Italy and Malta

Yesterday we both woke up tired after a hot night with lots of mosquitoes fighting over our blood. Decided to spend the day blobbing in the camping ground – after all it was Sunday and definitely a day of rest. I think we managed a swim in the pool and Gus did go for a quick run first thing but that was it...

Today we caught the bus into Bologna and took 2-3 hours to explore the city. We started with the Fountain of Neptune – both men and women displayed proudly. Once again, many beautiful churches - we weren’t allowed to take photos in these ones though. Also, luckily I remembered my scarf this time so I could cover my bare shoulders – we didn’t go into the cathedral in Florence because of this.

Something a bit different is the Piazza Santo Stefano; it’s actually 7 churches in 1. You go into one church and then on through doors into more little chapels and courtyards and more chapels, quite a labyrinth. The only way out seems to be back through the original church, not sure what the story behind this arrangement is.

We also visited the University of Bologna, founded in 1088! The Teatro Antomico, where anatomy lessons were once held, by dissecting bodies, is quite amazing. Many carved wooden figures on the walls and even hanging from the ceiling.

There are two towers in the middle of the city from which the streets radiate out. One of them is on a distinct lean – they had a major earthquake in this city when we were in England, so I hope this tower isn’t about to topple into the street, it certainly looks like it is!

Bologna is another mediaeval city, so lots of very narrow streets once again. Apparently the houses were built to overhang like this to avoid land taxes. Then back to camp and the pool before the real heat of the day set in...

Spent two days around the area of Bologna – on the first we went for a drive, ended up having a bike ride in a nice cool forest.

Also saw these fishing nets set up, apparently for eeling. Was a bit of an anticlimax though because had been looking forward to seeing the Delta Po, is supposed to be amazing for its birdlife. We did catch a glimpse of some flamingos from a bridge but after the Camargue it just couldn’t compare.

The second day we visited the Ferrari factory museum out of Melano (about 30 mins from Bologna). There were lots of pretty cars – lots and lots. You could test drive a late-model Ferrari too, like a Spider or similar. We thought it sounded fun until we found out it cost about 100 Euro for 10 minutes, maybe not!

I found the roundabouts on the way there interesting too – each one had a different piece of sculpture in the middle – all completely different from each other. One was a bunch of grapes, one a horse and carriage, one a drop of olive oil, and this one: the man holding a truck on his back - go figure...

Then late that night we caught the plane to Malta. At Bologne Airport we had to catch a ‘yellow bus’ to a different terminal to check in; then back to the original terminal to catch the plane. All very odd but we were entertained by the resemblance the bus had to the Fantasyland train! My nephew met us at the airport, eventually... He was a little late but totally understandable because he had to catch the end of the Europa Football Semi-final between Spain and Portugal. This is so huge in Europe, makes our Rugby World Cup look small. Was very good of him to collect us though, as we arrived at 11.30pm! Then of course we had lots of catching up to do with Billy & Charlene; finally went to bed about 2am, and they’ve even sacrificed their bed for us.

When we woke up and looked out from the deck I was amazed at the view – quite different to mainland Europe, more like I imagine Turkey looks like. Sandy coloured buildings with flat roofs, and all stacked up behind each other. We had a slow morning, Billy was working, and we slept in anyway.

After lunch they took us around the oldest parts of the island, absolutely beautiful. There is so much history here it’s hard to take it all in, especially all in such a confined area. We went to a walled city that was the original city of the island, and was designed so that the entire population at the time could fit inside and close the gates on whichever invader was coming in this week. It’s filled with palaces that are still lived in and apparently rarely sold; they are handed down through families. It was really lovely to have Billy to drive us, and Charlene, who has lived here all her life, as our personal guide. Makes travel so much easier! It is hot here, not as hot as Italy but much more humid, although with an air-conditioned car and air-conditioning in the house, it’s a LOT more bearable.

In Italy and Hot!

