Month: March 2019

So we travelled to Abruzzo via the geographic heart of Italy, staying a night en route in Terni, which is near Narni. Narni is apparently the inspiration for the Chronicles of Narnia , there being a whole underground world there.

That night we chose a hotel on spec and whilst it was clean and comfortable enough there was no facility to get a hot drink anywhere in the hotel. How I hate that, and particularly then as I was taking the antihistamines and still had hay fever so was dry and in need of lots of hot drinks……………….. the things you don’t realise when you are travelling!!

We went to a very curious restaurant for dinner that night which was walking distance from the hotel. We were the only people there and it was clearly a restaurant in their front room, they being a man and his wife and their teenage son who did not like having to leave the room as he was watching TV there.

They spoke no English, which was surprising really, as they are near a big tourist attraction, a popular waterfall. Anyway, they were very pleased to have us there and we played it safe with the menu having their recommendation of grilled trout, which was OK.

We hightailed it out the next morning heading into the Appenines , our destination Santo Stefano Di Sessanio, a previously abandoned walled village on a hill top. There is a huge project here to revitalise the whole village and many of the houses and apartments are now holiday houses. We are staying in a hotel which has a commitment to authenticity in its restoration. So we are staying in a dark, cave like room with roughly plastered walls, massive roof beams and an original ancient fireplace. There are new en suite bathrooms in each room and the flavour is most definitely rustic.

Unfortunately many things just don’t work properly and we had to swap rooms as the water was just tepid and no amount of adjustment improved it.

I don’t think the hotel really works but the location is brilliant and it is good to stay in one of the walled villages and really get a feel for it. This one took some damage in the 2006 earthquake and there is a lot of work being done here by the government, as well as the private renovations.

It is within the Gran Sasso National Park and we have walked the meadows, surrounded by snow capped mountain peaks. There is still snow on the ground and the grass in dull and brown , but it is stunning. The ground must be jam packed full of moles as their mounds and tracks are just everywhere.

Flowers are blooming, among them the saffron crocus. There are swathes of them. Beautiful. They are used in local cooking, as you can imagine.

We have seen some different birds here at long last , disturbing some ground nest builders on our walks.

After a long walk yesterday we dropped in to a hotel in the small village outside the walls for a drink, We felt like celebrating as we had reached the peak we were aiming for and also Jock had not lost his phone and wallet, as appeared might be the case. They were in fact in the car all along (travel brain). So we also felt like celebrating.

We asked if we could take our Prosecco outside and the man insisted on finding us a sunny spot on the other side of the house. When you buy a drink here you always receive some food with them, either from a collection on the bar, if you stand there, or brought to your table. He brought us warm bread drizzled with olive oil, some large green olives and some hard tasty cheese. HEAVEN.

We so liked the place and the people , again a family , that we went back for dinner and were not disappointed. I had home made ravioli filled with ricotta and herbs and served with a cream and saffron sauce. It really was divine. Jock had a lamb sauce on home made pasta, which he also found excellent.

We haven’t been having a lot of desserts but thought we should try theirs, and had a tiramisu and tart di limone, also both very good. The room was warm and inviting, the music good, the people charming. The Dad just kept talking away in Italian . His son spoke pretty good English. So the Mum and son do the cooking and they had a local young woman waitressing. We were so keen we decided to go back for lunch today after a last walk in the hills.

We had the special of the day, pasta with mushrooms and once again it was just delicious. We followed it with a local fried cheese, something like haloumi , but from goats milk and served with grilled vegetables, zucchini and eggplant of course.

They had asked us to come at 1pm to beat the crowd, and sure enough, it was packed. I asked the son where they all come from and he said they are all Italian and are from everywhere as they “come to make walk”. It was a gorgeous sunny day and maybe the first time since winter that they have been able to get up to the park?

Anyway, we could not talk much today as they were too busy but I told the son that it was the best restaurant experience we have had so far in Italy. He said he was happy for this and to tell all my Australian friends to come and visit, so, now you have an invitation. It is called Locanda Il Palazzo. They have rooms as well, come and stay!

