Lover of Wine – Travel along on our adventures – DAVID & JANEEN

Our first full day in the Loire Valley had us going to The Château d’Ussé located not far from our Villa. The stronghold at the edge of the Chinon  forest overlooking the Indre  Valley was first fortified in the eleventh century and passed through a number of different hands over the years ending up being purchased. In 1885 the comtesse de la Rochejaquelein bequeathed Ussé to her great-nephew, the comte de Blacas. Today the château belongs to his descendent Casimir de Blacas d’ Aulps the 7th Duke of Blacas.

Throughout the Chateau there is period furniture, rooms decorated with tapestries, paintings and also a collection of maniquins wearing period costumes inside the various rooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The current owner still lives in the Chateau and uses the funds from the entrance fees for maintenance and upkeep. It has been open to the public since 1970 – quite a long time actually. In addition to the main Chateau there is a separate Chapel and a collection of various carriages worth checking out.

One of the traditions, maintained by the Chateau, is that it was the castle Charles Perrault had in mind when writing “The Sleeping Beauty” To this end, there is a whole display in one of the upper levels of various scenes depicted in the story.

The chapel was the parish house of worship, even during revolutionary times. A dellaRobbia virgin and choir chair carvings are well done. The 12 apostles surround the entrance, each with the symbol that identifies them, of course, the extra 4 medallions of death and his minions need no special identification. The foundations of the entire construction are oldest, carved out of the tipical sedimentary stone of the area.

Of course, Janeen had to check out the garden. Not huge but had some nice plantings and a nice water feature.

After our visit to the Chateau, we returned to our Villa to relax and get ready for dinner at Les Gueules Noires (a la Cave Martin). This restaurant was highly recommended by our hostess so we had her make a reservation. The place is only about 2.5 Km from the Villa so quite close and when we drove up to it we were the first to arrive (they don’t start serving until 7:30 naturally we were there a few minutes early).

The front patio of the restaurant is set up for dining during warmer weather with the dining room and kitchen partially installed in the caves left behind from mining operations. The decorations in the dining room do seem to have a mining theme but the space is open with a large fireplace (actually with a fire) in the middle of the room.

Clearly not following a set “French” menu, this restaurant features fresh produce, items they can get that day and meats from local producers and the serve local Loire wines.

Fortunately, the hostess speaks English and was able to explain the various menu items available for the evening. Janeen settled on pumpkin cream soup with chestnuts and cheese to start and a veal stew with 6 or 7 vegetables while I started with the risotto with herbs and a dusting of cheese and the boor with vegetables. Both were beyond good – they were fantastic. For desert we shared a warmed fig dish with a scope of ice cream (you can look at the menu and read everything that was available.

This is a place to go back to as the seasons change to see what they are presenting.

A couple of days ago, we decided to leave Italy and head to France – the Loire Valley to be specific. I have to admit, that the more we travelled along through Italy the more it looked like Southern California – sure, not the same but very similar. Part of the ‘gap year’ was to “be somewhere else” and Italy wasn’t looking like “somewhere else” enough. While we had originally said we would get to Sicily, we bagged that with the goal of heading towards France and doing some Chateau’s we missed on our last trip, drinking some French wines and getting some cooler weather (yes, it was getting warm in southern Italy).

While not a complete speed run, we did move right along. We did, however, stop in Neive (Piedmont region) for a visit with Leslie Alexandria.

She, and her husband Robert, was our guides for an introduction into Piedmont wines a few years ago and stopping by to say hello just seemed like the right thing to do. I was sorry, after visiting for such a brief time, we didn’t arrange to stay a day or two as it really is a lovely little part of the world – oh well, next time.

 

 

 

 

After Neive we spent the night in Genoa – on the coast of Italy – and had a lovely lunch in a spot off the beaten track – nice seafood and pasta, lovely people and beautiful beach (although rocks, not sand) out the window.

 

Early today (Thursday) we headed out and drove straight through the Rhone Alps to the Loire Valley – something like 600 Km and about 6 hours but we made it to a nice VRBO apartment (more on that later).

 

One of the things I kept commenting on with Janeen was the frequency and number of auto tunnels we went through. All over Italy they seem to be present on the roadways. Some as short as 150 meters others quite long, like in excess of 12,000 meters (at the entrance of EVERY tunnel they list the length of the darn things). I checked the Web and there are over 90 tunnels that are over 3000 meters long! That is over 1.8 mile long for all of you in the non-metric part of the world. I was seriously amazed. The final tunnel out of Italy and into France was called the

Traforo Del Frejus and it was 12,868 Km long or about 7.9 MILES.

