Spain. We had the dates and destination written down and the French phrase book at the ready, but the young woman here was very helpful with enough English to make things work, so the job was done very easily. We'd got familiar with a few Italian words and phrases to help us get by in Italy, but of course now we're doing a crash course on trying to get the odd French word or two to roll easily off the tongue (none too easily yet, though I'm good at "bonjour" and "merci" and even "merci beaucoup" and today threw in the occasional "voila".
We decided a BBQ at home would be nice, so off to the Supermarket again for ratatouille veges and NZ lamb chops which were by far the best value meat buy!! Avern's BBQ was a bit of a dead loss, but we got there in the end and it was nice to just be relaxed at home making plans for the next day. The wine selection here is amazing and the prices just riciculously cheap! So many Roses here and we've had a couple of beautiful Cabernet Sauvignons as well as a Voignier which was similar to what we're used to and much enjoyed, a light delicate Sauvignan Blanc and even a ver scrumptious dessert wine.
Today Sunday saw us on the go early heading for Arles in a howling Mistral. This cold, furious wind (named after the poet Frederic Mistral who wrote in the native Provencal Language and won a Nobel Prize) howls across the flat countryside lashing crops of wheat, sunflowers and more, and leaving even the trademark avenues of big old Plane Trees with a windswept lean.
Arles is a really great place to visit. As soon as you arrive, the huge amount of Roman history here is apparent and yet, in comparison to trying to take in history in Rome, the compact scale, great preservation and excellent services for visitors here in Arles (everything from clear road signs to great restoration projects, tourist information and packages) seems to make it so much easier to deal with.We really enjoyed our visit to the partially restored Amphitheatre where, to this day, they hold bull events (not fight to the death). The Roman Theatre is wonderful and once again,currently used for shows! There are also Roman baths and the inspiring St Triophimes Cloister of Arles.
After lunch we headed further South across the delta formed by the mouth of the big, wide Rhone River to Carmague. This is vastly different countryside; still flat, but now often marshy (sometimes rice growing) with a Spanish influence; white horses, cowboys, bull events and a haven for a huge variety of seabisrds including flamingo who winter over here. If we'd stayed till 4.30 we could have watched a bull "fight" but our next destination called.
Drivng North again we entered limestone country with massive outcrops and cliffs towering above plunging valleys. Last on our visit list was Les Baux-de-Provence a tiny perched village centred around the Chateau de Baux thought to date from around the 10th Century. The village is very quaint with delightful shops plus a couple of churches. The smaller church has really lovely painted murals depicting Provencal shepherds looking after their sheep then involved in the Christmas story. But the big ticket item is the Chateau. Once you've paid the eight Euro entrance there is a free audio guide explaining the excellent displays and a fantastic video flying over the towns and countryside of Provence. Views from high up in the chateau are awesome over the valleys below and the breathtaking olive groves, vineyards and orchards. Olive growing in this region is very highly regarded and while France cannot compete with the quantity produced by big olive oil producing countries they work very hard on making a niche in the market with quality.
If anything, the wind velocity increased while we were here making our walk high up in the ruins of the Chateau even more overwhelming by roaring around and beating on the rocks and crumbling walls.
To top the lot, as we drove home we say flamingoes! So what a day of amazing variety which I guess must sum up this extraordinary place.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
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Friday, June 18, 2010
Friday June 18th. Cote'd'Azure to St Remy de Provence
Yeehah!!!!!! Friday 18th June now, good internet connection again so I've just posted all the diary entries I've compiled since last posting!!(Will that keep Mum happy Pauline? :-)
We woke to brilliant blue skies above and an equally brilliant blue Medditterranean Sea and after quickly departing from our rather average hotel popped in to the nearby Supermarket to select goodies for breakfast - our first purchase of the real French croissants and pastries. I'd loved the italian vesion well enough, but try adding a heap more butter and a much greater melt in the mouth texture and Mmmmmm!Especially when eaten on the beachfront in Menton, a gorgeous strip of coast crowded against the sea by towering cliffs and rocky outcrops. The gateway to the French Riviera/ the Cote d'Azure.
The next resort we'd come to would be Monte Carlo/ Monaco the world's leisure capital with skyscrapers, glamorous hotels, apartments and the famed Casino - home to the highest proportion of wealthy residents anywhere in the world. Driving options through here are any of three Corniches / the three Coastal Routes; seafront, middle or high on the motorway. With a long day's travel ahead we chose the middle route which avoided waterfront congestion but still afforded wonderful views down to the Coastal resorts and sparkling sea. We marvelled at the tiny perched village of Eze set in the Jardin Exotique and looked down on the deep water Port of Ville Franche-Sur-Mer before heading down into the big bustling City of Nice beach and on then to the home of festivals, Cannes. Here we found ourselves a park on the waterfront (no mean feat!) and enjoyed our picnic lunch.
From here the bay curves back a half circle to give the most wonderful views back along the the Coast and its seaside resorts before you negotiate the point and suddenly the red rocks and soil of the Massif de la Esteral are crowding in down to the sea again giving spectacular vistas with bold reds and blues of land and sea.
On reaching St Raphael we turned inland, took the A80 and headed at high speed across this rural stretch of Provence till we reached our destination of St Remy de Provence.
Here we have a very pleasant stand alone, self contained unit,in a small "motel" complex set in delightful grounds. Have stocked up with goodies from the nearby supermarket and will be very happy to settle in here for 4 nights and explore the surrounding area - lavendar, lemons, Van Gogh .....
We woke to brilliant blue skies above and an equally brilliant blue Medditterranean Sea and after quickly departing from our rather average hotel popped in to the nearby Supermarket to select goodies for breakfast - our first purchase of the real French croissants and pastries. I'd loved the italian vesion well enough, but try adding a heap more butter and a much greater melt in the mouth texture and Mmmmmm!Especially when eaten on the beachfront in Menton, a gorgeous strip of coast crowded against the sea by towering cliffs and rocky outcrops. The gateway to the French Riviera/ the Cote d'Azure.
The next resort we'd come to would be Monte Carlo/ Monaco the world's leisure capital with skyscrapers, glamorous hotels, apartments and the famed Casino - home to the highest proportion of wealthy residents anywhere in the world. Driving options through here are any of three Corniches / the three Coastal Routes; seafront, middle or high on the motorway. With a long day's travel ahead we chose the middle route which avoided waterfront congestion but still afforded wonderful views down to the Coastal resorts and sparkling sea. We marvelled at the tiny perched village of Eze set in the Jardin Exotique and looked down on the deep water Port of Ville Franche-Sur-Mer before heading down into the big bustling City of Nice beach and on then to the home of festivals, Cannes. Here we found ourselves a park on the waterfront (no mean feat!) and enjoyed our picnic lunch.
From here the bay curves back a half circle to give the most wonderful views back along the the Coast and its seaside resorts before you negotiate the point and suddenly the red rocks and soil of the Massif de la Esteral are crowding in down to the sea again giving spectacular vistas with bold reds and blues of land and sea.
On reaching St Raphael we turned inland, took the A80 and headed at high speed across this rural stretch of Provence till we reached our destination of St Remy de Provence.
Here we have a very pleasant stand alone, self contained unit,in a small "motel" complex set in delightful grounds. Have stocked up with goodies from the nearby supermarket and will be very happy to settle in here for 4 nights and explore the surrounding area - lavendar, lemons, Van Gogh .....
June 16th St Margherita via Italian Riviera to Menton France
Ciao Italia; Bonjour France!
