Isola di Giglio - Saturday Hiking

I had better finish writing about Isola di Giglio before things get too out of order: we were there over Labor Day weekend!

Leonardo had explained that there are trails on Isola di Giglio, so Alexandra and I were prepared with water bottles and a small backpack.

Our idea for Saturday morning was to walk from the beach town of Giglio Campese, where we were staying, up to Giglio Castello, the fortified town 400 meters higher near the center of the island.

We wanted to get an early start to avoid the worst of the heat.  Campese is on the west side of the island, so we were shielded from the early-morning sun for most of our climb.

Leaving town - dawn at the far side of the bay

Starting to feel like we were getting somewhere

This was typical of the trail...well cleared, steep, often following an old wall

See how high we are relative to the hill on the other side of the bay?

Now we can see over it!

This is where the trail, called "Il Gronco", meets the road into Castello

Entrance to Castello

Castello is a small town with narrow, twisty alleys, steep stairs to tiny doors, and arches holding up houses built out over the streets.  In other words, exactly what you would expect of a medieval fortified town built on a big rock.  Much of the current defenses were built under the Medici after the pirate Barbarossa sacked the island and shipped out most of the inhabitants as slaves (1544).

Much to our amusement, this low tunnel is a street, and there is plenty of city behind it

Notice the steep stairway to the door on the left

Having found our well-earned morning cappuccino, we decided we were up for some more and headed out of town on a trail headed south.  This trail followed the ridge line and was less challenging.  It offered a nice overlook of Gigio Porto on the east side of the island:

The foliage was quite different from what we had seen before.

Eventually we got to an intriguing side trail to "Poggio della Pagana".  Without thinking much about the fact that "poggio" is a hill, and without consulting the map to discover which hill this was, we were inadvertently off to the highest point on the island!

This is about when we figured out the nature of our destination.

Of COURSE there was a picnic table at the top

Castello is the town in the distance on the right.  Campese is way down in the bay.

We decided to take a different route back, a longer one that promised to be less steep to save some wear and tear on our knees.  We are not sure it worked out that way.  At times it seemed to be just as steep, except with level bits in-between.

Alexandra way off ahead of me

Almost back to Campese.  Doesn't that water look inviting?

Birthday Card

My birthday card from Florence.  Because we are odd that way.  😄

Thank you, Florence!

Getting Ready for Winter

Our landlord (after only three years) managed to fix the chimney this summer, meaning we'll be able to cook in our fireplace again! We have really missed this feature of the house, so we're all thrilled.

I switch wood suppliers every year, mostly because I forget whom I've used in the past and just ask around when I need some. This year, I asked Umberto (a lovely fellow about town, and one of the local contractors who also helped with my presepe), and he recommended his cousin.

This morning, after lots of promises about being right there, Umberto's uncle Marino finally arrived! Driving a little Richard Scarry dump truck, I asked him if he thought he could get into the portone. "No problem! As long as you hold up traffic for a minute or two." I could easily do that (despite a few honks), and he reversed and maneuvered in as though it were nothing. However, he really only had a few centimeters on each side, and Michael had reported having problems getting the Panda in because of geometry, doors, etc. Yes, we were impressed.

He dumped his load (about a ton and a half), and then we were all set to carry it upstairs. It had a lovely dense, hollow sound, which means that it's nice, dry hardwood.

The upper part of the cab is wood. I was trying to get the lift mechanism.

Plenty of room?

What you don't see well is the doors' silhouette
and the mirrors

And...made it back out!

For quick access from the front door.
We have additional wood in a "magazzino", basically a contorted,
low walk-in closet/storehouse.

This fireplace is stacked 2-3 logs deep and up into the chimney. 

All this, while we're fully aware that the forecasters expect it to hit 35 degrees this week (that's 95 degrees Fahrenheit).

Love,

Alexandra

Isola di Giglio - Getting There

On a tip from our friend Leonardo, we decided to spend the Labor Day weekend on Isola di Giglio, an island off Tuscany that Leo billed as a mini-Sardinia.  A few Internet clicks and we had a tiny house booked in the little beach town of Campese.

Ashley, James, Alexandra, and I set off Friday morning and drove to Porto Santo Stefano to catch the ferry.  We chose the slow, scenic route, which took us by Pitigliano, a town built on the edge of a gorge.

