I think that I can speak for both of us when I say we’re pretty tired and worn out from the last two weeks. Not to complain, since we’ve been busy with both necessary obligations and fun travel.
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| First dinner in our new place |
Nate took his first work trip to Germany two weeks ago, leaving me in an empty house (our household goods still had not arrived) with our standard transmission car (that I was not real confident in driving on the crazy Italian roads). Thankfully, I picked up the driving quickly and successfully navigated the Italian roads while Nate was gone AND our household goods arrived the day Nate returned. We immediately unpacked the downstairs in an effort to make the place feel as homey as possible and have almost completed the upstairs unpacking now too.
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| Our driveway once the movers arrived with our stuff.... |
Because of a training holiday, Nate had last Friday off, so we took our first trip to Venice, hoping to avoid huge weekend crowds. It takes less than 40 minutes to get to Venice from where we live and it was nice to just walk around for the day and see the city a little. We enjoyed seeing San Marco Square and made our way to the top of the Campanile tower to get a view of the entire city. We then ventured off the beaten path a bit to a less “touristy” area, primarily occupied by locals. It was nice to see the quiet part of the island and get away from the crowds. We have plans to return to Venice several more times since it is so close and easy to get to, but we enjoyed our brief, leisurely visit to just see the sites.
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| San Marco |
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| Venice Campanile |
Sunday, we ventured out again, this time to the town of Valstagna (near Asiago) to climb the 4,444 steps of the Cala del Sasso. The steps date back to the 14
th century and were used by the Venetians in the fifteenth to the eighteenth century to supply timber for the construction of the Arsenal ship. The Cala del Sasso links the towns of Sasso and Valstagna and is the longest staircase in Italy. The steps are no longer in ideal condition and are very uneven and crumbling so it was a taxing climb and actually seemed a bit more challenging coming down due to the uneven footing. Needless to say, we felt it in our legs the rest of the week. After our descent, we ate lunch and of course gelato in the small town and had the opportunity to watch the local kayak competition that was being held. I must say, we have been very fortunate to have such wonderful weather since arriving in Italy. There have been only a few days without sunshine and the temperature has stayed in the mid 60s to 80s. It was another perfect, warm day to be outside.
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| Are we there yet? |
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| Getting close to the top |
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| Relaxing afterward |
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| Town of Valstagna |
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| Marostica Castle |
On the way home, we decided to stop in the nearby town of Marostica. The city is completely surrounded by a brick wall originating at the castle that sits atop the hill. Inside the walls is the famous life size chess game as well as small cafes and shops. Every even year in September, a game of chess with live human pieces is played on the giant chess board at the center of town
. Marostica is also well known for its local variety of cherries which are sold along the roads leading into town and throughout the city. Since we didn’t get our fill of hiking at the Cala del Sasso, we decided to hike our behinds up to the castle to get a view of the whole city and the land of Veneto beyond the walls. It was well worth the hike and we found that a great looking restaurant resides in the castle. We’ll have to return when we look less worse for the wear.
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| View of Marostica from the Castle |
The busy weekend led into another busy week and we have already come to the end of yet another weekend of travels. I will continue this blog in the next post in a few days, but for now it’s time for bed J Buona Sera!
Sunday, we ventured out again, this time to the town of Valstagna (near Asiago) to climb the 4,444 steps of the Cala del Sasso. The steps date back to the 14th century and were used by the Venetians in the fifteenth to the eighteenth century to supply timber for the construction of the Arsenal ship. The Cala del Sasso links the towns of Sasso and Valstagna and is the longest staircase in Italy. The steps are no longer in ideal condition and are very uneven and crumbling so it was a taxing climb and actually seemed a bit more challenging coming down due to the uneven footing. Needless to say, we felt it in our legs the rest of the week. After our descent, we ate lunch and of course gelato in the small town and had the opportunity to watch the local kayak competition that was being held. I must say, we have been very fortunate to have such wonderful weather since arriving in Italy. There have been only a few days without sunshine and the temperature has stayed in the mid 60s to 80s. It was another perfect, warm day to be outside.
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