A lot to catch up with.

So we took Phoebe to the train station in Conegliano yesterday , for the first leg of her trip to England, and we will join her and our son Alex and his family there, next week. It’s been a busy and , I have to say, magical time in Venice, and the Prosecco region.

I’ll start at the beginning though with our two nights in Matera, way down south , following our stay in Ostuni.

Matera is fascinating , a town built on top of caves carved out of a limestone valley, where people have been in continuous residence for the last ten thousand years. We only had two nights there, our shortest stay anywhere and we were hampered by wet weather the first day. However, we were staying in a cave type house right in the historic centre, so certainly go the feel of the place (though we had mod cons of course).

We roamed the streets and were pleased that we learnt to navigate the difficult twists and turns of this huge walled town. There is a year long exhibition of Dali installations (his paintings interpreted by sculptors , so around town there are some incongruous and pretty amazing massive sculptures.

We returned the rental car there and when we left got a transfer to Bari and then a train to Venice. The train service here is excellent and we had a relaxing day watching the world go by.

We arrived in Venice in the evening and met Phoebe at the train station, which was very exciting, as you can imagine. Our transfer to our apartment was not smooth, as the water taxi took us to the wrong drop off point and there were some anxious moments as none of our phone calls would go through. However, after a reboot of the systems it all worked and our apartment host came to meet us to show us the way to our home for the next five days.

I guess a lot of you have been to Venice and know how hard it is to navigate ? I was happy to leave it to Phoebe and Jock and I have to say Phoebe nailed it pretty fast and very well. I was more than OK with it all being part of the mystery that is Venice.

I thought it was like a fairy tale and loved it all. Water everywhere , of course, but also beauty everywhere , in the streets and alleyways, in the shop windows and the restaurants and bars. I saw so many people break into smiles, as I did , when they rounded a corner and were greeted by wisteria peeping over the top of an ochre wall , a window display of stunning Murano glass, a small canal full of colourful boats, or the delicious aroma of coffee and a shining window of colourful cakes and pastries.

We spent a lot of time on the water, doing the Grand Canal more than once . We went to Murano island in the evening and were lucky that the only restaurant open was a gem, with Murano glass water glasses and napkin rings,gleaming chandeliars and excellent food, which we enjoyed as we watched the lights coming on over the water.

It was easy to get away from the crowds in the main tourist strip in Venice. We happened on art exhibitions in ancient buildings and discovered the main hospital, which of course has an historic entrance. It is a massive room , somewhat like a church with nothing in it but a red carpet down the centre leading you into the rest of the hospital. It has a soaring vaulted ceiling, stone pillars and a marble floor. Not your average hospital entrance……

On our final night we went to a classical concert in a church. They performed Vivaldi and Bach , a consummate performance in a stunning setting.

So many magic moments. So much really good food, and some very funny moments. We all got our hair cut there.

Firs t of all Jock, who dropped into a barber, of course. The barber did not speak much English but we had looked up the relevant phrases. He was a real artiste, with dancing hands as he plyed the tools (think, Cocktail) . He looked to Phoebe and me to approve the cut of the back of Jock’s hair, and to Jock to approve the sides. He was a great performer and the onlookers waiting their turn enjoyed the show. It was a great cut and Jock is very happy with it.

Phoebe and I booked into our local salon , having failed to find an English speaking one. One of them knew un piccolo English and we took the translator,However, , my cutter was not interested in having a conversation about it and launched into cutting with gusto. Phoebe and I sat next to each other as they applied loads of heat in the form of the blow dryer and brushes that they rolled into our hair and left hanging in place for a while, as we wondered what on earth we were going to be left with at the end.

The answer was, BIG HAIR. Beautiful large curls for Phoebe and lots of height and bounce for me!! It was a lot of fun , even if my cutter was about the roughest hairdresser I have ever known, shoving my head this way and that. She took to my hair with the razor and at first I was worried, but decided , what the hell, it’s only hair. I’ve got six weeks to grow it out before I go home. As it turns out, it’s not bad, but she has taken off a lot of the length I have been at pains to grow over the last year! How do you say C’est La Vie, in Italian?

I could definitely re visit Venice . But we had to leave and to do that we walked our bags to the nearest vaporetto stop (water bus), got off at the train station and took a fifty minute train ride to the town of Conegliano in the foothills of he Dolomiti in Prosecco country.

We picked up a rental car and headed into the hills to find our next stop, a winery, of course. We were blown away on that first drive with the magnificent beauty of this area; the rolling green hills, tall trees at last, with villages and church bell towers dotted through the landscape, and the mountains as back drop. As everyone says, the North is very different to the south. Of course the season is changing but it is so much greener here, more colourful and clean. Finally we have left the litter behind.

Our winery has a terrace with a view and we spent the first evening there , tasting the Prosecco and enjoying the sun and colour. We went to a restaurant in the next village for dinner but it proved disappointing. Phoebe and I chose asparagus, which is in season here, with eggs and got a massive serve of both white and green asparagus, completely unadorned (can you believe no butter ??)served with cold scrambled egg. We were a little disappointed, but it didn’t last long. The next day we headed to the small town of Asolo, which has a castle and is another walled town. Phoebe had not been to one, and we felt she had to, before leaving the country.

We found a restaurant which produced some local dishes and this time were very happy with our choices. Asparagus and eggs was in every course but we avoided it this time. (Don’t get me wrong, I love both asparagus and eggs,!).

They were once again lovely people, proud of their produce, and we had a view of the town, the pigeons and a few blokes doing something interesting to a Cyprus pine. Though we watched them for a while , we could not work out what it was they were trying to achieve, but they all seemed to be having a good time.

The drive there and back was simply spectacular, as was our evening on the terrace.

Today we have explored yet another gorgeous village nestled below the mountains and this time we walked a good distance between two villages to work up our appetite.

We particularly like Cison Di Valmareno, which has stunning stone buildings, a babbling river, lots of green trees and grass, some nice flat areas as well as its castle on the hill and a great sense of beauty and style. Arches that tempt you to walk down narrow lanes. Tiny gardens full of bright flowers in pots, wisteria draped over trees and peeping over massive stone walls, stone sidewalks and bridges. Just stunning……….

We have tried most of the wines , all Prosecco, produced by the winery we are staying at and have read about the problems that the world demand is causing, with over planting and over use of chemicals (familiar story, huh). You won’t be surprised to know that it has not taken off the edge of my enjoyment though, being a Prosecco fan from way back.

I have tried a lot of local cheeses in various dishes. The way they cook it is perhaps more interesting than the flavour of the cheeses themselves, which are all made of cows milk in this area.

So you can see its been a very indulgent time . I don’t think I have mentioned the gelato in Venice………..

It’s good that we do so much walking . And I was the first person of the season to use the pool at our accomodation yesterday. It sure was cold, but delightful. It’s been over twenty degrees here and I am really enjoying the gentle sun on my skin again, just like you guys have been enjoying over Autumn.

On Saturday we head up to Moena, right in the Dolomiti where it should be cool and crisp. We are interested to see how Easter Sunday passes in a small village, and for the first time in many years have bought ourselves an Easter egg, traditional Italian style of course.

It’s terrace time again. Ciao .