Final Itinerary Change Eliminates Two Days in Venice

 Swapping Two Days in Venice for Two in Feltre

It may seem strange to some that we would eliminate 2 days in Venice to stay for 2 more days in Feltre, but since we've already been to Venice twice on previous trips and we will still stay in Venice on our first and last days of this trip, we opted to extend our stay in our beautiful already booked apartment in Feltre. We were lucky to be able to add two days to that reservation on Booking.com. We have already begun planning our day trips from Feltre; the first will be to the small town of Pedavena which was the home of my ancestors who emigrated to the US in about 1906. It is a very short bus ride from where we are staying. Looking forward to meeting some long-lost relatives there in both towns. Plus, we are looking to escape a bit from the crowds of tourists (like us) in Venice, and, to see a part of Italy we have only briefly touched upon in previous trips in 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016. (photos are all from Google)

A Feltre street.

Treviso.

Feltre.

Bassano del Grappa with its 16th century bridge.

Belluno.

 

Pedavena.


We are also hoping to see the Dolomites (the Italian Alps) close-up.
After that, we plan on heading to Bassano del Grappa to sample the Italian spirit of Grappa that had its humble beginnings there. Famous writers Ernest Hemingway while an ambulance driver in WWI, Scott Fitzgerald and Dos Passos spent time in Bassano during and after WWI. We would also like to visit Belluno and Treviso if we have time. More to come on day trips, Trenitalia trains and stops along the way. Our fingers are crossed that this trip will be a reality in a more peaceful and healthy world.

Getting Back on Track

Buongiorno a tutti! We have been busily making plans again for our upcoming fall trip to Italy. Difficult decisions have been made concerning COVID and the war in Ukraine. Number one was to finally admit that we are going by booking our flights, as well as making additions to our itinerary, and managing our lodging reservations that were all made through Booking.com.

We have made a huge commitment to the trip by booking those Business Class tickets with Aer Lingus to fly in and out of Venice. This change from Milan or Florence and the price of the tickets for particular dates added 3 more days to our stay in Italy. Oh, darn! We scrutinized over where to spend the extra time as we considered more days in Venice, our first stop, or visiting another town or city where we had never been. For a while, we looked at Treviso nearby Venice, and Bari in southern Italy which would have required a Ryanair flight from Venice. In the end we chose Desenzano del Garda at Lake Garda where we could visit Sirmione, Bardolino and Limone sul Garda at Italy's largest lake. Made the lodging reservation today after some back and forth between Simione and Desenzano del Garda. This will also keep us close to the next stop on our itinerary - Verona which is just a 30 minute train ride away.

Desenzano del Garda (Italy Taveller photo)

Desenzano del Garda. (Italy Sights photo)

Map of Lake Garda. (From Dreamstime.com)

Since Flying into Venice on Aer Lingus gave us 3 extra days, we are now planning on a 26-day visit which is 9 more days than our past visits which averaged 17 days each. This will be a long vacation for us. But, since it may well be our final journey to Italy. We are splurging a bit and hoping for the best. 

Look for upcoming posts about our itinerary and day trips along the way. Our itinerary, the way it stands today:
1. Venice - 1 day
2. Desenzano del Garda - 3 days
3. Verona - 5 days
4. Feltre/Pedavena - 2 days
5. Venice - 2 days
6. Bologna -5 days
7. Cortona - 4 days
8. Florence - 3 days
9. Venice - 1 day

The added days in Desenzano del Garda required us to backtrack to Venice so we wouldn't have to change all of our lodging reservations (a small inconvenience) and instead of heading back to Milan from Florence to catch our return flight, we return to Venice again with a quick 2 hour train ride on the next to last day. Looking forward to each day!