The heel of Italy...

...also known as Puglia was full of surprises.  We arrived in Lecce, so-called "Florence of the south" but from the train and bus it was rather unprepossessing.  Walking into the old town the next morning we were amazed to see coach loads of tourists!  Not so surprising when we got in the town, just about everything in carved stone - beautiful.  And the churches were proudly Baroque, not something we usually like but the basilica was pure stone, no gilding or fancy paintwork to spoil it. 

Friday on the train again but only local to the seaside town of Otranto, very touristy but can see why - lovely old town, great beaches and a truly fantastic mosaic floor in the cathedral.  

Then lovely frescoes in a small "basilica", reminded us of Armenia.

Lazed on the beach, swam a bit, just like being on holiday!

Today was a repeat, without the cultural visits.  Moving on tomorrow.

Central Italy, the Abruzzo

It's lovely here in Sulmona surrounded by mountains, it's quiet and hardly any tourists.  Took Sunday off just strolled the streets along with a huge part of the population, did virtually nothing, a bit of peace after all the art, architecture and travelling. 

Monday caught the bus to the medieval village of Scanno up in the real mountains.  

Real narrow roads through spectacular gorges, and villages stuck to mountainsides.  From Scanno we walked further up a track into the mountains passing patches of wild cyclamen and a strange little shrine.  Didn't see anyone else for a couple of hours!

On the way back down a couple of red deer trotted across the street in front of the bus in one of the villages!

Tuesday caught a bus to Pacentro, another lovely medieval town perched on a hillside.  

Chatted to a Canadian couple over snack lunch then walked back to Sulmona (about 7km) for a gelato.

Off to the heel of Italy (Puglia) tomorrow for a few days in Lecce.  It'll be a long day on the train.

Away from Rome

We headed back north into the region of Umbria, visiting Orvieto - off the train , stow the bags, up in the funicular - to see the amazing cathedral...

...where we also had a great Italian lunch before arriving in Perugia for three nights.  So much art and stuff to see, (pretty town as well) the head was quickly full but we did the whole first day.  

Wanted to catch a bus to Gubbio which is apparently one of the best medieval villages but the buses were on strike so took a train to lake Trasimene which was lovely and peaceful.  Walked a bit in the hills behind and spent some time in a gelateria - yum.

Up early today to catch a series of trains to Sulmona in the Appenine mountains, passing through spectacular scenery, the longest leg in a very local train. 

Here for three days in a rather smart apartment.  No great sights just lots of scenery and a rest from museums, churches and cathedrals!

Rome day 3 ...

... began with rain.  We headed for the Vatican to visit St Peter's but the queues to get through security were so long that we gave up.  That's the end of the queue on the left in the photo, it went all the way around the piazza behind us to the entrance on the right!!

Spent a few hours in another fascinating museum, ground floor was all exhibits, mostly statues, but the rooms on the first floor had amazing decorations - and when we came out 2 hours later the rain had stopped, hooray.  

Walked through the old town, piazzas, narrow streets, huge palaces and across the Tiber to a simple basilica with a great view.

Back in our apartment we had no hot water but we were talked through what to fiddle with to get it working again, so have even done a bit of DIY in Rome!

Rome day 2 extra pics

 

Rome day 2

Most of the museums are closed on Monday so we had booked tickets to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, the heart of ancient Rome.  Much as we hate the word - awesome!!  

More wandering in the afternoon, passing the Pantheon as the queues were huge but finding plenty of other fascinating things in the old town.

More pics in the next post.

Rome day 1 extra pics

Rome day 1

Our high-speed train from Ferrara to Rome was packed with tourists - it had started from Venice - but most got off in Florence and hardly anyone got on, strange that!

Decided to concentrate on Ancient Rome mostly with later history added from time to time.  So first stop was the Palazzo Massimo which is full of statues, unbelievable mosaics and frescoes.  

There were even the interiors of a couple of Roman villas.  Took all morning admiring the artistry.

Afternoon wandered around past the President's palace, a couple of Egyptian obelisks, eventually arriving at the Trevi Fountain where you could hardly move for (other) tourists!

Will need to post other pics separately.

Ceramics and mosaic

More pics 1

Ferrara part 2

The weather turned cold and grey so we did the tourist trail in Ferrara - well, some of it as there's lots to see.  The cathedral was damaged in the 2012 earthquake so lots of repairs now but mostly open and quite stunning.

The castle is huge and well maintained, explored from the dungeons to the top of a tower. Some lovely rooms and lots of info and views.

There are amazing frescoes in Palazzo Schifanoia which would have covered the walls, but some idiot in the 18th century painted them over!!!  There are however some largely intact and beautiful ones depicting the months.

Ended in an old house which displayed a lot of frescoes removed from redundant churches, but other lovely frescoes too.

Friday to Modena which was a bit difficult because of a train derailment.  But the town was again medieval, the civic museum fascinating - too much information but a totally eclectic collection, and the cathedral a classic Romanesque building, much simpler than the usual Baroque.

This weekend was the philosophy festival and the events were packed.  Needless to say, we didn't stay.

Off to Rome tomorrow, thought we'd get it done and then relax a bit.

Ferrara part 1

Decided to centre ourselves in Ferrara rather than Bologna - a good decision as it's lovely.  

Our trains were a bit late but between Milan and Bologna we hit 300km/h!!!

Tuesday caught train to beautiful Bologna and circulated the churches for the paintings and frescoes only problem is that even the churches close for lunch!  Such a lovely city with colonnaded passages everywhere.

Wednesday Ravenna for the mosaics, the photos don't do them justice, they are astounding, even the floors are amazing.  A quick trip to Faenza followed for the ceramic museum - wow, could have spent the whole day there.  And Faenza gave the world the word "faïence".

Lake Maggiore

An easy train journey to Laveno on the east shore.  After lunch and checking in we took the cable car - more a string of two-person buckets - up the local mountain.  The descent was quite a scramble to begin with, then steep and rocky, then just steep! Nearly 2 hours descent.

Next day on the ferry to one of the islands with a lovely palazzo beautifully kept especially ceilings and floors.  Highlight an amazing collection of puppets.  The 8 hectares of gardens would be beautiful in the spring but some majestic trees.  A parade of old boats in the harbour after our evening aperitivo finished the day.  It's a lovely place in the sun!

Sunday was rain all day so we had a big lunch and did a lot of planning.

Off to Ferrara tomorrow, trying our inter-rail pass.