Saint Restitut {Provence}

It was fantatsic to stay with my French friends, Delphine & Christophe at their home in Provence.

I met them last year when we were all part of the Type 1 Diabetes Kilimanjaro Expedition.

They live in the cutest, most photogenic village called Saint Restitut.

Our days were filled with market trips, lounging in the garden playing boules & drinking pastis....

And of course cycling the mythical Mont Ventoux (Ben did it twice in one day! Crazy!)

We were also lucky enough to catch the lavender in bloom - you could smell it everywhere.

 

Cinque Terre {Monterosso}

We had 2 nights in Monterosso, Cinque Terre.

If you are ever planning a trip, i would highly reccomend Albergo Marina.

Simple, clean, reletively affordable, but with cute touches like beach bags & towels in the room, a fabulous breakfast {a rarity we have found in Italy} and, what they call 'afternoon refreshments'. Home made pastas, fruit & coffee - basically lunch is included :)

We spent our day doing the 8km round trip hike from Monterosso to Vernazza, and then swimming & having a great seafood dinner.

Fish with olives, capers, cherry tomatoes, butter & herbs anyone?

{* ps - my laptop & blogger have decided they wont let me use the mouse or curser to get back to any points in my post, so if i've made a typo or grammatical error i can't fix it! Apologies for my bad spelling & grammar.}



Venezia

We spent 2 nights in Venice, at a simple little B & B with a great view onto the canal.

I know everyoine seems to love Venice, so im going to be contraversial here - it wasnt my favourite place. 

It is beautiful, charming & there is ceratinly no where else like it on earth, but the thousands of tourists ruined it for me, ironic, becuase i know i was one of them. I have never been anywhere with SO many tourists! 

The streets were full restaurants with 'toutrist menu's' and I was a bit shocked to see even the Rialto bridge had been built over with cheap souvenier shops! We saw the main sights & then got lost in the back alleys away from the crowds.  

Northen Italy & Chasing The Giro

The last two weeks have been an exciting, exhausting whirlwind of chasing the Giro D'Italia through the Dolomiutes. Driving winding (terrifying) mountain passes through empty ski villages (its inbetween seasons) and cycling & hiking in everything from feilds of flowers to snow!

Oh, and how could i forget. Eating. I may come back about 20kg heavier at this rate. Italians sure know how to eat - paritculary carbs & cheese! Have eaten some amazing pastas, 90c macciatos in the stand up coffee bars all over the place & of course far to much wine! The first two weeks saw us staying in the towns of Bormio, Canazei, then Bassano del Grappa and over to Trieste on the boarder of Italy, Slovenia & Croatia. We have seen 6 stages of the Giro, inclduing mountain stages, a time trial, the final day & were incredibly lucky to have one of my instagam followers, who works in the cycling industry, organise VIP passes for one of the start days for us. We were able to walk around & check out all the team busses, watch the riders warm up & met my favourite rider too! Had a great chat with the Orica Greenedge guys & watched the start with a glass of prosecco in hand! The internet access has been average at best, meaning the laptop hasnt come out much, and i fear the blogging will be very difficult! If you follow me on instagram you'll be getting a few pics a day though!