20 September - 23 September

Friday 20 September

Nic and Bella were up early for a run, with the weather was still warm and clear. John and I went on one of our circuit walks with Bella after breakfast. It was fun to show her the convent we had wondered about buying a few years ago, plus many of other places we have described to her over the years. Even though she visited 4 years ago, we didn't get a chance to spend much time in and around Ceret.

Of course we had to treat our grandchildren, so we took them to the local patisserie and let them choose a colourful delight. The adults had to follow suit. We've introduced Bella and family to a number of our friends here, enjoying a wine at Le Comptoir at 6pm, before the kiddies got too desperate for dinner - pizza.

Happy trio

This isn't as easy as I thought it would be

The weekend was pretty low-key. The Rugby World Cup started on Friday afternoon, with the highlight match being the All Blacks vs South Africa at midday on Saturday. Unfortunately it was pouring with rain on Saturday morning, so a wander around the market was not a good option. Irrespective of that, we braved the deluge to buy some veges for dinner, and for Bella to get an idea of the local market. Many of the stalls weren't there, but it was actually quite fun. Rosie and Violet both enjoyed being in charge of the umbrellas, hence we arrived back home rather wet!

On Sunday Bella and Nic took the opportunity for an early morning run again. The weather was bright and sunny, so we had a few walks around about, including the playground.

Violet, not running for once.

A highlight for Rosie and Violet was when we discovered that the travelling circus, which was set down in one of the car parks, was up and operating in the afternoon. We treated the girls to a ride, which resulted in huge smiles all round.

It was so nice having a lot of time with B&N to just kick back and chat. Of course a lot of it centred on the pros and cons of buying the villa in Tuscany. John had spent a lot of time drafting up some plans for renovating both the buildings on site, plus installing a pool. We played a number of games with the kids, and, given the rather confined space in our apartment, all went very smoothly. I broke the most things - two wine glasses during the weekend BUT accidentally (e.g. washing the dishes) NOT because I'd had too much to drink! A few bottles of rosé were dispatched over the weekend.

Monday 23 September

All good things must come to an end. Our daughter and family were due to fly home. Another quick run, breakfast, bags packed and there was time to share a last, and terrible, cup of coffee at Cafe de France, then it was time for them to climb in the car and head to Barcelona airport. It was very sad saying goodbye to them all. Big cuddles all round. However, we had all had a simply magnificent holiday and time together. Our week at the villa in Tuscany, three days in Rapallo, then six days in Ceret. We couldn't ask for much more. B&N have been thrilled with how their month-long trip has gone, with the kids being great fun to travel with. Hats off to them all.

Packed up ready to head back to Melbourne

For the remainder of the day John and I were feeling rather bereft. Being suddenly back to just the two of us, it was very quiet and the place seemed very empty. We did a heap of washing and cleaned the place, though the sticky finger marks on the windows are yet to be tackled. Rosie drew us some lovely pictures on their last day and they are now proudly stuck to the front of our fridge.

17 September to 19 September - Family at Ceret

A lovely sleep, lie-in, amble around one of our usual loop walks to check out to see if any blackberries were still available for harvesting, coffee and a chat, then lunch. Not many blackberries as it turned out. A nice lazy time. Most of the afternoon was spent working on draft plans for the villa in Tuscany.

Bella and family arrived by their undersized hire car at 8:30pm, so the kids were bundled into bed after a quick dinner. We had a more leisurely one with the adults. It was nice to catch up again.

Rosie and Violet check out the evening dining in our square

18 September (Wednesday)

Rising early (no surprises there with 3 kiddies around), we were out the door by 9am and on the road to Collioure, the gorgeous small town on the coast. It was market day, so car parking was a little tight, but we made it. A very enjoyable hour or so was spent with the kids paddling in the water. Bella found it pretty cold, Nic not so much, but John and I spent quite some time swimming around the perimeter of buoys. The water seemed incredibly salty. There were plenty of fish around, even in the shallow water, so easily seen by the kiddies. It was seriously enjoyable.

Market day at Collioure

Collioure waterfront

By 12:30pm it was time to make tracks to get the kids home for lunch and bed, after stopping for a supermarket shop.

