Posted by: Debra Kolkka | March 24, 2024

Spring is here

It is now officially spring in Italy. My garden has been looking like spring for a while. It was a mild winter this year and the plants are further advanced than usual.

A lot of my gorgeous daffodils are almost finished, but there are a few still popping up.


Almost all of my peonies have appeared. The tree peonies are first and some of the herbaceous peonies are shooting up. Some are just pink points poking out of the soil and a couple are yet to appear. I do the rounds a few times a day to check on them.

The weeping cherry trees are flowering and the bees love them.




Rosemary all over the garden is covered in blossom and all types of butterflies and bees. 🐝 I wandered too close this morning and one chased me off.

Alyssum and snap dragons are still around from last summer and have flowers.

The hydrangeas have sprouted leaves and rhododendrons are growing flowers. Porcupines have been digging holes in their pots and in the garden.

It has taken years for the tiny daisies to thrive in my grass. Dozens of packets of seeds have been scattered all over and grown in seed beds. Finally there are flowers everywhere. I would love all the grassed areas to be full of these.

Porcupines have had a field day there as well. I have to stomp the dirt back into place. I have never seen a porcupine, but I know where they have been.


Lizards are appearing and enjoying the sun.

The peach tree has blossoms.

Violets are popping up everywhere.

Vinca is growing all over. I am digging it up from under the trees on the edge of the property and planting it in other spots.

An Australian kangaroo paw managed to survive the winter.

The girls are still looking good in the garden.

Tiny wild strawberries are appearing.

Wild primulas are all over the slopes.

Lots of daisies have survived the winter and have flowers.

A type of poppy seems to have come from nowhere.

This appears every year.

Bees love crocus.


Yellow ginestra and forsythia are brightening the garden.

A hedge of photinia that looked miserable for years has finally settled in and is covered in new growth.

Here are some random lovely things.



Spring is a wonderful time to be in a garden. Something new appears every day.

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Posted by: Debra Kolkka | March 18, 2024

A short visit to Prato

Prato is on the train line from Lucca to Florence, making it easy for me to visit. I get off the train at Porta al Serraglio, which takes me directly to the old part of Prato.

I was surprised to learn that it is the second largest city in Tuscany, after Florence, with around 195,213 residents. Prato’s economy has long been based on textiles and its current textile district is the largest in Europe, made up of about 7,000 fashion companies.

Not far from the station is the Prato Cathedral, which was already in existence in the 10th century. It is in a beautiful piazza with a delightful fountain in the centre.

Donatello’s pulpit.




The town mixes old and new well. There are lots of modern shops, bars and restaurants that fit into the ancient setting.

 


Not far along the street from the Cathedral is Palazzo Pretoria, built in the 13th century in red bricks. The white stones are a late-Gothic addition. The external staircase and clock were added in the 16th century.

A statue of Prato’s famous citizen, known as the Merchant of Prato, is in front of the palazzo. Francesco di Marco Datini (1335 – 1410) is known for having implemented the first partnership system in business in 1383. He had no legitimate or male heirs and left the bulk of his fortune to a charitable foundation established in his name, the “Casa del Ceppo dei poveri di Francesco di Marco”, which still exists today.

Castello dell’Imperatore built by Frederick II of Hofensraufen on top of a previous fortification of which 2 towers remain. It was built between 1237 and 1247. Frederick II died during construction and the interior was never completed. It is open to the public.

Parts of the old walls of Prato are still intact.


Prato has an excellent textile museum which celebrates its long history with spinning, weaving and much more in the creation of textiles and clothing. A new exhibiton was being installed so only one part of the museum was open, an excuse to return.

 

A fulling machine used in the cloth finishing process, from the 19th century.

 

An old wooden loom.

 

A spinning wheel.

A sewing machine from the end of the 19th century.

An example of silk.

The textile museum is excellent and requires lots of time for anyone interested in how our garments  are made and how the process has developed. There were groups of students of various  ages going through the museum while I was there. Perhaps there were some budding designers among them.

Another reason to return…Cantucci, a type of biscotti were invented in Prato in the middle ages and are still produced by local traditional makers. Of course you can now buy them anywhere, but buying them where they were first made sounds like a plan.

I would have liked to spend more time in Prato, but on the way into the city there was an announcement on the train telling of the train strike. There were only a few trains running so I had to leave early or wait until the evening. Sciopero is word you need to know in Italy. Stikes happen often, usually on a Friday.

 

 

 

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Posted by: Debra Kolkka | March 9, 2024

Almost spring in Lucca

Our apartment in Bagni di Lucca is a 30 minute drive from lovely Lucca. It is a beautiful town, small enough to be easy to navigate and big enough to have lots of points of interest.

Its best known attraction is the 4.2 kilometre wall surrounding the town. It is a great place to walk,  or ride a bike, on the wide street lined with trees. The trees are just about to get their spring leaves. I think it looks gorgeous in any season.


The height of the wall offers an excellent view into, and out of the town.

 


Corso Garibaldi is famous for its magnolia trees. Normally they bloom in mid March. This winter has been mild and the trees bloomed early.



The dominant statue of Maria Luisa di Borbone in Piazza Napoleon has some friends right now.

These have been created to advertise the Rolling Stones performance at the Lucca Summer Festival.

The huge tiger near the San Michele church has now been dismantled, but he certainly cut an impressive figure. He was part of the Carnevale celebrations a few weeks ago.

The church is impressive too.

Not far from Piazza San Michele is Piazza Cittadella where Puccini sits in front of the house where he was born.


The piazza is also home to Paris Boheme, the excellent restaurant of my delightful friends Luis and David. Say hello, again, to Luis and David from Paris Boheme, Lucca

Via Fillungo is the main street that winds its way through the town.  It is 700 metres long and takes its name from the Fillongo family who lived there in medieval times. I can’t go to Lucca without walking at least some of its length. Look out for the clocktower and climb to the top if you feel the need.

A little further on if you stop on the corner of Via Buia and look right you will see the Guinigi Tower with its holm oaks on top. The tower dates from the second half of the 14th century, is 45 metres high and has 233 steps to the top. I have climbed this tower. I climbed the Guinigi tower in Lucca

Further along to the right is the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro. The elliptical shape is what is left of the 2nd century Roman amphitheater. It once had about 18 rows of seats and held 10,000 spectators. Now it is a stunning town square. (It is home to my favourite shop in Lucca, Le Sorelle, an excellent homewares shop named for the 4 beautiful daughters of the owners)

Further on to the right is the Romanesque Basilica San Frediano. It was begun by the Irish bishop of Lucca in the 6th century. It haa few rebuilds and the Byzantine style mosaic facade was added in the 13th century. Go inside to visit Saint Zita. San Frediano, a beautiful church in Lucca


Stop for coffee and a pastry at the Saint Zita Cafe in the piazza in front of the church. Photo taken last year…see more of the Cafe and Lucca in a different season. A last look at lovely Lucca…for now


My favourite door in Via Fillungo.  The most impressive door in Lucca?

I think it is easy to see why Lucca is one of my favourite towns in all of Italy. Over the last 20 years we have seen its popularity grow. The streets are full of tourists in the season and I feel very lucky to live close by…and be able to visit often and see it without those crowds.

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Posted by: Debra Kolkka | February 29, 2024

Blog statistics and daffodils

I have been writing Bagni di Lucca and Beyond since 2009. I started writing it to help friends staying at our Italian apartment with their travels in the area and Italy in general.

Nobody was more surprised than I was that it gathered a following. The busy years were 2012 – 2017 when each blog post attracted thousands of views. That has dwindled over the years as people have become less interested in blogs. I rarely look at statistics these days, which is just as well. I looked recently to discover that each post gets a few hundred views at most and each time a write a post I lose a follower.

