878-883: Its 34C in Marakesh!

Posted on November 4, 2017 by Clunegapyears

878 -Friday 27th October 2017: Wet and Windy (and that’s just the weather!)

Quite wet wether but Northern Germany and Poland have been hit hard…. we vanpottered and waited for the skies to clear – walked into Oberndorf village, posted some cards and wended out way home… a very quiet sort of day. The highlight was watching the Police arrive with a trailer full of bikes and then teaching youngsters how to navigate the roads safely. Part of the car park had lanes and junctions painted and the kids carefully followed instructions, sitting erect and careful on their bikes … arms out fully stretched and horizontal with the tarmac to indicate a turn. Our motorhome neighbour told us that the kids get a badge they can fix to their bikes. We spotted other car parks with similar road markings. I don’t think UK Police Forces fund this any more … or do they?

879 -Saturday 28th October: Cycling to Sulz am Neckar

Dry skies but cold….cycling through a forest along the Neckar – each wearing tights under trousers! On to Sulz am Neckar – and a complete impromptu lunch – the local Fire Service seemed to be all there lunching – good honest food – and a little vino…..

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Maultaschen: sausage filled pasta pockets with 3 different toppings … hearty fare in Germany.

Even our home towns of Bristol and Aldreshot are warmer!

880 -Sunday 29th October: A Good German Tradition – Kaffee und Kuchen

What’s with this cold and damp weather? Is it Europe in October? A friend had posted that it’s 34c in Marakesh! Very helpful, indeed… We decided to move to another Stelplatz with electric @ 1 Euro for 8 hours – heating on. Haigerloch on top of the hill – posh castle/hotel. We visited the “Atom Celler” where German scientists tried to split the atom during WW2 – for various reasons – the Allies bombed the place once they worked out where it was. The scientist were interred after the war in a Cambridgeshire country house with CCTV in every room … Big Brother-esque, but less extreme, I should think! “Kaffee und Kuchen” – coffee and cakes, getting into German culture. The cakes had an unusual effect on our tummies – no more details required!

Atom Keller – apparently no risk of radiation!

The view down to the town after the walk back up!

881 -Monday 30th October: We’re Off

A tentative fart – very sorry, readers – a tentative start (the other one was probably right too post cakes!) – awaiting news from Kerstin about the post – our green cards – no, we have not joined the Green Party. Green cards for insurance for taking Jez into the Balkans. Phone call from Kerstin – and joy – we’re on the way back to Kerstinland. Gorgeous neighbours helped with the postal vigilance – checking K’s post box and placing the envelope in the garage so we could pick it up, as K is away. Much ‘dankes’ and away southwards….travelled all day and got just south of Munich – overnight car park in Neuberen – Halloween party locally until 6:00 am – oh the exuberance of youth! K walked O to the town – archway – lots of painted old buildings, hotels and restaurants.

Neubueren – another come back to place.

882 -Tuesday 31th October: Not that RAMP again!

Grahame Leslie’s 81st birthday – we donated whiskey from Scotland… part of the fun was doing the sampling ourselves.

As we motored through Austria and climbed through spectacular scenery – there was snow on the roadsides. We chose motorways after hours in the hills – splashed out for vignette – our progress speeded up. Then, like flash – we’re back in Italia – bella Italia – la Dolce Vita. Can you tell how pleased we are? Possibly our favourite country – the people, food and wine… and, of course the chaotic driving! We recited our limited Italian at each other … a fav being “Strade piccolo, Camper grande … Possible?’ and K’s perfect sentence asking fro stamps for postcards to England! Given we spent 6 months in Italy our linguistic skills leave a lot to be proud of.

