Europe: May 2013

6^th May

Woke up in the street and drove back to the car park to do the washing up, watched by a herd of goats and a dog who thought he was a goat too. Drove into the town and had coffee (and used toilets) then had a look around the market. Very cute little town. Drove to Florence, which was only about two hours away, and decided to avoid going into the centre like we did in Verona. We had a look at one campsite but it was about thirty euros (could stay in a hostel for that!) so decided we would just park for the day and see what happens. Of course everything was pay and display but we parked right on what we thought was the edge of the city where there wasn’t a meter to pay at so we risked it and left the van without paying. This was good but meant that also all day we had it on the back of our minds- didn’t want to come back to no van or a clamp on it! Anyway, found our way into the centre and got a map from tourist information and just wandered around the streets of Florence. Had a picnic outside the amazing Duomo (cathedral) made of three different types of marble (information found out from overhearing a tour group). Although it rained intermittently it was a very nice day and we were happy to have seen Florence. We also found a cheap internet café and emailed some more helpxers. When we got back to the van we were very relieved to find WEX still there without a clamp or a fine and we drove off quickly before anyone could catch us. We didn’t really know where to head now, it was late afternoon and we had no plan except to wait for the helpxers to reply. We used the satnav to locate any villages nearby and tried our luck. The first village, don’t know the name, had on street parking with an incredible view but no shop and we had no beer or wine so we moved on. Came to another town which was a bit bigger, unfortunately don’t the name of this one either, which had a big car park full of campers. On closer inspection all the campers were empty but we thought we’d definitely not get moved on so parked up for the night. Walked down to the town which was small and seemed quite old but had an ugly, new looking square built with a supermarket and a bar/café. Wasn’t very scenic but had a really nice vibe as the whole town, it seemed, were out chatting to each other with the kids playing and so on. Had a beer in the bar/café and saw they had an amazing array of cut up sandwiches and olives and sundried tomatoes on the bar. Being English we didn’t take anything but we noticed the other customers take one with their drink. I plucked up the courage to ask ‘what is this?’ to the barman and he gave us two plates and said have as much as you like. We were still too embarrassed to take loads but we got enough so we didn’t have to make dinner. Had a couple more beers as a treat for getting the last few nights camping for free (and to get enough food to fill us up) and then went back to the van and chilled.

7^th May

Woke up to a phone call from one of the helpxers saying he was ready if we wanted to come today or tomorrow. We said we can be there today as it was only a couple of hours driving. How exciting! We went back to the bar/café in town for coffee, toilet and to use the free wifi to get directions to the house. The guy is called Nick, this is pretty much all we knew. We decided to go on and pay for the motorway so we didn’t get lost on the windy roads again and headed straight towards the town Barga (in Tuscany, heading west again). Nick text to say he wouldn’t be finishing work until six so we stopped outside a grave yard, with lovely views of the mountains, and had lunch. We then drove into Barga anyway so we could have a look around and were very happy to see there was a camper car park here too. Where were all these places on the first few days Italy?! Anyway, stopped there and cleaned out the van a bit and did the washing up from lunch. Barga is an old medieval town set right on top of a hill and is very pretty, with the old town being walled off and full of narrow winding cobbled streets. We thought we were very lucky to have found this helpx or we’d never have seen it. Walked right to the top of the hill to the Duomo which has a beautiful view of the town and the surrounding mountains. As it was the afternoon almost everything was closed, but we did find somewhere to sit and have a coke. Then we headed back to van to chill out before meeting Nick. Got a text saying to meet him in a bar by the car park and headed there. Met Nick and followed him in his car to his house two kilometres outside the town. All a bit nerve racking and a funny situation! There was another helpx couple already staying there; the lovely Carole and Keith who are in their fifties or sixties (we think) from Yorkshire who have already been with Nick about two weeks and plan to stay more than a month. Nick is Italian but grew up in England and moved back to Italy a while ago. He is divorced and needs some helping hands to keep the huge garden under control and to get the big house re-decorated. It’s Carole and Keiths first helpx too so it’s nice that they were there already to show us what to do. Got shown our room and around the house (lovely big house on the side of a hill with more stunning views of the mountains. Wow) and then taken out into the town. Nick got the vino rosso in and introduced us to a few locals; Paulo, Paulo and Paula. Carole and Keith joined us and we drank more wine and everyone got acquainted. Nick treated us to dinner in Ricardo’s restaurant and we had our first Italian meal out, which was lovely; very authentic and Tuscan. Had one last night cap in another bar called ‘Paulo Gas’ (the guy who runs it, another Paulo, is who Paulo Nutini is named after! Barga is his home town and he visits every now and then- so fingers crossed.) Anyway, very fun and drunken introduction.

7^th May – 15^th May

I am writing now on the 15^th. We’ve been here just over a week and we are loving it. Sadly Nick works 9-5 so he’s not around in the days but we have had dinner together most nights and worked together all weekend. Pete has got hold of a machete which he hasn’t put down yet and has hand chopped down any tree he is allowed to. We’ve been doing loads, and also a lot of relaxing in the sunshine and it’s too hard to do a day-to-day so we thought bullet points would be better of what we’ve done so far.

