Berriman to Bari

We feel like we crossed more than a province border when we entered the Dolomites, and particularly when we crossed into Trentino-Aldo Adige , one of the five autonomous provinces, or regions of Italy.

Think Heidi. Wooden chalets, green pastures , cold blue rivers in each town, the neatest wood piles you can imagine and mountains covered with pines and larches, and or snow. It is stunningly beautiful and we have spent days gasping in awe as we rounded a (usually hairpin) bend to see another snow capped peak.

The village we stayed in is called Moena and it is the start of the Val di Fassa, a skiing region that Jock visited rather a long time ago (when he was in his twenties ) and where he did the best skiing of his life.

The province Trentino-Aldo Adige is autonomous in order to protect its cultural and linguistic heritage. Autonomous regions get to keep more of their taxes and provide more services locally , which you would have to imagine would suit people seemingly so fundamentally different from the majority in their country. In fact the area was part of Austria till the Second World War. This region has excellent roads and services, is clean as a whistle and incredibly well organised.Those mountains certainly make for cultural and linguistic borders!

The official languages of the province are Italian and Ladin , or Ladino , which is, I’m told, a mixture of German, French and Italian. But in the province itself there are apparently four dialects of Ladino, one for each valley!

We were staying at a B and B and our hosts Christina and Eric are locals, so were a great source of information and it was certainly interesting hearing them speak Ladin to each other. I felt very proud when Eric asked me “Vur ist da Frau?” and I could respond “with Mutter” !! (Mother, of course). I was peeved I hadn’t said mit Mutter, which would have expressed a good part of my German language skills!

In school they learn German or English, as well as Ladin and Italian. It seemed to us that most people had German as their third language, rather than English, and why not, with the borders so close.

We drove to the ski slopes on what must be one of the great drives of the world. It was a day long round trip from Moena passing through hamlets, villages and ski areas, nearly all of which are now closed. One was still open though, in the glacial area of Marmolada and we stopped and watched for quite some time, as not surprisingly, there was a lovely wooden deck outside a cafe where we could sit in the sun, have a beer and watch the slopes.

Jock really enjoyed the German and Austrian beers here, which they serve cold.

We had two days of bright sun and temperatures in the low twenties , so in all the places where there was snow it was melting rapidly, so there were drips and running water sounds on all our stops.

After that I spent a day exploring Moena on my own, while Jock was laid low with a cold, and took our hosts dog, Stephy, for a long walk on the local paths. And they do have paths here. Walking and bike paths galore so I was very happy and so was Stephy, who is now my very best new friend.

Timber is huge here, with houses being decorated with wooden ceilings and carvings, and decorative wood carvings gracing most doorways. The wood piles are a work of art in themselves, and logging is a big industry.

We noticed huge swathes of pine trees had been knocked over in the forests, over many valleys and many kilometres. Christina told us that they had a massive storm last October and having had very heavy rains, the trees were uprooted in the storm. Amazingly, no damage was done to property or people, even though the roads were still quite busy at 9.30 at night. The damage was only in the forests, but it is immense and a clean up has been under way ever since. Climate change, of course.

I ate some sauerkraut and Jock had wurst, and we both enjoyed Christina’s home made Easter panetonne.

I have some more quirks of Italy to add now that we are at the end of out trip, and might do a separate post. but want to review here my earlier comments about Italian drivers. I still maintain they are skilled and defensive but after many weeks of driving, no longer think they are patient and polite. We have certainly had some hair raising moments, and are still amazed that they think nothing of overtaking on double white lines on bends and in tunnels! I am pleased to say that I do think my brain finally adjusted to the right hand drive, and I was also able, eventually, to pass through the tunnels in the mountains without having a panic attack……

We were issued with a Jeep for our last rental car, which passes as a compact car in the mountains, where the roads are decidedly wider, and that seemed like another parallel universe, compared to our little Epica.

So now we are not far from Venice, ready to go to the airport tomorrow and so to England and family. I can’t really believe our time here has ended. Its been long enough to feel quite at home in some ways. We have left plenty to see should we ever be able to return and I wouldn’t hesitate to come back………

I’ll be back in touch when we get to Helsinki. (Apart from a separate post of photos).

E stato un piacere – It’s been a pleasure. Xx

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 .

The last two places we visited were white, the white town of Monte Sant’Angelo and the Citta Bianca, Ostuni, in Apuglia.

