Padova to Ljubljana - Mon., 1 Oct 2012

It's only about an hour and a half drive from Padova, Italy to Slovenia.  In fact the western part of Slovenia was part of Italy from the 1300s to 1947.  Then, Slovenia was part of communist Yugoslavia until 1991 -- when it became independent and democratic.  We were a little apprehensive as to what the current atmosphere would be, but were pleasantly surprised to find out that it is very much like the rural parts of Germany and Austria.

Not only the atmosphere, but also the countryside looks very much like rural Germany or Austria.

Our first stop was the Lipizzaner Stud Farm in Lipica -- where the Lipazzaner breed was first begun in 1581.  The name "Lipizzaner" is the German-ized form of "Lipizza" -- which is the Italian version of "Lipica" (since Lipica was part of Italy at the time).  But, fascinating history aside, Alice just likes to pet the horses.

Our next stop was about 30 minutes away at Predjama Castle.  The original castle was built into this cave in 1274 A.D., but was destroyed by seige and rebuilt in 1511.  The second castle was destroyed by an earthquake, so this is the "modern" castle -- built in 1570. 

We walked through the castle and were even able to climb above the castle -- inside the cave.  The inset (besides obscuring a man who wouldn't get out of my picture) shows the view looking outward.

As if the "castle in a cave" concept weren't fascinating enough, the castle/cave has a river running under it.

We spent the night in Ljubljana (Lə-yoob-lə-yahna) which is the capital and largest city in Slovenia.  It only has a population of 272,000 and has a "small-town" feel.  The view from our hotel window included the top of the Franciscan Church (partially obscured on the left) and the castle.

Ljubljana's town square is beautiful at night -- especially when viewed from this bridge (just southwest of the town square).

Florence to Padova - Sun., 30 Sep 2012

On Sunday, we had planned to attend church in Florence and then drive to Modena on our way to Padova.  Modena is the world's leading producer of Balsamic vinegar -- and Alice LOVES Balsamic vinegar -- so before our trip, I had made a couple of e-mail inquiries about it.  A couple of days before our trip, I got an e-mail from a lady saying she would be happy to show us how they make it in their home and we decided to take her up on it.  So, early Sunday morning, we drove about an hour and a half to church in Modena, but we were having trouble finding it.  Thinking it would be held in a rented office building (like most wards we've attended in Europe), we had parked the car and were looking for it on the wrong side of the road.  I happened to look across the street, further down the road, and voilà:

The Modena Italy Ward

These barrels are kept in the attic of Giorgio and Giovanna Barbieri.  Balsamic vinegar is made purely from grapes -- with no additives whatsoever -- and aged for 12 to 25 years in barrels made of cherry, or juniper, or oak, etc. to give it a specific flavor.

The Prato della Valle (a small portion is shown above) in Padova is the biggest plaza in Italy and one of the biggest in Europe.  After driving from Modena to Padova, we checked into our motel, took our Sunday nap, then walked around the Prato della Valle after dark.

Riomaggiore to Florence - Sat., 29 Sep 2012

This was perhaps our most picturesque day.  The 5 towns (called the "Cinque Terre") are, without a doubt, some of the most beautiful places on earth.  Not only are the towns charming, unusual, and gorgeous, but they're located on hillsides on the Mediterranean, just a few hours drive from the French Riviera.  In fact, the Cinque Terre are often referred to as part of the "Italian Riviera."  Since they are in northern Italy, the heat never gets deadly like it does in southern Italy and -- since they are on the Mediterranean, they never get extremely cold.  Our favorite town is Riomaggiore, which is the southernmost of the five.

To get the best shot of Riomaggiore (this shot), you have to climb way out on the rocks in the harbor -- but it's worth it.  (The first shot was taken from about the location of the person in the red shirt in the lower right of this picture.)

If you climb to the castle (which is just below the Italian Pine trees in the upper left of the top 2 pictures), you can look north toward the other 4 towns (which are all in the bay between the ridge in the foreground and the one in the background).

From the fifth town, Monteroso al Mare, the other four are visible.  Corniglia (the only town without access from the sea) is directly above the boat on the far right.  Vernazza is just above the bow of the boat to its left.  Manarola is visible (to the right of the boat on the far right) and a tiny bit of Riomaggiore can be seen over the ridge from Manarola.

"Il Gigante" ("The Giant") is a 46-foot concrete sculpture (sculpted in 1910) of Neptune at Monterosso al Mare.  Although he lost his arms during allied bombings in World War II, he's still an imposing figure if you compare his size to Alice (standing below).

13 years ago, they were shoring up the Leaning Tower of Pisa, so I couldn't climb it.

This time I climbed it and got a spectacular view.

By the time we got to Florence, the sun was going down.  We drove to Piazzale Michelangelo and got a great nighttime view of the old part of the city.  It was a little too dark for the still camera, but

not too dark for the iPad.

