We left Tuby and headed across the border to Switzerland, to spend the last days of our holidays with Esther and JP in their beautiful new apartment in Lenzerheide.
The views from their balconies in all directions are stunning and because the weather has been perfect, mid 20’s, it has been lovely sitting outside admiring the vista.
But it hasn’t been all sitting and admiring, Esther and JP have taken us on a few walks/hikes around the area. Yesterday we went to the very picturesque Alp Flix. Everywhere we walked we had views of mountains, it was stunning.
It was so nice to back in the mountains, as we had missed the Austrian mountains while we were in Tuby. Although Rhonda’s hayfever flared again! Too much grass!
We stopped at a gorgeous little Alpine Chalet for lunch. We had Quarkpizokels and it was delicious.
We came home for a rest, just so that Greg could go on squirrel watch, and yes, he saw one. That night we went out for a great dinner in Lenzerheide, and Claudie and Sandra and little baby Lio came too. It was great to see Claudie and Sandra again, and to meet Lio for the first time. Dinner was again fabulous. We had Hacktatschli with Kaitoffelstoch. A take on Swedish / Swiss meatballs. Delicious!
Today’s hike was a bit more of a challenge! Yesterday it was fairly flat but today was UP! It was again mid 20’s so quite warm but it still was a lovely “walk” with some great views and of course listening to those cows with their bells ringing!
We again had a wonderful lunch and again Claudie, Sandra and Lio came to join us. This time Lio was awake, so we were lucky enough to have a cuddle of our “Swiss grandson”.
Lunch was again fabulous, we had Rosti and it was delicious, it’s one of favourite Swiss meals.
So with our tummies full, we made the trip down the mountain, walking again! It was a great day.
Thank you Esther and JP for putting up with us again. We love coming to stay with you and your apartment is fabulous.
So tomorrow is D Day, departure day. We are on an evening flight so will be leaving our lovely Lenzerheide and taking Tony to Milan airport to start the trek home. It has been fabulous, Tony has travelled about 9500 kms, and our legs have walked many many kms!
So until next year, by the way our flights are booked for 2024 already, its goodbye from Europe. Hope you have enjoyed our travel stories. Looking forward to seeing everyone when we get home.
We left Neuky and said goodbye to our beautiful Austrian mountains to head into Germany.
We are staying in Tubingen (Tuby for short) about 30 kms south of Stuttgart. It is a University city and sits on the Neckar River.
Our first impressions were great as we really had no idea what to expect. It is described as “the quintesential picturesque German College town with cobblestoned streets , half timbered buildings and a castle on the hill”. It is a perfect description.
Our apartment has been great ,it is located in the quiet street in the old town only a minutes walk from the action.
The University dates back to 1477, one of the oldest in Germany and because of the younger population, there are bars around every corner. Our first night we decided to eat out and wandered down to the Bier Garten on the river. Our goulash and roast pork was yum and of course it was washed down with a good German beer or 2!
We have spent the last 3 days wandering the town with luckily an English map. The picturesque Market Square with its City Hall is spectacular built in 1435 and the gorgeous facade was updated in 1876. The Astronomical Clock dates back to 1511. It was only one beautiful building amongst many others in the main square.
Wandering along the Neckar river front was pleasant and walking under the Plane tress that were planted in 1828 meant it was a cool place to be as the temperature was in the low 30’s.
The foundation of the Holderlin Tower originates from the Medieval city walls and was home to a famous German poet. It’s the round yellow tower on the left!
Next stop was the Lower Castle Gate of the Hohentubingen Castle. It was built in 1608 and was rather impressive. The Castle is one of 7 fortresses built in the region in the mid 16th century.
We found an interesting plaque on the wall of the Castle. He was a man before his tme.
The Grain Market Building was built in the 1450’s and is now the Town Museum. We loved the half-timbered houses and marvelled at their construction.
The Dukes Barn was another favourite Building. Many of the oak beams are said to be dated back to 1475. It is thought to be one of the oldest buildings in Tuby.
The Collegium dates back to 1593 and was an academy that attracted protestant aristocracy from all over Europe. It is now a residence for Catholic students. Times change!
The Lumbar Market Square was a great spot for us to sit and “hydrate”. It was a popular spot with everyone sitting on the steps drinking or eating ice creams. Guess what we did?
We found a great place for coffee at the end of our street. The only issue was that you had to nominate “cows milk” otherwise you got “oat milk”. It is that sort of trendy place, but good coffee!
We discovered a great little morning market too just around the corner with fantastic fruit and veges, so much better than the supermarket. Greg had a great time buying all sorts of stuff for lunches and dinners!
We enjoyed a lovely dinner last night at a Gasthof at the end of our street. It had a tapas stly menu and it was delicious.
We have had a great time in Tuby, it is another photographer’s paradise with all the gorgeous buildings.
So tomorrow it is goodbye Germany and hello Switzerland for 3 nights. Then on Friday it is on the plane back home. We are not looking forward to the Melbourne weather, it has been low 30’s here and very pleasant.
We left our little Alpine lodge in Tamsweg and headed to our next stop, another small Austrian village called Neukirchen am Grossvenediger or “Neuky” for short.
