Summer fun 2022. Click HERE for photos from 2021 (Scotland, Paris, Kent), HERE for photos from summer 2020 (Calabria and National Trusts), HERE for 2019 (London and Abruzzo), HERE for 2018 (Budapest, Le Marche, and Northern Ireland), HERE for 2017 (Paris and London), HERE for 2016 (festival and chaps), HERE for 2015 (reunion and wedding), and HERE for 2014 (meeting the stars).
A cake I made, Mottisfont, Winchester hare, and teachers from school
Mottisfont in June
The rose garden is famous and draws crowds this time of year.
Two years in the planning, our school trip to Amsterdam is finally a reality. It was a delightful week of concerts and culture.
We stopped in Bruges for lunch and a quick bit of sightseeing and shopping. I headed straight for The Chocolate Line to buy €80 worth of chocolate.
It was lovely being back in Bruges. Click HERE to see photos from 2015 and HERE for 2014.
A couple of photos from Amsterdam sneaked in.
In Amsterdam, our first concert was at the English Reformed Church. Our hotel was celebrating its 10th birthday.
I made bingo cards for the school group, which provided hours of competitive fun.
Sights and tastes of Amsterdam, including some delicious Dunkin' Donuts.
Our first concert was a success worthy of a donut.
At the Rijksmuseum, I was keen to see the dolls' house that Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist was based on. Her sequel was published just two days before our trip.
The singing lute-player is by Judith Leyster, one of the very few professional female painters of her time. I loved seeing Vermeer's work, too.
I spotted three Invaders during our trip. Click HERE to see out last excursion. The group went to the Hard Rock Cafe and Anne Frank's house.
We took a canal cruise, but, unlike many of the others I saw, ours was enclosed in glass and featured no shirtless men.
I don't think I knew about the Seven Bridges before this trip.
In Delft, we saw Oostpoort, where a group of shirtless men were frolicking in the water.
Delft was even nicer than I remember in 2006.
Geronimo
There was a fantastic youth band playing in the town square.
I bought Lorraine some Chocolate LIne treats for her birthday.
The Stedelijk Museum was a consolation prize for not getting tickets to the Van Gogh museum, but we loved it and one of the girls said "Thank you for keeping this until the last day!". We all enjoyed sliding down the tubes into a sea of plastic bottles.
Claes Oldenburg died on the Monday of our trip. It was poignant seeing his artwork (top right) in the museum. Click HERE to see his water faucet sculpture in Freiburg.
Others queued for stroopwafels while I looked around Albert Cuyp market. The melted cheese sandwiches were delicious.
The touristy but quaint windmill village of Zaansee Schans provided lots of photo opportunities.
It rained the whole time we were there, but it was lovely after the two day heat wave we'd had earlier in the week.
Shops were closed, so no cheese buying in Edam, but our concert was a hit with the locals, who gave us a standing ovation. I found it thrilling.
The end of our concerts, and what a beautiful location.
Our final day turned out great. I took the group to the Homomonumnet and on a tour of street art in the area, plus tulip bulbs from the Tulip Museum.
Last views of Amsterdam and one from the ferry.
Back in Southampton, Nick performed at Trifest.
Next stop: Abruzzo...
En route to Abruzzo, we had a night in Rome to settle a score. When we were here for Christmas in 2018, one of the Invaders we found was under scaffolding and couldn't be flashed. This time, it was in full view.
We ate at a nice restaurant around the corner from the Colosseum and set off cross country the next morning, finding our highway invaders installed in 2017. We stopped in Guardiagrele for market produce before heading to Pete and Jools' house near Paombaro.
Above are scenes from Rome and Guardiagrele.
One of our highlights from Guardiagrele is this basketball player who sometimes works in his parents' ice cream shop near the cathedral. We saw him in 2017 and 2019, but he must have been on the court this year.
