Switzerland

Towering Mountains, Beautiful Lakes

A Valley of Clouds

Waterfalls from on High

Some of the Best Scenery on Earth

Lest you think I am channeling Ansel Adams - no - I did not take those pix.  I was too busy navigating the hairpin bends on the Swiss roads through the Alps!

Leaving 5Terre, we headed to Germany, spending one night in Lugano, Switzerland. 

We thought it was going to be a quaint Swiss village on the lake (think Swiss Chalet!) but it was an ultra modern city with very expensive stores of interest to those very much more chic than us. Watches, jewelry, designer clothes, chocolates – everything Swiss. It was still beautiful though, wrapped around Lake Lugano with the mountains as a backdrop.

After the very reasonable prices in Italy, we were a bit taken aback by the menu at the restaurant that was recommended to us. About $7.50 for a coke, and the cheapest bottle of wine was about $80.00. Nevertheless, we had one of the best meals we have had on the trip, with Lorraine sticking to the mixed seafood risotto, but mine was most incredible lamb dish I have ever tasted. Chops cut from a rack of lamb, coated in a crushed pistachio and pepper crust, then seared on the outside but left perfectly pink and warm on the inside. Served with green peppercorns in a hunter sauce on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes with asparagus on the side. It was very expensive, but this restaurant (Tango – Lugano) was worth it.

Switzerland as a vista had disappointed up till then, but the next morning, after we both agreed that the scenery was less than spectacular, the countryside responded with a vengeance to put us right, and erupted into some of the most magnificent sights we have seen yet.

The Swiss Alps were stunning, high mountains, waterfalls cascading down the steep hillside, carving their way to teal blue streams and lakes. Mountains reached down and wreathed their shoulders with chains of cotton candy clouds. Dotting the slopes, some perched impossibly on the heights were little villages full of – well – Swiss chalets! All wooden beams, slate roofs, whitewashed walls with dark wood trim around the windows, window boxes overflowing with pink and red geraniums – they were postcard pictures.

Then we arrived in Augsburg, Germany, to take the train to Munich and OKTOBERFEST!

Cinque Terre

We arrived after a four hour drive from Santa Fiora in Cinqueterre (Five Lands – or Five Villages) .

Cinque Terre has to be one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen. Our room had a view of the Ligurian Sea. Our hostess, Lorenza (Casalorenza) met us at the point of no return for cars in Riomaggiore, the southernmost 5T village – where no cars are allowed unless on official business and helped us with our luggage to Casalorenza.

I had, by that time, developed what has turned out to be walking pneumonia, a deep, deep cough and very congested lungs. When I began to cough, Lorenza said she would go to the pharmacia and get me some medicine. I joked that all I needed was a Moretti (Italian Birra) and a good Italian wine. Lorenza shows up at our door five minutes later with two bottles of beer and a bottle of wine!

We went to our balcony and drank in the spectacular view (Not the beer and wine). Last year we visited Cinque Terre after leaving Corsica. Unfortunately, Lorraine fell coming down a mountain there , so she was not able to do a lot of hiking with her badly sprained ankle. This year, we were determined to do all the trails – all five of them. We soon learned that two of them were closed. Mudslides come down the mountains and tragically, they smother the cities. One such in 2009 killed eleven people. The latest closed two of the trails we wanted to hike.

Cinque Terre is a National Park and World Heritage site. The five cities are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso, and, at one time, you could walk the connecting paths between them all, from Monterosso to Riomaggiore. We resolved to do as much as we could, so Day One we took a bus to a hillside village of Volastra, then walked for 60 minutes straight down through olive groves and vineyards.

The next day we took a boat ride to Vernazza, and hiked from there to Corniglia, almost 2 hours in total, the first half a steep climb, and the second a scrambling descent. The path was broken by lookouts that offered stunning views of the mountains and sea. Strangely enough, my lungs did not bother me, and I found it easier to hike up than down. Lorraine found the climb difficult, but trooper that she is we finished the hike and treated ourselves to an authentic Italian Pizza in Corniglia.

The next day the paths were to be closed because of a big storm was coming in. My shining moment came when the park official was trying to explain this in Italian to a Frenchwoman who did not understand, and I translated from Italian to French for her!

The storm, when it did come, was more of a hurricane: Pounding rains and shrieking winds. We couldn't leave the room for hours, but when the storm subsided, Lorraine was able to take some spectacular pictures of the sunset.

After four beautiful days in 5T, we left for Switzerland, en route to Germany and Austria.

