Walk around central Bologna

After a week resting at Luisella's to give my back a chance to recover, I took my first outing to Bologna - 40 minutes away on the train from Mirandola where we're staying. (Marilena, it should be said has been going out every day with her sister) ;-) What a marvellous jewel the city turned out to be! Not unlike Turin, Bologna is not a specially popular venue for those touring Italy; but they're missing a lot.

Garisenda and Asinelli towers. Towers are in evidence all over the centre of town.
The two in the photo are the best known - but others  (less dramatic) pop up all over.

Bologna is very old indeed and everywhere we went we found ourselves gaping at one extraordinary building after another. It's rather as if someone has laid a medieval town on top of a modern city (or should that be the other way round?). Extraordinary.
The city is famous for its porticoes and its towers. We walked around for around six hours or so - with a couple of breaks for lunch and a coffee. Much of that time was spent walking through porticoes - they go on and on. And of course they provided excellent shade on a sunny day. Most of the porticoes are lined with shops and unlike the UK there were few chain stores which made for more interesting window shopping.

We walked along kilometres of porticoes like these.

Bologna is situated in Emiglia Romagna, Italy's bread basket. And the shops
displayed plenty of examples of local produce.The photo shows Parma ham in a grocer's.

Breads are delicious here - we had flat bread with our lunch. Mmm.

As ever, wet fish over here is super fresh and most appealing.

We visited Bologna University - the oldest in Europe.

The town is flat, so unsurprisingly lots of people cycle.

Visiting Turin . . . and leaving in a hurry

John poses in front of the Porta Nuova station.

I'd sometimes heard by other Italians that Turin was a cold, foggy city dirty and full of heavy industry and certainly not worth visiting. It may well be dirty on the outskirts but the centre is outstandingly impressive. The streets are wide and built - unusually for Italy - to a grid system. The buildings are generally very smartly maintained and most are at a common height of around four floors. The result is a kind of architectural coherence which is very pleasing to the eye. Another striking feature of the architecture is the ubiquity of porticoes; very useful for keeping out of the hot sun in summer of course, but they must be equally helpful in the cold winters the city endures. Marilena and I were really impressed with the town.

There's a relaxed feeling to the place in the evening. We noticed this especially whilst strolling down the fashionable via Garibaldi. The locals were out in force: chatting with friends, window-shopping, eating ice creams or walking their tiny (appartment-size) dogs. And everyone seemed to be suntanned and wearing stylish clothes - even the students and children.
It was whilst Marilena and I were eating (delicious) ice-creams in the enormous Piazza del Castello at Turin's centre that unfortunately my back decided to have a seizure. I limped to a public bench and we both sat down and thought about our next move. Challenging, since I was barely mobile any longer. Marilena soon had measures in hand however.
A taxi picked me up at the bench and took us to where our camper was parked at a railway station 20km west of Turin. I climbed carefully into the (fortunately supportive) passenger seat and Marilena drove me to the campsite where she took everything down herself - including the awning - and loaded the van with all our stuff. Then she drove us to her sister's appartment near Bologna 350km away. All this in a matter of a few hours. I am now comfortably installed here at her sister's and starting my recovery. God bless the family; and my capable wife, too!

Food for free . . .

Marilena reaches for a fig.

We camped close to Turin yesterday. And would you believe it, there was a large fig tree right beside us? And it was full of fruit. Wow! We'd to stretch a bit to get at the ripe ones but the effort was well worth it.
During the night we had a couple of wild dry wind 'storms.' They pushed the camper about and threatened to blow down the awning. I'd to go out with a lantern and knock in the holding pegs more securely. Fortunately the awning stayed put and our stuff inside was fine. But I've never encountered such a fierce wind without it being accompanied by sheets of rain; on balance I think I prefer these dry Italian storms. :-)

Mirabelles picked at the side of the road

We've been coming across fruit trees in the mountains from time to time. At the moment these small plums or damsons (mirabelles) are in season. They make a tasty addition to the dessert. I must say, I'm warming to this idea of foraging - it's fun, as well as being delicious.

