Urban Urbino 2014 style

There is no shortage of helpful people around in Italy, especially in train stations. Just one hesitation or glance around from someone who looks non Italian and bingo, a friendly face appears and help could be on the way.

Thanks in no part to such help we are now happily located just outside the walled city of Urbino, our only tourist stop on our way to the port city of Ancona and thence Greece. Our latest helper emerged in the 10 level bus/shopping/parking centre perched on the edge of Urbino as we were looking for our local bus stop and to get to our hotel. He followed us for a bit but disappeared when we asked a shopkeeper for directions.

 

Urbino is a walled city and has had a university for many years. Birthplace of painter Raphael it has a nice relaxed feel about it and we had a good day just wandering through the city and enjoying the ducal castle and some of the art here. The locals and many students were enjoying the sunshine today and there was no sense of urgency in life.

 

 

 The weather has remained on our side and it is just a tad cool as we are up in the hills from the Adriatic coastal strip. There are a few tourists about although most are Italian.

It is good to be part of places where people are just making their way in life and apparently enjoying the lifestyle they have. No political beat ups evident so far, just ordinary people living normal lives.

Buongiorno Milano

One day we were at home, part of self serving, partly alarmed and mostly self obsessed Team Australia and the next day we are sitting in sunny Milano, having enjoyed our parma ham and melon, slurping our gelato, fascinated with the surrounding, still snow capped mountains and acting as citizens of the world.

 

 

 

But the theme of the day has to include technology. As we are headed for Greece shortly, I recall that when we last visited there in 2005, we did have a netbook for internet and the blog. But we were using a film camera and a basic cell phone. And we thought we were over-doing it then.

 

This time we have four computers; ie two smart phones, an ipad and the old now not so trusty, slow but reliable netbook. And apparently we need them all. On the plane over, quite a few on the plane we taking selfies - why it is difficult to fathom.

 

But today I sat on a tourist bus fascinated as the youngster in front of me took a range of selfies using her remotely operated and tripod supported lens and an Inspector Gadget extendable arm with which she could almost reach the other side of the bus, passing other tourists as she lined up the next pics.

 

 And with the float of Ali Baba at just a few billion $$$$, we are only just at the beginning of serious technological change.

 

Milano is adapting itself to the changing times. It is modernising quickly but keeping the old good pieces. It is into eco changes with city supplied cars and bikes. The new buildings are state of the art and well set up with vertical gardens and plants. Bike helmets are sensibly rarely worn in the city centre area and bikes are popular and in use everywhere. And the people are friendly, laid back, unhurried and calm as they go about their day.

This is shoulder season for tourists I expect but there are plenty around. And a good sprinkling of Australians amongst them. As cocky as ever.

We are in good digs and Randall is very impressed with the way his pj's are laid out for him. A habit Y could adopt he thinks.

That is if Y could ever get off the ipad.

Our journey has begun well and we are relaxed and enjoying another chance to discover our other selves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost ready to go

Can one keep old man time at bay?   In 2010 we thoroughly enjoyed a bike/sail trip in the Dalmatian islands of Croatia.   So a similar challenge along the Lycian coast of Turkey seems logical.  After much discussion Randall has almost convinced Yvonne that we have still got it.  But he has had to add a few extras to the trip to get her to sign up.  A casual start in Milan Italy for a spot of shopping followed by a few days in hilltop town Urbino (Le Marche), a ferry ride to Corfu Greece and some days relaxing in the Ionian Islands, thence to Rhodes with some historic sightseeing.  He had to add these final training activities as an inducement.  It has worked so we are just about ready to go.

A further reward after our week on the Caferoglu is a few days in Cappadocia and after a final stop in Istanbul, we expect to be heading home.  A bit older, a bit wiser and perhaps a bit fitter.

As Everly brothers say........The party's over my friend

Little by little as you are away from home base, the pressures build up. Apart from the major impacts of separation from family, friends and the things you do in your 'normal' living mode, the 'administrative' aspects of living come into play. Delayed appointments, the increasing amount of mail banking up and yet to be dealt with, a home to maintain.

Travel excitement drifts a little towards dealing with new places and people and a certain amount of 'normality' evolves. That is when it is best to fold the pack and head off home. And for us that point is now.

