Carmin de Santiago

In the middle ages Catholic pilgrims from all over Europe walked well over a thousand kilometres to the Cathedral at Santiago de Compostella, the supposed burial place of St. James.
Once over the Pyrennes and into Spain, all the routes converged for the westward journey across northern Spain. These days it has become a very popular hike, either as a pilgrim or just as a walker. 70 000 people do at least a portion of the trip each year, many on bicycles too. We followed the whole Spanish route in Homer over a period of a few days, visiting all the landmarks of the route. In Santiago, we walked the last 3 kms - so I do not think we will receive much pardon for that. Homer on the other hand should be going straight to heaven.

la Rioja

We spent a few days in Navarra and Rioja. The Rioja wines are some of Neil's favourites and the winelands are really beautiful. Unlike the wine routes of the Cape, you need an appointment to visit a bodega. There seems to be a trend for wineries to go for very modern, architectual masterpieces as cellars. We visited an excellent Museum of Wine at the Bodega Dinastia Vivanco and the Frank Gehry designed Bodega Marques de Riscal and toured the winery at Bodega Darien.

and more Italy... more France....

We headed to Milan, which is like a ghost town in August due to the holidays. All businesses are shut and only the most touristy restaurants are open. Turin was a little more lively; a pretty city that was host to the 2006 winter olympics.Turin is a great city for cycling around.We crossed the Alps into France and stayed in Grenoble,before heading south to Toulouse for a couple of days. Toulouse is good for walking.Then we spent a few days driving through the Pyrennes again. The scenery is so stunning it feels as if your eyes are aching!

A Slower Pace in Piedmont

We spent two weeks in a very tiny village called Bergolo in the heart of Piedmont. The campsite was officially closed but they let us park Homer there. The London Greenfields rented a villa 2 kilometres away, so we popped up and down on the scooter each day. The weather was great and the scenery stunning but I have to say that the real reason anyone visits Piedmont is because of the food!!! You usually get 3 to 5 antipastas, then primi piatti ( pasta ),secondi piatti ( meat ) and dolci ( dessert ). Neil's mum and I bought a black truffle in Alba and served it with pasta. One day we had traditional macaroni, which had been hand made by rolling the pasta dough around knitting needles, to get the hole in the middle.

More Italy

The Italian trip continued to be a discovery of good food and many new wines through Umbria, Tuscany part 2 and Emilia-Romagna. We drove through magnificent countryside and visited lots of villages and hilltop towns like Orvieto, Montepulciano and San Gimignano. Sienna is a stunning city, and of course there's Florence. The campsite in Florence was alongside Piazza Michelangelo, which has a stunning view over the city day or night. It is a great city to discover on foot but we skipped the Uffizi Gallery on account of the queues outside. Then it was on to Bologna - home of Spaghetti Bolognese, Modena - home of Balsamic Vinegar and Parma - home of Parma Ham and Parmesan Cheese.