Although we didn't try them this time - once was enough - Tiny Cow posed with the local meringue "nuns' breasts" and also on a tower of wafers for a bingo card challenge. I still can't believe that tray of produce only cost €4 Euros!
The local festival in Palombaro was exactly what we were hoping for: live music, arrosticini, and rustic spectacle on a warm summer's evening.
We passed through this town and had espresso on our way to the wonderful goat's cheese farm that Anna at Abruzzo with Gusto recommended (pictured top centre). This was where we first saw watermelons being chilled in the local fountains.
O, fortuna! The road was blocked on our way to another destination and so we had to divert at Cepagatti, where a festival for Saints Lucia and Rocco were about to begin. I regret not having bought (or caught) one of the ringed pastries with sprinkles, but we got a lot in of tourism we hadn’t planned on.
This enactment of a bride's wedding day was very heartfelt.
A red cross man to rival Paris's pompiers.
The horn on the green ape van was ear-splittingly loud and the man in the back convincingly inebriated.
The town walls are decorated with murals that tell its history.
We were thrilled to find my invader from 2017, which was further down the road than we remembered it. It looks like the highway maintenance crew take good care of them.
Top left: a local pastry from Cepagatti. The day of the festival, our destination restaurant was closed (Ferragosto), so we drove around forever looking for food – any food. We settled on a café on the corner of a busy road, where the proprietor said, “All we have is lasagne and a few side dishes”. It turned out to be one of the best meals of our trip.
Historic Sulmona: home of Ovid and sugared almonds and one of our favourite places to visit. We’d never been here when it wasn’t a festival day and it was interesting to have more shops open and things to see.
We saw the coffee, top left, featured on Nisha Katona's A Taste of Italy. It's espresso and cream with crushed confetti (sugared almonds) on top. Tiny Cow approved.
We discovered lots of Liberty architecture in Sulmona.
The museum was full of ancient treasures.
Just up the road is Pacentro, one of Italy’s “Most beautiful villages” and home to singer Madonna’s parents and this chesty war memorial.
Back in Guardiagrele, we saw a cute dad taking selfies with his nuns' breasts before going to the annual art festival, full of lots of arresting and interesting things to look at, including some blowzy puppets.
From top left: Casoli pasticceria, alabaster carved lamp, a modern set of tarot cards, Lanciano's war memorial, and the chocolate mousse we served Pete and Jools.
Some of my favourite things from the art fair.
Our guidebook is unfairly dismissive of Casoli, calling the castle “little more than a pile of rubble”. We thought there were lots of great things to see, including the Beautiful Balconies competition winners dotted around town.
We loved Lanciano last time and discovered new things there on this visit.
The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore has origins in the 11th century. The imposing doorway was built in 1317. Stanley Tucci looks on.
Just as the bride and groom emerged from the church, the heavens opened and everyone screamed and ran for cover. It bucketed down, but we were still able to sit outside under an umbrella and have a Spritz while watching the fun.
Liberty Style in Lanciano and Papa Bear.
We started our trip to Pescara in the South, near where there was a huge fire in 2021. There is a whole neighbourhood full of Liberty style villas.
Inaugurated in 2021, Pescara’s Imago museum was a treat. There was an exhibition by Scandinavian artists who toured Abruzzo in the 1800s, which captured the local light perfectly. I also enjoyed the Expressionist woodcuts and the modern art.
Some of our favourite things: art, Pescara's beach, organic pizzette, and the trabocchi coast.
We went with our hosts (who smiled and waved while driving through the Do Not Enter barriers) to the Altino sweet pepper festival. Local restaurants served a range of dishes, every one of which contained the famous red peppers. There was pasta, lamb, and even gluten free red velvet cake. Entertainment included a six-year-old according virtuoso, a man dressed as a chili devil, and a troupe of dancing girls with tambourines.
Liberty Style Casa Museo Cesare de Titta in Sant'Eusanio del Sangro
Exploring the Trabocchi Coast
Carunchio was a pleasant surprise on our way to far flung destinations.