Now then – 2 years ago in Chardonnay, our SatNav took us around Trieste to avoid the centre and motorways. But at one point, we came to a No Entry tunnel – and the only escape was to gun the van up a steep and narrow cobbled ramp with hearts in our mouths and the wheels scrabbling to gain a purchase! We joked today as we skirted Trieste about that little fandango….. Minutes later, we rounded a corner and came to the same feckin’ No Entry tunnel!!! The cobbled ramp is still there and we are a tonne heavier with less traction. It’s called “Rampitupme Crustifer”!!! A bit like the Egyptian Queen – “Ramitupme”. We reversed subito and retraced our steps. We ended up paying for a Slovene motorway toll for EUR16 for all of 5 km of motorway to avoid the ramp! It’s sitting next to the Austrian one …. and we prefer to travel toll free! The joys of motorhoming…

Free aire with services in Gemona, some halloween noise from groups of kids – but a peaceful night – dreaming of cobbles.

Picture perfect Austria.

No stopping for us … we have snow chains but practising fitting them is still at the top of the To Do list!

Sunset from our Italian Sosta.

883 -Wednesday 1st November: Another New Country

Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia in 3 days for Oscar. Croatia new for K – I had stood on Croatian soil for 5 seconds 2 years ago when we thought we had wandered into Hungary… Lovely big Lidl lots of foodie things, aubergine, mozzarella, etc. Another m’way vignette (still visions of the Trieste cobbled ramp) – 5km again… Passports to show at border – holding up other cars as we retrieved them from our ‘gasafe’ secret store – now you all know – we’ll have to shoot you! Or – you could sign “The Oscarficial Secretz Axe” – section 4 of course – for his birthday… Approaching Porec, our chosen campsite was closed (in spite of their website saying otherwise). But all the campsites seemed shut – out of silly season…. Nice large free parking though with a few other vans, including one GB on our second day there. We meandered into the old town and had our first Croatian wine….

“T’is the season to be jolly…..tra la la la la…” Hang about, James – Christmas crumble is light years away – or is it? Are the 2018 Easter eggs on sale in Asda yet? 52 shopping days…..yikes!!!

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A nano stop just so Oscar could tread paws on Slovene soil.

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Would that be the first HAPPY Croatian ice cream …

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… And the first Croatian glass of vino?

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Porec

There are few vitamins in ice cream, thats why you have to eat so much of it!

So true!

342 – 343: Cinque Terre: 5 Towns and More than 500 Steps

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Clunegapyears

342 – Sunday 27th March 2016: £evantoomuch at Levanto

We motorwayed from the Siena parking – picking up some breakfast along the way and refreshing our services en route…. some 3 hours later, we arrived at the campsite that K had picked out. The road in/up to the site looked very narrow – I did a recce and spoke to the site team – some doubt expressed about an 8 metre van negotiating their twisting lane…. then with myself and a chap from the site guiding K as driver, we made it up the hill – to the most expensive campsite on planet Earth (or in Italy) – Euro 36 per night! Reluctantly, we parked – the area is a tourist trap – and it’s Easter….. About 50/50 Italians and Germans … they can afford these site fees!

Under a greying sky, a tour of the town was de rigeur and off we went – the campsite didn’t charge us for walking on their road! Nice enough seafront promenade – possible running route for the morrow. Then, a little moment – a procession and marching band in medieval costumes – lovely. K captured this angelic chappie swirling his flag – he looks a bit serious – does he know those are the colours of my local football team in Dublin? We’ll recognise him in 20 years time – when he will be centre forward for Italy (James – you’re showing your age – what’s a centre forward ?)

The rain came – and we retreated to our £ucsious campsite – with fairly decent £oos… this could go on and on… £ots of vans parked c£everly very c£ose together – enough !

343 – Monday 28th March 2016: Cinque Cento Terre – More than 500 Steps!

There is a saying in Italy – “persona qui pedant 500 pedes – descende on arse!” It’s a recent saying – from today, actually…more later on that. We Trenitaia’d from £evanto to Consiglia to start the Cinque Terre walk – 3-4 hours estimated by the Tourist Office – quite accurate in our case. The photos give a good idea of the climbing – the paths were ok-ish in places – however, it must be said that in UK these paths would have been condemned on health and safety grounds. Which is better? Open a path that is narrow and steep with sheer edges – and trust people to be sensible – or close anything that hints of danger? We know the answer – perhaps Italy is not yet wildly litigious on h&s issues…? There was one sign we spotted at the end of the walk “Walking in the park is not recommended during bad weather”. Oops – it had rained all night and half the morning! And was very slippery … justification for what happened anon?!