We got into Florence nice and early on the bus – the bus driver was crazy (as fits the description of the majority of Italian drivers) and was tearing along narrow, one lane, cobblestoned roads at least 60km/h! So we were there about 9.30am, nicely in time to beat the majority of the crowds and the worst of the heat. The architecture is stunning, the detail on the buildings incredible. On the Duomo, there are so many carved figures as well as beautiful frescoes. Even the tile work brought to mind the Taj Mahal. It is a mediaeval city so the streets are very narrow, and cobblestoned; most of the pavements are single-file only and you can’t put an arm out into the road or you’d possibly lose it to a bus tearing past! Also the plan is very complicated, numerous piazzas (squares) joined by roads that fan out like the arms of an octopus. At one stage we walked down three blocks and then looked back along another road to realise we’d only come one street! Now we are at Lago Trasimeno, was a nice easy relaxing drive, less people in this part of Italy. Our main motivation for being here is the lake – it’s quite lovely and very warm to swim in. We got a bit of a surprise when we went for our first swim though; you have to walk out about 500m to get water over knee-deep. It’s also got a bit of a muddy bottom so occasionally your feet sink into the mud on the walk out, Yuk! Lovely and refreshing though. Is a tiny bit cooler here too, still hot but much more bearable. We’ve just visited a little walled village (Castiglione Del Lago) – with a fortress at one end, overlooking the lake (but forgot the camera, damn). It had lots of very interesting foodie shops – Jenny, Simone & Karen you would have been in heaven! Even I couldn’t resist the beautiful pasta shapes & colours so bought a packet as well as a packet of flavouring – ingredients in English include truffles, mushrooms and garlic. We also bought a lump of parmesan cheese to grate on top – tonight’s tea sorted! Later in the day we went to Assissi – well worth the effort – I’m running out of superlatives for these places so I’ll just say it was really lovely. The temptation was to fall into this fountain but I managed to retain my dignity. The town is famous for being the burial place of St Frances of Assissi and beyond that I’m a little vague. It’s got about 7 churches – the four we got to were beautiful; lots of detailed paintings on the ceilings and the walls and beautiful statues. Why didn’t we get to all seven you may ask...? Well, there were distractions - such as a really good pizza restaurant, brilliant ice-cream parlours, and this cake shop – also it is still very hot and the streets are steep. Also Gus was protesting that he’s never spent so much time in church in his life! Tonight we are parked/camped at the Grotte di Frasassi, it is a large cave system which we’ll visit in the morning. One of the attractions is that it’s supposed to be only about 14 deg inside, and we’re advised to take a sweatshirt. Hard to believe when it’s still about 32 outside at 9pm! The cave system was amazing but unfortunately not allowed to take photos – huge stalactites and stalagmites and columns – we saw through 5 rooms, about 1.5km. The first one was absolutely huge – 240m high, it was only discovered in 1971 by men coming through a hole in the top – they were looking for caves but I bet they were blown away by what they found. Apparently they dropped a stone in and it took 6 seconds to reach the bottom so they came back a few days later with longer ropes! It was also blissfully cool, we didn’t even put our jerseys on, just enjoyed the sensation of being cool. We then drove out to the Adriatic Coast. We had planned to camp here but the camping grounds we saw were on a thin strip of land between two busy roads and a railway line! Also the camping grounds and beaches were packed so we decided to keep going onto Bologna. We’ve found a nice shady campsite with a pool, and taken to cold showers and cold beers, god it’s hot - about 37deg apparently...

