Breakfast upstairs at the 4th level of the Hotel Italia has a stunning view over Lago Tresimeno and the valley looking south. The breakfast is ok too, cappuchino, warm tasty croissants, fresh fruit, cereal, tea, a cosy room that you could sit in all day. But we can’t, the Navigator insists we must move on.

The little Renault fires first start, and with only a few minor driver errors we’re heading to Pienza for the morning. The country, the creamy clay looking soil, has been ploughed up ready for winter crop planting, grapes are being picked, the recent rain has greened up the country and the pencil pines follow roads up to villas sitting on Tuscan hills. Bit hard to take really!

Pienza is our first stop, what a beautiful village, smaller than Cortona, not a big hill, it would be a nice spot to stay but closest train stop is Chiusi so you then would have to catch a bus or hire a car to get there. The markets are on, food, groceries, clothes , and wait for it, hand f….g bags, the Navigator appears nonchalant but underneath I know she finds pleasure in just looking at handbags and shoes. There is a walk around the town wall which overlooks the surrounding Tuscan countryside, just like the postcards and paintings show, but it’s real and right in front of you.

We find the little Renault and head for Montepulciano, a larger hill town not far away. The grapes are being picked in the vineyards, tractors with bins full of juicy purple ( I think) grapes heading for crushing slow traffic down a bit. A white Merc sits so close behind me I can see the whites of his eyes, I’m doing 15 k over the limit, and he’d be doing 40 to 50 k’s over when he overtakes me. Obviously the speed limit is arbitrary, a flexible think like a lot of things are on the Italian roads.

Montepulciano is busy busy busy, the car parks are full. I have to do a three point u turn at the gates to get back out of a situation I shouldn’t have been in. Eventually I get a park in carport 7, the Navigator wanted to get closer so things are tense for a short time while I recover from the stress of driving in Italy and she gets over having to walk a bit further than she planned.

Montepulciano is not a highlight but ok, some others think a little less of the place. But, it needs more time than we give it I think.

It’s  lovely drive through the backroads to Cortona, we need a break before our cooking class tonight.

We are doing a Tuscan Pld Recipe cooking course then eating it with Fattoria Bistecca   It’s run by Lapo and Ilaria who teach cooking and cheese production and other things. Ilaria is a force. We cook a meat ball and stuffed tomato  thingy entree, a pork and panchetta main with roast veggies and doughnut biscuits and dessert wine. Delicious.

We cruise back to Cortona in 2 black Mercedes vans, like a CIA operation, alight in the Piazza for a photo shot on the Cortona town hall steps. It’s been a great night.

Tomorrow there are some heading to Sardinia, some to Croatia and we’re staying one more day then heading to Switzerland, France and the UK.

Ciao for today – Pauolo

An early start again, we’re out the door at 8, 3 croissants from the kitchen, heading to the carpet for the first drive down to the train station. The Navigator has a real navigation job, my job is driver, Liz can comment from the back seat as long as she doesn’t criticise me. The Navigator had one job, one f….g job, and things don’t start well when she sends down a dry gully, however a quick three point turn with a truck up my arse causes a little bit of tension. Anyway, we’re back on track, then we’re off track then we’re back on and by some miracle we find a park in the train station car park, run to the platform where the others are waiting. L’agente has sent the train tickets just in case we miss it, thankfully we don’t.

Florence is a beautiful place with beautiful and interesting things to see. We’ve been here quite a few times and I love visiting here. My one job is to get the group to The Accedamia to see David, they have an 11am slot. A tip – if you haven’t seen David and you get the opportunity then make the effort, it’s a special piece of art.

The walk from Santa Maria Novella train station via the leather markets to the Accedamia takes no time and they are ready waiting for Elvis their guide in plenty of time.

The Navigator and I leave them and find a coffee and something to eat. Then a reconnaissance mission into the leather markets before heading to the Duomo where we catch up with some of the group. The sun is warming everything up but it’s pleasant in the shade, a pizza for lunch washed down with a beer before we head to the Arno River  via the sculptures in the Piazza, through the middle of the Uffuzi and over the Ponte Vechio.

Eventually we make our way back to the train station, work out how to buy train tickets, pay for a toilet break and find Binnario 16 where our train is waiting. It’s a double decker train, only a couple of stops to Cammucia. The sight of Cortona on the hill as we come into the station is pretty nice.