 

 

Truly amazing tunnel. About half way through the darn thing we crossed “the border from Italy to France – a marker was posted on the wall to let you know.  The toll for just this tunnel was 44.20 EUROs or about $54 US.  This was just one of the tunnels – we must have spent a couple hundred EUROS on tolls driving through Italy

 

 

 

 

 

Once through the tunnel, the views on the other side weren’t anything to complain about.

The last couple of days have been enjoyable. We spent an afternoon in the City Center of Perugia having a lovely lunch and then walked around. It seems it was a huge chocolate celebration with booths and producers (Perugian, Bacio, Linde) EVERYWHERE.

Fortunately we had a nice lunch and were not the least bit tempted by all the treats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After getting back to our room we had a couple of adult beverages in the hotel lounge and made decisions on where to be over the next several days. It was decided that Italy was over and it was time for France. So, today we drove from Perugia to Genoa, Italy.

 

Genoa is on the water – well the Ligurian sea – and is quite beautiful. We asked the front desk of our hotel where to go for some seafood and they directed us to the Boccadasse area, about 3 or 4 Km from the hotel with a profusion of fish themed restaurants. Across the street from the Hotel is the train station so finding a cab wasn’t a problem and off we went.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we arrived, the restaurant I had looked at on Trip Advisor was closed, of course, but we found a lovely little spot overlooking the bay and had a delightful seafood lunch.

 

After lunch we walked a bit, found a cab and got back to our hotel only to be distracted by the Arco della Vittoria – a monument to the Genoese who died in WWI.

Now we are back in our room, relaxing getting ready for a drive tomorrow first to Nieve (where will visit with a guide we had for Piedmont Wines 4 years ago) and then off to Chambery France on our way to the Loire Valley.

 

It was time to hit a garden, or in this case, a showcase of Fountains. So, we packed up and headed towards Tivoli and a visit to the Villa d’Este. After cruising around to find parking, we finally found a spot and headed to the Villa with a lunch break prior to going on our tour. The Villa is really a combination of a nice “home” and a very large garden with multiple water features. We skipped the interior of the Villa and headed straight to the garden.

 

The Villa d’ Este is a 16th-century villa in Tivoli, near Rome,  famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renassance garden  and especially for its profusion of  fountains  It is now an Italian state museum, and is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.

The Villa was commissioned by Cardinal Impolite II d’Este  (1509–1572), second son of Alfonso I d’Este, the Duke of Ferrara and grandson of Pope Alexander VI, along with Lucrezia Borgia.  The Este family had been lords of Ferrara since 1393. He was a lavish patron of the arts, supporting among others the sculptor Benvenuto Cellini,  the musician Pierluigi da Palestrina and the poet  Torquato Tasso. While his income was enormous, he was always in debt.

Canals were dug and two hundred meters of underground pipes were laid to carry the water from the artificial mountain under the oval fountain to the rest of the garden. Following the aesthetic principles of the Renaissance, the garden was carefully divided into regular units, or compartments, each thirty meters across, laid out along a longitudinal median axis, with five lateral axes.

The plans for the villa itself were carried out under the direction of the Ferrarese architect-engineer Alberto Galvani, court architect of the Este.

Between 1850 and 1896, the Villa was owned by Cardinal Gustav von Hohenlohe, who restored the dilapidated villa and the ruined and over grown gardens, which now appealed to the romantic sentiments of the period. The villa once again attracted artists, musicians and writers. The composer Franz Liszt made several visits between 1865 and 1885, and wrote two pieces of music, Les Jeux d’Eau a la Villa d’Este and I Cipressi.

After the First World War, the villa was acquired by the Italian State, which began a major restoration in 1922. The famous water organ, which had not functioned for many years, was restored and now plays again each day for visitors.

The Courtyard is placed where the original cloister of the convent was located. It was constructed in 1566–67, and is surrounded by a gallery. The centerpiece of the courtyard is the Fountain of Venus, the only fountain in the Villa that retains its original appearance.

The fame and glory of the Villa d’Este was above all established by its extraordinary system of fountains; fifty-one fountains and nymphaeums, 398 spouts, 364 water jets, 64 waterfalls, and 220 basins, fed by 875 meters of canals, channels and cascades, and all working entirely by the force of gravity, without pumps.

The garden plan is laid out on a central axis with subsidiary cross-axes, refreshed by some five hundred jets in fountains, pools and water troughs. The Aniene, which is partly diverted through the town, a distance of a kilometer, supplies the water and, originally, by the Rivellese spring, which supplied a cistern under the villa’s courtyard (now supplied by the Aniene too). The garden is now part of the Grandi Giardini Italiani.

