Dubai - and soon home..

Hard to know where to start - the last couple of days have been full on and now have some catching up to do.

Friday morning we managed to negotiate our way back to Rome airport. The manager at the hotel told us that, if we left before 7.20, the drive would take about 20 minutes, after that it would take between and and one and a half hours! Needless to say, we left early. Rental cars safe returned reelitively unscathed - I think that they just accept that foreign drivers will scrape the right front wheels. Managed to occupy ourselves at the airport, cruising the very exclusive designer duty free stores without purchasing anything.

The flight to Dubai was uneventful with some interesting views along the way. We had middle row seats so had to watch via the airplane cameras, but still quite fascinating. Flying into Dubai you could see the heat haze, a promise of things to come.

We use a local bus to travel to the hotel, thanks to the help of the very kind bus driver. Were already noticing how much cheaper things are compared with Europe. Inspite of the warnings from the Brown’s travel agent, the hotel is just fine - no bedbugs or cockroaches! 

We went exploring in the local area and managed to find a mall, with food and then got conned by a guy, claiming to be a taxi driver, but all ended well when we finally got back to the hotel. There is a cost to access internet at the hotel, but if you purchase items from the cake shop in the lobby, you can get it for free. At 11.00 on Friday night we were sitting in the lobby eating cake, of all things, which was remarkably good.

Yesterday we were up early (average hotel breakfast) and, using the metro, we travelled to the Emirates Mall. The train ride was mostly overland, so was a great way to see some of the sights. Decided to not go up the Burj Kalifah as the haze was so bad that there wouldn’t have been a lot to see. The younger girls shopped rapidly and effectlvely and we had lunch at an amazing food court where it was almost impossible to decide what to eat. 

Back to the hotel to prepare for our desert safari.

The first hour or so of the drive was pretty uninteresting and we were beginning to wonder what we had let ourselves in for. Didn’t need to worry as, once the driver had let down the tyres and we headed into the desert, it was amazing. The girls screamed a lot and the boys told the driver to go faster. We drove in the Sahara Desert, watched a falcon display - that didn’t go according to plan - climbed sand dunes, ate a delicious dinner in a ‘Beduion” camp, watched belly dancing, rode a camel and had a totally awesome last night together.

Back to the hotel and more cake, for free internet. Can’t believe the Browns head home tomorrow and we do soon after.

Fantastic fun

Jumping for joy.... well the camera anyway..

Chorus line for the 'Camel Song'

Italy - last day!

We loved our time in Tuscany, enjoying the countryside without the stress of city traffic. Looking out over the valley from our hotel we could see olive trees, grape vines and a few cattle. Fresh, clean air and bird song - it doesn’t ge much better.

The woman who served us breakfast couldn’t speak any English which made it very interesting asking for a cup of hot water. Breakfast was good, not quite up to the standard of Caserta, but that would be hard to beat.

David drove down to the hot springs and was treated to a solo swim before people started arriving.  

Outside the farmhouse

When we left the hotel, we drove toward the village of Sovana which is one of a number in the area, known locally because of its Etruscan history. We stopped at an area where we were able to walk up though the bush and explore some of the ancient tombs and Etruscan roads. It is pretty amazing to think just how old the remains are and the ongoing discoveries being made by archeologists Interestingly, the guy who was at the information centre had lived in New Zealand when he was growing up. He spoke fluent Italian, but was then able to change to fluent English. He assured us the Italian is very hard to learn.

Sovana is a very pretty village, most of the buildings have been restored and there are only a few new ones on the edge of the village. The wild flowers are starting to appear and added to the picturesque scenes.

From Sovana we drove down the valley and up to Solano and then on to Pitigliano. Both full of history and Pitigliano is built along the cliff edged which makes impressive viewing as you wind up the road to see the town built on the edge the cliff face. There were a few spots of rain while we were there, but thankfully didn’t come to anything, as it would have made our drive back to Rome more of a challenge.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Tuscany and began the two and a half hour drive south. Traffic wasn’t too bad but lots of roadworks. We made it safely to the hotel in Fiumanciano - the Italian Riveria (not!). Managed to repack our bags, find somewhere for dinner, meet up with the Browns and print our boarding passes, in preparation for the start of our return home.

