Category Archives: Trip Report

Trip report — French river boat

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Friday 26 June
We left Umbertide in the capable hands of our house/cat sitters and drove to ISA Residences where we spent the night and left our car in their garage. We always have dinner in Altavela restaurant. It was a pleasant evening.

The biggest issue was daunting. My suitcase was locked. A combination lock. It had always worked smoothly, until it didn’t. We could not open it. We couldn’t get to any of our clothes. We had a second suitcase with toiletries, underwear, PJs so we could survive for the first day or two.


Saturday 27 June
Next day we took their shuttle to the Airport and checked in at Lufthansa. We were flying to Munich and connecting to Lyon France. The first flight was on time. We went to the next gate and waited to board. It was 39c degrees or about 100f. This was slowing down all operations. From the luggage people to the airplanes themselves. We left an hour late. I never experienced such a long acceleration. It seemed we would never lift off. Finally we struggled into the air. Apparently there is less lift in such heat.

We arrived in Lyon and got our luggage. It was EU to EU flight so no passport rigamaroll. I had hired a driver to take us to Chalon-sur-Saone, about 1.5 hours away. It was an easy, smooth traffic free ride on good highways.

We were staying at the St Regis. It is a bit down at the heel. Could use refurbishing. It is a grand old building. The AC was miniscule. It was struggling with the 104 degree heat that day. My sister and her husband were already there and we arrived an hour after they had eaten. They were tired after a transatlantic flight, and jet lagged. They hung around an hour or so and then went up to bed. Dinner was sub par. But it was conveniently in the hotel.

Sunday, 28 June
Up for showers and breakfast. I had brought a pair of shorts to wear in the room in the small suitcase so I switched to them but only had the same t shirt. This makes day three of wearing it. I was desperate to get the suitcase open. We had decided the lock must be somehow broken. The plan was to taxi to a hardware store the next day and see if I could find a set of cutters.

Meanwhile we visited the Sunday market. It was a great small town market. Chock full of beautiful foods. More rotisserie chickens than I’ve ever seen. We bought a picnic and stopped for water and later wine. There wasn’t a tourist to be seen. It was obviously 40% shopping trip and 60% socializing with friends. Nice.

Then we walked to lunch. It was 100F and a difficult 8 minute walk from the market in full sun. We crossed the Saône River to a small island. Many restaurants were on this one pretty street. Not a one was open. Seems Sunday is a totally dead day. We did find one restaurant before we came serving lunch so we had made reservations. Les Gormands Disent was the name. It had a three course menu with two choices for each course. I wasn’t thrilled with mine. I had a cold almond soup but it had fish in it. I wasn’t fond of the fish. Then I got mosaic something. Was purées of white and black cauliflower. With some sort of fish. Again the fish was not my cuppa. Dessert was strawberries and meringues and white chocolate which was good enough. We had a nice white burgundy wine. Luther had a good looking appetizer, beets with goat cheese. Picture below.

We managed to get a taxi called to take us back – highway robbery but it was so hot! Normally we would walk it.

We had bought cheese and chorizo and bread for a snack in the evening. There was no place to do it. We went to the hotel bar and got wine and they brought snacks so we just added our snacks to theirs. It was fine.

Monday 29 June
We had planned to get a taxi to take us to a hardware store and wait while we bought cutters to break into our suitcase. It had caused me much stress. But we figured we would ask at the desk if they had tools. And they did! A pair of pliers did the trick. Luther grabbed and twisted and off they broke.

We visited the museum of photography which is the main sight in town. It was nice. Afterwards we strolled and decided on Brasserie di Duomo for lunch. Nice location on the square of the Hôtel de Ville and cathedral.  Most had the Big salads. 

After resting up we walked to dinner at Bernard Bouillon. Our hotels choice. Not much open for Monday dinner. It was nice! The people sweet. The food good enough. It was packed with locals. Photo is of a sad statue along the walk to the restaurant.

Tuesday 30 June
We pretty much checked out at noon and walked to lunch. Then we retrieved our suitcases and took a taxi to the port where we embarked on the Avalon Poetry II. Small room compared to ocean all-suites cruising. We managed to unpack. Then we had a drink and returned to our room until the 6pm safety talk. We also met all the heads of all the departments.

Cindy and Bill are both sick with colds. This is so common when traveling nowadays on airplanes. We purchased drugs before we boarded. Hoping they will help.

We went to dinner and the ship sailed. We arrived at Tornus-Macon at about 9:30. 

The mattress is wonderful as is the AC. After sweltering with practically none since being here it was heaven to sleep under the duvet in cushy linens. 

Wednesday, 1 July
Tornus is a small town with not much to see. But picturesque. Still the boat had a walking tour 😁. And a bike tour. We left there to travel to Macon, only about 45 minutes, where we pick up the bikers and bus tourers. We just did a walk about town to enjoy the cool air. It was I pretty little town.

Lunch and naps. We sailed from Tornus to Trevoux docking after ten. Dinner on the ship. We had a beautiful view from our side of the ship. A tower and a bike and walking path. I’ve been sketching on this trip. One sketch from the boat in each town so far.

Thursday 2 July
We sailed for Lyon for a two night stay. It was about a four hour trip. The Saône is a beautiful, clear, meandering river. Our side of the boat was unbroken countryside. Many cows, ponies and horses down in or near the water. We saw a heron nest in a big tree. Lots of mistletoe growing in the forests. And a lot of storks. It was super relaxing to lay in bed and watch it slowly slide past. 

We had lunch onboard. They have two options each meal. A full lunch or dinner in the dining room or a light lunch or dinner in the upstairs Bistro. Same menu except you serve yourself in the Bistro. More to my liking because I could choose portion size. 

After lunch we went on the included tour of Lyon. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. They do a pretty good job. They have six color coded groups who walk at different speeds. In this way each tour is half a busload and tailored to your ability. Many older people on this cruise. We had three busses. We went up the Fourvière hill. One of two hills in Lyon with commanding views of the city. Lyon is the second largest city in France.

On top of the hill sits the Basilica of Nôtre-Dame de Fourvière. It is a blend of Romanesque and neo-Byzantine architectural styles. The exterior is unfinished. The interior is non-stop mosaics. Much gold and pretty pastel aqua. Like being in a very big jewel box. 

Photo by Cindy Gilmer

Then we drove to Vieux Lyon. It is made up of three districts – Saint John, Saint Paul and Saint George, but no Saint Ringo (our guide’s joke). It was cobblestone streets with very long blocks. Back in the 1600s and 1700s they incorporated passageways to cut the block in half – essentially shortcuts. We went through one up and down stairs within. Lyon is famous for silk making for centuries. We visited one shop with the moths, eggs, cocoons and a way to unwind the silk threads from the cocoons. 

