There was a sense of déjà vu as we headed back down the highway in Austria we had already travelled. However, that soon changed as we headed into the mountains to cross into Italy. There was some amazing scenery, and even though it’s the wrong country, Deb expected to see Heidi wandering across the hills.
About an hour into the mountains, we hit a huge rain storm that was so heavy that we could only manage about 60-70km (instead of the 130) for nearly an hour. There were heaps of tunnels, which were about the only relief we got from the rain. But, as we came down the other side into Italy the weather improved, and the temperature got back up to a much more acceptable 28 degrees.
The first clue to being in Italy was the drivers. They are maniacs. We were tailgated and flashed by more cars in our first hour in Italy than for the entire 2 months up to that point. The road rules are clearly there as a guideline only. There is no indicating, and if you so much as hesitate at a corner, they shoot the gap, whether you have right of way or not. They don’t even don’t slow down when approaching roundabouts. It’s like they have drunk a few Red Bulls or something before they go driving.
But, we managed to make safely to our next couchsurfing host, Federica. She lives in a village called Casale Sul Sile, just outside Treviso. She lives in the family home which has been extended to accommodate 2 apartments, and the original house is now being renovated so other members of the wider family can live in it. She has lived there all her life and her parents live below her in the other apartment.
Federica gave us some great advice on what to do in the area besides going to Venice. So next morning, Federica went off to work, and we set off to Treviso and beyond. Treviso is beautiful, and still has most of the old city wall still in place. We wandered around the streets, checked out the local markets, the canals, narrow streets, and the centre of the old city.
From there we drove up towards the hills to check out the places Federica had recommended. Virtually the whole time we were driving through small villages that have pretty much grown into one another.
The first place we stopped was a small hilltop medieval village called Asolo. It is very very pretty, and views of the Po area stretching out below it were magnificent. The road through the village is only 1 lane wide, but it’s 2 way. There are traffic lights at either end of the main street to allow only one lane of traffic through the village at a time. We wandered around for a while, then bought coffee and sat in a café and watched the world go by.
Leaving Asolo, we then went back down the hill to a town called Bassano Del Grappa – a much bigger town, and very busy. We couldn’t work out why Federica has sent us there until we went for a walk. We saw amazing views up into the hills/alps and the old city part was alive with people, cafes and shops.
When we finally got back to Casale sul Sile after a long day, we walked to a pizzeria down the road from the house to get something to eat. The entire menu was in Italian, so ordering a pizza was an interesting experience – not only for us, but also the shop attendants, and the customers who were also hanging around. We certainly gave them something to laugh about. But we managed to get it sorted, to everyone’s delight. It was very nice to eat, but we were surprised to see that it was about the same price as a gourmet pizza would cost in NZ.
The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast with Federica, and drank copious amounts of her espresso coffee; it was sooooo good. Then we drove to Mogliano Veneto to catch the train to Venice. We had to walk a couple of blocks to the station, and it was interesting to see several groups of men sitting at the local cafes socialising. Apparently this is a common practice on the weekends, especially Sunday.
Venice was everything we had been told to expect, and more. Walking out of the railway station and gazing for the first time at the bustle of the Grand Canal is a memory that will stay with us forever. The buzz of the place, the water, the boats, and the buildings all combining to create an image like nothing we had ever seen before. And there were crowds of people everywhere you looked.
Once we came to terms with the scene, we set about getting tickets on the Number 1 Vaporetto (Waterbus), which runs down the Main Canal to the Piazza San Marco. It cost €6 each and took an hour to do the trip, stopping numerous times along the way, just like an ordinary bus. We sat on the back deck watching Venice go by, snapping photos all along the way.
Piazza San Marco was as impressive as the books said. There were bands playing in fancy cafes and heaps of stalls selling tourist stuff. We had been warned about the cafes in the piazza by several people, including Sonja and Andre (our hosts in Vienna). They had coffee at a café there recently and listened to the band – the coffee was cheap, but the service was €40 (they were expected to contribute to the cost of the band). So we sat on the steps of the piazza and ate our picnic lunch while watching all the beautiful people strut about. It was also great to gaze at the Basilica di San Marco, with all its multicoloured marble.
Not long after lunch, we needed to go to the toilet. Italy is notorious for not having public toilets, free or pay, but this place was ridiculous. They wanted €2 for each person. So we did what nearly everybody else does; every time we felt the urge, we would go into a café and order either a coffee (there is a law in Italy that if you stand at the counter they cannot charge you more than about €1 for an espresso) or a wine – then we would use there toilet. They were usually pretty grubby, and you had to wait in line for ages – but we figured we were at least getting something for our €2. We ended up doing this a lot in Italy. There were always people at the counters sculling their espresso then heading on their on their way. Ooh what a buzz that would be!!
