Category Archives: Trip Report

A day in Siena

On Sunday we took a day trip to Sienna. It was many years since our last trip on a long ago vacation. We are only 1 1/2 hours away by car on pretty good roads. We had thought last summer to go but decided to wait until there would be less people. We parked in one of the numerous lots and walked into the center. The Piazza is one of the largest I’ve ever seen and it is where they hold the Palio horse race two times a year. The city is divided into 17 contrade, or distinct neighborhoods each centered on a main street with a church. They each have a banner with animals or symbols to identify them and each contrada has its own long history and complicated set of heraldic and semi-mythological associations. The neighborhoods are fiercely competitive and each contrada has a horse running in the Palio. I am told if you marry outside of your contrada each member of the couple still must remain loyal to their own contrada and split up for the meetings and to cheer on your horse.

Enough of the history. There is tons more. This Sunday happened to be one of two weekends a year that they have a really big market in the Piazza. About half of the vendors were food sellers. The rest were selling clothes, scarves, hats, and trinkets. Here are a few photos of the market. This one shows the scope of this square and the market.

Cheese.

Prosciutto and meats.

Beautiful rosemary encrusted cheese.

These are not contrade flags. We thought they may have been the flag of the Hapsburgs who used to rule the city. They were pretty anyway so I took their picture.

The Duomo is one of the prettiest in Italy in my opinion. It was hard to get a picture. The facade was so ornate.

Inside the cathedral.

Beautiful marble scenes embedded in the floor. Vibrantly colorful. They keep them covered mostly, and randomly uncover some for a while. You can’t walk on them.

We also toured the building across from the Duomo. It was the first hospital not run by the church and was built for the common folks as well as the wealthy. They spared no expense on the frescoes inside! A civic hospital dedicated to caring for abandoned children, the poor, the sick, and pilgrims. It is the oldest surviving hospital in the world. According to legend, the Hospital was founded in 898 by a cobbler named Sorore. However, the first known document mentioning it is a “deed of gift” from March 29, 1090. Too bad we don’t care for our sick like the Sienese did way back then.

Frescoes in the hospital.

And finally…lunch! We had an excellent lunch at PorriOne. Very upscale food. Very unusual combinations

Two appetizers.

My secondi.

I didn’t take a photo but they brought a scoop of gelato kind of as a free pre-dessert. It was sprinkled with coarse salt and drizzled with fruity olive oil. Amazing combination and it worked!

Bologna

Leave a reply

We decided to do a quick overnight trip to one the cities we once visited for a day – Bologna. It is called Bologna la grassa, or Bologna the fat because it is said the best food in Italy can be found there.

We took the local train from Terontola to Florence and changed to the Frecciarossa or “Red Arrow” train. It took only half an hour to get from Florence to Bologna on the fast and super comfortable train. Complementary newspapers, snacks and drinks were served. It is very like business class on a plane. In fact there are three different classes to choose from – Business, Premium and Standard. Here is a photo from TrenItalia.

The weather was surprisingly beautiful. Bright blue skies and moderate temperatures. Here are a few pictures I took.

Reflections.

The Christmas decorations were still up. This mall was full of the very high-end shops. AND the January sales are on!

Pretty wrought iron.

Square with pretty architecture and trees.

Shop where you can get totally hand made shoes. Old school…

The city has some of the prettiest architecture. It was not bombed in the war so it is intact. One of the endearing features of this city are the 37 kilometers of covered arcades. Beautiful arches and columns allow you to shop and walk quasi indoors. Nice when it rains. So pretty to see. They are all different.

Bologna has the oldest university in Europe, over 1,000 years old. The city is full of young people who bring their energy to the vibe. It also has a warren of tiny streets with nothing but food. Food of every sort. A feast for the eyes and the stomach. I am surprised the city is not more of a tourist draw given all that I’ve seen there.

