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- Hari 147
- Senin, 13 Agustus 2018
- ⛅ 28 °C
- Ketinggian: 323 mi
Spanyolla Garriga41°41’54” N 2°16’36” E
Day 145 No Flamenco for Me!

Monday 13/08/2018 (Day 58 SZ) Sono Apartmentos Avenida Els Tremolencs, 34, La Garriga, 08530, Spain
Today we set off for Barcelona once more, after 18 years we have returned…. We have not too bad of memories from our last visit but I really didn’t want to go back… However plans change as ours have and with only being able to do the top part of Spain, John made the decision to stay near here and visit once again. To be honest we actually had a great day…. Exhausting, but great.
I do have one bad memory of Barcelona and that is from the Flamenco show we went to on the Cosmos Trip in 2000… It was the night from hell watching nonstop tapping, yelling and shoes being hit so hard on the floor I thought it might give way…we were all cramped into a tiny room, sat on a chair all one level…. So if someone was tall the shorty behind couldn’t see anyway…given an aperitif that tasted awful, and all squashed so close together with about 10 other busloads of people… it was so hot hardly any air and the actual show was just awful…so this time definitely no Flamenco….
We have found getting into most cities not too difficult so we usually find a car park near the centre and this seems to be working for us…..So all parked up, off we set to find sights we hadn’t seen before. As we were to discover Barcelona is an unreal city with many facets to explore. Wandering around taking in all the unreal buildings and of course for me the wrought iron lace work on the windows, doors, fences and any other thing they place it on because so many items have it on them.
The sad side of Barcelona is the people sleeping on the streets and of course the heaps and heaps of refugees selling the same items on the street everywhere….
As we set off we could see the Gaudi Buildings that have been made Famous by this guy who was wayyyy ahead of his time with design and architecture……He was called a Modernist creator with his way out designs of Buildings. You can’t miss them they are so, so different to anything else around. We really only got to see a couple of the Gaudi buildings and only from the outside…. Our morning tea was at a lovely little coffee shop with so many treats to look at and choose from, we usually get something to share….
On we go venturing off that lead us down Las Rambler, it wasn’t a plan to head down here we just as most of our sightseeing is stumbled onto it. Las Rambler is really tourist 1.2 Ks long filled with people everywhere. We could see 100’s of people streaming into one area, wondering what it was we headed that way…. Silly us… Turned out to be a food Markets, which would have been ok except sooo manyyy peopleeee and not easy to get around. We found a spot that a bit quitter and while standing there I spotted some ladies selling toffee coated nuts and freeze dried vegies…. Being a bit peckish by now as it was lunch time… I asked how much it was so I ordered 3 different choices… I double checked with the lady that is 5.60 Euro a 100gm yes… went to pay for it and the other women said 33 Euro that’s $52…. I looked at her and said you’re kidding….my husband will kill me. So I got her to take quite a bit out still cost me 25 Euro… unreal. John was mad at me for being so stupid but as I said to him I double checked the women made up some excuse costs, but it really was a total scam…after John had said his bit I then reminded him how he got ripped off at this very same place for cherries 18 yrs ago… The most expense cherries he has ever had in his life…. So lesson is don’t go to the Food Markets that are just for the tourist. Go to local markets they are cheaper…
After that terrible experience we made our way to the harbour. On the way I spotted a young women totally out to it on the ground in front of a shop sprawled out no movement…. After an earlier episode of stepping over a man on the street that I felt I should have helped even if I had called an Ambulance, John just wanted to keep going I honestly felt like the story in the Bible about the Pharisee who passed by the man who had been robbed….. I know for many of them its drug related but honestly it could be medical and if you don’t check you don’t know… They even could be dead… I just felt so helpless and callous in not stopping to help….It is just so so sad the sights in some of these cities….
From the girl to seeing heaps of young refugee boys on the way to the Port, always boys selling their wares…they looked like they were allowed here in this area because they didn’t have their ropes in hand that are tied around the sheet on the ground with the wares… When it’s illegal they have the ropes around pone hand ready to pull the four leads on each corner of the sheet that pulls the whole thing into a big bag with all their goodies inside and they run…. There is always a spotted… But not here so we are thinking maybe the council allowed them this area to do business away from the main areas. Mind you they were selling plenty tourist everywhere buying their goodies of shoes, sun glasses, T shirts, Bag with designer names….
The buildings in the area as we were making our way to Port Vell were amazing so ornate but just stunning… Some were having a huge overhaul and being redone. From here you could see over the harbour to the Cable cars zipping back and forth across the Harbour, this was surrounded by all new modern buildings… What a difference from one extreme to the next with Architecture. The actual Cable Cars were going from one tall building to the next 3 in total…..Looked fun, but too far from where we were….Along with 100’s walking on a new modern designed walk way we headed to a new modern shopping centre… as it wasn’t that interesting and after a cuppa and meeting with Mr MacDonald we headed back towards the city, for some lunch. On the way we spotted some huge Luxury Cruises one was a Monster making the others that are big look dwarfed….
Lunch was on a side walk Café not far from the Port area…..where we could watch the world go by…. And just take some RnR the heat is unreal today so we are zapped of energy and all up by the time we did finish we had walked for well over 6 hrs.…From here we wandered around the alleys and streets stumbling across the massive Barcelona Cathedral, Not the Gaudi one, which is a very odd but interesting we didn’t end going to see it this…..This Cathedral still had heaps there looking at it and it was right next door to a Gaudi Art studio… I actually think it is an Art Studio named after Gaudi not his wares…. Still what they had on display on the outside was unreal. I wanted to go in but time was not on our side now we had to get back to the car which was blocks away…. We did make it back, very foot sore and tired… Then we had to go through the traffic to get back to our village. On the way in I spotted this massive bullet shaped building called the Glories Torre Agbar, I had hoped we could go via it on the way out as it was fascinating from a distance, but due to the traffic issues that just couldn’t occur. So back up the highway to our lovely little unit and a home cooked meal. What a day both extremely tired, but so glad we had made the effort to go to see Barcelona again, from the wonderful sights to the sadness we saw with the people on the streets….Baca selengkapnya
- Tampilkan perjalanan
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- Bagikan
- Hari 146
- Minggu, 12 Agustus 2018
- ⛅ 27 °C
- Ketinggian: 412 mi
Spanyolla Conreria41°29’30” N 2°13’52” E
Day 144 Credit Card sorrow!

Sunday 12/08/2018 (Day 57 SZ) Sono Apartmentos Avenida Els Tremolencs, 34, La Garriga, 08530, Spain
II think I mentioned it that our Visa card wasn’t working and now our MasterCard is playing up, and John had tried and tried to call the 24 hr. hot line for Westpac, time and time again, with no luck.... plus his phone which is dying is playing up... so he took my UK Sim out and out in his Aust Sim and after a lot of fiddling he finally got onto Westpac... not only did we have credit card issues but there had been 3-4 double up payments taken from our account for fuel payments and a hire car for Crete.... turns out the Bank even though I had notified them 2 times with all the information about where we were going and what we were doing dates etc., they didn’t except it because John as the main holder for our account didn’t let them know, they blocked our accounts…. after nearly 5 months mind you they decided to do this very odd.....then when we queried about the double payments the bank put us through to the Fraud Squad... we got an Indian guy being the weekend as it was Sunday, anyway he told us because we still had the card it hadn’t been stolen they wouldn’t help us... even though we had 4 lots if double transactions against our account it wasn’t their concern... my goodness was I cross.. Even the bank staff had felt it was something fraudulent that’s why they put us through….Fat lot of good they are.... anyway the bank fixed our cards well we thought they had.... and off we set for the beach...
The trip there was through high rise jungle, not a good look or feel, the beach yep it had sand very course dirty sand, but it as sand... but it just didn’t look inviting at all. We found a spot to park that’s always a challenge, then off to the beach we set, well to say it was like Croatia or Italy it was not.... a Bar like the other places set up on the beach yes, and heaps of Umbrellas a few to be paid for many to were free spots... but it just lacked feeling and temptation to head out there.... so we headed to the Bar area for a drink, the Bar area which actually served not too bad of food, was ok to look at but to actually sit in the beach I am not so sure....
We sat and people watched for about an hour, it was quite funny watching a guy running past us about every 10-15 mins, eventually he started running backwards past us as well looked so funny and so different...
He was dressed in long pants and it was an extremely hot day, so it looked out of place... but the number of times he went past and his mannerisms made me think he may have a mental health issue..... And running may have been his therapy…..Either way it sure was entertaining watching him going back and forth, plus watching all the sexy girls coming from the beach, well for John not me!
By the time we got home John realised that the issue with the double payments still needed to be bought up with the bank again, after the fraud squad refused to help us. So he had to go through the whole process again to be able to reach the bank... this time we got a young bloke who actually knew his stuff and could explain to John that for some reason, double payments taken out until they go through their paperwork and see what you actually put in against what you were charged for and it’s rectified...They do this because too many are driving away not paying, but over here most servos have credit card pay stations that you have to put in your credit card first before the bowser will work... no human intervention just machines... sometimes it just doesn’t work other times it does...
Anyway after the young fellow had explained it all to John it made sense, and we have since got back the extra amount taken out…shame all their staff don’t understand this process…. would save a lot of hassle and what we thought was free calls on Whatsapp have actually been 2x$50 calls... glad we have sorted out the issue but not the costs incurred that should have been covered as a Westpac customer, especially when it says it’s a 24/7 call centre, no mention it costs a fortune... however we now have credit cards to use again... travelling without a credit card is not possible these days... got scary there for a bit.Baca selengkapnya
- Tampilkan perjalanan
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- Bagikan
- Hari 145
- Sabtu, 11 Agustus 2018
- ☀️ 27 °C
- Ketinggian: 323 mi
Spanyolla Garriga41°41’54” N 2°16’36” E
Day 143 Farewell Italy- Hello Spain!

Saturday 11/08/2018 (Day 56 SZ) Sono Apartmentos Avenida Els Tremolencs, 34, La Garriga, 08530, Spain
Sadly we left Italy I have no doubt we will never be back, that makes me sad Italy 🇮🇹 is an unreal country to see.... I do find the people very, very difficult they aren’t very friendly, but the country is worth the pain of the rude people..that’s sad to say but so, so true.... so saying farewell, was hard!
The trip across the border wasn’t anything special, but did not how bare it become after arriving in Spain. Nothing special to see as we really didn’t have time as it was a very long run today, the road side stops were very boring compared to the Italian or French ones... a lot of grape vines and olive trees seem to be the main produce, along. With some corn 🌽 and a few other crops... we arrived late arvo to a very nice looking Fairly new apartment complex, once inside it really as well set up very roomy with all the mode cons..... had great kitchen and washing machine aircon and Wi-Fi ticked all the boxes.... when we settled and headed out to find a supermarket we realised this apartment complex wasn’t anywhere near anything as such... no close restaurants or shops in fact it was in a very odd spot for a complex like it is... but we really didn’t need anything like a restaurant etc. it’s just if someone stayed here without the bits to cook with and no car they really would be up the creek so to speak...
We found a Lidl and bought our needs had a quick drive around then back to cook dinner and do some much needed washing...Baca selengkapnya
- Tampilkan perjalanan
- Tambahkan ke daftar bucketHapus dari daftar bucket
- Bagikan
- Hari 145
- Sabtu, 11 Agustus 2018
- 0 °C
- Ketinggian: Permukaan laut
PerancisNîmes43°49’17” N 4°21’53” E
Day 142 Walls, Graves and Canals!

Friday 10/08/2018 (Day 55 SZ) Appart'City Nîmes 364, allée de l’Amérique Latine, Nîmes, 30900, France
Today’s adventure took us to a few different locations and it actually turned out to be a huge day.
We started at Aigues Mortes which unbeknown to us is a Medieval fortified Citadel, just blew us away as we drove into the normal township with the streets lined with beautiful flower gardens. Seeing the canals beside us and huge trees lining the streets right to the door of this massive fortified walls with Ramparts standing tall and solid holding all the walls around the city as it’s called no but really a village! Inside it is very touristy with heaps of bars, restaurants and tourist shops... outside when we pulled up into yep a paid vacation park nothing free anywhere it’s in the Salt marshes amongst the grass lands but next to it was the most amazing soft punk salt Lake so, so pretty but you couldn’t get close enough to it as it as fenced off and high grass lands around it...this is where a drone would be fantastic to use.... they actually mine this lake and if we had the time could have checked out the mine as well but we don’t have time..
Next to the walled city is the canals and on canals are the all the canal boats and cruisers sitting waited by to be hired and taken up and down the canals just read they can go 140 ks takes 15 locks and takes 1 week to cruise it... you could see people on the boats relaxing, they must have hired them, just looked funny with them underneath the bridge area relaxing with traffic non stop going up and over the bridge and along the walled city to the salt marsh area... very busy spot so I still wonder how they got to relax... I loved the pink Lake and as we entered the city the unreal smell of the food coming from inside the Medieval village had my hunger bug going one to the dozen, all we got was a little cake to share and a cuppa and on our way.... I could have spent days exploring here just love, love, loved it..they even had flower pots on the bridge, massive tall layer flower pots around the walled city and outside it as well and a massive huge beautiful carousel that I would have lived to had a ride on...
Aigues Mortes, was founded in the thirteenth century and famous since the first crusades in the time of King Louis IX. The waterways in this region, set between the sea and the Camargue countryside has the salt marshes of the Midi that have surrounded the city of Aigues Mortes since the Middle Ages. There are excellent beaches and swimming in the Mediterranean at Grau du Roi, Palavas-les-Flots at the Grande Motte or in Carnon. They offer horse riding in Franquevaux which we pulled up near after leaving checking out a massive birds nest on top of a tower.
There are supposed to be fields of wild bulls and horses and Flamingo spotting on the famous Etang de Thau lagoon. But we never got to see any sadly...
From here we headed towards St Gilles where we had lunch then went exploring and looking for the old Cathedral L’Abbatiale De Saint Gilles.
(Info thanks to Wiki) According to the legend, it was founded in the 7th century by Saint Gilles, over lands which had been given him by the Visigoth King Wamba after he had involuntarily wounded the saint during a hunt. The monastery was initially dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul: however, in the 9th century, the dedication was changed to St. Giles himself, who had become one of the most venerated figures in the area. His relics were housed in the abbey church and attracted numerous pilgrims. In the 11th century, the monastery was attached to that of Cluny. Thanks to its prosperity, it was enlarged and decorated from the 12th to the 15th century, when the cloister was finished. In the 16th century the church, in the course of the Wars of Religion, was devastated when the Huguenots took shelter in it. Restorations were held in the 17th century and again, after further damage during the French Revolution, in the 19th century. The tomb of St. Giles was rediscovered in 1865, becoming again a pilgrim destination from 1965. The village itself as interesting with its narrow alleys and unreal doors... another great sight we had to do a quick look and head on...
Next stop was The L’Abbaye Trogodytique De Saint Roman at Beaucaire, this amazing sight was very similar to the monk cemeteries we saw in Croatia a huge rock formation coming out of the ground and nearly every square inch of it has been carved with dug our graves in the rock... all over the top and inside its caves.....we actually soent a fair amount of time here it was so interesting.
Info thanks to Wiki
The Abbey of Saint-Roman (Abbaye de Saint-Roman), is a cave monastery located in the communes of Beaucaire and Comps, in the Gard département of France.
The site, which includes the ruins of a castle, the château de Saint-Roman-d'Aiguille, has been protected by the French Ministry of Culture as a monument historique since 1990 and includes a chapel, cloisters, terrace, tombs and walls. It was constructed in the 9th, 10th, 12th and 15th centuries. The abbey is reached by a signposted path from Beaucaire which leads past a vast chamber and the monks’ cells to the chapel carved out of the rock which contains the tomb of St Roman. From the terrace, there is a fine view over the Rhône, Avignon and the Mont Ventoux area with Tarascon in the foreground. The Michelin Guide describes it "a site of captivating simplicity".
The surrounding scenery was just unreal valley below was worth the climb by itself with out the cave Monastery. Then as we drove away we could see a huge dam with quite a large amount of water being let go from its gates from here you could see more of the the canal and locks. The whole area was so interesting... but off we speed to the next location.
La Tour Philippe Le Bel seeing the Tower, then Fort and Abbey Saint Andrè both in Villeneuve les Avignon, we didn’t get to go into this as it was closing time, but just looking at it was interesting enough....
(Info from Wiki) Tour Philippe-le-Bel (English: Tower of Philip the Fair) is a medieval tower in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon which marked the French terminus of the Saint-Bénézet Bridge across the Rhone between the Kingdom of France and Papal territory of Avignon. It is named after the French king Philippe-le-Bel (Philip IV "the Fair") who was responsible for its construction.
A tower with only two storeys was completed in 1302. In spite of protests from the Count of Provence and the population of Avignon, Philippe-le-Bel pressed ahead and built a gatehouse at the end of the bridge. The tower and gatehouse formed part of a fortress with a curtain wall that enclosed several buildings including a chapel and a residence for the châtelain. A third storey was added to the tower in the middle of the 14th century. The Saint-Bénézet Bridge was abandoned in 1669 and the fortress then ceased to serve any useful function. The French crown continued to pay for repairs, but after the French Revolution the buildings were abandoned and allowed to fall into ruins. In 1822 the town of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon decided to demolish all of the fortress except the present tower. It was listed as a Monument historique in 1862 and is now open to the public.
From the La Tour w had to drive up further to find a parking space, again somehow we ended up in the another Medieval township I am sure we will hav heaps of fines once him for being in forbidden areas..there are signs but being in French or Italian we don’t understand them.... Hence why we end up in the wrong spot
We eventually found a spot then se off on foot to find the Fort and Abbey Saint Andrè another wow place it’s massive and yet another fortified medieval city walled community. As we wound our Amy Brough yet again another unreal village with amazing alleys and sights abounding, at a higher level we could actually see the Papal Palace it was as if not bigger than this fortified city... but a lot more glamous... it as across the Rhone River and yet again sadly no Tim to look at it closely just had to see it in the distance....
(Info thanks to Wiki)The Fort Saint-André is a medieval fortress in the commune of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon in the Gard département of France, dating from the first half of the 14th century. The treaty of Paris, signed in 1229 at the end of the Albigensian Crusade, handed the French crown land to the west of the Rhone from Pont-Saint-Esprit to the Mediterranean and a joint interest in the city of Avignon. In 1290 the French king, Philip IV (Philippe-le-Bel or Philip the Fair), ceded his claim to Avignon to his father's cousin, Charles II of Naples who was the Count of Provence through his marriage to Beatrice of Provence. The Benedictine Abbey of Saint-André occupied a strategic position on Mount Andaon within sight of the town of Avignon which lay on the other side of the Rhone. Mount Andaon is a rocky outcrop with steep sides to the north and the east that rises 50 m above the floodplain of the Rhone. Prior to the 1770s the river flowed next to the base of the eastern side of the mount. The plateau at the top covers an area of around 3.5 hectare and extends for 220 m in an east-west direction and 160 m north-south. The top is not flat but rises from south to north by 24 m. The abbey was built at the eastern end of the plateau; the western end was occupied by a small village. The abbey had been founded at the end of the 10th century and possessed extensive property with over 200 churches spread over a wide area of southern France. In 1290 Philip IV instructed Adam de Montcéliard, the sénéchal of Beaucaire, to negotiate an agreement with the abbey to cooperate in the defense of the right bank of the Rhone. The paréage treaty signed in 1292 specified that Philippe le Bel could build a fortress with a permanent garrison next to the abbey and a castle by the river. The abbey surrendered temporal power but obtained protection from the unwanted pressure from the city of Avignon which wished to control both banks of the Rhone. By 1302 fortifications, including an initial Tour Philippe-le-Bel, had been built at the western end of the Pont Saint-Bénézet which lay less than kilometer from the abbey. In 1309, Pope Clement V moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon. The fortress of Saint-André, with the curtain wall that surrounded the abbey, was built in several stages during the first half of the 14th century. The surviving manuscripts do not allow the construction to be precisely dated. A châtelain is mentioned in documents dating from 1314 and 1344, a guard is mentioned in 1318. The carved crest placed by the abbey above the entrance is dated 20 July 1367. This was probably when modifications were made to the entrance arch. The fortress was continually occupied by officers of the crown up to the time of French revolution. The fortress was clearly visible from Papal State across the Rhone in the town of Avignon and was intended to demonstrate the power of the Kingdom of France.
What a huge day but boy did we see some amazing breathtaking sights... worth feeling very tired.
Our little unit was very basic, but No kettle no toaster, did have a microwave, sink Weeny dishwasher, not sure why as you really didn’t need it, and thank goodness a 2 ring stove top plus a little fridge..did cope with it and getting some cooking done was a bonus...Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 143
- Kamis, 09 Agustus 2018
- 🌧 28 °C
- Ketinggian: 30 mi
PerancisNîmes43°49’18” N 4°21’51” E
Day 141 Dark Skys and bedroom gloom....

