Vehicular Hiking

The primary reason for our recent weekend up higher into the Alps was to just get away for a few days.  We wanted to go in a direction we don't typically spend any time in so might be fun to explore.   We didn't want to get too far away, yet we wanted to go far enough away we weren't still in our own backyard.

I left it up to Doc Leo to pick a spot perhaps two to three hours away.  He thought he had an area all picked out, so we headed in that direction.  But we'd gotten a later start than expected (I wanted to finish up a particular yard project!), and that ended up changing most of the itinerary.

However, what we ended up doing was mostly exploring the awesome mountains around us and a few little gems hidden within.  I realized it was almost like hiking by car, so I'd like to take you along on our drive.  Roll down your window and enjoy the fresh air!

Une Fête Médiévale

As I mentioned previously, on our recent camping trip we came across a medieval fair taking place in a medieval town.  We've been to two different ones over the years, in much larger settings, so it was kind of fun to check out this much smaller venue.

The first one we ever went to was probably in the first medieval town I ever visited, and it was fascinating, especially coming from the New World that didn't have such old history in the first place.  I think that one is now considered the granddaddy of them all in France, will celebrate 35 years next year, and we went the first time when it was less than ten years old!

The second one was in one of the Loire Valley castles we stumbled upon while on vacation with the family many years ago.  Somehow, we've never taken advantage of checking out others when we've seen them advertised. 

But come along with me now and see how an old Alpine town brings back its history.

Little surprises

Sometimes, life takes a few unexpected twists; and sometimes, those twists lead us down paths to adventures we really hadn't planned on or expected to have.  Our walking into a sports store in search of some new sandals for Doc Leo provided one of those twists.

Instead of finding him some new footwear, we ended up walking out with a new tent we'd been searching for during a number of years.  Our old faithful started rotting in storage, but newer versions 25 years later were far from an equal replacement. Every year we've been so disappointed we couldn't find anything we liked.

While it was frustrating that we had no time to try it out, at least we'd have something for the future.  Then another twist allowed us to actually go away for a weekend.  Here's how it all turned out!

Over the Col de la Lombarde

I recently had an opportunity to meet an internet acquaintance in person in Milano, Italy, allowing us to get away for a few days.

Rather than take the open toll road with its 200 tunnels (my grandson and I counted them one trip) through the mountains, Doc Leo decided to take a lesser used scenic route over them.

As we didn't have time to dawdle on the way over, we came back the same way so we could enjoy it more.  I thought you might like sharing some of it with us.

PR Meet-up Milano

Last spring, I had the privilege for the first time of meeting in person a new friend I'd made on my favorite sewing website.  That pleasure was extended recently by getting to meet two more users of the site.

One visit was fairly local, like the first one, but the second one involved a day's trip into Italy, which we turned into a mini-vacation get-away.

I thought I'd show you some of what we did.

Bologna: Architecture & History

In my last post, I introduced you to Bologna, Italy, viewed from a tourist's standpoint.  This time, I'm going to take you on a little guided visit of the city itself, as I saw it in a single day.  I love visiting these old European cities, many having had their heyday before my own country even existed.  Not only do I come from a newly developed country in the scheme of world history, but I spent most of my non-expat life in the newer parts of it.

I hope you will enjoy a bit of this part of the Old World from my perspective, especially if you've never had the opportunity to see it yourselves.

Bologna: Travel & Culture

We just had an opportunity to take a little trip to Bologna, Italy.  It's been about seven years since we were there last, so it was really exciting when an old customer needed Doc Leo's expertise one more time.  We were only there for one day, but half the fun is driving the countryside the days before and after, which doubled the pleasure.

As this is my first major trip outside France since I started this blog, I thought I would share some of the sights and experiences of visiting a very old Italian city.  This post will cover the aspect from a tourist's viewpoint.

A Weekend in Provence VII

Scenic Summer Solstice

The whole region making up Provence is quite picturesque, which is perhaps why there is such sentiment for it, both within France and internationally. 

We have the pleasure of driving back and forth through a particular section at least once a year, so we are getting a bit familiar with a few areas.  I don't take the same pictures every time, but I get a chance to perfect some I didn't like previously.  Sometimes I just don't catch them nicely, sometimes it's the wrong time of day.

Here's some of what we came across on our way home on the first day of summer.

A Weekend in Provence VI

A taste of Provence

Before we headed home from our weekend adventure, there was one more activity we were involved with.  While the town had its weekly market on Saturday, it had its annual book fair on Sunday.  That provided another opportunity to take Mamie for a stroll; otherwise the fair was rather boring.  If I had been interested in books in French, it might have been more entertaining, but even my French companions weren't overly excited.

However, this being a major wine producing town, the local vintners were also present for a wine tasting.  As the book fair info states, they were there to blend culture with wine culture!

