We read everywhere that the one must-do experience on the Amalfi coast is the drive along the coast from Sorrento to Amalfi, either as a passenger on a bus, or driving in a car. We were warned against taking a car into the little towns as finding parking is a difficult challenge, but we were there after high tourist season so it wasn’t too busy. What was more of a challenge was the drive itself. We’d learned by now that Italian drivers are maniacs and wild cards on the road, but driving with them on these winding, cliff-hanging roads was crazy! It’s every man and woman for him/herself and they try to pass other cars every chance they get on roads that are barely wide enough for two cars. The roads are so winding the practice is to honk before every corner to warn oncoming drivers, which means you pretty much hear excessive tooting on the road at 3 second intervals. I was hard pressed to find an Italian without dings and dents on his car. The tense (but fun!) ride is worth it for the heart-stopping views along the coast as you pass the beautiful pastel towns of Positano, Priano, Furore and Amalfi built up from the sea and into the hills, looking out onto shimmering blue water.

The best way to tell the story of this coastal paradise is through photos, although they don’t really do it justice.

Ravello
We drove to Ravello, a village perched on a hilltop just past Amalfi to visit the Villa Cimbrone gardens.

View from Villa Cimbrone gardens in Ravello

Views from lunch

Sorrento
We had an awesome sunny lunch at Delfino’s at the Marina Grande in Sorrento. The best seafood risotto we had on the trip! At least three groups of friends had recommended the risotto so we had to try it…amazing!

Priano
We loved the little town of Priano. It was much less touristy, and felt more authentic. We stopped there to watch the sunset, while the neighbourhood kids played in the piazza in front of the church. After sunset we enjoyed some great regional wines (Primitivo and Aglianico) at Vivaro Wine Bar. We highly recommend this spot! The owner Gennaro knows his wine, and knows his way around a kitchen. He served us two delicious pastas on the house while we enjoyed our wine–the first was a spicy ravioli dish and the second was a delicious fresh pasta vongole with clams.

Sant Agata/Massa Lubrense
After eating out quite a bit for almost three months, we enjoyed settling in to our own routine in our kitchen at La Campanella. Every day at four o’clock we enjoyed an aperitivo of Aperol spritz, or a glass of wine and made our game plan for dinner. We made homemade gnocchi with homemade pesto one night (Mitchell’s turned out far better than mine!). Another night we made a squid pasta dish with the encouragement and instruction from a few of the locals. It had to be Spaghetti No.5 (on this they were adamant!) with sauteed squid, garlic, chilis and tomatoes. The fishmonger also gave us the local special recipe for Pezzogna d’all Aqua Pazza (Fish in Crazy Water). Pezzogna is a local fish, and the recipe is very simple and delicious. Salt the fish all over, drizzle it will olive oil and put it in a pan with water, garlic and tomatoes. Traditionally the water would have been salt water right from the sea.

Local squid

Pezzogna

We tackled a few amazing hikes in Massa Lubrense. The coast here is protected as a marine reserve and rich with ruins from a few thousand years ago. We hiked to one point with a fantastic view of the Isle of Capri, and a narrow, steep, natural crack in the coastal rock that led down to the water.

Ancient stairway to the ocean built in the rock

Rusted ship mooring

View of Capri

Also nearby were the ruins of an ancient villa built by Greek aristocracy looking out over Sorrento. We watched local fisherman cast their lines (not one catch in over an hour!), and wandered through the rubble and the ancient natural baths of the villa.

View of Sorrento

Baths in behind the ancient villa

Probably the most aggressive and rewarding hike we did in this area was to a small secluded beach at the recommendation from a local. It was a steep hike for 2km straight down a sketchy and rocky path to blue water, a pebbly beach, magnificent rock face and a view of Capri at sunset. The water was chilly but we still went in, on October 19th!

Positano!
We visited Positano on two different days. It is a picturesque, secluded, pastel town built into the cliffs of the Amalfi Coast and deserves all the praise it gets for its beauty. I’d say the most visited and touristy of the Amalfi towns, with every other shop selling either the infamous Limoncello or brightly coloured ceramics, and bustling with tourists even in late October when the other towns were quieting down. We made our way down the steep cobblestone streets to end up accidently at the tail end of a wedding procession en route to the church down by the beach. We stopped at Chez Black on the beach and enjoyed a fresh Sorrento mozzarella caprese salad, and fried anchovies, that we shared with the resident stray cat.

For our second visit to Positano we rented a little zodiac to check out the coast from the water. This was a highlight! Mitchell was a skilled captain for what was quite a bumpy ride at first! The views were awesome…I think I took 150 photos on this two-hour adventure. We stopped in a quiet bay at Maiora to soak in the sun and share a bottle of bubbly. Blissful moments in paradise!

View of the town of Atrani from our boat

In the bay at Maiori,  blissfully bubbly-fied

Paris to Positano is complete!

The Amalfi Coast was a stunning end to our stay in Italy. It’s one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever visited!

