187-189: In Search of Saints

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Clunegapyears

187 – Saturday 24th October 2015: Saint Francis of Assisi

by Katherine

The Aree di Sosta for EUR5 had full services, so we stuck the hot water for a shower later on, and went to look at the dog show we had spotted on our morning run. Working dogs, but not hunting dogs. They had to sniff out truffles for their owners. We watched the Junior section and fell in love with the Springer … K has had 3 of these … and this one was particularly cute: only 4 months but he not only sniffed out, but dug up and presented the smelly canisters to his owner! Best in Show!

From the dog show looking back at Gubbio

What’s not to love? James, couldn’t we… ?

Fully serviced, us included (showered that is!), we drove the short way to Assisi. We had a Parking in the Tourist Bus parking at the town at the bottom of the hill on which Assisi is perched … EUR18!!! But it did have proper toilets and water etc. A short walk and a bus up to Assisi. It is similar to Gubbio in that there are lots of narrow streets, steps etc …. but being a Pilgrimage site, LOTS of shops selling religious kitsch and crowded. It is impressive and obviously means a lot to a lot of people.

Basilica of St Francis is comprised of an Upper and Lower Church and the crypt with St Francis’ tomb. Some amazing frescos and relicts from Saints Francis and Clare.

Cathedral: contains the font both St Francis and St Clare were baptised in

The Font

We heard drumming and horns and managed to catch a glimpse of a procession. We caught up with them again outside St Clare Church. As well as swirling and catching their flags they jumped over each other and then lay down to increase the distance the next combatant had to leap … then the drummed, blew their horns and marched off. Lovely.

We’ve seen a number of these and they are very iconic.

188 – Sunday 25th October 2015: Driving day

James took over from here

We left our Assisi Parking at about midday, after a run and laundry, and headed south for a longish drive to St Giovanni Rotondo. (J here, by the way…) My family will remember Padre Pio – a monk of this town – he had the ‘Stigmata’ (signs of Christ’s Crucifixion on his hands and feet). Difficult for folk to believe – but he was canonised a Saint in 2002 – he died in the 1960’s. Deborah’s late Aunt Aideen, who passed away last year, she had a lifelong devotion to Padre Pio and visited St Giovanni every year – a wonderful lively lady…

Stopped to buy wonderful farm produce en route as you can see…

Lots of the ‘older’ farmers parked up with their tractors selling potatoes, onions and garlic. Most of the fields are now ploughed over and some are being planted with next year’s crops.

Total travel time door to door – 8 hours! Big Brad, our new Sat Nav persona, decide to completely ignore the change from Daylight savings in the UK and confused his passengers – late on our journey, he added an hour – just for fun ! Our first time on this trip driving in complete darkness on strange roads. Thankfully, the country roads here are actually excellent. The area sees 8 million pilgrims each year – the second most popular pilgrim site in Italy. Anyway, Brad (shall his surname be Pitt or Brosnan ?) – woke up and delivered us unerringly to a lovely Parking – at 8:00 pm – just in time for a beer….. James – beer? Back to adolescence in Walters bar, Dun Laoghaire….

189 – Monday 26th October 2015 – Padre Pio of San Giovanni Rotondo

Completely refreshed, our Italian Parking hostess taxied us to the centre of St Giovanni – only Euro 6 return – we conversed in a mixture of J’s improving Italian – K’s Francais and Deutsch – a truly trilingual menage…

The main church is naturally all about Padre Pio (the whole town is actually) and J attended part of a Mass and saw Padre Pio’s preserved body on a slab behind the main altar – very emotionally moved because of Aideen…such a nice lady.

We visited all the main ecclesiastical sites and then wandered in search of a bus to the nearby coast, which we failed to achieve. Onto Plan B.

Now those who know us may deduce that we occasionally have a meal out! We turned a corner ‘a destra’ – and found a small restaurant which we initially thought was ‘chiusio’ – once again our reader is reeling with astonishment at my command of Italiano… The photos below don’t fully do justice our repast – a shared starter, two large main courses, a bottle of guess what? – vino collapse rossso/blanco – total cost £36 including tip!!!

Taxied back to our bivouac – gentle zzzs for moi – now blogging and relaxing… Bella Italia et la Dolce Vita !!!

