- Ancient sites
- Art
- Day trips
- Entering France
- Festivals
- Fond Farewells
- Food
- Food markets
- Forests-Mountains-Streams
- French B&Bs
- French Chateau
- French Churches
- French Cities
- Friends joining us
- Gardens
- Getting to know the locals
- good beach – sea views
- Guided tours
- Hop on-Hop off
- Italian B&Bs
- Italian Festivals
- Italian Hairdressers
- Italian long stay
- Italian Towns
- Learning to cook the Italian way
- Local History
- Medical Emergencies
- Mountain Roads
- MUSEUM VISITS
- Pretty villages
- Restaurants
- Tourist Town
- Travel
- Travelling through
- Uncategorized
- Visiting friends
EXPLORING THE SASSI
FIRST A COFFE BREAK It was mid-morning by the time we retraced our way back through the ravine to start exploring the Sassi. The day had become rather warm, and so were we after climbing up through the narrow alleyways and steps until reaching the ‘Teardrop’ in the Piazzetta Pascoli on the Via D […]
ORNAMENTATION – EXUBERANT BAROQUE OR CLASSICAL GREEK?
8th October: LECCE. We took friendly leave of our host (despite having paid more than in all the rest of our holiday because he treated Graham and I as ‘singles’. We think this is because he usually fills up with fellow hunters, who are probably single men from the big cities.) ORNAMENTATION – […]
VILLAGES AMONGST THE CLOUDS
8th October: HIDDEN AMONGST THE CLOUDS From Masseria Mazzapede near Matera we drove to many hilltop towns and villages all around – each one picturesque and full of history. One of the best trips was when we travelled into the mountain range we’d passed on the way to Pompeii, in search […]
MONOPOLI – MARTINA FRANCA – VIVIEN’S FAREWELL
MONOPOLI – MARTINA FRANCA FOR VIVIEN’S LAST DAY Vivien’s stay with us was drawing to a close. We wanted her to see historic Martina Franca. Also the very high Roman sea wall still in its entirety at Monopoli, which we had discovered in 2011. It has a most attractive harbour front. We decided […]
