Discovering Cortona, Tuscany

September 5, 2008 Sylvia and I enjoyed breakfast with one of the best views in Tuscany from the 4th floor of our hotel in the Tuscan hill town of Cortona.  Then we grabbed our camera's for a day of exploring, photographing, and looking for good painting location for my Watercolor Workshop.  Here are a few photos that give you a taste of Cortona:

  Cortona town hall in the main square of the village.  Life revolves around this square.  Patrick pointed out the author of "Under the Tuscan Sun" Frances Mayes having a cappuccino on the square.

Cortona was originally a city in the Italian region of Umbria, concurred by the Etruscans, Cortona became one of the most powerful Lucumony (Etruscan city states).  These arches are one of many places in the village where Etruscan walls and structures are visible today.  Around 300 BC evidence of Roman influence begins to show in the village architecture.  The history is too long to write here, but no where in Tuscany can you find so much evidence of so many centuries of history in one small community.

The cemetery is outside the walls because Napolion decreed that so as to prevent diseases from spreading.  With the cemetery I will end my little history photo series.

Venice to Cortona, by boat,train and taxi

Every where in Venice I found paintings,

and more paintings,

and more paintings.

But it is time to make our way to the hill town of Cortona in Tuscany for the Watercolor Workshop I will be teaching there.  First, we caught the Vaporetto, (water bus) around 9:00am and rode all the way to the last stop on the Grand Canal, the railroad station.  Here are some typical Venetian scenes I photographed along the way.

note the no boat parking sign in front of the fancy home...

and the beverage distributor.

Reading the Italian train schedule with the help of our Rick Steve's travel book we found the right track, correct train, car number and seats, (no simple matter).

 

Second class on the express train from Venice to Florence, our table even had plugs for charging computers or cel phones.

We only had a ten minute layover in Florence in which to catch our regional train to Comacia/Cortona, (or wait for the next one) but we made it!

When we arrived at the station in Comacia, there was no one around and no taxis.  Patrick had given me the number to call for a taxi as we were arriving a couple of days early for the workshop.  But how do we use this odd looking payphone....what coins, what buttons, do we push, what does all the Italian words say?  We finally found a nice lady that showed us what coins to use, and to push the button labeled "OK" after we dialed the number.  She then called a taxi for us, and now we have learned another travel skill, how to use an Italian pay phone.

A view of part of Cortona

End of the day overlooking the valley below from the top of our hotel in Cortona.

Exploring a residential neighborhood in Venice

We begin each day at our favorite breakfast stop, great Cappuccino, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a warm ham and cheese foccacia so big we split it.

 

Today we explored the neighborhood where the hotel owners live, as they thought we would like the colorful houses and the "regular neighborhood life" not what you see in the tourist areas of this city.

Great fun watching the people come and go by boat instead of cars, small motor boats parallel park in the narrow canals in front of the homes much like we would park our cars on a street in front of our homes.

Two young women a dog and a baby in a stroller climb into the family boat to run errands.

Everything arrives by boat and then gets moved to the home or business by human power.  It seem no one is exempt from hauling things.

In Italy when you purchase a meal you own the table until you ask for the bill.  So here is Sylvia at our table by a canal under the shade of the cafe umbrella where we spent a couple of hours drawing for the price of two delicious Greek salads.

Here is a little ink drawing I did in my journal of the window above the cafe.

End of a great day, listening to a concert in San Marcos Square.

Watercolor Journal Venice Italy

My first entry in my watercolor journal on this trip, the crooked awning and cute windows that over looked the Grand Canal.  Sylvia and I started our day in search of the art store, went in circles, everyone that gave us directions were sure they new where the little street was but it never turned up.  But as we wandered we found many more wonderful photo ops.  We also found a Travel Store and bought our train tickets so even though we never found the art store, it was a fun and fruitful morning.

 

Having given up on the art store we headed for the Realto Bridge as we wanted to paint in the funky neighborhood on the other side of the bridge.  After crossing the bridge we headed away from the tourists along the Grand Canal looking for a place to eat lunch.  We found a lovely restaurant on the Canal with a view of beautiful buildings across the canal.  We had a great lunch and stayed until 5:00pm painting and photographing the activity on the canal.  Here's the little painting I did in my watercolor journal.

Arrived in Venice, Italy

My friend Sylvia Gude and I are spending a few days exploring Venice, trying to capture this very unique city with our camera's and paints. Today is September 1, our first day exploring the city. We awoke to overcast but it soon burned off and we enjoyed a beautiful day taking photos and getting delightfully lost. Street names are hard to find, tiny streets often have no names, so you just go from monument to church to Opera House or whatever, and zigzag through the tiny streets as you go.

Sylvia gets a pat on the head from the fat lady.

This might have to become a painting.

Cool Dude with the Tricted out Gondola!