ITALIA PART TWO!

Our second week of Italy was a blur of relaxing at this gorgeous villa (which overlooks the famous towers of San Gimignano, which is also very affordable if anyone is interested in a cute little villa in Tuscany for a week or so), vino (no, not the direct cause of the blurring), good food, four wheel transport, visiting little hill top towns with as little energy as possible expended, and consuming copious amounts of gelato, pasta and good Italian coffee, thanks to our cute little two cup stovetop espresso maker which had made its way into our panniers and hearts.

Our patio...

Lance and I would have been happy to never peel ourselves up off the villa patio furniture and just enjoy the sun, view and vino. I must admit that my journal jottings stop here, and my memory gets a bit hazy. I do remember the overwhelming joy of a shower that didn’t require jandals, a queen size bed with sheets (!), and how convenient refrigerators are.

Our villa...

However, my parents, fresh out of NZ weren’t quite so easily pleased. So, we were regularly bundled off into their car to experience the joys of the surrounding villages. Oh the ecstasy of climbing hills without lifting a finger, or a foot as the case may be. Quite magical! Of course the downside is how quickly all that pasta and gelato quickly catches up with you in such a state of glorified laziness.

Of course there was San G, unique with its family towers. San G is quite charming. Although we tried to keep a low profile, with our infamosity and all (is that a word?).

We also stopped back in the yes, charming, hill top village of Cortona, made famous in the book 'A Year in Tuscany' - I think that's the name, I could just be making that up. And now also a not-quite-as-good-as-the-book-film.

Mum and I on the steps of the town plaza in Cortona...

We headed over to Siena to check out the famous plaza… along with a million other tourists with the same idea.

And of course there was Florence, a place which actually couldn’t possibly fit anymore culture, cathedrals or art galleries… and which was particularly lovely at night….and meaningful given that my grandfather who died when I was just a wee tot, lived here running an Officer’s club during the second world war.

We also went up to the lovely Cinque Terre, five little connecting seaside villages only accessible by foot or train. A place every self-respecting tourist to Italy makes their way to. The path that connects the villages is somewhat steep. When I say steep, I really mean steep, like heart attack material, to the point that they put ambulance phones along the way, despite it being in the middle of nowhere and you would have to be airlifted out.

We came back to San G via the leaning tower of Piza, cause hey we’re in Italy. As much as I thought this would be beyond cliché, it was actually a lovely tower. And yes, we did the photos…

There was also the surprise hit of Volterra, yes, another hill top city. What can I say? Quaint, good gelato, narrow alleyways, sweet shops.

We actually did fit quite a lot in, in that one week…along with selling our bikes to an American student who had just moved to Florence, and whom had randomly struck up conversation with us the week before in Montepulciano.

One of my highlights was attending a Gregorian monk service (they're the chanters) - they chant seven times a day!

We finally left our lovely little villa and hit the road to experience the joys of the South. On route we traveled to Assisi, and stayed a night there. This little town was the home of its patron saint St. Francis of Assisi and is literally brimming with Nuns, Monks and religious knick knacks. Assisi is also known for hiding hundreds (thousands?) of Jews during the second world war, courtesy of its networks of Nunneries and Monasteries and the local people. I understand from the book ‘The Assisi Underground’ (compulsory reading for us all, thanks Dad!), that while the rest of Europe only managed to save 20% of its Jewish population, Italy, thanks to the bravery of the Church, saved 80%.

Dad, telling us all about Assisi....

It's hard to get a shot with just one...

We next hit the Amalfi Coast, known as the Italian Riveria. We went via Salerno, where Dad had the, ah, 'experience' of witnessing a vicious broken bottle fight between an elderly bag lady and some random lass who couldn’t resist provoking her for some unknown reason. Although Dad being Dad got to the bottom of it from a fellow witness. That’s all that really stood out about Salerno, that and the frantic rush to find accommodation and return our rental car on time, which we did, with all of about 1 minute 33 seconds to go (according to our GPS lady).

The bus ride into the Amalfi coast was quite the experience, the roads really were not designed with buses in mind, and the bus drivers are Italian. What more do I need to say? It was different to what I was expecting. The whole thing is perched precariously on steep, steep mountain sides that sweep dramatically down to the sea. It’s quite charming and colourful.

The view from our bnb... the truck in the lower right hand corner unloaded fireworks almost the entire time we were there - apparently there was going to be quite the display the following week!

We had a lovely bed and breakfast in Ravello, which is another ridiculously charming Italian village. It had the busy town plaza, copious numbers of cafes and galleries, and being perched halfway up the mountain, had this incredible 180 degree view of the coast. Another few hazy days of relaxing, vino, coffee and good Italian food passed by, along with exploring the nearby villages, via steep, steep rickety foot paths cut into the mountain side.

On our way down...

Jul, outside the pantheon, waiting for her folks who were, once again making friends with anybody and everybody...After much deliberation and observation we decided that no, the girl behind wasn't getting married today, although perhaps she had shortened her wedding dress... they say you can you know, I've just never actually seen it.

We eventually roused ourselves to make our way back up to Rome where we spent a few days exploring and getting to know our rather random hostel host, as you do. He was an intriguing Indian bloke, who kept giving us bottles of wine for some real or perceived failure of the hostel, even kindly giving us a free night for some inconvenience that I forget right now. Rome of course, is Rome, and is quite spectacular, for all the usual reasons. I must say that the best time to visit the Trevi fountain is definitely at night, that the Spanish steps are overrated and that Italy really does do food well. These are all sights that really need no introduction...

At the Vatican City, entrance to St. Peter's... not quite sure what they're trying to say...

From Italy we headed back to London to chill out for a week before our flights to Vietnam. Our wonderful friends Vix n Jan and Justine were uber gracious in putting us up, yet again. We haven't yet blogged on our ventures into the great motherland (two weeks before Holland), due to our photos being on our laptop, which is currently in Holland. We saw the sights of London (London Borough food markets being the most memorable mmmm), caught up with friends, headed up to the great metropolises of Birmingham and Manchester. We spent a week with Jo and Caleb Putt, touring the lovely Lake District, up to Scotland for some Haggis suppers, a quick visit with gran, a bit of William Wallace history, Edinburgh, and down through York and Whitby (which was our highlight by the way, famous for its fish n chips, James Cook connection and a great place to play pitch in putt, very appropriate given our companions). One day hopefully we'll get some photos up! I wouldn't hold your breath though.

Saying good bye to our faithful steads.... very sad!