K’s postscript: I do wonder how these saints who practiced and preached abstinence and a simple life would have felt about the massive churches built in their names and the whole industry that has evolved.

186: Gubbio – The Gubbins

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Clunegapyears

185 – 23rd October 2015: Gubbio – the Gubbins

A crack of dawn start and a walk to the hospital. A 20 minute wait and we saw the dentist … he was not able to help as J needs an Xray and serious repair! He can only fix small cracks! Pleasant enough … but tooth problem still needs ‘crowning’. Perhaps Naples!

Quick hoover – J and identify some possible overnight Parkings in Assisi – K and we were off by about 11. The guide book made Gubbio sound good, so we set this as a via point on Brad, the Sat Nav. Perhaps I should explain … We had an incident with Sally, the Sat Nav. Suddenly she became Afrikaans and we could not understand her. About to re-set her back to Sally and thought we could do with a change of voice, so we now have Brad …. male American. Brad as in Brad and Janet in the Rocky Horror Show, as he sounds like an all round nice guy, but a bit dim. Sadly he does not say rout for route. A slight digression …. Brad decided to take us the most direct rout(e) – over hills. Lots of hairpin bends and hill towns with castles atop. Pretty but slow driving.

As we pulled up to Gubbio it was really striking: a Roman amphitheatre in the foreground and layers of a glowing white stone town behind. Banners proclaimed that the white truffle festival was on. At the TIC we asked about the main sights, the truffle festival and an overnight Parking with water. The Parking was only about a half km from where we had parked, so it meant we could wander at will and not worry about getting onto Assisi, which will keep till tomorrow.

Roman Amphitheater – the first sight as we arrived.

Our rout(e) around Gubbio included several of the truffle festival stall areas. There were not many customers about and we were pressed with samples to consume … managed to come away without buying the EUR300 truffle I was kindly shown. But did buy a tuna and pistachio paste, nougat for Maddy, a small lump of cheese and a bottle of very green pistachio cream (alcoholic!) … no truffle products though :(. Apparently to keep the truffles, you place on kitchen paper, which needs changing daily and place in a glass jar in the fridge. I was told the Japanese often buy large ones which are unusable due to lack of care in the keeping. My truffle guide unscrewed the lid on one truffle jar and the scent was very heady … almost tempting!

The historical part of our rout(e) was equally rewarding. The Palace of the Consuls traced the history of Gubbio … prehistoric, redesigning under the Romans and then retreating up the hills when the Byzantines and Goths came as it was then easier to defend themselves from there. As part of this redesigned city they used the latest technology – toilets and water pipework to fountains and really impressive huge arches to support the Piazza Grande. The Palace also contains the Eugubine Tablets – 7 tablets with inscriptions on brass. These date from 1BC and were undeciphered until the late 1800’s. They provided evidence of how people lived in Umbria before the Roman Conquest. The part I read (yes, translated into English) was about the detailed rituals for sacrificing a goat. As well as art and stone, there was also a superb viewing gallery at the top.

We wandered the streets and somehow found ourselves in a bar enjoying a rather pleasant red. More wanderings and stalls and back to Chardonnay. Our neighbours are all Italian, but it is quiet and only EUR5 for water and waste etc.

A fantastic afternoon – one of those moments in time….

The Plazzo dei Consuls with the Piazza Grande supported by massive arches.

And this is what has held up the Piazza for hundreds of years

Shops were classy: truffle and other local food products and ceramics. But even so … we still saw bows and arrows, a crossbow and a leg trap.

The Eugubine Tablets

Sunset over the amphitheater as we return to Chardonnay

184 – 185: The Power of the EHIC and San Marino

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Clunegapyears

184 – Wednesday 21st October 2015: Ospedale Rimini and San Marino

We had googled that to invoke the power of the EHIC we needed to present ourselves at a state hospital who would refer us to a state dentist. We had had a superb experience of the power of the EHIC in Slovenia and assumed that we would have a lesser experience in Italy. A 40 min walk to the very large and modern hospital. Found Pronto Soccorso aka A&E and presented ourselves. The receptionist had a few words of English and asked us to wait. A translator arrived!!! She did the initial registration and then we were through to waiting room number 2. A lot of people with much more serious injuries and obviously in pain arrived, so we expected a long wait. James was called in just under an hour :). The Dr spoke English and referred him to the the onsite dentist. Being so vast we were guided part of the way to the green corridor and then asked for help, only to discover we had missed the dentist by about 10 mins … he shut up shop at 12.00 and would not be back till 9.00 on Friday. Our helper who spoke OKish English became very animated when the subject of football and Liverpool came up … funny that!