The little Renault fires up and I immediately I’m directed down another dry gully, when I recover my composure I see a lady in a wheelchair in a street where I think I have to go, mild panic and sweat breaks out, but we go one street further to recover, then a driver error ( unusual?) when I exit a roundabout too early and then have to recirculate back to the road up the hill to Cortona.

A few fellow travellers are in the Piazza sipping spritzers and wine in the cool late afternoon air.

Tonight we use the laundromat, €14 does the Reid and Murphy washing, we’re ready to go again.

A late dinner, then finally bed T about 11

Ciao from Cortona – Pauolo

Today is Monday.

Last night’s dinner was great, another restaurant, great food and good company. The restaurant had some musicians playing in the alley, I guess cost shared by the 4 or 4 other restaurants. There are 2 guitars and a beautiful gypsy waif dancing seductively shaking a tambourine. They play, Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits, Santana, the Eagles, the lead guitar plays finger style like Mark Knopfler, he’s very clever, his voice though is a bit non descript like Knopfler as well, not in a bad way but not a strong big voice. We could stay all night but we don’t. The woman sitting next to us is from Brisbane, a Virgin hostee, sorry steward, and a real estate agent, her father is Italian so she’s visiting family. She loves this part of Rome because it’s so lively, I must say I agree with her.

A gellato then home for a cupof tea, preliminary pack ready for our 6:15 pick up.

Ok now to today, which is Mond. It’s a bit eiry (sic) on the dark quiet streets of Rome as the €50 black Mercedes van whisks us the Termini train station. The train to  Cortona is on platform Est 2, not easy to work out where that is, the Trenitalia staff are not that helpful then we find one that is, so then we  make the long trek to the rattler train taking the back track to Florence.

We find there aren’t many people on the train, thats good, so after fanging along at up to 160 km/hour we get to Cortona a few minutes late. Enzo, our van driver, and possibly related to Enzo Ferrari by the way he drives, meets us and gets us to run, he’s late for his next job, and tears up the hill and drops us in Piazza Della Republica right near our accomodation the Hotel Italia. The lady at reception is nice but vague, our rooms change a few times, but when we get to them they are quiet nice. Paul & Liz have a great view over the Tuscan Valley towards Lago Tresimeno.

Paul and I go and pick up our little Citroen Clio, a little blue speed machine. The walk down and up takes a bit of energy even with the elevators.

Breakfast is up in the next piazza, pastry and coffee.

Now I still find it hard to comprehend that you can be on the other side of the world and run into somebody you know, even though initially you don’t recognise the face. Well that happened today. The Aussie in the black Kathmandu puffer vest behind us leans over and says( he’s clearly and Aussie) and the discussion goes something  lije this – ” where are you from?” , Answer ” Dubbo, where are you from?” The answer ” Adelaide but I used to live in Orange” , I say ” we used to live in Orange, played a bit of rugby, then came to Dubbo”, ” who did you play with?” , ” Orange City” I replied, he said ” Unbelievable, I played for Orange City, when did you play?” , Answer ” Late 70s”, ” what’s your name?…… and so on…… Anyway between 1977 and I think 1980 I played rugby with Orange City and it was a great club, I played with well administered club with a great bunch of blokes and women involved in the club.

Oh I forgot to tell you, his name was Ian Dixon (aka “Dog”), a master of the dark arts of the scrum and he’s here in Cortona with Deb (his wife) for three months. He tells me another of our team mates Ian Sinclair (aka “Stinky” – can’t explain why?) lives about two hours from here. Anyway lucky buggers spending time and living here in Italy.

We do an orientation walk with the Murphy’s, then lunch, we walk some more, find an artist who does exquisite, fine pen and ink drawings, the originals would need both my kidneys to pay for one, and the numbered prints are way cheaper but still worth a few €’s. Wandering the streets of Cortona is so nice and such a good way to pass the time.

Drinks in the Piazza is at 6pm, a few beers aperitifs before we walk to Dolce Maria for one of Paola’s dinners. The food is great but takes a long time to arrive, the two nurses misbehave with a little cooee noise from the balcony higher up. Bloody nurses and their party party party! It’s about 11:30pm when we get to bed.