We have seen lots of dogs here and nearly all of them are mostly Maremma , which is the guardian dog used for sheep and cattle. This is shepherd and Maremma country here. The Maremma dogs round the village are mostly old , all overweight, and all given to lying in the sun , sound asleep, even if it is on the road.

If you get up close they will, to a dog, raise their paw for you to pat their belly, but they won’t move. Being a dog tragic I have enjoyed them a lot.

Tomorrow we head for the coast in Epuglia, to friends of our musician friend Salvatore. It’s a long drive and we might try a motorway for the first time. We have been sticking to back roads, but the time might have come. Wish us luck.

Prosecco in the sun.

We travelled to Umbria from Tuscany, to a hill top castle in Montegiove, that has been there since round about the 13th century. It was very imposing with huge walls rising from the very top of the hill , fortress like.

Turns out that we were the first visitors for this season (many accomodation venues and restaurants close over the winter) so our hosts were very fresh and enthusiastic and we think, glad of a little company.

They were Lorenzo and Rikke, blue haired and blonde eyed Danes who live in the castle with their two teenage daughters. Lorenzo has an Italian parent and a Danish parent and grew up in Denmark, knowing that he would inherit the castle, which has been in his family for centuries. As well as the accomodation side of things they grow grapes and make wine and olive oil, keep cattle, and manage their forests.

Lorenzo took us round the estate in his work vehicle and he and Jock talked trees to their hearts content. They have only three varieties, two types of oak and the Cyprus pine and none of them tall. They keep a few cattle and have a wild boar problem, we could see their diggings everywhere. In fact Lorenzo shot one while we there and brought it over in the back of the vehicle to show us. He was taking it straight to the butcher.

They also showed us through the wine cellar and the interior of the castle itself which was pretty amazing. Cold and vast with many paintings and wall hangings from centuries ago. Strange way to live…………..

Our little cottage was in the numerous outhouses and was beautifully fitted out, though not everything worked, which we are finding to be a common thing here. Looks and style are more commonplace than function! But we were very comfortable and enjoyed the whole experience. At night we could hear an owl hooting and we were just above the village church where the bells struck every half hour (though thankfully stopped overnight)!

We explored the local area and one day did a longish round trip to another hill top walled village called Deruta, which is famous for its ceramics. It was very quiet as its so early in the season but we did find enough open ceramics workshops and I bought myself one of the wine jugs I have been admiring everywhere . Most restaurants use ceramic jugs to decant the wine into , many purely functional, some beautiful, and each area has its own style apparently. Mine is fancy more than rustic, as I wanted to buy one made by the woman we saw working that day. The ceramics are really another whole art form, and exquisite. I could quite happily collect them I think.

We went to the next town along from Montegiove for Sunday lunch and enjoyed seeing families getting together, sharing large tables.

We went to the village lookout most evenings to watch the sun go down. It was a tiny village , immaculately clean and well kept. We are finding lots of villages and towns like this in the country.

While there I suffered terrible hay fever, which was a surprise as I only ever have the slightest hint of it at home. But the Cyprus pines were shedding their pollen en masse and it was windy, so I think that caused it. We went to the local pharmacy where you line up to speak to the pharmacist. She then chooses a box from behind her counter and hands it to you. No reading of the box or browsing the shelves here , but I did double check with her that it was an antihistamine!

So we had a quiet day resting before heading to Ubruzzo. Onwards!

There is so much that happens and that we observe that doesn’t fit into the narrative chronologically, so I am going to take a little side trip to note some of the many quirks of this country. They are so much a part of our experience here . We have already, so often, after just three weeks, taken to shrugging and saying, “It’s Italy”!.

Like how they leave all the signs out and the lights on even when a place is closed for the season or closed for the day. So you don’t know till you rattle at the locked door that they are actually closed.

How other places that are in fact, open , do not draw any attention to themselves such as putting a sign or banner on the road to indicate where to turn to find them!

How greeting people is so important. Similar, I guess, to country life in Australia, but you wouldn’t dream of having an interaction without a Good Morning, Good Evening or Good Night.

