Tuscany to Lake Como

Our last couple of days in Tuscany were spent trying to avoid the heat, wandering through beautiful towns and villages, eating the local food and drinking the local wine. Generally this has been what we have done the whole trip.

We headed south to Sienna, Montalcino, Montepulciano and Pienza. 

On Sunday, we packed up from our lovely Tuscan villa, headed north to Lake Como, and our hotel in Cadenabbia, about 30k up the lake from Como. We have a wonderful view from our window.

On Monday we woke to clouds and a very wet and stormy day. We caught the ferry to Como, walked up a very steep hill, to a great view of the lake and Como.

Back in our local village we found a bar that Clare instantly loved.

Aaaaah Tuscany

Broph and Clare left Nice on Sunday morning, and had a beautiful drive around the coast to Monte Carlo. The scenes were amazing.

After some hairy driving along the tollways through tunnels and across viaducts, we eventually found our way to Villa San Andrea. It is a very large property about 20km south of Florence, not far from the Florence - Sienna road. They produce wine, olive oil and some grains, as well as have many apartments in 4 different buildings spread around the property. It is owned by people who live in the Dominican Republic, originally Italian.

Again we have driven skinny windy roads to find amazing villages, castles and forts on top of hills. On Sunday evening we ate dinner at a beautiful restaurant in a very small village called Badia a Passignano.

On Monday we headed to the market at San Casciano for food supplies. Sadly not everything we need is available at the market so we had to go into the local supermarket. 

Since then we have managed to become lost a few times, but always end up somewhere beautiful. On Wednesday we lunched at a fort on top of a hill. Monteriggiano successfully defended Sienna for 3 centuries. It is now a little tourist town, leather, shoes, clothes and restaurants fill the square.

We indulged in the wine tasting offered here at Villa San Andrea. It was really interesting, discussing the making of the chianti, visiting the cellars full of different size oak barrels, and then of course the tasting. Broph was in his element.

We also went to a pasta making class, lots of fun making ravioli, tortellini and pici (a thicker spaghetti). Clare's tortellini performance was not good, but she excelled at the pici. Wilma was a great teacher. She then sent us all outside to tables with some wine and water while she cooked our pasta, using a butter and sage sauce for the filled pasta, and a fresh tomato sauce for the pici. Clare and Broph are inspired but feel certain they will need plenty of practice to get it right.

On Thursday, Broph and Clare negotiated the local buses to have a day in Florence. It is a very beautiful city, we enjoyed wandering around and then managed to spend plenty on leather. We were entranced by the architecture and the leather market.

A week in Provence

From our location we again found many skinny winding roads to drive along and many cute villages to visit. We went to a market in Bedouin, love that experience, all the wonderful people and food. 

Avignon is beautiful and very exciting with an arts festival on. There are a huge number of plays and shows, and even more happening on the streets with advertising and fringe events.

We went to Villeneuve D'Avignon, Sault, Auzon, Venasque, Banon, Focalquier, L'Isle sur le Sorgues, Malacaune, Vaison la Romaine, Orange and drove through many more. All have great history, wars, kings and queens, the church all involved. 

We had picnics and we ate in restaurants, we drank water, beer and too much wine.

It came to an end when we left Steph at the train station in Avignon to head to Paris and the start of her trip without her parents, and Broph and Clare drove to Nice for a most enjoyable swim and a slap up expensive seafood dinner.

Le Tour et Mont Ventoux

What a great event. Le Tour is chock full of people, cars, vans, trucks, motor homes, cyclists, walkers, the "caravan" and of course the actual tour contenders.

Our first day in Provence was an early start with a drive to part way up Mont Ventoux then a walk up to the top, 1912m. The road is full of motor homes and people who have arrived in previous days, before the road is closed.

The caravan comes through before the cyclists. It consists of the major sponsors in decorated cars, trucks, microphones and music throwing out freebies to the spectators. 

Then the cyclists, finally.

We had set ourselves up at about 3km from the finish. Clare took photos of most as they came through, including the 2 leaders before Froome broke away, some of the Orica Edge team, and of course the Schlecks and Cadel.