Speaking of food… We just had the one night so we opted for Trattoria Serghie. It was written up in Gambero Rosso and Osterie e Locande d’Italia. We booked because it is a very small place. I counted space for 22 diners. Surprisingly they had no Antipasti, just primi, secundi and dolce. That was fine. We really enjoyed the food. the Stinco di maiale was the best we’ve tasted. I also had the tagliatelle with bolognese sauce…what else!

Trip to Abruzzo

Leave a reply

This is another trip report so if you are not interested just skip this post.

We decided just last week to take a trip for two nights to the province of Abruzzo. We had long wanted to go to Ascoli Pecena in the Marche region too and it is just north of the Abruzzo border. This province is just south of the Marche on the Adriatic coast.

We left in a rainstorm which only got worse as we drove along. We headed east when we reached Spoleto and headed into the magnificent gorge through the Appinine mountains. In fact there is no way to get to any of the coastal towns on the Adriatic without braving some very rugged countryside. In this case the Corno river cut a deep gorge to Norcia, which is famous for it’s lentils, cured meats, and truffles. After we left Norcia and headed up into the next range of mountains the skies REALLY let loose and we could hardly see the road. We also were behind a truck. This all made for a very slow trip.

We finally came down out of the mountains and passes into a pretty valley in which Ascoli Pecena is situated. We bypassed the town this day and headed south into the foothills to find a recommended lunch place. Little did we know that this was a hill town and presently, we were in a cloud! We groped our way up and up with fog lights blazing and very short visibility until finally the GPS said we had arrived. We actually couldn’t see them but the city walls loomed just ahead. Later we found out you can see the Adriatic from there. There are lots of benches for viewing. Also there is a large fortress. Who knew!?

We walked around in the lightly sprinkling rain. It was a very pretty little town and is supposed to have the narrowest street in Europe.

We found the restaurant in a hotel on one of the main squares. Zunica 1880 has been a family operation since 1880. The dining room was lovely and empty. We were well taken care of by a nice waiter who right away brought us the Nuovo Olio pressed just two days ago! It was bright green and grassy and very peppery in the throat. A treat.

We had a lovely Montipulciano d’Abruzzo to accompany the fine meal.

I was amused at the picture hanging on the wall. It was obviously a painting of the room we were sitting in. Notice the chandelier in both the room and the picture. And the walls, curtains and furniture were the same.

After lunch we visited Iluminati winery. Everyone was very busy with the crush. This winery was bottling and labeling wine to go to Russia. It is a big operation as you can see from the pictures. They took time to let us taste and we bought a few bottles.

We headed back to find our Agrigurismo, Emidio Pepe. It is an organic winery and normally serves dinner. For some reason they were not doing so on our visit. We were the only people there the first night and were joined by two other parties the second night. We had such a big lunch we had bought a picnic and had it in the common area where we watched TV and sat out on the porch. It was still raining and foggy so we would have to wait until the next day to see our surroundings. The next morning was rain-washed and partly sunny and I really loved the view. As you can see they haven’t brought in the red wine grapes yet. We snagged a bunch for our picnic and they were so Sweet!

After breakfast we headed out towards Pescara. Luther wanted to visit more wineries and I had hoped to see Pescara which is on the coast. There is a good, fast, toll road all the way down the coast. We got off and fought our way through sprawling, ugly suburbs and lots of traffic. Ugh! finally got into the hills and started looking for some wineries. We tried the GPS. It was not much help. It could find the towns but not the street addresses which were generally outside of town. It was beautiful countryside though and I snapped some very nice pictures of the olive trees.

After much looking we homed in on one place called Torre dei Beati. We asked and got directions. We couldn’t find it. We stopped again. We went – no go. Again we stopped. This time I asked and what a surprise. We were at the end of a tiny road that dead-ended into a farmyard. The woman I approached to ask if she knew where it was asked me what language I spoke and I said Englese. Turns out she was from NYC and had a very thick NY accent. How strange and what a small world! She clued us in that there was bad blood between the two wineries on her road. We again looked and found a very big operation but that was all. We gave up and went to find lunch.