Fred drove the 3 hour trip today, with the first 2/3rds on the autostrada. He did a great job, staying on the right all the time, managing to cleanly pass about 60 huge trucks and to keep up with the traffic (apart from two Maserati’s, a Ferrari and a Bentley). What an amazing feat of engineering and traffic movement this road is! Through such unforgiving rugged terrain two or three lanes in each direction just sweep along, through tunnels and over viaducts following the coastline of the Italian Riviera but staying well above the roads leading in and out of the thronging tourist meccas we were reaching.
At San Remo we decided we’d like some lunch and also to be down nearer the sea enjoying the views, so we left the autostrada and joined the Coastal route. San Remo had Fred gaping at the beach activity and the opulent super yachts. The sun came out and the Mediterranean began showing off her renowned azure blue but still with huge cumulus clouds tumbling about above.
By 3.30 we’d reached our next Hotel at Menton and so the afternoon has been very leisurely with a late afternoon walk along the promenade enjoying the expanse of beach and ocean, the huge stretch of hotels and apartments along the waterfront with backdrop of the gnarly Massif behind.
A big travel day through the Cote d’Azure and more tomorrow so a quiet night tonight.
Fred drove the 3 hour trip today, with the first 2/3rds on the autostrada. He did a great job, staying on the right all the time, managing to cleanly pass about 60 huge trucks and to keep up with the traffic (apart from two Maserati’s, a Ferrari and a Bentley). What an amazing feat of engineering and traffic movement this road is! Through such unforgiving rugged terrain two or three lanes in each direction just sweep along, through tunnels and over viaducts following the coastline of the Italian Riviera but staying well above the roads leading in and out of the thronging tourist meccas we were reaching.
At San Remo we decided we’d like some lunch and also to be down nearer the sea enjoying the views, so we left the autostrada and joined the Coastal route. San Remo had Fred gaping at the beach activity and the opulent super yachts. The sun came out and the Mediterranean began showing off her renowned azure blue but still with huge cumulus clouds tumbling about above.
By 3.30 we’d reached our next Hotel at Menton and so the afternoon has been very leisurely with a late afternoon walk along the promenade enjoying the expanse of beach and ocean, the huge stretch of hotels and apartments along the waterfront with backdrop of the gnarly Massif behind.
A big travel day through the Cote d’Azure and more tomorrow so a quiet night tonight.
June 14-15 TuesWed Santa Margherita & Cinque Terre
Goodbye Venice; we could easily have used another couple of days here, but feel so lucky to have seen as much as we have. Now on the train from Venice via Milan to Santa Margherita at the North of the Cinque Terre.
No sooner had we left Venice than the rain started, but no worries as we flew along the tracks at 300 miles an hour - so fast that often it's impossible to focus on the countryside you're passing through, though each time I did look up from the computer which I was able to plug in and use, most of what I saw were acres and acres of corn fields which we decided were to feed the cattle kept in feed lots.
Milan is a very big bustling railway station but we found the train systems (apart from the weird seat numbering sysyem which sees consecutive seat numbers sitting in different rows!) and stations very straightforward to use and soon we were on the Regional train wending our way South through Genoa. This was our fist experience of a compartment of six (thought of you travelling Rail Italia with your bikes Link and Mel!) and the company was mixed; a delightful and very interesting Hong Kong Chinese couple doing a spur of the moment trip and an Aussie couple in the middle of an extended trip. Since leaving Tuscany and being in more tourist locations we've heard a lot more English speaking tourists and met several Aussie and Kiwi travellers.
Santa Margherita, (near Portofino) with population 10,000 (swelling to 100,000 in peak season ) is a coastal holiday haven with many villas owned and used only occasionally by their wealthy Italians owners. Bruce and Diana kindly met us at the station and walked with us to the little hotel we were all booked in. Here we were enthusiastically welcomed and shown our pleasant room by our host Guisseppe and his adult daughter Christina and son Jeanclaire.
There was plenty of time before dinner to quickly explore this very pretty town of stucco villas and apartment with terracotta tile rooves and all painted in corn and brick colours with green accents - some even boasting paint jobs done to resemble ornate Greco/Roman detail!
For dinner we sat outside at a little retaurant which offered a lot of fish dishes. I still had a picture of those clams from Venice in my head so had Spaghetti Vongolese (had to do it Lincoln and while this was delicious I have to say yours stacks up very well in comparison!) while the others had various other fish meals.
Wednesday was the day we had available to take in the delights of the Cinque Terre which is a National Park along the rugged coast South of here, with a walk along the cliff faces between 5 tiny villages which have clung for centuries to their rocky promontories. This is a World Heritage site and only relatively recently has the infrastructure been set up to enable tourists to visit and take in the spectacular scenery and appreciate the valour and tenacity of the locals who have built these villages, catching fish from along this wild stretch of Meditteranean sea and growing grapes and veges on the terraced gardens and vineyards they've hewn out of the steep hillsides.
Our hotel tarriff included a breakfast which is unlikely to be surpassed anywhere we go! Unlimited servings of yoghurt, tea, coffee or hot chocolate, croissants (brioche here), chunky bread, packets of toast, and spreads, plus slabs of cheese or a boiled egg! All the while we were hovered over by Guiseppe to ensure everything was to our liking.
So, we were well fortified when we set off(in teaming rain!) on the train for the Cinque Terre. The combination of schedules for the two train services running through the area is a real mind bender but we managed to get ourselve safely to the park and then on to the next train to ride through to the last village, Riomaggiore. With only one day to make the most of the area we'd decided to start from the far end then work our way back by foot or train spending as much time as we wished (or could afford) at any of the villages.
Riomaggiore is a tiny fishing village with a cluster of old brick or stone and plaster homes perched precariously on the cliff face above the sea. The homes are linked by the narrowest of streets which often are just very steep steps with the tiniest of treads and no handrail. Most homes then have their own narrow access of more steps! By this time the rain had cleared but the exploration was treacherous; amazing to think that so many of the inhabitants here are very elderly! We were fascinated by this amazing place and the people who live here. We explored it thoroughly, from the tiny Marina, up past the cottages, through the town and to the terraces of vineyards, citrus and fruit trees and gardens before setting off along the cliffside path to the next village Manarola.
This famous part of the walk is known as the Dell d'Armour, The Walk of Love and is breathtakingly beautiful with stunning views to the sea below as well as along the Coast and close ups of the amazing variety of hardy, colourful vegetation which survives here - from all sorts of cool cactus about to burst into flower to fragrant herbs and dainty flowers. We were intrigued by the collections of padlocks locked to seats and protection netting everywhere and eventually realised this it's tradition of commitment on the Dell d'Armour to make this walk with your partner and lock and leave the padlock here on the trail (we hadn't got that worked out early enough to take part, but heaps of others had!)
Manarola is an even tinier village and being right on a promontory and on the sea edge is constantly buffetted by the any wind. Out picture of the Meditterranean had been calm, serene and dreamily blue, but today and in this location we saw a different face; grey and strong - more like on a rocky NZ West Coast. Here again the way of life revolves mainly around fishing and terraced gardens came later.
The next village, Corniglia, on the other hand is up the hillside a little (a little being 323 brick steps......you remember that and the lemoncello don't you Emily and Paddy!) and was originally based around horticulture with the homes and industry gradually creeping down to the sea.
Time was running out and we didn't really do justice at all to the last two villages Vernazza and Monterosso; once again we needed another day, but were thrilled to have seen as much as we did. We have come away with such a respect for the hardy, tenacious, proud people of this region!
