Wed 21st May: Troyes to Lake Garda

Garda is too far to sensibly travel in one day, so we break the journey near Geneva. It’s a beautiful evening and we seize the opportunity for a walk after having sat in the car all day. From the site we soon reach open countryside, as the photo shows, but are in fact only four miles from the centre of Geneva which is directly in front of the camera, and even the tall fountain in Lake Geneva is just visible (ever so just visible).

Day two sees us through the Mont Blanc tunnel and into Italy. Weather is thundery and misty but we reach the campsite on Lake Garda by 5.00pm. The next day the clouds rolled back and we’ve since enjoyed several days of warm sunny weather. We were lucky enough to be allocated a lakeside spot.

Looking to our left, there’s still some snow on the mountains that seems out of place with the sun bathers in the foreground.

At the weekend the fine weather brings out the residents and visitors in droves. The sun worshippers are joined by every type of pleasure boater: pedaloes, yachts, inflatables, jet skis, and especially powerboats. Here are two macho men racing across the bay. Hope you’re impressed, girls.

Tue 20th May: The City of Troyes

Troyes is the main town for this region, 15 miles from the campsite. We’ve driven past it numerous times over the years on our way south but never stopped, so now’s our chance to remedy that oversight.

It was founded by the Romans at a junction of several roads, but there’s little remaining from that era. It really came into its own as a commercial centre in the Middle Ages when it established a system of weighing gold that is still used today, called Troy weight.

We had no trouble free parking near the centre, in the vicinity of the 12^th century cathedral, an impressive building. Near the entrance is a plaque commemorating the reconquest of the city from the English in 1429 by Joan of Arc.

The inside is fairly plain and austere, with massive pillars, but has some beautiful early 1500’s stained glass. This is the rose window, with the sun shining through but you just can’t properly catch those colours in a photo. Well maybe the professionals can. And anyway, who was this Rose after whom all these lovely windows were named?

The most artistic church feature wasn’t in the cathedral, but at the Sainte-Madeleine church. It’s a rood screen, superbly carved from stone, but don’t go looking for naughty carved figures, it’s not that kind of rude!

It was carved by a certain Jean Gailde who had been turned down for more major construction work on the church, but was allowed to do this bit. It is said he focussed all of his skill on making a superb job as a kind of ‘up yours’ gesture to the church authorities. He was even buried beneath it. No it didn’t collapse on him as he chiselled out the finishing touches to the underside.

Despite a disastrous fire in 1524, central Troyes has all the appearance of a well preserved medieval town. There are more medieval buildings than I have ever seen in one place. Here are some examples of the hundreds still standing.

You could hardly swing a cat in this alley. It’s called Rue de la Chatte, or cat street. Yes it’s all a bit touristy with numerous cafes and restaurants but it does at least generate enough cash to preserve the buildings.

There are also fine parks and buildings from later periods on the edge of the old quarter. It all gives the city a really nice-to-live-in feel.

As ever, small details catch the eye. This is a carved wooden beam support; I’m not sure that a photo taken from a window above the beam would have been publishable.

Spring 2014: to Poland

Start: Wed May 14^th

Disaster on the first day! Our friends Trish and Paul have a tyre blow-out on the way to meet us. This was no ordinary blow-out: the tyre shredded and ripped off essential pipework attached to the underside of the motorhome. It also gouged a two-foot-by-one hole in the camper floor.

We are nearly at Folkestone, where we planned to meet, when we get their phone call. They are north of Peterborough and waiting for breakdown recovery to be towed back home to Bradford. Looks like the end of their holiday, but maybe not. We talk later, and agree that Jane and I will carry on to the first planned stop and await their repairer’s report.

So now we’ve arrived at this first destination, near Troyes in France. The site is in a regional park with three big lakes, and the weather is fine. We really don’t mind resting up here for a while!

Here’s an idea of what it’s like, with an artificial beach on the shore of the lake nearest the site, 300 yards away.

Nice walks too on all-weather walking/cycling tracks, even if some of the cyclists seem to use it in Tour de France practice mode!

 

The local village of Geraudot has many picturesque half-timbered houses and a good number of semi-derelict ancient dwellings being done up, as in the photo. The satellite disk looks kind of out of place.

Even the church has timber framing at the entrance making it look rather like a barn, but it is 12^th Century and this was the local building method of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Savoca and the Godfather

The Godfather was shot (not literally! ) way back in 1972, but because of its cult status there is still much interest in the locations used. The film is ranked second greatest American film ever by the American Film Institute.

New York was the backdrop for most of the movie but the Sicilian scenes were actually filmed in Sicily. The action in Sicily is meant to be in Corleone, the Godfather’s family’s home town, but even in the early 70’s, Corleone was too developed to be used for filming. They came up with the village of Savoca as a substitute for the right atmosphere of Corleone in the late 1940’s.  

Savoca is about four miles from the campsite, and a pleasant run in the car. It’s an old village rambling around a hilltop with a ruined castle on top. Part of it looks quite precarious, but is very scenic. 

Now some film sets: Vitelli’s bar, and then the wedding church.

The bar was closed for renovation, but the church was open. A pretty church but nothing like the ornate extravaganzas we’ve seen in Palermo and elsewhere. The chandelier looks like some sort of monster spider ready to drop on anyone sneaking out without leaving an offering. Well, we would have done anyway.

