Monday 8th Nov......across to Otranto on the Adriatic coast

Really heavy rain yesterday evening, which is not going to help the flooded areas, and thunder, one extremely loud roll which shook the window frames but we awoke this morning to blue skies and very warm. We headed over towards the Adriatic coast through villages and towns in an area that is Greek/Italian.

The very large castle at Otranto. We stopped here for refreshment in a cafe that is obviously the watering hole for the local police.

Marina and small port at Otranto. The ferry goes to Igoumenitsa on the Greek mainland which is very special to us as we stayed several times in Sivota which is just down the coast from Igoumenitsa. We have wonderful memories of this area of Greece especially Zagoria National Park and The Vikos Gorge which is the second deepest gorge in the world after the Grand Canyon and is so, sorry I have to say so awesome.  We stayed in the village of Monodendri for 3 nights, it was so magical with the views and the fireflies and then driving the 2 miles up a gravel "road" to the gorge and it was just wow there, this gorge with steep slopes and percipitous rocks and when we visited we were the only people there to stand in awe of this spectacular sight. The Zagoria National Park is a wooded area and is such a special area of Greece a really must visit area. We spent our time there driving around winding roads with sheer drops and amazing views around every corner. We remember having our lunch in the shade by a cool stream with the local priest a short way up the river bank instructing a class of novices. The 3 bridges of Kiri are also a must. Most of the photos hanging on our stairs at home are of this area.

Old city walls and part of castle at Otranto.

Chef bought some fish this morning, we're not sure exactly what it was but it was "bream" type. He cooked it from memory of a Rick Stein recipe, baked  with red peppers and fennel accompanied with baked  courgettes and potatoes. It was delicious, he's planning small fish tomorrow. It's great having a fish shop a minute down the road and a stones throw from a veg shop and bakers.

Sunday 7th November.....off to see the sea

The apartment here in Carmiano is part of a very big family home, the house is big not the family although I guess the family could be !!! Grandmother lives on the same level as us and has her many pots of beautiful cyclamen on the patio areas.

A lovely warm sunny day so we headed out to the west coast to Porto Cesareo which is a small holiday resort town. It's a major port for the local fishermen and has quite a substantial fish market, I had to stop chef from buying up a week's supply ! There is a fish shop in our town and he is determind to make up for "lost time".

We couldn't resist sitting in the sunshine with a very pleasant glass of sparkling wine and some people watching.

Can't remember if I have mentioned the "mobile" African street sellers but they are always in the more touristy areas and are a  bit of a pain . On the plus side when they have umbrellas for sale we know from experience it is going to rain !!

The sea shore at Torre S. Isidoro. We had a great walk along here, it seemed very volcanic, it had the same feel (C & E you can invisage this) as the beach at Vik in Iceland. However it is limestone rock, in fact there are grottos farther up the coast very similar to the ones we saw in Portugal. We picked our way across the terrain to the edge.

We love the sea and to watch (and photograph) the waves crashing against the rocks

The wind was quite strong and it became cloudy and a bit chilly after a while... back to the car.

There were forts at intervals along the coast, I didn't bother to photograph as sadly as with most of the European countries we have visited the buildings are covered in graffii and the Italians seem worse than the Greeks for the amount of rubbish everywhere even in the most scenic place...very sad.
Lots of good fresh air and exercise, after a drive down the coast a bit farther we head back for another of "Mammas" homemade pasta sauces. Chef is going to add some more  meat to it as he can't quite get into the Italian way of lots of pasta and a small amount of sauce !!!! We've had a really good day today, it has been a pleasant change to drive out and not have to negotiate winding roads.  The southern part of Italy has been badly flooded from the torrential rain last Tuesday. I think I forgot to mention when we were in the Gargano we headed out on the Tuesday thinking the rain might stop or might be just up on the mountain but after an hour of driving over the mountain in very heavy rain and bad visibility we called it a day and went back to apartment, just as well really as it just got worse all day !! Mamma here says she has never in her life known such torrential rain and for so long....they didn't know the Harris' have this effect (Nashville comes to mind !) It's very flat and agricultural in the south and we guess the earth was still hard packed from the summer months but a lot of the crops are under water and some of the roads are still closed off.

THE BLOG IS BACK !......30th Oct to 6th Nov

Boungiorno everyone.....we are back in the land of the internet after our stay in Monte Sant' Angelo in the Gargano Peninsular.
We left Assisi bright and early on Saturday the 31st and headed south, ummm a slight detour quite soon after due to the really rubbish Italian road signs, I'm so glad I was driving and not navigating! The saying that all roads lead to Roma is quite true, for some reason Roma is always on the road signs even in the smallest village and possibly 500 miles away !!! However we arrived at MSA, the last 6 kms being a climb of 3000 feet and many switch-backs. We found a parking spot in a little piazza down from the apartment (lots of steps up to it !) and set off on foot to the other side of town to collect the keys from Pasqule and then had one of life's experiences when he took us back in his very beaten up Fiat Panda that must have been about 30 years old and which never got out of first gear! We do, since being on this trip, understand why the Panda is so popular in Italy with the very narrow cobbled streets! Pasqule does not speak English (we knew this in advance) in fact no one in town does, but we managed with our few words of Italian and sign language and lots of nodding to get the gist of things.
We were very disappointed with the apartment, it was really not up to standard and it was obvious that no one had stayed here for a while as it felt damp but the Harris spirit was not broken, we had a glass of wine and a moan and then set to with mop and bucket.....

