Yep, we’re still in Italy! We’ve now hit the most days spent in a country! We are absolutely loving Italy and our road trip again confirmed our love for the place. There is so much variety here. You’ve got 2000+ year old ruins, medieval cities, castles, mountains, lakes, the list goes on! So here we go with the next bit.
Northern Italy: The Road Trip
Our morning began in Venice where we had a bit of a slow start before checking out. The best way for us to get our rental car was to get a bus to the airport and then a shuttle to the rental car place. It seemed a roundabout what of doing it, but we got there and it was cheaper than a taxi!
We were lucky to get a brand new (1100km on the clock) Citroen C4 as our car for the next few days. It was so nice to drive and I’m so stoked we got such a new car! It had all sorts of crazy features like a heads up display and adaptive cruise control. It also was very good at moving itself back onto the road when I got too close to the lane markings due to not being used to driving on the right hand side of the road! Such a handy feature.
Venice to Domegge di Cadore
Our first leg of the road trip was fairly short. We drove for a couple of hours to get to our first BnB. Along the way we decided not to take the motorway (Autostrade) because of the tolls. We drove through so many towns and it seemed like there were going to be roundabouts forever. Eventually we made the call to just get on the Autostrade, mainly because the free road we needed to take through the mountains was closed!
The mountains were incredible. The peaks were big sharp rocks that looked like castles in the sky. We drove through so many tunnels and over so many bridges before eventually making it to Domegge di Cadore.
We picked this place because it was extremely cheap and it had amazing reviews. From the minute we arrived, the Airbnb host was so welcoming. His name was Khaled. He was born in Algeria and moved to Italy because a friend convinced him it was a good idea. He lives in the bottom floor of a three level apartment block. On the second level is his ex-wife and daughter, and at the top is a friend of his. Apparently since his divorce, him and his wife have become better friends. Or so we think. Khaled spoke almost no English so all of our conversation was through Google translate!
We dropped our bags in our room and he showed us around the house. He said “my home is now also your home”. He made us coffee and gave us snacks. He was disappointed that we would only be there one night (I don’t think he had hosted anyone from NZ before) so he said “can I at least take you to see the lake. It is only about 3km away”. So of course we were happy to do that! We jumped in his car and he took us on our way.
The lake was a bit of a walk through some bush but it was really nice to be in the outdoors after driving all day. We had been in cities for so long that it was nice to walk around and listen to silence. In fact, Khaled would often stop walking and encourage us to listen to the silence. It was really nice.
The first stop on the walk was a small lake with a few small waterfalls going into it. It was nice, but we’ve got nicer waterfalls at home. The next stop was a much bigger lake with mountains in the background. The water was crystal clear and this one was amazing. He joked that there is one crocodile in the lake to look out for and then we walked past a carved wooden crocodile and he laughed. This guy just loves hosting people.
On the car ride back to his house he says “do you like gelato?” And Miriam responded with “si si si!” so he pulled into the supermarket and said “1 minute”. About 15 minutes later he came out of the supermarket with a box in his hands full of groceries.
Back at his place he made us a cheesy pasta for dinner which was delicious and we of course finished it with gelato!
Khaled’s hospitality is what made this part of the trip so special. We wish we could have stayed for longer, and we wish we could speak Italian or French so that we could converse with him properly!
In the morning he made us coffee and gave us pastries for breakfast before we were on our way.
Domegge di Cadore to Brixen
The next part of our trip was a drive through the mountains. We took the long way to our next place via a walk to Lake Sorapis. Khaled had told us that it’s not as busy at this time of year so we didn’t rush out the door. When we got there, we realised it was definitely quite busy so we were lucky that we managed to find a park!
The walk was about 2 hours each way. We were really excited to be able to do a good walk because it’s been a while. The first half of the walk was fairly easy with a gravel path and the standard undulating terrain that you get walking through bush. The second half was on paths that were winding around the side of the cliff with steel cables to hold onto. A lot of the path at this point was muddy and the rock underneath was marble so it was slippery. There was a line of people ahead of us as well so it was quite slow.
Eventually we made it to the lake and wow it was amazing! It was bright blue like what you would find in a mountain lake in NZ. We sat by the lake and ate lunch just as some rain started to come in. We were just over 2000m above sea level but there wasn’t much of a view because the mountains surrounding the lake were even higher than that! We had a nice time relaxing by the lake before starting on our way back. Firstly, we stopped by the toilet which is next to a bar/cafe. Yep, you can buy a beer midway through your walk. Crazy.
The walk back felt a lot faster because there weren’t people ahead of us to slow us down. In reality we were getting tired so the easy part of the walk near the end became more difficult!
We were glad to get back to the car after 4 hours of walking. Ready to drive to our accommodation!
The drive to the accommodation was amazing. We drove through more mountains and we started to notice more castles and more signs written in German. We eventually came to what we thought was our accommodation. We pulled off to the side of the road because we were holding up traffic a little bit and everyone honked at us as they went past. This older lady approached our car from the house and we wound down our window. She started to speaking to us in German and I said “we only speak English” as well as getting Google to say that in German. We decided to pull into the driveway properly.
