Hi Everyone,
Been a while since last blog, not making any excuses but days are long and full and by the time we get back to base and have or make dinner have been on the exhausted side.
Spent a relaxing few days in Alessandria. Not many tourists visit this town and therefore not much English spoken.
We had lunch at a small cafe and were lucky to have an English speaking waiter and after the usual questions eg. where are you from he turned to us and said "what are you doing in Alessandria" that probably explains what the place was like but suited us perfectly.
Mez did have some trouble when she tried to post some cards but the real problem was when she wanted to buy more stamps. Finally all resolved and someone is going to get a postcard hopefully before we return home. On the topic of postcards I tried to buy some and they didn't have any, no one to sell them to, the retailer would go broke.
Alessandria may have been still living behind the 20th century but in the hotel we had the best whizz bang shower I had been in but the only problem was I had to wear my glasses into the shower for the first time to work all the controls - not a good look, this getting old is the pits. One control was for the temp, one for the power of the shower nozzle and one for the power of the jet spray that came out from the walls. Of course I turned the wall jet spray first and got a face full - lots of laughs.
Heading from Alessandria we drove to the next stop for a few days and this was the very picturesque countryside of the Chinque Terre Region( five fishing villages that sit on the sides of the cliffs) and there is only driving access to two of them. Along with the most magnificent views comes of course the treacherous roads and the road took us through tunnel after tunnel and up and down the steepest cliffs.
We stayed in Monterosso, the first of the five if you are going south. A major problem with staying in these villages is there is nowhere to park. There was one parking station with about 100 spots max and other than that you park on the side of the road in the blue lines, if you can get a spot, all the way up the mountain for $3 an hour or park for free in the white lines 3ks away uphill. Parking cost us for the 3 days about $90. We had 3 nights there- first afternoon, after finally managing a park with the help of a good looking local boy we walked around the area to get a feel for the place and stumbled across a very old church, as you do everywhere in Italy, on a hill and with it the local cemetery - very interesting. First whole day was a little overcast and a few showers so we caught the train to each of the other 4 villages. They would have been so isolated years ago but are very touristy now but still all have their own individuality. Monterosso is the only one with a flat beach area, two infact, one in the newer part and one in old town where we stayed, as all the others have cliff faces down to the water line. You can swim in all areas but Corniglia is the only one without harbour access. To get to Corniglia you have to walk up 382 steps that zigzag up the mountain. It was a big day lots of walking and lots of pics.
Next day beautiful sunshine and so headed to the beach early. Thought we would get a beach chair and umbrella, as we did in Santorini, but they were a little out of our price range $35 to sit on the beach so we joined the locals on the rocky sand and had a far more interesting time people watching. Water again crystal clear and beautiful temp. Of course you have to do the local shops over so the afternoon was spent wandering and then a few chinque wines at a local cafe that we ventured to each afternoon.
Monterosso was a very interesting and unusual place to visit.
Friday morning the start of a new venture to a different region of Italy - the Tuscan area. Well this day did not start well. The GPS crashed within 2 minutes of turning it on and we were on our way up the mountain from Monterosso heading to Pisa of course to see the Leaning Tower. Found our way after much deliberation by using the old timers way of using the trusty map. Day went from not so bad to really bad after driving around and around Pisa asking lots of people, in broken English and Italian, where we could buy GPS and finally finding one and paying a fortune for one not as good, I clipped the
gutter and we got a flat tyre. 84euro later we were on our way again - I didnt mention that the only rain for days was a heavy shower while waiting on the side of the road just to make things seem a little more dismal. A simple trip took all day but we finally ended up in a small hotel in Certaldo a good location in the Tuscan Region. Oh, by the way we did see the leaning tower and I must admit I was not in the mood to sight see but I could not believe the gradient of the lean on this tower- amazing. Not a good day to say the least.
So far we have been here in Tuscany for 4 nights and are staying one more then heading to Rome on Wednesday morning.
We have spent a day in Siena(caught the train-much more relaxing). It is a lovely town and the major piazza(square) is enormous. They actually have a famous horse race, called The Palio, in this piazza in 2 weeks time where hundreds of thousands of people come to watch, the pictures around the place are fabulous. We found a magnificent cathedral - the Duomo of Siena. As we turned into the piazza that the cathedral dominates there were all these random people(tourists) sitting on the steps singing hymns, it was not staged just happened then they all went on their way. We went for a look and were simply amazed at the intricate workmanship of this absolutely beautiful cathedral-Mez was actually impressed for a non churchy.