You can see from the pictures were are LOTS of fountains – and many with interesting sculptures and water spouts. After walking through the area for a couple of hours we headed up through the Garden back to the Plaza above for a Gelato and to continue our drive to Perugia.

 

 

 

 

We have often heard about Paestum where there are some wonderful Greek and Roman ruins – some of them in much better condition than in other parts of the ‘old world’. So, we took ourselves there to see. We arrived after a nice lunch in a small pizza place along the side of the road then just walked in to the ruins.

 

 

No ticket required – however, we didn’t have any guidebook information of idea of what we were looking at. Fortunately there were key signs placed around the area giving you sufficient information to get some idea of what you were looking at. We recognized Hera, Athena and Apollo as gods for the temples, or maybe the big one was for Neptune…still not enough knowledge about the Greek colony that initially founded the trading city.

Both Republican and Imperial Romans added their own touches, or at least covered with dignity the old and declared a new.

The day was beautiful – clear skies, not too warm and limited number of people wandering around.

 

Paestum was a major ancient Greek  city on the coast of southern Italy. The ruins of Paestum are famous for their three ancient Greek temples in the Doric orderr, dating from about 600 to 450 BC, which are in a very good state of preservation. The city walls and amphitheater are largely intact, and the bottom of the walls of many other structures remains, as well as paved roads.

Much the most celebrated features of the site are the three large temples in the Archaic version of the Greek Doric order, dating from about 550 to 450 BC. All are typical of the period, with massive colonnades having a very pronounced entasis (widening as they go down), and very wide capitals resembling upturned mushrooms. Above the columns, only the second temple of Hera retains most of its entablature,  the other two having only the architrave  in place.

These three temples were dedicated to Hera, Athena, and Poseidon (Juno, Minerva, and Neptune to the Romans). The two temples of Hera are right next to each other, while the Temple of Athena is on the other side of the town center. Paestum is far from any sources of good marble resulting in the temples having had few stone reliefs, perhaps using painting instead. The whole ancient city of Paestum covers an area of approximately 300 acres. It is only the 61 arcs that contain the three main temples and the other main buildings that have been excavated. The other areas remain on private land and have not been excavated. The city is surrounded by defensive walls that still stand.

The central area is completely clear of modern buildings since the Middle Ages. Although much stone has been stripped from the site, large numbers of buildings remain detectable by their footings or the lower parts of their walls, and the main roads remain paved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first Temple of Hera, built around 550 BC by the Greek colonists, is the oldest surviving temple. Eighteenth-century archaeologists named it “The Basilica” because some mistakenly believed it to be a Roman building. The temple is wider than most Greek temples, probably because there are two doors and a row of seven columns running centrally inside the cella or inner sanctuary, an unusual feature. This may reflect a dual dedication of the temple. Having an odd number of columns, here nine, across the shorter sides also is very unusual; there are eighteen columns along the longer sides. This was possible, or necessary, because of the two doors, so that neither has a view blocked by a column.

The second Temple of Hera was built around 460–450 BC, just north of the first Hera Temple. The columns do not have the typical 20 flutes on each column, but have 24 flutes. The Temple of Hera II also has a wider column size and smaller intervals between columns.

On the highest point of the town, some way from the Hera Temples and north of the center of the ancient settlement is the Temple of Athena .  It was built around 500 BC. The architecture is transitional, being partly in the Ionic style and partly early Doric.

After viewing the various main buildings we walked through the “town” looking at the foundations and remaining walls of the structures. One had a particularly nice inlay floor we didn’t find out if it was original or added sometime over the last couple thousand years.

 

The last several days have been interesting – altho not much of note for the blog. When we re in Oregon, we met a women, Rebecca Ponzi, at a wine dinner at the Stoller vineyards. She and her husband moved to Italy something like 6 years ago and are doing stuff like producing olive oil, raising two sons and having a great time. Unfortunately they also have family ties to the Ponzi properties in Oregon and have to travel back frequently – including the fact that they are in charge of a restaurant in Dundee – meaning on a weekly basis they have Skype meeting with the staff to go over the restaurant and it’s operations and fly back frequently to take care of business.

Well, she made the mistake of inviting us to come and visit. And not one to let something like that pass by, we arranged to stay in an interesting B&B in the very small village of Torre di Palme – this is on the coast of the Adriatic Sea and a beautiful little hill top village – population (currently ) of about 65 people. Aside from just relaxing, which we did a lot of, she gave us the 50cent tour of the area and shared her “villa” with us prior to taking us to a lovely spot for lunch overlooking the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After getting everything together, we drove south along the water to Barletta – right about the “heel” of Italy. WE have decided to NOT got to Sicily but wind our way back up the western side of Italy and find a place to settle in for a while. More on that as it develops.

