May 07

My first impression of Athens, since it had been 28 years since my last visit, was how westernised it had become, distinctly less Greek with prevalent English signage everywhere and more importantly the influx of european immigrants, particularly from Albania. Wow! They seem to be running the restaurants and businesses there. There is a lot of reconstruction going on in the city. We staggered up to the acropolis in the heat of the day, and marvelled at the pathenon, but its thirsty work looking at artefacts and the Greek beer "mythos" (to Joe the fix factory has closed down!) quenched us in a bar under the grapevines. There is a new part of the city, the Plaka, which is all for the tourists and every business seems to be run and serviced by the immigrants. We flew Aegean Airlines to Santorini on Monday, a non eventful flight took 30 minutes on a 737. We had never imagined for one single minute that it could possibly be raining cold and stormy here in Santorini....it certainly didnt in "Summer Lovers" but boy did we get a lightning show here last night, wow, fork and flash lightning, put the fear of god into Elsie, and we were wearing thick winter woollies....we kid you not! But compensated warmly with a truly delicious Greek meal of Noels favourite (yep you guess it guys, mousakka) and I had keftedes with greek salad (with caper leaves which Id never seen nor tasted and were huge like bayleaves) tasty, great service and atmosphere. The place is riddled with mainly American and Germans, we appear as the only kiwis, and not busy there is abundance of holiday accomodation everywhere. We are on the cliff top in a whitewashed apartment, blue shutters, just north of Fira, our little table overlooks the harbour where the enormous cruise ships anchor! The view is just oh so spectacular, we have toasted to our absent friends who we know just love Greece. A special hi to Les and Judy, we heard bagpipes in Athens whilst walking around the acropolis..."Scotland the Brave" We immediately thought of you! Weather is improving today, we are off to discover Ia (northern part of the island where we think Summer Lovers was filmed) and to enjoy another day of great Greek cuisine and hospitality. Steen eeyiasas!

Sorry for delay but just nowhere had internet, not even at Roma airport!! Italy was kind to us, we appreciate their weird and wonderful ways ...they all think they are formula 1 drivers and we spied out many times speedsters at 160kph on the autostrade, and reckless overtaking on windy hilly narrow roads, and we're positive they prefer driving on the left hand side as they always seem to approach us on our side of the road! Their cars dont have indicator lights we are sure! Elsie so enjoyed the way foodstuffs were always wrapped in crisp paper and sellotape (cheese, pastries, meat, bread etc) and a receipt is issued for everything! The quaint little shops that had no signage and you managed to find the specific shop you wanted by simply by looking through the curtain at the door! The delicatesseans were just amazing, a vast array of cheeses, wines, salamis and antipasto...personally I'd never seen so much and all locally produced. Now to the bugs, we think they drove us out of Roccalbegna...the climax was when Elsie discovered the biggest centipede ever! It was in my trackpants, and I screamed...Noel thought I was exaggerating and being a puss! ...until he saw it! He reckoned it was a big fat jelly that wouldnt die when he stamped on it many times. The wasps like b52's, ants the size of peanuts, every creepy crawly insect you could imagine we saw!!! Snakes, scorpians, wasps, bees, huge flies, slater bugs, they were just so abundant and massive in size, we used up nearly a can of flyspray in 5 days!!! We thoroughly enjoyed the Moretti and Peroni national beers! Different prices at different locations! We feel accomplished, Noel at driving and Elsie at navigating, and dealing comfortably with the language. Our only 'heated moment' which nearly led to divorce was at Roma airport when we had to return the car to Avis. We could not find where to take it despite driving around and around and around and asking 3 lots of people, until the only place left to look was in a carparking building! I kid you not! Eureka, floor after floor of car rental places in a carpark building! No signage anywhere...but we made it safe and sound with car intact what more could we have asked for! We leave you behind Italy, with the warmest of memories and hope one day to return to your beloved country. Our next adventure begins in Greece so until then thanks for all your messages, cheeky as they are! Arrivedecci Italy and yasas Greece!

