Crouch Family On Tour

When I started planning this holiday, I was looking for a different region in Italy that still wasn’t far from Zurich. After looking at the map I realized that there was a town in the area that I had wanted to go back to since I went interrailing because I wanted to see if the youth hostel we stayed at was still there.

While my university friend, Alona, and I were interrailing during the summer of 1989 we had planned to stay in Venice. Unfortunately Venice had no cheap rooms left and it was recommended that we try Padua. We got back on the train for the 40 minute journey back to Padua. However on arriving in Padua we found there were no beds available at the youth hostel there either. They told us to take the local train to Montagnana, a further 30 minutes from Venice. You have to remember that we had no mobile phones or wifi to check out where we were going. We got off the train at Montagnana in the middle of nowhere and walked towards the imposing walled city. 

We entered the city through the southern gate and headed to the main through road. I can’t remember exactly how we ended up walking in the right direction but we ended up at the west (Vicenza) gate.

The youth hostel was actually in the tower to the right of the gate and had 4 dormitory rooms above each other, each with 4 sets of bunk beds. There were open metal stairs between the floors which were very steep and fun to negotiate with a heavy rucksack on your back. We had already stayed in an italianate villa in Florence but this was by far the quirkiest place so far! The best bit was that due to the thick walls the inside of the building stayed relatively cool. We spent the couple of evenings we were there sitting under the trees chatting with the other guests.

As you can probably see from the pictures, the building is not used anymore as a youth hostel. Such a pity that people won’t get to stay in such an interesting building. I’m sure it no longer meets building regulations – it probably didn’t when we stayed there.

Instead the youth hostel has moved just outside the walls but in the same corner of the city to a yellow painted municipal box.

Luckily we weren’t planning to stay there this time as it wasn’t even open. This youth hostel had obviously carved a niche in both our memories as when I sent Alona at picture of it she knew exactly where it was and she even managed to find a picture of us when we were there.

We had waited until Thursday to visit Montagnana as I had checked when the market was on. It was a very sleepy place 28 years ago and it was still very quiet on market day. If we had gone any other day I don’t think we would have seen a soul.

The walls are still in really good condition and you can go up the tower by the east (Padua) gate to get a view across the city. 

We decided it was too warm and stayed on the ground in the shade as much as possible.

After a stop to rehydrate was wandered through the city, out of the north gate passed the new hostel and back to our car.

I couldn’t help taking a final couple of pictures of the walls.

When we got back in the car, the thermometer read 36.5C in the shade but it hit 39C before we got back to the agriturismo.

We stopped at a wine supermarket on the way back so I could buy a few bottles of the local tipple and we also grabbed an Italian tapas style lunch. The desserts were lovely – finally a tiramisu I could enjoy.

The rest of the day was spent by and in the pool. The pool temperature was 31C so it was almost like getting in the bath.

Unfortunately for Bethany, one of her new friends was leaving the next day but she asked her if she would come swimming with her when they got back from the local pizzeria. They both wanted to go swimming when the pool was lit up at night. At 9pm there was a light tap on the door and Noa was standing outside ready to go swimming. Bethany jumped up and ran outside and they had a fun half an hour together until it was time for Noa to go to bed before her early start. The family were driving back to Dresden and had planned to leave at 6am.

Bethany’s other friends then arrived back from their trip to Lake Garda so she spent some time chatting to them too. Eventually it was time for bed. Only one more full day left for us too 😢

I’ve always wanted to come back to Venice after a flying through visit 28 years ago while Interrailing. There was no cheap accommodation to be found, so my traveling partner and I ended up staying 2 hours outside Venice. This meant we visited for a day before our overnight train to Munich. I really don’t remember much about the visit, other than was had really good ice cream.

This time we also arrived by train from Padua, where we had to change. We had heard from other people who had visited about how difficult it was to park and then you still had to be transported to Venice itself. 

We left our accommodation before breakfast, much to the consternation of the owners, with offers of coffee and croissants to take away burning in our ears. We parked easily on the underground car park directly in front of Verona Porto Nuova station and set off to buy our tickets. Traveling business class was only 5€ more per person with a guaranteed seat, so we bought our tickets and headed for the platform. When the train arrived we were pleasantly surprised to find the seats in groups of four round tables with their own Perspex barriers separating each table. The tables folded out towards us, the window blinds and leather seats were electrically operated and each seat had its own plug socket. To top it all off, between Vicenza and Padua the steward came through to give us a complimentary bottle of water and a pastry snack each. He also offered us coffee or orange juice but we were about to change trains.

