We sat down for a coffee and a bit of breakfast, and not more than ten minutes later we were greeting Jill and Mike as they appeared through the sliding doors in arrivals!
It was lovely to see them again, and thankfully they had had a pretty straightforward journey so far. We went straight to the car, loaded the bags and set off for home. Or so we thought! We were so busy catching up in the car that I missed a turning and we almost ended up heading back towards France! Fortunately, Jill was taking such an interest in the scenery, trying to get her bearings by asking what mountains we could see ahead, that I realised I didn't actually recognise that section of road. Thankfully, this happened just before the last turning towards Florence and Lucca, so no real damage had been done.
We arrived home late morning and left Jill and Mike to settle into the apartment and unpack while we made a start on lunch. When they came up to the house for lunch, they came bearing a pile of books for us. Amongst them were two new guide books and some more comprehensive illustrated fauna guides to help us identify all the weird and wonderful wildlife we share this part of the world with.
The sun was hot by now, so we had lunch outside under the shade of the umbrella while we pored over some maps of the area. After a leisurely lunch and a look around at the flora on show (turns out we have not only strawberry plants growing all over the terraces, but burdock, liverwort which would be considered rare in the UK, and some interesting ferns amongst other things), we headed out in the '182 bus' towards Vellano. Today was the first day of the village's annual chestnut festival (Sagra del Frugiate).
The village was packed with people, but as we were quite early, we managed to park fairly close and it was just a short walk into the village under the cover of the trees along the roadside. Not long after leaving the car we bumped into Mimmo, who was there with his enormous porchetta (pulled pork) wagon. We greeted him, had a brief chat, then continued on into town.
Our first stop was the tiny mining museum, which was open to visitors (and free entry) today. The little museum was as busy as the rest of the village, so after a quick look around at some of the old lamps, pick axes and mineral specimens on show, we headed on up the steep cobbled streets to the square at the top of the hill town. On our way up we bumped into Michelle (Mimmo's wife), who was enjoying the shade with her dog Pif. We stopped to say hello and have a quick chat before continuing up to the square. When we arrived in the square we were greeted by the delicious smell of chestnut crepes (made with chestnut flour) that were being cooked in a small stall and served with Nutella. We resisted the temptation at this point, knowing there were other goodies to be sampled elsewhere in the village, and took in the views before descending again.
Next, we aimed for the church, which was open today. More importantly, there was a set of braziers set up outside the church, roasting chestnuts, and a small stall selling hot roasted chestnuts and glasses of wine. We couldn't wait any longer so bought a bowl of freshly roasted chestnuts and a glass of wine to share. Helen and I were amused by the fact that the bowl of chestnuts cost €2, but the glass (OK, plastic beaker) of wine - which was very decent - was only €1. (Can you imagine getting a decent glass of wine anywhere in the UK for €1?!)
We stood in front of the church enjoying the simple fare, the glorious weather (which, if anything was a little too hot), the lovely views and the atmosphere. While we were enjoying our refreshment break we ran into Donatella, who had just walked up to the village from her house. We had a nice chat with her before she went on her way further into the village.
Next, we walked back along the road and stopped at a cheese/cured meat vendor's stall. We hadn't even asked to try anything before he thrust some pecorino into our hands, then a delicious blue, then some roast ham. He was definitely on a sales drive! To limit the damage, we put a stop to the tasting and bought a wedge of the blue and a small wheel of delicious cheese flavoured with flecks of black truffle.
We then headed for what appeared to be the centre of the festivities, the circolo (club), from which a large amount of smoke was emanating. They were indeed roasting a lot of chestnuts here - the poor guy feeding the fire with wood was dripping with sweat. There were stalls selling chestnut flour, some sort of chestnut cake, more pancakes and drinks - there was also a lot of seating, lots of people - oh, and we mustn't forget the live cabaret!! It was a proper party, but one we were not quite in the mood for, so we sauntered back down the hill to the car, having had a very enjoyable few hours.
By the time we got back we were all flagging - Jill and Mike had good cause (having been up since 3am in the morning) , although I'm not quite sure what our reason was. We cooked some dinner and drank some wine before sending the parents to their apartment for a very well earned rest.
A little earlier in the evening, the baking hot and gloriously sunny day had turned to rain (some of it heavy) and thunder (much of it loud). With it, our internet connection disappeared, which came as little surprise, but when the weather cleared up a bit, the service didn't resume (hence another late blog post!).
With no functioning internet to distract us with blog posts or social media, we took little persuading to retire to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment