Lovely Lucca Revisited

22 August 2018 by Sara Holden Posted in Blog Tagged extraordinaryplaces, Italy, Lucca, Madam Butterfly, Nick Cave, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Puccini, Torre del Largo

We discovered Lucca on our last European tour and we were excited to come back – for a double celebration.

Our first visit was purely accidental, just after Charlie’s breakdown. We were delighted to stumble upon the warm honey-coloured walls surrounding the town, dine on a sumptuous lunch in the Piazza dell’Antifeatro, and generally fall in love with the birthplace of Puccini.

Puccini’s birthplace

Lucca is one of the few remaining intact medieval walled towns in Europe, steeped in history as well as art. It also has a fantastic annual Music Festival as well as a Puccini festival and it was to these we were heading.

We were there to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the Music Festival and a performance of Madam Butterfly at the Puccini Festival – a most fantastic Christmas gift from Geoff. The Lucca Music Festival is where all the cool cats play….

The Lucca lineup was pretty impressive

The man and his musicians

so of course, our Amsterdam friends Johan and Dorte Kuin were also there for Nick Cave and we were not disappointed! It was a great outdoor performance – hot, humid, full of passion and great music.

Purple phase

In amongst it

God is in the house

and when God is in the House (a reference to a Nick Cave Album), you had better stand up …. listen to Johan’s video to the end to know what we mean!

We were staying in a fabulous airbnb overlooking the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro.

Our quirky and ancient apartment in Lucca

Piazza dell’Anfiteatro

In the days between the Nick Cave gig and Madam Butterfly, we explored the city. The restaurant at the bottom of the steep steps to our apartment was owned and run by a heavily tattooed and pierced, but charming man Urbaldo. His style was more gothic than roman!

The neighbouring restaurant was run by quite a character

Keepin’ it real with Urbaldo

As well as the lovely buildings of the town, you can cycle the full 4km circuit on top of the intact walls and explore the ancient city defences below.

Cycling Lucca city walls

One of Lucca’s many fine houses

One of Lucca’s city gates

The Bell Tower at Lucca

The backstreets of Lucca

The imposing cathedral at Lucca

We found cafes to chill in atop the walls and striking art exhibitions in the caverns cellars below.

What a fantastic space to showcase your art

Who knows what you will find below the city walls

Vaulted ceilings in the tunnels below the city walls

We watched the world go by and listened as young operas singers practise their art among the trees. We wondered if we would be seeing them on stage in the coming days.

Young opera singers practise on the city wall walkway at Lucca

Beyond the city walls are still green fields and also other hilltowns to explore. We went exploring – which on some days took longer than others, thanks to a GPS taking our instructions very literally!

We told the GPS to avoid motorways!

We were unconvinced at the claims of Coreglia Antelminelli to be the prettiest town in Tuscany, although it was still very lovely…..

Coreglia Antelminelli

Cobbled backstreets

Peaches and Strawberries

but could easily see why the Devil’s Bridge got its name.

Hiking up the Devil’s Bridge in the heat of the day

Looking down the Devil’s Bridge

The Devil’s Bridge

And then it was time for Madam Butterfly. The venue is Torre del Lago a nearby town, by Lake Massaciúccoli, the place Puccini retired to, thought was pure paradise and of it once famously said : “I would like to come here and listen to one of my operas in the open air”.

We got to realise his dream on a warm Tuscan night a century later, with front row seats to watch the performance.

Looking across the orchestra pit during the interval

How the magic is made

It was magical. The set design was about as sparse as it can get – in stark contrast to the normal Butterfly sets full of cherry blossom and Japanese pagodas.

The minimalist set with the lake behind

Very minimalist set indeed!

It was also the first version we’ve seen where the crane is a mechanical, not feathered!

Set changes with cranes

But the very different setting did not detract from the beauty of the music.

Bravo!

We came home and toasted our good fortune once again under the moonlit Piazza.

The moon over the Anfiteatro

Lucca was lovely the first time around and gave us many fond memories to treasure. Our second visit was even better and Lucca will always have a special place in our hearts.

Portofino Pit-stop

19 August 2018 by Sara Holden Posted in Blog Tagged boats, extraordinaryplaces, harbour, Italy, Portofino

From a tent and a 2CV to a hillside castle and a luxury yacht to rent for €170,000 a week. We only stayed a day!

But what a delightful day. We stayed a few kilometres away in Santa Margherita – in a what was termed a “family castle” on a hillside. Of course every family should have it’s own hillside castle!

Our castle in Santa Margherita

We arrived in the late afternoon, enough time to stroll into town and admire the deceptive paintwork, masquerading as stone masonry on so many of the old buildings.

The majority of the buildings have the impressive painted detail

From a distance it looks like intricate plasterwork and stone masonry

Close up the detail is incredibly clever paintwork

Not stonework – paintwork

We dined in the old port as the sun went down

The blush of sunset across the harbour

and came upon an excellent Italian group signing Irish folk songs in the square on the way home.

