Tante Auguri in Cinque Terre

Birthday Girl

The penultimate day of spring, S's birthday and our first day in the Cinque Terre.  We've decided that as it's 28, maybe 30, degrees today we'll visit the five towns by train.  Sort of a reconnaissance day. We are staying for a week on the Italian Riviera - the Ligurian coast - at Moneglia which (from the north) is just four train stops from the first of the Cinque Terre villages, Monterosso.

(So beautiful is Moneglia that I think it should be the sixth village.  Somehow, I guess Sei Terre doesn't have the ring that Cinque Terre has!)

As we approached Monterosso we could see that Monterosso beach was a popular place to be today. Orange umbrellas and sunbeds lining the sand.... or are they pebbles?  We spent some time at a pretty beach side cafe, sipping espresso and studying the train timetable - in this beautiful part of Italy you don't want to spend a minute longer than necessary standing on a train platform when you could be exploring these beautiful coloured villages and the extraordinary surrounding hills.  After wandering the village we decided to travel to Riomaggiore next - the last, or most southern, of the five villages - then work our way back north.

We walked Riomaggiore snacking on fresh figs and marvelling at the village that seems to 'fall' down the steep hillside slope to the blue, blue Mediterranean.  The Italians say "azzuro-azzuro".  It seemed that it was wash day in this village and the washing hung on window lines like welcoming flags.

Next train to Manarola - surely the lovliest of the cinque.  The easy, but spectacular Dell 'Amore walk is a must, and swimming around the rocks and grotto in the Mediterranean Sea looked so inviting, (though I'm sure signore is looking out wishing he was sailing on the blue, blue Mediterranean).

Next stop Corniglia and from the station it's up, up, up some 320 steps to the town that sits atop the hill, past a riot of bouganvillea, frangipani and the ubiquitous red geraniums (the sight of which I will never tire).

On to our final stop for the day -Vernazza. It's easier to walk down Corniglia's steps to the station.  It is though difficult not to want to list the towns in order of one's favourite.  For me, Vernazza slots in there right after Manorola.  It's lovely to take a break and sit in Vernazza's pretty square and watch the beach and water, but the Mediterranean's pull is too strong....it's time for a swim and a birthday dinner complete with Italian birthday cake!  Happy Birthday S!

Tomorow E will be flying to Milan and catching a train to meet us for the remainder of the week and we'll walk some of the walks between the villages, and take the boat that navigates the coves to visit four of the five towns.  Perhaps more on that later.

Mmmm, where to first?  And which is your favourite?

Monterosso lemoni

Riomaggiore ceramics

Azzuro-Azzuro

Yes, please!

Riomaggiore

From Manarola to the sea

Beautiful Manarola. Beautiful S on her birthday.

Strenuous walking, followed by refreshing Manarola swimming

E perusing the delights of the menu at dal Billy Trattoria
 during our re-visit to Manarola.
Thanks for the recommendation L.  We loved it!

The wall of the Majolicas

Extraordinary terracing - vineyards as high as the sky

Vernazza beach

Up, up, up  320 steps from the station to Corniglia

Time for a nonna nap in Corniglia. I feel like joining them!

Boldini

Hanging throughout the streets of Como were advertising flags featuring the portrait of a beautiful woman.  These flags enticed us to find out what it was that was being held at Villa Olmo from 26 Maggio to 24 Guigio.  It was our great fortune to be in Como during this time as Boldini e la Belle Epoque was a splendid art exhibition staged throughout the magnificent rooms of Villa Olmo on the shores of Lake Como.  I was not familiar with Giovanni Boldini, though I now know that he was an Italian portrait painter who lived most of his adult life in Paris painting portraits of beautiful women wearing beautiful clothes and often standing in the salons and grand rooms of Paris homes.  I loved the finely detailed faces, fabrics, accessories and backgrounds.

The elegant rooms of magnificent Villa Olmo, opened to the public only during exhibitions, seemed the perfect location to hold an exhibition of the 'beautiful era'.

Boldini e la Belle Epoque flags adorned the via of Como 

Villa Olmo overlooking Lago di Como

No photos allowed inside the Villa so here's a link to the grand opening night.

Lago di Como

Is it possible?

