Gubbio, Assisi, Spello, Rome re-visited.

We left Venice early on Tuesday morning, and arrived in Gubbio, in the North East of Italy, early in the afternoon. Here, we found that the locals had rolled out the red carpet for our visit! Either for us or the truffle convention that was on in town (I like to think that it was for us). In the afternoon, Stefan took us on an orientation walk of the town, and did a very good job, seeing as he'd never been to the town before (he only had to consult his cue-cards once or twice!). He showed us the main sights of the town, which we could visit the following day, if we wished, including a fountain, which legend says if you circle it 3 times while a local splashed water at you, you will become crazy. Stefan was keen to try it, but we couldn't find a local to splash the water at him. The next morning we took a cable-car up to the top of a hill where a church, Basilica Sant Ubaldo, is located. I say cable-car, but it was really more like a bird cage. It was quite an exhillarating experience to jump into the cage and trust that the attendant has closed the gate properly so that you won't fall out, and ride it up to the top of the hill. It was so much fun!
Inside the Basilica is the body of Saint Ubaldo, the patron saint of Gubbio who saved the city from being sacked in the 12th Century. There are also 3 large wooden candles, each weighing about 400 kg each, and every year on the 15th of May, there is a race where these candles are carried from another church at the bottom of the hill, up through the town, to the basilica, by teams of 12 young men.

We visited a few other sights in town, including the Palazzo Ducale, which had an exhibition of photos of Pope John Paul the II which was really interesting. We also went to the Palazzo Dei Consoli, which used to be the Palace for the council but is now a museum which houses the Eugubian Tablets. These are bronze plates which have some writing in the Umbrian language engraved in them. They were found in 1444 by a farmer near the Roman Theatre (which we also visited) and are really important historical artefacts. They were inscribed sometime between 200 and 70 BC.

We had dinner that night at the restaurant at the hotel that we stayed at. I had a pasta and porcini mushroom dish, which was very tasty, while Elise had the Truffle Lasagne. Truffles are a speciality in the Gubbio area. This was an interesting tasting dish and a bit suprising too- I expected that it would have been a traditional, meat lasagne with some truffles mixed into the filling, but the filling was just a truffle cream. It was quite nice to try, although Elise said that towards the end of the dish she was starting to get a bit sick of it.

The next day we caught 2 buses to San Maria Degli Angeli, a town located just outside of Assisi. After checking into our hotel, we then caught another bus up to Assisi, which is located on a hill. Here, we visited the many churches of the town. We picked a good day for it, as it was All Saints' Day, and so many of the churches had services going on inside. Assisi was the home to Saint Francis (who I think is the patron saint of animals?), and Saint Claire (who Stefan tells us was the patron saint of television!) and their tombs are located in their respective churches. After lunch, Bruno, Elise and I walked up to the Rocca Maggiore, a castle at the top of the hill, from where we had a great view over the town and Basilica San Francesco.

The next day, we caught a train to the nearby town of Spello, where we were booked for a wine-tasting and degustation at 12 o'clock. We arrived at the Enoteca to find a table for six set up outside the front of the bar, under a tree in the sunshine. There were three wine glasses at each place, and our hostess, Domenica, brought us all out a fourth when we sat down. We started by tasting a dry white wine, called Grechetto. We then had two pieces of bruschetta, each with a different olive oil drizzled over it. This was followed by a red wine and with this we had bread with four different toppings: black truffle and mushroom; white truffle and almond; rucola (rocket) pesto; and sundried tomato pesto. After this, we were served a salad plate with a tomato and caper salsa, tuna, rocket and buffalo mozzerella (made with real buffalo milk). On top of this salad was drizzled some of the olive oil and some 40 year old balsamic vinegar from Modena. Elise and I were interested in buying some of this balsamic vinegar to take home with us and after our lunch inquired as to how much it cost. We hadn't drunk enough wine to pay the 120 euro asking price!