Bonjorno Italie

The last couple of days have been a mixture, to say the least. We are now in Italy, in a nice shady camping spot near the Cinque Terre – these are 5 villages built close together along the coast, they are very beautiful and the coastal walk linking them is very popular. But before all this peace and tranquillity we had to get here! We decided to ‘miss’ the Cote d’Azur more or less by taking the motorway, mainly a decision based on driving time and nowhere to park the Enterprise on the way. So we only got glimpses of the big boys’ toys – like this. And the motorway was pretty free running most of the way. There were hardly any trucks on the road, they all seem to park up in the rest areas on a Sunday, everything is shut; even the supermarkets in the big cities. We saw some interesting looking markets along the way (before the motorway) but once again the possibility of safely parking the Enterprise with SO MANY people and cars everywhere was slim. As we got close to Genoa (where we had intended to stop) the motorway really started to jam up. Mostly because of 3(!) separate accidents. We could see the alternative road every now and then though and that looked a lot worse. After we were well past Genoa we thought we’d better get off the motorway and look for a campsite, big mistake! It was the most frightening traffic either of us has ever seen!! The Italian drivers obviously have no fears – like a huge game of dodgem on a very narrow windy road – crowds of very pushy motorcyclists and scooter riders coming from all directions – seem to have no conception of their own safety at all... So we got back on the motorway. Problem was it was now getting pretty late and we still had nowhere to camp and poor Gus was exhausted from his numerous close brushes – so we decided we’d have to stop in one of the truck stops – next to the motorway. Surprisingly we did manage to get some sleep – Gus got more than me because he was so shattered from driving – and in the morning we found our way to the Cinque Terre. Still narrow windy roads but nowhere near the traffic!! Since we were tired (and it is very hot!) we just walked from one village to the next and back, only took about 10 minutes between villages, very beautiful, the sea is sparkling and god only knows how the villages cling to the hillsides. We’re also fascinated with the amount of terracing and cultivation on the steep hillsides; and the size of the trucks. You can understand why they have to be so small when you see the miniscule lanes they fit down – there would be about 3cm each side sometimes! But aren’t they cute with their 3 wheels, they remind me of a 3-legged dog we once owned. Then this afternoon we had a siesta. Tomorrow we plan to do the other 3 villages – we’ll get the train to the far end and walk back. What a contrast in walks! We caught the train to the second village from this end, Vernazza, as Corniglia is cut off from this end too. Apparently you can get through but it’s ‘difficult’ so being a complete chicken about scrambling over rocks high above the sea, we decided we’d just have to miss the middle village. This walk was over much rougher terrain and quite narrow and scary in places – I had to cling onto Gus hand for those bits. It didn’t help that we’d come prepared for a walk like yesterday (a paved path) and found that today’s walk was more like a tramping track, I had my pretty red sandals and sundress on, not good tramping gear!! The walk was also a good 2 hours compared to yesterday’s 10 minutes, really nice walk though with stunning views, when I wasn’t too scared to peak... Soon after we started we met a NZ couple, and had a good long chat comparing travel adventures. Then as we got to about 2/3 of the way through I heard a woman saying to her husband that they really should have checked with information about the track, as they weren’t prepared at all – she clearly had a kiwi accent so I said “I was just thinking the same thing!” They had done the same walk the day before as us and also had no reason to believe this one was any different. We stopped and swapped travel stories with them too – it turned out he was a farmer from the South Island and so Gus and he quickly got onto farming – I couldn’t believe they were standing in the Cinque Terre discussing lamb prices!! We also said gidday (Gus said Kia Ora and Haere Ra) to at least 3 other kiwis in passing; and there were plenty of Aussies too – so if you’re ever in Europe and want to meet other kiwis, go to the Cinque Terre (the difficult bit). We’ve only met one other on the entire trip to date. After all that we decided to get on the road towards Rome as we still have a fair bit of ground to cover. We were going to stop at Pisa but decided we couldn’t be bothered negotiating a city just to see one landmark, especially as it will probably look exactly like its photos. As we were driving to our camping spot (a freebie on the Italian equivalent of the France Passion scheme) I said to Gus that the landscape reminded me of photos I’d seen of Tuscany. He said “Well where is Tuscany?”. So I looked it up and we were right in it – well spotted that tourist! My only excuses are that they spell it Toscana here; and we were navigating by town names rather than areas – I guess a tourist in Napier may not realise they were also in Hawkes Bay?? Anyway the landscape is very Tuscany – lots of rolling tanned hills with big houses on top, and cedar lined driveways, also many olive groves and vineyards. There are lots of road signs about snow, we can’t believe it snows here, it is SO hot! This morning I woke up to a revelation – we don’t have to go to Rome if we don’t want to. We have been heading that way, luckily only yesterday but realised we were both rather dreading it. The farming couple we talked to had just been there and they made it sound pretty awful with the heat which is already bad enough, and the crowds – more an endurance test than enjoyment. Also we really would be pushing for time by the time we drove down there and back up to Bologna for our flight to Malta. One day we really do want to go to Rome – but we’ll make it a cooler time of year, and perhaps fly in and join a tour group, or hire a car to do the Amalfi Coast at the same time... one day. Anyway with that decision we both feel much relieved and have decided to check out Florence instead and then head inland to Umbria and possibly across to the east coast – quieter places where the pace of life may suit us better – still plenty to see I’m sure. So after only 1 ½ hour’s drive we are at a lovely shady campground outside Florence. Gus is hard at it – and I’m writing up the blog – tomorrow we’ll see Florence.

