And we are back…
We are back in Tarras but not before a couple of nights with our son Richard, daughter in law, Holly and grandchildren Asher and Emme, as we did when we departed over 2 months ago. We have missed the remainder of the winter and lots of photos have been arriving of our tulips and blossom.
Honestly, we have had about 2 hours of rain on two days and two impressive thunder and lightning storms, one during the night in the Dordoyne that lit up the night sky and the other while in the bus leaving Sorrento. Temperatures even in the UK didn’t ever go below 25 and we endured up to 43 in France for a week. Philip ended up doing all the driving and I know he was relieved to get on the bus in Italy and sit relaxed and look at the view. We hear lots of horrific stories about being misunderstood in a foreign country and an impatience with our limited language skills. This was definitely not the case. Service was absolutely great and we found friendly helpful hospitality staff everywhere that would go out of their way to give us the best experience and were tolerant of our bad French and Italian.
Since flying into Nice on the 13th August we have loved immersing ourselves in the food and wine of the region, dining times (never dinner before 8), getting used to shops closed on Sundays and Monday mornings, challenging ourselves to be surprised, stop and find something new, enjoy the odd siesta.
Like many people this was the first international travel we have done in 3 years. The affect of our restricted lives affected everyone worldwide, we all have a common sad story of the months in isolation and the years without income. The tourist and hospitality industries suffering so much. I felt pre Covid that tourist congestion in high profile sites needed to be addressed then. But, now it is extreme. Our recent travel over the past two months has taught me that I need to focus on what my tours are about and the experience I expect my guests to have. During the past two months we have been planning and plotting what will make a good tour, what regions will offer an unforgettable experience and what type of pace do we want to go at. This can’t be a tick the box exercise, but needs to immerse travellers in feeling comfortable, a chance to make new friends within the group and involve everyone in a new and unforgettable ‘somewhere’ experience. Once during this tour my group was referred to as my family. Very cute and made us all laugh.
Most of my group caught a train from Chiusi back to Rome and their onward flight to NZ. Philip, Hannah and I returned to Onigo in the Treviso region to Daniele’s house to spend 3 days with him and his family. Lesley was the only one having a few extra days in Venice and in Treviso.
Daniele’s aim was to take Philip fishing – after a very early start and a fishing day mostly in the fog they caught one miserable 1 little fish and 4 squid. He did take us both truffle hunting though with the most gorgeous Lagotto dog called UFFA. Only 5 minutes walking from his home in a forested area where he can get 12- 15 truffle at a time. Plus, he had kept his favourite fish for a special dinner.
Sundays in Italy and France are closed and the church bells ring longer than usual. It is a family day where lunch together is high priority or in our case a visit to Bassano del Grappa – I hade been there twice before with my previous tour guide and remembered the long line of clipped Holm Oaks lining the road entrance of the town in remembrance to the soldiers in the first world war. It is also famous for the production of Grappa and an aperitivo drink called Mozze Mozze – which we all had to taste . The famous reconstructed old wooden bridge across the Arno river was full of Italians out for the day. I think it was fortunate the shops were closed – they looked beautiful. However if you wanted to buy a new electric car, the piazza was full of car companies showing off their latest sustainable vehicles. Our drive took us past some of the many stunning Palladian villas in this region and a compulsory stop at one of my favourite towns called Asolo – many previous travellers would have enjoyed the best lunch on the hotel deck – but, this time I was checking it out to stay in, and hopefully use Asolo as a base in the future to visit this beautiful area.
While the fishermen were out fishing, Hannah and I caught the train to Venice – one of my favourite cities and where my dear friend Cristina is a guide. I had to take Hannah to my favourite bar in the Dorsoduro for a prossecco, eat at Onigo in Campo San Barnaba, walk lots through the narrowest alleys and take a ride to the Lido on the Vaporetto. It feels so good to be back in Venice and by 5pm when we met up with Cristina and Lesley we finally got to sit down with a Spritz amongst the local families, the children playing on their scooters and more tired tourisit’s enjoying an hour or so with the favourite orange sprtiz. Although we actually had a ‘Select” chosen by Cristina who tells us this is the Venetian drink made of Campari, Aperol and Prosecco.
Time with Crisitina is always too short, she is the ultimate passionate professional guide and even walking back to the station she stopped to show us a special walkway or tiny campo or a church. Venice was beautiful and calm in the early evening and we did a brisk walk to catch the train . Crisitina lives in the little village of Noale. We had dinner in a typical local trattoria where we had the best Gnocchi with fresh porcini mushrooms. The following morning I had my first visit to Treviso. It too has canals and was quietly beautiful as we walked through the shopping area under wide arches which must be so valuable in the winter. As Autumn looms, the wild mushroom stalls are popping up everywhere. I did manage to buy my favourite dried porcini to bring home, but would have loved to have cooked up a variety of these fresh beauties. The fishermen met us for lunch in the Prosecco producing town of Valdobbiadne and we enjoyed a couple of glasses of bottle fermented prosecco which is so delicious. Daniele and Philip had been high up the mountains behind Bassano visiting a farm making cheese. It was the last week before the cows were to walk down the hill for winter. How lucky we are to be able to spend time with locals. Christina and Daniele have taken us to places we would never dreamed of going. Even after our last family dinner with Marika, Deborah, Martina, Simone and Diego of truffle pasta we walked together to the local gelateria for an icecream. It’s been a special 3 days and I will certainly be including this area on a tour in 2024 .
It is only the long haul flight between New Zealand and Europe that is left. The suitcases are heavy with the additional load of Pecorino cheese, Parmigiana Regiano, plus a couple of bottles of wine. The French and Italians can’t imagine being on a plane for so long ‘E Lontana‘ but we do it and challenge ourselves with driving, language and the sheer enormous amount of research you have to do before embarking on travel.
But hey….my planning is well on for 2024 and hopefully in a week or so I can put up my proposed itineraries. We put the garden to bed in June and by the time we returned it was waking up. If you are not involved in winter activities then there is nothing better that a European summer xxxx