How prego is the go to word for just about everything………..You’re welcome,come in, sit down, no worries, and so on………..

How it’s common practice to park just about anywhere, but particularly on a cross walk, at an intersection.

How drivers are on the whole very defensive, skilled, considerate and patient , except for trucks and couriers.

How quiet the cars are, as they are mostly diesel and they turn themselves off when you stop, which is a standard emission control strategy in Europe, apparently impossible in Australia.

How woefully inadequate the signage on the roads is, when it comes to directions and lane usage. How the shortage of signs everywhere, generally, makes for a wonderful non commercial ethos.

How very few fast food outlets there are- we have only seen one outside of Florence and Rome . Food to go, in cafes and service stations and the like, is panini filled with cheese and tomato, or Italian meats such as salami or mortadella and tomato, or a slice of pizza.

How supermarkets (at least the smallish ones we have been using) have hardly any cereal on the shelf, only one brand of tissues and only Italian cheeses. They are truly different to Australian supermarkets , which is great, as they seem less affected by globalisation……….

How shops all have a particular type of ceramic dish or tray near the till, where the bill is placed, and where your change will be placed. And if you are Italian you will place your payment there, unlike us tourists, battling to work out what coins we have in our hands and handing them over holus bolus into the hands of, and to the great amusement of, the unfailingly friendly cashier……….

How elderly people still seem to get out and walk, with sticks and with flailing limbs and uphill and down, but there they are, out on the streets. How the streets are the domain of walkers , cyclists and people who need to park, and those of who you are driving , just handle it!

How Italy is so very hilly, and on the top of so many hills there is a walled village that contains a church or a castle, or both. How every village will have more than enough cats that seem to live outdoors, but are certainly not wild, and which are determined to say hello and check you out. And lots of old people, who will always say Buon Giorno, Buonasera or Buona Notte.

And Buona Notte from me, for now.

Yes, its a cheesy cheap shot I know, but I can’t resist .

So Jock was in a sort of agony when we left Florence. For some days he had had a niggling tension in his lower back , probably from hoisting a case onto the train to Florence from Rome.

Then the day before we left Florence, wham, full blown spasms in his back! I suggested staying in Florence till he recovered but he didn’t want to do that. So there we were heading for another train to take to take us to a small town in Tuscany to pick up our hire car.

We were both pretty tense, let me tell you….. Luckily the regional train station had a lift so getting to the platform was relatively easy. I asked a young man about which platform to go to and he kept an eye on us after that to make sure we got on the right train as there was another one coming through before ours. Of course we were fine once we found the platform and the appropriate signs, but it was sweet of him.

People are generally so kind and helpful aren’t they, and we are finding Italians generally to be friendly , fun loving and helpful.

We met our first fellow Australian travellers on board and filled in some time with them, who also , coincidentally, are on a three month overseas trip.

So after an hour or so we got off and found the hire car place without too much trouble.

But trying to drive it was a lot of trouble. Jock took the wheel first as we tend to think his brain adjusts to the right hand side a bit better than mine , but I’m currently reevaluating that idea.

The onboard GPS was completely new to us, so we were dealing with that, the right hand drive, light showers , and Jock’s sore back. Not good. But we found our way through some pretty countryside to Montepulciano, where we stopped for lunch.

Then on to Siena which we had to get around to arrive at our destination in Corsignano. Bad planning, as by then it was after four and the traffic was heavy.

We had a spaghetti junction to navigate and had the GPS saying things like “Bear right” and only saying it once so of course we missed it. We pulled off when we could and tried to get a different route out of Siena but to no avail. So suffice to say we went round in circles in traffic, in the rain , with the GPS repeatedly saying “route recalculation “. Agony.

Magically, Jock found a side road off the very busy main road that led directly to a hotel. And there we stayed the night , only a short distance from our destination. We asked about somewhere to eat and the lovely young woman at reception said , there is a restaurant just down the road, you just have to go through three roundabouts!!

