Vacation 2015 - Day 11

Back on the road, driving through northern Italy on our way to Switzerland, we had a stop for lunch.

As you can see, we tried to make full use of any shadow, as 'only mad dogs and Englishmen...'

Weather was, as during our entire vacation, very nice, and very, very hot.

 Whenevet we made a stop, and were staying near the car, we opened doors and windows in both the car and the trailer, otherwise it would be like entering an oven after only 10 minutes.









Here we have passed the border, and are just outside Lugano. The Alps are looming over the horizon.

Some landscapes shot from the car.

For the night. we found a nice little camping site in Gudo, near Bellinzona, Camping Isola.

It is situated just on the banks of the River Ticino, and a long, very narrow road leads from the main road down to the camping site, and we almost prayed to the powers that aren't, not to meet any traffic on it.

Nice shadowy site with grass under large trees, a small restaurant, pool, and a food store.

Grass means ball!

Sunset in the mountains

Bordering on the camping site was a property with some tiny ponys.

Almost set for the night

Vacation 2015 - Day 10

The last full day at the camping was used for relaxation - and the midday heat was best avoided by the kids in the trailer, resorting to intellectual activity.

We had been to a store in Sottomarina, and I had got a couple of Italian beers, so I spent some of the afternoon tasting them.

Once again, I was pleasantly surprised, as Italian beer is not something we hear a lot about in Denmark.

This rather large bottle of relatively strong double-malt beer from Peroni almost made me fall asleep sitting in a chair in the front awning.

Very good taste, but probaly better consumed in connection with a meal of some sort.

Well, I enjoyed it thoroughly!














The second course in this untimely drinking feast was another ½ liter's worth of slightly less strong brew from Moretti.

This one tasted even better, although none of them, in my opinion, beats the Moretti La Rossa Malto Brunito double-malt I bought on our second day in Sottomarina.

For the sake of completeness, I include the back label of the La Rossa beer (the red one down below).

And, as it was a lazy day, I did not take any more photos, as nothing interesting really happened.

Vacation 2015 - Day 9: Pisa

It has been a while since I last posted pictures from our caping vacation in Italy last summer, but now I am slowly getting the hang of blogging, again so I shall make updates about it now and then, when I do not have something more important to write about.

We decided to make a daytrip to Pisa, particularly to see the Leaning Tower, as my daughters had beeb talking about it before the holidays.

We had to cross the Po Valley and the Apennine Mountains to get to Tuscany, and we got delayed in the mountains because a lorry had had anb accident on the motorway.

But, we endured, and were rewarded with the sight of the Tuscan landscape.

Well arrived, car parked, we were met by the wall enclosing Piazza del Duomo - and the usual motley crew of vendors.

View of the Cathedral of Pisa and the Leaning Tower througn the gate in the wall

In the foreground, the Babtistery of St. John.

Proof that my family was there.
It is forbidden to walk on the grass, by the way...

Front of the Cathedral

Lots of gold foil on that ceiling!

Couldn't help thinking of the throne room in Minas Tirith

The next series of photos are form our visit to the Leaning Tower - the clou to this trip

Going up!

The home of AC Pisa 1909 in the background

I think this is Opera della Primaziale Pisana

Some very worn marble

Another view of the stadion, this time from the top of thetower

Via Roma - I think

 The mandatory 'funny' pictures:

Did I mention the grass...?

Not funny at all, just the full tower

I bought that hat from one of the vendors in front of the wall.

This concludes the tale of our foray into Tuscany. We returned to the camping site quite late in the evening, and had to leave the car in a parking lot outside (it turned out that we could have just asked to get let in), and I think we all slept very well that night, despite the very hot weather.