I must admit that when Al first suggested going on holiday a mere two weeks after returning to work and with me still looking for a job, I thought it was a bit indulgent even by our standards. He made two strong and valid points.
We had been in quarantine, not on holiday. We hadn’t chosen to stay in nor to be furloughed/have our contracts lapsed. It was not relaxing or without stress and it impacted negatively on our sleep and mental health. There was and remains a level of fear about the virus, but as there were less need for restrictions we could move forward.
There were no tourists and a once in a lifetime opportunity to see some places empty in a way they probably never will be again. This in itself would enable us to take advantage of places that were usually too full of tourists or too expensive, whilst also supporting those local economies adversely impacted.
Good coffee and pastries
High Days
When I thought about it, I knew it made sense. Many of you are probably also feeling bored of looking at the same four walls and streetscapes, no matter how lovely they are, after 3 months of lockdown. Just as we visited Ravenna and Modena when the within region restrictions were lifted to give ourselves a change of scene and a chance to do the exploring we came here for, so we also began to look further afield as the Regional restrictions were lifted. We have a renewed hunger for the outside world and all that it has to offer.
Holidays
We had previously planned to go on holiday for the end of June/beginning of July for my birthday and to attend an outdoor festival in Milan to watch Faith No More. Although the festival was not officially postponed immediately, Faith No More had already begun to cancel and reschedule the tour and the writing was on the wall for live music generally. As we were still in lockdown at this time thoughts of our holiday drifted from our minds, until now…
Antique wine press
View from a coastal walk
Holiday snaps
As we started to look there seemed to be a lot of deals and discounts around, which meant we could search in areas that are usually completely out of our price range. This included the beautiful Cinque Terre on the Ligurian coast. We had looked at this area for our honeymoon and even with that expanded budget it was far too expensive for us. However, at the moment, many holiday operators and holiday homeowners are desperate to rescue their summer season and so bargains are aplenty. We found a very reasonably priced air B&B with air con in a central location, Rapallo.
Castle in Rapallo
Evening stroll in Rapallo
A taste of Rapallo
Having taken the leap and decided on a holiday in Liguria we were delighted that although some things were not open or not running this was more than made up for by the fact we pretty much had all the main sites to ourselves, give or take a handful of brave French or Swiss adventurers. There was so much to see, do, eat and drink that I am putting the details in separate posts which I will upload over the next couple of weeks and link here.
Very good wine of the region
In fact, it was so successful that when we returned, we immediately booked a shorter escape to another of Italy’s usually tourist stuffed treasures. If you are thinking of new adventures and a change of scene, while boosting a local economy and taking a silver lining of sorts from the last few months, I highly recommend it.
This week we decided to use the recent lifting of regional movement restrictions and to take advantage of Al’s days off by going to Modena.
A very short description of Modena
Modena is a city in the region Emilia Romagna. There has been a settlement here since 187BC and the Duomo, which was built 1000 years ago, is included in the UNESCO world heritage site that can be explored in Grande Piazza. There is a long standing rivalry between Bologna and Modena as they used to be competing city states, typical of neighbouring cities and towns the world over. There was a series of battles known as the war of the Bucket (1325) when the opposing factions fought each other. The Modenese fighters took a bucket from Bologna as a trophy and it (or one meant to replicate it) is on display in the Torre della Ghirlandia to this day.
Fountain in a Piazza
Spire
Porticoes
Memorial in a piazza
Street sign
Church
Statue in the market
Street art
Fountain at the Palace
The Palace
Market
Around Modena
Modena is the home of Balsamic vinegar, but not the stuff you can buy from the supermarket in the UK, the product here is produced from grape must, thick and sweet and takes at least 12 years to ferment, using a centuries old process. You only need to use a tiny amount, let down with olive oil which is good news as even a small bottle will set you back, but it should last for years. Modena and the area immediately surrounding it has a large number of products of either DOP (products of a protected origin) or IGP (products with a protected region) meaning that you cannot buy the same product anywhere else. The city’s proximity to Bologna means that many of the regional dishes are the same, but there are some interesting variations to look out for.
