IT - Sardegna & Olbia

oups, just realized I never posted about Sardegna… Went there on my own for a few days relax before going back to Milan last summer. I was surprised it was not as busy as I thought, probably because tourists (mostly italians) are having their own boat and just stay offshore on the turquoise sea. You can travel by taking the buses on the island but maybe it's more convenient for you to rent a car and be able to reach any beach… It is called the region of the 100 beaches! Travelling to Olbia is quite cheap as low cost flight are scheduled several times a day. Locals are very easy, felt very safe & relaxed! After that you feel like going back to the ghetto :S

FR- Arrière pays grassois

Here I need to be careful... some of my readers are exactly from that region :) ok, so on our sunny day we went from Nice to St Paul and then Gourdon, uphill then back to Nice via Grasse

Our pic-nic stop of the day, along the Loup

Gourdon seen from above, and sea at the horizon

from the top (very windy by the way...)

and on the north side, snow!!!

FR - Monaco (sous la pluie)

For Easter, I organized with a friend and my bro' at trip to the Côte d'Azur... lovely :) except that it was raining but for day 2 when we could enjoy a little bit of fresh air! So day 3, on the way back we decided to stop in Monaco where we could enjoy the famous Musée Océanographique (at least something to do without getting wet...)

Nice Hotels, of course...

Rainy?

and foggy! crazy boats are anchored in Monaco... of course...

from the Castel Hill

Public gardens

Museum part of the museum, the acquariums are downstairs

AT - Salzburg

During the Christmas holidays, we went on a day trip from Munich to Salzburg. Salzburg is in Austria but still covered by the Bayern group ticket (what makes it an interesting destination). I was positively surprised by the 'home" city of Mozart. It is very touristic and is probably crowded during summer times, but certainly enjoyable during spring/summer time. Some walking required, included uphill the castle. 

Down town, small streets, Christmas crowd

for fun: Freedom starts where Italy stops (sticker in favor of  South Tirol region to belong to Austria)

Don't forget coffee time!

J'aimerai #5 ... faire (un bout) de la via Francigena (suite à la découverte des Apennine Emiliane)

I made a big discovery a few week-ends ago :) This post is both a travel report and a "J'aimerai" chronicle, as I discovered the mounts and valleys of the Appenine Emiliane and note to myself, would love to go back!

- The Apennines are a mountain range consisting of parallel smaller chains extending c. 1,200 km (750 mi) along the length of peninsular Italy. In the northwest they join with the Ligurian Alps at Altare. In the southwest they end at Reggio di Calabria, the coastal city at the tip of the peninsula. Highest point is Il Gran Sasso d'Italia (cit wikipedia).

- Emilia, from the name of the region of Emilia Romagna, capital Bologna. One of the richest in Italy center of the automotive industry (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Ducati..) and food (Barilla…)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilia-Romagna

As usual we had a rough plan, something like, we would like to avoid the rain, go to the countryside and have a quiet time, possibly walking a little as well. We didn't really know where we were going and had no idea were to stay overnight. Then we found out that there were some hostels for 15eur a night. Therefore we headed from Parma to Costa mezzana a small village on the hill on Friday night. Getting the keys of that hostel room was like a mafia scenario. The village was so big it had only a single bar and a church. We were told to arrive after 21.30 because as we got to understand later, that night there was a special service for the Virgin Mary (May 31st is visitation day) and the religious ladies were attending the "rosario" in some other place. So it was dark, windy, on the top of a hill, only 2 streets in this village. Finally a mythical Pandino (Fiat Panda) arrived and stopped right in front of the bar. Our landlady had arrived, some kind of very animated older widow lady. I had to bite my lip in order not to laugh when she took note of all our ID details :) Then we discovered why there was an hostel in such a random place… We were on Pilgrim way… the Pilgrim way from Canterbury to Rome called Via Franciscena. Over the next days we moved then more inland from Costamezzana, Fornovo di Taro (along the river), and then the historic way (SS62) crossing from Parma to La Spezia on the Mediterranean sea and stopping for a second night at the hostel of Cassio. 

Costa Mezzana- Village

Costa Mezzana - our first hostel

Poppies!!!! everywhere

from Cassio

Cassio

Viola - on the road from Cassio to Solignano

links: http://www.viefrancigene.org/fr/resource/tour/francigena/

IT - Mantova

Mantova is about 160 kms away from Milan. I was told once to go but looking it up on the internet I got mainly pictures of the lake and the swamps so given it would mean a 2 hours train ride, I stupidly decided it was not worth it… Well, I was terribly wrong!!!! I just loved it, almost the cutest Italian city I've ever visited. Very enjoyable for a walk, medieval architecture, green lawns in the cortile thanks to all the water around, as it is surrounded by the lake like a lagoon. Weather was still chilly therefore perfect, I would expect a mosquito jungle during summer time.  

So here you are with some pictures:

DE - Bad Tölz

In pure Bavarian style… 50 kms South from Munich. The Alps you can't see here in the background.