Tag Archives: Italy

Breakfast

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Those of you who have stayed at Eden Roc Hotel will know Tony and the experience of breakfast.  When we were staying in the hotel, we would stumble down to breakast – usually late – and be met by Tony’s smiling greeting across the restaurant and cups of his famous Cappuccino.

I am not a coffee drinker except for Eden Roc and only because of Tony.  My record is 3 cups by which time I was bouncing off the walls.

When we booked the villa we were told we would have full use of all the hotel facilities – including the ability to pop down for breakfast.  While this has proved to be the case we were a little nervous as we wandered down the road to the hotel the first morning.

We needn’t have worried.  When we arrived Tony was nowhere to be seen but within a minute we heard his traditional greeting “good morning sir and lady” across the restaurant and he arrived at our table with two cups of his famous cappuccino.

He then proceeded to ply us with croissants (the last two kept just for us), watermelon (fresh from the Eden Roc garden), toast (toasted both sides – past guests please note) and slices of breakfast pizza/quiche all prepared especially for us.

We don’t normally eat breakfast so working through the mountain of food that arrived required concentration and complete disregard for the effect on our waistlines.

Live action – or inaction

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It’s around 1:30pm and 30 degrees. Relaxing before lunch. Nothing more to say really.

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Girls out and about in Positano

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Today the girls got their first taste of Positano with a walk from our villa to Eden Roc Hotel and back.

The stop at the hotel was an excellent chance for a drink and to catch up with Carlo who manages the bar and restaurant.  As always he had some great tips for places to eat in and around Positano although tomorrow evening we will be enjoying his hospitality with dinner on the terrace overlooking the bay.

On the way back to the villa Jean and the girls posed for the classic Positano photo.

For sale – one superyacht

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We snapped this photo of one of the superyachts moored in our front yard last night.

It is called Lady Joy and a quick check on the interweb found that it accommodates 12 people in complete luxury for between $US250k and $US300k a week.

Interestingly it’s also on the market – for $US43 million.  Any takers?

A rare sight in Positano

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The rarest thing you see in Positano isn’t some exotic bird or animal, it’s an empty carpark.  Parking spaces on the side of a cliff are strictly limited, unlike the number of cars, scooters and motor bikes in Positano.

If a trip out is planned, locals make a judgement call about whether it’s worth taking the car and losing their park – because finding another one may mean a long wait or, worse, a long walk.  Some cars have been parked in the same spot so long they are collecting dust.

The photo shows an empty park opposite the villa.  It stayed empty for about 2 minutes, maximum.

We’re off to Positano

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It’s time for a holiday from our holiday.  That’s right, the whole Mowday clan is moving from Tuscany to Positano (on the beautiful Amalfi Coast) for a fortnight.  We’ve rented an apartment which is owned by the lovely people who also own and run Eden Roc Hotel, our favourite hotel in Positano.  Updates to follow.

Poppie ready for the trip to Positano.

White Roads

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This was a phrase we had not heard before we started motoring around Tuscany. While it sounds quite exotic, it is simply the local name for dirt roads.

In Tuscany there are quite a few.

On a map you will see many roads criss-crossing Tuscany and the distance between places seems small by New Zealand standards. It’s only when you drive that you realise what sort of road it is and the trip time changes accordingly.

Clean me - please.

The road to the cottage is a white road 3kms long. As you can see by the back of the mighty Peugeot (which is a black car, honestly) in summer the roads can get quite dusty. Today, in honour of it’s impending trip to Positano, the Pug is getting it’s first serious clean.

I’ve even bought a sponge and some carwash from the local supermercato.

I’ll just wait until the temperature outside drops below 30 degrees before I start. Ah, that gives me time for a beer.

Visiting Buonconvento and other things

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In the last few days summer has really arrived in Tuscany. Temperatures have been around 30 degrees and the pace of life has slowed accordingly. Today we spent the middle of the day beside the pool and only when the temperature had dropped in the early evening did we venture out.

Jean and the girls at a cafe in Buonconvento

About 15 minutes down the road is the town of Buonconvento, a delightful place with an old town centre that has been developed over the years. We stayed in a villa only a couple of minutes from the town in 2004 and remember the town as utilitarian at best. Now it is a thriving tourist and artistic centre and definitely worth visiting if you are in the area.

The trip there and back is through farmland much of which is now planted in Sunflowers which are starting to bloom. When our visitors arrive in mid July, they should be looking great.