On the first day Pete cut down a few trees and then we all helped to finish paint the downstairs bedroom and re-organise, and throw away some of, the furniture and stuff. Ended up with a lovely huge room with French doors that Carole and Keith get to use for the rest or their stay.
I have started to mosaic the garden steps and bring some colour in the garden with old ceramic vases we found already smashed. The steps were concrete blocks before so anything would have been better.
We have seen an old man herding goats and asked Nick if he made any cheese. Nick took us to his farm house where his wife runs a tiny dairy. You would never know it was there! She makes ricotta and pecorino and we got some of the ricotta which was only made half an hour ago and was still warm. Amazing.
Me and Pete made a flower bed with a dry stone wall and picked wild strawberries and irises from the track to plant in it.
We also picked loads of wild nettles and Pete made a delicious nettle pesto.
We have made two huge bonfires to burn all the old wood (and the new wood from the trees Pete keeps cutting down!) which has been really fun and taken all day to do- the original pile was huge.
Pete arranged canes in the veg garden (planted by Carole) for the tomatoes and cucumbers to grow up.
Added wild sorrel, found at the bottom of the garden, to the herb patch.
We had a lovely day off and visited Lucca, which is the nearest ‘big’ town. It is an old walled town and is beautiful and everyone rides bikes. We took our bikes out which was good; everyone thought we were locals because we didn’t have the huge bike rental sign. We even got talked to in Italian. We had lunch in a restaurant and then cycled the wall around the town which now has a pedestrian path the whole way round. Relaxed in the glorious sunshine.
We have also been eating like kings as Carole is an amazing cook and makes us lunch and dinner (both with a different dessert). She cooks Italian/Tuscan style and it’s by far the most authentic food we’ve had yet.
Went to the jazz club in town on Friday night (Barga is well known for its jazz festival in summer) and then got invited back to Ricardo’s (one of the restaurant owners) house and drank beer and hung out with some locals. Fortunately they spoke English so we weren’t too left out.
Generally drinking A LOT of red wine.

That’s all I can remember for now… Having a great time with our helpx family! The house is in an amazing place; having lunch looking at the view in the sun in like paradise. And because Nick doesn’t cook for us he said he only expects two hours of work done each day. We have done more because we’ve been enjoying so much, but it means we get time to chill out and read and sun bathe too. It’s setting very high standards for our future helpxing.

Lunch in the garden with Carole. ^

Notice the steps. ^

Pete cutting down a tree! ^

Me starting my mosaic. ^

Lunch and the house. ^

My first mosaic step! ^

Cigars and jazz. ^

Shepherds wife and dairy. ^

Around Barga. Market selling porcini gathered from the surrounding hills.

Lunch. Top photo is Keith and bottom is Nick (our host) and Carole.

My second mosaic step. And they built more bloody steps!

Medieval fete with crossbow competition in the town. Forgot to write about it.

Our flower bed and dry stone wall! ^

Kitchen. ^

Day out in Lucca. ^

Pete and his beloved machete. And bonfire. ^

16th - 26th May

We stayed another week or so with Nick, Carole and Keith in lovely Barga. We had a couple of thunder storms and generally the weather got a bit rainier so we had some less fun indoor jobs to do such as scrape and paint the bathroom ceiling. But anyway we still had a wonderful time and I had my birthday which was amazing. Some more bullet points...

One of the main things that happened in our last week is a new helpx lady came. She didn't really get on with the group and tried to kick us all in to gear. She left after two days not on the best of terms.
On the Thursday night before my birthday Carole and Keith were lovely enough to splash out on an incredible steak which Pete and Carole cooked (very beautifully, thinnly sliced) amoungst seven other courses including ricotta stuffed courgette flowers and gorgonzola covered green beans! Once eaten Pete got out his guitar and we all had a sing along and a dance. It was a really really lovely evening.
On my birthday day me and Pete went for a walk to the mountains that we could see from the garden. It was a walk I had found in a tourist brouchure to a natural arch in the rock that looked quite average but a nice walk anyway. The mountains were lovely. Like the Ardeche in France there seemed to be a different season on each side. One had lush green grass and spring flowers and the other red fallen leaves and moss. In one part every single tree had fallen over- Pete says it was because they had got too top heavy and the soil wasn't dense enough. Anyway they looked cool. We walked for nearly three hours before we got to the top and the arch there was incredible! We could see the sea the otherside- we couldn't believe it! Unfortunetly the clouds came rolling in and we didn't want to get stuck on the mountain (1200 metres up) so we headed back down. The way back was much quicker and at the bottom the sun was shining. We stopped for a picnic just outside Barga before heading home. Had dinner, sadly without Carole and Keith because of drama regarding the new lady, but it was lovely anyway- Nick cooked spag bol- and then we headed into town to the jazz club. The main act tonight had a front man called Jeff, a very nice English man that loves to play country music and sing-a-longs. Sadly his bassist couldn't make it and instead he had three young guys play who also performed on their own. Oh my god they were so good! Pete says he hasn't been that impressed by naturally talented musicians like that for years. After the jazz club we went home and me, Pete, Nick and Keith stayed up and drank alot of wine.
Pete was given a wall in the garden to design a murial- Nick even bought him spray paints- and he stencil graffitied lots of leaves coming out an old vase. The vase was real and was kept on the small wall in front. Can't explain it properly but there are pictures below! It was really cool; similar leaves to those on our van.
I finished and grouted my mosaic steps and was very proud of them. Took a while but the effect was worth it in the end. Just wish I could have taken them with me!
I also dropped my laptop and lost all of our photos (the best are on here thank god) and now we have windows in Italian.

All in all we had a fantastic time. We really couldn't have asked for a better first helpx or place to stay and know about or better people to have met. We said sad goodbyes to a few of the locals in town and told to come back (with a free room in a hotel!) Said a very sad 'see you soon' to Nick, Carole and Keith and set off on the road again- with a picnic from Carole of course!

As we had had some generous birthday gifts in the bank from parents we decided we would see Venice before leaving Italy. We drove all the way there in one day using the motorway and as we didn't want to drive on to Venice island we came on to the coast just before. We were lucky enough to stumble across a campsite right next door to a ferry stop to Venice with a view to the island. Set up here and had a relaxing evening amoungst lots of other tourists- by far the busiest campsite we've seen so far!