Including a climb of 600 feet (sounds more impressive than 200 metres), we reached Vernazza – jam packed with tourists (it is a public holiday, after all) – and found a spot on the harbour wall to eat lunch – K’s pasta dish and fruit – plenty. Second leg of trip – more ascending and ascending… spectacular views – some (not just me) quite mature folk walking the route. We had to remark on the wide range of unsuitable footwear on display – everything from flimsy plimsolls (another old word, James) to shoes with heels and suede boots! Narrower paths – folk being polite in showing passing decorum (isn’t decorum a lovely word? Decorous decorum decorated decadent descending dallies!) The path was often so narrow that one waited to allow people to pass. K asked J what the most common word spoken was .. “Feck” was the answer … No, said K … “Grazie” in a plethora of Italian and very non Italian accents.

On one section, it was necessary (I swear it) to become quite intimate with passing members of the opposite gender – purely in the interests of – yes, decorum! A bit like pressing flowers – or, as the Roman might have said – “intimosa floribundance”! Then came the ‘floribumdance’! I was blocked by a group of young folk who were not displaying decorum – so I sidestepped and walked on a more slippy side of the path – the ground came up to meet my nether regions – two body bounces and a couple of scratches as a result of the descendarse method… K called for the air ambulance – I was winched up and shot off to the local arsepedale…actually, we nonchalarsely kept on walking – stiff upper lip – and bottom!

Down some very steep steps, and Monterosso reached out to us – with red wine and ice cream!

An excellent walk – stirring views – another superb day – sadly, amongst the last of our present stay in Italy…

The initial steps up from the train station at Corniglia, along with the masses.

We came from here…

Nets in situ to ready for the olive harvest.

Euphorbia and Irises – lots of Spring blossoms and flowers.

Picnic spot at Vernazza in sight.

Nearly all American tourists … a lot of gelato being consumed (not connected!).

Looking back at Vernazzo as we embark on stage 2 of the walk.

No question as to why the Cinque Terre is such a draw for so many tourists.

A cat sanctuary en route … with a notice asking people to feed the cats with the food provided in a bin.

And we came from here too … but you can see how steep the cliffs are.

Monterosso and the train station in sight. As well as olives, the cliffs also nurture vines … the farmers use mono rails to get up and down the slopes.

340-341: Seriously Stunning Siena

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Clunegapyears

340 – Friday 25th March 2016: Siena 1

Our arrival at this free overnight parking could not have been more timely – at about 1:00 pm ! Within a half hour, it almost filled with other motorhomes – we were very lucky to get a spot to suit our longer bus – obviously, the same parking Apps are being used by everyone. Our local public transport bus driver let us on free – as the nearby Tabacheria was closed – and at a subsequent stop, showed us where to get tickets! And waited whilst K went in to make the transaction. Would this happen in UK? Swiftly into the Centro Storico – we assumed our roles – me behind the lens – and K as the Gour Tide – whoops, Tour Guide! The Piazza del Campo is stunning – but I don’t fancy taking part in the Piazza Grand National (even without fences) – perhaps Mr Tim Leslie might be interested! The Duomo is impressive – but we must say that Orvieto is the biz when it comes to the Duompetition! The library and Baptistry contain magnificent works of art – lots by the Sienese School….. Late afternoon… we had earlier found a lovely small cafe where to coffee was very cheap and good – we now discovered that a glass of vino rosso was all of Euro 2! So, we expended Euro 8 of our daily fiscal allocation. Thus emboldened, we confidently set off on the number 10 bus to home. This number 10 bus didn’t go anywhere near home – K was tracking it on our MapsMe App. As the photo shows – we were ‘lossppy’ – lost and happy. When we arrived at the end of the line – I approached the driver and said in my most fluent English “We’re lost !”. I might have said “Nostra divertimento !” – but it probably doesn’t mean anything even if it sounds good. Fortunately, our driver replied in very good English that we should stay on the bus – back into Siena, driver change and then home by a different route on the same bus. By now, I had managed to identify our home by combining “parcheggio camper, Esso and McDonalds” – this produced the resulting location – “FondofBecky” – best way we could remember it. Chardonnay welcomed us sometime later… and we welcomed the grapes of wrath, or what ever we were drinking.

