From somewhere in Sardegna

So, at first I thought it was quite good to be getting a brand new hire car at Olbia airport. Only 28 kms on the clock. And car collection was followed up in the car park by another helpful employee who asked if we had any questions about car operation and who also conducted a forensic examination of the car to prove it had absolutely no visible blemishes. Great.

But if you have ever driven in Europe along small country roads and in villages and places where they erect quite large obstacles to stop or at least discourage itinerant car parkers, and if your partner happens to be just a little critical these days of your driving prowess, then life gets more complicated. So now I have a permanent car parking assistant and a constant anti collision guide to go along with GPS, early braking systems and god knows how many alerting and alarming gismos already in the car.

Then getting back to the real travel story we are enjoying the West coast of Sardinia around Alghero, a town with a strong Spanish look and feel. We traversed some quite rough and grand country to get here and we are enjoying our rustic farmstay located not far from the local airport. Ryan Air is sometimes a visitor to the very close to here runway. But that said, there are not yet that many non Italian tourists here.

We are spending our time relaxing on the beaches and exploring the scenery and local towns. A chance meeting with a Dutch couple advised us to visit Castelsardo, a very old village, which was an amazing place with people still living in the ancient buildings of the old castle. We also enjoyed the town of Bosa on Monday and we are now now locals walking the Alghero city walls and practising out meagre Italian. Yvonne continues to say 'Aperol Spritz' quite fluently now. The weather is perfect too.

At around 8 pm as the heat of the day has ebbed away, it is perfect for strolling around Alghero old town. The football is attracting a lot of interest even without Italy and there is very little touting going on which is somewhat refreshing. All in all our time in the Agriturismo and the Alghero area exceeded our expectations.

But nothing lasts and we have now moved on to our final spot in Sardinia-Cagliari the capital. Not much to report at the moment as we are camped in our cave dwelling within the old castle and have not yet ventured too far. And you know that in many places in Europe, space is a precious commodity so in cafes, restaurants, beaches, car parks one feels a bit like Gulliver trying to squeeze into places and nearby conversations can test one at times. With driving and parking here also a little tense, we have now hidden our so new car in a nearby underground park, probably for the duration.

PS. A garbage truck is about to come through the front door! Tour group mobs are on the prowl. So life in the historic centre is going to be interesting.

PPS.  As I am posting this, the local tourist centre mini train has just gone past the front door.  So I just might have to spend the day sitting in the doorway in my singlet and shorts acting like a local and seeking a euro or two just like the friendly Africans also very close to home and seeking a living from the visitors.

Shock and awe meets the l-u-r-v-e boat

We were obviously not well prepared for Sardinia. Thinking it to be perhaps a backwater in the same sense as nearby Corsica. Well known to the locals, maybe other Italians and a few hardy tourists but somewhat off the track.

After a very relaxing day of train travel from Lucca to Rome Airport where all connections were easily made, we boarded a full Air Italy flight to Olbia in the North of Sardinia. Apparently George Clooney is making a film Catch 22 at the moment based in part in Olbia but he was not to be seen.

But the airport was new, clean, efficient and operating flawlessly so it took us no time to load up the SEAT hire car and to join the traffic searching for pit stop one, Santa Teresa di Gallura at the northern tip of the island and just out of the Emerald Coast. Traffic was orderly and Tom Tom working well so now we are in this holiday town enjoying fine food, great beaches, friendly people and a relaxed atmosphere. Our hosts were impressed that we are from Australia, speak a little Italian and cannot do enough for us.

Can it get any better than this?

The Mediterranean here is to die for. Clean with the most amazing aqua colours and you just melt into the water. Often compared to the Caribbean apparently.

We took a one day boat trip to Maddalena island and back with visits to pristine areas and a couple of good stops for swimming along the way.

But now we are dealing with a completely different kettle of fish with just a couple of nights at a resort above Porto Cervo, playground of the rich and famous. Not much to our style but fascinating nevertheless. A Rolls Royce showroom alongside boats big enough to go to war. We are yet to find a city centre of sorts and car parking is very sparce indeed.