Luckily we had some food with us and with that and the mini bar made ourselves a dinner as there was NO WAY we were getting back on to that road.

So after a surprisingly good sleep (I was dosing Jock with good medicine) we found that we could avoid that junction, but only if we used my phone rather than the GPS, and that we did.

We had of course phoned our accomodation once we got to the hotel but got no answer, and they had been worried about us.

But all was well in the end, as our accomodation on the agritourismo venture was very comfortable, light filled and warm and had a memory foam mattress!Now we have never slept on one of those before so it was a revelation to us and was wonderful for both our aches and pains but particularly of course, Jock’s back.

The venue, Fattoria Di Corsignano was a very typical agritourismo, or I guess what we call a farm stay. Though in Italy they generally tend to produce wine and olives, as our Fattoria did. We were the only guests, it was pretty and comfortable, ecstasy…..

So we spent our first couple of days there not doing much at all, just walking round the property and village and going to the next village for supplies at the small general store. The elderly man who ran it kindly noticed that I was looking disappointed at only finding sliced bread on the shelves , opened a large draw behind the counter and pulled out a loaf of proper Italian bread. Speaking Italian to me the whole time, we managed to work out between us that I would like the long loaf, not the round loaf, Grazie. He had some pestos on the shelf that we had not seen before such as artichoke and capsicum, and other lovely, useful things that we have added to our basic supplies.

Being out of season a lot of places were still closed but we found our way to a local trattoria where we enjoyed some of the best pasta we have had so far. Jock had rabbit with a curly pasta and I had Gorgonzola , broccoli and nuts with tagliatelle. The pasta of course is all made in house. Superb.

After a few days we did a longish day of driving, doing a circuit of many hilltop villages in Chianti . We went to the highest of them for lunch at a restaurant with a fabulous view and again great food and service. Here I had a dessert which was a highlight, a delicate pear tart that had a custard in the tart and was served of course , with home made gelato.

They brought out the limoncello at the end of the meal – what a lovely tradition that is, to offer a liquor on the house at the end of the meal. This time they left the bottle, but we were abstemious (after one) seeing as we had that huge hill with its narrow winding roads to navigate.

We also drove back to Siena during our stay as we wanted to check out the city centre, the walled city with its Duomo. And we were so glad we did as we found the cathedral particularly awe inspiring . The mosaic floor and the artworks in the library , the Piccolomeno, were truly amazing. There were not many people there so we had plenty of time and space to sit and wonder.

As we were settling the account to leave the Fattoria, we found that my travel cash card was missing. Jock had used it to pay for lunch at that hilltop restaurant……..

We were able to immediately transfer all the money off my card and on to Jock’s , notify the card provider and get the replacement sent to our son in England, but still and all , the travel hassles continue……

But now we are relaxing again, in Umbria, on top of a hill where we are staying at a castle , but I’ll leave that for later. Arrivederci.

We have spent our last day in Florence exploring more gardens. This time it was the Bardini Gardens which are on a steep hillside across the Arno River and which abutt the city wall. Also in that vicinity is the Piazzale Michelangelo which is a lookout over the city. Of course you can buy anything there, so there is a festive atmosphere with lots of gelato being eaten and music playing.

Yes,we also indulged. I had a caramel pannacotta flavour and Jock had tiramisu flavour. It is not too sweet and not too creamy and yet more satisfying than a sorbet. It’s extraordinary just how many gelato shops there are and how much seems to be consumed. But then again there is not a lot of junk or fast food around and it seems Italians (Florentines and Romans anyway) can manage their gelato and wine and pasta very comfortably, and stay trim.

Lucky them! All that walking must help. We have noticed that some side streets are closed off to cars in the afternoons for the passeggiata, the ritual afternoon walk.

A small bollard with a glowing red light round the top of it rises from the ground, preventing cars passing. What a wonderful, simple idea.

It was a gorgeous sunny day today and a nice way to end our stay here. We also visited a rose garden under the Piazzale. The roses are not in bloom of course, but it was still very lovely and must be quite a haven in the summer heat. As it was Sunday the church bells rang out all round the city. From our vantage point high on the hill we could hear a symphony. Beautiful.

