A Castle in Sestri Levante

We took the fast boat back to Piombino then two hours to Sestri Levante. The Dei Castelli is three castles taken over as a hotel including the entire hilltop as a private garden. To get down to the town simply take the lift through the hillside step out into the tunnel and you are at the beach. Or take the other lift to the rock pool on the other side of the hill.  The hotel is half museum half art gallery.

Dei Castelli

Museum or Hotel?

High Breakfast

Beach day from Viticcio

We walked the 2kms from Viticcio to the beach at Forno. This was real sand about 300 metres long but some rocks in the water. An umbrella and two recliners cost 16 Euro. There was one only restaurant but that is all you need. Finding the paths through the towns can be tricky. There are painted track markers but it looks like you are walking through backyards and restaurants because they just take over the path as if it were their space.

Viticcio

Take a ride in a Birdcage

Yes we drove for an hour into the centre of the island on some very narrow roads with blind corners, crumbling edges and steep hairpins. Then we worked out there was another road. However after taking the birdcage we went back down the same road which seemed easier going down. The Birdcage is a unique ride that takes about 30 min to go up. I did not use the walk down strategy this time.

Caged Birds

Able was I ere I saw Elba

This may be the longest palindrome ever and I happen to be on Elba. I think Napoleon claimed this sentence as his own, after all he did have a lot of time to think things over. We travelled ok from Florence via a 1hr ferry to Portoferraio.  We are at Villa Ottone.  We just hung around the villa today and will check out some of the scenery tomorrow.

Villa Ottone

Ticket Mayhem

I remember in Spain last year a lot of places were a free admission. Not so here, although the exception is the Belvedere Fort which we saw after climbing the hill yesterday. Getting tickets is an art form. I have used the internet ahead of the trip to prepay and receive some tickets. A lot of people queue to buy a ticket.  But if you are in the know there is a government ticket window which will sell you a ticket to anywhere and there was not a single person bothering to use it. We got tickets to Uffizi gallery and the queues there were horrendous. We walked straight in.
The other trick is the sectioning. We also got a ticket to Palazzo Vecchio Museum. This does not let you up the tower that is extra. It does not let you in the basement where they are excavating Roman ruins, that is extra and all with separate tickets.  The wait inside the tower was 1 hr with no water. Apparently large people are dissuaded to go but some do anyway and cause issues. We said no thanks. We have climbed two church domes and the outside of one steeple on this trip so we were good.

Duomo Tower and Dome

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De Medici's of Florence

A Medici here, a Medici there, everywhere a Medici. This town was dominated by these guys even getting a Pope on the roll over the Borgias. We traipsed to the further reaches of the town today to where the wall once stood. Being Sunday a lot of the churches were in use. There was a good map room in the Pelazzo Vecchio which showed the development of the town over time. No rain today, temperature low 30's. Yesterday there was rain for three hours which was bliss for walking in. I am unskilled at walking with an umbrella. Another 20000 steps today! Every walking day has been 20000 steps, except the Dolomites which got to 30000.

Only the gates are left from the wall.

The bridge that is a street

I was half way across the Ponte Vecchio before I worked out I was on the bridge not in a street. There is a Venice deja vu moment right there.  The bridge is completely covered in shops and houses two stories high plus the De Medici secret passageway. We did 6 hrs walking today and none of it was flat except inside the Uffizi Gallery. Those art lessons years ago came back to memory in full colour. The afternoon was spent roaming the gardens of previously wealthy families like the De Medici's backyard and mansion.

Hands in the air like you just don't care

Ponte Vecchio with Vasari passageway for the De Medici's

Firenze

I bought head of the queue tickets some months back to see David at 11:30am but did not get to the Accademia Gallery until 2:30pm.  It was "traffico intenso" on the road from Trieste or that is what we told the guard, who said OK in you go anyway.  David is much bigger than I thought.  I always liked the carvings better than the paintings and this guy is huge.  It is great to see the rest of the statues still in place around the town. All the alcoves have the statues in their recesses.  Most other places we have been to they are removed indoors to some museum or else the Saracens have raided and smashed them up.

Works of Art

Was this fountain a scene of broken arms?

Muggia the smart way

Yes we are looking for the cool options now. So the pier over the road from the hotel has a boat service to nearby Muggia.  It is an Istrian town. Seems all the original Istrians were made to leave after the area was given over to Italy. The town has a quaint port with small boats and fishing vessels. The swimming was better due to a breeze, a shower and a seat.  The locals grab a piece of concrete and that is called a beach. They know not what they do!

Muggia puzzle picture

Above Muggia

Its just sheer!