Here’s a link to more photos from the Amalfi Coast:
Amalfi Coast Photos

The two weeks at L’Ariete agritourismo provided a great home base for touring the wine regions of Umbria and Tuscany. Umbria, produces white wines, and it’s prized red, unique to Umbria from the region of Montefalco, is made from the Sagrantino grape. The Sagrantino grape produces a very dry tannic wine with a little fruitiness, and is best when it’s allowed to age for several years to taste it’s true potential. Sagrantino di Montefalco is the premium wine, requiring 100% sagrantino grapes and tastes best with longer aging, where the Rosso di Montefalco is an everyday drinking wine that is a blend of sagrantino and sangiovese, and delicous to drink with traditional pastas and cheeses of the region.

To whet our Italian wine tasting palates we headed to Montefalco, and brought Udo and Dagmar, our friends also staying at L’Ariete with us. Our first stop was Arnold Caprai winery, a massive producer shipping wines all over the world. It had a bit of the “commerical winery” feel to it but served us some great wines with fresh bread covered in olive oil and rock salt, which softened the hard sagrantinos nicely.

Tasting at Arnold Caprai

After a delicious lunch at the top of Montefalco we went to Adanti winery where we were greeted by a very charming older gentleman that guided us through our tastings. The space was less sparkly and new than Arnold Caprai, but the hospitality warmer and more genuine, and the wines, much better! Our host was Alvaro Palini, a man with a twinkle in his eye, a mischevious and spritely air about him far younger than his years. He spoke only Italian and French, so we mustered through in French as best we could. Alvaro was once a tailor working in fashion in Paris for 18 years (no wonder I was charmed!), and then returned to his roots in Umbria to produce these fabulous wines. Alvaro gave us a few glasses and placed a row of whites and reds in front of us and let us loose to pour our own tastings. The white, Arquata Grechetto DOC, was a combination of Grechetto, a grape only grown in this region, and Tuscan Trebbiano grapes. Our favourite reds were the Arquata Montefalco Rosso DOC, and Arquata Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG. The latter we bought to bring home to Vancouver to rest while we salivate over it until it’s fully ready in ten years or so.

Lunch in Montefalco at an all local and organic cafe – Bruschetta con olio with their house made olive oil was the special, mmm!

Tuscany

In Tuscany, it’s all about Sangiovese. This grape makes a delicious full bodied red wine that ages well, especially when oaked for 12-18 months. Other than the Super Tuscan wines, almost all red wines in this region are Sangiovese.

Our first tasting in Tuscany was in Montepulciano where we had a great morning visit at Cantine Dei. It’s a family run estate that just fell into wine production after the first small recreational wine they produced 25 years ago turned out so well. The prized wine of Montepulciano is the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, but all of Cantine Dei’s wines (the Rosso di Montepulciano, their IGT/SuperTuscan and their vino Nobile) were smooth, balanced, elegant and ready to drink.

Playing with the friendly dog that the family had rescued and ‘adopted’ from the side of the highway three days earlier

Vino Nobile aging in oak

A quick 45 minute drive and we stopped in Montalcino for lunch, home of the big, delicious, and more expensive Brunellos. The restaurant was called, Il Grappolo Blu and we ordered pasta with pancetta, peas, rosemary and chilli peppers, and rabbit stewed in a Brunello red wine sauce for our main. So good!

After lunch we headed to the beautiful Tuscan estate of Ciacci Piccolomini where we quickly made friends with Martina, our guide for the next couple hours. We got a full tour of the facilities and saw a lot of post-harvest action at the winery. We tasted 5 red wines, accompanied with bread and olive oil. For the most part the wineries in this area produce a Rosso di Montalcino, a Brunello di Montalcino, a Brunello di Montalcino Riserva and a Super Tuscan. Ciacci’s suite of these wines were amazing. Full, fruity, spicy, soft and balanced. Yum!

Rolling hills view from Ciacci Piccolomini

After maceration and pressing, these grape skins and seeds were being sent to make grappa

From Ciacci we had a fun drive on the gravel roads through the rolling hills, vineyards and olive groves to our next stop, Poggio Antico. There are over 200 wineries in just the area of Montalcino and we were fortunate to pick two great ones. We found Poggio Antico down a a long tree-lined road. We tasted several of Poggio’s wines, including their Brunello Riserva. We splurged and bought a Brunello that we can lay down in our closet/”cellar” for a few years.

Driveway to Poggio Antico

View from the estate

Massive 43 hectolitre Slovenian oak barrels – commonly used in Tuscany

Chianti

En route to Florence for a few nights we drove through the middle of Chianti country and visited the “Butcher of Tuscany”. Our guide book spoke highly of it so we weren’t sure if was going to be very good, or just very touristy. Turns out, it was more than very good! Dario Cecchini, the Butcher of Tuscany, has 3 restaurants and a macelleria (butcher shop) all on the same block in the small hilltop village of Panzano in Chianti. We chose MacDario, his own take on fast food. The menu choice was either a burger with sage fries or a mixed plate of meat, accompanied buy a number of his homemade sides and sauces including homemade pepper jelly, mustard and ketchup – all amazing! Dario is overly passionate about how his meat is raised and handled, and uses every possible inch of the animal. The place was packed when we arrived on a brisk sunny afternoon and had to wait about 30 minutes. We were ushered through the back door to the butcher shop to hangout while we waited for seats to open up. I couldn’t think of a better way to wait in line…in the butcher shop you are invited to pour yourself a glass of Dario’s own Chianti wine, eat from trays of meats and cheeses, and watch Dario and his fellow butchers man-handle the meats. A notable snack was their Chianti butter, a spreadable treat of lard, rosemary, cracked pepper and salt…Mmm.

