Tails From Provence
What happens when a horsemad Ould Wagon moves from Cork to Provence with 2 horses, 2 dogs and a Long Suffering Husband? Why, she gets a third dog, discovers Natural Horsemanship à la Française, starts writing short stories and then discovers a long-buried talent for art, of course…
Two Steady Neddies
Finally, this week, the rain has stopped.
Finally, the ground is drying out.
Finally, the forecast is good.
Finally, my Javanese cold (thanks Bro) has cleared up.
Finally, we got the horses out.
I must confess, we actually groomed them yesterday, so today there was just a light patina of encrusted mud to remove, but I was coughing up a storm all last night as a result.
Today, we rode out through the back of the Farm and did a one-hour loop through the woods on the other side of the road.
Relaxed, confident and content – two steady neddies, strolling along enjoying the sunshine, swapping the lead back and forth, listening to the birds sing and the first cuckoo calling. And the horses were pretty good, too.
One advantage of an unemployed husband is that he’s available to for treks during the day, so tomorrow, we’re going further afield.
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This day last year, my friend Anne and I did our first and only dress rehearsal ride in preparation for The Big Trek. This year, Anne is preparing to walk part of the Camino de Santiago de Compestella to raise funds for Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. Relive our adventure and if you like the blog please donate to IGDB at http://www.mycharity.ie/event/anne_renshaws_event/
Last day in Tuscany
Our original plan for the trip to La Fiaba was to take part in a two-day Transumanza (cattle drive) on Saturday and Sunday, but due to the exceptionally wet winter and late spring the region has been enduring, the Transumanza had to be cancelled. The ground is soggy everywhere, so no animals are out grazing yet, so the horses and cattle have not yet met each other, and apparently it’s very important that they’re on first name terms before the horses start to make demands on their bovine buddies, such as “Git along little dogie” or “Keep movin’ moovin’ moovin.'”
We decided to come for the Easter weekend anyway, as we were both really looking forward to the break, but the weather definitely let us down! So when we saw that Monday’s forecast was pretty good, we arranged to stay an extra day – one of the few advantages of the LSH losing his job is that there was no pressure to be back for work on Tuesday morning!
Through the Ears of a half-Haffie!
Monday morning saw us present ourselves once again at the yard and head out for another trek, with Sharon absolutely determined to take us on one of her favourite rides, up to the deserted village of Vignale. I think she was a little disappointed to hear that the LSH and I had walked there the previous evening, but for me, the most important part of a trek is the journey, not the destination, so she needn’t have worried!
It was a lovely ride, there were two young ladies out with us as well, one of them on La Fiaba’s resident Halfinger and the other mounted on the ultra-steady Irish cob Lubie. I was on Blondina once again – I was getting quite fond of her by now – and the LSH was back on Pancho.
Sharon leading on Francy and Wilma the Haffie in front of me
The LSH and Pancho leaving the deserted village
We rode through olive groves
over hills and valleys
past bamboo thickets
and past another less pleasant sight – I guess this little guy died in the torrential rain over the weekend. He must have been too small for Easter lunch…
The horses enjoyed a picnic at Vignale…
…but moved on readily when asked.
It was a lovely last ride in Tuscany, very relaxed and low key and especially enjoyable because the sun came out to play.
Poor LSH had been fighting off a Javanese Lurgy introduced to Europe by The Bro, so he took to his bed for a while afterwards, with Nurse Cookie looking after him!
(I won’t be thanked for posting that!!)
But once the batteries were recharged, we went off exploring again and visited the nearby city of Volterra. Here’s a few photos (just to boost the Cultcher Levels of this blog).
Ruins of a Roman amphitheatre just outside of the town
Volterra is full of ancient buildings and narrow winding cobbled streets
View of Volterra skyline from the ruins of the Roman forum
By six pm it was starting to rain once again (and we were both feeling a tad fatigued) so we headed back to Soiano for our last night.
Besides the riding, what were my overall impressions of the trip?
First of all, Tuscany’s landscape reminded me a lot of the rolling hills of Northern California, but whereas the Californian hills are bare and green, you really get the feeling that this region has been cultivated for centuries. Olive groves, orchards and vineyards are everywhere you turn, terraced into the hillsides or nestling in the green valleys below. Some of the olive trees look truly ancient, with massive, gnarled trunks, and many of the dormant vines we saw marching in lines across the landscape looked ancient as well – twisted, ugly little stumps that you’d never dream could produce fruit.
