Our last full day in Croatia, we’re having a quiet start to the day after two 6am starts in a row. We skipped dinner last night, so we’re off to Makarska for a nice lunch and then our final dinner in Croatia (this time anyway). The day is the stillest and calmest we’ve had so far and the Adriatic is like a mill pond – you can see small fish swimming in the sea from our balcony which is about 100m from the sea. It’s hot (very hot), but not humid, so we’ll go for our usual swim about 5pm when we get back from lunch and then dinner down at our local restaurant.
Tomorrow we check out and will spend the day in Split before we have to get to the ferry terminal at 3:30pm to catch the 5:30pm catamaran to Ancona in Italy – four hours away (it’s nine by slow boat)
Friday, June 29, 2007
Thursday – 4th Week: Dubrovnik
Up at 6am again today to get on the road down to Dubrovnik to beat all the buses that will be taking the tourists from Makarska and points in between. The road to Dubrovnik is interrupted by an 8km stretch that passes through the coastal part of Bosnia-Herzegovina. We’d had to specially request that we could do this with Peugeot, as B-H is not one of the countries you are insured to take the car, but we got assurance that we were covered for this particular piece of road.
At the first check point I held out our passports and was told to “mush mush” without the guard so much as touching them. B-H looked remarkably similar to Croatia for the 8 kilometres that we saw, but the buildings are newer. At the check point out of B-H, there were three trucks in the only lane that looked manned, but the next lane had a green tick above it, so I very slowly inched forward past the trucks to find the security guard, but he wasn’t there, so we just drove off. The return visit was less formal than that.
We got to Dubrovnik just after 9am, which must have been the perfect time because we got one of the last parks just outside the city wall and took a 4 hour ticket.
Dubrovnik is a beautiful city (see the photos) and has almost been fully restored since the war of the 1990’s. As we arrived at the city gates at the top of the city we could see the life boats from a cruise liner anchored in the bay ferrying its passengers into the town, so we decided to do a quick recky around the city before it became too over crowded. It is possible to walk round the marina on the outside of the city to get a view of the walls and ramparts from the water level, as well as walk around the entire city at the top of the walls. It would be interesting to know how much restoration had to be done, but we suspect an awful lot, as some of the centuries old wall is brand new and there are virtually no old roofs in the old town. Some of the shops have pictures showing boats burning in the marina and rubble strewn streets.
We started our walk around the wall at about 11:00, and it talk an hour and a half at a gentle pace that left lots of time for photos and staring out over the ramparts. When you get to the sea side of the wall, the walk way gets a lot narrower and the height a lot greater, so I made sure I walked on the city side of the walkway, as I can get queasy just thinking about heights. After walking round the walls, we settled down for a relaxing lunch to avoid some of the heat of the day.
We left Dubrovnik at 3:30 to get back on the road before the buses again. Other than being sandwiched between two empty car carrier trucks, narrowly avoiding a head-on with a car on our side of the road as we came round a corner (we now expect this, as it is our third near miss since we've been here) and seeing two cars parked on opposite sides of the road, heading in opposing directions and with the outside front wheels ripped off each car, it was an uneventful trip home. You’d never accuse the Croatians of being good or sensible drivers, so driving at about 80kph seems like a good defensive option. At the border crossing this time they were stopping all the cars and checking their passports – so we paused, handed over our passports and before he even touched ours he said….OKbye …meaning “Don’t waste my time”. Having a French car with red number plates and Kiwi passports, we thought this may be an issue….but not at all. Our last border crossing is on Saturday – back into Italy by fast catamaran.
At the first check point I held out our passports and was told to “mush mush” without the guard so much as touching them. B-H looked remarkably similar to Croatia for the 8 kilometres that we saw, but the buildings are newer. At the check point out of B-H, there were three trucks in the only lane that looked manned, but the next lane had a green tick above it, so I very slowly inched forward past the trucks to find the security guard, but he wasn’t there, so we just drove off. The return visit was less formal than that.
We got to Dubrovnik just after 9am, which must have been the perfect time because we got one of the last parks just outside the city wall and took a 4 hour ticket.
Dubrovnik is a beautiful city (see the photos) and has almost been fully restored since the war of the 1990’s. As we arrived at the city gates at the top of the city we could see the life boats from a cruise liner anchored in the bay ferrying its passengers into the town, so we decided to do a quick recky around the city before it became too over crowded. It is possible to walk round the marina on the outside of the city to get a view of the walls and ramparts from the water level, as well as walk around the entire city at the top of the walls. It would be interesting to know how much restoration had to be done, but we suspect an awful lot, as some of the centuries old wall is brand new and there are virtually no old roofs in the old town. Some of the shops have pictures showing boats burning in the marina and rubble strewn streets.
We started our walk around the wall at about 11:00, and it talk an hour and a half at a gentle pace that left lots of time for photos and staring out over the ramparts. When you get to the sea side of the wall, the walk way gets a lot narrower and the height a lot greater, so I made sure I walked on the city side of the walkway, as I can get queasy just thinking about heights. After walking round the walls, we settled down for a relaxing lunch to avoid some of the heat of the day.
We left Dubrovnik at 3:30 to get back on the road before the buses again. Other than being sandwiched between two empty car carrier trucks, narrowly avoiding a head-on with a car on our side of the road as we came round a corner (we now expect this, as it is our third near miss since we've been here) and seeing two cars parked on opposite sides of the road, heading in opposing directions and with the outside front wheels ripped off each car, it was an uneventful trip home. You’d never accuse the Croatians of being good or sensible drivers, so driving at about 80kph seems like a good defensive option. At the border crossing this time they were stopping all the cars and checking their passports – so we paused, handed over our passports and before he even touched ours he said….OKbye …meaning “Don’t waste my time”. Having a French car with red number plates and Kiwi passports, we thought this may be an issue….but not at all. Our last border crossing is on Saturday – back into Italy by fast catamaran.
Wednesday – 4th Week: Korčula and Mljet National Park
We were up at 6am today, to get showered and down the road to meet the tour bus that is taking us off to Makarska from where we will board a hydrofoil to the Island and town of Korčula and then to visit Mljet National park. Korčula is a large island that sits off the Makarska Riviera behind the island of Hvar. We are visiting the town of Korčula at the Western end of the island (the island runs East-West like Hvar, so the town is at the far end of the island). Korčula is known as little Dubrovnik, for its picturesque setting, ramparts and turrets.
Much to my surprise, even the bus trip into Makarska was enjoyable and I liked being able to sit way up high, get a good view of scenery and not have to worry about concentrate on the driving. The boat trip out to Korčula was a little bit bumpy as there was a bit of swell, which gets the Hydrofoil rolling from one foil to the other. Anne had her Sea Bands on, so there were no upsets. The hydrofoil is a great, fast way to travel. The trip to Korčula taking 45 minutes compared to the normal 3 and a half hours for a slow boat. Korčula itself is a beautiful little town (see the pictures) and the old part of the town takes about 15 minutes to walk around the outside of. There is a lot of interesting little streets in the middle as well. Because we were on a tour, we did a walking tour of the town, which we managed to stay with for about half an hour before we’d heard and forgotten enough historic dates and names to be satisfied for another year – and even visited a museum!
If ever you want to give yourself half an hours light entertainment, head down to your local boat harbour and watch people messing about in boats – backing trailers and getting boats onto trailers is particularly entertaining - take a glass of wine to add to the enjoyment. Today’s entertainment was in the guise of the weekend warriors who had chartered boats for a bit of cruising. First, were the guys in the motor launch, trying to tie up at the Marina. All the boats are moored with their sterns to the dock (so the plank can be run up onto to the dock), so a slow approach and a delicate hand on the throttle is required to bring the boat into the marina, bring it to a halt and gently back into the berth. Our friend chose the opposite approach, in fast, full revs in reverse, lurch backwards, lots of revs forward, repeat a couple of times and eventually crash into the boats on the opposite side of the marina. After lots of shouting and cursing and a couple of good shoves on their neighbor and they were safely berthed.
Next was the 48 foot yacht leaving the berth very gently. Lots of people were on the deck using their feet to push the boat out past the neighbor. Unfortunately, they were going too slowly and there wasn’t sufficient water going past the rudder to give them any steering, so they drifted onto their neighbor. “What’s that rope coming out under their boat” Anne asked. “That’s their neighbor’s bow anchor line and its about to get snagged on their rudder” I replied. A few seconds later, the bow of the yacht swung round as the stern was caught on the anchor rope and with an almighty crash hit the two neighbouring boats – more cursing and swearing from several crews. Actually, Anne and I had only walked to the end of the Marina to get a view back to the city, but what a great 10 minutes of entertainment.
We left Korčula at 12:30 for the island of Mljet (Pronounced me yet), where we were given a lunch at the local hotel, which we had with an interesting English couple who told us all about what a great travel destination Japan was. After lunch we went on a brief walk over the hill on the island and then down to the two lakes in the centre of the island. The two lakes are salt water and because they are land locked, the salt concentration is much higher than normal. We got taken on a boat trip to a small island at the end of the second lake (that’s an island on a lake on an island in the Adriatic sea). We went for a swim from the island and the water was both fabulously warm and extremely buoyant, so we were able to swim from the island to the shore and back again.
We left Mljet at 5:45, got back to Makarska at 7:00 and were dropped back in Zigovošće at 7:30. Dinner that night was pizza and a bottle of local red wine (Croatia is not well known for its wine…..)
Much to my surprise, even the bus trip into Makarska was enjoyable and I liked being able to sit way up high, get a good view of scenery and not have to worry about concentrate on the driving. The boat trip out to Korčula was a little bit bumpy as there was a bit of swell, which gets the Hydrofoil rolling from one foil to the other. Anne had her Sea Bands on, so there were no upsets. The hydrofoil is a great, fast way to travel. The trip to Korčula taking 45 minutes compared to the normal 3 and a half hours for a slow boat. Korčula itself is a beautiful little town (see the pictures) and the old part of the town takes about 15 minutes to walk around the outside of. There is a lot of interesting little streets in the middle as well. Because we were on a tour, we did a walking tour of the town, which we managed to stay with for about half an hour before we’d heard and forgotten enough historic dates and names to be satisfied for another year – and even visited a museum!
If ever you want to give yourself half an hours light entertainment, head down to your local boat harbour and watch people messing about in boats – backing trailers and getting boats onto trailers is particularly entertaining - take a glass of wine to add to the enjoyment. Today’s entertainment was in the guise of the weekend warriors who had chartered boats for a bit of cruising. First, were the guys in the motor launch, trying to tie up at the Marina. All the boats are moored with their sterns to the dock (so the plank can be run up onto to the dock), so a slow approach and a delicate hand on the throttle is required to bring the boat into the marina, bring it to a halt and gently back into the berth. Our friend chose the opposite approach, in fast, full revs in reverse, lurch backwards, lots of revs forward, repeat a couple of times and eventually crash into the boats on the opposite side of the marina. After lots of shouting and cursing and a couple of good shoves on their neighbor and they were safely berthed.
Next was the 48 foot yacht leaving the berth very gently. Lots of people were on the deck using their feet to push the boat out past the neighbor. Unfortunately, they were going too slowly and there wasn’t sufficient water going past the rudder to give them any steering, so they drifted onto their neighbor. “What’s that rope coming out under their boat” Anne asked. “That’s their neighbor’s bow anchor line and its about to get snagged on their rudder” I replied. A few seconds later, the bow of the yacht swung round as the stern was caught on the anchor rope and with an almighty crash hit the two neighbouring boats – more cursing and swearing from several crews. Actually, Anne and I had only walked to the end of the Marina to get a view back to the city, but what a great 10 minutes of entertainment.
We left Korčula at 12:30 for the island of Mljet (Pronounced me yet), where we were given a lunch at the local hotel, which we had with an interesting English couple who told us all about what a great travel destination Japan was. After lunch we went on a brief walk over the hill on the island and then down to the two lakes in the centre of the island. The two lakes are salt water and because they are land locked, the salt concentration is much higher than normal. We got taken on a boat trip to a small island at the end of the second lake (that’s an island on a lake on an island in the Adriatic sea). We went for a swim from the island and the water was both fabulously warm and extremely buoyant, so we were able to swim from the island to the shore and back again.
We left Mljet at 5:45, got back to Makarska at 7:00 and were dropped back in Zigovošće at 7:30. Dinner that night was pizza and a bottle of local red wine (Croatia is not well known for its wine…..)
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Tuesday – 4th Week: Zigovošće
Today’s a rest day – we’ve got two big days coming up – an all day boat trip to the Island of Korcula and the Mljet National Park, then Dubrovnik on Thursday – washing, drying, writing the blog, downloading photos off the cameras, doing a back up, having a snooze, then off to lunch and some sightseeing in the afternoon.
Monday – 4th Week: The Island of Hvar
Up at 6am again this morning and off to the ferry terminal in Drvenik, about 10 minutes down the road from Zigovošće, to take the car on the 30 minute boat ride to the Island of Hvar. Hvar is a long narrow island, with the main town of Hvar being at the opposite end of the island to where our ferry docked at Sućaraj. The 80km trip to Hvar runs along the spine of the island between olive groves, vineyards, lavender fields and the very occasional small town. The landscape is very similar to the south west of Ireland – the ring of Kerry and the Beara Peninsular – with many stone walls, the baron nature of large parts of it, and the views across the bays to the small towns on the mainland.
Unlike the roads from two days previous, on this small island, the road is only just wide enough for two cars to pass safely, extremely winding and much of it is a straight drop off from the tar seal into the adjoining paddock. What this means in practice is that you can’t afford to get the wheels off the black stuff, or you’ll be heading for serious suspension damage and a very quick stop. Fortunately, there wasn’t too much traffic on the road and Anne being Nav Girl Extraordinaire, she kept me posted on what traffic was approaching and any upcoming hazards. We did encounter one Campervan going our way and driving down the middle of the road, simply because they had no option and other than meeting the odd unexpected car on a blind corner, the trip was reasonably uneventful. I’ll have to investigate whether there is a Croatian rally or targa that goes to the Island, because it seems like the ideal rally road.
The town of Hvar is a very expensive resort and spa town. Expensive in every sense of the word – from the hotels dotted around the coast, to the value of the super yachts tied up in the harbour to the 20kuna you have to pay for a cup of coffee in the town square – About $NZD6. Like any small town with a walled castle on the hill overlooking the town, a marina full of various sized boats bobbing on the tide, a magnificent town square with restaurant umbrellas all around the edges it really is a picture postcard. Again, the temperature was in the low to mid 30’s, so a gentle pace was definitely the order of the day.
