Posts
Just as well I cycled the long route today – I had a choice of 26km or 38km and I chose the 38km. Hopefully that will justify at least some of the food I've just consumed. There was of course the traditional basket of bread while waiting for my meal to arrive. I had just one of the little crunchy bread with il bicchiere vino bianco. (glass of white wine – and surprise surprise – that is what I got when I ordered it – am I getting good or what?)
For an appetiser I had proscuitto and melon. That was delicious and not too filling. Then came the pasta dish with a very rich, very spicy but incredibly delicious tomato sauce. The main course was steak (medium rare) with verdura alla griglia (grilled vegetables – I think it was aubergine, zuchine and capsicum). And as if that wasn't enough, I finished off with panna cotta with a strawberry topping and a caffe lunga (long black coffee) Oh and I changed to a vino rosso to have with my steak.
What a fabulous meal, in the most luxurious surroundings – candles, the works and waited on hand and foot. I feel quite like the Queen of Sheba. Was chatting to a couple at the next table who come from Frankfurt (she's Spanish, he's German) and they arrived this evening to stay for 6 days and they have been here before, that's an indication of how good it is.
I wonder how much these places cost per night. I really wasn't expecting anything as luxurious as this on a cycling holiday. Wow' it's 10pm and I have church bells right outside my window chiming. I wonder if they chime all night. They are quite loud. Very different sounding to the church in Galzignano.
But back to this morning – I was pretty much packed up and ready to go last night, my panniers packed, my washing all done, and all set and mentally prepared for the next 38 km. A good breakfast – cornflakes with orange juice, a warm hard boiled egg on a slice of ciabatta bread, and one of the flaky almond biscuits. I was lucky, it was very obvious that my bowl of eggs were boiled – they were still warm. Allan had me in fits of laughter over breakfast on that very first morning at Cortela telling me about his breakfast the morning before in Vicenza. He had expected the eggs on the counter to have been boiled, at least softly if not hard, and chose one, went to chop the top of the shell off, to have it spill out all over the place, it was in fact a raw egg. What a sight he must have looked, not good for the image, especially when you are trying to blend in like a local. I will be very careful not to make that mistake. As I said, I was lucky mine was still very warm, so I knew mine was cooked.
About 8.30am I climbed on my bike and set off on my next adventure. I was feeling much more confident this morning, I studied the map and I was very careful to read, read and re-read every instruction at every intersection, fork in the road, and canal crossing Made it to Bataglia Terme with no hassles, not even any 'U' turns and was feeling very pleased with myself. Decided to get off my bike and lock it up near the treno stazione and go for a walk through the town. Again another town full of shops with the most beautiful clothes and shoes, for both men and women. What a shame I don't know everyone's sizes, and I don't have an empty suitcase ( or unlimited euro for that matter). The cost of things is strange some clothes very cheap – around E29 and others (obviously a label of some sort costing E175 and I can't see a lot of difference but then I can't justify the cost of an Annah S skirt at $340 at home and can't see what makes it so expensive )
Near where I parked my bike was a fruit shop with the most amazing supply of fresh summer fruits – strawberries, melon, peaches, appricot, nectarine and NZ kiwifruit. I bought two peaches and 2 apricots. I bit into the apricot and the juice poured out down my arm and all over my lap. I have never ever eaten a juicy apricot – it tasted like the very best of the dried aprictos we can get, but juicy. It was so delicious. And of course I had peaches for dessert at Albergo Belvedere so I knew they were going to be lovely. The kiwifruit costa E2.84 per kilo and the fruiterer told me that they were much more tasty than the local grown kiwi. He doesn't sell local grown, only NZ.
So time to get back on my bike and on my way – still a long way to go today, but no – mishap number two. I had half heartedly locked my bike with the bike chain – Sarah, the Headwater Rep, had said it usually wasn't necessary but best to make it look as if it was locked, so that's what I did. But NO NO NO NO oh Buggar – the sodding thing is jammed. I tried to unlock it, I tried the combination in every position around the dial, but to no avail. I went back to the fruit shop and picked on a handsome man and played the damsel in distress with a man who could speak absolutely no English at all. He tried, shook his head, waved his arms about and then walked off and left me standing there. A scruffy man in overalls who obviously worked at the railway station came over to assist. He couldn't speak English either, but jumped the barrier, had a try to unlock it using the combination numbers, then motioned a chopping action, I nodded my head and said “Si grazie” and he disappeared, jabbering away to another young male work colleague. I thought what the hell did all that mean, and was standing there wondering what the heck to do next when the older man appeared back carrying a machete. He lobbed the bike chain in half, nodded his head and disappeared again.
So that was disaster number two dealt with – no panic call to Sarah. I am starting to feel okay. The people are very lovely and even if they can't speak English we are managing to communicate with each other and I have, so far, gotten exactly what I asked for.
