Below is some notes from our recent trip. This is our second trip to Italy in the last year due to work requirements...

We spent 4 days in Dublin Ireland at the start of the trip for work which made our trip much easier - I was able to get over jet lag while working, and my wife could visit Dublin during the day at her leisure.

Ireland: Great weather for April as it only rained on us one morning. All of the trees were in bloom and the sunset was after 9 PM.

Food: Had a great pre-theater fixed price meal at Roly's Bistro, and a very nice light meal our first night at Bang Cafe. We also enjoyed one evening out and created our own pub crawl of sorts - we visited the Bank, the Temple Bar, Kennedy's and the Boars Head where we had a good and simple meal.

Dublin in general is getting more and more expensive and it is also more upscale each time I visit. It is still a wonderful place to visit and the people are awesome, but I sure do wish the prices were what they were even a few years ago...

We flew out of Dublin on Aerlingus to Venice on Friday afternoon...On the way to the Airport the taxi drive in a huge van had covered the meter up with a knit cap - he tried to charge us 35 euro for the trip from downtown - I told him he wasn't going to get that much and argued for a bit, when he uncovered the meter it was at 28 euro - even that was high - I ended up paying him the meter rate only with no tip!!!

My wife had one instance of Dynamic Currency Conversion that she didn't understand yet - now she is very aware of it and won't let tha happen again, fortuneately it was a low cost purchase...

Up Next Venezia

Venezia...

For this trip we decided on 4 stops over 11 nights - 2 would be new stops and 2 would be places we want to return to.

Venice was new for us and we were really looking forward to it.

Arriving just at sunset was nice as we had a very nice view of Venice as we landed. The Alilaguna boat was a very slow process and it was going soooo slowly. It took over 1 hour to get from the airport dock to San Marco so we didn't get to our hotel until well after 10 PM. I guess the price of 24 euro for 2 people versus a taxi right to the hotel for 120 euro going slower is the price you pay.

The first night was wonderful and all of our ideas of what Venezia is really like were of course changed. Our highlights:

Hotel Riva - We were given a corner "triple" room instead of our reserved double as an upgrade which we took gladly - the views of the canal and the boats made for quite the entertainment for us. The hotel staff is wonderful and the rooms are clean. The view is spectacular and for a 1 star we would stay there again.

Osteria alla Botte - On the night we visited the place was jammed - this was one of our 2 choices that night as we had been told to visit another bar (Il Paradiso Perduto), but since alla Botte was closer to the Hotel we started there and had some wonderful food and wine standing on the street outside. All locals and no or very little english spoken so I had to order everything with my very limited italiano - the wine was good as well. Franco mentions this place in his threads as well and it didn't let us down!

We also had a great meal at Cantina Canaletto where we ordered a fabulous bottle of Corte Zardini Amarone Valpolicella Classico 2001. The duck ragu was great with the wine and we oredered there "Grande Bicherrie" glasses which are the size of your head and take 2 hands!

We found a great Cicchetti bar right next to Casa del Parmigiano where we ordered some Prosecco to go with our fresh strawberries bought at the Rialto market. This was our first morning in Venezia and it was so nice - something we will never forget.

The dueling orchestras in San Marco in the evening were also really fun and we danced and skipped from one to the other as we went.

We didn't enjoy Murano for the prices but did go to the glass museum and to a glass making demonstration - we just couldn't find anything to buy. We didn't like the idea of 100 euro martinin glasses - much less trying to get them home.

We did buy some glass items from a small store in venice and did manage to pack them and they survived the rest of the trip!

Up Next - driving to the beach

After fighting our way through the enormous crowds in San Marco square we took the Vapparetto up the grand canal in the morning to pick up our Rental Car. Getting in a car and finally on our own was a nice reprise.

Our new GPS, a TomTom GO 910, was hooked up and guiding us along. I enjoyed the Italian roads and drivers again - I seem to understand the way they drive and fit right in - probably all of the bike racing I do!

Anyway we hit our first storms driving through the mountains between Bologna and Firenze and watch the lightning hit on the hills around us.

Our stay at the beach was a quick one and was just a nice relaxing 2 days. One of the days was on May 1 so we were happy to have a room and be able to relax. It rained both afternoons but was very warm and sunny during the day.