Thursday 09/08/2018 Day (Day 54 SZ) Appart'City Nîmes 364, allée de l’Amérique Latine, Nîmes, 30900, France
A day of booking units and diary..it has been a huge decision on how to plan the next section of our trip.
Originally we had the plan of travelling most of Spain and Portugal, however due to costs of accommodation this being peak season, even tough Spain is supposed to be cheap peak season the prices are truly ridiculous... they know they are a popular destination at this time of the year and the prices rise 200-500% and this has made what is left which is slim pickings our of our budget..
The other reason is distances with time, taking time out to do the 2 resorts with Karma the one in Tuscany and the one in Normandy which is ahead have taken some of our days hence less time to be explore... so change of plan, we are still going to Spain and Portugal but only the top areas of both.....I am disappointed in many ways, as this had been a plan for a long, long time to see both these countries extensively. But sometimes you have to see reason... as it turns out even the places we have managed to find have been much more than planned... the trouble is you can’t get away from peak season anywhere in most of Europe as its summer everywhere!
So with the new itinerary which takes us to Barcelona, somewhere I wasn’t counting on going again....we had done Barcelona in 2000 which we had enjoyed then, but no desire to go back... however we are so will now have to find some interesting sights to go to, and I know it does have many from our last visit, now a rediscovery.....
Then as I was getting my pics uploaded disaster struck... I was changing external hard drives when my hand pulled the lead to hard, very new 2 TB external hard drive took off across the table and landed on the floor... I have had this happen before and it survived I have also had this happen before and I killed it and extremely devastatingly it is dead... I tried for ages to make it work, not wanting to fess up to John what I did as. Knew he would be pretty Pived off and yes he was... I felt just so upset... it holds the whole of my copies not the originals, but this had so many that had been worked on to save time once home... no matter what we did no way can you access them... we had only just bought it a few weeks ago... this was due to sheer volume of pics taken had filled up my 500mg and the 1 TB as we had movies and ebooks on them as well, hence no more room... all was going well until I dropped it... it makes a beeping noise and the info I read on the net tells us with the right help you may be able to resale what’s lost... however not while we are traveling, this means 2 things we have to wait until I get home to try and no guarantee it will work and 2 we have to buy a new one again... no wonder John’s Pppppp offfff.... I still can’t believe I did this..to be honest as I write this now a number of days later I still tire up about what I did, but I can’t undo it so just have to work around it....
Today is very, very overcast an about 1pm it started to pour so good thing we decided to stay in..... I stiff around so much with ma blog I only be a small amount done what with research in the places so I give the right facts and procrastination I only get small bits done at a time... the older I get the slower I am getting sad 😞 to say...
About 5 pm the rain cleared so we headed out to clear my head and look for a hard drive... we were positive there was a shopping centre close by, but alas it wasn’t once we had walked there only to discover a lot of empty shops and a huge Gym.... so back home head cleared a bit, time to get dinner on again...
Might not have gone anywhere but absolutely had it from the emotional fall out of writing and the hard drive episode... tomorrow’s a new day we head off to look again after taking today off....
The light at the end of my tunnel today was the lovely pink hued sunset... gives me hope for a better day tomorrow...Baca selengkapnya
- Tampilkan perjalanan
- Tambahkan ke daftar bucketHapus dari daftar bucket
- Bagikan
- Hari 142
- Rabu, 08 Agustus 2018
- ⛅ 30 °C
- Ketinggian: 30 mi
PerancisNîmes43°49’18” N 4°21’51” E
Day 140 River of Roman design!

Wednesday 08/08/2018 Day (Day 53 SZ) Appart'City Nîmes 364, allée de l’Amérique Latine, Nîmes, 30900, France
Setting off today we hadn’t as usual any real plans other than wanting to see Pont Du Gard and a suggestion from the lovely young girl yesterday at the info centre who suggested a few sights around the area... so John set Nav for Collias....Not really knowing what was there we were surprised by the huge bridge over the Collias River and below even though the water wasn’t deep were 100’s of canoes and canoe business set up along the river shore line..
Each business had a different coloured canoe ... so they could distinguish their own..
One business had 100’s of their own canoes all lineup one on top of the other..John and I was totally in awe as we couldn’t see how so many of the candies would b used and where on earth would they all fit as not that big of a river... when we pulled up the car park where we parked only had a few cars by the time we did leave there were 100’s of cars lined up... and as the day progressed we realised that they needed every one of their canoes as most canoed down stream to Pont Du Gard where you could see it from the water...
We wandered around the river and it’s bank for a while just so nice to be amongst nature instead of buildings and people, people everywhere.....there was a massive restaurant set up on the top side of the river bank so we had a cuppa in the breeze as the day heat as already knocking us... such a different heat to home even though ours is dry and this is also a dry heat but so, very different in the way you cope with it... once we were revived back to the car along the country roads following Nav who I am sure is stupid at times as she really does take us only some totally stupid roads when clearly there are better ones, but John for the life if me I dont know why insists he must follow her, only to discover many times I am right, but never tells me I am... that darn women has got him right where she wants him.... anyway...... we did make it and off to see it for ourselves...
Yes there is a cost hmmmmm.... and not a cheap cost either, but after actually spending our day there and it was a lot longer than planned I guess it was worth it...
The Pont Du Gard sure stands out and is very eye catching..... it’s actually an ancient aqueduct built as part of what was a 50k system around the 1AD the bridge was built in 3 different stages... info below gives more detail..
Our day consisted of a lunch 🥗 at the restaurant as we walked in not realising there were other smaller restaurants on the other side of the Pont Du Gard... meal wasn’t too bad but they had you being the only access to meals on this side... across the river which was afloat with canoes and people everywhere all worshipping the sun as only the Europeans can... there is a magnificent old 6 story building that appears to be abandoned, so sad as we got close up you could see it had been working not too long ago, had areas outside to eat as well as this beautiful old building so very French in its set up...
Being in the bridge you could appreciate it’s sheer size but just wall to wall people... we had to pick such a busy day... however it is summer holidays so guessing most days are like this.... views up and down the river gave us insight into why people would hire a canoe 🛶 to come under the Pont much better views I feel, being from the water than up here or even on the banks below it... still would be as good as in the water below it!
We wandered past some olive trees 100’s of years old along a path that lead us to heaps more shops, cafes and a massive museum and cinema complex.....very modern, kind of felt out of place in amongst the old buildings we were viewing...
however they had a fantastic movie about the aqueduct and you could see it from a drones perspective along the whole route used to place it along and see some of the other ruins along the path that are still there today..... ohh how I wish we had a 4x4 to explore that track and follow it through the Bush....
Next a museum all setup with how it was built so well done, a lot of thought has gone into this museum.... lastly totally out of place a graffiti display this felt really weird to see amongst the relics of days of old..... not sure why they would have this displayed but it was so we had a look...
Having finished this side which now appears to be the main side... we headed back across the bridge to the car... getting pics of the grand old olive trees, the Pont Du Gard from the lower banks of the river... funny yet again snails 🐌 all over the bushes no wonder the French love snails..... some pics of these as well before heading off through different villages to home... a very hot day but thoroughly worth the effort...
Another dinner in tonight... and a good rest needed for another day of sight seeing tomorrow.
Info thanks to the Crazy Tourist © 2018 THE CRAZY TOURIST
Pont du Gard
The magnificent construction that traverses the Gardon River is 20 kilometres from Nîmes, but is part of the ancient city’s infrastructure. The aqueduct brought water all the way from the Fontaine d’Eure, bypassing the high plateau directly north of Nîmes with a 50-kilometre crescent. Pont du Gard is the most astonishing section, standing at almost 50 metres, with three tiers of arches. And despite the awesome scale of the aqueduct there’s a difference in gradient of just 2.5 centimetres from one side of the Pont du Gard to the other, 275 metres away on the opposite bank.
Info thanks to Wiki
The aqueduct bridge is part of the Nîmes aqueduct, a 50-kilometre (31 mi) system built in the first century AD to carry water from a spring at Uzès to the Roman colony of Nemausus (Nîmes). Because of the uneven terrain between the two points, the mostly underground aqueduct followed a long, winding route that called for a bridge across the gorge of the Gardon River. The bridge has three tiers of arches, stands 48.8 m (160 ft) high, and descends a mere 2.5 centimetres (1 in) – a gradient of only 1 in 18,241 – while the whole aqueduct descends in height by only 12.6 m (41 ft) over its entire length, which is indicative of the great precision that Roman engineers were able to achieve using simple technology. The aqueduct formerly carried an estimated 40,000 m3 (8,800,000 imp gal) of water a day to the fountains, baths and homes of the citizens of Nîmes. It may have been in use as late as the 6th century, with some parts used for significantly longer, but a lack of maintenance after the 4th century led to clogging by mineral deposits and debris that eventually choked off the flow of water.
After the Roman Empire collapsed and the aqueduct fell into disuse, the Pont du Gard remained largely intact, due to the importance of its secondary function as a toll bridge. For centuries the local lords and bishops were responsible for its upkeep, in exchange for the right to levy tolls on travellers using it to cross the river, although some of its stones were looted and serious damage was inflicted on it in the 17th century. It attracted increasing attention starting in the 18th century, and became an important tourist destination. It underwent a series of renovations between the 18th and 21st centuries, commissioned by the local authorities and the French state, which culminated in 2000 with the opening of a new visitor centre and the removal of traffic and buildings from the bridge and the area immediately around it. Today it is one of France's most popular tourist attractions, and has attracted the attention of a succession of literary and artistic visitors.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 141
- Selasa, 07 Agustus 2018
- ⛅ 31 °C
- Ketinggian: 30 mi
PerancisNîmes43°49’18” N 4°21’51” E
Day 139 The trail to Rome and Nimes!

Tuesday 07/08/2018 Day (Day 52 SZ) Appart'City Nîmes 364, allée de l’Amérique Latine, Nîmes, 30900, France
Today we discover the delights at least I hope delights of Nimes and our plan did not disappoint..Nîmes is not a big tourist destination which for us is great ...Not too many people around to bug us as we look...
We walked to city centre which in itself was just so pleasant in itself as we wandered the French streets, s many doors to discover... it has such a very different feel to it than Italy..Nîmes even though very old in it self, set up by the Romans by Caesar Augustus around last Century BC and 1st Century AD... however the majority of the town feels much newer especially the area we are in....
Onwards to town, smack bang right to the huge Roman arena, 1. Les Arènes as its called is a huge Amphitheatre built AD 70 we didn’t go into it as again too expensive so we just wandered around the outside, you could see bits inside from there anyway just not the finer details... up the alleys around I to find some lunch which we did a kebab shop, got take away then come back and sat in front of the arena under trees on some cement seats...Watching the world go by here as very relaxing as not many people compared with so many of the other places we have been to... after lunch we wandered around the streets some more taking in the shops, finding as we went 2. Maison Carrée meaning in French the Square House even though it’s rectangle in shape... it was built 2AD and dedicated to Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar 2 grandsons and adopted heirs of Augustus Caesar who both died young... sad really isn’t it...
Next we set off as was recommended by the tourist info centre to the 3. Jardins de la Fontaine, however on the way we made our way past modern fountains set up in a park with huge faces depicting old statues a modern take on old, interesting anyway... from here we made our way to the huge park this was built on the sight of 4. Temple de Diane which is dedicated to the Goddess Diana... the Fountain and park lanes were built in 1745 it was actually one of Europe’s 1st public parks..much of the park is made up of regal balustrades, broad stairways, statues and marble vases, and waterways.... the huge Fountain and then the huge number of steps to climb up to the 5. La Tour Magne...
But before we did the climb we climbed around the ruins of the Temple de Diane, much of it is still there although in ruins but considering it as built around 1-2AD it was originally a Library was then used as a church before the French Wars of Religion damaged much of pre Medieval and Medieval buildings... a
Either way it was interesting to scamper around and check it out...
From here we did the big haul up the quite steep paths to the La Tour Magne... this is a Tower that was part of the 6k city walls now gone built around 15-14BC before this one was built it was built on top of a Celtic/Gallic Tower over 2,000 yrs old now and much or it is still standing....
It’s been a great day of yet more interesting sights to discover... not knowing what’s here is better more of a surprise...as we wandered around... I even enjoyed our walk home discovering more doors and windows... many which I won’t post up as I think I have over killed my posts with doors... one day I will have to do a book of doors of the world...
Dinner in tonight another big day tomorrow as we head out to see other sights outside if town...
Info thanks to The Crazy Tourist © 2018 THE CRAZY TOURIST
1. Les Arènes
The Roman amphitheatre in Nîmes has proudly stood the test of 2,000 years and looks great for its age.
The arena is still used for celebrations and concerts, and every May is a solemn scene for six days of bullfighting during the Feria de Nîmes. On a visit there’s so much for you to sink your teeth into, because even the configuration of the stairwells and galleries is impressive, and would have allowed 24,000 spectators to get in and out in a few minutes without risking crushes.
2. Maison Carrée
An exemplary piece of Vitruvian architecture, Maison Carrée is almost unparalleled in the former Roman world for its completeness.It has been here for more than 2,000 years and the only signs of age are a bit of weathering on the columns in the marvellous portico.The temple was dedicated to Gaius and Lucius Caesar, two grandsons of Emperor Augustus who died in their youth.In the next 20 centuries it became a house, granary, church and was also the mooted tomb for the 16th-century Duke of Uzès , Antoine de Crussol.
All these functions helped to keep temple in one piece for so long.To enter you have to pass through the majestic doorway almost seven metres in height and there’s a small, unadorned chamber showing a film about ancient Nemausus. then to the long fountain then onto the Garden steps
3. Jardins de la Fontaine
Parks don’t get much grander than these 18th century gardens around the water source where ancient Nîmes was founded. There are regal balustrades, broad stairways, statues and marble vases, but also exciting Roman monuments, which we’ll visit later. When the Jardins de la Fontaine opened in 1745 it was one of Europe’s first public parks, and came about after attempts to channel the natural spring led to the discovery of a temple to Augustus and theatre. Come to make more Roman discoveries and recharge your batteries on paths with cedars and horse chestnuts.
4. Temple de Diane
Almost hidden behind a copse of pines on the west side of the Jardins de la Fontaine are ruins of a chamber with a long barrel vault that caved in centuries ago. To the sides are passageways with centuries-worth of graffiti etched into the walls, and there are fragments of expertly-carved stonework in the main room. The site is called the “Temple of Diana” although the exact purpose of the building is unknown – it was possibly a library instead. Just by the entrance there’s a plaque telling you the story of the site since medieval times, and how it was damaged by fire in the early modern age.
5. La Tour Magne
In its prime the tower at the top of the Jardins de la Fontaine would soar to 32 metres, dwarfing every other building in the city (it is now 18, which is high enough!). The tower is all that is left of the fortifications erected during the rule of Emperor Augustus in 15BC. From its pedestal at the highest point of Nemausus it would have been a crucial beacon and watchtower controlling the plain.You can enter to read the explanatory panels about its Celtic origins, and climb up the stairs to the viewpoint at 18 metres where the displays show you how the panorama would have looked 2,000 years ago.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 140
- Senin, 06 Agustus 2018
- ☀️ 32 °C
- Ketinggian: 29 mi
PerancisNîmes43°49’17” N 4°21’51” E
Day 138 Farewell Italy, Hello France!