Travelling in Europe is always interesting - both good and bad, but we have had a great time. It will be good to return the rental car safely and rely on someone else to get us places.

Walking ancient paths

Sovana

Early morning - no people!

Another great day in Italy..

Another epic journey but what an amazing day. Up early so that we could be at the Royal Palace in Caserta by 8.30, when it opened. That was a good plan as, by the time we left, there were queues of people waiting to buy tickets. As yet, it is not too well known and we were able to enjoy the visit with out hoards of other tourists.

Dwarfed by the scale of Caserta

Building started in 1752 and it has 1200 rooms - imagine doing the house work! When were were walking along the corridors, you could just see room after room disappearing into the distance. It was amazing. Some the furniture and fittings are still in place and even the fabrics look as if they haven’t been replaced and they are almost falling apart. Fresco paintings on the ceilings, ornate stone and marble carvings and fantastic marble patterned floors. Most of Caserta was bombed during the war, but thankfully the Palace was spared.

Behind the building is the most amazing garden. We hired bikes and it took us about 20 minutes just to cycle to the end of the park. From the far end you can look down toward the Palace and see the ponds,waterfalls and fountains that are fed from a specially built aqueduct and stream from 40 km away. There is also an English garden which is 25 hectares and includes statues from Pompei. It really was ‘jaw-dropping’ as everything was so expansive.

After leaving the Palace, we managed to find our way back to the shopping mall from the day before and Ella bought a pair of shoes - that make four pair!

Back onto the motorway and a four hour drive North, avoiding the crazy Rome traffic and heading to Saturnia, in Tuscany. We came to visit the area because of the natural hot pools (Terme de Saturnia) that have been formed by the calcium in the water. It is like a small version the Pink and White Terraces and something we wanted to see having read about it years ago. The reality did not disappoint. Again, there were very few tourists apart from Italians and the only other English we have heard was from a Canadian family we spoke to. There are Hotel Spas with hot pools fed from the river, but being able to sit in the natural pools was far more fun. As yet, there is no charge and people,especially the locals, come and go as they please - just fantastic.

Our hotel is an old stone farmhouse, surrounded by trees, overlooking the valley and with the sound of birds everywhere. It is such a nice change from the city, and there are at least three cats!

Another pizza dinner in a local restaurant. Can’t believe how quickly they days are racing by now, tomorrow is our last full day in Italy. We will meet up with the Browns again before we all fly to Dubai.

Another cat fix...

One of the many painted ceilings

Riding to the end of the garden - go girls!

One of the many fountains

Door after door after door...

M'lady coming down the stairs..

Statchu bro?  .. Oh .. just another little statue in the garden 

Looking down to the end of the garden.

Saturnia hot springs

Dave loving it

Christina outside the farmhouse where we stayed.

Fabulous - we loved it.

Herculaneum

This morning we dined in style at the Hotel Victoria - white linen tablecloths, pastries, freshly squeezed orange juice and bacon and eggs however you liked them, or however you could manage to get the waiter to understand! It seems that in most Italian hotels breakfast is included. Interestingly, the trees along the street outside the hotel are orange trees, fully laden with fruit. Quite amazing to see.

New town built on top

We negotiated our way to Ercolando, with a few detours along the way - even with a GPS driving is tricky and everything happens so fast. Ercolando is where the city of Herculaneum has been excavated after being buried as a result of the eruption of Mt Vesuvius. The excavation is smaller than Pompei but is fascinating to visit. One of the most amazing things was seeing the ‘new’ city built above the excavations with washing on lines and normal life going on. At the bottom of the site is were the original beach used to be - it is about 400m from the current coastline and the bones of people trying to escape are preserved along the original shoreline. The weather was glorious, warm and sunny. It must be sweltering in summer and, although there were quite a few people at the sight, it wasn’t too busy.

