31 May 2015

Heading back the way we came

From out of Italy, Vars was approached via Briancon and Queras.  The faster route through several tunnels avoiding closed high passes.  Air pollution and traffic around Milan, Torino and industrial heartland was heavy, only left behind once in the Alps. The Italian approach to driving is in evidence on the motorway and requires a defensive approach. Tailgating is rife.
At a midway motorway stop for cherries and coffee we sat and gazed at the comings and goings. A grey bus with blackened windows emptied out its troop of oriental youngsters and they quickly cleared the tables of a market trader’s fruit stall.
Today’s itinerary included stops at Col D’Izoard, St-Veran, and Ceillac, the approach to which is an amazing series of tight hairpins rising through a narrow gorge. I regret not having video recorded this quite extraordinary piece of road engineering but here is the Google next best thing:-  The Z bend exit from Ceillac

At a wi-fi cafe the Le Refuge Napoleon we took a coffee break after explored the scenic valley Saint-Paul-sur-Ubaye (D25).



Roofs of shingles, stone or corrugated iron






Towards Col D'Izoard



Gentians



Wooden water trough


Souvenirs at the museum festooned with  relics collected by a hoarder 



Undisturbed



Snow meltwater

Clear blue water




28 May 2015

Arrivederci Chioggia - Bonjour Vars

Sad to leave this venue, flavours and fun loving people. The Pizza and the ice cream is delicious. The hotel better that we had hoped for, free bicycle hire, secure parking, clean and well equipped with glimpses of the harbour, free wi/fi, and T/V. Family run  The Hotel at Sottomarina   gets a thumbs up from me !

Wandering along the wide street market today much of the goods available are at a better price in the local shops. So we bought a few gifts at the harbourside shop near to the hotel. Twice as nice and half the price. Amidst one market stall we spied Lofoten dried cod. Awful stuff that tastes as bad as it looks; but then  I fell for an even worse option, Calamari and oily chiplets from a market van. I would have been more satisfied with another liquorice and lemon ice cream. (real flavour with pips and chewy bits of lemon).

Coffee before we go & so sad to leave Chioggia



Chioggia sunset

Where boats are as common as cars



Reflections are always present here


Venice is just over the horizon


Early one morning  in dazzling bright colour


My watercolours never got to be used


This place I would love to re-visit

Leos Pizzas: sufficient for this evening, breakfast and the road ahead.


27 May 2015

Venice beckons

The Morgan is safe under cover, in a private compound since we arrived, but draws attention even under a tarp that kept the rain off last night. This morning, the attendant  like several other observers, was curious about the wire wool  bung that tones down the exhaust. When he learnt the purpose he became over excited and would have us remove it there and then. He prefers a raucous note and suggests the Polizia Stradale would enjoy it too, but the bung stays put. The kingpins are now greased and ready for the motorway. Meanwhile, Venice by water taxi is 14.50 Euros compared to 30 Euros in any Venice car park ( per day). With Wednesday's forecast encouraging, the prospect of seeing Venice is about to be realised.

Amazing creation in glassware

Looking for ice cream

Gondolas glide the waterways

A lazy way to travel

Having just returned from Venice its easy to understand what the world's tourist sees in this quite extraordinary extravaganza. My description is doomed to fail and probably these photos too will fail, to do justice to a city of superlatives. My underrated expectation was of a compact city, having seen paintings and read some brief descriptions. Today was a roller coaster ride amidst camera wielding nationalities from all four corners of the earth.

I saw the many Merchants of Venice that the bard waffled on about, but even he could not have prepared me for all its sunny splendour.

Nobody fell in to the water while we were there

Cerulian blue abounds

Magnificent

Magical decorated arches

Gold leaf liberally spread about

One of many marble lions

Expensive clothes shops

The approach

An emergency upstream has ruffled the waves as an ambulance boat and police escort speed through the melee of Gondolas. The gondoliers know just how to head up into the wash and balance themselves. 

No sign of sinking beneath the waves today

Bicycles and bad behaviour prohibited here.

Out of the shadow a Gondola sees the sun once more

That will be 80 Euros Sir

Later that afternoon

More play

As we stood filming the quartet of musicians in the Piazza San Marco immediately behind me was a watch shop selling those ultra complex watches with the tourbillon movement (an obsolete solution to an obsolete problem within an obsolete technology invented in the late 1700s).
The bane of the mechanical watch is gravity. It plays havoc on a watch’s escapement and balance assembly, the fragile components that oscillate and regulate the gear train that drives the watch hands.
Today this display of the watchmakers art is prized for the level of skill required to hand make it at all. As I watched through the window of the tiny shop, fascinated by the display of several of these watches running, a young oriental couple were seen completing their purchase and being handed the vendors signed guarantees. The cost of one of these masterpieces would probably pay for my UK semi-detached.

25 May 2015

Chioggia awake


A busy fishing port as well as a holiday destination and  city of historic interest, our first day here is on foot, exploring the little alleyways and shops, architecture and waterfront with its myriad shape and size of vessel.
If Venice is sinking and in terminal decline then Chioggia must be its antithesis. The sole purpose is not focused just on tourism but also in a sustainable economy giving an air of confidence to the folk here.

Crossing lots of bridges today, including one too far.  Helen hurried over a very busy pedestrian crossing and I was left biding my time, when a young woman rushed to my aid, took me insistently by the elbow and accompanied me across; to Helen's great amusement I have to say.
This says less about me than it does about the kind Italian and her nation's outgoing nature. Quite delightful.


7 am and the commuter traffic is beginning to cross the bridge I am standing  on.


Stall holders and shop fronts just opening for business


Alley cats looking for fish scraps, Swallows and swifts looking for insects and me looking for best viewpoints


Quiet reflections


The water here is very slightly tidal; enough to cleanse and freshen it each day 



Venice ferry departure point 20 Euros return



Chimney pots with a purpose



Statuesque she surveys the scene


Colourful washing and colourful buildings this sunny Monday morning



Signs of life at the window - An arm reaches out out and hangs up another garment to dry







The tower bells ring but tell the hour in a blaze of misguided notes



The artists studio is within the arches to the right



The hills of Chioggia are only very little - up to the bridge then down again


Working boats plentiful - pleasure boats less so

By late afternoon the rain passed northwards and for the second time we sped all over the place on the free bicycles provided by our hotel more of which later. Suffice to say we are quite delighted and comfortable here and on day two we are exploring Italian ice cream flavours. Licorice and Lemon might seem an unlikely combination but this woke my taste buds with a jolt, sitting in the sun.  Alternating between the two, either cancels the other out and puzzles the tastebuds.

Fishing boats return near to the fish market.



Articulated lorries carry away the days' fish catch



One of  many footbridges



No gondolas in Chioggia


Pale sandstone guardians



On our hotel doorstep