Monday 06/08/2018 Day (Day 51 SZ) Appart'City Nîmes 364, allée de l’Amérique Latine, Nîmes, 30900, France
A travel day and farewelling Italy... in many ways we are be sad, we have truly enjoyed Italy, but can’t say I have totally enjoyed the Italians, they are quite rude especially in shops, but that seems to be the same country over and over in Europe they all hate their jobs and make sure you are aware of it when serving you! I so hope we in Australia don’t get as rude as they are over here...especially in our supermarkets and food stores that’s where they truly are the worse or at roadside stops.... anyway suck it up and deal with it as it’s part of the par....
Our views along the way through tunnel after tunnel after tunnel were heaps of little villages piled on top of Hill knobs and in the valleys where you would think rivers run... so many so close to each other... all close knit homes on top of each other and a,ways the Cathedral on the highest point be it Hill or valley... always magnificent and always big....You can’t miss them at all... plus you can bet there would be up to another 5-10 church’s up streets here there and everywhere... we have found it time and time again even in small villages there are more than one church...
We will remember Italy for the great roads unreal feats of architecture so many strung from one high mountain to another... the sheer volume of tunnels that even go through the tiniest hill so the farmers land its not disturbed, our government wouldn’t do that...The crazy crazy drivers they are absolutely mad.... you can never predict an Italian driver, on small roads to open hwys they are just so crazy either madly flying by, passing you on unpassable sections of the road or going soooo slllowww that you could walk faster, getting stuck behind them is just as frustrating as the fast ones in fact more so.... in the end John was starting to drive like an Italian, crazy himself... I just prayed a lot and kept my eyes 👀 shut... Thank the Lord he kept us safe because some days I was an internal mess... but God is trying, to trying tooo I said....teach me to keep my mouth shut when Johns driving.... that is a tuffy He has a big job to do on me cause sometimes it gets loose and I just can’t help myself say something... usually at the wrong time... but we have had that many close calls, not Johns fault most haven’t been anyway, some have it’s been, so its difficult for the old heart not to be put through her paces when they occur.... seems to be pretty regular in Italy so another reason I am not sad to leave, I will be glad for calmer roads... well I pray so... but also sadness as Italy is one of a kind with its villages, history and way of life... for all its negatives there are many, many positives..... hence why we have been back here over 4 times now and seen pretty much most of the country only a few sections left if ever the chance occurs again to visit it.....
Drove for over 6 hrs, roadside stops were horrendous with people everywhere, but once we got to the got into France it all changed, calm, slower paced, not this mad run in get your quick fix of expression and run again... they all,have Yeppoon beans on board with that expression stuff and the bonus was even had rest stops real rest stops with trees tables toilets... nine if that anywhere in Italy... it was so strange as soon as we got over the border the terrain, vegetation everything changed like it knew it was a new country... we have noticed this time and time again as we change countries everything including the terrain feels so different.
Arrived in Nîmes doesn’t look much from where we are heaps of shops across the road, hotel very compact and very busy.... tiny kitchen, but still managed to cook a banana cake except didn’t realise it was plain flour, so its a very heavy banana cake...
I had spotted a couple of Restaurants on our way in not far from the hotel, so we Walked to brewery for dinner. Meal was so so, it was a Micro Brewery, well set up very busy with lots of people and now we had to try an order in another language it’s changing so fast from one to another and trying not to get our little tank toys etc mixed up from language to language..
Tomorrow is another day so see what Nimes has in store!Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 139
- Minggu, 05 Agustus 2018
- ⛅ 33 °C
- Ketinggian: 165 mi
ItaliaPalaia43°37’11” N 10°45’25” E
Day 137 The beauty of Torino!

Sunday 05/08/2018 Day (Day 50 SZ) Residence Valdocco Corso Valdocco 10, Centro, Turin, 10122, Italy
Our day consisted of exploring Torino on foot... we thought yesterday was hot today even hotter...
But the delights of the amazingly beautiful city keep my spurred on... the mirror image of these massive buildings is quite unreal... they had been carefully thought out and planned from the look of the layout of this city. Most cities in Italy are streets that wind and follow different paths, but this is a bit like ours in that the are very square...the original plan for the layout was similar to a checkerboard: roads running parallel and perpendicular. Hence why everything looks mirror imaged... this fascinates me...I think I am a bit OCD as things like this make me feel very comforted and relaxed...when I taught floral arranging I was very particular about balance and still am to this day... strange I know but we all have our little quirks... and now you know one of my many...
We covered from ahead of our apartment right down the main mall,to the info centre getting a map to at least know where we were going...The we followed the huge big mirror imaged buildings down to the river on the right side... mainly because it was shaded and todays heat is unreal.... any shade gives a reprieve...
From the river we wound our around to the huge spiral building I have since found out was originally the Jewish synagogue now is a Cinematic Museum big difference but ohh goodness what an unreal building... then onto the Palace that as supposed to have free entry today... only free entry was to a very bare very boring garden, nothing else was free in it at all... in fact I felt quite cheated as the tourist info centre encouraged us to go there, and in all honesty unless you can go into it there is actually nothing much to look at...anyway we have been and seen....
You may have noted we haven’t been into many of the buildings as we have travelled and travelled due to the costs to go through half of these places would keep you very broke... so I am content to just look on the outside... at least I have seen that much...
By late arvo we were tired hot and ready for a rest so we weaved our way home again... we had covered a good portion of the main section, so off we set for home, past more Roman Ruins, the fresh market square where we missed the actual markets yesterday... today after the big clean up yesterday they were preparing all the tables again... some of the trolleys that held the tables honestly looked like they were at least 50 yr old themselves... no rubber on the wheels, all rusty,with bare metal wheels.... the tables looked as ancient as well...
Past more church’s restaurants closed for the day and some for at least 2 weeks, as its summer holidays a lot of shops and restaurants etc close up for their break for 2-4 weeks... being top tourist season you would think they would stay open, but no that’s not the case....
Home for a rest before heading bank out to find somewhere for dinner..
Ohhh my glory was that hard,none had English on their menus on display so that was extremely hard.... we wandered around for over an hour trying to find sine where we could both eat at... I am the main problem,with so many food issues eating is a challenge and John bless his heart tries hard to fit in with what I can eat...
We eventually found a place but once it came out I honestly could eat it due to the sauce over it made me tummy extremely nauseated...I think John thought I was over reacting then he tasted it and said dint eat it...l did try but with each mouthful I wanted to be sick... so sadly another meal wrecked due to my awful tummy issues...
Lucky the bread that was part of the complimentary Italian trend with meals was enough to kill the worm that needed feeding....
Lucky I cooked a huge pot of gazpacho this morning guess what we are eating for the next week.....
We have had a wonderful day both very tired mainly from the heat... so back to unit to cook the gazpacho a bit more....only once I started the power went out... it had done this 2 times since we arrived you can’t have 2 elements oh the stove, or another appliances when using one hot plate or the power went out... lucky they could fix it, and lucky for us someone was in the office at 10pm night to turn it back on.... Midnight I finally got everything organised and could go to bed...
Historical Notes
As all other great European capitals, Torino is a result of the stratification of cultures, people and civilisations. The city is disseminated with testimonials of the past that tell of a history that began over 2000 years ago: the oldest documents mention a small village at the foot of the Alps called Taurasia, a small settlement populated by the “taurine” tribe, descendants of the union of the Gauls and Celtic-Ligures that was destroyed by Hannibal in 218 B.C. It was a military citadel during Roman times and in 28 B.C., under Augustus, it was given the name Augusta Taurinorum. This is a colony whose layout was similar to a checkerboard: roads running parallel and perpendicular. This system will characterise the city’s zoning in centuries to come, when Torino will be under the dominium of the Franks and Lombards, then a bishopric and after that, a city.
In 1280 the House of Savoy conquered Torino. Under their reign, the city experienced one of the most important transformations of its history. In 1563, the Savoy transferred their capital from Chambéry to Torino and called the finest architects of the times: from Ascanio Vitozzi to Amedeo and Carlo di Castellamonte, from Guarino Guarini to Filippo Juvarra. Thanks to their talent and creative genius, the city was transformed into one of the major capitals of the Baroque era. Torino acquired a style, charm and elegance all its own that has been one of its distinctive features for centuries. In this economic centre of production and exchange, the first manufacturing industries were founded as well as the development of the art of chocolate making, the pride and joy of tradition in Torino, Italy and throughout the world. Torino took on an importance from a religious viewpoint as well, in particular from 1578, the year in which the Duke Emanuele Filiberto definitively transferred the Holy Shroud from Chambéry. Tradition would have it that the body of Jesus Christ was wrapped in this shroud. The Torino of the House of Savoy was also a cultural centre filled with activities. The University, founded in 1404, attracted brilliant minds from all over Europe: Erasmus of Rotterdam, one of the geniuses of Renaissance Humanism, graduated from this University. Torino was also beloved by Montesquieu as well as by French politician and intellectual Charles de Brosses, who once defined it as “the loveliest city in Italy and, as far as I’m concerned, of Europe”.
The Savoy reign was interrupted in 1798 when Napoleon’s troops occupied the city and forced Carlo Emanuele IV to abdicate and move to Sardinia. Piemonte became a part France and Torino saw the crumbling of her defence walls, that until then were one of the distinctive traits of her planning structure. The Congress of Vienna returned Torino to the Savoy in 1814. After the concession of the Albertine Statute by King Carlo Alberto it was with the ascent on the throne of Vittorio Emanuele II, along with the work of Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour, that the city became protagonist of national history, leading the process that will result in the Unification of Italy. In 1861, Torino became the first capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The first Parliament was installed at Palazzo Carignano.
In the years following the Unification, even after the capital’s transfer to Florence, the city defined the industrial component of her identity more and more clearly. This process culminated in 1899 with the founding of FIAT – Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Automobile Factory Torino) - by the hand of (among others) Senator Giovanni Agnelli, grandfather of ‘Avvocato’ Gianni Agnelli, who took command of the company in 1966 led it to its international apex. This is a success that is shared with another time-honoured make of Torino’s automobile industry: Lancia.
Tarting in the beginning of the 20th century, industrial Torino attracted men and women from the countryside in Piemonte and the rest of Italy looking for employment. With the emergence of the “social issue”, the city was faced with new problems of integration, development and assistance. Torino affirmed its calling as a supportive city thank most of all to works by religious institutions such as the Piccola Casa della Divina Provvidenza (Small Home of Divine Providence), better known as the Cottolengo. Solidarity is an aspect that will mark the entire history of this past century, and is brought forward today by institutions like Gruppo Abele and Sermig.
Torino is also the home to fervent cultural activity. Luigi Einaudi taught here. Antonio Gramsci and Piero Gobetti studied here. At the Liceo Classico (secondary school) d’Azeglio, a generation of students gathered around professor Augusto Monti that were destined to leave an indelible mark on intellectual activity from the 1930’s until our time: these men were writers like Cesare Pavese and Primo Levi, musicologist Massimo Mila and philosopher Norberto Bobbio. Another member of this group was Giulio Einaudi, founder of the publishing house that carries his name: one of the reference points of the Italian anti-fascist culture.
Italian cinema was born and developed here. In 1914 director Giovanni Pastrone filmed “Cabiria”, based on the literary work by Gabriele D’Annunzio: the first full-length film to be distributed worldwide. Important film studios were founded in Torino: Ambrosio, Aquila and Itala Film. The Fert studios – now the location of the technological park Virtual Reality & Multi Media Park – were among the most active and best equipped movie studios, specially at the beginning of the 20th century as well as from 1940 – 55. Radio and television history also dawned in Torino, where “Eiar”, progenitor of the RAI, was based. Such characters as Paulista and the Caballero Misterioso were born here. Who were they? They were some of the television personalities that brought many commercials to life on the successful television programme “Carosello” aired from 1957 – 1977. Their creator? Armando Testa, an historic figure of Italian advertisement. The success of two time-honoured labels are tied to ad campaigns by Testa agency: Martini & Rossi and Lavazza.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 137
- Jumat, 03 Agustus 2018
- ⛅ 31 °C
- Ketinggian: 165 mi
ItaliaPalaia43°37’11” N 10°45’25” E
Day 135 Tuscany abounding!

