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I have to admit that the title of this is now historic but much of the detail in this was written a few weeks ago and has been delayed by partying with a lot of amazing friends in various locations in Italy including Tuscany, Umbria, Campania and Puglia. We are still in the latter and after 3200 miles we have turned around and are heading northwards and currently in Trani which is a wonderful, busy little fishing port.
Our trip into Italy developed from Annecy with a drive southward through Haute-Savoie into Savoie and we then turned eastwards into the mountains. The rolling green lower slopes of the French mountains turned to steep rocky cliffs and almost into a ravine as we approached the Frejus tunnel, and after a confusing series of traffic controls we arrived at the toll booth. I know Jackie has fully described our response when we heard the cost and it is incredibly expensive, but it saved us a long strenuous climb over the top, so maybe in the end it was worthwhile! I read somewhere that 20 million vehicles used it in the first 20 years of it's life so I am sure that they are starting to recover a substantial part of the construction cost. I think that the sun only shines on the entrance on one day of the year, at mid-Summer, and it reminded me of when I lived in South Wales for a while in the sixties. I thought I would never see the sun again. I am always reminded of this when I hear Rhod Gilberts joke about the Welsh being born with a cagoule on and that he was 14 years old before he realised he could take it off.
I have a lot of respect for the French road system and have used it extensively over many years. I have to say thatI have been less impressed with the Italian roads and that has not been changed by this visit. I have only driven once here previously using our own car, and on all previous visits we have flown and hired a car so the consequence of damage to the vehicle is of less concern. Not to be too critical, I feel that a lot of the damage is geological with a lot of ground movement exemplified by the latest 'quake in Perugia. Having travelled through that area on our way down to the South I am now convinced that the problems are also due to insufficient attention to the ground consolidation and design of the sub-structure as new sections of motorway appear to be collapsing at the edges requiring extensive works and delays. In Naples, there are extensive cobbled streets and in places the cobbles are lifting leaving extensive holes as the cobbles themselves are not small. Again in Naples, we saw local tarmac repair had been done which eradicated the priority markings on a major junction. This is totally mis-leading especially if you are new to the area with a RHD vehicle. We have also had a couple of experiences on fast roads and slip roads where there has been a pot-hole or a collapsed expansion joint on one of the many bridges that occur here. Not great for the car when you are travelling at over 100km/hour although in fairness in many of these situations, they do try to slow traffic to 90km,but not all!! I think much of the problem is due to lack of funds but the hill top towns, which are Tourist attractions, still appear to be maintained but I think this is part of heritage funding from the EU.
On a more complementary front we have taken the opportunity to visit a couple of Italian delicacies and taste a whole lot more. The first of the visits was a trip to Monza where we were able to cycle round the Grand Prix track in the lunchtime break a practice session for Sportscars. The other was a visit to the Ferrari Factory at Maranello where they have a wonderful museum which shows the development of the cars and their engines over the last 70 years. The other delicacies are obviously the food and wine, which vary extensively from area to area, but are all amazing in their own way. I do not think that we have been disappointed with any of them with meats and porcini in the North and seafood predominating in the South,all of it has been just amazing. Wine, strangely, has been dominated by reds and rosata and although we have 'pushed the boat out' on several occasions we have hardly ever been disappointed by the 'Vino di Casa' which is very reasonable and plentiful!!
Italian driving habits!! They have never been that great, but it has been more apparent to me this time, due to the length of time that we have been exposed to it, and the immediate transfer from French roads. I cannot understand why they have to drive so close to your rear and at time I have wanted to get out and invite them into the boot! In Naples they drive as close to you when going at speed in the opposite direction, and without any lane control whatsoever. There are very variable and well defined speed limits; 30 and 50km/hr in urban areas, 70 and 90km/hr in rural areas and 110 to130km/hr on the Autostrada. All totally ignored, as are all the other European Standards that they have bought into which are treated with disdain. Everybody drives whilst on their mobile and I saw one guy in a van negotiating a roundabout with a mobile in one hand and a cigarette in the other!! Can't see the urgency when they only appear to work about 5 hours a day!!
Having got all of that 'off my chest' it is the most wonderful Country and the people are the most friendly, welcoming and courteous on a one to one basis. We have travelled from the very North of the Country to the very South with the exception of Sicily and the toe and the views and villages are amazing. We have visited the Alpine and Lake areas in the North which are generally picturesque. We have visited and revisited Verona, Bologna, Venice and Siena on the way through and the architecture in all has been wonderful. If you are ever visiting Venice try stopping in Treviso, as we did this time. The accomodation is cheaper and you can get frequent trains directly into the centre of Venice and the fare is only 3.5 euros each way!! It is a privilege to be able to spend so much time here, and as I have said the food, wine and landscape is exceptional. We have been even more privileged over the last month or so to spend time with our wonderful family and friends both from the UK and Australia!!
Hope that you are all well at home and we look forward to seeing you all later in the year. It is hard to realise that 2016 is drawing to a close. Thanks you all for reading.
- comments
Kate Like you we enjoyed our short time with you in Tuscany and then Lake Garda. I can't believe that someone like me could enjoy wine tasting so much. Have fun x
Steve Thanks for yet another informative entry. Sounds like you're having a great time and the food and places sound interesting. Looking forward to more of the same. Thanks