Day 18- Talamone Rest day

(originally posted on facebook on June 28th, 2013)

Day 18- Talamone Rest day

After a somewhat shaky start last night where we questioned coming here, Talamone has bloomed for us. The music did finally quiet down, and this morning we slept in a bit and then took a walk over to the quaint seaside hamlet, not more than about 6 blocks square.

View of the swim beach from the old tower in town.

Quaint, yes, but not without it's history. In fact there's been a settlement here since Etruscans, who first gave it its name; the Greeks knew it as Telamon. Lord Nelson stopped here (it's a well protected and large marina) on his way to invade Alexandria, where he lost his arm but found fame as a commander. There's a 14th century church and a fortress from the 13th century, it's even mentioned in Dante's Purgatorio!

Looking back from the "beach" to the tower.

Walking into town by the water, we passed by a curious looking building next to the cemetery. Turned out to be a chapel called the Mausoleum Vivarelli, built in 1905 by a local architect named Lorenzo Grosseto Porciatti in a Byzantine influenced Stile Liberty. The stained glass windows and much of the interior were destroyed more recently by accidental detonation of dynamite they had stored there for enlarging the cemetery. Oops!

Mausoleum Vivarelli, built in 1905.

We went through the town in about 5 minutes, saw the church and the tower, both closed for the day, and found the rocky swimming beach where Italians all rent beach chairs and go in a protected pool. Being (fool?) hardy Americans, we pushed on around a slightly precarious bend and got to a very pleasant little inlet that we had all to ourselves. Swam in the beautiful clear water and sunned on a big sofa made of drying seaweed, then walked back to take a nap without worrying about missing some important cultural site.

We just had to wade across a little inlet to have this cove all to ourselves. Water was perfect!

Now we're enjoying the breeze in our cabin, and the music is again blaring as a well directed group of campers dances next to the pool. Ahhhh Italia!!

Day 17- Talamone Ho!

Day 17-

Today we head out for something completely different! We said a fond farewell to Florence and headed to the train station again. Our friend Anne Sharp's son Cesare works at a Camping Village in a very small town on the coast of Tuscany. Talamone, just north of Orbetello, has a pretty coast line with crystalline waters and this crazy resort where average Italians go to get away from the city. I can pretty much guarantee there aren't many Americans here....ever! Believe it or not, they do occasionally get surf here- even had some last week according to Cesare.

Talamone, on the coast of Tuscany

To get here we took the train to Siena, where unfortunately we didn't have enough time to climb the hill into town before we had to board a second train to Talamone. On our way down to the coast we passed by fields of grapes, sunflowers, and ripe grains ready for harvest. We also saw beautiful and remote villas and tiny towns perched on hillsides. Just north of Talamone is a large nature preserve with some very uncrowded shoreline accessible only by boat. Tomorrow we'll head over and try to get into the water! Wish us luck! 

One of many little hillside villas on the way down to Talamone. This will probably end up in one of my backgrounds for an Italianate mural someday.

Right now we are listening to the most goofy Italian DJ music coming up from the pool area. I don't even really know how to describe it. Definitely not techno, more like an old radio show with sound effects, lots of talking, and bad semi-disco sounding music. Marianne just asked "two more hours of this?" Wish us luck with surviving this DJ too!! Really obnoxious! I think the Karaoke may even be an improvement.

Pool area of the Camping Village Talamone. They still get away with insisting everyone wear a swimcap in the pool. Can you imagine trying that in USA?