Friday 03/08/2018 (Day 48 SZ) Karma Borgo Di Colleoli Via Panoramica 20 56036 Palaia Colleoli (PI) Tuscany Italy Pisa
Another day dawns and today we are going to try and get to San Gimignano, after not being able to go a few days ago because too many people we thought today we will try once more!
Once we got there it was as the other day wall to wall cars! All jocking to get a park! We must have driven around and around about 4 times before we finally managed to find a spot! Yo be honest I was ready to head off after the 2nd round, and the more anxious I become the more poor John coped it! I really can be a terrible side kick some days! After we finally got the park, which had numerous steps to ascend to make it to the top of the fortified old city! A massive wall surrounded this amazing village dating back to the 3rd century BC this was the beginnings of its origins!
Once we started to wander around we quickly could see this was very different to many of the other villages! Mainly in the fact it had so many very tall towers! It was a fairly spread out village with so many little facets to keep you searching for more! Views from around the edges over the valley’s below were certainly worth looking at! Sadly much of the area is very dry being there summer! The usual alleys, arches etc but so many much more!
When we first arrived we somehow ended straight up in a Cathedral which had so many ancient frescos very interesting! On our way in there was a guy begging at the door, but he wasn’t your usual beggar, he was neatly dressed, with a couple of shells a huge crook for a walking stick and a backpack! He hav the shells out to beg I ignored Him on the way in and as I lost John at on stage kept having to go in and out of the Cathedral a number of times! Each time ignoring him again! I found John and we set off but the whole time I was compelled to give him something so I went back but before I gave him his little offering that I had on me I asked why was he doing it! John had already said to me he felt he might be a pilgrim and once I asked he explained he was a pilgrim he had seen out from Rome and was heading to another place a long way away I can’t remember the name of! He had walked from Rome to San Gimignano as the first part of his leg! He did tell me how long it had taken him and the next big leg would take 5 months! As I didn’t have much money on me I could only give him a very small offering! I wished him all the best and headed on my way! Interesting what makes people want to achieve this type of pilgrimage.... in could have asked more and I should have I am sure he would have told me!
Our day was spent looking and finding again wonderful treasures to see, old Frescos in a courtyard! An amazing old building about to be done up but it was its entrance to the courtyard which lead to the building I loved it looked like a massive picture from ad the whole outside of it was made from carved and designed marble!
As we were wandering we did find a old office to buy a post bag to send if James’s present, nearly wrecked the bag from sweating so much it’s a terribly hot day..
We had a cuppa in the main square always costs more to do that.... sit in the busy touristy areas! But people watching is priceless you just can’t pay to see some of the funny or not so funny sights as you watch the coming and going if people!
Once we had finished we heard off only to stop at their quaint restaurant heading along a Tuscan road! I had seen it the other day as we wizzed by and thought then it looked lovely! I will have to say yes it did look wonderful but their food was so so!!!! Over priced for what it was! Did enjoy the views though, so once we finished we then headed back over the hills, Along the crazy narrow roads where it’s all about dodgems all the way home.......!
Tonight is our last night so we decided to have dinner here! A real meal is what I wanted! Instead of just going for easy starchy stuff to keep the price down and something we can share! I had a beef and sweet potato dish! It was as very yummy and all went well to start with! Could only manage less then half even though it was a small meal to start with! While there Jeff and Leon the sales reps were also sitting over from us! I waved farewell to them and they came over! After a bit of chatter they ended up sitting and we all had a great chat for a bit longer! Then Leon suggested we share a toast with Limoncello, John declined and had some other drink so did Leon! Jeff and I had the Limoncello! I should learn but do you think I do, no.... I only managed a tiny bit and started to feel awful, by the time the boys had said goodnight I had to run for it to be sick! Sweet sweet things and I are not friends any more! And there went my lovely dinner! They had given me a doggy bag for home with the rest of my meal so I could have more the next night!
Our time here had been lovely. Still feels like we could do with a big rest but the atmosphere had been very tranquil so that’s let our minds relax even if our bodies haven’t! It’s not just a matter of looking in Italy all adventures are physical as well with lots of walking and lots of climbing up and down stairs here there and everywhere and if not steps then it’s ramps areas that are steep as well! Plus the heat had zapped us day after day! So I think we are physically tired from all of this as well... but it’s the price you pay to see these amazing unforgettable sights!
History Info below on San Gimignano!
All acknowledgement to Wikipedia! Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted.
San Gimignano (Italian pronunciation: [san dʒimiɲˈɲaːno]) is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of its tower houses, which, with its hilltop setting and encircling walls, form "an unforgettable skyline". Within the walls, the well-preserved buildings include notable examples of both Romanesque and Gothic architecture, with outstanding examples of secular buildings as well as churches. The Palazzo Comunale, the Collegiate Church and Church of Sant' Agostino contain frescos, including cycles dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. The "Historic Centre of San Gimignano" is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town also is known for saffron, the Golden Ham, and its white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, produced from the ancient variety of Vernaccia grape which is grown on the sandstone hillsides of the area.
San Gimignano delle belle Torri' is in Tuscany, 56 km south of Florence. It served as an important relay point for pilgrims travelling to or from Rome on the Via Francigena. The patrician families who controlled the town built around 72 tower-houses (some as high as 50 m) as symbols of their wealth and power. Although only 14 have survived, San Gimignano has retained its feudal atmosphere and appearance. The town also has several masterpieces of 14th- and 15th-century Italian art.
In the 3rd century BC a small Etruscan village stood on the site of San Gimignano. Chroniclers Lupi, Coppi and Pecori relate that during the Catiline conspiracy against the Roman Republic in the 1st century, two patrician brothers, Muzio and Silvio, fled Rome for Valdelsa and built two castles, Mucchio and Silvia (now San Gimignano). The name of Silvia was changed to San Gimignano in 450 AD after Bishop Geminianus, the Saint of Modena, intervened to spare the castle from destruction by the followers of Attila the Hun. As a result, a church was dedicated to the saint, and in the 6th and 7th centuries a walled village grew up around it, subsequently called the "Castle of San Gimignano" or Castle of the Forest because of the extensive woodland surrounding it. From 929 the town was ruled by the bishops of Volterra.
In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance era, it was a stopping point for Catholic pilgrims on their way to Rome and the Vatican, as it sits on the medieval Via Francigena.The city's development was also improved by the trade of agricultural products from the fertile neighbouring hills, in particular saffron, used in both cooking and dyeing cloth and Vernaccia wine, said to inspire popes and poets.
In 1199, the city made itself independent of the bishops of Volterra and established a podestà, and set about enriching the commune with churches and public buildings. However, the peace of the town was disturbed for the next two centuries by conflict between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, and family rivalries within San Gimignano. This resulted in competing families building tower houses of increasingly higher and higher heights. Towards the end of the Medieval period, there were 72 tower houses in number, up to 70 metres (230 feet) tall. The rivalry was finally restrained when the local council ordained that no tower was to be taller than that adjacent to the Palazzo Comunale.
While the official patron is Saint Geminianus, the town also honours Saint Fina, known also as Seraphina and Serafina, who was born in San Gimignano 1238 and whose feast day is 12 March. The Chapel of Santa Fina in the Collegiate Church houses her shrine and frescos by Ghirlandaio. The house said to be her home still stands in the town.
On 8 May 1300, San Gimignano hosted Dante Alighieri in his role as ambassador of the Guelph League in Tuscany.
The city flourished until 1348, when it was struck by the Black Death that affected all of Europe, and about half the townsfolk died. The town submitted to the rule of Florence. Initially, some Gothic palazzi were built in the Florentine style, and many of the towers were reduced to the height of the houses. There was little subsequent development, and San Gimignano remained preserved in its medieval state until the 19th century, when its status as a touristic and artistic resort began to be recognised.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 136
- Kamis, 02 Agustus 2018
- ☀️ 33 °C
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ItaliaPalaia43°37’11” N 10°45’25” E
Day 134 Locked away!

Thursday 02/08/2018 (Day 47 SZ) Karma Borgo Di Colleoli Via Panoramica 20 56036 Palaia Colleoli (PI) Tuscany Italy Pisa
Today was spent coped up in side to get my notes done for the blog and pics.... it really is taking away from my trip... I had planned to go out to the pool today, but dues to being behind so far that’s gone out the window..I only have myself to blame, I write too much and take too long, getting slower and slower in my old age...
By afternoon I had, had enough and no where near finished... so we headed to the village to post James’s present to him..only the young guy who couldn’t speak much English told us he had no post bags to mail it to Australia.....so after a few minute we decided we would tell him we would try and get one and be back tomorrow it’s, Thursday, Friday we can buy one with the fact they are opened on Sat we can come back before we leave.....
My actual waiting time at the post office before my turn.....I am dicing with death each visit to this village...when you walk around all the elderly stare at you suspiciously like your going to do something wrong... and in the post office building when I arrived, there were 2 elderly women, one inside the office....
The other sitting in the set outside a younger women still older than me next to her... no greetings to say bonjour today, they just gave me the stare....I sat and then the younger woman said something, which I took it be, you wait inside, so I got up to go in to the main office...the other older women was nearly having an conniption fit, pointing at herself that she was next... I am nodding to say yes, but I am sure if she could have slit my throats there and then she would have... I worked out it must be pension day..and don’t let anyone come between them and their pension... the poor guy in the office must put up with some stuff the old women look like they download all their problems on him and he just smiles sweetly and nods... you don’t need Italian to understand what they are doing... finally she left so it meant the other old lady could come in giving me the stare that I wouldn’t get out of my chair, that felt like a box I had been stuffed into ..... then she did the same as the other old women before her, talked nine to the dozen, he just smiled sweetly and nodded...funny to watch actually... finally my turn and that didn’t work out as no post bags so we left to return tomorrow.....
From the post office we headed to the coffee shop across the road, had afternoon tea .... was watched by the locals... Then we set off to check out the village... what an unreal little place this is... the whole village is set out on the top of ridge lines of the hills around the areas....single streets run along each ridge line there are around 4 kind of like a cross and the main section of the village seems to meet in the middle of the cross... the Main Street is narrow at both ends with city gates to drive through, the middle fattens out interesting layout unless you see it,it is hard to get your head around, even driving around it is still difficulty to orientate yourself...
We parked in the middle section of the main area..then set out on foot to check it out only issue was the elderly sitting out in the afternoon light, all gave us the stare like we were going to be a problem..we tried to say bonjour but they weren’t to keen on saying it back..heaps of local village children were either playing or heading to guitar lessons the elderly all chatted to them... as I was taking a pic of an old barber’s shop an older bloke did come up to us and tried to tell me all about when it was opened...It looks like it was a business many years ago... we had seen 2 other hairdressers earlier..... heaps for a tiny village like it is... and the elderly man was pointing and chatting on in Italian. I worked out he was telling us about the other to hairdressers now this one isn’t here anymore...I had a laugh with him, didn’t understand a word he said but we didn’t need words actions said it all...
After we had a look around we headed back to the car and drove to the big cathedral that’s in the entrance to town from the resort..in actual fact there are about 4-5 entrances to the town....I took some pics of the doors then we headed back to the resort... we had take away pizza tonight.... very spicey and John wasn’t keen on it.. so only had a bit. Another day gone....Boy are the moving fast...Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 135
- Rabu, 01 Agustus 2018
- ☀️ 33 °C
- Ketinggian: 165 mi
ItaliaPalaia43°37’11” N 10°45’25” E
Day 133 Trees of my hearts desire !

Wednesday 01/08/2018 Day (Day 46 SZ) Karma Borgo Di Colleoli Via Panoramica 20 56036 Palaia Colleoli (PI) Tuscany Italy
The NP Maccas... onto lidil Lucca, and the bridge the man villages back...
My day will be wonderful I had hoped... and it was...for over 12 months I have wanted to go to this National Park in Italy....well to be honest I didn’t know until about 3 mots before our trip that where I had planned to was even a NP....I had seen these amazing unreal pictures on Instagram that depicted these unique tree lined arch..
From then on all I have wanted to do was head to where this place was..... I had to do research to find it but once I did find out where it was, it was funny because I had been last the place they were about 3 times at least and it was at Pisa in Italy...however unless you know where they are you wouldn’t know at all....
So when I put together this trip and the places to visit no matter what else happened I had to go here...So when I finally made it I was blown away No 1 by how easy it was to find I really thought it would take ages..... No 2 how awesome they really looked in real life... I told John after it was a highlight of our trip....When we arrived we drove in towards the main office about to buy our NP TICKET..but just as we turned in after the entrance I spotted this massive line of tree 🌳...tall pine tree type trees that went down a straight for about 7 Ks all planted in 1979, just so interesting...The Italians call it Reginal Park Migliarino SAN Rossore....
Before we actually made it to The NP we had to have an appt with Macca who was just up the road so worked in brilliantly!
So we parked up and set out in foot me taking so many pics between the iphone 📲 and my Nikon..... we walked for about 2.5 is down and didn’t seem to be getting very far.. you weren’t allowed to drive down this road...there were locals walking it and getting into my pics but looking at them now they actually add to the perspective of the whole view... with big no entry signs around we were sure it was for cars .... next thing we know there is a car driving down past us...so much for that law we said..
At the 2.5 mask we decided to head back and as we did this other car cam driving towards us..l next thing this guy starts talking in Italian and waving his hands about and saying something to me... we said something to him in English,next thing he told us it’s not allowed to come past the barrier... which wasn’t barred off but a barrier evidently....we thanked him for his directions... we were hearing back anyway... when we got to the signs which were all in Italian except the fine print down the bottom... no one allowed past the point without a guide... which you guessed it costs...
anyway naughty as I am I didn’t care as I had my pics anyway...
We got back to the car and headed off to Lidl to do some shopping... then we are to head to Lucca....
Heading to Lidl we had to pass along and slightly under this amazing looking ancient Aquaduct in Pisa, we have been here 3 times and never knew it existed...got our shopping done, I even managed to score a red dress for cheap as chips..So happy with that....then off to Lucca not that far from Pisa but over 1/2 way there we followed the unreal Aquaduct quite a distance along the Hwy through some smaller villages ... 8ks all up, which I am guessing is only a small amount of what’s left...
onto Lucca, which we have been to a couple of years ago.. but only drove in and drove out... now we can look slower...
Lucca was so hot today... so looking did become a bit of a chore and we didn’t have a huge amount of time... so it was a quick whip around..and yet again so much to take in so many church’s, Piazzas, statues and people to get around, in between, then the cars in what really shouldn’t be a car area just too many people, and lastly push bikes going here there and everywhere... it really made it very difficult to get around and actually enjoy the experience...plus now I have new shoes 👟 and they are rubbing my little toe so badly I can feel a blister starting already... John had only had a ticket for just over an hour... we scored there went to by a ticket to park the car, some guy was leaving and offered us his.... which was great of him but didn’t give us a lot of time....
What was fascinating about Lucca was all the marble sculptures massive ones dotted all over the old city... at the entrance of the city gates in Piazzas/Squares, out the front of Cathedrals which I did think was a bit odd..l but all in all there were heaps around....
The mountains behind a Lucca are where they mine the marble and from our last trip here, there are yard after yard, village after village all displaying statues or sell marble in their yards... it’s huge business here and as nearly every building has some sort of marble in it, be it window sills, steps, bench tops, tables ++++ of items made from marble in Italy... even some streets have marble gutters... and in Pompeii the footpaths had a mixture of marble and cobblestones.... fascinating to see how it’s used... so common and we pay so much for it...
Once I had, had a fairly good look around, John had gone back to the car as we didn’t want to get booked... I could have spent another hour here, but we still had a couple more places to go to...
So I hit footed back to the car with an extremely painful little toe with every step it hurt more and more... onward we headed to Ponte Della Maddalena... this is a 95m arched medieval bridge built in 1080-1100 and renovated again in 1300 and in 1900’s slightly changed after a huge flood... either way this unreal feat of architecture once again blew us away... its other name is Ponte del Diavolo meaning Bridge of the Devil.. I can’t for the life if me work out why it would be called after Mary Magdalene then called the Bridge of the Devil.. very odd..either way this piece of ancient medieval history is unbelievable with how it was made..
into below....Just being on it and seeing how it structure is today knowing it was all by hand blows your mind...interesting and unreal to see for sure...
We finished up with a cuppa across the road then hit the track home... we passed through village after village some scientists, some modern, some really tiny only a few homes others with massive shopping centres....
We finished off we our night at the Restaurant next door, who would have thought it would be packed mid week but unreal the people in what appears to be a country area, no shops around, just a couple of restaurants and the place is crawling with people.... and if it’s not the digs they bring it’s the cats that roam the restaurant at your table begging for food... unreal... kids, dogs and cats like a crazy place at times....
A huge day both tired so off to bed tomorrow’s another adventure or maybe...
Info thanks to Wiki all copyrights theirs!
Ponte della Maddalena (Italian: "Bridge of Mary Magdalene") is a bridge crossing the Serchio river near the town of Borgo a Mozzano in the Italian province of Lucca.One of numerous medieval bridges known as Ponte del Diavolo, the "Bridge of the Devil", it was a vital river crossing on the Via Francigena, an early medieval road to Rome for those coming from France that was an important medieval pilgrimage route.
The bridge is a remarkable example of medieval engineering, probably commissioned by the Countess Matilda of Tuscany c. 1080-1100. It was renovated c. 1300 under the direction of Castruccio Castracani. The largest span is 37.8 m. The bridge is also described in a 14th-century novella by Giovanni Sercambi of Lucca.
Circa 1500 it took on the name of Ponte della Maddalena, from an oratory dedicated to Mary Magdalene, whose statue stood at the foot of the bridge on the eastern bank.
In 1670 the General Council of the Republic of Lucca issued a decree prohibiting passage over the bridge with millstones (ceppi) and sacks of flour in order to preserve the structure.
In 1836, after being badly damaged during a flood, the bridge underwent urgent repair work. In the early 1900s in order to make room for the surfaced roadway an additional arch was added to the right hand section, considerably altering the original design.
With an arched structure like it’s lunging towards the shore, the Ponte della Maddalena near the Italian village of Borgo a Mozzano has earned the title of Ponte del Diavolo, or Devil’s Bridge.
Its official name in Italian means the Bridge of Mary Magdalene, yet it’s better known by its more satanic nickname. This likely comes from its staggering shape, a feat of engineering for the 11th century when it was constructed. It spans 131 over the Serchio River and is 60 feet tall at the peak of its highest of the five asymmetrical arches.
One story goes that the Countess Matilde di Canossa commissioned it so she could reach the thermal baths. However, the more popular legend is that the villagers, facing difficulties in completing their complicated bridge, made a pact with the devil to finish its construction. In exchange he would get the soul of the first to cross it (a common devil-building-bridge deal). Supposedly, the clever townspeople sent a dog over first, although it’s unclear if the poor dog then faced eternal damnation or if a frustrated devil just stormed away to try again elsewhere.
Now it’s more a favorite photography spot that river crossing, although it’s recommended that you do. While the legends of the devil are almost definitely that of myth, there’s an unsettling feeling evoked by stepping over those wavering arches. Baca selengkapnya
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- Selasa, 31 Juli 2018
- ☀️ 33 °C
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ItaliaPalaia43°37’11” N 10°45’25” E
Day 132 The hard sell!