But from here we head to the other side of Sardinia where we are going to try an Agriturismo in a more rural setting. No wifi for four days will be something of a test for us these days as we are too much used to constant contact with the world. That is if we can find the place.

So we are beginning to settle into the Sardinian lifestyle and after the shock of finding it such a great place, we are keen to make the most of the opportunities here.

Historical meeting in Lucca

For the first time in human history Yvonne met Randall in Lucca. Chief tour guide Yvonne had spent three days living with her two Roman elephants sharing her room at the extremely comfortable and very well located Locanda S. Agostino. Just a few metres from Via Fillungo and the parade of Italians on holiday. And after three days alone and just eight minutes later than planned, Randall turned up led in by Mario, our host.

And Lucca centro, a walled 500 year old city, is just perfect for Italian style parading. We thank Ben and Sarah for advising us to take a look here and to avoid the alternative idea of Florence, as great a city it might be.

So we have done the obligatory city walls walk sharing spaces with families, lovers, joggers, bikes and picnickers. Summer is gradually getting stronger here and the days just that little bit warmer each day.

Apart from eating and drinking our way around the city, accompanied by a gelato and an aperol spritz or two, we have even been shopping our way along.

Randall had never seen Florence so we took a train there one day. Either we are becoming more sensitized to tourist crowds or numbers are rising, but the Medici city draws them in in droves. The ambiance was good though, despite the numbers, as tourists of all ages, colours and brands enjoyed their time exploring the sights. But one day was enough at this time of our lives with mobs that big.

In the home of Giacomo Puccini, one just has to learn about him and his music. So we had just an hour of recital concert early one evening. We visited his home today as well. And even though Italy is not part of the tournament, World Cup soccer is on screens in various eating and drinking places of Lucca. We lost our first match it seems. Such is life, we were probably robbed if reporting is as usual.

But ever so slowly our minds are turning to Monday and our large travel day over to Sardinia. Yvonne is now very keen to see water and perhaps dip her toes into the Mediterranean.

 

Montefalco artistic festivities

One of the things that travel does is broaden your experience of how people live in places other than your homeland. And if you combine travel with another living experience such as painting then effects multiply. So as Yvonne's experiences deepen, expectations increase. And they were not quite met this year it seems.

So to deal with the negatives first. Having an artist/teacher with a focus on mixed media and with Yvonne being a dedicated water colour painter there was always potential for disappointment. There was only one other like minded water painting soul in the group and they both felt that they did not gain a lot from the tuition. 

However many sketches in the four towns visited were obtained for future works on Yvonne's return to Australia should that eventuate.

The group of people were great including the two 'painting partners' who came along to have some fun. Many discussions took place within the group over the week on a great number of subjects.

Apart from exploring and sketching in Montefalco the group visited Bevagna, Assissi and Yvonne's favourite, Spello, a town of art and flowers. A local guide accompanied them on a tour of Montefalco including the Museum to see the frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli (1450:1452) which Andrew Graham-Dixon raved about in 'Italy unpacked”.

As well a local guide took them on a tour of Assisi including a visit to the beautiful Basilica Saint Francis, which went way to long! The week also included dinner at a wonderful local restaurant and a wine tasting. You might ask did this group leave time enough for painting?

All in all a most enjoyable week. Yes it is sometimes tough for world wandering artists.

 

What a great idea this was

I am posting this in Camogli, one of the picturesque coastal towns and village of Liguria. The just completed walk was our shortest at 6 walking days. But we all found it very demanding in places. Just as well we had trained fairly hard for it.

 

All 10 members of the team fell over on the tracks at least once. Two of us had to purchase new boots along the way and at least two others now have boots that are on the way out.