We stopped at a fish restaurant called Carmine. Loved the name. The food was excellent and we had the wine from the winery we had still not found. Yum.

The seafood wasn’t bad either!

After lunch we were still determined to find. That. Winery. Persistence wins the day and we did find it. It had no sign at all. They were heavily into the crush too but the wine owner and maker was super nice and spoke good english. We enjoyed tasting his wines and looking around his place. Of course we bought some wine!

This is a picture of the big crusher at the winery up the hill.

Vines heavily laden with grapes.

At Torre dei Beati they hand picked and sorted their grapes.

The tasting room.

Luther with the winemaker

I am not sure if The Wine Guy will write about this place so the rest can wait.

Following another picnic dinner we left for home on Friday. I had wanted to go to Ascoli Piena so we first visited a winery (what else?) then the town. It was a lovely place, said to have the most beautiful piazza in italy.

Colonnades around the square.

We headed homeward planning to stop in Norcia for lunch. We went up through the passes and mountains, passing a place I really want to return to called Castelluccio. We had chosen Vespasia for a fine, last lunch.

We were the only people there. It is a hotel so has to stay open. Our captain named Andrea was super nice and had spent 15 years in Orlando, only returning to Italy last year. For love. He married and has a 2 month old son. Her family lives in the Montefalco area and has a winery with apartments that they run.

The lunch was spectacular with many “gifts”. I had the poached egg on potatoes and potato foam with black truffles. yum. Luther had the trout. We both had the special pasta. Here are some pictures. Sorry I took so many! Gift one, olive oil and crackers.

Gift two, Pork belly.

Rose and Montefalco roso.

Luther’s trout.

My potato, egg, truffle dish.

Our pasta.

Sorbet and truffles.

Grappa for Luther.

We had successfully completely filled every nook and cranny in the Porsche with wine and had just enough room for the luggage. A fun trip!

Sighişoara, Transylvania

Leave a reply

Romania trip report index

Part Four

Sighişoara is a lovely town. Pronounced ziggyshwara. It is fairly large when you count all the outlying suburbs but the historic part is the Citadel. It started life as a Church on a Hill, which became a fortress. It floats above the modern, lower town. It was built after the Tartar invasion of 1241 which scared the bejesus out of everyone so they fortified. Now it has hotels, inns, restaurants and more souvenir shops than you’d ever need. One thing though, it is a living town, not just a tourist area, with school children laughing through the squares and small streets, church bells calling the faithful.

Streets and scenes of Sighişoara.

We did the walking tour this morning. There are several gates and towers. Nearest our hotel is the Bootmakers Tower now housing the radio station. The main gate is the Clock Tower which is just next to the Monastery Church, now Protestant. There are also the furriers tower, the tailors tower, and the butchers tower. We hiked up the covered staircase, built in 1666 and has 175 wooden stairs. It carried the German school children to the school above. The school is just next to the Church on the Hill (Biserica din Deal), considered the most valuable historical monument in the town. It was built in the 13th century but stands on the site of a much older chapel.

Monastery Church

Main gate.

Mechanical clock in main gate clock tower.

175 steps up a covered staircase brings you to the German School and the Church on the Hill.

Door in the Church on the Hill.

Murals dating from 1483 were destroyed by a fire in 1776. A recent restoration brought back fragments of the frescoes.

Tombstones in the cemetery behind the church.

View from town up to the Church on the Hill.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Sighişoara is the birthplace of Prince Vlad Dracul aka Vlad the Impaler. He lived his first 4 years in this house, now a restaurant.

All the souvenir shops had T-shirts.

We had lunch in T. Josef Restaurant and Winebar just down the hill in the lower city. It was a pretty, dark paneled room with a great old bar. It was situated in the Park Central Hotel. It had good food and we decided to have dinner tomorrow evening there.

My tomato soup.