The carved door of the Church of Purgatorio dates back to 1504. The 15th century frescoes show the Last Supper and include a female figure supposed to be Mary Magdalene.
It was in this town, and in this heat, that we discovered a house with a raging, crackling fire inside. We stopped to investigate and found a couple busy making next year's roasted tomato passata. How I would have loved to be invited in and given a jar. Alan would have done it.
The town of Trivento had lots of things going for it. It seemed to be inhabited by a colony of crotchet artists, whose work was everywhere.
The town of Trivento had lots of things going for it. It seemed to be inhabited by a colony of crotchet artists, whose work was everywhere.
I drew my childhood frog in the dust on the window above. Nick needed to find somethign reflected for his bingo card.
I Templi Italici, ancient Roman ruins on a remote hillside
The town of Archi was extremely close to where we were staying, but our hosts had never heard of it. The original castle dated back to the year 1000.
Roccascalegna is one of my favourite Abruzzo settings. The imposing castle is one of the three featured in the 2015 film, Tale of Tales. We have seen the other two castles in Puglia and Sicily.
My gorilla tripod broke at this spot, so I had to improvise.
The Abbey of San Liberatore a Maiella was spectactular.
Abbateggio, which is the childhood town of the author of our Brandt guidebook. Also shown is Serramonacesca.
One of our Top 5 all-time favourite restaurants, Ristorante Franco e Amalia in Pescosansonesco. The people who run it are so lovely and inviting, and everything we’ve ever eaten there is sublime. Mama’s specialty is pappardelle with wild boar ragu. Bearded archaeologist son Guido dresses as a devil in chains in a winter pagan ritual that we have yet to see. He greeted us warmly but held court at a business lunch nearby.
The best water fountain ever: freezing cold on a hot day. Upon inspection, we discovered that it and the statue of Sampson were forged in Glasgow, something we had seen before in our travels in Abruzzo. We saw it later in Pescoconstanzo.
Pescocostanzo was one of the Top 10 sights in Abruzzo recommended by our guidebook which we had never seen. It was a lovely town that catered for tourists and looks especially suited to the winter ski season.
The basilica of Santa Maria del Colle is the parish church of Pescocostanzo
The pizza by the slice was huge and memorable. We could barely finish ours, but the two slim women on the next table ordered something like four pieces each!
Back to Fossacesia beach for trabocchi, Aperol Spritz, and people-watching. Lots of people watching.
Our biggest restaurant meal was at Rocca dei Raselli in Guardiagrele. Lots of dishes made from fresh local ingredients such as wild mountain herbs, fresh porcini, lamb, and a trio of creamy desserts. We didn’t get to sit in the cave, but we saw it. We enjoyed our favourite wine from Umbria, Montefalco Sagrantino.
Some photos of the local basketball hero, found on the internet.
On the way back to Rome, we made a pilgrimage to Scanno, where we bought our travel mascot, Geordie the Duck on our first visit to Abruzzo. We didn’t get to see much because it started bucketing with rain while we were there. We took shelter under a medieval archway for about half an hour and then went and had some hot chocolate in the café.
Nick holds Geordie in what might have been his actual adoption spot.
Near Scanno was the lovely town of Villalago. There were flower-covered chairs all along the streets with poetry in the local dialect.
We discovered the exact spot that inspired M.C. Escher’s Still Life with Mirror.
University friend Becky came to visit and I took her and Glenn to Mottisfont Abbey.
They seemed impressed by the ancient abbey, but then I saw their photos from Scotland....
Becky's visit coincided with the end of an era. They were actually at Buckingham Palace when the news of the Queen's death broke. There was a tribute book in Romsey Abbey. We had dinner at home that evening, Australian Bake Off's Mary Beard's fantastic recipe for Erbazzone and other Italian-inspired treats.
That was pretty much it for summer. Click HERE to see photos from our Octoaber anniversary celebrations in Paris.
