2008 ITALIAN ODYSSEY - Castelfranco

Friday September 26, 2008 – Castelfranco

We slept well last night and after a reasonable breakfast were on our way by 08.00, reversing the car very carefully past the Mercedes.

We made good time down to Castelfranco, getting there about 10.00. I had found the long drive to Cortina more tiring than I thought it would be, so we decided to take a couple of days to explore this region. We thought the Hotel del Torre where James, Boet and family had stayed looked pretty nice. They quoted us what we thought was a very reasonable rate of Є90 which included a parking space in their garage – one which required the wing mirrors to be folded to fit in. They were happy to let us check in and drop off all our luggage and we then headed across to Loreggia. We got a very warm welcome again from the Bastarolo family – and enormous lunch: two meat dishes plus vegetables: cheese and fruit and cake. No wonder we could eat no supper tonight. 

After our meal we packed the rest of our bags into the car, bade farewell to the Italian family and brought Sue and Mike across here to Castelfranco so they could re-pack their bags. I felt bad about not taking them to the airport, but I was bushed and actually dozed off before taking them to the station. We certainly enjoyed our time together and have many very happy memories to share with them.

 

Sue and Mike leave us

After dropping them off we popped into a Super-Mercato in Resana and bought some crackers and snacks and a tub of shrimps for our evening meal, which we ate in our room. Rab was asleep by 20.00 and I followed not long after.

Saturday September 27, 2008 – Castelfranco

Rab slept for nearly twelve hours and felt a lot better for it. The bed was very comfortable and the breakfast was excellent – and our room was made up while we had breakfast. We had decided to set off to see some of the villages that Sue and Mike had suggested which they had visited with James in the week before the wedding. First stop was Asolo, a small village on a hill top. It was market day, which excited Rab, but there was simply no parking anywhere so after negotiating the alleyways we found our way out of town and headed for Bassano del Grappa, a bigger town, with an even bigger market as it turned out.

There was a large underground parking garage into which we found our way which had plenty of spaces available. What we couldn’t work out was how we were to pay for our stay. (At that time parking garages in Australia all issued cards on entry which were used to calculate cost on exit.) I found the answer fascinating. On entry, our car registration was photographed – we had wondered why we were penned in on entry. To exit the park, we had to enter our registration number into the cassa, a copy of the picture came up on the screen to be verified and it then calculated the time since we entered and the cost. On  exit the car was photographed again and the registrations matched up. Quite nifty!

 

Another day, another market

The market was….well, another market for me, but Rab was in her element and managed to make a couple of purchases. After we had done marketing, we strolled down to the Alpini Bridge, which commemorates the Alpini troops who collected funds for its rebuilding after its destruction during the war. The murder of  ten partisans towards the end of the war is also memorialised. It is a lovely covered wooden bridge with very pretty views. They are so typically Italian and we stood there for quite some time taking it all in.

 

View from Alpinin Bridge with memorial wreath

 

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After picking up a couple of gelati on the way – Rab still hasn’t been able to match the caramel gelato she enjoyed in Sienna – we made our way back to the car park but couldn’t for the life of us remember, or find the pedestrian entrance. A passing Senegalese who spoke only French and Italian managed to understand what I was looking for and guided us on our way.

Marostica Castle

Our next stop was Marostica where there is a spectacular town wall and castle. The car park on the outskirts of town had space to spare, so we grabbed a spot and trekked into the town. Turned out that we could have driven and parked where we liked as the town was deserted since it was after twelve o’clock. All towns close for at least an hour between 12.00 and 13.00 every day. Some. But not all the bars stay open and we were able to get a small sandwich and an iced coffee – and take a lot of photos. (The iced coffee was in the ice cream freezer and was excellent – but we never saw it for sale again and have never seen it since.)

 

Lovely cottage in Marostica

Home we came for a bit of a rest before joining the evening promenade in the piazza and then settling in front of the bars with a beer for Rab, a Campari soda for me and some complementary snacks. (Why can’t other countries be as civilised with their free snacks with drinks?) a very pleasant way  to spend the early part of the evening.

Nothing like a chilled beer!

Dinner was at the same restaurant that Bruce and James had taken us to last Friday and we each chose a pizza from the enormous range on offer. Both were delicious and all the better for being washed down with a good bottle of red.

We saw many weddings today – apparently it is the season and as I write a wedding party has just gone by, hooting and cheering with shouts of Sposi! Sposi! Newlyweds! Newlyweds! They are a happy bunch – but I hope we’ll get some sleep tonight!