It may be easter weekend, but the Italian campers are out in force … the car park really filled up.

Described as one of the prettiest Italian piazzas – Piazza del Campo. The red brick paving was started in 1327 and is in 9 sections to represent the Council of Nine who ran Siena and the triangular shapes to represent the folds of Madonna’s cape. The bell tower is the second highest Medieval Bell tower in Italy at 102 m. It is the location for the famous bareback horse race twice a years – Il Palio, which lasts all of 90 seconds. People lounging in the sun eating gelato … so we did too.

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Our first view of the Duomo … similar to Orvieto in that it is alternate layers of coloured stone, however …

… whilst impressive, the facade is not a patch on Orvieto.

Part of the Duomo – the Piccolomini Library – frescoes from 1509.

The Baptistry: Renaissance font by Quercia, Ghiberti and Donatello … we are getting more familiar with Italian artists and sculptors … for the moment … having sieves for brains they will soon sadly be forgotten.

Our return bus ride … after 2 large glasses of rosso, we really didn’t care where we travelled!

341 – Saturday 26th March 2016: Siena 2

Evening repose was ‘tranquile’ through the night – until….at 5:25 am (K checked her chronometer) – there was a loud banging on the door! K (in dressing gown) rushed to the door – to shower Easter well wishes on the entire family of the person who had rudely intruded on our somnolence – to be greeted by a chap from the local street cleaning vehicle – accompanied by a Polizia officer! All 17 motorhomes were instructed to leave the parking area – while the cleaning was conducted. We (and others) parked patiently on the road outside to await the signal for return and resumption of – sleep! Bizarre or what? Tea first then zzzzs. Somewhat later, I ran – we brekkied (someone stole my favourite breakfast cereal…[someone else had said there was spare!]) and once again bussed into Siena – by the way, a single ticket costs Euro 1.20! Our dour kite (I’m in trouble now !) – tour guide (I’m not really a cereal killer!) had an App for a walking tour – which took us to a number of churches, Duomo museum, Duomo Baptistry, public buildings – and St Catherine’s thumb! I’d better explain that, quickly. St Catherine of Sienna (patron saint of the city) – dedicated herself to God at age 8 – received the ’stigmata’ – some miracles were attributed to her – her head is preserved in the Basilica di San Domenico – and her thumb! This last was a bit gruesome for us….. K watched some German youths check their own digits as they left the viewing.

End of tour (we were cereaously thirsty) and back back to ‘our bar’ – of the cheap coffee and wine. A bit later, the number 77 bus took us unerringly to our site – which now contains even more vans – 22 at last count.

Siena is a most beautiful city, easy to navigate on foot – and we will return…

Chiesa di San Maria dei Servi – just nice to put up a pic of an unfinished church facade! The first Rose window obviously needed replacing!

Looking at the P. di Campo bell tower and the Palazzo Pubblico 1297 from the rear.

The Museo dell ‘Opera del Duomo houses the original artworks from the Duomo as well as pieces commissioned for the huge, but only partly built, nave expansion … the plague of 1348 killed over half the population and the expansion was shelved. You can climb to the top of part of the incomplete extension (two pics up – the tall arch by the Duomo), but sadly we were saved from the climb as there was an hour’s queue! Such a shame!!!

We really loved the mellow red brick and the fact that Siena is large enough to wander for a day and a half without covering the same ground.