It would be disheartening, but I really only write for myself these days to record the places I have been, a diary where I can remind myself of interesting visits. I write about places I like and might like to return to, so I can find where I stayed and a good restaurant to revisit. It has also been interesting to document the growth of the garden at Casa Debbio. It is nice that there a still a few people following.

I am now back in lovely Italy for a few months. I have returned to rain and cool weather and I love it. The river is roaring past our apartment in Ponte a Serraglio and we have had heavy rain overnight. I love to stand at the window and watch the river and the mists rolling through the mountains.


I went up to our mountain house to find the garden full of daffodils, rosemary bushes covered in flowers and my peonies starting to appear. The signs of spring are very early this year. Everyone has been telling me how warm this winter has been.

Helibores are looking great.


Bees are buzzing around the rosemary flowers.

Some allysum is still flowering.

A few other things are still flowering.

The weeping cherry will soon be in bloom.


The red camellia bush is covered in flowers.

Daphne has the most beautiful fragrance.

Acanthus s thriving.

Artichokes are well on the way.


Most of my peonies have started to grow. Some are still little pink points poking out of the ground, some have leaves and one bush has small buds…much too early.


It is going to be fun to watch the garden come to life in the next few weeks and months. It is a great time to be in Italy.

Thank you to those who continue to follow my blog and a special thank you for taking the time to leave a comment!

Update…I have dropped 6 followers since I wrote this post…a record….interesting.

 

 

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Posted by: Debra Kolkka | February 25, 2024

Indian Pacific from Perth to Sydney

The Indian Pacific train is named for the 2 oceans at either end of the train’s journey. It first ran in 1970 after the completion of gauge conversion projects in South Australia and Western Australia, enabling a cross-continental rail journey. The route includes the world’s longest straight stretch of railway track. The stretch across the Nullarbor Plain is 478 kilometres. The entire trip is 4352 kilometres.

It was the crossing of the Nullarbor that was the attraction. We took the Ghan from Adelaide to Darwin several years ago and I loved travelling through the desert. Far from boring, the landscape is stunning and constantly changing. I expected the same with the Nullarbor.

We boarded the train in Perth. Our train was 800 metres long, difficult to see from the photo below.

We soon left the city and suburbs behind.

We began to see farms and bush and open country.



We saw some of the salt flats spotted from the plane on our way to Perth.



We saw kilometres of pipeline.

We stopped in Kalgoorlie on the first night. We were driven through the town and up to the huge open cut mine, which operates 24 hours a day. The town looks well kept and the mine interesting but even though the mine was lit photos didn’t really show much.

The Nullarbor was well and truly on show on day 2. Nullarbor means no trees, but there is plenty of low growth and we saw sheep and cattle grazing and the odd emu.

 



We stopped for an hour at Cooke, an abandoned town beside the train line. It was established in 1917 when the Trans-Australian Railway was built, and named after the 6th Prime Minister of Australia, Joseph Cook. At one time it supported a school and hospital. It is still a principle stopping place for trains to take on diesel fuel and water.


The remains of a town pool.

It would have been a good idea to stay out of jail.

Someone had a sense of humour.

It was an interesting interlude on the journey. I don’t think I would like to be this remote.



The Nullarbor continues… As we got closer to the South Australian border trees began to appear.





At one point we travelled beside the long straight road.

A desert sunset.


We woke up to a different landscape when we were close to Adelaide.


We had a short stop in Adelaide. I chose to visit the famous Adelaide Market. There was also offered a walk through the city centre, a tour of Adelaide Oval or Adelaide Hills.

 


An extra locomotive was added to the train to take us up to the Blue Mountains where we stopped and visited the gorgeous Three Sisters and took the steep train ride down to the forest below.

 





Coal was mined here many years ago and there are still remnants of the industry.


This is a track from the mining days, no longer in use.


And a memorial to the mine workers.


From there it was back through Katoomba to a local train to take us to Sydney and our flight home.