The church housed an appealing figure depicting, presumably, St Francis with a small pig. This is a saint truly in touch with ordinary life, a refreshing counter-balance to the angels and seraphs that account for most of the statues and illustrations in religious buildings.

We enjoyed Savoca for its own sake, independently of its film star status. It wasn’t even all that touristy; I expected shops selling Don Corleone masks, Offer You Can’t Refuse bargain stores, or perhaps a Cosa Nostra Café.

Feb 25th: Etna

Etna is the most active volcano in Europe. It is in a constant state of change so is difficult to predict. In 1971 the early warning station set up to give advanced notice was caught out and destroyed by an eruption. Most recently there have been ash showers as shown from the drift at the side of the road. These are common enough for there to be permanent notices warning cyclists and motorcyclists of the risk of skidding.

I hasten to add that Jane is wearing a money pouch (21st century equivalent of the sporran), not a red leather bikini over her trousers: it’s not that sort of holiday.

We are driving up Etna’s northern slope where the road reaches 6,000 feet plus before descending, 20 miles farther on. The mountain peak is much higher at 10,900 feet and the upper slopes are attainable by cable car from the southern side. Since 1979 tourists can’t ascend the final 1,000 feet to the top because it’s too dangerous: 9 tourists were killed that year on the main crater lip. We’re not doing the cable car run as it’s too cold in winter and the lofty parts are mostly covered by clouds. They were today, so we made the right choice.

The road width and surfaces are good in spite of the seismic challenges, and we climb steadily until the route cuts through a huge lava field. This was the last major eruption, in 2002. The lava runs for many miles and the volume of out-pouring is vast. Here are a few photos that don’t really do it justice.

The dots on the skyline are actually people, so gives some idea of scale. We carry on driving up to the top and what happens to be the snow line. It seems, by the inactive ski lift and the bare snow poles on either side of the road, that maybe they haven’t had much snow this year. Anyway, there’s enough for a snap of me on an old grubby patch of it. I’m trying not to look like an old grubby poser.

There’s a lot more snow higher up, visible intermittently between the swirling clouds. It looks quite dramatic over the top of the lava flow, a bit like pictures of the Earth seen from space.

The whole of the lower slopes below the snow line are densely wooded, apart from what the lava has claimed. Below about 3,000 feet there are also many villages, some of which have suffered severe damage from eruptions. I wonder why people would want to live in such a dangerous area. Maybe to get the benefit of free underfloor heating!

Etna has more to offer: walking trails, visits to craters, gorges, and wildlife, but winter is not the best time for ordinary tourists like ourselves to be exploring high mountains. It was, nevertheless, an absorbing peek into a very different environment. A far cry from the Guy Fawkes firework called Mount Etna shaped like a cone that roared up a column of sparks for a minute or so to parody an eruption.  

We Do Like to be Beside the Seaside

The campsites open in Sicily in wintertime are all near the coast and, as they’re not too busy, we’ve been fortunate enough sometimes to get a sea view. Lucky again this time, as we are overlooking the beach.

 

The view to the right from the caravan window is the best: sandy beach and headland with old watchtower, and then hilltop village just out of camera. But- and this is an important but- you’ve got to make a mental adjustment before looking at the photo, because it’s BLACK sand and rocks. It’s all volcanic in this area so the first impression is that we are in Nutty-Slack-On-Sea. For those readers from a different era, who didn’t experience coal fires and coal deliveries, nutty slack was a type of poor quality coal consisting of dust and small lumps.

The helpful campsite manager suggested the village on the hill would be worth a visit. So up we went, to Forza d’Agro. A good road zig-zagged to the elegant central square, where we parked. Easy at this time of year but it must be a nightmare in season.

All the best old villages in Sicily have a ruined Norman castle and here is the view as we look back from the steps up to Forza’s castle. It’s locked, but never mind, it’s ruined anyway. You can see what a good defensive position the village has, perched on its rock pinnacle 1400 feet above the sea.

The village is a maze of steep, tight streets. These are generally just about accessible with a small car or scooter. I think the car in the next photo might be a bit optimistic if it’s going to negotiate the steps as well as the narrow alley.

The views are exceptional from anywhere on the edge of the village. Our campsite is visible, as is the mainland if it’s not too misty, and far into the mountains which is the panorama in the next photo.

With the extensive and varied terrain of Sicily, it doesn’t feel like an island. It’s actually 25% bigger than Wales, and is the largest island in the Med. I’m starting to sound like the Sicilian Tourist Board, so let’s go back down the hill to the caravan for a cup of tea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



SferraCavallo

This is where we stayed, a coastal town, really a suburb of Palermo. Being that close to the metropolis it was more closed in, but we had a good size pitch with a view of the mountain crags. Evening shadows, unfortunately, but the neighbours opposite seemed to have washing out most days, so not good for tasteful photos.

 

The seaside in town amounted to a small fishing harbour and volcanic rocks along the coastline. A pavement and then a pathway followed the coast for a good few miles making a pleasant evening walk.

Strolling back towards the town at dusk, heading west that is, gave us some golden sunsets. This next photo is interesting because, in the clear evening air, the long headland of the Zingaro Reserve is silhouetted about 40 miles away. That’s where we were at our previous destination.

But now, on Wednesday 19^th Feb, it’s goodbye to Palermo. We’re going to Sant Alessio Siculo on the east coast, under Mt. Etna’s shadow.