The last post of our Italian trip! We stopped for a brief visit to San Gimignano in Tuscany (below), a medieval hilltop town which we vaguely remember visiting in the 90s. The town is very attractive but our photos didn't come out very well, somehow there was just too much contrast between the sun and the shadows in the narrow streets, so I've just posted this distant shot which Keith took instead.
Somewhere along the line we stopped somewhere where there were actually a few butterflies! This was not a holiday where we spent much time in nature - it was all about towns, villages, the coast and Roman sites.
Below, the two blues are Common Blues and the one in the middle is a Meadow Brown.
Our last stop before driving home was to Lucca, also in Tuscany. By this time I was feeling a bit grotty with the cold (which I am sure was actually Covid) that K passed on to me. I didn't bother taking any photos, so these are all K's images.
We parked just outside the old city walls and walked around inside the town. There seem to be ornate churches galore!
The church of San Michele in Foro.
A kind of tuktuk!
Church of San Giusto.
Church of Santi Giovanni e Reparata, Lucca's first cathedral.
Duomo di San Martino, the current cathedral.
Inside the Duomo di San Martino.
From ornate ceiling to ornate floor.
Somewhere round the back of the cathedral. I liked the signs of modern building works against the backdrop of historical buildings!
Finally did you know that Chat GPT can turn your photos into watercolours, oil paintings, impressionist art, whatever? I only just discovered this, and it's just as easy as using an app, if not easier. However, unless you pay a subscription, you are limited to five photo transformations per day.
They also suggested turning your photo into a vintage travel poster, which I could not resist. First I turned my picture into a watercolour, then into the poster, which I instructed to add the words 'Amalfi Coast'. I'm really pleased with the result! 😀
I think that sums up our Italian trip! But to sum up further:
The pros: very scenic, gorgeous ornate churches, amazing Roman ruins, good food.
The cons: Too many tourists, too much traffic, private beach clubs taking up nearly all the beach area, fairly basic campsites (we didn't even stay at one with a pool!).
Would we go again? Yes, but probably only as part of a trip including another country, so just in the north I think.
This September we are going back to Spain - just to Catalonia so not too much driving, good birding places and lovely sandy beaches open to all!
It was a long way back home, so we did it in stages, and stopped to visit a few places in Umbria and Tuscany. We had visited these provinces before, back in the late 90s.
Spoleto caught my eye for one very interesting reason.
No, it wasn't this fort at the top of the town.
It's what I'm standing in front of as I take a photo of the fort. It's an escalator! It goes up to several different levels in the town. Wow, now if only more towns built on hills could install something like this, I'd be a very happy bunny!
Archway with statue across the street.
The Duomo, or Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta.
We came out of the escalator at the Duomo level, but as we approached the church we were met by a lady who told us that filming was going on at the other end of the square, and that we couldn't go in that direction. We could only access the church interior, and then back to another level on the escalator, which was a bit annoying.
Anyway, the cathedral looked a bit plain upon first viewing. But then as we walked further down inside, it became clear that it is in fact an extremely ornate church!
Amazing painted ceilings.
And more...
Chapel of Sant'Anna, with frescoes dating from the late C16th, some of which have been carefully removed to uncover even older masterpieces dating back to the late C14th.
Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. I think this one is my favourite.
Back on the escalator we went up another level. I can't remember how many there were, but I think it was three.
Fontana di Piazza del Mercato (Fountain of the Market Piazza). We came out near this square and had a wander around.
Piazza del Mercato
Then up to the top level where the fort is, for amazing views out over the town and countryside. It's funny being level with the church tower.
The final access to the fort level was stairs, though I spied a lift (elevator!) saying it was only for use by the disabled. Well i considered myself an old lady with dodgy hips and knees who is perfectly entitled to use said lift, and so we did. Not that the fort was terribly exciting, it has a museum inside and we weren't interested in that.
And after that, we enjoyed taking the escalator back down, which took us to a level near to where we were parked. Perfect! 😀
Yet again I have come home with a cold, thanks to taking public transport. Just like the Italian covid cold last September, this also is a hardcore virus - it’s certainly not covid but is a very long lasting cold. Not only me, but Keith, who was totally floored. Then my brother got it, though two days in bed seemed to do him some good and he flew home yesterday. I kept telling him to change his flight but he was adamant he could cope. I wouldn’t have fancied it, especially after we waited 50 minutes in a queue at check in (and then they opened up two more desks as we got to the top of the queue, isn’t that so bloody annoying). By the way I am on day 15 and still coughing and blowing my nose occasionally and having to sit down after any burst of energy.