Back to the boat and clean up before dinner. After dinner they had a Jazz band. Terrific upright bass player. Guitar was good. I didn’t care much for the female vocalist. This couple was celebrating 60 years of marriage.

Friday, 3 July
We relaxed in the morning. We had a Beaujolais wine tasting tour planned for the afternoon. We left on a bus about 1:30. Small group of about 18.

This is a spring-house

It was a lot of fun. We went about 45 minutes from Lyon to the wine country. We had the misfortune to be hitting the first weekend of the mass exodus of the French to the southern beaches so massive traffic jams. We drove through some really nice scenery and arrived at a family owned winery. The proprietor was Dominique Guillard and the winery was Domaine de Fond-Vieille. There have been an unbroken fifteen generations of this family working the vines. Many wineries either abandon the vines or sell out when none of the children want to continue the tradition. This family was lucky. Their son wanted to keep it going. I’m sure his father is very happy.

We tasted a white, a rosè and red. They use solely Chardonnay for the white wines and Gamay for the rosè and the red. They also had good bread, two cheeses and some salame. Those went well with the wines. We all enjoyed them very much.

This border collie was very obsessive. He “herded” us all then licked the floor inside compulsively.

We drove to the small town of Oingt, pronounced nwah. It must be said very nasally. Pretty hill town reminiscent of Montone near where we live. Most of the group walked up to the top of the town. I was getting a cold so stayed in a cafe and had a cold glass of water.

The trip back was uneventful. Lots of traffic. We got to the ship about twenty minutes from departure. We went to happy hour and the dinner. Luther came down with the cold during the night. Sigh. I can’t say I liked Lyon. It was a big city and I don’t like big cities. Dinner.

Saturday 4 July
Happy Fourth of July to all. I’m afraid I didn’t feel much like celebrating this year. It was always a favorite holiday of mine. Perhaps one day I can celebrate it again. Meanwhile I enjoyed the beautiful Rhone River and it reeled past like a movie. 

This day was a complex day for the ship. We sailed at 8:30 after all the people on the tour left the boat. Those people would tour the town of Tournon. They would be bussed to another town where we would stop to pick them up and drop others off. Finally we would stop at Viviers at 4:30. We had big plans to go to the only pharmacy in town to get supplies for our illnesses. But alas, it closed at 12:30. We did walk into town.

They have a BIG rock in town.

The trip down river was interesting. We traveled through the deepest lock in France during dinner. 76 feet. There were 16 locks on this trip. Dinner was ok. Luther didn’t join us. He was pretty sick.

These are some of the locks.

Looking up at the bottom of the lock.

Sunday 5 July
This was Luther’s birthday. It wouldn’t be a great one unless he perked up some. We were booked on the Avignon tour with a tour of the Papal Palaces. I was looking forward to this tour more than any other. We canceled the trip because we were both very sick. We had hoped to go to a pharmacy. Sundays are problematic for finding one open. Usually there is just one in a town that is open. But how to find it.

Well we did find it. Michaela, our cruise director was a sweet woman always ready to spring into action and help.

She found two open ones, one only a 9 minute walk away. We got out before it got too hot and the streets were still uncrowded. We had trouble finding it but once we found it we realized we had been right next to it a while before. 

The town was having its Avignon festival. A three week drama festival. Quite famous apparently. We enjoyed seeing the costumed performers in the streets talking up their particular dramas. We bought a ton of drugs (which probably won’t work) and went back to the boat. 

This is the famous Avignon Bridge. From the song – Sur le Pont d’Avignon
L’on y danse, l’on y danse
Sur le Pont d’Avignon
L’on y danse tous en rond.

We rested all afternoon and we went to the big farewell dinner that evening. Since it was Luther’s birthday Cindy and Bill bought him a nice bottle of wine rather than the stuff they normally serve. It was a nice dinner. We went to bed early. The coughing was taking its toll on me.

Monday, 6 July
We sailed last night and arrived in Arles at midnight. We would spend two nights there. This was our final stop. Cindy and I had signed up for a painting class. It turned out to be a lot of fun. The ship kindly arranged for a taxi to take four of us from the ship to the atelier. I guess we were the slow and less able walkers. There were 14 of us signed up. Many were rank armatures. They didn’t know how to mix secondary colors from the primary ones. That didn’t slow us down. We all seemed to have fun copying bits of Van Gogh paintings

We strolled back to the boat which really wasn’t far away. We had our last lunch in the lounge. Luther has gotten tired of these lunches. For me, they were fine. Enough variety and easy. 

The afternoon was spent repacking our suitcases. I hate this part. 

Tuesday 7 July

We grabbed breakfast and got off the ship with our luggage to wait for our car to Aix-en-Provence. He arrived on time in a nice Mercedes van with limousine seating. Took all of an hour to get to our hotel. Grand Hotel Roi Rene. We were early and check-in was 3pm so we went out to explore. First funny thing that happened was we saw our cruise director, Michaela, from the boat with a group from the boat on a tour. She is a sweet, sweet person. Super friendly, we all got hugs and kisses. Like we were long lost friends. It was market day and they have three. One clothing etc, one food, and one flowers. We walked through the clothes where Cindy and I bought hand painted fans. Then headed for the food market. It was amazing. 

It was about lunch time so we went to a place near the market called Le Chantel. It was ok. Most got salads due to the heat. They were not the best. I was disappointed in the tomatoes. They were heirlooms but very mealy in texture.

Back to the hotel where we waited until 3pm check-in time.  the rooms are very poorly thought out. Completely dysfunctional for travelers. There was no room whatsoever for a suitcase to be opened during the stay. They come to do turn down at 5:30 (!?). We do have a nice terrace that we paid for. It is only useful in the morning as it was so hot. 

Later we met in the hotel bar for drinks and then walked to dinner at Cour something. Nice place with an interior garden area and air conditioning in the inside. Guess where we chose? Yep, inside. We weren’t really hungry so we all just got one course. I enjoyed my tuna. 

Wednesday 8 July
Our one full day in Aix together. We went out early to beat the heat. We followed the Cezanne walking route. It took us down some pretty streets. We visited the Cathedral. Then we walked down the Main Street and saw the fountain at the end. We went along some shopping streets. I bought two pretty hand painted bowls. 

We stopped in a sidewalk cafe for lunch. Most had the Salad Niçoise. Refreshing in the heat. By now it was 103 degrees and we made our way back to the hotel and the cool. 

We decided for expediency to eat in the hotel restaurant. The food was sub-par. But it was ok because we had time to rehash the trip.

We said a sad goodbye to my sister and her husband. We will meet again next year. They left early the next morning.