General view of Monte Sant' Angelo. We arrived on a bank holiday weekend (also clocks back one hour same as UK). Sunday is All Souls Day and Monday All Saints Day. We assumed the shops would be closed but not so the town was vibrant with street sellers and all of the shops open to cater for the influx of pilgrims visiting the shrine. They arrived by coach loads, motorhomes and most forms of transport, in fact there was a motorcycle gathering too !!  It was really interesting as although not a really big town like Assisi it is a destination for pilgrims as the Archangel Michael supposedly left his  footprint in a rock in the Basilica. He also is reputed to have erradicated the plague after speaking to a bishop who we guess must have asked him to intervene. The bells of the Basilica, the monastery and local churches were ringing out at intervals all day, almost a party atmosphere. We had a good walk about in the sunshine, in fact when we added it up,it was 3 hours of walking up and down steps and alley ways, we also found a bakers just up the road from our apartment who sold fabulous crusty rolls. We did much the same on Monday too with another stop at a local cafe for coffee and a spot of people watching. We had been told before we left Assisi that this weekend is also about the giving of flowers, on Sunday to the dead and on Monday to the saints and by Monday afternoon all of the flower shops looked like a plague of locusts had passed by with not a bloom left!

The front of the Basilica. We were surprised when we had a look around later in the week it is a facade for the entrance down many steps to the shine and museum and exhibits inside the rock. The crypt is a very spiritual place as it is more or less a cave and very atmospheric. 

The bell tower of The Basilica, The Sanctury of Saint Michael.

One of the many streets of MSA. It certainly is not the prettiest town we have seen !! There is a lot of  new construction going on which we are sorry to say looks like barracks.

The castle at MSA. This was built in the 9th century to protect/defend The Sanctuary of Saint Michael.

We walked around the castle later in the week.

A view out across the valley from the castle at MSA. We drove across the valley and up over the mountain through the Forest Umbra to the coast. A very winding switch-back road, 60 kms in just over 2 hours but we had all day and it was a very pretty drive.

MSA is 3000 feet above sea level and we were very much in the clouds at times. It was quite fascinating as especially in the evenings, one moment it would be clear and the next a thick fog swirling about,  just like the sea mist in Portsmouth! Ha ha what with the bronze sculpture on Mt Subasio (see comments 29th Oct for explanation)  perhaps there is a link, a kind of twinning !!

Part of one of the 4 roads leading up to Monte Sant' Angelo

More of the road up showing one of the many switch-backs or "tornate"

A cove on the Adriatic at Vieste.



A cove along the coastal road from Manfredonia a large industrial town at the bottom of the mountain from MSA. This "plain" between the mountain and sea is completely covered in olive groves.



This is called a Trabucchi and  is very interesing. It is an antique wooden structure jutting out over the water and used for fishing and is unique to this area of Italy. We hiked down the track to get a closer look. Had we a 4 x4 or a Piaggio (if we lived in Italy we would have to have one of these!) we would have drove down but the exercise was good for us !

Closer look at the Trabucchi, in the season there is a little restaurant open serving the freshly caught fish. I didn't get any closer as there were dogs and you know me and dogs although himself befriended them !

View of Trabucchi from our beach walk.

Sunset at Monte Sant' Angelo and really fascinating as we were above the cloud base. Just like being in a plane !!

Saturday 6th and we are up and about early to move on down to Carmiano near Lecce in the "heel" of Italy. It's a beautiful morning up on the mountain but we are looking down on cloud which actually turns out to be fog when we eventually get down to sea level. We have a good journey down the autostrada to Bari (didn't realise it is so big) and on past Brindisi to Carmiano. Just had to get directions at the last moment from a very helpful local who gave us a scare as she didn't speak English but we gathered from what she said that the owner of the apartment had died !! However it turned out that Salvatore and his family had been to a funeral....

Well we are very pleased with this apartment by far the best we have stayed in and (most folk arrive by plane and the shops are closed tomorrow) they have stocked the fridge and cupboards with enough food, wine and beer for a few days.

Friday 29th Oct......a beautiful drive up and over Mount Subasio

It's a beautiful morning again and a perfect day to drive up and over Mount Subasio.

View on way up of the valley below Assisi

We are not sure and couldn't find out what this sculpture is all about. At first we thought it was an old tree stump but not so, it's bronze.

We are up on the top plateau now. The views from here are awesome.

From down in Assisi Mt Subasio looks all trees but when you get up here there are rolling hills and large grassland areas. 

Michael thought this would be a good place for a golf course.

It's bracing up here but so beautiful.

The owner of the villa where we are staying was surprised there is snow already on the far mountain range.

We are told that in the summer the Italians flock here with their picnics and sun loungers but today we have, apart from one or two mushroom pickers, the mountain to ourselves.

The grassland is common land. Many horses and cattle graze here for the summer.

Assisi from the top of Mt Subasio, amazing.

Another bronze statue, shame we couldn't find out what they represent.

The road which actually wasn't that bad.

The village of Collepino, we stopped here on Sunday for a coffee and we revisited today to stop for a beer but sadly the bar/restaurant was closed. Being good boy scouts we did have our packed lunch with us !
We have been invited to the apartment of our fellow olive pickers this evening for a pasta supper. We shall all be careful of the red wine intake as they fly back to UK tomorrow and we want to make an early start for our 6 hour drive

OK, IMPORTANT INFORMATION........we move on tomorrow to the Gargano Peninsular to Monte Sant' Angelo where we will be staying for a week. They do not have any internet connection at the apartment so the blog (I know big tears!!) will be off line BUT I will do an update when we get to Lecce. We have identified wifi hotspots in the town and hope to sit and have a glass of wine and catch up on emails at some stage during the week.
Have a great weekend everyone.
xxx