Author: simon

It was absolutely idyllic and couldn’t last. 7.00 this morning:

And there had been thunder and lightning during the night, so all pretty soggy. And we’re moving on. It turned out to be one of those days that just didn’t really work out. We had a couple of suggestions of places to stop en route, but they were pretty non-descript. And just before lunchtime the heavens opened and we were under a torrential downpour – indeed we had to follow a diversion at one point because a car had become stuck in a flash flood. So all a bit eventful.

Last stop Mont Contero National Park – here’s a pointer.

Quite tired when we arrived, so didn’t really get the essence of where we are. Although this helped:

But ended up, purely by chance, with dinner at the extremely good Osteria del Poggio.

And finally – we were expecting a guest appearance on the blog by Jo and 5 of her friends who are having a few days in Seville.

But to quote – “too drunk and too busy to write a blog”. Cheers!

Or really just doing very little, and thoroughly enjoying the surroundings.

Early morning – look carefully just below the centre and you can see where we’re staying. They have quite a long driveway.

Urbino:

Some 15th Century frescoes:

And the rest is pretty much as before. Lazing by the pool ( and occasionally in it), couple of beers/wine watching the sun go down, dinner on the balcony, watching the stars come out. It’s really really tough …….

Well almost. You may have gathered that we love it here – idyllic place to stay, and the local town, Urbino, is terrific.

So we didn’t go far, and the photos don’t add a huge amount from previous days, but we love it.

Morning.

Our very local village – Pieve di Cagna:

Into Urbino for a spot of culture and a bit of shopping :

Back for a run, a swim, and a gaze from the garden.

Dinner on the balcony – cheers!

And the thought for today. Absolutely no birds. None at all. Not a single one of any sort. We know the Italians shoot them, but surely not out of existence!

Beautiful mountains, blue skies. So many photos of the views.

Early morning:

Breakfast on the terrace:

A bit of gentle exercise:

Hauled ourselves out for lunch and a couple of non-descript towns – this one is Sassocorvaro:

We haven’t yet “done ” Urbino, but ventured in for dinner. Spectacular.

And no great thoughts about anything today – just chillin!

We’ve been here for 6 days, have seen an awful lot, and now it’s time to move on.

But first a final view from where we’ve been staying.

Christina the owner has been brilliant and made us feel wonderfully welcome.

But moving on, we stopped at a small hilltop town – San Leo.

And that’s pretty much how it still looks.

Gorgeous car!

Then on to the next place just outside Urbino – here’s a map if your Italian geography is a bit below par.

A beautiful place to stay – more pics later.

Quick trip into Urbino for dinner – again, more pics later.

And a final thought about tech – I’ve already banged on about the satnav and the bank card. Add to that wifi and data roaming – allowed us to hurtle down an Italian autostrada (a very dull one, I might add) listening to Desert Island Discs. You need to be of a certain vintage to really appreciate that sort of progress!

After the cultural exertions this week, we had planned to stay local and do a bit of mooching around in small towns. And being a Saturday in September, the festivals were all around.

We must admit this is turning out to be one of the best holidays:

– coffee and food are of a consistently very high standard – and this evening was the best so far

– towns/cities are absolutely delightful

– weather is terrific so far – blue skies and consistently in the high 20s

– great scenery and a lovely pool where we’re staying

– the Monzo card is brilliant. Came off the autostrada this evening and a massive queue at the cash booth. But used the card to pay the princely sum of €0.90 which was immediately converted into 80p. Yeah – rubbish exchange rate, but that’s just the rubbish from Brexit!

So here we go. Local town (Castel san Pietro Terme) had a honey festival:

Not sure where these fitted in, but they looked pretty:

Imola is a few kms down the road – stopped for a coke (me) and a Prosecco (guess!):

Back for a rest and a swim. Then Medicina – nowhere near the tourist trail but their annual medieval festival today so looked in:

And finally the best dinner so far. The restaurant in Imola is part of the slow food movement that started around here, and was sooooooooo good!

Moving on tomorrow.

The days are beginning to get quite a decent rhythm – big breakfast, serious culture (but starting with very decent coffee and ending with even better ice-cream), home for a rest by the pool (Eileen) and a swim in the pool (me), topped off with a very scrumptious dinner. What’s not to like???

So here we go – Ferrara today. Much more power than pretty, but another one ticked off Eileen’s bucket list.

Coffee

A visit round the enormous castle

(Its a pic of a pic, by the way).

View from the tower

View from the gelateria

And we were reacquainted with our friend over dinner!

And a little bit about Italian driving – they certainly live up to the stereotype. But the aggression doesn’t seem malign or frustrated – it’s genuinely much more like they’re on a race track. If you have a right to be in their way they’re patient – but the second you have a chance to pull over they pounce in a flash. Getting used to it – and they don’t seem to understand the concept of leaving any space between cars, even when doing 80!

It’s been on Eileen’s bucket list for decades, and today it got ticked off.

Essential 5th and 6th Century mosaics is what Ravenna is all about.

Maybe not obvious, but this selection of photos came from 5 separate buildings.

And the satnav is doing a fantastic job, even though it’s a bit old – what did we do before? Although it took a while to get used to some of her pronunciations –

“Boll-ogg-nar ” momentarily through us.

With the bucket list well and truly ticked off, there was also time left in the day for some light relief:

Eileen’s pistachio and fig flavours were up there with the best apparently.

Late afternoon by the pool – rather idyllic.

And found another friend

After yesterday’s exertions, decided to stick to smaller towns, in particular Brisighella. A gorgeous little town at the bottom of massive hills on top of which sit the church, the Rocca (castle) and the tower. And we drove up rather than walked!

Then Faenza – in most other places it would be amazing, but here didn’t feel out of the ordinary (apart from the extremely yummy ice cream!).

Back for a swim – I’m afraid it’s time for the usual warning for those of a nervous disposition to avert their gaze ….

Decided to explore and eat in our little local town of Castel San Pietro Terme – bit of a mouthful! Not on the tourist trail but extremely pleasant. Surprised by an evening concert in the main square – even more surprised to find that meant the only restaurant was fully booked (the other one being closed). But found a local Osteria outside the town – absolutely splendid pasta.

As we’re here, we made our excursion to Bologna. After a bit of indecision, decided to take the train

Which worked very well and was only about £5 return for each of us.

Bologna is a fantastic city with oodles of history which you’re not going to get here. Just a few photos from our day:

View from coffee break:

Up on the cathedral roof

Overheard comment – it looks very like what we saw from the aeroplane 😃.

Anatomical demonstration room

Library

Ended up walking further than we should have, but thankfully Eileen’s knee held up extremely well.

Then a short walk in the late afternoon up the hills behind where we’re staying

And finally Imola for dinner. More of that another day.