We have had a great and varied trip this time around and one which we will remember for a long time. A well planned and executed 10 day walk along the Chemin de St Jacques followed by a few rest days in Paris. A two week separation as Yvonne discovered the Scottish west coast and Randall did his Rhine walk part II. A week or so together exploring the Rhine and Moselle River areas followed by a sensational WWII POW re-union trip into southern Austria.  At this point Yvonne had moved from graduate travel planner to first degree, almost major.  She looked fantastic and happy as she drifted down the exit ramps at Frankfurt airport.

A short connecting few days in Parma Italy and then an August holiday with the French. Our love affair with France has grown again as we now sit high in the Haute-Savoie contemplating life here. La Clusaz has just seen the last of the high season and is relaxing before Autumn arrives. This is just the perfect time to be here and the whole place is picture card perfection.

But perhaps too soon we will take the one hour pre execution drive to Geneva. We will return our now 8,000 kms old Renault Megane and await our turn to be returned to where we came from just about 3 months ago. This is a time of very mixed emotions.

On Monday, Yvnone could not understand why Randall, for once, was behaving negatively. She suggested a morning walk through the once a week local market in La Clusaz. The village is extremely pretty and set out around a lovely little church. The market stalls wind along the narrow streets around the church and alongside the plentiful supply of small shops and cafes. Some really great looking stalls with cured meats - but not something you can eat in only a day and a half before taking the plane home. Some great looking cheese stands with fine slabs of gruyere, reblouchon, cantal and other local cheeses - not that we could buy much of that either. The biggest fruit and vegie man had slabs of raspberries, myrtilles, strawberries and blackberries and a few others, especially good for jam making - but we could not have any of that either. How can anyone be happy walking through a great little market with no capacity to buy and eat all the goodies there.

Here, as we found on a previous trip to Chamonix, there are plenty of fit looking and well tanned people getting around. These people obviously walk a lot more than we do. Almost everywhere and up and down mountains.
 

Suitably motivated and after a light lunch we took the telecabine to the mountain top where we looked across towards Mt Blanc and enjoyed a liesurely walk through the highland countryside, listening to sheep and cow bells clanging all along the way. The cows enjoying a late afternoon milking whilst Randall continued to count off the few hours remaining.

Today we enjoyed another summer day and a great walk up to the plateau overlooking La Clusaz.  Quiet in the forest then walking along with cow bells.  Not a bit like home!

So it is now time to close off the blog for now and head home. It has been terrific here, especially to be away from the nonsense of Australian politics and the endless 'entitlement' moans that reach us even here. We have learned a lot about other places, cultures and living. Even a bit more about ourselves, so that must be a good thing.
 

Slightly poo faced we stiffen our backs, stand up straight and face up the long trip down under.

Maybe time to start planning for the next gear change.

 

 

Our summer in France-summary

 

 

So what do we make of this summer life here as we try and mix tourist activities with day to day living in places we already like or find along the way? In reality this also in part brings up a bigger question for those of us who are reasonably fit, healthy and interested enough in what goes on around the world. And that is what to do with your 'free' post paid work time?

  

Do we take trips as tourists from time to time or just 'get away from it all' for days/weeks away from 'home', family and friends? So you go to somewhere you like and for us, the choice every so often is France. But could we live here for more time each year?

But for now let's stay with how we have enjoyed our summer time here.

Firstly, try as we might, it is a bit difficult to really do the lifestyle thing. Especially as the bulk of your hobbies/interests/stuff is not with you. Sure, you can rent a place, then self cater using local boulangeries/bouchers and the ever available markets. But however we shape our days, we always come back to really being tourists: we visit new sites, we do a fair bit of driving around taking a lunch here, a coffee there, a walk around this port/beach/town centre/tourist, doing in two weeks that which others would do in one? We are just lucky enough to be able to spread our tourist activities out a bit.

We have tried to minimise our time in the busiest tourist areas whilst enjoying the summer heat  We have been very lucky with weather with no rain and daily temperatures around 30 degrees for six weeks now and we have not missed having winter at all. We are lucky enough, or at least smart enough, to put ourselves in these places at this time of our lives. We are doing what we said we would do which is to travel broadly and independently whilst still relatively fit and healthy.

 

We have enjoyed seeing how people here holiday. It does seem that the French are very much focussed on staying in France for their holidays or perhaps seek the sun in nearby, also Latin, Spain. Overseas often means in French territorial places. There is not a night on TV going by without in depth portrail of holiday life for Francois and Francoise and their families enjoying beach resort/country living and camping/eating/playing somewhere in France.

 

And now the TV has turned to shopping for schoolbooks or searching for city accommodation, often including interviews with the youngsters as they wander along the hypermarket aisles or research Paris living. Not that I watch much TV back home but this does seem to be quite different to what occurs in Australia during and after major holidays.

 

 Everywhere has been very relaxing and on the beaches where we have visited and in the cafes and restaurants, people are taking their time and enjoying a lot of conversation.

 

And we are a bit too judgemental here at times. We are essentially city people, who live in an artificial city at that, whilst here we are experiencing mainly country life. So hardly a fair comparison. We continue to talk about living here. But as we drive through or walk around the seemingly empty villages around this area, we do wonder how some people cope with the huge old homes, the narrow roads and streets, the endless traffic wherever you go and the close living cheek by jowl as occurs here . It must be tough for some and we are yet to find that 'perfect' spot for a part life here. There is too much 'history' and 'life experience' within us that drives us ever 'just over there' to see if things are better there.

And in reality it is much the same comparison we make when back home when we look at rural/sea side living. ' How could one possibly live here permanently?' All right for a few days touring around, but then what?'

 

So it looks like we will stay with regular 'fixes' every few years in this fascinating, diverse but often perplexing country.

And the French Top 14 Rugby competition organisers have not helped us get to a game at all. We left Bordeaux for Montpellier leaving an interesting game behind us as we left, whilst at Montpellier they played before we arrived. We are less than 10 minutes from Montpellier home ground but they played away last weekend. The busy autoroutes deterred us from travelling to too far away cities and this weekend, when Montpellier play at home again we will be on our way North to the French Alps for our last few days in France. Not that Yvonne is complaining about that. And a game is a game is a game after all. And sport in general is not quite what it sometimes appears to be these days as the pressure of money gets to some precious people intent on ego over the pleasure of playing well, with honour. Go Pies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Driving each other......for forty two years now

 

 The French have gone home after their holidays. There remains one week before schools start and students are moving to the cities and their university studies. And quite a few youngsters are on the roads to get their driving licences.

Down here Pignan way, the beaches are still active as there are still a few 'types' including people in early retirement and those not able/willing to afford a longer holiday have perhaps just a week of vacances. Accommodation prices are rapidly dropping.

 

 

For us, we have remained in quasi middle territory this last week. Driving Miss Daisy inland to the quite spectacular and remote village set into the cliffs of St Guilhem le Desert for an afternoon. This was a tight driving and a challenging parking opportunity. The nearby 'beach' along the Gorges of the Herault river was packed during the late afternoon we were there.
 

We also enjoyed our 42^nd wedding anniversity with a seafood lunch at one of our favourite places here, the bayside village and port of Meze. Complete with a cateraman sail on the bay of Thau.

 

A day in Montpellier city - is a city, is a city and we also took the short drive to the major fishing port of Sete which is celebrating for the 271^st time, the Festival of St Louis. The highlight of this festival is jousting from old fishing boats in much the same way as the medieval jousting on horseback as we anglos know it. We have also spent time around the pretty port of Marseillan (a spot on the canal de Midi) and some beach time as well. And earlier in the week we re-visited Pezenas, an artistic oriented and well preserved, if now a bit too touristy, old town. So we are still essentially tourists here.

So what do we make of this summer life here as we try and mix tourist activities with day to day living in places we already like or find along the way?

 

This could be Randall on his Med Cruise-but it is not

 

 

 

Driving Miss Daisy in holiday season

So were we quite masochistic when deciding to get a french 'fix' during August ? Answer at the half way point is; YES.

Two weeks ago we entered France from Italy onto the autoroute system along the French Riveria. We stopped a night just outside Arles on our way to St Andre de Cubzac just off the junction of the Gironde and Dordorgne Rivers and the Atlantic Ocean. After having to constantly find coins for each section of the autoroute along the way.

