I will submit hotel reviews , but will probably never have the patience to do an entire trip report. Here are a few highlights from our twenty three day journey through Northern Italy, Istria and Zagreb, Croatia.
We mentioned during our tasting at the Bava Winery in Piemonte that we and our traveling buddies would be going to Cascina Rosengana for lunch. Our hosts at the winery insisted on quickly calling the restaurant to insure that we were expected and reserved a table for “Quattro Americanos”. This became our official name for the next three weeks. We often felt that we must be quite notorious in Piemonte as our slightly out of date GPS chip took us on round- about detours to get around washed-out hill top roads, several times we entered a farm road in front of the house only to exit behind the barn.
We started our trip in beautiful Piemonte with one of our favorite meals of the trip cooked by Rina and hosted by Tim at Villa Samaguita near Asti. They were warm and welcoming hosts and very generous with their time and ideas for making our day trips meaningful. We found Piemonte to be lovely and the people friendly and helpful. We totally enjoyed trying the wines of the region, some of which were not well known to us before this trip.
Parma was amazing, a beautiful and very civilized city; we were enthralled with the Teatro Farnese and the Galleria Nazionale, the Duomo and Baptistry were outstanding. It seemed to us that the “Quattro Americanos” were the only Americans in town and the people of Parma were very welcoming. While in Parma we took the ParmaGolosa tour of a Parmasan Cheese production, Parma Ham factory and a lovely winery that has been making Balsamico Tradizionale for over 100 years. We highly recommend their tour and found it reasonable priced for four people.
A morning stop at the Galleria Ferrari on our drive to Venice was a big hit with the guys, we left there with many pictures of red cars and more red cars. Since Venice is our favorite city in Italy, it was a must stop over for four great nights at Ca Centopietre Inn, we loved the inn and appreciated all of the help and the friendliness offered by Carlo, our gracious host. A highlight was lunch at Ristorante Villa 600 on Torcello, the food was delicious and the setting divine. Thanks to “Chow Venice” we ate very well in Venice.
We turned our rental car in when we reached Venice and rented another when we left for the Croatian leg of our trip. The rental company had no problem with us taking a car across the border, but wouldn't let us take the Mercedes we had been driving in Italy, we were offered a slightly smaller car or mini van for that portion of the trip.
We did a short drive from Venice to Muggia for a two night stay. Muggia is a small fishing village near Treiste, where we had a great room with a balcony high on a hill overlooking the bay and Treiste. Park Hotel Muggia was an excellent choice and a quick ferry ride from Trieste.
We spent the next four days exploring Istria while based on the Adriatic at Rovinj, a charming cobblestone town. Casa Garzotto was a delightful inn a few steps from the harbor. If you don't have a problem with stairs, we highly recommend this storybook hotel with its wonderful staff and delicious breakfasts. We met our son and his family in Rovinj and explored the great hill towns of Istria. A highlight was a late unplanned lunch near Pizan at a small country restaurant, Poli Bosku, where we dined on their patio overlooking the vineyards and feasted on homemade pasta with black truffles and the freshest salad ever, all served family style. Every item served was grown on their farm; the truffles hunted by their black lab truffle dogs and the salad and tomatoes were straight from their garden, it was an amazing meal.
Zagreb was a real treat, the Regent Esplanade Hotel was luxurious and the city extremely interesting. We enjoyed the beautiful downtown Saturday market, the abundance of outdoor cafes, the lovely cathedral and the friendliness of the people. It was a special treat for us as we finally had the opportunity to meet our daughter-in-law's mother and to see our grandson's delight at having both of his grandmothers together. It was the first time we have managed to time our trip to coincide with their annual visit to Zagreb.
We drove from Zagreb to Lake Garda for an overnight and a lovely ferry ride to Sirmione for lunch the following day. We were pleased with our overnight at the Nazionale Hotel in Desenzano del Garda, it was very nice with a lovely pool-side breakfast. Our drive from Zagreb to Lake Garda took us through Slovenia which was gorgeous and we definitely will plan a return visit there.
Thanks to a recommendation from Doug & Judith, we stayed in First Hotel at Malpensa on our final night. It was a great find tucked away in a little tree laden neighborhood which seemed an oasis after the traffic-clogged drive through the industrial areas surrounding Milan. The neighborhood restaurant next door presented us with the perfect meal for our last night in Italy. From the large antipasti buffet table to the priceless antics of the waiters, it was a delicious and fun meal, and... oh so Italian.
What a unique and fun trip. I can relate to this trip since we have stayed at 3 of the same hotels/B&Bs: Villa Sampaguita--glad you found this gem Regency Esplanade in Zagreb---we like this city and the hotel Hotel First--Malpensa---we are going abck this year just for the trattoria next door.
We often felt that we must be quite notorious in Piemonte as our slightly out of date GPS chip took us on round- about detours to get around washed-out hill top roads, several times we entered a farm road in front of the house only to exit behind the barn.
Cracker. I really enjoyed your quick report. The above statement made me laugh, as we, too, just returned from our trip to the Piemonte and those washed out roads did lead us to some interesting places as well. Many times, our GPS routed us through what looked like a driveway into a farm and it really was a road. Other times, we did end up on someones farm, with numerous dogs chasing along side our car and at the end, men coming out to see what was going on in their underwear.
So glad to hear that we weren't the only ones stumbling around the Piemonte. It was a challenge.
Sharon J
Posts: 1141 | Location: Houston, TX USA | Registered: 01 November 2003
We defintely wait with anticipation your reviews. As to trip reports, you know, not all must have 40 pages or more. I think you have enough in the post above to copy into a short, and very much welcome, trip report. Please consider it.
Bob, I should have mentioned that the name of the trattoria at Malpensa is Ristorante La Quercia. Wasn't it a trip... if the aging waiters weren't brothers they certainly acted like it. I agree it would be worth going back just to watch them in action.
Sharon, we all feel better about charging in and out of innocent people's farms after reading that you had the same experience. At least we were spared the underwear.
Jan and Doru, thanks for you comments, I will try and fill it out a bit and submit a very short trip report.
Cracker, another option if you don't want to go the trip report route, pick one, two (or as many as you like), highlights from your trip, and do a "postcard" for them (e.g., your wine tasting in Piedmont). You can see some other examples of postcards here.
Cracker--how fun to read of your trip and pause to remember you. Casey was excited to know that you had written and so he can read it this afternoon. It sounds as if you had a great trip. We were in Zagreb last year and so I could picture you and the things you saw.
