Pizza, Gelato and the hunt for the lucky boob

  

 

 

20th March - San Remo, Italy

Time to leave baguettes, cheese and pastries and head for the land of carbs!! Italy here we come!!! 

Wea havea only beena ina thea countrya fora aya shorta timea and cana alreadya speaka Itlaina.

 

We left fairly early and took the non-toll roads through Nice and Menton and then over the border into Italy and the Italian Riviera. Pity we couldn’t stay in Menton because it looked like a really nice town with beautiful buildings and a long promenade with restaurants. The town square looked somewhat familiar to Nat, we think we may have bought an ice cream here last time we drove through in 2007. Nat’s ice cream memory never lets her down.

 

 





On our way to San Remo



 

 

 





Pretty much had this view for most of the drive



 

After a 2 1/4 hour drive along the coast with some great views we made it to San Remo. We parked up at the camper place and walked into town along the bike path. Pretty nice town with again beautiful buildings all around and then within the first half hour of being in town we had our first gelato for the trip.

 

No. 1 - Straight to the thighs

 

Sooooo goooood!!!! We had three flavours in a cone and Nat was prepared to leave me for an Italian and live here for ever. We checked out the harbour and walked back through the streets to BB.

 





Typical street in this area



 

21st to 22nd March – Diana Marino (Al Roseto Camperplaats), Italy

 

Arrived into Diana Marino after a fairly easy drive but then we had to find the camperplaats we wanted to stay in and brenda didn’t really have the right idea. Tried to take us through a 1.9h x 2.2w bridge which doesn’t work with BB. We headed down a narrow road, small bridges and finally found the flower farm with the campsite. Needless to say we weren’t turning back to look for another one. To Natty’s dissapointment none of the flowers were in bloom, didn’t really bother me to be honest.

We checked in with a friendly Italian lady and received two small cappuccino cups as a welcome gift, how nice.

 

Our spot



Our welcome gift


 We walked into town which was only about 800m from BB and walked along the esplanade. There was some regatta on at the time so a bit of activity in the area. We had a cuppa tea down the main street (which was served with two little biscuits and some other biscuits for free!!) and then headed back to BB.



My prediction once we leave Italy

In the evening we walked back in again for dinner and a drink. We stopped at a small bistro for a drink and again we were served with a plate of peanuts, olives, small sandwiches and quiches. After the Portugal experience we figured we'd be charged for it but it was again all for free! Even on the second beer they wanted to bring out more food and were surprised that we hadn’t finished the first lot. We are starting to really enjoy this place!

 

All the food shown was for free!



For dinner we found a small (hopefully typical) Italian restaurant and I had my first margarita pizza and Nat the lasagne, both really good. Then we indulged in a chocolate tart with ice cream.... we could have licked the plate it was soo good!!

The second day was a rain so we enjoyed the free wifi and chilled.

23rd March – San Rocco (near Portofino nature park), Italy

Today we are heading north, direction Portofino. It was a sunny morning so a great day for driving. Headed to Albisola Marina, just above Savona to stay for the night. The parking was with a view out to sea. Unfortunately it started to rain so we had some lunch, a cup of tea and then I went out to watch the bike race that would have held us up anyway if we didn’t stop.

After that it was time for a bit of rummikub and i'm NOT happy to report the result was 2-0 in favour of Nat. I need to add another 55 points to my ever growing tally.

 





Me before getting flogged





We decided to keep on driving that arvo to the spot just outside of Portofino. It took us another hour along the coast, through Genova (which looked like a cool city) and some very small streets winding through the mountain to …a……..car park, but it was free and with brilliant views of the Italian Riviera we had just been driven along.

 



Our spot





View just down the road from our spot

 

24th to 26th March – Agricampeggio Cascina Gaggioli (farm just outside Milan), Italy

We rose fairly early and followed some of the walking paths to some more stunning views of the coast. This was after laughing at the young couple touring in a small van who had to head into the woods to do a number 2, we love BB.