Thursday 9 July
We were on our own so no breakfast for us. We woke when we wanted with no schedule to keep. At about 11:30 we went out to buy some wine for the evening. We planned to eat in. Luther had seen a nice wine shop the day before. We headed there and bought two bottles of wine. Then we went to Entre Midi et Deux, a bistro nearby. I broke from my salad for lunch everyday routine and had the lobster Ravioli. It was pretty good. On the way back we stopped at a very popular bakery. Line was out the door. We bought two chicken sandwiches for dinner.

We returned to the hotel and took naps. I was still sick with a persistent cough. I didn’t sleep any because of it. We stayed in the cool and later enjoyed our wines and our sandwiches which we bought that afternoon. Nice and relaxing.

Friday 10 July
Homeward bound. We had a 1:45 flight from Marseille to Roma. Took 1.5 hours.

Thoughts

Hotels. Wow what loser picks. I can’t pick a favorite. The first one, in Chalone, was old fashioned and badly needed a refurb. The elevator was tiny but at least they had one. The AC was puny or non-existent. We had to ask for a fan to supplement. The second one, in Aix looked good. But I have never had a more disfunctional room for a traveler. Absolutely no place for luggage. Everything in the place cost extra. It was all over priced. But the location was good.

Food. I can’t think of one notable meal to be honest. It wasn’t awful. But it wasn’t really good.

The ship. We have done five small ship ocean cruises. This was the first river cruise. When we chose we compared ships. We picked Avalon over Viking. They are the top two. 

It really was the format that put us off. We didn’t like the wine restrictions. We are used to getting a wine whenever we want. We didn’t like being restricted to lunch, happy hour and dinner/evening. The wines were adequate but not first tier considering we were sailing through a premiere wine region. The weird policy at dinner of expecting everyone to eat every course and if you didn’t you were forced to wait through all the courses to receive yours in sequence. For instance, we never eat more than two courses and maybe a dessert. Some wanted appetizers, others soup. So the appetizers came and the soup people had to watch the others eat. Then the soup came, and the appetizer people had to watch the soup eaters. We finally got a server to serve the soup with the appetizers but we STILL had to wait through the soup course for our entrees. Definitely not customer friendly. But I know why they do it. For their convenience. I also really disliked the farewell dinner served before the last night. Kinda takes the fun out of the end of the cruise. Again, I see this as doing it at THEIR convenience, rather than the customers.  If Windstar can do it on the last day then Avalon can too.

Things Avalon has no control over and were something we learned about river cruising. Double docking. We really, really didn’t like the fact our room was like a dungeon for half the trip. No view at all. Just the side of the other boat right up against our boat. Not to mention the difficulty for those of us with compromised knees to climb stairs up and down to cross another boat. We didn’t like the crazy schedules. Stoping, dropping off tours. Sailing, then picking them up. Then sailing again for a very short stay somewhere. Nothing Avalon can do about it but I prefer ocean cruises with stops in one place each day. I don’t think I will do another river cruise. 

The stops. I liked the Saône River better than the Rhone. Prettier. The towns on the Saône were cuter too. The Rhone had Lyon, Avignon and Arles. All notable places, but to me smaller, quainter, quieter is more, to my liking. 

The HEAT. Argh. I just cannot handle it like I used to. I vow not to travel in July or August again.

That all said, I really enjoyed seeing my sister. 🥰

Trip Report Salerno February 2026

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Salerno February 2026

Tuesday February 17
We drove south to Foligno. The station there had much better connections for some reason. They have a relatively cheap parking lot. We were meeting our friend Jen who was going to stay in our apartment with the kitties. We gave her the key and we went to catch our train. When we got to the platform with about 4 minutes to spare I realized I had left my hiking stick in the coffee bar. Darn. I use it when I’m doing a lot of walking, which I will be on this trip. But there was no time to go get it. Sigh.

We went to Roma Termini terminal, the main one. We arrived in just two hours. We had a bit of time to kill and then we saw our train was also arriving late so we had about an hour. We decided to grab a sandwich there. I got the porchetta . It was pretty good. 

Our train arrived, the Frecciarossa, red arrow, Italy’s high speed train. Off we went to Salerno with a stop in Napoli. I love the Frecciarossa. We always get business class and always the area silenzio. I love that it is silent. They bring the drink and snack cart just like on the airplane. We had a white wine each. They gave us snacks and water too. We arrived about 4:30. A half hour late. 

Finding our hotel, called the Leucosya Luxury rooms, was not easy. It was just 150 meters from the station, so we were walking. We had been warned by our friends Gary and Susan whom we were meeting there, that it was not obvious. We called and Gary came to our rescue. 

We checked into our room. What a strange room. It has more gold that the Oval Office. No joke. There is the biggest bathtub I’ve ever seen in the bedroom. It has golden tiles and a golden filigree over it. A golden Roman chair. Two golden small tables. Many golden statuettes and and incense burner. The wallpaper is Versace. Maybe the room got lost on the way to Vegas? I KNOW you want pictures 😉

See what I mean?

We went looking for a bar for drinks and snacks. We found a great pedestrian only shoppingstreet. It was lined with bars. It was spitting rain but no place had indoor seating. All was outside with covers, some with glass walls, some with heaters. We finally gave up after walking the entire street and went in one that had plenty of places, under cover. They turned on the heaters. Our waitress was super. We got a bottle of red from Sicily and then a platter of cheeses and meats which came with a few other apperitivi. And we ordered two plates of fried anchovies to share. Perfect. And it rained hard while there but stopped before we walked back. 🙂

Salerno centro storico at night.

Wednesday 18 February
We woke to brilliant sunshine! Wow. It has rained constantly for weeks. First thing was take a shower. It is a space age thing with jets, squirters and a shower. It is always an adventure to figure out the fixtures in hotel bathrooms. This particular shower was a great example. I turned the dial to the picture of what looked like a shower. Suddenly the array of jets up the entire backside of the shower shot out incredible gushes of water right into my face. And across the whole bathroom. I slammed the door but that was no solution since I had to open it to figure out how to turn it off.  So I bit the bullet and jerked the door open reached over while these jets of water were dousing me and everything else. Finally got it off. Dripping wet I got all the towels and tried to mop it all up. Then I tried to figure out which thing to turn the dial to to get the shower. With a bit of experimentation, the shower came on. Adventures in plumbing. 

We were headed to Paestum and would be walking around so good weather would be appreciated. We were served breakfast in our room and met to go get the train. It was leaving at 9:30. It took just half an hour and dropped us right at the Archaeological park. I have been twice before so this was the first time on a train and I hadn’t realized where the train stopped.

We walked through the gate and headed up the road to the old Greek city. The history is interesting. In 600 BCE it was settled by Sybaris, a Greek settlement in the south of Italy and named Poseidonia. In 400 BCE it was seized by the Lucanians. Romans took over in 273 BCE, renaming it Paestum and establishing a Latin colony. Later, its decline ensued from shifts in trade routes and the onset of flooding and marsh formation.

