7 A WARM WELCOME TO ITALY AND SLOVENIA
After having had a lovely final evening in the Swiss Pennine Alps, we waved goodbye and headed south to Stresa – our first stop in Italy. Stresa sits on the edge of Lago Maggiore, Italy’s second largest lake. We parked, nosed around the pretty town and of course, had a taste of our first gelato. We were absolutely speechless when four scoops only cost €6; we had easily been paying double in France and Switzerland. I was liking Italy already.
After a swim in the lake and relaxing on the beach, we continued our Italian road trip to lake Garda. Some of you may be wondering (definitely aren’t) why not lake Como? I’m actually going to lake Como at the end of my trip with some friends from uni so we decided to see what lake Garda had to offer instead. Our camp spot was less than 300m from the lake, so we immediately went for a swim to cool down having driven for four hours. It was the perfect way to end the day.
Unfortunately, the heat did not die down in the night. Bert was incredibly hot. In fact, that night was by far the worst sleep I’ve had in Bert. Even with the fan on all night, it was unbearable.
In the morning, I wasted no time and dived straight into the lake. Feeling so much better, we decided to do some chores seeing as we were awake so early. Not that you’re interested, but this included going to buying gas for the stove and iPhone chargers since Cam pooed on them last week.
We then rented some bikes and headed into Sirmione – an extremely quaint island-town on the lake. Despite the tourists, which, there were lot of them, it was a really pretty place with plenty of nice shops and restaurants. Already looking to cool off from the heat, we walked to the north east side to have a swim. The water was so refreshing and clear.
After reviving ourselves once again, we opted to have ice creams for lunch instead of any substantial food in an attempt to save some pennies. However, these ice creams were the almost the size of my arm, and cost us a whopping €12. Devasted and super full (the worst combination) , we cycled a small 10km to the town of Desenzano del Garda. Cam made the very valid point that although Desenzano del Garda was nice, it was very similar to Sirmione and therefore after sitting on a bench for a while and nosing at the shops, we quickly left to return the bikes.
As soon as we sat in Bert, we realised that we had no real plan of where to go next. Thus, we got onto Google Maps. I knew that we wanted to be heading towards the Dolomites, so we looked into the best route. Interestingly, the more favourable route took us straight past Venice. Neither of us had planned on going to Venice this trip; preferring to avoid big cities for Bert’s safety. However, after a bit of research, Cam found a well-reviewed carpark on Park4Night on the mainland borough of Marghera, less than a 20-minute bus journey into Venice. Agreeing that it would be silly to drive past Venice and not visit, we began the short 1h30m drive from Lake Garda to Marghera, stopping briefly at a skatepark on the way.
The carpark itself felt surprisingly safe and after a pleasant night’s sleep, we caught the bus into Venice. My first impression: busy. Regardless, I tried my best to not let the abundance of tourists ruin the experience (given that I too was a tourist). It was a very charming city and I loved all the narrow streets and busy canals. Seeing as it was a very last-minute trip, we hadn’t had the time to book anything so our day revolved around what was available and cheap. Firstly, we visited a museum about Leonardo da Vinci which was fascinating- who knew he was such a clever man? We then wondered up to Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. It turns out this was not the famous one (Basilica di San Marco) that everyone bangs on about. We were wondering why it was so quiet.
After getting lost multiple times, we finally made it to the right Basilica which had a queue so enormous you’d think Jesus Christ himself was doing a meet & greet. Therefore, we decided that it was an experience for another visit.
All the walking was making us peckish, so we headed to a restaurant Tik Tok had recommended us called Puppa Bar Venizia. Despite looking like a 1970s serial killers house, the food was really tasty and I would highly recommend it as somewhere cheap to eat in Venice. Both Cam and I had a pasta dish, a glass of wine/beer and an espresso for less than €20 each.
Now full, we walked around some more, visiting (free) tourist attractions such as the Rialto Bridge and the Librairie Acqua Alta. Before heading back to Bert, we had some Gelato which was much needed after the heat of the day. On the whole, Venice was as I had expected: beautiful and bustling.
After returning to Bert, we drove north towards the Dolomites via a skatepark for a couple of hours which was super fun. Our camp spot for the night was in Valle di Cadore, a town around a 45-minute drive to the Dolomites themselves. For those who may not know but may be interested, the Dolomites are a very picturesque mountain range in northeastern Italy. Comprised of 18 peaks, their summits are generally extremely pointy (using technical terms here) and include noteworthy sheer cliffs.
Anyway, enough of regurgitating Wikipedia.
In the morning, we walked to lake Sorapis. Unfortunately, it seemed half of Europe had also decided to do the hike too. The path itself was fairly easy which explained all the tourists. Furthermore, the lake was absolutely gorgeous and undoubtedly worth getting stuck behind five school groups to reach. I hadn’t imagined the water to be as turquoise and the mountains as spectacular as Google images suggested, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that they actually were! I could not recommend it enough.