Tuesday 31/07/2018 Day (Day 45 SZ) Karma Borgo Di Colleoli Via Panoramica 20 56036 Palaia Colleoli (PI) Tuscany Italy
Today we have a meeting with a Jeffery our sales consultant.... he like all the others believes he can give us more for our Buck...
So after a morning of fiddling around with bits and pieces we met him at 10.30am for Coffee...These guys are trained to be your friend always are easy to chat to and always know how to make you feel your important... they are paid to do that...as he says we have 2 jobs... one is to help orientate you to the Resort your in and the other is to help you get the best out of your membership... when they say that it always means up grading and that means money...for the life of me I am over these talks... if I could have a chat and a drink with them I could cope with that... but this hard sell stuff is sorry to be blunt pissing me right of.....
You know that to have a cheap holiday and yep this is cheap @$99US for the week cheap and we know it is..that there is a trade off and that is we paid big bucks to be part of it and we pay a maintenance fee every 2nd yr to get these great deals...... so at the end of the day what is a good deal still costs in the long run... are we ahead probably this year yes...and their specials we have been grabbing at $99US aren’t always that cheap.. in fact a lot are going up to $199US that still is cheap compared to say $800-1,000 a week in a resort at home......my point is that they don’t want you to just be happy with what you have they are always pushing to get more...
When we first applied for this Resort to come the price was$199US a week as we were one of the first 25 we got it for the cheaper price our bonus I think... but Jeffery had to keep reminding us, had we come here not on a deal it would have been for club members $799US... well it wasn’t and we did get a deal and I felt we shouldn’t feel guilty because we did... while we sat with him his sales pitch to us felt plausible, but after we left and I had to request we go away and discuss it.. as John said we are getting exactly what we want from it by using there hot deals... we can take friends with us... Jeff kept telling us in the points we have places like this we can’t access on our points.. true but on hot deals like we have we can so what more do you want...
We aren’t greedy we are happy with our lot... by the time I left I was very emotional which John was finding hard to cope with the fact I was.... so once we got back to our room I just fell into a heap..... John for the life of him couldn’t understand why... jolly women... but we had been through this process every single place we stay and only been through it with Andrew in Bavaria... plus he told us to our face he was warned we were tough customers and hard to sell to... the more we are with this club as great as the resorts are and they really are amazing for all the upside the downside of the hard sell is getting to me... I am starting to think how many more times do I have to do this shit... for the sake of cheap accommodation..... for now we need the cheap accomodation so we will have to cope but maybe some thinking time will help...
For the afternoon I did the Blog and when it was time to go and see Jeff to give him our answer I just couldn’t go, so I headed off around the roads to take some pics... I had thought we had better views here than we do... after walking a fair bit I had done what I could and the heat was intolerable so I headed back... by then John was home and had done the deed. I went to get my glasses and realised I had lost them..
Buggar really.... so I had to go back to all the places I had been, plus more to just make sure I hadn’t dropped them... I was sure they had been run over, I walked and prayed, walked and prayed.... hotter and sweater than I was before... I had gone to the car park before to check but went back again as I had spent some time in amongst the Olive Grove taking pics over the valley... Just as I was about to give up I walked to another spot I didn’t even think I had stood... I was about to turn around, when I had an instinct to look down, and just out if the corner of my eye 👁 I could see a glimmer and thank The Lord it was them..... You have no idea how much I thanked God for yet again looking after even the silly little things in my life... And He does time and time again His mercies are amazing.... this was about an hour of looking now nearly 6pm and John had been looking for me as well and couldn’t find me. But like a bad smell I always return... it’s been a very emotionally draining day today... maybe it hasn’t needed to be and it hadn’t helped I keep forgetting to take my Natural hormone therapy which does work.. me being so emotional has proved it works.. I am usually not this bad...
A rest and then we had our own nibbles here in the room again.... been a big emotional day..Baca selengkapnya

Rell01I think we are.... a few days here and there taking a bit of time out isn’t quite helping us get over being as tired as we both are, all this travel is actually hard work ha ha.... but honestly I am pretty sure it is, we will need a holiday to get over the holiday sounds silly I know !
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- Hari 133
- Senin, 30 Juli 2018
- ☀️ 31 °C
- Ketinggian: 165 mi
ItaliaPalaia43°37’11” N 10°45’25” E
Day 131 Hills of delight!

Monday 30/07/2018 Day (Day 44 SZ) Karma Borgo Di Colleoli Via Panoramica 20 56036 Palaia Colleoli (PI) Tuscany Italy
Today’s plan was to head to SAN Gimignano, recommended by a number of people including our Sales rep... so off we set driving past heaps a quaint little Italian villages centuries old... so many sitting right on the top of small mountains, others spilling over its edges into the valleys below... it’s just so breathtaking zipping by these unreal little communities, all with their own personality and all with their our agendas... our other plan is to go to Volterra and Forcoli to do some shopping... a big Day planned...you honestly could spend a month here and still never see all that it has to offer.....
So we wound our way around these narrow roads, dodging push bikers, mortorbikers and cars .....they absolutely fly around all the blind corners, pass where no passing is possible, many sliding into a tight spot between cars just as they are nearly taken out by the car coming in the opposite direction..l honestly I have my heart in my mouth more often than not... it takes me all my might to keep my mouth shut so as not to give John had harder time when he needs his concentration to avoid us being hit... sometimes it gets the better of me then I feel terrible afterwards for being such a pain... but driving here really is an education in itself...up and down the hills that make up this part of Tuscany.... views of the valleys below of rows and rowed of Grape Vines, and olive grove, after olive grove...Restaurants tucked here there and everywhere plus many wineries and Olive oil sales... we haven’t been to any of these at all as it’s not Johns thing... but they did look interesting if you were interested in checking them out...
We got to SAN Gimignano only to discover it was wall to wall cars and people, not a park in sight...so we just drove straight through and headed to Volterra...not realising this was such an unreal place to see..... like all of them it’s full of alleys, churches, cobblestone streets, Piazzas and Statues..... in saying this they still all have their own personality...like Cathedral’s they all have their own personality.... but most would say seen one seen them all... I still like to have a quick look...
We wandered around Volterra, after entering by one of its main gates... walking straight past the Castle which we said we will come back to, firstly let’s checkout the out the place and what’s to see......
Heaps of little shops, restaurants, people relaxing 😎. Alabaster must be mined close by because every 2nd shop is an alabaster shop..I got burnt by an alabaster shop in Egypt years ago..... It wasn’t the real thing and crumbled in my suitcase before we got home.. as lovely 😊 as it looks I won’t buy it again.... they were some beautiful pieces.... unreal old buildings, lots of nooks here and there... and steep paths to climb... the look on people’s faces when they took one look at the steep path we came across, especially if the had a pram.... some elderly and heaps of the young all back tracked when the realised it either back to where they come from or up the steep grade...
What we did discover after left was that there was a huge Roman Arena we missed... such a shame... we managed to have not to bad a lunch today a Kebab pretty good..then not realising there was more to Volterra we headed up the steep path and to a huge big park area....As I was taking pics here I took some of the castle and happen there notice glasses enclosed towers that looked like a prison... as we got closer to the Castle we quickly realised it is a prison....then the signs to say it is poped up... what a shame it’s an unreal building just so huge, to think it’s hold many at the governments request.. seems a waste of this unreal building. However when we have been through a lot of the old Castles most have had some sort of history as a prison, this one just happens to be still in our modern age...
So back to the car, next to where we parked was this amazing looking 3-4 offset levelled modern home that seemed to be abandoned... it was a big setup and looked really interesting just looked neglected 😩 and very sad... there are many abandoned buildings in Italy but this one seemed odd as it was modern and not that old....
Off to a Forcoli to do some shopping as we needed a few items for breaky and some lunch’s thatcan be done with no cooking required... as mentioned earlier the unit doesn’t have any cooking facilities in it... got our goodies and bonus a free bottle of wine from a broucher out of our room. A coffee at the coffee shop next door a good chance for the locals to check us out... then drove back...
Tonight we will eat in our room with cheese and nibbles..... another day down..Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 132
- Minggu, 29 Juli 2018 16.40
- ⛅ 30 °C
- Ketinggian: 165 mi
ItaliaPalaia43°37’11” N 10°45’25” E
Day 130 Wet drapes!

Sunday 29/07/2018 Day (Day 43 SZ) Karma Borgo Di Colleoli Via Panoramica 20 56036 Palaia Colleoli (PI) Tuscany Italy Pisa
A bit of a nothing day today, catching up or at least on trying to do pics and blog.... sleep and for John read as he has found some books to read again..
I woke up to the floor next to my bed being absolutely soaked and the curtains beside my side of the bed are just dripping... the aircon next to me is leaking profusely, thank goodness the drapes are there or I would be waddling around in water.... the drapes are this new modern style where heaps if it is draped onto the floor.... I had opened the window to put the dripping curtains out into the heat of the day hoping it would dry them... otherwise they’ll have Mildewy curtains.... when the girls arrived to do the cleaning I said to one of them did she speak English... next thing in this thick, thick Scottish accent she reply... I do.... then proceeded to speak to her partner in crime in Italian... I told her my wet drapes problem, which was addressed straight away... I proceeded to have a conversation with her and it would seem, she was born in Italy, went to Scotland as a baby, came back to Italy 30 yrs ago... but has still got her brother and a house in Glasgow..
So funny watching her switch from Italian to The Scottish accent so quickly... she looked like she would be a card...
Earlier we had had, our meeting with the sales rep Jeffery, the usual Spiel how we can upgrade for more time, more benefits etc etc etc...... they are having a wine and cheese evening tonight that we have said we will attend.... we might get to meet people... might as well get the best out of it....
Jeffery himself is Scottish but his accent wasn’t as thick as the little Italian cleaners was....
We had a rest and at 6 pm we headed down to the meet and greet evening... about 12 of us.... the club has only so far managed to buy 30% of this resort... all the reception area, the building we are in 10 units and the decking next to our building but not the ground... that was funny when he told us and the restaurant.... there are still 58 more units and suits in another building.... after the old fellow who was selling this resort to Karma died, his son reneged on it going through....money had changed hands but no record of it happening occured ...
to this day the large sum of money has never been found... I was told about this happening in Bavaria so we are in the know so to speak ha ha.... it is really sad to be honest, the whole exchange of hands has been a huge deal for the people organising the sale... and the son has been very, very difficult to deal with..... eventually they hope to finally own it all as was to be the case from the beginning
At the wine and cheese evening we met another Aussie couple from Cairns.... I had spotted them yesterday and said to John without hearing them speak that I beat they are Aussie.... it was his boardies and mannerism that I felt gave it away..... and yep he is your typical Ocker Aussie.... and so is she to be honest.... we also meet a lovely couple from England with their son and niece who is also Aussie from Brisbane, but living in the UK at present hoping to stay longer...she is an optometrist but not working as that in UK as too many already there... some Indian families turned up...and 2 Maturer women from the UK as well.... trying to remember who else... Leon from Slovenia a sales rep speaks 7 different languages..... Jeffery from Scotland...and a couple of others reps .... but they didn’t attend must have been tired up with the business of things here!
The bubbly Prosecco was very tasty, the cheese so, so...lots of cured meats as well. They are big on cured meats ...
All in all not to bad an evening worth coming to and now we don’t need have dinner, bonus...
Off to bed ready for another dayBaca selengkapnya
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- Hari 131
- Sabtu, 28 Juli 2018
- ⛅ 27 °C
- Ketinggian: 165 mi
ItaliaPalaia43°37’11” N 10°45’25” E
Day 129 Under The Tuscan Stars...

Saturday 28/07/2018 Day (Day 42 SZ) Karma Borgo Di Colleoli Via Panoramica 20 56036 Palaia Colleoli (PI) Tuscany Italy Pisa
Up this AM to nit to bad a night and some goodies waiting on the table for us... I stashed them for morning tea.. we had our breakies and then set about getting the baggage to the car... today is a challenge as there is actually no where to park... There is a cement walkway from the very busy main Hwy to the front door if the units... John said he was going to park there....all I could see was the car crashing down 3 stories below to someone’s front door on the below ground apartment..
He suggested maybe he could just park sideways as close to it as possible... I really didn’t think it would hold a car... I might be wrong but better safe than sorry...
So that’s what he did and in between cars flying by in the Hwy we put stuff into the car bit by bit.. I am not sad to leave Pompeii it is such a dirty over crowded place... the only reason you would come here is to see the ruins which actually look cleaner and neater than the rest of the town....
Off up the Hwy..this is a long day of travel and we aren’t going off the Hwy today as too many K’s to do.....a stop for morning tea.... didn’t have our goodies from breaky....had something else.... a stop for lunch just mayhem where we pulled up just 100’s of people all trying to get something to eat... I hadn’t done it before but today I had actually taken some bread and toasted a sandwich each with ham, cheese and salami, am I glad I did..all we had to do was by a cuppa and have our pre made Sanger’s... only issue is no where other than inside or attached to the Autostrada’s can you sit to eat.... they just don’t supply roadside tables and chairs... but they do have gutters and that’s where we sat.... a bit sad but only choice and to be honest there is no way we would have tilted into their restaurants or fast food spots... the crowds were unreal....
Our last stop before arriving at Karma Borgo Colleoli was a little village up the road Palaia... what a little delight was a very short visit... hoping to go back and have a good look.... we had walked around, trying find an ATM..... John did find one in a very obscure spot right at the end of the street.... near nothing really....
Then back into the car to our resort... it is set on hills, not a valley like in had in my mind....in fact all this area is hills and small barrow country roads... bitumen, bu narrow and the greenery hangs very, very close so on coming traffic is often right on you before you realise it....
The resorts main reception is on a corner opposite an old church, a restaurant across the road from it and a smaller community they call a Borgo down the road... there seems to be restaurants and BnB’s dotted here there and everywhere all hidden behind heaps of greens of olive trees 🌲pine trees , and grape 🍇 vines...... plus all the other creepers and climbers around.... it very, very lush just in the area... further down the valley it’s actually very dry looking.....
The resort won’t allow cars into it, so we had to unpack all our goodies and a porter with his golf buggy bought all the suit we are in.... this is the main Villa as you come into the resort after a long line of beautiful trees... the main building is part of this cluster of lovely old buildings that is part of a Medieval castle dating back to the 17th century... Our suite is very spacious and roomy, only downside was the fact you can’t self cater in these rooms...in the units you can but not the suits... a huge big 4 poster wrought Iron bed... lovely old dark wood furniture and a huge bathroom, with a fantastic view from the loo.... I am over the moon, it is just lovely.... the only other downside was the fact I had so much cold stuff and the fridge in the room was weeny as...
So on a chance they might give us another I asked for another fridge and a microwave...they came up with the fridge only small, but between the 2 I could put the cold stuff in....
We settled in wen for a look, then headed over to have dinner at the lovely restaurant... Meal tasted not too bad, but I really had some issues eating it... so,e days are good some no so good... today is one of those days...
They have a huge weekend apparently as Andrea Bocelli is singing and a lot of the guests are staying over to attend his concert... so the restaurant as packed and there are people everywhere... the car park which is in an olive grove next to another chapel is also packed to the hilt... interesting as it feels like we are in the Bush not in a main busy section of Tuscany..but I don’t think anywhere in Tuscany is the Bush is all go, go, go especially in the summer season...Baca selengkapnya
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- Jumat, 27 Juli 2018 19.52
- ☀️ 27 °C
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ItaliaPompei Scavi40°44’32” N 14°28’45” E
Day 128 Pompei Mark II

