June 30, 2009 – Landed in Camp Vielle Fierme - Antibes

Left at 1:00pm Sunshine all day. Visited the beach for a little tanning before leaving.
Into France we go, ciao bella Italia! We’ll miss you!!
We got off the autostrada just after Nice and promptly got lost trying to find the main road that follows the beach which our campsite is listed as being off of. Already the signage is so different I can’t understand it and either can Geoff. This is just a taste of more driving frustration to come. This is our last day of low season camping prices and this campsite turned out to be the cheapest of all at 30euros for the night. We watched French Kiss and a snippet of Ronin to prepare us for the French countryside and our visit to Arles.


July 1.09 – Parc Du Maurette –Antibes
Left the campsite and drove into Antibes looking for some sand and sea. It’s tricky parking with a large rig anywhere around here because there are height restrictions and bars blocking any vehicles that are over 1.9m and we need at least 3 m. There are a few areas where we can go and we ended up getting caught up in a maze of narrow streets going through the old section of Antibes. This was more than a little nerve racking as our worst fear is getting boxed in and having to back out with cars already behind us wanting to go forward. We drove right by the food market and finally out under the opening in the town wall. Phew!! The marina stretches for a long ways as it is full of many very fancy yachts. We were lucky and found a parking spot on the street so we put in a few hours and walked back through the area we had driven. Found some beaches tucked in little bays and decided to spend a couple hours at Gravette du plage. The water here is as lovely as the water up in Levanto. Same warm waters just a little further South. The coastal area is open to the public which is nice. Every beach has lifeguards and outdoor showers. Bought our havianas at a surf shop in the old town for the same price as home. After being baked enough we headed back to the caravan for a snack and then drove up further along the coastal road and stopped at a beach that was made up of flat stones. Had a snack and decided on our next move. Decided to stay in the area and try out the other campsite we had marked which was Parc du Maurette. It is only a couple of kilometers from where we were last night. As it turned out this site is much nicer and has an old charm about it with stone walls, outdoor bbq areas, and washing facilities housed in what looks like an old house.

July 2.09 – Camping Chantelcer – Aix En Provence

Drove up into the mountains and the deep gorge of Verdun. Extremely windy road!!!! Left our campsite at 11am. Where does the time go in the morning? We’re up at 8:00 and the hours just fly by. We drove up through Biot, small windy roads. This is the place where they make glass, but we didn’t stop. Drove a little further up to Grasse which is the perfume capital and lost ourselves on the streets for 45 minutes trying to find the highway through up to Castellane where we will head out on the road towards the gorge du Verdun. As it turned out we had to drive right up through the center of Grasse to get through to the other side. After getting boxed in on skinny roads in Antibes we were hesitant to venture into the centre ville again, but that’s exactly what we needed to do. After a frustrating time in Grasse, we finally headed North again. The road is narrow and continues to wind its’ way up and up into the mountains. The country is completely the opposite of the glamorous coastline; it goes forever with just a few dotted clusters of houses.

We turned off at Castellane and began the trek up into the gorge. We saw a few groups heading down the river in rafts and a few kids jumping into the river and practicing getting out in fast moving water. The water is silty and very grey. You drive up to the 1st viewpoint called Point Sublime that gives you a wide view of the gorge and the mountains. Quite impressive! We drove on from here following the gorge eventually stopping at the village of Moustier. A pleasant stop from hours of winding road. The town is built up on the hill and has a river running through the center of it. The church is up high on the hill with steps leading to it. A star spans the two mountain tops and shines down on the town. This is the first place I saw lavender water and essential oils. I found a favorite store where I could’ve bought one of everything! We are on the edge of lavender fields. Left around 6:30pm and
drove to Aix en Provence in preparation for an early exit to hit Arles sometime mid morning.

July 3.09 – Driving to Arles, Le Beux en Provence, then onto our campground. Arrived at 4:30pm, earliest arrival time yet. Lots of time to enjoy swimming in the Rhone River and hanging out. La Sousta campground near Pont du Gard
http://www.uk.lasousta.com/

Left campsite at 9:30am and drove to Arles. Arrived in Arles around 10:30am. Very quiet everywhere. Wandered the streets heading to the Colloseum then around to the Forum. We settled in the Forum area at Café Van Gogh for cappuccinos. Very nice. Walked back up towards the Colloseum to explore a bit further then made our way back to the caravan for 2:00pm.
Headed out towards Les Beaux en Provence, an old medieval village built into the side of a limestone mountain. Very cool looking place. We walked up and down the narrow laneways for a couple of hours then headed out towards Pont Du Gard. This would be a nice place to stop for lunch as all of the cafes are tucked away into the rocks or built out over the rock so either way you have an amazing space to enjoy.