The Greeks built three enormous temples to the gods. Neptune, Hera, and Athena. They were built about 550 to 450 BCE. We entered the park. We bought our tickets and walked in. The two temples of Hera and Neptune were just a little walk away. They are amazing. Almost entirely intact after 2,700 years. I’ve been to other Greek ruins and none can compare with Paestum. We walked down to the amphitheater, then over to where the forum used to be. It was the center of town, center of government and center of life in Paestum. Then down to the far end of the city to the Temple of Athena. It was such a beautiful day. This was a real pleasure.

Luther in the Temple of Neptune
Temple of Neptune
Temple of Neptune
Temple of Hera
Temple of Athena
Temple of Athena

We asked in a Bar for them to call us a taxi. Patrizia came to pick us up and took us to the Caseificio Barlotti, a mozzarella di bufala farm. This has been a long time wish of mine to visit the bufala. We had a very nice tour by Andrea. He showed us the first corral which held the 160 cows giving milk. They were milked twice a day. The next one was the females who were pregnant, some were giving milk too. Then across the way was the corral with the young females. Two years old. They were now able to be bred. They don’t inseminate, they just put the bull in amongst the young females. Then the next barn is the newborns. All females. The males are sold to another farm who will raise them for meat. They are allowed to stay with their mothers for only seven days. So sad. They were very sweet.

The females who were milked twice a day.
Baby girl
Curious baby girl.

After the tour we had lunch and a continuation of the tour to explain the process of the cheese making. They milk the cows at 6am and 2pm. The cheese making begins at midnight and goes all night. They make cheese fresh and completely by hand for consumption at the Caseificio and for purchase in the shop. They also export a lot of their products all over, even in the U.S. They make some out of pasteurized milk (for US) and others from unpasteurized. They make other types of cheese. And also buratta. I asked about the buratta. He said the outer case, making the distinctive bag that encloses the creamy interior, is of mozzarella di bufala. But inside, that is cows milk cheese. It would be too rich if it were all bufala. Anyway, I learned a lot and enjoyed the tour. 

Now for the degustazione. They brought many platters of food. A big ball of the fresh, made last night, mozzarella. She split it 4 ways. There were also three other types of cheese made there. A hard semi aged one, a brie type, and a super soft very fresh one. There was a small piece that was the consistency of bread pudding. Very damp, wet made of several types of cheese and I’m sure it was baked. Very good. Then several types of cured meats. Finally a plate of roasted vegetables and a bowl of fresh quartered tomatoes. We had been saying we would have pasta but no one wanted any after that so we had desserts. All were made from their cheese. Two got the cannoli to share and two got the pistachio ice cream made from latte di bufala. Wow was that rich. And delicious. It was an interesting and tasty lunch as well as informing. All in all a nice experience.

Andrea, our guide.
The selection of food.
The fresh mozzarella di bufala.

Then we called Patrizia who came back to get us and take us to the station. Off we went back to Salerno. I highly recommend a visit to Paestum but not in July and August. Patrizia said it is crazy busy with tourists then.

We got back to the hotel and had a couple hours to rest. Then we decided Caserta was not in our future for tomorrow, mainly because it is a two hour trip and the a two hour tour and lunch and a two hour trip back. We decided that was too much especially since rain is in the forecast. Instead we will visit Vietri sul Mare tomorrow.

Susan was feeling under the weather so Gary, Luther and I walked to meet up with our friends Gary and Bill. They have lived there 8 years. I met them through this blog before they came. We have only seen them twice in person in that eight years. But stay in touch online. Anyway, we met up for drinks tonight. They live in the centro and it is a very cool part of town. I think this would be an excellent choice for anyone considering to immigrate to Italy. Right on the sea. Near mountains, main train line. The ferry boats that go up and down the Amalfi coast and out to Capri. The food of the Amalfi coast – delicious seafood. A real city with all services. It doesn’t close up in the winter like the rest of the Amalfi.

Thursday 19 February
Vietri sul Mare is only about ten minutes from Salerno. It was overcast, chilly and breezy. Very unlike yesterday. Rain predicted in the afternoon.

The view of the town from the top. Note the ceramic dome on the Duomo. Iconic on the Amalfi coast.

We started out at the top of the town. We wended our way slowly downhill. It is a town of ceramics. Many wall decorations of ceramics. All different. There was a table I adored. So unique. The design was embossed, and the background was matte, not shiny. The theme was the seasons. I would have bought it in a minute had I a place for it. 

Depiction of a ceramic maker
The table.
Loved all the different professions and activities pictured in this wall.
I got this primarily to show the old dudes hanging out.
I loved the mural outside the alimentari.
Vietri street scene pictured in a ceramic plaque. Note the dome on the duomo is the same as the first photo in this town above.
I loved the monochromatic tone of this one along with the intricate workmanship.

We turned off the main corso and went uphill to the Duomo. Interesting. We couldn’t go inside because there was a mass going on.   

Duomo, even the decoration on the church is ceramic.

We headed back down and stopped in a shop. Gary was on a mission to replace broken spoon rests. He was very particular. Here he found it. And Susan bought a platter. Not to be outdone, I got a trivet. The proprietor seemed surprised and happy to have sold three things. It’s off season. I don’t suppose there are a lot of sales. 

Gary’s Italian teacher had evidently gone on and on about Salerno pizza. Better than Naples she said. So, Gary felt he must try the pizza. Not a hard sell. We all happily helped with this quest. We ate in a nice place back at the top of the town. The pizza was quite good. It seems Florentine pizza is always uncooked in the center. These were cooked through.

My pizza. Yummy.

Back to Salerno. And home to nap and digest. Later we planned our last day with Susan & Gary. We are staying and touring Salerno. We will meet Bill and Gary for sightseeing and lunch. But a lot depends on the weather. Supposed to rain.

Friday 20 February 
Such a great day. We expected it to be raining but I checked and the streets were dry. So it was game on! We had breakfast and headed out at about 10:15 to meet Gary who would lead us to the elevator up to the gardens of Minerva. The elevator only went so far though. We had a continued climb to get up there. 

Palazzo along the way

We made it and watched a super informative video before entering the gardens. It was all about the history of medicine in Salerno it goes way back. To before the year 1000. It was the first hospital to actually care for people. The science was based on the harmony of the universe. When the balance is upset  it causes illness. They saw life as being comprised of four elements: earth, air, fire and water, which correspond to four qualities, hot, cold, moist and dry. The humors are blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm. They have a direct relationship to the four elements. They also took into account count the temperament of the individual, his mental qualities, his state of health. All this is the theory of humors. 

