pinkbirdflies

Travelled by train from Lake Como, via Milan and across the north of Italy to arrive in Venice. Its uniqueness was evident immediately upon leaving the station and seeing the bustle of the canals and everyone catching vaporetto (ferries). We walked through Cannaregio to the Rialto bridge and crossed the Grand Canal by gondola. We continued through a maze of alleyways and tiny canals to come out at Piazza San Marco where the Basilica of St Mark’s and the Doge’s Palace are located. We visited the Jewish Ghetto which was interesting and  had an incredible dinner of Cuttlefish Risotto in black ink.

Took a local bus from Asti to the village of Castagnole Monferrato and walked through the lush countryside of this wine producing area. We then visited a traditional family owned and operated vineyard and sat in their living room for wine tasting after inspecting their ancient cellar. Their speciality is a red wine variety called Ruche. We then went to a very local ‘agriturismo’ guest house where we had a magnificent lunch of regional produce accompanied by local red, Asti Moscato and of course complimentary Limoncello. the bus ride back took us through lovely villages and really scenic countryside.