The Never Ending Journey

 After 2 days in Volterra one thing has become very noticeable about the food options available in local restaurants. There are very few. It is almost as if every restaurant has the same basic menu with only a few slight variations on the same theme. Starting with Antipasti, they follow with Piatti Primi followed by Secundi. While the odd one might throw in a couple of risotto dishes, it is basically pici or tagliatelle with the same sauce. The only real variable is the price of the dish and the portion size. Ditto the secundi- usually wild boar, some form of beef dish, the obligatory Florentine steak, grilled lamb chops, tripe and occasionally a baked fish dish, Chicken is rarely seen. The various review sites like TripAdvisor list virtually every restaurant as Italian or Tuscan. A few will offer pizza or sandwiches but again, more of the same. Rarely one will come across places offering pizza Bianca- but for the rest, it’s tomato sauce alone There is no attempt at Greek food, or ...

 After a light Italian breakfast of toast, ham, boiled egg, yoghurt, a Cappuccino, 2 Americano’s and a couple of slices of torte, we hit the road for the return journey to Siena and then on to Volterra. Thinking the direct route seemed a bit boring we opted for a detour through Pienza and over to Montalcino, home of the famous Brunello wine. Arriving in town we found a parking lot a few steps below the town centre which had a few open spots. I’d researched it the night before and read a few reviews “ the place was just a few steps away from the city centre” posted by a European. “The place was far away from the city centre up a massive flight of stairs”-American! It was about 20 stairs to the top and 200 yards to the first part of the old city.  Our first stop was the Duomo, which was actually the Cathedral of San Salvatore, dating back some 1200 years. Continuing on we found a second church, the Chiesa di San Agostino, the cloister area of which was home to a bike rental shop...

 We spent the better part of the morning visiting Montepulciano, some 5km from our hotel. The town seems to be comprised of 50% wine shops and 50% everything else.  Like almost every other town we’ve seen, it is located high above the valley floor, offering amazing views in all directions, It’s is also home to several churches, two of which were open for viewing while a third appeared to be under renovations- it’s front doorway blocked by construction vehicles. We spent a couple of hours wandering the streets before we decided there wasn’t much on offer besides wine so we headed out into the countryside to check out a hot spring location known as Bagni San Filippo.  Not wanting to scare the natives by stripping off in public we paddled in the soothing waters for an hour before we followed a circuitous route back to our hotel

 The town of Cortona was some 30km from our hotel along a series of narrow winding roads. Thus giving me the opportunity to practice the ancient art of shifting gears. The workout got more intense approaching the town as it seemed to be glued to the verticals  faces of various cliffs. There is nothing like a stop sign at the top of a 40% slope as you wait as cross traffic clears. Luckily I was able to proceed (without rolling back) as I felt the remaining blood in my brake foot slowly draining towards my hip.  Climbing up several S bends for what seemed an eternity the ground levelled out into a flat parking lot, located about 200 feet below the main old town. Taking advantage of a series of escalators we found ourselves in a main square with walkways spreading out in all directions. The view from the square extended for several miles in all directions , even revealing the Lago Trasimeno, some 15 km away in Umbria. The tourist population seemed to comprise of a few younge...

 Yes, after not having driven one in 6 years, I rented a 5 speed Fiat Panda. The reason being, I’m a cheap bastard and automatics were clocking in at $1100 for a week vs $700 for a stick.  While Susanna was muttering “We’re all gonna die” not quite under her breath, I plugged in the GPS and slowly.nudged out into traffic with just the occasional teeth rattling “damn that’s fourth, I wanted second”  Leaving Siena, I selected what my B&B owner suggested was the most scenic route. “Scenic” meaning the road has so many S bends that if you dare take your eyes off the road for a single second you’ll launch into space or crash into a barn or a row of Cyprus trees. An hour into the trip we stopped to change our underwear and visit the Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore. A monastic retreat, originally founded around 1300 AD and based on the doctrine of St Benedict, it covered several acres and featured a cloister, the walls of which depicted the life of St Benedict in various f...

 We left our B&B in Rome on Monday morning, catching a bus that toook us all the way across the city to the Turbutina bus station- the main terminal for long distance buses heading north. Our route was the reverse  of the trip we took in 2017 and also on the same bus line, FlixBus. They operate mostly in Europe but have started operations in North America. Their claim to fame is a relatively comfortable ride at a relatively cheap rate. I believe we paid about 6 euro for the trip. The route took us through a landscape of rolling hills, orchards and fields. In the distance we could see some towns which clearly dated back centuries, with most having one or more stone towers- originally serving as lookout towers as well as homes for the wealthy landowners of the time. Abandoned farms could be seen on occasion with windows and doors missing and the occasional collapsed roof. Like they “one euro” homes offered for sale in many towns, these could probably be had for next to nothi...

 In retrospect, our 3 days in Rome wasn’t quite enough time to see the 900 churches and cathedrals, 60 art galleries, 90 museums and several hundred ancient sites. Even after 3 visits we have barely put a dent in the list of things to see. Sunday morning we spent an hour or so checking out the ancient Forum and it’s many buildings, temples and architectural digs. It seems that there is constant restoration work and searches for artifacts. Despite it being somewhat late in the season the site was flooded with dozens of group tours guided by flag bearing tour leaders conversing in several languages.  Moving over to the Colosseum we were able to avoid the lines, having previously booked on line.  Like the Forum, the building was under restoration, mostly the upper parts of the exterior walls. We were able to access parts of the site that had been off limits on previous tours. So we were able to get a better view of the lower areas of the arena floor. An audio guide provided ...