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Showing posts from 2010

Last supper

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We enjoyed our last supper at a local restaurant and a view down across Rimini and the Adriatic coast. Despite an altitude of only 150m the unobscured views here were stunning. This photo doesn't do it justice. The storm cloud filled most of the sky but we still had quite a clear view along the coast. Our journey back in the car, by some miracle, only just skirted the edge of the thundercloud that was flickering continuously with lightning for the whole journey back. Wendy, who is terrified of thunder, and previously had been hiding in the cafes to escape, remained fast asleep and oblivious to it all.

Gardara

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To escape the storm we drove up to the medieval hill top castle of Gardara where Dante set his fictionalisation of the tale of Paolo and Francesca (da Rimini) in his Divine Comedy. It certainly deserved it's label as one of the best preserved castles in Italy and we enjoyed a short tour of some of the rooms including the dungeon with chopping block, frayed rope and chains. We left after being chased by a guard who reminded us photos were not permitted.

Cyclone

We knew it was coming and saw it on the horizon for hours. I even caught sight of it on a satellite photograph but when the storm cloud finally did hit the beach it brought with it a sudden gust that lifted a sand storm across the whole coast. From far away, like some scene in the Sahara, the sand and air could be seen to change colour as the storm approached at speed. Suddenly as people on each beach realised what was happening they, and then we, quickly packed our bags and ran for cover. However we didn't quite make it and found ourselves in the middle of the cloud of sand as the wind blew hard against our faces. Fortunately, we escaped to the car before the rain came down and we were well and truly in the middle of the storm. I think we were just grateful we got the time we did.

Castles

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Because of the weather, we really didn't expect to get much beach so perhaps didn't bring as much beach gear as we could. Katarina made do with her hands for spades and her clothing for a swimsuit, and didn't do bad either. I even took off my own shoes and socks and ventured into the Adriatic with my bare feet. I think we were all in disbelief that we even achieved this after the two weeks of travelling.

Rimini

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For our last full day in Rimini we decided to visit the beach no matter what the weather even though it was predicted rain and thunderstorms on and off all day. We arrived about 10am and found a free beach that was surprisingly empty. It was of course also Katarina's last full day with Wendy who seemed to love the sand, rolling on her back and digging holes to lie in. It wasn't cold but a strong breeze and plenty of cloud cover kept any of the sun's heat at bay.

The boat back

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From San Marco we decided, to get back in time for the train, we had to take a boat, which wasn't a difficult decision. The queues were very long but by chance we found ourselves the last to get on the boat so stayed behind and then found ourselves first in the queue for the next boat and so grabbed the two front seats and got an unobscured view of Venice all the way back to the station. The seats also provided a desperately needed rest. We put up with the sun to get some stunning photos. The train back to Castelfranco was cool, spacious and comfortable, but, unfortunately, not the train we had purchased a ticket for and so we found ourselves with a large excess to pay the ticket inspector who was happy to lure us on in the first place without warning us there were cheaper trains elsewhere. It was a slightly bitter end to the day but it would take more than this to ruin the splendour of Venice.

Pigeons

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At last, San Marco appeared almost out of nowhere. All that wide space without shelter from the sun seemed like torture so we collapsed against a wall in the shade opposite the basilica. After this long walk it seemed almost blasphemy not to take in immediately the full splendour of all these buildings but we were both so exhausted. Eventually we found some energy and walked around the covered arcades to the far corner. From there we crossed the square back towards the bell tower and Katarina shot some photos of the infamous pigeons (that 8 years ago she chased in a frenzy of excitement). It was the middle of the afternoon and the sun was so strong that our cameras were useless against the intense light. I was disappointed to (re)discover that the bell tower had been rebuilt 100 years ago. We had no energy to climb the tower or the basilica so had to satisfy ourselves with a ground level view of this glorious city, which wasn't difficult.