But, you don’t really care about that, and would much rather hear about our travels! Did we have a great time? YES! Croatia is fabulous, although it is bloody expensive. Diesel was much cheaper (thank god), restaurant prices were slightly higher than France, but the campsites were really, really expensive. So were entrance tickets to various places, and many churches charge to enter (so we didn’t). Food was good, though the portion sizes are ENORMOUS! I don’t know what that is about! Ok for K and my brother who have huge appetites, but a bit much for me. On the downside though, nearly every restaurant had pretty much the same thing, which was a bit boring - though at least there was a large choice of seafood, meat, pasta, salads etc.
The towns and cities we visited were for the most part lovely, though Dubrovnik was a disappointment. I couldn’t do the city walls and after the long walk from the bus stop downhill and including a number of steps, there is only a relatively small area that is flat. It’s a city more suited to fit people! There were loads of tourists of course, with cruise ships moored around the city, and lots of tourist shops with typical tat.
Going into Bosnia &H was fun. We had to get out of the van at the border to do the eyeball scan and fingerprint scan things, and we got stamps in our passports. Didn’t get any when leaving though, and Malc who has already done the scan things coming in from the UK, didn’t get a stamp at all, which was a disappointment. Anyway, Mostar was one of my favourite places. Loved all the old bits, and the modern town around peppered with unrenovated shell and bullet damaged buildings from the 90s war was an eye opener. I found it all so hard to imagine, how only 30 years ago war ravaged through these beautiful lands with their fantastic historical cities, yet now it’s all modern, tourist orientated and with typical Mediterranean seaside vibe.
We also loved Split and Trogir, and had a lovely time on Rab Island where I even managed to brave the cool water for a dip. Twice! But then I was coming down with the cold from hell. We also enjoyed the island hopping on ferries.
We were planning to visit Lake Bled in Slovenia at the end but the weather was forecast for rain and 14C, so we decided to go on from Rab to Krk Island for a couple of days instead, which was much warmer! So we’ll do Lake Bled some time in the future.
The three day journey home was tough though, especially for K who is the driver and was feeling rough.
I bought loads of fridge magnets and other bits and bobs. I forgot to include in the photo the pumpkin seed oil I bought at Piran in Slovenia, part of the small coastline the country has, and I’ve just remembered the Delft plate I bought at a flea market which is still in the van. K also bought an insulated water bottle covered in a Mostar print, with all the minarets etc. Oh and the Croatia T-shirt I bought!
The beach towel has a map of Croatia on it as well. It's the first new beach towel I have bought since the 80s - goes to show how few beach type holidays we have these days. But as there are three of us, and one of our towels has holes in it, it was a good excuse!
I do love looking at and occasionally buying jewellery and the bracelet on top is supposed to be Murano glass from Venice (probably a knock off, after all we saw loads of 'designer' handbags 😂) and the one below is blue coral from the Adriatic. How ethical this is I have no idea, I wouldn't want to be be aiding ruining the Adriatic's coral beds. But a bit late now as I have already bought it.
Now we are back and I am battling the enormous pile of laundry (which includes housesitter bedding and towels, M’s bedding and towels, and our Moho and tent bedding and towels. Haven’t even got to that little lot yet!😱
The garden needs a good water as there was a crazy heatwave in May with high temps, and now the same is happening and it’s hard enough keeping up with watering all the pots. The plants look lovely though, and my tomatoes are going crazy and look so healthy. The only problem is that my housesitter doesn’t know about removing side shoots (I thought it was too much to ask) so they are now multi branched and have swamped the poor chillies. I did remove loads of side shoots when we got home, but you can’t take off all the huge side shoots which have tomatoes forming on them, so I will just try to keep on top of the jungle. I have harvested the first two large courgettes, which was exciting! 😄
Ignore the weeds in the gravel, that's another job I need to get on top of. 😱 Also the bark was put down in the gaps to keep the cats off the soil! I had a grill mesh over the area to start with, but obviously plants grow. I had very poor germination of spring onions and something sap sucking ate the rocket, but it is just starting to come back to life again.
The lettuce stuff is a mesclun mix, i.e cut and come again lettuces and endives which are a bit past that stage now. I pulled out those that had completely bolted! There's plenty of dill to harvest plus it is flowering, which I love. I just hope some Swallowtail butterflies will lay eggs on them so I will have my favourite caterpillars to talk to. 😀 Also the coriander on the right is flowering, which is great as I want to save seed as there wasn't a lot of seed in the packet.
One courgette plant is far more sensible than two so I shouldn't end up with far too many! We have already had courgette and bacon fritters which were delicious.
Blogging friends, in time I will pop around to visit your blogs and say hello, in between the many things I need to do now I have a bit more energy, for example after six days most of my clothes are still in the Moho. Garden takes precedence!