Green-ness was another overwhelming impression – the fields and valleys are lush, verdant and a bit wet looking – a lot like Ireland in May, actually – but this may be a false impression, as a result of the heavy recent rainfall.
Where we live in the Luberon region has a wild feel to it – there’s oak woods all over the hills, interrupted occasionally with fields of lavender or other herbs, and only the valleys show any truly lush greenery. While there are little ancient villages scattered around all over the place here, Tuscany struck me as more ancient – you really get the feeling that this area has been civilised for eons, with Etruscan ruins mingling with Roman remains in the middle of medieval cities.
There are deserted villages and farmhouses scattered all over the place, too – not something we’ve seen much of in Provençe.
The accommodation was not what we expected – I was expecting a set-up like the French Gîtes Équestres, where there would be a couple of apartments attached to the yard. Instead, we were lodged in a Hazienda Agriturismo a couple of km away, on full board – much more luxurious than either of us expected! We received a warm welcome from our hosts (as well as from Sharon and Lorenzo, of course) and I’d readily go back any day.
In fact, we’d both like to go back just to explore the region a bit more.
Maybe next year…
Thank Friday it’s Lunchtime – La Piazzetta de Borgo, Iano
We’ve reviewed a Mexican restaurant in California, now it’s the turn of a little place in Tuscany. After riding on Easter Monday morning, we needed food. We both thought “pizza” but when we stopped into La Piazzetta de Borgo (recommended by Sharon) it turned out to be a good bit posher than it seems from the outside.
Not a cheap ‘n’ cheerful little pizzeria at all!
There were small kids strategically dotted around the inside of the restaurant – wherever we sat would have placed us within grabbing distance – and they were all pointing at the dogs and burbling excitedly. Our dogs don’t “do” small kids – well, not in a good way – so we opted to eat outside, even though it was a little on the cold side.
We perused the menu and made our choices – a shared starter Caciocavallo ragusano all griglia con bruschetta al pomodoro caramellato e oregano (grilled Sicilian cheese and bruschetta with caramelised tomatoes and oregano) followed by Petto d’anatra, purea di palate e riduzione balsamico (duck breast with mashed spuds and balsamic reduction) for the LSH and for me, Tortelli di pasta fresco ripieni di ricotta e noci al burro, timo e tartufo marzuolo. (Home made tortelli stuffed with ricotta cheese, creamed nuts, thyme and Marzuolo truffle – a local speciality)
The names sound so much more romantic in Italian!
We ordered a glass of white wine each, and as we sat and sipped it, the waitress presented us with an amuse-bouche of Tuscan bean soup.
“Soup” in Tuscany can mean something you eat with a knife and fork, as you can see.
I amused myself with my macro lens and the potted pansy while we waited for our starter. I unashamedly love pansies (hmm, there’s a phrase I never expected to write) with their brash colours and their big, cheerful, leonine faces.
Our starter arrived, already neatly divided in two. The waitress had made certain that we knew it was not just bruschetta – she used the phrase “The cheese is the main protagonist” which put it rather well.
The cheese – caciocavallo – was a bit like halloumi, and was grilled to a nice brown and served with a single slice of bruschette, adorned with delicious cherry tomatoes, made even sweeter by being roasted.
Excellent. We were just getting into our stride nicely at this stage, so we asked for an extra glass of wine each. We must have done something to endear ourselves to the waitress, because she left the bottle there for us to finish off at that stage!
While we were sipping our wine, we could hear something sizzling violently through the kitchen window behind us. That must be the duck, we agreed. Sure enough, our main dishes came out a few minutes later.
Yes, they were as good as they look. Those are big slices of FRESH truffle on my tortelli – Marzuolo truffles are dug up in the spring-time, unlike the classic black or white ones found elsewhere.
In for a penny, in for a pound, we agreed, let’s have dessert, too.
Chocolate figured strongly on the dessert menu, so I had to ask for my pear tart without its decoration of chocolate mousse, while the LSH knew what he wanted straight away – tiramisu.
To be picky, I would say the pastry wasn’t great, but really, that’s just nit-picking. It was a superb, gut-busting meal, and left us with happy memories of sitting in the weak Spring sunshine as we savoured every bite.
On the downside, it was not cheap. In fact, by comparison with the Provençal dining that we’re now used to, it was downright expensive, coming out at €66.00 for the two of us, almost twice what we’d expect to pay here. Still, we were on our holidays, and it was a very special, memorable meal.
Star Rating (out of 5) :
Service : ✮✮✮✮✮
Food : ✮✮✮✮✮
Value : ✮✮
Ambiance : ✮✮✮✮
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