Modena is also home to Lambrusco (sparkling red wine), Ferrari and Maserati cars as well as the world famous tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
Door to the Duomo
Modena Duomo
How to get to Modena
Modena is about 38 km from Bologna and easily accessible by rail or car. On the train from Bologna it can take between 17 and 29 minutes depending on whether you get the slower regional train or the faster Freccia Rossa and the tickets are priced to reflect this. On this occasion we drove and chose to go via the slower, toll free roads, which are more picturesque. Like many Italian cities, the centre of Modena is covered by a ZTL (traffic limitation zone) where cars are either not permitted to enter at all or are extremely restricted. The fines for infringement of the ZTL are high and its possible to get more than one in a day so be careful if you are driving about. A brief amount of research meant that I was able to get a map of the Modena ZTL and find a free car park outside it. Modena is a compact city so parking outside the centre is not a problem. Our free car park was next to the stadium, from where it is a 10 minute pleasant walk to the Grande Piazza.
Duomo and Tower
Arch between Duomo and Tower
Grande Piazza
Speakers stone in piazza
Duomo entrance in Grande Piazza
Grande Piazza
What to eat?
The Italian version of the tourist information site of Modena lists an ideal Modenese menu; starting with salumi (sliced cured meats), followed by tortelloni stuffed with pork, prosciutto and Parmigiano Reggiano (parmesan cheese). They also recommend Zampone or Cotechino, which are local types of cured sausage, but they are not for the faint hearted. They are true to the concept of nose to tail eating in that they contain some of the parts of the animal that we don’t usually, knowingly, consume. For my tastes they are too greasy and too gristly. Al, on the other hand, really likes them. After the sausages they recommend slices of Parmigiano Reggiano with a small quantity of local balsamic vinegar and all washed down with a bottle of the local Lambrusco. You may have heard of Lambrusco before and even have an opinion about it but I urge you to put that aside and try it in Modena. It’s a delicious sparkling ruby red wine and my friend Jess is particularly partial to a glass or two when she visits. The meal is finished with some local cherries or other fruits or something called Zuppa Inglese, a kind of firm custard, served with Amaretti biscuits.
As we were only having lunch we were not looking for a full set of courses and had a recommendation from a friend. Ristretto is found in a narrow alley a short distance from the Duomo. Although the weather forecast was bleak and the skies were grey, we opted to sit outside on one of the tables along the alley. The menu was short but it was still hard to choose. In the end we had passatelli with prosciutto crudo in a parmesan cream sauce. Passatelli is a pasta made from breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. We accompanied it with a glass of dry white wine. The meal was delicious and they are noted for their wine selection so I highly recommend eating there.
The unassuming entrance to Osteria Francescana
I couldn’t possibly talk about food without referencing Modena’s 3 Michelin starred restaurant, the Osteria Francescana, owned by Massimo Bottura. It has been listed in the top 5 at the World’s Best Restaurants since 2010. Al is a huge fan of Massimo Bottura, his approach to cooking and his focus on minimising waste and increasing sustainability and although I would like to say that we have eaten there, as yet, we have not been so fortunate. However, we did slope past to have a look at the outside. Eating here is a once in a lifetime event and you need to book a long time in advance i.e. they are currently booking for tables in January 2021. The 12 course tasting menu costs €290 with the wine pairing €190 on top. We were fortunate enough to eat in Thomas Keller’s French Laundry pop up in Harrods a couple of years ago so I’m sure that it would be worth it, but it’s just a little out of reach at the moment.
Fast Cars and Opera Stars
Ferrari’s are not made in Modena any more, the works having transferred operations to nearby Maranello, however there is the Museum of Enzo Ferrari, in the original factory, where they have a nice selection of cars for you to drool over and, for those who know about these things, a hall of engines. The trident of Maserati was modelled on the trident on the statue of Neptune in Bologna as Maseratis were made in Bologna for a while. It is interesting to think that the origins of motor racing and the Grand Prix were on the roads around here.
Vintage ferrari
Motor Racing
Enzo Ferrari Museum
You can also visit the House of Luciano Pavarotti at the gates of the city. He lived in this house for the last 9 years of his life. He had a passion for horses and bred them here as well as holding an annual horse contest. Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit on this occasion.
I would highly recommend Modena for a weekend break or a day trip or even as a base to explore the wider region. It is very beautiful and an easy city to navigate on foot. There are plenty of cafes and bars for you to stop at when you need a break and interesting museums and churches to investigate.
