We’re currently in La Seyne sur Mer, a suburb of Toulon, and we’ve got a bit of spare time before we set off to meet the kittens (and their current owners). We’ve covered a lot of ground in the last few days.
We left Cattolica on Saturday morning and drove to Siena, via San Marino. Funnily enough, it is geographically indistinguishable from Italy which surrounds it. We did go shopping but were disappointed to find that things weren’t actually that much cheaper so we only grabbed a few bottles of vodka and some food for the next few days. They don’t sell bags of ice in Europe so we bought a bunch of frozen veg and pasta to use as expensive ice packs.
We arrived at the campsite in the afternoon and were happy to learn they had a pool. The site itself is just a few km outside of Sienna in a suburb so it was surrounded by houses and you could hear sirens on the nearby road. Despite not being as picturesque as the one in Chamonix, it was adequate and we spent the better part of the two days at the site. We did venture into Sienna on Sunday morning for a walk around and I’m glad we did, despite the vast number of tourists. It’s like a smaller version of Florence with similar piazzas and buildings.
We survived camping without rain this time except for a few light showers once. On the second night, we had a group of Polish cyclists who were camping directly in front of us. There were about ten of them and they were all appeared out of shape and overweight. I referred to them as the Bad News Bears of cycling (apologies to non-Americans who won’t get the reference). Mostly we just sat outside and read, drank or cooked so it was a nice way to relax. Will is still anti-camping and I have to admit, it wasn’t nearly as fun the second time around, especially after such a great experience at the previous hotel. Having said that, it works out to about 1/4 of the cost so it’s hard to beat for cheap accommodation.
We left on Monday morning and drove from Sienna north to Lucca. They are roughly equidistant from Florence and it took about three hours in all. We wanted to see a few of the fortress towns on route but so did every other tourist in Tuscany. The first one, just outside of Sienna, is called Monteriggioni and it’s a very small walled town on a hill. You can walk from end to end in under two minutes and it has nice views of the surrounding country but it felt a bit like a theme park.
We tried a second town, San Gimignano, but it was impossible to park so we gave it a miss. We had lunch en route and ended up having a 2-course meal with drinks included for €12 each so it felt a bit like home. Will had four cheese gnochi and I had penne arrabiata and both were amazing. We then continued on to Lucca but had trouble finding the hotel. Natalie, the sat nav, really didn’t have a very good time in Italy. In this case, she failed to list the address so although we were close, we couldn’t see anything like a hotel and after trying for a bit, decided to call. The phone number was unlisted so he headed back into town in hopes of finding accommodation.
Lucca is another walled town and you have to drive around it in order to find parking. We finally located the train station, then a parking spot and after a stroll around, located the tourist info office. The lady was very helpful, called the place and then directed us there. It’s a few km outside of town and it turns out, we were about 1/2 a km away earlier, we just needed to keep going a wee bit further. So by the time we reached the hotel, I was very, very bored of Italian drivers (see Will’s prev entry).
We showered and relaxed for a bit and then decided to give Lucca one more try. We had considered giving it a miss after the previous experience driving/parking around town but I’m glad we did. It’s a very small and beautiful town with many piazza’s fronted by ochre-coloured buildings. The man at the hotel suggested we hire bikes or walk around the walls of the city, a full circuit being 4km (2.6mi). The walls are about 10m (30ft) across with a road running down the middle and tree-lined footpaths on either side. There are about 10 different gates into the city and there is also an inner circular wall that sits about 20m from the outer wall. In Cattolica, we had something called piadina which is a flat bread covered with meat, veggies and/or cheese, folded in half and then grilled. It was akin to pizza but no substitute so we were determined to have the real thing that night and we weren’t disappointed.
We retrieved the car, drove back to the hotel and shared a bottle of red while watching a film before going to bed. Will was up at the crack of dawn, eager to hit the road but we didn’t end up leaving until nearly 10am. We got on the autostrada and were cruising along nicely when Natalie told us to exit just after we’d passed Genoa, about 45 min after we’d left. She then directed us up a windy mountain road and after some fiddling, we discovered that when “avoid traffic” and “shortest route possible” are both ticked, she honours the former. So once we unticked that option, she steered us back to the motorway and it was smooth sailing from then on. Overall, I’m glad we went to Tuscany but living in the Dordogne robs the visit of its proper impact. It’s got rolling hills, vineyards and beautiful old towns but we’re living in the midst of similar surroundings these days so the grandeur is a tad lost on us. Perhaps it goes to show that you don’t really need a holiday when you’re on vacation.
We arrived in La Seyne sur Mer around 3:30 today and were pleased to find our Travel Lodge-esque motel has free WiFi so I started this entry before dinner and I’m finishing it afterward. In that time, we have met our new boys and had a lovely meal with their current owners. Natalie refused to acknowledge the existence of their address even though it’s just 5 minutes down the road so Jerome, the husband came and picked us up.
We stopped at their place to meet the boys before heading to the small village where Veronique works. It’s a lovely Provincal town, right on the coast, with lovely pastel coloured buildings and tons of small fishing boats in the port. We had a brief stroll followed by a drink and then headed back to their place. They have at least ten cats, about half Devon Rex and the other half Norwegian including a kitten who is less than a month old. We had drinks and then dinner which was lamb, potatoes and green beans. I amused to learn that it was a Jamie Oliver recipe (Sir Jamie acc. to Kath and Kim) and that they are big fans of his. Will had mentioned that he doesn’t eat fish or beef so they figured they were ok to serve lamb. He ate it without complaint and later mentioned that it was his first act of sacrifice for the boys.
The kids are far cuter in person than they are in the photos. They’re both still very small and skinny and have the most beautiful green eyes. One is gregarious with lots of nervous energy and the other is very shy but affectionate. He didn’t spend much time with any human until near the end of the evening when we timidly climbed onto Will’s lap and stayed for quite awhile. Although they both belong to both of us, it appears we’ve eat got a cat to match our personality. We’ve had a slight change of heart on one of the names but I won’t give anything away until we’re sure.
Will doesn’t expect to sleep much tonight due to the excitement. We will head back to their place in the morning before getting on the road for the final leg of the journey. I hope it is uneventful and I’m sure you’ll hear about it shortly. Until then….