337-339: Blowing through Lazio, Tuscany and Umbria

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Clunegapyears

337 -Tuesday 22nd March 2016: Blowing at Bolsena

From our superb free pitch at Vitorchiano, it was not far to Lake Bolsena – the larger of the two lakes in this area. We had ‘Bradged’ our deadly Navduo to a set of coordinates for a motorhome parking site with services. The journey was fine – and the coordinates did lead us to the correct location – which was – a small muddy area just off the Lunghomare! There was a regular car park on the other side of the street with a motorhome parked – fortunately the Italian couple were just returning from a bike ride – and assured us that overnighting there was ok – they had stayed the previous night. Additionally, the chap (in fluent english) gave us loads of advice on areas to visit and other free parkings – yet more Italian friendliness and help! We lunched – and ambled in the town…. pleasant with views across the lake. Little to do other than have coffee with the locals …

Settling down for the evening, we noted that it was blowing quite a lot… But, we’re hardy folk – we’ve been blown about in Nordkapp and Castel del Golfo and other places. We rocked and rolled through the night – borderline for moving the van – but we stoically stayed put. Although we did change direction at 5.30 as the rattling the roof lights was keeping K awake. Now the reader will know that morning is running time (after tea in bed – and philosophising on the day ahead). I poked my head out of the van – hanging on to the door in the gale! Cold, gale force winds and rain… Guess what we did? We wimped – and had some more tea! In bed!! In the warm!

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Beautifully sunny. Beautiful view (and that’s not just J!). Beautiful free pitch. Didn’t want to leave. So we had another wander into town before leaving.

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The cliff top town has a town wall on the only entry side … with inhabitants. A few supplies including some lake Perch from a mobile fish van and a coffee. Total spend only EUR15 but at least we gave the town back something for such an amazing camper stop.

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Capodimonte on Lake Bolsena.

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338 – Wednesday 23rd March 2016: Orvieto Sampled

We had planned to cycle around part of the lake, but easily came to the conclusion that we could never pedal compete with the wind. People have told us how pretty the lake and the towns are … yes, but you need some sun! Fair winds ‘blew’ us towards Orvieto – hill town with (Guide Book recommendation) possibly the most beautiful cathedral in Italy. And into Umbria, via a corner of Tuscany. Another identified free motorhome overnight parking with services – not free though. We arrived to see? An awesome motorhome park – with services – and WC, showers, shop – and open air cinema with padded armchairs and drinks service!!! Ok, I made up the last bit… but a superb site – and quite ok for Euro 18 per night. When we had parked our Chard – there were 3 vans on site. Later in the evening, 27 vans had cosied up together – and the site was still not full. Any road up (Yorkshire-speak ?), our footsteps took us to the Funicolare – the town had located the rail station and Funi – right at the van parking area – how good is that ? Or was it the other way around ? We Funic’ed up the hill and perambulated (that word again) to the Duomo (more later) – and the narrow Vicolo’s (K has ascertained that a ‘Vicolo’ is a narrow street – we have ‘Vicolo’d our way around Italy). Somehow, our pramrelations (Italian wine is good!) took us to – a bar. Really good local red – and snacks… After wine, K headed underground – this was not a wine effect but a desire to see some subterranean pigeon homes! I retired downhill – to the van, late sosta – and chores….

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War memorial overlooking the Umbrian rolling hills.

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Vicolo. The stone blocks are tufa, along with the pozzuoli stone (makes cement) were dug out from underneath, giving each house a Medieval cellar. In the 1970’s part of the hilltop subsided and residents are not allowed to make alterations to their cellars and additional columns have been added in some places and concrete is used to infill cracks. House insurance?!

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Other cellars were used as pigeon coops. Pigeons replaced chicken in the Medieval diet – They came home each night. They fed themselves. Bred every 28 days. And the poo made good fertiliser! An all round win, except for the smell! Apparently some restaurants still serve pigeon.