Dario Cecchini doing what he does

With a mostly empty stomach and a healthy wine buzz, we both ordered his burger, a large portion of breadcrumb-crisped, rare-cooked beef, served without a bun, alongside sage roast potatoes/fries and some greens. The beef was delicious and super flavourful, especially with the homemade sauces. We had a good chat with our friendly Canadian server (one of the many butchers who has come to learn from the master – four of twelve working at Dario’s were from Canada) about being a butcher and by the time we left Mitchell was convinced this was his ticket out of the rat race and that he was going to become a butcher. Not sure if his sensitive nose could handle it, or if he’d like working weekends, but a tempting idea nonetheless.

Here’s a snippet from Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, when he visited Dario in Panzano:
Anthony’s Visit to Tuscany

We topped off our Tuscany experience in the beautiful city of Florence, staying in a downtown apartment for 3 nights before heading south for the last leg of our trip. We didn’t do anything touristy and just walked the streets and lived like a Florentine for a couple days. Our apartment had a well-equipped kitchen so we cooked up a tasty Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us with some of Dario’s fennel dusted pork chops and Chianti wine.

Zanobini wine bar – fun Enoteca full of crazy locals where we sampled several Chiantis

The Duomo in Florence, a less than 5-minute walk from where we stayed

One of Florence’s famous leather markets – We did quite well here!

Here’s a link to more photos from Umbria, Tuscany and Florence:
Umbria/Tuscany Photos
Florence Photos

Before we embarked on the hunt we learned a few key things about Umbrian truffle hunting:

1. In Umbria, they use dogs to hunt for truffles. This is because their noses are just as good as pigs, but while both dogs and pigs can get overzealous about their ‘find’ so that some try to eat them, it’s a lot easier to pull a dog off a tasty truffle than it is to wrestle a pig.

2. Truffles can’t be cultivated, but are the result of perfect mineral and soil combinations that nurture the growth of the precious fungus underground at the base of oak and hazelnut trees.

3. There are several different types of truffles, each with their own season. We were there in time for the end of the summer black, known as the “people’s truffle”, because they are easier to find and more prolific compared to the other more elusive (and more expensive) winter white & winter black. In winter white and winter black truffle seasons hunting is fierce business, where good truffle spots are secret and coveted, and where some hunters even resort to poisoning each other’s dogs! A kilogram of precious winter white truffle can sell for as much as $20,000!

Off we went into the woods with Cecilia, our young Italian/English translator, and Tony and Chris to join the small group and three truffle hunters and two dogs, Emma, the younger one, and Sandy, a little older and more experienced. Ten steps in and the dogs were off! Each following her own nose (they use females because their sense of smell is better for finding and protecting their pups) and her own technique, Emma and Sandy wasted no time in hunting down those little black tasty nuggets.

“Sandy Qua!”

Within a minute Emma had found her first one. Emma’s technique was to sniff out the truffle, scuff away the leaves, dig down to it and lay down on top of the area to protect it. Sandy, on the other hand, would dig down to find her truffle treasure, and if her hunter was too far behind she’d seize the opportunity to swallow that funghi down! Sometimes he made it there in time to pry it out of her mouth…Mmm perfect ingredients for a Tartufi Tagliatelle con Doggy Breath.

It really was an exciting and hilarious experience with the dogs running off, the hunters following them, and those of us in the group trying to keep up, splitting off to follow one of the dogs from one precious truffle discovery to another. Our perception that truffles would be hard to find was proved so very wrong by Sandy and Emma and the fruitful soil of the Umbrian countryside. We collected upwards of 20 truffles in just shy of an hour!

Our truffle haul was delivered to the Tartufi Bianconi store and workshop in Citta Di Castello where we all met for a cooking demonstration and lunch. Gabriella was our host there and was so delightful. Warm, welcoming, informative and a darn fine chef when it came to preparing her truffle dishes. We sipped on Prosecco and watched her prepare a few tasty truffle crostinis with their truffle products ranging from white truffle butter, prepared summer black truffle and porcini mushroom sauce, fresh, sliced summer black truffle sauteed in garlic and olive oil, and winter black truffle spread. And that was just a taster to start! After that Gabriella sat us down for a 6-course lunch, each course delicately highlighting the different truffle flavours. It was unforgettable!

Gabriella in her kitchen

Bowl full of treasure…clean, fresh summer black truffles. I think the one we pried from Sandy’s mouth is on the bottom left

Truffled Flan

Homemade ravioli and polenta, with truffles of course!

At the end of lunch we were all issued a certificate in our name qualifying us as bonafide truffle hunters…a nice touch. If we could have brought some truffles home we would have, but the summer black ones only stay fresh for 10 days. So we settled for a sweet consolation, leaving Tartufi Bianconi with a bag full of truffled goodies including the white truffle butter, truffle honey (so good with cheese!), and the black truffle and porcini mushroom sauce. Cozy, rainy, winter Vancouver dinners at home will be a little tastier this year!