We arrived at La Sousta Campground just before the Pont Du Gard aquaduct at 4:30pm. This is a very large campground with over 500sites on 30 treed acres. We camped near the Rhone River which was perfect for cooling off in. Today was a hot one, around 33C. There was a bit of a breeze at our site and it was a few meters from the river. Many people were floating down the river from the Pont du Gard to the site. Meg and I went for an evening run and then met mom and Geoff up at the Pont du Gard just in time for the evening light. It's a gorgeous area with the places to swim and lots of trails for walking and exploring. Just an amazing feat of workmanship to build that aquaduct-it's massive!!

CHARMING CINQUE TERRA

June 28.09 – Camping Aqua Dolce -2nd night
http://www.camping.it/english/liguria/laspezia/scheda-496.aspx
This is the only link I can find in English. If you go to www.campingacquadolce.com you will find it in about 5 other languages.
The day is blue and gorgeous! A perfect day to explore the 5 tiny seaside towns of Cinque Terra that I have waited so long to get too. We walked through town to the train station, bought our tickets for 8.50 euros each (good till midnight) and hopped on a train heading to Montesrossa. Once off the train you are immediately on a beachside walkway lined with palm trees, small shops and cafes. This was our breakfast/café stop and we found a table overlooking all the umbrellas on the beach. The water is turquoise, clear, and warm. A temperature in between swimming in Thailand and the West Coast. Really nice and refreshing. I see why everyone raves about this coastline. I could’ve stayed here all day, but we did want to see the whole area today so we got back on the train and took it to the Rio Maggiore which coming from our way would be the last town and we’ll work our way back.
It is an easy half hour walk to the next town, Manarola the Via dell Amorre (the road of love) as they famously name it. There are lots of locks on chains and on the 2 hearts that signal the start of this walk. As the path hugs its way around the mountainside there are spots where you can go right down to the water. The Italians have no problem swimming off the rocks and lounging on them like seals. It was so hot out and at one point there was a perfect area down to the ocean so the kids and I took advantage of the moment and jumped in with everyone else. The water was so clear and refreshing. Just writing about this again makes me want to go back. Levanto has been a holiday spot for Italians for a very long time and I can understand why they keep coming back. It’s so laid back and easy to hang out here. Back to our walk. We cruised through Manarola and onto Cornigula which takes about an hour to reach. This little town is perched up on top of the mountain so you are blessed with having to walk up 382 steps (see picture in the CT album on facebook) in the heat then back down again to take the train to Vernazza. This walk is about double the distance and the train takes 5 minutes. Vernazza is bustling with people and the busiest of all the towns. It’s hard to find a spot of sand at the tiny beach in the harbour here so we walked around and looked at all the laundry hanging out to dry, had some pizza and beer in the square, missed a train so people watched for an extra hour and then caught a train back to Levanto around 6pm. There are sweet looking B&B type places or small hotels in each town so you can stay right there hike during the day, hang out on the rocks, shop, eat great food and relax, as I know my friend Sherry likes to do.

Back at camp we made pasta, of course, and took it upon myself to deal with all the dirty clothes that have been piling up. This site has a good set of washer and dryers and they were empty so did the washing 10pm till 12:30am!

We all sensed that we had found a goldmine of a spot so we decided to stay put for another day and just take it easy, also not in a hurry to leave Italy.

June 29.09 – Camping Aqua Dolce – hang out day in camp

The employees at the campground this morning were all anxiously watching the TV and talking wildly back and forth with each other. Mom managed to get out of one lady who spoke a little English that a train carrying gas had derailed and exploded just South of where we were. After looking it up in the news, we found out it was a pretty bad train accident killing people sleeping in their homes and others who were just blown by the shock of the blast and covered in flames. Horrible tragedy and so close to us. We had just driven by this area a couple days before on our way from Florence to Cinque Terra.

We noticed that we also dodged some extremely heavy flood rains up in the Ceczh Republic as well. They are having some serious rain up there now. Luckily, we had beautiful weather and saw Prague in all it’s glory.

