Italy 1 - Fenis not Venice -getting closer to the end of the week

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We were reaching the end of our week in the south east of France and we had decided that there were two more trips we wanted to make before we left for northern France and home. One was to Annecy to spend a day wandering aimlessly around the town and the other to Northern Italy to the Aosta valley and Fenis Castle. A picture perfect castle.

The journey there was pretty impressive in the mountains but this part of Northern Italy is rather an urban and industrial sprawl. Not the prettiest part of the country it has to be said.

The castle though is something else. Pure medieval magic with watchtowers, inner staircases a keep and battlements. A quiet place on the day we went which meant we had time to meader and wander taking in its strange beauty. Internally the wooden balconies with their wall paintings were quite unusual and spectacular.

Most of the usual features are in the castle, inner courtyards, kitchens, guardrooms and chapel.

Off the beaten track but we enjoyed our trip into Italy to see it. What a shame though there was only one more visit to do this week before moving on and that meant a trip around the Lake at Annecy.

The next morning we drove into Annecy. The main road which was busy skirts one side of the lake whilst the far side is much quieter with passing places to stop and admire the view and the ducks on the lake. We chose to go the quieter side of the lake as we had all day to meander.

Annecy is a pretty town sitting on the edge of the lake and surrounded by the mountains. The main sight in the town is the jail which sits on the corner of the canal and forms a photogenic backdrop. We felt as if we knew it even though we had never seen it before as it is shown on the covers of many travel magazines for this area.

We sat and had a drink in one of the small cafes which surround the canal and the jail. Bustling on the day we went it was great to sit and listen to the buzz.

The chateau of Annecy was a bit of a disappointment if I am honest and we felt it was rather a waste of money paying to go in.

After a lovely day in Annecy we packed our bags cleaned our lovely home for the week and got ready to leave heading north to meet my friend Sam who used to work with me in the jobcentre. She decided when her husband took redundancy to move to Dinan in Brittany to run a bed and breakfast. It was to her home that we intended to move to for the second part of our holiday.

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