After a coffee (that’s breakfast) in the town square, we went for a walk on the stone path out past the marina. There were lots of boats offering rides out to the nearby beaches. There is a very good reason for this. While the beaches on the mainland had golf ball sized pebbles, the beaches around Hvar are just rock – solid not particularly flat and certainly not comfortable rock. So what do the locals do – they lie on it on their beach towels sunbathing. Some people that preferred a more comfortable class of rock had laid there towels out on the footpath that runs along the waters edge. Actually Point Jerningham at the end of Oriental Bay would be the best analogy. Just imagine taking your towel down to Point Jerningham and spreading it out on the footpath and sunbathing, with all the people walking past. When you felt like a swim, you’d clamber out over the rocks and into the water. Then imagine that the water is warm and pleasant – no you can’t, can you.
We then walked round to the other side of the port and out on the stone wall to look at a five masted tall ship and a cruise liner that were docked there for the day (possibly explaining the 20kuna cup of coffee – it’s 7kuna anywhere else). At about 12:30 – is that the heat of the day – we walked to the top of the hill to stand in front of the castle and admire the stunning views of the town, the harbour and the surrounding seas and islands (see the photo). A small bottle of Coke kept us going in stifling heat. Returning back to the town, we left at about 2pm and headed to Jelsa, a small ferry port town about half way up the island that we had passed on the way up to Hvar.
Lunch at Jelsa was Gelato – one of the few times we’ve had it on the holiday – don’t worry we’ve digressed in many other dietary areas. The trip from Jelsa back to Sućaraj is the narrowest and most winding on the island, so full concentration to keep it on the road and avoid all the cars coming off one of the ferries that had arrived.
The owners had invited us upstairs for a wine in the evening, so we had a fascinating talk with them about creating Yugoslavia after WWI, communist rule after WWII, the collapse of Yugoslavia and the war and now the new Croatia – really interesting stuff. It’s amazing talking to someone who by their late 60’s has lived through communist rule, been held in a Yugoslav prison for two months and beaten up by the communists for trying to escape to Italy, escaped to Italy and spent two and a half years in a refugee camp, got sponsored to come to New Zealand, gone back to Yugoslavia then in his 50’s spent 5 years fighting in a war for the freedom of Croats and the creation of Croatia.
We got to the Pizza restaurant at 11:00pm for dinner, but that’s no problem because they’re open until midnight and were still doing a roaring trade.
Unlike the roads from two days previous, on this small island, the road is only just wide enough for two cars to pass safely, extremely winding and much of it is a straight drop off from the tar seal into the adjoining paddock. What this means in practice is that you can’t afford to get the wheels off the black stuff, or you’ll be heading for serious suspension damage and a very quick stop. Fortunately, there wasn’t too much traffic on the road and Anne being Nav Girl Extraordinaire, she kept me posted on what traffic was approaching and any upcoming hazards. We did encounter one Campervan going our way and driving down the middle of the road, simply because they had no option and other than meeting the odd unexpected car on a blind corner, the trip was reasonably uneventful. I’ll have to investigate whether there is a Croatian rally or targa that goes to the Island, because it seems like the ideal rally road.
The town of Hvar is a very expensive resort and spa town. Expensive in every sense of the word – from the hotels dotted around the coast, to the value of the super yachts tied up in the harbour to the 20kuna you have to pay for a cup of coffee in the town square – About $NZD6. Like any small town with a walled castle on the hill overlooking the town, a marina full of various sized boats bobbing on the tide, a magnificent town square with restaurant umbrellas all around the edges it really is a picture postcard. Again, the temperature was in the low to mid 30’s, so a gentle pace was definitely the order of the day.
After a coffee (that’s breakfast) in the town square, we went for a walk on the stone path out past the marina. There were lots of boats offering rides out to the nearby beaches. There is a very good reason for this. While the beaches on the mainland had golf ball sized pebbles, the beaches around Hvar are just rock – solid not particularly flat and certainly not comfortable rock. So what do the locals do – they lie on it on their beach towels sunbathing. Some people that preferred a more comfortable class of rock had laid there towels out on the footpath that runs along the waters edge. Actually Point Jerningham at the end of Oriental Bay would be the best analogy. Just imagine taking your towel down to Point Jerningham and spreading it out on the footpath and sunbathing, with all the people walking past. When you felt like a swim, you’d clamber out over the rocks and into the water. Then imagine that the water is warm and pleasant – no you can’t, can you.
We then walked round to the other side of the port and out on the stone wall to look at a five masted tall ship and a cruise liner that were docked there for the day (possibly explaining the 20kuna cup of coffee – it’s 7kuna anywhere else). At about 12:30 – is that the heat of the day – we walked to the top of the hill to stand in front of the castle and admire the stunning views of the town, the harbour and the surrounding seas and islands (see the photo). A small bottle of Coke kept us going in stifling heat. Returning back to the town, we left at about 2pm and headed to Jelsa, a small ferry port town about half way up the island that we had passed on the way up to Hvar.
Lunch at Jelsa was Gelato – one of the few times we’ve had it on the holiday – don’t worry we’ve digressed in many other dietary areas. The trip from Jelsa back to Sućaraj is the narrowest and most winding on the island, so full concentration to keep it on the road and avoid all the cars coming off one of the ferries that had arrived.
The owners had invited us upstairs for a wine in the evening, so we had a fascinating talk with them about creating Yugoslavia after WWI, communist rule after WWII, the collapse of Yugoslavia and the war and now the new Croatia – really interesting stuff. It’s amazing talking to someone who by their late 60’s has lived through communist rule, been held in a Yugoslav prison for two months and beaten up by the communists for trying to escape to Italy, escaped to Italy and spent two and a half years in a refugee camp, got sponsored to come to New Zealand, gone back to Yugoslavia then in his 50’s spent 5 years fighting in a war for the freedom of Croats and the creation of Croatia.
We got to the Pizza restaurant at 11:00pm for dinner, but that’s no problem because they’re open until midnight and were still doing a roaring trade.
Sunday – Day 1 The Dalmatian Coast
After a good nights sleep, we awoke to a stunning day and in a much improved mood. We went and visited the town of Makarska, which is the main tourist town on the coast and the town of Igrane, which we can see from our balcony on our apartment (the sun sets behinds its church tower every night to create a brilliant silhouette).
Makarska is tourist central for the Austrians, Germans, Croats, Dutch and other nations that flood to the Dalmatian coast for a beach holiday. Like so many beach tourist resorts, there is an endless number of high-rise apartments, that empty people out onto the beach each morning. The beach itself is not very big, so it gets absolutely jam packed with people all crammed in side by side (see the photo). Beside the beach is a big market area selling beach clothing, beach towels, rubber mats (essential on the pebbles) jandals etc. and lots of restaurants and bars, so once you get yourself installed at the beach it’s all right there for you. The temperature was in the low 30’s, so everybody except Anne and I seemed very happy to be doing as little as possible if they weren’t cooling off in the sea. Anne and I of course were in sightseeing mode, so were walking around the historic centre with its square and church etc. Despite there being restaurants in the square, the whole area was deserted with everybody being at the beach. We then went down to the port to find out about boat trips to the islands before heading off to Igrane to find some shade, a beer and some lunch.
After lunch and a siesta, we headed to the beach at about 5pm, when the sun was a bit cooler and went for a swim in the Adriatic, which must be the warmest water either of us have ever swum in.
Makarska is tourist central for the Austrians, Germans, Croats, Dutch and other nations that flood to the Dalmatian coast for a beach holiday. Like so many beach tourist resorts, there is an endless number of high-rise apartments, that empty people out onto the beach each morning. The beach itself is not very big, so it gets absolutely jam packed with people all crammed in side by side (see the photo). Beside the beach is a big market area selling beach clothing, beach towels, rubber mats (essential on the pebbles) jandals etc. and lots of restaurants and bars, so once you get yourself installed at the beach it’s all right there for you. The temperature was in the low 30’s, so everybody except Anne and I seemed very happy to be doing as little as possible if they weren’t cooling off in the sea. Anne and I of course were in sightseeing mode, so were walking around the historic centre with its square and church etc. Despite there being restaurants in the square, the whole area was deserted with everybody being at the beach. We then went down to the port to find out about boat trips to the islands before heading off to Igrane to find some shade, a beer and some lunch.
After lunch and a siesta, we headed to the beach at about 5pm, when the sun was a bit cooler and went for a swim in the Adriatic, which must be the warmest water either of us have ever swum in.
Saturday – end of week 3
What a day we had today. The drive from Rovinj (pronounced Roveen) to Zigovošće (pronounced Zeegovosh) was supposed to take five and a half hours according to Michelin, but ended up taking over 9, with only two short stops – one for comfort and one for petrol. We found out at the end of the day that Saturday was the first day of the school holidays, which explains the 16km (2 hour) tailback to get through one of the tunnels and then another hour to get through another tunnel and then the crawl along the coast road from Split to Zigovošće. Needless to say, we arrived at our apartment at the end of the day hot, tired and grumpy.
Anyway the roads themselves were largely great. From Zagreb down to Split is a dual carriageway with a 130k speed limit (meaning unlimited). It has endless tunnels, two of them were up to 6 kms long and many over a kilometer. The amazing thing is they all appear to be new. The motorway is being extended from Split to Dubrovnik and will be completed by next year. I only mention the roads because of the endless discussion and constant inaction we have around Wellington on road construction. As a further example, there is an 8km stretch of coast on the road to Dubrovnik that belongs to Bosnia, so you have to do a border crossing to travel from one end of the country to the other. The Croatians aren’t happy about this and are going to build a bridge out into the Adriatic to go around Bosnia – brilliant.
Anyway, we’re now in Zigovošće. Zigovošće is on the Dalmatian Coast between Split and Dubrovnik at the foot of the Biokovo massif. The Biokovo massif makes for a very dramatic setting, with the small towns nestled next to the sea at the foot of the mountains rising straight out of the Adriatic. The island of Hvar (one of Croatia’s hotspots) is just a couple of miles off the coast and there are many other islands that you can take car ferries or tourist boats to, so visiting them and Dubrovnic will take up a large portion of the week, along with some R&R on the beach.
The beaches on the coast are not the white sands that we are used to, but white golf ball size pebbles which move like quick sand when you try and make a graceful entrance or exit from the water. The pebbles are the reason that the Adriatic is so Crystal clear – they don’t get churned up. The Adriatic is also a very calm sea – you can drive a 15ft runabout from Croatia to Italy - 123 kilometres away - with no worries, and many Yugoslavs did that in the late 1950’s to escape communist rule.
The apartment is very nice – it’s the second storey in a 4 storey house on a steep hill and we have a massive balcony with views out over the Adriatic. The owners live on the floor above us and they are a really interesting couple and delightful hosts. Zigovošće has a number of small restaurants and a massive hotel at the far end – the hotel Nimfa, which despite the implication of the name looks like hell on earth. It has an all inclusive restaurant and a disco. (no, we are not saying this because we went to it)!
Anyway the roads themselves were largely great. From Zagreb down to Split is a dual carriageway with a 130k speed limit (meaning unlimited). It has endless tunnels, two of them were up to 6 kms long and many over a kilometer. The amazing thing is they all appear to be new. The motorway is being extended from Split to Dubrovnik and will be completed by next year. I only mention the roads because of the endless discussion and constant inaction we have around Wellington on road construction. As a further example, there is an 8km stretch of coast on the road to Dubrovnik that belongs to Bosnia, so you have to do a border crossing to travel from one end of the country to the other. The Croatians aren’t happy about this and are going to build a bridge out into the Adriatic to go around Bosnia – brilliant.
Anyway, we’re now in Zigovošće. Zigovošće is on the Dalmatian Coast between Split and Dubrovnik at the foot of the Biokovo massif. The Biokovo massif makes for a very dramatic setting, with the small towns nestled next to the sea at the foot of the mountains rising straight out of the Adriatic. The island of Hvar (one of Croatia’s hotspots) is just a couple of miles off the coast and there are many other islands that you can take car ferries or tourist boats to, so visiting them and Dubrovnic will take up a large portion of the week, along with some R&R on the beach.
The beaches on the coast are not the white sands that we are used to, but white golf ball size pebbles which move like quick sand when you try and make a graceful entrance or exit from the water. The pebbles are the reason that the Adriatic is so Crystal clear – they don’t get churned up. The Adriatic is also a very calm sea – you can drive a 15ft runabout from Croatia to Italy - 123 kilometres away - with no worries, and many Yugoslavs did that in the late 1950’s to escape communist rule.
The apartment is very nice – it’s the second storey in a 4 storey house on a steep hill and we have a massive balcony with views out over the Adriatic. The owners live on the floor above us and they are a really interesting couple and delightful hosts. Zigovošće has a number of small restaurants and a massive hotel at the far end – the hotel Nimfa, which despite the implication of the name looks like hell on earth. It has an all inclusive restaurant and a disco. (no, we are not saying this because we went to it)!
Friday, June 22, 2007
Thursday and Friday Week 3 – Istrian Peninsular: Rovinj, Porec and Pula
Man it’s hot – the day started at about 29 and got up to 36 by mid afternoon. We see on stuff.co.nz that New Zealand is in the grip of ‘another polar blast’, so sorry that everybody is having to suffer through that.
Today we’ve headed off for some sightseeing on the west Coast of the Istrian Peninsular. Road markings in the back roads are a bit of a challenge, so you tend to head in the general direction of where you’re trying to get to go round in circles a few times until you eventually get to where you want to go. We’re obviously not the only people who are suffering from this, because we got used to seeing cars doing u-turns and then passing cars going in opposite directions a few minutes after they pass you. The first town we visited was Porec, which is about 15kms up the road from Rovinj. It must have been the end of the term today, because all the school kids seemed to be running riot in the town and squirting each other with shaving cream and honing around on motor scooters – this at 11:00 o’clock in the morning. We went for a walk around the old town, the port, stopped for a coca cola, ran the gauntlet of the school kids, took a couple of photos and then left.
From there, we headed to the southern end of the peninsular to Pula, which is an ancient Istrian town, with what they claim to be the 6th largest Roman ampitheatre – the 5 larger ones are in Italy (we believe the amphitheatre in Nimes is bigger – and its in France). It is still in a very well preserved condition and they have concerts and operas in there on a regular basis. Its current capacity is 23,000 people, but when the Romans ran it, they could get 35,000 people in plus gladiators, lions, Christians etc. – the works.
Pula is actually a large city port, with around 70,000 people. Again we went for a walk around the old town and visited the castle and moat at the top of the hill, then visited the amphitheatre where we walk round on the inside amongst the ruins and the stone seating in the centre of the ampthitheatre. After that we headed back to Rovinj, with the car temperature showing 35 degreees.
We then had some drinks in the square in Rovinj, did our blog, had some drinks and eventually went for dinner at a German restaurant that we had discovered on our late night walk the night before.
