Lucca to Pisa – 7 June 2011

On the road again just after 8 this morning.  Raining again.  Took about an hour to get to Pisa in fairly slow moving traffic.  Managed to park about a 5 minute walk from the Leaning Tower!  Hundreds of tourists there already – mainly Japanese and Americans all disgorged from tour buses.  Loads of chaps selling umbrellas and doing a roaring trade. This place manages to still be beautiful despite the people. There used to be a Tourist Info place there but this no longer exists and the only one is now at the Railway Station – a pretty long walk if memory served.  So bought a map and amazingly managed to locate the hotel we stayed in last time we were here – Hotel Cecile, about a 3 minute walk from the Leaning Tower – 70€ per night and 10€ for parking.  Have done the washing as well so we are sorted for the next 2 days.

Had a walk over the bridge to the other side of the Arno and round and about to re-familiarise ourselves.  Last time we were here there was a big festival when the banks of the Arno are lined with candles and lights; with the biggest firework display we have ever seen.  From the info we think we will take place next week some time.

Ate out at Trattoria Il Borgo, Tony had Penne Arrabbiata which, although rather hot, was the best he had ever tasted.  Jane had minestrone, roast pork and chips which, despite sounding pretty boring, was very nice and more importantly, got eaten and not carried home in a paper hanky.

 Before: Signore Barnaby inspects faulty tower.



After: Signore Barnaby fixes faulty tower.



The Baptistry. I was christened in a small bath!

The Duomo or cathedral in inglese.

Sarzana to Lucca - 5 June 2011

Left Sarzana about 8.50 and drove partially on coast road and then on Autostrada.  Through Carrera with its huge slabs of white marble along the roadside.  Hot morning – Pharmacy shops said the temperature was already 34° Got to Lucca, parked and found we were the wrong side of the city.  Drove on, got lost and then finally found the Hotel Bernadino- and guess what - they had no record of our booking. What is it that we like about Italy I ask myself!  Plenty of rooms however and one available immediately, with it’s air conditioning on.  Hurray!

After a brief rest, strolled into the old walled city , bought a foccacia which we ate on the walled ramparts.  Lots of tourists here, just like us.  Bought the Guardian (the first English paper this holiday).  Back to the hotel for a sleep.  Woke at 3.45 to the sound of thunder rumbling around.  Big thunder storm and teeming rain. It’s now 5.20 and it’s still peeing down and hotel entrance flooded.

Braved the elements for a meal at Antica Drogheria – dal 1895.  Had a lovely evening and Jane managed to regain some appetite after feeling unwell this morning.  The waiter was comical and we managed to eat someone else’s starter but overall meal excellent for 38€.

Lucca city walls and moat

Barnaby enjoying a cafe latte in the following....

The Amfiteatro, Lucca

Extreme gardening - italian style

St. Margaret's - better than Leicester's but all front again

Tony and Barnaby meet Giacomo Puccini

Sunworshipper in Botanical Garden

This one is for Jez

Varazze to Sarzana - 4 June 2011

The nice lady at Hotel Al Tennis bid us a fond farewell this morning – buono viaggio.  The drive on the Autostrada was fine, over many bridges and through tunnels as it cuts through the hills above the coast.  Arrived at Sarzanna and parked at the station.  Found the hotel we stayed at years ago (Hotel Villette) but they were full, as was the only other hotel in the centre.  The girl at the Tourist Info kiosk was useless (very busy on the telephone to her friends) as was the list of hotels, B & Bs and accompanying map.  List of hotels had addresses, but these did not appear on the map.  Found a B &B near were we had parked the car, but the owner (Dino) only had a single room.  He kindly rang a hotel from his mobile and got us a room.  He even led us there on his motorbike.  How kind – just one problem, when we got to the Reception Desk – they had no booking.  Finally realised he had led us to the wrong hotel. I suppose this is the sort of thing that makes holidays memorable!

Having been pointed in the right (and opposite) direction we found the Hotel Al Santandrea.  Both hot and fraught and the room not available till 3.00.  Sought food and air conditioning in the MacDonalds across the road.  Air conditioning was wonderful. Drove back into town and had a wander around.  Lost way driving back to hotel but eventually got there and had a welcome shower. So – what to do tonight!  Drive into town and get lost again.  Another MacDonalds ?? Hmm.

Anyway the kind young man on Receptio9n has phoned a hotel in Lucca and we are booked in there (we hope) for the next two nights.

