1. Briar & Mc at the top of villagio Contorno - Tuscany
2. Picturesque Vernazza - Cinque Terre . Liguria . Italy
3. Briar & MC in El Campo Piazza -Siena ( have a famous horserace here annually)
4. Sunset - looking from our campsite towards Passigiamo De Tresimeno
5. MC & Briar at you guessed it - The Leaning Tower of Pisa
6. Briar & MC - Florence in the backround
7. Briar in a field of poppies near Lake Tresimeno Umbria
8. Briar & MC at Monterosso. Cinque Terre . Liguria . Italy
9. Manarola - one of the five villages - Cinque Terre . Liguria . Italy
10. Tracey,Briar Sam and MC at the start gate of the walk ( Cinque Terre - Italy )
Early-Mid April Update 2009
Don’t know what it is about this tour so far, either - we seem to track the snow around or the rainy/cloudy weather tracks us. I will need to get some vitamin E again shortly or I’ll lose me maori suntan at this rate – yeah right. As you may have guessed we awoke to a cloudy Provence morning in Aix en Provence a little drizzly. The normal morning routine 3 x S’s/ brekkie /pack up Hugo and hit the trail , we were both looking forward to seeing Julie (kiwi-friend of Kathy’s) / Fritz and their two teenage children. We headed outta of Aix-en Provence to Rognes where we had already passed through the preceding day for a bit of a reconnoitre to save any hassles
as all well organised campervanners do – not.
Rognes is around 15 k’s from Aix-en Provence – so it was a quick trip out – had a wee cruise around the main town – had a market day on of course – great for campervans – narrow streets and market stalls and all. Managed to find a park right next to a Caveaux de vins (wine shop) – funny that.
Briar wandered of to find the phone booth we had spotted back around the corner –to phone Julie and let her know we were in town and make a meeting spot and of course I had to investigate the local vino shop – I mean how much can a koala bear.
After fastidiously wandering around the local wines selected a couple – one even with a medal sticker on it – I wandered out with me two bottles whilst or the locals were armed with plastic containers and flagon style containers and just got refills. – hey did we have containers – no way. Besides the two bottles only cost $9.50 euro’s and they were both locally produced vino’s by the local co-operative.
Another ten minuto’s passed and Briar returned – we were to wait out by the local petrol station and Fritz would meet us there. We were only there a couple minutes when a white van with a Chap wearing a All Blacks adidas shirt on – had to be Fritz and it was – cool stuff.
The informal intro’s and we followed Fritz and the white van back through the busy narrow main streets and markets of course to their Provencial maison – only route to their maison .
Still after some patient waiting we weaved our way through and headed north west out of Rognes – along some very much single lane country roads or should say lanes.
Fritz and Julie’s maison is aroumd 4 k’s from Rognes through some typically provence countryside – weaving up onto a small crest – overlooking a valley – on a fine summer’s day the vista’s from the verandah and pool area would be as the French say tres magnifique, the cloudy / drizzly day didn’t quite give the same image.
We managed to dodge a few rain drops running to the front door – the sliders on the verandah. It was nice and cosy inside and the space – after couple months in a campervan - ya really notice space and furniture like couches and dinning tables I’ll tell you.
More informal greetings with Julie – we sat down at the dining table with views out the sliders over the valley – not that we could see far with the now constant rain - to a good ol cuppa tea and bikkies and some kiwi chit chat. This continued on for hours through a a typically Moorish French lunch – baguette with condiments – all things French to of course – ( except some canned tuna) hey that might have been from the Mediterranean – who knows.
Unfortunately there was no package there for us but at least there was a letter that our package was at the airport in Marseille – around 30/40 k’s from Rognes and Fritz kindly phoned to arrange for us to pick it up on Monday. This meant we had to spend the weekend at Fritz and Julies – we were absolutely gutted about that – yeah right . During lunch we meet their delightful daughter Sofia – more chit chat – it was great to be able to talk in a relaxed unpretentious kiwi maison. Later on in the afternoon Fritz & Julie had to head out and pick up the eldest Jordan ( who had been out allnight long the preceding night and had just called not so long ago for the olds – please pick me up routine) and also pick up some groceries. We were invited to stay /relax,chill watch some pommie TV and join them for New Zealand lamb roast dinner – no way we were gonna argue with some typically genuine kiwi hospitality. I did a bit of lappie stuff catching up on some blogsite updating and Briar sat and watched a bit of pommie rugby – Gloucester were playing – ( a few kiwi lads playin – Xavier Rush / Paul Tito / Ben Blair and several others couldn’t remember there names – to long away from rugby and Super 14, it was great just to watch a bit of rugga in fact watch some TV, we don’t watch a lot – only have DVD’s in the camper.
A wee while later we met Jordan – who didn’t have a lot to say – he actually didn’t look to flash we had a brief intro and he disappeared until tea time –wonder why. Teenages – its gotta be done.
Whilst I didn’t sympathise with him, we have all been there done that and in my case
on more than one occasion – hehe. A few pre dinner vino’s , snackies and around 9 – 9.30 pm (French time and MCnBriar time as well – suited us) we sat down to roast lamb – perfectly cooked (missed the mint sauce though) and legumes also very tasty. Bon apetito – have had a few feeds of European lamb ( Spanish/Portugese and French lamb) but nothing and I mean nothing compares to good old Kiwi lamb , the european lamb taste is very different.
So Briar and I fastidiously munched, chewed and savoured each morsel – thank you Julie – bellisimo. More vino’s some fraises for desert (fraises – strawberries) more chit chat – I’m sure fritz would have settled in for a longer haul if the no.1 son had not been catching a plane for an interview at a very top notch London university the following Sunday morning. Still they all piled upstairs to do internet train bookings and other form filling stuff, Briar and I hit the kitchen sink and cleaned up, the least we could do for our gracious hosts. We dodged more raindrops dashing out to Hugo – put on a DVD and fell asleep to the sound of raindrops on Hugo’s roof. We unfortunately woke to still the same sound on Sunday morning, we did have a few patches of no rain – our hosts had already headed out to the airport to send Jordan on his merry way. We showered, brekkied leisurely and also decided to do a wee bit of ticky touring around locally as well.
We chose a town called Saint Maxinum du Saint Baume ( bloody mouthful that is) about 40 k’s past Aix en Provence (south east) – it rained all the way out and pretty much all the way back to Rognes as well . Still even in the rain the drive was interesting – the differing countryside. After reaching our destination around 1pm we decided to hav sum lunch.
We found a good parking lot directly across from a pizziera (wood fired) – we are both surprised by the amount of pizziera’s everywhere in France and I mean everywhere.
Once again dodging raindrops we entered the pizziera to the maitre’d a frenchman at the blubbering in French – who I replied to – didn’t understand a word ya said guv – and he replied a you no understand (in English) – he did however seat us next to a grand fireplace ( one you could easily walk around underneath in ) smoking away – fantastique. We ordered a Nicoise salad to share for entrée and a grande Sicilian wood fired pizza for secondi plato. A wee bit of rouge house du vin , some tap water to compliment it – bon apetito – the salad and the pizza worth both very tasty – we enjoyed. Once the worms had been fed we jumped back in Hugo and headed back to Fritz and Julie’s , we stopped for some fresh Fraises from a stall on the way back.
We found our way back rather easily I might add, not always the case for us. We left our new found aquaintenances to themselves for most of the arvo, whilst Briar made a cheesecake for dessert, I continued writing hogwash for the blogsite. Fritz did poke his head in the camper later on to make sure we were alive and coming for dinner again – I’m sure they were happy to have some more chitchat which we were to and happily obliged around 6pm.
Some more vino ( a bit of camper Spanish Rjoha) and another local favourite of Fritz’s – some fab spaghetti bog and frais cheesecake, lots and lotsa more chit chat – why is it time flys when one is enjoying himself – unfortunately the evening ended – some had to work the next day – hehe. Fritz was having the week of to do those never ending chores around home and his mum and sister were also coming to stay for a bit. Once again back to Hugo but without dodging raindrops – there were even a few stars about desperately trying to twinkle for us. We hit the sack belly’s full and not looking forward to departing our new found friends. All good things come to an end and unfortunately we had to depart the next morning but hey the sun was shining and we could see the true vista from their verandah at last – not surprised they fell in love with the place. After big hugs and handshakes we left Fritz, Julie and Sofia waving in the wing mirrors a quick dash through Rognes and onto Marseille aeroporto we were bound. With great instructions from our new found friends we easily found our way to the aeroporto and the courier company- where our package lay waiting for us. Briar driving and me navigating – I have found so far the way best combo –it simply just doesn’t work very well the other way – women were never meant to be navigators and they aren’t in my book. (But man we are great drivers!!)
