Renoir, the Field of Miracles , and the Piero della Francesca Trail

We enjoyed the unique breakfast basket left by Willy Maria which was stuffed with cheese, fruit, croissants, jam, yoghurt, coffee and milk,  In fact, this delicious bounty was our lunch too.  We don't know where she gets her stuff but it is the freshest, most delicious food.  We were so happy with our stay in Haute Cagnes that we decided to make room for one more night later in our trip and arrive to the Marseilles area one day later than originally planned.

Wheeling our luggage back through  the village in the morning sunshine we retrieved our car from the underground parking garage and headed to the Renoir Museum.  This museum was closed for renovation when we were in Cagnes in 2012 but has reopened.  It is the large house in which he (and his family) lived during the latter 10 to 15 years of his life.  It is magnificently situated in Cagnes (not the Haute village but the town beneath).  You can tour the whole inside of the house which also includes some paintings and statues by both Renoir and others.  The gardens are also open for walking.  It is a beautiful and low key art experience that is uniquely southern French.  Other than a German tour group and a few French visitors it was tourist free so we could enjoy in relative peace.

A wall detail of Haute Cagnes

A cat sleeps in a perfect window perch in Haute Cagnes

Randy with a venerable olive tree at Renoir's home

Alice on the terrace at Renoir's home - the Med is in the background

Renoir's studio is pretty much as he left it

Haute Cagnes from the gardens of Renoir's home

We then began the arduous drive to Italy.  While the road is a super highway and is in good shape, the problem is there are literally about 100 tunnels.  You are constantly going in and out of tunnels.  It is Randy's least favorite drive in the world.  We took about a two detour off of the highway to have our lunch by the water (in the car, it was quite cold and very windy) and also drive the entire length of Genoa.  This historic but rather gritty city is a major port. 

The Med along the Italian coast north of Genoa.  This was our picnic place

Randy enjoys the croissants from breakfast in the car during our picnic

We arrived to our bed and breakfast between Lucca and Pisa around 6 PM.  Our hostess's son, Giorgio, met us and showed us around.  This place is a 1930's villa which has been completely restored.  It is quite elegant and nicely situated in the village of Santa Maria del Giudice.  Marta and Giorgio live in the apartment in the rear (Marta's rat of a husband having left her two years ago) and they rent out the rooms in the villa.  We were the only guests that night and the first guests since they closed in January after New Year's.  It was cold but they turned on the heating and our bedroom was very large with comfortable bathroom.  We walked to the only village restaurant, Ristorante La Quercia, and enjoyed pizza, salad, pasta, soup and house wine.  It was delicious and comforting after the drive ordeal. We dined with only two other local couples in the place and the staff was friendly though they did not speak English. On the spur of the moment we decided to make the 15 drive to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower at night.  This was magical as almost no one was there.  We could drive almost up to the Field of Miracles and enjoy these architectural wonders alone.  Highly recommended - seeing the Field of Miracles is a must during the day but go at night for a completely different experience.

The delicious bean and cabbage soup of Alice's dinner in Santa Maria del Giudice.

Randy devours his pasta starter

The house wine - 8.5 Euro a bottle

Our first pizza of the trip - thin and delicious

The Field of Miracles in Pisa at night - deserted and breathtaking

The tower itself - not a tourist in sight

Marta fed us a typical Italian breakfast the next morning (breads, fruit, cheese, ham, coffee) and two of her three plump cats joined us.  Cats are always a welcome addition when we travel.  And, somehow we always seem to be drawn to cat people (Willy Maria has an aged cat, Romy, also).  We headed out to visit part of the Piero della Francesca trail. Now, if you have not heard of this trail, you can search it on the internet.  della Francesca is both a top medieval painter and a mathematician.  His works are informed by his math orientation - they are clean, structural, interesting in a way like no other paintings.  We had intended to do the entire western part of the trail (and finish the eastern end during our stay in Urbino which is coming later) but one of the sites (Sansepolcro) had to be omitted due to time constraints.  We visited the tiny village of Monterchi, home to his Pregnant Madonna (Madonna del Parto).  An Italian TV film crew was shooting in the museum (which only houses this work) so they sent us up the street to the other museum in the village, a museum of scales.  This oddity was well done but, really, how interesting are scales?  Well, it was also warm and had a bathroom.  We then viewed the Madonna del Parto, stepping over all of the filming equipment.  The obliging young museum host called the next stop on the trail for us to reserve our place.  

The weird scales museum in Monterchi

A typical street in Monterchi

Our comfortable and trusty Peugeot

The village of Monterchi from the road

This is in the nearby city of Arezzo.  Now, not many tourists get to Arezzo which is a shame because it is full of historic buildings and the historic area is mostly closed to cars.  Our aim is La Basilica di San Francesco where della Francesca's masterwork, The Legend of the True Cross, resides.  The exterior of the basilica is unimpressive but there are wonders within.  The other visitors were an Italian school group.  We took in the ten or so very large frescoes (and in wonderful condition) before hiking back ot our car and heading for the Chianti region.  Photos of the art along the della Francesca trail are not allowed so you have to see them for yourselves or check out the internet, preferably the former.  There is nothing like seeing art in situ.

Exterior of the Basilica of Saint Francis in Arezzo

The main historic square in Arezzo

Alice at the park on top of a hill in the historic district of Arezzo

The Magic of Haute Cagnes

The flight to Amsterdam was smooth and on time and, after a restorative couple of black coffees, we headed to the KLM "City Hopper" plane for Nice, France.  Flying over first flat, green farmlands then snow covered wild mountains, and finally a true bird's eye view of Monaco, Nice and the Cote d'Azur, gave a taste of the diversity of the small continent of Europe.  Our luggage made it (yeah!) and we got our Hertz Peugeot car, a small but functional four door gray hatchback with an automatic diesel engine.