Today, we’ve had a quiet day around Rovnij going for a walk around the Marina, having lunch, just chilling out really. There is a salsa festival on in Rovinj tonight and for the next 3 days – right outside the hotel. There’s been a crew setting up the stage and sound system all day today. Hopefully it won’t go on much beyond (bloody hell, they’ve just cranked up the speakers for the first time and I was just about blown into next week – I’m sitting in a café in the square directly in front of them) midnight as we have about a 6 hour drive tomorrow, so some sleep tonight would be good.
We are staying in Makarska for the next week, which is about 80ks South of Split and 120ks north of Dubrovnik and across a short stretch of water from Hvar. Again I don’t know what internet facilities will be like, but will update the blog as often as I can.
Today we’ve headed off for some sightseeing on the west Coast of the Istrian Peninsular. Road markings in the back roads are a bit of a challenge, so you tend to head in the general direction of where you’re trying to get to go round in circles a few times until you eventually get to where you want to go. We’re obviously not the only people who are suffering from this, because we got used to seeing cars doing u-turns and then passing cars going in opposite directions a few minutes after they pass you. The first town we visited was Porec, which is about 15kms up the road from Rovinj. It must have been the end of the term today, because all the school kids seemed to be running riot in the town and squirting each other with shaving cream and honing around on motor scooters – this at 11:00 o’clock in the morning. We went for a walk around the old town, the port, stopped for a coca cola, ran the gauntlet of the school kids, took a couple of photos and then left.
From there, we headed to the southern end of the peninsular to Pula, which is an ancient Istrian town, with what they claim to be the 6th largest Roman ampitheatre – the 5 larger ones are in Italy (we believe the amphitheatre in Nimes is bigger – and its in France). It is still in a very well preserved condition and they have concerts and operas in there on a regular basis. Its current capacity is 23,000 people, but when the Romans ran it, they could get 35,000 people in plus gladiators, lions, Christians etc. – the works.
Pula is actually a large city port, with around 70,000 people. Again we went for a walk around the old town and visited the castle and moat at the top of the hill, then visited the amphitheatre where we walk round on the inside amongst the ruins and the stone seating in the centre of the ampthitheatre. After that we headed back to Rovinj, with the car temperature showing 35 degreees.
We then had some drinks in the square in Rovinj, did our blog, had some drinks and eventually went for dinner at a German restaurant that we had discovered on our late night walk the night before.
Today, we’ve had a quiet day around Rovnij going for a walk around the Marina, having lunch, just chilling out really. There is a salsa festival on in Rovinj tonight and for the next 3 days – right outside the hotel. There’s been a crew setting up the stage and sound system all day today. Hopefully it won’t go on much beyond (bloody hell, they’ve just cranked up the speakers for the first time and I was just about blown into next week – I’m sitting in a café in the square directly in front of them) midnight as we have about a 6 hour drive tomorrow, so some sleep tonight would be good.
We are staying in Makarska for the next week, which is about 80ks South of Split and 120ks north of Dubrovnik and across a short stretch of water from Hvar. Again I don’t know what internet facilities will be like, but will update the blog as often as I can.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Wednesday Week 3 – Drive day – Off to Croatia
I’m sitting in a café in the square in Rovinj writing this blog – enjoying a beer with Anne, before we head to dinner shortly.
It was sad to leave Venice, as we’ve had a really fabulous time here. When we arrived, we had every intention of taking a gondola ride, but decided after watching the procession of gondolas coming out of the canals that it didn’t’ really interest us. We also thought that having been to Venice once that we’d come back again and that would be it, but having spent four day here, we really love the place, love the hotel and the location and would happily come back here again any time.
Compared to what it was like 13 years ago, Venice now seems much cleaner – both the buildings and the water in the canal, so we assume that they are doing a lot of restoration work around the city. The biggest issue Venice faces is the rising tide levels and the fact that the city is sinking. Water comes into St. Marks square 250 times a year and when we were there on Sunday night, the water was bubbling out of the storm water drains and into the square – not a flood, but still a sign of the problem they have. There are billboards advising what work is being done to combat all but the worst of the floods – hopefully they will succeed.
We arrived by public ferry and had to struggle on and off with our bags. We decided to leave by water taxi – a beautiful fully varnished affair – top of the line. Anne also thought the driver was pretty top of the range as well – she’d seen a few of them driving with there shirts off and decided they were a Venentian tourist attraction that more women should be made aware of.
We collected the car, paid the 80 Euro four day parking fee (the same as the fifteen minute water taxi fare) and got on the motorway to Trieste on the way to Croatia. Trieste was just a short stop off, with a walk in 35 degree heat. The most noteworthy thing being the lack of sign posting out of the town and the several circles we went in before we were on our way for the Slovenian border. No problems at any of the four border posts – Italian, Slovenian, then Slovenian and Croatian.
We had no idea what Croatia was going to be like, but given the war we expected a bit backward compared to the rest of Europe. After a day and a half we are amazed. The roads are brand new, the service station we stopped at is the best we’ve been to so far, all the locals speak English (thank god – we’ve got a Croatian phrase book, but it looks totally incomprehensible). Hello is Bog (pronounced bawg), but I haven’t heard anybody say it yet. We’ve taken up walking into a shop or restaurant talking to each other, so the owner knows that we’re English.
Anyway, we’re staying at Rovinj for 3 nights. Oh my god – check out the photos from our hotel window – it is absolutely amazing. We had some difficulty booking a hotel because they’re all 300 room monstrosities – the Star Ship Enterprise as Anne calls them. The one we found is 25 rooms in the historic centre of the old town. We are on the third floor, with spectacular views over the harbour and the promenade.
After a walk around the old town, then beer and pretzels in a café in the town square beside the harbour, we headed off to dinner at a local sea food restaurant looking out over a nearby island. We had a wonderful local specialty beef dish with a tomato sauce and then the fish platter for two. After dinner we went for another walk around the old town again. Because of the heat during the day, we hadn’t ventured up the hill, but in the cool of night we were able to and what a revelation. Around every corner were more street vendors, café’s and restaurants – it really was amazing and it had a real buzz about the place. The hike to the top of the hill nearly killed my calves, but was well worth the effort. Tomorrow we’re off sight seeing around the Istrian Peninsular.
It was sad to leave Venice, as we’ve had a really fabulous time here. When we arrived, we had every intention of taking a gondola ride, but decided after watching the procession of gondolas coming out of the canals that it didn’t’ really interest us. We also thought that having been to Venice once that we’d come back again and that would be it, but having spent four day here, we really love the place, love the hotel and the location and would happily come back here again any time.
Compared to what it was like 13 years ago, Venice now seems much cleaner – both the buildings and the water in the canal, so we assume that they are doing a lot of restoration work around the city. The biggest issue Venice faces is the rising tide levels and the fact that the city is sinking. Water comes into St. Marks square 250 times a year and when we were there on Sunday night, the water was bubbling out of the storm water drains and into the square – not a flood, but still a sign of the problem they have. There are billboards advising what work is being done to combat all but the worst of the floods – hopefully they will succeed.
We arrived by public ferry and had to struggle on and off with our bags. We decided to leave by water taxi – a beautiful fully varnished affair – top of the line. Anne also thought the driver was pretty top of the range as well – she’d seen a few of them driving with there shirts off and decided they were a Venentian tourist attraction that more women should be made aware of.
We collected the car, paid the 80 Euro four day parking fee (the same as the fifteen minute water taxi fare) and got on the motorway to Trieste on the way to Croatia. Trieste was just a short stop off, with a walk in 35 degree heat. The most noteworthy thing being the lack of sign posting out of the town and the several circles we went in before we were on our way for the Slovenian border. No problems at any of the four border posts – Italian, Slovenian, then Slovenian and Croatian.
We had no idea what Croatia was going to be like, but given the war we expected a bit backward compared to the rest of Europe. After a day and a half we are amazed. The roads are brand new, the service station we stopped at is the best we’ve been to so far, all the locals speak English (thank god – we’ve got a Croatian phrase book, but it looks totally incomprehensible). Hello is Bog (pronounced bawg), but I haven’t heard anybody say it yet. We’ve taken up walking into a shop or restaurant talking to each other, so the owner knows that we’re English.
Anyway, we’re staying at Rovinj for 3 nights. Oh my god – check out the photos from our hotel window – it is absolutely amazing. We had some difficulty booking a hotel because they’re all 300 room monstrosities – the Star Ship Enterprise as Anne calls them. The one we found is 25 rooms in the historic centre of the old town. We are on the third floor, with spectacular views over the harbour and the promenade.
After a walk around the old town, then beer and pretzels in a café in the town square beside the harbour, we headed off to dinner at a local sea food restaurant looking out over a nearby island. We had a wonderful local specialty beef dish with a tomato sauce and then the fish platter for two. After dinner we went for another walk around the old town again. Because of the heat during the day, we hadn’t ventured up the hill, but in the cool of night we were able to and what a revelation. Around every corner were more street vendors, café’s and restaurants – it really was amazing and it had a real buzz about the place. The hike to the top of the hill nearly killed my calves, but was well worth the effort. Tomorrow we’re off sight seeing around the Istrian Peninsular.
Tuesday – Day 3 Venice
I’m sitting on the balcony again writing our blog – today has been an absoloute scorcher and Anne and I have walked our feet off. The regular procession of gondola’s, ferrys and water taxis is cruising by.
Today’s excursion is again another long walk to cover an area of Venice we haven’t seen before. We really enjoyed the lunch at La Piscina down at Canal Della Giudecca, so thought that we would walk back there for lunch via the theatre district and over the Academia bridge.
The thing we’ve found with Venice is we just head off in a general direction, but then start making decisions about where to walk based on which way looks the most interesting. This usually works well, unless you have a specific goal in mind, in which case you end up going in circles for a couple of hours before you decide that you’d better focus and follow some directions to where it is you want to get to. This is what we did today – we headed off towards the bridge, but then found the theatre district, went off exploring in many random directions and before we knew it were back at St Marks Square, which was in totally the wrong direction from where we were meant to be going. We found lots of lovely little restaurants tucked away in tiny little piazzas and canals that we hadn’t come across before.
We did eventually get over the academia bridge to the other side of the Grand Canal, but saw another restaurant on the Canal Della Giudecca on the way to La Piscina- called Lineadombra, which looked equally good, so we had lunch there. It was fabulous – I had Carpaccio of sea bass with grape fruit and currents, then Tagliolini with scallops and asparagus and Anne had grilled scallops and courgettes rolled with yogurt and saffron sauce, followed by strozzapretti with scampi and pinenuts and basil. We shared a pastry and creamy desert and a desert wine – fantastic.
After about a four hour walk to get to lunch, we had a two hour walk to get back to the hotel – all in 30 odd degree heat. We crashed for an hour at the hotel when we got back.
Dinner at night – yes, we had a dinner – was back at the restaurant on the canal outside the hotel. It was a great final night dining in Venice by the canal. We had a drink before hand right beside the Rialto bridge and then finished up dipping our feet in the canal at the base on the other side of the Rialto bridge.
Today’s excursion is again another long walk to cover an area of Venice we haven’t seen before. We really enjoyed the lunch at La Piscina down at Canal Della Giudecca, so thought that we would walk back there for lunch via the theatre district and over the Academia bridge.
The thing we’ve found with Venice is we just head off in a general direction, but then start making decisions about where to walk based on which way looks the most interesting. This usually works well, unless you have a specific goal in mind, in which case you end up going in circles for a couple of hours before you decide that you’d better focus and follow some directions to where it is you want to get to. This is what we did today – we headed off towards the bridge, but then found the theatre district, went off exploring in many random directions and before we knew it were back at St Marks Square, which was in totally the wrong direction from where we were meant to be going. We found lots of lovely little restaurants tucked away in tiny little piazzas and canals that we hadn’t come across before.
We did eventually get over the academia bridge to the other side of the Grand Canal, but saw another restaurant on the Canal Della Giudecca on the way to La Piscina- called Lineadombra, which looked equally good, so we had lunch there. It was fabulous – I had Carpaccio of sea bass with grape fruit and currents, then Tagliolini with scallops and asparagus and Anne had grilled scallops and courgettes rolled with yogurt and saffron sauce, followed by strozzapretti with scampi and pinenuts and basil. We shared a pastry and creamy desert and a desert wine – fantastic.
After about a four hour walk to get to lunch, we had a two hour walk to get back to the hotel – all in 30 odd degree heat. We crashed for an hour at the hotel when we got back.
Dinner at night – yes, we had a dinner – was back at the restaurant on the canal outside the hotel. It was a great final night dining in Venice by the canal. We had a drink before hand right beside the Rialto bridge and then finished up dipping our feet in the canal at the base on the other side of the Rialto bridge.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Monday – Day 2 Venice
Today we are off to Murano, the glass island. There are glass factory tours on offer, but you can also get to the island by ferry and do your own thing, so Anne and I headed off to St Mark’s square to catch the ferry to the island. There are lots of different ways to get to St Marks and our walk this morning took s to the top end of the square. On the way, we found the kick-off point for where the gondola’s leave from beside St. Marks square. It’s a large pool, big enough for the gondolas to park about 10 side by side and several rows deep. When we got there at about 9:00 in the morning, there were about 30 gondolas in the area waiting to take loads of Japanese tourists on their gondola ride. When you look at the map the meeting area is quite visible, as is the circuit that the gondolas do from St Marks square, through the narrow canals out to the Grand Canal, where they come out opposite our hotel, then down the grand canal away from the Rialto bridge before heading back inland via another small canal to get back to the starting point.
Evan at this early hour, St. Mark’s square and the promenade out on the grand canal are very busy, with tourists flocking into the city. Fortunately, the 10:15 boat (the first) to the island wasn’t too busy, so we managed to get a seat on the front of the boat. Murano is a small island near Venice, which is famous for all the glass it produces – chandeliers, jewelry, glass art, lamp shades – all that stuff.
We had hoped to find some special glass thing to buy, but unfortunately there was nothing that really grabbed us, although I did like the glass guitar that was housed in a special room that we had to be taken on a tour of. I knew it would be expensive, but I had to ask anyway, just to be sure it was out of our price range – at 80,000 Euros, I figured it definitely was. Despite not finding anything to buy, Murano was a beautiful little island to walk around – again more canals, but a bit quieter that the main part of Venice. It’s amazing how many glass shops there are – literally hundreds – and some of the glass sculpting is quite beautiful.
We walked around Murano for a couple of hours before heading back to the mainland, where we got off at one of the first stops and walked back to the Rialto bridge, as the route back took us to another part of Venice that we hadn’t explored. We stopped for a small lunch in a square near the bridge for a light lunch, then relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, before dinner beside the canal again and another nice walk to St. Mark’s square to finish off the evening.
Evan at this early hour, St. Mark’s square and the promenade out on the grand canal are very busy, with tourists flocking into the city. Fortunately, the 10:15 boat (the first) to the island wasn’t too busy, so we managed to get a seat on the front of the boat. Murano is a small island near Venice, which is famous for all the glass it produces – chandeliers, jewelry, glass art, lamp shades – all that stuff.
