When our landlord introduced us to the cottage, he gave us a fantastic booklet of useful information - contact phone numbers, where to find and operate things in the cottage, his recommendations for cafes, bars and restaurants, things to see in the village, day trips etc and a "nice 1 hour walk" to circumnavigate the main village - which we chose as the main focus of today's activities.
We started by having coffee and croissants for brunch at a fabulous "funky" bar called the "Tuscher Bar" (one of the landlord's recommendations) in the main street and only a couple of hundred metres from our front door - and it was great (I'm looking forward to having an aperitif or two there at some stage). We strolled back through town, in and out of the shops, and then back home after a walk in a very small part of the the hillside park located right opposite our cottage.
Then a lovely skype conversation with Sig & Mark - during which we noticed that the time on the skype screen was different from the time on our watches. A quick investigation via google a bit later revealed that daylight saving was switched off (or on?) in Europe overnight and we had gained an extra hour! No wonder everyone was having breakfast so late in town this morning! After another skype call to Peg & Al, we set off for our 1 hour walk around the village.
First, a walk through the park that we had visited earlier - but this time all the way to the end. The park is unbelievably beautiful and unbelievably huge (long and narrow), with hundreds of deciduous trees, exquisite views of the Tuscan countryside - and probably some Umbrian countryside as well - and hardly any people in it. And at the end is a fancy clay court tennis centre which we walked around, and then started our climb - up and up and up a narrow winding road along the edge of the hill, past Frances Mayes house called Villa Bramasole (currently having the roof repaired) - cliffs going up as high as you can see on the left, and down as far as you can see on the right - and exquisite views everywhere.
And after an hour, we reached what we thought was the top of our walk, at a lovely bar with tables and chairs out on a terrace. As we walked in, an elegant young Italian couple were having lunch and had a little dog sitting under their table. We didn't speak to them, and they didn't speak to us, but their little dog went absolutely crazy. For some reason he was sure that he knew us and was so excited to see us again! He couldn't control himself and his owners had to release his leash so that he could talk to us. Anyway, after that we became best friends with the gorgeous couple and their little dog whose name is Bobby.
We had a glass of Italian beer each and a piece of pecorino cheese (as recommended by our landlord), Bobby wanted to sit with us, and when we left, the young couple both stood to shake our hands and wished us a "buona vacanza" and "buon viaggio".
So then back to our walk, which we soon discovered continued up a very, very steep hill to Santa Margherita church, where a service was about to commence and dozens of people were filing in. And finally, we began to walk downhill - on steep, steep winding cobbled streets and steep, steep sets of stone steps! My poor boy found it a bit tough going on his crook feet and knees, but we took it very carefully and slowly and finally arrived back at our cottage about 3 hours after we left! So much for the 1 hour walk. In fact we reckon that we probably achieved the equivalent of what Kerri & Oliver did in the Tough Mudder course on the weekend. Anyway it was fabulous and we both loved it. What a magnificent town Cortona is - so elegant, so well maintained and so exquisitely beautiful.
And then tonight we went to a restaurant recommended not only by our landlord, but also by the Michelin guide and every web site I could find - Ristorante La Bucaccia - where we were very lucky to get a table. Because it has such a good reputation, we decided to have an entree and a main course each, with some vegetables to share. They didn't seem to have a house wine, so Brian, with the help of the owner, chose a bottle of what is known as a Super Tuscan - this one was a cab sav merlot blend.
If only we'd been warned about the complimentary extras! First the owner brought us 2 little pieces of their homemade bread - topped with 2 different olive oils from the family farm, and then a little plate of sliced prosciutto from the family farm, and then a little board with pieces of unpasteurised sheep's cheese also from the family farm - and of course a basket of bread and grissini sticks. And then we had our 2 courses - we both started with homemade tagliattini with porcini mushrooms, Brian had a "trilogy" of wild boar (he called it 3 little pigs) and I had slow braised beef cheeks (cooked for 10 hours), and we shared grilled eggplant, zucchini, red peppers and carrot. And just as we were about to order coffee and ask for the bill, the waitress brought a huge jar of homemade biscuits full of dried fruit which she said are normally served at Christmas, and gave us one each, and the owner brought us 2 little glasses of some rich Tuscan red dessert wine! Then finally we had our coffee and went to the desk to pay the bill where we were presented with a Baci chocolate each and the owner wanted to give us a glass of grappa before we left!!
