Cique Terre

 The walk between 5 villages along the Tuscan coast.  Oh, this was the most beautiful place.  And yet, classically, we spent too short a time there.  The coast line reminded me so much of Cape Town's - sea and then mountain. They make a lovely white wine here and a delicious desert wine.  I'm not a desert wine fan, but this has given me a new perspective of desert wine.

 

We found this forest gym on the walk.  We had to give it a try with our backpacks on!

 

Walking through the grape vines on the mountain hills.  Rod in the first town, Riggamoria.

 

Cornligna (where we stayed) and Vernazza - the next village.  See the little harbour in Vernazza.  We chilled out there, I swam in this lovely little harbour.  It was glorious.

Pisa - holiding up the tower

 

Yes, we went there, left our luggage at the station, walked to the tower, took the photo's, took other people's photos, had lunch, back on the train and left. 

But seriously, it's quite weird looking at a building that is skew!  This tower was originally built as a lighthouse, when the sea came up this high in Pisa.

Cars in Italy

 

I (Tracey) couldn't believe they still use these 3 wheelers here in Italy. This is a one seater, which I'm sure in Canberra would pass for a motercycle, as the inside is like a motercycle. But what an economic little car, which serves a purpose of a ute (bakkie)! Poor Rod, I first exclaimed when I see one, which now has become a common sight! The police seriously use those old white cars you see in Pink Panther movies. They haven't upgraded, including the siren. I wish I could record it! But who knows when one comes past.

Radda - in Tuscany wine area

We booked this lovely little apartment in Radda, in the Chianti wine area.  Chianti is a type of wine that is produced in Tuscany.  It has a lovely merlot, soft taste.  The place we were staying was owned by an elderly couple, who worked their little about an acre of land.  They were pretty self suffient with their vegetables, olives and grapes for wine.

We asked a wine seller in town about the couple and he said they probably had the vines to produce their own wine.  Couldn't believe that wine is so important to just produce for themselves. 

This is a view from our little kitchen window.  The town Radda was a picture perfect little Tuscany town that one sees in postcards.


Our hosts grape vines.

Florence

 My cousin Lorna sent a message to say, "Oh, just enjoy Florence".  We ended up enjoying just being in this big city, with music festival every night, the shopping - oh my goodness.  This one day we decided to walk to this spot overlooking Florence. 

Rome - Statues

Everywhere in Rome is beautiful statues, water fountains.  Rod found this one.  I just couldn't believe the detail and work.  Rome is a dirty city for everyday users.  But the art work is just amazing.

Sisteen Chapel

We can't show any pictures of the actual chapel, as we were not allowed to take photos.  But in the walk through the museum to the chapel, walls and ceilings were painted by different artists.  This one I (Tracey) found when looking up.  Made me wonder if Angels will be playing instruments like this in heaven?



I loved this corner fresco.  Oh, frescos are just so beautiful.

Rome - Colleseum

Amazing how old the colleseum is. So strange to see people sitting on these 2000 year old columns.

It was really an amazing site. Behind me here, they have rebuilt a part of what the stage would have looked like. There were all these tunnels underneath the stage, where people prepared for their next fight, animals were kept.

Every part of this building used to be covered with marble over the stone\cement.

Having lunch

Here having lunch, you can see the Colleseum behind us.

Our time in Italy

I see myself as a person of many talents. But two areas that I lack most, I would say in the English language and history. Just a few months before coming to Italy, Rod was surprised that I called the chapel in Italy, "The sixteen chapel". My friend Evan, nicknamed my tongue of english as Traceyisms.

I wish I had studied more of Italy and what I was to experience here with more understanding. I'm not one who enjoys walking and site-seeing in large cities, with the noise of cars, crowds and mass tourism.

Italy is a country that understood art and protecting it.

Rome, what a city.

The Colleseaum was huge. We did an interesting tour around it, understanding the old Rome of which so much has been preserved. It was fascinating seeing people sitting on old columns, lying around - that hey, are only 2000 years old. One just walks from here through old Rome into the city center. There is just statues, piazzas, fountains, everywhere.

Off to the Vatican we went, to find the Sisteen chapel. We got stuck in the que of St Peters, only to find out we were in the wrong place. I was fascinated that there was still a huge crowd of people queing to visit the late Pope Paul grave.

At the Sisteen, we walked through room after room of frescos. I just love frescos. I was attracted to Raephellas work. Finally the Sisteen chapel. Thank goodness I found a seat, as we had to stand staring up at the ceiling. We were expecting something much bigger in size, but it was high. The Last Judgement really touched me. Michaelangelo had a deep understanding, that I had never thought that deeply about. He had a vivid imagination, that I found so intriguing.

Off to Florence, or Firenze as they call it here, for a week. A city that has just too much art. We found a book called 'Agony and Ectasy', a fictional biography of Michaelangelo. David, the statue, was just amazingly beautiful. Michaelangelo just knew, with a bit of extravagance how to create a human body from marble. His art was all about being original. Where other's had drawn David as a wimpy character, he took the scripture where David said that with his own bare hands he had killed a lion and bear. Michaelangelo gave his David an incredible sense of strength. My favourite part was the hands.

Rod and I just enjoyed being in Florence, walking through the streets, eating icecreams, and oh the shopping. Italy the capital of leather goods and good clothes and shoes. We walked through the palace gardens, up the hill that overlooks Florence. Our favourite was we found a piazza that was playing music every night, with food stands, where we found great, delicious, cheap burgers.

Italy in September

In late August we arrive in Italy. Our aim is to mainly visit the Tuscany area, a combination of visiting cities such as Florence, Sienna. And also to do some walks through medieval villages, mountains.

On our journey we hope to meet our friend, Jonathan and Tania who will join us to walk the famous Cinque Terre walk. A beautiful walk between five villages on the coast of Italy.


For more information on this trail, you can read about it here.