We had hoped to find some special glass thing to buy, but unfortunately there was nothing that really grabbed us, although I did like the glass guitar that was housed in a special room that we had to be taken on a tour of. I knew it would be expensive, but I had to ask anyway, just to be sure it was out of our price range – at 80,000 Euros, I figured it definitely was. Despite not finding anything to buy, Murano was a beautiful little island to walk around – again more canals, but a bit quieter that the main part of Venice. It’s amazing how many glass shops there are – literally hundreds – and some of the glass sculpting is quite beautiful.
We walked around Murano for a couple of hours before heading back to the mainland, where we got off at one of the first stops and walked back to the Rialto bridge, as the route back took us to another part of Venice that we hadn’t explored. We stopped for a small lunch in a square near the bridge for a light lunch, then relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, before dinner beside the canal again and another nice walk to St. Mark’s square to finish off the evening.
Sunday – Day 1 Venice
Today is our culture day and we’re off to the Gallerie Dell’Accademia – the academy of Fine Arts and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. The two galleries are in the Southern part of Venice, so we caught a ferry the 5 stops down to Accademia. (A wedding couple has just gone past in a gondola – claassay).
On getting off the ferry, we took a wrong turn (it didn’t hit us between the eyes) and did a very nice walk to the next canal (Canal Della Giudecca) which has a beautiful promenade and from where you can see all the cruise liners who have stopped in Venice for the day. On the way, we stopped at a jewelry shop where Anne bought two necklaces. On returning to the ferry stop, we found the Academy 10 metres in the other direction.
The academy is housed in the school and Church of St Mary of Charity and in the lateran Canon’s monastery and houses art works from Venetian painters from the 14th to 18th Century. The art and the academy are both very impressive and very large, although they were some what fixated with religion in all of their painting. In all these sorts of things, my attention span is limited, so after a couple of hours, I’d read enough about which saint was gesturing to what saint, so simply put my own interpretation on what was being depicted. Anne was generous in her tolerance of my interpretations.
After the academy, it was a short walk to the Peggy G collection. On the way, we were delighted to come across two policemen with a speed camera, who were ticketing speeders on the Grand Canal. Despite the unique environment, the technology and protestations of innocence seemed very similar to that of road users.
Peggy Gughenheim was a niece of Solomon G, who’s foundation it is that has set up art galleries in New York, Bilbao, Berlin etc. and it is the Solomon G foundation that now administers Peggy’s collection. The first part of the gallery contained a temporary exhibition by two artists and Peggy’s collection has been moved to the building next door while the exhibitions are on. The exhibitions can go tomorrow as far as I’m concerned, as they are just self indulgent nonsense (one involving Vaseline) – enough said. Peggy devoted her life to promoting modern art – surreal and abstract and the collection was really interesting – Picasso, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Kandanski etc. We spent about an hour and half there and then headed back to the Canal Della Giudecca for lunch.
We had lunch at La Piscena – a restaurant jutting out into the canal, and Anne had Raviolini ripeni di rana pescatrice con Asparagi (Ravioli with fish and Asparagus), while I had Casarecce (pasta) with pheasant and red raddish with a bottle of Rosé. After lunch, we took a circuitous walk back to the Rialto bridge. To get there, you have to walk round the outside edge of the Grand Canal, but you can’t just walk by the canal, so you have to find you way through the little alleys and over the canal bridges. It took us about 2 hours and on the way we found two more beautiful necklaces and a pair of lime green leather gloves – we’re doing more shopping that we’ve done in years.
Dinner was in another one of the restaurants by the Grand Canal and I had one of the local specialties – Fegato alla Veneziana Con Polenta* – and it was superb. We had a merlot tonight, as drinking Rosé at night (as we did last night) the temptation is too great to push on into the second bottle.
After dinner we walked down to St Mark’s square. We hadn’t intended to, but Venice feels incredibly safe, it was a warm night and the walk only took about 15 minutes from the hotel (5 minutes to negotiate all the people on the Rialto bridge). The restaurants in St Marks (which are much posher than the one’s by the bridge) all have little classical groups that play for their Al Fresco diners and the punters like us who are passing by. It looked very nice, but after a couple of minutes had more the feeling of an up market beer festival band, so we wandered round the square, before making our way back to the hotel.
*Calf liver with Onions and Polenta
On getting off the ferry, we took a wrong turn (it didn’t hit us between the eyes) and did a very nice walk to the next canal (Canal Della Giudecca) which has a beautiful promenade and from where you can see all the cruise liners who have stopped in Venice for the day. On the way, we stopped at a jewelry shop where Anne bought two necklaces. On returning to the ferry stop, we found the Academy 10 metres in the other direction.
The academy is housed in the school and Church of St Mary of Charity and in the lateran Canon’s monastery and houses art works from Venetian painters from the 14th to 18th Century. The art and the academy are both very impressive and very large, although they were some what fixated with religion in all of their painting. In all these sorts of things, my attention span is limited, so after a couple of hours, I’d read enough about which saint was gesturing to what saint, so simply put my own interpretation on what was being depicted. Anne was generous in her tolerance of my interpretations.
After the academy, it was a short walk to the Peggy G collection. On the way, we were delighted to come across two policemen with a speed camera, who were ticketing speeders on the Grand Canal. Despite the unique environment, the technology and protestations of innocence seemed very similar to that of road users.
Peggy Gughenheim was a niece of Solomon G, who’s foundation it is that has set up art galleries in New York, Bilbao, Berlin etc. and it is the Solomon G foundation that now administers Peggy’s collection. The first part of the gallery contained a temporary exhibition by two artists and Peggy’s collection has been moved to the building next door while the exhibitions are on. The exhibitions can go tomorrow as far as I’m concerned, as they are just self indulgent nonsense (one involving Vaseline) – enough said. Peggy devoted her life to promoting modern art – surreal and abstract and the collection was really interesting – Picasso, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Kandanski etc. We spent about an hour and half there and then headed back to the Canal Della Giudecca for lunch.
We had lunch at La Piscena – a restaurant jutting out into the canal, and Anne had Raviolini ripeni di rana pescatrice con Asparagi (Ravioli with fish and Asparagus), while I had Casarecce (pasta) with pheasant and red raddish with a bottle of Rosé. After lunch, we took a circuitous walk back to the Rialto bridge. To get there, you have to walk round the outside edge of the Grand Canal, but you can’t just walk by the canal, so you have to find you way through the little alleys and over the canal bridges. It took us about 2 hours and on the way we found two more beautiful necklaces and a pair of lime green leather gloves – we’re doing more shopping that we’ve done in years.
Dinner was in another one of the restaurants by the Grand Canal and I had one of the local specialties – Fegato alla Veneziana Con Polenta* – and it was superb. We had a merlot tonight, as drinking Rosé at night (as we did last night) the temptation is too great to push on into the second bottle.
After dinner we walked down to St Mark’s square. We hadn’t intended to, but Venice feels incredibly safe, it was a warm night and the walk only took about 15 minutes from the hotel (5 minutes to negotiate all the people on the Rialto bridge). The restaurants in St Marks (which are much posher than the one’s by the bridge) all have little classical groups that play for their Al Fresco diners and the punters like us who are passing by. It looked very nice, but after a couple of minutes had more the feeling of an up market beer festival band, so we wandered round the square, before making our way back to the hotel.
*Calf liver with Onions and Polenta
Saturday – end of week 2
I haven’t written our blog for 3 days now, so I’ve got some catching up to do. I’m sitting on the balcony of our hotel in Venice, the Locanda Ovidius, which is about 75m from the Rialto Bridge (which I’m looking at), typing away and watching all the gondolas, water taxis and public ferries go by. This morning we got up early and there were lots of barges delivering goods to all the restaurants near the bridge. Other types of water born craft we’ve seen are fire, police and ambulance, couriers, rubbish trucks, the post man – everything is done by boat.
Saturday was our last day in Bellagio. The weather did fine up after the storm and we went out for a pizza dinner on our final night. After the storm, Saturday dawned beautifully clear again – it seems to be that way every second day. We were up early, packed and ready to go by 9:00am. The first part of the drive from Bellagio to Lecco was again a narrow windy road – marginally easier than the Como to Bellagio road, but made more difficult by the number of cyclists we encountered around Lecco. Being a Saturday morning, they were all out riding in groups, which made passing very difficult. After Lecco, we drove the back roads to Bergamo, which was very busy on a Saturday morning, before hitting the motorway to Venice. The first part to Verona, was very boring – again flat and straight, with no surrounding hills, so nothing to look at. After Verona however, the country side got hillier and there were hilltop towns and mile after mile of vineyards.
When we get to Venice, we drove down the 4 km causeway to the Tronchetto car park. From there we carried our bags to the car ferry (despite being back packs, they don’t have any of the straps any more, as we cut them out to save weight and space – we figured we’d never use them as backpacks again, but need to use them because they fit in the boot of the convertible and still let us put the roof down). This is the longest distance we have had to carry bags ever. Fortunately, Tronchetto is the first stop for the ferry, so we were able to get a seat for us and our bags – I was carrying both the back packs with a day pack on my back and Anne was carrying her own day pack and organising tickets and figuring out where to go. We’ve bought a 3 day pass for the ferries, so we can hop on and off whenever we like and they will even take us out to Murano.
Our instructions for getting to the hotel were very good, so we found it easily, which was great because it was a really hot day. The hotel is brilliant and our room is one of only 4 in the hotel that has a view out over the Grand Canal. It’s also a very large room, which from what we read on trip advisor, is a rare thing in Venice.
We had lunch after checking-in, at a sidewalk restaurant beside the Grand Canal overlooking the Rialto Bridge in front of the hotel, then went for a walk around the back streets and canals of Venice. We decided to have Rosé with our lunch, something we learnt in France – it was stunning! Venice is a great city to just wander around. Despite having a 3 day ferry pass, we’re not using it very much because we usually take the ferry one way and then walk back from where ever we get to. The shops in Venice are amazing too with lots of masks, Murano glass, jewelry, all the up market fashion stores, and even a Ferrari shop with Michael Schumacher’s 2002 car sitting in the window. Our walk went in a couple of directions, but ultimately ended up in St. Marks square, with its Basilica, Doge’s Palace, Bridge of Sighs, Campanile etc.
Dinner that night was at the same restaurant that we had lunch – a long drawn out affair from 8:30 till midnight – much good conversation to be had when dining beside the Grand Canal.
Saturday was our last day in Bellagio. The weather did fine up after the storm and we went out for a pizza dinner on our final night. After the storm, Saturday dawned beautifully clear again – it seems to be that way every second day. We were up early, packed and ready to go by 9:00am. The first part of the drive from Bellagio to Lecco was again a narrow windy road – marginally easier than the Como to Bellagio road, but made more difficult by the number of cyclists we encountered around Lecco. Being a Saturday morning, they were all out riding in groups, which made passing very difficult. After Lecco, we drove the back roads to Bergamo, which was very busy on a Saturday morning, before hitting the motorway to Venice. The first part to Verona, was very boring – again flat and straight, with no surrounding hills, so nothing to look at. After Verona however, the country side got hillier and there were hilltop towns and mile after mile of vineyards.
When we get to Venice, we drove down the 4 km causeway to the Tronchetto car park. From there we carried our bags to the car ferry (despite being back packs, they don’t have any of the straps any more, as we cut them out to save weight and space – we figured we’d never use them as backpacks again, but need to use them because they fit in the boot of the convertible and still let us put the roof down). This is the longest distance we have had to carry bags ever. Fortunately, Tronchetto is the first stop for the ferry, so we were able to get a seat for us and our bags – I was carrying both the back packs with a day pack on my back and Anne was carrying her own day pack and organising tickets and figuring out where to go. We’ve bought a 3 day pass for the ferries, so we can hop on and off whenever we like and they will even take us out to Murano.
Our instructions for getting to the hotel were very good, so we found it easily, which was great because it was a really hot day. The hotel is brilliant and our room is one of only 4 in the hotel that has a view out over the Grand Canal. It’s also a very large room, which from what we read on trip advisor, is a rare thing in Venice.
We had lunch after checking-in, at a sidewalk restaurant beside the Grand Canal overlooking the Rialto Bridge in front of the hotel, then went for a walk around the back streets and canals of Venice. We decided to have Rosé with our lunch, something we learnt in France – it was stunning! Venice is a great city to just wander around. Despite having a 3 day ferry pass, we’re not using it very much because we usually take the ferry one way and then walk back from where ever we get to. The shops in Venice are amazing too with lots of masks, Murano glass, jewelry, all the up market fashion stores, and even a Ferrari shop with Michael Schumacher’s 2002 car sitting in the window. Our walk went in a couple of directions, but ultimately ended up in St. Marks square, with its Basilica, Doge’s Palace, Bridge of Sighs, Campanile etc.
Dinner that night was at the same restaurant that we had lunch – a long drawn out affair from 8:30 till midnight – much good conversation to be had when dining beside the Grand Canal.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Friday – 2nd Week: Bellagio
Today is our last full day in Bellagio, and has dawned overcast. We haven’t got anything particular planned for today, so are going to walk up and down the stairs, along the streets and check out all the shops that we have only paid a passing interest to so far. Silk – ties and scarfes, pashminas, handbags of all descriptions, jewelry, wine and foods and glass from Murano are the main fare of the shops that are dotted between the many restaurants in Bellagio.
We walked the 100m to the northern end of Bellagio stopping at a jewellery shop along the way. Anne tried on some beautiful bracelets made of semi-precious stones. She hasn’t bought one yet, but it’s looking likely, as they are quite different from anything else she has seen before.
From there, it was straight up the hill to the top of the town, checking out some art shops (galleries, I suppose you could call them) and silk scarves and tie shops on the way up. I’ve bought 3 ties and Anne has bought a very nice silk scarf. From there, it was a constant along down, along and up to check out all the shops in the town.
By 12:30, we had arrived at Ristorante Bilacus, our favourite restaurant from a few nights ago. We had tried to book there for tonight, but it is already full, so we thought we’d settle for second best and have lunch there instead. Another beautiful lunch, highlighted by the service of the Restaurateur providing a young couple who were dining under the vines on the terrace, a white umbrella when the rain first came. We heard the rain start on the canopy above us and thought that the young couple would be diving for cover pretty soon, when the restaurateur came out and inquired if they were OK. He was back a moment later as the rain got heavier, with his white beach umbrella, which he proceeded to put up for them. It looked like the ideal spot for a romantic lunch….puke.
