Here is part of the view from our room Wednesday afternoon…..see the neat little church?

Here is the same view this morning!

Yep, snowed last night at just a few meters higher than where we were. Temperature was 39 or so….everyone has told us this May has been very unusual, much cooler and more rain than usual. Great. So, when we left the hotel the owner told us, since the weather was so nasty, go one place for an appetizer, another for pasta, another for meat course….sort of a progressive dinner. Clever.

We drove between 2 groups of mountains (that is what the MAP showed….we could see nothing because of rain!) We arrived in Asolo and it is a really neat little place, but too cold for sketching….not to mention wet. There are a lot of the porticos that would serve as shelter, but the hands would soon freeze up. So we made a few photos.

So, it was time for lunch, but we only went to one place that we had read about and shared 1 order of antipasta…the meat tray. The white ribbons in the middle are lardo…yep, lard. Fat from the edges of meat and it is delicious! That along with local prosciutto, salami, and another one whose name we do not know.

The pastas we chose were: a local pasta (bigoli) with smoked ricotta for Larry and I had tagliatelle with rabbit sauce. Both were great!

Our waitress wanted to take our photo, so here we are…..notice that we are wearing lots of layers.

This is the best shot I could make of Belluno today as we drove in….no where to stop, so this was through the windshield. It is a nice city located on a spine with the Dolomite mountains as a backdrop…..very dramatic.

As I was standing on a corner, dodging traffic, I heard a clatter and around the corner came a truck with a trailer…..and “animals.”

We had our daily aperitivo…..but it has no name here in the Veneto….it is ONLY PROSECCO and Gingerino …NOT white wine and Gingerino. What is Gingerino????A lady who made the drinks for us in Friuli gave us 2 bottles to take with us. They are about 3 ounces of non alcoholic goodness.

The Bicicletta in Friuli was a great bargain, but here in the Veneto the drink is about 2 times bigger! AND….more snacks…..so the price went up.

We had a sunny morning, cloudy afternoon and on the way back to the small town where we are staying, the rain started. No wonder the gardens and flowers are so beautiful….they NEVER have to water by hand. Tomorrow we go 1 1/2 hours south to Asolo for one night, but rain is predicted all day, so we may not see much except the underside of an umbrella.

Today we left Tolmezzo and the weather was perfect; the eastern Dolomites were spectacular! Unfortunately there were very few places to make a photo as we climbed up to a pass and then dropped like a rock! Here are a few photos we were able to get from pull offs and in towns…

We are staying near Belluno….had not planned to be here, but decided it was a more interesting area than our original plan…..these photos are part of the view from our balcony….we think it was a good choice!

This was our greeter today for lunch…..very friendly! He was not on a leash when we entered, he ran up to us and jumped on us…..a very nice greeting!

Our selection for lunch was rabbit and it was delicious!

Tomorrow we venture to Belluno for the day.

We are fast learners….left early today for a circle drive to the north…total miles, 33. We wanted to beat the afternoon showers….and we did!!!! No rain until 5 pm and we were back in Tolmezzo.

Our first stop was in a mountain village called Ligosullo…very tiny and very neat. We also walked the half mile or so to the next village from which we sketched what we saw in this photo. The sun was in and out. Yes, the road is narrow…..but nothing like the next 6 km.

Our next stop was Paularo….the road was mostly one lane, descending from the 3,000 ft pass, switchbacks that were more than 180 degrees, rock on one side and not always a guard rail on the other. Yikes! Glad we did not meet another car. Here is our first glance of Paularo.

And as we were almost there.

The church is really not falling, but the photo was taken from inside the car…in a hurry. From the church, here is the view to the south of the valley.

Those clouds actually passed right over and this is on our way back to Tolmezzo.

Keeping with Friulian tradition, we had our noontime Bicicletta, then ate at the trattoria where we had our drink. We were about 4 miles from Austria and we had a choice of 2 kinds of pasta, 2 kinds of beef…..we chose the beef that was like Schnitzel and it was soooo good. Something different. We also,had a bucket of fries and ate every bit of ‘em!

Tomorrow we leave here and return to the Veneto region….and more mountains. We hope for good weather as we will drive through the area we could not see Sunday because of rain and fog.

To sum up the day:

…And then all Hell let loose! Heavy rain, thunder, lightening, hail, sleet…..we sat in a parking lot waiting for hail/sleet to quit. We could see it was lighter towards Tolmezzo, so we headed that way on slushy road, car covered with “snow”. Made it back to hotel where there is only rain. What a day, but the drive to Tarvisio was beautiful early this morning….we were almost in Austria to the north and Slovenia to the east.

Forecast said rain today…heavy in afternoon, so we left early for a drive into some mountain valleys. Here is what we saw:

We had our morning espresso here. The bar is run by a older couple, but I could not catch them in a photo as they move quickly to serve coffee and pastries. It was a tiny place. We stood at the bar as both tables were full.