We called into Radstatt on the way and stopped for a beer in the Bier Garten, as one does!
We continued onto Zell am See for a picnic lunch. It is classed as a “most visited” location in Austria. It was quite pretty with loads of people around.
We then arrived in Neuky. It is classed as a Market town and is at an altitude of 856 metres, but we did venture MUCH MUCH higher, more to follow. Our apartment has views of the surrounding mountains and the cables cars heading up up and up!
Our first night we went ot one of the many local Gasthofs and the meals were delicious. We all enjoyed roasted deer with croquettes and cranberries, wild boar with dumplings and spaetzle with roasted meat. All were YUMMO! Finished off with apples strudel and Kaiserscharn, or Austrian scrambled pancakes. It was a great meal.
Neuky is quite small but typical of the region. It is basically a ski resort but has lovely homes with their window boxes in full bloom!
The next day, being lovely and sunny we decided to venture up the Cable Car to the Wildkogelbahn Bergstation, what a ride! We ascended up to a height of 2091 metres,
We were met by wonderful views and brilliant sunshine. After taking numerous photos, none of which do the actual scenery any justice, (sorry)!
We decided it was time for a drink so we sat on the balcony and admired the stunning views all the way to the Italian Dolomites.
The view of Mount Grosser Rettenstein at 2363 metres was pretty impressive!
We had forgotten that the cable car shut down for an hour over lunchtime , so we had time to go and greet the local wildlife, the cows!
The next day was a day that Greg had been waiting for the whole trip. We “did” the Grossglockner Alpine Road. It is considered one of Austria’s top 3 attractions and the most beautiful panoramic road in Europe. It is 48 kilometres long and goes through the Hohe Tauern National Park. We paid our 40 euro toll and proceeded onwards and upwards. The first photo stop was at Heligenblut am Grossglockner.
Next stop was at Kasereck where the mountains were getting closer, we were getting higher, and Greg was taking more photos!
We found a great spot for our picnic lunch with some wonderful views!
Onwards and upwards again, onto Hochtor at 2504 metres. We had stunning views and also a beer, well why not!
Next stop was Fuscher Tori at 2428 metres where were supposed to have the view of the mountain of Grossglockner which stands at 3798 metres. Sadly, its tip was covered in cloud but the surrounding snowcapped mountains in all directions did well and truly make up for it.
The road is surrounded by 266 mountains and there are 36 hairpin bends all of which are numbered, which makes for a scenic and interesting drive! Luckily Stew was in the front seat so Rhonda had no reason to close her eyes at all. It was a fantastic day, both Greg and Tony did a great job!
Sadly, our photos again do not do the scenery justice, it was absolutely stunning, well worth 40 euros!
The following day it was time to say goodbye to Stew and Lynds. We loved having them with us and showing them some rural life in Austria. We took them to the train station in Innsbruck, so we decided to spend a few hours wandering the Old Town, We found the “Goldenes Dachl”, the Golden Roof, which was a Gothic oriel built in 1420 and decorated with 2657 fire gilt copper tiles.
We loved the elaborate facade of the Baroque Helbling House.
The Imperial Palace was a rather impressive large building completed in 1500. Walking the streets of the Old Town was lovely with great photo ops for Greg.
Whilst having a coffee we noticed loads of people in their national dress. Then a little later we heard the band! We discovered it was a public holiday for Assumption Day and a parade was happening. It was rather spoectacular, we loved the Austrians with their feathered hats!
After all the excitement we needed food and refreshments. We found the Augustiner Beer Garden and settled in for lunch and a beer or 2. It was a great time in Innsbruck and bought back a few memories of our only visit there back in 2001.
Yesterday we took a drive to visit the small Alpine town of Kitsbuhel. It is said to be “one of the most famous and exclusive ski resorts in the world” and frequented by “International High Society”. Hence we had to go!
We had to admit that although touristy it was “picture postcard perfect”. The Medieval main drag was full of beautiful colourful buildings, a photographer’s paradise! Lucky Greg!
So tomorrow we leave Neuky and Austria and head to Tubingen in Germany for 4 nights. Our time is drawing to an end very quickly, but we have left the best till last as for our last 3 nights we are in our favourite spot in Europe, Lenzerheide with our Swiss Family and will meet our new “Swiss Grandson” for the first time. We are very excited!
So now it’s time to pack.
By the way the weather has certainly warmed up, high 20’s with mid 30’s expected next week! Will be hard to acclimatise back in chilly old Melbourne.
Today is our last day in Tamsweg and we must say the weather has been fairly ordinary lately. We have had more wet days with loads of cloud cover than the sunny days we had expected. But it hasn’t stopped us from venturing out for some trips. We went to the small village of Murau which is the “home” of Greg’s favourite beer! Of course, we had to visit the brewery but decided against doing a tour as it was in German so we sat and had a beer instead!
The Saint Matthews church was built in 1790. The Austrian churches are very different form the Italian ones although the frescoes inside are still beautiful.
The views along the Mur River of the old timber framed buildings were lovely.
An interesting fact about the village is that during WW2 a Nazi POW camp was located in the town to hold British POW’s. At the end of the war in May 1945, local resistance fighters freed the remaining POW’s and successfully held the approaching Red Army forces to make them believe that the town was already occupied by the British.