The listing for the place we were staying said that they only spoke German and Italian so we knew there might be some difficulty. After pulling into the driveway, another lady came down and I asked her if she spoke English. She said “very little”. I showed her where we wanted to be and she tried to tell me where we needed to go. She ended up phoning a friend who spoke English and that friend told me where we needed to be. We realised that the address we had put into Google Maps wasn’t quite correct so we were about 20 minutes away from our destination!
We felt bad because these poor people kept apologising that they couldn’t speak English! Except for the old lady – she just kept ranting to us in German. We felt bad because we knew nothing other than English in a foreign country. Anyway, we got on our way and made it to our accommodation which ended up being very easy to find once we were in the right place!
We walked into the reception and I said “hello” and this lady looks and me and says “ahh” before putting her finger up for me to wait. She gets on the phone and chats to someone before saying to me “please wait, sorry”. Then this young guy turns up and says “ah, Chris Bradley!” Turns out the lady didn’t speak English so had to phone someone else!
These people were all so lovely. I gave my passport to the guy and he immediately shows it to his wife and says “you ever seen one of these black passports before?” And she says “no! Where is it from?” And he says “Nuova Zelanda!” She goes “wow! Nuova Zelanda! So far away!” And then every staff member we saw from that point said something to that effect.
That evening we went to a pub along the road for dinner. They brewed their own beer which was cool. We assume that they grow hops in the area because there were hops on our table in a little jar. I asked the waiter (who spoke perfect English) what the common language was in the area. He told me it was about 50/50 Italian/German. Apparently the land was part of Austria before World War II but after the war, the land became Italy. What a crazy piece of history where so many people would now be living in a different country to which they were born without even moving!
We had such a nice dinner watching the clouds around the mountains change colour from the sunset. It was a great way to finish another great day!
Brixen to Verona
In the morning we drove into Brixen because where we had been staying was a bit out of town. Brixen is a really nice little historic town that reminded us of an older version of Queenstown. The streets were cobblestone, there were people walking around everyone with loads of merino wool clothing shops, and there were mountains in the background. We enjoyed walking around and being in a bit of a cooler climate for a while!
Next we continued our drive to Verona. We first wanted to stop and check out a picturesque church in a field which was about a 20 minute detour. We got there and paid €4 for parking. We thought we would sit on the field by the church and eat our lunch so we took that with us. We then took some photos of the church from the road with the mountains in the background before getting to the entrance to the church property. At the entrance there was a gate which you had to pay €4 per person to pass through! The worst bit was that you can’t even go into the church! We decided that we had seen enough so didn’t need to get a photo of it close up. We took our food back to the car and ate it there! But if a fail, but at least we got to see the church from the road.
We continued on and took the Autostrade for most of the way to Verona. The speed limit for most of the Autostrade is 130km/h which is pretty exciting. You’ve just gotta watch out for the drivers who change lanes right in front of you, the traffic stopping suddenly up ahead, and the person who will sit right on your tail even though the passing lane next to you is clear. We had one moment where we were driving 130km/h and I had to slam on the brakes. I had plenty of stopping room, but I was much more concerned about the car right up the back of me! Thankfully we (and the car) were unharmed and thankfully the new car had amazing brakes.
Oh also, the Autostrade has so many tunnels. So many tunnels. Can’t even explain how many tunnels we went through. So good.
We got to our hotel just outside of Verona and checked in before having a bit of chill time. We decided that we should go in and have a look at Verona since we were there! We are so glad we did because it was awesome.
The drive to Verona was obviously stressful. It’s rush hour and it’s Italy. No one has any patience. We managed to find a carpark and the thing I was stressing the most about was accidentally driving into a no traffic zone and getting a massive fine. Thankfully we were fine.
We walked towards the gates of the old city and couldn’t believe how many people were around! I guess it was 6pm on a Friday night!
We saw the amphitheater, we saw Juliet’s balcony, we ate pasta, and we had gelato. We loved walking around – especially in the golden light near sunset. It was a great place. I had seen it described online as Venice without the canals and the eroding buildings. It really was like a nicer version of Venice. It was a great place to spend a couple of hours in the evening.
Verona to Venice
On the last day of the road trip we really just had time to get the car back to Venice. We were still amazed at how many incredible castles we saw on the way! So cool to see them on the hilltops. We got the car back, got a shuttle to the airport, and then got on a bus to the train station where we caught a train to our next destination – Lake Como!
Lake Como
Our final few days in Italy have been spent in Lake Como and it has been very relaxing! We caught the train to Como and then got a bus to Torno where we were staying.
Once we got off the bus, we walked up some steps through a steep narrow street and found our apartment which felt like it was built in the middle of a castle. The guy who owned the place (and lived in the house attached) said it was very emotional for him to see a New Zealand passport because he always heard about New Zealand as being on the opposite side of the world to Italy! So he was stoked to have his first Kiwi visitors.
We dropped our bags off and dashed to the grocery store because it closed in 30 minutes and wasn’t going to be open on Sunday! We got some food so that we could cook dinners the next couple of nights while we have the luxury of a kitchen.
Sunday was really just spent relaxing and not doing much at all! We haven’t had many rest days on our trip so it was nice to just relax. We went for a walk down to the lake which was really nice, and we had pizza for lunch at a restaurant.
Italy has been a big highlight of this trip. We have loved it here and we would love to come back some day. Next time we will be bringing hiking gear!
We are now on our train on the way to Switzerland! Going to a new country is exciting after being in Italy for so long!
Bye for now! 👋🏻