A few Rimini Pix, I meant to upload on the last blog … blame the slow wifi … as not a drop of alcohol in me!

A Rimini fountain … not often you see horses snorting from their nostrils!

James looking dead cool

But then, also a dodgy geezer with my hand bag! In front of the Fish Market, built in the main square to denote the importance of fishing.

But then less cool, in dodgy geezer mode, with my hand bag! In front of the Fish Market, built in the main square to pay homage to the importance of fishing.

Tiberius Bridge – one of my fav pix

A typical frontage along the beach … imagine hundreds of these … does not make for an attractive stroll along the shore.

We walked back to our Rimini parking and had lunch. The original plan had been to go to San Marino (RSM on number plates), so we did. San Marino is the oldest and smallest republic. It boasts a football team, the F1 used to happen here but the motor racing championships still do. An older Italian chap we met today described the San Marinese as criminals and rich! It is a tax haven and very wealthy … a government surplus. Apparently a law exists to protect the rich elderly male inhabitants from scheming female money grabbers … all female domestic staff have to be over 50! I’d just qualify, but don’t want a job thanks!!! Plus, I already have my older man, thanks. Shame about the rich part!

The Parking I had identified was a) free and b) 5 mins up a path to the bottom of the cable car that goes up to San Marino historic centre. We had thought we would go up tomorrow, but we were told that it only took about 2 hours to go around and so it proved. Monte Titano is striking in that it is very rocky, steep and sticks out like a sore thumb in the otherwise rolling landscape. Whichever angle you view the Monte from, you can see the fortresses and town walls. The cable car was only EUR4.5 return and a short hop, compared to some we’ve been on, so J did not suffer having to study the cable car floor!

Pretty to walk around and you can see the Adriatic. A castle, churches, walls, fortress towers and an open air theatre which used to be a quarry. BUT full of restaurants, cafes and tourist shops selling leather, guns, and knock off designer brands.

This young man is not catching a bird but an airborne camera. It flew off, up and around one of San Marino’s towers. Talking to the upper crust young Englishmen it can fly 2 km away and compensates for wind etc.

San Marino art? What are these dragonfly up to?

J unimpressed … lots of guns for sale.

I had to bribe him to sit on this ledge …

View from the top as the sun went down.

And a superb sunset from our terraced overnight parking.

185 – Thursday 22 October 2015: Borgomaggiore and Sort-Of-Sorting a Door Locking Problem

We knew we had to return to to Rimini tonight to see the dentist early on the morrow, so we decided not to stray too far. We walked from our Parking into the largest town, Borgomaggiore, which really was not very large. It had a market so we bought some veggies; I plan to do the unctuous veggie sauce I did on the cooking course in Tuscany in August again.

Lunch at the parking and finally found the motorhome services, which were on a lower terrace to us.

We had spotted a motorhome sales garage on our way up to San Marino and decided to stop off there on the return. We have a few niggles that could be sorted or could wait, but the problem with the habitation door lock cannot wait. One of the locks is stuck in lock mode which means the door will not quite fully close and of course is potentially easier to break into. We had to wait 20 mins for the staff to return from their 3.5 hour (!!!) lunch. As Chardonnay is a Bessacarr i.e. English made and not known in Italy, they could not help. However, the owner rang a company who may be able to help. It took us about 40 mins to get to the industrial area environs and then about another 40 mins to find the place … grrr! Helpful chap again, but no, he did not have the part either, but fiddled and showed us a trick to unlock it. We will have to check its position each time we close the door, but at least we are back to full security.

Back to our parking in Rimini … other than the CamperStop in Ljubljana which we returned to 3 times, this is the only other time we have been, stayed away one night, and returned to the same place. Dentist tomorrow … fingers crossed.

A few pictorial Italy observations:

Made us chuckle ... on a small Fiat ... is there room? P'raps we should have this on the back of Chard?

Made us chuckle … on a small Fiat … is there room inside? P’raps we should have this on the back of Chard?

Some interesting roadside advertising … we thought of Route 66 and the giant plastics.