So far now, know that we are well and having a great time.

OK, the last several days have been RELAXING.  I admit, we haven’t done really any tourist things…we have relaxed, traveled some, eaten some and had some wines.  We left our Agratourisim place, which was really out in the country between Bologna and Moderna, and headed to a foreign country – yes a different country from Italy.

Along the drive we snapped a picture of the espaliered trees along the road.  It seems most of the fruit trees(apples and pears) are espaliered along rows with the irrigation at the top.  I guess to make picking the fruit easier or something, but we have seen these a lot.

 

Our drive took us to Rimini – a coastal town on the east coast of Italy where we stopped for lunch.  Not only did we stop for a really lovely lunch, but wandered into a couple of shops and bought strange things – a night light (which we have looked for in several places and never found), a knife to be able to cut snacks, fruit and other things when we have supper in our room (seems the little Swiss army knife isn’t good enough or strong enough) some fantastic grapes (funny the things you pick up along the way). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch we headed west to another country – specifically to Republic of San Marino.  Yes, this is a small country all of 61 square Km (24 square miles) right smack dab in Italy.  Seems this place was a City State during all the history and never got incorporated into Italy.  It has the claim of being the 5^th smallest country in the world!  We had heard about this from Rebecca Ponzi (who we met at the Stoller dinner in Oregon prior to IPNC and is related to the Ponzi Wine folks of Oregon) and who it turns out has an olive oil company in Italy – where we are going to connect with her in a couple of days.

After we got checked into our hotel we walked around with the specific goal of getting to the tourist office so we could get a San Marino Visa stamp in our passports!  Doesn’t do much good but it is proof we made it to another country (this makes our 5^th so far on this trip).  After that we just sort of relaxed with a bottle of wine in our room with some cheese (using our new knife!) and crackers.  Today, Tuesday, we set a goal to do laundry and to get Janeen a hair appointment.  We accomplished both!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several things – we have now been in Europe for almost a month (OK, it’s been actually 28 day so far) and several things are clear.  1) It’s nice to have my computer so we can listen to our own music (along with my Bluetooth speaker); 2) not have an actual agenda so we can do things like come to San Marino and do laundry and get hair done 3) be able to communicate with all of you via this blog 4) drink really good inexpensive wines and eat really great foods 5) discover new things every day 6) and drive a car we are actually keeping.  So, while we still have 3 more months to go (and I expect several more countries) it’s nice to be here and see this part of the world I would never have expected to visit.

The last couple of days haven’t had much to justify putting words together and posting on the blog – maybe we are getting tired of writing, I don’t know but today was different. Saturday’s goal museum, The Story of Bologna, failed to be worth the effort to find parking and access to Bologna Centro.

Our AgriTurismo is in the area where Balsamic Vinegar is made; well the area around Modena is the “hot spot” for this stuff. I was checking, this morning, about tours or places to visit and found a link to Giuseppe Giusti – the oldest producer in the world! A tour was available at 10:50 and we headed out arriving with plenty of time to sign up.

Giuseppe Giusti is the oldest balsamic vinegar produced by a company in the world having been founded in Modena in 1605 – still in the family after 17 generations!

Now we have all tasted balsamic vinegar – used on salads, soaked bread with olive oil in it and in general, enjoyed the flavor.   Most of the balsamic vinegars we have used are 2 to 3 months old – maybe even up to 2 years old. The stuff produced here starts at 6 years old and just gets older!

The process of making balsamic vinegar is a safely guarded family secret – but basically true balsamic vinegar is made from a reduction of pressed Trebbiano and or Lambrusco grapes. The resulting thick syrup is subsequently aged for a minimum of 12 years in a series of barrels of successively smaller sizes. This is very similar to the process of the making sherry with the cascading solera system of barrels. The barrels are made of different woods like acacia, chestnut, cherry, oak, mulberry, ash and juniper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

True balsamic vinegar is rich, glossy, and deep chestnut brown in color and has a complex flavor. Just as a side note here, the most expensive balsamic vinegar is made in the attic – where it gets HOT and allows the vinegar to evaporate out water and concentrates the ‘juice’.