Right now, back on this bike and on to Abano Terme. This town is a total contrast to the other places I've cycled through. It is very modern and Sarah told me later that it is basically a tourist town for wealthy Germans who go there for the spa treatments and pampering. I am surprised at the number of German tourists that there are in Italy, but discovered later on over dinner that it is only a 10 drive from Germany to here, so it makes it an ideal holiday spot.
Oh to have all this scenery, history and culture (not to mention the food and the wine) on your back door step. What a pity it is a 27 hour plane trip to get here.
The cycle ride today is quite varied – some through busy town, some through quite little villages, some along tracks where I go for ages and see absolutely no-one. Some tracks, some gravel, some sealed roads, such a variety. But it
I make it to La Croce and the thought of the last 3km , described on the map as an appreciable climb, is a bit much for me. Earlier in the day I was feeling good and was hopeful of cycling the whole way, but there is the option to ring the rep and ask her to take you the last 3km in the van, and I take this option. It is incredibly hot, and I have done 38km so I don't feel as if I am cheating too much, and besides, it will be great to catch up with Sarah again and have a real conversation in English.
I guess for me that is probably the most difficult thing – I am used to spending long hours alone, I am comfortable in my own company, but I do like to talk to people so having to go all day with only the tiniest splatterings of understandable conversation is quite hard. So sorry guys, you are getting it all written down. You know – women have 27000 words to use every day, and I am only using about 250 at the moment, so that is a lot of writing.
I rang Sarah from La Croce and she told me to cycle on to Villa Teolo and to wait for her at the Bar on the crossroads. While waiting for her I had a fresh orange juice (il succa l'arancia) made from three fresh oranges ( well at least that what I saw him take out the back). Within ½ an hour Sarah arrived and ten minutes later I was here, at the top of the world in Teola.
It is a tiny wee village, a bank, butcher, fruitshop, tobacconist (everybody seems to smoke here – but the tobaconnist also sells lotto tickets, bus tickets', drinks, snacks and other nick nacks) and has a church (ringing the bells all night) , two restorante' a bar and gelateria ( ice cream shop) and a village square. The village is on a bit of a triangle and the roads are very very narrow.
I am now writing this up on 12th June and it is about 6.20pm and the road through the village is about three stories below me, and I am sitting outside the front door of the hotel in the fresh air. It is lovely and balmy, there is a very light warm breeze blowing, and apart from the few cars passing through the village and the locals gathering in the village, it is extremely peaceful.
Today has been my rest day – that is I get to stay in this beautiful hotel another night and I got to choose what I wanted to do today.
The downside of being on a bike is that you are reliant on either biking everywhere or relying on public transport on the rest days, and today the thought of riding down the hill and having to make it back up again did not thrill me in the slightest I can tell you. The Kaimai's are nothing compared to this. I will check later what the altitude is. So it was either stay put for the day (tempting) go walking further up the hills (not at all tempting) or go by bus to wherever I wanted to go. It is only about an hour back to Venice, or I could have gone to Vicenza or even to Monselice (the place I missed when I got lost) or down the hill to a town called Padova. So that's what I chose. Padova by bus, with the option of stopping off a Praglia at the Abbey on the way home.
I managed to get off the bus at the right place, right in the middle of Padova and had the most wonderful time wandering around the place – town, city, not sure which, it's quite big, very old and has trams in the main street. Mixture of old and new shops and I spent some time, and some euros in a department store. Checked out the homewares department. What fabulous stuff, wish I could have bought a suitcase full. But, just like home, most of the stuff was in fact made in either China or Thailand. Doesn't anyone make their own stuff any more?
I went past a fabric shop and they had the most beautiful mauve fabric in the window, and I was tempted to phone Roxy and see how many metres I needed for her to make me a dress out of it. I tried to converse with the man in the shop but he could not speak any English and it was hard to make myself understood, and it looked like it was only about ½ wide and the price was E67 ( I presume per metre) so I figured this was going to be a rather expensive piece of fabric. I thought I would have some lunch and think about it and perhaps get it on the way back to the bus stop. As it happened I did not go past that shop again. And it is only now that I am writing about it that I am kicking myself for not getting it when I saw it. How many times have I done that in the past, and I promised myself that this trip I would not do it to myself. I am a slow learner aren't I.
I finally got to eat pizza. I went into a pizzeria for my lunch and ordered a slice of pizza and bibit (drink). I have no idea what the topping on the pizza was - it looked and tasted like the left over fries from last night as well as chopped up meat balls. But whatever it was, it was delicious. Then further down the piazza I sat under the shade of the trees with the locals enjoying a pesca gelato (peach ice cream) The ice cream here is so delicious. I need to find out if they all make their own ice cream, everyone seems to have different flavours.