After the cyclists went through, people who were leaving started heading back down to their cars. We knew it was going to be a slow trip home, but after the hour walk back to the car, the traffic was at a standstill, unfortunately someone further down had had a heart attack, so we waited for a further 2 hours before starting the drive back. Dinner on the way home meant a very long day out, but something we are all glad we experienced.

Last Days Bordeaux

"Thursday was a long drive to Archeron to see a very large sand dune. And it was very tall and very long. Broph, Clare and Steph managed the walk all the way up and all the way down to have a swim.

Dave walked up, then back down to the car, to save himself for later.

On Saturday we said our au revoir to Jean Louis and Nola, and then to David when we dropped him at Bordeaux station for his journey back to England.

We then hit the tollways for the drive to our next villa near Carpentras in Provence. We stopped in Carcassonne for a look at the medieval town. 

We arrived in Carpentras late in the afternoon.

Chateau La Gontrie

,What a week we are having. We have been driving all over the Bordeaux region and relishing being able to relax in our own space.

We are staying at Chateau La Gontrie, a winery in the Cadillac Cotes de Bordeaux area. The property is beautiful from the villas to the hectares of vines, from the refreshing pool to sitting under the magnolia tree, and of course our lovely hosts Jean Louis and Nola. Not to forget Safi, the dog who greets us in the mornings when we open the shutters and sits with us hoping for forbidden treats.

http://www.chateaulagontrie.net/

Le Magnolia is our spacious, old, comfortable home this week. 

It has everything we need and we are loving the tranquility. 

We arrived on Saturday evening, and we were met by our hosts who welcomed us, showed us the cottage, then Jean Louis gave a run down of the area, some history and what we should aim to see during our stay. He has a great knowledge of the area and we enjoyed the stories.

Sunday we spent in Bordeaux, wandering the streets. It is a beautiful city on the Garonne River. We had a picnic lunch in one of the squares, where we could find a little shade, the weather has been very warm. We found another bell tower to climb, those stairs are good for us, and the view was worth every step up.

We picked up Clare's brother David at the train station in the evening. He has joined us for a few days, tearing himself away from his beautiful granddaughter, and of course her parents. He is spending a few weeks in Surrey visiting them.

Since then we have visited villages and towns, driving skinny windy streets, looking at castles, churches, hectares of vines and of course, the local food. Boulangeries are our favourite, followed closely by fromageries. The local breads and cheeses are really really good. 

A highlight was the wine tasting here at Chateau La Gontrie. Jean Louis again showed good story telling skills and also wine knowledge. He talked about the local region, the vines, the grapes, when to pick, and making the wine. He taught us how to swirl and taste and spit. He makes a dry white, a rose, a red and a sweet white. All very enjoyable. We are all amazed by the amount of work he would have during the year with his one employee.

Another highlight was the market at Creon on Wednesday morning. Clare, Broph, Steph and David wandered around checking all the fresh fruit and veg, cheese, fresh pasta, home made sausages, fish, bread, cakes, as well as wonderful kitchen gadgets (Clare was stuck there for a while), clothes, bags and shoes. We bought plenty to stock the fridge for our meals. We are really enjoying having picnic lunches and cooking our evening meals.

Arriving in France, a day in Lyon

Thursday started with Broph and Clare checking out of the lovely Rocca Civalieri to start the drive to France. We picked up Steph at the station in Turin, the navigation there was easy, it was the parking that was hard. The Italians know how to park their cars in all sorts of small spaces.
Then began the long drive through the beautiful Alps, many tunnels including the Mont Blanc 11km tunnel. We stopped for lunch in a small town called Cluses, and discovered a large stage had been erected for a music festival. It must be the time for music festivals in Europe.

A beautiful lunch salad.

Then onto Lyon where we checked into a hotel in the old town, after losing ourselves in peak hour traffic and going in circles for a while. They do love one way streets.

Lyon is a beautiful French city, with a huge Basilica, Notre Dame, on top of a hill and a large cathedral, St Jean Baptiste, near the river. It has two large rivers, the Saone and the Rhone, and the 2 rivers meet in the town. Amazing. 

