Thursday morning-Mondavio and Urbino

Thursday morning-Mondavio and Urbino

Another perfect morning.  Sun up by 6am and I was ‘on assignment’ by 6.30am taking an early morning collection of photos of the village.

Yesterday we ended up at the walled village of Urbino.   Urbino is by far the most famous place in the Marche Region.  In fact most people have never heard of the region or Urbino and certainly not Mondavio.  Urbino is an university town with lots to see.  We spent 3 hours in the museum of the Marche Region and a special exhibition on renaissance paintings etc of the architecture of cities called ‘La Citta Ideale’.  We will probably go back next week to have a better look around the town.

Above (our apartment door etc) and below I have put a sample of this mornings shots.  Maybe I could become the tourism ambassador for the village?

Wednesday-Mondavio life, beaches, food and wine

Wednesday morning 30 May Mondavio-Village life, beaches, food and wine

The world moves more slowly here but everyone is friendly and we are enjoying unpacked for a couple of weeks.  Mondavio only has a few hundred residents inside the wall and the whole village including surrounds is about 3,500. There is a bar/coffee place in the square (50 metres from home) that does the 90c expressos.  Last night we called in for a drink at dusk and out came the plate of nibbles for all the tables.  After a couple of drinks (for those interested vino is 2.50 euro a glass) we wandered down to Osteria della Rocca which is a pasta/pizza +++ place run by a fellow called Andrea.  He now considers us locals and we just had a bowl of pasta washed down with some of his lemencello.  The good thing is that the place is 25 metres along the wall from our place.

Yesterday it was warm so we investigated the coast which is 20k away.  Ended up at Fano on the free beach for a couple of hours-all pretty relaxed.

Today, after we have walked to the bar, Il Duca, in the square for coffee (the morning girl, Pamelia, actually understands a little English) and wifi access to send this, we are going on a day length adventure.  No idea where but there is lots of places to visit.

Tonight I am whipping up a seafood tagliatelle. The seafood van was in the village yesterday and I brought some fish, prawns and baby squid. Hopefully it will be great!

We are pretty sure that Julie (of Easter in Sicily birthday fame) is calling in on the weekend. She has been doing a 2 week advanced Italian course in Todi.  It will a good chance for her to consolidate her new skills as there is virtually no English at all in the village.  Even the little tourist office speaks none.

Wine Notes: Our current red, as mentioned in the last post, is a 2007 Arbace Sangiovese from the Sangiovese Colli Pasaresi d.o.c.  Great wine.  You will be pleased to know that even over here wine descriptions are a bit over the top. Although the label is obviously in Italian I can tell you it is 85% Sangiovese and 15% Montepulciano, 13.5% alcohol, and comes from the Pesarase Hills.  That is all ok and informative but it is also

·        ‘bold and proud’

·        has ‘elusive nuances’

·        and will ‘accompany you in times of reflection’.

 street on way to square

 Check out the size of this packet

Mondavio-village in the sky!!

This is the view out one of the 5 double windows on the top floor of our apartment in Mondavio.  2 and a half bedrooms on the ground floor and a large open plan living/dining/kitchen upstairs.  Just wonderful.  We had a good day today (Monday).  Visited the wine co-op.  Everything from fill your own container from the bowser pump to superb bottles of 2007 reserva red.  I will let you guess which way we went.
Warm here and we might go for a swim tomorrow.  There is a free sandy beach about 20 minutes away.
Looks like the internet wifi at the local bar is working but slow to upload pictures.

Small pizzas last night.  Couple more views from our windows.

Siena Saturday

Now in Siena? Tomorrow Mondavio for two weeks. Using Robs iPad as wifi here is not on. The blog will continue bUt we are trying to sort out the technical issues. Talk to you all from Mondavio. As there is no photos just imagine the perfect Chianti scene and that is our view.

Cinque Terre #3-Photos

Amazing walking today.  High 20's and ended up at the beach.  I will let the photos do the talking.

The village above Vernazza which was severely damaged in the floods and landslides in October last year.  Below is some of the damage that is still visible.  The main street is open but lots of work is happening.  See below.

A well earned beer at the end of the walk. Cafe on dock at Vernazza.

Cinque Terre-Day 2

Wednesday 23 May

Allos Ski Village after dusting of snow

6.30am and this lad (above) is raking the beach ready for the sun-bakers.  10 euro a day for chair and umbrella

Levanto-great beach resort, sort of quaint village with good food and beaches with grey sand and chairs.  The hotel (thanks Tripadvisor) is called Nazionale Hotel and is right in centre with free wifi and breakfat included.  Free parking about 400 metre away.  We spent today in Cinque Terre.  After the landslides last year two walks (of 5 main ones) are still out of action.  They are from Vernazza to Corniglia and Corniglia to Manarola.  In fact Vernazza really suffered badly and although the village is ‘open’ there is still a lot of restoration to happen.  Food wise we have been fairly quite since Allos.  No need for stuffed animal identification methods here.  Last night we had a fish stew for 2. Fish, crustaceans etc plus a bit of garlic in a big pot.  The photo does not do it justice. It set us up for today’s walks.  Tomorrow (Thursday) we are off to do some more walks.  Leave Saturday morning for Mondavio.

Update: Now early Thursday morning.  All is good in the world-long 6.30am walk with expresso (1E as usual) with my new friends at the beach bar.  Long conversation between the 5 of us, of which I understood about 2%.

Aups, Allos, skiing and restaurant menu identification?

Opps and hello from Northern Provence in the alps.  Couple of days blazing new territory.  English?  Eh? Last night we were at a great little restaurant in Allos, which is is a ski village, and they spoke NO English.  We translated parts of the menu using stuffed animals on the wall and on the bench.   I had the choice of venison (big deer head mounted on wall) or big pheasant (supposed to be quail) stuffed on bench.  I went the venison.  More details and photos of snow that blocked the pass tomorrow.  It is now Tuesday night in Levanto Italy.

Off the boat and onto Carcassonne

Firstly I have added lots of photos of boating to last blog. Carcassonne-what can you say.  It just rises out of  of the river and it is a huge old (like BC) with a castle in the middle.  Every thing is fortified.  We have just had 2 nights here and you do need a full day to check it out.  There is also the 'new town'  across the river.  It is only about 700 years old.  We did a 3 hour tour of the main bits (not castle) and then went to castle on our own.  You nee the tour!  and you need to but it on your bucket list!
Weather update:  Well I was in shorts in Spain during the day and on the boat but it has rained a bit and we are off east today and it is cold, snow in Andorra, and wet.
Update:  Arrived in Aups in country France [Sunday afternoon](more in next blog but try and find it??).  The 4 hour car trip took 6.5 hours?  Why?  End of a long weekend week in France so traffic jams on motorways; heavy rain - so heavy that people were stopping-we did in a rest area for an hour.

Boats A'hoy-Captain calling from Canal de Midi

Thursday 16 May   Boats a’hoy-Captain calling from the Canal de Midi

Well here we are on the Midi.  Decided to do a 4 night/5 day hire at the last moment.  Booked a small 2 person Penichette and in the end we got the 11 metre monster.  Yes upgrade.  Now on a 4 person/2 bathroom inc flying bridge etc.  Super comfortable but in high winds it is like steering a large boat with full sails down a canal that is only 20-25 metres wide.  End of day 3 now.  We started at Argens-Minervois, night 1 at Le Somail, night 2 at Poilhes, turned around late day 3 and are currently at Capestang.  Absolutely amazing way to travel and lots of moored boats but not many on the move.  This route only takes us through 2 locks.  Lunches on the boat and little restaurants at night.

Finish Friday morning and then to Carcasonne for weekend.  We are now half way through the trip.  It is already good for us to read back and remember.

Got to go as the little Tabac has just opened for coffee across the canal (now Thursday morning).

Au revoir.  Enjoy the pictures!!