Holiday ramblings... part 2
Sep. 16th, 2010 07:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
susie_floGood evening dear fiends! I hope you're all enjoying a wonderful Wednesday evening.
Italy is proving to be hopeless at wifi, so I'm using a fleeting window of internet access to ping this offline blog post onto LJ. I haven't had a chance to read what you've all been up to but I know I've missed "big news" from some of you, so be prepared for belated comments when I get home.
I am displeased to annouce that it's nearly the end of our second week of hol... but I cannot complain, because it has been a truly wonderful fortnight. We've spent the second week in Bergamo (what a revelation) and gadding about Lake Garda. Tomorrow we head to Verona for our last day. While things are fresh in my head, I am posting another aide memoire. (Pics to follow)
The train journey from Santa Margherita to Bergamo was somewhat eventful. It started out perfectly well and picturesque along the stretch of rail track that hugs the coast. But then we changed at Genoa for a Milan train and were trundling along quite happily until a shouty nutter appeared on our train carriage. Unfortunately for the shouty nutter, he was shouting in Italian... to a carriage full of English, German and Spanish people. Nobody understood a word he was saying, and the Germans just kept nodding and smiling at him, until he got frustrated and wandered down to the next carriage in search of a more suitable audience. A few minutes later several Italian teens fled into our carriage, leaving one behind filming something on his mobile phone... and then we started to smell smoke and everyone was made to get off the train. From what I could gather the loon had set fire to the train, because we saw smoke billowing out of it once we were on the platform. (Perhaps he does this every year on September 11th)
Anyway thanks to him we all had to cram onto a horrid sweaty crush to Milan. (Stereotypically, people heading to Milan all seemed to be skinny, beautiful and well-dressed in that blingy way that posh Italians go for.)
But I digress. I must report that Bergamo is gorgeous! Really, what a hidden gem of a place, I wonder why more Brits don't visit there. It's a city of two halves... the Citta Alta and the Citta Bassa. The Citta Alta is a walled historic city perched in the hills (like York, except posher and more breathtaking) and the Citta Bassa is full of wide, 19th century boulevards and modern bustle. Our hotel was perched up in the hilly bit and was a weird hybrid of "ooh, fancy" and "ooh, naff". I think it might have time travelled from the late 70s, because the whole place had an air of being cutting edge circa 1978. The owner herself looked like she might be no stranger to a chiffon kaftan, and the bedroom was all wood veneer with a bathroom that was a shrine to the colour brown (I have pictorial evidence). The views from the room were fabulous and we spent each morning eating breakfast on a beautiful terrace restaurant. (Our waiter did his best to make us feel at home... by translating things into German for us. Oh, fiends, the SHAME!)
But anyway, about Bergamo... It seems to me that there is nowhere in the town that does not come with breathtaking views. Everywhere you look there are squares and lanes filled with lovely medieval architecture and vistas of sprawling mountains. The old town is visibly affluent and populated by cafes, shops selling foodie things, nice knitwear and quite a few glamorous ladies who carry little dogs (and even cats!) in their handbags. I think what really blew me away was the fact that all of the free public drinking fountains in Bergamo supply San Pellegrino spring water!
On our first night we met up with
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
mia_oia and the famous "him indoors" and were treated to a little tour of the old town, an aperitif overlooking the city (Spritz is my new beverage of choice) and finally an evening in a favourite restaurant of theirs. The food was wonderful... (Orata alla brace for me) and was followed by an increasingly deranged series of Italian liqueurs. Once we got past the grappa and limoncello, there was something with liquorice in it and then a fig one and I'm sure something else that I've forgotten. I think we made it to bed around 3... and somehow, by the mercy of god, woke up without hangovers!The next day G and I took a funicular train up even higher into the hills, and then bimbled around Bergamo, taking pictures of cute little lizards (pics later) and generally enjoying the atmosphere. We met up with Mia_Oia and Ivan again for dinner, and this time had some lovely porcini pasta, local wine and cheeses in a trattoria in the old town. We Porcini are in season right now and grow wild in that area. They also took us to a place that you'd never find without insider knowledge - a converted monastery that runs as an alfresco bar in the summer months - again with beautiful views. After dinner we were introduced to the excellent Italian concept of Cafe Correto... aka "corrected coffee", which is espresso with a shot of alcohol added (in our case grappa). A lovely nightcap for caffeine addicts.