Our first stop was Haute Cagnes, the medieval hilltop village about 20 minutes west of Nice.  This place is truly amazing, as you will see from the pictures.  Unlike some other famous hilltop ancient villages in the area, this one is not overrun with tourists and French locals inhabit the village.  We stayed with Willy Maria Tellender, the lovely Swiss lady who rents out a room in her apartment in a historic (maybe 400+ years old) townhouse in the heart of Haute Cagnes.  This cozy bedroom (with great internet) is adjoining an even larger bathroom with separate shower, bathtub, bidet, toilet room, full size washer and drier, mini-kitchen and double vanity sinks!  We learned the hard way last time we visited in 2012 not to try to drive into the village proper (though this is possible) but to park in this futuristic underground parking lot built into the hillside.  This lot automatically parks your car in the bowels of the hill and retrieves it at command.  We wheeled our small carry ons through the village on this chilly, cloudy afternoon.

An olive tree with drupes (fruits) just in front of the hillside carpark

The amazing automatic hillside carpark at Haute Cagnes (our luggage to be rolled through the village in front)

View of the hills and tiled roofs of Haute Cagnes

The village square of Haute Cagnes.  Sadly, on this chilly day, there were no village men playing boules like there was when we visited in June of 2012

Randy on a typical (yes, typical!) street of Haute Cagnes - not another tourist in sight

After settling in and resting a bit from the ordeal of transatlantic travel, we got the car and headed for Foundation Maeght, a private modern art complex about 20 minutes away in Vence.  This houses an interesting collection of modern sculptures with a rotating arrangement of contemporary paintings.  It also has a small chapel which eclectically blends modern with medieval artifacts to honor the Maeght's son who died of leukemia.

Randy walks to the buildings of Foundation Maeght whilst some oldsters leave from their tour

Alice with a Giacometti on the terrace (two skinny people :-) )

Another sculpture with a view to hills beyond

The touching chapel interior blends contemporary stained glass with a medieval Spanish crucifix

Randy next to the Chagall mosaic

Alice by Randy's favorite sculpture - a weird but happy piece by Miro

We drove nearby the famous hilltop village of Saint Paul de Vence but did not park and walk in.  This is larger and much, much more touristic than our own Haute Cagnes.  Tour buses parked outside even on this March Tuesday.  We headed for Vence, the modern town, and its wonder just outside the town center of the Chapel Rosaire, a Matisse created small chapel.  Matisse designed this chapel as his final work (he was in his mid 70's when it began and it took five years) and as a tribute to the Benedictine nuns who cared for him.  No photos are allowed inside but it is modern, evocative, joyful and somber all at the same time.  It is also quite small and modest.  Definitely recommended if you are in the area.

The impressive sight of Saint Paul de Vence

This sits on a busy street just outside of Vence - its blue tiled roof is visible at left

The chapel exterior - you will have to search on line to see the chapel interior as no photos are allowed

A detail of the unusual steeple

We braved the French traffic (always a challenge) and found a grocery store to stock up on chocolate, cookies, water and wine.  Well, what else do you need in France?  Headed back to our refuge (literally, the townhouse is called Le Refuge) for rest before walking a half block to a Michelin guide restaurant, Fleur de Sel ( http://www.restaurant-fleurdesel.com/ ) .  We had the place to ourselves for most of our meal which was in true French style (a French couple run it).  Randy had a three course set menu of pate, lamb and a kind of Gallic bread pudding.  Alice tucked in creamy vegetable soup, cod with pureed and creamed (yes, more cream!) eggplant and a goat cheese plate.  We drank the red Provence wine recommended by Madame - and a nice fruity one it was.

Randy happily waits for his first French meal

Alice is pretty excited too

Madame runs the front (here, bringing out our wine) while Monsieur cooks in the back

Our wine for the evening - a red, fruity local from Provence

Alice's creamed vegetable soup - Randy ate his pate so quickly no photograph was possible!

Alice's cod with creamed eggplant/potatoes

Randy's lamb with potato and violet stuffed zucchini.  This also came with grilled figs, which Alice ate

A nighttime stroll around the empty village yielded the feeling being back in the 1400's but without the smells or chaos.  The village was peaceful, beautiful and haunting in a good way.  We also encountered a variety of well fed and friendly village cats on our walk.  The night closed with Randy snoring away while Alice dealt with her jet lag and finally crashed.  We awoke to sunrise over the Med (oh, I forgot to say that our room has a view of the Med and the surrounding hills) and the basket of breakfast goodies that Willy Maria prepares and delivers from across the hall to her guests.

Our own private Haute Cagnes castle after dinner - the Grimaldi castle

Stepping back to medieval times in the evening at Haute Cagnes

A typical street scene - this is what you come to France for!

Goodbye France (briefly, we will be back in a few weeks) and Hello Italy!

The Big Trip Begins

The adventure begins!  We (Randy and I ) are waiting at the Delta Sky Lounge for our flight to start boarding.  Good news - they have added a "PRE" line to the security area in the International Terminal.  Getting through was a breeze for me but Randy was stuck for about 25 minutes.  We are flying to Amsterdam on Delta then on to Nice on KLM.  Renting a Hertz (very) small car (but with automatic) and heading for our first night in Europe at Haute Cagnes, which is just west of Nice.  We stayed there before in 2012 and were enchanted so we scheduled a recovery night there before we brave the roads in Italy.  Since I am, sadly, not a plane sleeper I hope to watch a couple of movies, including Hobbit 2.  And, enjoy that yummy Delta dinner :-) .  Next time I post, it should be from Europe, only six hours ahead of Auburn time right now since we switched to Daylight Savings Time and they don't do it until this coming weekend.