Dowd adventures in Bologna

giovedì 14 agosto 2014

Puglia, San Cesario di Lecce

So we travelled by car to Puglia, which is the longest region in Italy, down the south. It takes about 8 hours from Bologna to reach Lecce, which lies in the southern end of Puglia. So we stopped over half way at Vasto in Abruzzo, it is one of the last towns along the coast before it becomes rather flat into Puglia. We stayed at the Sporting Hotel, which was an odd name, and as it happened an odd hotel, Antonio suggested it to us, and it was very comfortable and in a good location, surrounded by paddocks only a few hundred metres from the beach. But its what lay inside that amused me. We arrived around 6 pm, after shocking traffic, and lots of roadhouse stops, everyone needs to go to the toilet at different times. So the boys had a swim in the pool while Jayne and l had a drink, a young girl took a liking to the boys and kept looking at them, l suggested to Ewan to ask if she wanted to play with them, and when he asked her, she said NO, he looked back at me, as if to say well l tried.
So then we came down to the dining room for dinner, as we thought it would be easier to eat there and get an early night. And this is where it begins, we sat down in a Faulty Towers dining area, to be served by Manuele style characters, waiter one had come up with the strong belief , that to be a good waiter you must keep one hand behind your back as long as possible, waiter two who did not serve us, was rather uncertain of if he needed to be there and if he was infact there.
So allow me to introduce the other tables, and this was also odd, as each table had a number like 44, but there were only 12 tables. So lets just say table 1 had a German family, this we knew by the socks and sandals, the wife had been badly beaten with an ugly stick, as had her eldest daughter, in fact the same stick. The father drank his beer, and they had their bottle of white wine, that they had for the week they were there, and drank accordingly so it would last the week. I felt that all these people came here each year for a week or two. Table 2 had two elderly ladies , one who reminded me of Jaynes mother, table 3, another elderly couple with their son who was about 35, the question was why was he there with his parents at 35. Table 4, the young girl at the pool with her grand parents, table 5, where parents with a single young son about 14, who had his large bottle of fanta, unlike the Germans we found out, had no desire to make it last the week, and a large bottle of coke soon appeared on the table. But it was this table that concerned me the most, as the boy ate with a unique style. Now l will admit some kids eat badly, and only use a fork, and that in some way can be forgiven, but this child only ate with a knife. He stabbed at the food picking it up with a knife and eating it as if some medieval movie of a king and a chicken. Even Hunter commented in shock when he saw. So as the night went by and our seemingly one handed waiter took firstly our primo orders, then went back around the table to take the secondo. He then brought the meals back to the wrong people, so the painstaking ordering seemed to be a waste of time, but he did keep his hand behind his back, when he went to take the plates away we all hoped he would then put his hand with the plates behind his back, and that would have made the night, but no.
So we finished up being the last to leave, and though l felt the meal was rather expensive the entertainment was priceless.
We slept well, and left after a simple breakfast, driving on to meet Mike and Kate Frayne and their family at San Cesario di Lecce.
We arrived about 2 pm, after more traffic, and an accident on the motorway, we were stationary, and the car behind was hit by the car behind it and it then hit us, not much real damage, but we had to stop, chat and decide what to do, the person who caused the accident, decided to drive off after a few minutes and we then decided it was not worth the insurance and so left the poor people with damage to the front and back of their car. Thankfully l had taken photos of the cars and of the plate and insurance details of the car that caused it, and l sent them by email to the damaged car owners. There was another traffic jam the day before, so bad we were stuck for over an hour, so everyone got out of the cars, chatted, smoked, and our boys decided to play soccer on the highway, much to the joy of everyone else.
So we arrived in San Cesario, a shitty looking town, and l must say l was rather concerned, thinking the photos they sent us of the house may have been doctored, but as we drove through the gates from the Beruit style town, we were happily relieved. We stayed at a wonderful villa with over an acre of perfect garden, a 20x8 metre pool, and the house was a perfect example of stylish villa design in the region. It was a horizontally stripped in ochre and red, and the inside was very elaborate and stately .
Mike and Kate arrived a couple of hours later, with Charlie 4, Lulu 6, Mimi 8, Madelaine 9, and Myrna their housekeeper, who is from the Phillipines. And so started a great 2 week holiday in Puglia.