Ponte di Rialto

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It took us three and a half hours to get to the Rialto Bridge, the classic heart of Venice. The two weeks have taken their toll on our energy and we limped most of the way through the dense throng, trying to avoid the sun and frequently missing the little signs that point the way to San Marco (by the way, Google Maps is useless in Venice, the streets are just too small and crooked). Instead we end up visiting many of the little boutiques that sell jewellery, glass animals and masks of every type imaginable. There must be hundreds of these shops in Venice all filled with almost identical items. The bridge came as a huge relief: we had finally found the Grand Canal.

Bridges

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The walk from Santa Lucia station took us over many bridges and gave us many opportunities to take photographs. It's impossible here to look in any direction and not find a classic romantic image. Except for the profusion of motor boats, the city seems lost in time. We arrived at about 11.30am and already the streets were busy with tourist traffic. We ate a chicken panini in the shade and, like Rome, it's brown chicken not white but it was less of a shock this time.

Approach to Venice

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After postponing our original plan of a visit to Rimini because of a late night and thunder, we venture to Venice by train, although not without some humour after getting off too early. However this train was 2 minutes later so we weren't delayed by much.

Hammock

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Katarina enjoys a hammock at my cousin Alex's while we all spray ourselves with mosquito repellent and turn on the repellent burners, largely in vain although I wonder how many we would have had without these things. And when did Katarina develop such a streak of sarcasm, or more a flood?

Bologna skyline

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The view from the top of the tower at 97m is obviously rewarding and worth the climb and the 3 euros. There are views in every direction, although you have to queue to get to most openings. Amazing to think this was built 900 years ago. I can't imagine what people must have thought back then but you can certainly see how God seemed to come into it.

535 steps

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Wikitravel says 498 but Katarina counted 520 going up and 535 going down. We were tired before we even got here so 500 or so steps was hard work. Every fifth revolution of the staircase there was some sort of floor so each time you think you've reached the top you find another set of stairs. There must have been 5 or more of these floors before we reached the top.

Tower of Asinelli

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We came to Bologna with nothing but a map and a scan of Wikitravel on my phone. It was more it's imposing, albeit slender, dimensions that brought us to this tower. They are both quite beautiful but the taller is so slim it looks like it could easily topple. Indeed when both are viewed side by side they do not both rise at the same angle. Is one sinking?

A final farewell to Terni

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For our final morning in Terni we took a walk by the local river. It was a nice slow day that gave us time to relax and not rush before our final train journey to Modena. Our time in Terni has been quite an emotional one meeting up with all these families after so many years. Katarina especially enjoyed meeting all her cousins and so many were girls of a similar age. Clearly, like myself, she was moved by it all. And, of course, a special thanks should go to Carlo, Cristina and Lisa Jane who were great hosts and gave us plenty of space in their home in the 1000 year old hilltop town of Arrone. After an initial rush to find seats we did eventually get a good space on the train to Modena and ample air conditioning made it a pleasant journey despite the length of time.

The big meat

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For our last evening in Terni all the families came together for a big meal at Giancarlo's house. More than twenty of us attended and probably the same number of courses. This might be something that has happened many times over the years, but for me it's been over 20 years since I last attended one of these. Sadly my Italian was not really up to it but it was a worthwhile evening nonetheless. Katarina certainly enjoyed herself more with her cousins and perhaps has made some new friends, albeit more than a thousand miles away. Photographs were difficult to take in the dim outdoor lighting so I thought it would be fitting to include another photo of my grandfather who links all these families together.

Saying goodbye

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We caught one last poignant view of the mountains before the drive back to Terni with Carlo, Mauro, Andrea and myself.

Scrambling

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It was a bit of a scramble to pose and take photos once we got to this particular peak. This photo best captured the mood and also oddly enough the sensation of being on top of the world, behind.

Monte Vettore

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We stopped off here for some ice cream, a carafe of wine and some salami. It had the best views so far of Monte Vettore, the most photogenic peak in this region. In fact, between Katarina and me, we must have taken hundreds of photos from this spot alone. But no photo seemed to capture the majesty of this craggy slope.

Water fight

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Paola started a water fight by the water fountain so the girls hid in one of the cars until it cooled down. We soon moved on spending a while at each location, each with their own unique view of the beautiful mountain scenery.