The other highlight from lunch came as we were sitting looking out over the balcony to the steep steps below. We heard the cheap ditty of a cell phone belting out “one donna mera” (I don’t know how to spell it, but I’m sure every body knows what I mean). When we looked over the railing to see where it was comig from, there was an elderly woman in her 60’s doing a little jig as she searched in her handbag for what was obviously her phone – it looked hilarious. I’d be much more likely to give money to her with her phone that the clowns that come round the restaurants from time to time with their accordions.
After lunch we headed down the stairs and round the corner to our apartment when the heavens opened, the wind blew, the lightning flashed and the thunder clapped. Despite all that we’ve seen in the last few days, this was the most violent storm we’ve seen to date. We managed to get halfway down the stairs before the storm got too intense and we headed for a jewelry store for shelter (bad mistake, I hear some of you thinking). As luck would have it, Anne found a beautiful glass pendant necklace and a glass ring, which she is now the proud owner of.
We’re now back at the apartment. Dinner tonight will be a light meal and some wine on the balcony if this bloody storm will go away and then tomorrow, we’re off early for Venice. Again, I don’t know what the internet facilities will be like, so will try and update our progress every couple of days.
We walked the 100m to the northern end of Bellagio stopping at a jewellery shop along the way. Anne tried on some beautiful bracelets made of semi-precious stones. She hasn’t bought one yet, but it’s looking likely, as they are quite different from anything else she has seen before.
From there, it was straight up the hill to the top of the town, checking out some art shops (galleries, I suppose you could call them) and silk scarves and tie shops on the way up. I’ve bought 3 ties and Anne has bought a very nice silk scarf. From there, it was a constant along down, along and up to check out all the shops in the town.
By 12:30, we had arrived at Ristorante Bilacus, our favourite restaurant from a few nights ago. We had tried to book there for tonight, but it is already full, so we thought we’d settle for second best and have lunch there instead. Another beautiful lunch, highlighted by the service of the Restaurateur providing a young couple who were dining under the vines on the terrace, a white umbrella when the rain first came. We heard the rain start on the canopy above us and thought that the young couple would be diving for cover pretty soon, when the restaurateur came out and inquired if they were OK. He was back a moment later as the rain got heavier, with his white beach umbrella, which he proceeded to put up for them. It looked like the ideal spot for a romantic lunch….puke.
The other highlight from lunch came as we were sitting looking out over the balcony to the steep steps below. We heard the cheap ditty of a cell phone belting out “one donna mera” (I don’t know how to spell it, but I’m sure every body knows what I mean). When we looked over the railing to see where it was comig from, there was an elderly woman in her 60’s doing a little jig as she searched in her handbag for what was obviously her phone – it looked hilarious. I’d be much more likely to give money to her with her phone that the clowns that come round the restaurants from time to time with their accordions.
After lunch we headed down the stairs and round the corner to our apartment when the heavens opened, the wind blew, the lightning flashed and the thunder clapped. Despite all that we’ve seen in the last few days, this was the most violent storm we’ve seen to date. We managed to get halfway down the stairs before the storm got too intense and we headed for a jewelry store for shelter (bad mistake, I hear some of you thinking). As luck would have it, Anne found a beautiful glass pendant necklace and a glass ring, which she is now the proud owner of.
We’re now back at the apartment. Dinner tonight will be a light meal and some wine on the balcony if this bloody storm will go away and then tomorrow, we’re off early for Venice. Again, I don’t know what the internet facilities will be like, so will try and update our progress every couple of days.
Thursday – 2nd Week: Lake Como Trip
Last nights electrical storm was spectacular – it rained like there was no tomorrow, heaps of lightning and the thunder just went on and on and on. Today is an absolute pearler – crystal clear blue skies, white fluffy clouds clinging to the sides of the mountains, the bright greens of the mountain side forests and the deep blue of the lake – perfect for our boat trip to Como.
The slow boat takes two hours, but has the advantage that it’s slow and stable – good for photos – and you can sit or stand outside on the bow of the boat.
The ferry bounces down the lake criss-crossing between the small towns on either side of the lake. There is a new attraction on the lake, which the boat stops in the middle of the lake to point out – George Clooney’s house – ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! (Imagine a high pitched female scream). Apparently George was there 2 days ago! (more screaming)
Our trip took us to stops at Cadenabbia, Tremezzo, Lenno, Lezzeno, Isola Comocina, Sala Comacina, Argegno, Nesso, Careno, Urio, Torno, Moltrasio, Cernobbio, Tavernola and finally Como.
On the eastern side of the lake, we could see the crazy little road that we had taken to get to Bellagio on the Saturday. It was good to see that most of the cars were traveling at a fairly sedate pace. We’re going back that way on Saturday as the views are so spectacular.
We took lots of photos on the way down, some of which are now up on our flickr page.
We went for a walk around the central shopping district of Como, visited the local market and then stopped for lunch at a local pizzeria and had a beer with lunch – XXXX can you believe. To drive home the point, it comes in a XXXX glass with the words Australian Beer written underneath the XXXX, so you have no doubt about what you’re drinking.
We caught the fast cat back to Bellagio, so now we’ve been on all the ferry types on the lake – car ferry, slow boat, fast cat and the hydrofoil – which was the most fun.
Walking to buy dinner, Anne found a sports shop that sold cycling gear, so we bought a cycle shirt for me that has a map of the lake and the towns, which they have a race around each year. Apparently, the Giro D’Italia also came through this year and the church on the top of the hill has the bike of the Italian rider killed in the Tour de France several years ago. It would be a beautiful area for cycling and a race around the lake like Taupo would be fantastic to be part of – I for my part have the T-shirt.
Dinner at night was a bottle of white, a bottle of red, Brescaola with olive oil, olives and cheese, finished off with Gelato from the Gelateria downstairs and a glass of dessert wine sitting on our balcony watching the world go by – FANTASTICO!!!!!
The slow boat takes two hours, but has the advantage that it’s slow and stable – good for photos – and you can sit or stand outside on the bow of the boat.
The ferry bounces down the lake criss-crossing between the small towns on either side of the lake. There is a new attraction on the lake, which the boat stops in the middle of the lake to point out – George Clooney’s house – ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! (Imagine a high pitched female scream). Apparently George was there 2 days ago! (more screaming)
Our trip took us to stops at Cadenabbia, Tremezzo, Lenno, Lezzeno, Isola Comocina, Sala Comacina, Argegno, Nesso, Careno, Urio, Torno, Moltrasio, Cernobbio, Tavernola and finally Como.
On the eastern side of the lake, we could see the crazy little road that we had taken to get to Bellagio on the Saturday. It was good to see that most of the cars were traveling at a fairly sedate pace. We’re going back that way on Saturday as the views are so spectacular.
We took lots of photos on the way down, some of which are now up on our flickr page.
We went for a walk around the central shopping district of Como, visited the local market and then stopped for lunch at a local pizzeria and had a beer with lunch – XXXX can you believe. To drive home the point, it comes in a XXXX glass with the words Australian Beer written underneath the XXXX, so you have no doubt about what you’re drinking.
We caught the fast cat back to Bellagio, so now we’ve been on all the ferry types on the lake – car ferry, slow boat, fast cat and the hydrofoil – which was the most fun.
Walking to buy dinner, Anne found a sports shop that sold cycling gear, so we bought a cycle shirt for me that has a map of the lake and the towns, which they have a race around each year. Apparently, the Giro D’Italia also came through this year and the church on the top of the hill has the bike of the Italian rider killed in the Tour de France several years ago. It would be a beautiful area for cycling and a race around the lake like Taupo would be fantastic to be part of – I for my part have the T-shirt.
Dinner at night was a bottle of white, a bottle of red, Brescaola with olive oil, olives and cheese, finished off with Gelato from the Gelateria downstairs and a glass of dessert wine sitting on our balcony watching the world go by – FANTASTICO!!!!!
Wednesday – 2nd Week: Varenna
Last nights electrical storm did not have the same effect as the previous nights, so they day has dawned overcast and murky. We had planned to go on a lake trip to Como today – it’s two hours by slow boat – and the views would be spectacular, if the trip in by road was anything to go by. However, with the weather the way it is, we decided to go to Varenna today and do the day trip to Como on Thursday – provided the weather is better.
Varenna is on the eastern side of Lake Como, a short ferry ride away. Well it is a short ferry ride if you go direct, but we never seem to. When we wanted to go to Menaggio, a short ferry ride to the west, we went via Varenna, and now to complete the set we’ve headed off to Varenna via Menaggio. The ferries are fun and if you only want to go around the centre of the lake, they’re very frequent. The car ferries in particular are fun – you feel like you’re in one of those communist spy swaps, as passengers getting off the ferry (via the car ramp) swap with the passengers getting onto the ferry. On the straight passenger ferries, there’s just a gangway, so passengers are let off first, which doesn’t create anything like the same effect.
Varenna is a pretty little town that used to make its living from fishing. The amazing thing about Lake Como is the amount of fish life in the lake. Where ever we walk we see dozens of trout and always thousands of minnows swimming in the shallows at the edge of the lake. The streets of Varenna are very steep, in fact there’s a road along the top of the town and the rest of it is walkways and very steep steps.
Villa Monastero is just a short walk out of town and has beautiful gardens that are terraced up from the lake. I’ve just read that the villa was once a not-so-spartan monastery that was dissolved in the late 17th century when the nuns in residence began bearing living proof that they were on too-friendly terms with the priests across the way. I mean to say, what was the world coming to if you couldn’t trust a 17th century nun to stick to her vows.
Anyway, we looked out over the gardens as we went on a walk to the next little town and then walked back.
For dinner we went to Ristorante Bilacus, which we have our suspicions may have been the restaurant we were looking for in Varenna and other points on the lake. I had a very simple, but superb meal of spaghetti with Tomato Sauce, followed by beef with a green pepper sauce. Anne had a mixed fish entrée – sword fish, salmon and tuna – followed by saltimbocca – escalope’s of veal with Parma ham and sage. We ordered a bottle of the Nobile di Montepulciano which was wonderful. We finished up with a Tiramisu. It was a fabulous meal – our best yet.
Varenna is on the eastern side of Lake Como, a short ferry ride away. Well it is a short ferry ride if you go direct, but we never seem to. When we wanted to go to Menaggio, a short ferry ride to the west, we went via Varenna, and now to complete the set we’ve headed off to Varenna via Menaggio. The ferries are fun and if you only want to go around the centre of the lake, they’re very frequent. The car ferries in particular are fun – you feel like you’re in one of those communist spy swaps, as passengers getting off the ferry (via the car ramp) swap with the passengers getting onto the ferry. On the straight passenger ferries, there’s just a gangway, so passengers are let off first, which doesn’t create anything like the same effect.
Varenna is a pretty little town that used to make its living from fishing. The amazing thing about Lake Como is the amount of fish life in the lake. Where ever we walk we see dozens of trout and always thousands of minnows swimming in the shallows at the edge of the lake. The streets of Varenna are very steep, in fact there’s a road along the top of the town and the rest of it is walkways and very steep steps.
Villa Monastero is just a short walk out of town and has beautiful gardens that are terraced up from the lake. I’ve just read that the villa was once a not-so-spartan monastery that was dissolved in the late 17th century when the nuns in residence began bearing living proof that they were on too-friendly terms with the priests across the way. I mean to say, what was the world coming to if you couldn’t trust a 17th century nun to stick to her vows.
Anyway, we looked out over the gardens as we went on a walk to the next little town and then walked back.
For dinner we went to Ristorante Bilacus, which we have our suspicions may have been the restaurant we were looking for in Varenna and other points on the lake. I had a very simple, but superb meal of spaghetti with Tomato Sauce, followed by beef with a green pepper sauce. Anne had a mixed fish entrée – sword fish, salmon and tuna – followed by saltimbocca – escalope’s of veal with Parma ham and sage. We ordered a bottle of the Nobile di Montepulciano which was wonderful. We finished up with a Tiramisu. It was a fabulous meal – our best yet.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Tuesday – 2nd Week: Lenno to Sala Comacina
After last nights storm, today’s weather is absolutely beautiful and the haze that often hangs round the lakes has been completely washed away to give the clearest day we’ve seen in our vast experience (about 6 days over two trips so far). Anyway, check out the photos – the scenery is stunning.
Tuesday is Market day in Lenno, so we’d been advised by our land lady to go to Lenno for the market. Lenno is the next town down the lake from Tremezzo, so today’s walk is really a bit of an extension of the previous days.
The ferry takes us from Bellagio to San Giovani, crosses the lake to Menaggio, then bounces down the west side of the lake to Cadenabbia, Villa Carlotta, Tremezzo and then finally to Lenno. Because Tuesday is Market day, the ferry was packed with people all heading for the market – many of them old and none too mobile Americans.
The market turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Italian markets aren’t nearly as good as French markets, so we pretty much just walked straight through it and out the other side only stopping to check out the fish, meat and cheese stands.
Beside Lenno, is Villa del Balbianello, which our landlady had advised us to visit as it is one of the most impressive on the lake, with beautiful gardens. The villa was built in the last years of the 17th century by Cardinal Durini as a summer residence where he could indulge in literary past times. It had various owners over the centuries, got run down, got restored until finally in 1988 it was left along with a trust fund by Guido Monzino to the FAI (Italian equivalent of English Heritage and National Trust), who administers the property today. For part of the week, you have to take a boat taxi to the villa, but on Tuesday’s you can walk the kilometer through the forests, which Anne and I did.
The grounds and the views across the lake are spectacular, as you can see from the photos. There were some models doing a fashion shoot, while we were there, so we watched for a few minutes how 10 people can take 5 minutes to make 2 people look spectacular, stand just right and then take a photo, before going over the whole process again. The blasting off photos, like you see on TV was certainly not what was being done here.
After the Villa, we went on a scenic walk to Sala Comacina further down the lake. When we got there, we found the most beautiful little bay, with a restaurant beside it, so we stopped there for a lunch of lemon ravioli and lake fish – very nice.
After lunch we went for a little walk, before catching the ferry back to Bellagio and awaiting the days electrical storm. We went to our local deli and bought some Brescaolo (cured beef), pecorino cheese and olives to have as an apetiser for dinner, which was pizza from just up the road and finished off with Gelato – all had on our balcony, watching the world and the rain clouds go by.
Tuesday is Market day in Lenno, so we’d been advised by our land lady to go to Lenno for the market. Lenno is the next town down the lake from Tremezzo, so today’s walk is really a bit of an extension of the previous days.
The ferry takes us from Bellagio to San Giovani, crosses the lake to Menaggio, then bounces down the west side of the lake to Cadenabbia, Villa Carlotta, Tremezzo and then finally to Lenno. Because Tuesday is Market day, the ferry was packed with people all heading for the market – many of them old and none too mobile Americans.
The market turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Italian markets aren’t nearly as good as French markets, so we pretty much just walked straight through it and out the other side only stopping to check out the fish, meat and cheese stands.