Mont Sant’Angelo is on the Gargano Peninsular on the Adriatic coast and has attracted pilgrims since the 10th century. It has many churches ( of course) but the main one, the Basilica of San Michele, is carved into the rock walls and occupies the centre of the rocky hill. I didn’t take any photos but did find the crypt , which houses the original entry point and stairs of the pilgrims, the current church, which is basically a cave, and the accompanying museum, very interesting and quite beautiful. However, that fascination did not extend to other ten or so churches, so we satisfied ourselves with a visit to the nearby beach towns and many walks round the labyrinthine old town of Mont Sant’Angelo.

The drive there from Abruzzo was stunning, with distant mountains and a descent into far more lush and green fields. It seemed like we passed through the food bowl of Italy .

We had a great little unit in Monte Sant’Angelo, that our friend Salvatore recommended. It was the first one that had a well functioning kitchen, a very comfortable bed, a great shower , a washing machine AND a washing line, so we enjoyed some domestic down time there. I did mean to get Jock to take a picture of me at the classic Italian washing line, which is attached to the wall outside a window or, as in our case, a balcony. Ours had a view of the far off ocean and the extraordinary stone terraces that have been carved into the very steep hillsides.

We drove to the nearby coast, round hairpin bend after hairpin bend and finally arrived at the Adriatic Sea which was very blue and calm. I put my toes in and very much regretted that I had left my swimmers in the suitcase, as it was warm enough for a dip. We had to content ourselves with a long walk on the pebbly beach and some fresh seafood for lunch. We went to two towns there, one being Manfredonia, a very congested but pretty seaside hub. Can’t imagine how it copes in the season as it was already bumper to bumper traffic with no parking.

After Mont Sant’Angelo we headed further south to Ostuni which is a long way south, in Apuglia.

Here we have been very entertained by our Airbnb host, Silvano, who speaks no English, but who is irrepressible and sociable in the extreme. So he just uses the translator on his smartphone when he has to, but otherwise communicates in slow, single Italian words (which we have some chance of understanding) and brilliant sign language and sound effects. Imagine, horse , for instance in sign language and sound effects; easy.

Silvano runs a couple of hectares of olive trees which are made into olive oil, and on the property is an ancient trullo. These are traditional stone structures that have a conical roof, used on agricultural properties for living in and/or for storage.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trullo

We spent a very pleasant few hours with Silvano on his property and he also took us on a short tour, to his favourite spot on the coast, where he dives, and to a great lookout point in Ostuni. He was incredibly generous with his time and energy, but I must say, he has a great deal of energy. Is it all that coffee they drink or just the nature of these wiry, fit folk?

We also met with Emilio who came to our place with his brother Salva some years ago. He took us to the best place in Ostuni to drink granita coffee with panna ( which we had not heard of and may not have tried if we had). But we were so glad we did. It’s a delicious iced coffee with a topping of cream, very different to an iced coffee in Australia. Emilio told us a lot about the history of Ostuni and also introduced us to a number of cafe owners (as did Silvano) so we have not been short of places to drop into to have a coffee and say hi.

Amazingly, we had another very social day today when we headed to a well known seafood restaurant in the seaside town of Santa Sabina, near Ostuni. Turns out that the couple on the table next to us were Australians, who live nearby. They are only the second Australian couple we have met here. So we had a long talk and exchanged addresses with talk of house swaps etc………………….

The restaurant was right on the ocean and the food was excellent. It was packed with Italians out for their traditional Sunday family lunch.

Ostuni itself is another walled city on a hill (are you noticing the theme here) and is painted white. So its quite dramatic against the blue sky and distant ocean.

Our little unit , which is very close to the historic centre, has a conical roof on two levels inside, which are an echo of the trullo, and has a small roof terrace. We sat up there last night and with the white walls and flat external roofs , the surrounding area looked sort of middle eastern or African, but the call to prayer was church bells.

It’s been a different Italy on this Adriatic coast. It is certainly the olive growing capital of the country and the rich red soil is evident everywhere. We’ve enjoyed being near the ocean again. But we do find the litter everywhere, including on the beaches, distressing and inexplicable, given the immense pride that people seem to have in their history and culture. Just don’t get why it excludes so much of their public environment.

Tomorrow we are off to the cave dwellings town of Matera. Ciao.

Ostuni in the background.

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!