Friday 27/07/2018 (Day 41SZ) Itineror Ergo Sum BnB Via Provinciale Vigne Sant'Antonio, 65, Pompei, 80045, Italy
Awake today after a restless sleep...I think all this chopping and changing of beds is not to bad,but having some weird dreams really weird dreams...which makes a restless sleep... I will live... out for breaky and the owner had left us lovely fresh croissants 🥐 only thing is they are sweet and me and sweet stuff first up don’t mix anymore... so I stashed mine for later...
I am a bit excited as we had been to Pompeii 18 yrs ago in 2000 with our Comos Tour... only thing was we only had a few hrs here and were taken to specific sites all part of the time poor allowance on a trip like we did... I always promised I would return one day and take my time to see as much as I could on my time... not a yours... No guide, no group. Just me and John of course but if he hadn’t if wanted to come I would have done it by myself anyway..
We organised ourselves and set off in foot the 1 1/2k walk to Pompeii old city... past dirty old shops... a heap of wedding shops in the middle of the dirt area... a guys paddock between the shops and the bridge... looked so funny shops then a healthy paddock of newly planted something... right in town. Crossing the road to get to the other side we needed up between a bus load if Koreans and a large group of Boy Scouts turns out they are from Germany, they had American leaders a group of 30 kids..l they live in Germany but are all,US citizens... not sure why they live there.. we ended up in the huge cattle line up to get in, took us about 3/4 hr to get from the back to the ticket office... so we had plenty of time to take in those around us and even talk to some.., an English family in front of us and the about Scout leaders behind us... interesting people watching and at the last minute some guy from a completely different line that was t for our ticket officers jumped the que in front of us... ohh that makes me wild..when you do the right thing and wait and wait then some yobo punches your spot... plus some Italian women and her big group in front of us was jumping kkup and down and yelling waving her arms at the poor ticket office person.something didn’t go her way as it was all in Italian we had no idea what she was saying.. but her body language told the story... eventually we got to the ticket office, got our map and off we set...
We set out at 9 am got home around 6pm a big day was had.... we walked up and down the streets ... checking out sights we had seen before and sights we have never seen... tried our best to stay away from all the crowds and managed to do that most of the day... we met a family from Australia also living in Germany, hubby worked there and they all lived there wife and 3 kids plus mum from Aust visiting at present... I had commented to him how brave he was flying all the family all the way here from Aust, she laughed and said no they dove from German so not such a big trip... but his mum had just flown over for a visit..l they said it was their 2Nd time living in Germany for work... Good on them... their kids would be getting such a great experience... the little girl told me she is learning 3 different languages what a great asset to have later in life...
People from every nation gather at places like this it’s unreal to see them and be in amongst all these people from all different walks of life and lifestyles...all enjoying something so ancient as Pompeii ruins...
We had lunch at their very new restaurant within the ruins area... not sure what had to go to put it there... but much needed and to be honest with the heat and the amount of people they really need other ones set up around the perimeter... especially to buy water... the heat was unreal...
Sights were equally unreal... the huge Villas and their courtyards... how they setup their watering systems to gather water this is before Christ the modern systems were feats of genius for their day... the sewage all though it ran through the streets to, yuk,yuk, it still had an unreal system to get it away... their piping sadly was out of lead which many died from poisoning from this... but not all lead, some clay and underground even then... how they heated the bath houses ingenious again... the beautiful frescos on the walls that some can still be seen today... apparently the bath houses were well used and mainly in the afternoon.. I’ll never forget the bath house I went to with the other women in Morocco...it was full of women we are all together with only undies sitting around the walls.... a local lady wets you down, scrubs the crap out if you with a rough hand washer thing then washes you down again.all in together thus fine weather.. unreal experience, but I gather it’s the same as it was in ancient times... nothing much has changed.... so I am assuming it was the same back in the day of pompeii, men in one and women in another all, together no pride in these places....drop it all the door and pick it up on the way out... the building in Morocco was the same style as it was in pompeii... thick cement walls...arched roof and only a door in and a door out a few rooms like this in the communal bath house... so very different to how we do it today thats for sure... the Victorian era changed all that!
Our day was exhausting up and down streets... It a huge place and we didn’t get to do it all as I had hoped I think you would need 2 days to do that... p,us the fact they open some sites al one time and others at other times... you arrive at the times it’s closed...and being so big there’s no way you’ll get back to those sights again when they open..... it is a weird feeling walking on streets that are as old as they are...really puts perspective on how old our world really is.. as a Christian and a believer in the Genesis factor I don’t believe in millions of years ago... but that our world is not much older than 20,000 yrs old... but wether it’s millions or 1,000’s its still old and being on these very,very old streets really brings it back to you just how long people have been building, living and dying in our world.
John had a celb encounter was sure he was standing next to the younger actor out if Prison Break.so that was his little highlight of the day...
I have loved my whole visit here again, only thing is we are just so buggard the heat had been unrelenting and the people have been full in even when you try to dodge them best you can. Plus walking all over the ruggard huge cobblestone streets just wares you out... by 5 pm we had, had enough... going out the gate we see another building inside it are movies about Pompeii and displays... at least it’s airconed......
so another 30 mins later we finally farewell Pompeii, this time I know it will be my last... but so glad I have had this opportunity to revisit it again...
We walk across the street I need a cup of tea, a John wants a cappuccino, so we have these as the restaurant closes up shop around us...
Another night of revived, veggie bake getting my moneys worth out of this meal that’s for sure...
A good shower a rest, a drink and a meal..big day, let’s hope sleep is good tonight...
Info about Pompeii copyright thanks to http://www.pompeiisites.org/allegati/pompei_ing… © 2015 Soprintendenza Speciale per Pompei, Ercolano e Stabia
Pompeii rises on a plateau (approximately 30 m a.s.l.) of Vesuvian lava, overlooking the Sarno river valley, at whose mouth was once a busy port. The origins of the city are uncertain: the oldest reports date from the end of the 7th and the first half of the 6th cent. BC, when the first ring of tufa walls, called ‘pappamonte’, was built around an area of 63.5 ha.
A 'mixed' civilization—which blended native, Etruscan, and Greek elements—led to the city's development.Towards the end of the 5th cent. BC., the Samnite tribes came down from the mountains of Irpinia and Samnio, and spread across the plains of what is now known as Campania (meaning 'fertile plain'), conquering and including the Vesuvian and coastal cities in a league, with Nuceria as its capital. During the Samnite era, Pompeii received a strong push towards urbanization: also in the 5th cent. BC, a new fort was built of Sarno limestone, which was to follow in the footsteps of the first.Towards the end of the 4th cent. BC, after a new wave of Samnite immigration,Rome began to look towards southern Italy; systems of alliances and victorious military campaigns made it hegemonic throughout Campania (343-290 BC). Pompeii thus entered the Roman political organization, or res publica, as a socia (ally), but in 90-89 BC it rebelled along with other Italic populations, who demanded equal social and political respect from Rome. Placed under siege by the troops led by P. Cornelius Sulla, the city surrendered and became a Roman colony with the name of Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum (80 BC).
After being "downgraded" to colony, Pompeii was enhanced with private and public buildings, and further embellished especially during the reigns of the emperors Octavian Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) and Tiberius (14-37 AD). A violent earthquake struck the whole Vesuvian area in 62 AD. Reconstruction began immediately in Pompeii, but the extent of the damage was so great—not to mention the aftershocks that followed— repairs took a very long time: 17 years later, when Vesuvius suddenly erupted on the 24th August of 79 AD to bury it under ash and rock, Pompeii was still an ongoing construction site. It was rediscovered in the 16th century, but exploration did not begin until 1748 under the King of Naples Charles III of Bourbon, and continued systematically into the nineteenth century, until the most recent works of excavation, restoration and enhancement of the ancient city and its extraordinary wealth of architecture, sculptures, paintings, and mosaics.The archeological area of Pompeii extends for approximately 66 ha, of which approximately 45 have been excavated.The city was divided into regiones (neighbourhoods) and insulae (blocks) by G. Fiorelli in 1858, to simplify study and orientation.When the owner was not well known, the excavators invented the building names based on particular finds or other circumstances.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 130
- Jumat, 27 Juli 2018 19.48
- ☀️ 27 °C
- Ketinggian: 14 mi
ItaliaPompei Scavi40°44’47” N 14°28’39” E
Day 127 A flight through Amalfi

Thursday 26/07/2018 (Day 41 SZ) Itineror Ergo Sum BnB Via Provinciale Vigne Sant'Antonio, 65, Pompeii, 80045, Italy
Up early at the BnB to get out morning coffee, I was allowed to boil the saucepan to make hot water to get. Our cuppa.... most don’t have a kettle, they only have little coffee percolators for one or 2 available.... occasionally a saucepan or some implement to boil water in if your lucky... most don’t have tea towels they have a cupboard above the sink with a drainer top and bottom and that’s where your plates and cups and even cutlery as stored permanently... you just wash them then put them into the cupboard to dry.... there is no base to the cupboard... just a drainer and open air... all have a bidet in the bathroom.... still can’t work out how it’s actually used....no toasters, dry few microwaves.... occasions an oven and cook top but not always both. You just never know what your install for.... any way as he was preforming our basic Italian breaky of a croissant 🥐, coffee, there was cereal surprise.... pretty basic and the croissant is always sweet... never savoury as we have them....so interesting the different ways people have breakfast... all very sweet here, cakes, yogurt sometimes... biscuits with jam... all of what I can’t eat.... I actually can’t remember what I had....
We thanked him after breaky and that was a challenge... as he talked none stop Italian at us none of which we could comprehend sadly... so out come google to thank him, packed our car and off up the hwy....we started out on the highway again, but eventually headed to the coast which this time was the Amalfi Coastline.... the road trip today is pretty long so we thought by breaking it up like this might not make it feel so not dragged out.... but we should have remembered that this particular hwy is crazy.... crazy, drivers, crazy car parker’s, crazy roads being so narrow.... crazy villages all so tight and squashy, bits and pieces placed on the littlest piece of land that usually hangs over or on a cliff face....
The road gets narrower and narrower as we near Amalfi itself, and out in the water which I couldn’t get any pics of, were about 20-30 luxury’s Cruises 🚢 all sitting facing into Amalfi ... unreal to actually see how many where actually there! The fact that each one of these cruises were worth millions of dollars just floating there...we wanted to pull up to have a closer look, but there was not a spare inch of Space left to park....let alone get out of the car as the traffic was moving far to fast for this tight winding road, that hug cliffs the whole way around.... motorbikes, small cars, far to big cars for the space they are driving in, then the huge massive buses 🚎 that try to run over anything in its sight and or other buses if they can... at one stage we got caught behind a huge bus that tried to pass another huge bus coming the other way... only where they tried to pass each other wasn’t big enough for 2 big buses.... behind each bus both ways was a ream of traffic.... motorbikes that were an impatient lot all trying to get through this two nearly welded together buses, they were that close plus... the were stuck between a building on either side of the road... so much stuck that both their mirrors were right on the buildings they were rammed against and nearly in a building.... they even tried to fold their mirrors in to allow more room, but no luck... in the mean time all these crazy motorbike were trying to squeeze through this tiny gap... so they could get through fast... finally the buses both had to back, back.... but that meant everything behind them had to back, back also.... as the tiniest gap appeared those darn crazy motorbikes took off.... unreal to sit and watch it all unfold.....
We then got to the tunnel we had had all that trouble with our hotel booking years ago.... I wrote about it on FB as below
“This tunnel for me has a long history! About 4-5 yrs ago we arrived at this very spot to stay at our accommodation I had booked on the Net! We had trouble finding a car park being 1030 at night we did manage to get one!!!the sign on the door said the piccolo hotel like I had booked! We knocked and knocked and knocked!!! But no response! The next thing this guy approaches us and in a not so easy English asks us if we are ok! He said it’s ok I am the local doctor you are fine! It’s like is this guy for real! Anyway we eventually tell him we are booked into the hotel here!!! He says to us but it is closed down! I say how can this be I have a room booked here tonight! So we phone the reception at the hotel and the doctor kindy offers to talk on our behalf as we as you know can speak English! Eventually the doctor discoverers that our booking is 700 ks away and definitely not here! It had the same name but different location! I had booked this thinking it was Amalfi! Long story short as there is more to it!!!!! The doctor organises a motel forces to stay at!!! He did it because years ago he had travelled in Australia and had some problems and some Aussies had helped him out , he said he was just paying it back! It’s a night we will never forget and seeing this tunnel even as quick as it was bought back all the memories of that night!”
There was a lot more to this crazy story but that condensed it...
On up the coastline we headed past Positano then eventually we found one spot to stop and I must admit it was a pretty good sight, but I had so wanted to stop earlier.... views over the bay were unreal...Especially with all the boat movement down below.... back in the car after buying some grapes 🍇 that were far over priced, but we are tourist.... then into Meta where the traffic is actually getting busy but it is due to it being a city.. past a huge cathedral where they were preparing for a wedding... on through past the Naples turn off seeing Mt Versuvius the huge Volcano 🌋 that covered Pompeii in 79 AD....
We finally made it to our accommodation for the night...only to discover parking was an issue to unpack... we were in a very busy Hwy where, the cars, trucks and bikes were just a constant flow... so poor John whose side was the traffic had to take bags out was dicing with death as the zoomed by him....
Finally the guy turned up so we could get our gear inside then he took John down the road to where we are to park our car... a bit away but not to bad really..
Inside I am having a mental breakdown about the fact there is hardly any space to put the huge amount of cold food, I have with me in the fridge.... their fridge is packed with other people’s food and heaps of breakfast foods.... so after I had my breakdown.... and I sorted myself out, I rearranged their fridge making sure I didn’t upset anyone whose food I shifted....
We settled in had make up dinner again out of stuff I had.....yep the veggie and mince bake... this time I added tomato and basil base to it and this changed the flavour yet again....
Off to bed another long, long day over...the long travel days do tend to make you very emotionally tired... and I am not driving poor John is....
Info below on Mt Vesuvius!
Mount Vesuvius has erupted many times. The famous eruption in AD 79 was preceded by numerous others in prehistory, including at least three significantly larger ones, the best known being the Avellino eruption around 1800 BC which engulfed several Bronze Age settlements. Since AD 79, the volcano has also erupted repeatedly, in 172, 203, 222, possibly in 303, 379, 472, 512, 536, 685, 787, around 860, around 900, 968, 991, 999, 1006, 1037, 1049, around 1073, 1139, 1150, and there may have been eruptions in 1270, 1347, and 1500.[19] The volcano erupted again in 1631, six times in the 18th century (including 1779 and 1794), eight times in the 19th century (notably in 1872), and in 1906, 1929 and 1944. There have been no eruptions since 1944, and none of the eruptions after AD 79 were as large or destructive as the Pompeian one.
The eruptions vary greatly in severity but are characterized by explosive outbursts of the kind dubbed Plinian after Pliny the Younger, a Roman writer who published a detailed description of the 79 AD eruption, including his uncle's death.[23] On occasion, eruptions from Vesuvius have been so large that the whole of southern Europe has been blanketed by ash; in 472 and 1631, Vesuvian ash fell on Constantinople (Istanbul), over 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) away. A few times since 1944, landslides in the crater have raised clouds of ash dust, raising false alarms of an eruption.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 128
- Rabu, 25 Juli 2018 15.37
- ⛅ 22 °C
- Ketinggian: 603 mi
ItaliaFilandari38°37’28” N 16°0’56” E
Day 126 Caio Sicily!

Wednesday 25/07/2018 (Day 40 SZ) B&B Villa Eleonora Tropea Via Genovese 48a, Mesiano, Le Pioppe, 89841, Italy
Today we leave Sicily and sadly our very large unit that even though it has heaps of steps it still comfortable to be in! The owners arrived to collect the key, the guy couldn’t speak a word of English but like to use google translate, the lady could speak some English.... He told us through google he had a job in Sydney last year, but she wouldn’t leave her family so they didn’t get to go... he was disappointed about it....
We had left the unit speck and span with sweeping the floors, washing the floors and putting the sheets into washing machine....
Packed the car, said our goodbyes and off up the Hwy towards another Ferry Crossing.... on the way in exactly the same spot as when we headed to Catania the other day.... was the hooker in the bright yellow dress, Same spot as last time... I just couldn’t get over the fact she was standing in the hot, hot heat, no hat... but she did have a bottle of water at least.... what a way to have to make a living.....
We made it to Messina ok to catch the ferry ⛴, the big one we took the other day had just pulled out as we arrived, but there was another one waiting for us and before we knew it we were on over the ocean and into main land Italy and heading to our next destination stay.....Mesiano....just an over night stay before we get to Pompeii.....
On route, we had to have a road stop for a cuppa and outed into an Autostrada to get something to eat.... honestly I am sure they employ real actors for these stops... both women were more mature aged then the girls at the Sicily stop.... both had dyed black hair and heavy makeup with pumped red lip stick on... they looked like something out of a Marionette theatre.... funny as to watch too.... I love these stops real characters seem too appear especially in Italy.....
We headed down the coast road hoping to see some better sights other than Highways.... our first turn off the Hwy and we find a sign for a castle, we took a wrong turn, but some how end up at the castle anyway...which is preached on a hill, over looking the ocean and massive bays either side of it below.... around the castle is a village winding its way around the hill from above to below... below was a massive beach going from one side of the bay to the other, spectacular views along it. Heaps of umbrella sights to behold... all colour coded as they stake out their little piece of beach you pay to sit at...
Stairs, stairs everywhere... finding a spot to park then access looked difficult, but we managed, I am not sure how, to get a car space just below the castle... that was a rarity... as all any little tiny space had a car parked even like they do everywhere, sure ways, with their bum poking out.... off up the hill we walk... them into the castle we go....arrive at the ticket gate to be told sorry it’s closing time until 5 pm this as at 1 pm.... unreal, the amount of money they lose Turning people away so they can have siesta...it just didn’t seem like profit it important... at all... we passed a family with kids in prams heading up there and told them it was shutting.... but the guy didn’t take our word for it and kept going... we watched him turn around pretty quickly... as we wandered around looking at the cathedral that was at the base of the castle, we saw about another 10 couples head up to the castle all turn back.... so the money they are turning away for an antiquated tradition is just so silly for a country on the brink of financial disaster....
We went to walk down a few steps look at other sections of the village only to see the those few steps turned into I would say over 100, once down only one way back up.... Then above us was more shops etc, but again over 50 steps you had to climb up and back down..so we decided to get back into the car and head up the coast....
Not too much further up the coast we stopped to lunch... it was a beach shack type of building... nothing fancy... public beach on side and them with paid for umbrella spots on our dude with a yellow plastic fence between..l we asked did they have meals, yes they do... we sat and were given a menu, which looked ok, today I was wanting an ordinary hamburger... there was a picture but every thing was in Italian and the guy only spoke Italian... well what we ordered and what we got were 2 different things... plus it tasted just terrible... even John told me to dispose of it it looked that bad... getting food this time in Italy has been a real pain....
So with that back into the car off up the coast, then back to the Hwy as going along the coast was too slow....
Onto our stop which was in a really little village only a few shops and a 100 or so homes.... it was a fairly new building and parts of it were still being built... the guy couldn’t get to us straight away as he was working.... so we thought we would drive around the village to check it out... that took us less than 5 mins ha ha.... so back to the BnB and just sat there waiting.... when he finally arrived, this as just like being in a movie also.... he couldn’t speak a word of English but do you think that would stop him....no way he talked non stop in constant very fast Italian... morning phone as explained in another blog had no credit anymore... and John’s kept playing up... so trying to sort things out in English was challenging to the least....
We had been lead to believe it had a fridge in our room.... but no this was just a bedroom, everything else was shared........ he did say through google when we could get it to work we could use the kitchen fridge.... thank goodness, I don’t know what we would have done without it.... we couldn’t use his cooking facilities he said, bu suggested we go to some restaurant...
However after a huge drive John just wanted to veg out.... fortunately I had enough cheese and meat to make a platter up so we could have something to eat...
The guys mama came back with him when he went this afternoon, so funny... he would just have been in his 30’s but he had mama do heaps around the place...... she looked like your typical Italian Mamma no English and did all the cleaning for him....
With no restaurants close by and no way to prepare dinner we stayed in our room for the rest of the night.... we did hear another guy arrive after 10pm, so now he had 3 Guest....
It was comfortable enough, clean and enough room.... just the fact you were confined to your room, was a bit off putting...Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 127
- Selasa, 24 Juli 2018
- ☀️ 27 °C
- Ketinggian: 557 mi
ItaliaRagusa36°55’39” N 14°43’23” E
Day 125 Hilltop Ibla!

Tuesday 24/07/2018 (Day 39 SZ) Saganuma C orso Italia, 385, Ragusa, 97100, Italy -
A morning of catch up, didn’t actually head out of the house until around 2pm, then we headed over to the cheap shop called Hong Kong for some bits and pieces... I am looking for some new boots as mine sadly are falling apart...they have cracks allover the front of them where I have glued them constantly and huge cracks along the sole sections... they looked amazing but sadly are not a good Shoe... comfortable as, and a good base, just can quite get my head around the fact the outer part is made from really crappy stuff! I didn’t find any shoes but did get myself a couple of items to make cooking easier... from here we headed down the road to a very modern shopping centre...it had heaps of shoe stores but very ornate shoes no practical type of ones...the Italians are all about the look not the practicality of something.
Nothing here but did get a few groceries and a cuppa, then to the next shopping centre which did have an unreal shoe store even had the right kind of walking shoe but not the right look....ha ha ha.... I am as bad as the Italians aren’t I.....they were more men’s boots than ladies and they actually did have ladies boots with bling all over them, the look was right but not the practicality..... can’t win!
However I did get a pair of leggings next door.... I had 4 pair of 3/4 leggings in before I started the trip.... and by the time I set off had culled them down to 1 pair long ones and 1 pair of 3/4... which while it was so cold all worked fine but now it’s hot and I have only 2 sets of shorts... when you don’t wash for over a week you don’t have enough outer pants... and it’s too hot with jeans while here... anyway I now have one more pair....
Into the car and off to have a look at Ragusa Ibla..... we somehow took the wrong turn to start with and ended up winding our way down this massive range..... it took ages to find a spot we could actually turn around and come back up.... finally we got a break and it had to be fast the traffic comes flying around the corners here... back up we did come and into a road at the top still not sure it was the right one but it was thank goodness, even found a park spot....
We still not sure with over half the parking spots we have found and no parking meter if we are legal, I am waiting for a ream of parking tickets waiting for us at home...
This is an interesting town to say the least, built on, around and below a hill... a large hill filled with amazing old buildings.... we started out at an old Cathedral from the outside quite plan and even inside it as, except for this amazing fresco in its entrance you just see as its so old... and this very unusual design like numbers in the front... I had no idea what they meant and didn’t find anything that would say what it was..
Inside there was this guy playing a grand piano he was playing g his heart out... again I had no idea who he was and why he was playing his heart out... it was being heard all over the squad next to the Cathedral.... later as we ere leaving from about 4 blocks back you could here this music being played it sounded amazing.... as we got close to the car I followed the sound and it was again this guy playing but it was being piped through speakers out into the square and around the village... after that I became aware he must have been practicing before... still no idea if he was famous or not I just know he sounded unreal.... and having the music piped out to the public like that was also unreal...
Once I had looked here John doesn’t always look at the church’s mow, he found a garden and park lands, so wandered around it... found him and we went to investigate this area... it as set on the edge of the villages with this massive walled edge around the park.... over the edge it fell away to the valley below..... the park had water features, rows of palm trees, little secret garden type areas... it was very peaceful and even though there were people wandering around it, it was quite serine....
We left here and headed up the streets kind if following the crowds as we had no map and no idea where to go... we managed to find what looked like the main sites...
more church’s including a huge Duomo.....this is what they call the big mamma Cathedral ‘s... a smaller cathedral I found near another smaller square that had another grand piano 🎹 that was all set up with chairs out front of it looking like it was about to have a concert preformed... well I went inside this smaller cathedral and it had nuns doing a call to one another only 4 nuns but they sounded so angelic I was a bit cheeky in taking pics of them....I couldn’t resist...at every turn there were interesting shops, houses and huge buildings... many of which were more church’s..
I am sure I put my head into about 7 or more...
The more we wandered the more we wound our way up the hill...and to more and more steps..l to get a good vantage point back over the Duomo you had to climb heaps of those rotten steps...I am sure the Italians don’t have heart issues after daily climbing steps..... they have their daily cardio workouts without even realising it....they just die of emphysema instead as they ball smoke... young and old.... mind you thats probably why they didn’t die from that either having to use their lungs to get themselves up and down steps...
As we hit the top we could see the sun starting to go down... it was 7.30pm and we realised we had best get home... so heading down other steps we made our way back down, past unreal doors and the underneath of balconies that had statue heads.... looked unreal again... this whole area had so,so many delights it was just beautiful so pleased we made the effort to come here... we neatly didn’t, as it was another thing to do... but I had read it was amazing and had so wanted to visit it... and very glad we did... on the way down the car... while I was madly taking door shots John had taken up residence with a local elderly gentleman sitting on a park bench...he looked quite at home sitting near him... only thing his outfit was a dead give away he wasn’t a local...
Back to the car, back to our apartment, I remodelled the dinner with a creamy mushroom garlic white sauce to make mince and vegetables bake taste different.... I did and as it was too rich for my tummy, made me sick.. you would think I would learn... but it’s a hit and miss sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.
Info thanks to Wiki... only if you want to read...
Ragusa (Italian: [raˈɡuːza],
listen (help·info); Sicilian: Rausa; Latin: Ragusia) is a city and comune in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Ragusa, on the island of Sicily, with 73,288 inhabitants in 2016..l. It is built on a wide limestone hill between two deep valleys, Cava San Leonardo and Cava Santa Domenica. Together with seven other cities in the Val di Noto, it is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Ragusa
Comune
Città di Ragusa
Ragusa within the homonym province
Ragusa
Location of Ragusa in Italy
Coordinates: 36°56′N 14°45′E
Country
Italy
Region
Sicily
Province
Ragusa (RG)
Frazioni
Marina di Ragusa, San Giacomo Bellocozzo
Government
• Mayor
Giuseppe Cassì
Area
• Total
442.6 km2 (170.9 sq mi)
Elevation
520 m (1,710 ft)
Population (26 February 2018)
• Total
74,251
• Density
170/km2 (430/sq
Postal code
97100
Patron saint
St. John the Baptist (Ragusa)
St. George (Ragusa Ibla)
Saint day
June 24
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part of
Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (South-Eastern Sicily)
Criteria
Cultural: (i)(ii)(iv)(v)
Reference
1024rev-007
Inscription
2002 (26th Session)
Area
17.39 ha (1,872,000 sq ft)
Buffer zone
29.32 ha (3,156,000 sq ft)
The origins of Ragusa can be traced back to the 2nd millennium BC, when there were several Sicel settlements in the area. The current district of Ragusa Ibla has been identified as Hybla Heraea.
The ancient city, located on a 300-metre (980 ft)-high hill, came into contact with nearby Greek colonies, and grew thanks to the nearby port of Camerina. Following a short period of Carthaginian rule, it fell into the hands of the ancient Romans and the Byzantines, who fortified the city and built a large castle. Ragusa was occupied by the Arabs in 848 AD, remaining under their rule until the 11th century, when the Normans conquered it. Selected as County seat, its first Count was Geoffrey, son of Count Ruggero of Sicily.
Thereafter Ragusa's history followed the events of the Kingdom of Sicily, created in the first half of the twelfth century. A Chiaramonte family fief, it remained the county capital after it was unified with Modica in 1296, a status it lost in the 15th century after a popular revolt.
In 1693 Ragusa was devastated by a huge earthquake, which killed some 5,000 inhabitants. Following this catastrophe the city was largely rebuilt, and many Baroque buildings from this time remain in the city. Most of the population moved to a new settlement in the former district of Patro, calling this new municipality "Ragusa Superiore" (Upper Ragusa) and the ancient city "Ragusa Inferiore" (Lower Ragusa). The two cities remained separated until 1926, when they were fused together to become a provincial capital in 1927 at the expense of Modica, the former capital and the most populous and important city in the region since 1296.
In 1838 an asphalt deposit was discovered, which is still being worked.
Ragusa is a hilltown that lies below the Hyblaean Mountains, and is historically divided into Ragusa Ibla and Ragusa Superiore. The municipality borders with Chiaramonte Gulfi, Comiso, Giarratana, Modica, Monterosso Almo, Rosolini (SR), Santa Croce Camerina, Scicli and Vittoria.[2] It counts the hamlets (frazioni) of Marina di Ragusa, located by the sea, and San Giacomo Bellocozzo.
The city has two distinct areas, the lower and older town of Ragusa Ibla, and the higher Ragusa Superiore (Upper Town). The two halves are separated by the Valle dei Ponti, a deep ravine crossed by four bridges, The most noteworthy of which is the eighteenth-century Ponte dei Cappuccini.
Upper Town
Ragusa Cathedral, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist (San Giovanni Battista), is the biggest attraction in Ragusa Superiore. The church was originally located in the western part of ancient Ragusa, under the walls of the Mediaeval castle, where the small church of St. Agnese is today. A smaller building was quickly built on the site after the 1693 earthquake, which soon proved inadequate. The current edifice was built between 1718 and 1778, with a façade in typical southern Sicilian Baroque style, with three portals and sculptures representing the Madonna, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. The upper columns have two clocks showing the time in Italian and French fashions respectively. The high bell tower, on the left side, is also in Baroque style.
The ornate Baroque interior has a Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles separated by three colonnades embellished with gold. Charts showing Bible verses referring to St. John the Baptist are over every column. The dome was built in 1783, and covered with copper sheets during the 20th century. The side chapels, characterized by altars decorated with polychrome marbles, date from the 19th century.
Also noteworthy is the Hyblean Archaeological Museum, with different sections devoted to archaeological finds from the Prehistoric to the Late Roman era.
Ragusa Ibla
Ragusa Ibla is home to a wide array of Baroque architecture, including several stunning palaces and churches.
The Cathedral of San Giorgio started in 1738 by architect Rosario Gagliardi, in place of the temple destroyed by the 1693 earthquake, and of which is the only place in the city a Catalan-Gothic style portal can still be seen. The façade contains a flight of 250 steps and massive ornate columns, as well as statues of saints and decorated portals. The interior has a Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles ending in half-circular apses. It is topped by a large Neoclassical dome built in 1820.
On a narrow winding street connecting Ragusa Ibla with Ragusa Superiore lies the church of Santa Maria delle Scale ("Saint Mary of the Steps", built between the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries). This church is particularly interesting: badly damaged in the earthquake of 1693, half of this church was rebuilt in Baroque style, while the surviving half was kept in the original Gothic style (including the three Catalan-style portals in the right aisle). The last chapel of the latter has a Renaissance portal. The chapels are adorned with canvases by Sicilian painters of the 18th century.
* Church of the Souls of the Purgatory has a Baroque portal.
* Church of Santa Maria dell'Itria, built by the Knights of Malta in the seventeenth century, has a campanile with ceramics from Caltagirone and a canvas attributed to Mattia Preti.
* San Filippo Neri
The church of San Giorgio, designed by Rosario Gagliardi and built between 1739–1775, has a façade with tiers of juxtaposed columns. The Treasury contains silver items. Similar though smaller is the nearby church of St. Joseph, with an elliptic interior housing a seventeenth-century statue.
The church of Sant'Antonino is an example of Norman architecture, characterized by a Gothic portal, while the Church of Immacolata boasts a fine fourteenth-century portal.
San Giorgio Vecchio boasts a façade with a notable Gothic-Catalan portal, with a high lunette portraying St. George Killing the Dragon, and Aragonese eagles.
The Hyblean Garden offers a good view to the three churches of the Cappuccini Vecchi, St. James (fourteenth century) and San Domenico.
The Zacco Palace, a Baroque building, has Corinthian columns support balconies of wrought iron work, caryatids and grotesques.
The Villa Zinna country estate.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 126
- Senin, 23 Juli 2018
- ⛅ 32 °C
- Ketinggian: 557 mi
ItaliaRagusa36°55’39” N 14°43’23” E
Day 124 Mountian High Valley Low!

Monday 23/07/2018 (Day 38 SZ) Saganuma Corso Italia, 385, Ragusa, 97100, Italy -
Excursion day today, we are heading to Catania 120ks away... it is a larger city than where we are staying... so off up the Hwy we headed. About 45 mins into the trip and we passed the same hooker as the other day, in 5e same yellow dress just sitting on an off road same as the other day... unlike the other day John didn’t suggest we pick her up... I worked out she must have ore arranged appointments surely she wouldn’t sit in the Hwy all day in the hope of a pick up... so sad really, to have to rely on this fir a job... but they have been since the beginning of time neatly and guessing they will always be around... while sex is a big drive for so many...
We continue down the motorway boring as other than the hello dressed hooker...
we headed straight fir Maccas which turned out to be a blessing as it was right in the main section of the city we had planned to look at... a guy was hustling us to park jus outside the main late area, great parking spot, all he wanted was 3€ to park. We couldn’t quite work out how long it was meant to be... so we paid him the money and went to head to Maccas, he’s waving his arms around going in about something in Italian we couldn’t work out what..Finally it dawned on us it was that Maccas was still closed, it won’t open until 11am... it was 1030 so we headed off going through some gates into a park...turns out it was right next to the food markets and the main area of the old city.. in the park there was seating and a number of tables and chairs dotted around... on all of them were old Italian men... either sitting and chatting or playing some sort of game... around them were Nigerian men selling hats, selfie sticks and bags! What every tourist apparently wants...
We wandered around the food markets for a bit,somehow we found our way to the main piazza/square, with the obligatory Cathedral in place... it was pretty quite really compared to many places we have been...
Back to Maccas for our cuppa, it was opened by now, but sadly for John no Mc Cafe! Now I drink boring black coffee it doesn’t matter where mine comes from, but a good cappuccino or boy comes from McCafé in Europe that is..l none one makes cappuccino’s like Australia over here... well that’s not quite true we have found a few, but they are as rare as hens teeth! Refilled and refreshed we headed back to the city centre...
While we were out yesterday I have somehow hurt my right groin with pain shooting down my upper leg into my knee... I actually think it is back related but either way it is extremely painful and walking seems to be at present agrivating it...so we decided to the bus trip around the city...
The bus trip took 2 hrs to take you through only a few streets in the centre, then up the coastline.... which to be honest was quite boring and not a lot to see as there were 100’s of beach spots all fenced off with private areas to spend you day... how you are supposed to know what’s behind the fences has got me beat, because there is nothing to temp you to come in with views over their offerings or the Beach itself.... not sure how they manage to get business...
The bus commentary in English did say it as all black sand, from the volcanic eruptions over the centuries... further up the coast about 15-20ks up there was the ruins of a castle on a small rocky outcrop that had been an Island apparently before one of the volcanic eruptions joined it to the main land with its lava flow! They Gav you 10mins if the bus to have a look around, but the castle was a far distance from where we pulled up, making it difficult if you did want to get a closer look.... So back in the bus we went...
Not far up the road the bus pulled up again, the driver told us we had 10 mins again to look around, only it is siesta time and all the shops are shut ... So a quick run down to the bottom street that has ocean views!
Back to the bus, while John tried to find us a cold drink as so, so hot today.. back we go seeing not much more than what we did on the way down. The plan is to get back to the city centre, find lunch then check out the sights I couldn’t see properly out if the bus! That is exactly what we did, we found a spot to have lunch looked so lovely, food sounded great even looked good, but once again quite tasteless... the bread they first served was as style aside hard as rocks, no w as we could eat it..l then they bought us what they called a scone to have with the cheese and meat platter... it was a bit like a flakey pizza base... we are so spoilt for choice in Australia and flavour... you would hardly get a meal that doesn’t have a flavour... so much of the food here, cheese and cold meat are the same... quite devoid of flavours.... until you travel and see what others think are wonderful foods... you realise how amazing our foods, choices and flavours really are!
Aafteerr our none eventful meal,we headed out to find the hidden beauties this city has..and she didn’t disappoint at all... we had also planned to head up to Mt Etna this afternoon and time was ticking by..... so back to the car and off up the mountain we climbed..... as usual I silly Nav took us other roads instead of the main ones... we do get there but I am sure she has lost the plot half the time... and tell her so too...
The climb up the mountain in the car was extremely interesting with being able to see the various Lava flows she has spewed out over the last few centuries... some are quite scary where they have ended up... the higher we go the less vegetation there is, but still there are green patches ... giving way to volcanic stone then ash’s the higher we go... some parts are a brown other parts are jet black.... in the winter this mountain is covered in deep deep snow, hence once we get higher we can see the Ski Lodges towards a higher section of the mountain.....once there you could see the higher peaks with people climbing them.... and a smaller cater from the 1986 eruption, the higher peak was from the 2001 eruption...we could see the biggest peak, it was higher than what we had parked at to see, but apparently you have to do a tour to see the active one... when we left down below it as 41c as we climbed it went to 26c by the time we hit the top it was 20c and extremely cold and blowing a gale.... we hoped out and walked towards the lower crater from the 1986 eruption, passing 2 dogs dug in to the volcanic ask... unreal to see they actually looked dead, but I am sure they were having a good sleep and keeping warm... at least I hope so...
We tried to walk around the lower crater but due to the severity, of the wind nearly lifting me off the ground, we gave it a miss.... thank goodness I carry a light weight coat around with me... sure needed it here...
Our time has come to an end, it’s 6.30 Pm and need to drive back the 130 or so K’s....so back we head...
No hooker on the Hwy on the way home, but there were a number of big fires blazing across many of the smaller communities... hopefully no one hurt....
It was a huge day and both a bit whacked by the heat in Catania..... we had bought some Cherry’s at the markets this AM from the heat in the car, they were actually half cooked...so once we made it home I cooked them up in some alcohol that was in our landlords cupboard.... made them delicious, plus the flat peached I had bought up the Street were going rotten so I chopped them up as well... stewed both lots up added balsamic vinegar to the peaches and fortunately I had som glass bottles I had been keeping to store foods in whole we travel.. we’ll that certainly did the trick after I had stewed them and sterilized the glass jars in the oven... they were all ready t b filled..I am leaving them for a bit so the flavours intensify, I hope so anyway!
A big day had by both of us and then to get this done....I feel like I should jump for joy.... nothing like this has happened before, a sense of achievement and joy with good outcomes..outcomes on all levels today!Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 125
- Minggu, 22 Juli 2018
- ☀️ 32 °C
- Ketinggian: 560 mi
ItaliaRagusa36°55’40” N 14°43’23” E
Day 123 Doors to the Soul!