Is it possible that Lake Como is the world's most beautiful lake?  From where I am standing at the open widow of La Vecchia Casa del Prete, in Careno on the shores of the lake, I have never taken in a view more bellisimo!  It is a feast so mesmerising that it is difficult to know what to look at - the villages clinging to the mountains and tumbling down to the shore, the boats and ferries, the trees, the colours of the villas and shutters, or the vista as a whole.  From this window it feels like I'm floating above the lake. 

For centuries Casa del Prete was the local priest's house and from the front door, just 20 steps across the tiny piazza, is Chiesa de Santa Maria Assunta. 

We have rented the casa for one week and it is charming in every way.  Over three levels there is a stone stairway, two bedrooms, delightful kitchen, bathroom and living room/dining room.  Built in the early 1600s the stone walls are thick and solid and the herringbone-laid tiles, we're told, are a now rare form of terracotta made of clay and wood dust, which over time have worn to be satin smooth.  Most of the windows are actually floor to ceiling 'doors' with iron balcony railings and from each the view of the lake and the mountains is breathtaking.

The casa sits at the top of tiny Careno village; a pedestrian-only village so we have left Cecile conveniently in the small adjacent car park.  From the casa it is lovely to walk down the several hundred winding, cobblestone steps through the village to the beach, the ferry wharf, the 11th Century Chiesa San Martin and to Antonio's ristorante.  It is, however, a strenuous walk home!

Careno is conveniently located - just a short drive in one direction is Como and in the opposite direction Bellagio, and while we loved our daily excursions to either Como, Bellagio, Laglio or a number of other lakeside towns, it was difficult to leave the house and the view.  Most days we swam in the freshwater lake which left our hair and skin soft and smooth, and we enjoyed shopping locally and cooking in our Italian cucina.

The weather was warm and sunny most of the time, however another spectacular storm late one night had us frantically securing the shutters to keep out the torrential rain.  The storm raged for two hours but the morning dawned clear and fresh - as if nothing had happened. 

At 8.45 on Sunday morning the bells of the church began swinging and dancing their Sunday morning tune.  We guessed this was 'Domingues reveille' letting those in the village know that mass would soon begin.  Sure enough, after a couple more tunes the bells quietened and mass began promptly at 9.30am.  It is possibe that this week is the only time we will 'live' 10 steps away from a church, so we decided we had no excuse and we join the small congregation of 30-40 people.

The hymns and responses during mass were sung with gusto - beautifully led by four elderly women in the pew opposite.  We christened them 'The Four Nonnas'.  Fortunately, hymn books were provided and we were able to lag along in our haltering phonetic Italian.  It was a lovely hour spent, and we were home in the kitchen with the coffee pot on before the front pew had exited the chiesa!

I've learned that Lake Como has been the destination of many famous people - Tennyson, Longfellow, Dickens and Shelly came here to write.  Liestz, Bellini and Verdi came here to compose.  Mussolini came to his end here.  A certain famous George has made Lake Como his home and, in a little aside, I want to remember that when I open my eyes each morning the view I see diagonally across the lake is to George's Villa Oleandra! Truly!

I love the colours of Italy - the houses and the shutters

That view!

This is beautiful Careno.  Shaped like an inverted triangle. The wharf, the restaurant
and the beach below, the church steeple you can see to the left and the casa is
the cream building just to the right of the church.

S and I couldn't resist a quick visit to George's Villa Oleandra in Laglio!

'our' Italian cucina for a week

We loved eating at the roadside trattorias.

I took this photo to enlarge and hang in my laundry at home to
remind me that in Careno even ironing a shirt can be a delightful pastime.

Chiesa de Santa Maria Asunte and La Vecchia Casa del Prete

From the kitchen window across the piazza to the church and the
congregation leaving after mass.

Ristorante Tre Rose - one of our favourites

There are two tiny dots in this photo.  They are S and I
swimming in the lake!


PS  Happy Birthday Dad xx

'If it should befall that you possess a heart and shirt, then sell the shirt and visit the shores of Lago Maggiore' - Stendahl

Walk up the 44 ancient stone steps, past Gabriella and Alberto's apartment, and you will arrive at the green and ochre arched window. You will also have arrived at our 'home' in Lake Maggiore for the next week.  A three room apartment on via Guiseppe Verdi in tiny, beautiful Dumenza.  From each room there are beautiful views across the green hills to the neighbouring hamlets and villages, the local church and a peek at the Italian alps.