Now lets get on with the rest of my day. So far I have only been shopping. Conrad would be shocked with me and growl and say I was like all the other tourists he's been on holiday with, just going shopping– but the difference is the shops are just so different, the clothes are just so glamorous, and the shoes and the handbags and the jewellery, well there is just nothing anywhere like it in New Zealand, so it isn't just a shopping spree it is a culture tour. Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
And you see, here in Italy there is a slight hiccup – yep most things close in the afternoon. So the museum, the art gallery etc were all closed after lunch.
But the Abbey, now it opens in the afternoon and the first tour is at 3.30pm. But, and there always has to be a but, I needed to catch the bus from Padova back to Teolo (about 1 hour 10 mins) and I could stop at Praglia – walk up the hill about 500m to the abbey and wait for 45 minutes for the tour, do the tour and then be too late to catch the last bus back to Teolo which left Padova at 3.57pm. So I had to miss doing the tour inside and be content with the walk around the outside that I did yesterday as I cycled past here. You see I was here at 1.30pm and I didn't think that I should wait until 3.3pm when I still had about 10 or 12 km left to cycle. It's all a matter of timing, and so far I haven't managed to time things very well. But, I am getting more used to the itinerary set out by Headwater, and by the time I get to do the next tour in Tuscany I should have it sussed. Well I sure hope I have.
But what I am doing, seeing, experiencing is awesome. I don't feel afraid at all, I have not been hassled at all (except for that marriage proposal in Este which I told Sarah about and she said I am the first person to have received one of those and she laughed and laughed).
At each of the hotels there is a folder for Headwater guests which is full of information regarding the area, things to do and see etc, and another book that people write their comments about what they have seen and done and experienced. Looking right back I cannot see another kiwi has commented in any of the books surely I am not the only one who has been on a Headwater tour here. I will certainly be promoting it when I get back to NZ because it is the best of both worlds, organised but independent. A challenge followed up with a luxurious hotel. I can't think of a better way to see an area.
I am actually going to get all sloppy and sentimental here – because I feel at peace – at peace with myself, with the world, and with life in general. I guess being out here on my own I was hoping to find something – not the man you all thought I was looking for, something much more meaningful than that – a reason, a purpose, a real me perhaps. Maybe some answers. Well I haven't found the answers yet, maybe I never will – perhaps I don't even know what the questions were, but I feel good and I know that this was the very right thing for me to do. I wouldn't say that I am having a ball, to do that you have to have lots of other people around, but I am really enjoying myself. The time is going so quickly, I don't want it to end. Woops that's after just one glass of the region's award winning Paoni Cantina Colli Euganei vino bianco. It's good. But I think it has gone straight to my head. And I am still sitting outside the front of the hotel under a window and the staff are all inside having their dinner. It is 7.18pm and we don't eat until 8pm and their dinner smells so good. I am starting to get hungry, it's been a long time since the pizza at lunch time.
Now I will just back-track to my bus ride home. I am feeling so proud of myself (perhaps it is still the wine working it's magic here) but I managed to find my way back to the bus stop, read the time table, buy a ticket and catch the right bus home to Teolo. Now you think – so you should – but remember you have to wait on the opposite side of the road to catch the bus, because the cars drive on the right here. It is most disorientating. All you dancing people will understand how I feel here, when I say the wrong side is the right side, and the right side is the correct side. It takes a bit of getting used to. Going round a round-about on a bicycle is scary, it just feels so odd. Just as well I have practiced dancing on the men's side. And crossing the road – you have to look left, right left. I have been looking the other way for fifty odd years.
Anyway, I got on the right bus, and got off at the right place, and decided in this heat it was time for another gelato. Somebody had written in the Headwater book that the ice cream in the village was the best ever – so in I go. Now this is the first time I haven't got what I asked for. I asked for – un gusto (one flavour) fragola (strawberry) and I got two scoops, coffee and pistachio. Don't know how that happened, and instead of it costing E1 it cost me E2.50. Oh well, it tasted good and I would never have bought the pistachio by choice and it actually was quite nice. But the strawberry looked so good. But as I say that is the first time I haven't got what I ordered. I can even ask for my key by the room number now, and I ordered my pizza at lunch time in Italian and got what I wanted.
Oh yes at lunch time 22 English speaking students (well sort of English speaking) came in to have lunch. I got talking to one of the girls, they were from the states, all chemistry majors doing three months study in Sienna and had come on a bus trip to Venice and surrounding area for the weekend
Well it is nearly time for my dinner, so I had better go upstairs and get dolled up. Wonder what is on the menu for me tonight. Because I am on a package tour, I get a different menu to the other guests. I have discovered today that my room costs E90 here, that is dinner, bed and breakfast. Not a bad deal, even with the conversion rate. Actually I am not bothering to convert anything. For a start it is too difficult and I can't be bothered, and the second reason, I don't want to be worrying about what things cost. I just want to enjoy.
Well, ciao for now.
Catch you tomorrow night.
No comments:
Post a Comment