Lion at the entrance to the Duomo on Grande Piazza
To celebrate being able to travel within the region and to get a change of scenery we decided to go to Ravenna, a small city in Emilia Romagna close to the Adriatic Sea, about an hour’s drive from Bologna. We wanted to get out and see other towns and the car needed to have a decent run before it was pressed back into commuter service this week.
Why Ravenna?
We chose Ravenna because we have a friend, Esther, who lives there that we have been threatening to visit for some time, before the lockdown made it impossible. It is believed to be more than 2000 years old and is the spot where Julius Caesar gathered his forces to cross the Rubicon. Eight of the churches form part of a UNESCO world heritage site regarding Early Christianity. It’s famous for the ornate mosaics that adorn several its building interiors and for being the location of Dante’s tomb. Although Museums and Galleries are now allowed to open, many in Ravenna had chosen not to, so we were not able to see inside many of these sites on this visit.
Ornate gate
Ravenna also has a leaning tower
Section of Dante tomb fence
Garibaldi
Dante tomb fence
Sites of Ravenna
Out in the Countryside
On the way to Ravenna we chose to go off toll road so we could see more of the country. Once you get beyond the hills of Bologna (part of the Apennines) the land opens into a huge flat belt called the Po valley. You could see for miles. When you see open land like this it reminds you why hedgerows are such a distinctive feature of the British landscape. Here are scant hedges, walls or fences. There are some border ditches, but this may be as much for irrigation as land ownership demarcation. The land here is agricultural as you might expect from a flat plain. There were farms all along the route with groves of fruit trees or vineyards. The roads here are slower particularly when you go through towns, so our journey took an hour and a half.
Countryside
Roadside Fruit Farm
On our drive
Quiet streets
Ravenna is an incredibly beautiful city and despite the museums and galleries being closed we were perfectly happy walking around the streets, which were noticeably quiet and uncrowded. It meant we could take our time looking at whatever we wanted and taking photos. I didn’t think to record everything I was taking photos of so some of my images are not captioned. We assiduously practiced social distancing and wore our masks while we were walking around. We were very conscious that we did not want to risk getting the virus at this stage nor spreading it here. Esther is keen to travel to see her father who is back home in Holland as soon as possible so like us she did not want to take any chances.
Typical Italian news stand
Side street and arch
Empty bike rack in Piazza
Quiet street
Interesting shop front
Hand sanitizing station
Picturesque street
Central Piazza
Streets of Ravenna
Lunch
Obviously, we couldn’t possibly have visited without stopping to have lunch. Esther recommended a restaurant and we went to see if we would be able to get in. Ca’ de Ven is a lovely traditional enoteca, cantina and restaurant. We were able to get a table immediately because it was quiet. Our masked waiter led us in, past other masked staff some with full face shields. Inside diners sit at long wooden tables in a large hall with a vaulted ceiling. The tables, which would usually seat six comfortably were marked with where you were able to sit to maintain social distancing. We had a whole table to ourselves, two on one side with a chair between and one on the other. Al and Esther chose from the specials menu while I chose something traditional. I could have kicked myself afterwards because I have been craving fish for ages, but it’s quite expensive to buy in Bologna and this was the perfect place to have had some. Never mind, the meals were delicious as was the wine. Esther told us that this restaurant was usually busy with office staff on their lunch breaks and she was surprised to find it so empty on a weekday.
Outside the restaurant
Seating area
Ca de Ven sign
Enoteca
Restaurant Ca de Ven photos
This has been in line with our experience of Bologna, things are opening back up, but many people are choosing to stay away. I think most people have dropped the eating and drinking out culture that is their usual mode and like us they are selecting maybe one or two venues a week to meet up with a small group of friends for a drink or a meal. The rest of the time remaining at home and keeping up with other protective measures.
The Beach
We decided to go home via the beach as we had not seen the sea in 5 months. It was trickier to get to than we had anticipated and necessitated driving through a foul smelling Industrial zone. Beaches here are still closed but were merely going to ease our minds with the sight of the swell, not planning on a dip. In our experience many Italian beaches have resorts where you need to pay for beach access or a sun lounger, there doesn’t seem to be very much in terms of the public access beaches we are used to in the UK. We parked up when we could see signs and walked along an access road though a lovely wood. At the end of the road there were two resorts, but with cordons across their entrances. There were, unsurprisingly, not many people around and most of those we saw were employees of the resort restaurants gearing up for evening service. The beach itself was sandy and seemed pleasant enough, but out to sea there were industrial buildings and rigs. Nonetheless, the waves pounded gently on the shore and together with the salt air gave us the familiar reassurance we were looking for, so we headed back to the car and home.
