After a day in Bologna it was time to head north first stop a town called Villafranca, a quaint little place with again an amazing history with an ancient arena in the centre of town where gladiator type events were held. This castle type structure was largely complete with underground entrance for the competitors, all still in amazing condition, today it is a venue for sporting events and concerts quite amazing.
Just north of Villafranca I had hoped to find a company that produces a catalytic heat technology which I had heard of, unfortunately all my research and searching turned out to lead me on a wild goose chase, with no result. So a bit disappointed I moved on, and headed for the hills in search of a rare lupin used for coffee.
This search led me into the most beautiful area in world I have ever seen, the Tyrollean region in northern Italy for some time was part of Austria, and this Austrian influence is very apparent, with a mixture of Italian and German spoken here, not that it mattered much to me, I speak almost none of either language. But as I have done everywhere it is amazing how far sign language and please and thank you, will get you.
Spending my first night in a little village called Ronzone, I was amazed at how good the road network was with motorway linking up through the valleys, this was posted at 130km/h speed limit but 150-170km/h seemed to be the norm, I guess time will tell if this is right. Next day I travelled over one mountain range across the valley heading east over the next lot of mountains, incredibly steep with the roads cut into the side of the cliffs, at times wishing I had a smaller car.
Eventually finding my way to a tiny village where I believed there was a farmer growing a small amount of these lupins. Success the farmer was home, it was a bit of a leap of faith as all my emails had not been answered, the reason was the farmer did not speak any English, but the whole pictures and sign language routine worked a treat, with the farmer still having some lupins and some of the coffee he makes from these, what a flavour, remarkably similar coffee aroma with a smoothness of chocolate, wow what a unique combination, so with a sample of seed in hand I had to now find my way to Venice airport.
For a start my GPS said I could head east across the mountains to another valley to get back down into Venice, but after 3 road closures and some very sketchy roads I decided on caution and headed back the way I came or so I thought, this time the GPS took me into a logging camp and onto an even worse dirt road where at times I had to take a 3 point turn to get around the corners, no guard rails and sheer cliffs, my god these lupins had better be worth it.
Finally back on the motorway Venice here we come, arrived into Venice and found my Hotel, as Venice is a island city I was staying in Venezia which is the mainland city to Venice.
Across the road from the hotel was a motor cycle shop where the owner restores old bikes, so I had to drop in and see what he was up to. To my amazement he had the most beautiful 1952 Moto Guzzi, we struck up a good conversation, luckily I had my iPad so we were able to share bike stories quite well, he also had a Ducati commander 1972 under restoration, a fantastic guy and great craftsman.
On the bus into Venice to check out the city, again one of those places best shared with someone else, this part of the trip has been the most lonely, having seen all these beautiful places and not having Pam there to share them with has been hard.
Whilst in Venice, we had probably the fiercest storm I have ever witnessed come through, massive wind, torrential rain and hail, roofs ripped off, outdoor cafes flattened the whole bit only lasted about 20mins but what destruction.
Venice itself just as you see in the movies and pictures, lots of young love, you can see the attraction, for me it was wooden boat heaven! Some great examples of fine craftsmanship, and they were used as Taxis, could not believe it! S that was Venice.
Next off to Vienna in Austria to check out some pumpkin seed production.
No comments:
Post a Comment