Ciao from Cortona – Pauolo

The early risers are up sipping tea, and toasting toast so I have to get up. First job was to finish the previous days blog and tidy up Day 9 Part 2 photos. The wifi here is a bit slow at night, maybe its when the schoool kids are home, not sure so things on the tablet take longer to load up than they should

Oh, and today is Sunday, its supposed to be a day of rest, so why are all these people out walking?

First stop is Campo de Fiori. I love this place, its full of life, the name means something like “field of flowers”, a hangover from what it was in the middle ages, a paddock with flowers. Its lively, there are fresh flowers sold in the morning, fruit, herbs and vegetables as well as clothing and other stuff. Its on the edge of the Jewish Quarter and not far from the funky Trastavere area. There is one store I’m looking for, it’s a cap and hat stall that I’ve bought a number of caps from over the years. I hoping that I can replace the cap that I lost in Bangkok a bit over a month ago when a gust of wind took it off my head while I was riding in a tuk tuk in heavy traffic. The linen cap I’m after isn’t there so I settle on a lighter coloured cotton cap. I still have one navy bue linen one from the second last time I procured caps from this stall. He’s there, Covid didn’t get him, and I buy a light coloured cap. The Navigator buys clothes and a scarf, IDT (aka the Theatre Nurse) gets mentored through the purchasing process and negotiation with Italian stall keepers, she’s a shopper for all seasons, if she was a footballer they”d call her a “utility” player. The Theater Nurse successful buys stuff at a reduced price.

Next stop is the Pantheon, the crowds are bustling, its coolish in the alley ways as we walk. Unfortunatley the Pantheon is closed and one thing we didn’t know is that its only open on week-ends by booking and there is a sign saying all slots for today are done. Hot tip, if you’re here on week-days its open and free for anyone 9:30am to 6:45am but week-ends check the website and book in, its closed for a church service on Sunday mornings.

Next is Trevi Fontana (The Trevi Fountain), its crowded but Genelle and Liz get space to do the obligatory coin toss.

The walk to The Spanish Steps (Spagna) is via a cafe we visited 10 days ago, a coffee and tea for caffeine to stimulate the mind to push through the pain of sore feet and backs. The Spanish Steps is crawling with people, I’m not sure I’ll be walking up this way again.

We head to the Tiber River, cross to the Pratti side, walk past the Italian High Court building, following the river heading towards Castel Sant Angelo (Castle of the Angels) and Pont Sant Angelo (Bridge of the Angels). St Peters Square is busy and quite warm and I decide to rest my feet while the others walk up towards St Peters. Scintillante (aka the Electrician ) is afraid that the building won’t cope if he walks inside, so keeps his distance. I’m trying to think of what you call a Lapsed Irish Catholic Agnostic.

It’s a slow walk back to our residential area for a late lunch at a nearby restaurant. Its around the corner, its a busy place, locals and tourists, its after 3 and we get drinks, 2 pizzas and a caprese salad. The food is simple but beautiful, sounds Italian to to me.

The women head to find a taxi to take them to a view over Rome, the Electrician and I head back to the apartment for a rest.

Genelle & Liz in Piazza Navona

Tonight we’re having a quiet dinner and packing for the early start to Termini Train Station to get to Cortona. A car is organised to pick us up at 6:15am, train leaves at 7am and we should be in Cortona about 9:30am

Ciao from Rome – Paulo

7am start, the bus is at the front door ready on time, all travellers are ready

The train, Frecciarossa 9524 from Salerno to Milan but stopping in Naples and Rome (not just for us), arrives on Binnario 18, the group has split with some going to get food, some saying goodbye to family and some boarding the train.

The train ploughs aong at up to 280-300 km/hour through the countryside. Its green, lush and hilly. We decide to get off at Rome Termini rather than Tibbertina, its closer to our apartment and will save us about 30 minutes.

The taxi from Rome Termini train station is easy to find, and the 15-20 minute trip to our accomodation is not something I would won’t to do on foot. I have noticed that the Rome taxi drivers, the official ones in white taxi’s with prices on their doors (including 50 euros to Fumicino Airport) are good, seem friendlier than I remember and prices seem reasonable. Except for one clown when we first arrived a week ago when he left us standing in the street.

