The Shepherd's Hut

Yesterday when we woke and looked out the kitchen window we saw Sorano bathed in sunlight.

Anne, our hostess, had booked us into the Shepherd's Hut for lunch which she said was unmissable. 

 We drove down the mountain and along a picturesque little valley.

We had a walk around Sorano where the villagers were out and the cyclists were arriving for their morning coffee.

We were going to walk out to the Shepherd's Hut but missed where we had to park (and there were only a few places to park on this very narrow road) so ended up driving the whole way to a beautiful family run farm.

We had eight courses in a very full noisy restaurant. Antipasto was the first and it was delicious. When the pasta courses came the first one was porcini (mushroom). John doesn't like mushies much but has two helpings. One of the main courses was wild boar and olives which was delicious.  Then home made cheese which one of the owners brought around and sliced of a chunk for you from the big round. It was amazing. Dessert was a delicious cake searched with grappa and vincent (I think that is what it's called). Coffee and home to sleep it off.  All this for 25 euro.  What a day. 

Time is flying by

Have had a very relaxed few days. Last Wednesday we drove up to the Barberino Designer Outlet Shopping Centre and had a look around there with the associated delicious lunch and coffees. Thursday we decided to do one of the many walks in the hills around Vellano and we chose to walk through the woods to Macechino.  Well over it was quite pleasant. Pretty well uphill for about an hour and a half but not too bad. 

Decided to come back a different way and it turned into a bit of a nightmare - washed out track, badly marked, steep slippery slopes, etc and an hours walk turned into three and a half hours. We were glad to get back to Vellano to a beer at the local bistro.

The next day we had.a wonderful day in Pisa. Went firstly to the Piazza di Miracolis with its Leaning Tower, Duomo and Baptistery. I wasn't expecting too much but really loved the whole setting and the Duomo blew us away.  It was magnificent inside and out.

That tower has a fifteen foot off the vertical lean on it.  amazing.  We then went for a stroll down town and discovered that Pisa is more than the Leaning Tower.  It is a delightful laid back picturesque place and we thoroughly enjoyed strolling through its beautiful piazzas

Wandering over bridges over the Arno

Looking through its department stores (this is H&M

And enjoying a coffe or two

We ended the day driving out to the Marina di Pisa to see an example of the Italian beaches. Not very impressive by our standards but the Italians were enjoying it.

Ciao for now.

When you are having a great time you often don't have time to blog

We have had a great four days. Albeit it is often hard to leave our base of Vellano, driving down the mountain with the morning sun making our little hill town shiny always makes us smile.  

On Saurday we drove quite a long way to the little town of Montepulciano.  Now our source for Italy is usually Rick Steves and this and Volterra are his favourite hill towns and I can't say we disagree with him.  We had a lovely day strolling through this picturesque little town, lunching on calzone pizza and drinking spritzes. It was a glorious day and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  We headed from here to find this classic Tuscan scene which was hidden away in some tiny village.  We had to drive over dirt roads but were pretty determined to find it and drive the road,  pretty nice hey.  They have just harvested their crops so a lot of the countryside is brown and not the usual Tuscan green.

From here we headed to Siena to try to go to the Palio.  Unfortunately we were not willing to park over three kilometres from the town and walk in and we had had such a lovely day we really didn't feel like crowds of people.  So we headed home and up the mountain.

The next day we headed to Volterra where they were holding their annual medieval festival.  We are suckers for these especially when the setting is so good.  Well, what a day.  The whole town was bedecked and the people were in costume.  It was fantastic and made the decision to stay overnight down there so we could see the night time festivities as well.  

One of the main things was a flag throwing competition from the various quarters of the city.  I loved this.  They would march up through the town, with trumpets and drums, to the main square.  It was so colourful and exciting.  

They had a section set up as a camp and village with arts and crafts going on.  We sat there and watched a falconry display.

This was an archeological park and apparently the towers that dominated it was a prison where they keep a lot of the mafia bad boys so they are away from their families.  They had weapons, tents, crossbow demos, weaving, etc. in this relaxing and cool green space.  

