Doing it to Death...

Friday

 We left Grosseto by bus the following morning, a journey of about 2 hrs heading down to the coast and then in to the hills. We were the only passengers left by the halfway point so it would seem that the aspiring F1 driver wanted to give us a hair-raising taste of how to pilot a modern turbo-charged bus at breakneck speed around mountain chicanes while one-handedly having a chat with his mate about the footie on the mobile. Like a white knuckle ride of death we eventually screeched to a halt on reaching our destination. The doors flew open and across the road was the B&B, Maremma Nel Tufo, a huge converted farmhouse 2km from Pitigliano.

This deserted Tuscan style 'Casa' had hardly any guests either, so on arrival we were immediately upgraded and given a first floor apartment with a kitchen and a terrace facing the pool. On realising we had 'come on the bus', he also arranged for us to use Dad's Lancia for a few days so we could bob about the area...didn't even need to contact the DVLA for a reference number- a much easier system when your in the EU, it would seem!

A newish track by the 'Kills' off their latest album 'Ash & Ice', last year I think?

We are the Pigs....

Thursday

We are the pigs...

Grosseto was a gastronomic delight from start to finish. 

The entire time was spent giving support to the local farmers who must toil endlessly, tending to vines and curing wild pigs flesh to provide the town with a delicious array of food and wine...the least we could do was to spend hours stuffing our faces in appreciation and swilling vast quantities of their robust grape juices.

Bubbles was the first order of the day, a lovely Prosecco washed down dishes of green olives and nuts by an old Piazza just inside the Etruscan walled town.

A hazy afternoon ensued around the corner and up the narrow street. Sitting at a table outside what only can be described as 'probably the best delicatessen in the world' we enjoyed more recommended local wine, accompanied with platters of strong cheeses, cured hams and various Italian breads....it was difficult to leave...but eventually, like old rigged ewes, we reared up and said 'Arrivederci' to our hospitable host.   

As the evening light faded, all that was left to do was to wander a couple more streets to seek out a nice looking restaurant, spotted earlier, named L' Uva E il Malto where the kindly chef and patron forced upon us plates of Langoustine, mixed smoked fish, fresh pasta alla Calamari and deliciously rare veal, oh and some more exquisite local wine and a blindingly strong Grappa as a finale!

....this is not sustainable!

...but it has to be done!

'We are the pigs' is a track by 'Suede', a band that I have always liked and are having a bit of a revival recently.

Nothing in the way...

Heading for the Piazza del Duomo you can't help standing in amazement at the hugely impressive Cattedrale Di Santa Maria del Fiore, the largest in Florence and next to it the smaller Battistero di San Giovanni on the way to the train station for the morning train south out towards Sienna for today's destination, Grosseto.

Already the area is crowded and folk wait in orderly queues at the entrances, frazzling gently in the hot sun to gain access to climb ancient stone steps to no doubt discover the elixir of eternal life within the sacred sanctuaries. 

This is the only problem with Florence, far too many people...the winter months may be a better time to visit to be able to appreciate it all, it's been a snap-shot tour and now that my Cartier watch has been repaired, half a Charolais has been devoured and a couple of matching snakeskin Gucci handbags purveyed, it's time to head off to pastures new....

A change at Sienna gave just enough time for an express espresso alla panini and then we boarded what must have been one of the tiniest trains in the world and trundled off up the rural hillsides, past vineyards and fields of crops of yellow sunflowers and ripe barley. Travelling by train is an effortless and comfortable way to see the medieval villages standing high up on the hilltops, a feature typical of Tuscany.

Arriving at lunchtime it was soon apparent that Grosseto was a nice sleepy town, a far cry from Dante's Inferno we had left behind. The lady at the hotel was helpful in directing us into the walled epicentre of the old town. Here a network of narrow little streets sufficed for a lazy wander before retiring into the comfy seats of a nearby bar to reflect and appreciate the hard work that must have gone into making such a fine bubbly local Prosecco....

Today's track from 'Ghost Poet'.

Endless Art...

Pisa has been a very enjoyable, compact and an easy going place but now it's time to step up into the boiling pot of culture and art they refer to as Florence or Firenze, depending on what you fancy calling it...God knows why?

The 10.32 from Pisa central pulled away on time and set off through the green Tuscan countryside on its way to Firenze Santa Maria Novella, the towns main station and the starting point for the intrepid, capricious day trippers to venture forth for a dose of indiscriminate cultural snobbery.

First stop, a glass of wine then we happened upon some shiny warthog in the Mercato del Porchellino. A quick rub on its hooter and years of good luck will be bestowed upon us. Fun was next had watching two fat Americans trying to park and get off a couple of segways before a glass of wine ensued at another Enoteca...Mmmm even better....Now, in the thick of it, with tremendous amounts of tourists following the flags of freedom, the culture started to unfold...No wonder people queue for 5 hours around the Ufizzi to get a glimpse of Michelangelo's' David and the impressive Da Vinci back catalogue!

 We didn't, instead choosing to wander and take in the delights as they were  

bestowed upon us naturally like Petrocelli's Prince Albert,  a shiny Golden terrapin 

and the impressive Duomo of Santa Barbara (where the first cartoons were made)...along the way we did manage to get a couple of snaps of prized attributes...

You can be as cynical as you like but eventually you have to admit that Florence is absolutely amazing! Every corner you 
turn the place has a kick in the ass that says " pretty good, 
eh?"...you just need to see it for yourself cos the few photo's that we took just doesn't really do it justice....