We changed trains in Padua and 15 minutes later Venice came into view.

The station was very busy but the first view of Venice was great.

We decided to take a vaporetto to St Mark’s Square. The best views are supposed to be from the canals and this way we would see most of the Grand Canal and its sights. The vaporetto was crowded but eventually we all got seats.

We passed under the famous Rialto Bridge and then under the wooden Academia Bridge.

I had to laugh when I saw a DHL courier boat go by followed by a yellow post boat. I hadn’t thought about how things actually get delivered when there are so many canals. 

We left the vaporetto at St Mark’s and followed the flow of people into the square.

After walking through a maze of streets to find the nearest toilets we decided to keep walking down the narrow streets and across the smaller canals. The idea had been to try to get lost and see some real back streets but we kept ending up back on the Grand Canal. 

I wanted to visit Murano to see the glass shops, so at Arsenal we got on another vaporetto and head off to the smaller group of islands that make up Murano. The glass manufacturers were originally moved from Venice itself due to the risk of fire 🔥.

On our way to Murano we passed the main hospital and parked outside A&E were ambulance boats! We also saw one traveling quickly with its blue light flashing. As we had already seen police boats, this lead to Bethany asking if the fire brigade was also in boats. I can only assume so as there would be nowhere to drive a fire engine 🚒.

After stopping at the cemetery we arrived on Murano.

We had a look in a couple of the glass shops and marveled at the beautiful products.

This was a glass installation in one of the squares.

I preferred Murano to Venice as the canals were wider and there were fewer people. It was also a little cooler as it was completely surrounded by water.

On the way back to Venice we saw a petrol station!

Then we went passed the cemetery again and eventually ended up back on the Grand Canal.

Friends of ours had been in Venice recently and had mentioned the Magnum Pleasure Store. With two ice cream lovers in tow we had to visit. Luckily it was across the canal from the train station and not very busy.

It was funny seeing the ‘naked’ Magnums getting covered in chocolate and then have the chosen toppings added. 

Here are our finished ice creams. Can you guess which is which?

After enjoying our ice creams we headed back to the station.

The next train direct to Verona left in 20 minutes and we decided to travel business class again. It was a really relaxing way to travel.

We managed a last quick view of Venice and then we were speeding our way towards Verona with our complimentary water and snack.

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We all agreed that taking the train to Venice had been a good choice. We then jumped in the ‘not overheated’ car and headed back to jump in the pool.

One of the leaflets we had picked up at our accommodation was about a 360 degree spinning cable car from the banks of Lake Garda up to 1600m on Monte Baldo. With the temperature forecast to be over 35C we thought heading up would be at least a bit cooler.

We followed our sat nav’s guidance which as usual took us up winding roads with hairpin bends. The views of Lake Garda were stunning. 

On more than a couple of occasions we met cyclists cycling up the steep roads towards us on the wrong side of the road. We couldn’t figure out at all why that was a good idea, particularly with the tight bends and poor visibility.

On arrival at Malcesine, it seemed everyone else had had the same idea and finding a parking space was very difficult. On our second drive round we saw that there were three spaces in the multi storey ‘central 1’ car park and we hoped this was correct. We finally found a space on the roof.

As it was so hot we decided to get our windscreen cover out to stop the steering wheel and front seats from getting too hot. We had backed right up to the wall so this was the only way to get it out of the boot!

We walked to the cable car building only to find that waiting time after buying tickets was around an hour and a half. We decided not to bother as it would be 2pm before we would even be on our way up. Instead we decided to wander round the town of Malcesine itself.

We were pleasantly surprised with the narrow cobbled streets, small castle and numerous small shops, bars and restaurants.

We even walked down to the lake edge and managed a quick paddle.

We passed a cafe / pub offering everything the Brit abroad could want, including ‘tea made with boiling water’.

We stopped for late lunch at a restaurant with a deck which reached out over the lake. It was lovely sitting enjoying the view and listening to the water lapping underneath our table.

Bethany ordered what appeared to be a small ice cream after her cheese and ham toastie.

Michael was happy to help out 🍨

After lunch we went back to the car and headed for Negrar. We took the route all the way along the lake edge back to Garda and were treated to beautiful ever-changing views. 

At every point where the lake was accessible, people were swimming and sunbathing. Definitely what we should have been doing.