Day 2 - decided to go for a drive off the beaten track ( are we gluttons for punishment or what?) but anyway we got back in the car and headed for Chianti Country. The staff at the hotel are very friendly and one of them suggested that we go up to a small town called Gaiole in Chianti to see a 12th century Abbey, called Badia a Coltibuono, that has wine tours every hour. After many hours of driving through beautiful country side we arrived at the Abbey on a mountain possibly the highest elevation of our trip so far besides of course the mountains at Mt Blanc. It was so worth the road trip up and of course back. Had a tour through the old Abbey and they are still a wine producing concern today producing about a million bottles of chianti wine a year. I even stayed for half of the Sunday mass service.
Today we went to a lovely fortress town called Volterra. Driving there today we went through the most beautiful countryside I think I have ever seen. Rolling hills of yellow and green fields, ancient old homes atop the cliffs surveying their livelhood and meandering roads that casually roamed around everywhere - as Mez said"postcard perfect ". The town itself was corridor after corridor of very old buildings, lively cafes and restaurants and not so many tourists. We chose to go to this town and not a very similar one, and more touristy, close by here called San Gimignano. San G has been described as a medieval disneyland and is full of tourists the lady at the hotel recommended Volterra so thats where we went. Good choice.
Heading to Florence tomorrow by train to of course see David.
Have not had time to download pics from camera of Tuscany so will keep you posted.
love to all
Been a while since last blog, not making any excuses but days are long and full and by the time we get back to base and have or make dinner have been on the exhausted side.
Spent a relaxing few days in Alessandria. Not many tourists visit this town and therefore not much English spoken.
We had lunch at a small cafe and were lucky to have an English speaking waiter and after the usual questions eg. where are you from he turned to us and said "what are you doing in Alessandria" that probably explains what the place was like but suited us perfectly.
Mez did have some trouble when she tried to post some cards but the real problem was when she wanted to buy more stamps. Finally all resolved and someone is going to get a postcard hopefully before we return home. On the topic of postcards I tried to buy some and they didn't have any, no one to sell them to, the retailer would go broke.
Alessandria may have been still living behind the 20th century but in the hotel we had the best whizz bang shower I had been in but the only problem was I had to wear my glasses into the shower for the first time to work all the controls - not a good look, this getting old is the pits. One control was for the temp, one for the power of the shower nozzle and one for the power of the jet spray that came out from the walls. Of course I turned the wall jet spray first and got a face full - lots of laughs.
 |
| We have been good and stayed away from all the beautiful sweets of France and Italy but we were at dinner and the table near us knew we were struggling with the language and they indicated that we have to try this and it was profiterole bianci- scrumptious |
Heading from Alessandria we drove to the next stop for a few days and this was the very picturesque countryside of the Chinque Terre Region( five fishing villages that sit on the sides of the cliffs) and there is only driving access to two of them. Along with the most magnificent views comes of course the treacherous roads and the road took us through tunnel after tunnel and up and down the steepest cliffs.
We stayed in Monterosso, the first of the five if you are going south. A major problem with staying in these villages is there is nowhere to park. There was one parking station with about 100 spots max and other than that you park on the side of the road in the blue lines, if you can get a spot, all the way up the mountain for $3 an hour or park for free in the white lines 3ks away uphill. Parking cost us for the 3 days about $90. We had 3 nights there- first afternoon, after finally managing a park with the help of a good looking local boy we walked around the area to get a feel for the place and stumbled across a very old church, as you do everywhere in Italy, on a hill and with it the local cemetery - very interesting. First whole day was a little overcast and a few showers so we caught the train to each of the other 4 villages. They would have been so isolated years ago but are very touristy now but still all have their own individuality. Monterosso is the only one with a flat beach area, two infact, one in the newer part and one in old town where we stayed, as all the others have cliff faces down to the water line. You can swim in all areas but Corniglia is the only one without harbour access. To get to Corniglia you have to walk up 382 steps that zigzag up the mountain. It was a big day lots of walking and lots of pics.
