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Tag Archives: Travel
A post for all lovers of vintage Italian speedboats
It’s not often we delve into specialist areas in this blog but this post is about Riva’s Aquarama – the classic Italian speedboats of the 60s and 70s.
They defined style and cool from their launch in the early sixties and were often referred to as the Ferrari of speedboats. In all only 768 were built between 1962 and 1996 when production stopped.
The originals now sell for hundreds of thousands of Euros, however we spotted these models in a shop window in Positano. At €600 each they seem a real bargain. Any takers?
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- This one?
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- Or this one?
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- Maybe this one?
Visiting San Gimignano
Gallery
This gallery contains 17 photos.
Now that our visitors have departed and life has returned to its usual ambling pace, we can take the opportunity to write some posts about the places we went and things we did through July and August when the kiwi … Continue reading
An afternoon in Pienza
We haven’t had the chance to get out and about much lately, but yesterday the whole team made the short trip to the village of Pienza about 50kms from our cottage.
We had visited Pienza around 8 years ago and remember it for it’s fantastic Pecorino cheese and great views across the valley. In respect to both of these, nothing had changed.
We were in for an unexpected treat as the annual Pienza “Fiera del Cacio” or “Cheese Fair” was in full swing while we were there.
The highlight of the 10 day festival is later in the week when they have cheese rolling in the square. Effectively lawn bowls on a cobbled square using cheese rounds where the various contrada of Pienza compete for glory.
When we arrived, the main Piazza in Pienza, Piazza Poi II was full of flag wavers and drummers performing. Following that, and slightly less spectacular, was the presentation of a painting of the Palio by a local arist and the branding of the cheeses used for the cheese rolling later in the festival.
The drive to Pienza is through some of the loveliest scenery in Tuscany. Everywhere you look is another photo opportunity. One spot in particular looked familiar. It is a grove of Cypress trees standing in the middle of a paddock which has been photographed a thousand times and makes regular appearances in books about Tuscany.
On the way back with the sun setting it got it’s one thousand and first photographic outing.
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- Pienza festival
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- Pienza festival
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- View from Pienza
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- Classic Tuscan photo near Pienza
About Daisy – Part 3
Our girl has shown a steady recovery over the last week. She’s gone from not being able to walk without falling over to something close to her usual waddle. She is still wobbly and when she tries to shake herself ends up flat on her stomach with legs splayed.
Her revised heart medicine has also kicked in and, touchwood, she hasn’t had a seizure in over a week. Mind you with Jean and I running around after her every need there hasn’t been a lot of stress on her heart anyway.
One thing that has fully returned is Daisy’s attitude. She’s almost back to her cantakerous old self, and seems ready to take on the world, or more likely, other dogs, children, anyone who dares to come near the cottage, anyone who looks at the cottage, anyone who comes near the car, you get the idea.
The movie started out as some footage to show the team at our Italian vet clinic her improvement over the last week but it got a bit out of hand. We have nothing else much to do, really.
A special place in Greve
When Mike and Charmaine and wee James were here we visited the small village of Greve in Chanti. Greve is built around a triangular piazza which has the usual assortment of shops and cafes dotted around it.
It also has one shop which we think is special. The sign outside says Norcineria – or butchery – but the experience inside is something else.
Looking out towards the piazza in Greve. Love the sign
Describing Antica Macelleria Falorni as a butchery is like calling St Peters in Rome just a church. Entering the shop, you are hit by complete sensory overload. Everywhere you look there are cured hams, cheeses, salamis, and more cured hams hanging, stacked, packed and displayed. The smell is overwhelming (I’m told as I have no sense of smell) and it strikes you like a hammer the moment you walk through the door.
The shop also sells wines to go with the wide range of cheeses available as well as the ususal Tuscan butchery mix of meats, game, and poultry.
In the usual Italian way, things can be tasted before buying – just to provide even greater sensory overload.
Inside Antica Macelleria Falorni in Greve
The shop stretches through 3 street frontages so as you move away from the front door you move from one small area to another, and in each the ceiling is hung with curing legs of ham giving the whole shop the feeling of a cave. For food-lovers, almost certainly an Aladdins cave.
If you visit Tuscany, you really should stop in Greve and marvel at this most unlikely tourist attraction.
