Remembering Italy. Traveling with a rented car.
The idea of the first independent trip to Europe appeared after reading the fascinating essays by Biсtoroff, Alex45, Hessen. And then there's Meksica1211 "promoted" Lake Garda, for which I am very grateful.
My wife has a birthday in May, and I would like to treat this event not as a trite “house-guests-table”. Her old dream was to see Venice with her own eyes, so I, secretly from her, began to read about this place on my own and monitor tours and prices.
At that time, it was something incredible for me, like booking hotels, air travel. But two weeks of constant study of these features led me to the idea of an independent trip to Italy, since the open Schengen created a certain scope for action. The result of all the preparation was the route: arrival in Verona-Lake Garda-Riomaggiore-Florence-Siena-Venice.
A month and a half before the trip, Skyscanner gave a "pleasant" price for a flight with Lufthansa Moscow-Verona-Moscow with a transfer in Germany for two for about 14500 rubles. And after paying for the tickets, the hotels were booked:
html 2">Hotel Casa Gagliardi Brenzone (Lake Garda) 2 nights
Hotel Marchionni Viareggio 1 night
Residence I Colli Florence 3 nights
Hotel Casa A Colori Dolo 3 nights
The route is long, taking into account passing cities. But I so wanted to embrace the immensity. For movement Hertz was booked a car: diesel Fiat Punto. The price tag for 10 days was about 350 euros, but thanks to the tips of like-minded people in tourism, using the discount code from Ikea, it dropped to 175 euros.
Three weeks before the trip, I “put before the fact” my other half. Shock, bewilderment, rejection, joy changed in her state. And now, on May 19, we are checking in luggage at Domodedovo. Jitters from the unknown adds adrenaline. New planes of the airline, smiling flight attendants.
At Munich Airport
Sunset over Munich for an hour-long docking opens up a gorgeous panorama of the city with the bowl of the Allianz Arena. At the airport, we have time to go for a beer in duty free, drink coffee. Another hour and a little and at 20.30 we are already at the airport of Verona - Villafranca. We pick up the car, instead of Fiat we get a Ford Fiesta. The mileage on the odometer is not small, and the external condition leaves much to be desired. We note defects on the body that are not indicated by the manager in the contract (these guys have an eye for an eye). We turn on the navigation and drive to the hotel on the Garda.
Narrow roads, frequent roundabouts, other forms of road signs all add to the novelty.
html Hotel Casa Gagliardi in the small town of Brenzone, a hundred meters from the lake. The owners are a married couple: an Italian and a German (as it seemed).
o. Garda
Brenzone. Hotel
We arrive at the hotel at 11 pm. It's dark outside, with light rain. The owner of the hotel meets at the entrance with an umbrella, helps to bring luggage, offers dinner. The road is certainly tired, and I just want to relax. However, five minutes later there is hot tea and coffee in the room. Unexpected and nice!
In the morning, a delicious breakfast, organized by the hostess of the hotel. Like all guests, we leave in the morning to explore the colorful toy towns of Garda. Malcesine, Torbole, Riva del Garda, Limone sul Garda.
o. Garda
Riva del Garda
On the waterfront in Limone
We slowly move along the ribbon of the road. Lake on one side, mountains on the other. From the colors of spring nature and from the facades of houses ripples in the eyes. The unhurried pace of passing cars adjusts to the same driving style. Lots of cyclists of all ages. And it catches the eye. At some point, you catch yourself thinking about the serenity and leisurely life of those around you. And you no longer want to look at the road, and the desire to admire the world around you captures you more and more at every new turn.
We often stop to take pictures and just walk along the streets and along the coast. Beautiful and incomprehensible words in Italian caress the ear. Gelato! It sounds so beautiful and it looks so beautiful! We take our horns and go through the streets. Here it is the realization that you are on vacation, and you are in Italy with your loved one.
One of the Bond films "Quantum of Solace" was filmed on Garda. Even during the first viewing, I drew attention to the galleries of tunnels along the water surface. It's here on the western shore of the lake.
This full day unfortunately ended quickly. And even though we didn’t climb Monte Baldo, didn’t see La cascata di Varone, didn’t walk around the Scaliger castle in Sirmione, because one day is very, very little to complete the perception of these places. I didn’t want to put a “tick” in the diary that you saw this place. There is always a reason to return to Lake Garda.
The next morning, after breakfast, we regret to leave this amazingly attractive place and head towards Tuscany, where we booked a room at
IntheareaofTorridelBenaco,wegetintoabigtrafficjam,andobeyingthecoincidenceofcircumstances,we“crawl”likeeveryoneelsetoPeschieraforanhourandahalf.Andnooneovertakesinanoncominglane.