The day was warm and sunny, but by 4pm it had clouded over. The rain promised by the weather forecast was threatening. An easy few hours, dinner for the kids, then a delicious home-cooked meal of tiny sweet French mussels for the adults. Cooked with just onion and garlic, the 2kg of Buchot mussels went down a treat.

19 September (Thursday)

Another great day-trip. This time we headed to Spain, to the northern coast at L'Escala. It was fun to show Bella and family the town, complete with the brilliant sculpture of a Sardanes band, the liquor shop with a complete window display of whiskies, and a very enjoyable coffee. We have definitely been disappointed (again) with the French coffees after the consistently rich ones in Italy, and Spanish coffees are also consistently better than French.

The men check out the whisky store

Violet checked she is still carrying Nic's new watch

Violet checks John's coffee is up to scratch

Picking up a pastry to see us through the hour we planned to be on the beach at Sant Marti, the kids had a wonderful time playing in the sand, building sandcastles and going down the slides on pedal boats conveniently pulled up on the beach nearby. The water felt a little cold for any of us to be tempted. John and Bella wandered a fair distance along the coastal track to view the old Roman and Greek ruins from earlier settlements on this peninsula. It truly is an amazing place for history. Right on the waterfront there is still an ancient Greek wharf.

Still happy, even after face-planting in the sand.

By 1pm we thought we could tackle a Spanish lunch so wandered the short distance to the tapas restaurants at Sant Marti. An array of different tapas dishes, mostly extremely tasty seafood dishes really hit the spot. With a drink apiece, and tapas for 4 adults and 2 kiddies, the total bill only came to E54 (NZ$90ish). It was delicious. On the way home we stopped at the Spanish border where Bella and Nic nipped into the huge Nike and Mango outlet stores and bought a selection of gear at ridiculously low prices. We didn't get home until 4pm, and it was still 30 degrees. The forecast was for the weather to break and be raining and cooler for the next 3 days. We thought we would enjoy it - it had been a long time coming.

However the rain didn't come and it stayed pretty sticky. We all rolled into bed pretty early.

15 and 16 September - Rapallo to Ceret

Sunday morning saw us help out with the kids first thing in the morning. Violet had decided to wake at 5:30am, so Bella was fairly tired. We said our temporary goodbyes to Bella and the children and eventually got away mid-morning, with a 4.5 hr drive in front of us using toll roads. Without using tolls the trip to Aix-en-Provence, our destination for the day, would have taken 7 hours. We didn't feel we wanted either the extra driving or length of time involved so opted to pay the E25 odd that the motorways cost. Nic was arriving back mid-afternoon, and they were to follow us to Ceret a few days later.

The drive went remarkably well. We don't always take toll roads, and often not for long distances, but it was definitely the sensible thing to do in the this case. With a 110km/hr or 130km/hr speed limit, the kilometres just churn by. We made a brief stop at the service area beside the motorway to pick up a coffee, pastry and some bread. I moved into the back seat of the car and made some cheese baguettes while John drove, so we pretty much kept on the road the whole time.

We arrived in Aix around 3pm. With two hours to kill before we met our Airbnb host we walked the short distance into the centre of town. At 34 degrees, the temperatures don't seem to be getting any cooler day by day, even though we are now well into September. It was in the early 30s in Rapallo too. Quite by chance the main boulevard in Aix was the location for a major recruiting day by a wide variety of sporting, dance and many other types of exercise groups. A number of information stalls were accompanied by groups of dancers showing off their moves. Even a pole dancer was strutting(?) her stuff. There was certainly crowds of people enjoying the atmosphere, if not signing up for clubs. The heat was telling on everyone though. I don't know how the dancers found the energy.

Sports club stalls on the main street

Lovely old signage

We met up with our host at 5pm. Not really remembering what accommodation we had actually booked in the end, we were a bit surprised to find it to be one room, with a shared bathroom (with 4 other rooms), all within a small apartment. The host also lives here. We'd made the call to use it as it was just a bed for one night, and was the only place on offer centrally placed. We normally try to get little apartments. The plan was to head off reasonably early in the morning.

By 7pm the temperature had dropped and it was a lot more pleasant to wander out in search of a light meal for the evening. We ended up at a lovely Vietnamese restaurant, some of the best we've had anywhere including Vietnam itself. Neither of us was interested in finding a French one - we are not all that enamoured with French cuisine.