The next wine was another red and this we drank while enjoying a cheese and meat platter. This was made up of two different salamis, two different porciuttos and five different cheeses; a black truffle cheese, 3 different pecorino cheeses- each aged differently, and a red chilli cheese. We had to eat the cheeses in that particular order. There was also a piece of bread and some Acacia honey which went well with the pecorino cheese.

For dessert we had a sultana and chocolate strudel with a red dessert wine. This was all followed by espresso.

We were all feeling pretty mellow and chilled out after lunch, and I could finally appreciate the concept of "Italian time", as I didn't feel like I had a care in the world, or that there was something else that I should be doing or somewhere else that I should be. Ahhh...La Dolce Vita!
When we got back to Assisi, Elise and I had the best afternoon- we did our laundry! This may sound pretty boring, but to two people who hadn't washed their clothes in 10 days and had been alternating the same two pairs of trousers and wearing the same jumper everyday for that time, it was a great way to spend the afternoon!

The next morning, we left Assisi early to catch a couple of trains to Rome. Once we had checked in to our hotel, Bruno, Elise and I headed over to Piazzo Campo De Fiori where we each got a delicious foccaccia from our favourite foccaccia shop! Elise and I then got a gelati each after that from our favourite gelati shop! The three of us then walked to Saint Peter's Basilica. We lined up for about 15 minutes to get inside the Basilica. It is a HUGE cathedral (the second largest in the world) and very ornate inside, covered with marble and mosaics. We saw Michelangelo's Pieta inside, although it was behind plexiglass, and there were people crowded all around, so it was difficult to get a full appreciation of it.

After checking out the interior of the church, we then decided to climb up to the top of the cupola. We lined up outside to wait. And wait. And wait. We waited for an hour and a half before finally buying a ticket. We decided to climb all 518 stairs, and not cheat and take the elevator up the first 200 or so. There was a great view over Rome from the top, and especially over St Peter's Square.

That night was the last night of our Essence of Italy Tour, and we had convinced Stefan to book a table for us all at our favourite Roman Restaurant: Ragno D'Oro (The Golden Spider). Here, we were again served by our favourite Roman waiter, Fabio! He even remembered us! It was the same deal as last time; we didn't see any menu, and he just told us what he would like to feed us. We had the same antipasto as our previous visit. Our primi dish was actually 2 different pastas: spinach and ricotta canneloni, and a spaghetti with calamari and tomato and chilli. For secondi, we were served mamma's meatballs, meat with some veges (in a ragu type sauce), mushrooms and artichoke. For dessert we had a selection of Creme Caramel, Tirimasu, strawberries, and a chocolate lava cake! This was a soft-centred pudding which was to die for!

We didn't live up to our reputation, however, and didn't even drink half of the 12 litres which we had managed to last time we were there! I think we have converted Stefan, and that he is likely to return there in the future.

We said our goodbyes to the group that night, as we were all leaving at different times the next morning. Again, it was quite sad for us all to be going our separate ways, but I think I can speak for everyone who took part when I say:

"It was a brilliant trip, and while the places that we visited were amazing, and the food was delicious, it was the people that we travelled with that made it an unforgettable experience".

Asti, Lake Como, Venice.

Asti is famous for it's Spumante and has a spumante fountain which flows right outside the train station. Our hotel was just across the street. We got in to Asti at about 8pm on the Wednesday night.

The next morning, we caught a bus to a nearby town, Castagnole Monferrato, where we visited a winery by the name of Luca Ferraris (which was also the name of the owner). Here, we were taken on a tour of the winery and they explained the process they use to make their wine, before we were taken to a small loungeroom and partook in some wine tasting.

After the wine tasting, we walked around the corner to what appears to be a house, but is actually a restaurant called La Miraja. We had a 4 course meal here, washed down with some of the local wine. It was an excellent meal, we had some thinly sliced cured beef with basil and cheese, pasta with a sausage and tomato sauce, beef in a gravy-type sauce with eggplant, and for dessert we had pears poached in a red-wine syrup.