Kitchen and dining room where we spent many evenings cooking and enjoying wine

The beautiful alfresco dining area at L’Ariete where we enjoyed Martina’s wonderful dinners and many sunny caprese salad lunches

Pathway to Montone

Firstly, the people we met at L’Ariete were what made it special. Our hosts Andreas and Martina, were always smiling and despite their long to-do lists (clean the pool, feed the sheep, drive to Rome or Florence for pick ups, harvest grapes, prepare dinner for guests, laundry, etc.) they were always willing to stop for a chat with us. Also staying at L’Ariete while we were there were two wonderful couples who became our good friends. Tony and Chris from Portland (so close to home, they’re daughter goes to school at UBC!) were so much fun and we bonded over many conversations about delicious food and wine. We also got to know Udo and Dagmar, a couple from Hamburg, Germany who are blind, but clearly live life to its fullest. We were humbled and amazed on several occasions by Udo and Dagmar and learned a lot from them.

Us with Tony and Chris from Portland

Dagmar and Udo from Hamburg

In addition to enjoying the wonderful meals Martina made for us at her in-house restaurant at L’Ariete, we often made dinner in our apartment with ingredients straight from their garden. Although end of the season, we found several tomatoes and eggplants to cook up with pasta for dinner, caprese salads for lunch, and watermelons and figs to enjoy for breakfast. These were some of our favourite meals in Umbria. And yes, Mitchell ate lots of tomatoes! And for the most part, I think he enjoyed them!

Mmm, burrata from the market and tomatoes from the garden

Fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden in our pasta for dinner

We were so very lucky to have amazing weather the whole time we stayed in Umbria. For 13 out of 14 days we had sun and 25-28C weather during the days, which meant the pool was still open. Normally, a 68-72F pool would not be my cup of tea, but for some reason we embraced it, swimming about a kilometre most days. Must have had something to do with the beautiful sun, the fact that we were surrounded by the rolling green hills of the Italian countryside, and wanting to feel somewhat productive for at least half an hour a day after several indulgent weeks of travelling. We swam right up until October 6th!

Rachel doing her daily laps in the pool, joined by Udo and Dagmar

L’Ariete’s land is home to grape vines that are about 40-50 years old. And while we were there they were ripe to be harvested. It’s funny, planning for our trip we were hoping to volunteer at a winery in France or Italy for harvest time but didn’t manage to line anything up, and then by chance Andreas mentioned he was going to tackle his vines on his own. Eagerly, we volunteered to help. Harvesting with Andreas was definitely a unique experience. He and Martina had only been operating L’Ariete since December, so they have no idea what kinds of white and red grapes are growing there, or how to make wine out of them yet. It was a very special first harvest to be a part of, and we have no doubt that in the years to come they will make some delicious wines, jams and jellies out of these grapes.

Mitchell and Andreas in the vines with Montone up the hill in the background

Some additional highlights from our day trips to surrounding villages in the photos below. More churches, art and history than we can sum up in a post!

Trevi – our first market we hit up on our arrival

Gubbio – meticulously preserved medieval village

Sienna’s stunning Duomo, inside and out

Sienna’s massive central piazza

Apparently, they grow them big in Sienna!

Terni’s man-made waterfall, built around 300 BC

One of our favourite cultural sights we visited in Umbria was an exhibition of the works of abstract expressionist and conceptual artist, Alberto Burri. After seeing beautiful and amazing medieval and renaissance art and architectural examples in the churches frescoes and museums, of Italy, it was enriching to experience some contemporary art. His works are housed in two different exhibition spaces, one in the town of Citta Di Castello, and one just outside the town in converted tobacco-drying barns. Burri used one small area of these hangar-sized spaces as his studio, and once inside you can understand why…his works are huge! A native of Citta Di Castello, Burri’s work has been exhibited all over the world and credited with influencing many contemporary artists. I think our favourite were works using his ‘cretto’ technique. You can see it in the black artwork to the right of gallery photo we plucked off the internet, although it doesn’t do it justice.

The large tobacco-drying barns exhibiting Alberto Burri works in his hometown of Citta di Castello

Gallery space, and one of Burri’s Cretto Nero works

We left L’Ariete and Montone with new friends, a case full of wine from the area, jars of wine jelly and chutney that Martina made from our harvest, amazing memories and hopeful plans to see our friends again sometime in the future. We have a couple more posts to come sharing our adventures in Umbria and Tuscany, including a very memorable truffle hunt and several wine tastings.

View of St. Peter’s Basilica from the bank of the Tiber River

We walked to a great vantage point to see The Roman Forum. The view from here really gave you an idea of the position and scope of the Forum.

The Trevi fountain is beautiful and we walked by it by day and at night. Rome really is romantic at night. Most areas are pedestrian only, buskers are very talented, usually playing the violin or accordian, or belting out opera, and the streets and monuments are beautifully lit up.

The Pantheon

We went late afternoon to the Vatican City and managed to squeeze in to see St. Peter’s Basilica without waiting long at all in line. As far as churches go, being the richest and most popular church in the world, it was worth seeing. Michaelangelo’s sculpture, the Pieta, was also amazing. Unfortunately we were too late that day to get to the Vatican Museum to see Michaelangelo’s materpiece in The Sistine Chapel. It was really the only attraction we were set on seeing for sure, so we were choked.

Michaelangelo’s Pieta

The Colliseum

One of the most interesting things we saw was the keyhole view of St. Peter’s Basilica from a Knights Templar building on Aventine Hill. You look through this small keyhole in a door through to an archway of trees lining a garden pathway, and far off in the distance you can see St. Peter’s Basilica perfectly framed by the arch of greenery. It’s a crazy, precise perspective! When we went it was the middle of the day, sunny, quiet and there was no one around. You really did feel like you were ‘spying’ on the Pope

Photograph with our camera right in the keyhole

Another great view from Aventine Hill

For a real bargain we stayed in a room in a flat in the Testaccio area. Our host was a woman named Flavia, originally from Buenos Aires, now living in Rome with her teenage daughter. The place was small and cozy, and turned out to suit us great. The Testaccio area is one with a long history. It used to be the slaughterhouse neighbourhood, but in recent years has been gentrifying, and so is a mix of gritty authenticity and urban chic. This area provided some of our more memorable experiences in Rome.

Testaccio is home to one of the largest and best markets in Rome, where actual Romans go to buy their weekly produce, cheese, meats and other random items. Also in Testaccio is the famous Volpetti brothers shop. The Volpetti’s are fine producers of cured meats, cheeses and specialty food products, and so proud and hospitable when you walk through their door. The shop is usually jammed, but we were paid great attention and offered several samplings of pecorino cheeses, salamis, lemon and cinnamon spreads, truffle salt, and aged balsamic vinegar. We made a note to come back for a real shop there for a few goodies before we left Rome.

Another unique and entertaining highlight of the Testaccio area was Monte Testaccio. The hill itself was originally created almost 2000 years ago from thousands of olive oil containers dumped here as waste. In later Roman times the hill was used for an annual sporting event. Wooden carts filled with pigs were hauled to the top and then raced to the bottom. After collecting the winnings from their bets the pigs were collected and they celebrated with a feast. In more recent times slaughterhouses and other commercial stores carved their shops into the sides of the hill. And today it is Rome’s most popular club scene among locals. There are all kinds of bars pumping dance tunes, staging live bands, DJ sets, offering massive patios, or beach themed bars. You can walk the full circle of the base of the hill and bar hop from one to the other (if you can get past the line ups!). Clearly a regular haunt of young people, the party goes on at Monte Testaccio until 6:00am (we made it to 3:30am!).

We ate some fabulous food in Rome. Our favourite lunches were at Fiaschetteria and Riccioli Cafe. Fiaschetteria provided simple, fresh food and we enjoyed an arugula and tomato salad, antipasto plate and a bowl of pasta with black truffles grated on top. Riccioli Cafe restaurant was a delicious sampling of fresh, well prepared seafood. We started with the plate of Octopus and it was the best we’ve ever had. Tender, slightly salty and delicious. We followed that with a freshly made pasta with mussels and clams. Yum.

We had a few cocktails, and dinner one night in the Trastevere area. This is a happening spot and frequented by tourists and locals. We could see ourselves having a lot of fun in this area if we spent more time in Rome.

Here’s a link to more Rome photos: More Photos

Arriving at our villa in Almyrida in the pitch-black after midnight, we were a little disappointed with the lower standard of the interior compared to some of the shiny Westernized places we’d stayed at so far. Some of the “highlights” were the relentless ants around the kitchen sink and counters, our bathroom with the jimmy-rigged shower curtain held up by a chain from the shower rod to the heater (safe?!), Josh and Claire’s bathroom stench, and the overall stale late 70s aura going on. Waking up the next morning however, to our own private pool, side terrace with a fuschia Oleander canopy (where we enjoyed several lazy lunches!), ripe fig and lime trees, and a sprawling terrace perched on a cliff overlooking the clear turquoise waters of Almyrida bay and its beaches — our opinion of the place overall quickly changed.

The town of Almyrida is quite truly a very new destination as far as tourism goes. Prior to 1980 it was a tiny fishing village with 60 residents, until a woman from Brussels opened up a cafe there. According to her story (we read in a menu) her cafe was the catalyst that began developing Almyrida as we experienced it. Now, still a small and beautiful beachside town, its main street is lined with about 10 restaurants, cafes, bars, and a couple small hotels, and overrun by British tourists. We anticipated feasting on tasty authentic Greek fare, but the Almyrida menus boasted Fish & Chips with “mushy peas” and Sunday English Roast. It was disappointing, but we managed to seek out mousaka, gyros, and some Cretan specialty dishes.

Friendly servers from our favourite dinner spot, Aeraki.

We shared many after dinner Raki’s – whether we liked them or not!