There is a church which we see from our house, and it is a Pilgrimage Church so we thought we should check it out. St Leonhards Church used to be one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Austria back in the Middle Ages. It was erected in 1443 and enlarged and fortified in the late 15th Century, in view of repeated Otterman invasions. Inside was quite stunning and the surrounding buildings were also quite pretty.
We got a great view of the village from the Church which is positioned on a hill above the village.
We then stopped at another small village Mariapfarr. Its claim to fame is that an assistant priest in the village called Joseph Mohr, wrote the words to the Christmas Carol, Silent Night Holy Night in 1816. Another church in the town was also on the Pilgrimage Route. The Basilica Mariapfarr had a surrounding cemetery which was a quiet and beautiful place.
We had been waiting with anticipation for the Tamsweg “Wald Fest”. We had no idea what the festival was all about but knew that the “Samson Parade” was happening. We ventured down to the main square and then Samson appeared along with the town Brass and. We have since discovered this is a tradition in the villages of only the Lungau region of Austria and is also on the UNESCO list of Cultural Heritage, so were very lucky to have seen it.
In short, the giant Samson is carried by a strong Lungau man. He dances the “Samson Waltz” and is accompanied by 2 little people (dwarves). Samson can be up to 2.5 metres high and can weigh up to 100kgs. They played music and danced in the main square then proceeded along with loads of people up the main road, stopping every so often, drinking schnapps and dancing, to the main festival fairground about one kilometre away!
We decided to head out of town to do lunch at a nearby village called Ramingstein, and it was great. Rhonda’s cordon bleu was bloody huge but bloody nice and Greg’s roast pork with sauerkraut was just as good and we finished with homemade apple strudel. Yum!
We then decided to call into the fairgrounds on the way home, 3 hours later we were still there, drinking beer, listening to the oompah brass bands, and standing on tables and just generally having a great time, along with hundreds of others. It was lovely to see everyone in their traditional clothes, singing and dancing and just generally having a wow of a time!
Seeing that the weather the next day had improved slightly, we decided to drive another mountain pass. This one was called the Solk Pass. The first stop of the day was at the pretty village of Schladming, made even more stunning by the backdrop of snowcapped mountains. Coffee and apple strudel was ordered for morning tea and we enjoyed sitting in the sunshine with those gorgeous views.
Then we headed up the pass, and it wasn’t long before the road became more narrow, steeper and no lines. Added to that was also the fact that cows seemed to like lying halfway across the road in places. At some stages the incline was 15%
We stopped just before the summit at Osterkehre, 1700 metres for our picnic lunch. The hills were truly alive…… with Gregory!!!!!
At the summit,1793 metres is a small church, Solkpass Kapelle. The views were stunning, snowcapped mountains, waterfalls and Rhonda didn’t even close her eye once! It was a great day!
Two days ago, we ventured into the city of Salzburg to pick up Stew and Lynds who are staying with us for a little while. Unfortunately, the weather was a two umbrella day but we still enjoyed our trip down memory lane from a long time ago!
To escape the rain we went to one of the oldest coffee houses in Salzburg, Cafe Tomaselli and had 2 coffees instead of our usual one, and surprise surprise, a piece of apple strudel to wait for the rain to stop.
We picked Stew and Lynds up at the train station and went back into the old town for dinner. The traditional wiener schnitty was again very good as was the bratwurst and sauerkraut.
Yesterday we ventured to the rather touristy small village of Hallstatt. It is known to be the most photographed place in Austria so get ready for Greg’s photos!!!!!
As you can see, we did have some cloud cover which was a little disappointing as we were heading up the mountain. Stew and Lynds went on a Salt mine tour while we decided to take a cable car ride up to the “Five Fingers” on the Dachstein-Krippenstein Cable car , up 2100 metres. We took 2 cable cars to the top, then a 30 minute walk to the 5 fingers viewing platform.
Although we had a lot of cloud there were times of sun where we saw the lake down at Hallstatt. It was rather chilly up the top though but well worth the trip.
We met Stew and Lynds after we had both finished our adventures and headed off for lunch. We found the Gasthaus Koppenrast, and it was sensational, sitting, finally in the sun having a fabulous lunch. In Greg’s opinion it was the best meal he has had so far in Austria. Rhonda decided that she needed a pasta fix instead of more schnitty and snags, and it was the right decision, it was yum!
Tomorrow, we leave our little mountain retreat in Tamsweg and head to another mountain retreat in Neukirchen am Grossvenediger (its along one!).
So it’s that time again, already had a few drinks so it’s time to pack!
Hopefully our Austrian summer has now arrived. Fingers crossed.
We are currently in the Salzburger Lungau region of Austria and staying in a small village called Tamsweg. The region is designated as “UNESCO Biosphere Reserve” for its magnificent natural landscapes which are under special protection. Tamsweg is 1000 metres above sea level and nestled amongst the Alps.
Our home for 2 1/2 weeks is very cute, about a 20-minute walk into the town which has all the amenities we need, lots of Gasthaus, places to drink and eat!