On the way to Castelluccio

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We spent the final day in Umbria with a group trip to Castelluccio in Norcia. It was a clear day and cooler in the mountains. This photo was taken at more than 1500m looking down towards Castelluccio behind. Together with their families we were here with Carlo, Paola and Mauro. These are the same cousins that Katarina saw previously.

The two of us

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I got a rare photo of the two of us on the way back down from the fair, although not the best photo and you can't really appreciate the scenery behind.

Giant lemon

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Here is Katarina, Lisa Jane, Georgia and Paola in front of a giant lemon that served drinks, still at 1000m.

I hate Macs

Apologies but I'm really struggling and now Safari just crashed.

Trampolining at 1000m

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In the afternoon we drove with Lisa Jane, Paola and Georgia to another nearby peak where they had a fun fair and an archery contest. I don't recall the name and unfortunately it's too much hard work to get a Mac to do more than one thing at once otherwise I'd look it up. We missed the archery but instead the girls went trampolining and had a go on a bouncy slide. The peak was at 1000m and much cooler. Amazing to think that this height is greater than England's tallest mountain.

Giants of Carsulae

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Sometimes a photo can be completely unexpected. (Unfortunately I'm having to use a Mac and a foreign keyboard and with a different blog interface so all could be going wrong).

Phone crashed

My phone crashed and had to rebuild it two days ago. Since then my photos have been too big for the blog so waiting to get to a PC to resize.

Carsulae

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We've had so many late nights that I've had little chance to catch up here so I'm a little out of date. On Saturday morning Carlo, Lisa Jane, Katarina and I visited the local remains of the ancient Roman town of Carsulae. After visiting Rome and Pompeii it was fascinating to see the same buildings and features like the forum, the senate, the baths and the theatres. Although this site is in a poor state, having been quarried for centuries, some parts, like the rear of the theatre, are almost completely intact apart from the roofs and plaster. It was a hot morning but some cloud gave us shade. However we were all knackered after an hour or so and stumbled back to the hot car.

Grandad

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Here is the man, and my namesake, that connects all these cousins, here with my brother, Dan.

Cousins

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Katarina met up with four of her cousins, all girls, and we visited Narni for Katarina's first proper ice-cream in Italy, so far it's been sorbet. Despite the language barrier they communicated well and it's fun to see Katarina enjoying herself as I did more than 20 years ago. I too met my own cousins and it's somewhat strange to see everyone older but so few of the years in between.

The mummies of Ferentillo

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We visited a nearby town where bodies that had been buried over hundreds of years had been preserved like mummies by a rare fungus. The bodies were on display in glass cabinets with their contorted faces and, for those where it is obvious, their marks of death, including hanging, stabbing and the plague. We couldn't take any photos so here's a view from another nearby town, but I've forgotten which one because the spectacular views are visible from everywhere.

Climbing wall

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A loud thunderstorm rained heavily all night and only cleared by the morning leaving enough cloud to take the edge off the sun. On our trip to the nearby towns we stopped off at this rock wall used for climbing. It wasn't in use but anyway Katarina didn't have the right shoes to get far up the rock.

Lago di Piediculo

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This lake feeds the waters of Cascata delle Marmore. There are beautiful views across the lake but Katarina occupied herself with stone skimming (across the water), if that's what it's called, and building a small sand castle, until the sun set and the temperature dropped a little.

Cascata delle Marmore

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Our first trip out is to the local waterfall, Cascata delle Marmore, originally formed by the Romans to drain the local waters of disease and eventually carved into its modern form over the centuries. It's now the largest artificial waterfall in the world and the largest of any in Europe. Tourist paths across the falls provided a pleasant cool spray against the warm humid weather. At 6pm they turn off the falls and redirect the water back into the powerstation.

Arrone

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After a short train journey we are met by my cousin, Carlo, and his daughter, Lisa Jane. In Italian style we are immediately treated to my favourite Tuscan bread and Katarina's favourites: pasta and then sausages. It also makes a change to eat local food and not what's flown halfway round the world.

