Italy - Day 16 - Alps Mountain Pass! 7-16-2022

Italy –San Martino di Castrozza  to Valdidentro, SO – Day 16 – Stephanie

I’m going to do this blog with bullet points on what all we saw.  I’ll also add some YouTube videos of the Passo del Gavia we did today – the 2^nd mountain pass in the Alps we did today.  I’ll add 1 now and the rest of them tomorrow as YouTube is still uploading them and claims it will be another 3 hours before they are ready.  I’m too tired to wait that long – sorry! 

We thought about doing a 3^rd pass tomorrow the almost crosses the Switzerland Boarder, but we thought since we’ve been lucky with these 2, why push our luck.  Today’s mountain pass was harrowing to say the least!  Anyway, here are the bullet points:  I’ll let the videos and photos lead you to your imagination.

 ·     *  Cows

·        *Sheep

·         *Lamborghini's

·         *Ferrari's

·         *Bentley's

·         *Audi R8

·         *Porsche's

·         *Jaguars

·         *Corvette

·         *Ancient ruins

·         *Lakes

·         *Hairpin curves

·         *Sheer drop-offs

·         *No guardrails

·         *Motorcycles

·         *Bicyclists

·         *Churches

·         *Flowers

·         *Red  deer

·         *Rock cliffs

·         *Mountains

·         *Glaciers

·         *Dogs

·         *Ski lifts

·         *Views

·         *Lakes

·         *Waterfalls

·         *Wood carvings

·         *War memorial

·         *Tunnels

·         *Pink bears

·         *Ancient locks

·         *Goats

·         *Helicopter

·         *Ancient fort

·         *Ancient pubs dug into mountains

·         *Twisty & Narrow Road!

Tomorrow we are headed over to stalk Georgie Pooh at Lake Como.  😊

 Chow!

 

Videos going over the mountain pass:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1BCaFfdO8o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3ukLsr-4lA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8V1YE0ifB8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv-K0YFPrnU

 

 

 

Italy –Florence to Venice & Venito – Day 14 – Stephanie

 

The land of love and romance – Venice, or Venito as the Italians call it.  We made it!  Very nice train ride through the countryside filled with sunflower fields and grapes.  And of course old ruins I would love to have been able to stop and explore!  Our hotel is right across the street from the train station and bus stop that takes us to the island of Venice.  We were able to check our luggage in and catch a bus to the famous canals and water taxi’s of Venice.  We rode the water taxi to the end of the line, departing to start walking the crazy streets and alleyways of Venice.  We really didn’t care which way we went because we knew we’d hit water and have to go a different direction.  The squares and plazas with the beautiful architecture was mind blowing!  Sculptures, art, beauty everywhere!  Each turn we took a huge “WOW”! came out of me.   I also got a new pair of snazzy shades.  Sweet!  And speaking of sweet, we FINALLY found cannoli’s!  Got a six pack of them in a bag.  Hope they are good!

We wandered until we found an interesting pizzeria where we could watch the pizzas being made.  The technique is fascinating. How they get the middle dough of the pizza to be so thin and liquidity, while the outside crust has just the perfect hint of brown and crunchiness, I don’t know.  But it is sure an art form! 

We ate our lunch and wondered the alleyways again.  We finally found our way back to a water taxi pickup spot and opted to grab it and make our way back to the hotel via train.  We checked in, showered, opened a bottle of wine, and sat down with maps to plan out our next 4 days where we will have a rental car and will make our way up into the Parco Nazionale delle Dolomiti Bellunesi to explore and spend the night in a mountain hotel.  From there we are going to Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio to spend another day exploring and then stay in another mountain hotel.  The views from both places look spectacular – I can’t wait to see the views and experience this part of Italy!  Kevin and I both got our International Driver’s License so we’ll both be legal to drive here.

From there we are headed to Lake Como area. Yes, I’m guilty of being a George Clooney fan and yes, I did google where his estate is.  But alas, we cannot afford to stay in his town as hotel rooms a night start at over $700.  So, we’re staying on the “poor side” of Lake Como, but it’s a lake view room right on the Lake.  We will drive through George’s town.  I can’t be a true stalker if I passed up that opportunity.  Who knows, this fan could see him.  Fingers crossed!  I’ll keep you posted!

 Stephanie