Provence, Day 2

On this day we went northeast of Avignon to the Gorges l’Ardéche and the Vallon Pont d'Arc. It was beautiful drive through the Cote de Rhone region. We didn't stop at any wineries, but we certainly saw tons of vineyards, and they were all being fruitful. Well, starting their springtime leafing out anyway. All the colors and the flowers in Provence were just gorgeous.

We drove along the rim of these gorges which are amazing in their variety. The landscape is quite spectacular. There are several of these valleys throughout Provence (the most famous being the Gorges du Verdon, the "Grand Canyon" of Europe), and each one has its own drama and beauty. We had picked up some sandwiches in a little town nearby, and found a great spot for a picnic on this sunny day. Here are pictures of the gorge and the lunch spot:
There were some goats of the region on the road and they were pretty cute! This one was the clear leader:
After we left the Gorges at Vallon Pont d'Arc we headed slightly southwest to go the the famous Roman acqueduct, the Pont d'Gard. It's the second tallest Roman structure (the Colosseum being 6 feet taller), and it was really something to see. (The second picture is Nancy and Eileen waving to Larry and Wally!)We had another beautiful drive through forests and farmland. The geography of Provence is very diverse, and each turn of the road brings another wonder.

Provence, Day 1

Leaving Moneglia took us through another series of one-way tunnels. When we finally emerged, we made our way to the autostrada for our trip into France. We zoomed out of the Italian Riviera into the Cote d'Azur. We didn't get off to stop in Monaco, so we can't add that to our list of countries visited! (Or...can we? We certainly saw it!) The car quality all around us increased significantly as we drove through the area. But it certainly beautiful, and even from the autoroute you get a sense of why this area has been so popular. (Please note language change for the freeway from Italy to France! Pretty cool, huh?)

After we left the autoroute we headed off into the Provence countryside to the town of Venasque. Just east of Avignon a bit, Venasque is an ancient town up on a hill, facing the slopes of Mont Ventoux, the highest mountain around. We managed to negotiate our way (with some local help) to our B and B, La Maison des Volets Bleus. It is a charming old place, run by the same couple for 26 years. She does dinner a couple times a week, and that night our meal was right there with two other couples staying there. It was very good, and a pleasant way to begin our time in Provence. Here are pictures of the entrance to the place, of Venasque, and the view:

Moneglia, Italy

When we left the villa, we headed northwest, eventually following along the Italian Riviera. We drove along the high road that runs above the beautiful Cinque Terre. It was amazing in many ways. First, it was a glorious day. The sun was shining, the water was calm and blue, and the views were spectacular. Second, it was quite a road. It twisted this way and that way, carving itself (literally, so it seemed) into the hillside far above the sea. Third, this was Easter Monday, or Pasquetta, as the Italians call it, and it was also 25 April, which is the Italian Fourth of July - Liberation Day. (The "liberation" is the end of World War II on 25 April 1945.) So this was a super-duper long weekend for the Italians. In the Cinque Terre, people were everywhere! So dodging cars, people, motorcycles, bicyclists and everything else made the whole drive a very beautiful and very sporty course! Here's a picture from the road. You can see the road in the left of the picture.
We finally made our way towards the town of Moneglia, on the sea just north of the Cinque Terre. That road along the sea had its own amusements in the form of old one-way tunnels. You wait in line for 15-20 minutes (the times are posted) and then go with everyone else through these tunnels that line the seaside. There were three sets of 3-4 tunnels!

We finally arrived in Moneglia and found our hotel. We set off to explore the city, which had a fair and dancing and other things happening for the special day. It was a lot of fun. We eventually found a place to eat that looked good. While we were sitting there, an Easter procession came by, much like the Good Friday ones elsewhere. People were dressed in different colors for their contradas, or neighborhoods. In this procession they carried three big crucifixes with ornate, very baroque gold and silver radiating suns. Others pushed on a cart (not carried) their local patron San Giorgio (St. George) complete with sword stuck in the dragon, and the requisite statue of Mary. The band was pretty good, and some people carried their own personal sound systems for chants along the way.We had a pretty amazing dinner with a big platter of local fresh seafood for the four of us. After dinner, we wandered back to our hotel through the beautifully lit streets. By chance Eileen popped her head into the church and came out and got the rest of us. It is a baroque wonder. It was very lovely to see. Here is a picture of the altar:
So all in all we enjoyed Moneglia and were glad to get some views and a little taste of the Cinque Terre and the Italian Riviera.

Arrivederci Le Terrae

We leave today after a wonderful time. If you are coming to Italy, please keep this place in mind. Great for a family or a group of friends. It is a great place.