We caught the local bus back to Asti after lunch, which took us on a scenic drive past beautiful trees with their leaves changing colour for autumn, past vineyards and through some small villages. The road was quite windy in some places, and at one stage Bruno piped up with what I think may have been the quote of the trip " Is this where they sometimes ride in the Tour de France?...- No, because we're in Italy!"

The next morning we caught an early train to Milan, and then another to Lake Como. Originally on the tour, we were supposed to spend a few hours in Milan before catching the train to Como. However, we took a vote several days beforehand and decided that we would skip the stop-over in Milan in order to spend a few extra hours around Lake Como. So we arrived in Como early in the afternoon and then had to catch a bus to the town that we would be staying at which was located in the middle section of the lake, called Cadenabbia.

At our hotel in Cadenabbia, we were greeted by a charming little girl who was ten going on twenty! She greeted us in English, saying "Hello, it's cold outside, no?" Before going to get her Uncle who checked us in. It was another wet day, of course, so we stayed in the hotel and had lunch. I had a lovely pasta dish with a Vodka sauce. After lunch, we decided to brave the weather, so walked to a nearby town, Lenno, where we caught a ferry to a town called Tremezzo. Here, we were going to visit a villa which was supposed to be quite nice and was where a few movies have been filmed including Ocean's Twelve (or Thirteen), and Star Wars. When we got to the gate, however, we discovered that we could only catch a taxi-boat there. A few of us decided that we didn't really want to go that badly, so started walking back. Bruno, Tracey and Carole decided to go on to the Villa.

That afternoon, after catching a ferry back to Cadenabbia, Matt, Kate, Elise and I, decided to settle in for a few drinks and play some cards back at the hotel. Elise and I taught Kate and Matt the Australian version of a game called "A***hole" and Kate and Matt taught Elise and I the US version of a game by the same name. We decided to continue playing the US version for most of the afternoon, as it was a lot simpler and was a dedicated drinking game. Mandy joined in after a few rounds and we played up until dinner time and again ate at the restaurant at the hotel. Andrea, the hotel manager, gave us some free Grappa after our dinner. It was very strong, and most of us tried to hide the fact that we hadn't drunk it by tipping in into our water glasses (I believe David may have been the only one to drink a whole glass, and he ended up drinking Elsie's too!).

The next morning we awoke to find that it was a beautiful, sunny day. We were all very relieved and excited as it would be our only whole day on Lake Como, and we were going to spend it catching the ferry from one town to the next in the middle section of the lake. We all caught the ferry to Belaggio at ten o'clock, where Mandy took us on an orientation walk of the town and gave us some ideas of where we might like to go and what we might like to do for the rest of the day.
As it was such a lovely, clear morning, Elise, Matt, Kate and I decided to catch the ferry straight back to Cadenabbia and climb up to San Martino, a little church which sits high above the town and from where there were some great views over the lake. At the top, we had a short rest, and could hear in the distance the clanking of cow bells!

We caught a ferry back to Belaggio in the early afternoon, and had an appertif at a local wine bar (which also gave us some free local meats and cheeses to try) then had lunch at a cafe there, before having a little wander around the narrow, steep streets and poking about the little boutiques. Belaggio is a very pretty town, and it has been claimed that it is the most beautiful town in Italy!
Elise and I caught a ferry over to Varenna and had some delicious home-made icecream, before taking a short walk around the town, and another ferry back to Cadenabbia, where we had dinner again at the Hotel that night. This time after dinner, Andrea gave us some Limoncello. This one actually went down a lot better than the one we had in Lucca. I think the trick is to drink it REALLY cold, and not at room temperature! The best way I can think of to describe limoncello is that it is like a little liquid lemon lolly. I have acquired a taste for it.
The next day was a Sunday, and was a little overcast, which we didn't mind too much about as it was another travel day. Disappointed though we were that we hadn't run into George (Clooney)on the street, it was time to leave Lake Como and head to Venice!