The town central square is rather cute with lovely buildings. In fact, the whole town has some beautiful historic buildings. Unfortunately, there is not much info in English, so we just have lots of photos! So far we have frequented two of the Gasthaus’ with many more to follow. Greg is enjoying the local beer, Murauer, and Rhonda is liking her Dunkel, or dark wheat beer.
We decided to do a drive up a mountain seeing it was a lovely day. We drove first to the pretty village of Katschberg, wandered round, had a coffee, and then decided to go up the chair lift to Aineck. The views were stunning. It was a little chilly but not as bad as we thought.
We were up 2220 metres above sea level and had a 360-degree view of the mountains including Chober at 2957 metres and Grober Sonnblick at 3030 metres.
We walked around the lake and had a picnic lunch before going down on the chairlift. We have to say the photos do not do the scenery justice! It was magnificent and worth the 58 euro round trip.
We have mentioned going to a few Gasthaus’. They are German style taverns with a bar and restaurant and renown for the local food. We went to one for lunch in a small village close by called St Michael which specialised in chicken. We each had half a chicken and potato salad….should have shared one…..but it was delicious anyway and we did not need dinner that night.
The pasta dishes have long gone now and now we are into sausage, sauerkraut, schnitzels and of course apple strudel. Greg has still been cooking up a storm at home and trying out all different types of sausage!.
AS well as the food we are trying different beers in different beer houses.
We have visited a local village called Mauterndorf, where there is a schloss (castle). It is a 13th century toll house castle and was the occasional summer residence of the prince archbishops of Salzburg.
The initial weather forcast for the area was pretty ordinary with low temperatures and lots of rain and thunderstorms forcast, however we have been pleasantly surprised, and enjoyed mostly sunny days in the mid 20’s with the odd thunderstorm in the late afternoon. We even had a beautiful rainbow in the bottom of our garden, couldn’t find the pot of gold though!
We took a drive to Lake Prebersee, about a 20 minute drive from home. It was a pleasant 40 minute stroll around the lake, with some reflections of Mount Preber at 2740 metres.
We took a picnic lunch with us which we had intended to have lakeside but due to the water lying around, there were quite a few mozzies and midges, so Rhonda decided to do lunch elsewhere. We pulled into a roadside stop down the way a bit and Greg found a nice spot to sit to eat!!!!
While travelling around the area we have seen quite a few maypoles in the villages. Apparently they are erected on May 1st to symbolise the coming of Spring with lots of ffestivities and dancing. The cutting down of the Maypole apparently happens around the end of July around the time of their summer festivals.
We had another lovely day trip through the mountains. We travelled across the 1738 metre high mountain pass called the Radstadter-Tavern. Rhonda was happy as it was a wide road with a line down the middle! The mountain views were stunning.
At the top of the pass is a town called Obertauern, and its claim to fame is that in 1965 The Beatles filmed part of their film Help around the area and stayed in a Hotel at the top of the pass. Today you can stay in the John, Paul, George or Ringo rooms.
At the end of the pass is a town called Radstadt, the old town was lovely with the usual very pretty and colourful buildings.
We enjoyed another great lunch at Gasthaus Klauswirt, about a 15 minute drive from home. Althouigh the host didnt speak a lot of English and our German is pretty non existant, we enjoyed a great schnitzel, beers and wine. the spuds here are delicious, apparently the area around here is renown for their great tasting spuds and we agree.
Greg has fallen in love with the local beer, its called Muraurer. It is brewed in a town about 20 kms from here so Gregory had to buy a slab. The slab consists of 20 , 50mls bottles. He is currently working his way through the slab, quite fast too!!!!!
Today we packed a picnic lunch and headed for Spittal an der Drau. We wandered through the town and decided to have a coffee with a view. By the way as we were so close to Italy the coffee was sooooo close to good Italian coffee which we have failed to find so far in Austria. The 16th Century Porcia Schloss , built in the style of an Italian Palazzo is considered to be one of the most beautiful renaissance buildings north of the Alps.
We then drove onto Millstatt am See, and drove around Lake Millstattersee. It was a very pretty drive and some of the Lake views were lovely!
We then arrived at the town of Millstatt, and walked up to the Millstatt Abbey which was established by the Benedictine Monks around 1070.
Then it was time to return home via the Turracher Hohe Pass, at a height of 1795 metres. We stopped and had a beer by Turracher Lake at the top of the Pass. It was a little chilly, but it was a great day and another great drive by Greg and Tony!
So it’s that time again, time to wander into the village and have a drink! And maybe listen to some local singers who are apparently in the square every Wednesday evening at 7pm.
BTW, did anyone find Hitler and Mussolini in the stained glass windows???????
We said goodbye to Cividale and also to the sunflowers that we had seen in the area to make our way to Austria and our 5 night stay in Graz.
We made the decision to drive through Slovenia, just because we could, but it may have been a mistake. We did not realise we needed to buy a “toll pass” to drive on the Slovenian roads and you MUST buy it before you enter the country. We didn’t ,so we pleaded ignorance and we hope to avoid a 300 euro fine. Fingers crossed! We will keep you informed! We did buy one for Austria though! We then uneventfully arrived in Graz.
