it's an enchanting, medieval, fortress town...
full of tiny winding streets and stone steps leading to secret places...
small shops full of character...olive oil and the cheeses and the hams and the pasta....not to mention, hand made lace, Italian leather bags and hand made shoes, ceramics....and did I mention the restaurants and cafes?
and the Convent B&B San Lodovico Institute....
it used to be a palace in a prior life...
this is the 2nd floor ballroom, yes there is another larger one downstairs....
the B&B is run by three nuns with the help of one cleaner that comes during the week and a gardener.
it has slowly been restored, is self funded with the express purpose of saving a magnificent building.
It's certainly not luxurious accommodation, as Kristi said tonight, it is humble. The rooms are no more than basic but each have their own small but adequate bathroom, the beds are comfortable and the linen is spotlessly clean. The nuns, although speaking no English, are welcoming, warm and friendly, with hugs and greetings that surpass the language barrier...
and what can I say about the countryside here? the spot you can see on the photo is a raindrop on my lens.....today we had rain, torrential at times....there's a song Stevie Nicks sings called 'Italian Summer', if you know it then you can imagine today..still warm, humid with torrential rain....
I met my friend Baukje on Saturday morning and what a great pleasure that was ( I will get a photograph of more than her back soon), although we had talked through our blogs for about three years, we had of course never physically met. Within a very few minutes we both felt that we had known one another for years. We wandered the Saturday market together and explored Orvieto........
the colour...
the smells...
the hustle bustle....
that's if you can call it hustle and bustle, the locals just seem to wander through the day...
doing what they do best...
eating and talking...!
Our workshop starts today with Sue Spargo and I'm excited to be actually starting to sew, although I have been doing some work on my Bird Dance blocks, sitting in the courtyard of the Convent, watching the rain, sewing my blocks....
this is why I came...the stitching, the walking, the food, the fun....
I'll be back with more later...