We spent the majority of our week enjoying long breakfasts on our terrace overlooking the beautiful bay, suntanning, swimming in the ocean or our pool, reading (a lot!), sipping on tasty adult beverages and grooving to a few favourite playlists (Thanks Emily for your Aritzia tunes!). We did venture out for a few day trips, one of which was to the famous Elefonisi Beach in South Western Crete. On Crete’s rugged coast, in a protected area, it was one of the most beautiful, crystal blue water and pristine beaches we’d ever seen. With the promised ‘pink’ sand too! Thankfully Josh drove as it was a trecharious drive through a narrow gorge on the way there, and a high cliff drive along the ocean on the way home. He handled our Fiat and those cliffs like a local (although we did need help from “Greek Ray Charles” with directions after we got lost in some olive groves).

Famous pink sand of Elefonisi

Sun setting on the hills of Western Crete on our drive home

Another big day out was an early morning trip to Chania for the robust Saturday market. A 12th-century Venetian port, Chania used to be like Venice with canals, but they were filled in a long time ago. We chose a great fishmonger (that originally caught our attention because he was throwing fresh sardines to the local cats on the roof) who helped us select a sea bream and a sea bass for dinner. He cleaned them up and gave us a lesson and recipe on how to cook them: stuffed with sliced fennel, and rubbed with lemon zest, saffron (called crocus in Greece), and sea salt all over, wrapped in tinfoil and on the BBQ for 15 minutes.

Lamb or rabbit for dinner?

A local Chanian spearing an octopus for dinner!

After a healthy happy hour the boys man-handled the dinner preparation and got the charcoal bbq fired up, while Claire and I played a game in the kitchen we invented called Baguette Ball with the evening’s loaf of bread and a lime from our tree. With the recipe we’d been given we rubbed the fish and stuffed a couple slices of lemon and tomatoes inside (couldn’t find fennel anywhere!). The fish turned out perfectly. It was so fresh and delicious and with a great smoky flavour from the bbq. We paired it with a greek salad (obviously), saffron rice and fresh bread.

It was an awesome week with the Alters full of a ton of laughs, good food, tasty drinks, and hours of relaxation. We were sad to split when the week finished. They caught a flight to Istanbul and we went off to Rome for four days. We’re looking forward to following their adventures on their blog and seeing them back home in just over a month.

Swimming in the beautiful water below our villa

Here’s a link to more Greece photos: More Photos

After a train ride from Vernazza to Milan, a flight to Athens and an enjoyable 5 hour ferry ride, we arrived at our next destination, Santorini, Greece. We would have loved to explore more of Milan and Athens but time didn’t permit on this trip. Given our short stays we opted to see both cities’ main attractions while sipping cocktails on amazing rooftop patios, instead of waiting in ticket line ups. We saw the Duomo in Milan while enjoying Campari cocktails from the lounge bar on the top floor of La Rinascente department store, and in Athens savoured a panoramic view of the Acropolis at sunset from the Galaxy Bar at the Hilton (thanks Tom for that recommendation!). That’s how I like my sight-seeing!

Duomo in Milano

Acropolis at sunset in Athens

Santorini is as stunning and picture-perfect as any postcard or travel guide you’ve ever seen depicts it: chalk-white buildings as far as you can see, are set into the rustic, hilly landscape and peer down onto glistening, cobalt water. The island of Santorini is the remains of a giant volcano that erupted thousands of years ago, leaving a massive ring of volcanic rock surrounding a smaller caldera in the middle where the lava poured out. The views are magnificant from every point on the island.

We stayed at Villa Irini and loved our little apartment. To get to Villa Irini we hopped on the local bus from the ferry station, and requested the “Mexican Restaurant” stop. That’s the actual name of the stop as it’s known by all on the island. We met the owner of the restaurant, a woman from Colorado who 20-some years ago moved to Santorini and opened the only (not surprisingly) Mexican restaurant on the island. Nestled into one of the many little white dwellings along the coast, Villa Irini was perfect for our two-night stay in Santorini. We had a large room with small kitchen, private balcony with a view and shared pool. Villa Irini is about a 20 minute walk south of Fira, the capital, and so we saved a bit on the price and it provided great privacy and calm away from the bustle of Fira.

Once we’d breathed a few sighs of “I can’t believe we get to stay in this paradise”, we turned our attention to finding The Alters, our friends Josh and Claire who had arrived a couple days earlier for the start of their 10-week vacation through Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan and the Netherlands. We were stoked to see some familiar faces and spend some time with close friends.

A highlight in Santorini was a very memorable (and quite possibly one of the best!) meals of our trip at Katina’s Fish Taverna in Ammoudi, with Josh and Claire. Ammoudi is a magical little fishing village, with about six restaurants right on the water, on the northwest side of the island, just below Oia. Katina’s place is a legend in Santorini and is famous for its fresh fish (locals in town confirmed that Katina sources and serves the freshest fish…she has her own fishermen that reel it in daily). The restaurant is simple: tables, chairs, fish, and an outdoor grill. No fancy decor, music, or gussied up servers to distract from the main event: FISH. Our middle-aged, burly, mild-mannered server walked us over to the fresh fish displayed on ice in the kitchen to view the day’s catch and decide what we wanted on our plates.