Our apartment in Graz is great and about a 25 minute walk into the old town, so it’s good exercise to offset the beers, sausage and schnitzels! The first night we headed into the Gosser beer garden for beers and our first schnitty! It was delicious.
Graz is a UNESCO listed city, and the second largest city in Austria and also known as “Austria’s capital of delight”. We agree.
Our first day, we decided to do a self guided walk through the old town. Of course, we started with a coffee at one of the oldest coffee houses in Graz, Cafe Konig. We immediately noticed the increase in price and the reduction in quality as what we were accustomed to in Italy. The main street in Graz, Herrengasse is reserved for pedestrians, cycles and trams. The Hauptplatz, the main square, has the magnificent town hall, or Rathaus along with the Arch Duke Johann’s fountain built in 1878. The buildings around the square were stunning. The stucco facade of the Luegghaus featured fruit and flowers.
The Landhaus is where the regional parliament sits and the inner courtyard was rather spectacular as was the facade of “The Painted House” decorated with frescoes dating back to 1742.
The Cathedral was built by Kaiser Frederich the third between 1438 and 1464. The Mausoleum of Kaiser Ferdinand the second was rather amazing and is considered to be “the most significant Habsburg tomb in terms of Art History”. We then wandered through the picturesque Glockenspiel Platz but were there 10 minutes late for the show, it only happens 3 times a day.
Last stop on the tour was the Opera House, built in 1899, so rather modern for the city. It was lovely wandering through cobbled laneways ad small streets.
It was a great day, but Greg’s knees told him otherwise, nearly 18,000 steps and nearly 12 kms! That night we worked out the tram system. A 5 minute walk to the tram stop and at a cost of 1.90 euros for an hour ticket, that is what is happening form now on!
The following day was another self guided walk, this time “Historic and Modern” so we ventured across the Mur River. We wandered through the very cute Franziskaneviertel Quarter, also known as the “Veal Quarter “due to the old tradition of loads of butcher shops that were there.
Then we crossed the river to see The exhibition House built in 2003. It is called the Kunsthaus, and in Rhonda’s opinion it was horrible but Greg thought it was ok. Then it was onto the Mariahilferplatz to see the magnificent Franziskaner Church built at the beginning of the 17th century with the double towers added in 1742. The cloisters were lovely.
We needed to rest so we found our way to the Lendplatz Market for a well earned drink. There were lots of people being a Saturday and Greg’s knees needed lubricating, so a beer and aperol were in order.
To return to the old town across the river, we went via the Murinsel, a floating shell linked by a footbridge. Interesting! We then saw the steps or the Schlossbergstiege, one of the 4 ways to get to the top of the Sclossberg, where the castle is. They were carved into the cliffs by the prisoners of the first world war. Luckily there is also a lift and a funicular.
The last stop of the day was into the Stadtphrrkirche where we had read that in the stained glass windows you can find Hitler and Mussolini. A little background, the windows were destroyed by bombs in WW11. The windows were re created by Albert Binkle, a German whose work was declared “degenerate” by Hitler. After the war he obtained Austrian citizinship. In the 1950’s he was commissioned to paint the new windows and he used the chance to “immortalise Hitler and Mussolini as betrayers of Christ”. See if you can spot them? The next blog will tell you where they are.
We arrived back in Hautsplatz and needed watering and feeding so it was a beer and currywurst lunch. For dinner it was Weiss wurst with mustard and salad, a real sausage day!
Even though we caught the tram into and out of the old town, we still did nearly 11,000 steps and 8 kms! Not a bad effort!
The following day we took another tram ride out to the Schloss Eggenberg (UNESCO listed palace). In 1625 Prince Johann Ulrich Von Eddenberg built the palace themed around “macrocosmic” symbols. It has 4 towers (4 seasons) 12 gates (months of the year) and 365 windows (yep you guessed it) and no we didn’t count them! You could have paid 17 euros to do a one and half guided tour in German but we opted to pay 2 euros to wander around the beautiful gardens.
That night we ventured back in to see what Graz was like at night. It wasn’t quite as lit up as we expected but it was still very pretty.
We had one last area of the city to explore. We headed to the Sclossberg. For over 1000 years a castle stood on top of the hill and it could never be taken which earned it a place in the Giuness Book of Records. It was built in 1809 after the victory of the French over the Habsburgs, Napoleon forced the people of Graz to demolish the fortress , however the people of Graz made sure the Clock Tower was spared by paying money! Well done to the people of Graz as it is a monument that symbolises the city.
The Clock Tower is a fortified Medieval Tower dating back to around 1560. The wooden galleries are fire stations and the clock has “apparently” struck the hour precisely since 1712. The views from the Schloss over the city of Graz were amazing.
We had a coffee on the 6th floor rooftop cafe of Kastner and Ohler, a high end department store. The coffees were expensive but worth paying the extra for the view. It was a tad early for a glass of champers.
Our last lunch in Graz had to be another currywurst and beer, cause they are so good!
We have enjoyed our time in Graz a lot. It is a beautiful city. Tomorrow we head to “The Sound of Music” country. The hills will be alive with…..something we hope. The weather here has been pretty good, had a bit of rain but temps have been high 20’s, so bearable. The reports for our next stay is a little cooler, may even need a heater on at night!!!!
