We all met up at the bar, next to Andrea's shop in Cison for the early morning wine and for Linda to put in a salami order! We then drove to a Cantina (vineyard and wholesale wine seller), about an hours drive from Cison, to buy some wine!

The warehouse was filled with dozens of stainless steel vessels, brimming with thousands of litres of wine! The 'try before you buy' policy meant we were pretty indecisive with our choices, but we eventually all made our purchases after 5 glasses of wine and Prosecco!

Between the 6 of us we bought a demijohn of Cabernet Sauvignon (28 litres), a demijohn of Pinot Grigio, 15 bottles of Prosecco and 9 bottles of Pinot Chardonnay for the extortionate price of €180!! Which we hoped would keep the memory of our trip to Italy alive for a few weeks at least, after our return to the UK.

As we left the vineyard we met the owner; an old, happy chap, with an eye for the ladies! After a quick kiss, and a pat on the bum for Mum, we headed back to Cison for lunch.

We ate at the local transport cafe, frequented by truckers and local workers; but bacon and egg splash and a mug of tea was not on the menu! Instead, we had a choice of homemade lasagne, spaghetti with tomatoes or meat ragu, followed by a choice of BBQ'd meat, a huge bowl of salad and chips...all accompanied by as much wine as you'd like! We were charged an extra €3 each, on account of us being tourists, which made the bill €14 each! After lunch we had to roll ourselves out of the cafe before we headed back to the accommodation for a quick change, into elasticated waists! The Italian diet was taking it's toll on our waistlines! Maybe the rule that calories don't count on holiday, was not true after all?!

That evening we drove into Vittorio Veneto to visit the supermarket, to stock up on balsamic vinegar and wine vinegars. Linda, Mum, Holly and Caesar popped to pick up the salami from Augustini's house, where they were promptly sat down and given wine! Meanwhile Laura, Rob, Rose and Brian headed up the mountain to Savario's cabin, a stone built building perched on the edge of the mountain overlooking Vittorio Veneto, where they were soon met by the others. Cecilia and Savario had prepared a huge feast of pork and chicken, slowly roasted in front of the fire, on a spit amongst slices of pork fat and sage and seasoned with a mixture of salt, pepper and cinnamon. Giovanni and Ida joined us, after they were persuaded to make the journey up the mountain because we had no red wine (despite Linda buying a 5 litre bottle!). So, up they trekked, ladened with Vino Nero, in answer to Cecilia's distressed call! Luca, Christina and Toni also joined the party and we set about eating and drinking the night away!

After a selection of fresh gelato, with an optional slug of whisky (?!) Luca and Caesar began the evening's entertainment when the accordions were dusted off and fired up! We all joined in with our make shift instruments; a wooden block, spoons, wine bottles and water bottle! Linda even performed her own interpretation of a rain dance, at the request of Luca! We hoped that her dance would have the same outcome as her previous attempt; blue skies and blazing sunshine, ready for our onward journey (Caesar had been in desperate hope for rain, to scupper our plans for a visit to Venice the day before, so he didn't have to visit "the stinking place", and resorted to asking Linda to dance to the rain Gods, but to no avail!). After a small coffee, topped up with a very large glug of grappe for Holly, we slowly made our way down the mountain, thoroughly content! A perfect end to our time in Cison, for another year!

On our final morning, we met to say our goodbyes in the bar and headed off from an overcast Cison!!