| I am just back from a driving holiday in Italy. What | | | | making town of Perugia took our fancy next and that's |
| makes a driving holiday different from a regular holiday | | | | where we headed. |
| is that it gives one the kind of freedom that nothing | | | | For a week we drove around the roads of rural Italy, |
| else can. What better way to spend one's day than | | | | keeping strictly off motor ways and highways, with the |
| get up in the morning, look at the map of an unfamiliar | | | | help of our trusted GPS. I must admit that it did get us |
| part of the world and key it into the GPS to get | | | | lost a couple of times, but after numerous |
| directions. So, we hired our car- a Volkswagen Golf- | | | | recalculations set us on the right path again. And the |
| from the internet to be collected at Ancona airport. | | | | beauty of this drive was that there was actually no |
| We got into the car and drove off. | | | | "right path". As along as we could find a place to |
| First stop was in the little village of Penna, which | | | | spend the night- whether it was a small hotel, or a |
| consists mostly of agriculturists. It was just the | | | | agricultural resort or as the Italians call it an |
| beginning of spring, and will cherry, plum and pear in | | | | Agritourismo- it was perfecto! |
| bloom, one couldn't have asked for a prettier sight. On | | | | Day seven saw us drive into Rome and, almost |
| day two, we decided to drive into the mountains, still | | | | tearfully, give up our car, which we had begun to |
| dreaming of spring. Little did we know that just around | | | | consider as our own. We spent the next couple of |
| the next corner lay a snowstorm and a white and | | | | days wandering around the Vatican City area, the |
| magical world. It was beyond our wildest expectations | | | | Trevi Fontana and the Colleseum. But the conversation |
| to be in snow, and though we were not appropriately | | | | kept coming back to the mountain roads, the cheery |
| dressed for it, we did make a couple of snow ball and | | | | trees and the snow on the grass. |
| throw them around. | | | | So, if you are thinking of taking a holiday- one where |
| Day three saw us drive via snow clad mountains and | | | | you want a complete break from everything, where |
| green orchards to the historical city of Assisi- | | | | no decision has to be made before you leave and |
| dominated by the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi | | | | nothing has to be planned in advance, consider taking a |
| (or, as he is better known, St. Francis). The city is | | | | flight to an unknown place, hiring a car and driving off |
| dominated by two medieval castles and as I entered | | | | for a week or two into the wilds. Just make sure that |
| the old part, I was transported back about 1000 years. I | | | | your GPS has the right maps for the region, the car is |
| could just imagine St Francis striding along the narrow | | | | in good condition and you have the right company. Bon |
| pathways, providing kind words and sustenance to all | | | | Voyage! |
| that came in his path. From Assisi, the chocolate | | | | |