Every town has one. A pawn brokers; they take silver, gold diamonds and dental gold! Out Tuscany tour guide told us the Italians are about making sure they have the latest and could not possibly admit to having no money. I wonder how many of Granny's jewels have gone this way?

Every town has one. A pawn brokers; they take silver, gold, diamonds and dental gold! Our Tuscany tour guide told us the Italians are all about making sure they have the latest and could not possibly admit to having no money. I wonder how many of Granny’s jewels have gone this way?

Health and Safety: we watched as this rubbish was thrown down into the street. There was a spotter at ground level, but the rubbish landed and remained nicely balanced on the wall mounted lamp … for now!

182 -183: Town-ing Down the Coast & Six Months!

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Clunegapyears

182 – Monday 19th October 2015 – End of our first 6 months Euro Travelling !

By James

I seems like only yesterday that we started on this epic journey and the time has just flown by – we have only scratched the surface – lots more to be seen. We commenced our trip staying with Jimmy and Ian Read in Rustington – and we will hopefully end our first year with them also. Three of our dear friends have passed away in the last year – Nicky, Mathew and Andrea – tragic losses to friends and families – the truism is “we never know what’s around the corner”.

This morning dawned (rain again) in our overnight at Mesola – brekkie and all services topped up – or in the case of our WC – “bottomed out”! Certain people were surprised at the outset at the fact that we intended to transport our poo around Euroland – Mr Tim Leslie take note !

Mid morning break at Commachio – well, lunch break really…. walked about – saw the Triple Bridge and the fishing homes on stilts – and two churches – Chiesi to us fluent (!) speakers of Italiano…

Yes.. that is my winter coat and J is sporting his scarf!

Restaurants extended over the water.

Took on some beer and other supplies at a EuroSpar – amazing value – a big lump of loin pork for Euro 2.4! Will serve us two days, and can use some of the 6kgs of apples we are still munching our way through.

Ravenna welcomed Chardonnay and crew in the PM – some more Chiesi – the most famous mosaics in the world, Basilica, Baptistry – and the tomb of Dante Alighieri! Definitely worth seeing (sorry about all the pix); I know Ravenna is known for the seaside too, but we did not see it!

Dante Alighieri’s tomb. He died here having been banished from Florence. They obviously regret this, as they supply a year’s worth of oil for the lamp that burns inside every September.

The good ship sailed serenely down the coast and after examining a few sites, settled on a motorhome overnight parking at Lido di Salvio… Head Chef K about to present a succulent serving of monkfish, mashed potatoes, green beens and a red pepper sauce – has a Michelin star ever been awarded to a motorhome – Haute Cuisine indeed !

Buona Notte, Signore et Signori et bella bambini – Ciao !!!

183 – Tuesday 20th October 2015: Three Towns and a Tooth!

By Katherine

We ran from our car park and tried to find the beach front walkway … surely the Eyeties promonade the prom? Two abortive forays to discover locked up private beaches and a glimpse of the sea; we stayed on the road.

Drove to Cervia: fishing, tourism, water inlets and canals and famed for salt extraction. Limited time here as we had to pay for the car park and as we took up over 3 bays, and hour was EUR3 … the planned coffee did not happen.

Salt warehouses

Drove slightly inland to a hilltop (more of a mound) fort at Santarcangelo di Romagna, where we lunched in Chardonnay. Walked around the old part of the town and could just make out the Adriatic on the horizon.

Fort J is actually at the gas locker, not doing anything dodgy – honest!

Olive harvesting. The chap was up a ladder hidden in the tree and dropping all the olives onto a mat.

Fairly typical of the landscape: cypresses and olive trees, gentle hills.

We disturbed 4 white doves who waddled away from us and then eventually took flight:

Onto Rimini: the pitch we had identified is EUR10 to park and additional charges for water etc … we shall try to make do with what is in the tank, even though I showered this morning. BUT the location is excellent, secure and bang smack between the old town and the beach. We had a wander around our third town of the day and wished we had set the exercise app to track our mileage … we seem to have walked a lot today!

Tempio Malatestiano: built as a Franciscan church but converted in 1550 to a monument Sigismondo Malatesta, descended from the ruling family. He was a BAD man, and managed to get through 4 wives. Pictures of debauchery and elephants are exposed, we could not find these! Pope Pius II condemned the building as ‘temple of worshippers’ and burned the Malatesta effigy for act of ‘murder, violation, adultery, sacrilege and perjury’. I had not thought the Popes were white than white!

