[animeshc]

“Which is more important, the journey or the destination?”asked the Panda. “It’s the company”, replied the dragon.

While the movie ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ inspired an entire generation of college kids to plan a trip to Goa, ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ had the same effect on the same generation, albeit replacing Goa with Europe. And though I couldn’t ever do the former, I am grateful to have done the latter.

A road trip across Italy in a Merc will go down as probably one of the highlights of my travelling and driving career and hence I thought it's worth sharing even after 2 years.

*Starring*
Myself, my wife (P), a dear college friend (S) and her better half (J). While me and S are the dreamers of the group, P and J are the realists. There is a famous quote from the series Modern family which is a very apt prologue for this.
“ There are dreamers and there are realists in this world. You'd think the dreamers would find the dreamers, and the realists would find the realists, but more often than not, the opposite is true.
See, the dreamers need the realists to keep them from soaring too close to the sun.
And the realists?
Well, without the dreamers, they might not ever get off the ground.”
The right synergy between dreamers and realists is the ultimate recipe for a great trip.

* Teaser *

Here is a small video capturing the Amalfi leg of our journey

https://youtu.be/WDwxIO1X-Cs

*Episode 1: Flashback into how it began*

Long long time ago in a kingdom far far away from Italy, while randomly browsing on the net, I came across the term ‘agriturismo’ which refers to old agricultural farms turned into holiday homes. (https://www.tripsavvy.com/what-is-agriturismo-1547534). One view at the pics and I immediately messaged S that we need to travel here one day. The two dreamers had kick started the plans in their heads, the realists were happily unaware.

Fast forward to 2018, the cricket world cup is being held in the UK in 2019. It felt like a divine signal to plan the ideal trip that would include an Ind Pak cricket match. As fate would have it, we didn’t get tickets for any of the matches. But by then we were so emotionally invested into our imaginary trip that it couldn’t be cancelled. With cricket out of the agenda, we started throwing darts at random countries in Europe as potential candidates.

Now Italy is mostly associated with history and art and didn’t seem the right fit for us to begin with (Being engineers at heart, those are of as much interest to us as Courtney Walsh had in batting). But the commitment to visit the ‘agriturismo’ farms had to be met (we Bhai fans take commitments too seriously and nowadays, even farms too albeit without snakes ) and it led us to research a bit more. We soon realised how wrong we were with our biases; Italy had so much more to offer!

*Episode 2: June 2019*

Months of intense research and planning was over and the final plan was Rome -> Amalfi -> Tuscany -> Milan. In true ZNMD style, we were going to be flying in from different places, S from Zurich, me and P from Paris (after a small pre-trip) and J from Bangalore.

*And we decided to drive*
Given Tuscany was a remote location with no good train connectivity, driving seemed like the right option to take.

I wasn’t very comfortable with the idea of driving abroad on the other side of the road. Though I had driven once before in the US and had done a road trip from SF to Vegas, the confidence I had gotten from that trip was shattered a few days later when I had turned left into the wrong side of the road during peak office hours (fortunately no mishap had occurred). J had also driven in the US and was more confident, which rubbed onto me. If you have read my previous travelogues, you might remember the Javed Akhtar quotes I am inspired by and often refer to “क्यों डरें जिन्दगी में क्या होगा कुछ ना कुछ तो तजुर्बा होगा" (loosely translated to why worry about what will happen, worst case you will have some new experiences). With that in mind, the car was booked.

The driving route: Rome -> Amalfi -> Tuscany -> Milan


*Which car*
Of-course this was going to be the next important question.Though the dreamers wavered between fancy convertibles and beastly Range Rovers, the realist in J reminded of the more practical aspects around luggage capacity and drivability on some of the narrower roads. With those in mind, an A4 station wagon was booked.

*Episode 3: So it begins, @Rome*
29th June, it was my wife’s birthday and after kickstarting the celebrations at midnight at the Eiffel tower, we boarded an early morning flight in a groggy state for Rome.