Delay for communicado due to lack of internet points in this part of the country! After a sad farewell to our lovely Irish friends (the vino helped) we set forth to the south where we noticed immediately after Sienna the lack of traffic and slow pace of life. The landscape is really hilly, chestnut trees, cypress and fir trees abundant, we spotted a small herd of sheep huddled under a tree (brown and woolly ones!) but great news,..we walked 10km through a natural reserve between Piancastagnaio and Castell'Azzura where we spotted two..yes 2...bambis..deer! The forest has wild boar, owls, badgers and eagles..but we were lucky to spot the deer, we saw none of the other! The bugs were everywhere, we needed jungle hats with nets! We were almost eating them as we strode uphill and down dale, bugs bigtime, ants and mosquittos the size of small wallnuts! it took 2.5 hours! However we were both spoilt on Monday when we trekked 1.5 hours through vineyards olivegroves orchards and to a small village called Pian de Ballo and I commented on a pretty garden and a lovely hot day, and suddenly we were offered chianti (which of course we accepted) and sat down on a stairway when the neighbours were also summoned to meet the kiwis on tour! We then had a glass of grappo each, this is made of grape skins and is very potent, almost like whiskey, Noel made them laugh when he said "no more as it will make me drive crazy like an Italian" they seemed to appreciate that! We had a lovely time there, we discussed a deaf dog, trains, cats, children, jobs, a wonderful experience for us to mix with the locals! We are in a farmhouse down a windy gravel road, but within 15 minutes to a lot of villages. We have met two lovely American women from Maine, Lois and Nancy, and have spent nights drinking and eating and sharing meals under the clear starry Tuscan skies. Weather here is very hot indeed, and is expected to stay this way for another week or so. We shall report back on Friday before we depart for Greece on Saturday. We are still enjoying everything this place is offering, the pastries, salamis, bread and artichokes are so mouthwatering and seem to contain no preservatives, simply all naturally grown and presented. Amore Italian cuisine. ciao for now xx

We have been spoilt rotten by everything from the food and vino to the surrounding countryside. We walked 10km along the back roads amongst poppy fields, olive trees, wheat fields and grapevines. We have not spied out any livestock at all, except chickens. Nothing! We wonder where their meat and milk comes from. Any ideas? We decided to avoid the big villages, it really is a nightmare finding parking then only being outnumbered by Germans and Dutch tourists, we stumbled across a truly authentic rural town. As we drove closer it appeared like a castle set high on the hill, and as we parked and walked up, realised we had come to a place called Casole d'Elsa, very quiet, no tourists, 6 cats sleeping in the alley, windowboxes, and pretty handpainted ceramic tiles along the alleyways and exterior walls of the houses. Just gorgeous. We sat and enjoyed cupaccino followed by a locally made rosa vino, yum! The nicest quietest and friendliest town so far, I guess we can't avoid the touristy thing, but we really do enjoy conversing and simply seeing the Italians at work and play. We have made friends with Carmel and Mike from Cork Eire who seem to enjoy socialising with us around the table with vino til the wee small hours. We will miss them as they head off to Florence tomorrow. We are off south of Sienna to a remote place called Roccalbegna, not sure what to expect, as on the map its even smaller than here!! Yes we visited the library at Sienna and were in awe of the frescoes, we haven't yet bought cheese from the side of the road, but cherries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries are in abundance here! Thanks for all the comments, we can't tell you how great it feels hearing from you lot, wish you were here enjoying chianti and formaggio with us. Salute !

We are gaining weight by the day.. we have no willpower when it comes to eating...we spent a day in San Gimignano an olde estruscan village high on a hill protected by a stone wall boasting up to apparently 79 towers (each tower represents a medieval family
who each controlled the town) but only a fair few towers remained, and we climbed the highest (bloody tiring and scary) but the view was spectacular, all the eye could see were vineyards hills and olive groves...just bello!! We did get ripped off though, bought two foreign beers at this local bar out in the boon docks, but they saw our rental car approaching....$20 bucks later...for two beers....I complained in my best Italian, non bene, car'o, (look those up) however not such a major when we are both safe and well (and fat). We have been in Sienna, a major touristy town, loads of european tourists, parking is a nightmare, despite being well prepared, the signs are everywhere, but indicate us to no-where...This most incredible 12th century cathedral built over several centuries boasting the most fantastic intricate gold decorations and artwork. Wow! Am liking the pitaccio gelato whilst Noel firmly adores his artichoke and mozarello pizza...weather wise, overcast, sunny, warm, hot, a mixed bag, no rain though. We are both well, enjoying your comments, off to remote villages called Montepulciano and Pienza, more news later in the week. Ciao for now xx