annanotbob's Diaryland Diary
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Ciao, bellas
Back from Italy, absolutely knackered, blissed out, all good.
Don't know if I'll be able to write much, but I have to share the pics. I 'knew' I was going to a medieval village, but I hadn't really connected with that knowledge. I mean - look at this:
A whole village, with views like this from my terrace:
I never tired of that view - I could bask in it for ever. It felt utterly credible that this was the cradle of our western civilisation (OK, one of them - stop muttering at the back, you Greeks), home of the gods.
When we arrived at the village, I was knackered, over-dressed (we'd left on a frosty morning and now it was warm sunshine), still full of Valium from the flight and not looking as fit as I might have done. After a few minutes walking up steep steps carrying my luggage, I developed a mighty hot flush which induced big panic in Sally, the rep. She decided on the spot that I wouldn't survive a week of living at the top of the village and upgraded me to a house in the midddle, where I had a suite to myself - fabulous. No smoking indoors, of course, so I spent a lot of time in the doorway:
My bathroom was in a 'cave' carved out of the mountainside - every place we went in had a room like this at the back:
The yoga was great but utterly killing. There were only five of us, which meant lots of individual attention in the eight classes we had over the five days. The teacher was a dream - we were all in love with her half way through the first session - but her way of yoga is not one I'm used to in recent years, though it's how I started, many moons ago. She paid great attention to tiny detail, lots of it based around downward facing dog, which she used as a resting pose as well. What with that and the endless up and down hills, my legs nearly divorced me on grounds of unreasonable behaviour. By the end I was so knackered I could hardly straighten out at all:
and was in bed, fast asleep by ten most nights.
It was brilliant though, so calming and steadying.
We might go back in August and rent this palace from some weird old Welsh bloke we met, who's going to Boston for the month. He said palace, but again, I didn't really register until we got there to check it out and found it really was a palace, built about five hundred years ago, by the prince of the area (the principality - no idea how much or how little that covered in his case), full of frescoes and by far the single most beautiful place I have ever been:
yet as you see, lived in, quite comfortably. Sadly my camera ran out of battery at that point, but Jane's didn't and I shall copy some of her photos when we are recovered.
Today has been mental - Tony, a visit from Dot, Tony to the park, Marcus, phone calls, shopping for food, cooking, American Idol - they got rid of my favourite while I was away, boo hoo, and now I'm ready for bed although it's only just gone ten. Haven't had time to read, but will catch up soon
9:04 p.m. - 17/04/2008
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