Ok, here I go, (Manfred). . . . this region of Italy, where the "boot" is the widest, on an Italian map, is called Umbria, as part of Toscani, generally the area between Florence and Rome. Yesterday, Sunday, we drove thru the area called Chianti, for the famous wine and the vines were just loaded with dark blue ready to pop grapes. The sky was blue, not too hot, the road was very curvey but not much traffic. Most all small villages sit atop hills surrounded by acres of vineyards and olive groves, and have fantastic views. Driving is a lot of fun with 'six on the floor' in this Fiat diesel of ours, but after an hour or two it get's tireing and I'm glad to stop and have a beer or a bed or dinner or all of it.
Having a car is very good for the countryside, seeing small towns on small roads; it totally sucks in cities and on Autostradas especially you want to get somewhere fast. We by-passed Florence (we both seen it some time ago) and went south for the country. Yesterday we saw Siena, an amazing town, spent some hours, had a picnic lunch, then continued on east toward Arezzo where we found an absolutely charming place called Lucignano. At about 6 pm the town was just finishing a weekend festival where all were dressed in old time clothing showing off old time ways. We found our bed there by asking a gas station guy who turned out to be the husband of an english wife and spoke pretty good english. He said 'I have a place for you' and he showed us an apartment on the ground floor with large living/sitting room with kitchen, bedroom and fully equipped bathroom with the ever present bidet, 50.€!! ($75) The terrance has a wonderful view of the valley and surrounding hills, each with it's hilltop village. We are considering staying another night.
I am amazed at the variety of not only car models of most european car brands but also of the shapes, configurations and sizes they have here. Lots and lots of motor bikes, from the 50cc put-put to the big racing bikes. And the way they, the latter pass on curves up and down hills is nothing, absolutely nothing, short of amazing!!! They all come out on weekends to scare the crap out of tourist drivers.
As far as transportation goes, trains are great for long distances and from city to city and no good in the countryside and cars are just the opposite. It is now about 8:30 am and we are sitting outside in a nice cafe on a beautiful Monday morning with fantastic weather, sipping our caffe late. Products available here that are somewhat familiar to us are Coke (have not seen any Pepsi), Fanta (pop), Heineken , Corona and Becks beers as well as all the local beers. Buying cigarettes is like going back in time... they have Chesterfield, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Camels, and Marlboro, all are about 4€ ($6) /pack. The olive trees are full and the grapes are being harvested now.
We have not seen or heard anything on TV or newspaper. During our limited online time, we are too busy uploading photos and answering email to look at the news. We have no idea what's going on in the world and that's OK 'cause we are in our own beautiful world right now. Money machines are everywhere and getting cash on debit cards is easy. Most businesses here in Italy accept credit cards, but not so many in rural Austria & Germany. Europe is generally expensive. Prices look good until you add that horrendous 50% for the exchange rate.
No comments:
Post a Comment