 |
| Just to prove we did the 382 steps if you get the magnifying glass out you can see it on the poster. |
 |
| A typical scene from the many villages- very picturesque |
 |
| Us first afternoon exploring the area |
 |
| Monterosso from near the small church we found on a hill |
 |
| next fishing village next to Monterosso starting with V can't remember the name and its nearly midnight so I will look it up later( but lovely) |
 |
| Typical shopping scene at all villages |
 |
| This shows how the villages are situated on the cliffs and how the cliffs run into the ocean - magic |
Next day beautiful sunshine and so headed to the beach early. Thought we would get a beach chair and umbrella, as we did in Santorini, but they were a little out of our price range $35 to sit on the beach so we joined the locals on the rocky sand and had a far more interesting time people watching. Water again crystal clear and beautiful temp. Of course you have to do the local shops over so the afternoon was spent wandering and then a few chinque wines at a local cafe that we ventured to each afternoon.
Monterosso was a very interesting and unusual place to visit.
 |
| Monterosso beach(old town) on quiet day on the local side |
 |
| beautiful cross outside the lovely church we found on the hill |
 |
| New Monterosso town in the background- with millions of umbrellas and underneath them sunlounges |
Friday morning the start of a new venture to a different region of Italy - the Tuscan area. Well this day did not start well. The GPS crashed within 2 minutes of turning it on and we were on our way up the mountain from Monterosso heading to Pisa of course to see the Leaning Tower. Found our way after much deliberation by using the old timers way of using the trusty map. Day went from not so bad to really bad after driving around and around Pisa asking lots of people, in broken English and Italian, where we could buy GPS and finally finding one and paying a fortune for one not as good, I clipped the
gutter and we got a flat tyre. 84euro later we were on our way again - I didnt mention that the only rain for days was a heavy shower while waiting on the side of the road just to make things seem a little more dismal. A simple trip took all day but we finally ended up in a small hotel in Certaldo a good location in the Tuscan Region. Oh, by the way we did see the leaning tower and I must admit I was not in the mood to sight see but I could not believe the gradient of the lean on this tower- amazing. Not a good day to say the least.
So far we have been here in Tuscany for 4 nights and are staying one more then heading to Rome on Wednesday morning.
We have spent a day in Siena(caught the train-much more relaxing). It is a lovely town and the major piazza(square) is enormous. They actually have a famous horse race, called The Palio, in this piazza in 2 weeks time where hundreds of thousands of people come to watch, the pictures around the place are fabulous. We found a magnificent cathedral - the Duomo of Siena. As we turned into the piazza that the cathedral dominates there were all these random people(tourists) sitting on the steps singing hymns, it was not staged just happened then they all went on their way. We went for a look and were simply amazed at the intricate workmanship of this absolutely beautiful cathedral-Mez was actually impressed for a non churchy.
Day 2 - decided to go for a drive off the beaten track ( are we gluttons for punishment or what?) but anyway we got back in the car and headed for Chianti Country. The staff at the hotel are very friendly and one of them suggested that we go up to a small town called Gaiole in Chianti to see a 12th century Abbey, called Badia a Coltibuono, that has wine tours every hour. After many hours of driving through beautiful country side we arrived at the Abbey on a mountain possibly the highest elevation of our trip so far besides of course the mountains at Mt Blanc. It was so worth the road trip up and of course back. Had a tour through the old Abbey and they are still a wine producing concern today producing about a million bottles of chianti wine a year. I even stayed for half of the Sunday mass service.
Today we went to a lovely fortress town called Volterra. Driving there today we went through the most beautiful countryside I think I have ever seen. Rolling hills of yellow and green fields, ancient old homes atop the cliffs surveying their livelhood and meandering roads that casually roamed around everywhere - as Mez said"postcard perfect ". The town itself was corridor after corridor of very old buildings, lively cafes and restaurants and not so many tourists. We chose to go to this town and not a very similar one, and more touristy, close by here called San Gimignano. San G has been described as a medieval disneyland and is full of tourists the lady at the hotel recommended Volterra so thats where we went. Good choice.
Heading to Florence tomorrow by train to of course see David.
Have not had time to download pics from camera of Tuscany so will keep you posted.
love to all
Love you and miss you.
ReplyDelete