Katina’s Fish Taverna on the left

We chose a few small red mullets, and our server encouraged us to choose a large cod and one good-sized piece of octopus. The man with the hardest job in the place stood all night at his post at the outdoor grill. One whole fish after another was set onto the wood-fired grill under his watchful eye, and then he sent it through a window to the kitchen to be plated, garnished and sent out to salivating patrons.

Our meal was accompanied with some house made fava dip (local specialty), eggplant salad (a delicious smoked dip), tsatsiki and fresh bread. The red mullet was crispy, salty and delicious, the cod tender and with just the right subtle grill flavour, the dips unique and tasty, and the company…the best! And of course the setting was unforgettable. We sat right next to the sea that lapped into the shore and reflected the night lights of Ammoudi.

We spent the the entire next day at our pool soaking in the view, and then caught the evening ferry with the Alters to Heraklion, Crete.

Since our last post, we’ve been to Vernazza in the Cinque Terre on the Italian Riveria, and to Greece with Josh and Claire Alter (more on that in the next post). It took two trains to get to Vernazza from Villefranche-Sur-Mer, the second of which was a far cry from comfortable. We sat downwind of the toilets…our nostrils burned and I still get nauseous thinking of it…nuff said. But arriving in postcard-perfect Vernazza made up for it. Vernazza is one of the five towns that make up the Cinque Terre, comprised of five towns linked by a hiking trail along the coast, each with its own charm and character. Vernazza, I believe, was popularized by Rick Steve’s famous Italy travel guide, and for this I don’t know whether to hug him or punch him. I’d hug him for sharing his discovery of this beautiful old fishing harbour, with a small beach, as well as surrounded by rocks to sun yourself on, romantic tangerine sunsets with cotton candy pink and blue clouds, choose-your-own-adventure cobblestone walkways that wind up and up and up, and around, and up again (one of which led to our small rented room), and for all the culinary delights and traditions one can enjoy there–cinque terre white wine, pesto, anchovies, foccacia, octopus, olive oil and lemons. I’d punch him for spreading the word so well so that about a hundred tourists (including ourselves) descend on the town hourly from Vernazza’s little train station into the square so that it doesn’t always feel like the Italian Riveria jewel of a discovery that it was when Mr. Steve first laid eyes on it. The best times of day were first thing in the morning, or around dinner time when the day-trippers went back to their respective Cinque Terre home bases–to Monterosso, Manarola, Corniglia or Riomaggiore.

Delicious warm Octopus salad with potatoes, celery, lemon and olive oil

When in Cinque Terre it’s a must to hike the trails that link the villages for the view of the pastel-painted cliffside towns, the view of the sea on one side, and the steep ancient vineyards on the other. We embarked on our hike on our second day there. Initially we hiked along the oceanside trail from Vernazza to Corniglia for an hour. The views of Corniglia were amazing so we thought why not continue on to Manarola? But the low road was closed (strike one), so we had to hike the higher road, a gnarly and more difficult straight up but managable hour, and down for half an hour into Manarola. Our plan was to hike in and either boat or train back to Vernazza. With a random, and apparently not uncommon, train strike on that day until 5pm (strike two!), we planned to take a boat back to Vernazza. After a simple and tasty lunch we headed for the boat dock only to find that the boat was not running due to choppy sea conditions. Strike three, we were out! At 2pm we checked back at the train station to see if any trains had gone by chance, or would be going in the next hour but our chances were looking pretty slim. We spent the afternoon instead swimming in choppy waters off the rocks in the harbour in Manarola which turned out to be a fun way to spend some time…bobbing in the waves, watching people jump off the cliffs and sunning on the boat ramp. After a beer on a patio and a walk down ‘Lover’s Lane’ to the neighbouring town of Riomaggiore, we’d killed enough time to get on the first post-strike train at 6-ish, but talk about an unexpectedly long day!

View of Corniglia from the hiking trail

Swimming in the choppy waves in the harbour at Manarola

Lover’s Lane between Manarola and Riomaggiore

We spent the rest of our few days in Vernazza sunning ourselves on the rocks by the beach, cooling down with dips in the beautiful water, and enjoying long luxurious lunches, sharing simple pizzas for dinner, trying to befriend the many local stray cats, and basking in the glorious sunsets viewed from the rocks in the harbour. The Cinque Terre was a very romantic and picturesque first introduction to Italy for us before we zipped off to Greece for a little over a week in Santorini and Crete!

Where’s Purdy?

Here’s a link to more Cinque Terre photos: More Photos

We rented a spacious studio apartment just outside of the town centre…a nice uphill haul with our bags for about 15 minutes. It was just up on a hill from the one main road which made for a bit of traffic noise at high times, but it didn’t really bother us. Our place was bright and open, and had a kitchen that we were totally stoked about to be able to cook in again for a few meals. The best feature was the panoramic view of the bay we could enjoy from inside or outside our place on the balcony. We took a hundred different photos of that view at all times of the day. During morning coffee and breakfast, during aperitifs, over dinner, and late at night before bed. It was spectacular, and entertaining to watch the coming and going of sailboats, yachts and towards the end of the week, cruise ships.

