For 9 days we swapped the Scottish winter for an Italian one! It was brilliant, but still chilly!
Our adventure began in Milan where we climbed to the top of the magnificent cathedral, tried ordering pasta from a little restaurant and discovered the aggression of Italian drivers.
We escaped the city and took the train to a lovely Lake called 'Iseo'. We walked to an old church at the top of the island [600m] We stayed in a lovely hotel with a view of the lake and found a fabulous pizzeria...
The buildings in Italy are so old and magnificent and all squashed in together like these two churches in Brescia [on the way to Iseo] and in every city we found a Christmas grotto!
This is Lake Iseo
After a lovely lake-side stay we traveled east to Padua [where Giotto's famous frescos live in the chapel of Scrovegni] and from there took a couple of day trips to Venice.
Venice is wonderful. No cars on the island, a jumble of terricotta roof tops and narrow streets, plenty of touristy things to do & see and so much character!
We made it to Florence despite a national rail strike and found out that almost all of the galleries and museums we planned to visit were closed the next day [Mon]! So we had a much needed break from them and went for a walk up the hill. The view of the city was stunning...
Back to museums and galleries, this is the view of the Vasari corridor from the Uffizi gallery.
It is one of the most brilliant galleries I've been to because it has a collection that is displayed in chronological order and you can see the development of art from Gothic through Renaissance and beyond. I had studied many of the works in the collection and it was amazing to see them in the flesh. Another amazing thing we did was climb up to the dome of the Florence Cathedral which is all painted in frescos. The view from the top was fab.
There was one more thing we had to do before we left Italy, Steve tried to straighten this tower we found in Pisa.
More pics on:
Kilted Kiwi photoblog
2 comments:
Hi Steve and Jo, is wonderful seeing Italy again and hearing others taking similar joy from it. I expect your expectations of pizza will never be the same. We loved venice , but have to confess the 5 hour queue to Ufizzi was too much for us, so its a treat for our next visit.
We're all well here, but ready for a rest and chance to get some fresh air up in the mountains. Paul received his PhD at great ceremony last week. has started a job as historian with Waitangi Tribunal.
Have a wonderful Celtic Xmas and a grabnd hogmennay. i still remember the first oatcakes I tasted after that first warm whiskey... sigh
Hey Jo (and hi steve), you guys sound like your having a great time! You gave me some ides of what to do in Italy when we are there next year! Miss you heaps, have a great first white (?) christmas. Love soz
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