Then it really started raining; we found what we think must have been a beautiful place tucked between 2 big mountains, but it rained so hard we could hardly see….we may go back another day if the weather improves. So, we stopped here on our way back, everyone was going into this Osteria, (the bright yellow building) so we thought it must be the place to go….it was!

Everyone was drinking something orangey-pink…..I asked 2 ladies what it was…..they told me and we ordered them too. (yes, we are a lot like lemmings)

The best bargain of the trip! They are a mixture of white wine (or rose or prosecco, your choice), ginger something and an orange slice….yummy! and served with sliced baguette and ham with pepper.

We had lunch here in Tolmezzo with what appeared to be everyone in town and pizza was the big deal. This one with arugula, little tomatoes and little mozzarella balls was great!

It is now late afternoon and the sky is clearing…..the forecasts here are not much better than at home!

In less than 1 1/2 hours we were in the beautiful green mountains of Friuli. We thought we would stop somewhere to kill a little time before checking into the hotel apartment in Tolmezzo….we absolutely hit the jackpot! Venzone. This is the gate where we entered.

This is the main piazza of this small walled city complete with a moat (OK, no water….but…still a moat)

This is the church….under the baptistry there are 5 mummies that remain of the original 21 that were discovered many years ago. They were preserved by a bacteria found here that preserved the bodies. They had been kept in coffins in the church, but after a horrible earthquake in1976, only 5 could be recovered from the rubble. We did not venture in to see those guys…..the church was beautiful.

We found a little trattoria for lunch. We were the only ones eating inside….the hearty Germans and Austrians ate outside. ( we are very close to Austria)

I had the risotto with wild asparagus and Larry had homemade tagliatelle with ragu….we shared the salad and there were 4 kinds of bread! When we left, we were given a gift of pumpkin marmalade…just had some with out snack supper and it was delicious with the local goat cheese, pear, local prociutto and our bargain bottle of Brunello di Montalcino.

Venzone is a big area for lavender….I am inhaling deeply in one of the 3 lavender shops in town.

Here is a shot of where we are staying for the next 4 nights….the town backs right up to the bottom of a mountain. Lovely place.

These photos give you the idea of the last 2 days….

Yep, rain…..yesterday we spent the day in Trieste (after a wild bus ride straight downhill!) where it rained all morning. But we still went to all the places our B&B owner, Fluvia, told us to see….however, sketching was not possible.

This city was part of the Hapsburg empire so there is a heavy influence from Austria. Fluvia told us to go to the famous cafe where writers and intellectuals used to gather….it was like being in Salzburg or Vienna….and so we HAD to have some apple strudel with our cafe.

This was at 11….. dessert before lunch. As my Austrian friend, Erika, says, “in Austria you do not eat because you are hungry, but because it is good!” So we did!
We followed up with lunch at a seafood restaurant where Fluvia and her family go; she said it is just locals, and it was us and a bunch of business folks and some other retirees. No hint from the outside of what was inside.

Today we took the same bus to the city, walked to the boat stop and went to Muggia, a small town less than a mile from Slovenia….we loved it! Much more our speed instead of the city. It did not rain until we went to lunch, so got some sketching done. Here are a few shots of Muggia.

….and lunch in this little place was wonderful….

today I had the grilled calamari….2 really big guys and Larry had the fried calamari.

This is the little boat that goes between Trieste and Muggia….and we got rained on walking back to the bus stop…about a 15 minute walk.

Tomorrow we head to the big mountains, so goodbye seafood….but the weather is to be better.

Another beautiful day…..next 2 days may be quite rainy, so we have umbrellas and rain jackets handy for 2 days in Trieste. We are staying in a small town up the hill from the city and will ride the bus to the center as the old tram is undergoing renovation….it is from 1902, so I suppose it could need some work.

We spent most of the day in Duino, site of a fantastic castle. We spent time sketching the old castle from the wall of the new castle. We toured the new castle….opulent does not begin to describe it. Very impressive was the family tree….dating back to 1095! The old castle was built in the 11th century and the new one in the 16th….with more recent additions. Under the castle was a German bunker from WWII, which we also walked down (and up!) 90 some steps to where the exit was near the sea.

Old and new….

This is the entrance to the new one.

We have been anxious for some great sea food, but have not seen it on the menus even though we were not that far from the sea…..but NOW we are on the coast and we found a great place for lunch near the castle. This was before everyone showed up….

Larry had grilled calamari that was wonderful.

I asked the waiter how many mussels were in the appetizer order, 10? He said no, maybe 20. So that is what I ordered for my lunch….

Seriously!!!!We counted over 40!!!! and Larry helped me finish them. I knew they were fresh as we could see where they are raised right in front of the restaurant.

Today we drove 18 miles north toward the mountains and found this beautiful little town, Cividale.

There were higher, snow capped mountains in the background, but they do not show in the photos. Luckily for us, we parked at the first available spot…..some of the streets were pretty narrow.

Another good lunch….linguine with pesto for me, and Larry had gnocchi with butter, sage and smoked ricotta. Both were delicious!

The weather was perfect today; about 70, full sun….and great sketching.