   As the feet got tired as we trudged over the Ponte Vecchio,the 

will to get away from all the bloody tourists matured so it was time to park ourselves on a table on the street, just up from the Piazza Di Santa Croce, in a quieter quarter of town and indulge 
in some Wild boar infused pasta and confirm the providence 
of another Chianti while verifying the traceability of a massive Bistecca alla Fiorentina....very, very enjoyable!

Today's track is a great quirky little track by A Hou

Today's track is a great quirky little track by A House.

"Punctured bicycle. On a hillside desolate...."

The first cheer of the evening rang out from the Piazza die Cavalieri, the old political centre of medieval Pisa, as Italy went 2 nil up. A little later, as the wood fired Quattro Stagioni was being washed down with a fine vino Rosso another jubilation filled the air ...

This time it signified that the mighty footballing nation of Iceland had ejected England from Europe, for the second time in only a week! 

Obviously, by putting Bjork up front and having Magnus Magnussen play just behind Sigur Ros had worked a treat and had secured a great Icelandic victory. Either that or the thick wind-bag kickers had listened to BoJo last week and had misunderstood when he had asked them to leave Europe!

After breakfast the following morning inside the Royal Victoria, one of Italy's oldest hotels overlooking the banks of the central River Arno it was time to explore. Pisa isn't a big town so the best way to do it was to ride around it so we badgered the bike mechanic at the bike shop next door to lend us a couple of sturdy rusting tourers and off we pedalled.

By lunchtime we had taken in most of the sights, cycled up narrow cobbled alleyways and had ridden either side of the river in and out the medieval walls and finally while stopping off for a well earned 'gelateria', sustained a puncture....

Today's track comes from the lyrics of a Smiths classic, 'This Charming Man'.

A lady of a certain age...

A journey starts with a single step...a journey also starts due to getting a bit fed up with the inclement British weather being mostly rubbish and an underlying need to quantify 'summertime' by spending a little of your short miserable life in some quality sunshine; a concept which seems to be lacking within the constraints of the British Isles. 

It's time to Brexit...

...stuff the pockets full of depreciating euros and head into the much maligned euro zone not knowing if we will ever be able to return past the UK Border-force Agency Gestapo.

It's not because i've become an overnight racist, euro-sceptic xenophobic bigot having had my limited brain lobotomised by all the scaremongering political clowns' rhetoric, it's because it's about time for another adventure and this time, under EU Directive 2016/000001 we're heading for Italiano...Tuscan hospitality, full bodied vineyards and the sun scorched land of the old Roman Empire, a haven for middle class Brits with banking bonuses and 'ladies of a certain age'...!

Yes, it will be dangerous..

Yes, it will be Mediterranean...

But we will try our best to survive under the unbroken blue Tuscan skies and the awkwardly leaning towers of doom...

At least it's not raining here.....

...it's actually quite cosmopolitan...

Today's first blog title, as ever, is always a song title from my library and here we have an old favourite from the Divine Comedy describing Mediterranean life in the twilight years...

Nelly the Elephant...

Ok, time to wrap this blog up...

We packed our trunks and said goodbye to the beach at Ban Krut by taking the 09:00 train up to Ban Pong and then the local bus on to our final destination of Kanchanaburi.

The reason for heading here was twofold, one to see the bridge over the River Kwai, the war museums and the cemetery and       secondly, a highlight.....we had a hot overnight date with some big old nellies....!

The aptly named 'Good Times' resort looked after us in luxury, nestled on the banks of the famous river. From here were collected and taken by minivan the 10km out to Elephants World. 

Elephants World had been started by a Thai veterinarian a few years ago as a sanctuary for old nellies that had been rescued from all over Thailand. Most of them are very old and have unfortunately had really tough lives, having been used for many years logging forests, trekking or lately being used to earn money from strapping clueless fat westerners to massive chairs and parading them around Pattaya or Phuket.

The 22 now have a great retirement home, being looked after responsibly and be able to be fed and treated with dignity.

On arrival their own personal Burmese mahouts had brought them to a large open raised feeding platform where we hand fed baskets of watermelons, yam nuts, papaya, pumpkins, banana and corn before they wandered off for the day towards the river. Here we all got going with brushes and bowls and gave them a scrub down in the cool water, one of a number of opportunities to spend time in the cool water with them. They seemed to love it and all the scrubbers had a fantastic time helping them out.

Later, while they ambled about like old women, going where they wanted, we spent the afternoon making sticky rice and pumpkin balls for the older lassies that had no teeth or were
blind and needed some extra TLC. It was great to see a few of
them enjoying the mud bath but the organisation kept us busy preparing more food and planting crop under the direction of the long term volunteers. After their evening meal it was time
to walk with the mahouts to take them back into the quieter
forest area where they would spend the nights. We, on the other hand, had a nice comfy lodge by the river to stay in and to reflect on the first day.

Up early again in the morning to go and walk them back for breakfast where more baskets of fruits were devoured, one at a time and very slowly. Our free time in the afternoon gave us an opportunity to be taken by songtauw about 5km up stream and
dropped off to float back down with the current in the cool clear
water, another great experience!

All in all we had 2 fabulous days to be close and personal and get to know some of the characters of these big gentle creatures....a great privilege!

All that is left is to get on a plane home...

www.elephantsworld.org

Elephants World at Kanchanaburi is a responsible sanctuary and should not be confused with any other organisation that uses elephants for tourism of which unfortunately Thailand has many!

Until the next adventure you might want to keep an eye on

Andromedaonthelancastercanal.blogspot.co.uk

Last song by the Toy Dolls

andromedaonthelancastercanal.blogspot.co.uk