Today we’ve decided to just stay put and hang out in this sweet water town and soak up one more day of the Italian life. The sky is overcast, but still a nice temperature. Meg and I went for a run after uploading pictures and taking advantage of the free internet (which is hard to find around here). There are great roads for running on, either along the ocean or up in the olive groves on small roads. Levanto has an old church and remains of a castello that once protected the town so every hour and on the quarter hour the church bells ring. It’s one of these places where you hate to leave because you’re not sure if you’ll find anything else as enchanting and relaxing as this again. Mom and I went into town to have a look around at 2:00pm, but quickly realized the place was empty. The main square had no one in it whereas the morning was busy with all kinds of folks. They mean it when they take their siesta time from 1:00 until 4:30ish…some later. This is your time to sleep, rest, do whatever at home that doesn’t require a store to be open.
Levanto is not officially part of the Cinque Terra park, but is the next town after Monterossa and has a rough trail connecting to it. The book says the trail is not well marked and takes 2 hours.
Dada and I decided to try out the trail and started up towards Monterossa. We were gone 1.5hours with a lot of going up the hillside and getting lost in small olive grove trails through people’s private property. The trail is not well marked and it is a rough trail but not without stunning views overlooking the ocean. Absolutely gorgeous!! Houses are built into the steep mountainsides with 180degree views of pure blue water. LIgura as this area is called, is quickly becoming a favorite Italian spot of mine.
Went down for Gelato after dinner and walked back through town. Tired after a lot of hiking, running, and general lounging about.

Firenze in the a.m. - drive to Cinque Terra in the p.m.

June 27.09 – Morning trip into Firenze - drive to Cinque Terra

This would be the only day of our trip where we are all out the door before 7:30am!! Mom had us all prepped to wake early and get down to the Accademia Gallery by 8:00am to make sure we would see the original David. Although, the town was only busy with streetcleaners washing down the cobblestones and brushing away last nights party remains, there was a small line up of people exactly where we were going. Luckily we were about 20th in the line with no reservations and found ourselves inside by 8:20am. This turned out to be great timing because by 9am all of the tours arrived and the gallery was quickly filling up. We were able to lay eyes on the David with only a few others around. The David lives up to everyone’s praise of him and more. I can only imagine when he was living in the square for everyone to see everyday at their leisure.

Mom took Brendan to see more beautiful statues while Geoff climbed up the Duomo tower for 8euros and Meg and I people watched out in the Duomo square until we all reconvened. Next stop was the market. Geoff and Bren went back to the campsite to prepare for take off and the girls descended on the local market. Every ‘souk’ has their specialities and this one’s was leather! There were also the familiar pashmina scarves that I’ve seen all over the Middle East and China and of course t-shirts. We bought some belts and bags while mom cleaned up with a leather jacket in the last 15minutes.

We walked back in sunshine, but thunder clouds were forming overhead as they’ve started to do everyday now. We drove on the autostrada East to Pisa and then North along the coast to La Spezia where we turned off to seek out a campsite in Portovenere on the coast.
We didn’t find a campground here but instead a very cute seaside town. We turned around and headed for Cinque Terra on the small high road looking out over the ocean. Beautiful highway drive in the early evening. We pulled off and found an odd looking tram car with one seat on it and 3 metal compartments for putting something in. It was sitting on a track that we could see went all the way down the steep hillside. We concluded that it must be for collecting grapes and bringing them up to flat ground. One person would have to be on this ‘car’ driving it up and down the mountain. Later on we saw a picture of exactly this in a magazine.

We had a great birds-eye view of all the 5 towns we were going to visit the next day. Eventually got to Levanto where we knew there was a campground. By luck, we drove straight to it following signs along the beach. Checked in on Saturday night at 7pm with one spot left!! So lucky, this place is packed with families, some really set up for the season with drying racks out, satellites set up and even a TV. We took a walk down to the water and the boardwalk was packed with people, kids, and dogs. Even a vendor selling some jewelry. Bracelets with freshwater pearls and shells for 20euros! I am so spoiled living in Shanghai that I don’t think I can ever buy pearls or most jewelry again anywhere else.

SIENA TO FIRENZE

June 24.09 – Roma day 2 – Musee Vaticani, Castel Sant’ Angela, Campo di Fiori, Circo Massimo, and ended at Collosseo.