Our apartment is Hi Suite Rome, viadi monte giordano 19, 0186 Roma. Its 3 story, modern, renovated, very contemporary style, in an ancient building, 1 ensuite bedroom upstairs, 1 ensuite bedroom in the basement and a kitchen/living area on the ground floor. there is a grocery store, cafes, restaurants and other shops right at the front door. The windows I think are double glazed so we don’t pick up any noise at night even when the restaurants are in full swing. Other than a little test getting our bags up the stairs we’re very happy with it.

We get a coffee/tea and some pastry for a late breakfast at a nearby cafe and wait for the the Murphy’s Paul aka Scintillante and Liz aka IDT) to get back from a tour of the Coleseum. I watch the Cronulla v Souths NRL semi final on my phone. Now there are 4 teams left Penrith, Cowboys, Souths and Parramatta, for anyone that cares. I’d like to see Parramatta win, they were Tim’s team

The Murphy’s arrive back, they’ve had a good morning, still buzzing with excitement and that “thing” that Rome can do to you. Even though its easy to get lost in the winding alleys and crushing crowds around the main tourist sites, people talking waving hands, scooters rushing past, its a place you can feel comfortable in, the people are friendly and helpful, although there are a lot who don’t speak English, so having a few basic Italian words can help. Handy when you have a master linguist like Il Maestro in your group – not.

We walk to the piazza Navona, its only a few minutes away, then after missing the Pantheon because I think I had Navona the wrong round in my navigation brain cells we decide to head to Galleria Borghese for our 5pm slot. The walk takes longer than expected, The Navigator is a bit whingy but coping, just, any further and I’d have got a good lecture about taking a taxi next time.

The Borghese is full of ancient and modern sculptures, bas-reliefs, mosaics and paintings and has masterpieces by Caravaggio, Raphael, Titian, Bernini and Canova. The value of the collection is priceless. The villa was built in the early 1600’s by a favoured nephew of Pope Paul IV, Cardinal Scipione. The villa was renovated by Marcantonio Borghese in the 1770’s. The decorations of the ceilings are magnificant, worth the visit to see the building, let alone the art. My favourites are the Bernini scultures, the Carravagio paintings and Raphael where his style seems to be the start of a new way to paint. I don’t know much about art but I know what I like.

The Galleria Borghese was acquired by the Italian State in 1902 and opened as a gallery in 1902. Its well worth the effort to see, but you have to book, you cant take water in, no flash cameras and no backpaks or large bags – they must be checked into a cloak room – The Navigator takes issue with these rules, she’s a little tense but gets over it, and I think she can take or leave the gallery visit, she spends a lot of time sitting in the chairs with a far away look (of shops maybe?) in her eyes.

Unlike the walk there, the walk back via Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon is slow and relaxed, although we’re all a little foot and leg sore. Its a shame the pantheon is closed when we get there , it closes at 7:30pm, so a ander back to via di Monte Giordano for a dinner next door to our accomodation.

We are welcomed at the restaurant, the food is fantastic and the the Murphy’s and The Navigator clean their plates, we do 3 courses and Scintillante and I do a large Italian beer. To much f…g beer for me, but its good. A great dinner, time for bed to rest our weary bodies, its been a long day. A small niggly itchy nose feels a little like a cold, I need to nip that in the bud.

Ciao from Roma – Paulo

So lets go back to yesterday and add some detail.

A coffee and pastry at the bar next door with Regazzo and Il Banditore. The coffee is good, so bloody good. The place is packed with school girls and the odd boy buying mostly cigarettes but some buy pastries and some buy coffee to go with the smokes. Its humid inside, its raining outside, the atmosphere is good, the proprietor gets our coffee as a priority over the kids, seems like after a week that we’re looked on sort of like locals. The locals drop in for cigarettes, espresso, a quick chat with the proprietor, never sitting, hands flapping, talking like its an argument, but it doesn’t actually seem to be one.

A one minute walk back at the villa, a bit of solid food for breakfast then upstairs to the first floor living area, where I spend some time getting my phone set up to watch the NRL semi final between Parramatta. The tv apps for Australia dont allow you to watch Australian TV shows so you have to trick it into thinking you are in Australia. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) does that, I think, so with fingers crossed I kick Nord VPN into gear and presto we’re watching The Eels v The Raiders. The Eeels are very impressive and win easily. Regazzo (the accountant) joins us, reading us the scores off  the NRL live stream score site before we see it on the phone. F….g annoying, we tell him so, and he stops doing it for a while. Then he commandeers my tablet and watches separately on that, same thing again so he’s threatened again and complies. I’m glad I tried this, I worked out a bit about technology having a crack at it.