When we eventually arrivde back to our hotel Bruce and Diana had spent some time exploring outside the usual tourist areas of Santa Margherita and had lined up a restaurant they though tmight be good for dinner. Great choice! It was superbly authentic Italian food and cooked beautifully. Diana had pasta with smoked salmon and asparagus, Fred had lemon and saffron pasta with shrimps, Bruce had a kebab of scampi and calamari and I chose the fish chowder which was whole steamed mussels and clams in a tasty tomato base - I'm not a huge fan of mussels in NZ dishes but the Meditterranean mussels are half the size of our green lipped mussels and very tender and sweet!
No sooner had we left Venice than the rain started, but no worries as we flew along the tracks at 300 miles an hour - so fast that often it's impossible to focus on the countryside you're passing through, though each time I did look up from the computer which I was able to plug in and use, most of what I saw were acres and acres of corn fields which we decided were to feed the cattle kept in feed lots.
Milan is a very big bustling railway station but we found the train systems (apart from the weird seat numbering sysyem which sees consecutive seat numbers sitting in different rows!) and stations very straightforward to use and soon we were on the Regional train wending our way South through Genoa. This was our fist experience of a compartment of six (thought of you travelling Rail Italia with your bikes Link and Mel!) and the company was mixed; a delightful and very interesting Hong Kong Chinese couple doing a spur of the moment trip and an Aussie couple in the middle of an extended trip. Since leaving Tuscany and being in more tourist locations we've heard a lot more English speaking tourists and met several Aussie and Kiwi travellers.
Santa Margherita, (near Portofino) with population 10,000 (swelling to 100,000 in peak season ) is a coastal holiday haven with many villas owned and used only occasionally by their wealthy Italians owners. Bruce and Diana kindly met us at the station and walked with us to the little hotel we were all booked in. Here we were enthusiastically welcomed and shown our pleasant room by our host Guisseppe and his adult daughter Christina and son Jeanclaire.
There was plenty of time before dinner to quickly explore this very pretty town of stucco villas and apartment with terracotta tile rooves and all painted in corn and brick colours with green accents - some even boasting paint jobs done to resemble ornate Greco/Roman detail!
For dinner we sat outside at a little retaurant which offered a lot of fish dishes. I still had a picture of those clams from Venice in my head so had Spaghetti Vongolese (had to do it Lincoln and while this was delicious I have to say yours stacks up very well in comparison!) while the others had various other fish meals.
Wednesday was the day we had available to take in the delights of the Cinque Terre which is a National Park along the rugged coast South of here, with a walk along the cliff faces between 5 tiny villages which have clung for centuries to their rocky promontories. This is a World Heritage site and only relatively recently has the infrastructure been set up to enable tourists to visit and take in the spectacular scenery and appreciate the valour and tenacity of the locals who have built these villages, catching fish from along this wild stretch of Meditteranean sea and growing grapes and veges on the terraced gardens and vineyards they've hewn out of the steep hillsides.
Our hotel tarriff included a breakfast which is unlikely to be surpassed anywhere we go! Unlimited servings of yoghurt, tea, coffee or hot chocolate, croissants (brioche here), chunky bread, packets of toast, and spreads, plus slabs of cheese or a boiled egg! All the while we were hovered over by Guiseppe to ensure everything was to our liking.
So, we were well fortified when we set off(in teaming rain!) on the train for the Cinque Terre. The combination of schedules for the two train services running through the area is a real mind bender but we managed to get ourselve safely to the park and then on to the next train to ride through to the last village, Riomaggiore. With only one day to make the most of the area we'd decided to start from the far end then work our way back by foot or train spending as much time as we wished (or could afford) at any of the villages.
Riomaggiore is a tiny fishing village with a cluster of old brick or stone and plaster homes perched precariously on the cliff face above the sea. The homes are linked by the narrowest of streets which often are just very steep steps with the tiniest of treads and no handrail. Most homes then have their own narrow access of more steps! By this time the rain had cleared but the exploration was treacherous; amazing to think that so many of the inhabitants here are very elderly! We were fascinated by this amazing place and the people who live here. We explored it thoroughly, from the tiny Marina, up past the cottages, through the town and to the terraces of vineyards, citrus and fruit trees and gardens before setting off along the cliffside path to the next village Manarola.
This famous part of the walk is known as the Dell d'Armour, The Walk of Love and is breathtakingly beautiful with stunning views to the sea below as well as along the Coast and close ups of the amazing variety of hardy, colourful vegetation which survives here - from all sorts of cool cactus about to burst into flower to fragrant herbs and dainty flowers. We were intrigued by the collections of padlocks locked to seats and protection netting everywhere and eventually realised this it's tradition of commitment on the Dell d'Armour to make this walk with your partner and lock and leave the padlock here on the trail (we hadn't got that worked out early enough to take part, but heaps of others had!)
Manarola is an even tinier village and being right on a promontory and on the sea edge is constantly buffetted by the any wind. Out picture of the Meditterranean had been calm, serene and dreamily blue, but today and in this location we saw a different face; grey and strong - more like on a rocky NZ West Coast. Here again the way of life revolves mainly around fishing and terraced gardens came later.
The next village, Corniglia, on the other hand is up the hillside a little (a little being 323 brick steps......you remember that and the lemoncello don't you Emily and Paddy!) and was originally based around horticulture with the homes and industry gradually creeping down to the sea.
Time was running out and we didn't really do justice at all to the last two villages Vernazza and Monterosso; once again we needed another day, but were thrilled to have seen as much as we did. We have come away with such a respect for the hardy, tenacious, proud people of this region!
When we eventually arrivde back to our hotel Bruce and Diana had spent some time exploring outside the usual tourist areas of Santa Margherita and had lined up a restaurant they though tmight be good for dinner. Great choice! It was superbly authentic Italian food and cooked beautifully. Diana had pasta with smoked salmon and asparagus, Fred had lemon and saffron pasta with shrimps, Bruce had a kebab of scampi and calamari and I chose the fish chowder which was whole steamed mussels and clams in a tasty tomato base - I'm not a huge fan of mussels in NZ dishes but the Meditterranean mussels are half the size of our green lipped mussels and very tender and sweet!
June 12-14 Sat-Mon. Venice!!!
Our last dinner at Radicondoli was at home, with Russell doing a fabulous job on the woodfired BBQ with much support from Fred and Bruce, while the girls found that the oven did great roasties, so with a yummy salad and all the bits and pieces from the fridge it was ample sufficiency. Mary topped the meal off with tasty treats from the local bakery which went very well with the dessert wine.( so many meringue type sweeties here- I know they have a particular name but it just escapes me now)
Saturday morning Jess and Bruce shopped at the bakery for a blow-out brekkie of deliciously sugary donuts, chocolate and custard croissants and apricot pastries. Mmmmmmm a great start for the day.
We were all well organised, so after farewells we were away in good time and for us, a straightforward drive through to Sienna to catch the Regionale Train to Florence. I had some concerns about connecting with our host and finding our accommodation in Venice so we made a phone call and were reassured that she was expecting us and we should phone her on arrival in Venice.
Yeehah; we’d found the right station, the right platform, the right carriage, our accommodation was confirmed, so ticket back in pocket and we were off on our next adventure! But, it would have been good idea to check which Florence station to leap off at and not assume that the first time we saw “Florence” we should leap! But Freddie was on to it, immediately realising we’d made an ooopsie,so we dashed to the information office and were directed to another train which thankfully got us to the station we needed in time for our connection.
Florence to Venice was on the fast train. Wow what a great way to travel just floating along and so fast! I felt I should be making a great effort to study the countryside we were whizzing through but after several very long tunnels the warmth and the motion won and I was asleep.