Beside Lenno, is Villa del Balbianello, which our landlady had advised us to visit as it is one of the most impressive on the lake, with beautiful gardens. The villa was built in the last years of the 17th century by Cardinal Durini as a summer residence where he could indulge in literary past times. It had various owners over the centuries, got run down, got restored until finally in 1988 it was left along with a trust fund by Guido Monzino to the FAI (Italian equivalent of English Heritage and National Trust), who administers the property today. For part of the week, you have to take a boat taxi to the villa, but on Tuesday’s you can walk the kilometer through the forests, which Anne and I did.
The grounds and the views across the lake are spectacular, as you can see from the photos. There were some models doing a fashion shoot, while we were there, so we watched for a few minutes how 10 people can take 5 minutes to make 2 people look spectacular, stand just right and then take a photo, before going over the whole process again. The blasting off photos, like you see on TV was certainly not what was being done here.
After the Villa, we went on a scenic walk to Sala Comacina further down the lake. When we got there, we found the most beautiful little bay, with a restaurant beside it, so we stopped there for a lunch of lemon ravioli and lake fish – very nice.
After lunch we went for a little walk, before catching the ferry back to Bellagio and awaiting the days electrical storm. We went to our local deli and bought some Brescaolo (cured beef), pecorino cheese and olives to have as an apetiser for dinner, which was pizza from just up the road and finished off with Gelato – all had on our balcony, watching the world and the rain clouds go by.
Monday – 2nd Week: Menaggio to Tremezzo
Today’s walk is between three small villages on the western side of Lake Como from Menaggio to Tremezzo. Anne and I visited Lake Como in 1994 and had a very memorable lunch in a terraced restaurant in one of the small towns on the shores of the lake. The only problem is, we can’t remember which small town – I’m certain it was on the eastern side of the lake and Anne is positive that it was in Cadenabbia, which is one of the towns we’re walking to today, so it’s become a bit of a point of competition. We caught the boat from Bellagio to Menaggio, which is one of Anne’s hot picks for the spot of our historic lunch – along with Cadenabbia, the next town to Menaggio on Lake Como.
Unfortunately for me, the ferry from Bellagio to Menaggio went via Varenna, which in addition to being the site of one of our alternate locations for an apartment, is also one of my hot picks for where we could have had lunch in 1994. While Varenna, looked to be another very pretty little town, there was nothing about it that suggested that it contained the location of our special restaurant from 1994, this despite the boat going past the entire town before it docked.
Fortunately for me, when we arrived at Menaggio there was nothing that suggested that it was the location of our lunch either. We disembarked from the boat and went for a walk around the town. It really is a very beautiful town, which Anne and I explored thoroughly before heading on our walk to Cadenabbia and Tremezzo. The walk involved walking through more narrow windy roads that were never designed for pedestrians, but we were becoming quite adept at negotiating the traffic now. Before heading out of town on our walk, we stopped in the piazza for a cappuccino.
For lunch we stopped in Tremezzo for Brescaola, rocket, olive oil and parmesan cheese, followed by Pizza – all washed down with a bottle of wine, whilst overlooking the lake. After lunch we walked back to Cadenabbia to go for a walk around the historical town centre. This was a bit of a con, as it turned out after we’d followed all the signs to the town centre, that it was just one building at the top of the hill. When we reached to top of the town, the clouds had started to gather and an electrical storm started. We caught the ferry back from Cadenabbia to Menaggio, by which time it was pouring with rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning.
As today is Monday, most of the shops are closed and town was quiet, so we headed off to a restaurant for dinner.
Unfortunately for me, the ferry from Bellagio to Menaggio went via Varenna, which in addition to being the site of one of our alternate locations for an apartment, is also one of my hot picks for where we could have had lunch in 1994. While Varenna, looked to be another very pretty little town, there was nothing about it that suggested that it contained the location of our special restaurant from 1994, this despite the boat going past the entire town before it docked.
Fortunately for me, when we arrived at Menaggio there was nothing that suggested that it was the location of our lunch either. We disembarked from the boat and went for a walk around the town. It really is a very beautiful town, which Anne and I explored thoroughly before heading on our walk to Cadenabbia and Tremezzo. The walk involved walking through more narrow windy roads that were never designed for pedestrians, but we were becoming quite adept at negotiating the traffic now. Before heading out of town on our walk, we stopped in the piazza for a cappuccino.
For lunch we stopped in Tremezzo for Brescaola, rocket, olive oil and parmesan cheese, followed by Pizza – all washed down with a bottle of wine, whilst overlooking the lake. After lunch we walked back to Cadenabbia to go for a walk around the historical town centre. This was a bit of a con, as it turned out after we’d followed all the signs to the town centre, that it was just one building at the top of the hill. When we reached to top of the town, the clouds had started to gather and an electrical storm started. We caught the ferry back from Cadenabbia to Menaggio, by which time it was pouring with rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning.
As today is Monday, most of the shops are closed and town was quiet, so we headed off to a restaurant for dinner.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Photos on the Blog
I've learnt that I can't control when our blog puts posts onto different pages, and therefore how much room I have down the side for photos. Because of that, I'll just put all the photos on Flickr.com and you can access them by the links to photos at the right of the blog, under the archive items. I'll group them by week, so there is now a link for week 1 - Cortona and Week 2 - Lake Como. When you click on the link you get to the set for each week, which has the photo and a title / comment. You can view the pictures in a slide show, or look at them in different sizes.
Sunday – Day 1 Bellagio
Despite rain over night, the day dawned beautiful – clear and still. We decided that on the first day that we would do a walking tour around Bellagio. We had picked up a brochure the day before from the tourist information centre that described a walking tour around the town. Leaving from our apartment (over the road from the information centre and ferry terminal – we really couldn’t be more central), we walked to the point, back up through the town, out along the ridge road to have beautiful views of a small boat harbour at the top of Lake Lecco, down to the boat harbour, then back up to the ridge road, along to an old villa that looks in need of renovation, before walking right across the peninsular to get views over Lake Como and walking down the main road to get to San Giovani – a suburb of Bellagio.
Now we discovered why the locals had been so ‘fearless’ the day before. The walking tour makes you walk down roads that have no footpaths and 8 foot high rock walls on either side, so the pedestrians are left to fend for themselves among the crazy locals and two way traffic. The walk back into town gave good views of the town itself, so we got to take some really good photos on the walking tour.
Those two paragraphs took over 4 hours of walking, so by then we were ready for lunch. During our walk, we had seem the perfect place for lunch, which was called La Pergola which was over by the little boat harbour at the top of Lake Lecco, so we hiked over there for a well deserved meal and a bottle of wine.
After lunch and a siesta, we spent the evening sitting on our balcony with a couple of bottles of wine and a pizza watching the world go by – wonderful.
Now we discovered why the locals had been so ‘fearless’ the day before. The walking tour makes you walk down roads that have no footpaths and 8 foot high rock walls on either side, so the pedestrians are left to fend for themselves among the crazy locals and two way traffic. The walk back into town gave good views of the town itself, so we got to take some really good photos on the walking tour.
Those two paragraphs took over 4 hours of walking, so by then we were ready for lunch. During our walk, we had seem the perfect place for lunch, which was called La Pergola which was over by the little boat harbour at the top of Lake Lecco, so we hiked over there for a well deserved meal and a bottle of wine.
After lunch and a siesta, we spent the evening sitting on our balcony with a couple of bottles of wine and a pizza watching the world go by – wonderful.
Saturday - End of Week 1
Today is the big drive day. Actually it’s not that big – 5 hours on the motorway from Cortona in Tuscany to Bellagio on Lake Como. It’s all on motorways, so all fast driving. We checked out of the villa Casa Coccola at 9:00am, said our good byes to Hillary and Debbie and got on the road.
After a quick burst along the speedway (a smaller motorway – dual carriage way, a bit like an English A road), we hit the A1 – the main motorway in Italy that runs from Milan in the North to Naples in the south. We’d already come from Rome up to Cortona on the A1, and would now take it all the way to Milan.
The road up to Florence was good fast driving, with interesting country side whizzing by. You just set your speed and go – 140 seemed to fit in well, and had me passing and being passed at a fairly constant rate. As we approached Florence, the smog became visible, so we were glad we’d decided to skip visiting there on this trip. From Florence to Bologna the road was as windy and undulating as a motorway can get (not very), but with lots of tunnels and more cars, the driving required much more concentration. We were held up for a while by some road works and then a crash.
From Bologna (home of Ducati Motorcycles), you could draw a line with a ruler past Modena (home of Ferrari), Parma(home of Parma ham and Parmesan cheese) all the way to Milan. The road was flat, straight and boring. I wondered how many Ferraris had hit their highest ever recorded speed within 15 minutes of leaving the factory on the flat and smooth 3 lane motorway that would start them on their European tour. In celebration of that thought, I let the wee Peugeot run along a bit and it seemed to get to 175 without any real effort. The fastest cars we saw were a BMW330 police car (good car) with its siren flashing and a VW van – not sure why he was in such a hurry.
The trip on the A1 to Milan cost 21 Euros – not bad for 4 hours driving. We then got onto the A9 for 30ks up to the town of Como at the bottom of Lake Como, before we began the long and winding road along the side of Lake Como to Bellagio at the join of the two arms. From flat, straight and boring the roads all of a sudden became narrow, hilly and windy. By comparison, Wellington’s winding hill streets are a highway and its drivers timid and courteous by comparison to the mad locals in their Fiat Puntos. We had a somewhat nerve wracking half hour tip toeing round blind corners in small towns, hugging rock walls, doing emergency braking maneuvers, avoiding cyclists, motor scooters and the fearless local pedestrians.
The most impressive thing though is the views – Como is a beautiful long narrow lake with little villages all along its steep sides. With the deep blue water, the greenery of the forests and the orange tiled roofs of the buildings, it really is a sight to behold. The lake starts off as two separate arms in Como and Lecco, which join at Bellagio before continuing up to Gera Lario near the Swiss border. Despite being one body of water, There is actually two lakes – Lake Como, which runs the full length of the lake from Como and Lake Lecco which is the other arm and runs from Lecco up to Bellagio. We plan to spend our week taking boat trips all around the lake and walking between the towns.
By this stage, it was after 2pm and we hadn’t eaten anything all day. We thought we’d stop on the motorway, but then we remembered that would be motorway food. Then we planned to stop at a small town between Milan and Como, but didn’t see anything that appealed – fussy eh. Then we planned to stop at one of the small towns beside the lake, but there weren’t any car parks, so we eventually got to Bellagio, parked the car, checked out where the apartment was and then headed for some lunch.
While enjoying lunch, there was a huge commotion on the street outside the restaurant – cars revving, people yelling, whistling and clapping. I looked around and saw the pointed nose of what was obviously a very exotic little car. I wasn’t sure what it was, until it went past and the 4 exhaust pipes clustered in a circle in the centre of the rear of the car identified it as a Pagani Zonda. Although it had now left, there seemed to be more and more people taking photos of something else, so I stood up and there, lined up down the street, was a long line of Zonda’s. On further investigation it turns out that they are on the ‘Vanishing Point’ Rally – the name of a 1970’s car chase movie – and Bellagio is one of the stop off points. The ‘Rally’ came with its own support vehicles and vans, which I am assuming were carrying the luggage. Even with the horsepower of the Zonda, I’d still put money on the locals in their Fiat Panda’s and bad attitude to paint work to being able to get to Como quicker.
Our apartment is perfectly positioned in the centre of town right next to the Hotel Metropole. It is right on the lakes edge on the second floor, so we get fantastic views across the lake to Mennagio, Caddanabia Tremezzo and Lenno on the other side of the lake. There are two balconies, one outside the living room and one outside the bedroom, so we can sit out in the evening with a glass of wine and watch the world go by.
After a quick burst along the speedway (a smaller motorway – dual carriage way, a bit like an English A road), we hit the A1 – the main motorway in Italy that runs from Milan in the North to Naples in the south. We’d already come from Rome up to Cortona on the A1, and would now take it all the way to Milan.
The road up to Florence was good fast driving, with interesting country side whizzing by. You just set your speed and go – 140 seemed to fit in well, and had me passing and being passed at a fairly constant rate. As we approached Florence, the smog became visible, so we were glad we’d decided to skip visiting there on this trip. From Florence to Bologna the road was as windy and undulating as a motorway can get (not very), but with lots of tunnels and more cars, the driving required much more concentration. We were held up for a while by some road works and then a crash.
From Bologna (home of Ducati Motorcycles), you could draw a line with a ruler past Modena (home of Ferrari), Parma(home of Parma ham and Parmesan cheese) all the way to Milan. The road was flat, straight and boring. I wondered how many Ferraris had hit their highest ever recorded speed within 15 minutes of leaving the factory on the flat and smooth 3 lane motorway that would start them on their European tour. In celebration of that thought, I let the wee Peugeot run along a bit and it seemed to get to 175 without any real effort. The fastest cars we saw were a BMW330 police car (good car) with its siren flashing and a VW van – not sure why he was in such a hurry.
The trip on the A1 to Milan cost 21 Euros – not bad for 4 hours driving. We then got onto the A9 for 30ks up to the town of Como at the bottom of Lake Como, before we began the long and winding road along the side of Lake Como to Bellagio at the join of the two arms. From flat, straight and boring the roads all of a sudden became narrow, hilly and windy. By comparison, Wellington’s winding hill streets are a highway and its drivers timid and courteous by comparison to the mad locals in their Fiat Puntos. We had a somewhat nerve wracking half hour tip toeing round blind corners in small towns, hugging rock walls, doing emergency braking maneuvers, avoiding cyclists, motor scooters and the fearless local pedestrians.
The most impressive thing though is the views – Como is a beautiful long narrow lake with little villages all along its steep sides. With the deep blue water, the greenery of the forests and the orange tiled roofs of the buildings, it really is a sight to behold. The lake starts off as two separate arms in Como and Lecco, which join at Bellagio before continuing up to Gera Lario near the Swiss border. Despite being one body of water, There is actually two lakes – Lake Como, which runs the full length of the lake from Como and Lake Lecco which is the other arm and runs from Lecco up to Bellagio. We plan to spend our week taking boat trips all around the lake and walking between the towns.
By this stage, it was after 2pm and we hadn’t eaten anything all day. We thought we’d stop on the motorway, but then we remembered that would be motorway food. Then we planned to stop at a small town between Milan and Como, but didn’t see anything that appealed – fussy eh. Then we planned to stop at one of the small towns beside the lake, but there weren’t any car parks, so we eventually got to Bellagio, parked the car, checked out where the apartment was and then headed for some lunch.