During the next two weeks we spent days, or half days at the beaches, you have two options, either the east (Adriatic Sea) or the west (Bay of Taranto) On the east is the town of Ortanto which is a beautiful seaside town with a wonderful church with a whole floor of mosaics, and underneath in a small chapel, crypt space are some great frescoes, both reminding me of Offida, and Ravenna. So well worth seeing that, otherwise it is a town to walk through the thin streets in the walled section, and eat at one of the many restaurants. Outside the wall are more modern restaurants and activities for families, like volleyball, beach, swimming, amusement section. You could easily spend a few days at this town, we went to beaches near by which were great , though most were very crowded in July, August.
On the west coast is the town of Gallipoli, which is also very beautiful, you reach the old part by a 14th century bridge, and then walk around the town, which is very seafood based, there are great restaurants here, we ate at one called Il Bastiogne. The town is more to visit for food, and the views from the small island are great at sunset, outside the island is rather average and not worth worrying about. Around Gallipoli we also went to some beaches, and a water fun park.
Then there is the town of Lecce, which lies in the middle, it is also walled, and typically is wonderful inside, but also not to bad outside, though it has spilled out and is surrounded by a hugh ring road, which makes it annoying sometimes getting of and on at the right place. Lecce is great at night, and also has probably more substantial and high standard restaurants, it has a main piazza, which has an old amphitheatre in it, there is also an older one just around from the piazza as well, both hold events and performances in them. Lecce is a great place to have a late evening walk around.
Puglia is a place of two sides, there are the wonderful towns of Lecce, Gallioploi, Ortanto, Ostuni, Alberobello, and in between are car drives of 30-45 minutes, and what lies in between can be worn down and neglected or failed buildings, and towns that seem closed. There are of course wonderful little towns but you need to spend the time in them to see that, Cavallino was an example just near us in San Cesario, and even Jayne said after walking around San Cesario , it grew on her and was quite nice. But you can't help feel that the place is in disrepair, something you don't see as much up North. They have a habit of dropping rubbish along the roads or in abandoned blocks, but the people are very nice and the food is of course very good, though you need to be slightly selective.
I had a feeling of Australia there, as there are many gum trees, but also the local italians remind me more of the Australian ones, they carry their eskies to the beach, use towels and small chairs instead of the lidos you see more up north, they have them but they are more for the tourists.
I would also say that down in the deeper south of Puglia where we were it is drier, flatter, and an hour north towards and past Ostuni it becomes hillier and greener. There are olive groves everywhere, with a stone trulli amongst them, often collapsed, and along the road a well made stone walls, that l felt may be there to keep stock in in the non olive months, the soil in the deep south looks average but it works and further north it becomes redder.
Most of the beaches are sand, but there are plenty that are rock coves. All the beaches are thin strips of sand with small lidos on them, along with the occasional bar setup, which is something l really like, as it makes going to the beach comfortable, you can get a lunch, coffee, beer, ice-cream, and usually a toilet and shower.
What Puglia is , is another region with its own foods and wine, and cultural experiences, and this is what makes Italy so terrific, the opportunity to travel in a reasonably short distance and explore a new world.
So the two weeks went well, all the kids got along well, and l guess Mimi and Ewan bonded, as they are both the quieter and softer in the families, and Hunter and Maddy sort of bonded as they are more individual and self interested. The boys loved Charlie who was a lot of fun and never complained, and l think liked being around the boys. Mike has a strong sense of food, and so often when arriving somewhere he would suggest we find somewhere to eat straight away, which became a bit of a joke sometimes, Kate and Jayne found time to relax and read, and l did a few things but not much.
We all left together and drove via Alberobello, where we saw a whole village of trulli stone buildings, infact so many it was a bit like a fairy town, especially with so many tourists, nearly every building sold tourist objects, but it is well worth seeing, as they are obviously very unique to Puglia.
We continued on and stayed the night at Chieti, in Abruzzo, which is a very old city set up on a hill. We stayed down below in a handy apartment and had dinner in a spanish restaurant in Chieti that night, we were the only customers, everyone had gone away to the beach. Chieti lies near Ortana and Pescara. From there we drove to Ripatransone, where Wendy Watson and Ted are staying for 6 weeks soon. It was a beautiful small town in the hills not far from the beaches, and close to Offida which is a place l love for its church and frescoes. It is also close to Ascoli Piceno where we stayed for a few days last year, and is famous for its towers, though like most places now its hard to find them. Ripatransone has the two thinnest lanes in Italy, 60 and 80 cm wide, and an interesting if not small archaeological museum, and some lovely small piazzas, with also great views over the countryside.
We arrived home safely, did our washing, and got ready to leave to Alicante, Spain in 2 days, but first we had to pick up our permessos, finally after 3 months.

