OFF TO CROATIA ..........

Off on our hols to Croatia with all of the family ....

We've never been to Croatia before so looking forward to new experiences ..... scenery, people, food and, of course, WINE !!!!

See you all soon.

XXXX

image 1: croatia via neuer-net.com, image 2: sailing boats croatia

CINQUE TERRE...... or, how to build up your thigh and calf muscles in one easy lesson !!!! ..........

Viareggio was the perfect base to enable us to travel to many of the beautiful areas of Tuscany. Our next stop was the Cinque Terre. The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera, which is virtually unspoilt. The 'Five Lands' comprises five villages : Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is noted for it's beauty.We took the train that connects the five villages, which runs mostly through a tunnel. The train emerges from the tunnel along the way, giving passengers quick glimpses of the villages and the Mediterranean Sea.

We then hopped off of the train at each village to explore ( and of course, to eat and drink (just to be sociable, of course !!)). The mountainsides of the Cinque Terre are heavily terraced and are used to cultivate grapes and olives. I would think that, tending to their trees and vines is a bit of a hazardous affair.....it is very steep as our legs were about to find out !!!!

On the day that we went to explore this beautiful area, the weather didn't look as if it was going to be that good but, on hindsight, with all of the walking UP,UP, UP, it was perfect and there was not one drop of rain and, of course, it was still beautifully warm.

It is a very popular area and was very busy. There are many serious hikers that come to this area and, if you look hard in my photographs, you can see them, wending their way between the vineyards, across the lush green hillsides. That is serious walking !!

This was one of the many towers that we climbed.....it became quite difficult when we were going up and someone was coming down. To pass each other became quite an intimate experience !!!! hehe. I went back quite a few times when I saw a Johnny Depp look-a-like coming up, just to experience it again Haha!!!!

By now, the thighs and calf's are beginning to burn. Up and up, higher and higher..........

.......... but, it's all worth it, for the magnificent views ..........

More of the beautiful alleyways that are such a feature in Italy ..........

Once at the top of one of the villages, we found this lovely little church..................

Most of the churches that tourists see in Italy are large, decadent affairs, dripping in ornate altars, stained glass windows and gold but, this was our favourite.

Tiny little stained glass windows and pretty chandeliers. Outside was a man sorting reeds and grasses, painstakingly stripping the leaves off to reveal the stems for I'm not sure what. Weaving them, perhaps.

We had walked all the way up and were gifted with some magnificent views. Well worth the effort.

Well, that was our day in the Cinque Terre region.

Beautiful, unspoilt and a joy to visit.

I'll just put my feet up and rest my calf's and thighs for a few days, and will be back with part three of our Tuscany experience.

1. ARRIVEDERCI RAVELLO..........

I seemed to slip into a comatose place ,post holiday but I have snapped out of it and here are my first pictures of Italy........Tah Dah !!!

High up above the town of Amalfi, is Ravello.
These photographs (that I took with my own fair little hands, with Mr. Home's camera that our daughter bought him for Christmas. He didn't get his hands on it for the majority of the holiday !!!!!) are of The Gardens of Villa Cimbrone and Villa Rufolo at Ravello.This is Villa Rufolo.Much of the remaining parts of the Villa were rescued by Scottish Industrialist (we poke our noses in everywhere!!!!) Francis Neville Reid, who owned the Villa at the turn of the twentieth century. It now hosts the Fondazione Ravello, The Ravello Music Festival, which was on when we were there.


Bougainvillea is in abundance, something that we can only grow in the greenhouse or conservatory here in England.

Stunning views, everywhere you go ( obviously after great long walks UPWARDS!!!!)



You are going to see lots and lots of iron gates and terracotta pots with flowers....I took a lot of those......lots and lots......actually...lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots!!!!


This is the entrance to The Gardens of Villa Cimbrone......don't you just love that weathered grey gate ?
These gardens belonged, in Roman times,to the noble Acconciajoco family, then to the enormously wealthy Fusco family. At the end of the nineteenth century, the estate, by then sadly abandoned, was discovered by a well known and educated English traveller, Ernest William Beckett, Lord Grimthorpe.( Us English get everywhere!!!). He was from a group of intellectuals who made the Grand Tour and had come to Ravello to recover from depression after the early death of his beloved wife.This magical place gave him so much pleasure and intense happiness, that he bought the estate in 1904, determined to bring it back to life., which he did with the help of English architects and landscape gardeners such as Harold Peto, Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll.
Well.......what can I say...I think that photography must be in my blood !!!! My husband is never getting his camera back now !!!!





Another good one, I think......not that I'm boasting or anything.!!!!!
This is the crypt, modelled on the Fountain Abbey of Malton in Yorkshire, England.
Although it looks medieval, it was built between 1907 and 1911 and became one of the meeting places of London's Bloomsbury Group.

Oh, it's tough being soooo talented......!!!!!!

Wouldn't you just love this as the entrance to your garden ?

Beautiful.........perhaps it wouldn't look so good in Hertfordshire, England.

I want these terracotta pots.......but I think they cost a pretty penny.

WOW.......even bigger pots (and more iron gates...you aint seen nothing yet!!!!)

Swoon.....not only from this delightful gate and geraniums, but am very hot now and have walked up what seemed like the face of the EIGER...and I need a drink.

I think that this is the entrance to the hotel that costs mega bucks and you get 'coptered in ......as you can imagine, we didn't stay there !!!!!!

Another arty farty one from my portfolio!!!!!!

Sorry....had to tarry awhile, as we have just walked UP again and are now at the top!!!

Well, I think that this is my piece de resistance...what do you think ? Shall I start saving for a mega camera with telephoto lens ????

More of the gardens..this is a well...by now I had reached the point of possibly jumping in it, I was so upwardly challenged !!!!!

I've jumped in it !!!!

Love the lamp, love the arched windows, love the leaves. love the walls ,love it all !!!
LOVE ITALY!!

Thought a little sustenance was in order and possible a little glass........

.........oh, looks like this one's nearly finished. Let's open another bottle.....

...yep.....that's right....keep pouring......up to the rim.....I'm going to need it...I've got to walk all the way down again soon. !!!!!!

Gootbey to Raveollooooo.......beeeuutifll coastline...fandabby dosey grdnssssss.....

think I might have drunk a bit too much wine so I'm signing off now and we will be sauntering down to Amalfi town, the next time we visit Italy.....HIC Hic hic.....

Jackie

P.S. I'm only joking when I say that I think my photos are good and that I'm soooo talented....it's just my humour.........some of them are pretty out of focus!!!!