Blogs from Italy, Europe

Going where the weather suits our clothes- as the lyrics go! In search of some serious sunshine and warmth. The weather has been ok since we left the UK, but not reliably warm and we love sitting out on long warm evenings. Our route south took us through the Mont Blanc Tunnel. We were quite excited as we haven’t taken this road before, however it was rather underwhelming, we paid the £70 to go through the 7km tunnel, started in the pouring rain in Chamonix, and arrived in sunshine of northern Italy. Great we thought, but then there were the tunnels, literally hundreds, no views just the inside of tunnels, a glimpse of sunshine and another tunnel, then roadworks, and slow going due to the speed reductions, although most of the drivers ignored these! We were ... read more

The first part of our trip was in Tuscany in the Val D'Orcia. We based ourselves in Pienza and had mapped out the surrounding towns which we wished to visit and an appropriate route. Pienza is itself a beautiful small town with many shops and restaurants. Our accommodation was right in the centre and so it felt like we were really living there. The hilltop towns have great views across the countryside. We visited Montepulciano first. It is much bigger. Other towns on our route were Bagno Vignoni, a spa town, Castiglione d'Orcia, and San Quirico d'Orcia. Pienza was my favourite. En route we stopped and walked to Cappella Madonna Vitaleta. From this chapel there were more great views. Overall, this area is a photographer's dream. The second part of the trip was to the north ... read more

I’ve planned Sicily trips lots of times, but for various reasons hadn’t yet managed to visit. And this 10-day escape over Easter almost didn’t happen; we again had plans to go elsewhere and Sicily was a fairly last minute choice. Turns out, we were wrong to have delayed it so long. Sicily was wonderful. As the planning became more day-to-day rather than just picking out the general highlights, we realised we wouldn’t be able to see half of what we wanted. Sicily is not far off the size of Belgium, and you wouldn’t try and see that in one trip. We decided, and all the travelblogs and YouTube videos logically recommended, to pick one side of the island, or one corner of the triangle. Actually we picked 1.5, because the southeast looked great for the bulk ... read more

Salve Sardinien! Nach einer gemütlichen 2-tägigen Anfahrt mit unserer ersten Übernachtung auf einem Agriturismo und dem Besuch des tollen Aquariums in Genua sind wir bei schönstem Sonnenschein in Olbia angekommen. Zu unserer ersten Unterkunft fahren wir durch die Berge, und die blühende Gebirgslandschaft ist wirklich schön. Die ersten 5 Tage sind wir auf einem Agriturismo im Osten der Insel untergebracht, zusammen mit 4 bis 15 weiteren Gästen, einer supernetten Gastgeberfamilie sowie einigen Kühen, Schafen, einem Esel, einem Pferd, mehreren Hunden, (Wild-) Schweinen mit Frischlingen, Pfauen, Puten und 2 Schildkröten. Es gibt einen gemütlichen Innenhof mit Sitzgelegenheiten und Olivenbäumen, und abends vor allem: seeeeehr viel zu essen! Natürlich alles selbst produziert. Exemplarisch am ersten Abend: als Antipasti Oliven, Schinken, Speck, Salami, eingelegter Blumenkohl, Artischocken... read more

Not mentioned in my last two blogs is that Lindsay has a bad cold which we thought might have improved by today. To some extent it had but he wasn't well and needed to go to bed for the day. No beach for him. Yet another lovely day weatherwise. Perfect for the beach where we were to join Diego and family who had gone ahead yesterday with their campervan. Since we were now four and not five we were able to pick up Elisa's Mum from Pierina and Piero's house in Portogruaro and head for the beach south of Bibione and north of Caorle. It's an extremely popular area for locals, campers and beach bunnies. The camping area was full of Campervans and parked cars but no beach was to be seen. Because of trees covering ... read more

A long but most interesting day. We took a longer but more beautiful route to Spilimbergo to view the Scuola Mosaicisti Del Furiuli mosaic school where students spend 3 years to learn the art of the mosaic craft. The route to the town took us along the foothills of the Dolomite mountains through rolling countryside covered with trees. NZ could surely look at how trees should be left on the landscape instead of felling it all for farming. What is noticiable is that there are virtually no animals and this is because there is not money in beef or sheep farming. Growing grapes seems to be the alternative as it is in many parts of the world. I wonder when saturation point will arrive. ? Back to mosaics. The school is entirely fitted out with mosaic ... read more