giovedì 10 luglio 2014

Paris Rob Mirams wedding celebration

Jayne and l were invited to Rob Miram and his wife Maite's celebration of their wedding in Australia recently, on a boat trip on the Seine, Paris. We arrived friday evening, after leaving the boys with Antonio and his family at their summer house in Rasiglio.
Antonio met us at our apartment , he was going to use our car while we were away. So to get used to it, he drove to the airport, this did not put me in a comfortable feeling, as Antonio drives very very slow, and is always turning his head to talk, never seemed to turn to watch the traffic, just slowly poked out and presumed they would stop as he talked. But we made it, even the boys noticed his driving, and looked at us, “what are you doing to us“!!!
We entered the airport, wondering if we were going to be allowed on the flight, as our permesso's had expired two months ago , and we have been waiting for the new ones. This has meant we are not allowed to leave Italy, unless to Australia. Thankfully we were flying with Easy-jet, and they seem much easier than Ryanair, who we had an issue with to Malta. So we bordered the flight, after spending an hour watching one of the world cup matches (France/Germany) on the tv at the airport cafe, along with hundreds of others. I think people deliberately got out to the airport early to watch it.
We arrived in Paris, taxi to Stefane's apartment, as he was letting us stay there, he stayed with his girlfriend Melanie. I then shot of to meet Rob and James Fennessey, and a couple of other guys, finally getting to the restaurant after many phone calls with James, l found out it was not just a few guys but about 20 people, of all shapes sizes, sex and colour. Anyway at 1pm l came home, after travelling back by taxi, l noticed dozens of people, family's sleeping on the streets of Paris, quite sad.
Saturday was the day of the party, Jayne and l had travelled the week before to an outlet near Florence to get some snappy cloths for the party, so we caught up with James and Sue, and another wonderful couple Craig and Annik, who live in Demoyne, Iowa, Annik is from France. So we had lunch, looked in a few shops, and then got back to the apartment for an hour snooze before the 7.30 party.
We ended up getting the subway to the party , as there was an African festival on where the taxi rank was, it was a huge festival that went on all day and well into the evening. The metro in Paris is l think wonderful, though you can end up doing a lot of walking, which is not great with Jaynes leg, and in a long dress. But we made it, running a bit late which is never good with a boat, as we came out of the subway, the next trick was to find the right boat, after 10 minutes we were back on track and arrived looking wonderful. Thankfully the weather was perfect, a cool breeze, sometimes a bit extreme, but no rain, as it had rained early that day, and ended up raining for the next couple of days. There were about 60 people, friends of Robs from Fosters days and Nick Anthony from Puckett, James and Sue , and Annik and Craig from the USA. A few relatives, and of course friends of Maite's.
It was a great cruise, along the Seine, seeing things from a different point of view, seeing the Eiffel tower of course gives you that feeling of place, we had drinks on the top open deck, and dancing, magic show down stairs. It was a great night, the food was average, but that happens on these things, met some interesting people, and some not. Ended up all dancing even Jayne, l went on a wild tour of my own unique l gather dancing style, which was commented on that evening and the next day. (The strange thing is , last night we had some music on in the apartment here and Hunter dances just like me!?)
We got home after 1am, and slept well. The next day we decided to go to D'Orsay, but the line went on for miles in the rain, so we met up with the folks from the USA and headed of to a cafe where Rob, Maite,Nick and a few others where having lunch. Typical Parisian cafe, apparently used in movies, so we stayed there ate, drank, and then moved on to some shopping and another bar to watch the Wimbledon final. After that we did a bit of shopping in the sale shops, and headed to a dinner reservation we had at a restaurant called L'Rounda, which was terrific. That was a 5 bottle of wine night, after all the drinks and food during the day, l was spent, and happy to collapse into bed.
Monday, the others left, and that allowed Jayne and l to visit some galleries, but most were closed, so we ended up in the Tokyo museum, which is very alternative, performance art, and that ain't easy after a big weekend. So we spent more time travelling on the subway and walking. Later we ended up at Stefane's new office, and had drinks and dinner with him and Melanie. Getting to bed early and tired.
Tue morning we woke, cleaned up the apartment, and left to the airport, only to be hassled by Easy-jet about carry on, the fact we had small bags, much smaller than others but another item to carry, handbag and suit carry, we had to somehow squash them in out bags to get on, and as soon as on, l pulled them out and out them comfortably in the overhead locker.
We arrived in Bologna at 1pm, with Antonio and the boys waiting for us, Antonio allowed me to drive home, much to the boys happiness.

