Blogs from Italy, Europe - page 5

After a very relaxing and much needed day off in Foligno I set off for the campsite near Narni. I soon pick up signs for the Spoletto to Assisi cycleway and they lead me go a lovely canal side cycle path. I get to enjoy it for 40km or so before the inevitable climb. It's a very hot day, but thankfully there are plenty of trees provideing lots of shade. The temperature difference under the trees and in the sun is amazing. Trees are just brilliant. The climb peaked at 1,984 feet and was very steep in places. There were loads of white admiral butterflies sunning themselves on the road. The forest was silent save for some crickets and the rustle of dry leaves everytime a lizard scurried off. The winding descent to Terni was very ... read more

Romantic Verona and lake Garda -Piprey on wheel Romantic Italy 'Un bel di Vedremo' is a famous song of Madame Butterfly opera where the Japanese wife pines for her American navy husband to come back to her in Nagasaki. Imagine, watching a spectacular opera in a 1000-year-old arena which today seats 16,000 people; from where the mighty Romans once watched bloody sports! Such song, music, food and social life is inherent in Italian culture, making it stand out rather flamboyantly against the sober character of Northern Europe. Back to present world, all London airports had an airport traffic control failure. Hence, over 1900 flights were cancelled over 2 days. Fortunately, the backlog got cleared by the time my Lufthansa flight took off to Munich. From Munich to Verona it was Air Dolomite which was turbu... read more

The Alta Via 1 is one of the most famous multi-day walks in Europe, threading its way south for over 120km through the Dolomites - a mountainous landscape renowned for its sharp limestone pinnacles, whose northern end lies in the province of South Tyrol (which, despite being ceded to Italy after the First World War, is still predominantly German-speaking - hence the dual place names). With a plethora of accommodation options along the way - from the usual mountain huts that I've come to know and love; to farmhouses offering beds in their haylofts; to campgrounds, hotels and bed & breakfasts down in the valleys - the only challenge is securing sufficient reservations to complete the trail. Thankfully I'd managed to do just that, though admittedly it had taken some flexibility on my part, as well ... read more

Today we have two very critical missions to complete. I’m feeling a bit desperate. If I don’t complete the first mission, I’m not sure Issy’s going to let me into bed tonight. The nearest laundromat‘s nearly a kilometre away in a non-tourist part of town. Issy also has some slightly soiled clothes, but as always seems to be the case mine outnumber hers by roughly ten to one. Hers don’t seem to smell nearly as much either. The laundromat‘s a very sophisticated automated arrangement. You put your clothes in one of the machines, dial up what you need on a screen on the other side of the room, insert some cash, and the machine magically whirrs into action. One gent turns up with only a credit card. I wonder where he’s going to sleep tonight. They ... read more

When I first stumbled across Monopoli as somewhere we might visit, all I could think of was Mayfair, and Go Directly to Jail - Do Not Pass Go - Do Not Collect £200 Salary. I thought I’d just about got past that when Emma rang up last night and asked us where we were. When we told her we were in Monopoli she started laughing and assumed we’d just made the name up. Our beloved daughter is probably not a world authority on Mediterranean coastal travel destinations. Still, it does nevertheless seem that this part of Italy is not all that well known internationally relative to other seaside destinations around the Med. Apparently something like 75% of the tourists on Spain’s Costa del Sol are international, but that number would struggle to get to 20% here. ... read more