Central Aix-en-Provence at night

16 September

We were keen to get on our way. It was unclear whether any breakfast was in the offing, though it was supposed to be. When we were taking our bags out of our room our host appeared in her pyjamas and offered us a coffee. Too little, too late. It was 8:30am and we just wanted to leave. However, the traffic on the local roads was obviously very heavy (rush hour) so we ambled to a nearby cafe for a quick coffee and pastry before hitting the road. By 9am the traffic was much easier so we got on our way, in fact driving the entire way to Ceret without a stop. We arrived at 12:30pm, and took an hour going around the local supermarket to stock up on food for Bella and family arriving tomorrow. By the time we got into our apartment, eaten a bit of bread and done a little unpacking, it seemed appropriate to amble to Le Comptoir to catch up with any of our friends around. Two couples joined us and we had a great catch-up. French bread and cheese for dinner. It was nice to be back.

13 - 14 September - Rapallo

My birthday was truly memorable. The day started with cuddles.

Cuddles and giggles

It's pretty hard to beat being on the Italian Riviera, in accommodation that has a sweeping view down the Ligurian coast, sharing the day with your daughter, husband and three grandchildren.

John got up super early because he had to drop Nic off at the train station. Nic was heading to Manchester to watch his beloved Manchester United team play over the weekend. The rest of us were up early too (the kiddies wake about 6am). After breakfast we organised ourselves to walk down the hill (20min on narrow footpaths) complete with two pushchairs but we made it safely, pausing to admire some of the incredible mansions and properties on the adjoining hillside. 

We really liked this one!

With just two minutes to spare we jumped on the correct train and headed to small coastal settlement of Camogli, a little further to the north. It was another version of the Cinque Terre villages, just without the steep hill backdrop. Hence, it was beautiful, so gay and cheerful, full of people having fun, but not overwhelmed by tourists. We picked up a coffee and pastry and had a walk around before going down some steep stairs to the stony beach. The stairways proved rather an obstacle with two pushchairs. We stripped to hit the water, which was wonderfully warm. 

Fun on the train

Camogli waterfront, complete with plentiful fish

Beach time

With three kiddies getting hungry it was a quick turnaround back up to the boulevard, where we soon found a focacceria. Liguria is famous for its focaccia bread, and this certainly didn't disappoint. The layered pesto and goat's cheese was particularly tasty. 

Focaccia delight

Negotiating the train, then catching the right bus back up the hill was a feat in timing and juggling handfuls of kiddies, strollers and bags but we made it. The 30+ degree heat was pretty draining. The kids went straight to bed for a nap. Everyone was rather too exhausted to even go to the swimming pool later in the afternoon, so it was an earlyish night for all.

Saturday 14th

Our daughter's birthday. John and I had put streamers and balloons around the living room before we went to bed the night before, so it was quite festive when Bella and the kiddies got up early in the morning. We determined to head out again, this time just repeating our steps down the hill, then wandering around the streets of Rapallo. It's hard to get enough of the beautiful buildings, so many of which are decorated in 'trompe l'oeil'. 

Rapallo

Pretty lanes

We came across a playground at one end of the bay so the two girls played merrily for a while, letting the adults sit in the shade. Collecting focaccia and food from the supermarket before lunch, we made it with 30 seconds to spare for the bus. We are cutting our timing more and more fine as each day progresses, typically meaning the last few hundred metres are a mad dash. It's all good fun though and the kids are very cheerful about being rushed along.

Choosing the daily bread

Home for lunch and then naps for everyone except the two of us. We hit the pool afterwards, where John had a great time playing with the two girls. Heath also loves splashing in the water. Once the kids had had their meal and were in bed, we had a chance for a leisurely evening meal with Bella. The sunset going down over the Ligurian hills was outdone by the full moon coming up. What an amazing spot.

12 September - Bagnone to Rapallo

We were both keen to leave the apartment early, both to get on the road and because we'd been somewhat put off by it being so grubby. Our contact person didn't answer our texts about where to leave the key so we simply handed it in to the little shop immediately opposite the real estate office where he works, and we on the road by 8:30am. The landscape was very pretty as we headed northwards, with dense greenery and many little hillside villages.

There was plenty of time to drive the less than two hours to Rapallo, so we called in at Sestri Levante on the coast on the way. What a pretty and uncrowded spot. We could very easily see ourselves holidaying here. The water looked divine, with people lolling around in it, on the beach, or strolling the lanes packed with eateries and shops. 