Regazzo has some redeeming features, he arrives back after the football with a pizza and generously shares some with John and I. Its a very tasty pizza, fresh, tasty, melt in your mouth pizza. I hear his wife Della (aka Jane) ask him where the pizza was, he responds I ate it. John and I are a little embarrassed that we ate pizza that should have been Janes, but as the Newcastle song says, never let a chance go by, my guilt moves on quickly.

I go for  nice long walk up the hill away from the water, to local shops along the main road and back down the hill to the villa, Its a nice walk, quiet, leafy streets, locals talking, drinking coffee.

The shoppers return from Sorrento, sore feet and smiles on their faces, with a plan to return to buy more bags and clothes later on before dinner at a restaurant reccomended by the other travellers when they came down from Naples to Sorrento. The rest of us chill in the garden  and have a few drinks, some of us have a few more than others before the walk to the dinner venue. The night is balmy, the mosquitos are small and bite hard, rain feels close.

At 4:30 the Williams clan leave for a night in Naples, a car and driver take then all the way in to their hotel.

The walk to the restaurant is brisk, but Helen & The Architect lag behind, Helen has been working on rehydration all afternoon and doesn’t feel the need to rush, her brother comments that she’s never been early in her life, harsh maybe, dunno, could be true.

The afternoon handbag shoppers have a table organised before we get there, the centre of the room, beers and wine ordered, then food, the waitress is the boss’s daughter, she seems in control and has a lovely smile. I order an entree of deep fried calamari, The Navigator orders hers, my neighbours order a convivio something or other and the mood is festive and we’re all hungry, some hungrier than others as will become apparent.

Entree’s begin appearing, the waiter delivering the food has a sweat on his forehead, he drops food and runs and a brown paper bag with deep fried sea food is given to my erstwhile neighbours (Helen & Rob). They dive in and start shovelling the delicious looking food into their mouths assuming that it was what they ordered, Helen is adamant that it actuallt is what they ordered but her memory is slightly dulled by the vino from the session in the garden at the villa where we inhaled mossie coil and swatted the dirty biting little black blood suckers earlier, all combined with alcohol. After a while, when a poor orphan looking entree dish, which I advised is clearly not mine is recognised by Helen as being what she had actually ordered. Her face turns red as she comes to the realisation that her and Rob had hoed into my food without hesitation or consultation. Of course she blames the waiter, she blames the guests, she blames God for not telling her she was about to make a huge mistake but the responsibility clearly rests with her. The next mistake is then trying to placate me while I gazed dismayed at my half nibbled half gobbled entre. I swear she looked that hungry I was surprised that she didn’t eat the brown paper bag or at least suck the grease out of the paper in the bag. Food is offered to me as a reconcilatory gesture, other things yet to be clarified what they are are offered, but my integrity says to me that I won’t enquire further what that might look like.

I’m feeling OK about having half of my ordered entree eaten by a thief, however Helen is still struggling with her guilt and decides that alcohol and dance therapy will help her through rehabilitation for commiting this gastronomic crime.

The restaurant starts some music going, we start singing and Helen decides to reenact Olivia Newton-Johns leather suit dance (You;re the One That I Want) with John Travolta when Grease comes on. Helen is accompanied by Ciclista Dismountus, mainly because he’s afraid that her extreme hip swininging and arms flaying may endanger a customer or worse still one of us. The locals and travellers dining at the restaurant get their phones out, I think they are concerned about evidence should their ear drums rupture from the loud and poor singing or from Helens flailing arms. As the DJ adds some old Italian classics and other songs on, our group take over the restaurant and start a conga line, knotted hankies on heads, dancers from America and Italy join the pulsing dance floor. Not me, I don’t dance and I don’t cook, and besides its fun watching the action on the floor.

Dinner is a success, great fun on our last night in Sorrento.

The walk home from Sorrento to Sant Agnello is slow, Helen seems to have sorted her guilt issues out but it won’t be forgotten, who said revenge is a dessert best served cold? The great entree crime, a felony of fish, will not go unavenged. The rain starts to fall as we turn into Via Coccumella, our street. Patience Pauolo, the day will come.