We left Puglia and headed north to the area of the Marche, and to the beautiful UNESCO listed town of Urbino. It is a classic hilltop town and walled city. It sits on a steep hillside and has kept most of its medieval appearance in tact.
It is probably most famous as the birthplace of one of those Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Raphael, but it’s fame is actually due to the Duke of Montefeltro who brought the Rennaissance architecture to the town from 1444 to 1482.
Our little house was in a fabulous location, just inside the old town walls, but close to the carpark for Tony, so we didn’t have to drag our suitcases up the VERY VERY VERY steep cobblestoned streets! We had a lovely garden with a view of the walls and the back of the Cathedral.
The most famous building in the town is the Ducale Palazzo, a monumental Renaissance palace built by the Duke in the second half of the 15th century. It is now mainly an Art Gallery (with sadly only 2 of Raphaels paintings plus some of his dads). The dukes tiny study is the only room in the palace that is “as it was” during his reign. The wooden inlay panels were remarkable, and the building was enormous!
The Duomo, Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta was built in the 17th century but renovated at the end of the 18th century. It was beautiful to walk around the outside but nothing special on the inside. We ventured into the “Botanical Gardens” founded in 1808, Monets Garden it was not!!!!!! Rhonda wanted to flee because of all the bugs and mossies!!!
Of course one has to eat so we had a lovely dinner one night in a little out of the way laneway. A speciality of Urbino is Coniglio in porchetta (rabbit porchetta) and it did not disappoint us. However Greg’s panna cotta was definitely not up to scratch, but Rhonda enjoyed her basil strawbs with hazelnuts and meringue.
After dinner we wandered the streets for some night shots. Although Urbino is definitely not a tourist town, there were still lots of people around.
Urbino is a University town, with the first Uni established in 1506, and we timed it perfectly for Graduation week!!! On our first day we noticed a lot of young people partying , some with live laurel wreaths with coloured ribbons on their heads. Well, when one wants to know the reason why, one asks Google, and Google told us it was Grad week for the Uni. We discovered that ALL students must pass a final oral exam in front of a panel of professors. Parents and friends may attend this exam, then when everyone leaves, the profs discuss whether the student has passed their degree. The student re-enters to receive their degree papers (hopefully) then exits via a door where the parents /friends await. Then it’s party time. They sing (apparently a quite vulgar song) explode confetti bombs, give bouquets of flowers to the graduate, and pop numerous bottles of champers. Each student has a different individual time so this goes on ALL day. Most are well dressed, but of course you do get the exception.
A typical street food of the March area is a crescia , so of course we had to try one. It is a thin Italian flat bread filled with whatever one wants! We had sausage cheese and veges, it was yum!
We visited 2 magnificent Oratorios ( a sacred place for prayer, other than a church). The Oratorio San Giovanni Battista was built between 1365 and the last decade of the 14th century and we were blown away by the frescoes. It is supposedly the most magnificent example of late Gothic paintings in Italy done by two brothers in 1416.
The other one was the Oratorio di San Giuseppe was completed in 1515. It was just as stunning and we were happy to pay the 5 euros to see them both.
It’s no wonder Greg’s knees were talking to him, the streets and lanes were extremely steep, and on one day alone, Rhonda’s phone told us we walked 15000 steps, 12 kms , and walked up 42 floors! Not too bad at all.
We loved our stay in Urbino, a wonderful place to see, but then it was onto an area of Italy we had never been to before.
We have just spent the last 4 days in the town of Cividale del Friulli, another UNESCO listed town in northern Italy close to the Slovenian border and the Eastern Alps. It is a very pretty non touristy town on the banks of the River Natione.
The town has quite a history and was actually founded by Julius Caesar in 50BC and soon became one of the most important centres of the region and a commercial and military force. Then in 568AD the Longoboards came, and it was the capital city of the first Longobord Dukedom in Italy. It became a powerful religious and political city. Over the centuries many churches and palaces were built. It was dedicated for military valour because of the citizens sacrifice and resistance during the second world war.
The Town Hall (above) , a former palace was built between 1545 and 1588. Julius Casear stands proudly in the front! Apparently, there are some Roman ruins inside but we didn’t venture in as we had seen enough of them in Sicily!!!
The Ponte del Diavolo , or Devils Bridge is rather picturesque, worthy of a LOT of photos. The original bridge was blown up in 1917 and re constructed by the German army. Then in April 1945, the Germans tried to blow it up but not much damage was done!
The oldest house in the town is known, not surprisingly as the Medieval House, and dates back to the mid 13th century. It was originally a Goldsmith shop. The main square, the Piazza Paolo Diacono was a great spot for a drink with many lovely buildings surrounding it.
The Tempietto Longobardo was on our list of places to visit, however, it was quite disappointing as nearly the whole complex was under restoration. The frescoes which we had hoped to see were being re done and the cloisters were an absolute mess!!! We were supposed to see “glorious and delightful heritage from the 8th century with mosaics and frescoes”, but instead we saw lots of scaffolding!
We decided to visit the city of Trieste. We spent the day there and our views of the city are….a big city with magnificent architecture, but don’t visit when there are 3 rather large cruise ships in port and when it’s 37 degrees! But it was on Greg’s bucket list so now it’s ticked off!
