Distance travelled: 1143km
Total distance: 10,723km
Ice cream count: 30.5

The next week or so was our final set of stops in Italy and included some really beautiful places that probably rate in our top 10 places we’ve visited so far. Things are really starting to get busy now as summer holidays across Europe are kicking in, but we weren’t deterred by the enormous and crazy busy campsite and enjoyed a wander round Chioggia which lived up to expectations as a mini Venice with lots of lovely canals and bridges connected by lanes and winding side streets.

 

 

Meeting Matt’s friend Nicole in Verona we then spent a day exploring this beautiful city – from the Arena to St Mark’s Square and all the beautiful cobbled side streets, this is still one of my all time favourite places to visit and get lost – there is nowhere I’d rather sit with an Aperol Spritz to watch the world go by! After a couple of nights in a lovely little Air BnB outside Verona and our first rain in about a month, we then headed on to Trento in the Dolomites, stopping in Torri del Benaco (amazing banana split and amaretto ice cream sundae!) and Malcesine on Lake Garda – also two beautiful little towns for a wander.

 

 

Our little house in the Dolomites was also gorgeous and so nice to have a proper kitchen and bathroom for a few days – we used it to full effect making spag bol that we could blitz up for Griff – he loved his first taste of beef! We also had a drive out to Lago di Tovel which is also known as the Red Lake – legend had it was due to the blood of an army that was fighting for a Princess – but the last time it was red was back in the 1960s, and it was apparently due to a particular kind of algae, not blood! It isn’t red any more and was a beautiful blue colour – and made for a gorgeous cool walk around the lake in the shade of the trees, enjoyed by us all, but especially Wilf who got to take a well-earned dip.

Our final stop before packing Nicole back off to London was Venice – yet another stunning Italian city that we loved roaming and eating in! This time it was pasta and Prosecco followed by a customary gelato. More light rain here followed by an amazing thunder and lightening storm through the night.