Tuscany - the road less travelled

Israel came to visit last weekend and we decided to go to Tuscany this time. As you know, I've been there before (many times, probably my favorite area in Italy) but Israel hadn't. I was put in charge of the program and the instructions were to find smaller out of the way places to visit. I consulted with Paola about interesting places to visit and so we got to some real gems which are a bit out of the way.

We went without making prior hotel reservations - Israel said that it's not a busy period, that we're sure to find places to stay in and that this way we might fall on more interesting spots. For those smiling to themselves at this point wondering how I dealt with the (somewhat) stressful situation - you're right to smile - but I decided to live on the wild side here and play along... (I made a few hesitant attempts to reserve a hotel or something but in the end decided to go with the flow and see what happens - worse comes to worse, I know a few people in Tuscany or else, there's always the car...).

And so we set out on the trip. Tuscany is about 3.5 hours away from Milan by car, at least Florence is. The period turned out to be ideal - definitely still out of season but we were lucky to have some beautiful weather and we could see the first signs of spring (which I was incredibly happy about - this winter has been more like the winters in Hungary and not at all what I expected of winter in Italy (very grey and depressing although not as cold....)).

Our first stop was in the town of San Gimignano not far from Siena. As you might remember I visited there about a year ago after a failed attempt to get there 18 years ago. What's special about it are its towers. Today, there are 14 of them left (originally there were 72). The town was initially Etruscan and named after the Bishop of Modena who is said to have saved the town from Attila the Hun (speaking of Hungary...). In the picture on the left you can see a few of these towers (and me). By the way, all the pictures in this post were taken by Israel. and another thought - I'm thinking of adding on the side of the blog a list of books/DVDs which I like and have to do with Italy - a good movie in which one can catch some beautiful glimpses of this lovely town is "Tea with Mussolini" with Maggie Smith, Judy Dench, Lily Tomlin and Cher.

While strolling around the central piazza in San Gimignano we came across the Tourist Information office and I took a list of the agriturismo places in the area. Agriturismo means farms or houses in the country which have turned part or all of the place into a kind of hotel/inn/apartments for rent for those preferring the countryside instead of hotel rooms in towns or cities. They usually also produce something - wine/olive oil/honey/cheese or things like that. We thought it would be nice to stay in a place like that. The whole of Tuscany is full of these kinds of places. The prices are usually good and the places we were in were all clean. However, as we discovered, most are closed until the beginning of April and some don't open until Easter. We used the help of the tourism offices to find places that were already open. In fact, in the three places we stayed in - we were the only guests. The first night we stayed on a farm producing wine and olive oil called Cesani. We stayed in the blue room (it's got rooms named by their colors). Nice and with a good breakfast.

From San Gimignano we went on to Pienza and met up with some good friends - Liora, Petra and Renato. Pienza's historical center is a world heritage site and rightly so. It's small but beautiful. and they make some very good cheeses (pecorino di Pienza) and wines over there. From there we went on to visit Montalcino. We stayed in an agriturismo apartment - Banfi - between these two places which was very very basic. Nothing to write home about - although the place was clean.

Below you can see pictures of these small places with some older people in them. I noticed that in Tuscany you see many more older people than one sees in Milan, which I liked.

The next day we set out further south. The day before Israel asked Renato about the mountain we could see close by. Renato said this is Monte Amiata . Since Israel likes mountains he said - let's drive up and see what's there. So we did. As we drove up it got colder and suddenly everything was covered with snow. We discovered that there's a ski resort up there with people still skiing in March! How strange - one minute you're in a Mediterranean climate - the next, you're in Switzerland... You can see the snow in the picture on the left (I swear it was taken during this trip and not planted here from another trip....).

And then we were driving again down and up and twisting around, through practically empty (I think in all we saw about 10 cars the whole way) but pretty country roads to arrive just in time for lunch in the tiny village of Sovana (in many smaller places lunch is served until about 14:30 in the afternoon - after that the kitchens close....). Sovana and Pitigliano which we visited next were originally Etruscan, then taken over by the Romans and later fought over by the families ruling in Tuscany (Orsini, Medici and others). They were also important religious centers. Truly lovely (I'm using a lot of adjectives of this nature in this post but these places we visited merit these adjectives - go and see for yourselves...).


Pitigliano is perched on a volcanic mountain - emerging right out of it. What is especially interesting about the place is that there was a thriving Jewish community there since the 15th century up to the end of the 2nd World War. Pitigliano is located on the border of Tuscany and for many years Jews escaping the Papal State in Rome went there. The place became known as Little Jerusalem. There were ups and downs over the centuries but in all the Jewish community was able to survive and grow. After the unification of Italy the Jewish community in Pitigliano became gradually smaller. After the 2nd World War nothing was left of the community. Today there are three Jews living there, but there is a beautiful museum commemorating the Jewish community, including a synagogue which was reconstructed in the '90. The place is cared for by the Jewish community in Livorno.

In Pitigliano (actually not far from it) we stayed in a lovely house which has been reconstructed from what was probably at the time a farm house. As Israel said, if we'd fallen on this place the first day, we would have stayed there the entire time. It's called Locanda Ilune and is lovely. There are big windows looking out on a big oak tree in the garden. The breakfast and the atmosphere in general are everything one might expect from a house in the country and more. Highly recommended.

The next day was the last day of the trip and we were starting on the long trip back to Milan. We thought to go and visit Siena but the lady at the house said - you should go and see Orvieto and the Lake of Bolsena so we did. On the left you can see a picture taken from the town of Bolsena looking towards the lake. The lake is a somewhat smaller than the Kinneret.



From there we went on to the Orvieto - which like Pitigliano was also built on a volcanic mountain and from afar looks a bit like Pitigliano - growing out of the mountain. It was nice to visit there - not only for the town itself but also because I'd just finished reading a good book written by Marlena De Blasi: The Lady in the Palazzo - an Umbrian Love Story which takes place in Orvieto. De Blasi and her husband rent a palazzo over there and she tells about her adventures there, as an expat trying to cope with everything happening around her. Very authentic and real (at least as far as I can compare her experiences with mine).

After visiting Orvieto we got on the highway, stopped briefly for lunch in Florence - good steak at a restaurant called Za Za and from there back to Milan.

This post is rather long. I hope you lasted and enjoyed the read. I've tried to share with you some of the lovely places we visited. I'm going to leave you with some pictures of laundry hanging from the windows in these pretty places, somehow, even the laundry looks nice in Tuscany....



and a riddle to end the post - what's this?

The Golan Heights

My faithful readers may have been wondering why I haven't written recently and have I stopped travelling or something. So, the answer is that I have not stopped travelling (I hope I never will, not many things nicer to do in this world as far as I'm concerned). It's just that the destination has changed - instead of travelling in Italy or to other countries in the area, I've been travelling as much as possible to the Golan Heights. Why? Well, if you are faithful readers you may have noticed that there is a new man in my life - Israel - who is a big fan of the Golan - as far as he's concerned there's no better place in the world. I must say, that this idea is slowly growing on me that he has a point there...

The last time I visited the area was during a trip to the El Al springs (not far from where Israel lives) a few years ago. Before that we visited the Golan when I was in high school (a long long time ago) - we stayed at the SPNI's hostel in Katzrin for a week and toured the area. The trips in the area were lovely.

Going back to the present - Israel lives in Eliad which is a moshav (village) in the south part of the Golan. He's been living there since the moshav was established in the early seventies. He's currently the owner of 3 horses and two dogs and many citrus and olive trees. On the left you can see a picture of Israel and one of his dogs - Yovav.

Being in the Golan starts with the trip up north from the airport (poor Israel should be entitled for a special free pass for frequent users of the airport he's been going there so many times recently...). During these trips up north we've already been twice to Afula - twice more than I've ever been there before... There really isn't anything to see or do there - except get closer to the Golan.

Once you're there - there are a lot of things to do, especially if Israel's your guide around there, he knows everyone and everything over there and lucky people (like myself) get to have the grand tour of the area and see the nice things over there.

Here is a description of some of the highlights of my trips there so far:

Gamla - Probably Israel's favorite place in the Golan is Gamla. We went there during my first visit. On the left you can see a picture taken recently by Israel of the place (this is a good time to mention that most of the pictures in this post were taken by him). Gamla is an important historical site which according to archaeological finds was already settled in the Bronze age but which is more famous for its Jewish population living there since the second century B.C. up until the Great Jewish Revolt against the Romans, their heroic fight (and defeat) against them. A good description of the site can be found here with interesting links to other good sources of information.

In addition to its historical and archaeological importance Gamla is also an important nature reserve with a vultures' observation point (to which a 24 hour camera recording system has been added recently, donated by Israel's family in memory of his late wife - see a short TV article in Hebrew here). The place has a phenomenal concentration of birds of prey, some of them rare, living in a relatively small area. Griffon vulture pairs nest on the cliffs, making up the largest flock of Griffon vultures in Israel (and in the whole Middle East) - as stated on a web site encouraging volunteering in Israel in general and there in particular.

In a separate trip we went to Katzrin (the main (and only) town in the region) where one can visit the Golan Archaeological Museum and see an interesting audio visual movie on the history of Gamla as well as many archaeological finds from the region.

Umm el Qanatir (here we have the famous dilemma whether to use the official spelling with a 'q' without a 'u' or to change it to Kanatir, I left it as is even though it tends to be jarring to anyone familiar with Latin languages' spelling) - Another favorite archaeological site of Israel's is Umm el Qanatir (mother of arches, also known as Rehavam's Arches). In this site a synagogue from the Talmudic period was discovered and is in the process of being excavated and restored using special digital imaging techniques. The place was destroyed during a massive earthquake in 749 and hasn't been inhabited since. We went there with Israel's neighbors on a rainy and windy Shabat morning and this is what we looked like:

and this is what the view to the kinneret was like from over there on that stormy day:

Salukia Springs (also known as the Eden springs) - these are the springs from which the Eden company pumps water from. The company donated money to create a lovely little park surrounding the springs. The place is well tended with fruit trees and places to sit and enjoy the water.

Other places of interest (and it's obvious I haven't seen half of them yet) are:

Kfar Haruv - Kfar Haruv is a Kibbutz in the southern part of the Golan. They have this beautiful place there - a kind of a SPA Mitzpe la Shalom where you can go and spend two and a half hours in heated pools with music coming through the water, floating on special floats allowing you to sort of lie there resting your head and the back of your knees on the floats. It's limited to a small amount of couples - 5 or 6 and it's a very romantic way to spend an afternoon. After the swim they serve you hot infusions, dried fruits, wine and cookies. The place also has zimmers nearby and a nice restaurant overlooking the Kinneret. Highly recommended.

Aniam - Aniam is a village of artists and craftsmen. Their web site (only in Hebrew) can be seen here. There are some lovely stores with ceramics, specially framed pictures, jewelry and many others.

To end this post here are a few more pictures from the Golan, which, hopefully will make you want to come and visit this beautiful place:

Oh, and one final thought. The wines produced in the Golan are the best. Very popular in chic restaurants in Israel.

Skiing in Courchevel, France and Milan in the snow

For the New Year I was invited by Israel to join him and two friends and go to the French Alps for a ski vacation. I've never done this before. Was always scared I would break something and was also afraid of being terribly cold. Israel convinced me this is something worth doing and I figured, why not? I like mountains, I like sports, if I manage to deal with the cold, this can be fun. Deep in my sixth year in Europe I finally did it....


We did some preliminary buying of ski pants and socks and set out on New Year's Day for Geneva by train. In Geneva we picked up the other two friends and continued by car to Annecy where we spent the night at the Ibis hotel (clean and friendly hotel, excellent buffet breakfast). Annecy is a very pretty town which in the past was the capital of the region (an area held by the house of Savoy, which were the rulers of Italy until the end of the 2nd World War). A river runs through it, which is always a nice thing in towns and cities and it opens onto the Lake of Annecy. Beautiful.


From Annecy we continued to Moutiers and stayed also there at an Ibis hotel (not as nice as the one in Annecy, but still quite acceptable, with a beautiful view of the mountains in the breakfast room). We went to try the waters at Le Grand SPA des Alpes at Brides les Bains, an expensive spa catering to rich Russians, Italians and French. It has a nice outdoor jacuzzi which we tried -it was lovely. It was a clear evening and we could see the moon and Venus. Israel said though that because of dipping in it he and another in our group got bad colds. I don't know if it's good to have your head frozen and the rest of you immersed in hot water... The place also has a hamam and various steam baths. Very relaxing and enjoyable. For dinner we went to the excellent Le Coq Rouge restaurant. A typical family owned place serving local delicacies and great cheeses for dessert (although we also had "regular" desserts...).

and then we went to La Tania, which is a small village not far from Courchevel for the skiing (the picture opening the post and the one here on the left are from there). We had a nice apartment right near the beginners ring... in the center of the village. This year is a very good year for skiers - lots of snow (which goes however with VERY cold weather). and, you're asking yourself, did she ski??? She did....
I was taken to the ski equipment store and the guy there sized me up and then gave me my boots, skis and poles for the next three days (why only three days? Because I had to go back to Milan...). I then marched to the next place - the ski school to sign up to the débutant (beginner) classes.

My, was I a beginner.... I had one private lesson and two lessons with a group of about 6. The key phrases we heard these days were - ski parallel, snow plow.... ski parallel snow plow... Imagine this being said with a deep French accent and a weary voice by the ski trainers who were wondering to themselves what possessed us poor souls who decided at this late point in our life that we need to learn to ski.... I kept falling ALL of the time (which everyone says is natural) and was terribly envious of the little children around me who took to the business like fish to water. Because they are small their center of gravity is much lower and so they don't fall so much, and, they're not afraid, which makes everything so much easier for them, compared with us clumsy adults, who have developed instincts which work exactly opposite to what is needed to keep upright on the skis....

How does skiing work? for those unfamiliar with the sport (like me) - first, you've got to figure out how to put on those heavy, uncomfortable boots and then put them and yourself on the skis.... (notice the concentration in the left picture, and the weird stance in the right picture but the triumphant grin....)


Then, you climb up the little hill (I'm actually skipping a bit, the next stage after getting on the skis is managing to somehow wobble from place to place without falling over and learning the basics, but in the name of brevity I'm sparing you the boring parts...) -











Some of us (like me...) manage to fall off this little lift (I was trying to pull up the zipper of the coat, lost my grip and promptly fell off) and then, after a few clumsy attempts to get hold of another pole, have to climb up the hill walking in the heavy boots (although, as Israel pointed out, it probably would have made more sense at this point to go back down and start again....) -


Then, once you've reached the top of the little hill, you look up to make sure no kamikaze (more experienced) skiers are facing your way and you cautiously start coming down the hill (by the way, what I'm trying to do in these pictures is the famous "snow plow") -


As you're going down you have to relax, pick your head up and look where you're going, put pressure on your left leg when you want to go right and on your right leg when you want to go left, and try not to go too fast (as if you actually have control over this) so you can stop at the bottom of the little hill.... All against your better instincts, which means that about 90% of the time you end up falling in the snow.... and then you start again.

During this exercise you discover muscles you didn't know you have. Surprisingly, I wasn't cold, even though it was about -4 most of the time during the day. Probably the effort and the warm clothes made it possible for me to bear the cold.

I don't have a picture of me falling, but trust me, I fell, many times, although Israel claimed (rather gallantly, I thought) that I was actually not too bad, for a beginner. A guy in my beginners group pointed out that it's hard being used to doing things well and suddenly be in a situation where you're so clumsy... Still, I enjoyed myself tremendously. Definitely something I'd like to try again.

Below, you can see pictures of Israel and me, and on the right, Philipa, Israel and Ribak near our apartment. They, of course, went zooming down all the mountains in the vicinity, which I understand are great. I wonder what they're like in the summer?!




In the evening you rest your weary muscles -










and prepare your well deserved dinner. Israel devised a great way to cut onions....











and then you start on your way back to Milan (Courchevel is actually not that far from Italy, quite close to the border between the countries, but it took me 12 (!) hours to get back. In the pictures below, waiting for a bus that never came, I was still not too frozen.

Later on, waiting for 40 min. for another bus i got rather cold as the Brits would say, couldn't really feel my toes.... on the way from Chambery to Geneva they suddenly announced that the train couldn't get into the station in Geneva and were getting us prepared for a long wait. Somehow, though, we arrived in time for me to catch the train to Milan.

Arriving back, I discovered that it had snowed quite heavily in the north of Italy and in Milan - which is rare (the Milan bit). The traffic in the city was moving very slowly and went on moving even slower the next day when more snow fell... I ended up walking to work the next day because no tram came and there was no way I could drive the car to work - the roads were covered with snow and like in Jerusalem - they were not really prepared for this here.

I had my camera with me on this walk and here are some pictures I took during my small hike to work, the dog in the picture on the bottom right planted himself in the snow and wouldn't move, his owner said he doesn't like to go out generally but he seems to like the snow...:




Going home that same day was a bigger endeavour since the snow had turned into ice in some places and in other places there were huge puddles to negotiate. I was standing at some point on a small hill of snow at the curb trying to figure out how I'd jump over a puddle and not break my head landing on some ice on the other side when an old man looked at me and said - this is what we get for voting for Moratti (the city's mayor)....

I'll leave you with a picture of two trams in the snow in Milan.... Hope you liked my descriptions of winter in Europe. Hope you're warm wherever you are.