While enjoying lunch, there was a huge commotion on the street outside the restaurant – cars revving, people yelling, whistling and clapping. I looked around and saw the pointed nose of what was obviously a very exotic little car. I wasn’t sure what it was, until it went past and the 4 exhaust pipes clustered in a circle in the centre of the rear of the car identified it as a Pagani Zonda. Although it had now left, there seemed to be more and more people taking photos of something else, so I stood up and there, lined up down the street, was a long line of Zonda’s. On further investigation it turns out that they are on the ‘Vanishing Point’ Rally – the name of a 1970’s car chase movie – and Bellagio is one of the stop off points. The ‘Rally’ came with its own support vehicles and vans, which I am assuming were carrying the luggage. Even with the horsepower of the Zonda, I’d still put money on the locals in their Fiat Panda’s and bad attitude to paint work to being able to get to Como quicker.
Our apartment is perfectly positioned in the centre of town right next to the Hotel Metropole. It is right on the lakes edge on the second floor, so we get fantastic views across the lake to Mennagio, Caddanabia Tremezzo and Lenno on the other side of the lake. There are two balconies, one outside the living room and one outside the bedroom, so we can sit out in the evening with a glass of wine and watch the world go by.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Day Five - Cortona and Gubbio
Beautiful weather today - clear blue skies, 28 degrees and for the first time no thunder, lightning or torrential down pours.
We visited Cortona again today, as it's one of our favourite towns. It sits on top of the hill and we climbed all the way to the top of the hill through the narrow unbelievably steep streets. I can imagine in times past that horses and donkeys would pull carts up and down the hills. Nowadays, everything from scooters (Europe's favourite transport), Fiat Pandas, Electrician vans and even scaffolding trucks scoot up and down the streets. I've posted a picture of one of the cars parked up against a wall on one of the incredibly steep streets. With some of the cars, you'd expect them to slide off the hill whenever it rained.
Anyway, the views of the valley from the top of the town were fantastic, but my legs are paying the price now.
I was making an effort to follow the speed limits when we left Cortona, much to the consternation of the locals, who were all over me like a cheap suit. One gentleman in a white Fiat Panda was very keen to get past, but there was nowhere for me to pull over, so he zipped passed on a short straight, only to go round the corner and be confronted by a temporary red light for road works, with three cars in the queue. This didn't deter my man in the white panda. He could see that there was nobody coming through the other way, so without pausing he moved over to the wrong side of the road and drove through against the red light. It was quite funny seeing the people in the queue all stick there heads out the window to see what the man in the White panda thought he was doing.
Next stop was Gubbio. The drive to Gubbio was through a very beautiful forest over a winding mountain road with beautiful lookouts and castles. Gubbio is more at the bottom of the hill, and is a beautifully restored town - I've put some photos down the side of the blog. We had a fabulous lunch in Gubbio. I had sliced pork with pears, cheese, truffles and balsamic oil for an entree (fantastic) and an asparagus risotto for the main. Anne had roast cheese with puff pasty and truffles for entree and Strogoli pasta with shrimps and fresh tomatoes. Lunch here is generally eaten with a half bottle of wine, which is very civilised and sensible and leaves one in perfect condition for the drive home.
Because its our last day in the villa, we were back early for a relax by the pool and to spend time with Hilary and Debs before we head on our separate ways tomorrow morning.
We visited Cortona again today, as it's one of our favourite towns. It sits on top of the hill and we climbed all the way to the top of the hill through the narrow unbelievably steep streets. I can imagine in times past that horses and donkeys would pull carts up and down the hills. Nowadays, everything from scooters (Europe's favourite transport), Fiat Pandas, Electrician vans and even scaffolding trucks scoot up and down the streets. I've posted a picture of one of the cars parked up against a wall on one of the incredibly steep streets. With some of the cars, you'd expect them to slide off the hill whenever it rained.
Anyway, the views of the valley from the top of the town were fantastic, but my legs are paying the price now.
I was making an effort to follow the speed limits when we left Cortona, much to the consternation of the locals, who were all over me like a cheap suit. One gentleman in a white Fiat Panda was very keen to get past, but there was nowhere for me to pull over, so he zipped passed on a short straight, only to go round the corner and be confronted by a temporary red light for road works, with three cars in the queue. This didn't deter my man in the white panda. He could see that there was nobody coming through the other way, so without pausing he moved over to the wrong side of the road and drove through against the red light. It was quite funny seeing the people in the queue all stick there heads out the window to see what the man in the White panda thought he was doing.
Next stop was Gubbio. The drive to Gubbio was through a very beautiful forest over a winding mountain road with beautiful lookouts and castles. Gubbio is more at the bottom of the hill, and is a beautifully restored town - I've put some photos down the side of the blog. We had a fabulous lunch in Gubbio. I had sliced pork with pears, cheese, truffles and balsamic oil for an entree (fantastic) and an asparagus risotto for the main. Anne had roast cheese with puff pasty and truffles for entree and Strogoli pasta with shrimps and fresh tomatoes. Lunch here is generally eaten with a half bottle of wine, which is very civilised and sensible and leaves one in perfect condition for the drive home.
Because its our last day in the villa, we were back early for a relax by the pool and to spend time with Hilary and Debs before we head on our separate ways tomorrow morning.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Italian Electricity and Electrical Appliances
This is the wierd one. I'm not sure if it's just our villa, but there are no ceiling lights in the villa and all the lights are either bedside lights or lights on stands. Nothing particularly unusual about that, nor about the fact that the power sockets don't have switches you just plug in and go. Where it does got unusual is that some of the power sockets are connected to what we would deem a normal light switch and are supposed to have lights attached to them. This would work fine if they always did, but they don't.
We spent the first 3 days thinking that some of the sockets were on timers because sometimes they would work and other times they wouldn't. What we now realise is that they were attached to the light switch and if somebody walked into the room and turned the switch up or down, then the socket would go off or on depending on its previous state. As most of the appliances we've bought are for charging batteries for cameras or PC's it isn't obvious when the power gets turned off, so you think you're battery is charging when in fact its just sitting there connected to the wall. Anyway, we've got that one figured out, so we'll see if its the same at our next villa.
Appliance wise, we've got an odd toaster that doesn't pop, you have racks that you pull out of the toaster and the timer is literally a timer, you can hear it winding down. We don't have a microwave, but we do have an electric meat slicer - they're neat and of course a coffee machine.
We spent the first 3 days thinking that some of the sockets were on timers because sometimes they would work and other times they wouldn't. What we now realise is that they were attached to the light switch and if somebody walked into the room and turned the switch up or down, then the socket would go off or on depending on its previous state. As most of the appliances we've bought are for charging batteries for cameras or PC's it isn't obvious when the power gets turned off, so you think you're battery is charging when in fact its just sitting there connected to the wall. Anyway, we've got that one figured out, so we'll see if its the same at our next villa.
Appliance wise, we've got an odd toaster that doesn't pop, you have racks that you pull out of the toaster and the timer is literally a timer, you can hear it winding down. We don't have a microwave, but we do have an electric meat slicer - they're neat and of course a coffee machine.
Initial Impressions of Italy
It's been a long time since we visited Italy, and last time the travel was much cheaper. The overall impression though was that the people were a bit stand offish at times and good service wasn't really a priority. These day things couldn't be more different.
Speaking Italian / Speaking English
Firstly, the locals knowledge of English is amazing - embarrasingly so. We're now having to force ourselves to master some basic Italian phrases so that we are atleast seen to be making an effort. Our first experience was at the Airport, when we wanted to go to a particular part of the terminal to sort out our bags. The two machine gun toting policemen, who didn't want us to go through the door both spoke perfect English and were really friendly and helpful in pointing us in the right direction - not what I would have expected from machine gun carrying policemen. Most times when you go into a shop or a restaurant, you are greeted by "hello, how are you today"
Driving
Fortunately, we didn't have to drive in Rome, but the driving that we have done suggests that many Italians drive with only half a mind on what they're doing. Indicating is definitely not done, and if your on a dual carriageway or motorway, they wander in and out of lanes and I'm forever having to toot at them to move them back into their own lanes when I pass. Speed is pretty reasonable - there are signs everywhere intimating that the speed limit is 90kph, but everybody does about 110 and at 130 you'll pass most people and there still be someone regularly passing you.
Doing the basics
Most things are pretty obvious and you don't have to say much to get what you want - two people standing at the entrance to a restaurant - I guess they'll want a table. They've finished their food and look like they want to leave - I guess they'll want the bill. Filling the car with petrol has been the most problematic, as many of the service stations are self service (nobody anywhere to help and you just feed money into a machine). The instructions about what you have to do (yes, I did read them) bear no relationship to what you actually have to do to get petrol in the car - fortunately, there's always been a friendly person to sort it out for us. Other than that, we're getting along pretty well. The roads are all well sign posted, people are very friendly and nothing is too much of a hassle. I guess if I manage to break the car, things will change fairly quickly, but so far nothing untowards has occurred.
Speaking Italian / Speaking English
Firstly, the locals knowledge of English is amazing - embarrasingly so. We're now having to force ourselves to master some basic Italian phrases so that we are atleast seen to be making an effort. Our first experience was at the Airport, when we wanted to go to a particular part of the terminal to sort out our bags. The two machine gun toting policemen, who didn't want us to go through the door both spoke perfect English and were really friendly and helpful in pointing us in the right direction - not what I would have expected from machine gun carrying policemen. Most times when you go into a shop or a restaurant, you are greeted by "hello, how are you today"
Driving
Fortunately, we didn't have to drive in Rome, but the driving that we have done suggests that many Italians drive with only half a mind on what they're doing. Indicating is definitely not done, and if your on a dual carriageway or motorway, they wander in and out of lanes and I'm forever having to toot at them to move them back into their own lanes when I pass. Speed is pretty reasonable - there are signs everywhere intimating that the speed limit is 90kph, but everybody does about 110 and at 130 you'll pass most people and there still be someone regularly passing you.
Doing the basics
Most things are pretty obvious and you don't have to say much to get what you want - two people standing at the entrance to a restaurant - I guess they'll want a table. They've finished their food and look like they want to leave - I guess they'll want the bill. Filling the car with petrol has been the most problematic, as many of the service stations are self service (nobody anywhere to help and you just feed money into a machine). The instructions about what you have to do (yes, I did read them) bear no relationship to what you actually have to do to get petrol in the car - fortunately, there's always been a friendly person to sort it out for us. Other than that, we're getting along pretty well. The roads are all well sign posted, people are very friendly and nothing is too much of a hassle. I guess if I manage to break the car, things will change fairly quickly, but so far nothing untowards has occurred.
Day Four - Chianti Country
Today we headed back towards Sienna to visit Chianti country. Chianti as a wine is grown in several areas of Tuscany - some as far North as Lucca (near Pisa), some further south than Cortona and some as far east as Arrezo, but the real Chianti is the Chianti Classico and that is grown in the Chianti region between Siena and Florence - and that is where we are visiting today. The names of most of the towns in the area end with the words 'in Chianti', such as Castelina in Chianti.
You know you are drinking a Chianti Classico wine becuase it has the symbol of the region, the Gallo Nero (the black cockerel) as part of it's labelling. Rumour has it that way back in time, Florence and Siena were constantly fighting for control of the Chianti region and its fertile soils. To settle the dispute, the two cities agreed that a rider would set off from each city on horse when the cock first crowed in the direction of the other city; where the two riders met would determine the split of territory.
Now the Florentines (people from Florence) being a crafty highly intellectual bunch, starved their black cock so that he crowed much earlier, so their rider set off much sooner, got much further and basically pulled a swifty on the simple folk from Siena.
For our day trip, we started off in Castellina in Chianti and completed a circuit that also took in Greve in Chianti and Rada in Chianti. We had a fabulous lunch in Greve - nothing flash, just fantastic fresh pasta, superbly cooked with fresh herbs and Garlic, topped off with half a bottle of the local wine. I've included some photos of the towns in the blog.
The weather has been a bit unsettled this week, so we are having some amazing electrical storms, followed by a great down pour. It hasn't slowed us down too much, as they generally occur in mid to late afternoon, but it can make driving with the roof down a bit nerve racking as the weather goes from beatiful and fine, to black skies and pouring in about 3 minutes. You have to time your run fairly well, as it isn't always possible to stop as soon as the skies open to put the roof up. So far we've only got slightly wet a couple of times. The outlook from tomorrow onwards is aparently much better.
Tomorrow the plan is to go back to Cortona, then visit Gubbio which is north east of here. Saturday is a fairly long day, as we check out of the villa and drive to Bellagio on Lake Como, which we expect to take about 5 hours.
I've added a link at the side of the blog, where you can view the pictures in a bigger size and in a slide show, so check it out if you're interested.
You know you are drinking a Chianti Classico wine becuase it has the symbol of the region, the Gallo Nero (the black cockerel) as part of it's labelling. Rumour has it that way back in time, Florence and Siena were constantly fighting for control of the Chianti region and its fertile soils. To settle the dispute, the two cities agreed that a rider would set off from each city on horse when the cock first crowed in the direction of the other city; where the two riders met would determine the split of territory.
Now the Florentines (people from Florence) being a crafty highly intellectual bunch, starved their black cock so that he crowed much earlier, so their rider set off much sooner, got much further and basically pulled a swifty on the simple folk from Siena.
For our day trip, we started off in Castellina in Chianti and completed a circuit that also took in Greve in Chianti and Rada in Chianti. We had a fabulous lunch in Greve - nothing flash, just fantastic fresh pasta, superbly cooked with fresh herbs and Garlic, topped off with half a bottle of the local wine. I've included some photos of the towns in the blog.
The weather has been a bit unsettled this week, so we are having some amazing electrical storms, followed by a great down pour. It hasn't slowed us down too much, as they generally occur in mid to late afternoon, but it can make driving with the roof down a bit nerve racking as the weather goes from beatiful and fine, to black skies and pouring in about 3 minutes. You have to time your run fairly well, as it isn't always possible to stop as soon as the skies open to put the roof up. So far we've only got slightly wet a couple of times. The outlook from tomorrow onwards is aparently much better.
Tomorrow the plan is to go back to Cortona, then visit Gubbio which is north east of here. Saturday is a fairly long day, as we check out of the villa and drive to Bellagio on Lake Como, which we expect to take about 5 hours.
I've added a link at the side of the blog, where you can view the pictures in a bigger size and in a slide show, so check it out if you're interested.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Day Three - Sienna, Monteriggioni and environs
Tim and Jo left today. They're off to Rapallo today and then into France for a few days. It was great having them here for the few days and a shame we weren't all together for longer, but that was more to do with Anne and I arriving a week after everbody else.
Anne and I took off to Siena today - one of the main towns in Tuscany and the place where the Pallio is run twice a year. An early start had us drinking a cappucino in the Piazza Del Campo by 10:00am. It's an amazing town square, but how they race horses around there is beyond me. The Pallio is run on the 2nd of July and 16th of August each year. We are just down the road on the 1st and 2nd of July, so might try and make it back to Siena to atleast see some of the practice events. I'm not sure why they practice, because the race is all about the bribes and deals that get done between the various contrades to give themselves the best chance of winning.
