I really should have learned my lesson about leaving weeks between my travel updates.... Nevertheless, this update covers our journey through southern France: Provence and Côte d'Azur, and into northern Italy: Como and Cinque Terre.
Where did I leave off last time? That's right, sheltering from thunderstorms at Carcassone! Carcassone is a walled medieval fortress whose location lies in what was once a strategic area between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The area has been occupied since the Neolithic, but notably by the Romans and then the Visigoths who founded the city in the 5th Century. It looks like something from out of a fairytale with its turrets peeking out above the city walls, overlooking the lush green countryside.
The inside of the town was similar to other medieval villages we've been to, with narrow cobbled streets lined with crooked buildings housing trinket shops and restaurants.
From Carcassone we drive to Pont du Guard, the highest Roman Aqueduct ever built, standing at 48.8m and formed part of the 50km long aqueduct system used to transport water to the city of Nimes.
Our next stop was Avignon, where we were based for four nights to explore the region of Provence. Avignon is another walled city set on the banks of the River Rhone. We actually stayed at a camping ground on an island in the middle of the river, apparently the largest river island in France! Avignon is beautiful, with lovely stone buildings and is also home to the famous Pont d'Avignon and the Palais de Papes, the largest gothic building in Europe and the seat of Christianity during the 14th century, once home to six popes.
Pont d'Avignon is a famous bridge that was once 900m long and connected Avignon with Villeneuve on the other side of the Rhone. It now stops in the middle of the river, leading to nowhere. The story has it that St Benezet, a shepherd, came to Avignon from the hills with a message from God to tell them to build a bridge across the Rhone some time in the 12th century. The other story is that St Benezet was a local land owner and philanthropist who decided to fund the construction of a bridge.... We watched an interesting documentary about the recent research that was undertaken into the history of the bridge, culminating in a sophisticated 3D architectural model of what it looked like in its heyday. Teams of historians, architects, and geomorphologists worked together to understand the evolution of the bridge's construction and where it would have been located in relation to what the landcape and river would have looked like over 500 years ago.
The gradual demise of the bridge was due to the changing river geomorphology and the build up of sediment against the piles, eventually causing them to topple.
While in Avignon we also treated ourselves to an evening at a piano concert. While waiting for the show to begin, a quick Google search revealed that the pianist, Menahem Pressler, was in fact 92 years old and had played at the likes of Carnegie Hall. He was quite frail and was helped onto the stage, but once seated he played so beautifully and with such passion, it was remarkable. Such a fantastic experience. My favourite pieces were by Debussy and Chopin.
From Avignon we also took day trips to Aix-en-Provence, another lovely, quintessentially French town, and also to Gordes. Gordes is a small medieval city perched on the side of a hill overlooking a valley, it is just spectacular! We hiked from Gordes to the Sénanque Abbey with rows upon rows of lavender in the gardens - I only wish it had been in bloom!
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| Sénanque Abbey |
That afternoon we carried on to a small town called Roussillon, famous for the ochre hills in the surrounding area. The yellow, red, and gold hills looked magical in afternoon sunlight.
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| Lavender flavoured ice cream! |
From Provence we drove to a campsite near Antibes on the Côte d'Azur. I can see how it got its name, the colour of the water is incredible! We took an afternoon train to Nice, and had a leisurely stroll along the promenade and around the old town.
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| Nice! |
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| Mirror pond/fountain in Nice |
The next day we took a train to Monaco. It certainly lived up to its glitzy reputation, with every second car being a Ferrari (or something equally as expensive!). Shaun was particularly happy because they also happened to be setting up for the Monaco F1 Gand Prix, so we got to walk along some of the famous course, including the Fairmont hairpin bend!
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| View of some of the Grand Prix set up |
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| The Fairmont hairpin bend |
After a thoroughly enjoyable week in France, we finally made our way into Italy! This is our first time to Italy, and it's something I've been holding out for, for the last three years!
Unfortunately on the drive to Lake Como we weren't greeted with particularly great weather, in fact it actually felt like we had regressed back to winter! Thankfully though, the weather turned around for us and he had the most stunning few days of sunshine exploring Lake Como. It truly is one of the most beautiful places I've been, with jagged snow capped mountains standing tall above the glistening lake, surrounded by lush green forest and gorgeous little villages. We stayed at a camp site in Domaso on the north western side of the lake, but took buses and ferries to explore the villages of Bellagio, Varenna, Menaggio and to do the Greenway walk along an old Roman road between Colonno and Griante. If I didn't feel relaxed and on holiday before, I certainly do now (despite getting another head cold)!
Part of the interest in coming to Como was that Shaun's grandfather was sent to recuperate there after being wounded in WWII and said that it was one of the most beautiful places he'd been.
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| Lake Como |
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| Looking north from along the greenway |
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| Varenna |
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Lunch on a lake front terrace at Bellagio
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| Watching some parasailers come in to land |
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| Cute pizzeria by our campground |
Right now, I'm sitting in the sunshine of the roof terrace at our air bnb accommodation overlooking the beautiful green hills in the tiny village of Fossato, just out of the town of Levanto which is at the northern most end of the Cinque Terre national park.
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| Some random guy on the terrace |
The Cinque Terre are five beautiful villages nestled along the west coast of Italy just south of Portofino.
We hiked from Levanto to Monterosso then on to Vernazza and Corniglia. It was absolutely stunning, but also incredibly steep! Two days later and my legs are still sore. Yesterday we took the train to visit the final two villages of Riomaggiore and Manarola, where we spent the afternoon admiring the view over several glasses of wine before setting up to watch the sunset with my camera and tripod at the ready. It's the kind of view where you have to pinch yourself, and definitely worth the wait for sunset (plus we ended up chatting to other photographers which is useful for getting tips!).
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| Panoramic view of the five villages (a bit hard to make out in the picture) |
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Amazing view coming into Vernazza
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| Vernazza |
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Looking back over Vernazza on the hike to Corniglia
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| Corniglia in the distance |
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| Corniglia |
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| Riomaggiore |
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| Riomaggiore |
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| Manarola |
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| Angry bird... |
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| Sunset at Manarola |
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The lights of Manarola coming on at dusk
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Shaun tried an award winning pizza at La Picea in Levanto with bresaola (air dried beef), buratta cheese, toasted pine nuts and truffle shavings. It won first place at the 2016 European Pizza Championships and the ristorante was ranked the 7th best pizza place in the world!
Verdict: Italy is far exceeding my expectations!!