We decided to head to Caserta this afternoon, find the hotel when it wasn’t rush-hour, and visit the royal palace today, so that we would have more time tomorrow, to travel north. We found the palace and parking, but it is closed on Tuesdays - best laid plans. We found a shopping centre and an enormous supermarket so stocked up on food. Getting back to the hotel was a challenge with rush hour traffic - Italian style - and all of the challenges that go with driving here.

It was nice to have a relaxed end to the day. After visiting the palace tomorrow, we head north and a looking forward to spending a night in a more rural setting, hopefully with less traffic!

Food storage

Sitting in the bath house

strolling through 2000 year old buildings 

Ancient roads - chariot anyone?

To the coast...

Woke up to a sunny day in Matera this morning and the builders were out at daybreak working on restoring the old houses, including our hotel. Time to leave the Browns until we meet again in Rome.  

 Luckily we needed to be moving reasonably early otherwise the noise would have been really annoying. After the crowds of tourists over the weekend, the place was reasonably deserted, which helped when we negotiated our way, by car, out of the old city. Before leaving the area, we drove to the opposite side of the gorge and looked back across to Matera. The view reinforced the amazing undertaking of the people who originally settled in the area, when they carved their homes into the rock face.

After leaving Matera we drove West on the motorway - lots of roadworks, but very few workers evident and some more crazy drivers. We passed villages perched on hilltops, lots of olive groves and industrial areas. The land was greener than we expected, but it is still early Spring.

Near Salerno we turned off and experienced driving some of the Amalfi Coast. The road wasn’t as scary as anticipated and there is a concrete wall along the cliff edge which was reassuring. The madness of Italian drivers was a whole other story. They seem to think that the white line is something that your straddle, rather than to help you keep in your lane. Thankfully there were very few tour buses on the road but the ones that were gave us some hair-raising moments. We drove as far as the Amalfi village and enjoyed briefly exploring the narrow alleys and steps that climb up the hillside. Gelato tasting once again - we are trying new flavours each time, fig was interesting. Seeing the lemon orchards perched on the cliff faces was amazing - we had a taste of the local Lemoncello which was rather nice.

Leaving the coast we drove to Cava de’ Tirreni, a town north of Salerno. We got lost as the GPS was trying to send us down a road that has now become a pedestrian only area. After a few tense moments, we managed to park the car and get some directions to the hotel. Once we had walked and located the hotel and the parking garage, it wasn’t nearly so overwhelming. The Hotel Victoria Maiorina is like a grand old lady, slightly the worse for wear, complete with its own ‘Jeeves”. We were upgraded to a suite so Ella is very happy to have her own room again. We had a challenge finding anything to eat, restaurants don’t seem to open until after 8.00 and we couldn’t find anything close by. Thankfully we managed to find someone who spoke English and some pizza. Even cheap Italian pizza is good.

Goodbye till Rome

Matera

Matera was pretty amazing in the dark, but in the daylight it was absolutely stunning. Tho old houses along the cliff face are being restored and we are staying in a hotel right in the heart of this area. We are surrounded by cobbled streets with narrow lanes and steps leading throughout the old part of the city. 

As the locals move back into the traditional houses that they left in the 1950/1960s, to live in the apartments built by the Government, they are slowly restoring the magic of the traditional dwellings.

This morning we woke to the sound of church bells (there are churches everywhere) and the chatter of the locals going about their Sunday morning routines - fantastic. We had a ‘no car’ day today and walked throughout the city, so plenty of exercise. Unfortunately it was really cold, only about 13 degrees which wasn’t pleasant.

We walked down into the gorge, that forms the cliff face that the old city was built on. Heaps of wild flowers and herbs growing along the sides of the path and we saw a local who had gathered a bundle of wild asparagus. We decided that trying to cross the river probably wasn’t a good idea, though David did manage to climb up to the opposite ridge to get a view of the city across the valley.

Visited three of the old churches, with evidence of the frescoes still clear in some places. Like the houses, the churches were carved into the rock and have curved ceilings and earth floors. The first two where pretty interesting - Santa Lucia Alle Malve and Santa Maria De Ldris San Giovanni in Monterrone. In the third church, San Pietro Barisano, we were able to go down into the caverns below the church where they used to ‘store’ the bodies of the priests until they were decomposed! Can’t even begin to imagine what that smelt like.