It was all fabulous and we walked home through the little town that was starting to close down for the night. And tomorrow? I think we might have to consider repeating that Tough Mudder course to burn up at least some of the calories we gained this evening.
This morning we walked through the busy Saturday morning market at Rialto Mercato and cruised through the mist on the Grand Canal to board our train for Florence. We were both sad to leave, as always, and there are still so many places that we had wanted to visit.
We had tickets on the new privately run, high-speed "Italo" train which has been operating for just over 12 months and it was fantastic. They have their own lounge at Venice station and the train was very new, very comfortable, with free wifi, lots of well-dressed professional cabin staff serving fantastic coffee etc and very fast - we cruised through the countryside at 300km/hr.
We arrived in Florence after only 2 hours and had to walk what was said to be a short distance to the Europcar rental office! After a bit of a false start, armed with my downloaded Michelin walking guide and map, and a visit to a nearby hotel to seek additional help (I told the concierge that we would stay there next time we're in Florence), we finally made it to Europcar at about 12:40. And guess what, as of 5 days ago, they now close at 12:30 on Saturdays instead of 4:00, and don't open again until Monday mornings! After several phone conversations and text messages with Frank, our ever-helpful travel agent, and lunch on the footpath at a swish, modern cafe nearby, we finally jumped into a taxi and collected our car from Florence airport.
Then a 2 hour drive to Cortona to meet our landlord and move into our beautiful cottage. The cottage is right in the middle of the action in this exquisite hillside village, we have a large cottage garden, 5 large rooms, all tastefully decorated with very solid antique furniture (no Ikea or Carrefour items here), lovely paintings, fantastic books, a romantic 4 poster-bed, beautiful linen etc etc. It could not be better.
I brought our copy of "Under the Tuscan Sun" with me, because it was written in Cortona, and Brian has been re-reading it over the last couple of days. Our landlord told us that the author, Frances Mayes, divides her time between here and San Francisco. We had parked our car outside our cottage to offload our luggage in a "no parking" bay with the hazard lights flashing. Our landlord left telling us that we'd better move our car fairly soon because the local constables could fine us, and while I was grabbing my handbag and changing my glasses, Brian stood by the car waiting for me. A well dressed American woman of about his age walked by and gave him the same advice about the need to move the car fairly promptly.
After we'd parked the car in a small carpark just down the hill, we walked about 100 metres from our cottage to the main street leading to the piazza to do a bit of food shopping and to book a restaurant for dinner - and sat at an outside cafe in the little piazza for some cold Italian beer. It is the most exquisite, elegant little town, with fantastic shops, galleries, bars and cafes everywhere and we cannot wait to explore the whole town tomorrow. We brought our shopping back to the cottage and did a bit of unpacking and I checked the internet for images of Frances Mayes - and Brian is certain that she is the woman who warned him about not parking for too long in the no-parking bay.
Our dinner was fabulous - home-made tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms, scallopini limone (reminded me of Sunday nights at the Capri in Freo), coffee and a jug of local red wine - served by a gorgeous middle-aged Italian waiter. And the only negative about Cortona? Everyone speaks English!! I order things in Italian - they seem to understand me perfectly but then answer me in English. I'm tempted to say that I don't understand English but I'm not yet at the stage to be able to pull that one off - maybe in another 3 years or so?
So back home where we sat in our living room, cuddled up on one of the sofas with a glass of wine each and watched the "Under the Tuscan Sun" dvd that was on the bookshelf. Beautiful images of Cortona, and some of Siena and Positano as well - but the movie? Absolute rubbish - unless you're interested in the scenery!
We decided to go to Gino's at Academia for breakfast this morning and were delighted to see that Friday's market was still being set up with boats everywhere, delivering all types of produce, and also that there was mist on the grand canal - something I have been hoping to see.
We spent a bit more time on the vaporetti than we had planned (caught the wrong one and ended up at the other end of the canal) and then walked miles and miles between San Toma and Rialto, then between Rialto and San Marco in and out of shops everywhere along the way, dropping in at "home" part way through to dispose of some shopping, have a bite of lunch, and to change into slightly less casual clothes, as well as having a delightful and very happy skype call to Peg & Al and Kerri, Oliver & Ozzie who were visiting them for dinner.