 Sometimes things are delivered. So you know its going to be 38 today but you are in Trieste. You are here to see  a few unique sites that you can't see anywhere, else so deal with the heat. We started at 9ish with temperature 30 degrees.  We walked up the hill behind the hotel to the Roman ruins.  Rows of columns and archways. The Austrians owned this town for a while and spent 200 years building a fort which we also had a look at.  We walked to the start of the tram for a ride up the hill. This is the last tram route here as they pulled out all the others years ago however this one detaches from the electricity at the base of the hill, then hooks onto a shunt car that grabs hold of a cable and pushes the tram up the steep incline. We got out at the top and walked some of Napolean's road. The French took this area off the Austrians and made this road for transferring troops. The customary shade trees weren't here though and it was now up to 38. 
 We took the tram down from Opicina and made our way by bus to the Beach at Barcola.  That bus was packed with many wet armpits. I have seen some ordinary definitions of beach in Europe but this is the worst. It is a very large aggregate wall with a concrete top but you make like a local and jump in to cool off.  It must be 40 degrees and we have to get back on that armpit infested bus when a taxi appears. Sheer brilliance and we are back in 20 minutes for 10 Euro.

Ancient Arch! Just build around it.

The ceiling in San Guisto castle

Trieste Shipping Town

We are overlooking the old port here. This is where Lloyd Triestino as in "Trieste" ran their world wide passenger services. It is hot and we have retreated indoors after our travels down from the mountains.  We did have a walk around for a couple of hours to get our bearings. We know where the swimming is, the bank machine and the grog shop. 

Opera House - Not - try Dept of Agriculture

Roman Theatre

Poor Man's Grand Canal

Third of three Dolomite Days

All three days have been huge. We got up close to the Five Towers via a ski lift. You may have heard of the Cinque Terre well this is the Cinque Torre. We spent two hours climbing and roaming around the rock spires and parkland. Throw in the extensive WWI excavations which we also spent some time in. We found our way down via a circuitous route and walked through 500metres of trenches.
Later we drove further to where the Italian and Austrian lines were only 10 minutes apart.  The amount of work that was done to establish the lines was incredible. We found some old tunnels bored in the rock with shoot holes. Good thing my video camera has a light for the dark.

Col Dei Bois

Italian shooting tunnel

Austrian Kitchen

Funky Lake Ghedina

Reminds me of a song I once heard. We got off the cable car at Col Druscie. If you are ever in the area I recommend trail 410. We followed this down through the forest to Lake Ghedina. There is a restaurant here where we had some spaghetti for lunch. We still had to walk to our hotel in the town which proved tricky as the track ran out into some roads. The Dolomites are still dominating every direction.

Lake Ghedina

Steep ride to Tofana

Got the all day special ticket for all three stations to ride the cable car to Tofana at 3244m. They were having Sunday Mass on a precipitous location up there. Just testing the faith I guess.  We roamed around for at least an hour. Then went down to the middle station for more pictures. The scenery is jagged. You can get these bikes equipped with car tires and then careen all the way down. We saw an ambulance yesterday on a crazy angled road trying to pick up someone's pieces.



Tofana

Fat tyres

Thank your mother for the rabbits

In my years of travelling I have never had rabbit. So when the stuffed rabbit was on the menu I chose to give it a try however there was a look of anguish from across the table. Are you sure she says, it may not be any good she says. Why I say, because you may have to pick buck bullets out of it.  You mean small lead pellets? Yes no one bought the rabbits in the shop so we ate the rabbits but you had to pick out the buck bullets.

I couldn't help observe the ice cream gormandizing that goes on here. The ice cream cones are as big as people's heads. It quickly runs down their hands and onto the ground. There are sticky trails leading every where often ending in ice cream blobs that have just been thrown there because they can't stuff any more down their throats. Then it gets walked in and is worse than dog shit. Ah that feels better.

left over ice cream as well

small ice cream eater

Happy little Dolomites

Or should I say Towering. Just got back from 7 hours of mountain biking. I must say this must be the best rail trail in the world. Put the Dolomite Cycle route on your list.  I would say our distance was around 45km and we took the uphill direction to the CimaBanche pass at 1530m, that is all up. We slid down the other side to Lake Di Landro and the backdrop the entire way is jaw dropping. Yes your jaw is on the ground. Just to add to the physicality I spied a trail to a high prominent rock which looked promising. So on the way back we climbed the 1km or so and it turns out to be a ruined castle built in 1175. 

Ra Zestes with ambulance

Early Morning Mist

Dolomiti

Riparian to Mountain

We have made the transition into the land of the Dolomites today and they are huge.  The satellite navigation was a bit off and on due to the crowded nature of these hills. We did not have that issue when driving into Engelberg for the Swiss mountains last year. Always pays to have a set of offline maps handy or twenty yar ago it was called a road map.
We have a balcony the size of a dance floor. Debbie was not happy with our first room balcony so convinced the concierge to step it up.  This is town is Cortina D'Ampezzo and is surrounded by mountains.  We took three to four hours to drive here the toll was 17 Euro.  It seems electrical storms blow in each night as there is a light show on right now.