Nice to Riomaggiore - Fri., 28 Sep 2012

Friday morning, we went back down to the beach and it still wasn't very crowded.  The "Promenade" (red walkway that Alice is standing on) is 3.5 miles long.  It goes almost all the way to the end of the peninsula (in the background) which is almost 3 miles west of where Alice is standing and

over a half mile to the east (to about that big building just around the cove).

It is quite amazing how the Europeans make use of space.  The multi-story apartment building (in the inset above) has businesses on the bottom level.  The open garage door (in the center of the larger picture) is a mechanic with a lift, etc.

The city of Monte Carlo comprises most of the small country of Monaco that is on the Mediterranean (surrounded by France) near the Italian border.

The famous Monte Carlo Casino (that shows up in a lot of movies) is the building in the center of this picture.

Arles to Nice - Thurs., 27 Sep 2012

Since 800 B.C., Arles was inhabited by Ligurians, Celts, and Phoenicians before being conquered by the Romans in 123 A.D.  This arena (Les Arènes) was built by the Romans.  Notice that the buildings are so close to the arena that it's hard to get far enough away to take a picture.

Most of the buildings are much newer.  For example, the church here in the Place de la République was built between the 12th and 15th centuries A.D.

Next, we went to Les Baux de Provence.  Besides the remains of a castle, we were able to see reconstructions of several kinds of catapults.

Generally, castles were built on the highest peak for strategic reasons.  This is a view (from the castle hill) of the agriculture (mostly olive trees) below.

The Cannes Film Festival takes place at the "Palais des Festivals" (shown above).  Our plan was to park and walk around the building to where it meets up with the beach.  Well, what we didn't know is that there's a casino next door to this building -- not to mention that the "World Series of Poker" was going there on from September 21 to October 4.  Cannes is just a little town of 73,000, so when the film festival or a poker tournament is going on, traffic is a nightmare.  It took us about 45 minutes to get through town to the "Palais des Festivals" and I pulled into the casino by mistake.  Between oncoming traffic and a valet wanting to take our car, I had a heck of a time getting back out.  So, in lieu of the tour, I pulled over into a "taxi only" parking spot, jumped out and took the picture above and about 3 like the one below, hopped back into the car, and took another 45 minutes to drive out of town.

Like Hollywood, the "Palais des Festivals" has handprints of movie stars.  Using my toes for perspective, you can see the handprints of Julie Andrews (to which I added an inset of the picture I took of Michael Douglas' handprint).

Then, we drove to Nice which, like Cannes, is on the French Riviera.  Nice, however, is much bigger (345,000) and there weren't any poker tournaments going on there, so there were no crowds as we walked along the boardwalk (which is made of asphalt) and the beach.

The beach hotels were flamboyant and expensive,

but even our reasonably-priced Ibis had a great view.

Lyon to Arles - Wed., 26 Sep 2012

Jeff's mother's maiden name is "Durfee" from the French "d'Urfe."  The d'Urfe family has 2 castles in France -- about 30 minutes apart and about an hour west of Lyon.  Even though they both have origins in the Middle ages, we referred to the one above as "Jeff's NEW castle" because it was upgraded in the 1700s and 1800s.

Jeff's "new" castle has a moat around it and you can still see parts of the original construction.  The property was acquired by marriage around 1270 A.D. and the original castle and grounds were completed in 1558.

Jeff's "old" castle was begun in 1130 A.D. and enlarged in 1408.

Much of the inside is now in ruins.

Vienne, France was conquered by the Romans in 46 A.D. and became their provincial capital.  The Romans built this amphitheater that seats 11,000 people.

This is a view of Vienne from the amphitheater.

Geneva to Lyon - Tues., 25 Sep 2012

We actually left on Monday morning, but -- traveling to Geneva -- we lost 8 hours, so we arrived at 7:45 Tuesday morning.

This is the view from the plane of Lake Geneva as we prepared to land.

After getting our rental car, we drove straight to Lyon, checked into our motel and went to visit a silk factory.  Beginning in the 1500s, Lyon was the silk capital of Europe.  These looms were built in 1880 and coverted to electricity in 1904.

The silk-makers built passageways, called "traboule" (to cross) to get merchandise from their shops to the river without getting it wet.  We explored some of these passageways by following the yellow symbol above.

Then, we went to the "Place des Terreaux."  It has a fountain that was sculpted by Bartholdi (sculptor of the Statue of Liberty) in 1888.

The Rhône and Saône rivers meet in Lyon.  This is the Saône.

The "Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière" was built in the late 1800s and is across the Saône from Place des Terreaux.

This is a view of Lyon from the Basilique -- with the Saône in the foreground.  The Rhône isn't visible, but you can see the row of trees that grow along its bank.