First class to Terni

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We paid the small extra and had a first class ticket to Terni. Felt quite bad seeing all the other passengers escorted off to second class, although we only got bigger seats (and a half empty carriage) as the air conditioning was hopeless. Of course, it was no surprise that despite the train being scheduled to leave platform 2 it was a Harry Potter style hidden platform beyond platform 2 and only accessible from platform 1. We joined all the confused Italians who were also at a loss, even though I had been warned it was poorly signposted.

Arrivederci Roma

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It's goodby to Rome. Overall I was pleasantly surprised how welcoming Rome was despite the street vendors, bad tempered shop owners and some dodgy food. I think we've both come to like the way the traffic works, although not sure I'd want to live like that. Weather's been good and thanks to shade, hats, rest and sun lotion we didn't suffer too much for it, although Katarina did have to dig quite deep to complete all the walking. Hotel in Rome was very well located by the station and much better surroundings than the one in Naples. Also Rome seems so small and easy to get around despite the tiny Metro. However, I think, although the hotel was very good and friendly, the Naples hotel was a class higher. Also Naples had a superior breakfast buffet with everything you can imagine. At this hotel in Rome their centrepiece was a three-tiered stack of mostly chocolate filled pastries. We had one each morning and were already full. There's only so much chocolate even Kat...

Pantheon

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Although we did pass here on Monday it was too late to get in. The Pantheon made a fitting end to our tour of Rome. There's always more to see but in the end we did get to all the sites I'd hoped for. The Pantheon also made a cool place to rest while Katarina caught up with some game playing on her DS. Considering all the reports of heat waves we've been very lucky with the weather. It's been hot but by no means oppressive. The shade has always been cool enough and there's been plenty of it especially thanks to the abundance of churches. Having now been in Italy for six days we've also become accustomed to the rules of pedestrian travel. There are no pedestrian lights here, you just push your way out to the traffic and cars stop. Sometimes it's a miracle there aren't bodies strewn across the streets.

Fontana di Trevi

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It had to be done but with so many people crowding in the space and police blowing their whistles every time someone so much as put their hand in the water it was too hectic and actually hotter because of the crowd. We refrained from the tradition coin throwing.

Spanish steps

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This was our first stop after the Vatican. Katarina had a sudden burst of energy so we ran up the Spanish Steps (well, some of them). The view was rewarding at the top and the church offered some well-timed shade. The fountain was also a good chance to refill our water bottles. Better than 5 euros a bottle from the street vendors. As we were leaving a dodgy man tried to force some roses on to Katarina in the piazza and signalled they were free. Since he was offering them we walked off with them. Then he followed and asked for some money. I gave him back the flowers. He got angry and even held on to Katarina's hand. For a moment I was wary we were susceptible to pickpockets so left fast and checked our bags. All was okay.

Stairs

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This beautiful staircase by the exit to the Vatican museum made for a novel finish to our speedy visit. We spent much less time here than we did the colosseum, but it had to be done. It was Katarina in the end that was inspired to visit here after seeing a postcard of the Sistene Chapel. By the time we left it was midday but oddly enough it was no hotter than 9am when we were queueing to get in but even then it was uncomfortable to stand in the heat. I wouldn't say it's a heat wave here but it's definitely hot.

Vatican museums

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We only got to see a tiny part of the museum and it's easy to get lost in these long corridors. I think we just appreciated the ample seating (without need to buy anything). The cafe wasn't anything special but at least it wasn't an overpriced street vendor and it was air conditioned.

The Sistine Chapel

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I gave in to the pressures of tourism and we went first thing to the Vatican to get sight of the Sistine Chapel. I had great reservations but it fitted in with the schedule. A talkative Spaniard at the hotel desk gave us some useful direction that proved useless and taking us in the wrong direction once we got there. As many times before we had to go back on ourselves to reach the Vatican Museum and to the long queue. Frustratingly we had to pay entrance to the whole museum as a chapel-only ticket didn't exist. We made our way slowly through the museum path following the signs and eventually through the Raphael rooms. I must admit I wasn't very impressed by a lot of these frescos and they were more like paint-by-numbers. However when we eventually got to see the ceiling of the chapel, not necessarily the walls, we could see why they've received so much attention, they leap off the ceiling, significantly more alive than the dull works we saw on the approach. The ultimate hyp...