We had a few hours to kill being around siesta time and from 12-2pm only the shopping centres etc. are ouvert. As we passed an Ikea store- I had a bright idea – we had been looking around for awhile for a topping mattress for our campervan bed – so to kill some time before we could call at the Ikea hyperstore and carry on our search for a topping mattress. Briar has also wanted to have a look through one since we arrived – so kill two birds with one stone as the saying goes. Whats even better we found our topping mattress at a reasonable price. We would sleep tonite in even more comfort –an extra bonus on top of our package of goodies – yeahh the universe is finally shining down on us – we shot across the road to another carpark – Geant supermarket store and picked up a few groceries – and ate lunch in the carpark . Ham & salad with the almost now obligatory baguette. We then made a beeline for the courier company at the aeroporto and after retrieving our package we headed out to the coast via downtown Marseille – along the waterfront – Briar is far more at ease driving through the middle of cities than I am – once again it’s that navigating thing – I definitely know how to navigate us through the guts of cities. (… and I definitely know how to drive in them..got the copper whistle as I ran a red light looking at him instead of the lights – French cops freak anyone out I reckon)
The waterfront along with the Marseille cathedral were spectacular – there were many yachts and big boats and as big as we have seen so far if not bigger – saw a few at the america’s cup at the viaduct in Auckland several years back – a few more here though. We managed to navigate around the marina rather well – especially after Briar had failed to stop on a red light at a pedestrian crossing and got waived over by a French policeman – of course Briar played the stupid pommie blond who no speak the francais – he waved his finger at her told her off and spoke something in French and waved us on and away we went.
We left Marseille, the marina’s and the bustle and headed out to a small fishing village called Carro – aire de stationment for campers – only took another 30 minutes and we were there – overlooking the mediterrano again – some of these aire de stationments have the primo locations in town – absolute beach/waterfront – amazing.
Still we were happy to look out our window at the mediterrano – no complaints from us. We paid the $7.00 euro fee no problemo. No electricity – but we can cope wiht that.
There were around 40 or so other campers there too. Mostly French – we were certainly the only campervan with GB on our no. plate. After dinner we strolled around the quaint little port and village area and walked back along the beachfront to Hugo. Briar took an evening snappie of the boats in the marina. The next morning was a bit cloudy and after brekkie we did the usual servicing of Hugo – fill the tank , empty the grey water tank and toilet cassette ( my job which I had no choice in inheriting) .
We hit the road after a couple more daytime pickkies and meandered up the cote de azur coast – a very windy road but along some spectacular coastline.
Passed lotsa seaside villas or maisons, I should call them as we are in France, even the odd chateau dotted amongst them – you can understand why the French love this part of their world – but of course you need plenty of deneiro – actually shitloads of it. After passing a couple of the aire de stationments we had earlier checked out – only to find them either closed or not really suitable we headed onto we finally found one in St. Mandrier Sur Mer – the weather had started to pack in a bit – so we decided this will do. It was a wee stationment compared to what we had experienced so far. But it was sheltered and we were only using as a stopover. So we took the last available spot around 3pm and glad we had as several others campers turned up after us – but with no room left had to move on. We were next to a tennis club and a luxury end boat builders yard – the boats the big boys have as their play toys.
The weather really packed it in which meant we couldn’t get out and explore the local town and marina area’s –we were camped under some trees so sheltered us a bit – because it really peeed down and blew a bit as well, for most of the night, but by morning had cleared up – even patches of blue sky and sunlight to the north west – where we were heading – yeeayy. The usual morning routine , packed Hugo up ready for the trail and off we headed again around some more French Riviera coastline – magnifique – St.Tropez was our destination.
More and more magnifique maisons or should I say mansions appearing with high security fencing along this stretch of coastline – everything was starting to ooze money – even the air had a kinda money thing goin on.
All the cars parked up were BMW’s / Merc’s / Audi’s and of course the odd porshe or Ferrari thrown in for good measure. We hit St. Tropez around midday and found a big parking lot for Hugo. We did the usual security measures on Hugo and hit the port/marina of St. Tropez hoping to brush with some film or rock star strolling along the promenade. The sun was desperately trying to shine through, with the occasional peek, lifestyles of the rich and famous – yeh maybe. I mean there was some rather mean looking boats parked up worth millions but not what I thought St. Tropez to be,
It was quite a quiet little town or almost village – everything did seep class – but I was sought of expecting more, and when a black helicopter with Brad and Angelina(yeah right) hovered over us and didn’t land I gotta say I was alittle disappointed . We mosied about for an hour or so and found a patisserie for the lunchtime baguette, back to Hugo for some lunch on the waterfront with the seagulls. The weather then turned nasty on us again – we were beginning to think that a big black raincloud was following us around. We drove outta St.Tropez around the corner about 7/8 k’s to Port Grimaud where we found a campground – in the pouring rain we set up camp. This was our first campground however where we had our own ensuite attached to the site. Briar thought it was a blessing in disguise – her own private toilet for a few days – so of course she was the first to christen it as well. It was a good size, almost about a bathroom size and fairly modern as well – the ground was a liitle muddy from the recent rain, it was 16amp electrical hook-up and they had dial-up modems for internet you could hire – also a first at a campground.
So we hunkered in for the night – got a wee bit done on the internet – ate the last of our fridge food with just enough milk for cupsa tea after dinner and brekkie in the morning – definite supermercado day tmoro once again it showered most of the night but it was a better day when we woke up – a bit later as we were rather chilled – there was enough blue sky in patches for us to head out in Hugo for a bit of touring of the local area – we thought we’d have a look at the old town of Grimaud first and then we wanted to do a bit more of the rich and famous groove in St.Tropez so we headed there first. Grimaud was only about a ten minute drive from camp so we got there pretty quickly found a good parking spot allotted to campervanners. Locked Hugo up and once again headed up to the old fort and ruins – this old fort had had its fair share of delapidation either by age or perhaps from recent world wars. Still once up there amongst the ruins one was rewarded with a wonderful vista of the entire valley and bay area – the usual pickkies and then headed down into the old town – once again meandering through narrow lanes and alleyways – some with masses off wisteria hanging everywhere – Briar insisted on a couple of pics – one of things of Europe that is so fascinating is that you can so easily stroll past someone’s front room or door of their house – not at all private like in NZ or Aus. But that is also what give’s it it’s charm and that is how it has been for centuries – not like us young guns. We passed a few restaurants and patisseries and the aroma’s were beginning to get the better of the worms – so we decided to head outta there – we did grab a baguette for a quick munch. We had St.Tropez and the supermercado on the hit list as well today.
After a 20 minuto trip we parked Hugo up in the almost the same park as yesterday but with around 5/6 other campers today. After locking down Hugo we made a beeline straight for the chateau on the hill – where we thought we would get a good vista over St.Tropez , Port Grimaud and the surrounding bays etc. The sun had really come on now, scarying the clouds away we wandered past some swanky clothing stores with the Verscae, Dior etc.etc Briar ogling of course
We tramped up the hill to the chateau only to find ya had to pay $5 euro ta get in – bugger that – so we wandered around it – ya could almost as good a view over the bays and town etc any ways. Did find unusually a cemetery at the foot of the chateau right on the waterfront – I could imagine in rough weather the sea would smash over the walls and splash over the graves/headstones - How bazaar how bazaar – and it was no small cemetery either it also meandered around the coastline and chateau which stood out on a point like a fortress.
After some more wandering through some of the alleyways of the old part of St.Tropez we once again headed to the marina to drool over the boats and to have a café et la in one of the waterfront cafés. We found one and sat in the front row overlooking millionaires row (boats) – paid our $10.00 euros for 2 x coffees with milk – our most expensive coffees on tour yet – perhaps it was because we in the front row of the café – it was probably half the price if ya sat inside.
Hey this was St.Tropez and if ya wanna be seen ya gotta do what the elite do – sit in the front row with ya designer labels on – I thought Briar and I looked good in our Katmandu gear. We sat and sipped our coffees laborousily acting like the locals do – people watching with the odd comment or gesture – after ½ an hour of that we could take no more – took a few pickies of us with the big boys toys and back to Hugo.