The morning view from the balcony in Bordighera was a real treat and we were able to see through the trees and houses down to the sea. We had not realised how close we were. The garden was filled with fruit laden citrus trees. We headed out on the coast road in the direction of La Spezia. We had thought we would stop for lunch in Genoa but the timings did not seem to work out and as we drove past the outskirts, of what is an undoubtedly industrial city, we did not see anything condusive to taking a break and enjoying the view.
View from our balcony
The coast road did not follow close enough for us to see Portafina except in outline. During the dash across the country we had used many toll roads and I had a very lovely bruise on the underside of my left arm from leaning on the rolled down window, stretching out of the passenger window to pick up tickets or insert the payment card. The journey around the coast had avoided the tolls and offered us fabulous scenery but was adding considerable time and physicality to our drive. We drove through Rappelo and then, after a quick calculation of how long it would take on the coast road vs the toll roads, we decided to go for the toll roads to save 2 hours and Al’s aching shoulders. The toll roads here, while less winding than the coast road, are either long tunnels down into and up out of mountains or they are valley spanning bridges. The views were fantastic, but you were afraid to take your eyes off the road. The barriers in some places seemed very insubstantial and there were large stretches of road works that meant traffic in both directions was running in the same tunnel or area of bridge at 110km with little to separate them but the lane markers.
We arrived in La Spezia, another town about which we knew nothing, as the sun was beginning to set. Our last coastal stop before heading in land. The hotel NH La Spezia was central and the most expensive of the trip. Our room was great and although it did not have a balcony it did have an enormous picture window over the harbour. As we were on the 6th floor and not overlooked we left the curtains open so we could wake up with natural light.
We went on our nightly sojourn for food and found a lovely bar called Odioilvino which did excellent aperitivo. We stayed there for a few drinks before going for dinner which meant that we were already quite full when we left.
Aperitivo
We ended up in an Irish themed pub, which had a massive restaurant on the corner showing sports and a really intimidating old man style more traditional pub to the side. It is worth noting that we have found at least one Irish pub in every single place we have stopped in both France and Italy. The restaurant was noisy but it was getting late so we ate there before retiring to the hotel to prepare for our final day of driving and our arrival in Bologna.
A beautiful morning saw us make a coffee stop in Cannes where we were planning on following the trail of celebrity handprints, but most of them were included in an area being set up surrounding the conference centre and were not accessible. We bought crepes to go with our coffee and ate them overlooking the marina. Then back into the van and to lunch in Nice.
Al found a couple of lunch options from “Where Chef’s eat” and although the first one was closed the 2nd did not disappoint. La Rossettisserie, Nice is a small restaurant (at this time of year, I believe there is a nearby dining room for peak times) where you pick 1 item from the 4 meat options and 1 option from the accompaniments. I had roast pork with ratatouille while Al had roast veal with mashed potato. The walls are covered in the comments of grateful customers. Al declared it one of the best meals he had ever eaten.
Roast Pork
Roast Veal
Next stop was Monaco, here we found a lot of renovation work to the extent that billboards with images of the sea blocked the view to the actual sea because there was building work on the shore. Even the world famous street racing circuit for the grand prix had been dug up, presumably to allow for resurfacing before the race later this year. We were able to recognise and photograph some of the iconic landmarks and to get into the marina to admire the yachts and superyachts. We had a drink in a marina facing bar before trekking back to the van and heading for Italy
From La Ciotat to Monte Carlo we had mostly followed the coast road (although the sat nav was fighting us on it) which meant that we hugged the cliffs and mountains, going up and down on winding roads to get into and out of each coastal resort. Al was doing all of this on the other side of the road in a right hand drive van. Crossing the border was less of a marker than we anticipated. I sat with passports in hand as we entered a tunnel in France and emerged in Italy, unsure of what checks, if any, there would be from one Schengen country to another and the answer, none at all.