Last night we took ourselves off to a concert in town which was real tourist fodder but was very enjoyable. It was called the Three Tenors and indeed did have three tenors singing well known arias, accompanied by piano and mandolin. They were not of course THE three tenors and I am sure none of us would have heard of any of them. But they sure could sing and the harmonies and soaring sound in the church was uplifting.

Tomorrow we head into rural Tuscany on the train, where we will pick up our hire car, so we better get back to studying the road rules and learning the signs. Wish us luck!

We arrived in Florence on Tuesday on the very fast train from Rome. That was easy.

It goes so fast that you can feel pressure in your ears when the train passes through a tunnel!

As we arrived at our apartment in Piazza Lorenzo Ghiberti the market was just shutting down so we took the few steps over to it and bought ourselves some great fresh vegetables and fruit as well as cheese and bread of course. The stall owners don’t speak much English so we had to attempt Italian and use a lot of sign language, for the first time since arriving in the county.

Our apartment is old and looks like it might once have been a shop. It has many shutters on the windows and some interesting features, but also has some of the down sides of age (its a bit tired and worn out). The location is excellent. We step down almost right into the piazza and walk about ten minutes to the Duomo.

The last three days we have been packing in the sights as we bought a Firenze card which gives us 72 hours admission everywhere with no queuing. I think we have saved money but the jumping the line is an excellent feature . If you are coming to Florence I recommend you buy one.

We are finding it much easier than Roma. The layout is not so confusing, with something of a grid and it is much cleaner. There are still considerable crowds but it is easy to avoid them by just moving a few lane ways over from the main routes through town.

We are, of course, in awe of the architecture and the art history , the art works and particularly of course, the sculptures. We have seen so many treasures, as one must on a visit to Florence , but hopefully not so many as to not remember them. The highlight for me is without a doubt, Michelangelo’s David.

I am no art buff and am not going to tell you anything about the works we have seen but I can tell you that I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and would recommend a visit here. I did a tour to the Uffizzi gallery yesterday and had a Florentine guide. He used a few pieces to illustrate the development of Florentine Renaissance art and did it with flair and drama, as you would expect. It was great.

He recommended the Boboli gardens, which are part of the Pitti Palace and we went there today on a lovely sunny morning. A highlight there was the porcelain museum in the garden.Mind boggling crockery!!

Most days we have walked more than five thousand steps before morning coffee, and another five before lunch. Then at least another five in the afternoons. We are both doing well , though my dodgy ankle did suffer after coming back down the steps in the campanile (bell tower). Just too many hard, uneven, shallow steps. Jock had to go out to the pharmacy for me as we had not bought any anti inflammatory medication with us and I was having trouble walking. He was given some super powder which fixed me in one dose. Amazing stuff.

Today we were in the Piazza Santa Croce as the students on strike began to gather for their climate action march and then we were in the laneway along which the huge mass of them were marching. We tried to show solidarity by saying Bravo and raising our arms (well at least I did). They were a large crowd and we noticed a newspaper headline later, that all over Tuscany students went on strike, as I am sure they did in Australia. What an awesome international movement that has become.

We have had some wonderful food here. We found a quiet trattoria yesterday where some Italian workers were having lunch: antipasto, pasta and glass of red. How do they do that?? We had just one dish, of course and that day, no wine,which does raise eyebrows. There is no legal age for drinking here and alcohol is available everywhere. Even cafes that serve only paninis (like bakeries) can and do serve alcohol. It must be a quite a shock for Italian travellers to Australia to deal with the limits and the expense. The wine is very reasonably priced here, as is the food.

Last night we ate in view of the Duomo.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Cathedral

One of the places that you would expect to be over crowded and over priced due to its location, but it wasn’t either of those things, so we had a wonderful relaxing time. I ate a Tuscan specialty of eggplant rolled round mozzarella and anchovies with , of course, a rich tomato sauce. Jock had another specialty of the region, a risotto with cheese and bacon.