Which brings us to the plants. Just as the body was divided and classified by the humors and elements so too, the plants were classified. This allows each one to be classified for what it could treat in the human body. And also it’s strength

See the circle with the colours? That is how they classify this particular plant

We next went into the gardens. They were pretty with many water features. The plants were in winter mode. It would be amazing in spring and summer. We also met the local turtle. Quite friendly. He had a great place to live. I really enjoyed learning about those ancient methods of medicine.

This the everlasting spring. The source of the water for the gardens and fountains.

We headed back down to the flats to visit the Duomo. All the domes on all the churches along the Amalfi coast are made of ceramics. This one is the Duomo in Salerno.

The church was really interesting. It was very big. And very white. No decorations on the ceiling. The painting behind the altar was pretty impressive. There were a few moorish looking tile decorations on a few things. The crypt was, on the other hand super decorated. 

Then we headed to lunch at taverna Santa Maria de duomo. So fun. Us four plus Gary and Bill. The place was in a former church. This was their favorite restaurant. They booked for us. It was a delicious lunch with good conversation. It was all seafood with some most interesting preparations. I will put descriptions on the photos. You knew there would be photos, right!? 😁

My scampi with a Thai sauce.
Tuna balls. Fresh tuna ground up and made into balls and fried. Unusual.
Gnocchi with seafood. Mussels, shrimp, squid, octopus. Very yummy..
Baccalà – salt cod – whipped and put into giant shell pasta. Another interesting preparation.
Panna cotta.

Saturday 21 February
The train from Salerno left five minutes late. It was interesting that Gary’s phone app said it was fifteen minutes late. So we waited a bit, but not TOO long. And good thing because when we got there they showed it on time on the big board. It arrived five minutes late in Roma where we only had a 20 minute layover so this cut it to 15 minutes. It was touch and go getting the train to Foligno. That platform was 2est it is a very long walk. My friend Jen, who used the train alot and lives in Foligno assured me the train to Foligno would leave late, giving us extra time. But…miraculously (unfortunately) the train to Foligno was on time meaning we had  NO extra time. We barely made it. We were not alone, thankfully, because the train couldn’t leave while people were boarding. And a lot of us panting people were still boarding.

Adventures in train travel. I’m fine with riding in the train and watching the scenery, but the getting on and off, finding seats, stowing luggage, can all be stressful. The good news…the Bar had my hiking stick! 🙂

That concludes another trip report.

Ciao!

Back home in beautiful Italia.

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I arrived back home yesterday. I had a lovely week with my sister. She is doing well after her treatment. Getting stronger every day.

The drive from Dulles to Wintergreen wasn’t too bad. Both there and back were on Sundays so that helped. Also government shutdowns always make traffic in the DC area light. I have lived through a few. There were a lot of reports of delayed flights because the air traffic controllers were not coming in. I don’t blame them. They aren’t getting paid. But that didn’t affect either of my flights. 

I left the Hyatt and drove to Total Wine, a big wine shop, to buy some wine to share. When I got close to Wintergreen I stopped at the last, good grocery to buy stuff for the dinner I was making and the many things I wanted to take home. I had packed only one outfit. Jeans and a sweatshirt. I had ordered a bunch of clothes from Amazon to be delivered to my sister.

She lives at 3,400 feet up on a mountain. I was stunned at the colors along the road up the mountain. The pictures don’t do the color justice unfortunately.

I had a number of things to accomplish during my week. One was to get a flu shot and a Covid vaccine shot. Why not, right? I also had a list for the grocery store. And I had 3 things to mail for a friend. Since the tariffs were instated you can’t mail any packages from Italy to the U.S. Last, Luther wanted a bottle of bourbon. Over the course of the week I got all this done.

The autumn color in the mountains of Virginia is something I’ve missed. I hit it right at peak on this trip. It was glorious. Like driving in golden tunnels. The forests are very different in Virginia compared to Italy. Wintergreen is a four season resort which sprawls up the mountains and along the tops. There is skiing and the Appalachian Trail goes through it. The first image is of the mountain called Three Ridges.

I also watched Monday night football and three of the World Series games. I’m not a huge sports fan but it was something we three could watch and still talk during the games. We cooked together each night. The weather was very brisk. In the 30s F most days with blustery winds. We took some walks. We visited Waynesboro which is over the mountain from her. It is a typical country town. We shopped in a shop run by Mennonites called The Cheese Shop. Much more than cheese. Lots of good stuff. I had forgotten how they go nuts for Halloween in the U.S. I only took one picture but there were some other amazing displays. This guy did not want any vampires around! The wreath is entirely of garlic.

On Friday we visited Early Mountain Vineyards where they have a restaurant. It is about 1.5 hours from their house. We had a lovely lunch and drove back. The GPS directed us to use the Blue Ridge Parkway to get back home. We were fine with that and we got to take some amazing photos on the way. This particular pine is very famous. Bill took this photo.

Sunday I left their house and drove back to Dulles which was uneventful. Then I checked in and went through security which had no lines. Nice. I hit the Polaris lounge and had lunch and a wine and then sat and enjoyed myself for the two hours I had to wait. 

Now I am home. The car I hired picked me up. Nice young man from Brazil. He is married to an Italian. While on the drive home, I was struck by how drab the colors are here. Just nothing like the brilliance of the leaves on the U.S. east coast. Italy has its other charms and a beauty of its own, but Virginia is where I was born and lived so I have a special spot for it in my heart. ❤️ I’m tired and happy to be home. I was pretty proud of myself that I negotiated all the things one must negotiate when traveling internationally. I had been worried. I guess I’m not as decrepit as I thought! 😁

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Back to everyday life for a while. Lots of laundry to do. It is also time to begin closing up the terrace for the winter. I need to put all the cushions and the outdoor rug inside. Then all the plants must be cut back and disposed of. It is a little sad. Cycle of life. Happily, the holidays are ahead to look forward to. Umbertide already has all its lights up but not yet illuminated.

Fino alla prossima volta, ciao.

First leg of USA trip…not without drama!

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First step of the trip finished. I have a half full suitcase. It has several gifts in it and I wanted them to stay safe. Also some packages to mail for a friend. So I packed the entire thing in one half of the case. I’ll fill the other side with things I bought or will buy. My first step was to catch my hired car to Roma. 

