Our Friends in Tuscany

On Sept. 1 we arrived in the charming town of Vicchio in the area of Mugella about 25 miles East of Florence. It was there that we experienced one of the best times of our trip.

Our home exchange there was really a hospitality stay. We had not understood that until we arrived. This means that the host family stays at the home while you are there and, in this case, was like bed and breakfast. Our fantastic hosts, Anna and Nicola, not only provided us with a large lovely bedroom and attached bath but three terrific meals a day and anything else we needed. They were the most charming hosts we could possibly have had.

Their home was very spacious and beautiful and the surrounding gardens were amazing....huge vegetable gardens and fruit trees of pears, figs, olives and almonds to mention a few.

Anna was a superb cook and our main meal everyday around 1:00 pm featured a wonderful pasta dish followed by the main course featuring delicious meat or chicken with vegetables, home made bread, home grown beefsteak tomatoes(the BEST we had ever tasted anywhere), fruit and some of Nicola's terrific homemade wine. An amazing experience every day! Not to mention fabulous strong Italian coffee and Nicolas's home made bread, honey and jam at breakfast Dinner was light and equally delicious with Nicola's homemade pizza(baked in a wood oven that he had built himself), home cured prosciutto, cheese, fruits, bread and wine. Walking in the countryside could barely keep off the pounds.

It is obvious that Nicola was a real Renaissance man in his garden and home growing organically almost everything we ate and building almost everything he needed to do it. He is also a wonderful man of kindness and generous humor. He didn't speak much English but with our struggling Italian we became close friends.

The same with his lovely wife, Anna. She is amazing as well. She is a wonderful cook and keeps a beautiful home; is a retired teacher and mother of two with two grandchildren and also caring for for her 96 year old Mama. She is a warm, loving and caring woman with a joyful personality and ready smile. She claimed not to speak English but after a few days was recalling a huge amount of the English class she had taken.

The best part of our trip is that we have made friends for life and they will be coming to visit us on Peaks Island next summer. I need to start cooking and taking Italian classes asap.

The following photos are of our friends with us, their beautiful home, their lovely dog, Streudel, and some the fruits of their fabulous garden.

Vence, France

The very end of Aug we were lucky
enough to visit our friends from Naples, FL, Anne and Jack Snee, at their beautiful home in Vence.... Located in the hills above Nice with lovely views of the Med. and beautiful pool and gardens. Anne's charming sister, Martine, was also visiting from her home in Belgium. Anne is a terrific cook and tennis player so we had three days of great meals under the stars and some very fun tennis. We thank them for being such wonderful hosts!

Tunisian Neighbor Baking Local Bread - Tabuna

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Tunisia - Visiting House & Views on Kerkennah

With Asma's sister, Delilah.

See Photos Below

Tunisia - Visit to Sidi Bou Said with friend & guide, Asma

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Tunisia

We arrived at the airport in Tunis on Aug. 18 to be greeted by our wonderful young friend, Asma, and whisked off to a very nice beach front resort hotel where we relaxed and recovered for a few days. The pool and beach were great and I had my first, and hopefully last, camel ride. It was much more scary and difficult than I ever imagined. I have a new respect for Lawrence of Arabia! Cannot imagine galloping across the desert on one of those huge creatures!

It was very hot so later in the day we went to Sidi Bou Said, a beautiful mountain village which overlooks the Gulf of Tunis. All the homes are beautiful white washed stucco with blue trim. It was such a lovely place we decided to stay for dinner of fish and lamb at a popular restaurant on the hillside overlooking the Gulf of Tunis and the Mediterranean Sea. A glorious evening.

The next day we left Tunis to take a 4 hour train ride to Sfax, Tunisia's second largest city, located on the East Coast of Tunisia. We were greeted there by Asma's sister, Dalilah and one of her brothers. The four of us, (me, Gus, Asma & Dalilah) then boarded a huge ferry with about 100 cars and many more people to sail to the beautiful Island of Kerkennah, (only a 1 hour trip on a beautiful evening)where Asma and her family have a beautiful new home, very large, all of stone, marble and tile overlooking the sea. It was great that Asma
& Delilah joined us and were incredible help to us all along the way. The four of us arrived at their home after dark but in a very short time Delilah had a beautiful dinner prepared for us. The sea breeze was lovely but the neighbor's dogs and roosters did their best to interrupt our dreams.

Unfortunately the next day both Gus and I ate some breakfast and almost immediately started signs of Montezuma's/Hannibal's Revenge. The good news is that we had some Cipro with us, bad news is I discovered I was allergic to that. Gus felt much better after a few days but I ended up at a local Doctor. He was very kind and knowledgable and gave me some new meds that did the trick. Our illness was most likely something from the water at the hotel or a Coke can that we shared at the train station.....even though I thought I wiped it thoroughly.

This heat was very intense( much greater than usual) so we had to stay inside during the heat of the day. We had a nice time at a nearby resort beach with our friend, Asma, and a lovely boat trip, also arranged by Asma, to inspect the local fish traps. Both nice evenings to cool off from the intense heat. We also were invited by the caretaker next door to observe her baking of a special Tunisian bread (tabuna) in her wood and coal fired outdoor oven. Delicious hot with olive oil.

Kerkennah a large Island covered with beautiful palm trees and lovely sea breezes, most of the time, and definitely abundant with nice people, especially with our wonderful hostesses, Asma & Delilah! A special thank you to both of them!

It irritates me that I cannot arrange my pics in an orderly grouping but can't seem to figure out how to do this so will just try to label them as best I can