Sestri Levante

In the end we arrived at the place our daughter and family were staying in before midday. Their Airbnb apartment is gorgeous, with a huge window looking out over the coast. 

Evening view from the living room

After the kids had had their afternoon nap we drove down to the ferry port, ran the last 100 metres to get to the right place for boarding a ferry to take up around the point of Portofino. The ferry called in at Santa Margherita Ligure on the way, a bay the kids others had explored the day before. The scenery is so beautiful, with the bays, buildings, palms and promenades creating a visual delight.

Ferry ride with the family

Arriving in Portofino, we had plenty of time to wander around, look at the unbelievably humongous private boats and yachts in the marina, stroll through the lanes, find a gelateria, and pick up the ferry back at 5pm. 

Quintessential Portofino

Just one of the mega launches parked up in the marina

Don't worry, the bottles were already empty!

Home before 6pm, we had time to jump in the swimming pool of the complex we are staying in. The water seemed chilly to get into but was lovely once in. 

The evening was very pleasant, spent chatting about potentially buying the place in Tuscany and all manner of things. The kids have had the most wonderful holiday in Italy, and have seen and done so much in the few weeks they have been here. Italy definitely gets a big tick from then. Whether that includes returning to Cortona to help us fix up a villa or not remains to be seen...

10 and 11 September - Bagnone

Having decided to cross off Pistoia as a potential location for our next project, we were eager  to set off for our next target area - Bagnone. It was less than a 2-hour drive northwards, and we immediately loved the mountainous backdrop once we left Pistoia and the plains. With plenty of hilltop towns and villages, dense lush vegetation and scattered villas, it looked very attractive. It reminded us of the hilltop towns we had explored in Liguria, on the Italian Riviera near the French border, a number of years ago. We both love the mountains, and even more so walking amongst them. The latter is not really on offer in southern Tuscany, though with the potential house there wouldn't be much time left for walking with some years of renovations ahead of us! Passing Carrara, the massive quarrying operation for the marble which make up part of the mountains here was obvious. Huge marble works for kilometres along the road were filled with rows of blocks of marble and massive mobile gantries to move them.

Cortona is a typical Italian hilltop town set amongst lush vegetation

Marble works from the quarries behind Carrara

We arrived by 11am, and rang our contact person. We were pretty annoyed to have to wait 50 minutes for him to arrive at the cafe 2 minutes away, as he knew we were arriving at 11am. Anyway, he turned out to be the local real estate agent, and we were immediately turned off him. Our Airbnb is an apartment in a building right in the main street, and was very nice, but not at all clean. We soon found out that all the surfaces were covered with a layer of black grimy dust, we assume from vehicle exhaust from the road below. The apartment had clearly not been cleaned since the windows were last left open, and there was even rubbish in the bin in the kitchen. Not impressed.

After buying some local bread (as tasteless and hard as anywhere else we have tried in Italy) for lunch we soon stepped outside the front door to see what Bagnone had to offer in the way of doer-uppers. Our first impressions of the town were good. It is very pretty, straddling a stunning little river gorge, however it was also at the end of a long and somewhat tortuous road up the valley from the coast. We were keen to give Bagnone a good chance though. No particular property had jumped out at us during all our web research of properties for sale, but we set off to get a feel for the town. This included trekking up to the castle on the hill immediately above the town. Surprisingly, the castle and its magnificent grounds and tower are privately owned, and therefore totally out-of-bounds. It is a phenomenal location, and the owner must be very wealthy. It was fun trekking through the hinterland a little, and we both loved being close to the mountains, and the air being distinctly cooler.

Bagnone

Bagnone

Castle above Bagnone

At 5pm we walked to the local real estate office and chatted in Italian (John did incredibly well) with the woman there about one of the properties we had seen for sale on the outskirts of the town. We arranged to go through it with her the next morning. We also organised to meet with the English-speaking real estate agent later that afternoon to see if he could find anything else on his books that might work for us. At 5:30pm we sat outside one of the local cafes and had a coffee. Beside us and on the opposite side of the road were seated perhaps 20 local men, all older, all chatting merrily away. They seemed very cheerful and were clearly doing the typical Italian (also French/Spanish) thing of socialising before the evening meal. John thought he could very quickly try sitting with them and picking up Italian, should we buy there. No such luck for me - the women either don't appear outside, or just sit in ones and twos on benches outside the shops. 