We arrived in Venice on a Sunday afternoon (the 28th of October), and after we had an hour or so to unwind, Mandy took us on an orientation of Venice. We all (well, all of us except Tracey, who was going to meet up with Phil again) caught a vaporetto (a water bus) along the Grand Canal where Mandy pointed out famous sights such as the Rialto Bridge, the Penny Guggenheim Museum, etc along the way, and we got off at Saint Mark's Cathedral and Square. At that point, it started raining, so we walked back to the hotel, under the cover of the shops, down lots of narrow streets and over many small bridges over small canals. We got back to our hotel in time for our meeting with our second tour group leader, Stefan. I should explain at this point, that the tour which Elise and I had booked, the "Essence of Italy" tour, was actually two trips joined together "La Dolci Vita" and "Umbrian Escapade". Venice was the end point for the first part of the trip and the starting point of the second part of the trip.

Elsie, David and Bruno were also continuing on with the second part of the tour, which meant that we were losing Carole, Tracey, Kate and Matt, who were all headed back home, and Mandy, who was headed to Malasia where she will be leading tours during the European winter. Stefan was a leader who was originally from Germany, and had been taking tours just this year. He admitted right from the start that this would be a "blind" tour for him, as he'd never before been to any of the places which he was going to be taking us! I felt a little sorry for him, as Mandy was going to be a really tough act to follow!

That night there were 12 of us at dinner: Mandy and the original tour group, Stefan, and Tracey's friend Phil (who we'd all met before in Rome). We went to a small restaurant which Mandy had booked. Here, I had THE BEST DISH I have had in Italy! I decided that I really should try risotto whilst in Venice as it is a Venician speciality. The only risotto on the menu was pumpkin and prawn and I really can't describe it with enough justice to let you fully appreciate how delicious it was! It was so buttery and melt-in-your- mouth and one of those dishes that you really never want to end. I savoured every mouthful.

After dinner we went to a bar for a drink. As we were leaving, we had to say goodbye to Mandy, as she was leaving Venice very early in the morning. It was very sad to say goodbye to Mandy as we'd had so much fun with her. I actually felt pretty flat the next day, and I think everyone else did too, because she had gone.

The Monday was essentially a free day, so Carole, Tracey, Matt, Kate (who were all staying in Venice for another day or so) Bruno, Elise and I, took a vaporetto early in the morning over to the island of Murano, which is famous for it's glass. Unfortunately, Monday seemed to be a public holiday of sorts, so there were some places that weren't open. We did manage to go into a few workshops though where they were holding demonstrations of their glass-making techniques.

Bruno, Elise and I caught a vaporetto back to Saint Mark's Cathedral together. At the second stop along the way, we stopped at an island which seemed to just be a cemetary, where lots of people got on and the boat became very crowded. They all got off at the next stop though, and an old Italian Lady seemed to want to take me with her, as she was talking to me in an angry tone, and started pushing me towards the exit! I managed to get out of her way before she'd pushed me off the boat. We got off at a stop just before St Mark's Cathedral, so that we could walk along the canal a little, and while we were there a huge cruise ship went past down Canal Della Guidecca. This was an amazing sight, but also a little sad, as the cruiseships are contributing to the degradation of the city.
The three of us walked past the Bridge of Sighs and then climbed up the top of the 99 metre Campanile. It was a great view over the rooftops of Venice, unfortunately, the buildings are just tall enough that most of the canals weren't visible. Elise and I then went inside the Basilica San Marco which is absolutely amazing. Inside, it is elaborately decorated with beautiful gold mosaics and marble which cover the cathedral from floor to ceiling. We then spent the afternoon wandering around the shops. At one point we went our separate ways, as Elise wanted to do some paper shopping, while I was looking at boots, but we met up again at the hotel in the evening.