Venice is full of narrow alleys, dead end streets, and canals. It was almost impossible to find our way around using a map – we just had to head in the general direction and them work out our bearings again when we found another recognisable landmark. Whether on the land or the water, the place is really is beautiful.
As luck would have it, we were in Venice on the day they held their annual Gondola Races up and down the Grand Canal. The whole place was a buzz with tourists and locals alike. We squeezed into the crowd and watched the main parade - what a spectacle. There were traditional gondolas, with up to twelve oarsmen, all dressed in period costume, plus the racing gondolas, which had 2-10 members. It really was something to see. We spent the rest of the afternoon making our way by foot back across to the main railway station – getting lost more than a few times in the maze. On the way we crossed the famous Rialto bridge, although it was full of people ready to watch the races. Debbie was desperate to go on a gondola ride, and even though we had been warned they were exorbitantly expensive, we thought we might be able to justify a short trip. But when the man said he wanted €150 for an hour we just about fell over, and of course we had to walk away as our wee budget would not allow for that. Even so, Deb was pretty disappointed that we didn’t get to do it.
That evening we headed back into Treviso with Federica to a pizza/pasta place she likes. We didn’t get there until after 9pm, and we still had to wait to get table. It struck us that in NZ we would have be turned away at this time of night, as the kitchens would be closing for the night. We had a lovely evening with Federica, sitting outside in the main square of the old town, eating pizzas and drinking wine.
We said our goodbyes to Federica the next morning as she headed off to work. We packed our bags, and then went to say farewell to her parents in the downstairs apartment. Neither of them spoke any English, so we did lots of hand gestures to each other, shook hands, and waved goodbye. We wondered what they were thinking as we left, as Federica told us they didn’t really understand the concept of couchsurfing.
So we joined the rat race again with the Italian drivers and drove towards Florence in Tuscany. Our place this time was just out of Florence in the small town of Pontassieve in the Tuscan hills. Sounds so romantic doesn’t it? Excepting that we couldn’t find the place. We tried to call our host, Philippe, but no answer. So we did the best we could with locals who spoke little or no English. The fun had pretty much gone out it when we finally narrowed down where we thought his place should be – high up in the hills above Pontassieve, which involved driving up a very rough gravel track that we would normally only take tractors on. Yes this was certainly an experience not to forget.
Philippe is over 60, originates from Switzerland, and has lived in his 600yr old villa for 20 years. The house overlooks the valleys below, and he is very proud of the 56 olive trees on his 7 hectares (he told us that most legitimate farmers will have at least 1,000 trees). He was an extremely interesting character, who has travelled widely, and is very knowledgeable about many things.
Next morning we packed up our lunch etc and headed back down the goat track and caught the train from Pontassieve to Florence. €1.50 each way for the experience, and certainly cheaper than taking the car. Florence is a very beautiful place, the buildings, the nudie statues everywhere, the city square and so on. But the hustle and bustle of the place tired us out. Everyone was in a hurry, and for us it just didn’t fit with the architecture of the place. The Doumo was amazing – definitely one of the prettiest churches we have seen (and we’ve seen a lot in the last couple of months!). We only saw the genuine fake of Big Dave (Michelangelo’s David) as the line to real thing was just too long, and the fake was actual size, and standing where the original one used to be in the Piazza della Signoria. The Pont Vecchio was another highlight of Florence. This walking bridge holds the most expensive jewellers in the city and there shops literally hang back over the river.
Naturally we visited a couple of cafes that day (toilet stops), but we had moved on to beer and wine, as we thought it was too hot to drink coffee. That day we had agreed that we just about saw as many scooters/motor bikes as Kuala Lumpur. They were everywhere and you had to be more careful of them crossing the road than cars as most people on scooters rode like they had just taken some party pills or something.
The next morning, we took Phillipe’s advice and headed south to check out the Tuscan countryside. First stop was San Gimignano, a medieval town up on a hill. The difference with this town is that the people used to build towers on top of their houses as a sign of their wealth and importance - the higher the tower the wealthier you were. There were 72 towers at one stage, and even though there are only 14 left, it is still a very unique sight.
Then it was off to Sienna, a major city that dates back to medieval times. We really loved this place, and wished we could have spent more time there. The feel was much more relaxed than Florence, and in many ways it was just as pretty. The main square is quite different from anything we have seen, and the Duomo was very impressive with its over-the-top extravagant facade. We stopped at a little street café on the way home and had antipasti and a rough red with the locals of Pontassieve.
Next morning we packed and said our goodbyes to Phillipe and headed down to the local weekly street market in Pontassieve. We really love these types of markets, and go to them whenever we can, as they sell pretty much anything you can think of, and are there for the locals, not the tourists. After a hour of searching for bargains (of course Debbie found some – our baggage limits are now in serious jeopardy for the flight home), we told Gloria to take us to Cinque Terre, on the Mediterranean coast.
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