News Flash: Downpour floods Venice streets
We entered Italy through the Italian/Swiss alps and found ourselves in the Italian Lakes area. The most well known of these would have to be Como (well known to everybody but me that is). A very pleasant spot with a large lake surrounded by snow caped (at this time of year anyway) mountains. This lake is very popular for a cruise judging by the number of tourists doing just that. Not to be left out we did the same!
Travel through this area, and through the rest of Italy, has been made interesting due to the fact that your average Italian driver appears to be insane . They don’t quite reach the dizzying heights of your Colombian driver, but texting whilst motorcycling does add another degree of difficulty.
Mercifully we are traveling of season. Camping grounds at the moment are nearly empty, and cheap in Italy compared to Switzerland at about $30 a night, but I can’t imagine how the road system would cope during the peak tourist season. We did manage to Wild camp once just short of Venice on the edge of the Italian Alps, and it was a real treat, so wonderfully peaceful, but I think we may have broken a few minor local laws.
Since leaving France and heading further South the weather has improved greatly. Long stretches clear and sunny with the temp in the mid 20’s.
Venice was different, in that even with a snorkel fitted to the truck, driving isn’t an option. It’s just like in the picture books, but interest soon wained for us, so a few hours was enough.
From Venice to Rome with some nice rural camping on the way. Few tourists tend to stray to far from the motor ways so these rural campsites are generally nice and quiet. They often appear to be old olive groves that couldn’t make enough drachmas so turned to tourism. I have caught the roof of the truck on olive trees on two occasions now, and have done a bit of damage. I don’t know if we will have a leak, in the roof that is, but time and a change in the weather will tell.
Roma. What can one say! Again, just like the post card Aunt Doris, Mavis, or Carol sent you. A great number of piles of rocks that once resembled something grand,and tourists prepared to shuffle slowly forward for hours in a seemingly endless line to gain favour with the almighty’s number one man at his hangout in the Vatican.
The Pantheon on the other hand did impress even this old ****. A great feat of engineering even by today’s standards and about the only thing recognisable as a Roman era building.
Camped the truck next to a couple of Sydney siders Greg and Gillian whilst in Rome. Greg is building up a bus for touring Oz so hope to catch up with them down in Tassie one summer in the not to distant future.
On the Fast Ferry to Greece at the moment and you are allowed to camp in your vehicle. The ferry has an open deck, so fumes, and death by carbon monoxide poisoning shouldn’t be a problem. If you don’t receive any more posts you will know I was wrong on that score!