The weather was with us most of the time and I did not have to use any of the wet weather gear I was carrying. But on the fifth day out we spent over five hours walking in clouds and dealing with wet and very slippery conditions. We were all super careful to avoid any slippages on the mostly rocky tracks with steep drops over the edges . But that is a part of the deal and why we do these walks,

Our walking days all had their own challenges and it was great it b walking in such remote and challenging conditions. A walkers walk for sure.

Route leader Peter again kept us all to agenda, timing and direction, Although we used the great trip notes and well marked maps we also had GPS tracking as well.. So a little hard to go wrong in some ways. Sometimes it was just that little more difficult to make track decisions with at times too much info and perhaps more leadership than we needed. It really comes down as to what you want to achieve. Maybe a journey to another understanding and/or destination.

So 10 happy campers are enjoying a last rest day on the coast before we go our own ways again. I think we are up to about 11 walks for some of the group which started with just two.

Each walk has been very different and most memorable in different way. And even as we have our day off and our minds turn to our next travel obligations, we are already thinking about what we might do in 2019, fitness and health not withstanding.

What a great walk idea this was.

What do you do on a rest day

 We are now located in our albergo up at 1500 metres. It is our rest day. The weather is variable, ever threatening some rain but in the main it is clear and not too cool. The walk tracks themselves are still damp and sometimes muddy underfoot. I have previously mentioned that this is referred to as a 'walkers walk' and some have asked what is meant by that. So it means that each walking day is long at about 6-7 hours of actual walking and that one traverses a range of walking conditions with some ascent, some descent and on a variety of surfaces. No towns or even villages, just you and nature in the main.

So yesterday we ended up ascending over about 1000 metres with most of that occurring in the first two hours. The weather was hot and the tracks very tricky in several places with walking poles needed to retain balance.

This was the track system used by Hannibal and his elephants in Carthaginian times. And then it became the Salt Track in the middle aged heading from Genoa inland. In WWII the place we are now was a local Resistance Headquarters and the areas to come, being quite isolated, housed more than several partisan groups. The scenery is quite fantastic and tomorrow promises to be perhaps the best walking day and we stay at altitude for most of the day with apparently very long 360 degree views.

We arrived at the Capenne di Consola at about 4pm in three separate groups; one opting the long way round by road, one taking a path across meadows and forest and one taking the scenic route to the top of a nearby mountain.

For the rest day some have used the spa and sauna to relieve tired muscles, some are watching AFL via various computers, some are catching up on washing and some are literally taking the term 'rest day' to mean just that.

We are enjoying some great hospitality along the way so are not going without. And there are others on the route as well which is good to see. And one or two larger groups, almost all Italian.

Do muddy conditions bother old men

 Just a brief note for now on Randall's walk. After two days we are in Varzi, the only town along the route. Two quite long days but no rain which has been helpful. 

Randall shed almost 10 kilograms in the lead up but he remains towards the back of the pack as far as fitness is concerned. Almost all of the others have done the right thing and trained up for what has been called a 'walkers walk'.

 

Very muddy underfoot for over 5 hours on each of the first two days certainly tested our starting fitnesses. We are headed for the coast but all have remarked on just how green the whole area is. Tuscany without the crowds is how the locals have told us.

Big views, rolling hills, quiet residential places are not too many people.

Two sets of old boots have been sacrificed to the walking gods already. Throw in a stay at a great Roman villa for the first night and then more rustic stops after that and we are in enraptured by the experiences.

Quiet areas, mud as ever underfoot, too many old jokes from old jokers and you might guess what we feel as we go along.

 

The views are expansive and endless.

But some one has to do these things so why not Randall?

And who knows? Maybe the painter will provide her own blog on how she is doing?

I crossed the road last night

Have you ever wondered about or thought that for much of the time there is just a thin skin or moment in time covering reality or between you and another reality?

So on Sunday after leaving Rome airport and Yvonne, I was soon on the train back into town and my own new reality. What are all these people doing here in Rome as they look at history whilst eating their gelato? Are we just here looking for a tick in the box of human history? Are we here for a good time in a different culture or just locals out on a holiday weekend enjoying the city? Or others hard at work extracting a few euros from suspecting and/or unsuspecting tourists?