Once again the waiter seemed very pleased by our interest in the food and at the end of the meal offered us a limoncello on the house. Of course I said yes . I couldn’t believe that it was actually the first one I have had since arriving. But what a slippery slope that is – I love that stuff!!

Well the church bells are ringing for 6pm, time to go and do some other things and see the end of the day. Ciao.

P.S. I will upload more photos later, the internet is just too slow tonight.

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So apart from my overall impressions, for the sake of the historical records, I am going to write a little about some of the places we have managed to see in our 8 days here. And, also for the record , we both really like Rome, in spite of, and maybe because of, its challenges and contrasts.

We visited the Colosseum, the Forum and Palatine Hill in three separate trips. That of course meant we had plenty of time for each, We entered the Forum and the Hill via the Palatine Hill entrance which has practically no waiting time at all, The Colosseum was a different matter, though in the end we did not queue for long,

I made an early morning visit to the Vatican and entered the Sistine Chapel before the public viewing time, with my guide and small group That was a really good idea and worth the money, as obviously we had a lot of space and time to really take in Michelangelo’s frescoes which I’ve wanted to see since reading The Agony and The Ecstasy about a hundred years ago. I know I read it when I was a teenager and it left a lasting impression. I think I might try it again now.

On that visit I also saw three galleries in the Vatican museums as well as St Peters Basilica and St Peters Square. I was impressed but not moved by that particular basilica and lets face it, anything to do with the Catholic Church is going to produce mixed feelings. I was hoping there might have been a protest in the square that day that I could have joined in, but alas no,,,,,,,

We went to the market at Campo Di Fiori where wattle blossom is very popular. Had a great lunch there at a cafe where we faced the market and got to do lots of people watching over a leisurely meal. I had a little dance with one of the very jolly trattoria owners, as there was some wonderful music playing.

We have heard some magnificent buskers and a glorious church choir. Haven’t managed to get to an evening concert yet due to jet lag making a 9pm start impossible at the moment. We are feeling good but waking very early so have crashed at home by that time of night.

We missed the Villa Bhorgese as we did not book early enough. Due to it being Cultural Week here with free tickets in many institutions, we were unable to buy tickets online prior, and had to book our time slot once here. We were a bit too late on this one and sadly only got to visit the gardens.

We have been to the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Of course in our travels we have passed through hundreds of different Piazza but there are piazzas and piazzas! Today we plan to revisit the Piazza Del Popolo to view some more Caravaggio paintings in one of the churches there.

We are staying about two hundred metres from the top of the Spanish Steps and Spagna is our Metro station, so we have traversed the steps many times and took a glass of wine with us to sit on the steps one evening and watch the crowds. Very close to the Piazza Di Spagna is a beautiful salon called Cafe Greco where Keats and Shelley used to pass a lot of time. There we had the best coffee we have found in Rome.

In the other direction and also very close is the Trevi Fountain .The crowds at the fountain are ridiculous , as the piazza is so small that is is always full. But I did visit a second time when I was doing one of Rick Steves audio tours by myself and it was more reasonable then. Also in that area is a very good gelateria, noted by our host and in a couple of guide books. We perservered in trying to find it , which was not easy, and were rewarded with fig and fruit and cinnamon and ginger gelato. It was of the natural variety with only seasonal fruit and not many additives. Bellissimo.

We have called in to many churches and have viewed works by Carravagio, Michelangelo, Bernini, Raphael and others…….

With some difficulty we found or way to the Museum of Musical Instruments, which was not a well curated museum but had some wonderful artefacts.

The Marcus Aurelias column is one of hundreds of monuments and columns but one we particularly appreciated. Many piazzas have obelisks transported from Egypt. Really, nothing was too much trouble!

The other tour we did here was the one to Hadrian’s villa and the Tivoli gardens in the small town of Tivoli just outside Rome. It was good to drive through the outskirts of the city which certainly gives you a different perspective to the ancient city. Seeing Italian families out for Sunday coffee in Tivoli was great and both of the places we visited were fascinating. The tour thing is interesting, we find ourselves switching off a bit but also recognise that we do get information we would not otherwise have known and do find that it is good to have someone else taking care of all the details from time to time. I think the four or five we have booked during our seven weeks here will mix it up nicely.