The Indian Pacific was an excellent adventure. The cabin was small but comfortable, the food and service on board was great and I loved the ever changing Australian landsacape.

I am now in Helsinki on my way to Italy. Needles to say, the landscape and temperature are a bit different here.

After our hot summer in Brisbane I am enjoying walking in the cold weather. Tomorrow Italy.

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Posted by: Debra Kolkka | February 2, 2024

Flying over Australia

Yesterday we flew from Brisbane to Perth. We are going to take the Indian Pacific train back from Perth to Sydney, which should be excellent.

I had a book to read on the 5 hour flight but the view from my window kept me fascinated almost the entire way. We flew over cultivated land for some time before the mostly untouched landscape of western New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia appeared below me.





The terrain became more brown and mountainous.








What look like salt pans appeared with the most incredible patterns.




This one looks like a rabbit.


As we flew towards the Great Australian Bight the land had ripples as if it was the floor of the sea, which it probably once was.

The bight came into existence when Gondwana broke apart and separated Antarctica from Australia around 50 million years ago. It extends from the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia to Cape Pasley, east of Esperance in Western Australia.

If you look at a map of Australia it does look as though a large chunk has been bitten off. The coastline has steep cliff faces and rocky capes. It is about 1,160 kilometres in length.

 

I thought I could see the railway line we will be travelling on in a few days.

We were soon near the coast and the Great Australian Bight.



Then the sea and the sky merged into one.


The south of Western Australia appeared soon. There is lots of farming land where wheat, oats and barley are grown. Everything looked very brown so I supposed the crops have been harvested.






Flying under flat bottomed clouds.


Coming into Perth…and 42 degrees.



The lovely Fremantle sunset.


It is a mistake to think that inland Australia is boring and there is nothing much to see. Going by train across the Nullarbor will be interesting. There will be photos.

 

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Posted by: Debra Kolkka | January 27, 2024

Queen Elizabeth II flower market, Paris

The flower market on the Ile de la Cite in Paris was opened in 1809. It was called the Marche aux fleurs et aux oiseaux Cite…the Cite flower and bird market. It is to be found on the Place Louis-Lepine. It was renamed The Queen Elizabeth II Flower Market in 2014 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Allied Forces landing in Normandy and to honour Britain’s longest reigning monarch.

The wrought iron pavilions covered with a glass roof are fun to wander through even if you are not looking to buy plants or birds. We strolled through shortly after King Charles had dropped in on his Parisian visit.


We were surrounded by colour and wished we had a permanent home nearby so we could gather some treasures.



 

If you can’t manage a real bird.





Marche aux Fleurs Reine Elizabeth II is a short walk from Notre Dame. The market is not big, but a delightful place to spend a colourful sojourn.

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Posted by: Debra Kolkka | January 17, 2024

My favourite Paris bridge and Napoleon

Napoleon Bonaparte is interred in Les Invalides, a complex of buildings containing museums and monuments relating to the military history of France.


 

Napoleon’s legacy is complicated. He was considered one of the greatest military generals in history. He played a key role in the French Revolution (1789-99). As the first consul of France (1799-1804) he instituted a number of lasting reforms – centralised administration of government, a higher education system, a central bank, law codes and a sewer system.

He also proclaimed himself Emperor, presided over an extravagant court and lavished wealth and privelege on his family. He kept Europe at war for 15 years resulting in an estimated 3.5 million to 6 million deaths. He left France in a weaker position than when he started.

He died aged 51 after being exiled to Saint Helena Island after the battle of Waterloo. Napoleon was originally buried on the island in 1821. King Louis-Philippe decided to have his remains transferred to Les Invalides in 1840. The former Royal Chapel known as the Domes des Invalides is the tallest church building in Paris at an height of 107 metres. After major excavation work the body of Emperor Napoleon I was finally laid to rest there on 2nd April 1861. His final resting place and sarcophagus are most impressive.

He is surrounded by grandeur.