Traveling to Transylvania

Leave a reply

Romania trip report index

Part Three

We took a taxi to the airport to pick up our rental. The trip to the airport was much faster than when we arrived. Maybe because it was Saturday. We set off north on the E60, the main route north which goes straight to our destination, Sighişoara.

My thoughts of the trip. The road went through many small towns. They were essentially laid out along the main highway. No side streets. Almost every house was selling something. They changed wares as we went along. At first it was produce and flowers. Braided chains of purple eggplant, tomatoes, etc. Then it was all potatoes for a few kilometers. Huge bags of potatoes. One house sold brooms. Hundreds of brooms adorned the fences and yard. I can only assume they produced them themselves. One person had baskets and the large demi-john bottles wrapped in wicker. Farther along the road we came to a number of honey stands. The produce had stopped, the honey began. Along this very busy highway we encountered many horse drawn carts! I was surprised because we were not really out in the country there.

First the landscape was very flat. Then we headed up into foot hills. Now we were seeing people selling something like large piles of orange and green things. Finally I realized it was lentils! The red ones and the green ones. Each stand had a pile. I may buy some on the way back.

Sadly, we passed another example of the thoughtlessness of humans in some countries regarding their animals. When I see these things it makes me cry for hours. This poor dog was walking along the very busy highway. It’s left front leg was severely twisted, so severely that it looked like a bent up paper clip. It must have been broken in several places once. The dog was surprisingly able to walk on it so I assume it was an old injury, probably hit by a car, that had never been treated or set. I cannot help but think of the suffering this poor dog must have endured. He was skeletal and filthy and moving along with his head down. Just too sad to bear. I wished I could have taken him up and hugged him, fed him, cleaned him and made him happy. I even prayed in the Black Church (upcoming) that we visited that God, if there is one, would take care of his poor creature and either help him or put him out of his misery. It haunts me and will for a long time.

We went through craggy peaks that were around 3,000 meters high. There were a lot of resort towns through the pass and along the river. We had decided to stop in Brașov to break up the drive, see the sights and have lunch. They had a nice market going there with lots of unusual wares. We visited the Black Church, so called because it had been blackened by fire. It had a pipe organ with 3,200 pipes! We had an nonnotable lunch. The weather was very hot!
Market day with really unusual wares.

This was the black church. So named because a fire blackened it’s interior. It also has Europe’s largest pipe organ with 3,200 pipes.

We decided, because we were close, to visit Bran, home of Dracula’s castle. It was a complete zoo but we managed to follow the crowd into the castle for a look see. It had been inhabited most of its existence so was in good shape.

Now we needed to make tracks to Sighişoara because we were still 2 hours away. The drive from Brașov there was very beautiful. It went through a park and some very bucolic countryside. We encountered many more horse drawn carts hauling, logs, people, hay. They pile their hay into haystacks which are supported by a central pole. This is done manually. We also passed numerous flocks of sheep, goats and cattle each accompanied by a shepherd, goatherd or cowherd. I read the flocks are owned jointly by the villages. I assume the shepherds come from the village but the book said they are a dieing profession. I have to wonder how the flocks will be attended without a shepherd. I saw not one fence anywhere. I also had to wonder how all the land, houses, livestock was divided up after the fall of Ceausescu in 1989. Boggles the mind.

We arrived in Sighişoara and found our hotel, Casa Georgius Klauss. Nice place with a restaurant and bar inside the walls of the city. We decided it was time for a beer so we relaxed a bit in the bar then went to clean up for dinner. We ate at the hotel. The food was OK. Not great. We split an order of calamari with tzaziki sauce. Then I had the filet steak on spinach and luther had the Transylvanian speciality chicken. The chicken was very good.

Off to our rather difficult room. It is a big room, for sure. There is a big bed on one side and across from it a bath with toilet and sinks. The oddity is a big soaking tub right in the room with the bed. Also no dresser. There is a three step up closet affair with a wardrobe crammed in. You have to duck to get in, the door being only about four feet tall. Then there are very few hangers and you have to put your clothes on the floor. I like the hotel but it would be an easy fix to add a small chest of drawers in the wardrobe.