The process of moving from a larger barrel to a smaller one is done in stages with each successive batch being introduced into the prior years in small portions. Again very much like the sherry solera system. This long aged balsamic vinegar isn’t anything like the stuff we get and use all the time. That is a similar process but made in very large barrels and aged for only a few months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After learning about the process, and seeing all the various barrels, we ended up having a tasting. We tasting several different levels included both a 25 year old and a 100-year-old balsamic vinegar. As the balsamic vinegar gets older it gets much thicker – taking longer to even drip out of the bottle, as we tasted it. Needless to say there was also the opportunity to buy anything they produce. I’m so glad we don’t have the ability to use this right now, being on the road for the next several months, so we were able to keep from purchasing anything. However, when we get back and settled into a place where ‘cooking’ seems like we will need to do again I’m confident we will be looking for the older, aged balsamic vinegar for our eating enjoyment.

Modena Centro on a Sunday was a relaxing, stroll through the park, and nurse a glass of wine with focaccia snack, autumn afternoon. The Military School uniforms were a colorful addition to people watching.

 

 

Today we headed out on foot to visit the Scuola della Carita is a real gem hidden in the heart of the city center. Beautiful Roman architecture, grandeur, breathtaking. What’s best about it – free entry. The second floor is a masterpiece of wall murals painted in the sixteenth century. The history reflects those times when many people suffered hard situations where the community helped through charity. It looks rather plain from the outside, but when you go up the stairs and see the murals you will be in awe.

There is a series of 12 fresco’s on the walls painted by Dario Varotan in 1579 with stories from the Life of the Virgin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of the paintings were well done and looked beautiful – they had a restoration about 10 years ago – and the entire room is quite stunning.  Well worth a visit.

 

 

 

Listed as number 29 on the best restaurants in the world, Le Calandre was a goal to reach while in Italy. Located not far from our hotel, what a surprise, we taxied over for a late lunch. Located in lovely space, Chef Alajmo is presenting wonderful and delicious dishes. Together with brother Raffaele and sister Laura, he is part of the 5^th generation of the family of Chefs. This place was awarded its third Michelin Star in 2002!

After meeting both Chef Alajmo and his brother Raffaele, we had a wonderful glass of Prosecco and looked over the menu. Raffaele came by and asked about our likes and dislikes and said he would plan our menu accordingly. We really didn’t have to decide ANYTHING which is always a treat. There were at least five course and as many wines over the next couple of hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At one point, one of the waters brought over a copy of Chef Alajmo’s book showing us the recipe for the dish we were having – saffron risotto with licorice, rosemary chanterelles and king oyster mushrooms – which was neat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, we ending up buying the book and having them ship it home for us after getting several signatures and notes from the Chef. It will be interesting to see the book once we get back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pictures really are food porn – it was a great meal and ranks right up there at the top for all meals we have had over the years.

 

 

Yesterday was just a recoup day – with a nice lunch thrown in for good behavior. Today we packed everything up and headed to Padua – about 40 minutes away from Venice but without all the water worlds apart. The main goal, of stopping in Padua, was to visit the Gardens.

“The botanical garden of Padua is at the origin of all botanical gardens in the world and represents the cradle of science, scientific exchanges and understanding of the relationship between nature and culture. It has largely contributed to the advancement of many modern scientific disciplines , in particular botany, medicine, chemistry, ecology and pharmacy.” UNESCO

Because of Janeen’s [who is writing todays blog] Huntington Herb Garden workshops and Herbals introductions, this garden has been on her radar for at least two years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Moorish” medicinal” which inspired the Italian drawings of Padua students under Francesco Bonafede, were taken from the actual plants grown in the university gardens starting in the 16^th century.

The garden had to be enclosed with walls to keep thieves out as the plants were so highly valued. There is still a Medicinals Quadrant to this day, but the garden expanded in the 18^th and 19^th centuries with the “collectors” of new world plants and flora. Many of these plants were “exchange” botanicals between students of the plant world. Janeen loved recognizing Huntington plants, and was in awe of the 1750 Ginkgo Biloba, a male specimen grafted with a female branch in 1850. The order and design of the garden is much like it was almost 200 years ago, with separate gardens outside the walls, planted around waterfalls, fountains and pools fed from underground springs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a less academic note, I [Janeen} needed green relief, having had my fill of roundabout directions and diesel fumes (even in watery Venice). David has found new Mercedes to be a friendly steed, even amongst the narrow streets with Italian drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.

 

 

 

Near the Botanical Gardens was our bonus of the day, Prato Della Valle, an elliptical square, the largest in all of Italy and one of the largest in Europe. A water feature divides its quadrants into green space, and statuary surround I’lsola Memmia. The bridge offers great photo ops.

 

 

On the way out of the garden we watched workers placing stones to make a new roadbed – lots of labor involved.