That isn’t an exhaustive list but covers a good deal of how we spent our time here. Another eight months might just about do it.

Perhaps today’s lunch is a suitable illustration of the good things about this city.

We decided we wanted to eat pasta for lunch after our morning tour guide talked about the two local specialities, pasta carbonara and pasta cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper).

As we drove back from Tivoli gardens and Hadrian’s villa, half an hour outside of Rome, she told us how to cook these two simple specialties. We walked from where the tour bus deposited us, to our apartment, and lacking the ingredients at home, thought it would be great to find a cafe on our way there and eat these dishes, having had our appetites thoroughly whetted. Sure enough, on the short trip to the apartment we found an enticing small cafe with two men at the door inviting us in.

“Ah, but you don’t have cacio e pepe on your menu”, we lamented. “No problem, we’ll cook it for you, have a seat.”

The tiny restaurant was spotless and gleaming with warm wood and a fancy chandelier. The host was thrilled that we cared about these dishes and that we wanted the usual Roman aperitif of Prosecco (and not Coke as the other tourists seemed to be drinking). He told us he had a very good one and opened a new bottle. He was right, it was delicious.

The pasta was the best we have had, so full flavoured, it’s impossible to believe that both dishes have so few ingredients (three or four).

It was all so convivial, so easy, SO delicious and indulgent. It wasn’t the first time we have felt like we had been invited into the hosts home, rather than his business. (It does seem to always be a he).

And then there is the other experience of Rome. The difficulty in knowing where you are going, due to the lack of information and signs (and the difficulty of reading maps due to the extraordinary layout of the city). The endless hawkers.

The litter and the gritty air, the refusal of drivers to stop at pedestrian crossings, the good luck to you, you figure it out kind of mentality, that seems to be pervasive.

And the glory of the buildings, the ever present history. The surprises round every bend and at the end of every enticing lane way (not all of them good). The crowds of tourists. The plethora of fountains, the marble, the remains of city walls………………………………

The artworks and glorious singing to be found in the churches, the statues and sculptures on every street, the cobblestones , the cigarette butts, the poor city dogs being dragged along treeless streets panting on the end of the lead.

Eternally, Roma.

That was a long haul, having spent a night in Canberra, then one in Sydney, due to flight delays, only one in Hong Kong (due to the changes) then a long flight to Roma.

But here we are , feeling almost normal now after our first night here and a good walk round our district .

Hong Kong to Rome is something of a change and while they break the trip up nicely, those Asian stopovers do add to a bit of culture shock. We were lucky to spend some time with Phoebe’s friend Julian, who teaches literature at the university and has lived there for more than a decade now. He took us on bus trip up to The Peak and on the short ferry ride across the harbour. We met at Central train station on Hong Kong Island which was absolutely overflowing with women. Julian explained that Sunday is the day off for domestic staff. They come mainly from the Phillipines. As there are few free public spaces and there were a few showers that day, they gather in places like the train station and spend the day socialising there. The atmosphere was festive. They laid out picnics on rugs in the stairways and next to the walls. The noise and movement was something to behold and the three of us towered over them, which is a pretty unusual sensation for me! I had not known that Hong Kong has a huge overseas work force who have little chance of gaining citizenship, just like in the United Arab Emirates.

While eating out I decided to try something very Chinese looking, rather than western and went for a Schezuan dish with chillies. It was covered in about a dozen whole chillies, full of sliced ones and was as hot a dish as I have ever eaten. I managed quite a bit of it , to the delight of other diners who shook their heads ruefully when they saw what I had ordered.

And now we are happily ensconced in our little apartment, with the Spanish Steps at the top end of the street. We have started to find our way around and managed to find a great coffee shop this morning where we stood at the counter for our coffee, Italian style.

We are ready now to start seeing the sights and are already getting the sense of why this city is the favourite of so many.