Silvia picked me up in a nice, shiny, black BMW. A quick and smooth trip. Arrived at the Hilton Rome Airport hotel in less than 2.5 hours. We talked the whole way. She and her husband own the car service and have four cars. They each drive two cars and they have two employees who drive the other two. She has a ten year old daughter. They do a lot of work for the upscale hotel in our area, Reschio. Their season slows in November and they generally vacation in January or February. She dropped me right at the hotel, got my suitcase out of the trunk and gave me a double kiss goodbye. Only in Italy would your hired car driver kiss you goodbye. 😁

So now I’m happily checked into the hotel, which is HUGE by the way. I ordered room service. Stuck with a salad of melon, burrata, and prosciutto. I figured they couldn’t mess that up too much. I also got a bottle of Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. Very nice white.
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Yes, well then. Sunday started out nicely. I got up showered, put everything back in the suitcase and checked out. Found the skywalk to the airport. It had three people mover walkways, one of which was not working. Pretty long walk. Found the check in, last section at the far end of terminal 3, and then went through security. Walked to gates E. Another long walk. Finally found the Polaris Lounge. It was packed! After a while I found a seat. Got a yogurt. And water. Later I got a cappuccino and a small pastry. This is when I left the lounge. I couldn’t believe there was a line waiting to get in. I guess they must meter people in if it’s too full.

Left and went to my gate, which was another long walk and an elevator and then a train. The train went to a new terminal mid-field. Boarded fairly quickly. I had a Polaris pod in business class. I’m too old for tourist now! Nice seat. Welcoming sparkling wine. Then we took off. I moved all the blankets and pillow and propped my phone and iPad on the edge next to the wall. A little while later I noticed the phone slowing sinking down and poof! It was gone. Down into the bowels of the plane. Disastro!

Bye bye Italia!

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I went forward and informed the head flight attendant, her name was Alexa, that I had a problem. She said, “what is your problem?” I said, “I lost my phone”. She said, “that IS a problem”. She came to my seat and I showed her where it had disappeared and she pulled the foam stuff out and peered down the crevice. She turned to me and said, I think it’s gone. I asked, where. She said, down into the cargo hold. This kind of surprised me because I always thought the passenger compartment was separately pressurized. I guess not! 🤔 She told me I wasn’t the first and that they were working to fix this flaw. It looks safe to put stuff on but it isn’t.

She told me that the flight deck (pilots) had been informed and they had called ahead to Maintenance to be ready to try to find the phone when we landed. Alexa explained it was a security risk. She said, this plane is not going anywhere until they find it. The question was when would they come, and how long would it take to find it.

The rest of the flight proceeded normally with me worrying about what I’d do without the phone. I was counting on using GPS to find my way around. Things have changed around here. I waited after we landed and went to the back of business class. The head maintenance guy came in who Alexa had hoped would be there, he was a friend. I went into the jetway to wait. He and his peeps went into the hold. I swear, no more than five minutes later he was back with the phone! We all screamed! I was so glad. We all have a story to tell. I am glad that it is over with!

I want to commend all the flight crew. Especially Alexa. She was kind and optimistic even though, after it was over, she said she had no real idea. It was a first for her. Anyway, she was great. And another thing I noticed, as I stood in the back of business class after all of that cabin was empty, and I watched all the people from tourist leaving. They were all very cheerful and complimentary to the crew, thanking them over and over with big smiles saying how great the flight was. I will say I’ve flown tourist all my life and many times on United since Dulles is their main hub, and I had some pretty horrible experiences. I’m glad to see things are better.
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After all that I went through passport control. There was no one there! No wait. And no fuss. Then found my suitcase, went through customs and went to rent my car. I changed out my SIM card and put the hotel where I was staying into the GPS. Now I am up at 4:30AM. My brain said time to get up! So I am finishing a few things like writing this report.

I drive to Wintergreen this morning stopping a few places on my way. I’ll write later about my time in Virginia with my sis.

Lecce road trip – 2025

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We left Sunday at about two so we could get to our hotel after check-in time. It is a drive completely on the big toll highways. As we neared our destination the weather got ominous and the signs on the highway warned of high winds. Even with our low profile car we could feel it. We got to the hotel and it was spitting rain and gale force winds. There was a wedding going on in their restaurant. What a day for a wedding!

We checked in and Luther finally managed to find a parking place but then the car burglar alarm would turn on every time he locked up the car. He finally got it to stop and we decided a bottle of wine was in order. The hotel made a reservation in the only open restaurant around, a pizzeria, but we decided to make do with the snacks that came with the wine instead of going out in that weather again. Morning Adriatic Sea.

Next morning we checked out at 10:30 and headed for Lecce, a four hour drive away. I hate riding on those superstrade because I can’t see much. We are so low and the guardrails so high. I did notice all the dead olive trees along one stretch. There is a disease and they had to destroy acres and acres of old olive trees. But mostly there were literally hundreds of thousands of healthy trees. And grapes. Puglia is famous for its Primativo wine. Used to be it was all sold as cheap wine but they now make some world class wines.

Dead olive trees.

We stopped on the way at a rest stop for lunch of wraps with crudo and cheese. Pretty good. It also killed about 40 minutes so we could get there after three. I am always full of trepidation going to a new town and having to park. We decided to go directly to the car park. The hotel had reserved for us. They gave us good directions. Turns out it was painless and the car park was just like a normal parking lot with normal spaces. That probably sounds weird but so many cities, never made to have cars in them, make these ridiculous spaces into parking. Never should they be called a car park.

We were a six minute walk from the hotel. Lecce is completely flat. It was also still very windy. The hotel, Palazzo Zimara, is in a 500 year old palazzo. Beautiful space. The gentleman, David, who checked us in and took us to our room was very nice.

Our friends Susan and Gary were meeting us there. Well they had issues with their train connections, late trains and ended up arriving at nine pm. We told the hotel to expect them then. And they graciously made reservations for us for dinner in La Scarpetta Hosteria. It was about an eleven minute walk so we headed out about 7:30. 

Just when we arrived it began to rain. And the door to the restaurant was locked. Eventually they noticed us and we got seated. Nice place. Mostly seafood. I wasn’t that hungry so I can’t rave about my food. We did enjoy watching all the action. There were two really big tables set up for big groups and they began to fill up as we finished. We were glad we had gotten there early.

We left and the rain had stopped but not the wind. I had fun taking pictures of the night streets, piazze and churches. There was an almost full moon. We hit the sack early. Pictures during our walk back.

Tuesday 7 October 

We met up with Susan and Gary for breakfast. It was great to see them. They had gotten in just after nine and the hotel had ordered a taxi for them. Luckily as there were none available at the station. They also managed to get something to eat nearby. They had only nice things to say about the hotel staff. We both agreed the spaces are magnificent in the hotel but the bathrooms and storage spaces were not thought out well. There is not one hook or rail in the bathroom for a damp towel. I’ve never been anywhere like that. Our room was also too hot and it was impossible to cool it down. I slept poorly. 

Breakfast was a la carte and not a lot of choices. I got scrambled eggs that were inedible. Never had eggs been so overcooked. Tomorrow I decided to just get fruit. 

We headed out for a walk about. We figured we would stop where we wanted. Mostly there are churches to see. We saw the church of Santa Teresa first. I looked up the legend. The sculpture was of a woman with her heart outside her chest. It was being stabbed by an angel. Evidently signifying holy ecstasy.

