Italian Job via Autostrada

I noticed that I need to drive to survive a long road trip. This was first realised when we were cramming in our outlander back then, possibly circa 2022. 

Since then, to avoid being a victim to the cram, I have decided that I have to drive for our trips. And I have been liking to drive ever since. 

We had our first major road trip in Lon Ams. Of course, Italy will give the same amount of pleasure if not more. 

Of course hubs had to drive first. Especially since Italy is a left hand drive country. And we were way too late when our journey started. What was supposed to start at 8, only started at 10:30.

Our road trip itinerary was supposed to be Lake Como - Bergamo - Lake Garda - Verona - Venice and to possibly return the car that night itself. We had to skip both Bergamo and Lake Garda. At the same time, Lake Garda is also just another lake and Bergamo also serves something quiet similar to the rest of the place, so skipping them sounds quite reasonable.

I just love the journey towards Lake Como. The Alps were clearly visible. It would have been much nicer, if we could have taken the scenic view cutting through France - Swiss - Italy. The road up to Lake Como was also something that I enjoyed as well. Curved roads with some hair pin corners. The journey itself left you in awe. But the rain was with us almost through out. Lake Como was foggy and misty. Hardly anything was visible. There were limited shops opened. For those which did, it was either too pricey or the queue was simply too long. Snapped some pics here and there, then we figured it was better to be headed out instead.

Everyone was so hungry after we left. There was a Carrefour like hypermarket with nearby McD. We thought it was wise to make a stop there, refuel what we need to support our journey, and to possibly settle our prayers. We have never been on McD ever since the Israel’s invasion, but we thought at times like this, we might be forgiven to have that time as an exception. 

Then it was my time to take the wheel. I just love driving on the highways. The road was straight with just minimal turns. Other cars were also behaving well, making the drive even more enjoyable. I drove all the way to Verona. 

Verona had us at hello. It was such a nice place. One thing for sure, the weather suddenly became more favourable than before. The first kind weather since we reached Milan. The place was lively with many people. Of which most seems to be like locals. It seemed like Verona is a weekend getaway for the Italians. Not too far from the city. Seems like everything is there, good food, shopping place small enough that it wasn’t too much trouble for you to be covering the whole area. The most historical place that we’ve seen in Milan. Not wanting to waste much time though, we headed to Venice as our last destination, in hope that we can get it done soon, and be back home soon as well.

Venice, as we know it, is an island. There are few modes of transportation to get there. We opted for the cheapest option of course. Parked our car at the parking building next to the train station. Took the train to the island. We had to ensure that we would be able to make it back on the last train back from Venice.

Venice at night is definitely pretty. And the weather had gotten even better as well. Problem was, to enjoy the city best was with the waterbus. The waterbus however would cost us EUR10 each. Just do the math. Rather than spending around RM300 for unnecessary ride, we had no choice but to walk. It was fun initially. Until it wasn’t. The maze was as complex as it could. Either it was already night, or that was just one of those off season, majority part of Venice was close to deserted. True, this was applicable for the inside aisle, the outer aisle facing the water was livelier. But it seemed like a ghost town nonetheless. I had few targetted places to go, but St Mark’s Basilica required us to walk too deep inside. So the rest had reluctantly had to push through themselves. What was earlier on exciting, suddenly became daunting. Part of the place in the end was under reconstruction process, but it was a pretty square nonetheless. Upon heading back, we bumped into a very modest muslim’s pizza place. The taste was no where close to the pizza place that we had in Milan. Hubs insisted to take the one with any protein on, while we could find halal pizza place. As it turned out, while in Italy, you better have margarita. You can never be wrong with margaritas.

That was our last destination for the day. We headed back to Milan. I wanted to offer myself to drive. But hubs insisted to drive. I had no choice but to sleep most of our journey back. But for sure it was a much pleasant journey back compared to London 2 years ago. We arrived much later, but not sure why we were not that tired. Possibly the highway. And that wrapped up our 3rd day there.