We found one of the oldest coffee houses in Trieste, because apparently Trieste is the coffee capital of Italy! W also had a drink in one of the many beautiful piazzas.
WE asked our host for a recommendation for a winery lunch, and we weren’t disappointed. we went to Alturis Winery and tasted some of the famous white wine of the region. Our lunch was delicious. The charcuterie starter was great as was Greg’s vegetable parmigano, and Rhonda’s agnolotti pasta with lemon butter, poppy seeds and speck. We decided that dolce was in order and Rhonda’s “birramisu was certainly different, a deconstructed tiramisu but made with dark beer instead of the usual liqueur.
The town is surrounded by hundreds of wineries and of course the vista of the vineyards is spectacular when you are driving around.
We also visited Grado, a seaside town located on a lagoon island. It is a working fishing port and has a lovely small historic town centre. It is mostly however known for it’s beaches and is a big tourist spot for Austrians. We had a great lunch at a fish restaurant, sadly it was probably our last spigola meal. It was a rather hot day, so it was quiet wandering the streets as most people were at the beach!
We have spent a lot of time just wandering the streets and lanes of Cividale coming across many lovely old buildings. WE have really enjoyed our time here but now it is time to move on.
So tomorrow we head into Austria to spend a month there. We think it may be a little cooler (fingers crossed) as the weather this past week has heated up quite considerably!
So it’s that time again, time to pack!! Already had our aperitivs!
We spent a great week in our trulli, not only relaxing by the pool, swimming and having a few drinks, but also a bit of sightseeing. We went to Bari one day to specifically buy some pasta! We had seen on TV the “Bari ladies” making their orecchiette pasta (“little pigs ears” popular throughout Puglia). They sit in a tiny alley, make their pasta and sell it, mainly to tourists like us, so when in Bari…..one needs to do it. It cost us 3 euros, 1 euro per person and Greg cooked up a storm that night with a great pasta dish.
We did like Bari and spent some time wandering the narrow streets of the old town in the port city. The port area was an interesting experience with the fishermen selling their catch of the day with a beer in one hand and the other hand slapping octopus on the rocks to tenderise it. The Teatro Margherita was rather a new building, only built in 1912 but it was rather impressive compared to the Bari Cathedral built between the late 12th and 13th Century. We did enjoy our time there.
The next stop was Polignano a Mare known as “the Jewel of Puglia” and one of the most picturesque coastal towns in Italy, if not the whole of Europe. We tend to agree, it was stunning. It is a small town perched on top of limestone cliffs that drop (from a huge height) into the Adriatic Sea.
The old town was beautiful and although the “Lama Monachile Beach” had heaps of people, it was still pretty stunning. The town is famous for its cliff diving and many brave souls were participating but not us, we decided to have lunch instead.
Our trulli was about 3.5 kms from the hilltop village of Cisternino which had more beautiful tiny alleyways to wander through.
The town is famous for its “barbequing butchers “so of course we had to try some. We chose our meat, bombettes, some filled with mushrooms, some with gorgonzola cheese, some chicken, and some traditional ones wrapped in prosciutto. The butcher cooks them for you while you find a table, order some vino, and then you wait with anticipation. We were not disappointed.
As we were in town on a Friday, it had to be pizza night. It was a good opportunity to wander the streets at night. Of course, we had to have an aperitivo before dinner.
We also visited the “over touristy” but ever so pretty town of Alberobello. It is a UNESCO listed site for its unusual district of trulli. A trulli is a dwelling built of limestone with drystone walls and a conical roof. Unfortunately for us, the day we visited was the same day Dolce and Gabbana were setting up for one of their 600 special guest invite only fashion shows. We believe our tickets got lost in the mail! Sorry about the number of photos but one could not help oneself. It is an amazing spectacle.
We left Alberobello after we decided we couldn’t take any more photos and headed to another lovely little white hilltop village close to us called Locorontondo, often called Puglia’s prettiest town and we agree. It was very quiet when we were there, and we just loved wandering the lanes virtually alone.
After all the walking round the streets, we needed to hydrate and eat so chose a rather cute little spot for lunch.
We had one last white hilltop village to explore, and that was Ostuni, known as “The White City”. Apparently back in the 17th century the town painted its walls (inside and out of all the buildings) with a white paint mixed with disinfectant to fend off the spread of a plague. No plaque today though , its still painted white for marketing reasons as it does look rather pretty.
To our shock horror when we arrived, we discovered that bloody Dolce and Gabbana were in Ostuni and setting up their next fashion show. Of course, that meant that a lot of streets were closed so it became rather difficult to find a car park. Poor Tony got driven up a VERY narrow street with steps on each side. Still can’t believe he made it with mirrors and wheels intact! JUST!!!!!!
By the way our tickets to the fashion shows still haven’t arrived!! Must be lost in the mail.
So that was our week in Trulli country and we had a”trulli” great time.
So it’s that time again, time for a drink and explore Urbino
We have never before done a blog purely on our accommodation but there is a first time for everything. We have spent the last week in a trulli near the town of Cisternino in Puglia. It has been magical and has fulfilled one of Rhonda’s items on her bucket list!