Bday celebrations the night before the trip.


By the time we landed, J was already making his way through immigration and S was about to land. A surreal reunion at the luggage counters took away all our morning tiredness and the reality set in, this trip was finally happening.

We were not going to be driving in Rome to avoid unnecessary city traffic and had booked the car after 2 days for the onward journeys. The cab ride home gave us a brief sneak peak into what to expect as we drove past various sculptures and old architectural monuments.
A posh apartment with an attached roof was going to be our Airbnb destination for the next two days.

After spending an hour chit chatting, an epic realisation set in. None of us had planned what to do in Rome. Remember that statement before about our interest in history and arts, you can see that wasn’t an exaggeration. In a last minute hurry (it was so last minute that even MSD wouldn’t approve of it), a plan was laid out. Given we were in Rome, we agreed to give history and culture a chance and booked afternoon tickets for the famous church of St. Peter’s Basilica and next day’s tour of the Colosseum.
It may sound scandalising to the connoisseurs of history and arts but in the interest of time and laziness, we decided to skip the tour of the Vatican.

We had booked the afternoon tickets, not knowing that we would be faced with a very tough challenge, insanely delicious food!
Our first lunch was a gourmet delight for our senses. We ravished through multiple plates of cheeses, pastas, black truffles, pizzas and desserts even if that meant getting delayed for our afternoon visit. It was pure bliss. This well could have been part of the menu for the great Kumbhakaran to help with the 6 month sleep cycle. Had it not been for the realists of the group who were worried about the ticket price already paid, we would have never gone for the afternoon trip. A 60 euro food bill also helped us jolt out of slumber, this remained the most expensive meal we had on the trip

Such a meal deserved an afternoon siesta but instead we got, scorching heat and a long queue to get inside, ah you cruel life! How ironic it is that we were feeling heavenly, before arriving at a Church.

Thankfully, even though we were about an hour late than the scheduled time on the ticket, it was considered valid and helped us skip the queue. It took us about an hour and a half to walk around the Church. Grand would be the right word to describe it, the high ceilings offered respite from the outside heat which in itself made us happy. Each one of us would have preferred to be in bed than here before the Church Visit but none of us regretted the decision.













Two long walks on either side of a tram ride along with some Gelatos on the way took us back to our place.
On the way back, we crossed a famous monumental staircase called the Spanish steps.





The evening was spent lazing at the place, watching sunset from our terrace followed by a bday dinner at a nearby restaurant.

* Colosseum *

Long queues outside the Colosseum awaited us as we scampered to reach on time. (Waking up on time isn’t the trait of the dreamers you see, so we are invariably late for any event before noon.) We were glad that we had booked the tour tickets which helped us skip some of the queues.

It was a guided tour and we got a good insight into the history of Rome and the Colosseum and I must admit, it was quite intriguing. History can be interesting too, if narrated well. The Colosseum in itself is huge and intimidating and one could only imagine how glorious it would be when fully packed. (The closest analogy I can think of is that it would be Rome’s version of a fully packed Eden Gardens shouting ‘Sachin, Sachin’!)
The second part of the tour included a visit to the nearby Palatine Hill where the city of Rome was founded and was conducted by someone fondly known as ‘Gladiator Guide’ (you can check him on insta) who possessed a rare combination of knowledge, witty narration and John Abraham-ish physique (no I am not talking about myself here, but it was nice to find company ). Those traits were enough to keep everyone in the group interested, one way or the other.

We treated ourselves to another tasty lunch although at less than half the price of the previous day (the realists had by then researched the more pocket friendly options)










The 3 musketeers from college!


The afternoon was spent chilling in the room and watching the rather disappointing Ind-England match where till date, no one has been able to decode the slow approach adopted by India in their chase.

