Today started off at the excellent Maso La Vecchia Quercia, up in the hills in the Dolomites. We did actually find the old oak, it's not very big and out the front. It could be very old, but stunted, maybe it smokes too much. Anyway, lovely place, lovely location, nice people. Food wasn't special, too salty for our taste, but the house wine was good.
And it's sunny. This is good because we can now see the mountains, which are pretty cool. In fact, I'm a bit glad we couldn't see them yesterday when going through some of those passes, because it would have been pretty scary!
Anyway, lots of beautiful scenery to start the day off. Things got even better as we went around the side of Lake Garda, from a scenery point of view. From a traffic point of view, this was the most crowded place we've been in all trip - it's Sunday, in Italy, and the the sun's out. So are all the total nutters that inhabit Italy - that's Italians then! The road down the west of Garda is on the edge of the mountains, so the road goes in and out of tunnels all the way, with a view across the lake between them. And surely every single motorcycle currently functional in this part of Italy - huge swathes (??) of them, dodging and weaving and overtaking and waving and roaring and generally being a pain in the arse. Early lunch at roadside resto was a nice break in the sun.
And then the roundabout zone - a very long stretch between Garda and Piacenza, with single lane highways surrounded by fields and a roundabout every 400 yards. Really. Glad when that was over...
Except be careful what you wish for! The road after that is through the hills of Liguria, and is nothing but bends, like hairpins. There are NO straight bits. And they're all on the edge of a mountain, so one side is always a drop. And the road is pretty bad, lots of broken bits, tyre-tricking cracks, road works. At the risk of sounding like we're moaning... and of course motorbikes, lots of them. These guys are mad. They overtake in eat face of oncoming traffic, on blind bends, whenever they can. Insane. And very tiring for us.
After a GPS-led side trip through a village (what is going on with that device? Did it save us a mile? No! The road was even worse and even more crowded!), we stick in the final destination - it's the best part of 2 hours away, and this has been going on a long time. Low point. Keep going guys.
But then Jim parks up and says we'll have to have a look for the place, because the GPS says we're here. I look across the road - Albergo Birra, in the old Busalla brewery, so pretty groovy really. And the micro-brewery opposite sells beer... and enormous portions! Check out the starter - we should have had one between us really.
And it's sunny. This is good because we can now see the mountains, which are pretty cool. In fact, I'm a bit glad we couldn't see them yesterday when going through some of those passes, because it would have been pretty scary!
The view from the balcony - not scary
Anyway, lots of beautiful scenery to start the day off. Things got even better as we went around the side of Lake Garda, from a scenery point of view. From a traffic point of view, this was the most crowded place we've been in all trip - it's Sunday, in Italy, and the the sun's out. So are all the total nutters that inhabit Italy - that's Italians then! The road down the west of Garda is on the edge of the mountains, so the road goes in and out of tunnels all the way, with a view across the lake between them. And surely every single motorcycle currently functional in this part of Italy - huge swathes (??) of them, dodging and weaving and overtaking and waving and roaring and generally being a pain in the arse. Early lunch at roadside resto was a nice break in the sun.
And then the roundabout zone - a very long stretch between Garda and Piacenza, with single lane highways surrounded by fields and a roundabout every 400 yards. Really. Glad when that was over...
Except be careful what you wish for! The road after that is through the hills of Liguria, and is nothing but bends, like hairpins. There are NO straight bits. And they're all on the edge of a mountain, so one side is always a drop. And the road is pretty bad, lots of broken bits, tyre-tricking cracks, road works. At the risk of sounding like we're moaning... and of course motorbikes, lots of them. These guys are mad. They overtake in eat face of oncoming traffic, on blind bends, whenever they can. Insane. And very tiring for us.
After a GPS-led side trip through a village (what is going on with that device? Did it save us a mile? No! The road was even worse and even more crowded!), we stick in the final destination - it's the best part of 2 hours away, and this has been going on a long time. Low point. Keep going guys.
But then Jim parks up and says we'll have to have a look for the place, because the GPS says we're here. I look across the road - Albergo Birra, in the old Busalla brewery, so pretty groovy really. And the micro-brewery opposite sells beer... and enormous portions! Check out the starter - we should have had one between us really.
Hi John,that is what I call a starter!!!,and there's a nice bowl of bread to chew on (hope it arrived on time).Even though there's a brewery next door,where's the Vin Rouge ?.Really enjoyed reading the blog,see you in September,regards from Vince
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