We arrived in Bordighera as the sun was setting. We had booked our hotel, Astoria, during the Monte Carlo stop and we were pleased to find that once again, we had a balcony. The hotel was fairly central so we popped to a bar to consider our options and were pleased to have aperitivo* delivered with the drinks, ah Italy! Al had found the details of a restaurant up the hill and after a steep climb we found it in the back streets. Ristorante Magiarge specialised in wine, so we treated ourselves to a bottle and ate their tasting menu, the food was fantastic .
As with the previous day we had decided not to pay the extra for breakfast and headed straight out. It was, thankfully, a much drier day so the drive was more beautiful as we drove across the massif towards an ever larger mountain range. We had agreed over last night’s burgers to push for the coast and our progress was going to determine the exact stop off point. We had considered St Tropez, but it is very expensive.
Massif Central
Driving through Massif Central
Coming into the mountains
Our initial coastal stop was at La Ciotat, but it was under considerable construction and, as we arrived after 2pm, nothing was open at all. We climbed back into the van and continued to Saint Tropez where we stretched our legs and admired the yachts, the beautiful people in the cafés and tried to avoid the renovation works before heading off for our overnight stop in Saint Maxime.
I had never heard of Saint Maxime before, but it is a lovely resort town. We found our hotel relatively easily and were pleased to discover we had been allocated a room with a balcony again and this one had sea glimpses, although not when we arrived as it was already getting dark. Saint Maxime reminds me of Giardini Naxos in Sicily; A long sea front with an parallel row of restaurants and bars. However we found a great bar in the side road close to our hotel where we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink and were provided with some generous snacks including a lovely slab of pate. From there we went out in search of the rest of dinner. The roads just in from the front were nearer our price range although a number were also closed on Tuesday. Sadly the dinner options were not promising and although it was our last night in France we ended up eating in a Pizzeria. Tomorrow Italy.
At the Chartres hotel we decided against breakfast, choosing instead to hit the road straight away and pick up coffee and sandwiches en route. Central France is in many ways like Central Australia, wide open and the farm equipment gets bigger the further you travel. The Central Massif is very flat and we watched the storms approach and pass over for hours.
We had pencilled in Lyon for 2nd stop but revised our plans when it occurred to us that Lyon is full of excellent restaurants, many of which would be quite expensive. We are travelling on a tight budget with our house in the van. We would not be able to properly immerse ourselves in the experience this time around, so we looked for an alternate stop. For a mad moment we considered Geneva as we could see how relatively close this was to Lyon. A quick check of booking.com brought us up sharply as we realised that the cheapest hotel would set us back a cool £500. So it was Saint Etienne, chosen both for the appropriateness of our route and the 90’s pop group of the same name.
Our hotel had been selected because it had parking, but on arrival the parking was not available, however we were directed to parking 2 minutes’ walk away. We are big fans of France’s underground parking. No matter how ancient the town or how significant the buildings, you can usually find and easily accessible car park underneath a city with reasonable parking charges. By the time we got back to the hotel with our overnight bags we discovered we had been upgraded to a junior suite on the top floor with a balcony, lucky us!
The First balcony…
Determined to use the balcony even though it is March
It turns out Monday night in Saint Etienne is not an easier place to get food than Chartres on a Sunday. Most places were closed and not opening until Tuesday or even Wednesday. There were some expensive Italian places open but we settled on a local fast food restaurant which sold fantastic burgers with beer and wine. There is something a little disconcerting about taking your burger out of it’s paper wrapping next to your long stemmed wine glass, but I managed.
Rough seas and a cold wind on our way out of the country!
Jennie, Al and a full Volkswagen caddy made their way from Hedge End to Newhaven for a ferry crossing to Dieppe. There was a storm brewing which made our initial departure a little uncomfortable, but we remained ahead of it, with the sailing smoothing out before our arrival. After landing at Dieppe we stopped only for petrol, mixte baguettes and water before heading straight to Chartres.
Chartres is a beautiful cathedral town. The hotel we found was central and the room was exactly what we required. We had a brief walk about before searching for dinner. Looking for food on Sunday evenings is always a challenge and no less so here. There were a couple of expensive places open near to the Cathedral, but most of the restaurants were closed. We ended up in an odd American TV themed restaurant where Al enjoyed a burger and I was served a bucket of Caesar salad. Al found a new beer and bitters combo (Piconbiere) that made his evening.