Our final morning we were woken up by a thunder storm with lightning and torrential rain!

Our day plan was to drive to Lucca and have lunch - this worked out great because the rain had just stopped when we arrived. The town of Lucca was really nice - it felt like Siena to me and my wife really loved the shopping.

We had a nice light lunch with a couple glasses of Monte Carlo Rosso wine to wash it down...

Our destination for the next several days was an Agritourismo rental in Greve

It never fails but we always seem to arrive in Greve just as siesta starts and today was no different. We did locate our farm house and checked in.

Our Agriturismo was at a place just on the very edge of Greve, Casa Nova La Ripintura. The apartment included 2 bedrooms, a huge kitchen and was a nice stop for us. It was very rustic as might be expected. The outdoor patio and tables were never used due to the rain.

This was our first stay in an agriturismo and we enjoyed it. They were also one of only 2 places that rented by the day instead of the week.

Most of our stay in toscano was rainy. We had some amazing food and wine during the stay - including cooking 3 wonderful dinners at our apartment.

One meal we sourced from Greve including the butcher, local wine, vegies, fresh pasta, local bread etc...

Our second meal we bought pork chops from Dario's place in Panzano that were pre-seasoned with fennel pollen. Man they were so good - we just roated them in the oven on top of fennel, carrots and celery. We had a great bottle of Reciene Chianti Classico to go with it!

Since we had a kitchen we decided that we would do our eating out mostly for Lunch so 2 of the 3 meals that we had out were for lunch.

Our first lunch was at Il Pozzo in Monteriggioni - this is one of my favorite places in Tuscany I was very happy to return! Lunch was a wonderful plate of Pappardelle al Cinghiale and the pollo arrosto with rocket and tomate. We had a nice bottle of Rocca de Montegrossi Chianti Classico!

Our special lunch was at Ristoro Di Lamole and it was amazing. This was our early anniversary meal, before we returned home and celebrated for real a few days later. We arrived during the height of a storm and watched as the mountains in the distance were revealed and then were hidden by the clouds and rain. The food was amazing. We were given a starter of 2 cheeses with truffle honey poured over one and a pepper jelly on the other - the truffle honey was amazing and I wish I had bought some.

They recommended a great Chianti Classico, the 2004 Quercia al Poggio, which was only 14 euro. This went so well with my pasta and the stuffed rabit we ordered and shared. The Ribollita soup was also wonderful and perfect on a cold rainy spring day!

We also had a wonderful dinner out at Osteria Mangiando Mangiando in Greve where we had an amazing pork dish and wonderful pasta with tomatoe and fennel fronds...

We also visited my favorite town Monti in Chianti...where I finally got my photo taken next to the sign!

Our TomTom died on us during our drive to and from Montalcino - so we were without it for the rest of our trip...to fix it all I had to do was hit a stupid reset button that I couldn't find! Oh well it works great now - and what trip to Europe isn't complete without getting lost.

At an enoteca in Montalcino a gentleman was buying 14,300.00 euro worth of wine and putting it in his Swiss Bentley - he didn't speak Italian so I got to hear him bargaining and demand a discount all in English - I think he ended up paying 13,500.00 euro instead! We decided to be just like him and bought 2 bottles of Brunello for a grand total of 57 euro! Big spenders we are and all...

We also purchased some very nice crystal glasses at the Davinci crystal outlet in Colle val d'Elsa. These came in handy during our farmhouse stay.

One of our can't miss stops in Greve is the Cantina - the automated tasting is great and you don't have to go to a bunch of wineries to sample lots of different wines. We spent a total of 30 euro there over several stops and probably sampled most of the wine in the place!

Up next - our final stop Alba in Piemonte

It is nice to have your last stop be so surprising, and Piemonte sure was special.

We decided on visiting Piemonte based on a limited amount of experience with the wines including Arneis, Barolo, Barbaresco and Barbera d'Alba. We were shocked at how nice Piemonte was, and are already looking forward to our next trip there!

