Back from 3 weeks in Ireland (my other favorite country starting with I)

We went to Ireland for three weeks in August to escape the heat and tourists of Tuscany in August and it was a highly effective strategy--the average temperature was about 14 C  (57F) during the days, with frequent rain.  The weather is incredibly volatile, sunny, then rain, then sunny, then foggy--makes Seattle seem like southern California in comparison.  We felt right at home in the rain and cool temperatures, and with the green everywhere (many, many Irish jokes about 50 shades of green).  Rhododendrons and hardy fuchsias grow wild along the roads, along with thousands of crocosmia, making driving through the countryside on the tiny little roads a beautiful if terrifying experience.  Of course we visited all the expected places (Dublin castle, Dingle Peninsula, Donegal, giant's causeway), and some less expected places as well.  Tom mastered driving on the left and the incessant roundabouts, I did not master being calm when turning blind corners on narrow lanes and seeing a giant truck coming straight at us.  We adapted to beer with lunch instead of wine (traveling does involve some sacrifices) and even kept up with our italian because there were many, many Italian tourists, especially in the south.  They had some trouble coping with the temperatures--Italians wear down jackets, wool caps and scarfs when it is 70 degrees out, so you can imagine how bundled up they were for Ireland.  At our B&B near Donegal town, it was 7 Italians and us, which was entertaining, especially as one of the young Italian men was ridiculously good looking.

I was going to use 21 pictures to show our 21 days in Ireland but couldn't winnow down the 800 plus pictures that severely.  Following are some highlights, not necessarily in the order in which we encountered them.

Of course we visited Trinity College, Kelly's 'alma mater'

There was an interesting exhibition of sand sculpture outside Dublin castle

Nothing says Ireland like drinks and traditional music at a pub in Temple Bar

sunset on the river liffey

Kilmainham jail where the British held Irish political prisoners--not used since Ireland achieved independence, but a symbol to the Irish of their brutal treatment at the hands of the British.  Below, inside a cell at the jail.

Next was a drive through the Wicklow mountains to Cashel, where we visited the Rock of Cashel, which was the seat of the Munster kings for centuries, but was eventually given to the Catholic church.  Myth has it that the rock was originally 20 miles away but was magically transported to its current location when St. Patrick banished Satan from Ireland.

Onward to Cobh (pronounced cove), the last port of call for the Titanic and home to the Titanic museum.  En route (as is true everywhere in Ireland) we saw many sheep and cows.

Also many green fields and rolling hills:

We visited nearby Kinsale which involved taking a tiny car ferry across the Shannon River, and went on a guided tour of the town which involved more talk about the Titanic and the Lusitania.

Cathedral in Cobh.  There are baskets of flowers everywhere in Ireland.

We didn't drive the whole Ring of Kerry road which is now very developed compared to 40 years ago when I rode my bike there, but we did tour a stately home and garden on the Ring of Kerry road.

Muckross house and garden 

Wine is expensive and bad in Ireland, so we were forced to drink beer. Instead of expresso and biscotti, we had tea and pastry for our merenda.

We spent several days each in the Dingle peninsula and Donegal, both beautiful and wild areas of Ireland with many ancient ferry rings (3000 year old stone circles) and ruins.

Portnabrone tomb

fuschia lined walkway to the ancient  beehive church--wild fuschias everywhere

and fantastic water views everywhere

As in Italy, there are shrines in unexpected places

A day trip to Inishmore, one of the Aran islands was particularly interesting.  Dun Aengus is an ancient fort built on top of a cliff overhanging the water and well worth the hike up to the top.

fort charles near Kinsale

the burren--an area of Ireland with a strange, rocky landscape

Too many castles to enumerate...

Donegal castle

And many dramatic cliffs, from the famous cliffs of moher to the less famous but more spectacular slieve league, the highest cliffs in Europe.

cliffs of moher

slieve league in Donegal

Tom loved the antiquities and of course can never pass a museum, which is why we saw a 40,000 year old bear skeleton which had nothing to do with Ireland except that a rich Irish guy bought it and made a museum.

also at the 'museum'

We watched sheep dogs herding sheep, went to Derry and the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, and finished the trip with a visit to Newgrange and Knouth, 5000 year old passage tombs which the guide quickly pointed out are 1000 years older than Stonehenge.  Following is a miscellany of pictures of these and other events.

