Eating and drinking our way around Italy: part 1

Barolo

On Monday 12th June, we headed back to one of our favourite campsites in Europe, Camping Sole Lange in Vergne, just outside Barolo. Piedmonte is one of my favourite places in all of Europe.
We had an awesome dinner at the Ristorante at Buon Padre Cantina (winery), a 200m walk from the campsite. I think I may have eaten the best pasta in my life so far. 
Tajarin, the extra thin,extra light pasta, is a Piedmontese speciality, made with up to 40 egg yolks per kilogram of flour -Handmade by Maria in this instance, who has been doing it for 50 years!! A meal that also included 5 antipastas, a secondi piatti of slow cooked veal cheeks in Barolo wine, and 2 desserts and a complimentary glass of their 1995 DolcettoD'Alba.

Barolo

Awesome and it's not even a Barolo

Parma

After a few days we had to leave for Parma to meet Dave and Krissie. It was wonderful to have them as travel companions again. The Motorhome Camping in Parma is awful; a carpark next to a highway offramp and a truckstop!"Things can only get better." And the weather only gets hotter... Parma is not very touristy, so we mingled with locals strolling through town and enjoying the laid back evening on Via Farini. In this part of Italy "Aperativo Ora" means free snacks with your sundowners!Parma is the home of Parmesan Cheese and Parma Ham. Low carb eating was out of the window once more at the fabulous and historic Trattoria Correira with bowls of fresh pasta and the house speciality, Torta Fritta, crispy, puffy pillows of fried dough.

Lambrusco, of course

 

Modena

The next morning we went to the Ferrari Museum in Maranello for an emersion in red car culture.From there we just made it to Gavioli Antica Cantina in Nonatola, where the lovely Elize stayed open into her lunch time for us. There is a surprising wine and motor museum but we had come to taste the Lambruscos; sparkling red wines from the region. They are amazingly good and very reasonably priced. Dave bought a case of 12 for less than 50 euros.In town, we had a delightful lunch at La Piazetta del Gusto with chef Mateo, who spent some years in England, where he definitely picked up on the British sense of humour. I tried the local pasta, Pici, which is made with flour and water only. Not amazing! The campsite in Modena is located on an island of land between 2 highways but it has an amazing pool. The heat and the jet lag caught up with us all on our stroll through the city, famous for Balsamic Vinegar and Pavarotti, so we opted for an early night.

 

Wining around France

We spent a few days in the Loire Valley, visiting Blois and Amboise and specifically going to Vouvray to sample the Chenin Blanc. Of course we are of the opinion that South Africa has usurped Vouvray, France of the top spot in the Chenin stakes but we did enjoy ourselves nevertheless. The campsite in Vouvray is 200m from the town centre and we found a great restaurant called Au Coin Gourmand. The Maison de Vouvray has wine by the glass and local deli platters.

Vouvray Chenin Blanc

Next stop, Gigondas for the Rhone blends. Gigondas, Vacqueras and Lirac are all towns around Château Neuf de Pape, with some excellent wines at a fraction of the price of the Château Neufs. Cotes du Rhone is the plonk from the region, Cotes du Rhone Villages is from towns whose wines are better than the average and Gigondas, Vacqueras and Lirac have gone on to be given their own appellations. Without a reservation the snooty Michelin restaurant in Gigondas refused to give us a table but we did have a superb evening of chacuterie, fromage and wine at Noz Bar and Vins.

Noz Bar and Vins

We spent a great weekend in Avignon. Camping Bagatelle is the campsite to stay at, right over the bridge from the old town.By this stage the weather was sweltering but we were able to dodge the heat  by ducking into restaurants, pubs and wine bars.

All bistros on Place de la Horologe are to be avoided at all costs, due to plastic laminated menus with photos of steak frites etc catering to hordes of tourists!