Bucharest – day two

Leave a reply

Romania trip report index

Part Two

Another beautiful morning. Our weather has been superb with temps in the low 80s F and cloudless. We decided to do a couple of museums today. We visited the Romanian folk life museum, which was interesting. Lots of artifacts culled and saved from the countryside. They have beautiful costumes with amazing needlework. I guess that’s how they stayed busy in winter. I noticed all the vests were made from hides. They had the fur side in for warmth. This small tombstone seems to inspire people to leave money at it’s base, perhaps they make requests and leave a donation…

Example of the painted alter pieces. They had four themes and were nearly all the same. The same open book, same way they held their right hand.

Examples of the beautiful needlework. It was on slightly rough but still soft linen.

Then we visited the Geological Museum. Lotsa rocks, which are interesting to a point. Some other interesting evolutionary stuff. We did not stay too long. It was lunch time.

We took the Metro back. They have a nice one but it is not finished. Lucky for us were are near the University stop and the museums, in the Garden District are just two stops away. We decided to try an outside place near our hotel. It had decent sandwiches and world class French fries. It had a shady patio so it was OK.

For dinner we went back to the Bistro GUXT. It was again good. Tomorrow we are off to Transylvania.

Bucharest, Romania

Leave a reply

This is going to be a trip report so if reading stuff like this is not your thing you can stop reading now. Also, I will be posting these after we returned. I tried to write them as we traveled but had to wait to return to have access to my pictures.

Romania trip report index

Part One

We flew from Perugia airport on Wizz Air. Despite the name the flight was on-time and fine. The odd habit of people in parts of Europe to applaud when the plane lands was performed enthusiastically.

We took a cab and it was rush hour. Wow what traffic. We are glad we are not driving. Our cab driver spoke Romanian and French. This turned out to be the norm. Who knew the second language in southern and eastern Romania was French?! The time is an hour later than in Italy so we got to our hotel after seven. We are staying in the K+K Hotel Elisabeta. We had booked a restaurant called The Artist for 8:30. It was too rushed for me. We walked on the advice of our hotel. We got a little lost and finally arrived about ten minutes late. But we were glad we went.

The food was really good. The service, less so. It is a small restaurant with about 13 tables. It is in the old town which is chock-a-block with eateries and drinking venues. They have an interesting idea to let you try a bite of each course if you want. It’s called Spoonfuls. We tried that with the appetizer. It was great! There were also some “gifts” from the chef, one of which they poured a liquid into the dish and it steamed like dry ice. Pretty nifty. Another was a tall glass of gingery palette cleansing liquid. My entree was pork “ravioli”, really one big sandwich. A nice dinner.

Our first day we had a most excellent breakfast and headed off for a walking tour. Bucharest, having been the most repressive communist country, is a city in transition 26 years after the fall. It has gorgeous Orthodox churches, modern buildings next to decrepit crumbling ones. There are horrible communist buildings that are very ugly but there are also many old houses that survived communism which are beautiful if in need of a lot of TLC. Ceaușescu tried his best to raze the city but a lot managed to remain. I think it will become gentrified eventually.

After our long walk we headed back to the old town where we had lunch in a touristy place. I had a basic caprese salad. Back to the hotel to kick back for a while before dinner at Bistro GUXT. It turned out to be nice. The owner was very enthusiastic about wine, food and beer. I liked that it had a few Asian inspired dishes. So, I had a nice half portion salad with Gorgonzola and pears, and for an entree I had spicy prawns in coconut milk with rice. Lovely after such a long time without anything like it.

So that ended our first day. Here are some selected pictures. I hope it gives sort of an overview of the differences throughout the city.

The first four are of the oldest Eastern Orthodox church. Such beautiful detail.

This was just a random frieze on a building which I thought beautiful.