Flamingos and a Grand Canyon

Today was Pont du Gard day. We thought we would be there in a couple of hours then go out and have a look around the Camargue region then possibly stay the night up the coast a bit. BUT we forgot to take into account that this is the SOUTH of France and there is a LOT more traffic. So we got as far as Pont du Gard by taking a motorway about half way – cost us 12 Euros. We then decided to leave the motorway when we saw there was another toll area coming up, and immediately got lost in the next small town, somehow found our way out again and eventually found the Pont du Gard. It’s a viaduct the Romans built to transport water over a distance of 50km. It was built around 2000 years ago and they believe was in use for around 500 years, it was also the highest bridge the Romans ever built. Gus said something smart about old relics after he took this photo, but I chose not to hear! They were setting up for a pyrotechnic display when we were there; would be something to see but I suspect we weren’t invited... Bizarrely this man just happened to be passing on his way up to the top where they were doing some of the setting up as we walked over the bridge – I love how casual he looks! We then drove down to the Camargue region; this is a large wetland area in Provence, famous for the Camargue horses, birdlife and bulls. They have bullfighting here, but instead of killing the bull, they pluck a red rosette from between its horns – I like it! Gus thought the bulls a little on the small side – he would be interested to see how they’d react to a 3 year old Friesian in the ring with them! We have already seen a lot of the Camargue horses, most of the poor things tied up with saddles on in the sun waiting for tourists – we also saw a few though in the wetland area. We also saw some of the bulls in a paddock, the horns look formidable. At a distance I could see egrets and flamingos, but tomorrow we’ll go for a walk and hopefully see more, and closer. There were large areas of flooded paddocks, growing rice, on the way in too. Tonight we are in a camp/carpark on the edge of Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer. We ended up going out for dinner, was a nice treat - we haven’t been out too much because of cost, and also, of course, it’s not always convenient when we’re camped well away from a town. You can view my entree, Fruits de la Mere. On the way out for dinner we spotted these flamingos just as the sun went down. This morning we had a look around a reserve that is part of the Camargue region. It was absolutely overflowing with flamingos; egrets; many species of herons – basically heaven to a bird lover like me. We also saw a Muskrat – he was very cute, almost like a beaver. At one stage we spotted an otter, but he was too quick for a photo. We also saw turtles, so neat to see all these things in the wild. Then we decided to head east (towards Italy) via the Grand Canyon du Vernon. We thought Grand Canyon may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was absolutely stunning. There was one really beautiful part with a lake far below us and we could see lots of people enjoying the water. It has turned really hot now, so we were sorry that our road didn’t take us near the lake! I think that road may have been the one labelled unsuitable for campervans – the one we were on was hairy enough in places. The photo is taken from the driver's seat of the campervan - I made Gus stop the campervan before I would hand him the camera.

