Regular readers of our blogs will have noticed rather a dearth of these lately. The usual witty, articulate and excellent photographer/commentator is out of action as he broke his arm just where it joins his shoulder towards the end of…
Venice Music
On the Saturday night Bruce and I went to hear I Musici Veneziani, a group of musicians and singers who perform operatic arias in 18th century costume. The programme was varied, including popular works from Rossini, Verdi, Mozart and others.…
Venice The Sights
Well, let’s face it, for a city with the heritage of Venice you are not going to see a great deal when you arrive on day 1 and leave on day 4. But here’s what we did see. The weather…
Venice
A Little Local Colour We have just returned from a Thurs – Sun birthday celebration (Pip) trip to Venice with our old friends RyanAir. One of the longer flights, at 2.5 hours. Although dearer than our usual European flights, it…
Tuscany – Montecatini Alto
While in Tuscany, we stayed in a town called Montecatini Terme, usually just referred to as Montecatini (Terme meaning Spa, as it has hot springs). Close by, and high on a hill, is the medieval village of Montecatini Alto (Alto,…
Tuscany – Lucca
We spent an interesting afternoon wandering around Lucca, this very ancient city with its roots in Etruscan times although the street layout dates only (!) from Roman times, about 180 BC. Curiously, an early 6th century Bishop of Lucca was…
Tuscany – Pisa
Yes, we’ve seen the tower. And it leans. Quite a bit. So what was next? Luckily for us, alongside the Tower was a magnificent cathedral and a separate circular Baptistery, sheathed in marble and…
Tuscany – the Craic
Well, there we were on a tour of Tuscany – two kiwis plus 36 Irish people. As I think I mentioned earlier, we all ate together and of course on several days of the 8-day holiday we were on all-day…
Tuscany – Cinque Terre and Portovenere tour
On day 3 of our trip we took advantage of an optional extra tour to the Cinque Terre villages, also known as the Italian Riviera. Strictly speaking, we are no longer in Tuscany but in Liguria. We journeyed by bus through…
Tuscany – Florence
Piazza and Basilica of Santa Croce We have just returned from 8 days in Tuscany. It was a really good break and we stayed for the week in Montecatini, a spa town central to Florence, Pisa and Siena. It was…