What a lovely view!
Mar. 26th, 2013 05:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
london1967We got up early this morning, went to Heathrow and caught a flight to Bologna where we landed at 11:40 am.
Adrian drove us down to Gradara which is one of the first towns in Le Marche across the Emilia-Romagna border.
The castle of Gradara is impressive
and should command a lovely view, but not today since it was pouring with rain when we visited.
(Adrian's inspecting the torture chamber - don't get any ideas, Honey! lol!)
The castle is also the setting of the story of Paolo and Francesca da Rimini, made famous by Dante in the Divina Commedia.
Here's Adrian in the bedroom
or is it the ghost of Paolo trying to flee again through the trap-door?
We had the castle to ourselves, not surprisingly as it's out-of-season. In the summer there would be coachloads of tourists coming for the day from the nearby seaside resorts.
The chapel with a lovely Della Robbia piece
After the visit to the castle, we drove to Urbino. The satnav (or as we call it 'madam') made us drive through some pothole-filled country roads.
We briefly stopped at Ponterotto
A bridge with a flour mill built in the 1500s which was destroyed in 1945, during the war.
The Gothic Line (the last attempt of the Germans to stop the Allies in Italy) ran across the northern part of the Marche and indeed near Gradara castle we spotted an English cemetery with neat rows of white tombstones.
The landscape is very hilly and green, and I'm sure it is wonderful on a sunny day
When we got to Urbino - one of the Italian Renaissance's masterpieces - this was the view that awaited us in our hotel room:
Fog... yes fog! LOL!
Oh well... the weather forecast for the next few days isn't much better, I'm afraid. But we'll try to make the most of it.
Adrian drove us down to Gradara which is one of the first towns in Le Marche across the Emilia-Romagna border.
The castle of Gradara is impressive
and should command a lovely view, but not today since it was pouring with rain when we visited.
(Adrian's inspecting the torture chamber - don't get any ideas, Honey! lol!)
The castle is also the setting of the story of Paolo and Francesca da Rimini, made famous by Dante in the Divina Commedia.
Here's Adrian in the bedroom
or is it the ghost of Paolo trying to flee again through the trap-door?
We had the castle to ourselves, not surprisingly as it's out-of-season. In the summer there would be coachloads of tourists coming for the day from the nearby seaside resorts.
The chapel with a lovely Della Robbia piece
After the visit to the castle, we drove to Urbino. The satnav (or as we call it 'madam') made us drive through some pothole-filled country roads.
We briefly stopped at Ponterotto
A bridge with a flour mill built in the 1500s which was destroyed in 1945, during the war.
The Gothic Line (the last attempt of the Germans to stop the Allies in Italy) ran across the northern part of the Marche and indeed near Gradara castle we spotted an English cemetery with neat rows of white tombstones.
The landscape is very hilly and green, and I'm sure it is wonderful on a sunny day
When we got to Urbino - one of the Italian Renaissance's masterpieces - this was the view that awaited us in our hotel room:
Fog... yes fog! LOL!
Oh well... the weather forecast for the next few days isn't much better, I'm afraid. But we'll try to make the most of it.