Champers o'clock

Dolomites

Big Day on Lake Garda

We took the Rapido service to Bardolino then walked the 4 km to Garda along the Lake shore. In between there was some shopping that saw a new summary dress bought. The Rapido took us back to Sirmione where we got organised for a lake side picnic. We waded the length of the peninsula to the end underneath the remains of the Gaius Severius Catullus mansion,  We found some shade under ancient olive trees for the rest of the afternoon.

New Dress Italian Style

Sirmione

Lake Garda is huge and Sirmione is unique in geography being a peninsula in a lake not one jutting into the sea. Those Romans are always leaving stuff behind and this Villa is amazing. The biggest villa I have seen at Catullus. He was a Roman poet who wrote about the lake while slaves fanned away the heat.  It was 37 here today but the lake offers plenty of swimming.

 

"Welcome wonderful Sirmio,

Enjoy my happiness. And you,

Lapping waters of the Lydian Lake,

Ripple with all the laughter of my home."

 

from Catullus poem 31



Villa Catullus

Sirmione Castle

Grotto Catullus

Bon Giorno

Got into Sesto Calende on Lake Maggiore last night.  We are in a villa with a balcony over the lake.  These Italians know how to build houses on lakes.  We walked into town along the lake this morning to find the biggest market in the narrowest of streets. Temperatures are now back up into the 30s. We will return to this lake to explore it more.

Sesto Calende

Lake Maggiore

When a drink is earned

Having driven for two hours to get to Rodby, the boat actually leaves from RodbyHavn which I guess means Rodby harbor which is only a few kms different. On board they have the border shop which has cheap goods for people crossing the border, including a special cigarette pack which must be smoked before you reach the other side (45min). We used the Krona and the Krone that we had left over to buy a bottle of bubbly.  So far so good, but then we hit the traffic incident, a two hour snarl but eventually we navigated our way around it and have arrived at Hamburg airport after eight hours of travel. This drink was well earned.

The car was a diesel Volvo. We drove around 1400km thru Germany, Sweden, Denmark and back to Hamburg on one tank. We only filled up once back at the airport for 70 euro. For this area it is the cheapest option to travel as there are no tolls in these countries except for the Oresund Bridge.  Last year I paid 300 Euros in tolls driving through France.

Copenhagen old days

So Pandora is a Danish invention

Well Well we found the biggest Pandora store ever and it turns out Pandora is a Danish company, so there are at least 6 charms devoted to Denmark which is more than any other country. However there is no space on the bracelet, but wait, after a re-arrangement and a polish there is now some space. So Grandma and Nana have combined to add the Mermaid charm to the collection. Hans Christian Anderson would be so pleased.

One Mermaid or two

HC Andersen and friend

Bicycle Haven

We rode around for 5 hours just now and were using a separated bicycle network the entire time. We went all the way out to Fredricksberg then back to the city for the changing of the guard. Then off to the Round Tower and the Kastellet Fort, all of it on bike tracks.  The Changing of the guard is much better here than in London. These guys march out of the barracks and onto the street where they head off to various royal locations to replace the previous shift. You can get very close to the action.

Fredericksburg

En Guard

Literally for horsing around

Mermaids and Princesses

We have seen lots of icons all over and the Copenhagen Mermaid is one of the most famous but also most unremarkable.  In the end its a small statue like the Pissing Boy in Brussels, the Fork in Lake Geneva or the Bear and Tree in Madrid. At least they are recognizable compared to the exhibition we saw in Malmo where the so called artist leaned a few boards against the wall.

Little Mermaid

We knocked on Princess Mary's door but she was off on holidays. The Amalienborg Palace has four identical palaces one on each corner of a square, all housing Danish Royalty.

Something about Mary

Where can I get a Danish?

So far I haven't seen any pastry but it must be here somewhere. The drive was short from Sweden to Denmark via the Oresund Bridge but our room wasn't ready so we walked the town for a few hours.  We climbed up the Saviour's Church steeple on the OUTSIDE.  This is a spectacular climb and tricky.  The higher you go the narrower it gets and you must cope (It is Copenhagan) with people squeezing past on the way down and also with the swaying of the steeple. Lunch was beside one of the canals.

Steepled in History

Nyhavn

Its all very IKEA

Got a couple of bikes today and headed towards the Turning Torso.  It is the only tall building here if you include 50 floors as a skyscraper. We moved along the shore past the beach areas towards the Oresund Bridge. The first part of our ride was into a howling wind  then we were blown all the way back. The bridge connects Sweden with Denmark and we will drive it tomorrow.
My eyes were deceiving me when I spotted an aussie rules football oval decked out with all the posts and goal square etc. Got the bikes back around 3:00pm after 5 hours of wind.

Oresund Bridge

Aussie Rules

Turning Torso