Not another photo?
As a keen amateur photographer trying to capture the relaxed Tuscan lifestyle I can become a bit demanding on my available talent – which consists of one long suffering wife and two small white fluffy dogs.
When the demands become too great the dogs simply get up and walk off. Jean isn’t so lucky.
Hay bails and other things agricultural
Gallery
This gallery contains 3 photos.
Summer is soon to turn into Autumn in Tuscany. Already we are starting to see the leaves on the trees turn yellow and orange. All around us paddocks are being plowed for winter. The distinctive round hay bails that, to … Continue reading
The pool busters
The complex has ben really busy over the last few weeks. Guests are coming and going and we have had a great mix of nationalities – Dutch, Italian, the ocassional Brit and, of course, the Germans.
One day recently Jean and I headed to the pool for an afternoon of swimming and relaxing to find that, when we got there, every lounger was either being used or was empty but with a towel drapped over it – clearly the European sign for “reserved”.
It reminded me of a UK TV commercial that aired in the early 1990’s about this very subject. Enjoy.
Fun in the sun
You can never have enough pool toys
Daisy has taken up a fair bit of our time lately, but prior to that we managed a bit of pool time. It was the only way to keep cool in the 35 to 40 degree heat.
Clearly in Europe everyone turns up at the pool with some form of inflatable toy to amuse themselves. Often there are so many toys in the pool it’s difficult to find a spot to swim.
Not to be outdone Jean splashed out (excuse the pun) on a lilo. All of 5 Euro at the local inflatable pool toy store.
Jean and Nacho Libre
The man who sits by the pool has made a wee movie showing Jean in action.
Please note, the ocassional swat at the water is simply Jean avoiding wasps, bees, bugs, etc, that have made their way into the pool.
Be the first to read new posts.
Regular readers of the blog may notice the addition of a “email subscription” button on the right of the page. Subscribing means that you will receive an email every time there is a new post to the blog.
This would also be a great way to catch the posts that are put up and then suddenly removed for linguistic reasons (Jean says they don’t make sense) or social reasons (Jean says I really can’t say things like that).
I can assure you that subscribing will not lead to a sudden flurry of emails trying to sell you Viagra or offering you part of an obscure african country’s overseas funds. Well, certainly no more dodgy emails than you receive already.
Learning Italian
I never realised that learning Italian was a competitive sport. But around the cottage this is starting to be the case.
Jean's homework.
We had our first lesson last Friday and were plunged into the realm of verbs – both the regular and the irregular. I must have been away the day they covered all this in school so not only was I learning Italian I was also learning the structure of language – in Italian. Suffice it to say I don’t think I’m going to be a star pupil.
My lovely wife, however, was taking it all in, chipping in with useful comments and questions and making copious notes along the way. After an hour my brain was full and our tutor, Mauro, realising that nothing more was going in asked us to do a little homework for the next lesson. Nothing too taxing but homework none the less.
We adjourned to a bar around the Campo in Siena for a well deserved drink and discussion. We were pleased with the lesson and with our choice of language school. Yes, there was some homework to do but, let’s face it, we didn’t have a lot else to do. It should be easy – no stress.
Yesterday morning I rose at my usual time of 10am, refreshed my cup of tea in the kitchen, and wandered out to the verandah. There, hunched over her notes with cigarette in hand, was my wife furiously scribbling homework notes, completing sentences, scouring the dictionary for nouns, and filling page after page with perfectly executed Italian.
Now to put things in context, I’d spent upwards of 15 minutes the previous day sitting by the pool jotting down some random notes which I thought might cover the homework. I had included a rather good doodle of an Italian villa on a hill with a Cypress tree next to it – not strictly part of the homework but I’m sure I would get extra marks for it.
I could see where this was going and I wasn’t going to stand for it. The last 24 hours has seen a flurry of activity as notes are made about notes, verbs are conjugated and nouns are possessed and repossessed. Conversation has been non-existent and the only sound has been the occasional sentence said aloud in italian to test pronunciation.
Alas I fear it is all to no avail as every time I sneak a look at Jean’s work I see myself drifting further behind the pace. My only hope is that time honoured excuse – the dog ate my homework.
Now, where is Daisy?
