Tam &Toby do Europe ...Take two

[suavecarve]

What i know about Italy isnt worth knowing, however in the interests of wasting your reading time .......

The lakes will be good this time of year before the mad rush. there are free places to stay and my temptation would be to head to Maggiore and head east along the lakes. I would stop off in Milan to see the cathedral though.
Then i would be tempted to pop back down to Florence and Lucca and Sienna (checking out the dates of the horse races in the town) and doing a bypass of Pisa but having a gander at Cinque terra then double backing over to the Fruilli region where you are unlikely to see anyone but there are some nice spots. One near Venice which is a sundial village of over 100 sundials on houses.

But thats me. And i am pretty uneducated about Italy. I do know Aosta is a hole though but on the route of the Grand St Bernard pass (Original Italian job)

 

[chaser]

Well I moved on this morning around 11.30 ...late for me but I got stuck behind the other 2 vans that were there to use the services.
The first one being 2 guys around 30 ish in a burstner, never seen so much palava to empty a cassette and to fill water ...took them over 30 minutes and then 1 was out directing the other one to reverse out the aire ....miles of room around them but what a fiasco.
Then there was an old guy on his own who practically polished his cassette after emptying and then took 5 attempts at positioning his grey pipe over the drain ....another 5 minutes to wind his hose up after giving it a good dry down with a towel.

So after nearly an hour seething to empty my cassette we left and drove further inland to a city called Alba ....well being a Scot it would have felt wrong not too.

But

It was a waste of time really lol...the supposedly gothic cathedral looks like methil parish church ( a wee shitey town on east coast of Scotland) and apart from that there's not really to see.
I'm parked in a car park near the town centre and close to the ferrero factory which makes ferrero roche and nutella etc so the only good point is it smells of chocolate here.

There's a Romanian traveller set himself up in style in the carpark in this massive pik3y palace and has even plumbed himself in to the drains lol.
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But anyway up till now I'm a little confused with Italy, I thought the Italians were full of style and culture but their buildings seem really dull .....did all design and architecture die with the Romans? Even the roads are bloody terrible ...it just shows you standards have slipped since old ceaser was in charge

Or am I just in the wrong areas again.

I managed to get diesel for €1.44 a litre which is the cheapest I've seen it here so far and I got lpg for €0.59 a litre so I filled up with both.

I was considering heading to asti next but I'm unsure ....even the countryside is a little dull

I mean apart from the language it's hard to tell your in Italy really. .the scenery isn't any different from the UK or France.

I guess thats why Spain is so different.

I mean it's green and I know obviously we are out of season which is also weird as it's more like autumn than nearly spring here the ground is still covered in brown leaves which we normally get in september.


I could do with a few folk with experience of Italy giving me a few pointers.

you have about sumed it up, unless you are into coasts and lakes couple of fancy towns its really just another place,

 

[Blossom]

All is not lost when you are parked next to the Ferrero Roche factory.

Prior to having a motorhome and many tears ago I went to Italy visiting Lake Como which was okay but I seem to remember there were loads of Mossies, so not alot different from Scotland really. From there we went to stay on a camp site, Lido de Jeslo, and did a visit to Venice whilst there, unfortunately Venice did not impress me, It felt very clostrophobic to me. But alot of people rave about it.

Sorry not much help but Ime sure others will be along to advise you.

 

[busby]

Well it certainly was a wee walk lol ...there's nothing here even the river has left town.... yet a fully serviced aire which even has electric.View attachment 297125

Well it certainly was a wee walk lol ...there's nothing here even the river has left town.... yet a fully serviced aire which even has electric.View attachment 297125 View attachment 297126 View attachment 297127 View attachment 297128 View attachment 297129 View attachment 297130 View attachment 297131

Nice photos but I wonder how you remove all the people from them.BUSBY

 

[Northernraider]

Ha ha that's the thing ...everywhere is dead

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[kip]

Would second @suavecarve 's choices,Maggoire is a gem,& knowing you like Architecture I reckon you'll love Venice. Milan is a bit like any major city, has good bits & bad bits.Again Milan cathedral is worth a visit.

 

[Lenny HB]

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Have you been training them to crumpet spot for you?

 

[gus-lopez]

like the van.especially the slide out awnings. Showmans isn't it. Is the tow vehicle about ?

 

[Northernraider]

Have you been training them to crumpet spot for you?

There was a German woman showing off with her dog ....

 

[Northernraider]

like the van.especially the slide out awnings. Showmans isn't it. Is the tow vehicle about ?

I can't see it at the minute but definately someone in as 3 windows open ...It's a proper wagon like ...it even has a patio at the back lol

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[Val 3 dogs]

There was a German woman showing off with her dog ....

? So tell more lol

 

[Trixie]

The caravan trailer looks fab, so unique. Be interesting to see if the towing vehicle is colour coordinated.

Don’t get bored Tam cos we are still keen to see where you are and the photos that come with it.

 

[chaser]

All is not lost when you are parked next to the Ferrero Roche factory.

