Franco enqired whether we'd like to go to Venice again on Patrizia's day off, although it was tempting I thought perhaps a day trip to a place they recommended would be more restful and give us more time to talk etc. As he was doing the opening speech at a book launch in the late afternoon it was arranged that we go on a tour with Joey in the afternoon as he was working in the morning.
Bar Ico was visited for a quick coffee before we set off up the mountain side. The drive through the countryside was very picturesque and was a great way for us to have some down time as it had all been very fast pace. The first place we stopped was at a prosecco vineyard, there is apparently a 20km circular ride that people do here on bikes, when we first planned the trip here I had been planning to reacquaint myself with the biccecletta but somehow it never happened, I was flat out committing myself to a simple walk.
There was a little annoying yappy dog accosting everyone in the courtyard. On the drawing room wall there was a replica of this creatures ancestor. The thing that had the greatest impact on me eas that the family for whom this villa was built still lived here we could see their private dwelling through a glass wall.
Fast forward up the mountain to Asolo which was a stronghold given to Catherine one of the Doges daughters. Who preferred this township to that of Cyprus where she ruled. The castle that she relocated to remains here. We walked up the steeps windy roads. I must note that the streets were one way but on a timer. So to get to a parking spot Franco had to zoom up the hill when on a green light, as soon as it was red other cars would belt down the road. As it was a popular town it was hard to pull over legally before reaching the large carpark on a flat area. This was a surefire way to get arrested because the traffic police were seen fining people left right and centre. The ancient church was open and we were able to take photos of the impressive artwork.
We walked for kilometers up the hill which had a gradient similar to that of the knob so fortunately I'd been training for a fortnight. Tired and thirsty we stopped in at a Trattoria where we had some traditional victuals and beverages. Franco had a book presentation to open so he drove us all back to Patrizia's for the next leg of our daytrip.
Silvia and Alicia, their father and Carlo Silvia's boyfriend were all there it was great to get some family photos after I'd had a much needed nap. Eric had looked at old family photos which I photograped for his father. Joey arrived straight from work and we were off. This part of the excursion was comprised of Silvia, Carlo, Eric, Joey and myself.
With body parts still outside the car we zoomed off and soon reached a parking lot just outside the mura, which is the ancient wall around the city. We circumnavigated the entire wall and all the rivers as well as most parts of the ancient town. Joey is a teacher at the local tafe and he gave us a very in depth tour - a lot of it delivered in Italian which Carlo or Silvia would tranlate. I was most impressed that they walked with us for almost 7 hours. Yep hard to believe we walked until there was no daylight.
We had a sumptuous last family dinner which was bittersweet. If only we'd been able to make contact earlier we would have arranged to have Easter here. Nina had tried to get Zio Camillo's carer to contact the cousins but she hadn't been very cooperative. I had vongole again as it is hard to get them well cooked in Cairns and the food here is just spot on. We had a very late night filled with a lot of laughter and tears. It was going to be very difficult to leave tomorrow. Joey dropped us off at home and we promised the young couple that we would return for their wedding.
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