We did have our best meal in Europe 2017 so far: Lunch at Maison Christian Ettiene. (1 Michelin star) The location is good, on a terrace next to Papal Palace. The set lunch menu is only 35 euros. The cheese course is an extra 13 euros but the cheese trolley is impressive. Superb service, friendly staff and chef himself greets diners as they leave.

Dessert by Christian Ettiene

We also went to 83Vernet, a modern restaurant in a 17th C building with dinner served in the courtyard. It's very trendy with good looking waiters, cocktails and well prepared typical French dishes.

Courtyard at 83 Vernet

For sport's bars we only found O'Collins where we watched the rugby on Saturday (the Springboks beat the French ) and Red Sky where we watched the French Open Men's Final on Sunday. (Nadal's 10th French Grand Slam )Pubs are not a French thing. I can recommend wine tasting by the glass at Le Vin Devant Soi or L'Ampelos. Both have chacuterie and cheese plates to go with the wines.

Paris

So after a few weeks spent in Joburg and at the farm, it was time for Homer 2107; our 10th oddessy! We began with a week in Munich and whistlestop visits to Justine and Arjen in Magden and Anique in Luxembourg before we headed to Paris for 10 days. We met up with Rina and Menon primarily to go to the French Open tennis at Roland Garros but also to party in Paris. The tennis was an awesome experience and we did get to see some of the greats in action on Philippe Chatriere ( the centre court.) The rest of the blog is in the form of a list of things we highly recommend you do next time you are in Paris, but it pretty much sums up our experience there..And thanks to Uber we got around with such ease..

Roland Garros

Look who we found in Paris thanks to FB

FOOD

Le Grand Epicerie @ Bon Marche -  fabulous food shop with big wine cave downstairs doing free tasting on Saturdays.

Buy for a picnic or eat in the conservatory style restaurant LeTable for lunch. Or at any number of pop up restaurant areas in the store.

RESTAURANTS

L'encrier. 55 rue Traversiere. Husband and wife team, good wine.

Jeanne B. 61 rue Lepic. Nr Montemarte. Deli style restaurant.

Les Bougresses.6 rue de Jarente.Cheap set menu.Nice food but not too touristy.

Au Virage Lepic. Fabulous bistro run by gay couple Maurice and Rico, lots of fun. Rue Lepic. Next door to Jeanne B.

Relais La Butte. In Montmartre. Outdoor terrace. Good aperitifs, set menu with daily specials .

La Tuit Petit - Modern bistro.Small menu, fresh ingredients. In Batignolles, 17th arrondissement.

Maison Plisson. In Marais.Excellent deli and bistro for lunch.

Biondi - Argentina steakhouse. 118 Rue Amelot. Cool neighbourhood.

Le Verre Vole. St.Martin Canal area, another cool, edgy area. Not touristy. Great Modern french food. Good wine, shelf price plus Euro 7 corkage. Small, tables very close together, so book ahead.

L'Absinthe - Bistro by Michel Rostang, very good food. Especially ' the Hot Duck' ©. A starter sandwich of smoked duck and fois gras on brioche. Better value than eating at 2 Michelin starred Maison Rostang. 

BARS

Le Mammouth. Rue Amelot. Students and live cover music.

38Riv. Live Jazz club in Marais. 38 Rue Rivoli. Live music 7 days a week.

Le Petit Cafe del Montmartre. Rather Avant Garde local crowd and interesting live music.

Harry's Bar - historic Bar Americaine.

L Alementaire Generale. Live music venue in trendy Rue Oberkampf for indie/ jazz etc.11th arrondissement. 

La Nouvelle Siene. A theatre boat with great views of Notre Dame. Most acts French comedians but La Caberet Burlesque at 11pm is ok if you don't speak French. A great alternative to the terribly touristy Moulin Rouge or Crazy Horse.

View from La Nouvelle Siene

ART

Centre Pompidouu and Musee d'Orsay are our favourites.

The Louis Vuitton Foundation is a Frank Gehry building with good African Art exhibition this year.

Paris Museum of Modern Art. Main collection is free.