Then the Duomo. Nice space, rococo inside. Very ornate. Then we wandered the shopping streets, checked out a couple more churches, and in our wanders went through the old Jewish quarter. First the duomo and its piazza.

One of the old gates into the city. And a church.


Many of the religious “statues” we saw in the churches are made of paper mâche. There is even a museum. This one was on the street.

We stopped for refreshments then headed to our lunch destination, Le Zie Trattoria Casareccia. Salintino traditional cuisine.  

It was a small place on a semi busy street outside the walls. It was run by all the women (aunts and nonnas) and had been in business since 1966. One thing I had noticed on all the menus here abouts, the most popular meat served is Cavallo, horse. I won’t eat horse because I love them and always have since a small girl.  Susan and I got the fried pasta with chick peas. It is a traditional dish here. And then the polpettoncino al vino bianco ripieni di formaggio. So filling. We vowed not to eat for a few days. 

Our walk back was nice enough. There are tons of tourists here. Almost all American. I haven’t heard this much American English since we last visited the U.S.

Wednesday 8 October

My breakfast pancakes. Pretty good. Avoid the eggs in any form!

We decided to visit a museum called Museo Sigismondo Castromediano. Very interesting with many recovered antiquities. Here are pictures. My favorite is the last one which is a headstone for a deceased person. They misspelled his name and so had to insert a tiny letter to fix it 🙂

Along our walk.

We wended our way across town to our lunch destination, Zephyr. It is unique. Situated in an olive grove inside the city walls. Probably the only one! And it is a hotel too. It was a small menu for a light lunch. It was perfectly satisfying and in a lovely space.

The buratta on my tomatoes is made here in Puglia and I really wanted to try it. It was terrific.

Thursday, 9 October

I had the yogurt and muesli breakfast. Not bad. We hung around the room until checkout time. We were off on our way home with a stop in Termoli in the Molise region. It was my third visit but Luther had never been. We walked to the car park and found our car safe and sound. Off we went northward!

We arrived at about two and checked into our seaside hotel. Pretty basic but walkable to the town. We walked up there and had a couple glasses of wine. It was risposta so everything was closed. We went back and had a nap before going out for dinner.

Our restaurant was Osteria dentro le mura. It was situated inside the walls of the old town. Hence the name. Small family place. We got there early but there was a big table set for a group next to us. They came pretty early too. The family consisted of mom and dad and two sons. The one who waited on us was fluent in English.

My sum up. In the future, if we are going to a city and only that city we will not drive. Waste of two days and two nights. Not to say we didn’t enjoy our overnights, but it would have been more expedient to take the train. Lessons learned. The hotels in the costal beach towns were as expected, nothing special but clean and decent bed etc. The hotel in Lecce was very nice but had its issues. The city of Lecce is beautiful, especially after the tour groups leave. I am afraid it will become another Florence. Sad but true. I liked both of our lunches for different reasons. I would go back.

The party’s over…it’s time to call it a month

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We are winding down our vacation. We will leave here Saturday and drive south to just north of Bologna to break the trip in two, mainly because I erred in my planning and am traveling on about the busiest travel days in Italy. Feragosto. The main holiday in a month that is one big holiday here. So I figured I couldn’t avoid the traffic, but I could make each day trip shorter. We shall see if that works!

Sturgeon moon

We took a trip around the lake to a fancy restaurant that was not worth the cost in my opinion. I’m not going to inundate you with food pictures but I’ll include a few. There are captions.

The view was nice of the lake.
Loved these little flamingo tables to hold your purse
My first course – goose liver pate.
Second course
Loved the dessert box. They bring it closed and then open up all the compartments. They were yummy but we were stuffed

Here, we pretty much hang in our town of Pörtschach. The weather is hot, hazy and muggy. I can no longer see the Alps 😕 We also visited the next town towards the Italian border, Villach. And then we picked a typical Austrian place for lunch on the way back called Gasthaus Fruhmann. That was fun. I had my first and last Schnitzel of this trip there. Yummy. Tonight we visit a typical Austrian place here in town that we’ve been to before. We have eaten at most places here in town. These pictures are from Gasthaus Fruhmann.

I have been cooking in the apartment maybe half the time. It has been eye opening. The ingredients are just not up to the standards I’m used to. But also, I don’t have much to work with here. I bought thyme and oregano. That’s the extent of my herbs. I brought good Umbrian olive oil and pepperoncino, spicy peppers I cannot live without those. I always bring knives. The pots and pans are minimal. It is pleasant to eat on our terrace, because it gets very quiet at night, and by that, at six PM everybody disappears. There are a lot of families and that means a lot of children. Daytime is noisy with them.

I will do a recap of my feelings and observations about this trip once I’m finally back home in my beloved Umbertide.

Ciao! Or tschüss! as they say here.

Look what I found!

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For those of you who know me you won’t be surprised at my excitement. I found sweet corn! And in Austria of all places. I freely admit I am a corn snob and connoisseur. I adore sweet corn and I miss it a lot, living in Italy. They grow a lot of corn for animal feed and to make polenta, It is the same in most of Europe. They only grow it as animal food. But not for humans to eat. When I have seen any it has been picked for so long all its sweet juices have turned to starch. I don’t normally even try it if I do see it anymore.

One year I borrowed a friends land to try to grow my own. I had brought seeds from the US, three different kinds. I was moderately successful. Here is the culmination of my quest that year in my post called Corn. That same year I also tried “container corn” on our terrace. Sadly that was not so successful. Post on the Terrace Corn.

Anyway, yesterday we made the trip to the farmers market and there was corn! I took a chance and bought three ears. As everything in this country, it was the neatest, tidiest corn I have ever seen. Not a tassel in sight. Here are pictures.

My report is positive. It was very fresh, sweet and juicy. Maybe not “quite” up to US standards, but close enough and we devoured it with our meal las night
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Starting to head into the homestretch of this, too long, stay in Austria. I miss my home and my messy Italy. Next week we head back.

Weekend in the Bergenland

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Last week in Portschach was pretty quiet. There were several days of rain. I did take some walks along the promenade and took some pictures of the interesting architecture. We ate out a couple times.

On Friday we were off on another excursion. This time our destination was the Bergenland in Styria. This is a wine region. We drove along the very good roads that are in Austria. We haven’t found a bad road yet, not even the small ones. The first part of the trip after leaving Klagenfurt is some of the prettiest scenery I have ever seen. The alps are just to the south, then it becomes rolling hills, farms and dense forests. A very, very lot of forests with straight pines towering into the sky. You can see nothing within after the first fifty feet or so they are so dense. I loved driving through that part.

