Jun 16, 2019 - Valley of the Temples - Agrigento

After breakfast in the piazza at Terrasini we headed off for our two hour drive (160kms) across the island to Agrigento. Most of the island's land is dedicated to agriculture with grapes, almonds, citrus, olives and durum wheat — the basis for pasta. On the way we stopped to admire the stunning white cliffs of Scala dei Turchi, the name Stairs of the Turks seems to derive from the fact that in ancient times the ships of marauding Arabs and Turks found shelter in this bay. The cliffs seems to intensify the turquoise waters of the...

Jun 15, 2019 - Goodbye England, hello Sicily

Grae celebrated his birthday with family the day before we flew to Sicily, we had a roaring fire and warmed mulled wine as it was cold and wet, almost felt like Christmas in June for us. Our Ryanair flight out of Manchester took three hours and we arrived in Palermo just after 9.00pm due to a half hour delay before departure. We picked up our Fiat 500 hire car at the airport and drove the 15 kms to Terrasini where we are booked into the Palazzo Graziano (a 400 year old mansion) for two nights. The palazzo is in the main square and our room...

Jun 6, 2019 - Goodbye Sardinia and hello Elba

Friday 24 May Left Sardinia and headed for a group of islands off the south east coast of Corsica. These islands, including Cavallo, where we anchored, where a very unique landscape – many contorted and weather rocks just stacked up reaching out of water. Saturday 25 – Monday 27 May As the weather is changing it’s time to push on so we headed further north and anchored near Porto Vecchio which will be home for the next couple of days. Had to re-anchor a couple of times – dragged in soft mud. Took diesel which was a bit stressful as the wind...

Jun 6, 2019 - Day 23 - Treviso into Austria

Day 23 - Thursday 6 June 19 - Treviso We returned to our hole in the wall breakfast spot of yesterday at 0830 hrs for a sandwich, pastries and coffee before recovering the car from the nearby free car park. The 50 km drive to Padua/ Padova was via Noale to avoid the main freeway. Entry to the city provided no problems and a large car park in the centre was easily found; 1 km from our objective the Basilica di San’t Antonio. We set off for the Basilica to be immediately waylaid by the Abbey of Santa Giustina ( Justina). As a young Christian...

Jun 5, 2019 - Day 22 - Treviso

Day 22 - Wednesday 5 June - Treviso We were dressed and ready to farewell A&J as they headed for Triest at 0930 hrs. Today was planned as a rest day, however, we continued to walk areas of the town centre we had not visited yesterday. As a result, we believe we have found a nice well hidden restaurant for dinner tonight. A further purpose of the morning walk was to purchase a European area pre paid phone card; A&J’s tale of a blown car tyre in a remote locality and many phone calls for assistance a sobering experience. At what I think is a...

Jun 4, 2019 - Day 21 - Treviso

Day 21 - Tuesday 4 June 19 - Treviso A&J are only planning to be in Treviso for two days so it was agreed they would decide the days itinerary. The first objective was to walk the western wall to the Tuesday market . We were immediately acquainted with the many waterways that divide the old town and individual properties with water moving quite quickly. We could see why there is reference to the town having similarities with Venice. The stalls were primarily fashion, flower and cheeses. A morning tea break was taken at a town entry at the...

Jun 3, 2019 - Day 20 - Treviso

Day 20 - Monday 3 June 19 - Treviso Our trip to date through Italy has been based on a mother’s love/admiration for her daughter’s enthusiasm and good judgement; she visited in Jul last year and mother has wanted to replicate her experiences. Today we return to our itinerary by visiting Treviso 50km SE of Bassano DG. Our planned first point of call was Villa Maser ( Villa Barbaro) 22km E, however, a poor memory and the failure to check opening times left us looking at the Villa from the front gate. While the building is large and has an...

Jun 2, 2019 - Day 19 - Bassano del Grappa

Day 19 - Sunday 2 June 19 - Basano Del Grappa We were up at 0600hrs waiting to hear of Alex and John’s plans for the day. It was decided by SMS that we would pick them up from their accomodation and tour the Prosecco area 35 km east of Bassano DG. In the meantime Kaye and I drove to Marostica, 10 km west to visit CastelBrando. This fortification caught our attention as we passed yesterday. Originally built by the romans it appears today as a line of walls and towers that rise from road level up and around a hillside immediately bringing to...

Jun 1, 2019 - Day 18 - Bassano Del Grappa

Day 18 - Saturday 1 June 19 Late last light we advised our host at Basano Del Grappa that we planned to leave Sirmione at 0830 hrs and would meet him in front of his address at 1430 hrs. The timings were based on driving the 161 kms direct to the Sacrario Militare Del Monte Grappa to view the Ossuary that was built after the first world and to experience the 24km drive to the mountain top; a recognised significant feat for cyclists. Although we didn’t get away until 0900 hrs, we achieved walking the Ossuary by 1300 hrs finishing with a...

May 31, 2019 - Day 17 - Sirmione

Day 17 - Friday 31 May 19 - Sirmione. Early rise at 0515 hrs , sun and clear sky flooding our room - partly refreshed. A leisurely start as breakfast in our B&B did not start until 0830hrs. The offerings of our hostess for the three groups staying were generous and the coffee in particular was probably the best we have had to date. At 0900 hrs, we set off to explore the four villages to the South East of the Lake. We drove first to the township of Garda at 36 kms and as we entered the village we could see that it was market day and traffic...

May 30, 2019 - Day 16 - Sirmione

Day 16 - Thursday 30 May 19 - Sirmione Our trip plan for Op Europe 19 included stays on the northern and southern ends of Lake Garda to achieve our objective of seeing all the major lakes in Northern Italy and today we drove to Sirmione the prominent peninsula to the south. The plan was to drive the western side of the lake ( 73 km) and visit several sites of interest. Following breakfast in the hotel and discussions to visit Lago Di Tenno, a site recommended by Nicole for it’s greenish water we set off just after 0900 hrs. After a last...

May 29, 2019 - Day 15 - Riva del Garda

Day 15 - Wednesday 29 May 19 - Riva Del Garda We were late rising to a dry, overcast day that needed a light weight jumper. Breakfast in the hotel was relaxed and the food choice possibly the best so far. My initial reservations of Hotel Luise which promotes it’s moto “ Travel is my real job” are starting to dissipate; it really offers good facilities although I still reserve my opinion on the rooms. We completed breakfast and were away on our 3.6km walk into the nearby village of Torbole at 1000hrs. We initially followed the line of the...