Advertisement
Published: April 9th 2017
Edit Blog Post
Looking back my last blog was 2015 . It may seem that I haven't been travelling but not true ... in 2016 My travels toook me to visit friends and family in Dubai, Malta and Sweden ... places which I love but were not new to me so I was very lazy and didn't do blogs!!
But here I am and back to travel to pastures new this year. In January I was in Dubai and February- March had a trip to Spain and now accompanied by Beenvy and the runaway mouse it is my first week in Italy.
Le Marche is an area I have not been to before and I don't think gets as many tourists as Tuscany or Umbria . It is a beautiful region , lush and green hills and in the distance I can see the snow capped mountain range of the Appenines. I am staying with a friend and her house is perched on top of a hill and I look out onto scattered farm buildings , woodland , ploughed fields some with bright green crops already growing and always olive trees dotted about.
We have visited the local towns of Cingoli
and San Severino with its eye shaped piazza and lovely small art gallery. I have to say you cannot be a bit faint hearted about driving on these twisting roads up and down steep hillsides. One road we came to had a sign at the bottom saying 13 hairpin bends and each one was numbered!! The countryside is scattered with hilltop towns , churches and towers and unfortunately this was an area of a recent earthquake so there are some buildings which have been scaffolded to strengthen them but also quite a few buildings have already fallen down or are for demolition... this is a sad sight to see.
If you visit this area you must go to see the Grotte di Frasassi, it's an amazing cave system which was only discovered in 1970 , on a tour of 75 mins you are taken through several caverns to marvel at the huge stalagmites and stalactites ... it's the largest cave in Europe with one space large enough for Milan Cathedral to fit into it. It's strange that because you have no points of reference you cannot really judge how tall some of these stalagmites are .... looking at one
of them we were told it was as tall as a 5 storey building.
To get back to the hills, Karen and I have had some lovely walks just from the front door , along woodland paths with wild violets and irises on the banks and along tracks through farmyards and then of course we found we would have to climb a really steep hill to make our way back but we're rewarded by amazing views of the snow on the mountains.
I must of course mention food and the wine which has been flowing and I am getting quite fond of Italian wine now !!!! Local pizzeria are plentiful,in all the little towns with thin crusts and delicious toppings, also it's great to pick up inexpensive stuffed focaccia breads for lunch. In the piazza by the market we had breakfast 2 coffees and croissants stuffed one with pistachio one with jam for only €4'...the cost of a coffee at home. A visit to a local agrituristica restaurant last night was very relaxed and interesting ... the place filled with locals with their children , nobody dressed up at all... and no menu so the waiting staff just
came to the table and told you what there was.... plates full of antipasto, lentils and chickpeas.... and then you could choose you pasta ( all fresh home made) and choose the sauce. Choosing the ravioli filled with ricotta ( which was to die for ) I could have opted for the baby goat and artichoke sauce but instead I had the sausage and asparagus sauce. It was so nice to have the opportunity to eat in a place where all the ingredients come from their land...good wholesome rustic food. I have to thank Karen and Peter for their wonderful hospitality and kindness having me stay these few days.
And so I come to the end of my stay here and take a train to Rome tomorrow.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.08s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 10; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0527s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Jukie
non-member comment
Good to get back to reading your 'book' of travels xx