Monday, October 18, 2010

Isolated Iesolana

While in the Tuscany region, we rented a "villa" that slept eight people. Although it was called a villa, it was more like individual apartments located at one facility. This is the outside of the house we stayed in, some of the girls getting ready to head out for the day...

Here's a shot of what I think is a very modern looking kitchen for something with such a rustic looking exterior:

The cabinets and drawers had some very cool features and we had pretty much anything we needed to make breakfast in the morning and a few meals during the week. I commandeered the far end of the table for myself, to do my makeup in the morning and to get on the internet. Which, by the way, was ridiculously inaccessible. When Ed asked one of the owners about the internet, the guy threw up his hands, exasperated.

He went on to explain to Ed, "This is the country. People come here to relax, get outdoors, enjoy the scenery." That's great. And that's what we were doing all day. But when I come home and it's pitch black outside, I'd like to check my email. Apparently, that's when Italy works on their cable internet lines...at night. So most nights, the internet that I paid for, wasn't available.

And that wouldn't have been a problem if that's what I was told. Don't advertise available internet on your website if you don't have it available in the villa. Internet was a big deciding factor for whether I stayed there or not. And if I knew you didn't have internet, I might have chosen another villa, as there are hundreds of them. Or when you tell me you have internet, say, "It's only available from 8am to 8pm." Another choice for me to make - do I want it or not? But don't make me pay for it and then don't deliver. Because yes, you will get a call at midnight if it's not working. Other than that, the villa served us just fine.

The following shots were taken by Ed. My cousin Ro, Eva and Marie goofing around at the pool...

The olive trees...
The patio area...And the name of the villa, which apparently has no actual Italian translation, according to the owner...


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 YEAR AGO:
WWJD?
2 YEARS AGO:
Farming The Wind
3 YEARS AGO:
Eddie In The Big Little City Friday
4 YEARS AGO:
Photograph It If You Think You May Never See It Again
5 YEARS AGO:
Why??

4 comments:

Gil said...

Loved the new posts! Did anyone swim in that beautiful pool?

Doris said...

ahh Typical response about your internet woes. I have been to so many hotels/hostels/apartments here in Italy and yes all of them pretty much advertised internet and i wanna say only 1 of the many places did indeed have internet access. My favorite response was Oh you need the password. I said OK whats the password. The rental person I spoke to said I don't know. ??? Umh then why did you advertise and let me pay you for internet access! Actually I think the only place I payed for and had internet access was on 2 of the military bases I have stayed at here in Italy.

Anywho as far as modern kitchens in old buildings. THat is pretty normal too hehe. Almost every Italian House I have been too that had some renovating done at some point has a newer sord of out of place kitchen hehe. All the super stores and Ikeas have little kitchen vignettes displaying cabinets and such and I would say 95% of the styles being sold are quite modern looking. It's rare to find a renovated kitchen that the owners went with a tradtionnal look. It does make for some neat and interesting homes I must say.

I have enjoyed reading your posts about the places you visited here in Italy. I haven't really ventured in the South of Italy much. Other than Rome that is as far as I have gone. I have seen most of northern areas hehe.

The Daily Rant said...

Gil: No, it was too cold to swim! But it was very inviting.

Doris: Yes, I've heard that a lot about the internet. And I didn't make too much of a stink after the first two nights, but it still irked me.

The modern kitchens make sense, it's just unexpected. Although I'm glad I didn't have to fuss with some rickety-ass appliances. It was bad enough none of us could figure out how to work the oven - and there were several cooks among us! We just made do with the stovetop. :)

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