Irish melodies in an Italian town

The next morning we headed for Portofino. The road into the town is so narrow that campervans are banned from continuing all the way into the little seaside town. Of course Charlie was in his element!

Bikes, boats and Charlie on the road into Portofino

Pretty, pastel Portofino is the very essence of elegance and opulence.

Every corner of Portofino is a delight

Timeless elegance is what Portofino is all about

Everything draws you towards the harbour,

Looking across the harbour at Portofino

Pastel-pink Portofino

which is in part still an old working fishing port

Fishing nets drying at the working end of the port

The working boats of Portofino are not nearly as fancy as the visitors

and also an exercise in absolute excess.”Ferdy” was one of the super-yachts berthed when we arrived.

Summer sailing doesn’t come cheap if you want to impress in Portofino

As it pulled out of the harbour we pulled it up on google. For a mere €168,000 a week – plus expenses – you too could cruise the Riviera! The other super yachts anchored off in the bay were even bigger and we presumed came with an equally inflated bill.

But for all that, it is an undeniably lovely spot. Atop the harbour wall is a small art gallery, although we were not convinced of the meerkat’s merit!

Not the latest trophy – but an art gallery in the harbour

We’re not convinced that fluro pink meerkats are really art

We preferred the natural art provided by the beautiful gardens that covered the hillside behind the harbour and the decorative houses that can even make wash-day look lovely!

Vibrant colours fill the garden that tumbles down the slopes behind the harbour

Waiting for a fare

It might be an historic building, but it’s also the laundry and bus stop

Thanks for the picture-perfect pit-stop, Portofino!

Celebrating Slow Food and Agri-Tourismo

16 August 2018 by Sara Holden Posted in Blog Tagged agritourismo, ca du chittu, extraordinaryplaces, Italy, Nardi family, slow food movement

Last time we were in the Liguria region of northern Italy we happened upon a magical agri-tourismo farm tucked away in the hills. This time we headed straight for it!

Agritourismo is an Italian initiative to promote camping and B&B stays at small-scale farms, where high quality food production supports the Slow Food movement. There can be no better, more charming example of how it should be done than the Nardi family at Ca du Chittu.

Ca du chittu

Ca du Chittu translates to “the house of people who get up early in the morning and work hard”, and Ennio, Donatella and Mattia certainly live up to their name.

The Nardi Family

They have been hosting campers and lodgers at their farm in Liguria for more than thirty years. We came across them five years ago by accident and could not resist a return visit. The couple in the apartment next to ours had last visited the farm 10 years ago, when the apartments were still stables.

The draw is not just the beautiful hillside location,

Ca du Chittu valley

or the delightful stables turned into apartments,

The rooms are all named after the former, four-legged inhabitants of the stable block

More happy painted stables

The artwork on the end wall

The gas meter box even gets a make-over

or the simple camping among the orchards. It’s the family food!

The entire menu is a zero kilometres meal – everything that is on the plate was created from the raw ingredients raised and cultivated in the fields around the farmhouse.

Good gourd – look at the size of them

Everything grows in abundance

Delicious grapes hang off the vine

The planning, prepping and planting goes on all year

Everything from the pork to the grappa was grown within sight of the kitchen counter and the family table. The orchard has more than 500 trees, and the family work to cultivate old apple varieties almost lost in the region.

Hundreds of varieties flourish

The orchard glows with ripening fruit

Chickens rule the roost at Duck Lake

Not quite accurate

No need to guess who’s in charge

With all this bounty, it is hardly surprising that the family feasts are so good!

We tried our best to note the food, the wine, the vinyl records playing in the background.

Menu notes

Not surprisingly the scribbled notes became more animated as the evening wore on and I am sorry to say I was so wrapped up in the food, I didn’t take a single photo! But here’s the menu in printed form to give you a small taste of our grand feast.

First Course
Lightly battered (like tempura) chunks of bread with herbs
Mini Roma tomatoes in pesto sauce
Finely sliced pork fat washed repeatedly in salt and aged in rosemary, thyme and other herbs
Served with a Bisson Golfo del Tigullio Ciliegiolo Rosé wine

Second Course
Tagliatelle pasta made with chestnut flour and drenched in pesto sauce
Served with a Bisson Golfo del Tigullio Bianchetta U Pastine White wine

Third Course
Oven baked roast pork ribs
Green garden salad
A vegetable cake (like an omelette) with herbs and veggies
I forgot to write down the red wine…

Final Course
Fresh raspberries and strawberries in their juice…and the smell was intoxicating (at least I think it was the smell!)

Then followed a tray of homemade grappa. We had the Elixir di Rose, liquor al arancia, Il Quore al cafe and Grappa di Bomber Harris!!!

All to the cool tunes of Eric Clapton, Nina Simone, Tracy Chapman and the Doors to name just a few we can remember.

Thank you Nardi family for such a delicious and delightful visit. We are happy to say that Ennio, Donatella and Mattia are coming to Australia this summer and have accepted our invitation to dinner at Lovett Bay. Enio is keen to try local foods especially kangaroo and crocodile – so if you have some good recipes please let us know, we have big shoes to fill!