That night we had our first dinner together with our "New Group". Well, actually, it was the old group minus Mandy, plus Stefan, as Tracey, Carole, Matt and Kate also came along. Stefan took us on a tour of the Jewish quarter of Venice, which is where the word "Getto" originated. Apparently, all the Jewish people of Venice were segregated into a small part of the city and their job was to cast iron cannon balls. "Getto" is the Italian word for casting. We saw the Spanish and Italian Synagogs, then headed to "Gam-Gam" for dinner, which is a kosha restaurant.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel where we had to help Matt and Kate drink a bottle of Moscato, as they had bought one bottle of wine too many in Italy, and then said our goodbyes to Kate and Matt, Carole and Tracey, as we were continuing on our own journeys the next day.

Levanto

Buon Giorno!

I have so much to write about after not blogging for a week, my head is spinning trying to remember where I have been and what I have done (but that may just be the wine I had with lunch, as opposed to the overwhelming amount of places I have to write about).

After leaving Lucca last Monday, we arrived in Levanto, a town on the Italian Riviera, just before lunch. This was a really pretty town, and our hotel was along the main street, just up the road a little from the beach. We had a short walk along the shore where Mandy pointed out a few paths that we might like to explore, before having lunch and then having the afternoon free to do as we pleased.

Elise and I went for a walk up one of the paths that Mandy had showed us, which took us up to a small castle which was locked and we couldn't go in. We walked a bit further up the hill though and got a great view over Levanto and out to the Mediterranean Sea. When we got back down to the waterfront of the town, we poked our noses in the gates of one of the four houses in Levanto owned by the family which owns Fiat (the car company). There was a beautiful garden inside the gate but, alas, the gate was locked and we couldn't go in, so I put my camera through the bars to take a photo! As we were turning back around to head back to the hotel, we were approached by an older Italian man who said something to us in Italian which we didn't understand. He said something about the gates being closed and we said "Yes". He asked us where we were from and where were we staying? He took rather a liking to Elise and started walking with us with his arm draped over her shoulder and pinching her cheek (on her face, not her bottom). Elise got a bit concerned when he tried to hold her hand. I was racking my brains as we were walking along, trying to think of a way to rescue her, but short of telling him straight out to rack-off, I couldn't think of anything. To our relief, he left us of his own accord (to go into a bar, I think).

We saw him again that evening as we sat on the promenade by the beach, watching the sunset. We avoided eye contact and hoped that he wouldn't see us, and thankfully he just walked on by. It was a beautiful sunset.
The next morning, we were relieved to find that it wasn't too cold (as it had been freezing, Mandy said it was supposed to snow in Florence the day before) and the sun was shining. In other words, it was perfect weather for walking the Cinque Terre! We caught a train to Riomaggiore which is the first town in the Cinque Terre, and the furthest from Levanto. It was an amazing village where the houses appear to be stacked on top of each other and set into the cliff. Here, we found the start of the path and walked to the second town, Manarola. This first section of path was very easy as it was sealed and relatively flat. It winds around the cliff, high above the water. We walked through a tunnel named "Lovers Lane" so called for the graffitti on the walls where couples have professed their undying love for one another (or just written so-and-so luvs so-and-so 4 eva), and the padlocks which couples have attached to the railing and thrown the keys into the sea (Mandy was concerned for the longeivity of the couples which had put combination locks on the rail).
From Manarola, we walked to Corniglia, the path this time being a little rocky and there were a couple of small inclines. When we reached the end of the path, we had to climb up 380 steps to reach the actual town and continue to the next town. Mandy left us here as she had work to do, and Carole, Tracey, David and Elsie decided to stay for a while and have a drink, so Matt, Kate, Elise, Bruno and I continued to the next town together.
The path between Corniglia and Vernazza was the longest and was again a little more challenging than the previous two paths, having a few more inclines. We were encouraged by the thought of lunch in Vernazza. Vernazza, I think, was the prettiest town of the Cinque Terre. We had lunch at a pizzeria, and were quite suprised to find that the toilet here was a porcelain tray set into the floor, with a hole in the middle, and places for your feet either side! Now, I know that these types of toilets are common in Asia, and in fact there are worse, but we were all a little suprised to see one at a restaurant!
We had a walk around the harbour after lunch, before heading on the path to the last town of the Cinque Terre- Monterosso. This path was a kilometre shorter than the previous path, however it was more challenging, as it was basically a climb for the first 1.5km, followed by a decline for the last 1.5km. I lead the way, and it was quite amusing to hear Matt swearing behind me everytime we turned a corner to find more steps!
Our reward at the end was Gelati (and of course, another nice town to look at). We met up with Tracey and Carole at the train station in Monterosso, as they had caught the train from Corniglia to Vernazza, and then the boat from Vernazza to Monterosso. There were 2 trains due to come within about 2 minutes of each other, as one had been delayed, so we all got on the first train that came along. When we arrived at the next stop, which was Levanto, Bruno, Elise and I, who had all been sitting in the one carriage got off, however, we couldn't see the others who had got on the carriage before us. We looked around the platform for them, but there was no sign of them, so we began to worry that maybe they had all fallen asleep and were on their way to Milan!

