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Published: November 22nd 2011
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Ruby at our Resort Travelling from Germany across the Alps into Austria then Italy has to be one of the great drives of the world.The scenery is awesome!!!You cant imagine how they built those roads that carve their way thru those huge mountains.We arrive in Bolzano in the area known as The Tyrol..where everything seems Austrian.It was owned by Austria before he war then after became Italy but someone forgot to tell the residents.Yesterday we had a coffee and a splendid piece of Linzer cake that I must learn how to cook...and stumbled upon a strange sect dressed in knickerbockers,green shirts,red vests and a black hat with a white feather..they all looked jolly enough but apparently they were disliked by Mussolini and banned but since the 60"s they have risen and they are PROUD.I do think their clobber needs a bit of updating!! The women look like frumpy milkmaids!!Sooo everyone here speaks German but the papers are all bilingual..we plan to have a week here of walking in the alps and swimming the thermal waters.We both need the fountains of youth right now.
Went to our first Xmas market today in Mercano..it was gorgeous with horse drawn carriages.ice skating for the kids.Gluwein and lots
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Come on Denis of yummy food..lik a huge donut squashed with fruit and choc on top!!!The decorations are amazing most made out of wood and finally painted to hang on the trees.Hope to see more markets in Austria in dec but tomoro we head to Bologna the food Mecca of Italy!!!! Ruby has been lonely and waiting patiently to depart.
Bologna was overwhelming yesterday soooo many people for xmas apparently ..there is miles of arcades and we ended up sucked into a group of people waiting at a hotel then out came Paul McCartney and yes we got the photo!!! He looks amazing so youthful for his 70 years.They say this is the food capital but not so sure..not the charm of Florence so we head there tomorrow.
We are in a campsite overlooking Florence..the early morning when the mist rises from the Arna is stunning.We are totally seduced by this city.Each day we stroll across the Ponte vecchio to explore the city,see some Art and perhaps a fresh donut stuffed with jam and an expresso lungo whilst standing of course!!! Its too dear to sit.If Italy is broke you wouldnt know it. There is so much to see.At present an
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ahhh ... goodbye to Prague International film festival so we get to go to the movies...english subtitles.Its a great time to be here with the autumn colours and no tourists.Today we bought fresh sausages from the market and Denis is cooking them now with potatoes in garlic and spinach.
Tomorrow we will go to the Uffizi gallery and perhaps followed by a piece of mille fiulle!!!Standing of course.We went to see David again and how something so human can emerge from a lump of rock is amazing and will probably never happen again in the world.the paintings by Carravaggio have also stunned us by there beauty and darkness..you must look them up if you havent seen them.
We will be sad to leave tomorrow having explored every nook and cranny.We had our first day of rain in europe and all the floretines are bustling about with brollys doing their xmas shopping.We are in the van reading and about to cook a risotto.Tomorrow we go to siena for a few days and check out some nearby villages also.Another great drive in the world thru the CHIANTI region of tuscany on the sr222 via Greve
If you dont know Siena you should youtube THE
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Come on Denis PIALO..they have it in the piazza each year..the piazza is amazing quite different from anything in Italy..we sit and stare at it each day.The coffee here is great of course but the cakes are crap..we were so spoilt in florence...not even a decent donut ..denis is distraught..how shallow are we becoming???
This is the CHIANTI area so we go exploring to find vineyards and good wine.We often spend our evenings listening to BBC4 on the internet after a hard day of walking and peering thru windows.The shops here look magnificent for xmas ..they have a flair for window dressing.Today we went to san Gimignano and Castella in chianti ...the great area for the chianti wines ...the tastings were great especially the olive oils where I could actually taste the quality..denis was in heaven with the reds ..it was accompanied with saltless tuscan bread a local salami and pecorino cheese of course ..a sheep cheese.Yesterday we drove to the south of tuscany where the Brunello wines are made..and saw some lovely fortress towns like Malticino..does it ever end.....
So today we had to drag ourselves away from tuscany and head to the adriatic coast bound for Venice.We crossed the
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Cooking outside noodies, -1 degrees. Where's Jill? mountains over to Rimini and denis was starving as usual..there were tiny towns in the mountains that looked empty then out of the blue in the middle of nowhere...a trattoria..or is it Mecca.Well there we had the most magnificent pastas and a dessert of flamed merangue over icecream and choc.fudge..unbelievable and it was packed this place ..goodness knows where the people came from.That night we stayed in Bellaria ..it too looked like a ghost town mostly shut up for the winter.We camped right on the beach.The next day we explored Rimini markets and coming home we found the Bellaria market and bought some freshly fried squid which was gorgeous.We got home tired and cooked a lovely pancetta risotto for tea.Tomorrow we head thru ravenna to Venice and we cant wait.
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Juliet & Alan
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Gidday from Port
Hi D & J Loved all the new photos & the blog; more & more jealous by the day! You can come home now; we've finally got a good restaurant in Port. The Indian opened last week & it's BLOODY GOOD FOOD !!!!!! Hallelujah brother. Good to see Ruby still in one piece & doing her thing perfectly; I imagine a drive through the Alps would have been a pretty fair test. Miss you both terribly - get your arses back here soon, xx