Assisi

Josh looking out over Assisi

Yesterday we headed out for the day (well actually half a day, as we didn't leave the villa until 11am). Our destination was Assisi - the birth place and home of St Francis of Assisi. I was expecting another small mountain village with a cathedral commemorating St Francis and lots of tourists. The first view we got of Assisi was a rather imposing town perched on the hillside with a large basilica at one end and a fort at the top. We wound our way up the hillside to a parking building and then walked through the narrow steep streets to the central piazza where we had a lunch break.

There were lots of tourists about but not overwhelming masses and, although it was still hot, it was much cooler than other days that we have been out and about - only in the low 30's. It was great walking around the town looking at the old buildings and narrow streets, but these hill towns are starting to look a bit the same!

We went into Basilica St Francesco (well Lionel & I did - Rebecca had her singlet top on and so couldn't go in, and Josh didn't want to) for a look around and went down St Francis' tomb. Lionel also discovered the relic room which housed all sorts of bits including a tunic, an ivory horn and some of his writings.

Assisi also looked remarkably fresh and well looked after, much cleaner than any other town we have visited in Italy. There is a lot of restoration work going on in the town and they obviously take a lot of pride in their town.

On our way home from Assisi we stopped at Perugia - a lovely place which we may have appreciated more if we had been there earlier in the day, or earlier in the holiday. We did visit the Etruscan (pre-Roman) Arch which was the main entrance to the town, and looked down on the Roman aqueduct which supplied the town with water. The view of the aqueduct was a little underwhelming but it did serve to remind us of the great engineers that the Romans were - amazing that they could build aqueducts that carried so much water great distances, over 2000 years ago.

One of the reasons for stoping in Perugia was to visit the supermarket - we are now well used to the workings of Italian supermarkets and quickly purchased our fruit (remembering to weigh it), got a number to purchase our meat (and with lots of pointing and limited Italian got what we needed), bought some cheese and another bottle of red wine. We also remembered to take our own bags (you pay for plastic bags here) and had the chilly bin in the car to pack our fridge items.

We were home about 7.30 and so Jane & I got onto tea preparation - we made some salads and cooked kebabs and sausages on the charcoal bar-b-cue. We finally ate at 'Italian time' of about 9pm...but it was worth waiting for!

Lake Trasimeno

On Tuesday we headed out for a day at the lake, and hopefully some windsurfing. The lake looked lovely as we drove around it to get to our villa and from the top of the hill looking down it looked very inviting. However, looks can be deceiving....
As we walked down to the waterfront we noticed that the lake was very low - we found out later that Lake Trasimeno has no inlet or outlet and is only filled with rainfall, we are at the end of a long hot summer and so the lake level was extremely low. The water was green and there was lots of algae and lake weed in the lake - we now know that the deepest the lake gets is 6m and so with the shallow depth and the high temperatures it is no wonder there is so much weed.
There was no wind and therefore no windsurfing or kite surfing....not that we were keen to get in the water anyway - we didn't even swim.
After a very disappointing trip to the lake we drove back up to the villa where we spent an hour in the pool before getting ready to go out wine tasting at a local restaurant/winery.
It was so disappointing I didn't even take any photos...

Siena and our new villa

Saturday was moving day for us and so we packed up at Villa Rosa in San Cassiano and headed south. On the drive down we stopped for lunch in Siena, it was really hot and we didn't stay for long but what we saw of Siena was great. We had lunch in Il Campo (the central square) where they hold a horse race every year - for those of you who have seen James Bond's 'Quantum of Solace' will remember the opening scenes where Bond is running through the square as a horse race is taking place, well that's Il Campo! We sat in an outdoor restaurant overlooking the square trying to imagine the chaos, excitement and noise of the Palio, when the 10 horses race three laps of Il Campo in a race which lasts just 90 seconds.

Rebecca's yummy lunch
We had a yummy lunch - Rebecca enjoyed bruschetta with tomato and mozzarella, Josh had an omelette and cheese in a foccaccia bread sandwich, Lionel had a salami sandwich and I had a ham sandwich. We had the nicest bread today that we have had since we got to Italy - on the whole it has been very dry bread and certainly not the tasty bread we had been used to in France.
Our new villa 'Sommavilla' is on the Tuscan/Umbria border not far from Lake Trasimeno. It is lovely and the seven of us (we are still with Jane & Hannah and Malcolm) are enjoying the space, the only downside of this villa is the flies...they are everywhere and are very annoying! The day we arrived we weren't too sure where we were going as we wound 2km up on steep, narrow gravel road, but once we got here we love it. We are on a working organic farm of 70hectares where the farmer runs 90 sheep. The sheep are kept inside over night and are let out in the morning to various areas of the farm - some of the sheep have bells around their necks so that the farmer knows where they are! It is covered with a lot of trees and out the front of our villa there are lots of olive and fig trees. One of the important aspects of the villa for the kids is the pool - it is 14m x 7m and has glorious views over the surrounding countryside.