I will have to update this day menana as I’m getting behind and we are in Pont Du Gard with free internet so I’m taking advantage of posting a few more days:

Crossed over onto Isola Tiberina via Ponte Fabricio and then off by Ponte Cestio. Back onto the other side of the river via Ponte Palatino to the Circo Massimo and up the main cobbled street, Via di S. Gregorio.

Headed back home at 6:30pm with just enough energy for a pickmeup summer drink, some yoga stretching, scenes from Gladiator. Believe it or not, this campground supplies live music and their restaurant. From our campsite we can hear tunes from Dylan, the Stones, Beatles…I take a walk up and while the place is mainly filled with 20somethings in major party mode, the band itself is made up of players from the 60’s. Mom, Geoff, and I take over the dance floor and stretch out the other muscles that didn’t get a work out today. Dancing and singing away till 11pm we finish our day in Roma. The party doesn’t stop here though, the music still plays well into the night. While this campsite is perfectly suited to traveling twenties, it is also great for families as there’s so much room you can easily camp far enough away from the action to still enjoy peace and quiet.

June 25.09 – pulled out of Tiber at 11:30am enroute for Siena

THE CAMPSITE IN SIENA
http://www.campingcolleverde.com/english/default.aspx

Took the bus into town and walked around making our focus the il campo, the main center of the town where the famous il Palio – horse races take place twice a year. What a beautiful medieval city this place is. Cobbled narrow streets with very few cars once inside the city walls. The town is preparing for the il Palio that is going to begin in just a few days. Unfortunately, we are going to miss this huge event. I did happen to see some boys practicing their flag throwing routine in a small square.

We get sucked into the food stores more than any other store it seems. So many incredible choices of olive oils, balsamics, pastas, breads, cheeses, pestos, and for mom, salamis. It’s great to buy bread by weight so you can choose as small or large as you want.

June 26.09 – Siena morning till noon, enroute Firenze. Heavy rains began on the autostrada.

Mom and I took the bus into Siena for a couple of hours in the morning. We walked to the main square where we found the locals busy preparing the horse track for the big il Palio coming up. They already had fine dirt down and had rolled it so it was hard like pavement. We enjoyed a delicious cappuccino at one of the many cafes along the track and then made our way back to a wonderful food store we had spotted on our way in and then the bus home. The drive to Firenze is only about an hour tops.
Camping Michelangelo turns out to be the most expensive site with the least amount of facilities. My favorite part of this site is the location and the wonderful patio that overlooks the Duomo and Arno river. We arrived around 1:30pm and by time we got ourselves ready to go to town it was around 3pm. We were going to walk in but the clouds were already well formed and rain was upon us. Mom, Geoff and I stood at the busstop for 20 minutes waiting for the bus to town. The rain turned to a downpour with thunder, that’s when we decided to wait it out in the caravan. After a couple of hours the clouds passed and the evening sun started to emerge so we walked into town. Someone overheard us talking about the bus and told us that the buses were on strike. Nice to know. Wondering why the girl at the shop counter sold us bus tickets. It was obvious that this campsite’s facilities were not up to par with the other sites we’ve been at, but it does offer an easy 25minute walk into town along the Arno River. Geoff, mom, and I walked along the streets drinking in the beauty of Florence. The statues in the squares always amaze me with their beauty and grandness. We went by the Duomo and visited the same store we did 2 years ago where we bought some panaforte. The shop is filled with Chiantis, aged balasamic vinegars, pastas, panaforte, all beautifully wrapped. Mom bought another bottle of chianti and Geoff found himself a 10 year balsamic vinegar that is destined for his birthday present. The owner was so nice and because he could see how excited we were about balsamic vinegar, he gave us a taste sample of a 15 year balsamic. Wow! I never knew vinegar could be so sweet and rich. This vinegar almost has the consistency of molasses and is so sweet I wouldn’t even know it was vinegar.

Since Siena we have been onto fresh bread dipped in olive oil and vinegar. This is always a staple part of dinner these nights. By time we finished walking around it was almost 9:00pm and we wanted to see the lights come on so we rested in piazza del signoria – the main square where the original of the David was replaced with a copy next to the Uffizi Gallery. There were musicians playing next to the Uffizi and we sat enjoying a flutist. What a moment of peace and beauty.

The Flo Lounge lies just above the campsite and pumps out the music until the wee hours of the morning. I didn’t recall hearing this last time, but I sure heard it this time until 2am in the morning! We had all agreed we would get up early to be at the Accademia Gallery to view the David.