After an enjoyable stay in Orvieto it was time to move to our next destination of Barga. On the way we broke our journey in two places. The first was the Abbey of Mount Oliveto Maggiore. This abbey is still used by the Benedictine monks, but as it was a place of meditation and worship, visitors were requested to observe silence during their visit. As we approached the abbey, there was anything but silence and as the abbey came into view we found that it was not the visitors that was causing the noise, but the monks sharing a boisterous joke or two between themselves. The abbey consisted of a large church, a cloister, painted with a series of frescoes ( all in excellent condition) and other areas such as the original library and pharmacy.
Next stop was to renew out acquaintance with San Gimignano. This was going to be a brief visit, because we were already running late for our appointment at the apartment (the car GPS was making predictions of our arrival time and I was already dreaming up excuses of how bad the traffic was , the stupid GPS took the wrong turn etc) As always, it was teeming with tourists. It is a very pleasant place in the evening when the large crowds leave, but in the middle of the day it becomes quite chaotic. However, it brought back pleasant memories and after a slice of delicious pizza and an ice cream, we were on our way.
Barga was not typical of the Tuscany that we are familiar with. It is perched into the side of a mountain and surrounded by other mountains. Travel is slow as you wind your way up the mountain. We rang Rosanna to let her know of our arrival and she promised that two ladies would meet us at Port Reale. Ken waited for some time and nobody approached him. Eventually he rang Rosanna again and she rang the two ladies. They had been waiting there all the time merrily chatting to each other with not a care in the world quite oblivious to him.
Imagine our disappointment when we reached the apartment which they declared was a typical Italian house. It was very BASIC to say the least with a poorly equipped kitchen lacking the basics of oil, vinegar sugar etc. No welcoming basket of goodies like in the previous apartments and a fridge up some stairs in a dank laundry. The icebox was rock solid with ice. The bedrooms could only be reached by climbing a steep narrow flight of steps. The bathroom was BASIC. Things didn’t look good for spending 7 days in Barga!
To our surprise the town opened up for us and next night a visiting group of Scottish musicians performed folk dances and Scottish music together with fiddles, bagpipes and accordions for free in the town square. We went to bed much happier.
Saturday night a mandolin orchestra played in a square – it cost us a bottle of wine at the cafe to hear fabulous musicians and singers playing typical Italian songs. After a day at the markets at Lucca and a good meal at a local restaurant things were looking decidedly better.
Oh did we mention the maniac who rang the church bell every quarter of an hour all through the night? We did enquire why the bell ringing continued at 2am (every 15 minutes) but it was explained with the usual “this is Italy”
Monday we ventured out to Collodi to visit the villa and gardens supposedly they were the equal to Versailles [obviously the writer had never been to Versailles]. We had a horrible pizza for lunch but a pleasant day none the less. Pinocchio’s writer was a native of Collodi.
Tuesday – what a wonderful day at Florence though it cost us a king’s ransom to park the car. Santa Croce was impressive. Santa Maria del Carmine was unfortunately closed but we were able to glimpse the wonderful frescos by Masaccio. We did visit the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio again.
Thursday we will be leaving our Italian hovel for Verona and the opera Carmen at the amphitheatre.
Verona is not really Tuscany, but we were there for only one night. This time we had reserved seats, so it meant that we did not have to arrive 3 hours in advance to get a reasonable seat. This meant we were able to have an enjoyable meal before Carmen and then walk over to our seats just before the performance started. Very civilised.
As an added bonus, the seats right next to ours were in the next price category and were unoccupied. However, the ushers were making sure that cheapskates like myself were not changing seats. But when the lights went down, they had to leave the arena and of course the temptation was too great to resist. At the end of the act, a quick slide back to the correct seats and everyone (who knew) was happy. Getting back to Carmen, it was a great spectacle. There were nearly 200 people in the cast as well as 5 horses and 3 donkeys. It was a very enjoyable night and we arrived home at 2am.