Our opinion of the town gradually rose during the afternoon. It definitely has a lot of good points, mainly the extremely attractive gorge setting, mountainous backdrop, trees, some lovely buildings, exceptionally friendly people and enough basic commerce. Counting against it, as explained by the guy who met us, is that the locals of working age are all moving out because there are no jobs to be had here. It's clear that most of the people in the street are retired. A number of shops are closed, there doesn't seem to be much done in the way of maintenance and many of the buildings are very tired. The place has a rather run-down but comfortable feel to it. I think we could happily live here and get to know the locals well, and enjoy exploring the region, but it doesn't seem a wise place to renovate a property. There is a huge number on the market, and prices are low, even for those that are already in good condition. 

We reconnoitered the property we had booked to see the next morning. We are sure it will tick many boxes, but probably not enough. It's definitely worth looking at though, as a comparison against the opportunity in Tuscany if nothing else.

Tomorrow morning's possibility

There are gardens on the side of the house

Dinner at Locanda La Luna was one of the best meals we have had in Italy. The restaurant was housed in a gorgeous local home. It was like having dinner in their sitting room! The local house red wine was their own, the pasta with truffles had more slices of truffles than you could shake a stick at, the brown rye bread was incredibly tasty (yes, really), and all in all it was a very enjoyable experience. 

La Luna restaurant, Bagnone

Pasta with super-generous truffle. Delicious!

Also, as expected, we spent most of the time discussing where we might buy in Italy, if we could, and the property we viewed near Cortona is definitely still on the cards. We can see SO many opportunities and would absolutely love to get stuck in. We have contacted a local real estate agent/ conveyancer/general property guru who was recommended to us by our nephew's partner's parents who owned the villa we stayed at last week. They thoroughly recommend him as a reliable guy to deal with. We are waiting to hear back from him again, as he clearly knows the property we are interested in. We are also waiting on a lot of detailed information promised to us by the real estate agent from Remax who showed us through the place. One thing we forgot to mention about our viewing of the property last Sunday - when we were looking over the place an older woman from the neighbouring property called out a very cheery 'buongiorno' to us, which was just lovely. It would be wonderful to have welcoming Italian families next door. 

Tuesday 11th

A leisurely start to the day, followed by the appointment with the real estate agent to view the Bagnone house at 11am. The place was four-storied, entering at level two from the garden, working down towards the basement at road level. There was a lot going for it, e.g. large rooms and large terraced garden but there was no garage, minimal south sun even at this time of the year, and it seemed a little damp inside. 

View from the terrace, looking upwards at the castle 

We followed this visit up with seeing the other agent at 2pm, and he showed us two other properties in Bagnone township. The first was essentially two apartments which could be knocked into one and was in the process of renovation. A huge living room and large terrace weren't offset enough by the tiny bedrooms. The second was a ground level cavern and an underground cavern in process of being configured into a residence - all for E50,000 (or less). Neither had garages. All-in-all, everything seems to be confirming that the place we saw in Cortona is really a goer. 

We popped into the fromagerie next door to buy some cheese for lunch. The owner inside was very friendly, as had been everyone we have encountered in Bagnone. John took a photo of some of the salamis in her shop. She then thought it would be a lot of fun to take a photo of us serving behind her counter so ushered us around and proceeded to take a number of photos. It was quite hilarious.

K and J, the shopkeepers

The remainder of the day was spent mulling over the Cortona house, waiting for feedback from the people we have requested information from, and then returning to last night's restaurant for yet another meal. This time John tried the local Bagnone specialty in pasta. It turned out to be something like sliced pancake liberally smothered in pesto sauce.

Bagnone's specialty pasta

9 September - Pistoia

Having written off this area as somewhere to buy, we had a nice relaxing day wandering around Pistoia. It now felt rather a nice town in the weekday sun, compared to the previous time when it had been gloomy and rather deserted. We took a long people-watching coffee stop to start with. Again, the coffee was nothing compared to what we'd had further south. A cappuccino here is dark underneath with a huge blob of pure white froth, whereas around Cortona it was more like a small New Zealand flat white. The cafe lungo, which had been a slightly larger espresso, now was even larger and served in a mid-sized cup instead of an espresso cup. neither were very good, but the people-watching was excellent. Clearly central Tuscany is more wealthy than northern Tuscany. There were none of the beautifully-dressed women and men we'd seen in Arezzo and Cortona.