Prior to having a motorhome and many tears ago I went to Italy visiting Lake Como which was okay but I seem to remember there were loads of Mossies, so not alot different from Scotland really. From there we went to stay on a camp site, Lido de Jeslo, and did a visit to Venice whilst there, unfortunately Venice did not impress me, It felt very clostrophobic to me. But alot of people rave about it.

Sorry not much help but Ime sure others will be along to advise you.

i love Jesolo and venice , been loads of times both flying and in the van but realise its not to @Northernraider s taste so didnt mention it

 

[Northernraider]

? So tell more lol

Ach she was prancing about having it jumping on the benches , standing on it's head etc , 40 treats a minute ...I'm surprised it wasn't the size of a horse lol

 

[Northernraider]

The caravan trailer looks fab, so unique. Be interesting to see if the towing vehicle is colour coordinated.

Don’t get bored Tam cos we are still keen to see where you are and the photos that come with it.

It's cool and mahoosive , I expect it's a lorry that tows that but it looks like it's been there a while.

Not so much bored just trying to plan a sort of route that's worthwhile with interesting places to see. I've always kept it kind of flexible

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[Northernraider]

i love Jesolo and venice , been loads of times both flying and in the van but realise its not to @Northernraider s taste so didnt mention it

What makes you think I'd not like to see venice...It's on my list ...I just have to work it in to a route

 

[Podney]

What makes you think I'd not like to see venice...It's on my list ...I just have to work it in to a route

I think you will like Venice and Florence. I didn’t like Rome,but those two are different,and Rome is very big,noisy,place.
Yes,they are of course very touristy,but like anywhere if you also go to the backstreets you will see the “real” places,and lots of cheap places to eat if you want that.

 

[busby]

Ha ha that's the thing ...everywhere is dead

Thought you were still in FranceBUSBY.

 

[TCG]

been cruising out of Venice many times- lovely place....
lake Como , OK but over priced..
Sorrento, very nice.
capri, wonderful.
Vatican City, OK if you like that sort of thing
Rome, what a shit hole

 

[Podney]

been cruising out of Venice many times- lovely place....
lake Como , OK but over priced..
Sorrento, very nice.
capri, wonderful.
Vatican City, OK if you like that sort of thing
Rome, what a shit hole

My thoughts entirely,but you express it so we’ll!
And don’t mention the R word.

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[suavecarve]

For the sake of clarity I think Venice is a hole. But i did see the orient express there.
Its going to be one of those places that is a bit marmite. Japanese tourists with cameras puts it on a par with Carcasonne for me.

 

[Northernraider]

So rome isnt worth a visit then ?

I mean to be fair I wanted to see the colloseum but I'm not making a special trip if that's all there's worth going for.

The Vatican city...the architecture perhaps but somehow I think that will be a very busy place and hard to park.

My original thought was drive down west side of Italy then up the bottom and take a ferry to Greece coming up through Albania etc to Croatia.

I'm now wondering if maybe I should only go down as far as Tuscany and then back up Venice etc in to Slovenia Croatia Albania down to Greece and back up through Bulgaria Romania Hungary Poland.

There's no point in me going all the way down through Italy and a ferry if it isn't going to be what I want to see.
Croatia, Albania, Greece etc are full of architecture , castles etc plus nice beaches and aren't as expensive as France Italy

Because I'm half way there I think I should go Madrid then lake maggiore, through a bit of Switzerland to lake como then down towards piza lucca etc Florence Tuscany and back up east coast to Venice.

Id plan to spend at least a month doing that so Croatia around the end of May

 

[gus-lopez]

Because I'm half way there I think I should go Madrid then lake maggiore,

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[Drum Major]

I don't think I will be visiting Alba in hurry after your comment about Methil thanks for that .Still enjoying your journey

 

[Northernraider]

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What lol

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[mitzimad]

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[klaatu]

What lol

I think it was the Madrid reference...

 

[Northernraider]

I don't think I will be visiting Alba in hurry after your comment about Methil thanks for that .Still enjoying your journey

It isn't very charming ...

I blame television ..they make films which are set in fairly recent years bit they obviously change things make towns and cities look older with more character because when you visit them it isn't the same maybe the time of year doesn't help , perhaos with lots of bright flowers etc growing around the town's and the trees in bloom it looks better but just now they are empty the trees are bare there's no flowers nothing

Its just a lot of concrete and run down buildings. I expected Italy to be a little more ornate. I mean Spain goes crazy with their churches , cathedrals etc and the castles have a shape to them.

France and what I've seen of Italy so far they are very tame outside , the castles are more like forts but very plain.

 

[Northernraider]

I think it was the Madrid reference...

Yeah only for the cathedral and a couple of other buildings , there's a parking spot just outside the city that is close enough to walk or bike in see the cathedral the arch etc and back out in just a couple of hours



Edit


Ahhhh bugger I meant Milan obviously....they both start with an m I got confused lol

Its auld age setting in

You lot should be sympathetic to that

 

[Barclaybasher]

Saw Rome and the Vatican - from a tour bus off a cruise......

Busy, crowded ..didn't like either.. would not go again

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