Living Life to the Fullest

International Property Shares

Newsletter November 2024

Homeowner Stories-Living Life to the Fullest!

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Dear readers,

Now that the US elections are behind us, you might be starting to think about how you'd like to spend the year ahead—whether that's 2025 or the next few years.

A time of reflection for all of us, this email will highlight stories from International Property Share owners who have decided that owning a month or more in their own home abroad is exactly the lifestyle they wish to enjoy.

In October, we introduced you to our Provencal gem, Bello Visto; your chance to live 3-6 months a year in Cairanne, Provence. Below, owners David and Paula share their experience of making olive oil from their own olive trees at this wonderful fractional ownership home.

Meanwhile, homeowners Betsy and Steven (they purchased a fractional share of Le Muguet in 2023), arrived at their home near Uzes just in time for the October Fete Votive (The Running of the Bulls). In their words, "One of the unexpected joys of fractional ownership are the opportunities to experience local culture during the off season".

Guests of mine recently spent two unforgettable weeks at our Italy fractional ownership property, Casa Leone. They had an amazing time exploring the charming towns of Umbria as well as places like Todi, Perugia, Assisi, and Deruta. I think you'll enjoy hearing about their experiences and the memories they made in this beautiful part of Italy.

Got your passports ready?

Ginny & Traci

Your Fractional Ownership Queens

Email: info@internationalpropertyshares.com

Cell: 206 32-3547 PST

French Holiday Cheese Board Webinar

December 5th

Time: Thurs Dec 5^th

7pm EST, 6pm CST, 5pm PST

We're throwing a French themed Holiday Wine and Cheese Party, and you're invited!

Join us and learn how to set up a French Cheese Board, style the holiday buffet with gorgeous cheese-based dishes and pair the cheeses with chic French drinks.

Our host, the Empress of Cheese, has spent time living in the south of France in one of our fractional properties. She’ll talk about how she shopped for cheese, where she bought it, and how to buy, cut, serve and store the cheeses.

Profits from this event will be donated to World Central Kitchen

Webinar Registration

Living Life to the Fullest in Provence

Recently, I introduced you to a beautiful fractional resale opportunity in Cairanne, Provence- Bello Visto. This is an ideal opportunity to spend extended periods of time in France with up to 6-month ownership. Kind of irresistible, non?

With views across the Southern Rhone Valley to Mt. Ventoux, this 5 bedroom, 2.5 bath property is the perfect setting for you and your friends to enjoy hiking, cycling, wine tasting and festivals like "Jazz dans les Vignes".

I also mentioned that in the fall you can pick olives from your seven olive trees and have the co-op make your own oil. Two of the current owners, Paula and David, share their personal olive-making story.

In A Provençal Garden: Olives to Oil

On a sunny November morning in Cairanne, we huddled with visiting friends and our next-door neighbors beneath an arbor of 7 old olive trees spread over our adjoining properties. Outfitted with hand rakes, several tarps, a tall ladder and a Provençal flail—we were excited to embrace the age-old tradition of harvesting olives for the making of our own huile d’olive.

We began by laying out tarps beneath the trees to catch the olives we were to knock down. Then we took to each tree and one by one—began the labor of stripping the olives from each branch with our rakes and flail.

At the outset, we laughingly spoke of the anticipated fruits of our labor knowing that shortly after landing our gorgeous green olives—they were to be taken to our Village Coop for processing into golden oil. Before long we quieted into the serious work of collecting hundreds of pounds of olives. We were also challenged by maintaining balance as we combed through the upper branches raking with outstretched arms 15 feet up in the air.

Two and a half hours later we were done with plastic tubs full of what we thought for sure met the threshold yield for the Coop to make several liters of our oil. While it turned out to be less than we expected, we ended up with 10 liters of golden oil, delivered right to our front door a week later. The cost? Just a few euros!

For months to come, we savored every spoonful for knowing that each drop connected us to that gorgeous Fall Day, doing what the locals have done for thousands of years in glorious Provence, gathering our harvest with friends and family.

Speaking of olive oil

Speaking of olive oil, Traci Parent takes us on an historical journey of the making of olive oil at Moulin Castelas.

