Abbazia San Pietro in Valle Ferentillo

... lunch we stumbled on a look-out and found a little Italian family having lunch there as well. We scouted a grassy spot under some trees and laid out our quilt and had lunch. We drank our chilled white wine while eating our pecorino cheese, prosciutto, fresh bread and juicy peaches. I took pictures, Marty read until we both dozed off, while hearing the happy sounds of the Italian family under the bright blue sky and ...

... restaurant to have dinner late, by our standard and arrive a half an hour too early. We had an antipasto as Mike suggested but didn't stop there, we ordered pasta. I had the potato gnocchi with truffles and mascarpone. Marty had the pasta with spicy red sauce. Stuffed with doggy bags in hand, we staggered back down the hill in the cool night air.

... a friend of Mike and Jill’s, drives us to their house near Campello sul Clitunno. We get the full on Italian driving experience and happily arrive in one piece. After a shower and a snack of Mike’s freshly made antipasto of fresh mozzarella, garden tomatoes and homemade pesto, we felt a thousand times better.

Then to dinner with their friends of ex-pats, artist and poets at the local tattoria for more ...

... out on the open road. It felt good, I had been in Rome for a week and being transient again was welcome indeed. The days cycling was predominantly my last days cycling in reverse so held very few surprises, the destination however was slightly different, still a lake but Lago di Vico, not Bracciano. The camping I headed to had been recommended by N&S and it was just as they had described, very simple, basic and lovely. As ever I had a meal of epic ...

... the train station. I got the ticket (electronicly) and we went to lunch (using Rick Steve's book). Had the same thing...pizza/pasta and vino. Got the train and went to Foligno (~7E each for 2 hour train ride) which is in Umbria. We got there and Mary the lady i been emailing for the last few months was there to greet us with her husband and took us to our Agriturismo (Agricultural tourism). We got here at 4pm and their place is totally awsome!! The view is amazing. It's like they ...

... because Emanuel seemed more interested in finding a way to get out of Madonna della Stella without loosing his inheritance than building up a business. http://www.al-borghetto.it/ After relaxing a bit it was time for another meal and to explore the next quaint medieval village, Montefalco, which is actually the central town in the vicinity. We quickly discovered that each Umbrian village is more beautiful than the last. Built in to hillsides with ...

Was a big day for the bor- driving into Terni-10ish not easy to find acc. all Italian at night( speach) turns to gobblygook lol really it does- turned out this hotel was awesome- big huge room and BIG COMFY BED_ yip and B BREKKY ! what more could ya need- and girl everything with ENGLISH speak yey, sent us off in morning to Farantillo Mummies -was awesome-not gruesome so then-IT began- lost in terni car due back ...

Hi After Rome we went to Foligno to stay with Dom's cousins in the mountains. It was a really beutiful place and on the first night we went to a traditional Italian community festival type thing.. A bit of a shock when we'd just rolled off a boiling ...

Eventually, we got a day and half off, and found this lovely spot on a farmer's olive grove, overlooking the Umbrian hillside. We couldn't help ourselves though, and managed to spend most of the time walking around little local villages, buying local olive oil and truffles, and tinkering ...

... in the area - one can only get so many angles of the Tower and see so many poor quality souvenirs. This left me with the question of what to do for the rest of the day, half of which I had allocated to this 20 minute activity. I guess one of the things I like abut Europe is that technology seems to have assimilated itself into society rather than taken over. For example, it is not uncommon to see a bank or ...