Cruising Lake Como

6 August 2018 by Sara Holden Posted in Blog, Slide Show Tagged Bellagio, CharlieCharleston, extraordinaryplaces, Italy, Lake Como, Menaggio, Varenna

The slender, wishbone-shaped waters of Lake Como are all that you expect them to be – a delight to the senses.

Surrounded by towering hills dotted with pretty pastel towns and villages, it is a perfect place to stop for a relaxing couple of days. We spent ours at Dongo on the north western shores.

Como is a deep glacial lake, one of the deepest in Europe and the third largest in Italy. Since Roman times it has been a haven for the famous and wealthy, radiating charm and elegance, so of course we were going to fit right in!

We sipped spritz by the lakeside, sailed across it and motored around it. Here as some of the snapshots from a day at the Lake.

Trading a tent for a trullo

21 November 2014 by Sara Holden Posted in Blog Tagged Alberobello, extraordinaryplaces, Italy, Puglia, trulli, trullo

We’ve stayed in Cathar castles and Berber tents, nylon tents and wooden cabins – all recognisable structures. But in the south-eastern quarter of Italy we stayed in a trullo.

The walls are so thick they resist the summer heat

The photo above already tells you the shape, but what else is there about these curious buildings, which started life as animal and machine stores and now are making a comeback as homes. We found ours on AirBnB, tucked away in an olive grove. The owner, Marco, lived in it for years, until his expanding family outgrew the space. We loved it! Check out the fantastic big, round bed in our big, round bedroom!

A trullo – or trulli in the plural – is a 19th century construct in the Murge region of Puglia. The walls are so thick they keep everything blissfully cool in the Mediterranean summers, but can be a bit chilly on an early autumn morning. Originally more shed than human shelter, houses began to be built by joining a series of trulli together in a compound, or a simple block in the same way that Marco has done.

The trullo part is the conical roofed section

Newer trulli glare white in the sunlight

Trulli-topped church in Alberobello

On the site of the trullo a cistern, or water tank was first dug. The large rubble from the excavation were often used to then raise the dry stone walls of the building, which was then topped off with the conical roof, made of stone tiles. Some, but not all, were then rendered and whitewashed. It is a surprisingly solid structure considered there is no “glue” to hold it together.

It is said that the keystone – the decorative knobbly bit on the roof pinnacle – used to be removeable, because in years gone by houses were only taxed if they had an enclosed roof. When the tax inspector was on his way, the keystone was lifted off and the tax bill was zero.

Different keystones top each trullo, depending on the owners preference

Different keystones were a mark of different builders. Alberobello, in central Puglia, is famous for its trulli. Many have painted symbols on their beehive roofs, but don’t be fooled by the tourist tales that they are ancient magical symbols; most were adopted in the last century and even more recently.

The trulli of Alberobello are a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Puglia is one of the least visited areas of Italy, especially for foreign tourists; Italians have been summering here for years. It is old-style and quirky, with olive groves and farms the mainstay alongside the Italian holidaymakers.

Olives are the other main economic driver in Puglia, along with tourism

The mighty olive

What great old Italian classics to be found in the olive grove

The Murge region of Puglia is still very rural

The trulli are presenting a boost to the economic, with an increase in the number of people buying up old buildings and converting them to live in or for holiday rentals.

The trulli village in Alberobello is a great tourist draw

Some are more successful than others….

Trulli attract tourists, but this hotel resort looks like it ran out of cash before completion

Yep, we can get the car in here!

……. but it is lovely peaceful area and if you get the chance to visit, don’t pass it by. It has the added advantage that you can get the overnight ferry to Greece from there…stand by for posts on our Hellenic adventures to begin soon!

Flaming like a meteor we hit the coast..

15 November 2014 by Sara Holden Posted in 2CV, Blog, Slide Show Tagged Amalfi, coast road, extraordinaryplaces, Italy, Positano, Steinbeck, UNESCO

a road high, high above the blue sea, that hooked and corkscrewed on the edge of nothing. A road carefully designed to be a little narrower than two cars side by side. And on this road, the buses, the trucks, the motor scooters and the assorted livestock. In the back seat my wife and I lay clutched in each other’s arms, weeping hysterically, while in the front seat Signor Bassano gestured with both hands.

Once during the war I came up this same lovely coast in the American destroyer Knight. We came fast. Germans threw shells at us from the hills and aircrafts splashed bombs at us and submarines unknown tried to lay torpedoes on us. I swear I think it was much safer than that drive with Signor Bassano.

This is how John Steinbeck described the wonders of the Amalfi coast road,which reduced him to a quivering wreck, back in 1953.

Forty-four years later that same road – yes, a road – was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO, as….

an outstanding example of a Mediterranean landscape, with exceptional cultural and natural scenic values resulting from its dramatic topography and historical evolution.

We are made of sterner stuff than Steinbeck, and thought it was a perfect place to blast around in Charlie Charleston and on a couple of scooters . The sun shone, the views are stunning and the cliff-clinging towns are gorgeous. Drive it, ride it, walk or take the bus – above all, enjoy the ride!