Supplementary Posting...

We’ve just had two reasonably frustrating days – first we drove to Toulouse, so that Gus could see the Airbus site, view the assembly lines of the A380, also Concorde. When we got to Toulouse, after talking to a Swedish couple sharing our ‘French Passion’ site; we discovered that you have to book in advance to get in. They had also driven to Toulouse specifically to see it and were very disappointed to be turned away at the door. The farm/vineyard had lots of nice tractors in the sheds... So to make up for that disappointment we decided, the next day, to drive up into the Pyrenees, not far south of Toulouse – somehow we stuffed up and ended up going through a tunnel that cost 12 Euros in tolls and meant we missed the highest part, that we wanted to see – clever! After that the drive improved though, and we stopped at a fortified village that had an obsession with witches. Within a high wall with towers on each corner, was this village, Villefranche. Every second shop was selling witches – most were handmade and each one different. It was something to do with a legend in the area that witches used to live in nearby caves over the winter; then come out in the spring when the weather improved for flying. They were fed by the people and brought good fortune for the rest of the year. Since there’s not much to report I thought I’d give you some of our overall impressions of France: Toilets: These vary a lot! To begin on a positive note all of the below toilets were very clean... In the cities we’ve found two sorts – the first one we saw had quite a queue outside. We discovered by watching carefully and reading as much signage as we could in our inadequate French, that the toilet automatically washes itself between each person (floors, toilet bowl & seat) – this takes a good couple of minutes, hence the queue. The door also opens and shuts with buttons but takes quite a while about it. The second sort has a sign to say that the toilet is free to use but there is a surly (usually) looking attendant there who has a tip jar in plain view. Her main job seems to be to tell the next person when a toilet is vacant. In the camping grounds they vary considerably, although they are usually unisex. Sometimes there are two sets of unisex toilets which we found a bit confusing to start with. The Millau Camping Ground had a variety – there were proper ‘French’ toilets, as in a hole in the ground with a place to put your feet on either side. Fortunately we haven’t had this type as the only option yet. Mostly the ‘English’ style toilets seem to lack a toilet seat, obviously not considered important. Also the men’s urinals are in individual cubicles but without doors, either facing outside or into the area where the hand basins are, quite disconcerting I find. In the last camp they had nice toilets and showers, I even found one with a toilet seat, luckily I’ve got careful about checking whether there is toilet paper... there wasn’t even a place for it – no roll holder or anything – obviously not supplied. This is ok as long as you think to check first! It’s also a little embarrassing for my NZ sensibilities to walk past all the other campers with my toilet roll under my arm. I know the Enterprise has facilities but if we’re staying in a camping ground we usually use theirs rather than have to empty our own too often. So there you go, now you know all you ever needed to about French toilets!! Regionalism: We’ve found it really interesting that the different regions of France are almost as individual as we would expect different countries to be. There are 22 regions which are split into a total of 96 departments. They are obviously fiercely proud of their own products. For instance when we were near the painted caves we saw several paddocks of about 1000 geese, they were just kept in by 2 wire electric fences. There were lots of signs advertising foie gras. In the Limousin region, of course were Limousin cattle. This is a lovely big reddy-yellow beef breed. In the region we’ve just left, around Millau, it was ewe milk and cheese. In other areas it’s been cherries, or walnuts, or of course certain wine or cheese varieties. There seems to be a product for every region. We also talked to a French girl who was travelling with her Australian partner, and she was telling us how this regionalism extends into all areas of their lives. Bread & Milk: (Le Pain et Le Lait) It’s taken us a bit to get used to a different way of buying, mostly because the milk lasts for a month but you have to buy bread fresh daily. The bread just doesn’t stay fresh so we’ve got used to finding a boulangerie/patisserie in any village we’re passing through to buy a baguette, looks like a French stick but is much tastier. This is also very regional and you get different types in different areas. The milk is long-life, it keeps for a month at room temperature until it is opened then must be kept in the fridge and used within 3 days just like ‘normal’ milk. Also they don’t seem to sell bread or milk at petrol stations, just other essentials like chippies, tissues etc. So we’ve got used to ‘stocking up’ on our milk at the supermarket but not the bread. In many villages there doesn’t seem to be any milk for sale at all, I guess everyone stocks up on it. Flowers: The wildflowers are amazing, poppies everywhere and lots of wild roses, many colours on the roadsides. Gus, in his usual romantic way, thinks the poppies must be a pain when it comes time to harvest the wheat crop! I wonder if that’s what gives bread its flavour. One of the first things we noticed about the houses in France is that they nearly all have wooden shutters, and most have geraniums or similar in pots on the windowsill and around the front door – very pretty.