We again stepped out in the evenings, this time covering Rome on foot, walked around the colourful bustling streets in the backdrop of old monuments (the famous Navjot Sidhu quote ‘combination of the exuberance of youth and experience of the old’ never felt so apt). Rome had impressed us a lot more than we had anticipated, it was time to move to the southern coast of Amalfi now.






* The sleepless night *
The excitement of the drive the next morning was making it difficult for me to sleep so I decided to read a book on Italy that I found in the Airbnb and boy oh boy, did it jolt me out of whatever sleepiness I had.
It had a specific section on driving in Italy and that called out in bold to not attempt to drive around the Amalfi coastline. Narrow mountainous roads with incoming traffic (including that of buses) and rough drivers make it very challenging to drive, a thought that was echoed by the online forums. In a way, it was good that we hadn’t read about it before, else we might have bailed out on the idea of driving. Since it was too late to back out, the best I could do was mug up all the driving rules and traffic signs (which later on turned out to be really helpful, more details on it in the post credits section.) The excitement of the drive was mixed with some nerves now, enough to keep me awake for most of the night.

*ZTL zone*
One thing which I read in the book and found unique to Italy are the ‘ZTL zones’. These are special zones which need special vehicle registration to enter and penalties are imposed on all other vehicles. Given our car wasn’t going to have that special registration, we needed to stay away from them. As we find out later on, staying away from them is as hard as staying away from Roshogullas for a Bengali.

[animeshc]

* Episode 4: The drive begins (Rome - Naples - Sorrento - Amalfi) *

J and Me were at the Hertz counter at sharp 9 am and they said that the Audi A4 we had booked was being replaced by a C220d Station wagon. J being a hardcore Audi fan, was a bit disappointed. I personally, having owned an Octavia (that shares a lot of components with the A4), didn't mind the change. As J had driven a lot more in the US than me, he took the wheel to begin with and I am glad he did.

As we got out of the parking lot, the maps showed 10 mins to home. 45 mins and 2 ZTLs later, we reached home
The catch was that Google maps didn’t understand ZTLs and it kept suggesting roads via ZTL zones and we kept taking detours till we landed on a one way leading straight to a ZTL. Thankfully there were no cops in the ZTL zones so we ‘thought’ we were saved, blissfully unaware of the cctv cameras smiling upon us.

Anyhow, we had a quick breakfast, loaded our luggage and off we went. The realists were proven right and even with a bigger boot of the station wagon, we had to apply optimal ccp packing (remember school chemistry) in order to fit our luggage, a convertible would have been a gross misfit.

Flawless 6 lane highways, little traffic, nice music with S and P playing their DJ roles to perfection and the Merc pulling along at high 3 digit speeds. Ah, the beauty of road trips! I was enjoying the drive in my ‘khalasi’ (not Khaleesi!) role till we reached Naples.

The drivers are happy to have the car finally!


On the way to Naples






From Naples, the mountainous roads start and since I had a bit more experience on mountain roads, I took over the charge from here on. It took a few mins to adjust and get comfortable and there on, the driving instincts took over. I feel happy even as I write about it so you can imagine the joy at that point of time. Driving is as therapeutic for my soul as Digene is for my bong stomach.

We stopped at Sorrento for lunch and after that, the real twisties began. It was a sight to behold, mountains on one side, the vast blue sea on the other and Bhai songs playing in the background. It was the kind of drive that could make you forget all your worries and it was in-fact hard to focus on the road with such pretty surroundings (maybe that’s why they said driving in Amalfi was so tough).

The route from Sorrento to Amalfi








The roads turned prettier, twistier, narrower and busier as we approached Positano and on few occasions, the driving skills were thoroughly tested as we had to squeeze through some really narrow passages.

* The literal narrow escape *
Driving in my own happy bubble, I ignored a small red light lying on one corner of the road ( it didn’t look like a traffic light and it was a straight road with no intersections). A few moments later, I realized it was indeed a traffic red light to allow for only one way traffic on a narrow passage. Thankfully we found a slightly wide patch to stop the car and got away with a few stares and Italian curses. An episode worth listing in the rather thin book called ‘my not so smart moments’.