If you’re stuck for the perfect holiday gift for a loved one (or if you’ve picked my name for Christmas!), don’t hesitate to do some early shopping at her French Detours boutique.

Betsy & Steven's October Visit to Le Muguet

From an unexpected Running of the Bulls through the streets of their village to stumbling upon a Medieval Fair in Uzès, fractional owners come to expect unexpected surprises during their shoulder season visits.

Last November, they attended a Santon Fair in nearby Tarascon. Next year, in May 2025, the fields will be filled with bright red poppies!

Santons are small clay figures that represent all aspects of Provençal life-from the garlic merchant, to the baker, to the fisherman, who each bring special gifts to the holiday crèches.

The red poppies in May

From Betsy and Steven-

"One of the unexpected joys of fractional ownership are the opportunities to experience

local culture during the off season — and often as a surprise.

This year we were in Vers Pont du Gard for the month of October, and it was pretty quiet. We have had several rainy and overcast days mixed with bright sunny fall weather.

One day, while talking to the woman who sells rotisserie chickens from her truck on

Sundays, we learned that the following week bulls would be running through the streets of the village with the traditional guardians— or cowboys. We had seen no other signs or indications but sure enough the barriers started arriving on Friday and on Saturday." Read on...

Interested in life as a local at this fractional property in Vers Pont du Gard? You're in luck- one resale share is available at Le Muguet.

Two glorious weeks exploring Umbria at Casa Leone

We arrived at Casa Leone in the hilltop town of Montelone d'Orvieto after a two hour drive from Rome and immediately made ourselves at home and began exploring the town-buying provisions at the local grocery store, Conad, and reserving a table for dinner at Seven Cafe.

Seven Cafe is lovely, and the food was delicious. The friendly owner regaled us with his stories, and we indulged ourselves on pasta with truffles, delicious, rare slices of steak with mushrooms, and a lovely Rosso di Montefalco.

PLANNING OUR VISITS

Wasting no time in exploring Umbria, we first visited Orvieto with its magnificent Duomo. The facade is breathtaking with its gilded mosaic columns, bas relief carvings and green and white stone. The inside was just as impressive with huge marble sculptures of the saints.

From Casa Leone, it’s an easy drive to Castiglione del Lago at Lake Trasimeno, famous for its colorful pasta and lake seafood. On another day we headed over to Tuscany to Montepulciano to visit the town and taste the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano at Poliziano. (Photo by Agne27 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

We got in the habit of getting take- out main meals for lunch in each town usually followed by a visit a winery for tasting and tours (usually by appointment, as recommended).

Orvieto has lovely white wine, Orvieto Classico, but we also enjoyed the famous Sagrantino di Montefalco at the beautiful Arnaldo Capria vineyard.

NEARBY VISITS TO PERUGIA AND DERUTA

Later we visited Perugia and realized that the way to get parking near the Centro Storico was to go to one of the parking lots, then take escalators up the hill to the top.

We spent time at the Galleria Nationale (with it’s Peruginos and Raphaels) and an exhibit of Klimt. The building is stunning. The chocolate we bought was also fantastic!

We also made a tortuous drive to Deruta on pretty awful back roads. Best to go towards Perugia and come south rather than the secondary roads from Casa Leone.

Deruta is worth a visit to see the ceramics and the Museo di Ceramic.

A PERFECT DAY IN UMBRIA

Yesterday, we ventured back to Assisi since we never got to see the Basilica on Saturday. This time we parked in a garage on the road to the Centro after following a tour bus. It worked out great!

Got to see the Giotto frescos and the magnificent basilica, then found a sweet cantina on a quiet side street with farm to table country cooking, including the owner’s rabbit from his farm!

ARRIVEDERCI

We’ve had a glorious time exploring Umbria and getting to know little towns like Monteleone d’Orvieto and Citta della Pieve as well as visiting beautiful places like Todi, Perugia, Assis, Spoleto and Deruta.

We’ve done so much in just one week. We found Casa Leone to be a perfect spot to use as a home base for discovering this part of Italy.

Fractional Resale Shares Currently Available