Our first day we sunned at the beach and swam in the crystal blue water. Then our plan turned to getting to Nice to rent a scooter to be able to easily visit places like Eze with its apparent breathtaking viewpoints, quaint Vence and St. Paul-de-Vence, Monaco and Menton. So the next morning we hiked up to the Fort in Villefranche via a vaguely marked path, and took the exit route down the other side to Nice. It was a beautiful walk down with great vistas of Nice, its wealthier houses, port and beaches.

Arriving in Nice later than expected and hungry for lunch we stopped in the guts of Nice’s Old Town for wood-fired pizza topped with ratatouille (more often than not the French Riveria deliciously combines French and Italian cuisines), and shared our first taste of cuisses de grenouilles (frogs legs!). From what I could tell they were dredged in flour and fried with tons of garlic, butter and parsley. They were delicious!! Like chicken wings almost, but with a milder and juicier flesh. We washed them down with a pichet of Cote de Provence rose. Mmm. Renergized we hunted down a scooter rental place and got our little white Yamaha Neos 50cc. It had no guts but it was a hell of a fun ride.

Cuisses de Grenouilles – delicious!

We stopped at home to refresh and hopped back on the scooter before nightfall for a zip through Cap Ferrat, a glamourous hotspot in its golden years of the 1920s-50s, but now bought up at ridiculously high prices by the Russian Nouveau Riche. Now the town has no bustle and many of the homes sit empty as investment properties. From there we continued through Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Eze and Cap D’Ail and stopped in Monaco to see Monte Carlo and take some token photos at the casino.

The next morning we awoke giddy to venture out on a scoot to Eze or even as far as Menton for lunch, only to find a lonely busted up lock and that le scooter était volé pendant la nuit!! (a phrase we learned to say many times to different police stations and officers in town that day). C’était très dommage… and begged the question: James Shandro, does your scooter gang extend to the far reaches of the French Riviera?! We spent that morning filing police reports, and spent the afternoon heading back to Nice on the bus to the scooter rental place where we lost our hefty deposit. That hurt real bad deep down…we still cringe. When we rented the scooter we asked about theft insurance and the renter said, no, we don’t offer it, but that theft should not be an issue. We should have known better! Lesson learned, tough stuff. Le scooter was not meant to be for us.

How could a thief even think of messing with this bad dude?

An appropriate curtsy, in hindsight, as this would be the scooter’s last curtain call

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening drowning our scooter sorrows in Old Town Nice. First, at a great distillery bar chatting with an older French man who’d just drove in on his new Harley from Cap Ferret for his afternoon happy hour ritual, and secondly, over dinner where we met some great new friends, Paulo, Gelen and Evan from Switzerland. Our mantra for the evening: “Nous buvons pour oublier!” (We drink to forget!) Boy did we ever!! Mitchell over did it with excitement when the server left us two bottles of digestifs to taste from after dinner, a rosemary liquor and a bottle of Marc.

More Photos

We arrived at 9pm on a Saturday evening and were greeted by our host, Don, with a couple glasses of red wine from the area. Originally from Boston, Don has lived quite a few places but has called Montpellier his home off and on for the last 10 years. Don’s hospitality really made our stay in Montpellier fantastic. We felt welcome and at home immediately. When you stay at Don’s small, 2 bedroom B&B, Nid’ Oiseau, it’s clearly his labour of love, and you feel like you’re sleeping over in a curated contemporary art gallery. Don’s collection of contemporary art mixes with tribal artifacts, all of which incite from you either a big question mark or a big smile. It’s hard to do the space justice with photos, but we’ve included some here to give you an idea.

The old city centre is quite small and the streets are bustling with people since cars aren’t permitted in most areas. Montpellier has a very young and dynamic vibe since almost a third of the city’s population are students (tidbit: Europe’s first medical school started here in the 12th century). We were in a great area just outside the busier plazas and within a 5 minute walk to more quaint local plazas with al fresco dining and drinking spots.

Upon recommendation from Don we went to Insensé for a leisurely lunch next to Musee Fabre and loved it. It was one of our better meals with great menu options and helpful service. We sat on the sunny terrace outside the museum surrounded by grass. We had the crab rolls for a starter and then beef tartar with frites and lamb chops with sweet potato. The food was delicious as was the local house wine we paired with it. It would have been a pricey place to eat dinner so the 20 euro fixed lunch menu was perfect! After lunch we explored the Musee Fabre’s current exhibit of Odilon Redon’s life’s work, a very interesting and prolific French artist.

The beach was about 10km south of the city so we rented bikes one day, packed a day bag and headed for the Mediteranean Sea. We hit the sand within an hour and found a great little beach bar, Zenith Bar, for lunch. We split a couple meal sized salads and then found a spot on the beach to relax and get into our books.

We spent the evenings in the outdoor open air plazas enjoying a healthy selection of local wine and listening to live music. Being a student town there were always lots of people doing the same so it felt easy to fit right in. We were pleasantly surprised by Montpellier and would recommend to anyone to enjoy a few nights there. And obviously THE place to stay is the best B&B in town, Nid’ Oiseau! (thanks again Don)

Our next stop is about as “South of France” as you can get: Villefranche-sur-Mer, one train stop east of Nice!

Here’s a link to more of our Montpellier photos: More Photos