SL on the Path Down from Volastra

JL on Path Down to Manarola

Riomaggiore in the Background

Riomaggiore from the Boat

Vernazzo from the Path

A Pause on the Heights

The Happy Couple Nearing Corniglia

Sunset from Our Balcony

After the Storm

Riomaggiore from Our Balcony

Daniel Spoerri - More Pics

I know it is hard to believe, but we just don't seem to be able to find the time to write!
I promised more pix of DS Garden, so here they are.  I will find the artist's names and descriptions and add them later.

Il Giardino di Daniel Spoerri

Yesterday we went to visit “Il Giardino di Daniel Spoerri” about 80 km south of Sienna in Tuscany.

At the beginning of the Nineties the Swiss Artist Daniel Spoerri started to establish a sculpture garden, which has now been open to the public since 1997 and can be visited from Easter until October. At present, there are 103 installations by 50 artists in an area of about 16 hectares

“Il Giardino di Daniel Spoerri” is an officially accepted foundation.

The name, “Il Giardino”, comes from its geographical position. On old maps the place is called “Il Paradiso” -  a “Garden of Eden”, and from the moment we parked the car, it was a tossup as to whether the scenery or the artistic endeavour was the more spectacular.

We had a quick lunch and were informed that it takes about four hours to properly walk through all of the gardens. So we planned a two hour approach as we promised to go see Emilio – Sandro's son, play soccer (il calcio) in Archidosso later that afternoon.

The first thing that struck us was that all of the fenceposts had large green glass flagons – demijohns- overturned on them, giving them the appearance of alien heads. This impression deepened as we approached one of the most well-known sculpture installations, a hundred stone geese being herded by three huge herders playing snare drums. The drovers had the look of Orcs or rather the haunted, hollow look of giant Ringwraiths.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

View from the Garden of Eden

Elephant Graveyard

Stone Geese

Driving the Geese Home

The Drovers (Ringwraiths??)

Sovana

The Travelcaster at Work with Lorenza

The Pianoman!

Tomb at the Necropolis

Castle at Sovana

Yesterday we went to the village of Sovana, an ancient village we visited last time we came. When we first went to Sovana, we went to “Osteria del Piano” for lunch and while we were eating the proprietor came over to our table, excused himself for interrupting, and asked if I were a musician. It seems I had a shirt with guitars on it.

We invited him to sit with us. He was fascinating.

He had been a professional musician and toured the world with his band, enjoying radio play in Europe, and even doing a tour of North America. His daughter, Lorenza, went to study voice in Las Angeles and ended up recording and touring as a backup singer for Kelly Clarkson. Unfortunately, he had been struck with Parkinson's Disease and gave up his career to open “Osteria del Piano”.

He invited us to return next time we were in Italy for a music night.

So we did. We booked a room at a small B and B so we wouldn't have to worry about navigating the small, winding Italian roads in the dark. We wandered the own until dinner time, then sat at a small bar and had a glass of wine with the locals.

We returned to Osteria Del Piano for dinner and were served by a very friendly young man who spoke English very well, but allowed us to practise our Italian. We started with antipasti, salami, mortadella, olives, cheese, honey and bruschetta, followed by (of course) cingialle. I had a bottle of local beer, which was made by a small boutique winery, while Lorraine had the vino del casa.

I had brought my guitar (the Travelcaster) and the rest of the night was musical, with keyboards, guitar and lots of vocals singing old Beatle tunes.

The next day we explored the town some more then had a long walk through the Etruscan necropolis, dating back to 3^rd century.

Santa Fiora

Beautiful Radicofani

Montenero Restaurant

View from Montenero Restaurant

Guests in our Backyard

Colours! Colours!

 This is Santa Fiora. Sounds, smells, sights, tastes..

Sounds:

You will remember that our neighbour, Marcello, runs a kennel about 100 m from our house. His dogs bark. And bark. And bark. They do not change their tune, nor moderate their volume. They have one song and it is Heavy Metal Dog. They will bark at 3 in the morning, at 4 in the morning, or at dinner time. You would think that this might drive us mad, but it does not. There are many foxes and wolves in the area, not to mention cinghiale (wild boars – a staple of most restaurants, and absolutely delicious!), and it is these that set them off barking. We have begun to respect that they believe they have a job to do and they do it with a passion that one has to admire.

Yesterday we were enjoying a snack of prosciutto and melon on our back patio when we heard the faint clanging of a small bell, and looked up to see a herd of sheep grazing contentedly in our back yard.

This morning we awoke to the strangest sound, and, giving each other the benefit of the doubt after 40 years of mornings together, we agreed that it was not emitting from either of us. Rising to the window, I looked down to see a gorgeous, rainbow coloured peacock strutting around on our patio.

