Peter Rhonda Dion Evan

Our last morning in the Villa with everyone going their different ways. After cleaning up we were joined by Jasmine, Laurie, their friend Katherine, Radan and Johannes in a drive to Souave to see its imposing castle that we saw from the autostrada. The castle include the substantial walling of the town. It is a steep climb to the keep but we were rewarded with excellent views. Afterwards we walked back down into the town and we had a glass of the local wine accompanied by local olives. Radan and Johannes then set off for Switzerland while Jasmine and Laurie drove to Rivenna. We had about two hours drive to the Malpensa airport to the north of Milan. So. We decided to visit Begamo en-route. The town had a medieval old town reached by funicular trains ... read more

Today we joined Karen and Tony in trip to the nearby city of Verona. At the centre of the city is a Roman arena that is still used today for concerts. The old town has many beautiful public buildings and churches that date back to the 6th Century. We spent the afternoon wandering around the streets admiring them. There were many upmarket clothing stores and clearly Verona takes very seriously. On return to the Villa, Rhonda and I joined the kids in a soccer game on the courtyard lawn. It ended in a hard fought draw. After a quick change we had the pleasure of the local housekeeping staff cook a dinner in the local style with, among other things, freshly made pasta.... read more

Today Laurie, Jasmine, Dion and I travelled to Venice train. The purpose of my trip was to see Rear Admiral Maurizio Ertreo who is the Commandant of the Institute of Naval Studies at the Venice Arsenal. I had been in communication with Maurizio about certain Italian aspects of my book. Jasmine and Laurie spent the day looking around Venice.The Arsenal is an impressive building that would date back the 17th century. Maurizio had an apartment attached to his Headquarters. He was able to provide some useful documents and some leads to follow up.After the meeting Dion and I had a very nice lunch at a nearby ristorante and then ambled through the now familiar city.We then met up with Jasmine and Laurie at the station of the return journey home.As another part of Karen's birthday celebration, ... read more

The focus of today was Karen's birthday. In the morning we went to the local town's market square for a look around. Dion was able to find a few pieces for his English novel project based on 'The Boy in Striped Pyjamas'. There was a lunch at Ristorante Castello on the outskirts of Vincenza. The ristorante was on top of a hill with panoramic views of the vineyards and neighbouring villages. The lunch was of multiple courses which were all nicely done and in between them the kids played out in the garden. The last course was a delicious birthday cake for Karen. It was a family run affair and they were pleasantly surprised to see their establishment in the Lonely Planet guide.After the long lunch we came back to the Villa while others went to ... read more

After breakfast at the Hotel Pausannia we walked down to the local water bus stop and took a bat to the train station. Fortunately being the weekend it was not unduly crowded. From the Venice train station we could take any regular train for €2 each to the nearby Mestre station on the mainland. At the main Mestre platform was a Maggiore car hire office. After doing the paperwork we walked with our bags for about ten minutes to the car garage. The car we got was a Peugeot diesel station wagon which took a little bit to getting used to. Rhonda did well navigating us onto the autostrada. Looking at the map we had about an hour's drive to the Villa Saraceno. As the villa would not be open until 1pm we would take the ... read more

Today we left the Hotel reasonably early to beat the worst of the queues leading to the main attractions around Saint Marco's Square. After about 15 minutes wait we got into the Dorges Palace. It is a large and impressive building that give a glimpse of how the Venetians governed their nation state and administered their extensive trading enterprise. They had a unique and advanced form of government which is reflectedThere is an impressive collection of murals that adorn the rooms as well as an armoury that dates back to the 13th Century. The boys were most impressed with the neighbouring prison with its attendant dungeons. The connecting link is the famous 'bridge of sighs'. After the Dorges Palace we went a couple of streets from the Square to find a cafe for lunch. We found ... read more

As planned at 9am we were met by a driver from Turanus Tours to drive us to Venice. This took about two and a half hours along the autostrada. When we arrived at the train terminal at Piazza Roma there was traffic chaos with much horn blowing. We left our car and the driver happily returned to the peace of Slovenia. We had a welcome lunch break in a cafe and got our bearings to walk from one island to the next to Hotel Pausannia in the Dubronno district. It took about twenty minutes. It is clear that it is easy to get lost in the winding street and alley way network that is Venice. The boys did well lugging their bays up and down the steps associated with the many bridges.Without too many false steps ... read more

We had a choice this morning of either going to the neighbouring lake area to view a waterfall or go back early to Ljubljana. We chose the later as the boys were keen to ride abound the city on bikes. To that end we zoomed down the motorway at 130km/hr and were back in town by lunchtime. We returned the car to the ATET office and got a taxi ( a BMW which impressed Dion) to our new hotel called the Adora. This came with rave reviews on the Internet and so we were interested to see if lived up to its hype. It was on the southern side of the river and very near the Ljubljana castle. It was quite small with only a dozen rooms. It was run by a young staff and very ... read more

Just to the north of our village is Vitner Gorge. The river is probably 40 metres from the top of the gorge and there is a walkway that criss-crosses the river. The spray from the cascading water filled the air. The walk went for about 2 kms. The water was extremely clear and quite a few fish could be seen. Bled is only about 35 minutes from Austria. It was too good an opportunity not to cross the border for the boys. So after returning to the entrance to the gorge we drove drove on a country road north to the motorway that runs from Ljubljana into Austria. The motorway itself is a two lane each way dual carriageway with a 130km/hr speed limit. It has a 7km tunnel under the mountains which pops out into ... read more

Today we had a good look at Lake Bled and visited the main sites. First up we hired a row boat and rowed to Bled Island. Everyone had a go at rowing which was good fun. The lake has a laid out rowing course and history of producing Olympic medal winners. On the island there is a picturesque church and surrounding buildings that house a cafe and souvenir ship. The cafe has a beautifully designed wood interior. We had some very nice walnut cake.The Pilgrim Church of the Assumption of Mary dates back to the 15th Century. There has been a church there however since the 9th Century. Like many churches in Slovenia, there are fragments of the church over different periods and there is glass flooring in parts to see the original church.There is a ... read more