Day 14 - The drive to Rome

I was right.  I thought there might be some good photo ops along the drive, since we were driving through a National Park, and I was not disappointed.

We drove through the Sibillini Mountains, and WOW...  I mean just WOW !!!

First, we stopped in this little village with a beautiful mountain lake.

Then, as you drive along, you come round a corner and you can see for kilometers.

Come around another corner, and you think "Why did I take that previous picture - this is way more stunning."

Of course, this is Italy, so you're never too far from...

Imagine how that pizza would taste, while looking at this...

OK, so mountains are beautiful.  I get it.  It's breathtaking - like driving through the Rockies back home.

But then, we come to this little village: Castelluccio.  As you go through the village, it's just another beautiful small Italian village in the mountains.  However, as you get to the other side, this massive plain opens up - the Piano Grande, which is full of coloured wild flowers growing by the gazillion.

It's really quite stunning - the mix of green, purple, red and yellow make for some very beautiful scenery.

Here's what they look like up close.

But then step back again, and it's more of this...

...and this...

I don't think I can emphasize how beautifully breathtaking it really is.  I'm quite sure the pictures do not do it justice, but hopefully it gives you a taste of what this region has to offer.

If you have to do a 3 hour drive between Le Marche to Rome, this is certainly a nice way of making it worth while.

Now, I'm at an airport hotel just outside of Rome.  Flight home is tomorrow morning.  The hotel is not nearly as beautiful as the other places I've stayed on this trip, but it will be quite comfortable for a good night's sleep before the long journey home.  Perhaps I'll post pictures of it tomorrow - but no promises.

Day 13 - hanging out around the villa

Today, being our last full day in Le Marche, we decided to have a quiet day hanging out around the villa and in Macerata, the town nearby. 

There are a few pictures though that I had to get.  These are views that we see everyday, and I absolutely needed to stop and get some pictures.

First are the sunflower fields.  They are everywhere, but usually not very convenient to stop and snap a photo.  However, there is one right near our villa on a not too busy street.  Here are some photos.

Then, everyday as we drive into Macerata, we come around a corner and get an amazing view of the city. It's never all that convenient to stop there, but on the last day, we needed to.

Got to Macerata, and it was fairly crowded for a Thursday morning.  We discovered walking around that it was graduation day for the University students.  You can identify them by the laurel wreaths that they are wearing around their heads.

Got to see the open air opera.  As I mentioned, the festival starts tonight, so we'll miss it.  The other night, when I thought there was a dress rehearsal, it was actually a showing, but just for the University students.  So, although we heard it, we did not get to see it. 

However, we were able see the theatre.

All in all, a beautiful part of Italy.  Now we leave for Rome, to begin our journey home.  We drive through a National Park, so I should get a few more beautiful pictures.

Day 12 - Monteconero and Sirolo

Right when you thought it couldn't get any more beautiful, it happened...

Today we went to the Adriatic coast, which is only about a 30 minute drive away.  We first went for a little hike down a peaceful treed path.

Every once in a while, you'd come to a clearing with a gorgeous view that looked something like this.

...or this...

...or then again, this...

...or this.

Would you believe...  this...

Like I said - gorgeous views.  But wait, it gets even better.  We drove up the coast a bit further, and had to stop the car at one point on the side of the road to admire the view and take a few more snapshots.

Then we stopped for lunch in Sirolo, which is a small town overlooking the sea.  A few more gorgeous views... These were taken right outside the patio at which we were having lunch.

And of course, being an Italian town in Le Marche, the churches were not too far from anything.

Now, we're back at the villa having a little rest before going out for dinner.

There's an open air opera theatre in Macerata, the town right nearby.  They have an opera festival that starts July 18, which is the day we are leaving this place, so sadly, I will not be able to attend the opera.  However, if my Italian is good enough, I believe tonight they have a dress rehearsal, and since it's "open air", we might actually be able to catch some of it.  It's worth a wander by.

Day 11 - Five hilltop medieval towns

Today we visited 5 different towns built on the top of hills, as so many of them are in this region.  It was kind of like the Cinque Terre of Le Marche, except the towns were further apart and a lot fewer tourists.

The five towns are Recanati, Montelupone, Treia, Appignano and Cingoli.

All these towns have the same theme.  They are built on top of a hill - usually the biggest Cathedral is right at the top of the hill, and the rest of the town is built around it.  There are many other churches in the same small area.  There are palaces, most of which are now museums.  There's always a monument to the people who died in the 1rst and 2nd World War.  And they always have amazing views of the countryside that surrounds it.

Driving up to them, they all look pretty much like this - that's a smaller one; in fact one that we didn't visit, but we had a good view of it anyway.

First stop was Recanati.  Here's a sample of one of the palaces, which is now part of the University.

...and the beautiful view.

The monument to the war dead...

And statues.  There are a lot of famous Italian artists from many of these towns, and they have statues and museums dedicated to them.  This is Giacomo Leopardi.  Didn't bother going into the museum, because I'm not sure I would have had an appreciation for a famous Italian poet.

Behind the main façades, you always find lovely little passageways and beautiful courtyards.

On to the next town - Montelupone.  This one has very steep hills leading into it.  Top of a hill - shouldn't be a surprise, but these were particularly steep.  It seems to attract many cyclists who want to prove they can do it, I guess.

Great views from the top.

Many of which you get a peek at through a gate or someone's courtyard.

Looking back from outside the gate.

Then we went to Treia, who's claim to fame is a festival honouring an old Italian ball game, which is played with a leather ball and a mallet that you put on your hand, which has sharp points on it.  Looks like some type of torture device.

Here is their monument to the war dead...

...and the great views.

Cingoli was by far the highest town and had the best views - although it does look very similar to all the other views, only from a bit higher up.

Also has it's central church and towers.

It's just all so beautiful.  You become somewhat immune to it, because it's everywhere.  

My only complaint about this area is that the lack of tourists has one drawback.  We've been having a hard time finding places to eat lunch.  Restaurants are simply not opened at lunch time.  Not enough people to justify it I guess.  But, I think I can live with that.  It's much nicer to have time to wander through these villages in a calm and authentic atmosphere, where you only run into locals.

Day 10 - Urbino

After breakfast, we decided to drive to Urbino, which has palace that houses the National Gallery of Le Marche.  The museum is supposed to be second only to the Ufizzi Gallery in Florence.  Since it's a rainy day, seemed like a good idea.

But before leaving, I snapped a few more shots around the villa - grape vines and olive tree.

The drive is about 2 hours on the AutoStrata - the large freeway, and about 3 hours on the smaller more scenic route.  We decided to go for the 2 hour option.

The centre of the city is built on a big hill.  It's one of the more touristy places we've been to so far.  There were a lot of visitors hanging around.  The museum is in an old palace, beside a beautiful big church.

The art was beautiful, as one would expect.

I think I found the design for this year's Christmas cards.  If you want a sneak preview, it will be one of these photos.

After the museum, we had lunch and wandered around a bit.  Then it started raining harder, so we headed back home.  This time we took the scenic route.  Even though it was cloudy and raining, it was still a beautiful drive through the mountains along windy roads.  Although lot of driving, still found time for my selfie.

Once back at the villa, we just relaxed around here for the rest of the day.

Today, off to explore more hilltop towns.