The murals above are 2 of 12 murals by the bogside artists which commemorate the struggle for Irish independence in the late 60s and 70s.  The entering free derry sign memorializes the sign put up by Catholics in Bogside in 1968, based on a similar sign posted in West Berlin after the wall was built.

The crew entertaining us on the way back from a boat ride in Donegal Bay

At one B&B Patsy demonstrated his award winning sheepdogs herding sheep

3000 year old fairy circle 

Tom at Giant's Causeway

Tom's first selfie (at giant's causeway)

giant's causeway

several of the 40 passageway tombs at knowth

And where else would we have a drink but Kelly's bar? Slainte!

One year anniversary of retiring--castles and fireworks

First, the fireworks. 

 

August 7 is the feast day of the patron saint of Arezzo.  The story of his life, written in the 5th century, has been described as unreliable, but the highlights are:

Donatus escaped to Arezzo and would work with a monk named Hilarian to preach the Christian faith, as well as perform penances and miracles.^[1] Severinus' Passio states that Donatus brought back to life a woman named Euphrosina; fought and slew a dragon who had poisoned the local well;^[2] gave sight back to a blind woman named Syriana; and exorcised a demon that had been tormenting Asterius, the son of the Roman prefect of Arezzo...During a celebration of Mass, at the moment of the giving of Communion, in which a glass chalice was being administered, some pagans entered the church and shattered the chalice in question. Donatus, after intense prayer, collected all of the fragments and joined them together. There was a piece missing from the bottom of the cup; miraculously, however, nothing spilled from the cup. Astounded, seventy-nine pagans converted to Christianity.^[1] A similar legend is told of Saint Nonnosus, but the object is a shattered glass lamp.^[4]A month after this episode, the prefect of Arezzo, Quadratian, arrested Hilarian the Monk and Donatus. Hilarian was martyred on July 16, 362 and Donatus was beheaded on August 7 at Arezzo.

So the feast day, which is a giorno di festivo or holiday, is basically celebrating the beheading of the bishop.  Unfortunately, we had forgotten about the feast day and thus missed the pageantry in the Piazza Grande, 'due passe' (a few steps) from our apartment.  We saw them processing away from the square in full medieval regalia after the festivities (and heard an unforgettable rendition of Beethoven's 5th by the Arezzo drum and bugle corps).  Then we heard loud booms which Tom correctly identified as the sound of fireworks.  We stepped out into our back yard and the fireworks were directly above us!  I've never seen fireworks so close up and personal, we felt as if we could reach up and touch them.  It was truly spectacular and a great end to a great day that marked our first visitors from Seattle.  Karen, Todd & Perry and friends were spending a week at Castello Galbino in nearby Anghiari and came to spend a day with us.  After a long lunch on Piazza Grande, they visited our apartment, then we did a small walk through town to see some of the sights, including an excellent gelateria.

toasting absent friends

lunch at portici vasari in Arezzo with Phil, Mara, Paige, Nancy, Karen, Todd

pausing in piazza San Francesco

 Second, the castle:

The next day Tom and I took the bus to Anghiari where Todd and Karen met us at the bus stop and brought us to Castello Galbino where they were staying for a week with a group of friends.  Anghiari is at a higher elevation than Arezzo, surrounded by rolling hills, trees, and tobacco and sunflower fields (tobacco is one of the major crops in Tuscany0.  The castello is beautiful, large but surprisingly homey because it has been in the same family for generations and their possessions, including books and pictures, are everywhere.

Castello Galbino

note the crossed rifles above the fireplace

Andre enjoying breakfast in the kitchen

the dishes have a picture of the castle

the castle crest on the ceiling

The housekeeper/chef Nurella (born in 1953 like me) gave us a ravioli making lesson in the kitchen and we had the results for dinner.

Nurella let us try our hands at the various stages of making ravioli.  Above, Paige is rolling the dough which has to be rolled until it is translucent.  Nurella uses a giant rolling pin and really works the dough.  None of us could master her method which she said took her two years to learn.

After the rigors of ravioli making we had to retire to the terrazzo for apertivi.  In the course of the evening 6 bottles of prosecco met their doom.

 ````````````````No, it isn't a hogwarts broom, it is an actual old style broom

````````````````` still in use in Italy.

The castle has beautiful grounds, including an infinity pool, which we enjoyed the next day, although regrettably Karen and co. had to leave for the airport at 2 am.