Sunday 22/07/2018 (Day 37 SZ) Saganuma Corso Italia, 385, Ragusa, 97100, Italy -
Awoke to remember Gav and my niece Amie’s birthday... both July 22nd...
Another night passes us by in another bed, surprisingly we have adjusted not too bad to different beds.. Some nights are a little testy but on a whole we have coped...
I spent much of the morning sorting out pics and so much hassle here... many of these apartments must buy data bundles a lot slower so people can’t stream too much... but it causes so many issues just trying to do simple stuff... my other devastation for the morning was to discover that I had somehow unintentionally used up all my data... it still has m best how this could have occurred.. my phone plan rolled over Thursday apparently and by lunch time Friday it was all gone... I have been using it pretty well for the last month and this last 3 days no more than before, but Vodafone tells me I am out of credit... this is just the display limit... I use it the same all the time so got me absolutely baffled how I could use so much so quickly... but it’s gone and don’t think John will replace what’s gone... it will make it hard when commenting with others! So suck it up girl...
What to do today, well our thoughts are to head to an old city called Scicli... not to long a drive from Ragusa through the mountains ⛰... once we started to come into it there were 2 large cliffs on either side of the raven which is actually 3 valleys where most of Scicli lays... then above this are 2 cliffs which have 2 big structures, one a cathedral San Matteo and the other Rosario Monastery....
We started to wander around on foot then decided to go on a little train that took in the basic sights of the city... it Gav us a chance to see what’s here and go back to see them again.. that’s exactly what we did.....
Once the train ride had finished we had lunch, then set about trying to find the sights I wanted to take in better... this done we headed up the biggest hill to SAN Matteo Cathedral, once up there after a bit of a roughed track to get to it... we discovered it is now abandoned... the structure is still very sound..... Above it was another ruin plus around it are ruins as well... and under it are caves and caverns dug out centuries ago... we aren’t sure if any of the history on it other than in its heyday it would have been unreal... it still is to a certain degree...
The views below the Cathedral are just amazing... the old city and new city sights so big and so easy to see how it all fits together...
We had a great time exploring, it had been a pretty full day and washing needed to be done... so off we set back down the winding road through unreal gorge roads... you could so easily see the cliffs and valleys that most of these towns sit in and on...
Tonight we get to start my huge veggie and mince bake... and yep it tasted as good as I had hoped... at least when you cook yourself you know what your getting!
Having survived the first round of the bake, it’s off to bed!Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 124
- Sabtu, 21 Juli 2018
- ☀️ 30 °C
- Ketinggian: 560 mi
ItaliaRagusa36°55’40” N 14°43’23” E
Day 122 Days of Past Glory!

Saturday 21/07/2018 (Day 36 SZ) Saganuma Corso Italia, 385, Ragusa, 97100, Italy -
Awoke today thinking of Allana my niece and her fiancée Jack their engagement party is tonight and most of the family will be at it! Feeling a bit sad I can’t be there to be with them all to celebrate it!
We stayed in most of the AM getting pics etc up to date, then headed to Maccas for a much needed cuppa... from here w headed out of town to some Catacombs I hD read about on TripAdvisor.. a guy hD posted the exact where about sand how to access the, which was fantastic.... we followed his instructions and yep stop on...
What an interesting site this one was... you could actually see where the graves had been chilled out if the rocks... whatever was there is long gone now... we spent about 20 mins there...... to access it you had to walk down a fairly long trail beside rocked fences... over a ridge line and they were tucked in under the rock wall... big gates at the entrance but thankfully not locked....the heat today is pretty intense, so by the time we made it back to the car we were very hot and sweaty...
Onto our next point of interest Donnafugata Castle... and was this place worth a visit... the building itself in is pretty good condition... a huge building with extensive grounds that in their heyday would have been just magnificent, but not so now..
Lack of water and being maintained has seen it fall into a bit of disrepair... the bones of everything are still there, just no TLC given to keep the dream alive...
Before we entered the Castle you had to walk up a central walkway that forex between a number of Restaurants and a cattle yard... yep you read right a cattle yard, with what appears to be a milking shed along with some poor drought stricken looking cattle... there isn’t any green feed in sight anywhere....
We head up to the Castle finding a lovely green area near by with a water fountain, then turn to go into the Castle only to discover it was closing down for the afternoon we think...
On our way to the castle John spotted a sign that tells us about another lot of Catacombs, as we think we can’t see the castle we head to the Catacombs..
This was up a very, very dusty, rocky road... obviously the cattle walk up and down here because dung is all the way up... once we finally reach the opening to the Catacomb we realise it isn’t half as good as the last one... not as big, not as unreal how it is dug into sheer rock... but I guess it was good to compare them both...
Back we trod to one of the Restaurants for a bit to eat.. we ordered a fresh salad and some sort of cheese and ham pastry thing! It was ok, but nothing to rave about….. while sitting there we were watching people walking up to the castle and not retuning,so we figured maybe you can go into it...and yep we could... when we reread the sign it said it was closed at 12-2.30 pm so we gathered all the people who were in it when we arrived at nearly 2 pm must have been left overs from the am opening times!
So off we went, it was interesting in that it had original curtains, furniture, clothing of the day....all the painted walls and wallpaper were original as well.... looking at how th wall paper was made was so interesting..... it was done on a jute hessian type finished and glued to the walls... we went through 28 of the 200 rooms in the palace..that’s all that is opened to the public... each room had a spiel about the people who had used them over the Castle years of life, the one that sticks in my mind was about a princess from France who would come every summer to holiday here..l looking around you would wonder why, summer is just so hot and dry and you’re no where near the water at the castle ...
A look around the gardens this are so, so, dry and let go... it has a huge maze a
made from stone, it had quite a height as well... so John in his wisdom decided we would go in, we did hit a few dead ends, but somehow managed to get in and get out... I think we felt like a kid 🧒 getting out ok.... made us behave like kids too..l a bit of fun in our day!
With have conquered the maze, then we headed up the wide staircase to look from the top of the balcony, this gave us views over the area, which didn’t look any greener from up here as to down there! The poor cleaning lady had been hard at it on the huge wide staircase sweeping away all the dirt and leaves, but to Honest it looked like a losing battle for her with the wind blowing stuff back to where she was cleaning it!
This was a highlight for John who enjoyed the whole history and how well preserved it really has been! Haven’t been and seen we headed off to have a look at Ragusa Marina and the coastline.
Well that didn’t pan out as planned... the streets had no parking and which ever one we took it ended up a dead end....trying to turn around in a very narrow jammed pack with cars dead end Street is fun.... not! John managed to get it done but took sin effort... so off we headed to try to get along the coast road... but that didn’t exist at all... it was houses and dead end streets right to the beach front... must have been heaps there as there were cars everywhere in tightist of spots..
After 30 mins of trying to manoeuvre our way around we gave up and headed home.....
Off we heard back home 🏡.... where I cooked up one meal that I had bought all the ingredients for, however as it was going to take forever, I had to quickly defrost my pork we had bought the other day, and then prepared a kebab type meal without sticks... I actually tasted amazing much to my surprise... the other meal I par cooked ready to use the next night...I could have had the street people over for dinner as I had made such a massive dish, we will be eating it fi days.. I tell John I am being economical...l had layer zucchini, eggplant, capsicum, ricotta mixed with philly cream cheese and feta... then cooked mince and onion with a tomatoes basil sauces then layered them in the big dish.... tasted wonderful lots of flavour something we are so missing... will hav to see how it is once rebooked tomorrow night!Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 123
- Jumat, 20 Juli 2018
- ☀️ 31 °C
- Ketinggian: 560 mi
ItaliaRagusa36°55’40” N 14°43’23” E
Day 121 The Sea Between!

Friday 20/07/2018 (Day 35 SZ) Saganuma Saganuma Corso Italia, 385, Ragusa, 97100, Italy
Our day started with a truly yummy breakfast, for once when it said it was a bnb it truly was. Plus there were 3 to wait in us hand and foot... what unreal service this Italian family has given us! The owner Claudio.... pronounced cloudio.... then Giuseppe and Matilda Giuseppe’s mother and Claudio’s mother in law! My goodness the food was unreal, every time we turned around she would place more on the table for us! And you know me eating is like a sparrow... I actually had to hide some I hadn’t eaten in my back pack so she didn’t take offence to not eating it all... how bad am I!!!!
It as so funny 😆 our whole conversation to Claudio was with google translate! He mainly liked to talk to John I noticed, but that was ok, no big deal...
We had packed the car before our breakfast, and I had bumped my hand on the narrow steps as we catered the numerous baggage down to the car... I had a bit of blood around the place and Matilda was very worried I would be ok.. not one word of English had been spoken on our visit here, but we all managed quite well... thank you google translate!
The last thing I had to do was get out if my small suitcase the magnet boomerang and little koala 🐨 to give to Claudio, I have been doing this at most of our one on one bnb too accomodation.... anyway as I was getting it out if my bag Matilda appeared she was hovering over me while I was trying to get the stuff out, I soon realised I would have to give her one as well, and when I did present her with the koala, the look on her face was sheer joy... she just keep say thank you, thank you, thank you... I am running low on them but her sheer joy made up for my concern... something so simple gave so much pleasure... it made my day...
Anyway off we took said our farewells to Claudio and Giuseppe his side kick... before we left Claudio had been at John to make sure we give him a 10 on TripAdvisor his rating was very important to him... as far we haven’t done TripAdvisor we are only doing booking.com ....!
The area we have been is to be honest like the slums and as we drive through to the ferry terminal it doesn’t improve in fact probably looks worse... you can tell this is a very poor part of Italy, so very different to the areas further north... where there must be more money spent..l sad really you can see it was once grand as well with many beautiful old buildings, that are now decaying and unkept and unloved... they also don’t seem to have a civic pride in their areas... like so many of the European countries we have been in mainly the poorer ones the unloved, unkept state of the buildings, roads and general areas...
We arrived at the ferry terminal and all we had to do was drive into the line.... John jumped out of the car bought a ticket, we had to wait maybe 20 mins then drive onto the ferry, 20-30 mins later we had arrived in Sicily.... getting off the ferry on the other side was slightly better looking but not a lot...
While we had been in the ferry we had to get out of the car so we headed up top to see the sights..... while there we noticed a whole family of 5-6 with bright hot pink and bright blue shirts with Happy Family on it... it seem to brighten everyone’s sight just looking at them... not sure why they were happy, but it made us feel happy too... very clever.
From the ferry straight to the autobarn, no looking around Messina we had to get to our abode in Ragusa... the trip down, was pretty uneventful... extremely dry, dry country... gums, yep gums growing everywhere ...... It came to my notice that we had passed a couple of ladies of the night only they were in Day light... on the side of the busy Hwy as well... crazy girls trying to make a living this way... so dangerous!
A stop at an autobarn cafe, had me in stitch’s there was a guy in a muscle shirt and 2 girls made up well in sexy little outfits.. these were the crew that served us... they looked like something out of a sitcom... only an Italian sitcom... the guy was the only one who spoke English so he had to do most of the serving... it was kind of like watching models play at something they didn’t fit true to the story line... these guys didn’t fit the role they were doing... but as I said to John, for Italians it’s all about the look not the practicality of it..... and this was a prefect example... it was funny the next team arrived and they looked the part... an older woman and a younger girl with dressed for the job at hand... you could see the older woman getting up the Guy about something he hadn’t done... the girls had already disappeared by now and he was left to sort out the change of shift....
Interesting to see it all unfold no English was needed body language expressed it all.....
We past village or should I say city after city as they were all big, sprawling towns, with heaps and heaps of high rises... dotted on hills, cliffs and in valleys... all the way to Ragusa which is a fair size in itself... we found our way to our abode in the middle of suburbia ..... on a Main Street next to a deli and Pizzeria.... with a one and half door to get into it... up 26 steps to the first level, the huge open lounge kitchen and a bathroom... with a tiny balcony off the kitchen over looking the street! Then up 6 steps to another level then another 10 steps... to the bedrooms, another bathroom and a study... an outdoor closed in balcony and 2 little outside close in rooms, one the laundry the other a store room... this is huge and yes just for us.. we are over the moon... microwave, oven and cook top....I am in heaven...
The owner quickly settles us in and off she goes... we unpack, then have rest before heading down the hill as we are on a hill to see the sights of the town... a lot of shops like so many towns here, were shut down... then we found our way up the main area where there we people everywhere... plus the groups of elderly gentleman sitting around in their groups discussing the problems of the world....
A very large group of Nigerian refugees from the look of it, and heaps of unreal old buildings and of course doors!
We managed to find quite a few older church’s, a few little shops to get some stores, then headed home to cook dinner and get to bed...
I do love this huge apartment it’s given us space to spread out instead of feeling crammed in...Baca selengkapnya
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- Bagikan
- Hari 122
- Kamis, 19 Juli 2018
- ☀️ 28 °C
- Ketinggian: 75 mi
ItaliaReggio Calabria38°6’15” N 15°39’45” E
Day 120 The House of Light!

Thursday 19/07/2018 (Day 34 SZ) u 2 Via Spirito Santo 271, Reggio di Calabria, 89128,
It was sad to, leave our lovely peaceful time at the Villa, Gianfranco told us we could stay longer today as no one was coming into the unit, however we had to hit the road... so off we set, going straight for the freeway, different than the autobarn it’s free plus it is taking us down the coastline, so we can see some of the seaside villages... got about 2 hrs down the road when we spotted a castle overlooking the sea, so we pulled in, then set about walking down to the very heavily stoned beach where yep there were people everywhere sun baking and swimming and in the 5 mins we were down there more and more people were coming down the steep path with their umbrellas and deck chairs... setting themselves up for the day... mind you it looked so inviting I could have easily joined them... it was a freebie beach for a change as well...
Back up to the castle where we had a cuppa and a self guided tour...which wasn’t free... it’s quite big but used mostly for receptions I would say, like weddings etc... still has many artefacts but not bedrooms just reception halls and rooms... Castle Petrae Roseti or the Castle of Roseti Capo Spulico dates back to the 10th century...
The funnies thing we noticed from the castle or should I say John noticed was in the distance up the Hill heading towards a hotel on a peak... was this massive escalator in stages coming down the hill... part of one but the last main section was partially on its side..l thought it was for water to come down, but when we asked the girl who served us, she confirmed it was an escalation and the hotel years ago built it but it had never been used..... now useless... what a waste of money...
The views up the crystal clear soft teal blue sea line was just gorgeous and we could see for a far way up the coast people swimming and relaxing in the sun or under their beach umbrellas, there were free sections here as well as paid for sections...
Along the coast we set after finishing at the castle, but not for long, as it took us back along the autobarn...... boring as on these roads, but we had a long way to go today so couldn’t waste anymore time...
A stop of lunch at a very over crowded stop no room to sit except stand under a tree and hope for some breeze... but so hot and so dry....
We finally arrived and driving into where we are to stay one look and we wanted to run.... dirty, over crowded, old and run down. To make matter worse there was this very tiny, very skinny alley we had to drive the car through after John had played with the traffic to see where to go... no side walks here to get away from the traffic... most houses were directly into the Street, if not directly near to it... we did manage to get into the back section... for our feee parking... once in you didn’t want to have to move at all... our host Claudio was unable to speak any English,.. and he did use goggle translate, but typed his words... he was watching John talk into his own phone on translate, so asked John through translate writing ✍️ , how could he speak into his.. well there was no stopping him once he mastered this... funny watching him get his head around it then wanting to use it all the time.....Claudio had a right hand man with him... who I originally thought was his partner.. but turned out to be his brother in law Giuseppe..... where ever a Claudio went so did Giuseppe... 2 steps behind... funny looking little fellow... but just nodded and did as he was told by Claudio.
Our room was a normal size and looked comfortable, but we had to share the kitchen... our bathroom which was ours alone was up the hall... it did work out ok, there were another couple here who had a baby about 6 months old, it looked like their family lived over the back from this apartment hence why they are staying here..l mind you I never heard the baby cry, other than heating a bottle once we didn’t really see them except going to and from next door.....
We settled in and had a rest.. then headed out to check out the sights...... not a good plan really it was like playing Russian roulette with the traffic flying up the street and no side walks as such... once we did get out further it did get easier with a bit of a side walk... the whole area is so run down, shops vacant everywhere, houses falling into disrepair... rubbish laying everywhere. We were trying to find something open to get John a beer was nearly impossible..we did finally manage to find a pizza shop open... then the fun began..... no one could speak English so goggle came out but our phone were playing up... it took a bit but we ordered thinking yep we got this... so who even though we said one pizza 🍕 we ended up with 2... we think they though one each... no way we can eat 2....John had been thinking yeah cheap meal... but somehow it all back fired and no it wasn’t too expense but more than the planned meal was to be... I wouldn’t have been able to cook at the apartment even though it had a kitchen...it had no microwave or oven, just a stove top and very basic cooking implements..... I packed up the pizza to take with us...see how we go…..
Off to bed long drive again tomorrow...
Post! The name of our accomodation here is called La Casa Di Luce which means in English.. The house of light... however it wasn’t very bright, but was comfortable with amazing service!Baca selengkapnya