A night at the opera

My birthday treat was a night in Verona with Malcolm, Jane & Hannah to go to the opera "Carmen". I hear some of you thinking "A night at the opera doesn't sound like much of a treat..." and to be honest it more the experience than the opera that I was going for. It was part of the Verona Summer Festival and the opera is held in the open air, Roman amphitheatre and it was amazing sitting in the theatre which was built in 49BC and had been the scene of many a nights entertainment.
We were sitting in the 'cheap seats' which consisted of stone steps which were un-numbered and so we had to get there early to get a good spot. We took along cushions to seat on which was very neccessary as sitting on stone steps for over 4 hours would not have been comfortable! Yes, 4 hours - the performance started at 9pm and finished at 1am.
I have to say I really enjoyed the performance which was the story of love, jealousy and death...It was performed without the use of microphones and speakers and considering we were seated about 150m away from the stage we could still hear reasonably well - those Romans sure knew how to build amphitheatres. The stage area was huge and at times there were horses, mules and about 250 people all on stage together.
During the breaks between acts there was also plenty of entertainment in the crowd with the vendors selling drinks (calling out 'Coca, Fanta, Biera, Vino'), programmes, CDs and cushions to rent. We also had our own food and drink supplies which we nibbled on as the evening passed by.
Our night at the opera was very enjoyable and if you are in Verona during August it is something not to be missed!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Saturday 22 August

45 years old....Wow!
What a great place to be celebrating my birthday...Tuscany, Italy.

We headed into Pistoia to visit the local markets this morning - the whole piazza was filled with stalls and the stalls also spread out into the side streets. Josh was delighted to find camo cargo shorts and a belt which he has been wanting (now he can put his Swiss army knife onto his belt). Rebecca was gutted because all her money disappeared in Florence when she bought her Converse high-tops, however she ended up with new underware and pyjamas.

For dinner tonight we went up to the local bar/restaurant in San Cassiano where we tortelli and pizza. The kids surprised me with birthday cake and gelato when we got back to the villa.

A great day with family and friends!

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Josh pushes the tower over

Thursday 20 August

Today we joined the crowds in Pisa to see, climb, and of course take our photo holding up the leaning tower. It was really hot - 42degrees at 11am and so when we could we found little bits of shade to hide in, and at the end of the day when the sprinklers came on, the kids didn't mind getting just a little bit wet!

Building work for the tower stated in 1173AD but it stopped at the third stage as the building was already starting to collapse! A century later three more stages were added deliberately constructed to tilt in the opposite direction - and so the tower has not only a lean, but a kink! In 1989 the tower was closed as it was dangerously close to collapsing, and for the next 12 years engineers worked to stabilise it. In 2001 the tower reopened to the public but reconstruction work still continues.

It was amazing walking up the spiral stairs to the top of the tower because you really did feel the lean - going one way you definately leaned in towards the wall and the other side away from it. It was incredible looking at the stone steps as we walked up because they were so worn away by the many people who had climbed up and down the tower over the centuries.

Rebecca holds the tower up

Villa Rosa, San Cassiano

Dinner on the balcony

'Villa Rosa'

We are halfway through our 2 week stay in the wonderful little mountain village of San Cassiano in Tuscany - about an hour from Lucca.
We wondered where we were going to the first day that we came here as it seemed such a long drive up the narrow, winding mountain road but we are now enjoying this lovely little village. We are getting used to the road now as we go out on our various excursions, but I have to say that I didn't enjoy coming home in the dark the other night - the corners just kept coming and it was hard to know which way they were going to turn and how sharply - but we got home safely!
We are enjoying being out of the tents and into a house and beds again and the villa is very comfortable - we have a balcony which we sit out on and gaze out over the mountains and along the valley. I love seeing the little villages clinging to the sides of the mountains and they all have their local churches so we hear the church bells ringing all around the valley. Our local 12th century church has a bell which chimes hourly and then one ring on the half hour, so it is quite nice when you don't have a clock handy you can just wait for the church bells to ring to know the time! We have been wandering up to the local shop for bread in the mornings and to the local bar/restaurant for pizza some nights. Our local shop (as with most shops in Italy) is closed from 1-4pm and all day Sunday. It took a while for us to get used to this, but when we are home on 'rest' days it is quite nice to know that everyone else is indoors having a siesta. On the days when we are out and about we notice that it is generally only the crazy tourists who are walking around in the midday sun!
We are also enjoying the pool which we have at the villa and it is great to be able to have a cool down in the late afternoon.
It is great to be here with our Invercargill swimming friends - Jane & Hannah and Malcolm - Rebecca is really enjoying this time with Hannah and she is not looking forward to the time when we will go our separate ways, but what great holiday memories they will have!
We move from here on Saturday 29th and go to another villa down near Cortona (the southern part of Tuscany).