“Our” side of Trastevere was pretty well asleep when I passed by late in the afternoon especially near to where we had enjoyed several very good meals over the last few days. But somehow on my own, the place seemed to take on quite a different perspective.

So when heading off for dinner I crossed the road heading back towards one of the main piazzas of Trastevere where we had enjoyed a few drinks and a bite to eat a day or so ago. Nothing cute and cuddly was going to cut it for now a single old guy. So the interest moved to look for a meal at one of the places on the piazza where I would not stand out like a sore thumb.

The whole area was busy with constant entertainment arriving, setting up, working, looking for payment, pull down and heading off elsewhere over the almost two hours I was there. Some I recognised from the previous days playing at spots around the area. Lots of families out and about but lots of tourists too. I was quite hungry having missed lunch and had walked for several hours 'on the other side of the river' during the afternoon.

The ever friendly mostly Italian waiters encouraged me out of about an extra 20 euros during my time there by way of an extra side dish and the extra drink or two. We know that places on such piazzas are almost always just that bit more expensive than the spot tucked down the side street in the shady hideaway. But I was happy enough with the outcome if only for the entertainment I had had along the way..

And yes, I am not yet even closely in tune with the Italian ways to extract those few extra euros off you by selling something not quite as expected along the way. Wherever the truth lies. The mineral water that was probably home made with a soda stream. The orange juice that came from the bottle located near to the basket of lovely looking oranges and associated juicer. The friendly service that lasts just long enough until you have paid up and heading off. The trousering of the city bed taxes that comes with the room bills.

There has been a constant queue every evening for the recommended pizza/pasta place near our room. On Sunday evening after 9.30 pm there must have been over 25 people still waiting to get into the place. And over the road, most places were full and more so. The alleyways were over flowing. But I had no trouble getting a nice table almost on the square whilst a younger slightly worn looking fellow tourist who turned up just after me was asked if she had a reservation? No? Then sorry, we only have places inside for you!

And then on Monday morning at the main train station, there was humanity again, heading off to who knows where. Now I too head off heading for Liguria and the rural/rustic life after the big smoke.

Late breaking news find me together with my friends at Villa Arabella and ready for dinner and then the first walk day. It is wet here and looks like will be walking in mud tomorrow. Such is life.

Now we are splitting up

After just on 48 hours in Rome we are ready to split up. Well almost. The flights over were uneventful and we were in our Trastervere lodgings shortly after 9 am. Well, the bags were whilst the aging pilgrims were meant to wander around for a few hours until the room was ready for us. The lodgings were recommended by Sarah and Ben and are proving to be very well located in central Rome and within easy walking distance of old Rome.

So walk we did as we mingled with most of tourism humanity vying to discover the sights. This is a holiday weekend in Italy for National Day (2 June) so the streets are quite full of happy souls out for an early summer celebration. Lots of smiling faces, everyone is pleasant and helpful so we are happy campers at this point.

We are on the 'left' side of the Tiber which appears to be just a little less touristy, in our view. And locally we are finding some great little eating places, well located for good shady people watching and lunching.

But now the artist is leaving the scene exit right to join up with hopefully new found kindred sprits in Perugia, Umbria. Randall's duty was to ensure she gets to the airport okay and met by duty driver for the trip north. Inconsolable, he must then return to lodgings, finish some late training and to rest up for the planned reunion with mates for The Walk.

We will be apart until Wednesday week when we meet up in Lucca somewhere not too far from Florence and other maddening crowds.

And Italy is happy to have a Government again. Populist for sure and somewhat anti European maybe and likely to want to make Italy Great Again. The inwards trend with often manipulative pollies appealing to lower instincts continues.

 Late breaking news: Madame is located in her artist lodgings and now exchanging views with fellow travellers. Your writer is back mixing it with the crowds and looking forwards to getting out of Rome tomorrow.