The stress from that incident was soon lost in the beauty of the surroundings and without any further misadventures, we reached our destination around 4 pm.

This was by far the most beautiful road I had driven on, add to that the contentment of driving on foreign soil on a rather difficult terrain, my trip was already a success.

[animeshc]

* Episode 5: Amalfi *

Not many things can instill serenity in your day like waking up to the sight of a calm sea.
Our hotel was at an exquisite location and the next two days were spent soaking in its balcony views.





With not many tourists around, Amalfi felt like a hidden gem. If Rome represented history, Amalfi represented youthfulness. Clear blue waters extending away from the green cliffs, stunningly contrasted by the pink bougainvillaeas and a variety of vibrant chic cafes in town, it was a time machine that could make you feel younger by the minute.
While the days involved enjoying the beaches and seeking respite from the heat in the waters, the evenings were dedicated to coastal walks, reminiscing college days, interesting conversations over lemon sorbets (the area is famous for some of the biggest lemons one could see) and Pastas. In metaphorical terms, the mornings were dedicated to Honey Singh and the evenings to Kishore Kumar.



Just another walk in Amalfi


Meet the dreamers


Lemon sorbets to brighten up the evenings








We spent one evening at Positano which is the poster model of the Amalfi coast. Colorful houses stacked up in a vertical setting along the cliff make it extremely picturesque. In a painting-like setting, we sat near the beach with wind in our hair, love in our hearts, peace in our minds, music in our ears, mountains behind us and watched the sun fade into the sea.

On the way to Positano













Two days went by in a jiffy and we left Amalfi with a slightly heavy heart, thinking Tuscany couldn’t get better than this.

[animeshc]

* Episode 6: Onwards to Tuscany (Amalfi - Ravello - Naples - Tuscany) *

The drive to Ravello was up through the mountains and continued offering visual delight and tranquillity to our trip before descending onto Naples. We took our breakfast break at Ravello and concluded that we were now saturated with Italian cuisine and badly needed Indian food. We found a small Indian place on the map in Naples even though it involved an hour’s detour. A few mins later I was having Tandoori chicken and dal makhani in some small corner of Naples which otherwise is renowned for Italian delicacies, things we do for food

After a heavy lunch, I decided to take the back seat and J was at the helm. As we drove towards Tuscany, the surroundings changed to proper countryside views. Huge farms on either side of the road turning golden at twilight, numerous sunflower fields and in between some old castle-like constructions. It was a sight for sore eyes and even though we were coming from the astonishing drive of Amalfi, this was enough to get us excited for the next two days.




By the time we reached, it was nightfall and a charming old Italian couple welcomed us. The lady introduced herself as Nonna (meaning grandma in Italy). Though they weren’t fluent in English, especially Nonna, their smiles had more than enough warmth to make us feel at home.
Over the next two days, they were going to show us a totally new meaning of hospitality!

[animeshc]

* Episode 7 (Exploring Tuscany -> Siena, Montepulciano, Val d’Orcia)

We woke up early the next morning to explore the property. It just took a few mins for the silent exuberance of the place to blow us away. Huge empty fields stretching out as far as the eye could see, a light morning breeze, sunflower fields shining under the first rays of light, a couple of curious deer grazing their breakfast as the only company you got and a 100 year stone walled construction in the middle of it, it couldn’t get better than this!
In the beauty of all this, the dreamers schemed that one day, we should own one of these as our retirement homes (lets see what happens to that).

A Tuscan sunrise!








When we returned from the walk, we were greeted by the energetic smile of Grandpa (simply calling him the host seems a bit disrespectful to their affection) who had got breakfast for us. Nonna made yogurt and cakes along with in-house cheese made for the best breakfast of the trip.



