Our 16 day road trip from Turin went round a large chunk of the adriatic. We've tried to reduce the number of photos here to a minimum, but we visited about 20 different places, and it was hard to miss anywhere out!
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| Day 1: First stop south of Turin was Viareggio on the coast of Tuscany. A famous seaside resort and an excellent spot for lunch at one of the beach resorts.
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| Our first day of travelling ended in Lucca in Tuscany.
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| We hired bikes to tour the city.
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| Enjoying a glass of wine at sunset.
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| Day 2: From Lucca we travelled to the east of Florence to meet up with Al's parents at their hotel. We celebrated Ian's retirement with a swanky meal...
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| ...and a swim in the swanky swimming pool. Lovely.
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| Day 3: A lunchtime stop in Arezzo; filming location for Life is Beautiful.
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| Al was delighted that they have a statue of Eddie Izzard outside the cathedral; in full battle gear as well. (Obviously it isn't really a statue of Eddie Izzard, but really his ancestor Eduardo Issiardo...)
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| By evening we arrived in Urbino in Le Marche - a new regione of Italy for both of us, and a beautiful one. Visiting Urbino is like stepping back in time and the only thing missing from the ducal palace is the damsel in distress.
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| Day 4: From Urbino we travelled to Macerata, home of Italy's second most important Opera festival. Having seen Aida in Verona last year we'd made a priority of getting to the Sferisterio in Macerata to see La Traviata. Spectacular! Not least because the youth hostel we stayed in was used as the backstage, with singing practice on the first floor, make-up on the second and our bedroom on the third!
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| Day 5: We continued to explore the hills of Le Marche, and gained our first views of the Adriatic.
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| When I say views, we also went in the adriatic, and enjoyed an afternoon on the beach south of Ancona.
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| A very brief trip through Ancona... in order to get the overnight ferry.
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| Day 6: We woke up in Croatia (or rather we were rudely awoken by Croatian passport control), more specifically on the Island of Hvar, off the coast from Split. Hvar is beautiful - many coves like this one with few people in, and incredible crystal clear water. The warm sunshine and cooling breeze lull you into a highly relaxed way of life.
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| Our tent was pitched in an idyllic spot, metres from the sea under a pine tree.
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| In Stari Grad, one of the villages on the Island, we visited the beautiful house of a local poet.
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| A seafood paella on the beach...
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| ...followed by an afternoon nap in the sunshine. Hvar really was blissful.
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| Day 8: All too soon we left Hvar and got the ferry across to Split.
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| The old town is built around Emperor Diocletian's retirement home, and bits of Roman Palace peek out from amongst the buildings. An amazing atmosphere.
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| A short drive up the Dalmation coast to the idyllic village of Trogir. It is actually on a tiny island, but connected by bridge, so it has not been modernised or expanded. There is a great view from the Camerlengo's Castle... which in turn is exactly what a mediaeval castle ought to look like!
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| We ate a fabulous meal of char-grilled fish.
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| Day 9: Breakfast in front of the hotel.
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| Further north to Zadar, a city which was under seige for 3 months in the 1990s but is now a vibrant town, featuring the world's only Sea Organ! The builders of Saint Donat's cathedral used some bits of the Roman forum as their foundations. With a lower floor level it now looks rather odd.
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| Our next stop was the island of Pag. It's rather peculiar. It has a very long, thin, wiggly geography that makes it rather hard to get around and has hardly any vegetation at all. It is essentially an island made of rock... which makes it completely unsuitable for pitching a tent. But we did anyway.
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| Pag Town is a picturesque village, full of holiday makers.
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| The beauty of Pag is in its sea. The stone beaches give the water a colour and clarity that is almost perfect. On the hot, dusty island the sea is exceptionally inviting.
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| We accepted the invitation several times!
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| Pag is also well known for its cheese. Yum! We bought some from this lady.
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| Day 11: Inland in Croatia and a visit to the Plitvice National Park, consisting of an area of 16 lakes on different levels, joined by spectacular waterfalls. The lakes are of different colours and sizes and as you walk around the park on the wooden (health and safety nightmare) walkways the views are constantly changing.
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| We stayed overnight within the national park, in a small bungalow - indoor camping!
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| Day 12: Driving further north we were in 3 countries in 1 day. From Croatia back into the EU and a short drive through Slovenia before stopping in Trieste, back in Italy.
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| Day 13: We stopped for a tour of the Skocjan Caves. A river disappears underground in this deep gorge and creates a simply enormous cave underground. Someone constructed a bridge across it right at the top, so that Al could feel as vertiginous as possible.
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| Later in the day we arrived at Lake Bohinj in north west Slovenia. We camped right on the shore of the Lake - yet another beautiful spot, but very different to where we had been thus far.
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| We took a boat ride across the lake...
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| ...the boat was maybe a bit big for us really.
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| The Savica Slap (Waterfall) a 1 hour trek from our campsite.
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| The Vogel cablecar carried us high above our campsite for an amazing view of Lake Bohinj. Al was feeling a bit vertiginous until the reassuring sign-posting calmed him down...
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| Minced lard! A local speciality apparently. We understood why it hasn't caught on anywhere else!! The beer was excellent though.
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| Day 15: Bled castle...
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| ...overlooking Lake Bled.
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| Lovely Ljubljana...
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| ...far too small and pleasant to be a capital city!
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| Day 16: We drove north, close to the Austrian border, in order to take the road over the Alps, through Kranjska Gora.
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| Where we went on a summer toboggan... a plastic sledge attached to a 2km long rail down the side of a mountain. Brilliant!
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| Our final evening was spent in Padova, with a double length visit of the Scrovegni chapel, which is filled with amazing Giotto frescoes - well worth the visit and the extra time inside. A pizza in the town centre finished our holiday and we drove all the way back to Turin the following morning... and straight into work :O(
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