We arrived from Luzern on Saturday afternoon.  Our decision for that day was... tunnel or pass?  Gotthard Tunnel or Gotthard Pass, that is.  The Pass had only recently opened after the winter months of snow.  A local - a Luzerner - had told us that for this reason the Pass is popular and could be congested and slow, and so in our eagerness to arrive at the Italian lakes we chose the tunnel.  Seventeen minutes of one's life under a mighty mountain!  Amazing engineering.

We unpacked then walked the narrow cobbled village streets to the waterfall.  Dumenza is 'famous' as being the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci's pupil Bernadino Luini, and we walked past the plaque that we translated as the home of Vincenzo Pruggia, the humble housepainter who, in 1911, became famous for stealing 'La  Gioconda' from the Louvre.  I must find out what happened to him!  There are two very good restaurants in the village, a small deli, a supermarket, a pharmacy and two churches.  It's quiet and peaceful and absolutely beautiful and exciting to be in Italy.

We spent the week visiting nearby towns and island hopping on the lake ferries - Isola Bella and Isola Pescatori our favourites. Reading, walking, swimming in the lake.  Bliss.

Stand in any Italian street, shop or cafe and listen to the music.  It's not coming from a radio or sound system - it's the voices, the people around me speaking!  It's the most expressive and colourful of languages and to me it sounds like music!

Lago Maggiore

And so, you have arrived at Dumenza!



Beautiful Dumenza



Via Guiseppe Verdi

It's May - must be Giro time!

Lakes and alps - what could be more beautiful?

Ah, Isola Bella!

Isola Bella - one of the beautiful Borromean Islands

Home cooking in Dumenza

Mountain Mist and Wildflowers

Just when we thought we'd miss the bells of Notre-Dame, we find ourselves in an apartment we've rented for a week in Luzern - across the road from Kirche Paulus.  The bells of the church ring each half hour and curiously at around 8.00am they like to ring one-hundred-and-fifty-three-oclock.  Once they rang two-hundred-and-three-oclock!

A rainy Luzern morning provided an opportunity to sit on the promenade next to Kapellbruche in a pretty lakeside cafe to read and catch up on many drafted blog posts.  In the afternoon we anticipated the small patches of blue peaking through the clouds and drove to Mt Pilatus - not to the famous cable car though - but driving up, up, up through alpine forest trails, then across meadows of willdflowers.  Higher and higher and the view down on to Kriens, Lake Luzern was magnificent.  The sun had come out and we stopped to listen to the orchestra of cow bells as the herd wandered across our view.

We were happy to discover that Luzern also had a bike hire system and is a perfect town to ride around.  We also took day trips -  to Weggis and home on the car ferry across the lake; and to Interlaken and Grindelwald to sit at the foot of the north face of the mighty Eiger.  I don't know how the snow topped alps stay snow-topped in the glorious sunshine?

Eiger

I walked into a little clock stop, and realised that
we had bought a clock there 30 years ago!

Wildflowers on Pilatus



Beautiful 14th century wooden Chapel Bridge - Kapellbrucke



Anyone you recognise?

On the way to Interlaken



The baroque Jesuit church that has heard the singing voices of S and E.



Clever Swiss

Switzerland seems like the perfect country really.  Everywhere the scenery is picture postcard perfect, the mountains are exceptional, they have three national languages, and as well as having the best chocolate the Swiss invented that most delicious of breakfasts- Birchermuseli. (Conveniently, birchermuseli is sold in charming little pots in most backerei-konditorei shops for just a couple of euro.)

In Switzerland everything 'works' and everything has the feeling of order and efficiency.  And for these reasons I just don't have too much else to say about Switzerland.  Am I being unfair?

Perhaps I am, so here two clever Swiss things that I've noticed:

Clever invention #1

I've never seen this anywhere else.

Magnifying glass on every shopping trolley - to read the
ingredients and nutrional panel on packaging, of course!
I like that a lot.

 Clever invention #2

As I searched around in the apartment kitchen for the sink plug I wondered why there was an odd-shaped nozzle sitting next to the taps.

This odd-shaped nozzle IS the plug!  And this third floor Swiss
apartment sink will never overflow and be responsible for flooding
the Swiss bank vault below it.



And you don't need to get your hands wet to remove the plug!

 Our lovely spacious apartment for the week in Luzern is on the third floor of a Swiss bank building.  This means that right now I am probably as close as I will ever be to a large Swiss bank account!