We decided on basing ourselves in Alba to be close to the wines of the Langhe that we knew. Our stay was in a wonderful B&B Villa Favorita just on the edge of Alba. The owner Roberta was awesome and the energy and effort she put forward was inspiring. She went out of her way to make sure each guest was happy and had places to visit, or food to enjoy.

The town of Alba was much larger that I expected - it was along the lines of a Siena or Lucca - where I expected it to be more like Montalcino or Greve. On the Sunday we arrived, a bit late, at 4:00 PM, due to taking the "scenic" route from the coast, we were told of several festivals and events that were going on that afternoon and evening by Roberta - she sent us on our way to our choice of a wine festival in Barolo - this was a great stop and I believe was part of the celebration of the release of the 2003 Barolo vintage. At the castle they were offering guided tours of the castle with someone in period costume, plus they had around 25 Barolo wines to sample. You purchased a glass and then tickets to taste whichever wines you wanted. We are very new to this part of Italy and weren't very familiar with the different producers so we just choose 3 to try over an hour or so. They were all excellent - with one being amazing. For the first time all trip we forgot to photograph the wine bottle - so we have no idea what producer it was! It probably costs close to $100 here anyway!

We walked around Barolo and enjoyed a bit of a farmers market going on - sampling local products and dipping into a enoteca once. Barolo is a fantastic small hill town with amazing views and it is set into the Lange hills, which are almost completely covered in vineyards.

As an aside this area had more red poppies growing and blooming than Tuscany did for our visit, plus the vistas around every corner are amazing with the vineyards, river and the beautiful snow capped alps in the background. It is truly breathtaking.

Our evening was in Alba where a street jazz festival was going on. They had wine bottles setup on tables outside bars and jazz bands every few blocks. People were out and about and so were we. It was a perfect introduction to Piemonte. Most of the restaurants that our host Roberta recommended were closed on Sundays so we settled on a lively place with a wood burning pizza oven and enjoyed a nice simple meal with 2 pasta dishes and a pizza marinara. I had the mushroom raviollini with a rich red wine tomato sauce.

Our full day of exploring was Monday and we visited several towns including Barbaresco, Nieve, Canale, & Bra. We liked Nieve and Barbaresco and disliked Bra, and didn't think much of Canale.
That night after watching the sunset over the Langhe Hills from the quaint town of La Morra we dropped down the mountain where we had an amazing diner at L'osteria Del Vignaiolo just below La Morra. The place was very small and was just perfect for our last dinner in Italy. We choose a wonderful bottle of Barolo and our meal started with a complimentary angnolotti or large stuffed pasta that was amazing. We each ordered a pasta and main course and all of it was amazing. The Veal slowly simmered in Barolo was great for my main course, and another raviollini pasta that had a local verde sauce was the best. If you are in the area check this place out. Our dinner bill for 2 with a bottle of excellent 2001 Barolo wine was only $94. That same bottle of Barolo here in the USA is $79 retail.

Our Tuesday was our last day in Italy and we started off with another amazing breakfast at Villa Favorita and then re-visited Barbaresco and ended our trip at a winery in Barolo. Our lunch that day was at the bar in Barolo next to the main parking lot since all of the other places were closed that Tuesday. Here I had a glass of the house Barolo that was only 6 or 7 euro. That same bottle is $65 here in the States!

One of our favorite visits was Moccagatta in Barbaresco - My wife fell in love with their chardonnay and since we were already packed for our flight we had no room to buy anymore wine. The wines throughout Piemonte were very reasonable and many good wines could be bought for 8-10 Euro and the excellent higher end wines were rarely over 30 Euro. We didn't go for the big producers like Gaja or anything, but tried to find good wines from recognized producers that we can find back home. Of course the sticker shock back home is enormous. A 10 Euro bottle of Piemonte wine sells here for as much as $30 or more, while a 10 Euro bottle of Chianti or more popular wine sells her for $15-18.

We drove the 2 hours or so to Malpensa Airport, dropped our rental car, had our last bit of real Italian food at the AutoGrill, boarded the plane and had to wave goodbye to Italy - until next time.

Our B&B in Alba is actually Villa La Favorita...not Villa Favorita

I really enjoyed your trip report, monty - especially the wine references! Thanks for sharing.