lunedì 9 giugno 2014

Malta

Finally we got to Malta, l have been wanting to get there for sometime, as they have two Caravaggio's, 365 churches, the oldest free standing manmade structures in the world ( older than the pyramids of Giza) the beach from Blue Lagoon. What l did not realise that they had was lots of traffic, cheap, but slow bus's, cheap and not always great food, were part of the commonwealth, and so drive on the left side, and full of English people.
A family (Pesce's) who went to the International school moved there a year ago, to escape the 70% tax they paid in Italy to the 5% they pay in Malta. The boys go to a very good school, which is larger than the one in Bologna, and they seem to have a great life, as there are lots of good beaches there, and their English has improved. The Maltese, and l must check if Maltese's came from there, as they were selling them like crazy at the airport. But as l was about the say, the Maltese people speak a dialect partly Italian, Arabic, Spanish and English, swinging from words to words in each language, their English is not always clear, and l would have to say their customer service can be rather average, but it is the most populated place on earth. On the looks, there ain't much to sing about, 5% are absolute stunners, and the rest have been hit with the ugly stick, sorry for being so politically incorrect, but you need to know, the men seemed to me to be all ugly. And sprinkled in the population are expats from England, Sweden, Italy , etc. The English live in Malta for the winters, as it is cheaper to do that than pay the electricity bills for heating in England. Every meal is served with chips, and beer is the drink to have, the main dish is rabbit and you don't need to dress up, like in Italy, which might add to the ugliness.
Now the main town is Valetta, where you can see the Caravaggio's in the main cathedral, which is a showcase in itself, you can spend more than 2 hours there, as we did. The town is an old walled fortification, and is full of history. They have done a good job bringing the standard back. And this is where you get the bus's that travel around the island from, it's only 1.50 euro for a ticket for the day, but they are slow because of the traffic, and the way you buy your tickets on the bus, but no one seems to mind. Some people travelled with prams, don't! The other way to travel is from Siema which is about 5 km out of Valetta, about 20 minutes on the bus where you catch ferries to Sicily, Gozo, the other island and tours around the island.
Mdina is the original capital, and is a beautiful sandstone town, very quite, and peaceful, worth going to and having lunch, with views over the island. Saint Julians, is a very popular place with tourists, about 40 minutes from Valetta, and has some good restaurants and a gelateria, from Bologna. But a bit crowded l felt, we stayed in the middle of Sliema and St Julians, Ballutta Bay and found it perfect there, a great bar restaurant called U Bistro.
One day we caught the bus to the top of the island where we caught a ferry (40 min) across to Gozo Island where there is another church or two, and the main town of Victoria. On Gozo are two main temple sites, Ggantija and Xagmra. These are incredible as are Tarxium on the main island along with Hypogeum which unfortunately we could not see because they only allow 80 people a day, so make sure you book. This temple is underground and is meant to be quite exceptional, the others have a circular shape to them, circles joining each other, with marks in the stone of design and where doors would hang from. Around them lie on the ground small round boulders which they believe they used to move the large slabs that stand about in the circles as walls, they believe they had roofs of stone or wood, and would have been quite cool in the heat, as they had earth around them. The archaeological museum in Valetta has some of the original design stones, of circular swirls, and these roundish fat women, similar to Henry Moore sculptures, in fact l feel he may have seen these.
Gozo has some great beaches one being the Blue Lagoon, that sits off it on a small island. But the place to go is the beaches towards or at the top of Malta, Ghadira Bay (Baia Beach Club), Ramla Bay, Xemxija Bay, Paradise Bay.
When l go back, l would fly into Malta airport, get a hire car, and drive north to the top, and stay at one of the hotels there and do day trips to these beach's, and do the occasional day trip to Valetta or the temples, by bus mostly. And a trip across to Gozo, where you can take the car on the ferry if you want.
So a place that most people would not think of going to, or know where it is, it lies below Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. It's a great holiday place, just accept the english food, the slow bus's, the occasional bad service, and ugly faces, and you'll have a great time, and remember it's cheap.