In summary, today's shopping covered:
1. More cheese and proscuitto crudo from our favourite cheese shop.
2. Pears, bright red tomatoes and Sicilian grapes from the market.
3. A few souvenirs for us.
4. Lots of little gifts for everyone at home.
5. Birthday presents for Kerri and Freya.
6. A beautiful gift from Brian to me - a necklace from the same jewellery shop where he bought me a bracelet 3 years ago.
And after all of that, we ended up at Harry's Bar which was absolutely packed and we sat upstairs at a tiny little table, where I had a Bellini to start followed by Tagliatelle all'Amatriciana and Brian had a Dry Martini followed by Pappardelle with Saffron and Bacon and we shared a small jug of red wine. Our waiter brought a complimentary dessert for us to share - a huge slice of lemon meringue pie - which neither of us felt like eating at all but managed to nibble away at just to be polite!
Then back home on the vaporetto in back-deck seats after a tiring but lovely day.
During the past week, we have spent so many hours waiting on the floating vaporetto stops and travelling on the vaporetti themselves, that I now have a perpetual sense of balancing on water. Wonder for how long that's going to last?
This morning we met Anka and Lincoln (Oscar decided to spend the day in town) on the other side of Rialto Bridge and had coffee at Academia before setting off for Burano - the little island of lace and fishermen. Our main reason for going there however was to have lunch at a michelin 1 star restaurant called "Venissa". After coffee, we headed to the southern side of Venice and had to catch the vaporetto to the northern side - and we obviously went the wrong way around because it took forever. Then a 30 minute wait for the next ferry to the islands, and a very long journey across the lagoon to Burano.
Our lunch booking was for 1:00pm and we finally arrived (after several phone calls to confirm that we were on our way and to get final directions) at about 1:30pm. The restaurant is very small, very modern and set in the most exquisite and huge walled garden - across a bridge from Burano without a single tourist in sight. Our table overlooked the garden which contains 1 hectare of grapevines - the last remaining vineyard in Venice - plus beautiful, healthy vegetable plots maintained by the local residents, from whom the restaurant sources most of its vegetables, beautiful trees, lawn and birds everywhere. It is heavenly.
There were 5 staff in the restaurant - 3 in the kitchen, a young woman waiting on our table and the maitre'd / sommelier - and we were the only diners. And what a lunch it was:
Complimentary starters: Creamy salted cod on a rich coffee reduction (looked like vegemite) topped with a soft, thin wafer containing pistachios - sensational.
Entree: Brian and I both had lasagnietti (3 layers of wafer thin, round pasta sheets about 5cm diameter made from a mix of ordinary flour and balotti bean flour) topped with finely chopped herbs from the garden and filled with clams and barlotti beans in a creamy sauce - it was absolutely delicious and tasted of the sea.
Mains: We all had Risotto with leeks and chopped razor clams, in a bright green stock, topped with leek butter and finely chopped walnuts. I've never had risotto like this before. The risotto was perfectly cooked of course and the chef told us she got the beautiful green colour by lightly cooking the green part of the leeks (the only leeks that we've seen here are very small - what we would call baby leeks) and then refreshing the leaves in iced water before pureeing and I assume, straining them. It was sensational - beautiful colours and textures combined with amazing aroma and taste.
Dessert: Lincoln and I both had camomile tea icecream (very gently flavoured) served on the softest lemon meringue (just a hint of lemon) with a bit of crumbled waffle-like biscuit - it was exquisite.
To drink: A bottle of white and a bottle of red which Lincoln chose with recommendations from the sommelier, and we all finished with espresso coffee.
The chef (Antonia Klugmann) came to chat with us before we left - she is a very young woman, very unassuming and friendly - and she has 1 of only 3 michelin starred restaurants in Venice (all just 1 star). What a fantastic way to finish our holiday together.
Then a leisurely walk through the gardens and back across the bridge to the little island village, jam-packed with tourists. Anka and I headed off to do some lace shopping while the boys went off to see the leaning tower. They obviously didn't spend much time there because Anka and I spotted them having a cold beer outside a little bar across the canal from us very soon after we parted company.
