2010/4 Rest of Northern Italy

From the mountains to the plains, we changed from 5 degrees to 35 degrees, and clear air to haze(which lasted for a week) all in the space of a few stressful hours. We thought that the trip down to Verona would be a lovely jaunt along an alpine valley then a quick whizz down the motorway. How naive and ever optimistic we are. Sure the valley was lovely, but the road works were hell, and all the other thousands of cars thought the same. The motorway from the Brenner (busy) Pass was chock a block with trucks that like nothing better than to tailgate defenceless woman drivers and turn them into nervous wrecks. After getting through that we spent about 2 hours faithfully following the satnav directions around Verona to no longer existing campsites (NB we need to update our Italian sosta campsite) book. HOWEVER when we finally made it – brilliant. The sosta was a few hundred metres walk from the centre of town and Verona is a lovely city.

We mustered our last remaining drops of energy and headed to town for the evening. We love the Italian evening  promenade thing. Actually managed to see most of the sights that night. Next day set off for more tourist torture. Discovered that Aida was on at the old Roman arena that night and managed to get seats. Spent the day seeing the sights – Juliets’s house etc. Plus several hours at a WIFI site – a big problem in Italy as they have new laws all about terrorism that make it difficult for foreigners to get on WIFI easily. Something that we don’t really understand – we think we do when they tell us but when we go away and think about it, we wonder what on earth it is all about!

Well Verona is charming. We were very happy wandering and visiting cafes. Aida in the arena was stunning.  The set was a total extravaganza. It started at 9.15, ended about 12.30. Our marble seats in the plebian area, near the top were bone-achingly hard, even with our double cushions. But we were happy. It was magnificent.

From Verona we travelled west, lunched on the shore of Lake Grado. Dabbled our toes, but too cold. Moved onto Lake Como. Made our way through the town to find the sosta at west Como. It was awful. Just an old truck yard full of wrecks and barely a human to be seen. Joanna put up some serious resistance  (unlike her usual compliant self!) and we moved on up the lake to Menaggio. 34kms which took an hour, but what a spectacular drive. The lake was sparkling,full of boats, crowds of people. Found a camp on the shores of the lake and being evening set off to promenade again. An elegant town, as most of Lake Como appears to be.

Next day we headed into the hills – very steep walk but interesting, through historical village stuff. Lots of ancient work related remnants, some not all that old – mills, forges, lime kilns. Had a bit of excitement when we had to cross a fast-flowing river where the bridge had been washed away. David crawled across what was left of the bridge that had been slung across the water. Joanna got her gear off and walked across. Got the adrenaline going. Next morning had a swim in the lake. Unfortunately the haze had made it up the lake and we could hardly see anything.

Set off on a bit of an Italian lakes tour. Lunch at Lake Lugano, Coffee on the shores of Lake Maggiore and finally dinner at Lake Orta. Orta is by far the smallest of the lakes but has a charming medieval town – Orta san Guilio, with an equally charming island close off shore with a monastry. Joanna’s sister Sue spent time in Orta 35 years ago on her OE and has been trying to get people to go there ever since. Well we have now and it was lovely – although seems to becoming a bit of a museum piece and not really a living town anymore. No cars allowed in the town and camper vans are banished even further out so we got our exercise riding or walking up and down the hill.

Did a motorway hop to Aosta. So quick and cheap in Italy. David had been fretting about the rear lights not working, so decided this was the place to sort it out. Found an interesting sosta right in town that seemed to have several families of resident gypsies. They were very friendly but we were fascinated with all the goings on. While van electrical fault was being traced we headed up the new Pila telepherique, right out of the centre of the town up a thousand metres. We did an extremely rigorous walk(for us) straight up the downhill ski run - another 600 metres. It was stunning, a beautiful day, wonderful scenery,and a very good ski area. Some days we just can’t believe how lucky we are.

Side lights fixed and off to the National Park Grand Paradiso, just off the Aosta Valley. Very picturesque,towering mountains, pretty villages. Full of hearty, hiking sorts – we rather fancy that we are part of the scene at the moment. Did  a  hike up one of the valleys. We noticed a definite lag in our pace and reluctance to attack the steep bits, but it was when we noticed that the unfit looking day trippers in unsuitable shoes were looking more spritely than us, we realised that it was time for a break. Took 2 days out in a delightful little campsite in the village Valnontey. David managed to tick off everything on his list of jobs to be done (first time I have ever known that since we have been married – it usually grows!), we sat in the sun, checked out the village bars, visited the Alpine Botanical Gardens. All very therapeutic. The wildflowers have been magnificent on this trip. An amazing array that any home gardener would be proud of.

Our energy restored we explored another valley the next day before heading off for Courmayeur,right beside the Mt Blanc tunnel. Both of us have spent time in this area in the past, so enjoy revisiting, but always amazed at how little we remember. I am beginning to think that it won’t be long before we could just keep going back to the same place because we don’t remember anything anyway. From Courmayeur we made THE trans Mont Blanc trip on several telepheriques across the Alps to Chamonix. The weather was perfect and the views of Mt Blanc and surrounding peaks incredible especially from the high points of Hellbronner(3462 metres, Matterhorn in the distance) and the Aguille de Midi(3842 metres). We were both impressed to see the path we had taken many years ago down from the Aguille de Midi – Joanna to ski the Mer de Glace and David on various climbing expeditions. It hasn’t improved at all over the years – a narrow path along a ridge with precipitous drops on both sides. We watched climbers with crampons and roped  together. Joanna and David  did it in ski boots and carrying skis. Scary. Back to Courmayeur by bus through Mt Blanc tunnel. Had a great day. Recommend the trip. We have now been to the top of the highest peak in Germany (Zugspitz) and been very close to the highest in Italy (Grande Paradiso) and the highest in the France/Alps (Mont Blanc).

We are now (6 July) in a sosta at La Thuile, a little resort on the Petit St Bernard Pass – onto Val d’Isere later today. The end of our Italian sojourn,much longer than intended, but all good with Dolomites, Adriatic coast,grand Opera and the Grand Paradiso National Park.

We are looking forward to French bread – Italian is unreliable, and all sorts of other gastronomic delights.