About 12:30, we decided to find lunch. I put in Google maps “restaurants” and there were many in towns off of the Autobahn. I randomly picked one which got a score of 4.8 and figured it would be a nice Gasthaus. We got off the highway and drove down pretty roads with great views across a large valley. The GPS took us to a village called Ligist. It was the quintessential Austrian village and the Restaurant Wörgötter was right on the main square.

There was a covered porch and we found a table outside. The locals looked very curious. The waitress was a beautiful young girl, slim with porcelain skin. We got some wine and the menus. Luckily I still remember a lot of my German and can read menus in German without any trouble. I decided to get more adventurous and I ordered two things I wasn’t familiar with. The appetizer is hard to describe but it had beets and kohlrabi as main ingredients. It was delicious. Then I ordered a braised veal shoulder dish which also was very good. Luther got the salmon sashimi and the cod. The plates were beautifully presented. It was not your typical Gasthaus! Sehr gut. I didn’t realize at the time it was actually a Michelin one star restaurant! 😳

While in the restaurant a couple came in. I couldn’t help marvelling at her outfit. It was a very short, flouncy dress and red knee socks and shoes. Austrian fashion I guess.

We drove onward past Graz and the countryside got uglier. Eventually as we entered Styria and drove further it began to get prettier but remained very flat. When we got near our apartment we stopped at a vinotek and bought some wine and sat outside with a couple glasses in the pretty, well manicured lawn area with many small buildings alongside it. Two had thatched roofs which I never saw here before.

We had read about a lodging option in the wine region with many of the old winery buildings being converted into cottages you can rent. They are called Kellerstöckl. Ours is the Kellerstöckl Andrea and Walter Mittl. Pretty little place. Tiny inside with a kitchen living dining area and a small bedroom and bath. Nicest part is the covered porch with grape vines, laden with grapes all over it. Nice big table and a view of the vinery grapes.

Saturday morning around 10:45 we planned to go and visit some wineries and the have lunch. Luther did some research and found 4 places he liked and off we went. It was cool and overcast. None of the places were more than 15 kilometers so not far. The roads were good. Some were very narrow. For the most part the land was flat except for the best wine area and there was a large hill on which were planted many vines. Here are pictures of some roads and also views from that hilltop.

We visited all four of Luther’s picks and, although TripAdvsor said they were open…they were not. So, by this time it was lunchtime and since our choice for lunch was ALSO closed I got on google maps and found a few in a town 17 kilometers away. The town was Grosspetersdorf. It had two choices. We decided on the Gasthaus. It was good enough. We sat outside and each had fish.

We stopped at a grocery store and bought some meat for our picnic this evening, and then we went to a winery we had visited that morning which showed they were open after two. It was a nice place. Luther bought nine bottles. We will take them back to Portschach to enjoy. We may be able to squeeze in some bottles when we return to Umbertide but the Porsche is pretty packed so can’t bring many.

Sunday. Another overcast day. We had a lazy morning and Luther researched places to eat. He found Restaurate Ratschen. It is an interesting enterprise with spa and sauna and 24 small cabins 24 square meters each arranged in a circle around a common area where they serve breakfast. I would have stayed there had I ever heard of it. Anyway, the restaurant was lovely. it was situated up on a hill with great views. Lots of glass ad wood.

The people were very nice. Lots of young people and an apprentice who was very young and eager to learn and the owner/manager was super kind to him and seemed happy to have him for 3 months. Our meal was very nice and the Austrian wines were spectacular. I had a appetizer of watermelon with cheese. it tasted more like tomato than watermelon and the cheese was imperceptible. It was still good if not as expected. Luther had beef tartar. We both had trout for an entree.

We decided to forgo dessert and have an after lunch drink. I got a sweet local wine which was much like port which I really liked – it was very creamy. Luther got Schnapps.

Tomorrow we return to Portschach. We will leave early-ish and drive straight through. It was a nice visit but I doubt I will return. It is so quiet here.

Random Observations
* Very little is old here except some of the farmsteads. Most of the cities were bombed in the war so they are rebuilt. Things were damaged in Italy, but not like here.
* The towns, except for the biggest ones, have no services at all. No stores or shops or restaurants. They are only residential towns with homes shuttered from the street so it is all very stark and empty. Uninviting.
* After Italy, this place is irritatingly tidy. 😁 Will it be hard to go back to messy, untidy Italy…nah!
* There are more bells in Austria than Italy.
* Both apartments have an abundant selection of egg cups of all things!
* Maybe not so surprising is that the glassware in both apartments is high quality crystal. Austria is known for its crystal. I have an entire set I bought years ago in Vienna. It was a gift from my Mom and Dad.

Weekend trip to Graz Austria

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Graz is only two hours from Portschach and we had never been. So we decided to take a weekend trip there. It is the second largest city in Austria. We stayed in the Schlossberghotel. Just at the north end of the old town. The building dates from the 1500s and was originally an artisan wood workshop for the aristocracy. Now a boutique hotel known as the art hotel. The owner has commissioned over 100 works of art specifically for places in the hotel. Our room has several. Here are a couple hotel pics.

Gift on arrival
I got a suite. it is the biggest room we ever had. But not expensive.

After we arrived we checked in and went for a walk. We stopped for a glass of wine in a plaza near us but it was also home to the amazing staircase up the Schlossberg to the clock tower and where the castle used to be. There is a lift and a funicular if you don’t want to do the stairs.

We decided on a place for dinner. Schmidhofer im Palais. We had a nice time. We enjoyed the ambiance. Not fancy. Good people watching. I had fried burrata with tomatoes and watermelon and branzino.

Schnaps

We woke to pouring rain. it was predicted. But it was a deluge. We had breakfast and stayed in for a while. We finally donned our raincoats and went down the street to the Graz museum. Mostly history of Graz but a special exposition had some art too. It was interesting. Graz was bombed during the war by the Americans. 30% of the city was destroyed. I delved into it a bit and found that Austria is a neutral nation. The Russians liberated them and in order for them to remain independent they agreed to that. They are not members of NATO.

Rainy morning

After the museum it had cleared so we went for a walk to check out the Murinsel. Built in 2003 in conjunction with the European Capital of Culture celebrations. They have an outdoor arena where they screen movies.

Then we walked into the altstadt where we explored a shopping street and visited the main square. There were some exquisitely decorated and painted buildings. The sun had come out and so had the people.

Door to an old bakery
Decorated buildings

Time for lunch! Luther chose Steirisches Wirtshaus, a very traditional restaurant. There was a great outside garten but it was very wet so we stayed in the outside, undercover area. I had forelle, which is trout served whole. One of my favourites. So good.

This concludes my trip report on our short trip to Graz. I really liked the city. Tomorrow we head back to Portschach. Our home away from home. Our house sitter sent us pictures of what we are missing. I miei pomodori.

Back to Portschach tomorrow. Ciao for now!