Hit the Geant supermercado in between St.Tropez and Port Grimaud and back to camp – it was really starting to fine up now. If tomorrows OK- might be a good day to get the bikes down and cycle around Port Grimaud . We did a bit of internet stuff as we had our very own connection – a wee bit of anti-pasto since we had done a shop and had a yummy beef steak and Roquefort cheese sauce (Briar is becoming an expert at making sauces) .
After a satisfying dinner, a DVD hit the sack rather earlier than usual. Woke the next morning to patchy skies – mostly cloudy with odd patches of blue sky – after the usual S’s routine and brekkie some laundry another morning catchin up on the internet again I got the bikes of the rack and we hit the trail had a real good bike around Port Grimaud, a canal type suburb really a bit like some of the swanky suburbs you would see on the Gold Coast – it was gated with security guards and one part you could only access over a bridge – still it was all apartments and looked aged now – around twenty years old at least I would say. Still it was all very nice and French – once again the smell of money drifted through the air. We stopped at a small town centre to buy some lavender smellies for Hugo’s toilet and Briar found a clothing shop where she only went for a look but strolled outta there with two items and as usual I said nothing. (replacements for the nicked stuff actually…Mark still has the wardrobe he left NZ with…)… I did however end up carrying one bag back to camp and again I said nothing. We had earlier passed a Thai restaurant and decided that we hadn’t really tried any Thai food since arriving in Europe we would give it a go. Certainly a different way of doing things here’ all the food had been prepared and sitting in dishes waiting to be served for either eat in or put into containers for takeaway. The takewaway containers were small but the food was really tasty and we both enjoyed our first thai meal since our last thai dinner with micky, dogs and trace at a new thai restaurant in the mount a week before we left. We had an unusually early dinner and watched a couple DVD’s and the hit the hay – tmoro was travel day. The morning was blue skies with the odd patches of cloud a contrast from the previous two days.
We were Nice bound today – had to pass through St.Antibes, Cannes along the French Riviera coast on the way. We stopped for a bit of lunch just before Cannes at a stop on the side of the road with a tres magnifique lookout over the med and also at some really ochre/reddish mountains well hills really I suppose but just drop dramatically into the med sea. Only enough room for a road and train track and not much else . Being a Sunday there were a lot of bikers out enjoying the winding coastal road and the sun, of course the odd porshe or maserati zoomed passed as well. Once again the masions, chateaux’s and apartments stuck grimly to the side of shear rock faces – but all no doubt with spectacular vistas of the mediterrano. We hit Cannes after our lunch stop and we went smack through the middle of it right down at the marina – I didn’t even mind driving through all the hustle, bustle and mayhem of the marina, the palm tree lined and flower gardens of Cannes along the waterfront are the most impressive we’ve seen so far and once again the smell of money permeated through the air.
There were guys even in their Versace suits on a Sunday morning walking with their better halves dressed to the max. walking the corgi or something – and also the biggest petanque scenario yet.
We managed to sneak a photo as we drove passed, there would have been at least two to three hundred mostly men out playin there was also a market going on as well – a real happenin place. Visually this to me was the most impressive French Riviera town/city yet. We passed on through and kept following the coastal trail to Nice – had decided on a camp in Villieneuve de Loubert around 12 k’s outta Nice itself but was very close to the piscine and a bus route into town.
After checkin into camp where a very overdone(make-up wise) madam booked us in . This was the first camp we had come to with a pool that could actually be used – due to it being an indoor one – I did go for a swim, but Briar chickened out. After setting up Hugo in the far corner of the camp with apartments all around beaming down at us but we were furtherest from the road noise, we walked down to the piscina to take a peekaboo, really just a reconnoitre of the local surrounds, spotted the local Geant supermarche and finally found the right bus stop ta catch into Nice downtown. Lotsa people wandering ( it was Saturday arvo) and just around the corner from the campground was a local petanque tournament goin on and once again mostly all men. Perhaps the women were out the back in the kitchen (where they belong – who said that).
After a wee wander back to base we rustled up a anti-pasto – a few basso’s of vino – some chena – a dvd an hit the hay. We awoke to a reasonable day blue sky and clouds but with a bit of a breeze – still warm though. The usual morning camp routine – caught the 10.15 autobous to central Nice, when we got on standing room only – after two more stops the bus was chocka – didn’t even bother stopping at a few stops after that until a major stop where about ¼ the bus emptied and another 5/6 got off at the aeroporto. Still the bus route took us right along the main beach promenade of Nice – which goes for 5/6 k’s at least – all lined with hotels/apartment blocks and of course the odd mansion (few and far between) mostly apartments with shops/restaurants/cafes on the ground floor. All the way along the promenade their were people out walking / jogging/ cycling/ rollerblading and so on. This was 10.30am on a Sunday morning– I reckon there had to be at least 4-5 thousand people wandering up and down the promenade if not more. Still it kept us amused on our bus journey – we arrived at Rouliere gare and headed straight for Nice Ville Gare – the main train station – to check it out for the arrival of Trace & Sam the following day.
After a good 30min. walk we found it and plotted our course of action for the preceding day – no spots for parking a campervan – so bus would be the best solution-
There was a electric tram about 300 yds walk from the station – we could catch that and it would drop us back the Rouliere Gare bus station where we could catch our 212 back to a couple hundred yards from the campsite - had text from Trace about their arrival time 6.30pm – cool.
After sussing that out we strolled along one of the main pedestrian ways on our way back down towards the promenade. We stopped in for a café et la – sat at the front table to people watch – of course it costs also more to have ya coffee at the front table – in fact if ya went inside to the bar and drank it standing up it would be half the amount- amazing.
Still it was nice to chill for a bit and the coffee was good and hot for a change. We then ambled down Avenue Jean Medicin to Placio Massena – where they had fountains and gardens and all pedestrian access only – we shot down to the Le Albert Lur jardin and got some pics standing in front of the statue ( stat – u bro) of Athena. We then caught the petittrainnice turistique (open air little petrol engined street train for a quick blat around some of the landmarks and also to take us up the hill to the Parc Du Colline Chateau jardins which offer spectacular views of Nice. The little train which we caught on the promenade shot us down through Ville Nice (the old town) through some very narrow lanes people had to stand in doorways to allow us to pass. We would come back and check that out later for sure, we then weaved our way through some more back alleys and then popped out at the Bassin Lympia – the main Nice marina and port- once again an impressive array of big boy toy boats – these were easily some of the biggest we’ve seen so far – even more impressive than St.Tropez and Cannes, there was also a cruise ship anchored. The petite traino then
wound its way around the hill up to the top of the Parc Du chateau jardins.
So glad we decided to take the train and not walk (we did talk about it- glad it only got to that stage) . We got off at the top to find lotsa families having picnics there was a big playground up there also. There is vechile access up – there was also quite a big cimitiere on the way up also. We ambled around to the viewpoints to do the touristy thing – pics of the vista’s pics with us and the vista’s ya know what I mean lassie.
After an hour or so the worms were beginning to rustle so we headed down the hill to
appease them – we once again weaved our way downhill passed an amazing fountain which produced a huge amount of water downwards – we were rather curious as to where it went – nothing like the Huka falls but still alotta water – we went down steps passed peoples fro.nt doors and porchways even the odd deck – yeah hows it goin mate – passed a church through a couple archways – down a few more alleyways and bang – back amongst the tourists – on a shop lined alley – we found a nice little restaurant next to a piazza with a good de jour menu, there was a spare table and lotsa people eating there – the three things us now seasoned travellers like us look for. The food while nothing sensational was appetizing and good value for money- besides the table next door to us with four middle aged pommie sheila’s kept us rather amused – one of the ladies was like a record – I think the other three managed to get the odd word in but she never stopped for the 1 ½ hours we were there – she was still goin when we left – perhaps she enjoyed the sound of her rather over the top northern pommie accent. We didn’t envy leavin the restaurant or her poor mates – we then ambled through the maze of narrow alleys and lanes window shopping – there were cute boutiques offering just about everything you could imagine and then some.
It was getting on so we decided to catch a bus and head back to camp and chill for the rest of the arvo. We caught the bus at The Roulierie Gare – bout ¾ hour trip back to Villienouve Loubert – the bus not so full this time.