Then suddenly we were crossing the lagoon from the mainland to the fairytale city of Venice! Following our host’s instructions, from the railway station we hopped aboard the No 1 Vaporetta (the boat “buses” which transport people up and down the Grande Canal) and then jumped off again two stops later. We also bought a 24 hour Vaporetta ticket to use later. We waited a little while for her to meet us as arranged but then realised we could easily find the address which was very close by. Success.
But all did not proceed smoothly. Our accommodation orientation halted abruptly when the lights blew in our bedroom (bedroom = pseudonym for cupboard) and despite her very best efforts she couldn’t get the problem sorted (5.00 Saturday afternoon just too hard to get an electrician in Venice!). Fortunately she and her Mum obviously had good contacts in the hospitality industry and soon came up with an alternative where we were shortly ensconced.
What to do in Venice at 6.00pm Sat night when one has just settled in? What else but grab the travel guide and take a Grand Canal vaporetto ride from whoa to go! This is by far the best way to orientate yourself here and also to soak up the fabulous sights and sounds of the City; the ornate grandeur and beauty of the four and five storey buildings lining the canal, the side canals branching off here and there showing glimpses of narrow cobbled streets, humpbacked bridges (something like 420 throughout the City) and washing on the clotheslines beneath people’s windows. Here and there a dining terrace sits out over the water and down towards St Marco Piazza there is some flat paved area along the Canal, packed with outdoor dining areas from the restaurants crammed here. The many vaporetto ply back and forth between the stops, with immaculate, gorgeous, black, highly decorated gondolas gliding between (prohibitively expensive though well patronised). Our return trip was in the dark with glittering chandeliers lighting the palaces and homes and lights along the canal shimmering on the water and all accompanied by the gentle slop, slop of waves and wake lapping the buildings and bridges.
Sunday morning we woke none too early – probably because our accommodation was as dark and silent as a dungeon. However our dungeon had a hard but big bed, a comparatively large bathroom and a few handy extras like an electric jug. We’d noticed a supermarket the previous night and were stocked with goodies for breakfast and lunch so were soon out heading for the Rialto market and particularly a walk over the beautiful Rialto Bridge. The market struck us as a bit frenetic so we took the next vaporretto down to the Accademia Gallery; what a huge collection of wonderful artworks here!
Our travel guide highly recommended the church of San Sebastian for its artworks too, so we jumped aboard a boat to make our way there. Obviously we got the wrong one but did a wonderfully interesting trip past the Gondola Service Centre, a bunch of super yachts and a couple of cruise , before getting back on track and arriving at Sam Sebastian. We had been warned that Italian opening times sometimes seem to have their own rules and sad to say the church wasn’t open.
Hungry and needing to rest our feet from pavement pounding (or is that cobblestone capering) we hopped aboard again for the Gardens. We really enjoyed this lovely place. Big shady trees, nice lawns, garden seats, jasmine flowering everywhere and so many families enjoying a relaxed Sunday afternoon – the children playing at the playground and the Dad’s asleep on the park benches looking after the buggies!
Just across the water from the Gardens is a small island taken up by an old monastery with its church San Giorgio Maggiore boasting a tall belfry which locals insist offers the best view of Venice. It seemed a great idea to nip over there right now rather than queue and pay much more to go up St Marco’s campanile for a view. We were thrilled with the view from here and scared witless when the bell tolled while we were up there –thank goodness it was just one chime on the half hour, not twelve for 12 o’clock!
From here we made our way to Salute the magnificently ornate Basilica and iconic sight that greats travellers as they enter the Grand Canal. Built in thanks for the end of the plague which wiped out a hug proportion of the Cities population, a million wooden piles were pounded into the marshy ground to support the weight of this fantastic building!
From here we walked back past the Guggenheim Gallery feeling too worn out to visit but did pop into the beautiful Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, a lovely basilica built for the Franciscan Friars. I've been really taken by how so many of these old, old churches which in many way are like museum pieces are so obviously still so used and loved by their congregations with gorgeous floral arrangements of fresh flowers and candles burning.
6.00 o,clock and high time to sit on the sidewalk at a little restaurant with a wine and watch the activity. Best sight was the fisherman dashing into the restaurant to hand deliver 2 very large bags of fresh clams (cockles) and within 2 minute Grandpa from next door arriving in just his pyjama pants to collect his share. Second best was the huge thunder storm with hail, which saw people either drenched or sheltering.
The clams had whett my appetite fo seafood so dinner was a seafood rissotto though unfortunately pretty heavy on the salt which is a trend we've noticed several times here.
Monday 14th was our day to tackle St Marco Piazza, Basilica, Palace and Museum so we headed out early. On arrival the queue was 100 metres plus, so we paid the money and took a guided tour offering. Money well spent! Within 5 minutes we were high above the doors of the Basilica looking out over the buzz of the Piazza to the two huge granite columns of St Mark and St Theodore and watching the bell on the Torre dell'Orologio strike 10.00. For an hour our guide lead us around and reeled off a constant banter fascinating facts and figures. My favourites were about the 2000 year old bronze horses and the fact that the magnificent golden mosaic ceiling of the Basilica was 8500 sq metres and took 800 years to complete - that's a very big jigsaw!!! Also, that the tiled floor used 820 different types of marble!
The adjoining palace, (Dogue's Ducal) was awesome! The gold gilded ceilings of the staircase were breathtaking (in fact ceiling decoration throught the Ducal is mind boggling) and the extensive collection of exhibits in the Museo Civico Correr including weapons, artworks was very interesting.
Overload! Museumed and churched out, so leapt aboard a vaporetto and out to Burano Island where I was keen to look at the exquisite lace work and Fred the quaint and colourful houses.
Late dinner (but dinner is always late in Italy - 8.30 has been our norm but this was 9.30) so with the Italy/Slovakia World Cup Soccer game bringing the streets to a halt we popped into the restaurant nearest to our accomodation and ended up having the best bought meal of our trip to date. I'd been hoping to try a Spaghetti Bolognese in Bologna and here was one on the menu so that was my choice while Fred had Spaghetti Carbonara; both delicious!
Saturday morning Jess and Bruce shopped at the bakery for a blow-out brekkie of deliciously sugary donuts, chocolate and custard croissants and apricot pastries. Mmmmmmm a great start for the day.
We were all well organised, so after farewells we were away in good time and for us, a straightforward drive through to Sienna to catch the Regionale Train to Florence. I had some concerns about connecting with our host and finding our accommodation in Venice so we made a phone call and were reassured that she was expecting us and we should phone her on arrival in Venice.
Yeehah; we’d found the right station, the right platform, the right carriage, our accommodation was confirmed, so ticket back in pocket and we were off on our next adventure! But, it would have been good idea to check which Florence station to leap off at and not assume that the first time we saw “Florence” we should leap! But Freddie was on to it, immediately realising we’d made an ooopsie,so we dashed to the information office and were directed to another train which thankfully got us to the station we needed in time for our connection.
Florence to Venice was on the fast train. Wow what a great way to travel just floating along and so fast! I felt I should be making a great effort to study the countryside we were whizzing through but after several very long tunnels the warmth and the motion won and I was asleep.
Then suddenly we were crossing the lagoon from the mainland to the fairytale city of Venice! Following our host’s instructions, from the railway station we hopped aboard the No 1 Vaporetta (the boat “buses” which transport people up and down the Grande Canal) and then jumped off again two stops later. We also bought a 24 hour Vaporetta ticket to use later. We waited a little while for her to meet us as arranged but then realised we could easily find the address which was very close by. Success.