A Weekend in Provence V

Hanging out at home

When we visit our wine chateau friends, it's either as a drop-by overnight in passing on our way to somewhere else or for the whole weekend for their annual wine fete.  They have a big country cold luncheon for a ton of people; but the whole town is also doing wine tastings all over, and we've been taken to participate here and there.  So it's a very busy and involved weekend, with no time to be bored. 

This time, there were no big activities going on, and I was afraid a whole weekend might turn out to be a bit awkward.  Was I ever wrong!

A Weekend in Provence IV

A Mother's Grief

Tragedy is never easy to confront, but usually we don't have a choice.  The reason for our weekend trip was to visit with and comfort this family who just suffered the loss of their adult son last month.

I thought I would show you a personal experience of visiting a French cemetery, as I followed the grieving mother around while she watered the remaining funeral plants.

A Weekend in Provence III

Madame goes shopping

As part of our weekend get-away, I followed our hostess around as she carried on with her normal life.  Our hosts live just a few minutes away by foot from the center of town, so it's very easy to pop over for whatever needs may arise.

Saturdays are the big local street marché, and Madame consecrates her whole morning to shopping.  She goes back and forth multiple times, sometimes as often as four different visits.  As I tagged along, she went at least three times this particular morning, which didn't count the run to the bakery for our breakfast fresh bread.

A Weekend in Provence II

Au marché

I grew up grocery shopping in typical supermarkets.  As an adult, I sometimes had access to a farmers market or two, but those were the exception.  My shopping experiences were just pretty average and standard.

When I moved to France, I discovered the typical street marché.  They could be once a week or up to three times a week.  Unfortunately, where I lived didn't have good access to one, so I still never learned how to deal with them, especially as I couldn't speak the language everybody was shouting at me.  However, our little weekend visit included their weekly market day, so I thought I'd take you on a little tour.

A Weekend in Provence I

Village Walkabout

We just celebrated both Father's Day/First Day of Summer by taking a weekend trip a bit west of us to visit our friends with the wine chateau.  We normally go for their annual fête during May, but it was canceled this year due to family tragedy.  However, since our yearly trek is often the only time we see them, we were invited to come over now.  It's nice to know that they didn't want to miss our visit and were willing to share their time of grief with us.

Because Provence is fairly different from the Riviera, I took a lot of pictures to show you another aspect of France.  This post visits, on foot, different parts of their village, in existence since at least the 12th century.

The sweetwater town

As I proposed in my last Rock Village post where we passed through Dolceacqua but didn't stop in, I've compiled a few old pictures of past visits.  While the quality of photos isn't terrific (my old camera wasn't as capable as I could have wished for in the harsh conditions all the shadows provided), putting these together brought back so many memories of the visits we've had.  And taking everybody to this town was a top priority!

A Seborgan musical adventure

As we were wandering around the fun little Principality of Seborga, part of the Italian Rock Villages behind the Riviera dei Fiori, enjoying their Medieval Knights Templar theme everywhere, we came across this amazing little antique musical instruments museum. 

The door was open (most everything else didn't seem particularly animated the day we were there), the entry was free, so we checked it out.

What an amazing treasure trove we discovered!  Perhaps you'll also enjoy some of the highlights I captured.

A wannabee Principality

Before its unification in 1861, Italy was divided into a number of city-states, such as Venice and Florence.  A micro-nation just across the Italian border from France, Seborga had a medieval historic importance during the 10-18th centuries, being possibly the first principality in the Holy Roman Empire.  Doc Leo thought this would be a great destination on our recent little Italian vacation, and I thought you might like to visit it with us.

Rock Villages of the Riviera dei Fiori III

As we continued our Italian tour, making our way back from the hills to the coast, we encountered another of the medieval villages dotting the landscape.  This view was taken long distance as seen from Apricale. 

Its name, Isolabona, means it sits at the confluence of several rivers.  We could tell we were getting back down to sea level, as it was much flatter than all the previous towns had been.

Rock Villages of the Riviera dei Fiori II

We started out the second day of our little Italian tour on this little sliver of road out in the middle of nowhere, with a number of olive groves all around. 

While the site itself wasn't very exciting, our views were really nice, the weather was great, and nothing was pushing us to be doing something else, whatever that might be, rather than just relax and enjoy life.

What more could one want?

Rock Villages of the Riviera dei Fiori I

During Doc Leo's last years of employment, he often worked in Italy.  As it was more practical to drive than fly, he usually whizzed by the countryside on the coastal autostrada (turnpike), often wondering what the villages up in the hills were like.  We decided to take an end-of-summer last camping fling exploring a few of them, so you don't have to!  I tried to capture some of the sights for you, but you're on your own for the sounds and smells.