We head towards France now. One more stop in Italy tonight, then to Provence for 5 nights. I probably won't be able to blog for a couple days - not the great wi-fi we've had here.

So good-bye to Le Terrae! It was great!

Le Terrae, Day 16

Easter Day! Buona Pasqua! We went to the 10 a.m. mass in Vasanello. I think we had all expected a rather dull by the book mass, but it was a very lively service. The priest had tons of energy, and played the guitar along with some of the spirited liturgical pieces through the service. There were a ton of children there, including about 60 he had sitting up in the chancel transepts to help out with the singing and reading. The whole place was packed, and we were glad we got there a little early to get a seat where we could see everything. We could follow along well in the service. Wally and I have the bible on our iPhones, so we could follow along with the readings, which were exactly the same as they would have been at home, as was the Prayer of the Day and the Post-Communion Prayer. Let's hear it for the Western Liturgical Tradition! The priest had clearly seen these Americans, and during communion he picked a song for everyone to sing that had a refrain in English. When it started, people looked at us and smiled. Very nice. Everyone was very kind to us, and it was lovely to share the peace.

After church we came back to the villa and rested up a bit before starting Easter dinner around 1 p.m. We fixed our pasta with Alfredo sauce, mushrooms, and wild asparagus, and ate it while the meat and veggies cooked, and then enjoyed that wonderful food. It's great to be here and be able to benefit from all the fresh food that's around. Lots of fun.

The rest of Sunday was lazy, with some preparations for leaving on Monday and a couple last rounds of Bocce. The sun came out for a good while in the afternoon.

We read and packed and talked in the evening, and enjoyed one last glass of sweet wine from Le Velette. A fitting end to a great time.

Le Terrae, Day 15

On Saturday we went into Vasanello and bought a chicken leg, a pork roast, vegetables (including wild asparagus), bread, and fresh pasta for our Easter feast. We took it back to the villa and then headed out into a light rain for a trip to Lago di Bolsena. This is a volcanic lake about 40 km from here. We again had a lovely drive, and walked around in the town of Marta. We found a great local place for lunch. We had seafood antipasto, some pasta primi piatti and then three of us had the local lake fish, a white carp they call coregno. Jean ordered lake perch that said it came with egg noodles in the English translation, but what they meant was breaded! She said it was delicious however it came!

We walked more in the town and found some gelato. We headed home again, stopping along the way for parmigiano reggiano, cream, and we just happened to buy another Tre Marie Columba! (We had already stolen a march on Easter and eaten the first one we bought.)

The rest of Saturday was slow and easy, and the sun came out enough for a little more Bocce.

Le Terrae, Day 14

Good Friday. We had a leisurely start to the day, and then decided to go to lunch in the old town of Orte where we would also go for the Good Friday procession that evening. Just 7 km down the road, it's the hill town for this area. On Tuesday before the Faddens left, Del and Larry and I went to a hillside sanctuary across from the town to take morning light pictures.


We had lunch at Taverna Roberteschi, which specializes in fish. It was excellent! We returned to the villa and enjoyed the evening. We left about 8:30 for the "Dead Christ Procession" in Orte. These processions happen all over the hill town areas of Lazio, Umbria, and Tuscany, but the one in Orte is the oldest in Italy. They've been doing it for over 1000 years. It's basically a torch-lit procession made up of robe-clad groups from the contradas (districts) of the city.

We arrived in time to get seats on the stairs of the main church. At 9:30 p.m., the torch-lit processions came out one by one from all the streets around the piazza. Each group of about 60 people had 7 cross, including one very big cross carried in the middle of the group. All the cross-bearers also had chains around their feet, as did many of the others. Many were barefoot or in sandals. The colors of their robes went with the contrada from which they came. Orte old town maps on the walls of Orte show the districts by these colors. The groups were in red, white, black, blue, green, and black and white.

The groups walked into the piazza and then walked down the main street to the piazza down a ways. Then they all came back into the main piazza by torchlight, with the town band playing. At the end was a huge bier with an image of the dead Christ in it, carried by 16 men. That was followed by an image of Mary also carried by many men. Everything was candle-lit.It was all very impressive. After the local Archbishop/Monseigneur gave a sermon, there was some medieval chanting, then the whole works left the piazza by a different road, and everyone followed. It was very impressive to listen to the band, to the rosary said as the procession paused, and to see the candlelight reflected off the narrow stone streets. Many people were in the windows of their houses, some with candles as well.

We walked down the road and then kept going to our car, down the high road that drops off to nothing on both sides. We passed the villa that is literally built into the ancient Roman acqueduct that also belongs to the Vernaldi sisters. Quite a place. Anna's daughter is using it for her masters thesis at the University of Washington, and Peter Cohan is her supervisor!