Once back at camp Briar had a siesta and I went for a dip in the pool. The water was a tepid 19 degrees but being indoor and the outside temp was around the same – was all ok. After doing me 52 laps of the pool – not – managed to do 12. Luckily it was quiet and no kids around. After another relaxing anti-pasto and several vino’s we had a very nice meal Briar rustled up in our 4 star kitchenette – we both watched a dvd for a change and hit zzzzzzzzzzzzland. We awoke to another OK morning – still a bit hazy – cloudy but not raining or cold. We did a bit of washing – cleaned Hugo inside and out for our incoming guests - strolled down to the local supermarche – stocked up on groceries -had some lunch – another text from Trace – on the way be there about 7pm. We caught the 200 autobous into town around 3pm – so we could do some more wandering around centro Nice. We chilled in the Boulevard Jean Jaures next to the fountains and ambled our way through some markets inVille Nice again- as we were strolling we got a text from Trace – delays in arrival time – some idiot had decided to commit harikari on the train tracks – 1 ½ hour deferral . Bugger more time to kill – we hit a café for a while – ambled back to the fountains and people watched for a bit more ( lotsa young people ) – then ambled up the avenue jean medicin through some malls – Briar found some make-up she had been lookin for for awhile. We arrived at the station checked out the arrival board – about 15 mins away. The announcement came for the train from Bordeaux and 5mins.
Later Trace and Sam laden with backpacks came through the gates – big smiles. Big hugs and hullo’s and we jumped on the tram down to Roulierie Gare – caught the 200 autobous back to camp. We had fortunately pre-prepared dinner earlier – so after lotsa vino’s – lotsa chinwagging – some top notch spaghetti bog – we watched a dvd hit the hay .
Woke to a nice sunny day – the usual routine – 3 x S’s / brekkie / packed up Hugo paid the bill and hit the road .
After an hour or so we hit Monte Carlo – Monaco – managed t score a park for Hugo for free for ten minutes – enough for us to get pics of the royal palace the port area and the numerous apartment towers ( almost Hong Kong like in some ways) the roads are very narrow and windy surprisingly – don’t think ya get too many asian bus tours passin through here – they probably all arrive by cruise liner – there was a couple of liners in port amongst the many big boys boats. I know I’ve said many times since we arrived on the French Riviera and once again the place oozed money out of its seams. The cars /the stores /the fashion / the boardwalks and gardens even the people looked as though they smelt of money. If this is what the French Riviera smells like, can’t wait to smell Zurich (Switzerland) Still all very intriguing for us poor folk at the bottom end of the earth. Snuck a couple quick pics of the Monte Carlo casino – I’m sure we saw James Bond breeze past us in his Aston Martin. We zipped on threw Monaco and hit the Italian border and immediately that smell over money disappeared – amazing contrast, reminded me of spain again – just not the affluence – hey the coastal flora and fauna was molto bello – but the Italians like the Spanish do take pride in having their villas and yard looking A1 like the majority of us kiwi’s who seemd to be almost obsessed with it generally. The coast road once again very windy and at some points very shear drops to the sea below – with just a concrete 1m high barrier between you and the med. After much backtracking to find a camp we finally did so at coastal spot called Diano Marina
About half way between San Remo and Genova. The campground was an absolute mecca for campervanners judging by the amount here or perhaps it was the price which kept the many Deutsh/Dutch/French and Brits campervanners there – by far one of the cheapest campgrounds in Europe so far - $10.00 euros per night – don’t matter how many people and included 3amp electricity hook-up – I reckon close to 200 campers approx. We set up camp – it was a warm and sunny arvo so had a small anti-pasto /some vino and then wandered downtown for our first going –out meal in Italy – wandered along the beach for a bit headed down towards what looked like the centro and found a little family run pizziera in a piazza. Most of the tables were full of locals so we figured the food would be allright and the prices were pretty good as well.
We ordered some vino and some pizza’s and chatted like all the other tables – even had the new familia bambino being shown off ta everyone- only had a ten minute wait before our pizza’s arrived at the table – wow a totally different concept to pizza hut or domino pizza’s back in NZ – even Hell’s pizza has nothing on these simple but awesome looking pizza’s – and the taste was something else again. Ya won’t find any thick crust base pizza’s in Italy. We all thoroughly enjoyed our first authentic taste of Italy and the hospitality of our accommodating hosts. We got a group snappie with our waitress and paid the conti and headed back to camp all relaxed, bellies full, feeling good with the world and lookin forward to tomorrows journey. We settled in with a cuppa,a DVD and half a container of lollies – we hit the hay around midnight.
Woke up to a cosi-cosi morning not much blue sky at all but it also didn’t look like rain – destination Genova today – once again the coastal road proved windy and narrow and not at all appeasing with sam’s stomach – who for the second day in a row threw up in the loo. The roads are no way as good as the b grade French roads we travelled on either – even the autostrada’s are in serious need of attention. We even had trouble locating a campground along this stretch – but perserverance payed off and even though we back tracked around 15 k’s like we did the previous day to get to camp Oasis at Diano marina.
We even had to go through some bumper to bumper in downtown Arezzano – small coastal suburb town –with only one main road going through it of course. The campground was nothing spectacular, we next to a train track under a motorway and next to a busy coastal road ( could see me not getting much sleep) – still we had power –loos, and showers – there wasn’t much as else around in these parts at this time of the day (5.30pm). I put together a chicken and veggie paella which everyone woofed down a few vino’s/ some gas bagging / dishes / DVD and cupsa teas and once again we hit the sack- tmoro we were Cinque Terre bound. We all slept reasonably well considering the noise levels – we all showered brekkied and hit the road reasonably early – decided to do some of the trip along the motorway as well today to help Sam’s suss travelling stomach. The weather was at last on the improve as well and the nearer we got to Cinque Terre and the Riviera Liguria coast the sunnier and warmer it got – yeayy. We came of the motorway around Sestri Levante and did a wee drive about tryin to locate a supermercado – we finally found a Ipercoop just outta town – parked up with Briar playing security guard for Hugo – whilst Trace , Sam & I hit the supermercado. The supermercado’s here in Italy are no way as big as either Spain or France – so they seem more busy . Still we restocked the fridge and cupboards of Hugo – it was around 1.30pm – we decided to find the campground before havin some lunch – the camp was only around 14 k’s away.
The road to the camp was extremely hilly and windy because we had to take an alternate route- one thing tomtom’s don’t pick up are height restrictions – we had a train bridge with a max. 3m and we are about 3.2m so hence the windy roadtrip which also pushed the k’s out another 6/7 as well. We seemed to climb and climb and climb – we stopped at one point to give not only Sam a rest but also Hugo. The views were pretty amazing from our stop and then we descended all the way down the other side to our campground –La Sfinge ( Devia Marina)- great campground ( there are only around 7/8 campgrounds through the Cinque Terre) – Aire de stationments in most of the accessible towns. Amazingly sam’s stomach held out on this trip – but wasn’t lookin forward to dumping & cleaning out the chemical toilet. (Me driving…an ex-travel sick kid so know how to take the corners particularly smoothly..and stop periodically for the tummy to settle…)
We found a great possie for Hugo – set up camp - even pulled out the ground tarp and chairs and sat down and had yummy salads for lunch basking in the warm 20 degree temp. Threw some clothes in the washing machina’s – set up the clothes lines everywhere – made ourselves right at home. We then caught the free shuttle bus down to the main town of Deiva Marina for a squiz at the mare (beach in Italian) and also to find the train times for the Cinque Terre. The shuttle dropped us at the train station and also picks you up from there at times to coincide with the trains ( molto buono) . We ambled through town – just a few cafes/restaurants/one money machine/ a farmacia/ one butcher / a couple foccacceria’s – a small supermercado and a few cloting shops. We then hit the beach – all took our shoes off and pushed the pebbly sand between our toes – we laso put our feet in the water – not too bad. Only a couple local kids in the water – there was a few people sunbathing – not too many baring their flesh but. Took a couple pics
Did some more reconoitering and headed back to the pick-up point, ta catch the shuttle back to camp. Tonite was definitely gonna be a vino and anti-pasto nite – could feel it in the air – and guess what it was – good thing briar volunteered to cook.