A quick tidy up before bed and an early start tomorrow morning.

Ciao from Sorrento – Paulo

Today is a quiet day, at least it is until the end of the day when the touring party cut loose a bit, ok maybe a lot is a better way to describe it. Me, well I documented it, no dancin for this bloke!

Its late and the few lemincellos have dulled my head so im going to sum it up and then give you the detail in Part 2 tomorrow while we’re on the train to Rome.

Summary of the day is as follows. We have a quiet morning, at least the men do, the women go shopping, The Navigator is in good company, this lot look like seasoned retail operators.

Il Banditore and I work out how to get live tv from Australia via Channel 9 and using a VPN to trick the computer into thinking youre in Autsralia, why do we do this you might ask. Well Parramatta are playing Canberra in the NRL finals. The result is a walk over to the Eels. More on that tomorrow. Regazzo, the accountant, joins us and brings pizza which we later find out was meant to be for him and his wife, but never mind I was hungry and dont feel guilty at all

Lunch is sorted with the pizza and I go for a walk up around Sant Agnello, not hugely exciting, then a few beers and then dinner at a place just near the CBD of Sorrento.

Dinner is a lot of fun, another victim presents themselves for a full character assassination, I’ll do that tomorrow whe I have time and more evidence of the crimes commited.

Ciao until tomorow. Pauolo

Today I’m walking back to Sorrento to a Sophia Loren exhibition at a gallery which also had some other art work.

Then at 12:45 the Wallabies are playing New Zealand in rugby so I want watch that as its on the Sky sport channel at the villa.

So the walk to Sorrento with Il Banditore and Regazzo is brisk, the lead changes a few times and Regazzo stays back in the pack and is a tad red faced and sweating when get into Sorrento. So am I but Il Banditore and I won’t admit it.

After walking past the gallery entrance ( my fault) we backtrack and pay the €15 entrance for the impressionist exhibition from private galleries as well as the photographic exhibition of mainly Sophia Loren. There is also a room with 100+ year old gramophones and earlier music machines including an exquisite one with a few ballerinas dancing. The impressionist paintings are a mixed bunch, the include Degas, Manet, Monet, Renoir, La Trec and others.

The photographic exhibition is excellent, Sophia is a real poster girl, stunningly beautiful, her eyes could persuade you to do anything. Lucky Carlo Ponte.

A brisk walk back in time for the 12:45 rugby kick off. A crowd gathers upstairs at the TV to watch the Wallabies v All Blacks from Melbourne, the Wallabies do remarkably well and are leading by 3 with 40 seconds to go but the French referee overturns a penalty to Australia, ridicous reason, NZ score a try and game is over.

Rain starts, sort of and it looks like an afternoon chillin at the villa is the go.

Dinner tonight is at the hotel next door at their restaurant overlooking the Bay of Naples. The food is terrific and once more The Navigator tidiesvher plate up pretty well.

There are no character assassinations tonight.

Ciao from Sorrento, 2nd last night here.

Paulo

Today we’re on a boat, just 12 of us, down the coast to Amalfi then along lunch at Portofino, then back to Sorrento. We are leaving at 8:45am by a bus down the crazy Sorrento ravine to the docks.

I decide to try a coffee at the next door bar with Il Banditore. The coffee is very very good, strong, smooth and flavour, just like a very good Australian coffee. It cost €2, very reasonable. I also buy my beers from here, Peroni stubbies are €2 each, no need to buy bigger packs that I have to carry back to the villa.

The bus is on time, the weather is fine, the sky is blue, it’s going to be warm, we get to the dock and there is a lot of people waiting for boats of different varieties. Our boat is about a 30 foot, seats at the back and an area at the front, Andreas is our driver, I’d say age is probably 40’s, has the swarthy sea dog look about him, an ear ring like a pirate, and a smile.

The sea is a bit choppy, luckily The Navigator has taken a Travel Calm tablet. We head south west following the Sorrentine Peninsular around to the Amalfi coast. It’s quite a distance but the boat ride is relaxing, the breeze off the Medditeranean is like an air conditioner set on exactly the right temperature. The water is a dark inky blue, and clear. The granite cliffs run down to the water with the occassional village on a small beach and no evidence of a way to get to them other than by sea. Occasionally we can see a road around the cliffs, I’m assuming this is the famous access road to the Amalfi coast, used in many movies over the years. We pass Portofino on the left ( sorry, Port side), Where we are long lunching later on.