This is what retirement looks like--come on in, the water is great!

Castiglione della Pescaia: a week at the Tuscan coast

After a cena Americana with our Italian friends Mario, Loretta and their daughters Julia and Laura, we were ready to head for Castiglione della Pescaia and a week on the Mediterranean coast.

Mario, Julia, Tom, Laura and Loretta at cena Americana (above)
and a torta they brought for dessert with our names and the date on it

 The  next day Mario gave us a ride to Euro Car where we picked up our Fiat Panda and headed for the coast--only 2 1/2 hours away.  We rented an apartment for a week in a small town called Castiglione della Pescai.  The apartment was on a hill above the town, up 50 stairs to the apartment, but worth the hike for the spectacular 360 degree view from the balcony.

Views from the balcony

 Castiglione is a beautiful little town with a medieval center and is right on the water.  The sagra della pesche (fish festival) was going on so there were concerts in the piazza, a market, and a tiny circus complete with three sleepy looking tigers.  We had some great seafood, did a lot of swimming in the clear blue waters of the Med, and toured the countryside.  Of course there were roman and etruscan ruins to visit along with a museum of archaeology (Rosselle) and we took a beautiful drive through the countryside into the hills to visit a tiny town called Tiroli and eat at a restaurant recommended by the apartment owner.  They featured typical Tuscan food, emphasizing cinghiale (wild boar.  Tom had an osso bucco of cinghiale that looked like something Fred Flintstone would have eaten.

We had to try the first Mexican restaurant we have seen in Italy--
non era  veramente mexicano

cinghiale (left), Tiroli above

Roman ruins at Rosselle

by the apartment

After a week of beach, sun, and thunderstorms, we headed back to Arezzo, past dozens of fields of blooming sunflowers, where the ever helpful Mario picked us up at the rental car place, took us shopping, and brought us home.  What would we do without him?  Next up, visiting Seattle friend who will be staying at a castle in nearby Anghiari and a trip to Cortona with Mario.  Viva Italia!

Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia

We returned to Perugia for the opening night of the Umbria Jazz festival, kicked off by Seattle's own Garfield jazz band.  The band was great but the weather was not: rain and thunderstorms or, as Clarence Acox said, Seattle weather.  The crowd was sparse but enthusiastic.

jazz fans 'enjoying' the show

To our surprise, we ran into two people we know--former co-worker John Dalton and his wife Susan.  Their 15 year old son plays trombone in the band which is quite an honor as it is rare for freshmen to make the senior band.  They were chaperoning the band's tour through Europe which included stops in Lyon, Venice and Rome as well as 7 or 8 other places.

Following Garfield was a line up of New Orleans style jazz bands, all fantastic.  My favorite was a band from Texas  that had a 3 woman horn section.  They really got the crowd dancing (and the fact that it quit raining helped). Since it is Italy after all, the refreshment booth was selling a tasty white wine, prosecco, and a red wine which I didn't try but a friend told me was not the worst swill he ever tasted (liberal translation from the Italian).  

In other news, we finally have out outdoor table, chairs and umbrella and also a shiny new BBQ.

Tom watches Mario figuring out the instructions to assemble the bbq

We hope to have our Italian friends over for an American style BBQ Friday night. We have figured out how to do a giant shop at the PAM superstore--walk the kilometer there but take a cab back with all the heavy stuff.  The PAM store is like an American supermarket and offers a lot of things we can't find elsewhere, such as soy sauce and a cute tiny Italian bottle of catsup, and even actual hamburger buns (not that we have been looking for those but we  bought a package immediately).  Mostly we loaded up with coke zero, milk, wine, potatoes, laundry soap and other stuff that is too heavy to haul up the hill in the heat without lots of rest stops.

waiting for the cab with a cart full of groceries

First Sunday of the month means the giant antique fair that covers almost every street in centro.  We spent a few hours checking out the goods, but bought only an old picture to put on the mantel.

working hard at the antiques fair (above)

Loggia Vasari crowded with stalls

still searching for the best gelatto in Arezzo--despite the look on Tom's face,
this gelatto was pretty good

Next Saturday it is off to the Tuscany coast for a week (near Grossetto).  Armed with my new microsoft surface (having broken the kindle as previously reported) I am ready for some serious beach reading.  Luckily there are also ancient ruins, old churches, and picturesque towns in case the turquoise water and white sand grows old.

ciao a tutti!