Trace and I volunteered to drink most of the vino – think I ended up putting 4 bottles in the recycle bin later on. Briar’s dinner was superb – meat and vege ( delicioso) – after dishes / a cuppa and a DVD once again off into lalaa land. Hey what do ya know the weather whilst hazy its warm and fine – we caught the shuttle bus down to the train estacio – but because we were in the 2nd shuttle lot down and rushed to get our tickets for the train we missed the 10.34am to Monterosso ( Bugger) – in our haste to figure out the ticket machine I ended up with a $25.00 euro monthly ticket (Bugger again) – we had an hour wait for the next – so we decided we will just go to Monterosso for this day and work out how to get tickets from the ticket machine correctly – which is what we did – got off at the train station – the train was pretty packed as well – would have been close to 400-450 people got off at Monterosso – we walked down the steps and smack the view straight across the road from the train station of the med – spectacular. Once we hit the pavement on the other side we could get a better view – Monterosso is the only one of the five villages of the Cinque Terre that has a proper beach –it actually has two in separate bays or coves. We strolled about taking it all in with about another four thousand other tourists, man hate to see this place in summer – would be diabolical. There is one thing that I certainly noticed within the first hour of being in Monterosso is the number of American accents about.
There was also a huge parking lot with around 80 or so campervanners parked up. After some more strolling along one bay we wandered around to the second which was the main old town part of Monterosso – walked through some narrow lanes and alleys – a bit of window shop gazing – found a spot under some trees in the shade and had brushetta’s for lunch. The place was pretty amazing and the calmness of the sea made it even more so – there even fisherman out catchin fish about a km offshore.
We did some more ambling – bought some more vino to restock our dwindled supply from the previous evening. Jumped on a train with the hoardes back to Deiva marina – the train line goes through tunnels mostly along the coast and you only come into daylight at the towns – hard case. Still we got our tickets soughted for the next day – there is a $5.00 euro park fee for walkin through the Cinque Terre park. We had a earlier dinner but with some vino – just not as many as the previous evening- once again briar rustled up a yummy dinner – another DVD and bedtime. We awoke to a hazy day again with alittle more cloud than the previous day – still the temp was around 18/19 degrees – we made some rolls and filled our water bottles packed our backpacks and made sure we got to be at the front of the shuttle queue. Good thing we did as there was definitely two loads to go down to the station. The second load yesterday which we were on missed our connecting train – not today but. The weather was starting to warm up even more I reckon. We got the train all the wat to Riomaggiore the last of the five villages and were gonna walk back to Vernazza. We got of the train and had to walk along a very narrow gangway inside the tunnel to the exit point – once there we hit the trail – took a snappie of all of us at the gate to the Cinque Terre and off we trudged. The walk rom Riomaggiore to Manarola was a 20min easy stroll along some wide paths – don’t really know what all the fuss is about- I suppose we have nothing quite like this at home and it is all rather quaint – did the touristy thing – several snappies – what was unusual was all the fishing boats parked down both sides of the main drag through town they have a slipway and hoist to get them in and outta the sea. - the next to Comiglia was at a more steady incline with good paths and had a couple hundred steps right at the end in to town. The steps are quite abit of work believe me – had to stop twice for a breather. Still once ya get to the top the vistas are pretty amazing – also the building built on shear rock/cliff face are pretty amazing also – if ya dropped something out the window you-d be buggered.- be swept up on the rocks below or swept out to sea. Stopped here for a bite, water and pee stop – even had a gelato – delicioso. So far the tracks were reasonably busy – not overly though – which was good for us and there were as many going our way as there were goin the other. After a ½ hour rest and refuelling the tanks we head off for Vernazza – to me the most picturesque of the five villages. This walk was certainly a challenge 1 ¼ hours over some steep unlevel tracks – combined with many
stone steps ( around 600 or so) – had to have quite a few stops on the way up- me olde legs certainly not what they used to be – man so glad I gave the durries away last year – no way I could have done this walk – this was more than up the mount at home even.
Still we all boxed on the others waiting patiently for me – the descent into Vernazza was a most welcoming site for me – ya go past some really quaint little restaurants and cafes and down some very steep sets of steps – and then through an alley right past somebody’s front door and bingo ya hit the main thoroughfare of Vernazza – this place was packed to the rafters with tourist – what made it worse was it was easter weekend – so lotsa Italians holidaying but it was also about 1.30pm – Italian lunchtime – so all the restaurants were chocka – we did managed to get some foccacia bread for a snack and some juice for the final assault on the trail to Monterosso. We even wandered up to a lookout point – to get some views but wasn’t interested in paying the $3.00 euros – we would get just as good a shots on the trail. Easy to see why Vernazza is the most photographed of all the villages – just has the x-factor the other’s don’t – almost magical in a way – this was one of my ticks to see Vernazza in the flesh. After some pics once again we hit the trail – their was a very steep initial ascent – which once again with several stops – managed to do. The track along this part of the trail is the worst – in some parts narrow and at sometimes dangerous even
Did get some spectacular shots of Vernazza – just like ya see in the gloosy mags.
This part of trail winds its way thorugh vineyards and citrus groves , there was even the odd farmer selling freshly squeezed lemoncello on the trail . tempted but didn’t.
After another 1hour and a half we wandered down the footpath into Monterosso – not a moment to soon for me – spotted the bar/café yesterday we ate at – sat down and we each ordered a grande beer – except for sam of course. Man, the cool beer and seat was shear bliss – didn’t want to stand up again – We had conquered the 5 villages of the Cinque Terre – took us 6 ½ hours. A big tick for Briar and me. We slowly ambled our way back to the train station after ¾ an hour – caught the shuttle bus back to camp and all headed for the showers – feeling all very wary we had an easy dinner an early DVD and hit the hay all snoring in tandem or tune I’m sure. We spent the next day all recovering – well certainly me – the old calf muscles hadn’t experienced anything as arduos like that since I was about twelve and they were certainly letting me know about it. A couple muscles in the upper thigh were a bit stiif also, Briar was much the same I think . Did some more laundry, went into town for lunch and some beach time and left Briar back at camp to have some quiet time and also to get some study done.
Had pizza’s for lunch and Briar made yummy pancakes for tea – a real treat for us all.
The following day we caught the train for Portofino – a town Briar wanted to see – San Marghuerita was also a town we had been told about. First time weve seen a conductor on the train – being easter Sunday the trains were really busy. We got off the train at San Marghuerita and caught a shuttle bus through to Portofino – after being very careful with me wallet most of the trip so far – relaxed for a minute – and on a really crowded bus – perfect target for pickpocketing – really gutted not so much about it being done – more gutted with myself for allowing it to happen after being so careful 95 % of the time. A young breastfeeding mum we figured kept brushing up against me – didn’t feel a thing . Luckily had cleared the wallet out of all but two cards and about $180.00 in cash. Put a bit of a damper on the rest of the day for me
however we did the touristy thing and strolled around the Portofino with around 5 thousand other Italians and tourists – a very small marina town – enough room for about 6/7 big boys boats – not quite the same as the French Riviera. Lotsa restaurants
and shops etc overlooking the marina – once again it was around lunch time so we found a foccaceria and grabbed some slices or fetta’s as the Italians say. We wandered up to the church which overlooks the Portofino bay and ate our daily bread and drunk our daily wine (woops) I mean water. We caught the train back a bit earlier than we would have had I still had me wallet – but wanted to get on line and cancel me Maestro card and NZ visa card. Whilst I did that the girls shot back into town to get Pizza’s for tea as we had very little food left and we were on our way the next day.
We left our lovely campground at Deiva Marina and headed inland to Parma – we came outta the mountainous region into some very flat countryside as we approached Parma – I’m sure sam was pleased about the flat straighter roads - we had a brief stop at a supermercado ( I rode shotgun this time while the girls went grocery shopping) had some lunch and hit the road toward Reggio Nell Emilia – one of briars ticks ( Takes a village to bring up a child philosophy – educational stuff/ Toni also wanted to come here for a squiz) we parked up and went for a wander to find the information centre and check the place out. This region is reknowned for Parma ham, Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese and Balsamic vinegar to name a few. The vino is also reknown worldwide. We got info from the centre after trying to ask a few amused locals where it was. Passed some very Gucci shops with all the name brands you become accustomed to seeing in the bigger city fashion hotspots. The piazza’s here were bellisimo as were the theatro’s and Chiesa’s – one of the more effluent towns so far in Italy. We found a campground out towards Modena only one in the region – unfortunately right next to a very busy autostrada intersection – probably the busiest in Emilia Rogmana . Still we settled in for the evening – it was surprisingly warm – the temp we had spotted earlier said 24 degrees which was about right – cracked open a big bottelier of San Moretta (Italian birre ) not to shabby either for Italian beer and chilled or tried to as the the noise of trucks was constant and very noisy. The silver birch trees were molting and dropping their furry seedpods everywhere – ya had to awatch ya vino in case one landed in it. My turn to cook chena – the girls all showered while I cooked. We ate we drank we chatted we did dishes we had cupsa tea we watched Dvds we hit the sack.
