The place itself is a walled fortress of a town, tiny in size with two main streets, no cars and situated at the top of a hillside over looking the Toscanan rolling vineyards and olive plantations. Basically, as perfect as you could get really. This is Amanda having a seat on our windowsill overlooking the stunning vistas.
We spent the days wandering the walled streets, sampling the local wine, admiring the views, staring in wonder at the many weird looking, multi-coloured tourists and generally having a great time. We often found ourselves walking up random, tiny streets (about 800 years old) and on day one we stumbled across a tiny, locally run bar with a view of the rolling landscape, far from the madding crowds. It was a perfect place to relax and enjoy the 'slow life', coincidentally, the theme of our whole holiday with it being the six senses motto, and the new Italian way of life. Love it!
The only touristy thing we did in San Gimi was a visit to the tourture museum. What a gruesome place. What people used to do (and I guess, still do) to each other was sickening. Some of the instruments were even too hard to read about. From chastity belts, to guillotines, iron maidens, the rack, thumb screws and water torturing, it was harrowing, yet morbidly fascinating. We quickly went for a wine afterwards to get back to the peaceful reality we have come accustomed to!
Here we are, about to depart from our great hotel. Umbria here we come!
We weren't sure what to expect from Umbria and our next location. After a 2 and a bit hour drive, we ended up completely in the coutryside. Instructions to get to our next place said: 'After the small monastery there is a vineyard. Turn right immediately after that.' What was right, was a huge, beautiful house on the top of the hill. Jackpot, we both thought!
After driving down the long driveway, we met Stefano and Paola, the owners of the cottage and two of the nicest people you would ever care to meet. It turns out that Paola is an amazing gourmet chef and what Stefano doesn't know about wine, is not worth knowing. Needless to say, we hit it off from the start!
It was truly relaxing, to the point where it rivalled the Maldives. The views were panoramic and breathtaking. The pool, although a little frigid for us Asians, was beautiful. Their dog was gorgeous, the wine was stunning and the whole experience was simply too short!
Carolyn... this one is for you. Amanda snapped it at 6am but only because she needed a pee! You're right, sunrises are beautiful!!
Always time for a plank!
Apart from a brief walk and a countryside drive, we did very little. The sunflowers in the field were worth a stop, as was a beautiful castle, but mainly the pool and wine were enough for us, where when your eyes got sore from reading, you simply relaxed them by looking up and off into the endless countryside.
After a long drive, we are now perched precariously on the edge of a cliff on the Amalfi Coast, overlooking boats, sun bathers and glass-like water. It simply gets tougher every day... :-)
A fact... We drove past the once wealthy city of Pompeii on the way to the coast. A couple of thousand years ago it was a thriving city, full of wealthy people, until, in 79AD it was buried under 7 metres of ash after Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed it all. Amazing! I hope she stays dormant for our visit to the area...
Ciao!
Dave Canavan MSc
www.thechingchokhunter.com
Location:Possitano - Amalfi Coast
No comments:
Post a Comment