The girls

When we arrived back at the cottage the daily display that is the sunset was well underway. Although a camera can never do justice to this spectacle, here’s my best attempt.

Sunset over Siena - June 28

A weekend with Gill

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Our dear friend Gill popped in for the weekend. It’s easy to say, but “popping in” meant a ridiculously early flight for Gill from the UK on Friday morning to Pisa where the entire Mowday clan went to pick her up.

It was great to see her and the girls got straight down to business. Three bottles of Moet disappeared almost immediately followed by a couple of bottles of Chardonnay (one a kiwi chardonnay saved especially for the occasion) over a dinner of Jeans famous roast chicken and potatoes. Suffice it to say Saturday started slowly in the cottage.

There was a little “pool time” and then dinner in the Campo at Al Mangia. Because the Campo is being prepared for the Palio on Saturday 2 July, barriers and stands are in the process of being erected and we had dinner in what is soon to be the middle of the racecourse on 3 inches of hard packed clay with race barriers on each side. Imagine having dinner on the finish line at Trentham racecourse and you’ll get the idea.

Dinner at Al Mangia sitting in the middle of the Palio track

All around us Campo life continued as always with bars and restaurants doing their usual business – but all in slightly surreal surroundings. It wasn’t quite what we expected or had planned. Jean being the control freak she is spent the first 15 minutes saying “this isn’t right, no, this isn’t right” repeatedly and wanting them just to “put it back the way it was” but Gill pointed out it was a truly unique experience. A couple of bottles of wine and an excellent meal helped everyone mellow somewhat.

We will see Gill and family again in late July and can’t wait.

Catching up with Kate

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Last night we caught up with Kate and her family who are spending 2 months travelling around Europe. Kate used to work with Jean at Clemenger but she is currently based in the UK with her partner.

Jean had put Kate in touch with our villa wizard friend Olga when their trip was being planned but made sure to recommended a villa we had stayed at previously. Villa Crognole is a beautiful villa tucked into the Chianti hills with a view down the valley towards Radda.

We called into Crognole yesterday afternoon for a drink or two along with Olga and her husband which meant the afternoon was spent sitting in the sun discussing travel, news from home, and any other subject that wandered into people’s minds, all in a mix of english, italian and kiwi.

We went to dinner with Kate and her family at Le Vigne restaurant just outside Radda. It was dining al fresco with a view over the vineyards that produce some of the great Chianti Classico wines.

Dinner was lovely and all done on Italian time. That simply means that the wine and various courses rolled out through the evening until we finally left the restaurant, just before midnight.

Good people, great company and truly la dolce vita.

We’ve got mail

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One thing we pondered when we arrived at Casavacanza Vesta was whether letters, packages or parcels from home could find us.  While almost all of our correspondence is by email or text, we thought there may be the need for good old fashioned postage.  You know, documents that need signing, letters that need reading and packages that need opening.  Could the Italian postal system work it’s magic and deliver mail to our door?

We have mail.

Jean’s Mum helped us out by mailing a test letter a fortnight ago and the good news is it arrived yesterday – lovingly delivered by Mrs Patritzia.  She seemed a little surprised to be the final link in the Poste Italian supply chain as I suspect we were the first guests in Casavacanza history to get mail.

So, gentle reader, let’s put Mrs Patrizia to work, feel free to write or, even better, send presents.

How serious are we about learning Italian?

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Pretty serious it seems.  I wandered into the kitchen (dining room, lounge) the other day and saw the note below taped up above the kitchen sink.  It’s the stuff we need to learn this week – the irregular verbs avere and essere and all their various permutations.  Sigh.

The note on the wall.

Washday at our Pa

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Life in Tuscany isn’t all fine chianti and al dente pasta you know.  The washing still needs to be done and Tuesday is as good a day as any other.  A load of washing costs €3 for casual guests but is built into our weekly rent.  Given the rate at which we go through clothes that’s about $NZ500 which can be spent on fine chianti and al dente pasta.

Washing drying beside our cottage on a sunny summer morning.

Visitors from distant shores

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We are starting to plan for the arrival of summer visitors. Today we bought a small freezer which now holds pride of place in the kitchen (and the dining room and part of the lounge) so we can do ice cubes, gelato and actually store meat for more than a day or two. And get beer really cold in a hurry.

