The last of Italy...

After our last blog you left us sitting at the pool at Villa Capanne sipping local wine and eating amazing local produce. Since then our holiday has progressed nicely. We picked up our hire car (Upgraded to a beautiful, and speedy Alfa Romeo), took several day trips to some beautiful local towns and regions, played some golf, enjoyed beautiful food and wine at the villa and had an incredible lunch at a local restaurant called Il Covone that we’ll remember for years to come. Recently we’ve had one problem with our adventure that, although hasn’t really required a mention, has been a massive pain in the bum. Cal has run out of gas (butane), which has meant that cooking was a challenge. This has been really quite hard to rectify as it’s apparently illegal to fill gas bottles in Europe, but no-one can provide us with a British gas bottle that will fit our mate Cal. More on this later.


One of our day trips was to the wonderful town of Deruta which is famous for its outstanding locally produced ceramic goods. We arrived at one of the factory outlets which prompted a fury of spending from all of us. We’ll deal with the extra baggage charges later. Our next day trip was to Cortona, which some of you will know from a concert that Andre Reau held there in the town square. This is an absolutely stunning hilltop town that is exactly the sort of town you imagine when you think of the best of Italy. In Cortona we wandered the streets found some beautiful little art galleries.

Frank and Andrew started Sunday with a game of golf on the Antognolla golf course which was a lovely start to the day, regardless of the score. Unfortunately the condition of the course was quite deceiving, from a distance it looked spectacular, but up close was obviously over watered and had too many bunkers. Even though Andrew did get a birdy, it wasn’t our best game. Lunch started with a drive through some amazing Umbrian farm land towards our restaurant. Lunch consisted of the best wines that Umbria has to offer, along with 6 courses of possibly some of the best food we’ve ever eaten.

On Monday it was time to move on. We left the wonderful Villa Capanne with heavy hearts. This was truly a wonderful part of our adventure, and a level of luxury that we’ll probably never see again. We left for Urbino in the midmorning and reached the town just in time for lunch which was enjoyed at a little cafe in one of the many side streets of this town. The town is another of Italy’s hilltop treasures which is heavily occupied by the students of the local university. It’s amazing to see such an old town so heavily populated with such a young, progressive population. Tuesday was spent in the wonderful Republic of San Marino. Although the drive half way up the massive mountain top city/country of San Marino was quite a challenge, the view and experience was well worth it. We finally found a car park for Cal right next to the gondola ride which takes you up to the top of the mountain and made our way up to see one of the smallest countries in the world. After seeing it’s location, it’s little wonder that these people have insisted on independence from anyone else. It really is on top of the world. We enjoyed an amazing 3 course lunch at a great little restaurant, and made our way back down to start our journey to Ancona en route to Croatia!

The next day we made it to Ancona by about 1:00pm which gave us plenty of time to hang around before our 8:30pm departure time. On boarding the ship, we headed straight for the bar to have a couple of last beers within Italy to calm the nerves of our more jittery travellers. Leaving Italy for the last time this trip was a fairly sobering idea. Although we met some incredibly rude people, and sometimes the “Italian way” can be incredibly infuriating, it’s still been one of the most beautiful countries we’ve been to. It’s all about the passion, the food, the wine and of course the way you look in Italy. Yes, it’s one of the most pretentious countries on the planet, but because of this, it’s also one of the most beautiful. Love it or hate it, it’s the worlds super power in both style, and most importantly, coffee.... Anyway, back to the boat. After a couple of beers, we had dinner, and a fairly early night ready to wake to our next part in the adventure.... CROATIA!

On arrival in Split, it took little time for us to realise that although this town is well known for its transport hub status, it’s definitely a place to visit in its own rite. We saw some amazing local markets with some very interesting foods, some incredibly talented buskers and yes, of course, more really old buildings. After leaving Split toward Dubrovnik we very quickly realised why the coast of Croatia has such an amazing reputation. You could compare this coast line with that of the Amalfi Coast in Italy. The turquoise water is lined by white cliffs hundreds of metres high. We nervously drove Cal around the cliffs to a beautiful little sea side town where we’ve stopped for the night. After a swim in the ocean, and a few beers and wines (stocked up from Italy) for happy hour, we’re ready to start it all again tomorrow. Please, can this time in our lives never end....

A&J&A&F xoxoxox