The morning was drizzly – but we all did the shower / brekkie routine and hit the road – we were gonna do another morning checking out the highlights of Reggio Emilia – twe poked our heads into the two chiesa’s – very ornate with more leadlight and more painted fresco ceilings than either Spain or France – must be an Italian thing. We also watched the automated fountain do its dance in the centro piazza – took the few piccies as ya do. Checked out a market in another piazza we stumbled across – purple and mauve must be this springs colours as the clothes stalls were full of clothing in purple shades. Briar took a piccie to email back to Arataki school. We found a nice little café for a bite – shared a risotto and a local pesto pasta dish – both served cold but yummy still the same. After a bit more strolling we hit the road to check out some towns/ villages along the river Po – a big player in the local region. We drove about 20 k’s out to the river then followed it along - past and through villages all fundamental to the production of the regional foods and vinos. We stopped out at a park/ bar area right next to the river – a few kayaker’s lotsa old men sitting and chattin – shades of Spain again. People walking / cycling enjoying the now sunny sky and warm sun. The river Po is about 80-90m wide majority of the path we drove and had a very swift current. We all had a bevy at the bar – and enjoyed just chilling . They also catch lotsa big groper here by the looks of the many photos with chaps and their prize catches. After an hour or so we hit the road back to base camp – we stopped on the way back so could get some of the authentic produce – Balsamic vinegar and parmiggiano reggiano. By the time we got back to camp it was drizzling a bit – we all showered once back – couple vino’s again some chena a DVD and of into laalaa land. We showered again – some brekkie hit the trail around 10.00am – Firenze bound . My turn to drive today – had previously researched a campground – locked the GPS co-ordinates in and we pretty much made a beeline – had to pass by Bologna – we will check it out on our return visit in a few more weeks - we stopped for a café and pastry on top of a mountain range – Briar had been counting the amount of tunnels we drove through along this stretch of autostrada – she can tell ya how many.
We arrived in Firenze (Florence) at Campeggio Micheangelo and after booking in and finding a spot, we left our site and headed down to the local Coop supermercado. After managing to find a suitable campervan parking spot, Briar was keen to play shotgun again – Trace,Sam & I had a 5 minute walk – replenished stocks again back to camp micheangelo – the camp sits on a hill overlooking Firenze – and a steep descent (around 10 miuntes) downtown to the centre of Firenze. The closest campground to a major city yet, there was also a Piazza a couple hundred metres further up the hill which offered even more spectacular views – after settling in we all wandered up to take a peekaboo. The view was amazing – the whole vista acroos most of Firenze – The Duomo( 4th biggest cathedral in the world) is an imposing landmark and certainly dominated the city skyline. There were also three torre’s(towers) that stood out over the city skyline. The piazza Micheangelo bit of a touristy spot – lotsa bus fulls of Asians and young students etc. amongst the usual regalo(souvenir stalls) and Seneguese hawkers – have encountered a few during our travels but seem to be a concentration of them here in Firenze. Still they all marvel at the vista’s like we were – we also shot up the hill to have a look at another Chiesa which was right at the top offering even more amazing views – Looks like Firenze is gonna be an awesome stop. We headed back to camp as the drizzle came down – cracked open a bottelier – some cheese and salami – some dinner and of course a DVD – a shower and bed – tomorrow was adventure day in Firenze – whilst I managaed to get all outta bed reasonably early not early enough when we arrive at the Uffizi gallery at around 9.45am to find 300 people in a queue already. So we jumped in the queue immediately and waited patiently as were the others – the reserve ticket line never amounted to more than 20-25 max. at anytime – and there was a constant stream of them going in – we hung around for an hour and a half – we got down to around 180-200 in front of us before Briar got pissed off and we decided we would go and book some tickets and do the museo thing tomorrow – good move as we later found out. So we wandered through the main piazza right next to the Ufiizi gallery called the Piazza Della Signora which houses some amazing statues ( stat-u-bro)
The piazza San Croce – the Chiesa San Croce – The piazza Giovanni and of course the Duomo – you can wander through the main part but everywhere else in the duomo
Including the spectacular fresco painted domed ceiling which you get a glimpse of from the main part – but don’t get to see all of it. A glimpse to wet ya taste buds to pay for the entry fee of $8.00 euro. – not fooling these kiwis – some times I wonder if perhaps we have descend from the dutch rather than the English. Still the main part of the Duomo cathedral hall was spectacular – many paintings but not as spectacular as the Seville cathedral in my opinion. By the duomo we found the main ticket office where one can purchase tickets ( and reserve tickets ) to anything in Firenze – and we purchased tickets to The Uffizi Gallery and the Gallery De Acadamia . The good thing was that whilst you had to pay a reserve fee for each the entry fee for the following day was libre(free) –bonus . So instead of paying $22.00 each for both like we thought we only had to pay $8.00 euro’s each – sweet as dude. After that we wandered through a street stall market –once again purple being the dominant colour in the fashion stakes. Lots more of the Seneguese street hawkers as well – trying to offload leather goods / fake rolex’s / umbrella’s etc.etc – all rathe amusing. We found a nifty little café and stopped for a coffee – then wandered through the fruit/veggie /meat /fist market for a bit of nosy. We then hit the streets the girls window shopping at all the designer brand fashion- especially sam – who got a pic next to the Versace window. We then did a slow stroll back over the Ponte Vecchio bridge back towards camp. The Ponte Vecchio is famous all over the world for its goldsmith shops which adorn either side of the bridge – the jewellery whilst being spectacular highly over inflated for the rich American dummies who will pay 5 times as much because they can ?? idiots. Briar has been in the market for some silver earings since she lost hers down one of Hugo’s air vents next to the overcabin bed. – but the price also put her off ( that dutch thing again maybe). We had to walk up 170 steps the steep ascent to the Piazza Micheangelo and then a couple hundred mteres back to camp. All had a very weary day wandering the streets of Firenze soaking in the wonderful sights – aromas( mainly sewerage smells according to sam ( I thought it was the parmggianno cheese- not) – did notice less cats and dogs around and certainly less dogshit on the streets. We all showered again to get the days weariness and grime from our bodies and of course cracked open a few to also wash away the day – we had early chena- a DVD – tomorrow was Museo day.
We all got up early and hit the ground running – we had to be at the Uffizzi by 9.15am opening time was 8.45am – we made it no problemo . The queue for general entry was about the same if not slightly longer than the one we encountered yesterday – so from now on we decided if we want to visit galleries we would reserve tickets to avoid queues. We strolled in all rather too easy no wait at all- did the infra –red checkout in case we were terrorists or even worse art thieves. I was surprised to see how many people were inside already considering it had only been open for 30mins.
After tackling two staircases we entered a long hallway/gallery which was lined with Statues ( stat-u-bro) some top torso on column bases – others full figure- there were also paintings high up all off previous cardinals – popes etc.etc over time and the odd bigger painting underneath – off the main hallway gallery – were the rooms filled with various artistes – predominately Italian off course – but supposedly the second best collections of renaissance art in the world behind the Vatican. All the big name artistes were here – Micheangelo / Rubens / Giovanni /Bartorelli/ Lippi/ Tomasino and so on – mum would have been in art heaven but I knew she was with me evry momento peering over me right shoulder. We spent 3 horas digesting all the magnificience of the art of the 12-16 th century – fantastique. Once again the majority of most art through this period depicted or evolved around Christ.,t here were other scenes as well but in the minority compared to christiandom. We all thoroughly enjoyed the Uffizzi and were now eagerly looking forward to The Galleria dell Academia was purposeply built to house Micheangelo’s statue ( stat-u-bro) of David.
We stopped for abite to eat at a inconspicuous Trattoria along some back alleyway on the way to see David. The menu looked invitingly and cheap. We off course being tourists were the first in their – hey we had an excuse – we had to be at the Galleria Dell Academia at 1.15pm – our reserved ticket time. - whatever we were really just hungry and it had started to rain again and while we did have our umbrellas it seemed much better than dodging raindrops. The food was buonissimo and well priced and could recommend the Spaghetti Pomodoro Al Mare– and we ended up having a rather relxed leisurely lunch – being we started at 11.20am – we even had a copule of young kiwi lasses at the table next to us who were hear from Auckland to do a teachers course at Reggio Emilia – so Briar had a good chat to them.
