Blogs from Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Europe - page 30

So I realize the majority of my blogs usually have food as the highlight, so I'm taking the occasion to have one entire entry dedicated to an amazing meal that I had this past weekend. All along the Emilia-Romagna coast this past weekend was "La Notte Rosa" or the "Pink Night" which just basically means everything stays open late and there are concerts and other types of activities to keep people up all night long. It is a play on words, as in Italian... a night in white means to Well Fabio and I decided to go, and meet up with friends down there. Well at the last minute (and we were already down in Ravenna), our friends call us and tell us they decided to go to the Lidi Ferrarese, which is the Galveston of ... read more

It turned out we were fortunate to have had to get the 10:30 pm ferry as, by the time we left Igoumenitsa (right on time) the 20:30 Superfast ferry had not yet arrived. The Anek lines ferry was OK. Ashley had to drive the bike down two very steep ramps into the bowels of the boat then back up the ramps to get off. He says it's surprisingly easy if you have confidence. He rode on and off in convoy with a load of bikers and that was good. We slept very well. I think it's some combination of darkness, quietness (well, except for the engines) and gentle rocking motion that helps me sleep so well on the boat. Saw an amazing sunset from Igoumenitsa and an even more amazing rise of a blood red moon ... read more

After waking up, shuttling a luggage over to Fabio's place on the back of my bike (mind you tied on with the strap from Dad's bag), and having some breakfast, we finally set out on foot in Ferrara. We start on our way to Piazza Ariostea, but we end up meeting up with our dear Fulvio, who is studying tourism -- the perfect tour guide! We decided to change plans and we walked to the oldest street in Ferrara, Via delle Volte. After a little bit more site seeing around town, to name one the Duomo/Cathedral, we go to "Brindisi" bar, which Fulvio informs us just so happens to be the oldest enoteca in Europe, which was established in 1435. I don't know how many times I had passed by this bar (as it is on ... read more

We had been in Italy less than three hours before we ran foul of the ticket inspector for not validating our train tickets. Having asked specifically for tickets for a particular train and whether seats were assigned etc., it never occurred to us that they had to be validated in a small yellow machine tucked away in the corner of the station, and our salesman, who spoke good English, did not offer this information. The ticket inspector fined us 5 Euros each and, when we complained, pointed out that the maximum fine is 50 Euros, muttering about L'Anglais as he wrote out our fines and showed us a picture of the validation machine. Perhaps this has coloured our view but, in general, we do not find the Italians as cheerful or helpful as the Croatians and ... read more

We made some amazing distance today. From Ponte St Martin (in Valle De Aosta) to Castello St Pietro (just beyond Bologna). The ride was fine at first, via Alessandria rather than Milan, I had been warned about motorways near Milan, best avoided. From Alessandria towards Bologna, 2 lanes at first, light traffic, 120kmph, Slowly more motorways feed in, 3 lanes, 90kmph, then from Parma, 4 lanes and 60kmph. Plus accidents, zero kmph for bits, some nastily trashed trucks, but it looked like dazed truckers rather than anything worse, cannot be sure of course. Motorway code in Italy. Truckers, 90 to 100 kmph, predictable, though some need to take breaks earlier. Car drivers, the busier the motorway the more crazy they act. When the car drivers are at their worst the best plan is to join the ... read more