But all did not proceed smoothly. Our accommodation orientation halted abruptly when the lights blew in our bedroom (bedroom = pseudonym for cupboard) and despite her very best efforts she couldn’t get the problem sorted (5.00 Saturday afternoon just too hard to get an electrician in Venice!). Fortunately she and her Mum obviously had good contacts in the hospitality industry and soon came up with an alternative where we were shortly ensconced.
What to do in Venice at 6.00pm Sat night when one has just settled in? What else but grab the travel guide and take a Grand Canal vaporetto ride from whoa to go! This is by far the best way to orientate yourself here and also to soak up the fabulous sights and sounds of the City; the ornate grandeur and beauty of the four and five storey buildings lining the canal, the side canals branching off here and there showing glimpses of narrow cobbled streets, humpbacked bridges (something like 420 throughout the City) and washing on the clotheslines beneath people’s windows. Here and there a dining terrace sits out over the water and down towards St Marco Piazza there is some flat paved area along the Canal, packed with outdoor dining areas from the restaurants crammed here. The many vaporetto ply back and forth between the stops, with immaculate, gorgeous, black, highly decorated gondolas gliding between (prohibitively expensive though well patronised). Our return trip was in the dark with glittering chandeliers lighting the palaces and homes and lights along the canal shimmering on the water and all accompanied by the gentle slop, slop of waves and wake lapping the buildings and bridges.
Sunday morning we woke none too early – probably because our accommodation was as dark and silent as a dungeon. However our dungeon had a hard but big bed, a comparatively large bathroom and a few handy extras like an electric jug. We’d noticed a supermarket the previous night and were stocked with goodies for breakfast and lunch so were soon out heading for the Rialto market and particularly a walk over the beautiful Rialto Bridge. The market struck us as a bit frenetic so we took the next vaporretto down to the Accademia Gallery; what a huge collection of wonderful artworks here!
Our travel guide highly recommended the church of San Sebastian for its artworks too, so we jumped aboard a boat to make our way there. Obviously we got the wrong one but did a wonderfully interesting trip past the Gondola Service Centre, a bunch of super yachts and a couple of cruise , before getting back on track and arriving at Sam Sebastian. We had been warned that Italian opening times sometimes seem to have their own rules and sad to say the church wasn’t open.
Hungry and needing to rest our feet from pavement pounding (or is that cobblestone capering) we hopped aboard again for the Gardens. We really enjoyed this lovely place. Big shady trees, nice lawns, garden seats, jasmine flowering everywhere and so many families enjoying a relaxed Sunday afternoon – the children playing at the playground and the Dad’s asleep on the park benches looking after the buggies!
Just across the water from the Gardens is a small island taken up by an old monastery with its church San Giorgio Maggiore boasting a tall belfry which locals insist offers the best view of Venice. It seemed a great idea to nip over there right now rather than queue and pay much more to go up St Marco’s campanile for a view. We were thrilled with the view from here and scared witless when the bell tolled while we were up there –thank goodness it was just one chime on the half hour, not twelve for 12 o’clock!
From here we made our way to Salute the magnificently ornate Basilica and iconic sight that greats travellers as they enter the Grand Canal. Built in thanks for the end of the plague which wiped out a hug proportion of the Cities population, a million wooden piles were pounded into the marshy ground to support the weight of this fantastic building!
From here we walked back past the Guggenheim Gallery feeling too worn out to visit but did pop into the beautiful Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, a lovely basilica built for the Franciscan Friars. I've been really taken by how so many of these old, old churches which in many way are like museum pieces are so obviously still so used and loved by their congregations with gorgeous floral arrangements of fresh flowers and candles burning.
6.00 o,clock and high time to sit on the sidewalk at a little restaurant with a wine and watch the activity. Best sight was the fisherman dashing into the restaurant to hand deliver 2 very large bags of fresh clams (cockles) and within 2 minute Grandpa from next door arriving in just his pyjama pants to collect his share. Second best was the huge thunder storm with hail, which saw people either drenched or sheltering.
The clams had whett my appetite fo seafood so dinner was a seafood rissotto though unfortunately pretty heavy on the salt which is a trend we've noticed several times here.
Monday 14th was our day to tackle St Marco Piazza, Basilica, Palace and Museum so we headed out early. On arrival the queue was 100 metres plus, so we paid the money and took a guided tour offering. Money well spent! Within 5 minutes we were high above the doors of the Basilica looking out over the buzz of the Piazza to the two huge granite columns of St Mark and St Theodore and watching the bell on the Torre dell'Orologio strike 10.00. For an hour our guide lead us around and reeled off a constant banter fascinating facts and figures. My favourites were about the 2000 year old bronze horses and the fact that the magnificent golden mosaic ceiling of the Basilica was 8500 sq metres and took 800 years to complete - that's a very big jigsaw!!! Also, that the tiled floor used 820 different types of marble!
The adjoining palace, (Dogue's Ducal) was awesome! The gold gilded ceilings of the staircase were breathtaking (in fact ceiling decoration throught the Ducal is mind boggling) and the extensive collection of exhibits in the Museo Civico Correr including weapons, artworks was very interesting.
Overload! Museumed and churched out, so leapt aboard a vaporetto and out to Burano Island where I was keen to look at the exquisite lace work and Fred the quaint and colourful houses.
Late dinner (but dinner is always late in Italy - 8.30 has been our norm but this was 9.30) so with the Italy/Slovakia World Cup Soccer game bringing the streets to a halt we popped into the restaurant nearest to our accomodation and ended up having the best bought meal of our trip to date. I'd been hoping to try a Spaghetti Bolognese in Bologna and here was one on the menu so that was my choice while Fred had Spaghetti Carbonara; both delicious!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Back in Cali :(
Well, the California Coe's arrived back in San Francisco last night. Had a great time in Como after leaving Radicondoli, but I think our time at the villa with the family was definitely the high point of the trip. It all seems like such a distant memory now, as much as we tried to savor every moment. Olwyn, your description of it was wonderful....it really captured the feeling. I tried to explain it to my mom, but it really is so hard unless you were there. THANK YOU to all of the Coe's for making the dream a reality!!
Hope you all continue to have a fantastic time, and we will follow the Coe Connection to keep up on your travels!
Love,
Mary, Russell, Jess and Nick
Wednesday Cinque Terre
Hi Everyone
Got a quick chance on the computer here today so just a short update. Venice just amazing and had a great time there then yesterday came by train via Milan and Genoa to Santa Margherita at the Northern end of the Cinque Terre which in 10 minutes time we're heading out to walk. Gorgeous little town we're in here.
More soon I hope
Olwyn
Got a quick chance on the computer here today so just a short update. Venice just amazing and had a great time there then yesterday came by train via Milan and Genoa to Santa Margherita at the Northern end of the Cinque Terre which in 10 minutes time we're heading out to walk. Gorgeous little town we're in here.
More soon I hope
Olwyn
Friday, June 11, 2010
Olwyn and Fred Last day in Radicondoli
Can't believe we've had a week fly by here and splitting up and heading away tomorrow!
What a wonderful place this has been. Fabulous weather - hot, hot, hot with long Summer days (almost the longest day here of course) a beautiful pool to cool down in and a fantastic villa with great spaces which keep cool if you need to hide from the heat in the day.
Radicondoli is a very small village and so very authentically Tuscan, perched on top of the hill looking out over the steeply rolling countryside with its patchwork of crops and oak forest. Serene and dreamy with the haze softening the edges and always the fragrance of jasmine and roses.
My netpad is scared to talk to the wireless system here so I can't post the day to day diary notes I've done but will do so as soon as I find somewhere I can get it online.
