After planes, trains, and automobiles we made it to Cortona!  More on that later, but for now here are some pictures…

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My sister JoAnnne and I are on a girls week exploring Positano, Amalfi, Capri and Sorrento.  So far we have found the area to be a lovely mix of crowded streets and crowing roosters.  Like so many who have visited before us, our mediterranean diet consists of copious amounts of gelato, wine, pasta and seafood – with the heat and the unavoidable and ubiquitous vertical climbs to get from A to B all the calories seem to get burned up.  We hope we have captured some of the areas stunning topography, and you’ll have to excuse or inclusion of dorky tourist shots for the family back home.  Enjoy!

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Our meandering route led us from Caceres to a nice pousada in Arraiolos with air-conditioning!  We managed to kill the AC in our Caceres hotel room and the heat was too much for us Pacific Northwesterners.  While in Portugal we visited a beautiful Roman aqueduct in Evora and ate grilled sardines!  After our stint in Arraiolos we finally arrived at Casa Salto del Caballo just on the border of Spain and Portugal via the beautiful drive over the mountain pass.  This quaint historic building has a dubious past of being a smuggler’s gateway between the 2 countries.  Now the borders aren’t even manned by any kind of personnel.  Because we are literally straddling the two countries, we have been able to murder two languages a day and confuse our own selves in the process.  One of our recent Portuguese treats has been Vinho Verde made in small batches by 30,000 growers in the north.  Tasty stuff!  On the Spain side, today we visited a well preserved Roman Amphitheatre and Theatre in the town of Merida.  We walked into the very arena that Gladiators had done so many years ago, trying to imagine their stories being played out-thumbs up or thumbs down; what was their fate.  (actually the gesture for death was a swipe of the thumb across the neck)  Some who survived the blade went on to be celebrated and enjoyed wine, women and song.

This area of Spain is incredibly beautiful. But very dry. There has been only 5 days of rain here in the past eighteen months. The landscape is made up of undulating hills covered with granite whalebacks and boulders reminiscent of the African Kopjie. Cork, Holm Oak and  Olive trees cover the hillsides. The soil is shallow and very poor.  There are few cattle but plenty of sheep and goats. Delicious!

The Portuguese use a large dog, a Raferio do Alentejo to guard their herds from foxes and wolves. And from Americans. We know, we met a few – dogs that is. They are described thusly: This is a corpulent, sober dog, a dog of peaceful demeanor. Bullshit! They lie so easily. The one’s we met weighed over 100 pounds, had long fangs and wanted very much to eat us.

We saw a vixen moving her babies on our first morning here. The birds have been great. Nice to see Azure Winged Magpie and old friends from Africa, White Storks, Vultures, European Bee-eaters and Hoopoe. The wildlife in general has been disappointing apart from a memorable night where I was woken by Christina waving my arm around shouting VIVA! VIVA LA FEISTA!!  She was having really good dreams that night.

Tapas: You will be encouraged by guide books to indulge in the Spanish delight of Tapas. We were so clever and had read all the right books. Arrived hungry and thirsty. Christina ordered 4 of the only Tapas they had. I ordered the beer.  The beers were bitter cold and faultless.   The Tapas arrived, tired mushy french fries and pieces of organ meat swimming in a greasy red sauce. Now we like organ meat. Just not so much when it’s green.  Yeah, we have more reading to do we think.  Enjoy the photos…

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We’ve experienced many firsts recently, and most were good ones.  Such as Bordeaux, and the delicious, creative, beautifully presented food.  Some of our favorites have been beef tartare topped with quail egg, wild boar carpaccio with foie gras mousse on little toasties and in Spain the simply grilled sardines and sole with ice cold cervesas.  We are currently in Extremadura near the border of Portugal so the eating, drinking and speaking have been a bit confusing, but more on that later.  Just a few pictures of the beginning of our European adventure so far…

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Some shots of our quick safari to Zambia!

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Amersfoort

16^TH July

Traveling as a US citizen is amazing. Imagine not being stopped by surly immigration officers and given the third degree about why I was there and how much money I had.

We stagger through immigration and customs we draw Euro’s from an ATM and buy train tickets to Amersfoort. We are directed to platform 6 and told to catch the train to Amersfoort that arrives in ten minutes. In our befuddled jet lagged state we climb aboard the first train that arrives. Within seconds we realize that we had neglected to notice if the train was a). the correct one and b). we didn’t ask if the train was direct or if we had to change trains and if so when and where. A moment of panic.   A lady noticing our concern assured us we are on the correct train but we did need to get off at the next station to catch the train through to Amersfoort.  We hop off, said train arrives and we hop on, arriving in Amersfoort with no further drama.

Locating our accommodation is a little tricky but with a few false starts and the non-help of 4 different people giving conflicting directions we find our house.  What should have been a 15 minute walk ends up taking 45. We chat with our hostess then rapidly shower and sack out until early afternoon.

We walk to the little supermarket Albert Hein and purchase dinner, wine and snacks. After dropping off purchases sit in the large square drinking a couple “flutjie’s of Pil’s” and eat “Bitter ballen” a typical Dutch snack.   We plan to cook a dinner consisting of roast chicken, potatoes and broccoli but feast instead on smoked mackerel, crusty bread and cheese. Falling asleep is not difficult.

17^th July

Feeling the effects of jet lag we both wake at 4 am. We drink coffee, eat a boiled egg and toast breakfast and take a long walk though the medieval town photographing it’s fascinating architecture and enjoying the extraordinary feeling of being in a totally foreign environment. We walk to a large market, “Supermarket Plus”. Similar to Whole Foods.  After collecting supplies we find that our bodies are adjusting to the time change and are in constant need of fuel. We find some in the form of coffee and “huisgemaarkt applebak”. Quite delicious! We have a rough plan of what we really want to see and called at the TI office to confirm train timings and the locations of the Cavalry Museum, Fishing Village and The Drei Ringen Brewery.   The TI is closed we pass the time with another coffee and chat with a lady who suggests doing a tour of the canals she say’s it’s a little touristy but at 4 Euro’s per it’s worthwhile.  After changing my watch battery in a very smart jewelry store, we make our way home, wolf down a chicken sandwich and sleep until 3.30 pm.  At 4.00 pm we hop on a boat with a bunch of Dutch tourists. Commentary is in Dutch.  There is an English translation leaflet.

We glean that the town is first mentioned in writing, in the year 1028. The town had many brewery’s. The beer was excellent (it still is) and therefore the town was an exceedingly happy one. It still is!

In reality the water was foul to drink and beer was the safest method of quenching one’s thirst.

After the boat tour we drink a beer on what the locals call  the “Hof” or the town square.  We also share a “Krokett” another typical Dutch snack.

Dinner is finger food again as we are in no mood to cook.  After sinking a bottle and a half of red wine we head back to the Hof and eat a “ ’n Potjie verse Mosselen”  Another glass of wine pushes Christina’s language switch and she is now speaking broken German and Italian to our waiter who is rather confused.

Hic, I say…  It’s the jet lag.  10.00 pm and bed.