Blogs from Orta San Giulio, Piedmont, Italy, Europe - page 2

Fugly is not the dream van that we thought we would buy when we were 'grown up' and which we thought we would buy on retirement. Firstly, we bought the van way ahead of retirement - we wanted to enjoy it before we were too old to, and secondly (more importantly for me), it isn't a VW! Having spent my youth aspiring to own a VW camper; and having been fortunate enough to invest wisely in both a T2 Brazilian Bay and a VW Crafter Race Van (both of which retained their value), we have enjoyed, for many years, the VW sub culture that includes events at the infamous Santa Pod raceway - and are keen to continue to do so. For this reason, only a VW would do. However, this was not to be... We ... read more

We have an old Alessi kettle with a train whistle which was one of the first house things we bought together about 25 years ago. The handle has been replaced once (I melted it), the whistles twice (once in New York and once at home) and I have managed to boil it dry on the stove several times, without ill effect. (You would think it would be impossible to boil it dry, because it sounds like a train is about to come down the hall when it boils!). Anyway, the town at the end of the lake, Omegna, is the home of Alessi. It's a largely industrial town, but there's a very pretty area close to where the ferry comes in. We had planned to catch the ferry, but as there is only one boat per ... read more

French toast for the last breakfast with the Hornungs, Frank decided. We had a hilarious trip to the Albert Heijn supermarket with Dorine to shop for the ingredients we needed. It was amazing! You swipe your card and pick up a scanner as you enter the store and scan everything yourself as you put it in the trolley. I felt like I had shot forward in time about 50 years - very sci-fi. Anyway, it was a lovely last breakfast. French toast with apples, mascarpone and maple syrup and some bacon sliced finer than prosciutto which shrivelled up the minute it hit the pan (We got that one a bit wrong at the Albert Heijn deli department). Yum though. After breakfast it was time to say a sad good-bye to our friends once again. We've caught ... read more

We arrived in Orta a couple of days prior to our friends Allison and Paul’s wedding. We stayed at Hotel Santa Caterina, which is a fantastic hotel with modern clean rooms and a ’snack corner’ which we made great use of :-) It was a lovely ten minute stroll alongside the beautiful lake Orta into the Piazza Mario Motta, the main square of Orta San Giulio. The atmosphere of the medieval town of Orta is magical, reminders of times long past can be felt all around in the old streets, churches and ancient towers. The pace of life in Orta is very relaxing and there are lots of little side streets to go exploring. On one of our days we took the ferry over to the Island of San Giulio, which hosts a Benedictine Abbey and ... read more