Take care everyone
X Olwyn
What a wonderful place this has been. Fabulous weather - hot, hot, hot with long Summer days (almost the longest day here of course) a beautiful pool to cool down in and a fantastic villa with great spaces which keep cool if you need to hide from the heat in the day.
Radicondoli is a very small village and so very authentically Tuscan, perched on top of the hill looking out over the steeply rolling countryside with its patchwork of crops and oak forest. Serene and dreamy with the haze softening the edges and always the fragrance of jasmine and roses.
My netpad is scared to talk to the wireless system here so I can't post the day to day diary notes I've done but will do so as soon as I find somewhere I can get it online.
Take care everyone
X Olwyn
AKL Coes
Yesterday was Florence (Firenze-FRZ) day and we set out with Bruce driving the Peugeot, Olwyn navigating and Diana as assistant. Only 3 of us wanted to do the trip so away we went.
We got into FRZ no probem in about 1hr 30 mins but then the fun started. Got lost looking for the car park and ended up in the pedestrian area just outside the Duomo. The police wanted to know if we had a permit to be there. One car park wanted $100 for 3 hours parking!!! Ended up parking in the Railway car park at about 11.50am.
Did the tourist thing at the Duomo and the Baptistery before eating out lunch sitting outside Santa Croce . We also went to the Piazza that has all the statuary including a copy of David.
Diana bought a new handbag and we then walked along the Arno to the Ponte Vecchio and back up to the car about 4.30pm and headed back to Radicondoli. Dinner as a group at Il Grainio which was great fun.
Had on earlier days done Siena and San Gimignano but more on that later.
Ciao
We got into FRZ no probem in about 1hr 30 mins but then the fun started. Got lost looking for the car park and ended up in the pedestrian area just outside the Duomo. The police wanted to know if we had a permit to be there. One car park wanted $100 for 3 hours parking!!! Ended up parking in the Railway car park at about 11.50am.
Did the tourist thing at the Duomo and the Baptistery before eating out lunch sitting outside Santa Croce . We also went to the Piazza that has all the statuary including a copy of David.
Diana bought a new handbag and we then walked along the Arno to the Ponte Vecchio and back up to the car about 4.30pm and headed back to Radicondoli. Dinner as a group at Il Grainio which was great fun.
Had on earlier days done Siena and San Gimignano but more on that later.
Ciao
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Tuscany-Radicondoli
SFO Coe's here to post a brief update. Arrived at the villa last Saturday, and what a fantastic time it has been. Villa is just fantastic, and so comfortable for the 8 of us. The owner has kept us well stocked with his home made wine and olive oil, the pool is fantastic, the weather is warm and lovely, and all of us are just wishing our stay was 2 weeks instead of 1! Have done side trips into the Tuscan countryside including Siena and Florence today for Olwyn, Bruce, and Diana. The rest of us have opted to stay poolside for the day. Have had amazing food and met very hospitable and warm people in this gorgeous village.
Friday, June 4, 2010
AKL Coes Sat 5 June 0600
Just got our instructions on where to met RR and Mary et al as we start our big driving adventure but more of that later.
Yesterday we had a leisurely start to the day and set off on foot at about 1030 to see the last of our must see's and recapture some of those from 2002 and earlier.
After the rain yesterdy it was mostly sunny and fine and the temps got as high as 29. Much water was drunk!!
We followed the basics of a 2002 LP for a walking tour through historic Rome not far from where we are staying at the Campo di Fiori and included the Largo Torre Argentina, a fantastic building that includes the Italian Centre for American studies, a home bulit n 1468, the Jewish quarter, a few ruins, the old fish market and the Tetro Marcello before moving on to Trajan's column and Forum before heading up to the Piazza del Campidoglio for the view but particularly to see the horseback bronze of Marcus Aurelius again. We then climbed all the way up Victor Emmanuelle - it is so easy to forget the scale of this building - it is magnificent in a gross sort of way.
We then proceeded to the Quirinale but the President was busy and could not see us today. Nice little pad though. Then looked in at the Palazzo Barberini before lunch in a cafe right on the Piazza Barberini. Highlight of the day. A DHL van completely burnt out being towed away - we missed the fire but every type of police was there just to be part of the action mainly directing trafic away from the site. After viewing the fountain and sculpture we walked home via the Piazza Colonna to see that triumphal column again before going through Piazza Navona for a last time - it was very full - and had an ice cream for our efforts at Campo. Fred and Olwyn joined us there for a catch up and a drink in our lounge AND at a local bar before they headed off to the Colosseum.
Put our feet - and other parts of our bodies - up for a while before going out to dinner locally at about 2000. Great meal in a family run restaurant - no menu - 4 courses - set price Menu included heaps of antipasto, pasta, pork with veg and to cap it off some cake and a juice. We were stuffed!! Home and did most of the packing for our departure tomorrow [today]
Hitting the road at 0900 in a shuttle for 4 to the Peugeot depot out near the airport!!!!
Then the fun will really start!
Yesterday we had a leisurely start to the day and set off on foot at about 1030 to see the last of our must see's and recapture some of those from 2002 and earlier.
After the rain yesterdy it was mostly sunny and fine and the temps got as high as 29. Much water was drunk!!
We followed the basics of a 2002 LP for a walking tour through historic Rome not far from where we are staying at the Campo di Fiori and included the Largo Torre Argentina, a fantastic building that includes the Italian Centre for American studies, a home bulit n 1468, the Jewish quarter, a few ruins, the old fish market and the Tetro Marcello before moving on to Trajan's column and Forum before heading up to the Piazza del Campidoglio for the view but particularly to see the horseback bronze of Marcus Aurelius again. We then climbed all the way up Victor Emmanuelle - it is so easy to forget the scale of this building - it is magnificent in a gross sort of way.
We then proceeded to the Quirinale but the President was busy and could not see us today. Nice little pad though. Then looked in at the Palazzo Barberini before lunch in a cafe right on the Piazza Barberini. Highlight of the day. A DHL van completely burnt out being towed away - we missed the fire but every type of police was there just to be part of the action mainly directing trafic away from the site. After viewing the fountain and sculpture we walked home via the Piazza Colonna to see that triumphal column again before going through Piazza Navona for a last time - it was very full - and had an ice cream for our efforts at Campo. Fred and Olwyn joined us there for a catch up and a drink in our lounge AND at a local bar before they headed off to the Colosseum.
Put our feet - and other parts of our bodies - up for a while before going out to dinner locally at about 2000. Great meal in a family run restaurant - no menu - 4 courses - set price Menu included heaps of antipasto, pasta, pork with veg and to cap it off some cake and a juice. We were stuffed!! Home and did most of the packing for our departure tomorrow [today]
Hitting the road at 0900 in a shuttle for 4 to the Peugeot depot out near the airport!!!!
Then the fun will really start!
Olwyn and Fred Thursday 3rd June
Heading for the Vatican for our 10.30 booking we decided to set ourselves up with a day pass on the Metro. Our B & B is a convenient few minutes walk from the Termini so we trundled down there and after some observation of how the system worked we plunged into the fray........with success!
Our booking was not for a guided tour, just a queue hopping entry booking, but well worth it, saving us a couple of hours standing in the queue and a couple of good hints from the guide. We started with the Museum. Mmmmm, 2000 rooms.........! Needless to say, the artworks to be viewed only use a fraction of those rooms, but took us all of 2 hours oooohing and aaaaghing over magnificent works and exhibits till we eventually ended up in the acclaimed Sistine Chapel.....wow
From here to St Peters and who should we bump into as soon as we entered (no Culhane, not the Pope) but California Coes!!!! How crazy is that in all of Rome and amongst the hundreds of others trailing around the Vatican!!!!
