Milan to Montenegro Part 1: Italy
We flew from Marrakech to Milan, where we picked up our lease buy-back car we will have now until the end of July. We have mostly relied on public transport and our own two feet most of this year so far, except for 1.5 months over the winter when we rented a vehicle for Germany and Spain. We decided having a vehicle would probably end up costing us a lot less and give us a lot more freedom than if we were going to try to move around via public transport for the next five months. Getting around the Balkan area is not an easy feat by public transport! And, we want to go explore as many Greek ruins and sites as possible when we get to Greece, which are mostly out in locations that again are not easy to access via public transport. The lease buyback program via Renault EuroDrive for foreigners like us is a very cost-effective way to temporarily lease a brand-new vehicle.
We landed in Milan on March 1, but didn’t have to be in Kotor until March 7. After some amazing input from our Worldschoolers Facebook group, we decided to spend the first couple of days of our road trip exploring the northern section of Italy from Milan to Trieste.
We spent our first night in Castelnuovo del Garda, just a little east of Garda Lake. We enjoyed an amazing Italian dinner the night we were here. Some of the best Italian food I’ve ever eaten. A delicious prosciutto and burrata plate, meat pizza, a parmesan and Valpolicella red wine risotto, beef carpaccio, and some delicious local wine. The food was outstanding! And it was really, really nice to have pork again!
We were out the door by 8:30 am to make the most of our day the next morning, which was a Saturday. Someone from the Worldschoolers group with a daughter the same age as the girls reached out about getting together while we were in the area. We headed out to meet at a spot Richelle recommended in Peschiera del Garda. It was a gorgeous coffee shop called Floreali inside a flower shop in an older building along a canal.
Originally from Queensland, Australia, but living in Italy for many years, there were no language barriers for the kids to play and bond over places they both loved in Australia. Their daughter’s favourite place in the world is Noosa, which we spent time at when we went to visit our Australian family in 2019. This left Jon and I free to chat more with Richelle, who was so nice! We all had a great time, and when it was time for us to leave and head out to explore Verona, the kids did not want to part! So, they decided to come with us to Verona.
Jon and I had stayed in Verona for a few days in 2009 during our six-week backpacking trip. We had great memories of this town. When we asked the girls when we were planning our road trip itinerary what they would like to see/do for the week. The resounding answer from both was that they wanted to see more Roman ruins/remains. Verona has an incredibly intact coliseum, which would perfectly fit that description. Verona was also exactly on our route. So, it seemed a perfect fit for a stop for us.
It was definitely a busy town to drive into, and parking was a challenge. Thankfully, Richelle is well acquainted with Verona and was fantastic at getting this sorted. We walked around and saw the coliseum from the outside. We had decided not to worry about going inside due to the cost and lines. We did ask the girls about going in and both were happy just to see it from the outside. We also walked over to a market area and tried to see Juliette’s balcony. There was a huge line for that, though. We were able to see it from the end of the alley but did not feel the need to wait in a long line to see it up close. Jon and I did in the past, even going into the house for a tour. The girls were mostly humouring us when we told them they should see this famous balcony and were happy to see it from the end of the block only. We also stopped at their favourite little restaurant they eat at all the time before saying our goodbyes and carrying on to our next destination. Our stop in Verona was brief, but it was nice to walk around here again.
The next stop on our itinerary was Treviso. We parked and walked around for a few hours, enjoying the cute town, a stop in a café to recharge with some cappuccinos for us and macarons for the girls, and a shopping browse in Flying Tiger Copenhagen. That store has become the girls’ favourite in Europe to browse through! There were some beautiful buildings and canals in this town, and we can see why it came so highly recommended by worldschooling families.
We continued towards Trieste and I started googling to find some restaurants we could stop at since we wouldn’t make it to Trieste without a food stop. I found a place called Ostarie A L’Armoniche that was off the highway a bit but looked interesting and highly rated. We veered off and went to this non-descript little town that seemed to have nothing other than this restaurant, which from the street looked closed. We got out anyway and checked inside. Wow! The restaurant was massive, going back quite a ways from the street. There must have been at least 60 tables in this restaurant! The food was all homemade, plentiful, and delicious! The menu was not in English, but our waiter was kind enough to translate everything for us and give us recommendations. We went with pasta since we had done pizza and risotto the night before. The carbonara was to die for. The gnocchi with wild boar was also quite good! We also tried an antipasto with their own cured meats, which was super delicious.
We finally made it to Trieste and searched for a place to stay. We had not pre-booked anything here, and it was a bit of a shit show trying to find a hotel room to sleep four. But we did. And at 10:00 pm, we walked into our room and the girls collapsed into bed and were out cold in seconds. It was a long day! But worth it to see so many nice places and meet some lovely new friends!
In the morning, before leaving Trieste, we explored the downtown area, had a delicious breakfast, found some yummy desserts and treats for later, and walked out to Miramare Castle. It was a beautiful walk along the water out to the castle. We didn’t go into the castle itself but did walk around the grounds. They were stunning, with tons of gardens, forest paths, manicured areas, and a little café where we stopped for lunch. It was such a gorgeous and peaceful little area. I can imagine exactly why the late Austrian Archduke and his wife wanted to build their home here. Jon pointed out it reminded him of the castle from The Little Mermaid, which is an apt description!
After lunch, it was time to get back to the car and continue on our way. We said goodbye to Italy as we progressed to Croatia. We look forward to returning to the Garda Lake area in Italy for hopefully at least one night before we drop the car off in Milan at the end of July!