Road Trip - The Final Days

Tuesday, April  3, we moved on further up the coast about 250km to Pesaro.  We are now in Marche province.  Again we found rooms for 39 Euros per night.  It took us over 8 hours to make the 250mkm, because we took our usual meandering route along the coast, stopping at little markets and anything else that looked interesting.  The weather was over cast, lots of fog on the water and we encountered rain a few times.  Not a day conducive to picture taking, but we just have to show you this.  It is in the bathroom in our hotel in Pesaro.  It is possibly the world’s smallest shower pan! 

The recessed area is about 18” – the doors when expanded are about 5 “ beyond the rim of the pan and actually touch the toilet and the sink!!

Wednesday, we took a tour of a couple of small museums that were suggested to us, but pictures were not allowed so we have nothing to show you.  We spent a couple of hours wondering around the town center, waiting for the fog to lift so that we could take a drive along a panoramic route that was suggested to us. 

All around the pavement of the town square are plaques of reproduced documents relating to the communities historical moments and people.  The look like the wind has just scattered them.

The town square was a lively place with locals going about their business.  Bikes are a very common source of transportation here.  We saw everyone from young children to people well past their 70’s using bikes to get around.

The fog never did clear so we headed inland to tour and hopefully leave the fog and mist behind.  We headed to Urbino, were the earliest record of human habitation in the area has been found.

One style of toilet found in both male and female public bathrooms

A demonstration – the “hover and squat” method requires strength and balance in order to maintain your position, as well as coordination in order to keep articles of clothing out of the direct stream of released bodily discharges.  Those accustomed to "rough camping" will be very familiar with the technique!

Note the look of focus and concentration

 

Next we came along a canyon that was quite dramatic.

One that got away ??  Or a wild one ??  Only he knows!!

Thursday, April 5 we're on our way home.

Once again the weather was not co-operating, fog and drizzle persist, so we abandoned our plans to travel the panoramic road and found another route.  We saw more of the  scenic Marche province, a rival for neighbouring Abruzzo.

Next we came to Assisi, we went up into the town site but it was so packed with tour groups and school groups, that you were constantly being jostled and having to dodge people that we did not find that we were enjoying ourselves, so we decided to cut short our visit.  What with this being Holy Week and schools being out, there seemed to be an extraordinary amount of visitors for this time of year.  We will try again in a couple of weeks when we pass by here going to Venice. 

Here are a few pictures we took while there though.

Sheep grazing in an olive grove below Assisi.  The shepard was sitting on the chain link a little further down just out of the picture.  The sheep are used to keep the grass trimmed in the grove while at the same time providing “natural” fertilizer.

After we left Assisi, we stopped in Deruta, to look at the majolica pottery that the area is famous for.  We both bought ourselves a small piece.  Then following a bite to eat it was time to concentrate on getting back to Rome.  We programmed Greta to take us to the airport, the car was due back at 6 she said we would arrive at 5:52.  Everything went well until we got about 20 kms  away from the airport when Greta said there was traffic congestion ahead that was going to delay us – nothing we can do about that.  Then instead of taking us to the exit closest to the airport, she took to the first exit to the airport.  Not a good move Greta!!   This took us into city traffic and we all know how Greta reacts to city driving!!!  Between streets that dead ended , turns that were taken too soon or too late, we went from being 40 minutes away at 5:15 to arriving at 7:15.  When we were riding the bus back into town we were laughing and discussing how many times we went around in circles trying to get to this one exit.  The GPS showed we had actually done a circle, a triangle and a diamond in our attempts to find our right path.  And all this without getting horns honked at us or getting any dings or dents to the car.  We have decided no more renting cars anywhere near a major center again!!