Palatino

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We finished off in the Palatino hobbling between the ruins. This bunch of rubble was in the Emperor's palace. The building was much more impressive and slightly confusing in scale - they made everything so big. We may have missed some spots in the end but we desperately needed to sit down somewhere cool. We had some pizza and pasta before making our way back to the hotel on foot through some parks, sorbet in hand, feeling much revived.

The forum

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Sign posting around here is appalling. If you're lucky enough to find a signpost it's tiny, half a kilometre away and in microfiche. We took a wrong turn for the forum entrance and ended by by some basilica. We sat in the shade to rest and watched all the other tourists make the same mistake and look lost. A bunch of Italian kids also seemed to take pleasure in laughing at the confused tourists. We eventually got in and once again it's both impressive and sad what we have left. I read that some eastern emperor in the sixth century removed all the iron supports for all these monuments to make weapons for war. When a tremor next hit Rome it was then that all the buildings and monuments fell. They were eventually scavenged for church building. We took another three hours and had to shelter frequently from the sun. The temperature in the shade was fine but the sun was tiring. Thankfully there were plenty of fountains to fill our bottles. Katarina did well even if the pace was...

Lunch by the Colosseum

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We got lunch at a local pizzeria before returning for the forum. Katarina had a nice enough pizza and I got a pannini with chicken except the chicken looked like spam. I had to complain so in my horrendous Italian I mentioned that chicken is supposed to be white not the pinkish brown muck that I was given. The waiter seemed sure that fried chicken turns brown. My Italian wasn't good enough to defend my argument so we ate, paid up and left behind a grumpy waiter.

Vatican

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Found a load of unsent emails. This was from another day...The train from Naples was a bit manic, not just because Naples is like that, chaotic and frenetic, but because a group of passengers without reservations had decided to occupy our cabin. But they were polite enough and eventually left after some more passengers with reservations hurled abuse at them. The weather remained kind and cool so the journey was very comfortable. We (I) got a little lost from the station to the hotel in Rome because I never realised just how close it was. We've been very lucky. Room was okay even if we had to have lunch while waiting. Hotel isn't as good as the one in Naples, but the area around is at least a modern European city with bin collections. With time still plenty we took a train to the Vatican. The Cistine Chapel has all the queues so we had to skip that and pay our grudging respect to the big Catholic cheese alongside speechless tourists struck dumb by their religiosity. What's...

Dust

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Found a load of unsent emails. This was from another day...It seems to be a pattern around here. Pompeii is covered in dust and so is Vesuvius. Wouldn't be so bad if strong winds didn't stir up little whirlwinds that drenched us in dust. It took ages yesterday to clear off the dust and the same today. Here Katarina is emptying her shoes.

Colloseum

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Okay, so navigating wasn't perfect. Rome is always smaller than you expect. We ended up walking twice as far as we needed, but it still wasn't far. The heat picked up early and was a drain so, after the queues, we took three hours to see the colosseum as we spent more time hiding in the shade. Nice to see they've added some exhibitions to the first floor so it wasn't just a ruin, albeit the best ruin.

Our new navigator

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After my appalling performance as navigator Katarina is at the helm today and so far has succeeded without fault at threading our way through the back streets to the Colloseum. I've been relegated to passenger.

Piazza Navona

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After starting out in Naples it was a long day. We did well to capture some big sites although too late to get into the Pantheon. However we were just late enough to get the start of the evening entertainments in Piazza Navona to a gentle breeze. Navigating our bus ride home was a little more stressful but Katarina did extremely well considering how far we walked today. Off to the Colloseum tomorrow.

Sorbet

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Katarina: Italian sorbet has vivid and precise flavours. We had lemon, melon, raspberry and pineapple and they were all finger licking good.

Neapolitan thunderstorm

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Katarina: a lovely walk around the port next to Vesuvius when a sudden downfall of heavy rain comes bucketing down on us. We were wet.