It’s a long and winding road

8 September 2010


It’s quite remarkable how some good rain can make one feel so refreshed and ready for life.

Up to now, we have not had breakfast in any of the places we stayed, but with the stuff we bought at the Coop, we managed a good breakfast of crocanti (dried buns, basically – they are really very nice!), cottage cheese and coffee. And then it was off to explore Lucca a little. Historical town streets can be very confusing, and with little effort, you can get yourself quite lost. The odd thing is, even though you probably walk past the same square over and over again, you discover something new every time. And when walking along the wall, the views are just stunning.

Because we are still in Tuscany, we set off to Montecarlo. And just in case you are confused, this Montecarlo is a wine district near Lucca. : ) The owner of the guesthouse recommended Fattoria Buonamico, one of the biggest wine farms in the region. This happened to also be the best farm indicated in our book of Italian wine. And surprisingly, we found the farm very easily (and mostly by chance!). The tasting room was very impressive – almost too modern. And once again Niel was just so disappointed that he could not really buy any wine. The owner confirmed our suspicions – in Italy, they don’t really allow you to take your own wine to a restaurant, which means we would not have time to drink any of the wine we would want to buy. And we cannot take that much wine back with us either. So sadly, all we could really do was taste the very good wine.

Cinque Terre. Directly translated – Five Lands, and really means that there are five self-contained villages dotted along the most beautiful coastline imaginable. I had been anxiously waiting for this day, not sure exactly how to get to where we needed to be. It was quite a challenge. Once you get thru La Spezia, you start on a winding road along the coast. But not down at sea level. At times the road is so high above the sea level, that it makes the highest point of Chapman’s Peak drive look rather silly. In some areas, the road is so narrow that two cars are unable to pass each other, which means it is a bit of a toss-up as to who gets to surrender and retreat to a wider portion of the road.

Corniglia, the village where we are staying, is the only one that does not have direct access to the sea, which means that we are also quite high above sea level. This gives it a great view over the rest of the coastline. Once we managed to find our guesthouse, we went to sit on the balcony on the roof for sundowners. How exquisite it was to sit and watch the sunset, listen to the sea and seagulls, a churchbell tolling, and a rather irate Italian man shouting rather loudly at probably his poor gentle wife.

Supper was at a street cafe with yet another miserable Italian. We’ve yet to find a friendly Italian, which I find rather strange. I always believed them to be friendly people. Over supper we figured that they are probably mistaking us for some American, British, or Australian tourists, so we decided to start speaking Afrikaans to them rather.

Earlier today, we tried to decide what the highlight of the trip was thus far. My choice was Siena. That was before we arrived in Corniglia. Walking down the narrow streets, seeing the old ladies sit on the bench chatting, seeing the children playing with a ball in the small town square, even hearing the irate old man, or watching the miserable restaurant owner trying to get rid of his guests around closing time, just tops it all.

This must surely be Italy at its very best.