Smells:

We have figs on our tree. Last night we picked two, and ate them wrapped in prosciutto with Gorgonzola. We smell them every morning. We have blackberries, pears, plums, cherries. We smell the rosemary, basil, chives, oregano, mint... Every breath is a bouquet.

Sights:

Our back patio looks out over the mountains, valleys, hills and streams of Tuscany. We try to eat on our patio every time we are not sampling a local restaurant, or exploring a nearby medieval village. There are times when we just sit quietly and stare at the scenery, not saying a word. Other times we will be walking silently through a passage in a small town, appreciating the window boxes overflowing with pink and red ivy geraniums, pink petunias, blazing orange trumpet vines, and honeysuckle vines, when we stop to enter an ancient church and realize the congregation has been called to prayer here for hundreds, even thousands of years.

We visited an Etruscan necropolis with tombs dating from the 3^rd century.

Tastes:

We have already had cinghiale twice - once in a pasta sauce and once as a cutlet. We have just returned from the alimentare with salsiccia cinghiale, which we will serve as one of the antipasti tomorrow when our Italian friends come over for a Canadian BBQ. We regularly go to the Tavola Calda where we can take home freshly cooked Italian food for dinner. Two nights ago we had ravioli, gnocchi, pici with salsa bolognese, and paid a total of E6 (about $10.00) for two and we continue to eat the leftovers.

We take our refillable bottles to the alimentare and have them filled with Montecucco vino for about $3.00 a litre. Tonight, for dessert we will have blackberries that we picked this afternoon.

Tomorrow we have made a prenotazione for 8 o'clock at Il Barilotto, where the young waiter has become something of a friend.

Italy!

Villa Gnocchi - Our B and B in Santa Margarita

View from Our B and B

We love the Greek islands, but it is Italy that beckons to us with the sweetest voice. We love the people, the rolling, swelling hills, the food, the wine, the language...

We are now in Santa Fiora, having spent a night at Villa Gnocchi in Santa Margarita and a memorable dinner at Sigae, where the proprietor took us under his wing. After I said, “Che cosa mi consiglia?” he began to speak in perfect English with a London accent. Born in Santa Margarita, but educated in England, he brought plate after plate of delicious food. The Italians are more than happy to have you share each plate, affording you the opportunity to try many different dishes:spaghetti with shrimp, gnochhi with squid, veal with porcini mushrooms and (wait for it!) truffles in wine sauce.

Driving to Santa Fiora is like coming home to us. This is our third year at the Stone Cottage, and I think we know our way by heart now. It is something to leave the “autoroute”, with its countless tolls “gare de peage”, and turn on to the smaller roads wending their way through the countryside. Your mind slows down as you pass wineries, chateaus with driveways lined with Cyprus trees, small towns carved out of rocky hilltops, and fields filled with olive trees hundreds of years old.

We have learned to schedule our days around the openings and closings of the little shops in the village, so we stop at the Coop to get the basics for the Stone Cottage: wine, beer, coffee, milk, croissants for the morning, pasta, tomato sauce, bread, cheese and ham.

You put your mirrors in to get down the tiny path to the Stone Cottage. We know the way by heart now, but the first time we came, a helpful young man drove us down, past the peschera, past the narrow streets lined with houses leaning over the road, through impossible turns where one must back up if two cars meet, ever down, trusting that your brakes won't fail until we arrive outside our home for the next few weeks.

Lourmarin France

We headed out with our trusty GPS telling us to turn left when there was no left to turn to, to turn around and go back the way we came, but to be fair, we eventually ended up heading the right way to Lourmarin France.
The drive to Lourmarin is absolutely beautiful, winding through vineyards and mountains. Lourmarin (the birthplace of Albert Camus, the Nobel prize-winning author) is in the cleft that runs right through the Luberon mountain range, separating the Grand Luberon from the Petit Luberon, Lourmarin itself is on a plain, with two slight hills (more like rises) - one houses the village of Lourmarin, on the other is the (mainly) Renaissance chateau. The chateau is known as the Villa Medicis de Provence, and is used for concerts and exhibitions.
Lourmarin has been described as one of the most beautiful villages in France, in fact, it has the honour of having been officially designated as such by the independent and respected “Plus Beaux Villages de France” Association. The village deserves its reputation. It is like stepping into ancient history.
We wandered the town and sat down to drink in the views, and to drink up the wine. We ended up having a dinner in a small restaurant by a river, starting with foie gras, then what was described as a fondue but was really Camembert melted on fresh bread, followed by a mixed salad and beef carpaccio.
We were forewarned not to park near our hotel because the “grande marche” the next day would completely take over the town, making it impossible to get your car out until they felt like ending the market.
Wandering the stalls the next day was a bit like swimming in the ocean – where you dive through layers of temperatures, suddenly hitting a cold swath, then rising to a warmer, sunlit one. Only these strata were the smells: of spices, followed by flowers chasing the aroma of freshly cooked chickens, morphing into the incredible scents of dozens of cheeses. We disciplined ourselves not to buy anything that we couldn't pack home, but were sorely tempted by so many offerings.
We felt relaxed and refreshed in Lourmarin – definitely a place we could have spent more time in, but headed out to Italy the next day.