Andthentheflatlandscapessucceedeachotherandwegotoourgoalbysecondaryroads.
In Parma we make a long stop for a walk and a meal.
Parma
In La Spezia, the smart navigator took a short cut off the SP370 road. And when we passed La Spezia and the car went up steeply with a stretch, we realized that the path chosen was not the best. But the “self-confident boy” who lives in every man said, since there is a road, it means that it will lead you to the right place! And you can’t admit to the woman sitting next to you that you stepped on your own, and not a navigator at all. It was necessary to rebuild it into the "fast route" mode. We stubbornly move only forward, even when the road becomes one car wide and we pass a village whose name I no longer remember. Another voice command from the navigator “on the next turn to the left” is perceived as a mockery, because there is a wall of residential buildings ahead, and the street is so narrow that you notice the turn only immediately before the maneuver. The speed of the car is such that we are already really sneaking around this corner. And the road still leads uphill. And then around the corner we see such a picture that we are already starting to just laugh. On a narrow street in the center there is a table and local men are playing cards, drinking something there. They look at us with an expression: what else is drawn here? My wife rides on the seat: “Here we are! ”. I stop the car in front of the table and go to them with a damn navigator in my hand and in very broken English, mixed with Italian and Russian words, I give out like the famous phrase: “Rousseau tourist - the image of morale! ”. Now it's their turn to laugh. And these four people, without a single English phrase, give out an Italian tongue twister, pointing at the navigator screen, how we can get to Riomaggiore. Then we remove the table from the road, shake hands with each other. We drive on, and they probably have a topic for conversation - how did Russian eccentrics get here!
Spezia. Port
The most annoying thing is that the famous "path of love" in Riomaggiore was closed, and we did not manage to directly touch the famous legend and walk along the rocks above the water surface.
Riomagdore
Here we spent very little time and went towards Viareggio.
Having traveled from Riomaggiore for about 40 km, somewhere in the Sarzana region, we discovered that the battery of our navigator died. It was after meeting the Italians on the road that I forgot to connect it to the charger. Fortunately for us, McDonald's was discovered along the way, in which we did not hesitate to wrap up in order to refresh ourselves, recharge and orient ourselves.
Another unpleasant surprise awaited us near Marina di Massa. We literally ran into concrete blocks and a brick sign, and there were no detour signs. I had to look for a detour at random, passing through a palisade of a private sector. To the hotel in Viareggio - Hotel Marchionni we arrived around 9-10 pm, with a blessed feeling that we had finally reached the appointed point, which at the beginning of the day seemed not so far to us. The promised free parking was not available at the hotel, but the girl at the reception advised us to park the car around the corner of the hotel along the park alley. I had to pull out all the things from the salon and bring them to the hotel room.
In the evening we sat on the balcony with a bottle of red wine, breathing in the sea air.
After breakfast, we walked along the beach and the promenade of Viareggio. The swimming season is not yet open, deserted beaches, few people... but life in this resort town will soon begin to boil.
We drove to Pisa, left the car on the street among residential areas and walked to the Square of Miracles, where we settled down on a green lawn surrounded by the famous symbols of this city.
Slowly it was interesting to watch people trying to "hold" the falling tower.
If my wife always wanted to see Venice, then I was more drawn to Florence. Therefore, the next place where our overnight stay will be a private hotel -AEL; sid=c19884756f7f6373b92d981418e09b97; dcid=2">Residence I Colli. The hotel is set in a 19th century villa, surrounded by its own garden. All hotel rooms have garden views. They have a kitchen, air conditioning, TV, bathroom. Parking on site. And good reviews about the hotel became an additional factor in choosing it.
Villa in Florence
The hotel fully met all our expectations. Very nice villa on a narrow street. Massive walls, arches, huge doors. Fully fenced area all in greenery, sculptures.
The hotel is conveniently located for visiting Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens, 10 minutes away. Here we had to spend three nights, because. my wife had a birthday. So I wanted to feel at home. An important factor in Italy is that the villa is located outside the ZTL zone. The owner personally met, indicated where to park the car. Thanked in broken Russian (it was very nice). We lived in a room on the 1st floor - a spacious apartment. We were given cards for using the Internet and a key to the entrance gate. This came in handy when we returned late from walks.
Florence, of course, does not leave anyone indifferent.