Updates on the move
I’ve just downloaded an app to my iphone that means I can update the blog anywhere, while I’m doing anything.
Or in this case lying by the pool on a sunny afternoon doing nothing.
Everywhere we go – cars!
Some of the more observant of you may have noticed that in some of our photos of Siena used in another post, there was a considerable crowd assembled outside the Palazzo Publicco in the Campo.
Initially we had no idea why they were there (to celebrate our return to Siena – probably not) or why part of the Campo was being blocked off and officials were running around putting up barriers, blowing whistles and generally ordering people around in the Italian way.
The first clue we had was the sound of high powered engines approaching through the narrow Sienese streets. The second clue was the appearance of some very expensive high performance motor cars which paraded through the Campo. The final clue was the large sticker on each car with a number and the moniker “Miglia 1000”.
It was the day the 2011 Miglia rally came through Siena. The Miglia is an annual rally event for historic cars of note or significance. That means very expensive cars or very old cars, or both. This year it included a Ferrari tribute to the Miglia as well – so that would be more expensive, very new cars. It took around 4 hours for all the cars to go through the Campo on their way north but it was a chance to see some cars that you would normally only be able to see in museums – including a genuine Porsche 550 Spyder.
For those of you who might like to participate in this event next year the entry fee is a mere €6,360.
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- The Milia arrives in Siena
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- The Milia arrives in Siena
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- The Milia arrives in Siena
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- A vehicle close to my heart
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- The Milia arrives in Siena
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- The Milia arrives in Siena
Siena
There has been a town on the site of Siena since 900BC although the height of Siena’s power was in the 1400s. Traditionally Siena and Florence have been competing city states with the balance of power fluctuating between the two until this rivalry culminated in a final battle in 1555 which Florence won. Since then Siena has always been the second city in Tuscany.
Having said that, it’s our local town and our first city of Tuscany. We love it.
Our love affair began 10 years ago when we first visited. We had a rental car and very little understanding of Italian and we were determined to see this town. As we drove in we noticed that the wide modern roads were turning to narrow cobbled roads flanked by two and three story buildings and that the volume of traffic was dropping. The streets got narrower with more pedestrians, all of whom seemed surprised to see us. Sadly our Italian wasn’t good enough to translate the “residents only – no entry” signs that dotted the walls. Eventually we realised that where we had our car was a place where cars simply shouldn’t be – imagine driving through the middle of Queensgate Mall in Lower Hutt on a Wednesday afternoon and you’ll understand.
Our only problem was we didn’t know how to get out again. Siena is a maze, we had no idea where we were and at that time GPS was still a classified military secret. My suggestion was we park the car, get out and advise Hertz to come and get it. Jean was slightly more practical. She spotted a local taxi and figured that following that would firstly keep us out of trouble and secondly, eventually lead us out.
To this day I’m sure there is a bemused Sienese taxi driver who wonders why two crazy tourists in a dirty Punto rental car followed him around Siena for an afternoon. Whenever he stopped to pick up or drop off a passenger, we stopped and dutifully waited. But eventually the twists and turns became less and the roads became wider and we exited the old city through one of the many gates – still following the cab.
We now know the way to see the old part of Siena is on foot and to make use of one of the many parking areas and buildings that are positioned around the outside of the old city. The one we use most is in the University and the walk into the city is an experience in itself.
The heart of Siena is the Campo, the large semi circular piazza in front of the Palazzo Pubblico or town hall which has it’s own impressive clock tower. The tower dominates the city skyline and is an ideal vantage point to view the city. It’s 400 steps to the top and the climb is not recommended for those scared of enclosed spaces (the walk up has virtually no windows and is a narrow spiral staircase) or heights (the view from the top covers a fair chunk or the Tuscan countryside).
The campo is also the location for the twice yearly Palio when the various contrada or neighborhoods of Siena compete in a horse race around the Campo. If you are visiting Siena on July 2 or August 15 it’s a “must see” event.
This trip we couldn’t wait to visit Siena and specifically to spend an afternoon sitting in the Campo having a drink with the girls and simply take in the sights and sounds around us. And that’s the thing. While the Campo is a major tourist attraction with tour groups and tourists always enjoying the sights, it is still a place to find the locals doing what Sienese locals do best. Just getting on with life.
Toscanakiwi 