This was the Armenian cathedral.

Turns out their were many famous Armenians that immigrated to Romania and beyond. Cher and Steve Jobs are just two. They had a memorial to them.

The good the bad and the ugly. First the ugly. Note the added air conditioners.

There was a good bit of Dada inspired architecture. This one needs major help but note the facade.

Could be beautiful. Needs TLC as many buildings do.

Beautiful French influence in many of the buildings.

New roof. Venetian window.

And the bad old days of Communism. This is Ceaușescu‘s Palace.

August trip down the shore…

Leave a reply

We had two birthdays to celebrate back in June and July but found we were too busy to go anywhere. We wanted to go to Senigallia which is on the Adriatic coast. There is a wonderful seafood restaurant just perfect for a celebration. SO we decided to celebrate late and I made reservations for August 10th for an overnight.

I had not really been to this coast and was excited to go to the shore. We really needed more than a day though. We drove through the very rugged and magnificent Appenine mountains, the tallest of which run like a spine through Le Marche. There has been a road through there for thousands of years winding along the river that cut the gorge. Now there is another road which is under construction. They have to drill many tunnels. You can see them along the way, half completed. It took just about an hour and a half to get to our destination. Traffic was pretty light. I was not sure what to expect given that this is August and the sea is where everyone goes.

We arrived at the town and drove to our hotel which was the Terrazza Marconi. It was situated right on the beach in the best position. We checked in and went to their little seaside cafe for a light lunch. Each hotel has a little piece of the beach where they have restaurants, cafes and their umbrellas. It is free for guests. We were surprised at how uncrowded it was. They had just finished a week long feste so that may have had something to do with it. After lunch we walked along the promenade and watched all the people playing all sorts of games like volleyball, basketball, something like soccer played using heads, knees, chests to hit the ball over the net like volleyball (just no hands) and other games.

That evening we went to Madonnina del Pescatore. It is rated a one star by Michelin. Lovely place with minimalist decor. We opted for the 8 course tasting menu called Vicino alla Tradizione. Here is a run-down of our courses. No pictures. Thought it may be tacky. First (and not counted among the courses) was a parmesan cheese ice cream sandwich. It was a square of frozen parmesan ice cream between thin, cheesy crackers. Good but rich. The other courses were: A plate featuring anchovies; cold anchovy soup, and featured three other ways. Then thin sliced seared tuna with a mayonnaise. Next Octopus salad. Then salt cod salad with panzanella and balsamic vinegar. Then a very light lasagna filled with shrimp (we think). Then a sort of soup with shellfish. Finally dessert which was strawberries with a meringue top, coconut and lime. The final dessert was kind of precious. They brought little plastic maps of the world with the volcanic areas in red. They brought tiny chocolate balls with flavors for that part of the world. I can’t remember them all but the mexico one was with chili powder, Italy was with basil, Japan had wasabi in it. There were others. They brought out a gigantic cotton candy cake for the birthday people. We all pulled off chunks. It was a lovely dinner.

The following day we had breakfast on the 5th floor roof. What a wonderful view. The breakfast was spectacular. Here are pictures. The beach stops at a breakwater nearby. A couple of people told me they must have hired Germans to do these umbrellas. It DOES seem somewhat non-Italian!

This is the most famous sight, a beautiful pavilion.

This is the view from the roof down the other direction which is the main part of the beach.

We went out and sat on the chairs under the umbrellas for an hour or so before leaving. We all really liked the hotel although the rooms were VERY small. The lady at the desk said to contact them directly and they would give us a sea view room with balcony next time. So I will be sure to do that. There is an old city that we did not even begin to explore. It was established in the 4th century BC on the river Misa. A friend told us when we go back we should search out the digestivi that they are famous for in Sinigallia called Trinchetto. Sold in the tiny sweet shop on the main shopping street near the river gate.

On the way out of town we were amazed to see this car –>

Blast from the past! I wonder how they afford to drive it. Must have gotten 12 miles to the gallon and a gallon of gas here is about $7.00! Ouch!