Good air and a typical French reception

A lively stream runs down beside our camp site.

In our present location we are surrounded by mountains  high up in the Alps not far from Besançon. The sun is shining and the air is warm and velvety. An absolute delight to breathe in.  We explored the local village this morning; the architecture reflects the weather of the place with broad overhanging roofs to deal effectively with the snow in winter.
There's an air of purpose about the place. We see people dressed for cycling, hiking, rafting and so on. And from time to time minibuses pull up at the entrance to the camp site and groups get in to be wafted somewhere else (for a mountain experience of some kind, I guess). We, on the other hand, leisurely go about our sightseeing - although Marilena took a risky dip in the adjacent outdoor pool this afternoon, despite the thunder and approach of very threatening-looking clouds.
This evening everyone was invited to an aperitif  and a nibble. Very French - and very effective in getting folk talking to each other. We met an interesting couple from Marseille.
Tonight and  tomorrow heavy rain is forecast. We are well protected from the wet. However at the end of the packing the awning will have to come down finally and be packed away - in the pouring rain. Just as well Marilena did the washing today . . .

Mountain driving

For the last few days we've been driving though gorgeous mountains: the departements of la Drome and Hautes-Alpes. The scenery is just getting better and better and the air is like velvet here. Not at all like that shit that passes for air in polluted London. And of course it didn't need to be that way in the capital. Ken Livingstone - for all his faults - wanted to implement a clean air strategy 10 years ago.  But then we had Boris as mayor for 8 years - and we all know what he did about air pollution. Whatever. We're making the best of the clean air - and my asthma is currently in remission. Great!

On the mountain roads we saw lots of fast-flowing rivers and people bathing or paddling in them. Marilena thought they looked most appealing and nothing would do but she had to have her own paddle in a mountain stream Happily we soon found one, pulled over and we had a paddle-a-deux in the bright sunshine. Herself was well pleased.

Coping with unexpected visitors

I hadn't given a thought to insect life before we set off but I suppose that just goes to show how infrequently I spend time out in the natural world. Two days into the trip we began to make the acquaintance of wasps - lots and lots of wasps. At the wasp site we couldn't eat out-of-doors without being surrounded by the pests so we were reduced to eating in the awning. We coped however but had to forgo the pleasures of alfresco dining.

At the next camp site it was beetles - big ones! They entered through floor of the awning at the edges which are not secured. And boy, were they fast runners - we couldn't get near them. Again we'd to adopt a defensive strategy. This time we ate outside the tent And I stacked the crates of our belongings inside the van so they wouldn't become beetle-ridden.

Yesterday our latest infestation was jumping clags (or horse flies) They preferred to scuttle along the awning ground sheet but if I came near they jumped (like fleas) to get out of the way. The whole awning floor was full of them. We'd to move all the crates into the van and stack them on the front seats to avoid infesting our stuff. Again, we ate outside - happily the weather was fine. But before we left the site, I'd to go through every item and shake it to ensure we didn't carry the blighters with us. Phew!

I'm tempted to buy a large shaker of insecticide to use underneath the awning but Marilena won't have it. "The camp site authorities won't allow it," she says. However if this state of affairs carries on . . .

Taking it easy (again)

The couple next to us in the Le Puy campsite were unfortunately robbed during the night. Someone slit open their tent with a knife and stole all their stuff - backpacks, wallet, credit card and money. Fortunately, the woman had her handbag out of reach so they were still able to function financially.
But of course it put a dampener on their plans for a walking holiday in the nearby hills. The robber/s  must have looked briefly in our awning and decided to bypass it (although there was an obvious hole burnt by a cigarette in it). Meanwhile Marilena spotted some prostitute activity going on in the toilets a few yards away where we do our ablutions. It's all happening here!
Today we set off heading east in the general direction of Turin, Italy. We've just stopped in a holiday campsite (for families, I guess) which has a couple of swimming pools and activities for young people. We plan to rest up and catch up on our reading and writing.