First stop is the village, probably a town really, of Amalfi. It’s crawling with tourists, I hear American, English, Italian and eastern European being spoken, it’s quite warm. The two hours we have starts with a coffee and lemon cake, just outside the cafe a traffic cop with a gun directs the scooters, buses, cars, trucks and people, arms waving, whistle blowing trying to get some semblance of order with the crazy traffic at his corner.

A walk up the hill via the main street which is all touristy shops selling lemincino, Amalfi t shirts, ceramic shops with lemons painted in the glaze, cafes, a huge church sits near the bottom of the street.

We all gather at the dock at the rendezvous spot at the right time, military precision.

It’s hot in Portofino, we find that our lunch appointment time has been delayed and instead of 1:30 it’s now at 2:30, not sure what happened there. The wait time is killed by looking and walking up the steep streets but too steep for me, and too hot so I/we sit like homeless people on the steps to kill time.

When we get to the table, we have a fantastic view over the sea, the food is very good. I had a caprese salad and sea bass fillet in lemon sauce ( delicious), The Navigator had arrancini and veal chop with mushrooms for a main. Amazingly nothing is left on her plate, except a small bit of meat on the bone which Ciclista Dismountus tidies up for her.

We are later than expectedback to the boat, Andreas bungs on a bit of an Italian hissy fit, hands waving, leaning down into L’agentes face. He says the biss has gone broke, last day this boat gies out, he works eith hours not twrnty hours a day…… on on on and f….g on. Not sure whether this is a ploy to secure a decent tip or real. Anyhow, he calms, we head back towards Sorrento hugging the cliffs stop for a couple of swims( only 4 swimmers) and we get back into Sorrento at about 7:30pm, it just getting dark. We take the €1.29 elevator to the top of the cliff to avoid walking the ravine back to town.

A cup of tea and a snack and everyone retires. It’s been a long wonderful day eating and on the water.

Ciao from Sorrento – Pauolo

I think today will be a shopping day. The Navigator got some news this morning about changes at her work, interesting times for her, but pretty hard when we’re overseas.

We started the days missing the English family,  they were woken early by a renegade whipper snipperer, at 4am, but a few others including were woken as well. The rule of “quiet enjoyment” doesn’t seem to apply here.

The usual brekky, then off to Sorrento to shop. The Navigator, being a world class shopper is happy about going shopping and soon scores a pair of shorts, some ear rings, some nick narky presents and is also sizing up some other potential purchases for later on.

Lunch is at the Foreigners Club, it has a sensational view over the Bay of Naples. Eight of us have a very nice lunch and discuss plans for dinner tonight. It’s the men’s turn to cook, so let’s see how this ends up.

Dinner is prepared by The Men’s Kitchen, sort of a version of the men’s shed except its a bunch of ( lets say) later middle aged chaps cooking instead of wood turning or what ever they do.
The background : at lunch, for those that turned up, a decision was made for the men to cook a scratch up pasta dinner, chairperson of the board – Sonya (aka L’agente) oversaw the team selection, and signed off on the finance – The Team is Peter (aka Ciclista Dismountus), the sauce of divorce, Rob ( The Architect) in charge of quality control, John ( Il Banditore) pasta masta, Paulo who has no cooking skills except as a shit kicking notetaker takes on finance and logistics.

Il Maestro was not present at lunch, no  note from his mother, we assume for reasons yet to be advised. Needless to say the kitchen was quiet, and worked efficiently without him,  however we do thank him for his contribution by not being there. There is no option of a reply by Il Maestro..

I read a poem, written at a bar in Chiang Khong, northern Thailand overlooking the Mekong River as I was contempting a little Buddhist service for putting some of Tim’s ashes in the Mekong that day.

Dinner is a success, the pasta and sauce plus the salad is great, capped off by icecream cake.

Early to bed tonight, tomorrow we have a boat ( just us) and we’re visiting the Amalfi coast, shopping and lunch in Positano, may a swim in the Mediteranean later.

Ciao from Pauolo in Sorrento