They also had a big area of the town given over to great food stalls.  It was not expensive and was delicious.  We thoroughly enjoyed tasting many different foods and John particularly loved the mulled wine.

From here we headed the next morning to San Gimignano.  It is such a pretty town and evyone who has been to this part of Italy loves it.  It very touristy but there's always a good reason for this.  We were going to stay for an hour but ended up being there for nearly five.  Bought some souvenirs.  

Now today we have just arrived home from another day in Florence.  We visited the Academia to see the David and the Medici Chapel.  Michelangelo is such a genius and Florence was his city of choice.  The David is gob smackingly beautiful and one could stand and admire all day.  We had a delightful lunch and headed home.

Feeling a bit seedy today.  John and our hostess drank a couple of bottles of vino and a litre of beer last night.  I found him face first in the fireplace and had to scold him and put him to bed.  Seems to happen every holiday.

We have also just had news that our baby is back in hospital with high fever.  So so worrying.  Also Eileen, John's mum, had a fall and is also in hospital.  So Matilda and Eileen, we are thinking of you and hope you will both be better soon.

Ciao.

Firenze

Had a great day in Florence yesterday. Didn't have to rush around as we will go back another day or two while we are here. Caught the train from Pescia - a nice relaxing way to travel. That means I slept most of the way.  Firenze is pretty crowded with tourists but it didn't affect us too much. Walked to the impressive Duomo and Baptistry. The Bapistery was wrapped in glad wrap albeit the doors were partially exposed and oh so beautiful.  The queue to get into the Duomo was huge so we decided to admire it externally and come back later in the hope of a shorter queue.

Wandered down the main drag which contains minor sights which still take your breath away.  One of the breathtaking sights for John was a Roman soldier in bronze which he promptly bought.  The palazzo Vexxhio and Uffuzi Gallery are all within easy walking distance as is the Ponte Vecchio.  Loved browsing through the gold and silver shops on the bridge with a husband who was more than willing to shell out. 

Had a visit to the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens with its wonderful views of Florence.  Went through the Costume Gallery. You would have loved it, Cait and Lans. The dresses were exquisite.  Here are two of the wedding dresses.

Strolled along the green Arno River to San Croce Square where Michelangelo is buried and then back to the Duomo to join a much shorter queue and see the simple beautiful interior of this exquisite cathedral. Up to Mercata Centrale and that was more than our poor feet could bear.  Mix all this up with cappuccinos, food, meeting people and you have a wonderful day in Florence. 

Chiantigianni

Or the Chianti Road was where we headed yesterday. Nothing is far from Vellano and our first stop on the S222 which is considered one of the most scenic drives in Italy was Greve in Chianti. It was quite lovely up to here but after this got spectacular driving through typical Tuscan countryside. We visited many little towns including Montefiorani, Radda, Volpaia, Castelina in Chianti and ended up in Siena. The weather was beautiful and we had taken a picnic with us. Not a bad way to spend a day. 

Siena is preparing for the Palio on Saturday and we sneaked through the. Arrives and walked around the track.   They have bought a clay base in for the horses to race around. 

We will go back to Siena on Saturday but the logistics of getting into the race are a bit horrific for a one minute race. 

Today we visited a few of our local towns. Our favourite was Pistoia. It really surprised us with beautiful buildings and good food.  Really enjoyed our day out exploring Pescia, Monticatini and Pistoia. off to Florence tomorrow. 

Some pictures

 want this in my suitcase

Main piazza in Lucca

Cycling around the ramparts of Lucca

On the ramparts

Sad day

Hearing of Robin Williams but just as sad that another young girl from Barrett has suicided. It is in our face and we need a government that doesn't close down facilities that help these people whether they be famous or not. There is no facility in place to help adolscents with chronic mental health issues long term in Queensland.  We need to give them an apportunity for good choices

Vellano where we are staying is one of ten hill towns in the valley. We can see six of these from our kitchen window and in the morning they are bathed in gentle light. On Sunday we drove to four of these little villages and wandered around each of them. We had lunch beside a babbling brook at one of the family run restaurants in the valley.  Everyone says that there is no bad restaurant in the area.  We have found that so far.

