Provence - France; Liguria & Tuscany - Italy
Sam's & Libby's Highlights & Impressions
• Holding our breaths through the 175 tunnels (plus viaducts) between Aux en Provence & Tuscany ( 7.5 million by dad's counting)
• Swimming in the Ligurian sea at Devia Marina & camp site pools
• Fire flies that buzzed our Devia Marina campsite
• Libby's pandora charm purchase of Florence's Vecchio Bridge
• Delicious Italian gelato's
• Meeting & chatting with other 'English speaking' travellers
• Getting around on our new bikes!

Bonjourno from Florence & Tuscany in Italy!
We're two months into our adventure, a third of the way through; we're excited by the things we've done and achieved so far and remain excited about all the adventures that we still have planned ahead of us.

Having departed Costa Brava and Spain on Monday we made our way back into southern France where we headed for Provence region and the historic city of Aix -en -Provence, which proved to be an unexpected and pleasant surprise - narrow shuttered streets full of character and charm. We spent a day exploring the streets and markets, before venturing into the hairdressers - a trim for the whole family. The campground had a fantastic pool, however the topless sunbathers (in their 50's or 60's) did cause some astonishment with the kids!

'Eeore' joined us as the official van trophy and was presented to Steven - his achievement - not stalling the van for an entire day - a significant achievement. He would have you believe that the low gear isn't low enough.... whatever!!!

From Aix and on our way out of France we took a slight detour via Nice to stock up on groceries and purchase a red and white striped reflector, a compulsory requirement for the bike rack - thought better that than an Italian fine but of course it proved abit more of a major than the simple task it should have been. We all left France with a sense of sadness, 3 weeks just did not seem to do it justice as the places we had visited had simply exceeded all our expectations and we have absolutely loved our time here - put simply we will just have to return again some day!.

We departed France on the secondary mountain roads that took us through the hills passing Monte Carlo and Manaco and arrived in San Remo across the Italian border - a place to park up for the night on route to Devia Marina and Cinque Terre on the Ligurian coast. The Italian landscape to date has been extremely rugged, steep and mountainous -the roads took us through 172 tunnels between Aix and Cinque Terre which has made for a quiet trip (at times!!!) as the kids attempt to hold their breath and suck on lollipops!

Cinque Terre - an early start that had us on our bikes travelling to Devia Marina village 3km's away to beat the crowds and catch the 8.30 train to Riomaggiore - the eastern most village in Cinque Terre. The 5 historic fishing villages are linked by walking tracks and train - we walked on the cliff tops overlooking the sea in the morning, through the first 3 villages stopping at Vernazzo for delicious warm faccaica bread and margarita pizza, and children willing opted to take the train in the afternoon heat. The villages were spectacular - steep narrow winding roads with pastel painted facades and terraced olive groves and gardens across the steep terrain. Before biking our 3 km uphill return to the campsite we cooled off at the pebbly beach of Devia Marina in the 'free' swim zone - watched by the sun loungers with paid umbrella's in the restaurant and hotel zones. Water temperature refreshing; sharp drop off; umbrella's for Africa and an all important admission from our kids that it just does not match the Coromandel paradise of home.

Pisa - a must do on the kids original 'hit list' was our next destination - Sam, Libby and Steven ventured to the top - fortunately the tower didn't tip any further!

Lonely Planet identified a 4km bike trip in nearby Lucca which we all decided would be good to do the following day - with no campsites nearby we headed for the hills - what a trek this was, heading almost to Abertone (a local ski region - we knew we were high when the roads had snow poles) we ended up in the middle of nowhere but stumbled on a flat camping site and electricity! Sunday we returned to Lucca and whipped around the village in no time - kicking ourselves as we discovered a campsite nearby and admitted that our bike trip was doable the day before! Another travelling tale!

With the batteries recharged on local breads and pizzas we headed south for our campsite in Fiesole - 7 Km high up in the hills with magnificent views over Florence - and a great pool to boot!.

Yesterday we spent a brilliant day in Florence, an absolutely beautiful city with great atmosphere - it started at the Duomo, Florence's landmark cathedral - a brisk 463 steps and rather tight tunnel to the top gave us a panaromic views in every direction. We then headed towards the Arno River via the wild boar - the local legend has it that rubbing its snout will ensure your return to Florence - which we were all up for. Next stop 'ice cream' and then the Vecchio Bridge, the subject of a painting hanging above Grandma & Grump's dining table and subject of various previous conversation.

By early afternoon we were back in Piazza del Duomo sampling a local beer and watching the world cup soccer (Nederland vs Denmark) at an outside bar right under the Duomo - we are being caught up here in the hype of the world cup atmosphere, the bars and restaurants are busily promoting the event and everyone appears into it. Italian public opinion suggests that this will not be Italy's year as they regard the Italian team selection has not been ambitious enough and that the national team is largely made up of 'has been' previous cup winners and are too old to do the job this time ... a chance for us yet ... yeah right!

Today we have taken a well earnt rest day, a day to chill, catch up on some washing, diaries, blog etc and watch NZ's All White's last minute recovery in their first world cup pool match vs Slovakia ... as well as take advantage of the pool and the great views.
Here in Italy emphasis has shifted away from a requirement for 'goosie' smugglers to another requirement for swim caps and so this family is now brightly adourned with Italian head dress in order to take advantage of the pool in the sweltering (30 deg) spring temperatures.

Tomorrow we move on again ... destination Rome where we plan to stay and meet up with some travelling Kiwi's for the NZ v Italy World Cup soccer game on Sunday - we guess we'll need to wisely pick the place we choose to watch the game but the colours will be out that can be assured.

Thanks again for all your return messages which are always appreciated by us all ...
Till our next blog ... it's again ariva derci (over & out) from this Family on OE!