I’m starting to notice I wander a lot. I wandered in Sri Lanka. I wandered through Bologna. I even wandered through Wellington.
I do very much enjoy a good wander, particularly if time isn’t on my side. If I’m limited in that resource, then my first choice will always be to just wander around a location and take some photos, to see if I can get at least a feel for the location – to get my first impression of it.
I recently visited the Marche (pronounced Mar-kay) region of Italy, where I had a two day whistle-stop tour of a variety of sights and experiences.
From wine tasting in a gorgeous villa through to dining on excellent seafood by the shore, visiting an old archaeological site and even taking in a medieval hilltop castle – I sure fit a lot in in my two days. I definitely need to return. In the meantime, here were some of the places I wandered, and my impressions of those, in no particular order.
Let me know where else I should visit next time I go back in the comments!
This is the breakwater in Fano, just after sunset – the so called “blue-hour”. I shot this with a long exposure to soften out the water.
One of Italy’s more famous opera composers turns out to have been from the Marche region – Giachino Rossini. We popped in to the house where he was born, Casa Rossini, which now serves as a small museum to his work. If you’re into this sort of thing, then it’s very much worth a visit.
I had big plans to be up for sunrise on at least one of my days in Le Marche. I didn’t quite make it, but this was the view of the hotel I was staying at on the shores of the Adriatic in Gabicce Mare, the Hotel Sans Souci, not too soon after sunrise. Great views from this hotel, perched on the hill above the beach, even if you do miss sunrise…
Regular readers probably know I enjoy a good castle. This is the interior of the Castello di Gradara at sunset, a medieval fortress situated on top of a hill overlooking the surrounding land, and one of the most visited attractions in the area, for good reason.
There is it again from the outside. Quite pretty I think you’ll agree.
Of course, I saw a couple of great sunsets in my short visit. This was taken just above an olive grove, from where I went to a rather nice villa and sampled some tasty wines from a local vineyard, accompanied by traditional Italian aperitivo.
Yep, you can’t go wrong with aperitivo.
Or with a gorgeous villa in which to have aperitivo. This particular villa is owned by the lovely Andrea Carlini, who set up the vineyard here thirty years ago, and hand produces all the wines himself. He and his lovely wife kindly hosted my aperitvo and wine tasting – you can find out more about the Tenuta Carlini vineyard here.
Italian food is not all pasta and pizza incidentally. Being on the sea means that there are copious quantities of seafood to eat. Here is a giant pot of fish stew, made, I was told, from 14 types of seafood. It was absolutely delicious, particularly accompanied by a glass of white wine.
This is a ball sculpture in Pesaro. Pesaro is also home to a Ducal Palace, the aforementioned Casa Rossini, a lovely beach upon which to wander or play in the sea, and plenty of other sights.
The beach even comes with entertainment.
And no shortage of walking opportunities – it stretched as far as I could see…
Finally, a thank you to my lovely guide, who spent two days showing me as much as possible of her wonderful part of this country. This is her. I can’t wait to get back and discover more of this part of Italy, perhaps for a bit longer than two days!
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