I have visited the house where Napoleon was born in Ajaccio, Corsica and the house where he was exiled on the island of Elba. His resting place is much more grand.

Napoleon was here

Able I was ere I saw Elba

Upon leaving Les Invalides we walked to the exquisite Alexander III bridge which connects the Champs-Élysées quarter with Invalides and Eiffel Tower.  It has been classified as a French monument historique since 1975.

 


The Beaux-Arts style bridge is adorned with Art Nouveau lamps, cherubs, nymphs and winged horses and lots of gold. It was built between 1896 and 1900 and named after Tsar Alexander III of Russia. His son Nicholas II laid the foundation stone in October 1896.





After leaving the bridge we strode towards Champs-Élysées passing 3 others stepping out.

Winston Churchill.


Georges Clemenceau

Charles de Gaulle

Walking through Paris under a bright blue sky is excellent.

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Posted by: Debra Kolkka | January 8, 2024

Rodin was prolific

The Musee Rodin in Paris was opened in 1919. Auguste Rodin donated his home, the Villa des Brillants, and his entire collection of sculptures, along with paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir that he had acquired, to the French State on the condition that they turn the buildings into a museum.

The collection includes 6,600 sculptures, 8,000 drawings, 8,000 old photographs and 7,000 objects d’art. I said he was prolific. The visitor gets to see The Thinker, The Kiss and the Gates of Hell and much, much more up close.

We entered the gates and wandered through the beautiful garden surrounding the museum building.

 






I’m sure I’m not the only one to get this shot.

Looking back at the lovely house.



The Gates of Hell depicts a scene from the Inferno, from Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. It is 6 metres high, 4 metres wide and 1 metre deep and contains 180 figures, ranging in size from 15 centimetres to more than 1 metre.

The sculpture was commissioned in 1880 and meant to be delivered in 1885. Rodin would continue to work on the project for 37 years, until his death in 1917.



Come inside to see a tiny selection of the treasures there. The air conditioning was not working and the top floor in particular was horribly hot. I need to visit again to take a longer look.





The museum is stunning. For me the best was the garden, it was a joy to walk in and take in the incredible work of Auguste Rodin.

The Musee Rodin is at 77 Rue de Varenne, Paris.

https://www.musee-Rodin.fr

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Posted in Paris

Posted by: Debra Kolkka | December 29, 2023

Monet’s garden

For most of our month in Paris we stayed in the city. One exception was our visit to Monet’s Garden in Giverny. It was late September so the garden was not at its peak, but it was still stunning. Monet didn’t like organised gardens. He planted in groups of colours and preferred his plants to grow freely. It certainly works in his beautiful garden.

The house and garden were left to Monet’s son Michael after his death in 1926. It became neglected after WWII and in 1966 Michael Monet left it to the Academie des Beaux-Arts. In 1977 Gerald van der Kamp was appointed Curator at Giverny. Andre Devillers helped him reconstruct the garden and bring it back to the way it was in Monet’s time.  Almost 10 years were necessary to restore the house and garden and the property has been open to the public since 1980.

The entrance to the garden leads you through a garden to his house, which is open to visitors. There are narrow paths between the garden beds, but they are fenced off to keep crowds away from the plants. It is understandable and does not detract from the visit.


Walking through the house I had the feeling that the artist still lived there and that we might come upon him create a painting.


I particularly loved the sunny, bright kitchen.

There are views of the garden from windows.



From the house it is a short walk to the water garden.


The most famous part of his garden is the water garden with its lovely Japanese bridge covered with wisteria, in bloom in spring, other smaller bridges , weeping willows and his gorgeous water lilies. The garden is accessed via an underground passage.









I can imagine that the crowds in spring would be huge. There were lots of people about when we were there, but the garden is large and there are lots of paths to explore. Of course it made me want to go home to Casa Debbio and dig an enormous pond and plant willows and water lilies.

Monet’s Garden will be open in 2024 from 29th March until 1st November.

 

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