mia_oia left us with some tips on the local cuisine and booze of Garda and then we flopped back to the hotel for bed.The next day we were off again by train to Peschiera del Garda for a few days by the lake. I have to be honest and say that our very first impression of Peschiera was a bit "meh". After the amazing series of placed we'd just visted, I think we'd become a pair of frightful brats in need of constant whelming. And well - that first afternoon there was just not enough whelming going on. We arrived hungry, on a grey overcast day, and found everything closed. Then we went for a lakeside walk and got rained on...
But after we'd freshened up and had a nap at the hotel everything changed. We ventured back out to find somewhere for dinner and were suddenly taken aback at how lovely Peschiera looked with all of the evening lights lit and the restaurants all open and welcoming... and then we happened upon an exceptionally beautiful restaurant and ordered some gorgeous Lavarello (a lake fish recommended by mia_oia) and some local wine and plenty of grappa and all was fantastico again with whelming back on track.
After the shrine to brown in Bergamo we were amused to note that the Peschiera hotel has gone to the opposite extreme by embracing "the Venetian look"... In particular the bathroom is a riot of red stripey madness that is hard to witness first thing in the morning. (I have pictorial evidence of this one too).
But anyway we've had an absolutely gorgeous time here, going on day trips to small lakeside towns in proper scorchio sunshine! The lake is so big that it feels like the sea, except with ducks and swans on it instead of seagulls. It's not really a beachy place, apart from a few man made ones. There are a huge amount of German tourists here. A lot of the touristy menus and notices are translated into German by default.
Yesterday we visited Bardolino and Lazise by boat, both of which are lovely little towns with harbours and promenades and lots of cafes and tat shops.
ms_siobhan ... just for you I have taken photos of tat so extreme that it would make your cabinet vomit! Wait and see...The ferries are like buses and seem to be the best way to get around the lake. While we were queuing for a ticket, we spotted a woman with the most ill advised tattoo I have ever seen. It took up the entire area between her shoulder blades, and was a realistic rendering of the balding, smiley face of her husband. It was really disconcerting when he was standing next to her and we could see him and his identical twin grinning out at us. (G pointed out that it must be downright weird for him to look at his own face if they ever do it doggy style).
Anyway...
I mentioned above that my new drink of choice is Spritz. (Mia_oia tells me this is a local favourite around Garda). It's a wonderful summer drink made from Aperol - a liqueur similar to Campari - and Prosecco, with a slice of orange and ice. I've had a fair few of them, including one made with Campari, which was lovely. I suspect I shall be having a fair few more when I get back home...
Today we hired bicycles and rode to another little town called Sirmione, instead of getting the boat. It was a great decision... riding a bicyle by the lake on a hot day is just a divine experience. However, going round a foreign roundabout and changing lanes on the wrong side of the road is very flipping scary! Please be proud of me, fiends, for not being dead. Other than that, we've pretty much spent the whole time bimbling around looking at the towns, admiring the water, drinking spritz and eating gorgeous Italian food. I did a teeny tiny bit of shopping (even in the hot sun I am powerless before knitwear) but have been otherwise good.
One thing I have noticed is that people in Northern Italy are totally MAD on dogs. I mean really, I have never before seen so many dogs in one place. And yet there is no doggy mess anywhere. It really makes me curious... where do all of these dogs go to do their do? You never even see anyone with a pooper scooper. It's like they've bred special dogs that never need to go for number twos.
Can't think what else to say, but good god I have waffled on more than enough already. I hope anyone who read this far is still awake...
Looking forward to being back online and seeing you lovely chaps when we get home. I haven't forgotten that we're feeding a few few of you on Sunday. (Beware... I might force feed you Spritz!)
Love from me xx
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-09-15 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 01:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-15 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 01:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 09:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 01:36 pm (UTC)x
no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 01:47 pm (UTC)Read this book a few months ago based in Venice where everyone drank Spritz...and would shout Spritz Spritz at 3pm everyday.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 09:09 pm (UTC)