On April 5 we’re headed back to Europe for eight or so weeks. Here’s where our plans should take us.
Details
ITALY
Milan, Italy – We’ll fly from Austin to Heathrow to Milan. We’ll be here a couple of days to (start to) adjust to the time change. Friends Ron and Nancy will meet up with us here, from their Rick Steve’s trip to Turkey.
Genoa, capital of the Liguria region of Italy. We’ll catch a bus or train down to Genoa, the Pesto capital of Italy.
FRANCE (Down to France by bus. We don’t want to be taking a rental car across national borders.)
Saint-Paul-de-Vence – French Riviera. This is where we’re staying but we’ll be visiting the more famous cities like Nice and Canes
Gordes – Provence. We’ll have a rental car by now and we’ll be using it to get around while in France.
Lyon – France’s 3rd largest city, a gastronomic capital. We’ll bid adieu to Ron and Nancy here and continue on by ourselves.
Semur-En-Auxois – in the Burgundy region
Vézelay – also in Burgundy
Sancerre – in the Loire Valley. This is Karen’s favorite white French wine.
Amboise – still in the Loire, home of Leonardo de Vinci
Paris – The city of light. (Of course)
Annecy – in the Haute-Savoie, towards the Alps
Grenoble – a winter sports hub at the base of the Alps
ITALY (back to Italy by bus)
Turin – in Italy’s Piedmont region
Alba – still in the Piedmont, known for it’s white truffles
Vercelli – known for it’s rice, think ‘risotto’
Biella – Italy’s wool capital
Stresa – on Italy’s Lake Maggiore
Bellagio – on Lake Como, home to George Clooney and family
Sirmione – on Lake Garda
Milan – for our flight back home
Photos
Our trip, from A to Z, or at least to S. We’re here in early April to the start of June, so hopefully we’ll get some decent spring weather and flowers. We’ll layer, just in case. The Galleria in Milan. Made famous during the most recent Winter Olympics just wrapped up. Genoa appears to have some gorgeous architecture, but I’m here for the pesto, mostly. Saint-Paul-de-Vence is a pretty hilltop town along the Mediterranean coast. That’s where we’ll be staying, but we’ll wander to the more famous nearby cities of Nice and Canes. A perennial favorite, Gordes, in the Provence region. Called Little Paris and a gastronomic capital, Lyon never fails to entertain. Semur-en-Auxois is a city, er, village we visited briefly on a prior trip. We always said we’d be back for a longer stay. Vezelay in the Burgundy regionKaren always goes for a good Sancerre wine when she can. We’ll see how we like this Loire Valley village. Amboise is famous for being Leonardo de Vinci’s last home, and the home of King Charles VIII. The rotund structure shown contains a spiral ramp suitable for horses and buggy so the king doesn’t have to hike up any stairs. Paris, of course.We’ve been to Annecy a number of times, but it’s just so quaint and cool we have to visit again. Grenoble will be our last city, this trip, in France. Given that it’s up in the French Alps, we’ll see if we’re pressing our luck with the weather. A bus will transport us over to Italy, to Turin, on the other side of the Alps. Alba is supposed to be very cool and picturesque. We’ve been to Northern Italy but not so much to the Piedmont and Lombard regions we’ll be visiting this trip. The lush, green rice fields of Vercelli. We’re looking forward to enjoying some risotto done right. Biella is the capital of the Italian region of Piedmont, but even so, it’s only the 12th largest city in Piedmont and only has around 45,000 people. They’re famous for their wool, so maybe we’ll see more sheep than people. Stressa on Lake Maggiore is known for fancy baroque palaces and lush botanical gardens. Bellagio, the pearl of Lake Como. Will be bump into George Clooney? Highly doubtful. If Bellagio is the pearl of Lake Como, Sirmione is the pearl of Lake Garda. The city is on a narrow spit of land at the bottom of the lake pointing northward. From here we’ll drive back to Milan, drop our rental car, and fly back home.