South of France

Le Puy-en-Velay was one of the most gorgeous towns we’ve seen in the whole trip. It’s set in a valley (as the name suggests) surrounded by four extinct volcanoes; on each one is set either a statue or a church – the church takes up at least the whole top of its own volcano. There are steps leading to the top so of course we did that. Note how my hand tightly grips the rail in case I’m suddenly thrown sideways or down the steps! In the town itself the buildings have a lot of character, steep cobblestone streets, and of course there is a large, very beautiful cathedral. All ingredients to make up the most beautiful town! We’ve now driven to Millau, have seen glimpses of the famous bridge but will go and check it out properly tomorrow. On the way here we passed over several high viaducts – they obviously don’t believe in driving down into valleys if there’s no need. Gus was very impressed with all the beautiful ‘cuttings’ on the way through too, very impressive earthworks. The road was so good that we had the Enterprise in warp factor 7 all the way. Just after we arrived and set up the awning (and got a load of washing in the campground machine) we got the most impressive thunder storm; note the water pouring off the edge of the awning! We had the most amazing day today, but not because of the Millau Viaduct, although of course that was interesting and very big – they had an information centre there too so we now know lots about it – well, Gus does... For those who may be interested (skip the rest of this paragraph girls!) length is 2460m; there are 7 piers, the shortest being 77m high; the longest 245m. From the river to the deck is 270m. Each of the steel pylons stands 90m tall above the deck (where the cars go). Total height is 343m. The span between piers is 342m. They used 85,000m³ of 60MPA concrete. The steel deck weighs 36,000 tonnes; and has 10,000 tonnes of hotmix. It took three years to build from start to finish and cost 400 million Euros; the toll booth alone cost 80 million. Of course he has a brochure he’s reading from, complete fraud really... On a whim we decided to take a drive up the Gorges du Tarn, we hadn’t heard about them before but had seen some signage on the way into Millau and saw some more info at the information centre so thought they may be worth checking out. So pleased we did, it’s the most incredible gorge! The scenery alone would be well worth the drive; the road hugs the river all the way and some of it looks like both of us imagine some of the Colorado gorges do. But apart from the scenery there are also villages hugging onto the steepest parts, sometimes built into the rocks themselves. There are also the remains of many chateaux that were built on top of the most precipice rocks – god knows how, mostly built in the 12th century apparently. Some of the villages can only be reached by crossing the river from the road; there are flying foxes and boats to get to them. One village we stopped at, Sainte-Enimie, was mostly built in mediaeval times – it has several squares amongst the buildings, they each had a different purpose. One was for men only and was for trading. Another was the main place to buy sheep’s butter in the region. The streets were steep and original, not true cobblestone but just river stones set into mortar. The road itself was carved into the rock, with tunnels, natural overhangs, sheer drops straight into the river; we even drove under a house that hung over the road at one point. Quite exciting for The Enterprise and the rest of us, Puke had her eyes shut a couple of times. (By the way that’s Puke as in Puketapu NOT as in puke (feeling sick) as has been suggested) Luckily with a right hand drive vehicle and driving on the right hand of the road, Gus was closest to the edge!