We spent the day yesterday in Lucca. It is an "unbombed" City and it's walls are perfectly intact.  We had heard a lot about Lucca and we both were keen to go.  It was lovely wandering around the streets (with our ever present Rick Steves guide in hand).  We hired bikes and cycled around the ramparts which was delightful.  Can you tell that reluctantly we weren't as impressed as we thought we would be.  Not to say it wasn't wonderful.  Last night we had been invited to a dinner for some of the Residents of the area who are trying to build community spirit and awareness.  It was great and we got to meet some of the locals, both Italian and expats.

We have not, before this been great fans of Italian food in Italy but this time we are relishing it.  Food is very cheap and to eat out for lunch, say, with wine and a couple of dishes is never more than about ten euro. We are enjoying a great variety of pasta, pizza, fruit, local produce and wine.  Not bad at all.

Our new home for three weeks is here in the hill town of Vellano

We both burst into laughter when we looked up and saw the town/village of Vellano as we were driving down a lush valley.. It was picture perfect and on our arrival here we were met by our hosts Peter and Anna and shown around our new little townhouse.  It is only 800 years old but refurbished. Out the kitchen window we can see right down the valley and about four neighbouring hill towns. It is extremely comfortable and if I ever work out how to put a picture on here on my ipad it is up near the tree.  We had a glorious meal last night at the local bistro - pizza, pasta, local porcini, and beer, wine, Campari and limoncello on a verandah with a view.

We started off this glorious day in Orvieto after a very long catch up sleep. The breakfast at our little hotel was extremely bonnisimo with at least ten sweet cakes, croissants, bread, salamis and cheeses, yoghurt and coffee. From Orvieto we drove to Lake Tarismeno as John wanted to see some historical sites there. It was a very scenic drive and we visited the towns of Castaglioni del Lago and Tuoro. We read that there was a market day at the nearby town of Cortona so we went there as well. Did some wine tasting and had a leisurely stroll around this beautiful town. For the first time then we hit the autostrada to head north, past Florence, to the town of Pescia where, joy of joys, we visited a great Italian supermarket.  We spent some time here getting groceries and ooh and aahing at the quality and variety of Italian yummies.

We are about to head off to church. Better go and get dressed. An easy day for us today.  Got to learn how to our photos up on an ipad. 

Hill town glory

I always say about travel that it adds such richness to your day and our days since we left Australia are evidence of this. Had a wonderful day in KL not doing anything spectacular but enjoying the culture of Brickfields the Indian quarter of KL and taking in a movie and eating wonderful food.

The long flight to Rome was interrupted by a short stop in Doha Qatar. For the first time on a plane I heard people audibly anxious when flying through turbulence. A general nervousness to a degree I had not noticed before. We arrived in Rome about 6.30 this morning, picked up our Fiat 500 and headed north. What a beautiful drive. We stopped at a small town called Nepi to have some lunch. The sky was blue, the bread and salami were delicious and the peaches juicy.  Nepi was not a place mentioned in any of the reading we had done but what a wonderful little town.  We walked around it and was stunned that it doesn't make it on the tourist travail. Another place we went a by was Caprinca. Beautifully set into the side of the cliff. Our first major stop was Civita de Bagmaregio. Wow. A medieval village set out on a pinnacle connected to the new town by a pedestrian bridge. We had a coffee in an Etruscan cave and loved wandering in the sunshine through this Italian picture.

We then drove on to Orvieto and have just got back from walking this town known for its position, its  duomo and its ceramics.   The duomo was astonishing and took our breath away. It is striped on its side walls by virtue of the stone work colouring. But the facade made the most beautiful cathedral externally I have ever seen.  We sat and had gelati looking at this masterpiece.

We have hit a bit of a wall now. No wonder but might go out later.  Giovanni is asleep beside me and I am heading this way. Ciao for now.