Walked into town (about a mile) because we couldn’t bear the thought of another McDross.  Town very busy with the population doing the passegiata in their lovely clothes in the coolness of the evening.  We ate at the Gattabuia very acceptablyfor 30€.  A buzzy place, where the girls come to show off their clothes and the lads come to sit and watch them.  Being good Catholics, they don’t actually speak to each other!

Cuneo to Varazze - 3 June 2011

Had planned to go north to Alba but as it was still raining this morning we headed south for the coast which seemed to be the best idea.  Nightmare traffic through Savona and all along the coast.  Finally managed to park in a place called Varazze and found a small hotel called Albergo al Tennis which is costing 90€ for a poxy little room, but it was better than driving on.  Sun is shining at last.  We have decided Italy needs to be run by the French – it would work far better!

Took a picture of the local church – most impressive from the front but if you look at the side there is nothing behind it.  All front and no substance – rather like Italy. 

No internet access for the last couple of days – will update blog when we can. Heat has returned!! 

Pizza for lunch and dinner at the Vielle Pizzaria where Jane had chicken and chips and Tony had pizza.

After much debate about which direction to head tomorrow we have decided to retrace our steps a bit and head for Sarzana where we stayed 7 years ago.  Will go on the Autostrada as it’s so much quicker than the coast road.

Cathedrale at Varazze

Barcelonnette to Cuneo - 2 June 2011

Left again in rain after breakfast and headed for another country.  The higher into the Alps we got the more atrocious became the weather.  The rain was so heavy you could hardly see so we were fortunate to be following an articulated lorry most of the way.  Once you are over the Col de Larches and into Italy, the hairpin bends (tournati) are graded in degrees of sharpness.  We laughed when one was 15° but the next was 14°, 13° etc all the way down to 1°, which basically meant we had moved down but not along.

Arrived at Cuneo in a disorientated state of mind.  Found the Hotel Torrismondi, which seems to be in the Japanese enclave of the city.  Clean and very acceptable place.  Rain abated so we had a walk into town to find nearly everywhere was shut.  Turns out to be the 60^th Anniversary of the Republic so it’s a holiday.  Found fast food outlet for lunch.  Dinner is now the next challenge.

Rain starts up again but alot of the city is arcaded so did not get too drenched looking for dinner.  Ate at the San Gennaro Pizza place and had 3 courses which cost us 60€ .  Not cheap in these parts!

Gap to Barcelonnette - 1 June 2011

Left Gap at 8.45 having said au revoir to the lovely lady who ran the hotel.  She even dashed after us to lend us an umbrella to get to the car park.  Just a bit of drizzle this morning and it looks to be a more promising day weatherwise.  Despite the on/off drizzle the Alps were stupendous – still snow on theL peaks rising through the rain clouds into bottomless verdant valleys.  Speechless.

Arrived at Barcelonette about 11ish and did a bit of shopping at Carrefour to feed ourselves at lunchtime. Filled up with petrol – 73€.  Found Hotel Le Cheval Blanc.  OK nothing special.  Has been run by the same family for 100 years.

Took photos of the mountains surrounding us but they dot really do them justice.  We are just over 1000 metres high here and the mountains are a couple of thousand metres higher still.

We decided to eat at the hotel where Jane unwisely chose salmon, which came with chicory, pureed carrots and stuffed tomato (urgh!).  Tony had linguine carbonara, which was enough to feed four!  So we therefore concentrated on the wine whilst being entertained by the Moto Club Hussards from Tubize.

Couple of the mole hills around Barcelonnette

Nyons to Gap - 31 ay 2011

Woke to rain and it had continued more or less all day. This is the first day we have had any real rain since leaving England and don’t like it much!   Drive to Gap was still pretty spectacular even though many of the mountains were shrouded in mist.

Found a hotel – the Porte Columbe – with no bother 58€ and then did a bit of exploring during a pause in the rain.  Had lunch out today, La Belle Epoch, chicken with mushrooms and tagliatelle.  Very nice. Restaurant heaving with locals.

In the afternoon sorted out what we needed to do in Rome – very stressful.  The rain continued all day but at 7.30 went out for some money and ate at La Petite Marmite.  Both had lamb chops and everything was cooked a la point – which means medium to burnt.  Lovely.  Left at 10.00. 45€.

No pictures - too wet