The first stop of the day was going to be Siena which was a small town about an hour’s drive from our place. The entrance to Siena itself held the dreaded ZTL sign and while we just entered and immediately took a U-turn, the eye had taken note of us as we realised later. We parked the vehicle just outside the city entrance and decided to cover it on foot.

On the way to Siena







Siena was home to some picturesque narrow lanes with old stone walled buildings, quaint cafes, a cathedral and a ‘piazza del Duomo’ (the main city square), a template that is almost replicated in all other Tuscan towns. With no particular agenda, we just strolled through the city soaking in its charm (and its cheeses) till our legs started complaining.

The Siena Cathedral


Random Street shopping!


The Piazza del duomo






There were a number of other Tuscan towns which we could potentially cover but we had read about the scenic roads from Siena to Montepulciano and then to Val d’Orcia and after the walks in Siena, it just felt appropriate to let the Car pile up the miles instead of our legs.
…And it was mesmerising!

The roads were flawless (it felt like you could play cricket on it and the ball would misbehave less than the Kotla wicket), they twisted and turned and every turn seemed to bring out a new gasp of admiration from us. We drove past grass meadows, castles, sunflower fields, rows of cypress trees giving us the guard of honour and even ventured into a few farms for scenic couple photoshoots. It was just the perfect evening. It was just the right amount of daylight, the right weather, the right songs playing in the background, the right surroundings and of-course the right company. Some moments just can’t be planned, they are destined!





Trespassing a random field




Montepulciano




Val d' Orcia










Just back in time for the sunset.


On returning, we were paid a surprise visit by Nonna who had got Pizzas for us as they had a house party going on and decided to share it with us. That piece of hospitality was the quintessential icing on what had been a wonderful day.

* The small misadventure *
We stopped for a small food break at Montepulciano and by now, we were familiar with the drill of parking our car outside the city entrance. It was a free parking zone upto an hour but we didn’t put the parking time on the dashboard and when we returned, a traffic fine was sitting comfortably on your windshield. It was written in Italian so we didn’t really understand much. On returning to the airbnb, we seeked help from Grandpa who called up the local police station to figure out the details of the fine. It was 30 euros and we could pay it at the police station or the post office. This dampened the mood for our realists, the dreamers were just happy to have a good (mis)adventure story to talk about

[animeshc]

* Episode 8: Florence *

The next morning was spent going to the post office and paying out the fine. We were towards the end of our trip now and our energy levels were tapering. It was like watching the last few innings of your favourite player, when you are sad knowing the end is inevitable, yet want to enjoy whatever is left of it.

We were visiting Florence today and the drive was through unromantic surroundings and didn’t have the same sense of charm. We parked our car outside Florence and took a tram to the inside of the city (Florence was huge compared to the smaller towns we had covered yesterday and couldn’t be just covered on foot).
Florence just seemed a bigger and over-commercialized version of Siena and though some of the statues by Michale Angelo were definitely worthy of garnering praises, overall it was too crowded and too hot. We checked off the famous spots, clicked a few pictures and had a small meal in Mcdonalds which probably itself is an indication of how Florence is different from some of the other tuscan towns. Maybe it was the tiredness or maybe our lack of interest in art or maybe it was the beauty of the smaller towns, but Florence felt like a letdown given its popularity.




On the way back, we decided that our last meal of Tuscany should be something special and found the perfect setting overlooking the Tuscan hills.



* Episode 9: The end is nigh, Pisa and the drive to Milan *

We bid a sad goodbye to Grandpa and Nonna who showed us around their house which was a piece of history in itself comprising a 100 year old painted ceiling, a really old fireplace and a number of other interesting artefacts. If the dialogue ‘love needs no language’ ever had a face, it had to be this old couple.



Our next stop was Pisa which ended up being a quick check mark on a major tourist attraction. The leaning tower was grand and it was intriguing to hear the history behind it. As a side benefit, a large number of tourists trying to take some interesting photos with the tower makes for a hilarious viewing.





