bvddobb
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The summer of 2015 we toured Italy. Going in through Switzerland, out via France and back home through Jura, Vosges, Elzas and Luxembourg.
Here a little video impression of our tour:
And a photo album under this link
We went to Italy via Switzerland, via Davos, route 28 over the Ofen pass to Sta. Maria-Val-Müstair (last village in Switzerland) and then over the Umbrail pass into Italy. We wanted to try that route because TopGear had once dubbed it 'one of the top rides on this planet'. When we went there, the Umbrail still had some unpaved sections.
When you go into Italy over the Umbrail, you enter just a few km west from the Stelvio, so we decided to take a look there as well. It is one of those 'must have been' places, but we didn't like it very much: ugly buildings, ugly surrounding, and far, far too busy with cyclist and bikers to be any fun. And we weren't even there in high season.
We thought the Gavia pass in the Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio, somewhat more to the south, was much nicer. A bad road, but very beautiful and very quiet compared to the hubbub around Umbrail and Stelvio.
From the Alps we went to Lago di Garda for a few days, and then made a big round through the Veneto, Marche, Umbria, Lazio, Toscane, Cinque Terre and Piemonte. We took our inspiration from this book:
As always we tried as many 'white roads' on the map as possible, looking for forgotten passes etc. The nice thing is in Italy, if they close a pass because it is out of use, they always do it sort of 'only a little bit'. So a closed pass is always a 'little bit open' as well... That made for some interesting drives!
Here a little video impression of our tour:
And a photo album under this link
We went to Italy via Switzerland, via Davos, route 28 over the Ofen pass to Sta. Maria-Val-Müstair (last village in Switzerland) and then over the Umbrail pass into Italy. We wanted to try that route because TopGear had once dubbed it 'one of the top rides on this planet'. When we went there, the Umbrail still had some unpaved sections.
When you go into Italy over the Umbrail, you enter just a few km west from the Stelvio, so we decided to take a look there as well. It is one of those 'must have been' places, but we didn't like it very much: ugly buildings, ugly surrounding, and far, far too busy with cyclist and bikers to be any fun. And we weren't even there in high season.
We thought the Gavia pass in the Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio, somewhat more to the south, was much nicer. A bad road, but very beautiful and very quiet compared to the hubbub around Umbrail and Stelvio.
From the Alps we went to Lago di Garda for a few days, and then made a big round through the Veneto, Marche, Umbria, Lazio, Toscane, Cinque Terre and Piemonte. We took our inspiration from this book:
As always we tried as many 'white roads' on the map as possible, looking for forgotten passes etc. The nice thing is in Italy, if they close a pass because it is out of use, they always do it sort of 'only a little bit'. So a closed pass is always a 'little bit open' as well... That made for some interesting drives!
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