Northern Italy: ciao ragazzi !
The Paella
was great and the stay at Marta's place in Ibiza as well! But we are
now back to Italy and almost ready to get on our bikes again.
Cesare is
waiting for us at the airport where he left us one week ago. He
brings us back to lovely Ursula in their lovely house in Vigevano.
This sweet part of Ayana's family took so much care of us for some
days. They spoiled us with yummy ice cream,delicious pastas dishes,
"Käse überbacken" and German white wine, but what we
remember the most are the smiles of Ursula, the warm welcome and the
great explanation and time that Cesare gave us around the
neighbourhood of Milano.
Since
we rather like to stay at the countryside and avoid traffic and
masses, we continued our biketrip from south Milano directly to the
city of Gorgonzola. This cute little city gave its name to the famous
soft blue cheese. Or is it the other-way
around? No se !?
The
northern region of Italy below the Alps is completely flat. Rice
fields, everywhere! For the risottos for sure, and a lot of f**king
tiger mosquitoes. A LOT! And when I say a lot, it's like I've never
seen so many before in my life. Ayana seems to deal pretty good with
them but me they just drive me crazy. They bite you while you eat,
while you bike, while you sleep, while you pee!!!! In 5 minutes we
looked like red Dalmatians!!! Pfffff! Tired of this wild life!
Serban
remembered that he has some old contacts in north Italy. Great news!
So we cycled all evening to finally arrive at Monica, Ivan and
Filippo' house in Trucazzano. Old friends that visited Romania, 10
years ago. For sure they welcomed us with delicious Gorgonzola,
prosciutto and trofie dishes. Ivan cooks just great. Thanks to them
we also discovered the Italian pastries: the Sfogliatellas are just
heaven!!
The day
after, we continued our trip trough the land of mosquitoes and rice
fields. In two days we should arrive to Lago di Garda, the
largest lake in Italy and on the edge of the Dolomites. The first
evening someone told us a place to wild camp in the middle of a
vineyard. It reminds us of the beginning in Alsace but we are now
much more comfortable and experienced. We appreciate the darkness of
the coutryside to enjoy the stars and at 21:30h we sneaked into the
tent. It's been a while we haven't slept on the floor by the way...
And we
keep enjoying the figue and apple season for breakfast:
And the
Sunday morning markets:
The day
after we received a mail from Andrea, our warmshowers in Lago
di Garda, saying that the keys are in the mail box and that we can
enter his flat. Soooo nice!
He lives
in calm Maderno just 80 meters from the water. Like a dream. Ayana
and I like this region so much that we had several discussions of how
Italy and a place like this could be an option for our future life.
Peaceful but lively vibes and a healthy lifestyle, and the mountains
are just 1 km away. We love it <3 p="">
3>
Andrea
arrived the following day after a bike race in south Italy and so we
had the opportunity of sharing experiences and having good
discussions around the table. He's a very determinate sport guy,
taking care of his way of living and pushing his body to the extreme.
Respect! He just came back from a 300 km bike race and 2 days of no
sleep but he's still on shape for a bike and swimming training! This
kind of mental and body strength was very inspiring to us.
And so
after a relaxing weekend with good company we got onto the bikes once
more to follow the west side of the lake from Maderno until Riva.
Wonderful
biking day, next to the water and through the tunnels. It's getting
up and down but the view is so worth it.
We
cross the very very touristic city of Limone. We get off the bikes to
enjoy the sounds, the smiles, the smells. It reminds us how hungry we
are. We find a perfect pick-nick spot on a huge rock and start chopping the
vegetables. It is so chill and sunny that we cannot resist jumping
into the water. We are going to miss this!
Ice cream is definitely a MUST in this region. Several
very old men in the valley told us their great grandfathers invented
ice-cream. Before refrigerators, you needed ice or
snow to make ice-cream, and there are a lot of high mountains around
there. I go for pistacchio
and coco
whereas Ayana takes nocciola
and yogurt e frutti di bosco.
:)
On our way
to the next lake, Lago di Levico, we get hosted for a night at Denis
place in Trento. We stayed chatting until late into the night and
finished a bottle of homemade peach liquor. Denis is an experienced
climber and gave us lots of tips for all the hikes and shelters in
the Dolomites. It's also in the garden of Hotel Dolomiti that we put
our tent for 2 nights, "like hippies" according to the
boss. He would rather see us leaving than taking naked showers by the
pool. It was quite cold in Lago di Levico and we didn't even tried
the water.
We
celebrate the 1 month trip anniversary: 4th of September
at 3pm. We are not morning people. We get out of the cold mountains
by train and we head towards the Adriatic sea and the city of Trento.
You could have guessed, we didn't stop at Venice. We will have a
lovely weekend there some day else.
I won't
lie to you but we are sick and tired. So for the last part we decide
to take the train. This uniaue experience also demands a lot of
energy and the short days of break never seem enough to balance the
cold nights and tiredness accumulated during the trip. The train
drops us in Latisana, where we won't continue to the sea side. We
don't have energy any-more. We try to find a shelter and so we meet
generous Debora and Manuela. Two nice sisters who live in front of
each other in a quiet residential area and that host us in their
garden and gift us a pizza Margherita. In the morning we took a
shower and share our stories with them. After almost a month, we
start to be fluent in Italian. Buongiorno! Somos in viaggio in
bicicleta e stato possible metere la tenda in giardinio? Molto
freddo! Va bene. va bene, grazie mille.
Grado, by
the sea, is quite desert at these dates. The touristic season is
over. It's windy and not so warm anymore. We set up our tent on the
sand and enjoy the sound of the waves for one night. Some coffees
later we reach Sistiana. We need to do a laundry and some warmth.
Even on the Adriatic sea the sun does not shine so strong anymore. We
find a great camping and chill for one day, and another, and another,
and another. The first two nights we sneaked into a bungalow through
the window. It felt like heaven to sleep in a real bed and a dry
place. For sure, the second day, it is the panicked and scared
cleaning lady that wakes us up. Oops! She calls her boss we try to
give explanations. But wait, are they speaking in romanian?
Serban talks to them and they seem to understand. They keep it quiet
to the camping management but they told us that we can have serious
problems with the carabinieri if some catch us...
In the
evening we jump into the sea for the last swim of the year. On the
way back home we get invited to a
party where they pre-celebrate the 13th anniversary of the European biggest boat race in Trieste. Couldn't say no!
We are
wet, we are cold, we will fall sick again, but we are so f**king
happy, free and in love!
In the
next episode you will find out how Ayana and Serban deal with
Slovenian life. Do they meet bears? Will they learn more than 5
Slovenian words? How many days will they survive without gas for
cooking in the Balkans forests? Will they finally visit a city,
Ljubliana? Do they like ajvar?
See you
soon and let us some comments, we like them and they keep us warm!
Wao! So niceeeee! wish to go over there.
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