There are also some amazing Roman ruins, ampitheatres, which are currently being set up for a music festival. Would have loved to see some of the acts, including Diana Krall and Nick Cave.

Below is the view from our hotel room.

We have again eaten well, but it is hard to find vegetarian meals in a very meat centric country. Steph may be eating a lot of salads over the next few months.

Saturday, we again embarked on a long drive across France to Chateau La Gontrie near Bordeaux. We had a lovely picnic lunch on the way, great local bread, cheese, tomato, spinach and of course some wine. Steph took the helm for the last couple of hundred km. It was her first time on the other side of the car, on the other side of the road, with the gear stick on the right. She did a fantastic job.

We arrived in the early evening to a warm welcome from Jean Louis and Nola. 

Rolling hills, wine and food

"Piedmont has done nothing to decrease our food and wine intake. Unfortunately there has been a lot less walking this week. Broph has done an excellent job driving and Clare has taken on the reigns as navigator, using maps of course. It should be mentioned the car is a manual, which means changing gears with the right hand. There have only been a couple of stalls.

Tuesday was spent driving around the Monferrato area (thanks to a recommendation from Luca here at the hotel), beautiful rolling hills with not only vines but also other farming. We found the small town of Conzano, from which many people emigrated to Queensland.

Our drive took us past a few Chardonnay vines, which leads to our beautiful dinner in Asti. Clare started with a local sparkling, Asti Spumante, of course. We are not sure what we were served in the 70s, but this sparkling was very different and very drinkable. The food was all local, as was the wine and the owner was keen to share his knowledge and ensure we ate too much.

On our last day we headed off to Barolo, home of a famous Italian grape. There is going to be a music festival there this weekend, so the small village was a hive of activity with marquees, a huge stage and trucks and vans everywhere. No chance to enjoy the village, so we headed back to Alba for pizza and a red for dinner.

We will be sad to leave this area tomorrow, but heading for more adventures in France after picking up Steph in Turin.

Piedmont

We arrived back in Milan and headed out to Malpensa airport to collect our Peugeot and continue to Relais Rocca Civalieri our lodgings for our 5 days in Piedmont. Somehow we'd left GPS off our list for our new Peugeot so using more traditional means we successfully navigated the Italian roads and arrived in Quattordio late Saturday afternoon. Dinner in-house our first night in Rocca Civalieri's gourmet restaurant. On our new best friend Ciro's (the head waiter) recommendation we enjoyed the first of two degustation style menus featuring samples of the local cuisine with a slight Asian influence. One highlight was the noodles with green vegetables in a simple butter sauce. Ciro ensured we had a good bottle of the local Barbera to accompany our meal.

Sunday we headed to the town of Alba and did the usual tourist wandering into some beautiful old churches. From there we headed to the wine village of La Morra (Nat's recommendation) perched high in the hills overlooking the surrounding vineyards.

La Morra is a beautiful northern Italian village with wonderful views across the amazing expanse of vineyards that make this are famous. We lunched on local cheese and cold meats with a glass of Borolo. From La Morra we headed into Asti and walked around on a very quiet Sunday afternoon, sitting in briefly on a baptism at the cathedral.

Sunday night Ciro recommended a ma & pa trattoria just out of Asti - La Greppia. Beautiful home made local food. Broph had the Gnocci, Clare the Scallopini of course accompanied by local Barbera. The food all prepared by nona so we included nona's chocolate pie and zabaglione for Dolci. Thanks to Ciro and nona.

Monday we decided to visit Alessandria on route down to the big outlet centre at Serravalle Scrivia where we indulged in a little retail fun helping along the Italian economy. Back at Rocca Civalieri Ciro served us drinks before we took on the 7 course degustation menu for dinner. 

Ciro introduced us to a Sicilian rossi for dinner but also included a Spritz for starters, a sweet desert wine plus Grappa for afters. The Brophs retired for the night overly well fed, tipsy on too much wine and thinking that Ciro might be the sort of friend we maybe didn't really need!