We really got lucky with clear blue skies again and enjoyed the views. 

 

View whilst on the walk

 

Afterwards we parked BB up close to the view for lunch and then drove up the autoroute to Milan.



Our view for lunch in BB

This was much easier than the SS1 routes which we did yesterday (although still glad we did yesterday to up close in the small towns). I think we saved at least 2 hours of driving considering the mountains we had to get through.

In the end it only took us 2 hours and had some more beautiful scenery and a changing scenery as the mountains gave way to more rolling hills with snow-capped mountains in the background.

We headed for a camperplaats which turns out to be a kind of farm only a 30min tram ride from the centre, Perfect!



BB and friends



The farm house

 

The next day was unfortunately a little overcast and cold but we headed in to check the out the city. It’s actually not an overly big city. The only things that we really looked at was the Duomo, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (one of the worlds oldest shopping malls) and then some sort of castle turned museum and another arc de triumph. We sat and had some pizza's (No. 2) near the square and then just walked around.

 



The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II on the left and the Duomo di Milano on the right

 

The Duomo di Milano



Inside the shopping mall



Watching them get down is the funniest



Our second pizza

Next day we went in again without the camera for a walk around. Had some lunch in a cafe by the uni and then we found all the shopping streets full of super expensive brands which we managed to avoid. Had a gelato (No. 2) and finally managed to get some wifi to check the possible cruise details (for the end of the trip) and then headed home.

 

27th to 30th March – Butterfly camping, Peschiera del Garda, Italy

 

Having seen Rome, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terra in our last ‘express trip’, we decided this time to explore the north of Italy a little further and headed to Lago di Garda which is the largest lake in Italy. In our humble opinion we think this region is better than the Italian Riviera, perhaps we were caught up in the moment of it all though.

We drove for about 2.5 hours to Lago di Garda and found our butterfly camping site and set up BB, awning and all.

The camping is set along the edge of the lake. We chilled for the day and rode our bikes for some food shopping and I made Nat a nice camomile and milk tea.... yummy.

The first full day we went for walk along the lake, the views across the lake are just stunning hence my opening paragraph. 

 

 
 

 

 

 

We came back for some lunch and then explored the town a little bit, also very nice.

 

 

Second day we caught the bus to Bardolino and Lazise, two small towns along the lake (north along the eastern side). The sun was out again and even though the bus ride was a little uncomfortable, Nat car sick and me with booze sweats from the night before, we were certainly not disappointed once we got there. Beautiful little towns with lake frontage areas with small harbours and cafes/restaurants everywhere...plus more gelato which always puts a smile on Nat's face! (No. 3)

 

Bordolino

 

Bardolino

 

Lazise

 We walked along the water front at Bardolino and found a camping that is right on the water. We then immediately decided that we would drive up here and stay to soak up the serenity.

Third day was a bit of nothingness.

31st March to 3rd April – Camping San Nicolo, Bardolino, Italy

 

We had to get some more food before we headed to Bardolino. It was only a short 20min drive up the road to reach the camping we found the other day and we managed to get the perfect spot along the water. The weather is nice and warm again, about 20 c so we just hung out and enjoyed the view and cooked up some patties for hamburgers.

 



Our spot, one of the best so far



We did a lot of this

 

 

Next day we went for a walk along the coast and then stopped back into Bardolino for an ice cream (No. 4). We went into a store to check some pants for Nat and we stumbled on some possible shoes for me. So after lunch we went back to the store and sure enough I walked away with two paris of shoes and Nat also bought a pair of the “had to have them” kind.
 

No. 4

Day three we caught the boat all the way to Riva del Garda (the northern most city on the lake), the boat stopped along both sides of the lake, we stopped at Portese, Salo, Gardone, Maderno, Brenzone, Malcisine, Limone and eventually Riva 4 hours later! Limone and Salo looked nice from the boat, might have to check them next time we are here.