The town gardens were just lovely, and full of people relaxing. There were deckchairs for the taking, and little tables and seats made from drinks boxes with groups of men playing cards at them.

Giardini Pubblici in Pistoia

The Chiesa di Sant'Angelo was a gorgeous old structure full of impressive and very old carving, especially a noted pulpit. The town is known for its prolific pulpits.

We had got no further ahead on the Pergo house. We need more information from the agent. We were alternating all day between thinking how great it could be, and being put off by the cost and effort involved.

8 September - Pistoia and Pescia

A bit of a sleep-in, our first good one in weeks, was a luxury on Sunday morning. We spent until midday doing research on the web about things to know when moving to Italy. Difficult rules about having to be a resident to be allowed to register a car, local taxes, visas and all manner of things were in the mix. We wrote a letter to the Italian embassy about the rules for driving a foreign car as it seems there may be a special class for non-resident but stay-permitted owners. 

Fresh air was definitely needed by midday so we walked the short distance into Pistoia centre to have a look around. It's an attractive town, but was quite quiet on a damp Sunday. 

Lovely colours in a courtyard

... and a square

We were here a number of years ago when our son was staying with us in Lucca and our day trip to Pistoia was memorable, particularly for the wonderful medieval buildings in the main square, and the frieze on the ancient hospital. They didn't disappoint again. Very few places were open offering food so it was just a coffee and pastry again before heading back for a home-made salad. 

Piazza del Duomo, Pistoia

Town hall council chamber!

Town hall stairwell

Ospedale del Ceppo

Our reason for staying in Pistoia for three nights was to use it as a base for exploring around the foothills for a possible doer-upper, particularly in and around the towns of Pescia and Montecatini Terme. We had Googled both in early research and they looked possible candidates for a Tuscan home with a mountainous backdrop.

On driving through Montecatini Terme, we immediately wrote it off because of the very uninspiring development we drove through. There was one lovely village sitting up on a hillside above it, but the overall surroundings were very extremely lacklustre, and definitely not a place to be investing in. On we went to Pescia. This was far more promising. It was much bigger than I'd envisaged, and the size and scale of the buildings, including many impressive churches, lent quite a sophisticated atmosphere to the place. However, there was clearly very little investment going on in public infrastructure or private development and the town looked very tired, unloved and careworn. Again, not a good place to invest in. On the plus side, we happened to arrive in town when a major bike race was taking place. It was the Tuscan Tour for women and clearly it was a major event. In the end we saw them arrive and do three loops around town, with teams coming from the Ukraine, Germany, Czechia, Ljubljana, Russia, France, Italy, Cannondale and other factory teams. There were a large number of support vehicles carrying spare cycles on their roof racks and the local policemen had a field day blowing whistles and sirens as they rode by on their motorbikes or in their police cars. At one time John asked some polizei about the race timing, and was most unimpressed with how macho and thug-like they came across.

It was with a little relief that we got back to Pistoia at 5pm, knowing that we could write off both Montecatini Terme and Pescia as potential buying options. That left us with checking out Bagnone when we arrive there in two days' time. The question is, what would we do tomorrow? Head back to Cortona for another look??

Dinner was extremely interesting. There's not much open on a Sunday night, so we chose a restaurant not far from our Airbnb. It was called the Lamprey Aunts, at least that's what the translation was. We chose what translated as chicken with spring onions for Karen, and lamprey, tongue and cheek for me. I am a fan of trying new things just to see what they are like. Sometimes it comes off and sometimes it doesn't. I've enjoyed cheek and tongue in France before and I wondered what lamprey would be like. Karen's meal had a delicious tomato and olive sauce, but the meat bits were quite dark red, and clearly not chicken at all. We both enjoyed our dishes, then looked up Mr Google out of curiosity, and checked later with an English-speaking waiter. It turned out that the lampredotto was actually a type of tripe, named lampredotto as it looks like lamprey. Karen's cipolline di pollo was actually chicken stomachs, so presumably they must somehow look like spring onions. She was not impressed!