The grandeur and magnificence of St Peters defies description. I think it's really more than something to view, rather, something to experience! Fred says that to date this is the highlight of his trip. And Emily, yes; the Pieta is breathtaking!
Just as we came out of St Peters, the rain started, so a quick huddle to eat our long overdue lunch, then with brollies in place a very interesting walk past lots of shops selling Vatican and Rome memorablia back to the Metro. We snatched a fab coffee (just 1 euro each!) at an amazing little corner shop which seemed to be a confectionary and specialty goods shop - Freddie bought (by weight) a huge chunk of the creamiest chocolate which we proceeded to munch as we walked.
A quick change of clothes into warmer and more weather proof clothing then back on the Metro and over to Russell and Mary's where Bruce and Diana had already assembled. What a lot of catching up we all had to do and then downstairs to a nearby restaurant who was a little startled to be asked for a table for eight. We assured him we couldeasily fill half an hour at the nearby bar till he could accomodate us. Fred eagerly engage the barmen here and gleaned mcuh "useful"information about Italian beers. Back to the restaurant and a fabulous dinner. Fred went bold with a starter of Carpacchio for our table of four(phew how delish!!), Russell had suckling pig (succulent it looked and smelt), Nick a hearty plate of steak (he'sbuilding up before the start of his summer athletics training), Fred had a very tasty Greek style pasta and me, the beautiful Asparagus Ravioli.
You know how it goes when the Coes get together; so much talking and laughing and suddenly we were running for the last train. Too late, then the station attendant had to run to let us out of the locked underground! Taxi a good option at that stage for us and safely home about midnight.
Our booking was not for a guided tour, just a queue hopping entry booking, but well worth it, saving us a couple of hours standing in the queue and a couple of good hints from the guide. We started with the Museum. Mmmmm, 2000 rooms.........! Needless to say, the artworks to be viewed only use a fraction of those rooms, but took us all of 2 hours oooohing and aaaaghing over magnificent works and exhibits till we eventually ended up in the acclaimed Sistine Chapel.....wow
From here to St Peters and who should we bump into as soon as we entered (no Culhane, not the Pope) but California Coes!!!! How crazy is that in all of Rome and amongst the hundreds of others trailing around the Vatican!!!!
The grandeur and magnificence of St Peters defies description. I think it's really more than something to view, rather, something to experience! Fred says that to date this is the highlight of his trip. And Emily, yes; the Pieta is breathtaking!
Just as we came out of St Peters, the rain started, so a quick huddle to eat our long overdue lunch, then with brollies in place a very interesting walk past lots of shops selling Vatican and Rome memorablia back to the Metro. We snatched a fab coffee (just 1 euro each!) at an amazing little corner shop which seemed to be a confectionary and specialty goods shop - Freddie bought (by weight) a huge chunk of the creamiest chocolate which we proceeded to munch as we walked.
A quick change of clothes into warmer and more weather proof clothing then back on the Metro and over to Russell and Mary's where Bruce and Diana had already assembled. What a lot of catching up we all had to do and then downstairs to a nearby restaurant who was a little startled to be asked for a table for eight. We assured him we couldeasily fill half an hour at the nearby bar till he could accomodate us. Fred eagerly engage the barmen here and gleaned mcuh "useful"information about Italian beers. Back to the restaurant and a fabulous dinner. Fred went bold with a starter of Carpacchio for our table of four(phew how delish!!), Russell had suckling pig (succulent it looked and smelt), Nick a hearty plate of steak (he'sbuilding up before the start of his summer athletics training), Fred had a very tasty Greek style pasta and me, the beautiful Asparagus Ravioli.
You know how it goes when the Coes get together; so much talking and laughing and suddenly we were running for the last train. Too late, then the station attendant had to run to let us out of the locked underground! Taxi a good option at that stage for us and safely home about midnight.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
AKL Coes
Buongiorno
Friday morning here at the Hotel Casa Di Fiori
Yesterday was our first full day in Rome and we set out for what turned out to be a full day.
First we did the local Campo di Fiori flower and veggie market which was very interesting to see all the local fruits now that summer is approaching here.
We then hiked to the Piazza de Popolo and into the Borghese gardens. Beeoootiful!
Did a guided tour of the Villa Medici then managed to get 2 tickets for the Villa Borghese as long as we only stayed in 2 hours. They said it was full but with my good Italian we got in. You should have seen the crowds waiting for the 3pm entry!! Both very interesting and amazing. We had not been there before.
It was raining quite hard as we left the the gardens so out came the poncho's and umbrella. At 3pm we had not had time for lunch so had coffee and panini on a sidewalk cafe built into the Roman walls.
Beer and chips in the Campo before we put our feet up for a while. Then the Fred texts started!!!!! Resulting in us at 6.30pm walking over to Russell and Mary's place for drinks and dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Had a great time and got home at midnight.
Breakfast calls and the need to plan our day
Ciao
Friday morning here at the Hotel Casa Di Fiori
Yesterday was our first full day in Rome and we set out for what turned out to be a full day.
First we did the local Campo di Fiori flower and veggie market which was very interesting to see all the local fruits now that summer is approaching here.
We then hiked to the Piazza de Popolo and into the Borghese gardens. Beeoootiful!
Did a guided tour of the Villa Medici then managed to get 2 tickets for the Villa Borghese as long as we only stayed in 2 hours. They said it was full but with my good Italian we got in. You should have seen the crowds waiting for the 3pm entry!! Both very interesting and amazing. We had not been there before.
It was raining quite hard as we left the the gardens so out came the poncho's and umbrella. At 3pm we had not had time for lunch so had coffee and panini on a sidewalk cafe built into the Roman walls.
Beer and chips in the Campo before we put our feet up for a while. Then the Fred texts started!!!!! Resulting in us at 6.30pm walking over to Russell and Mary's place for drinks and dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Had a great time and got home at midnight.
Breakfast calls and the need to plan our day
Ciao
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Prblems Uploading Pics
Sorry everyone, we've taken a few pics of interesting bits and pieces but for some weird reason I can't upload them. Have done so before so am pretty annoyed that something is being a problem at the moment. Never mind; hopefully I'll get it sorted soon.
X to all Olwyn
X to all Olwyn
Olwyn and Fred Tuesday 1st June
Tuesday 1st June; First day in Rome
The first night after flying half round the world is always interesting as many of you will know much better than me, but I think we scored very well. Our very kind hostess Isa had given us the quietest room in her establishment and even with the windows thrown wide open in the traditional Roman manner to let the cool night air circulate, the middle of the night seemed quieter than Cawthron Crescent!! (maybe our home neighbourhood is deteriorating!). I had some opportunity to consider this and snatch at all the other thoughts whizzing about after waking intermittently from 3.00. But, firmly telling myself to ignore the pigeons cooing on the sills, the seagulls squawking and the swallows chasing and calling as they whirled above the courtyard below our room as day broke with sparkling freshness and clarity at 5.00, I I continued to stack away good sleep till the sun burst into our East facing room and the 7.00 a.m. church bell tolled (thankfully they mute the tolling 9.00 pm till morning!)
We were both well refreshed (the monster king sized bed and lovely fresh, airy room had certainly helped) and the breakfast Isa brought us very good – a huge cup of tea (though we did use our own Dilmah teabags!), a packet of juice (peach was the flavour today and very delish), chocolate croissant, yoghurt and cake (to any grandchildren reading this; chocolate croissant and cake for breakfast is not going to be introduced at your place; though perhaps we should have one sleepover with a Rome brekkie……………?)
