Trentino

Another one of my favourite regions is Trentino in the very north of Italy. Trentino is green and white, fresh and clean, full of flowers in the summer and no doubt full of snow in the winter (although I haven't been in winter time yet - sigh).

In July 2013, my other half and I embarked on a two day tour of the area along with Italy's BMW Youngtimer's Club. It was a great weekend and we crossed over the Trentino borders into the Veneto and Brescia at various points of the trip.

The journey began with a breakfast of brioche and coffee at a service station as we waited for the collection of classic BMW cars and their proud owners to congregate on the forecourt. One by one the cars arrived and people bustled about discussing the technicalities of each car model and admiring everything from the paint job, body work, headlights, steering column, interior upholstery  and so on.

Around 10.00am, the maps were consulted, itinerary packs were distributed and the route was confirmed. Everyone back to the cars for the off. (We didn't have a classic BMW but a little royal blue Alfa Romeo Spider, the absolute pride of my partner!)

The drive was superb!

Mountain scenery, fresh crisp air, flashes of blue sky lying behind masses of white, dense clouds. We passed waterfalls, streams, forests, cattle on the roads, goat herders and and array of timber homes adorned with bright pink flowers. This is an interesting region were you are as likely to see and hear German as you are Italian.

 


Now, I am not one for speedy driving and luckily managed to persuade my partner that he would do well to take the curves at a steady pace in order to avoid having to clean up sick from his checkered seats. However, the boys and their BMWs were there for one thing and one thing only - to put their cars through there paces on the winding mountain roads of the Trentino region.

The head of the group had the organisation down with typical German precision and he had planned many finely timed pit stops that allowed everyone to take in the spectacular views and of course further discuss the ins and outs of each classic car. There were around 15 BMWs in this group, all following each other along the roads and so as you can imagine, we attracted the attention of passers by and tourists, who came to chat with the owners, take photographs and satisfy their curiosity with questions about engines, value, origins and so on.

As evening fell, we made our way to Val Pusteria in Alto Adige were we stopped for the night at a hotel overlooking a lake...

The view from the terrace belonging to the room.

Benvenuti!

Welcome to my blog about Italy!

After four years venturing around many beautiful places, from mountains and islands to cities and country villages, I have decided to create a blog. One of the main reasons is to keep all of my photos and memories together in one place - even though many photos were taken with a small, cloudy smartphone lens!  And to remember all of the fantastic restaurants I have stumbled upon.

Venezia

So, starting off with one of my favourite cities - a truly charismatic place - Venice!

Venice was my first glimpse of Italy! It was a cold February evening. I had been shuffled out of the airport taxi and onto a water taxi, studying my map and feeling a little disorientated. I remember a dark, icy and very wet place. It would have been intimidating if hadn't been for clusters of other lost tourists studying their maps as well and disagreeing with each other in various languages about which way to go - the language of being lost is universal. I know now that I was below the steps of Santa Lucia train station, at the foot of the Ponte degli Scalzi, and I should have been staying at a hotel I had booked at nearby. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the hotel. So I was cold, laden with baggage, tired and lost - in the snow. I remember going into a random hotel and asking if there might be vacancies - "of course" replied the man at reception "all our rooms are vacant". I accepted the room, despite feeling unnerved that the hotel I had chosen was completely empty of other guests - suitcase behind the door that night then.

On the following morning, once I had my train ticket for the onward journey to Vicenza safely in hand, I headed out of the main entrance at Santa Lucia and - wow. The sun was shining down on the Grand Canal and Venice became everything I now know it to be. It was colourful, busy and eclectic. Clumsy water taxis bobbed around whilst the gondolas glided across a back drop of greens, oranges and yellows. Tourists gathered everywhere, taking photos, buying maps or tickets for the boats, eating ice-cream and lounging on the Ponte degli Scalzi. Pigeons watched from the ledges of the Scalzi church or dodged the many pedestrians in search of crumbs. It seemed completely different from the previous evening.

On that first evening trip, my journey on a water taxi was relatively calm and peaceful but I have to say, that wasn't really the norm. I remember many occasions when we were packed onto the decks of the boat. One particular time, I had slotted in at the last moment and thought there would be no way any more people would attempt to board. I was wrong. As the taxi gate was fastened tight, I was pushed up against the side of the overcrowded vessel wondering if the catastrophe cover on my travel insurance extended to a boat capsizing.

This was all in the late winter and springtime of 2005 as a fresh-faced Erasmus student and I no intentions of returning to Italy long term. However, I would visit Venice again 6 years later as a far more savvy Italian resident- taking my Pugliese boyfriend along with me, speaking the language with the locals and well, still getting lost.