Buongiorno Italia

When you think of Italy, what do you think of? That’s right, food and wine. We were in heaven!

I got to enjoy my birthday here in glorious and warm Italy. We were still close to Switzerland so it was very mountainous. We found a spot by a “river” in Cantalupo Ligure, more like a stream because of all the sunshine! We cooked pizza on the barbecue and I just managed to sit in the stream to cool down!



We started off with the idea that we would travel down the West leg of Italy and come back up the East side, but that was before we realised how big Italy actually is. We decided we would have to leave out half of it, especially as we had to be conscious of Brexit and the Schengen days we were using up. 




As you know, in the region of Pisa, is the very famous leaning tower of Pisa, which we had plenty of touristy photos in front of. We also enjoyed some pizza, because you know… when in Rome (or Pisa)!



It really does lean that much, and actually it is because when they started building it the foundations sank, but they thought instead of starting again they would make it work! And of course, it did!



We wanted to check out the town of San Gimignano but sadly it was absolutely packed, and that always puts us off. The same we found for Florence. We felt these are the sorts of places that are better off being visited during a holiday where you can stay in the heart of it all and immerse yourself. 





Our 9th Dating Anniversary we spent on the beach in Rimini on the East Coast, which was deserted due to it being the end of September, and enjoyed a BBQ and champagne (or should we say, cheap fizz, cause you know, we are travellers!).







It’s always been a dream of mine to visit Venice, however we did feel that in the Campervan it wouldn’t be that special, so we are saving it for a romantic getaway one day. So instead we visited “mini Venice”, Chioggia, which was a very charming little town. With the gondolas, bridges and local bars, you really could believe you were in Venice. So if you’re thinking of heading round there, we definitely recommend this place!




Another amazing place in Italy is the Dolomites. As we were making our way there the weather was appalling but the next day it cleared so we felt full of hope again! There’s loads of places to visit and explore in the Dolomites, here are a couple of our favourites:


The breathtaking Lake Karersee
The quaint town of Santa Magdalena

With a lovely loop walk up to the church


We did wake up to snow one morning and because we weren’t expecting it and didn’t have snow chains, we decided to head down rather then further up!



If you are big hikers, a popular spot is Tre Cime. We went there with all intentions of climbing to the top, but sadly the route we took was mostly on a road without any nice views so we decided that it wasn’t for us. Instead we enjoyed our pack up by the lake at the bottom, with nice views!


Our spot for our pack up!

Views over the edge!
(We actually took loads of pictures here, because everywhere you looked it was breathtaking!)



Another lovely spot we visited Lago di Landro
Lago di Landro

 


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