A walk around Lake Bled

Leave a reply

What a beautiful day! I woke up very sore from my fall yesterday but determined to hike around Lake Bled. And it was a perfect day for it. We started out a bit rocky as we tried a marked path that lead up into the mountains. I had really wanted to stay along the lakeside where there is a nice path all set up for bikers and hikers. So we eventually made our way back down. I did take a couple of pictures while up there so here they are.

The lake is pretty unspoiled but there are places set up for swimming and sun bathing here and there along the way. You can also swim from just anywhere along the lake. The water is crystal clear, turquoise and there are a lot of fish. We saw many tiny fish, probably baby trout. We also saw some nice sized trout as well.

There were also some whimsical things like this gigantic slingshot. Luther commented that if Bled was ever attacked they were all set to defend themselves.

I was smitten with the little island in the center of the lake. There is a church there dating from about 1,100 AD. Legend has it that there was a temple to the Slavic goddess Živa on the spot of the present church. It was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1509 and rebuilt in the baroque style which we see today. You can only get there by boat or, if you are a strong swimmer you can swim there. You can rent a boat and row yourself or there are boats that take people across in groups. Here are two pictures.

On the way back we saw a novel way one restaurant kept it’s beers cold. It was icy spring water pouring from the wall!! You can’t tell from the picture but the water hit in such a way as to keep the beers rotating in their buckets.

They also had a some really pretty wooden boats you could rent. Here is a unique one that looks like a swan.

By the time we got back to Bled it was lunchtime and my feet were starting to hurt. Good timing! We were happy to sample the local brews.

Tonight we plan to eat where we ate last night as it was very good and right next to our Inn. Then onwards home tomorrow.

What transpired…

Leave a reply

On the way out of the train station, I tripped and fell flat hitting my chin on the platform. Ouch! I did cut my chin which proceeded to bleed for several hours and my jaw and teeth were badly shaken, knees bruised. Just lovely!

Well when we got to the dealer the car was sitting right where we had parked it. They hadn’t done a thing. Long story short, the very rude service manager curtly told us they couldn’t even look at it for five days. So we left. The tire was holding air. We were nervous but what could we do? We drove five hours and made it OK. Not a very comfortable trip.

Luther got on the phone while I drove and lit some fires under the Italian Porsche roadside assistance people. Finally getting someone who said they could repatriate the car – I guess that means they’d tow it back. And give us a rental. But by then it was too late. Maybe they should have done that sooner. Oh well.

So now we are in Bled Slovenia, our last stop. It is a very beautiful place among pretty mountains with a lovely lake, island, 1,000 year old castle and small village. Our hotel is called Blec Hotel Garni. It is extremely alpine with lots of wood and flowers everywhere. We have a nice, big room with balcony. A little worn at the edges maybe but very comfortable. Here is our balcony and the view from it.

We took a walk down into the village which is very small. There are a few restaurants and shops. Luther got a couple of bottles of room wine. We sat at an outside terrace beside the lake for a glass of wine and to enjoy the view. This is the village church.

This is the island and lake. I am sure I’ll get better pictures tomorrow.

We had a very nice dinner at the sister hotel called Pensione Blec. They have very fine dining on the lawn, weather permitting. It was very good. I had black risotto with octopus and a lamb confit. Luther had a cheese and meat plate and mixed grill.

I am OH so happy to see the backside of Hungary. I found the Hungarians less than friendly. If you asked me now I would say I will never return.

Today we plan a walk around the lake. It is about 6km. I should get some pretty pictures.

Nancy Goes to Italy

A record of an American's dream to live in Umbria

Category Archives: Trip Report

A day in Siena

Bologna

Trip to Abruzzo

Sighişoara, Transylvania

Traveling to Transylvania

Bucharest – day two

Bucharest, Romania

August trip down the shore…

A walk around Lake Bled

What transpired…

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: