Category: My blog
-
Day 25. Verduno
Time to say goodbye to the charming hotel villa de Luchesse. The staff are so nice here, we have enjoyed our stay a lot. Today we headed north to Verduno, a village just outside Alba. We procrastinated as to which way to go, google map showed journey times as the same- do we risk La…
-
Day 24. Sentierelsa Trail/Colle Val D’Elsa/San Gimignano
Our revised itinerary was added to by Steve in the shape of a riverside walk, close to the apparently picturesque town of Colle Val d’Elsa ( from now on known as CVE). After a baffling 10 minutes trying to work out how to obtain a ticket from the parking meter, we headed off on our…
-
Day22/23-on the move Poggibonsi
Goodbye Mondolfo. We will miss you, particularly the swifts. Homeward bound but taking our time, our next stop was Poggibonsi, a town just outside of Siena. Having been let down on our original booking, (this appears to be a bit of a trend, see our Spain blog)we ended up in a hotel in this unheard…
-
Day 21. Urbino
Urbino delivered. In spades. It’s a UNESCO site and it’s main claim to fame is that Raphael was born there. Those turtles certainly got around didn’t they? For a small amount of time, it was a Renaissance cultural centre and it’s university was founded in the 1500’s. I do enjoy old university towns, they always…
-
Day 21. Furlo Gorge
I can’t believe I didn’t know that sunflowers follow the sun. As we were driving back from the gorge, I happened to notice that the sunflowers I saw yesterday were all facing in the opposite direction. I googled it and only the young ones do this. S thinks it’s because they get old and stiff…
-
Day 20. Conero Riviera
I’d been looking forward to exploring this area. Conero is a hilly peninsula to the south of Ancona and consists of woodlands on the top, plunging white cliffs and white pebbly/sand beaches. The marketing blurb describes it as the “Pearl of the Adriatic”. The lady in the tourist information centre in Sirolo was extremely helpful…
-
Day 19 – San Marino
Today we added to Steve’s list of visited countries (73 now. Very nerdy.) San Marino is a tiny country with a fierce heart. Liberty is mentioned on its flag and is it’s motto. They also have very attractive car number plates. The main (some may say only) attraction is the castle that is perched on…
-
Day 18 – Mondolfo and Marotta
I was beginning to think I’d never get to have a swim this trip. It’s been so hot I’ve been dreaming of plunging into an ice cold pool. The one day I could have a swim in a cold mountain lake, I didn’t bring my swim things – grrr! After an awful journey yesterday I…
-
Day 17-Santa Maria Della Versa/Mondolfo
Breakfast at Bosco Longhino was very welcome. A cornucopia of delights awaited us including crepes and Nutella – yum. Danila took us to see the bottling of the wine which had now finished it’s process and gave us a bottle with strict instructions not to open it until at least 5 months. Christmas wine, how…
Middle-aged flash packers 