339 – Thursday 24th March 2016: Orvieto Imbibed Some More

Morning – tea – and run (not timeulsaneously though) – a good romp for about 4-5 km. Brekkied, etc and again to the Funi – better weather for walking but still quite a chill in the air. Duomo closed until 2:30 (this was at !:00 pm) – dilemma ! What to do? How about lunch? – we said simulsomethingorotherishly (how about that for word mangling?). We agreed with each other (funny that) and – the photos show the result. The (post-lunch) Duomo is quite amazing – very much one of the most impressive we have seen in Italy – the reliefs, frescoes and paintings are stunning. Well worth a visit. Back downhill to our van, we see there are now 30+ vans in situ for the evening – and the site has a few spaces left…..

Morning run: The view back to hilltop Orvieto and J striding ahead.

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St Patrick’s Well was dug for a Pope in 1527 who feared a siege. It has a double helix (twin) staircase … 248 steps down and 248 steps up. We elected not to do it just to be able to say we’d down it! Named after Ireland’s patron saint … something to do with how deep down towards purgatory they had to dig.

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I think this is the interior of Sant ‘Andrea; it had some C15 frescos, but I liked the pulpit and the columns.

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A shop window …

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… and inside another! Titter!

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We weren’t planning a proper lunch, but best laid plans, and all that.

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The side of the Duomo. A massive building nearby was built to house the workers and a clock tower to help them keep time. The Duomo was started in 1290 and took 300 years in total to build. We paid to listen to the audio information, which was like an architectural lecture and ended with ‘This is the end of the description”. Really felt we could have done with more information as we went around the interior, but guided walks do not start till the weekend.

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The pics just do not do the exterior justice.

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There were 4 panels with scenes from the Old and New Testament from 1320.

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Unusual to see so much marble used as an opaque window.

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The Reliquary of the Corporal … the Miracle of Bolsena where “real blood fell from a consecrated host onto an alter cloth”. The alter cloth is stored here and only comes out on special occasions … a notice told us to apply to the Bishop to find out when it would next be aired.

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The Capella Nuova on the other side had the most amazing frescos from 1499 depicting the Last Judgement. They had been seriously restored and just glowed.

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This Dumo is just huge … possibly one of the tallest we’ve seen.

334 – 336: Sleeping With and In Memory of the Dead

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Clunegapyears

334 – Saturday 19th March 2016: Sleeping with the Dead

Having largely got ourselves ready to move yesterday we both put in good runs around the slightly hilly campsite and then breakfasted outside. Being able to sit out and enjoy the sun and the blue skies is truly one of the pleasures of a campsite, but, of course, it does come at a price.

A Few Rome Reflections

We would possibly have stayed in Rome longer, but the campsite put its price up from the ACSI rate of EUR19 to 28 to take advantage of the Easter holidays. We’d stayed one night at the higher rate and witnessed the general clearing out of most motorhomes. We both liked Rome a lot more than we expected. This was my 4th visit, J’s second. We had a 3 day honeymoon here 5 years ago but it had been too hot to do much sightseeing. It was a honeymoon afterall! I was last here for Maddy’s 16th Birthday two years ago … on being asked what she wanted for her birthday, she did not hold back and asked for a trip to Rome. I had refused based on price and J and my parents had not held back either and told me to book it as it may be the last time she wanted to come away with me!

This trip we explored further afield than the main tourist trail … which can leave you feeling a bit Roman and Museum’d out. We really felt that seeing the Mussolini EUR project and Garbatella helped us see Rome as a living city. Our campsite was a 5 min walk to the Due Ponte station on Rome’s Northern Line – an Urbana train totally covered in graffiti and with green plastic seats BUT it ran every 10 mins. Only EUR1.5 for 100 minutes once the ticket was stamped, so effectively the ticket covered the whole city. Eat your heart out London Underground! The bike tour was just fantastic at getting us through small streets and seeing some of the lesser known sites.