Pitigliano - Check out those cliffs!

We got to Porto Santo Stefano in the early afternoon break between ferries, so we had just the right amount of time to catch lunch.  The parking-lot attendant recommended a place a couple of doors down that looked a bit like a tent in a gas station parking lot.  It turned out to be fantastic!

Alexandra chose a salad described as shrimp, fresh fruit, fennel, and mint, on the theory that such an unlikely combination that makes it onto the menu must be good.  It was!

We walked out of the restaurant, grabbed our bags, and got on the ferry for the 45-minute ride out to the island.

Goodbye, Porto Santo Stefano

James chilling

Hello, Giglio Porto*

Can it get any more classic?

Absolutely not!

From there, it was a 100-meter walk to the "bus terminal".  Understand that Isola di Giglio is only 28 km in circumference and the bus line has one stop in each of the three small towns on the island.

30 minutes of vertiginous roads and one rental agency visit later we were "home" in our little place in Campese, all in time to see the beach, get the lay of the town, make dinner reservations, and plan our Saturday.

Michael

*Side note: Giglio Porto was where the Costa Concordia sank.  The red harbor marker you see in our approach is the same one in this classic photo from the morning after the wreck.

Small Town Delivery

We left town today for a few days at the beach. Our friend Fabrizio (who is also looking after the bunnies) noticed this note on the door, and sent it to me via Facebook chat:

Notice that there are three corporate options for getting your package delivered. What you may not recognize is that the scrawl of numbers is actually a cell phone number for our delivery agent. Which I called.

A charming fellow, he knew right away who I was, and happily agreed to drop it with Fabrizio at the restaurant (whose location of course he already knew), and/or to drop it at the local grocer’s to give to Fabrizio to put into our house. Sort of the house that Jack built.

At that point, he volunteered that he was planning to visit the restaurant in any case, so he’d just leave it when he went.

Ten minutes later, the phone rang. It was Fabrizio, to let me know that my package had arrived.

Love,

Alexandra

Back in Scotland

Yesterday (September first), Katharina, Lisa, and I went to the Braemar Highland Games. To get there, we had to get a bus at 7:45 so we had to leave the house quite early, because we had to get breakfast on the way. We got to the bus stop about ten minutes early, and there was already a considerable line for the bus. The line didn’t get any shorter as we waited for the bus to actually show up- it arrived almost fifteen minutes late. We were in for a very pretty (and towards the end crammed) ride. We went through the countryside and the occasional city on our ride to Braemar.

By the time we got there, it was about 10:30. We walked to get to where the games were held and went and picked up our tickets. Once we got in, we wandered around looking for a good place to perch. It was a bit like a three-ring circus in that there were TONS of events all going on at once. When we got there, there were people throwing a caber (which was 9ft 9 in and weight 129 pounds). Basically, the goal of the game is to pick up a tree trunk vertically, walk with it as far as you can and then throw it so that it goes end over end. Apart from the caber, there were dancers, runners, people competing in tug-of-war and people doing weight over the bar (for the lightweight competition the men were throwing a 28-pound weight over a bar that eventually got up to sixteen and a half feet; the heavyweight weighed 56 pounds). Through the day, we also saw people on the long jump, high jump, whichever event you twirl around and through a really heavy stone, and bagpipe performances. (A side note: all of the throwing competitors were wearing kilts, but unfortunately only one of the running competitors was…) We also saw competitions done by different divisions of the forces which were amazing to see because the participants were STRONG. At one point, we had 17 different bagpipe and drum marching bands all march around the arena and perform together. At three, the Queen showed up (in BRIGHT blue) accompanied by some of the royal family- they announced their titles, but I had no clue to whom they were referring.

A bit after that, we decided to go home because we didn’t know when the buses were, and we didn’t want to spend the night at the Games. When we got to the temporary bus stop, there were already a couple of people waiting in line, which was a very good sign. While we waited, the line grew longer and longer. After about half an hour, the line was so long that I don’t know if everyone managed to fit on the bus. After the long bus ride home, I was tired so I went home for dinner, and Lisa and Katharina ate at a pub.

Ciao,

Florence

Guardian of the Tap

"I dare you to turn this off!"