 

Boat cruise

 

 

 

 

 

Riva was nice, we enjoyed some lunch (Pizza No. 3) and had a quick walk around the town and then headed back to BB on the bus for just over an hour. It was a long day out but an enjoyable one.

4th to 5th April – Camper plaats, Verona, Italy

 



Our spot for 10 Euros a night (24hr)

Verona, the town of romance. Well apparently if you believe that Romeo and Juliet were real. The camper place was just out of town, about a 15 minute walk from the centre square. We first had some lunch in BB and then headed in.

Nat was still getting over the flue so we had an ice cream (No. 5) to help with her throat.

No. 5

 

Nice town with all beautiful buildings in what is now familiar to us as Italian style, all coloured with different warm colours. The square is quite large with another roman arena (still used for opera shows) and lots of restaurants around the perimeter of the square.

 



The main square

You then follow the main street, full of shops to another square which was also very nice with water features and various statues. We were, of course, on the hunt for the lucky boob but didn’t find it today and headed back to BB to regroup and get ready for the hunt tomorrow.
 

 

 

Natty crashed almost as soon as we went home and had a good 14 hours in bed until we headed off the next day. After translating the info with the new cold and flu tablets she had bought it turns out they cause drowsiness.... more like a coma as it turns out!

It was kind of a rainy day so we headed off into town for a quick hunt for the "lucky boob" and some lunch. We finally found the lucky boob which was located in the ‘court yard’ type thing of Juliets residence which also had the famous balcony. The court yard had all sorts of love messages on the wall, a chewing gum wall, a pad lock wall, all meant to bring good luck for love.

 

 

But perhaps the best ‘good luck’ charm was to rub the right breast of the bronze statue of Juliet. Nat and I are covered.

We found it!! and I rubbed it good!!

 

We found a nice kind of modern restaurant away from the square which had shelves of different wines from different regions in Italy. It looked pretty cool. Nat ordered some typical Verona risotto, with meat and I had the carbonara with pig cheek bacon. Both were excellent and pretty decently priced at only 10 euro each.

 

More food

After that we went back to BB and had a round of rumikub. I am now happy to report that I won and in one game clawed back a whopping 73 points, oohh yeah. So after my 3 recent losses I was 80 behind and now looking at overtaking very soon.

6th to 7th April – Camping Rialto, Venezia, Italy

Time to check out Venice again. Today we found a campsite and enjoyed the sun, I can nearly juggle with 4 balls now, mum’s so proud of me!

 

I got stuck into my book (I know, me reading again, crazy) and Nat nearly had to read but got a phone call from her dad so she was saved.

The next day it was a big day out in Venice. Caught the bus in from the camping and spent from 11 till 4.30 walking around getting lost. Bit the same as last time except it was a nice warm and sunny 22c and packed out with tourists.




The Italians have lovely legs

 



My favourite view in Venice

 


The main square

 

 

8th April – Camper plaats, Cividale del Friuli, Italy

 

This place is meant to be where the Italians go on gastronomic holidays, so we thought we'd better check it out. The Camper plaats was down a side street and walking distance to the town centre. It’s a small medieval town and falls under the unesco world heritage (we think). Nice town with cobbled stone streets and old buildings. Stopped at a cafe for some drinks after a visit to the tourism office who recommended a restaurant for authentic food from the region so we are off later to give it a go. Well we were until my head started to look like Mr Potato Head, my ears were sooo read they looked burnt and my stomach was queezy, so unfortunately we stayed in for the night and Nats Sweet ravioli will have to wait.
 

 

 

 

So it was only a short time in Italy and we were fortunate enough to have seen a lot in our last trip that we don’t feel we are missing out on too much this time around. However we could easily spend many more weeks in this region and we have already labelled the lake district in the north of Italy as a definite return trip at a later date.

 

Soa itsa ciao fora nowa!