We found a bear to though! An animal theme?

Tiberius Gate

Is James anal about sewage manhole covers ? Poo-berly correct, Mr T Crapper…

Over supper, J pulled a tooth out of his mouth … he knew it was a weak one and fortunately no pain. But it does mean that we need to present ourselves and his EHIC as the hospital tomorrow for a state dental referral … fingers crossed for a quick process as K flies from Naples on Wednesday and it is still quite some miles away!!

180 – 181: Mesola, Po Delta and Lunch(es)!

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Clunegapyears

180 – Saturday 17th October 2015: Mesola and Spontaneous Lunch

K did a speed walk to the retail fish market and came back with a monkfish tail for EUR4.50 (if you like monkfish and know what it costs at home – bargain!), salmon and calemari. Never cooked squid … but feeling adventurous – just a little, and did not fancy the sea urchins and crustaceans on display, many of which were still waggling limbs at me! Also picked up some veggies. Total spend for really fresh produce £14 and fish and veg for soups and fish dinners for 3 days. And fun to go shopping compared to a supermarket BUT if I am going to lug shopping, I need a trolley … have a yen for one of those wheeled shoppers … if only where to keep it were not the issue!

Monkfish tail and squid 🙂

We needed LPG, diesel and motorhome services … all satisfied by the time we arrived at Mesola. No real plans to stay here, but water and waste facilities and FREE electricity. As we arrived we spoke to a Belgian couple …. a market in town. At the market we spoke to a local who recommended a restaurant …. does the fat dog slide on lino???

Really fab local food and only EUR10 for a bottle of local red. K’s mushroom, bacon and potato cake with gorgonzola and cream was AMAZING! Just one of those moments that you seize.

Mesola Castle

These castle out building housed shops and our rather excellent restaurant.

Later in the afternoon, we wandered back to the town, well more of a village, to see the castle. Served as a hunting lodge for Este Duchy and had numerous owners, including Popes. The bit of interesting history is that the Province of Ferrara (Duchy of Este) wanted to set up in competition with Venice and use the natural harbour just down the road. Venice did not care for this plan, so diverted the river Po and silted up the whole of the Po estuary. The area is now a nature reserve. The castle was not really very interesting other than it had the largest stag antlers we have ever seen.

Our pitch next to the Mesola Football stadium

181 – Sunday 18th October 2015: Po Delta and Enforced Lunch!

Being so incredibly flat here we set off planning to see all sort on the bikes. Missed a turn and rode a little further than intended. Scenery pretty similar for much of the ride … fields and waterways – not very interesting unless you are into ornithology, so few pics. One bit was through a double gated (could only open door 2 when door 1 was shut) nature reserve, and we wondered what NATURE it might contain that it had to be so carefully protected … boar, wolves??? Coffee stop at Goro. Spent a little time trying to find somewhere inexpensive for lunch at the Lido do Volano … the one Michelin Star Fish restaurant was rather pricey!! Had to have lunch out as we had run out of bread for J’s sarneys and K, running around the town in the morning, had not been able to find a baker / shop open. Lovely cheese ravioli in a salmon cream, washed down with a half litre carafe …. the wine was only EUR4!!!

Only one … carafe!

The beach at Lido di Voltano … a row of fishermen and the Adriatic around here is dead flat. The Lido is a rather shabby resort, not helped by the grey weather, but still a hot spot for the Italians … there were about 20 motorhomes all parked up.

Thank you again Stephen for the rugby score updates … do we HAVE TO support France now? J says Argentina counts as more European!

Continued our bike ride to the Abbazia di Pomposa: really old monastery, again with frescos. Claim to fame, it that they ‘welcomed’ (whatever welcomed means – did they just say hi and send him on his way again?!) the monk who created the musical 7 note score.

Abbey di Pomposa … frescos and mosaics

Strange how the Campanile increases the number of windows as it goes up.

A less interesting ride back on the main road in the rain. 33 miles completed. We are seeing a lot of semi derelict buildings on our Italian journey. Heating on and see no reason to move from our free pitch.

Clune Gap Years

A journal and reflections of our motorhome travels

Tag Archives: 2015