The barbecue is being specified at present. We are thinking charcoal as that seems to be the accepted norm. Around here gas seems to be for gattino – look it up. Also a slew of other home comforts are being put in place because it’s the beginning of the visitor season.

In the next month and a half we have visitors galore.

Villa Crognole outside Radda in Chanti.

First up we catch up with Jean’s friend Kate Maclean who worked with Jean at Clemenger. Kate and her partner are working in the UK. Kate’s family are coming over from New Zealand for a holiday which involves a week in a villa in Chianti. It has been arranged through our villa wizard Olga and is the same one we stayed at in 2006. A fantastic place. We are popping up for drinks and dinner in mid June.

Next up is a flying weekend visit by Gill from the UK. We are thinking pool life combined with excellent meals in Siena. And the odd bottle of New Zealand Chardonnay mixed in.

At the start of July the Mowday family packs the car and leaves Tuscany heading for Positano where we have rented an apartment off the lovely family who own and run Eden Roc Hotel. The really good news is we get full hotel privileges (pool, bar tab, meals on the terrace, Tony’s cappuccino for breakfast, etc) but stay off site so the dogs don’t disturb the hotel’s peace and quiet. We are there for two weeks and Jean’s sister Charmaine, brother-in-law Mike and their baby James arrive towards the end of the stay.

Jean, Josh, Andre, Gill and Jordan around the pool in 2010 while the dolphin watches on.

Back to Toscana with Charmaine, Mike and Jimmy for a week and then Gill, Josh and Jordan arrive from London with Andre following after his pilgrimage to the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. We are still looking for large, slightly disturbing, inflatable animals to go in the pool prior to their arrival.

We are also expecting a mate from work, Danny Malone, to put in an appearance at the end of July on his 2011 European trip to round things out. An excellent month at our place.

We then head south to Rome for a weekend at the end of July with Charmaine, Mike and James before aiming the Peugeot at Nice for a car swap in early August – and a week at the delightful Hotel Welcome in Villefranche sur mer. See an earlier post for rave reviews.

After that we are ready to welcome other kiwi visitors – you know who you are – through August and September as the summer crawls to an end and our thoughts turn to autumn.

Excitingly it looks like our old friend Isabel and Charlie will be visiting in late September/early October as well. I think I can call Isabel an “old” friend as we both have had very significant birthdays this year.

Let the fun commence.

Bugs and other thingies

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Something for our visitors to remember – Tuscany has bugs and crawlies. As well as endowing Tuscany with beautiful countryside and light that artists would die for, God also provided Tuscany with its fair share of things that crawl, fly, jump and hop.

Those of you who know Jean know she’s not great with things that crawl, fly, jump or hop. In fact it’s not unknown for her to do a funny little dance accompanied by a high pitched scream when some poor creature makes an appearance on the floor or stupidly flies in the door. And that was in relatively bug free New Zealand.

Here things are much more exciting. By category:

Flying things

Apart from the usual pesky flies, we have humming birds (which look like giant wasps) and hornets which actually are giant wasps and make a sound not unlike a weed-eater when they approach the cottage. We have mosquitoess (only starting to appear) and sandflies (not dangerous to humans but they can carry some nasty dog diseases) and numerous other things that flit past the cottage each day.

Crawling things

This is a big category. We have millipedes and centipedes and the odd earwig. We have spiders of all shapes and sizes although Jean’s jandal is doing an excellent job of keeping the local population under control.

Two Geckos meet on our terrace.

Geckos are everywhere at present and find the brick terrace ideal for sunning themselves. We have one particular gecko which seems to spend the most time sunning himself on our terrace and who seems to call our place home. He has lost half his tail and defends our front door heroically from any other geckos that dare to show up.

There is another class of crawling thing which we’ll call “don’t know what it is but crickey it runs fast” and there are a lot of these.

A passing Gecko poses for a photo.

We haven’t seen any scorpions yet but it’s early days.

Jumping things

We have a resident cottage frog which traverses the verandah each evening going from somewhere to somewhere else. Although he is classed under “jumping things” he seems to spend most of his time walking.

Hopping things

To be honest we haven’t spotted any hopping things as yet but I’m sure they are out there.

Fighting back

Never let it be said we are quitters. We have armed ourselves with the latest in bug protection to fight back. We have a bug zapper for the verandah, mosquito deterrents for inside and out, magic stickers for the windows that kill flies, an old fashioned fly swap and, of course, Jean’s deadly jandal.

Bring it on I say.