Our final destination was Milan which was about a 4 hour drive from Pisa. We dropped the car and then walked to the station to see off J and S, who were taking the train to Switzerland for their next leg of the trip. Goodbyes are never easy but we took consolation in the fact that we had pulled off the trip of a lifetime and were going to cherish it for years to follow.
Me and P spent the evening in Milan but the food didn’t taste the same that night!



We had begun the trip with the scepticism of whether we would enjoy Italy, it had answered our doubts in the best possible manner. With heavy hearts, we boarded the return flight the next morning.

* Post credit Scenes *

A word about the car: We really enjoyed the Merc as it offered a good mix of comfort, tech and practicality. It didn’t have crazy acceleration and the steering was a bit heavy, but the added weight made it feel really stable and it had enough grunt to pull comfortably at high 3 digit speeds and tackle the climbs without breaking a sweat. The boot space came in really handy and the dreamers realised that you don’t need a really fancy car when the company and surroundings are great.

A few bits of information that will be useful for folks planning a trip to Italy.

• The budget: The realists made sure that we were judicious with our planning. The average stay cost per night per couple was less than INR 10k. Airbnbs proved a lot more cost effective than the hotel. From the food point of view, you can easily get good options without hurting your pocket and if you are feeling adventurous, there are a lot of options to splurge too. We typically got bread, cheeses, pastas and other food items from supermarkets and at least prepared one meal at home which in hindsight was really helpful for the pocket as well as the tummy.
• Would I recommend driving in Italy: Apart from Amalfi, driving was easy though the drivers are definitely more aggressive than some of the other countries I have driven in so you need to be careful. Amalfi is definitely tricky with the narrow roads, but it’s equally rewarding with the serene views. We would not have covered the interiors of Tuscany without the car and couldn’t have stayed at the Agrotourism farm either and for that sole reason, I would say that it is worth driving in Italy. Some noteworthy things if you are driving:
  - There are a lot of stop over options along the highways so food or washroom breaks are not a problem at all.
  - Unlike the US where I could drive with my Indian DL, Italy required us to get an international driving license. The process is pretty straightforward but you need the Visa before applying for it. Now if you are a true engineer habituated to completing assignments just before the deadline, this can cause a bit of scare as was the case with us. We had applied for the Visas with just about a month left and the DL process could start only after we got the Visa, which had an estimated period of 2-3 weeks. Thankfully no harm was done and we got the license a week before the trip.
  - Please go through the road signs as the ‘right of way’ at certain points is decided based on those, it was really really useful around Amalfi on those narrow roads. Also be watchful of innocuous looking traffic lights in the middle of nowhere, we found the pattern of allowing one way traffic at any point on more than one occasion.
• Uber in Rome: Both our Uber rides were BMWs in Rome and while I was mighty impressed, a cost of about 30 euros for a 10-15 min trip didn’t impress the realists. They figured out another local cab option (forgot the name now) that costed 6 euro for the same trip in return. Of-course the car wasn’t worth remembering. So book an uber, only if you are a true romantic at heart.
• ZTL zones: They are definitely a pain and given Google maps doesn’t indicate it, they are inevitable like Thanos. Maybe avoid driving the car in Rome and for some of the other towns (specially in Tuscany), try parking the car outside the city limits and take a tram or walk.
• Oh and what happened to the ZTL fines? We were quite elated when we weren’t charged anything extra while returning the car and thought we had escaped it. But a few days later, J was charged on his credit card for one of the fines, a few days later another and another one after that. I think we got 4 or 5 in total and realised that ZTL fines are like Karma, you will surely get its due.
• Where to stay in Amalfi? There are a bunch of coastal towns around the ‘Amalfi coast’ and while Positano is the most famous one, we hadn’t found accommodations there so we were at Amalfi which was the last coastal town. There are frequent buses/boats for one to travel between these towns.
• Weather bulletin: June was extremely hot but given the long days and sunset around 9pm, we could relax in the afternoons and yet have enough time to step out in the evenings. So overall it worked out really well. Just don’t forget to purchase the ‘beat the queue’ tickets, lest the heat may get the better of you.
• Would I do Italy again? As I was discussing with S a few days ago, we will probably never do Italy again. The memories of Italy are too perfect and too precious to tinker with.
• What next? The dreamers have already identified NZ for the next road trip, just waiting for the realists (and Covid) to sign off on that.