After arriving back at the agriturismo we were changed for the pool in record time. It was lovely being able to cool down in the water and then dry off while reading my book. 

We asked the owner of the agriturismo for a recommendation for dinner and she managed to book us a table in a neighbouring village.

On arrival at the restaurant we were shown to a table in a room that was otherwise empty and we couldn’t decide if they thought we were going to be noisy or if they were segregating the English speakers. By the end of the evening there were five tables of non-English speakers and one of Italian. 

The restaurant had an extensive wine list but no written menu. They recommended as tasting menu but knowing how picky Bethany can be and my aversion to red meat we decided it would be safer to order ourselves. The waiter explained what was on the menu and we chose two courses each. Bethany and Michael went for tomato passata with mozzarella and I went for ricotta stuffed courgette flowers with basil sauce. Both went down very well.

The sommelier came to help me with my wine choice – the wine list was actually a ring bound folder with around 50 pages – and I decided to go for a Soave from a small local vineyard. It was an excellent choice as it was light, fruity and a perfect match for my food.

For the next course Bethany and I went for pasta. Bethany chose lasagnetta with ragu and I chose wild spinach ravioli. Michael went for a meat course with steak on the bone with vegetables.

For dessert Michael chose pannacotta and Bethany chocolate orange mousse. I went for the cheese plate.

When we asked for the bill we were pleasantly surprised that it came to less than 110€.

We then drove home to celebrate Swiss National (& Yorkshire) Day with our table bomb and sparklers.

It turns out Michael has wanted to go to Verona ever since he first tasted Starbucks Verona coffee back in 2002. The coffee is not made or even blended in Verona but is supposed to be a ‘love blend’ and therefore named after the city where the most famous lovers, Romeo and Juliet, were supposed to have come from. Finally his wish came true.

On arrival in Verona we found somewhere to park and, after trying to get a ticket, realized we did not have to pay on Sunday – result!

First we headed for Castelvecchio, a spectacular 14th century castle, which is now a museum.

We decided not to actually go into the museum, choosing instead to walk across Ponte Scaligero to get some great views of the castle and the River Adige.

We also got a great view back towards Castelvecchio.

We followed our guidebook’s recommendation and headed next to Piazza Bra and the Arena. Verona has an opera festival in the Arena every year but the amphitheatre was originally completed in around AD 30 and was the third largest in the world. It was used for mock battles and gladiatorial combats but in more recent times it has also been used for public executions, fairs, theatre performances, bull fighting and bingo. It is currently set up for the opera season so the staging and seating is in place. It did not make it any less amazing, thinking about when it was built and how it has survived.

The view from the Arena onto Piazza Bra was also great.

As we looked round Piazza Bra we spotted all the scenery and props for the opera season. See if  you can work out which operas are showing this year.

Our next stop was the ‘must see’ Juliet’s house and the famous balcony. This was the only place all day that was really busy and actually pretty underwhelming.

Bethany was most upset about everyone grabbing the breast on Juliet’s statue.

The rest of Verona was very beautiful.

On our way back to the car we managed to find a quiet cafe with tables in a courtyard where we could enjoy an ice cream each.

We then drove back to Negrar. While Michael and Bethany headed to the pool, I went for a run among the vines. It made for an interesting track and meant I was at least running in the shade in 30C instead of in the sun.

I then joined the others in the pool to cool down.

For dinner the owners of the agriturismo had recommended a restaurant in a nearby village. It specialized in its homemade thin tagliatelle pasta with freshly made sauces. It was also up in the hills with stunning views.

We had to ask the waiter to translate the menu as it was only in Italian and Google translate couldn’t cope either. We all decided to have the ham and cheese starter including ham from Montagnana, where we plan to go later in the week. For main course I chose tortelli filled with cheese, Bethany chose the speciality pasta with ragu and Michael chose the beef cooked in Valpolicella wine.

I chose a bottle of local wine to have with it.

For dessert Bethany and Michael both had apricot cheesecake and I had amaretto semifreddo.

It was starting to get dark when we left and we had heard thunder around us as we were eating.

Between us leaving the terrace where we had been eating and walking through the restaurant to the exit, it started to rain and were treated to a spectacular lightning show on the drive back. We had hung all our swimwear and towels out to dry before going out for dinner. They were a bit damp so we decided to leave them out to dry again – wrong decision! About five minutes later the heavens really opened and everything got really soaked. Looking at the weather forecast for the next day it wouldn’t be an issue to get them dry again.