We walked back to the hotel, and it was only a few minutes after we got to our rooms that Elise and I heard Kate and Matt's voices coming up the stairs. Apparently, we had got on an intercity train which you need a special reservation for, and it is a 50 euro fine if you get caught without a valid ticket. Tracey and Carole had found this out as they got on the train (in the first class coach in front of ours) and told Kate and Matt to get off, but they couldn't find us to tell us to get off the train. Apparently, while we were worried that they might have been on their way to Milan, THEY were worried that we were facing a 150 euro fine between us, and that possibly we were being taken to a prison cell because we didn't have enough money on us! They were planning on coming to the police station to bail us out!

That night we went to another great restaurant, this one owned by friends of Mandy. Pesto is the local speciality of the region, so I had the pasta with pesto, potatoes and beans. Now, I would have thought this an unusual combination (especially the potato with the pasta), but actually it was really delicious, and was possibly my favourite dish up until a couple of nights ago.

Before we headed out to the restaurant, a couple of the others had some pre-dinner drinks at a bar where they met an old Italian local called Guiseppe. He was about 80 years old and followed us to dinner! He was unable to sit at our table though as there weren't enough spots, but he bought all the women on our table a rose each when the flower seller came around the restaurant! After dinner, a few of us went to a bar for a few more drinks (well, it was Mandy's last night in Levanto afterall), and Guiseppe followed us there as well! There, he bought us a bottle of red wine to share, and I have to say that it smelt really good (a bit like port) but it tasted really bad! In the words of Elise: "The tannins in that will suck your arsehole up through the roof of your mouth!" I really couldn't put it any better than that.

The next morning was a rainy, cold day, which we have now come to expect of our travel days. Unfortunately, we had to check out of our hotel by 10:30am, but our train didn't leave until 4:30pm. Added to this, the shops tend to shut in most towns in Italy for Siesta, which tends to be from 1pm-4pm, so we couldn't even keep warm and dry whilst checking out the shops. We had to settle for eating a warm lunch (Elise and I found a cafe where they sold a fantastic lasagne) and then having coffee at another cafe. Actually, Carole and Tracey decided that it was time for a stiffer drink, so they ordered a port each. They were a little suprised when it came out in 2 large wine glasses. They were very warm after drinking them (and quite happy too).

We caught the train from Levanto to Asti, which was a 3 and a half hour trip.

There's still so much more to tell you, but I'm going to leave you with that for the moment, and I'll blog again later.

Ciao,
Lis x.