Florence. Ponte Vecchio
Very beautiful city, for leisurely walks for sightseeing. There are many tourists at this time of the year, because in this region, according to our standards, summer. On the Ponte Vecchio it's like the metro at rush hour.
Naturally, we went to the money boar, walked around the Palacio Vecchio, on Piazza Senoria, met the sunset on the slope of Michelangelo.
At Francesco Vinni's restaurant
On my wife's birthday, we had dinner at the Francesco Vini restaurant, which we found based on reviews. Really homemade Italian restaurant, with delicious cuisine and wines from a personal enoteca. It was very unexpected to see the owner of the establishment himself in the evening, who personally took an interest in his impressions and said goodbye to the visitors of the restaurant. Then he got on a scooter, put on a helmet, and left. . . No comment!
Art objects))
Money hog
Evening Florence
There are a lot of pleasant memories left from Florence.
We went by car to San Gimignano, one of the most picturesque and most visited by tourists cities in Tuscany.
San Gimignano
Medieval Twin Towers
The main symbol of San Gimignano, of course, are the fourteen medieval towers built by the most noble families who wanted to emphasize their social position in the 11th-13th centuries. In total, according to various sources, from 70 to 76 towers were built, but few have survived to this day. A sort of medieval Manhattan. We visited red-brown Siena.
Tuscany
Siena
Siena
From Florence they left through Bologna to Dolo, a commune in the province of Venice, 25 km from Venice itself. But first, we visited the Barberino Designer Outlet, where we spent 2-3 hours trying on and shopping.
If from Lake Garda part of the way we drove along toll highways, and apart from the road tape and metal fenders, nothing attracted our attention, then we decided to drive the provincial roads from Florence towards Bologna.
And it was not the best decision. The road immediately after the outlet went into the mountains, winding from side to side.
The rain drizzled, settlements came across less and less, as did oncoming cars. There were no passengers at all. We climbed higher and higher into the mountains. I glanced at the temperature sensor overboard and it did not please. The temperature dropped from 25 to 9. And when, instead of rain, snowflakes began to fall on the windshield and the temperature sensor rapidly reduced the readings of 4-3-2, it became a little uncomfortable.
But fortunately, we safely overcame this segment of the path and descended to the plain. But we really lost a lot of time.
Another pearl of Italy - Bologna remained outside the line of our tourist route. On the one hand, it is a pity that they could not touch the medieval history of this city with their own eyes, but on the other hand, it would only be a “touch”. The route ran through the modern quarters of the city, so there are no impressions of the city.
We booked a hotel in Dolo Hotel Casa A Colori is housed in a restored 16th century monastery.
hotel in Dolo
Dolo
It is located 5-10 minutes walk from the center of Dolo. The exterior and interior of the hotel are clear opposites.
Dolo was chosen as the starting point for a trip to Venice. But the next day, Sunday, we spent in this town, with pleasure plunging into the world of ordinary Italians. And it was amazing. Leaving the hotel at about 10 am in the direction of the city center, we were surprised to note the absence of people, the closed shutters of shops. But they soon discovered the reason.
Dolo
Sunday morning, residents on the main square of the town on benches, at cafe tables, at a flea market. We walked among the stalls with every little thing, sat on a bench by the river. Then they paid attention to the sounds coming from the church of San Rocco, where the service was going on. Of course, we wanted to look inside, which we did, and found the room filled with residents, young and old, who sang in chorus with the priest. It made an incredible impression.
The next day we went to Venice. The car was left in a small parking lot in front of the bridge leading to Venice. There is a bus stop a few dozen meters away.
Here we are in Venice, at the end point of our journey. Satisfied and overwhelmed with impressions from the places they saw and the cities they visited. We enjoyed wandering around the city, took a lot of memorable photos.
We pushed around among the tourist crowd, fed the pigeons on San Marco, for which we received a remark from the law enforcement officers. But to our common regret, we did not experience the delight with which numerous reviews of Venice are overwhelmed.
Perhaps a long route along the roads of Italy or those cities that we visited before overflowed the bowl of impressions. But frankly, I will say that my stay on Lake Garda, walks in Florence and Siena, a trip through the Chianti Valley left a much greater effect.
While still in Dolo, we went to Padua, but this was already unnecessary. From Dolo to Verona airport we drove along the toll highway. The return flight was at 10 am, so there was no time for anything. I already wanted to go home!
p. s. Another surprise occurred upon arrival in Moscow. It turned out that our luggage remained in Frankfurt - they did not have time to reload it. A nice bonus was to get the suitcases to the doorstep of your house in a couple of days.