Once we had finished dodging all the crowds on the way down, we paid a visit to the town of Cortina d’Ampezzo (the site for the 1956 Winter Olympic Games). Still an affluent ski resort, it had all the big names including Fendi and Gucci. Therefore, as we could only just about afford the parking, we swiftly left and headed back to where we had camped the previous night for the second evening in a row. Actually, I did buy one thing in Cortina d’Ampezzo. I bought the local Biscotti delle Dolomiti Nocciok which I would recommend trying if you are ever in the area. They are a gooey, chocolaty biscuit with chunks of hazelnuts and are absolutely delicious!
The following morning, we drove to the tiny village of Tramonti di Sopra where we had read an article about some natural pools. The drive was long and winding, and to make matters worse, when we finally arrived, there were no signs or indicators that the pools even existed. After doing some detective work on Google Maps, we figured it out and trekked through the forest and down some cliffs to the pools. It was worth the effort because they were beautiful. They were also freezing. I mean bitterly cold. I really a real whimp and struggled to stay in whilst Cam was a little braver. Regardless, we both did some jumps and had a great time !
We then returned to Bert and decided on the plan for the next few days. It seemed that the weather at all our future destinations was not looking good, making it a little difficult to decide what to do. We had meant to do a couple more hikes in the Dolomites, but with heavy clouds and showers, it would have been pretty miserable.
Having driven a lot that day already, we made a small drive to the town of Tolmezzo to go to a skatepark which turned out to be pretty tragic. Regardless, we had our fun and went to a restaurant recommended to us by a bunch of 13-year-olds we had met at the skatepark. Cam had really wanted to try a true authentic Italian pizza and the restaurant did not let us down. Cam’s pizza looked incredible and my tagliatelle al salmon was so good. It also helped that the entire meal (including a litre bottle of wine and fries) came to a total of €33.
Following the lovely meal, we returned to Bert who was in a carpark overlooking the town. Unfortunately, at around 2am, we were woken up by a group of guys drinking, playing music and talking super loud outside the van, which wasn’t the most comforting thing. Then, the camper that was also parked next to us drove off, leaving us by ourselves with the men outside. Although I know we probably would have been ok, we drove to another carpark to feel more secure. It was the first time I had felt really uneasy camping in Bert (and most likely not the last).
As a result of the nights disturbances and the crap weather, we slept-in late – it wasn’t until around 10:30am that we even opened Bert’s doors. We are crazy! Unsure of what activities lied ahead of us due to the rain, I manically googled things to do in the area. One thing consistently came up: the Maibachl Villach Warmbad in Austria. The pictures showed cosy natural thermal pools surrounded by forest. Hence I thought, with the weather being the way it was and with Austria only being a small hop over the border, it was the perfect rainy-day activity. Unfortunately, after driving 45 minutes, we arrived to find completely dry holes in the ground where assumedly the river flowed. Clearly I had not read the fine print, because according to the information offered at the site, the pools do not contain water during the summer months. We laughed so much, especially given that Cam was already dressed in his swimming trunks and I was carrying towels. I bet everyone we passed thought we were right idiots.
Instead, we decided to take a stroll in the Austrian city of Villach. All I’ll say is, the busiest place was the barber shop. Therefore, we swiftly moved on and made the decision to head to Slovenia and judge what to do based on the weather there. Shocker – it was raining there too! So, after conducting some research, we found a remote sheltered skatepark under a bridge. It was a really funky park. The columns supporting the bridge were covered in photographs of the locals building the park and there were even sofas and tables there. After a couple of hours, the locals eventually turned up and we chatted to them a little before heading to a campsite for the evening. It was our first proper campsite visit (excluding the one we were at for 10 hours during Cam’s diarrhoea episode) in over two weeks. Also, following my incredible haggling skills with the woman at reception, we managed to camp for a significantly discounted price which made us even happier. It was well worth the money because I don’t think a shower has ever felt so nice.
The following morning (after a second shower!), we headed to Lake Bled. Luckily, the weather was glorious. Whilst Cam phoned his parents, I visited Bled castle (and truthfully, I don’t think it was worth €10). Following a stroll around the lake, we grabbed the most incredible burgers from a place called Mega Burgers as a treat because Cam’s final exam results had been leaked revealing that he had in fact got a first in his masters! Super proud ! We then went up the ski lift in order to toboggan down which was super fun and being so reasonably priced, I would recommend it to anyone visiting. Thankfully, we also managed to go for a dip in the lake before yesterday’s rain made a surprise return.
To end the week nicely, we parked up at our camping spot which was beside a river. We shared some beers and a bottle of wine to celebrate Cam’s results once again! It was lovely :)
Summary
This week marked the first occasion where our plans had been spoiled by the weather. In fact, Saturday in Austria was my first full day of rain and gloom since leaving Britain 7 weeks ago. Therefore, I feel that we had no right to complain really. It was a very varied week and a personal highlight was eating some very delicious Italian pasta and gelato – can’t really get better than that. Once again, appreciate the support and I’ll see you next week !