Our plan for the day was to orientate ourselves with a HOHO (Hop on Hop off) bus tour, so first thing Isa took us to the buy a ticket and away we went. Our first bus wasn’t open topped, so we hopped off at the second stop (the awesome Piazza Venezia) to explore and catch the next bus. On the next bus we managed to score seats in the raised back row with the best view on offer; can you imagine how stoked Freddie was with that little coup! Amazing driving around the historic area of the City with the ruins of Largo Argentina dating back to the 3rd Century BC, the Colosseum, Circo Maxima, then along beside the Tiber and across to the Vatican and back. Following the river we drove past the bridge across to Castel Saint Angelo and on to the magnificent Piazza del Popolo where we jumped off the bus to grab lunch before heading through the gardens of the Villa Borghese looking for the Classical Gallery for which we'd been upsold entry. After one wrong turn followed by a bad steer from an enquiry, I swear we managed to circumnavigate and criss cross the entire area before, hot, bothered and considerably less composed (and less kindly disposed!) we stumbled upon our destination later than the entry time on our ticket. Thankfully the very understanding woman just smiled and said something along the lines of "no worries, away you go". Phew!
And what a priceless upsell that was. The Bernini sculptures (and other amazing artworks) were just breathtaking and with a great audio guide to enlighten us we were enthralled for a couple of hours. My favourites were an almost translucent marble sculpture of Borghese's wife Pauline as Venus the Conqueror (I wanted to take a photo to show you Pauline, but it was a no photos place) and the strong but delicate depiction of Apollo and Daphne.
Back to the bus tour which we decided to finish by jumping off near enough to walk across the Tiber to the Trastavere sector of Rome which is more "everyday residential" with family owned restaurants catering for neighbourhood dining with authentic Roman cuisine. We had great fun wandering up and down lanes checking out menus till we made a choice of a place which looked busy and buzzing. We've found it interesting communicating with folk who quite often are making a great effort to use a second language for our benefit while we have only our one language to offer. In way of explanation, Fred has constantly worn a black and white NZ cap with silver fern on (thanks so much Phil!!). As we entered the ristoranti we were suddenly the centre of some very loud and jovial attention with much cajoling to sing a song or do a haka!!! It seems this restaurant is where one of the tour bus companies brings their patrons and provides entertainment in the way of a very competent guitar strumming singer; the group dining included a bunch of Aussies! What a fun night and all the better when the next bus tour group were all Italians!! The meal was great too - Pasta and Porcini mushrooms for me and charred lamb for Fred which was delicious with a cup of good strong Italian coffee to finish.
The first night after flying half round the world is always interesting as many of you will know much better than me, but I think we scored very well. Our very kind hostess Isa had given us the quietest room in her establishment and even with the windows thrown wide open in the traditional Roman manner to let the cool night air circulate, the middle of the night seemed quieter than Cawthron Crescent!! (maybe our home neighbourhood is deteriorating!). I had some opportunity to consider this and snatch at all the other thoughts whizzing about after waking intermittently from 3.00. But, firmly telling myself to ignore the pigeons cooing on the sills, the seagulls squawking and the swallows chasing and calling as they whirled above the courtyard below our room as day broke with sparkling freshness and clarity at 5.00, I I continued to stack away good sleep till the sun burst into our East facing room and the 7.00 a.m. church bell tolled (thankfully they mute the tolling 9.00 pm till morning!)
We were both well refreshed (the monster king sized bed and lovely fresh, airy room had certainly helped) and the breakfast Isa brought us very good – a huge cup of tea (though we did use our own Dilmah teabags!), a packet of juice (peach was the flavour today and very delish), chocolate croissant, yoghurt and cake (to any grandchildren reading this; chocolate croissant and cake for breakfast is not going to be introduced at your place; though perhaps we should have one sleepover with a Rome brekkie……………?)
Our plan for the day was to orientate ourselves with a HOHO (Hop on Hop off) bus tour, so first thing Isa took us to the buy a ticket and away we went. Our first bus wasn’t open topped, so we hopped off at the second stop (the awesome Piazza Venezia) to explore and catch the next bus. On the next bus we managed to score seats in the raised back row with the best view on offer; can you imagine how stoked Freddie was with that little coup! Amazing driving around the historic area of the City with the ruins of Largo Argentina dating back to the 3rd Century BC, the Colosseum, Circo Maxima, then along beside the Tiber and across to the Vatican and back. Following the river we drove past the bridge across to Castel Saint Angelo and on to the magnificent Piazza del Popolo where we jumped off the bus to grab lunch before heading through the gardens of the Villa Borghese looking for the Classical Gallery for which we'd been upsold entry. After one wrong turn followed by a bad steer from an enquiry, I swear we managed to circumnavigate and criss cross the entire area before, hot, bothered and considerably less composed (and less kindly disposed!) we stumbled upon our destination later than the entry time on our ticket. Thankfully the very understanding woman just smiled and said something along the lines of "no worries, away you go". Phew!
And what a priceless upsell that was. The Bernini sculptures (and other amazing artworks) were just breathtaking and with a great audio guide to enlighten us we were enthralled for a couple of hours. My favourites were an almost translucent marble sculpture of Borghese's wife Pauline as Venus the Conqueror (I wanted to take a photo to show you Pauline, but it was a no photos place) and the strong but delicate depiction of Apollo and Daphne.
Back to the bus tour which we decided to finish by jumping off near enough to walk across the Tiber to the Trastavere sector of Rome which is more "everyday residential" with family owned restaurants catering for neighbourhood dining with authentic Roman cuisine. We had great fun wandering up and down lanes checking out menus till we made a choice of a place which looked busy and buzzing. We've found it interesting communicating with folk who quite often are making a great effort to use a second language for our benefit while we have only our one language to offer. In way of explanation, Fred has constantly worn a black and white NZ cap with silver fern on (thanks so much Phil!!). As we entered the ristoranti we were suddenly the centre of some very loud and jovial attention with much cajoling to sing a song or do a haka!!! It seems this restaurant is where one of the tour bus companies brings their patrons and provides entertainment in the way of a very competent guitar strumming singer; the group dining included a bunch of Aussies! What a fun night and all the better when the next bus tour group were all Italians!! The meal was great too - Pasta and Porcini mushrooms for me and charred lamb for Fred which was delicious with a cup of good strong Italian coffee to finish.
Calling Russell and Mary
Olwyn here Mary,
So sorry I didn't get your post till this morning (Thursday 3rd). That phone number you're using for Fred is right and Bruce is getting us on that - just with a + as prefix. Fred has been trying to connect with you as well but it keeps telling hime his call to you is disallowed. He's tried right now on my phone to +6509214090 but no luck there either - I'm +0272746162
We have a pass for the Vatican for 10.00 today but no fixed plans after that, though we still have some sights we want to see.
I'll email you right now too.
So sorry I didn't get your post till this morning (Thursday 3rd). That phone number you're using for Fred is right and Bruce is getting us on that - just with a + as prefix. Fred has been trying to connect with you as well but it keeps telling hime his call to you is disallowed. He's tried right now on my phone to +6509214090 but no luck there either - I'm +0272746162
We have a pass for the Vatican for 10.00 today but no fixed plans after that, though we still have some sights we want to see.
I'll email you right now too.
SFO Coes here! Paging all other Coes in Rome. We were hoping to meet up for gelato tonight (6/2). We found a good place last night that would be fun.
Fred and Olywn: We can't reach you on the good old Estonian phone number. We have: 372-573-14516. Are we missing something? There seems to be one number too many there.
Fred and Olywn: We can't reach you on the good old Estonian phone number. We have: 372-573-14516. Are we missing something? There seems to be one number too many there.
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