As soon as we pulled up to the front gate of Trulli Anna Rosa , we knew we were in for something special.
Then as we ventured around to our back yard ……OMG!!!!!!
Yes, it was ALL to ourselves. The days have been spent sightseeing in the morning but the afternoons have been by the pool, relaxing and a little bit of drinking!
The first night we waited impatiently for darkness to come so that our fairy lights would come on. It was another OMG moment!
Not only was the accommodation fabulous but we had a “live in” house boy. He attended to our every need, including coffeemaker, cleaning the pool, washing Tony, chauffeur, bbq chef, and most importantly bar man. What an absolutely fabulous job he did!
Sadly, our week here will come to an end tomorrow and it will be time to leave our truly tremendous trulli. It has been a fabulous week, and the next blog will detail the other places we have been while here. Just a couple more shots for you, we can never be sick of looking at them.
We sadly said goodbye to Jude yesterday and she is now flying home. We had a great time with her and will miss her.
So, it’s that time, unfortunately time to pack!!!!!!!
We left Matera to head to Lecce and on the way we had a couple of stops. First one was at Taranto , Puglia’s second largest city, and known as the “City of the two seas”. The old town sits on an island and it has the usual narrow streets and alleyways that we love to wander around.We came across the Cathedral San Cataldo and although quite pretty from the outside, the interior was stunning.
We then continued on to have a wine tasting at San Mazarno winery which is in an area of Primitivo red wine that Greg loves.We spent a great 2 hours tasting some beautiful wines and of course purchased quite a few bottles!
We then arrived in Lecce which is known as “The Florence of the South”, it is a beautiful 17th Century Baroque city. Every corner you turn there is a new vista , usually a church, which is magnificent. There are 22 churches in the old town. Our favourite was the Basilica di Santa Croce. It has one of the most intricate baroque facades in Italy. It took over 200 years to build and is richly decorated facade includes animals, grotesque figures and even vegetables. It was a feast for the eyes!
We spent a day driving down the Adriatic Coast . First stop was the beach resort of San Cataldo, the local beach for those who live in Lecce. It was a nice sandy beach and full of people swimming. We went further along to Torre dell’Orso, which a rocky coastline.
Next stop was Otranto, a nice coastal town with , of course , another lovely old town with narrow streets. One place which we intended to visit was the Cathedral as the inside is “apparently” spectacular, however, our TD (Rhonda) did not do her research properly. It was closed between 12 noon and 3PM….we arrived at 12:07!!!!!
We continued down the coast to the tip of Italy, the heel of the boot, to Santa Maria di Leuca where the Mediterranean meets the Adriatic Sea. Of course to celebrate , we stopped for a drink!
As it was Friday night , it was pizza night, and it wasnt too bad at all!
We spent another day doing a self-guided walk through the streets of Lecce. Rhonda was sacked as Tour Director for this walk, so Greg took on the role! We saw 2 of the gates to the old town, the Porta San Biagio was built in 1773, and the Porta Rudiae was built in 1703. Both were very noble looking.
In the centre of the old town is the Roman amphitheatre, with only half visible to the eye. The rest is still covered under roads! It is thought to be dated between the first and second century AD and was only discovered in the early 1900’s when excavations began for the construction of a bank!
As you would imagine there were loads of churches along our walk amongst them The Church of the Carmine, the Church of Santa Maria della Alacantarine. Don’t worry we haven’t got photos of all the churches we saw.
We were wandering along, minding our own business, when suddenly we came across a few “ladies” standing in doorways, quite scantily dressed! Yep we were in the red light district of Lecce and we weren’t sure whether our TD had researched this before we began!!!!! They all disappeared inside as soon as Greg’s camera came out!
The Piazza del Duomo in the centre of the Old town is amazing. It has the Cathedral as its centrepiece which was originally built in 1144, but not fully decorated in the baroque style until the 1600’s. The Seminary is considered to be the finest baroque architecture in all of Lecce.
We ate well in Lecce, both at some restaurants and at home. Greg cooked us some spigola on the charcoal grill plus some very tasty bombettes and some great pasta.
We ventured down the coast on the Mediterranean side on another day. Our first stop was the very small Baroque town of Galatina that they say has remained virtually intact over the centuries. We checked out the Basilica of Santa Caterina d’Alessandria, desribed as “an overstuffed jewel box laden with frescoes”.It was rather pretty on the outside but inside it was stunning. It was built between 1382 and 1391 with frescoes of early fifteenth century. Even the cloisters next to the church were lovely.
Our next port of call was Gallipoli, no not the one in Turkey.We wandered the Centro Storico , situated on a limestone island. The Castle Angevin stands at the entrance to the island and was the fortress built to protect the island when the Venetians took hold. We saw the Cathedral of Saint Agatha, but we are almost over churches so sat and admired the outside while having a drink. The beaches around Gallipoli looked quite inviting but no time to swim. We enjoyed a nice lunch in the back streets.
So in a nut shell, that was our week in Lecce, an absolutely amazing city. WE are now in the midst of Trulli territory, so loads of photos to come, particularly of our beautiful accommodation.
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