Teacheronhols

After enjoying our last breakfast in Bologna, we had a couple of hours before our train to have a final walk around the city. We were certainly glad that we did as we found the two towers, which are mentioned in Dante’s Inferno. Bologna has its own leaning tower. Other highlights were exploring some of the smaller side streets with some of the market areas including fish, fruit etc. A vibrant city. The walk did help us to prepare for the 6.5 hour train from Bologna to Munich - we were glad we got on in Bologna as there were more getting on in Verona. The train goes through the Brenner pass which is near the Italian/Austrian border in the Tyrol. The views are stunning looking across the towns, mountains and marvelling at the amazing engineering ... read more

As indicated in the last blog, our friends headed for the airport around 8am sadly we did not wave them off as we were still fast asleep. It had been a great couple of days together sharing the adventure. So back to the two, we enjoyed our final breakfast at the Grand Hotel des Arts - checked out, stored our bags and headed out for a final fling around Verona to soak up the excitement and see some of the set we had seen on the stage returned to its area in the square. We went back to our little cafe near the hotel for an Aperol Spritz, picked up our bags and headed to the station to catch the 14:52 train to Bologna ( only 50 minutes away by train). The train was busy although ... read more

The breakfast at the hotel is amazing - so much food and choice that keeps being replenished. It certainly sets you up for day. The four of us decided to head across Ponte Pietra to the Castel San Pietro, a high point which offers a view across the city of Verona. We headed from the hotel to pass the Arena di Verona enroute, however we were sidetracking by buying a couple of shirts, ties and a scarf on route from a wonderful shop with its origins in Milan. The shop staff were brilliant and prepared the shirt for me to try it on - never had such service in the UK. Once purchases had been made, we continued on our journey to our original destination, we decided to stop for a pitstop, which was lucky as ... read more

Our last full day in Stresa. After breakfast, we headed out to walk to Belgirate, along the coast. The journey started off brilliantly striding out along the paths past a mini-golf site and a park with animals - however at this point the path stopped in the car park near the park and the gap along side the road did not appear to be that safe with the number of cars heading our way. So undeterred we turned around and walked back the way we had come and kept walking along the coast, passing the cable car of yesterday’s visit and carrying on to Baveno, which was less in the middle of the road - although only slightly and hoping no coach would shoot past. Baveno is a very picturesque town on the side of the ... read more

As the title of this blog indicates there were a few challenges to our travel but more to come on that. The morning, after enjoying breakfast in the hotel’s panoramic breakfast room overlooking the lake and the Alps, started with another walk by the lake to keep the legs stretched out before our 2 hour trip from Lausanne to Stresa. The views across to Evian and Thonon ( both places we have enjoyed) was stunning with the sun glinting off the water. Very relaxing. Later we headed up the steep hills to reach the old town with its impressive gothic cathedral, which is amazing inside with an impressive organ and console - it would be good to try that out! The building was so peaceful and the colours of the stained glass windows created amazing colours ... read more