Our destination for today was about 50km north – up to Cerveteri to the Etruscan Necropolis. The town had been a major commercial centre, trading with Greece, Egypt etc since 9BC. However, as Rome grew, Cerveteri declined and by 358 (precisely!) it was annexed by Rome. A few KM from the town, the Etruscans built a massive necropolis for the wealthy to be buried in. The poor were just cremated. The necropolis is essentially laid out like a town with streets and the tombs resemble house that the families lived in. There are over 400 tombs carved out of the tufa rock with stone blocks and mounds of earth. The tombs are now empty, many have been raided over the centuries, but remaining artefacts are … in the Vatican and the British Museum! Whilst in Italy we have visited many ancient sites, mostly Greek and Roman, but we think this may have been the oldest as the town went back to 9BC.

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The Tumulus tombs.

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They went sqaure when they needed more space for the middle classes … J is directing traffic at a street intersection.

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Tomba dei Rilevi is the only tomb here to have the internal decoration survive … The plaster reliefs are of food, utensils and tools, games and mythical figures. As with other civilisations, the dead were buried with everything they may need for the afterlife.

We did check and we are OK to park in the car park over night, surrounded by the tumuli … sweet dreams!

335 – Sunday 20th March 2016: The Sunday Lunch Habit

A really peaceful night and the only other occupant was another British motorhome. They kept themselves to themselves and since they had a small daughter, so did we! In the morning we both ran around the site, passing tombs and no traffic :). Over breakfast we watched the people come, by car, motorhome and coach – to visit the tombs, walk dogs and watch a small boy bomb about in his new mini quad bike.

Our destination today was Lake Bracciano, one of the volcanic lakes where the Romans escape to, when not flocking in droves to the coast. We parked up along the lake just past Anguillara: Medieval and apparently the prettiest on the lake. We had coffee in Chard whilst we weighed up our options. The town is not big. There is not much to do or see. One of the guide books said there is a plethora of good trattorias … decision made…. Lunch.

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Eel / lake themed fountain … won’t be picking that on the menu … too greasy.

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Typical narrow street.

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On a door … for the non-Irish speakers it means “A hundred thousand welcomes”

P1100204 Our selected Trattoria was listed high in TripAdvisor and obviously popular … no room inside, so the waiter put a table together (literally stuck the legs on) on the balcony apologising that the season had not yet started. They obviously had not expected the other 5 tables that joined us. It was a memorable meal… this starter had 8 types of cheese and 8 salamis, served with a red pepper relish, honey and a strawberry & balsamic jam. Our main were J: ricotta ravioli with tomato and lemon and K: lake Perch with a sweet and sour orange sauce. All yummy and washed down with a litre of red. We retired to Chard after for a huge nanny nap … or did we just pass out?

336 – Monday 21th March 2016: Bizarre in Bomarzo

The morning run was down to the lake, which meant a steep up on the return, but really lovely to be along the lake shore in the sun.

Going out …

… and the return view.

We lunched on soup in the carpark at Bomarzo’s Parco dei Mostri, although the founder called it Sacro Bosco (sacred wood). At EUR10 pp it was a bit pricey, but different. The garden was created by Duke Vicino Orsini 1522-1580 in memory of his wife, one of the Farnese’s. Grotesque giants, faces, dragons etc were carved out of the existing stone, designed by the bod who finished off St Peter’s Basilica after Michelangelo died. Once the Duke died, the garden had been largely forgotten and was discovered by Dali and other painters in the 1930’s but not restored until 1953.

The pics say it all …

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J trustingly putting his head into it’s mouth…. ‘cos I asked him to!

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In keeping with the ‘Mannerist’ style, buildings were lop sided.

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We have driven a short distance to Vitorchiano – not because it is in the guide books, but because my Parking App said it had a motorhome parking with services and free electric. And so it does 🙂 And a superb view of the town. 🙂 But is also has very noisy workmen on the road behind us and I reckon we can expect them back tomorrow … it may be a very early run for us!

Our View … and for free!

Clune Gap Years

A journal and reflections of our motorhome travels

Category Archives: Italy