Back to Venice on the vaporetto, a walk to Anka & Lincoln's apartment to say our goodbyes, and a quick walk home to get ready for the opera! Then off again on the vaporetto to San Toma and a complicated journey through narrow streets and across little bridges to the Scuola Grande S. Giovanni Evangelista - an exquisite, huge old church that is now an opera house of sorts. We saw the complete opera of Tosca, performed on a small stage in front of what was once the alter, with 6 fabulous singers and an orchestra of 4! We had seats in the second row and it was fantastic (though we both thought a bigger orchestra was probably needed).
By the time we left, it was very dark and quiet everywhere, so we just followed the paths with the most lights and the most people and eventually found ourselves at the railway station! No idea how we got there but we did! Then back home absolutely exhausted. Another long but wonderful day!
This morning I set the alarm for 7:15 so that we could go down to watch the market being set up. I imagined that there would be boats everywhere offloading fish, fruit and vegetables and that the canal would be a hive of activity. However all but 1 boat had been offloaded, and the stall holders were finishing unpacking crates when we arrived. One of the stall holders who had everything unpacked said good morning to me and I asked him at what time he had arrived (all in Italian of course) and he answered "alle quattro" (at 4 o'clock)! I decided there and then that seeing the market being set up probably wouldn't be all that great.
Anyway the market looked fabulous and we jumped on a vaporetto full of workers and school kids, and headed to our coffee shop. It was lovely to be out at that time of the morning - no hawkers or beggers anywhere - and we saw Venice's only female gondolier working at the front of one of the traghetti (gondolas that ferry people from one side of the grand canal to the other) with passengers standing holding a brief case in one hand and checking their mobile phone with the other. I'm not sure who is the most skilful - the gondoliers or the passengers - probably the latter!
By then we were feeling quite sleep-deprived and went back to the apartment for a bit of rest before heading out again just after 12 for the Dorsodura walking tour that we failed to complete yesterday - but first a quick trip around the corner to our favourite restaurant in Venice (we first discovered it 5 years ago when we were here with Oliver and his and our mates James & Simon) to book for Friday night dinner - but they are completely booked out. Oh No! Can you fit us in now? A quick look around the restaurant by the owner and the only table available inside was in the reception area - perfect!
Lunch was very simple and sensational. A bottle of wine recommended by the owner, a plate of the most perfect home-made tagliatelle with scallops and porcini mushrooms, some bread and finally coffee. This restaurant, Antiche Carampane has lost nothing. It's name was taken from the name of the area in the 15th century (Carampane) when it was the red-light district. The bridge just at the side of the restaurant is called Ponte delle Tette (you can imagine what that means in Italian) where the girls were apparently encouraged to stand topless in an effort to convert gay men!
Then finally off to Dorsoduro. It is such a beautiful area - parts of which we have visited before, but many parts which we'd not seen, including the beautiful and peaceful formal garden behind Ca' Rezzonica - just a few metres from the grand canal. Dorsoduro is an area for Venetian residents more than tourists with lots of children everywhere and interesting, non-touristy shops. I popped into one of them to buy a birthday present for Jacqui and I think the world outside did a quick 180 degree turn causing us to step out of the shop and head off in exactly the wrong direction!
It took us so long to find our way home - on 2 separate vaporetti calling at Giudecca and having to disembark at San Marco etc etc - leaving us with very little time to get ourselves ready for our chamber music concert at Chiesa San Vidal on the other side of Academia Bridge. As it happened, the concert started half an hour later than expected and we managed to get front row seats (about 2 metres from the lead violin) in the old church to see and hear 8 musicians from Interpreti Veneziani playing 3 Vivaldi, 1 Bach and 1 Mendelssohn concerti, and an encore of one of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. What a magnificent way to end another fabulous day in Venice.
This morning after breakfast in our apartment (half of one of those cricket-ball sized buffalo mozarellas that explodes when you cut it, bright read tomatoes and toast) we set off for our favourite coffee shop again and were planning to visit the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition that is showing at Academia, but the huge, unmoving queue caused us to rethink.