The Drive into Lourmarin

The Chateau

The Lobby of our Hotel in Lourmarin

Spices in the Market

Europe 2013

What moves slowly but travels thousands of miles? The Luberts in retirement!

We are off again on another Lubert Adventure to Europe. This time, we are forgoing Greece for the first time in 4 years, and, another first – visiting Germany and Austria. In fact, our journey this time takes us from Spain, through France to Italy, then Switzerland, Austria, Germany and back to Spain where we get on a boat for a 15 day sail back to Miami, US of A.

An uneventful flight, a very pleasant arrival in Barcelona, Spain, where there was actually an immigration officer waiting for us. I mean, an open line with no one in it, and a immigration officer waiting for us to approach. Our bags came off the carousel within minutes. We walked straight through customs without speaking to anyone, not slowing down a bit.

Then we got to AVIS car rental. Lorraine does all the trip planning, and one thing we have learned (travellers - pay attention here – you will thank us later), is to ALWAYS reserve the cheapest car in the fleet. The fact is that the agencies only have one or two of those so they can advertise rates “starting from $X.xx”. We have yet to actually be given one. The dialogue goes something like this:

“Ah sir, I see you have reserved el cheapo, surely a man of your exquisite taste requires a more esteemed conveyance?”

“No”

“Surely your luggage will not fit and you will be cramped?”

“We'll be fine”

“and you require insurance?”

“No”

“GPS?”

“No”

“Perhaps windshield protection?”

and so it goes. We always get upgraded because they can't give us the car we ordered. So for $11.00 (not Euros – dollars) a day we got a diesel Peugeot with air, automatic windows, cruise, satellite radio – etc. BTW they charge $12.00/day to rent a GPS – bring your own.

Off to our hotel in Barcelona where we had a swim, a nap and a terrific dinner. Dinner was a set menu of fish, pork cheeks (sounds gross but was delicious), a fruit/vegetable salad, dessert and a bottle of wine (each! - I know, I know) for under E30. That's about $42.00.

A good night's sleep, then off to Lourmarin, France.

Barcelona at Night

 

Goodbye PM!

Seventy Four Year Old JJ Singing Pavarotti

My Life Mate and Travelling Partner - Sweet Lorraine

Watching the Pelicans Fish!!

Receiving my "Honourary Rapper" Award

Our Beautiful Beach - the Surf Breaking on the Reef in the Distance

I beg forgiveness from the people of Puerto Morales for bring the wrath of Zeus, Lord of the sky, Rain-God, Cloud Gatherer, and Zeus of the Thunderbolt by joking about how it never rains in Mexico.  Ever since that post, it has rained every day.
One of the biggest musical events in the area is the annual Festiva Musica, where I was honoured to be asked to play not once, but twice.  Guitar with David Rodriguez on Thursday night, and bass with a local blues band fronted by John Cooker, who were headlining Friday night.  It absolutely poured rain all day Thursday, and the organizers cancelled the whole thing, after setting up all the tents and sound stages.
Nonetheless, we still love PM.  We take long walks on the beach during sunny breaks, or we ignore the rain and go anyway.  Tonight I will play at a restaurant with David.
As we get ready to leave PM, I reflect back on the things that made this such a memorable stay.
The beach – protected by the beautiful reef that creates a shining crystal-white surf a hundred metres off shore. We walked for hours every day.
The weather – warm and breezy, with lots of sun – even on the rainy days there were sunny periods.(Shhh Zeus will hear!)
The people - equally warm and welcoming.
The pelicans - watching them swoop and glide on the wind, suddenly tucking their wings and diving into the water like a dart, coming up with a fish lunch.
Our Villas Clarita - clean, great pool, quiet, well equipped - what's not to like??
The music scene - of which I am now an honourary member.
The food – Sweet Lorraine and I ate fish today that had just been taken off the boat (we saw the fishermen) with salad, chips, salsa and cold Mexican beer for $20 Cdn. Can't afford NOT to eat out!
Our pets – Popcorn and George.  I hope the next guests in our room feed them as well as we did.
What we miss when we are here is our family: Melissa, Geoff, Mia, Kingston, Cadence, Jocelyn; our good friends, our new house, the band and the sub-zero temperatures (just kidding).
We have already made plans to return next year...