After lunch the sun decided to come out for a short period, but hey it wasn’t raining
Suits me sir – we got to the Galleria to find a very small general public queue – we probably didn’t have to book maybe – or everyone was eating at the correct time 1.00-2.00pm as do the locals. We walked right in through the infra-red check again – and once again wandered thorugh – this gallery was rather small in comparison to the Uffizzi or the Prado in Madrid – they did have a musical instrument section which briar and I enjoyed – the very first piano ever made and a story about its inventor – also Florence at the time was second only behind Vienna as the centre of the musical world back in the 15/16th centuries. Once again the heavy emphasis on christiandom throughout and the only thing not was the statue ( stat-u-bro) of David – would have loved to get a piccie but no cameras allowed at any galleries through Europe. This statue is the epitomy of statues and whilst the subject matter is relatively simple a nude figure of David himself with a slingshot sought of slung over his left shoulder it is semi concealed from the front view almost. The propotions of this statue (stat-u-bro) are undeniably outstanding and one can see why this statue ( stat-u-bro) is the benchmark that all sculptors aspire to. This is an amazing piece of sculpture from a single piece of marble that happened to be just lying around and even more remarkable that it took two years and was completed by the artist Micheangelo at the ripe old age of 26. As the saying goes simplicity is always best – again another tick for me and briar and mum peering over my shoulder – friggin extroadinary.
The rest of the gallery sought of wiltered into the backround after the magnificience of Micheangelo’s David. After being totally arted out for the day we headed home about 2.30pm once again wandering through back streets of Firenze – with the odd little discovery along the way. Fascinating city Firenze and one I would recommend anybody visiting. We decided to tackle the Camp hill from a different route a bit gentler than the 170 steps almost vertically. We all hit the showers and as it was still quite early we headed to the campground bar for a beer and briar had some internet stuff to do – had a few beers and grabbed a bottle of wine from Hugo even as the evening wore on. Camping Miceangelo is a wonderful backpackers camp and their was a couple of busloads of young people ( 20 – 25 age group) on their contiki tour
and at that age they all know how to party into the wee hours and still get up at sparrows fart the next morning. Oh to be youthful again . While we having our drinkies a bunch of 4 girlies sat down at a table across from us and cranked up their little gas cooker and began to construction mini hamburgers – frying the meat patties on a little frypan on the gas cooker – outside the bar under a patio roof – I counted they laso had 6 bottles of various wine and one bottle of vodka – perhaps the liquid refreshment for the evening. It reminded both Briar and I of Charlie for some reason – don’t know why. ?? The weather again decided to be foul – and after dinner it came down in bucketloads – which I suppose did dissipate the noise of the youngies at the bar – but not the three young lads I had stern words with at 3.00am in the morning coming home to their bungalow being a tad to noisy for my liking or some of the other campers no doubt. Once they had been told – within 10 minutes or so once they hit the pillow all was quiet again in our neck of the camp.
We had to pack up Hugo in the drizzle the next morning – and all took our last look at Firenze at the top of the Piazza – Briar volunteered to drive – its great to be able to have her drive as well – means I get to look at the countryside as well. We headed back towards the Mediterrano in the direction of some leaning torre at a place called Pisa- apparently its supposed to be famous. We had a good autostrada most of the way to Pisa – and arrived about lunchtime – we followed the road signs and did more or less a loop of walled old town of Pisa. We found a park not to far away from one of the gates – for free and immediately got hit on by some of those seneguese hawkers trying to sell us tissues/umbrellas or soxes – everywhere around the walled city these hawkers were hanging around – in some ways a blessing as they would be able to watch the campervans/cars etc. for would be thieves. Still briar and I decided not to chance it – so Trace and Sam would go have a look first at the Leaning Torre Pedante (leaning Tower of Pisa – for the dummies) and Briar and I would have lunch and when they got back we would do the same. The weather had cleared a bit – not sunny but cloudy and not raining. We had only just finished our munch when Trace and sam got back – so we swapped places and Briar and I walked along for about 7/8 minutes to the gate – which also happened to be the closest to the torre - Sweet as bro.
Being a Sunday you would expect their to be a few hundred people their and their were at least 5 or 6 hundred- once again the predominant American & asian accents – spotted an aussie cap – lotsa regalo stalls selling every imaginable thing to do with the torre. Plaster cast leaning lamps – leaning shot glasses – leaning glasses – leaning tower lamps – leaning tower clocks and run of the mill t-shirts / t-towels/ scarves/caps/and the good old postcards - the leaning tower wasn’t as imposing as I expected it to be – but none the less it was on a good lean alright. There was a chiesa, a baptistery and the torre itself all in a row , all with matching materials / facades / symbols – we both did the usual pics with us holding it upand also pushing it over salong with all the other touro’s. We wandered around took some pics from the other side – read the info. board about it – there was a queue to go up and cost $15.00 euro that dutch thingo kicked in again – hey another tick on our Italian part of our adventure. We headed back to Hugo after ½ an hour or so – The township of Pisa is nothing much to rave about – we were gonna head out to the coast and camp for the night but – decided to stay in Pisa for the night – it was only around 2pm – so we found Torre Pendante campground – which looked dogy from the road but turned out to have some of the best toilet/shower facilities yet – 4**** almost- well the girls certainly thought so – just another bloody campground bathroom to me – actually they were pretty damn good gotta admit. The girls did some internet stuff – whilst I caught up on some writing for the next blog update – the sun even decided to poke through – so aired the van –towels and mats out for awhile while we could. Had a bit of a leftovers type of dinner along with a couple botteliers of vino – of course – hey where in Chianti country. The usual DVD after dinner – both Trace and Sam are movie buffs like me a bit – even had the privileage of briar’s company tonite to watch The Fugitive . The next morning was much the same as the previous day – cosi-cosi (so so) – the usual morning routine and hit the road Sienna bound – once again we had Auto-strada majority of the way – but we firstly drove along the coast past the numerous camping grounds and empty apartments – still. After Livorno we headed back inland – bound for Volterra – a hilltop town which had spectacular views over the Toscana countryside we had just driven through – the climb up was along a very winding road and we followed two busloads up – we found a park and trudged up more bloody steps – if there is one thing I will remember mostly about Italy – it will be the bloody steps everywhere – went passed an ancient forta leza still be used today as a prison – creepy bloody prison – down the road they had the Musea Volterra Da Tortura ( museum of Torture) which we poked our heads in and had a wee look at the entry which had a few items / pictures of torturice demise. That was enough for us so we carried on – the hilltop towns were OK in Spain and very nice in France – gotta say the hilltop towns in Italy are the best so far. We wandered around for a bit more before we came across a cute little Tratorria – we piled in and got ushered upstairs to our tavola – Trace had Spaghetti carbonara / Briar had ravioli / Sam had spaghetti pomodoro and I had the gnocchi. It was all very buonisuemo we all left licking our lips . We then lfet the enchanting hilltop town of Volterra for another hilltop town San Gimignano briar had read about and when we arrived there were hundreds of other touro’ s there also –once upon a time it had 52 towers symbolising its wealth – today sadly there are only 7 towers remain – not very campervan friendly town – you have to park a couple k’s away and walk or catch a bus back – so dropped the girls off and I went back to parking spot outta town to do a bit of maintenance on Hugo for an hour.