We jumped back on the vaporetto, got back-deck seats and cruised to the other end of the grand canal, getting off at Piazzale Roma. Then onto the fast #2 vaporetto back to Rialto where we crossed the bridge and who should we see but our landlord with a gondolla full of tourists - looked nothing like the romantic event in which we participated last night!
Then a quick visit to our corner store before heading back to our apartment for a light lunch of prosciutto crudo, bastardo cheese, tomatoes and grapes and then heading off for another of our "Italy" book's recommended walks - this time of the Dorsoduro area. We jumped off the vaporetto at Ca' Rezzonico, walked no more than 200 metres to the first campo (piazza), and there, in an old church, was another Leonardo da Vinci exhibition - without any queue at all. So in we went and it was fantastic.
There were dozens of working models made as per sketches done be Leonardo over 500 years ago (may have been the same exhibition that came to Perth), including a parachute, hang-glider and bicycle. We had completely run out of time to continue our walk by the time we left, and headed home for our reunion with Anka, Lincoln and Oscar who have arrived in Venice from Verona.
In Venice, there is an association of 14 restaurants called Ristoranti Della Buona Accoglienza Venezia which promotes the use of local produce and Brian and I have now been to 4 of them. They have all been fabulous and tonight's restaurant was no exception.
After pre-dinner drinks at our apartment, we all headed off in back-deck vaporetto seats for the long trip to Giardini in the Castello area and the restaurant called "Il Nuovo Galeon". I had previously told Anka about the tradition of lovers kissing under Rialto bridge, and at the appropriate moment, we gave our respective (and very surprised) husbands passionate kisses on the lips!
Most of us started with razor clams which were sensational, Brian and I had the grilled fresh fish fillets for 2 for mains - also fabulous - then dessert and/or coffee followed by complimentary ice-cold limencello brought to us by the owner.
Then back to our stops on the most perfect still and warm night in Venice - in front-deck seats.
Our day started with a simple breakfast in our apartment and then a bit of shopping at our favourite cheese shop for some mozzarella di buffala, a piece of bastardo (if you'll pardon the expression) cheese and some prosciutto crudo, before heading off on vaporetto #1 for coffee at our favourite cafe in Academia. We reckon that the vaporetti have 4 classes - economy (inside seating set out like a big bus), premium economy (standing in the crowded middle section with great views and fresh air), business (sitting in one of the 12 seats on the back deck) and first (sitting in one of the 16 seats on the front deck) - and today we managed to score back deck seats.
Brian was in his element - camera clicking non-stop - and as we approached Academia, asked if I would mind staying on the boat because the light was so fantastic for photos!
So that is what we did - and stayed on board until Santa Maria Elisabetta, the last stop before the vaporetto sails across the lagoon to the islands. We just stepped over to the vaporetto stop next door and waited for the next #1 heading in the opposite direction and this time scored front deck seats! The sun was shining, there were boats (including an official boat of army officers, a police boat and a couple of fire-engine boats) and gondolas everywhere (including one with a soprano singing an extremely slow version of "Volare" accompanied by piano accordion) and Venice looked spectacular.
It was lunch time by the time we reached our cafe, but I couldn't resist having a cappuccino (only meant to be had for breakfast), Brian had his standard espresso dopio and we each had a panini with roasted capsicum, grilled zucchini and grilled eggplant. I thought that the coffee was the best I've ever had in my life - but maybe I was just caught up in the romance of the day!.
Then back to our apartment on the vaporetto, stopping at the market for a few more vegies, then a quick skype call to Peg & Al and a backgammon tournament, before taking the walking tour of San Polo, as suggested in our "Italy" book.
When our landlord visited on Saturday evening, I tried to speak with him in Italian but he insisted on speaking to me in English. Now this is the landlord who some years ago sent me an email thanking me for the costumes - I assumed that he had sent the email to the wrong person and realised just in time that he was thanking me for the customers I'd sent to him.
So on Saturday, after he showed us on the map where his house is located and invited us to meet him in front of his garden at 8pm tonight, I thought that he was inviting us to his house. It was only today, after he replied to my email about the internet connection, that I realised that he had invited us to meet him in front of his gondola!
So guess where we've just been - cruising up the grand canal and around the most beautiful, romantic and quiet canals behind Rialto in the dark, in a gondola powered by our landlord as a gift for being good costumes!! Oh I love Venice!