We did a walking tour round the city, which basically took a circuitous route from the Piazza to the Duomo. As well as the great buildings and tiny little alleyways, there was also the best array of shops that we've come across to date. The town is also starting to get decorated in the flags of the various contrades that compete in the Pallio, so it's quite a bright affair. After a couple of hours walking, we got back to the Piazza in time for lunch in the square - pizza and a caraf of wine.
After lunch we visited Monteriggioni. We'd been there about 12 years ago when we were last in Italy and although it's a quaint little hill top town, there wasn't much there when we first visited. In the interim, all that has changed. The builders have been in and there's now a four star hotel, a couple of nice restaurants and some souvenir shops.
We then visitied Monte San Savino (Michelin rated, but a bit of a disappointment), Lucignano (also rated and a real treasure) and Sinalunga (looked good when viewed from the bottom of the hill, but couldn't quite live up to the promise up close). Lucignano was neat because when you entered through the two gates, rather than walking straight down the main street to the Piazza, the town was built in a circle within the walls, so you took a circular route to the piazza, which was nicely decorated with lots of summer flowers.
We've just had dinner back at the villa and have yet to plan tomorrow's activities.
Anne and I took off to Siena today - one of the main towns in Tuscany and the place where the Pallio is run twice a year. An early start had us drinking a cappucino in the Piazza Del Campo by 10:00am. It's an amazing town square, but how they race horses around there is beyond me. The Pallio is run on the 2nd of July and 16th of August each year. We are just down the road on the 1st and 2nd of July, so might try and make it back to Siena to atleast see some of the practice events. I'm not sure why they practice, because the race is all about the bribes and deals that get done between the various contrades to give themselves the best chance of winning.
We did a walking tour round the city, which basically took a circuitous route from the Piazza to the Duomo. As well as the great buildings and tiny little alleyways, there was also the best array of shops that we've come across to date. The town is also starting to get decorated in the flags of the various contrades that compete in the Pallio, so it's quite a bright affair. After a couple of hours walking, we got back to the Piazza in time for lunch in the square - pizza and a caraf of wine.
After lunch we visited Monteriggioni. We'd been there about 12 years ago when we were last in Italy and although it's a quaint little hill top town, there wasn't much there when we first visited. In the interim, all that has changed. The builders have been in and there's now a four star hotel, a couple of nice restaurants and some souvenir shops.
We then visitied Monte San Savino (Michelin rated, but a bit of a disappointment), Lucignano (also rated and a real treasure) and Sinalunga (looked good when viewed from the bottom of the hill, but couldn't quite live up to the promise up close). Lucignano was neat because when you entered through the two gates, rather than walking straight down the main street to the Piazza, the town was built in a circle within the walls, so you took a circular route to the piazza, which was nicely decorated with lots of summer flowers.
We've just had dinner back at the villa and have yet to plan tomorrow's activities.
Day two - Perugia and Castiglione Del Lago
The thing with all these little towns is that you never quite know what you're going to get until you get there. Some look great from a distance, but aren't much when you actually get to them, some promise heaps in the guide books, but then don't deliver when you arrive and some which hardly rate a mention turn out to be real gems.
On Monday we visited Perugia, which is just down the road from Corona. It turned out to be a far bigger city than we realised (guide books in the, at this stage, still missing bags), with a population of 150,000. Being a city that large, built on a hill top, parking anywhere near it is difficult. It also suffers from having one way streets that go from the top of the hill to the bottom - a bit like the snakes in 'snakes and ladders' once your on them, you go all the way to the bottom to start winding your way back up. We did that a couple of times before we found a car park that only had a short queue. The historic town centre (once we found it) was built on a grand scale, with the usual cathedral, town hall, fountain - all built on a grand scale. Despite its rating, we felt that Perugia was a bit overrated to the point that we started looking at all the post cards we could find outside the shops to make sure we were seeing all the sites - an old trick we've learned. If it's worth seeing it's on a post card. Having confirmed that we'd seen it all, we decided to head to somewhere smaller for lunch.
It was while we were in Perugia, that we managed to get hold of Singapore Airlines to find out that our bags had arrived on the flight from Singapore to Rome that morning and would be dropped off late afternoon to early evening. This was a cause for some celebration.
We had a late lunch in Castiglioni Del Lago (castle by the lake - I think), which is about 10 minutes down the road from the villa. Castiglioni is the typical walled town, with a street down the centre leading to the main Piazza. We found a restaurant with nice views across the lake and shaded tables with white table cloths. The head waiter also had an All Blacks tie, so we decided it met all our requirements.
With the courier threatening to arrive in the afternoon, we headed back to the villa to await the arrival of our bags.
On Monday we visited Perugia, which is just down the road from Corona. It turned out to be a far bigger city than we realised (guide books in the, at this stage, still missing bags), with a population of 150,000. Being a city that large, built on a hill top, parking anywhere near it is difficult. It also suffers from having one way streets that go from the top of the hill to the bottom - a bit like the snakes in 'snakes and ladders' once your on them, you go all the way to the bottom to start winding your way back up. We did that a couple of times before we found a car park that only had a short queue. The historic town centre (once we found it) was built on a grand scale, with the usual cathedral, town hall, fountain - all built on a grand scale. Despite its rating, we felt that Perugia was a bit overrated to the point that we started looking at all the post cards we could find outside the shops to make sure we were seeing all the sites - an old trick we've learned. If it's worth seeing it's on a post card. Having confirmed that we'd seen it all, we decided to head to somewhere smaller for lunch.
It was while we were in Perugia, that we managed to get hold of Singapore Airlines to find out that our bags had arrived on the flight from Singapore to Rome that morning and would be dropped off late afternoon to early evening. This was a cause for some celebration.
We had a late lunch in Castiglioni Del Lago (castle by the lake - I think), which is about 10 minutes down the road from the villa. Castiglioni is the typical walled town, with a street down the centre leading to the main Piazza. We found a restaurant with nice views across the lake and shaded tables with white table cloths. The head waiter also had an All Blacks tie, so we decided it met all our requirements.
With the courier threatening to arrive in the afternoon, we headed back to the villa to await the arrival of our bags.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Our bags have arrived
7:15 pm on Tuesday, and the courier driver has arrived with our bags. I think he was a bit over whelmed by a bunch of nicely sauced kiwis cheering at the arrival of two back packs, but we were delighted to see them.
Roll on the rest of the holiday.
Roll on the rest of the holiday.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Day One - Cortona, essentials shopping and Montepulciano
After a good nights sleep, broken only by waking up at 2am - 7 hours sleep, pretty good. We were up at 6:00am and ready to face the day. Fortunately, everybody's still in that mode, so we were all up for breakfast by 7:00am, which we had beside the pool looking out over the valley.
After the rain on the first day, today was beautiful. After a leisurely breakfast, we were ready to visit Cortona the nearest town to the villa. Cortona is your typical hill top tuscan town, that looks out over Lake Trasimeno and the Chiana Valley. Being on the top of a hill, you park the car at the bottom of the town and walk up the narrow winding streets to the Piazza (town square). I've attached a picture of a Cortona street scene. We went for a good look around the town, checked out all the leather goods, which is a local specialty, stopped for coffee and a snack and then headed off to find a lunch spot.
We found a nice little town called Passignano on the shores of Lake Trasimeno for lunch and then headed off to the nearby outlet shopping mall to buy some essential items to make up for not having any clothes due to our bags being stuck in Auckland.
We then visitied Montepulciano, another hill top town, which is famous for its ruby red wine. Again the calves got a good work out on the way to the Piazza at the top of the hill. Lots of fantastic shops and the views from the top of the hill over the olive and vine covered valleys with their quaint farm houses was just fantastic. As the temperature was about 30 degrees, we rewarded ourselves with a beer in the piazza before heading back to the villa for a communal dinner to discuss the days adventures.
I managed to survive until 10.30 tonight, and Anne did even better staying up until 11.30 and finding out from the travel agent what is supposed to be happening with our bags. Unsurprisingly, the late flight from Wellington meant they missed the plane to Singapore and are now doing double time to catch up with us. As I write this on Tuesday evening, we are waiting for a courier driver to arrive with our long lost luggage. As long as it gets here tonight, it will only have been a minor inconvenience, but you know what waiting for courier drivers are like, so lets not count our chickens until the bags have arrived.
After the rain on the first day, today was beautiful. After a leisurely breakfast, we were ready to visit Cortona the nearest town to the villa. Cortona is your typical hill top tuscan town, that looks out over Lake Trasimeno and the Chiana Valley. Being on the top of a hill, you park the car at the bottom of the town and walk up the narrow winding streets to the Piazza (town square). I've attached a picture of a Cortona street scene. We went for a good look around the town, checked out all the leather goods, which is a local specialty, stopped for coffee and a snack and then headed off to find a lunch spot.
We found a nice little town called Passignano on the shores of Lake Trasimeno for lunch and then headed off to the nearby outlet shopping mall to buy some essential items to make up for not having any clothes due to our bags being stuck in Auckland.
We then visitied Montepulciano, another hill top town, which is famous for its ruby red wine. Again the calves got a good work out on the way to the Piazza at the top of the hill. Lots of fantastic shops and the views from the top of the hill over the olive and vine covered valleys with their quaint farm houses was just fantastic. As the temperature was about 30 degrees, we rewarded ourselves with a beer in the piazza before heading back to the villa for a communal dinner to discuss the days adventures.
I managed to survive until 10.30 tonight, and Anne did even better staying up until 11.30 and finding out from the travel agent what is supposed to be happening with our bags. Unsurprisingly, the late flight from Wellington meant they missed the plane to Singapore and are now doing double time to catch up with us. As I write this on Tuesday evening, we are waiting for a courier driver to arrive with our long lost luggage. As long as it gets here tonight, it will only have been a minor inconvenience, but you know what waiting for courier drivers are like, so lets not count our chickens until the bags have arrived.
Getting to Italy
Anne and I were up early on Saturday morning and got to the airport and were checked in in plenty of time to make our Auckland flight at 11:00am. This is the recommended flight for catching the 2:00pm Singapore Airlines flight. We had only just got to the Koru lounge when we learnt that the connecting flight from Dunedin was delayed due to fog and our flight would now leave at 11:30 - That sounds close, given that check-in starts at 1:00pm.
Anyway, after a few more delays, our flight left at 11:45 and got us to Auckland and hour later, just in time for a quick bus trip over to the international terminal to make the flight - excellent.
The first flight being during the day seemed a very long and drawn out affair, so we watched movies, read books, slept a bit and did all the things you do to pass 10 hours on a plane - no not that one!
We had 4 hours in Singapore, time to wander round the shops, Anne to buy a new hand bag for travel - a bit bigger than the Khatmandu one, have a bite to eat, sit down, stand up, walk around, check out all the shops - all the things you do to pass 4 hours in an airport.
The flight to Rome went much faster, we slept the first half of the flight because in NZ time it left at about 6am, so we were basically exhausted.
We got to Rome at 7am and waited for our bags to arrive.....and waited.....and waited.....and waited......and noticed another couple also waiting. While I did some more waiting (after 45 minutes) Anne went off to find the lost luggage counter. This was a good thing because it meant we got to the front of the lost luggage queue. After an hour and 3 other flights being unloaded off our carosel, we concluded the luggage was lost and set about and the man behind the lost luggage desk was processing our claim. By this stage, there were a dozen people from various flights waiting in the lost luggage queue and our claim took 45 minutes to process - as I said it was good to be at the front of the queue.
Having done all that we could do about our missing luggage (hint - the first paragraph is a clue to the problem) we went off to get the car. That bit was easy - we called a man as agreed, he came and picked us up in about half an hour, took us to the collection point, gave us the car and we were on our way.
We are staying in Cortona, which is about 2 and a half hours North of Rome and the airport is on the South side of Rome, so the first thing to do was get around Rome on the ring road - in the pouring rain.
The Italian drivers are nutty. I tried to introduce them to indicators, but I think I just confused them. Anyway, once we were off the ring road, things got much more sensible and we made good time up to the villa in Cartona. It is a beatiful villa, but thanks to the power of the internet, you can check it out for yourself. http://www.casacoccola.com/
We arrived at the villa at about 1pm. Hillary, Debs, Tim and Jo had checked in the day before, so it was all fully provisioned. We spent the afternoon eating, drinking and being merry, in order to try and survive to the evening and get a good nights sleep and into the Italian time zone.
We crashed at 7pm - a mixture of tiredness and alcohol - but a nice mix.
Anyway, after a few more delays, our flight left at 11:45 and got us to Auckland and hour later, just in time for a quick bus trip over to the international terminal to make the flight - excellent.
The first flight being during the day seemed a very long and drawn out affair, so we watched movies, read books, slept a bit and did all the things you do to pass 10 hours on a plane - no not that one!
We had 4 hours in Singapore, time to wander round the shops, Anne to buy a new hand bag for travel - a bit bigger than the Khatmandu one, have a bite to eat, sit down, stand up, walk around, check out all the shops - all the things you do to pass 4 hours in an airport.
The flight to Rome went much faster, we slept the first half of the flight because in NZ time it left at about 6am, so we were basically exhausted.
We got to Rome at 7am and waited for our bags to arrive.....and waited.....and waited.....and waited......and noticed another couple also waiting. While I did some more waiting (after 45 minutes) Anne went off to find the lost luggage counter. This was a good thing because it meant we got to the front of the lost luggage queue. After an hour and 3 other flights being unloaded off our carosel, we concluded the luggage was lost and set about and the man behind the lost luggage desk was processing our claim. By this stage, there were a dozen people from various flights waiting in the lost luggage queue and our claim took 45 minutes to process - as I said it was good to be at the front of the queue.
Having done all that we could do about our missing luggage (hint - the first paragraph is a clue to the problem) we went off to get the car. That bit was easy - we called a man as agreed, he came and picked us up in about half an hour, took us to the collection point, gave us the car and we were on our way.
We are staying in Cortona, which is about 2 and a half hours North of Rome and the airport is on the South side of Rome, so the first thing to do was get around Rome on the ring road - in the pouring rain.
The Italian drivers are nutty. I tried to introduce them to indicators, but I think I just confused them. Anyway, once we were off the ring road, things got much more sensible and we made good time up to the villa in Cartona. It is a beatiful villa, but thanks to the power of the internet, you can check it out for yourself. http://www.casacoccola.com/
We arrived at the villa at about 1pm. Hillary, Debs, Tim and Jo had checked in the day before, so it was all fully provisioned. We spent the afternoon eating, drinking and being merry, in order to try and survive to the evening and get a good nights sleep and into the Italian time zone.
We crashed at 7pm - a mixture of tiredness and alcohol - but a nice mix.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