Shot back about 4pm to pick the girls up who were there bang on time – had about another 30min. drive to Siena ( where they have a famous horserace around the Piazza Il Campo once ayear in July – the track follows the road around the piazza – the spectators and punters stand or cram into the centre and the horses race around the crowd. We pulled into camp Colleverde around 4.40pm – nice lookin campground ( had read up about it previously and had a bus stop right outside for catchin a bus into the centre of Siena) – Once again a complete walled town semi sitting on a hill – nothing like Volterra or San Gimignano. We headed for the local COOP supermercado before setting up camp Briar again offering to ride shotgun – I think its about quiet time to herself actually . Half an hour later we were headin back up the hill to the camground . They had a mini market their but not enough for us to survive for a couple days with four of us. Trace meet a Italian – Australian chap who had spent some time in Sydney and he could speak good English – we met him later on that night after dinner – he had been working at the camp for 3 months or so – the campground had been revamped with a couple new ablution blocks added – it even had a brand new restaurant that had been open for only about a month. After a good sized dinner and numerous bicciherries of vino Mike(Aussie-Italian) showed up with a beer and we chatted some more – did the dishes around 10pm a short DVD and hit the pillow around midnight – Awoke again the next morning and once again the weather is not cutting us any slack – cloudy the odd patch of blue sky in the distance
But at least not raining – we caught the no.3 autobous into town and did the touro thing – we checked out the Forta Leza Medici – not being used anymore except as a primary school on one of the battlements, can imagine it may get used as a concert venue once in a while , one side gave good vistas off Siena from the south. We then walked into the walled city and checked out the duomo / some of the several chiesa’s and of course the infamous Piazza Il Campo where they have the horserace – unfortunately everything had entry fee’s and not cheap either – so ya just don’t go
into a lot of museo’s/some chiesa’s and galleries etc.etc. One could easily spend a couple hundred euros a week on entrance fees. We stopped for lunch at a little pizziera once again packed with locals – good pizza’s and well priced – we headed back to the autobous stop to catch the no.3 back to Camp Colleverde. Once back at camp we shifted the camper a bit further from the road and next to a ablution block with better showers for the girls – we all had showers, Trace and Sam headed up to the Cafe/Restaurant to have a coffee with Mike ( I’m sure shes got a thing for him)
Briar and I had computer stuff to do – but we wandered up an hour later or so and we had a beer and then went into the restaurant for dinner – The food was tasty and once again for four of us around 55 euro’s including some vino/coffees. Trace stayed on to flirt with Mike some more – Briar and I headed back to Hugo – we heard them come back in about 11.00pm – we had decided to hit the hay early – no Dvd’s tonite.
Woke to find the sun trying desperately burst through but to no avail – as we headed outta Siena leavin the walled city and Mike behind – the girls did swap contact details- as Mike is apparently heading to NZ and Ossie next February. Briar again wanting to drive today – go girlfriend – the trail today was a short one, out to Arezzo for alook and maybe lunch if we liked it – not – strange town really we drove on through to Cortona – which also meant we had passed over into Umbria – Had not read much about Cortona but it was another one of those hilltop villages – and as we neared it looked as interesting as Volterra - it was around midday that we found a parking spot for Hugo – right next to some Tourist buses. Once again another walled village with only a couple of access gates/roads or entry arches. On the drive up to Cortona we passed many roadside embankments with the red poppies springing out at us and Briar especially – we found an embankment for Briar to take some piccies on our way back down again later on.
With Hugo all secure we walked through a side entry arch and what ya know – bloody steps and not just one or two – after that the roads all went upwards at a steepish ascent – f..en hell. Briar decided that we wouldn’t just stop at the town square we might as well walk right up to the highest chiesa at the top of hill. – yeayy. We all did it – took around ½ hour – man so glad gave away the bacckies. The views once again over the surrounding countryside and village – magnifico. After getting our breath back we headed back down the steep cobbled lanes – cars still came up – not so sure be a good thing goin either up or down in the rain – be slippery as hell I reckon. We were now in search of something to eat after our mountainous trek up through the alleys of Cortona – we found a Trattoria called La Grotto down an alley with very little signposting – had a simple blackboard menu at the doorway – however once inside it wove its way around several rooms and doorways where we were seated next to some patio door’s out into a courtyard – amazing what unravels the further one pursue’s .
The smell was divine and the ambience of the place was very chic Italian – we all thought immediately – this is gonna hurt the back pocket. But once we had looked at menu the prices looked quite okay – Briar,Trace and I all chose the homemade spaghetti with pomodoro con pimento salsa which was molto buonissimo – Sam had a mista salad – so glad we were early – if we had arrived 40mins. Later we wouldn’t have got a table. Nearly all Italians apart from an American couple who were seated beside us – who were on their honeymoon sought of – they hadn’t quite tied the hitch but were gonna do it with avery simple ceremony in Toscana somewhere . Trace and Sam had a good old chin wag with them – we took some photos of them and them with trace and after a very yummy leisurely pranzo we bid and wished our new American friend buon viaggio.
Wandered back down to Hugo and headed for Passignimo De Tramiseno – a village on the lakefront of Lago Tramiseno – we found a great campground with an absolute lakefront site for Hugo – we set up camp revelling in the breathtaking views across the lake. We set up chairs outside immediately basking in the late arvo sun – doing what we know best – anti-pasto-ing and consuming the vino rosso – marvelling at the sunset over the lake and then the lights coming on around the lake – molto buono - ci. We had a late dinner and late DVD that nite.
We awoke to a oggi che soleil stammatina ( a sunny morning) – fantastique – I had prepared a washing line the previous nite and the site next door had one set up they had left behind – maybe just for us – yeah right. We all did the usual 3 x S’s (well I know I did) brekkied – did some more blog stuff on the lappie – then we all doned our trainers and started to trek into the local village about 1 km further round the lake – looked very interesting from the campground both in the day and at night. We were able to wander half the way by the lake itself – also found the campsite we were suppose to be in (the one I had researched) next door to our one – liked our one much better anyway. We wandered through the small village up to the top where we saw a Fort with its Torre – but unfortunately couldn’t get into. Briar and trace found the posto shop and sent of some postcards back home to NZ. We then strolled through some more streets before we found a trattoria for pranzo. This was youre more typical trattoria under the grapevine Italian style – the sun shining – a steady light breeze -bellissimo. We once again had a very leisurely pranzo – we could all very easily get quite accustomed to this lifestyle – no problemo. We all felt like beached whales after lunch and we all waddled back to camp at a slower pace.
Once again, once back at camp – fired the lappie up and did some more blog catch-up whilst basking in the warm arvo Umbrian sun. An hour later the clouds rolled in – streaks of lightning and distant sounds of thunder – so we quickly packed up everything back into Hugo with only a of couple minutes to spare before it came down – awesome lightning displays across the lake – an hour later it had passed over – so glad we had packed everything away nice and dry. So we all huddled in for the night – chicken and wild rice for chena – glass of vino and the last DVD of the Bourne trilogy – off ta bed.
Briar and I decided that rather than do a day trip to Assisi and then back to this camp, we would do Assisi visit and then do a big trip out of Umbria and Toscana back to the mediterrano coast north of Roma. We packed up early the next morning with the sun again shining and did the Assisi visit – took 20 minutes to find a park for Hugo – definitely not a campervan friendly town – but well worth the visit – from afar as we approached the Basicila De Fransesco looked imposing and the closer you got to it the more imposing it was. Once again a very touristy town exclusively set up for visiting by big paying Americans doing the culture trip. – yes of course there were many Italians and other people from all over the world – still all very busy. Lotsa school kid busloads too.
We had quite a walk up the hill up a steep road – had to have a couple of breather stops. Worth the climb – the Basicilia De Fransesco was amazing not as impressive
a s the Firenze Duomo – but the painted fresco walls and ceilings (some with parts missingfrom age) – some of these fresco’s were done in the 8th century – we even got to go down and have a look at Saint Francis’s tomb under the chapels. After that we did a quick wander through the streets of Assisi – had a munch on some pizza slices for pranzo – the steep descent back down to Hugo – we hit the road – Tarquinia bound . Mapped a route on tom-tom for Tarquinia – dual access roading most of the way – sweet as – couple hours – we had also passed a Coop supermercado earlier just out of Perugia – which we had to pass by on our way to Tarquinia – so stopped in their and while Tarce,Sam and I did the shop Briar did a bit of housekeeping on Hugo.
Couple hours later we arrived at our camp destination – right next to the beach – el cheapo camp for the night _ $15.00 euro all up – sweet as bro. The toilets weren’t flash but for $15.00 euro’s what do ya expect. The sun was shining, it was warm, good excuse for an anti-pasto and vino’s of course of course. Briar was keen to have chena at the beach – so we did later on – it was supposed to be watching the sunset over the med – but by the time we had cooked sassies and chips and got down to the beach it was dark and moonlight was cascading across a very tranquil and calm mediterrano- Bellissimo. We drank our 4th bottle of vino down their - - apart from a couple of fisherman we had the beach as far as we could see to ourselves. Around 10pm we were back at Hugo – all yawning – tried to watch a DVD but fell asleep.
Tommorrow we are in Roma (yea huh ) – so will post this uipdate and fill yer all in on our Rome experience in the next update. Till then as the Italians say arrivedeici.