Picasso Museum.

Antiques Market. Paris Flea Market. Saint Ouen. Best on Sundays. Live Blues music at local cafe all afternoon.

Afrikaburn 2017

Afrikaburn..the second largest Burn Festival in the world after Burningman in California is held in SA for 8 days at the end of April every year. Bios completed, tickets bought, planning underway...

The R355 is the longest stretch of uninterrupted dirt road in South Africa. 220kms from Ceres in the south to Calvinia in the north.
Halfway along here, bordering on the Tankwa Karoo National Park is a 'farm' in the middle of the desert that becomes an oasis of art and alternative culture once a year.13000 people this year. Take everything in, leave no trace behind.

It's hard to describe, it's something that has to be experienced not explained.. Mind altering? 

Life changing? For some, maybe..but it's certainly more than just a festival or a camping trip.

Imagine a flat landscape, a 1km diameter circle of dust filled with art works and wooden structures, some huge and multistoried. Surrounding this, a circle of theme camps, Bedouin tents and chill zones offering everything from food, drinks and entertainment to naked showers and yoga, gifted and run by people who just want to share with others. Fill the area with creative mutant vehicles and decorated bicycles, lots of loud music playing 24 hours​ a day, thousands of people dressed up or undressed in whatever manner they please. Dancing, chilling, hanging out, meeting each other, drinking, drugs if you want them. Watching sunrises and sunsets. And then burning most of the art and structures over the last couple of nights; rather primitive and ritualistic.

Beyond all this everyone is camping cheek to jowl in ever radiating circles. Our group of 11 is well organised with 2 off road caravans and 4 tents pitched laager style around a central gazebo area. We have water, hot showers, solar panels, fridges and freezers, cold wine and beer, great food. Somehow we are all still a little off tilt, out of our comfort zone. It feels otherworldly. One day we set up a food stand and make hundreds of jaffles ( toasted sandwiches) for the long line of hungry burners that forms at our pop up take away. Every  evening Neil and I take our wine, whisky ( with ice!) or chilli sherry to our favourite corner where we sit and watch life pass by and things go up in flames; sharing our drinks with whoever comes to sit and chat with us. 

The weather is mostly kind to us. It's hot but not too windy or rainy and the pit toilets are bearable.

Theme camps

Mutant vehicle with DJs

Mutant music train

Richtersveld

It's always good to get back to Joburg. We got to spend Easter at Zebula before heading to the farm to prepare for the big Richtersveld trip. It's a long drive to Augrabies Falls but we got there about 5pm, met up with Tommy and Mandy and had a braai! Aah! To be camping! We had to spend a bit of time checking out the falls the next day so we were 3 hours late in leaving! The trek to Richtersveld via Springbok takes longer than you think but we made it to Sendelingsdrif Camp for the night. Over very rutted dirt roads that shake your bones as well as the old bakkie and caravan ( and that's the off road Explorer BTW )We were pleased we hadn't pushed through to De Hoop the previous day because we really enjoyed the drive via Akkedis Pass. This driving is not for the fainthearted! Especially with both vehicles towing! After the trek over  ragged mountains and through desert plains De Hoop Camp is an amazing oasis on the banks of the Orange River. Gert, Sharon, Danie and John where waiting for us, camp set up and brunch cooked! What a relaxing two days of swimming, fishing and chilling we had! Driving out via Helskloof Pass was probably more hair-raising than getting in.

The road to Senderlingsdrif

Akkedis Pass

Orange River at De Hoop

Driving Helskloof

 We had a full day of driving to get to Namaqua National Park. Here again we had an amazing campsite; this time right on the coast. Luckily for us the weather was lovely because I am sure the wind howls and the sea rages a lot of the time out there. You need to let the tyres of your 4x4 right down to .8 bar to get through some of the stretches of sand dunes especially if you are towing a heavy caravan! Everyone felt a return trip to the region is in order when we all have more time.. it's a LONG way from anywhere..