martedì 20 maggio 2014

Lake Garda, Cola di Lazise, Mantova, Borghetto Valeggio sul Mincio

It's a hell of a headline, but these towns in the Veneto region near Lake Garda are true gems in Italy. Now we have been to lake Garda a couple of times, always having a great time at friends who have a place on the west side of the lake, but these places are on the east side and south.
The boys got a long long weekend and so we decided like most Italians to go somewhere, with the weather not looking great all over Italy we decided for a terme, which is fine in the cold or rain, and Antonio had been to this one the week before and said it was very good. So Jayne found a apartment near by, infact we found out only 600 metres, called Corte San Carlo, which was run by Margot who was most helpful. We arrived in Cola around 5pm and went to visit the terme , just to check it out, we then decided to go back , pack a dinner and visit the terme for a few hours. For we noticed many Italians walking in and out with eskies and bags of food and drink. The terme which is Parco Termale del Garda, is huge, imagine the botanical gardens main pond, double it and make it a metre deep full of warm water with two large pools in it with hot 37 degree water, connected is a cave to hide in, and bridges. Alongside is perfect lawn with lounge chairs and picnic tables and chairs, dotted all over. A large art deco style pavilion that also has lounge chairs in it, if it rains and a restaurant, bar and change area. The restaurant we did not know about, but its better to bring your own food, one odd looking family, set themselves up at two tables in the bar, right in-front of the tv, to watch a soccer match, and set up their dinner from the baskets, along with bottles of wine, not to feel shameful, they ordered a bowl of salad from the bar, which all seemed fine with the staff. They finished their meal and desert, the match was over and they left. Meanwhile others were floating in the terme pool, there where couples cuddling in the darkness of the water as the light faded, there are signs saying don't get to amourous, which brought great sadness to Jaynes face, l guess the couples in the pool, could not read Italian.
The boys of course loved it, and splashed and swam their way about, always visiting the cave which had a waterfall over the mouth, or sitting under the large showers that poured warm water into the pool. And when they began to cool, they would pop into the smaller ponds inside the pool and warm up in 37 degrees.
So we left back to the apartment around 10.30, it closes around 12-1 pm. And slept very well in our lovely apartment. The next morning Ewan went down to the entry office area, and got some muffins and coffee from the espresso machine for breaky, an act he performed every morning, much to the delight of Margot the owner. That day was not so good, it rained on and off all day, fortunetely we went to the terme the night before. So that day we went to Mantova, a near by town, steeped in history, and surrounded by three large lakes, that were man made back in the 12th centuary. A very impressive town with two main palazzos, Ducale and Te, we only got to Ducale, which has 500 rooms, full of art, taperstries and frescoes. The main food in the town seems to be dry pastry with nuts and you drink it with Lambrusco. We went to Palazzo Te, but got there at closing, so we will return there another day, as it also is well worth seeing apparently.
That night we did not have dinner, as we had a late lunch and were very tired.
The next day was much the same, but began well, so we headed to the theme park, called Gardaland, like Tivoli in Copenhagen but not as good, but not bad, and reasonably well organized. We saw some great musical, magic light shows, a 4d short of Ice Age, with the chairs in the cinema rocking about, and water spraying. Hunter was as usual keen to go on the frightening rides, and so the first thing we did, and when l say we l mean Hunter and l, it was called Raptor. The line took 20 minutes, and that did not help me, as l waited in the line surrounded by cyclone fencing and the screams of the ride above us. So we sat in the machine, and it slowly cranked up a long and steep hill, l waved nervously to Jayne and Ewan, and then it just fell over the edge and twisted and turned, it was a short ride, but that first drop was not enjoyable, Hunter even agreed, but we both are glad we did it, especially first. The rest of the day was more rides on water craft, trains, most Jayne did not do, as she said her leg was hurting, l wish l had a sore leg!
The boys of course where attracted to the games, of basketball, and throwing at plates, as the large stuffed toys as prizes where too much to ignore. we left with no stuff toy, and lots of money missing. It rained on and off in the afternoon, but over all it was well worth the trip, and it is well visited, the only bad thing, is the wait for the rides. We left just before a thunderstorm.
That night we had a perfect meal at a osteria ( Dal Pansa) 200 metres from the apartment, family run, cheap prices and lovely honest meals, l think we were the only non locals there, and they seemed surprised that the boys ate so well, and such exotic meals.
The next day, Sunday, we went to a Borghetto, which is a small walled hamlet style fortress, usually on hills, more common in the south. Nocars enter the place, and this one was full of restaurants, bars etc, ans surrounded by a market stalls. A river runs through it, and it is most pleasant and beautiful, though highly visited by locals and tourists. Its called Borghetto Valeggio sul Mincio, and is aabout 20 minutes from Cola where we were staying.
We had a great lunch at Lo Strappo, which sits on the river that runs by and powers an old mill. From there we walked around and then left to return to Bologna.