Heading for the Massif Central

Son et Lumiere

Following Nevers' overheated campsite experience we headed south and booked what appeared (online) to be a pretty countryside site with its own swimming pool. And when we arrived it proved indeed to be a lovely little spot - and a splash in the pool was a great tonic. After a sunny first day the second one proved cold and damp; so we spent the time reading and relaxing. Lovely.

Then we set out - again south - for Le Puy en Velay, an ancient town set in the volcanic region of the Massif Central. The town is dominated by monuments, several of which are built at the top of former volcanic 'towers.' And very striking they are too. This being France, there were multiple Son et Lumieres each night projected on to these monuments. The French are terribly good at making their historical buildings come alive for the general public; imagery  (especially dynamic imagery) is so much more accessible in situations like this. We moved around with the crowds from one monument to the next, enjoying the spectacles.
Le Puy is an important starting point on the Camino de Santiago to Compostella and the pilgrim presence can be seen all over the town. Indeed its presence is to be found also on my person (I purchased a Camino fleece at the pilgrim shop today - at 2000 feet up, the campsite mornings can be very parky here).

Church of St Michel

Awning update
We've finally cracked it. Erected in half an hour at this site. Mercifully, this marks the end of the blog's awning coverage.

A sunny campsite is not always a comfortable one

Marilena poses on the parapet of the bridge over the river Loire at Nevers.

We travelled down from Versailles today in lovely sunshine. "This is it," we thought. "The holiday starts here!" And indeed it was very agreeable. The day was bright and the camper was comfortable with excellent air conditioning, so were able to laugh in the face of a hot sun as we motored south through the French countryside.
The campsite at Nevers is by the river Loire just opposite the city's cathedral. And a splendid sight it is too. Nevers is a most attractive town with lots of medieval buildings in the old quarter. We went to mass in the cathedral on Assumption Day and visited the Espace Bernadette at the convent where her body is displayed in a glass casket.

The body of St Bernadette in her glass casket.

Bernadette Soubirous is of course famous for her association with Lourdes; she left her own village to get some peace and quiet away from the crowds of admirers. It's unlikely she would have been suitable material for today's reality TV!

The camp site was fine except for one inconvenience - we had no shade. And owing to our camping inexperience we had placed the awning in such a way that we got the glare of the sun all day long! We survived of  course but it taught us a sharp lesson about how to take the sun's position into account when setting up camp.

Awning update
Erection was slightly better on this site (about 1h 15min).

No sitting back and yawning - until we've learnt to put up the awning!

Our camper is a small one and so there's not a lot of space to hold all the stuff we need. For this reason we purchased an awning that attaches to the side of the van. I chose one with care, i.e an awning that was quick and easy to erect. The maker's bumpf stated about 12 minutes. How gullible was I?

The first attempt took about an hour and a half and we were both drained physically and - in my case - emotionally. We had a series of thunderstorms the first night to test our efforts. Happily the tent proved to be waterproof . However the 'tunnel' that connects the awning to the van's side door had collapsed and I got drenched each time I got in and out of the van. Ah well - we'll do it better next time.
We're heading south to Nevers tomorrow - it's by the river Loire and the weather forecast is sunny and hot. Good!

Setting off -sudden decision

We'd planned from way back  to take an extended tour once Marilena retired. So we bought a little camper van, an awning and some crates to store our stuff and just set off with little camping preparation. Our first stop was a camp site somewhere west of Paris.










Next day we checked out Versailles Palace and grounds and  found it curiously empty of people; indeed the town itself (very chi-chi) seemed short of people too. Then the penny dropped - lots of French people are on holiday in August. We get the same phenomenon of reduced traffic during holidays in the UK - but nothing on this scale!

Versailles Palace is a building of excess. One can't help but admire the astonishing architectural achievements. Even though many French citizens of the time had to put up with considerable poverty and misery.