Italy 2016
Even though it rained we ran out for a traditional lunch. Goulash mmm like stew. With potato bacon dumplings then 2 pizzas for dinner. The sun came out for a brief moment at 8:00 pm. So we ran back so steph could fly his drone. The storm moved so fast he had to fly it back in dense fog. And yes we know it’s a lot of food in one day.
It started pouring rain again. But we were happy to have booked a traditional meal at our hotel. It was way too much food. 5 maybe 6 courses. Salad bar, Smoked octopus, risotto with quail, homemade apple sorbet, then I had potato ravioli and Stephane had monk fish. We passed on desert.
Today’s a rainy day. We got up early and drove the Alpe Di Siusi. Our GPS brought us down some incredible “streets”. I guess it considers a dirt road a street. But some were paved. Just happy no cars passed since they were so small.
We arrived and jumped right in the car to head to the lifts. We heard it’s supposed to rain for the next 2 days. After about an hour hike/ walk we came home so Steph could fly his drone. We went out to dinner in town. We were told that this area gets about 4 or 5 English speakers a year, so we ordered in German. The main language here. Which means I pointed into the oven and at the large glass for the beer that we really needed.
This tiny little town has this machine in the main square. 😉😛
Castelrotto from above
Steph flew the drone as soon as we got here.
We made it to the Dolomites. We are staying in a tiny town similar to Aspen Colorado called Castelrotto.
Today we drove 5 hours to the Dolomites in the Italian Alps. Yummy food at the rest stop in the auto route. Oh and we passed 2 fancy cars. Weismann. Never heard of them but they may have surpassed Aston Martin as my new favorite car. Just need to win the lottery.
Yesterday we drove to Adriatic to a small beach town called Fano for the day. Then spent our last night in San Marina
San Marino
San Marino. 4 hour drive thru the foothills to this tiny town/ country perched high above the world.
Lunch in Monticchielo
Still looking for the perfect Tuscan tree shot
In search of the perfect tree
Lunch back in Pienza. With a great glass of Brunello
Even Italian cats love Stephane. In Montalcino
Civita di Bagnoregio. One of the days we were in Tuscany we drove about an hour south of Pienza to this tiny little town up on the cliffs. This city has been there for over 2000 years. Yes BC! There are no cars only a donkey trail up to the city. We met a home owner there, Frank, he let us check out his incredible home and walked us through one of the residents gardens.
After a stop in Montepulciano, back in Pienza we had some more pasta for dinner at sunset.
Stephane got up at sunrise to take this picture. Notice how I said Stephane woke up. 😏 I stayed curled up in bed. This is the famous Belvedere
Yesterday we did a little drive-Just to get off the beaten path. On the way we stopped in a small town called Radicofani. Mainly because it has this beautiful fortress on the top. In the town was this cute cafe with great wine, and homemade pasta.
Our beautiful Tuscan farmhouse Pienza, Italy Agriturusmo Il Casalino
After a day of driving with a stop in Lucca and Volterra we arrived to this beautiful place.
We did part of the cinque terre hike. It was only 2 miles but we definitely will feel it. Now we are off to Pienza
We are in Vernazza. Yay. After a long day yesterday. 2 flights both next to kicking yelling babies we finally landed in Milan. We drove 3 hours to the coast parked and took a train into the cinque terre. It was beautiful. We managed to stay awake until 10 pm. -wine and a good view helped- today we will explore the towns after some yummy pastry. The pastry is from http://www.ilpiratarooms.com/eng_caffe.html we went there in 2005 with my parents. They pastries are still delicious. Now they have dinner equally good. The brothers who run the place are great!
Off to italy. We are in Newark airport waiting for our flight to Milan. This is in Newark Airport. You order all your food and drink on a iPad. Don’t have to speak to anyone or each other.
Random Italy Travel Thoughts
Parking in Italy:
Blue lines mean paid parking
Yellow lines mean locals only parking
White lines mean free parking
The little timer thing in your rental windshield is for timed parking. Just set it to the time you parked.
Cash! when you land make sure you have cash. Many hotels, restaurants gas stations etc don’t take credit cards.
Credit Cards-
Most places take Visa not Anerican Express.
Make sure you have a card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees
call your credit card company and request a 4 digit pin. This is not an ATM pin but a security pin many vendors and stores require.
Driving