Ah, Italy. Really, what's not to love about Italy? The food, the wine, the coffee, the old towns, the scenery... For the second half of our Toussaint holiday we went to Italy, near Lucca in Tuscany, for five days, where Toby's aunt's and uncle's have a beautiful place Caturelgio and they not only really kindly let us stay, but also left lots of food and wine to welcome us (including the most gorgeous homemade lasagne). Pure heaven, and thank you again Auntie Patty and Uncle Mike.
Sadly, a few days before we left the Ligurian coast suffered horrendous flooding and mudslides and some of the areas we had hoped to visit, like the Cinque Terre, were devastated. Our route from Chamonix took us past Genova and the coast, and we saw some of the damage they were talking about and the clean-up project. So, sadly we didn't make it to that area, but hopefully they'll be recovered next summer and we can visit then. So instead we did some great day trips closer to home - Via Reggio, Lucca and Barga. Although, to be honest, the girls would have been just as happy staying put and puttering about the cottage. There is a pond with goldfish at Catureglio, and they provided hours of entertainment (trying to catch them, at least). And the girls were also hardy enough to swim in the unheated pool - in November! That's good Canadians for you.
Enjoying my buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes and fresh foccacia
The terrace of our cottage (that's Anna on the Juliet balcony at the top left)
Toby and Anna, braving the pool
"cold, cold, cold, cold, cold"
Just hanging out
The closest town is Borgo a Mozzano and we finally made it over the local attraction, The Devil's Bridge. It's not the only 'devil's bridge' in Europe - it's supposedly applied to dozens of ancient bridges, many medieval, and so-called because they were considered beyond human capabilities and therefore had to have been built by the devil. I found it rather hair-raising because the walls were pretty low considering the height of the drop, so the girls and Toby enjoyed themselves making me very nervous by sitting on the walls and leaning over the sides. I eventually had to leave them to it.
Happier back on land
The closest town is Borgo a Mozzano and we finally made it over the local attraction, The Devil's Bridge. It's not the only 'devil's bridge' in Europe - it's supposedly applied to dozens of ancient bridges, many medieval, and so-called because they were considered beyond human capabilities and therefore had to have been built by the devil. I found it rather hair-raising because the walls were pretty low considering the height of the drop, so the girls and Toby enjoyed themselves making me very nervous by sitting on the walls and leaning over the sides. I eventually had to leave them to it.
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