 

Our original reasoning/guess is that some French head off for their holidays from National day 14 July and the rest head off at the start of August. We had therefore anticipated a tough day on the autoroutes a fortnight ago with some leaving home and others returning. And we got that; officially declared BLACK by authorities and we had about one and half hours of start/stop along the system together with most of France. We declared that was a good cultural experience of M Hulot's holiday time and just part of 'being French'. Having had that experience once, that would be enough and things would be different later when we moved South to the Montpellier area. We would enjoy the South with maybe the last of the French on holidays, a few remaining Dutch and German tourists and the inevitable clans of English in some,selected villages.

So this last weekend French TV was on the job and Saturday was to be day Orange over most of France but RED along the very South (especially Riveria and Spanish borders) and around Lyons where major systems meet, leading back to Paris. We were comfortable with that. 

But both the French road planners and us were wrong. Saturday ended up BLACK Plus.   A record 877 kms of bouchons; enough to go from Paris to Perpignan at the Spanish border. And we were part of it!

 

Impressionable as we are, we have been very impressed with the car GPS. Constant live traffic updates have turned out to be very accurate and the sometimes more than slightly anal Yvonne has had a field day re-interpreting Tom Tom to advise me on traffic ahead, radars ahead, speed limit changes, roundabout entry/exit points, the pace of slower trucks/caravans and especially BMW and Mercedes fliers down the outside lanes. Not to forget 'Can you please slow down? My arms are aching from hanging on'.

Randall trying to retain a balance between these two, sometimes independent, sources of advice.

So we arrived at our residence at Pignan just outside Montpellier early evening Saturday having left the autoroute system just after Carcassone and before hitting Spanish border traffic, therefore avoiding Narbonne and Bezier areas.

Our 'normal' practice when changing gites is to have a relaxing Sunday just regrouping our ideas for the coming week in the new area. But one of us wanted to walk in the mid to late afternoon heat and the immediate surrounds of Pignan are not that picturesque so I thought we could head to somewhere along the coastal area around Montpellier for a better walk.

We grinned as we took the flyover over the autoroute as traffic was quite slow, almost stopped-thinking these people were those coming home after holidays late Sunday.

 

Traffic heading back towards us from coastal Sete was also very heavy but the penny had yet to drop. Then we turned past the local gaol heading for almost off the map and unheard of (for us) Palavas-les-flots. And there we found the rest of France!!!

It was total gridlock on this small reclaimed island. As it is in France, no one was looking after local traffic so it took us about ¾ of an hour just to follow the mob along an ever narrowing road, past a small city of beach cabins and into the paid car park where the design was such that few could get in or out. There was not the remotest chance of turning around and even those on bicycles were stuck as there was no space between us cars.

 

Eventually we parked in the disabled area, others were leaving their cars wherever and we started off to enjoy our walk. Now after 6pm so we decided that perhaps we would walk for a while along the beach areas then leave around 8pm as surely the day trippers would have gone home and the heaving masses on the beach and in the camping area would be at least thinking about evening meals etc. Some were enjoying a picnic on the beach and we felt that would be quite pleasant for them. However others, like us, were standing on the higher points watching the maze of traffic try to move. We staggered out of there and arrived home refreshed and invigorated at 9.30 pm and just in time for our planned magret de canard a la Yvonne dinner!

So we were wrong. France is still on holiday and sitting on the beaches down here. On the TV we have seen where the Paris purpose built beach was taken up on Monday as were the other 16 or so in the Paris area. The politicians are back at 'work'. But down here, we are moving with the masses.

 

 

We were about 800 at the local night market last night eating paella, sieche or sausage and ailligot or frites and quaffing the rose. So it is not all bad times. And we just missed the local 'run of the bulls' as we pulled into Pignan on Saturday evening. Yvonne has been there done that a few years ago at St Remy de Provence where the rogue bull came looking for her during their 'celebrations! So we don't need to experience that again.

So we are now wondering how many holiday people we are going to find around this area as we return to places we like including Pezenas, Sete and Meze.

 

We heard that from the start of July, 91 people had drowned during July and that 22 had drowned in France on the first weekend of August alone and 15 more this last weekend. Summer seems to be just one water accident after another. At La Roque Gageac on the Dordogne where a few of us have been visiting over the years, the canoes are so thick on the river over summer that the Gendarmes are out on the Dordorgne sorting out the traffic and sorting out those who are not wearing life vests.

Some say one in 5 people here cannot swim.

But it seems they can all drive, en masse.