Our Spain trip has come to an end, but was such an amazing and eventful trip....Spain will forever have a special place in our lives! We didn't do much in Madrid, as we were both exhausted from the last 2 weeks of go, go, go. But we did do one thing that Stephen absolutely loved. We toured the futbol stadium in Madrid, Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, home of Real Madrid. I will let him tell you about the experience in his own post, so stay tuned.
On Friday (day 12), I flew to Milan to meet up with my friend Jessica while Stephen flew back to Atlanta (someone has to support me :)). Jessica is finishing the last semester of her MBA (she is a GT MBA too) studying abroad in Milan. She planned a long weekend for us exploring the Prosecco region of Italy (Treviso) with a stop off in Venice....because, well, why not?
So I hopped a VERY early flight to Milan and we rented a car to start the weekend's adventure. I won't lie, I was nervous about driving in Italy, but was promised gelato and Prosecco, so it made it seem a little less daunting! In the end, it was no scarier than driving in any city and we made it to our B&B safely!
We stayed in a very small, authentic Italian town called Santo Stefano in the Treviso region. Our B&B, Due Carpini (http://www.duecarpini.it/saliss-house/?lang=en), had an amazing view of the hills and valley and vineyards as far as the eye could see. Before arriving there, we stopped off in Verona for lunch and gelato. Verona, the city of love, was adorable. We did some speed sight seeing and had a great authentic Italian lunch followed by my first gelato experience - yum! I chose chocolate.
Upon arrival in Treviso, we went right for some Prosecco tasting. This region has La Strada di Prosecco (Prosecco Road) that winds throughout the many small towns. Though the tasting rooms were hard to find, we had a great time exploring. We stopped at a tasting room with an amazing view then Bar Alpino for meatballs and an antipasti platter, and maybe a little more Prosecco! We finished the night with a sub-par dinner but a great bottle of Valpolicella.
Prosecco tasting room from first Day
View from lunch
Saturday was a day full of exploring again! We drove to a market a few towns away. Very interesting. Clothing, tools, birds, the occasional veggie vendor. Not what we were expecting! Then we went to find some tasting rooms for more Prosecco. This was almost impossible. We followed directions to deadends and roundabouts and closed wineries. It was frustrating. But then the curse was lifted and we found the most amazing little tasting room - Nani Rizzi. It was run by a cute Italian woman who spoke zero English. The Prosecco was amazing, but the experience was even better than that! Her son/nephew/son-in-law/some relative came by and threw a roll of bread and us. Then came back with a slice of amazing cheese. They treated us like family and it was the most wonderful experience either of us has had wine tasting.
Cute town where market was
Sweetest Italian lady at Nani Rizzi
After that, we attempted some more tastings but nothing compared....until we climbed a hill of vines through a tractor path up to Osteria Senz'Oste. This is a tasting room in top of the hills with no host (hence the name). Basically there is a fridge with Prosecco, meats and cheeses. You take what you want and you leave what you think it is worth. The Prosecco was terrible but the experience was amazing and the views were to die for! It turned our otherwise declining day around.
View from No Host Bar
After this we were ready to stop drinking bubbles and try some red wine. We made a little picnic outside our B&B with pears, cheese, Nutella, honey and a yummy bottle of Barbera wine. We soaked up the views and just relaxed - it was a perfect afternoon! This was followed by a delicious dinner at the restaurant where we were staying complete with the best molten chocolate cake and limoncello I've ever had!
That view never got old
Sunday we left the Prosecco road region and headed to Venice. We dropped our car off and took a train into the city and wandered around for a few hours. It was kind of a shock to see so many tourists after our weekend in the mountains secluded, so we only stayed a few hours, but it was so beautiful. Looking back at the pics I took, it doesn't look like there was anyone else in the city. So made for some nice views after all!
Piazza di Roma from the train station
Canal
Looking out across the Grand Canal
After our quick trip to Venice, we headed back to Milan. We are staying here til Friday morning while Jessica finishes her last week of classes. I am so happy to have a few days off from traveling and am able to experience what life in Italy is like! Jessica has been doing CrossFit here too, so this is our week to workout and recover from our travels before our next adventures to Switzerland, France and Monoco.
No comments:
Post a Comment