Matera is an amazing place to visit though it is already starting to become overwhelmed with tourists. It was great to be able to visit as such places have the potential to become a bit ‘tacky’. 

We had our last meal here at the same restaurant as last night - delicious pizza and lemon sorbet for dessert.

Tonight we are feeling a long way from home as we just received the news that Geoff, David’s cousin passed away. He fought an amazing fight - rest peacefully.

Built into the cliff face

Oldest part of town

Outside our hotel room - ready to be renovated...

Italy - and on to Matera

We arrived in Rome yesterday after lunch hoping to pick up our cars and reach Matera before night fall..

Unfortunately we did not anticipate a few hold-ups.  Walking 500 miles to pick up our bags then another 500 hundred miles to reach the rental car building.

All ok until we reached the Avis counter.  Hmmm a lot of people and not many people on the service desk…

We had to pick a number and wait.  112 was up on the board and we had 125.  Ok… but wait the people with number 101 were still at the counter trying to get their car…. In true Italian style, we were provided with entertainment while we waited - some people waiting for a car had a small dog who decided to do 'its business' on the floor. We were somewhat stunned when they completely ignored the result until someone complained to them. That resulted in the husband and wife having an argument about who was to clean it up - brilliant on a whole lot of levels!

Unfortunately they also had a computer glitch… Anyway, 2 hours later and into the Italian traffic.  Madness!! but eventually we cleared the city and finally arrived in Matera after dark.

Saturday night in Matera- more madness! People and cars everywhere and the GPS tried to take us down a road that didn’t exist anymore.  Luckily Christina saw a Tourist info centre (open at 9.30pm!).

Upon their recommendation we abandoned the cars and used the GPS to navigate ourselves by foot.

Things worked out eventually and we ended up out for dinner at a restaurant at 11,30pm - which seemed quite early by Matera standards - the place was packed and we had to wait at the door for a table.

We ended up at the ‘royal table’ which was a great laugh and a great meal.

Matera looked amazing in the night light and we are looking forward to exploring tomorrow.

Eating pizza at the 'royal table' above the other diners..

Outside our accommodation in the old town.

Last day in France

Bridge at Cahors 

This morning we drove to the Lot Valley to visit Cahores, about an hour away. The old city was built along the side of the river and and is an interesting mixture of different building styles. Again there were lots of narrow, cobbled streets, with the locals going about their business. In there centre of the old city was another incredible cathedral. It had interesting domed ceilings and the small chapels along the side of the cathedral had beautiful paintings and sculptures. The leadlight windows were also pretty impressive. 

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great, with rain and quite cool, but we were able to see most of the significant sights. One building had the most impressive wisteria we had ever seen.

We drove along the edge of the river and walked over the historic arched stone bridge. It is clearly a popular place in the summer, for river boats with a lock below the bridge to enable the boats to move up and down the river.

It was interesting to see how much green has appeared on the trees in the week we have been here. When we first arrived, you could see between the trees down into the valleys, now it is becoming more difficult. With the rain and mist this morning, it was easy to imagine that we were in England.

We came back to the watermill for lunch and then visited two of the churches along the ridge, above our valley, the tiny church of Notre Dame and the other larger one in St Pierre-Livron. Even exploring the country roads around the local area has been fun.

Ella, Annette and I walked about 5 km back from the Cascades waterfall, enjoying the sights and sounds of the river La Bonnette, over which the watermill is built.

We ate the left-over food for dinner, but still ended up with a pretty delicious meal. Tonight was spent trying to repack everything onto our bags - they seem to be shrinking. Fingers crossed that we won’t exceed the weight limit tomorrow!

It has been a delightful week in France - it is pretty hard not to love this part of the world.

Italy next!

Crossing the bridge at Cahors

Church on the ridge near the watermill

The cars ready to return

Along the road from the Water Mill house.