BMW Tour 1999
Our pickup at the BMW Delivery center in Munich on June 21 involved ten people in five cars. We had a 528i Touring, three 323i 4-doors, and an M-3 coupe. The only rainy weather was on delivery day but we were on the road by 11:00 AM. Two cars went to Italy, with plans to reunite later, and three cars caravaned to France. We planned an overnight stay on Lake Geneva to break up the ten hour drive to Provence. Our hotel in the town of Cully, near Lausanne, was a lake front inn very much like somebody's home on the lake. We also picked up Binkley, another member of the tour and headed toward "La Belle Provence" and the mountain town of Gordes.
Bonnieux, and L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. Chateauneuf-Du-Pape and Pont-Du-Gard.
For our next two days of touring we went to Villeneuve-Les-Avignon and stayed at a wonderful accommodation, Le Prieuré. This old converted religious building has been turned into a comfortable luxurious hotel. François Mille and his staff took great care to make our stay pleasurable. The gardens and pool were an oasis for us after our tours of Saint Rémy and Les Baux. Two more friends, Nancy and Gail joined us for the next part of our journey. Saturday morning we were off to spend the day at Aix-En-Provence. There is a famous street called Cours Mirabeau which is in the heart of Aix. We had a great lunch at Les Deux Garçon and watched the fashion show as the locals strolled up and down the boulevard. Our natural instinct as residents of Hawaii is to head for the beach. So off we went to the Côte D'Azure. A short while after we checked in to our hotel in La Lavandou, we were swimming in a crystal clear bay in the Mediterranean. Later that day we were given a private tour of a vineyard, Château Les Valentines, in La Londe-les-Maures by Gilles Pons, a friend of Ray’s. Gilles was kind enough to give us the grand tour and opened his cellars to us. He produces an excellent red, white, and rose. We all took several bottles but very few of these made it home unconsumed. Sunday we headed for Saint-Paul de Vence via St. Tropez. To cruise the Riviera, in a fine car, on a sunny day has to be the ultimate Sunday drive. The vistas along the Mediterranean are superb. You wend your way up the mountains above Nice and come upon St-Paul. They call themselves "the most beautiful village in the world". Its light inspired Matisse, Braque, Chagall and so many other artists. Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich, and Yves Montand...they all wandered this town and considered it their "secret spot".
Once again we had to drift towards the sea. On Monday we made two most charming discoveries, Tuesday we headed for "The Cinque Terre", the name given to five small towns on the sea: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. Hiking or boating between these villages could be one of the most unique adventures in travel. The towns are built into the mountainside on cliffs that drop down into the sea, The view of the rocky coast and vineyard lined hills is breathtaking. 
The food is your reward for the long hike. The next day we took the small train to the other end of the Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore.  We left the Ligurian coast for the short drive to Tuscany. Our whole group had a chance to spend one night as guests of Kay Hoffman in a private villa near Cecina on the Etruscan Coast. After shopping at a wonderful fresh pasta store and picking up some great produce, we cooked a Tuscan style supper. With all the fabulous meals in world class restaurants, that meal was among the most memorable. The next day we drove to our home base in the Chianti Hills, passing through Volterra and visiting San Gimignano, an old textile center, known as the "Mini Manhattan" of Tuscany, for it's pre-Renaissance towers. The old part of town is almost perfectly preserved. After a "wild boar" salami for lunch from one of the many small specialty shops, we had to have our typical dessert, gellato. The shop in the town square claims the finest quality gellato in Italy. They may be right. We did some shopping and took in a few more sights before making the hour drive to Radda in Chianti. Radda was to be our home base for the next two days of touring. Radda in Chianti is located in the middle of the Chianti Hills 3/4 of the way between Florence and Siena and proved to be an excellent jumping off point for our daily expeditions. To discover the wonders of Tuscany, we planed to fill the days with a winery, a cultural event, restaurants, and an antique market. We had the most charming of accommodations, my favorite in Italy, Relais Fattoria Vignale. Vignale is a converted estate, remodeled into a small hotel. It has everything we wanted, clean, beautiful rooms, secure parking, a large swimming pool, and breakfast served on a terrace with great views. Sylvia and her staff made us very comfortable and Patrizio gave us advice on local ristorante. Friday, we took part in an event that had been my reason for repeating the tour of Tuscany in early July, The Palio Contrada. The seventeen neighborhoods (contrade) of Siena stage a horse race to decide who will own the noble banner for one year. To call The Palio Contrada simply a horse race is to contradict six hundred years of history, medieval myth, and incomparable pageantry. The Sienese invest so much drama and emotion into this event. I had to see it again. My second Palio was as exciting as the first. The race takes place in the Piazza del Campo, the small town square. A clay track is laid around the square and the people stand in the center watching the horses race around three times. Our little group stood, shoulder to shoulder, with about two hundred thousand screaming Italians. A two hour pageant takes place before the race. The contrade parade in medieval costumes and armaments, tossing flags, and showing off their horse and their colors. The actual race is a wild, no-holds barred affair with the jockeys trying to punish each other and still maintain the speed to win. At least once in your life you have to see the Palio Contrada.
On Saturday we went to the famous Arezzo antique market held only on the first weekend of each month.
The market is very colorful with an extensive selection of goods, not just antiques. We spent the whole day there and found some great bargains. For lunch we had a
wonderful meal at the "Buca de San Francisco", a restaurant hollowed out of a rock cavern in the center of town. I can't recall any meal in Tuscany that was a disappointment.
Sunday the group split up to head for home. My car decided to celebrate July 4th at Lago Iseo.
This, the smallest of the four major lakes in Northern Italy, seems to be a secret to tourists from other countries.
We seemed to be the only Americans enjoying the lakeside promenade on a Sunday afternoon. Our hotel was
the recently remodeled L’ Albereta, boasting the only three star Michelin restaurant in this part of Italy. 
BMW allows you eighteen locations to drop your car off for shipment back to the U. S. |
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These are magic names to the travelers, writers, and painters who have made Provence a destination for the last 150 years.
