Venice Day 2

Venice - Day 2

Today we have a private tour organised to the "Hill Towns of Veneto Italy" and described as "an ultimate experience of the Secret Italy". I am excited as there is only so much of walking the Canals that you can do in Venice plus we have a 3 hour walking tour booked for day 3.

Marco, our driver was there to greet us at 9am with a big air conditioned Mercedes van which was very comfy for the 8 of us. I had a sense when I looked out of our cabin window that it was going to be a hot day and boy was I right... we had temps around the 38 to 40 degrees during the day which required the a/c to be pumping at maximum fan speed!

We set off straight for the hills which took around one and a half hours. The traffic on the mainland was heavy but moving reasonably quickly so no real holdups enroute. Mind you we did get up to speeds of 150 to 160kms.... a bit hair raising sitting in the front seat!

Our first stop was to medieval Marostica with its imposing castle and giant chess board permanently laid out in the town Square. It is also where the famous living game of chess is played every 2 years with the next one being in 2018. We had about 30 mins of free time to walk to the two churches and to grab a coffee or an ice cream as I had.

Next we went to picturesque Bassano del Grappa also known for the local firewater known as "Grappa". To access the town you walk across it's magnificent Palladian bridge which crosses the mighty Brenta River and is being stabilised as the foundations are sinking causing the bridge to sag so lots of scaffolding. We also got to taste the local Grappa and of course we came away with a bottle of the Moka which is similar to Baileys but with a kick!

Our next stop was for lunch. We drove to enchanting Asolo, the pearl of Veneto perched on lush green hills with spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. Here we had a typical Italian lunch of pizza, salad, bruschetta, beer, wine and the best bread! After soaking up the Grappa we headed up the hill to capture the views as all the beautiful shops were closed for the afternoon siesta.

Our day would be incomplete without visiting a Palladian Villa so off we set to the Palladian Barbaro.... one of Palladio's most celebrated works with the most amazing frescos by Veronese. Unfortunately no photographs were allowed inside....

Saving the best to last, we finished our day on the Prosecco wine road which of course included a stop at a beautiful winery perched high in the hills with the most amazing view over the valley. I think Marco was happy that we all had enough prosecco to lull us to sleep for part of the 90 minute drive back to the ship.

All in all we had a great day with Venice Day Tours and saw more of beautiful Italy and Veneto. Our day was capped off with a cool to cold shower (not by choice!), a G&T and a fabulous concert on the open decks of the ship by the Venetian Chamber Orchestra.

Tomorrow is another full day of walking and extreme heat!.... sleep now..... zzzzzz