Parting thought: In true poetic coincidence, our road trip was inspired by Hrithik’s ZNMD and looked like we inspired him in return when he immortalised the roads of Amalfi and beaches of Positano in the movie War a few months later!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[haisaikat]

Beautiful pictures from a well executed trip in true ZNMD style and in a remarkable vehicle, although I would have loved to see a convertible. Your writing style is excellent and clubbed with the wonderful photos it is a treat to go through. The road to Amalfi seemed an excellent scenic drive and the meadows of Tuscan seems to be a perfect place to spend a lifetime farming. Nothing needs to be said about the historical structures, they are some of the best maintained in the entire world. Keep travelling and have more of these coming, rated 5 stars.

[MrSDey]

Lovely pictures, lovely trip, lovely car.

We did a similar trip twice, in 2015 and 2016, almost same route except I took in Florence, and side-tripped to Cinque Terre, and in Tuscany we stayed near Siena. We also went to a small town called Torino on the Alps foothills where they had the best pizzas. On the way, in Milan, we got lost in the city with its ZTL (limited traffic zones, zone traffic limitato) horrors.

We were in a VW Polo.



[a typical Tuscany view]

Similar trips are also possible in the Loire valley near Paris, and in the south of France, although Tuscany is, by far, the loveliest of all places.

[Electromotive]

Epic. Just epic. Not enough Florence though. Italy and France is never a one trip affair. Very steeped in history and just breathtaking architecture and beauty all around. Don't miss Venice and Milan next time.

I have so many fond memories of backpacking through Europe. Best time of my life. French chicks are something else.

[ketan007]

Wow...what a picturesque travelogue! Loved every bit of it. Seems that dreamers and realists make a great trip!

[sukhbirST]

Great travelogue with lovely photos all along the drive through Italy. The trip is old but very relevant for future planners after covid. Want to thank you for bringing details in the trip. Though Italy is famous for the historical part but the country side you brought out in photos was really good. Wishing you and your small group more such drives.

[animeshc]

Originally Posted by haisaikat

Beautiful pictures from a well executed trip in true ZNMD style and in a remarkable vehicle, although I would have loved to see a convertible. Your writing style is excellent and clubbed with the wonderful photos it is a treat to go through.

Thanks for the encouraging words. Yes, convertible would have been ideal if not for the luggage. Hopefully some other time!

Originally Posted by MrSDey

Lovely pictures, lovely trip, lovely car.

We also went to a small town called Torino on the Alps foothills where they had the best pizzas. On the way, in Milan, we got lost in the city with its ZTL (limited traffic zones, zone traffic limitato) horrors.

We were in a VW Polo.

Attachment 2251838

[a typical Tuscany view]

Similar trips are also possible in the Loire valley near Paris, and in the south of France, although Tuscany is, by far, the loveliest of all places.

Thank you!
Yes, Milan was quite a challenge to drive around. We were also confused between Cinque Terre and Amalfi as both seemed similar and finally went ahead with Amalfi. Thanks for the info around Torino and Loire, was unaware about them. Lovely picture btw

Originally Posted by Electromotive

Epic. Just epic. Not enough Florence though. Italy and France is never a one trip affair. Very steeped in history and just breathtaking architecture and beauty all around. Don't miss Venice and Milan next time.

Thank you. Yes, Venice is pending. We did spend one evening at Milan though it was more of a check mark than anything.

Originally Posted by ketan007

Wow...what a picturesque travelogue! Loved every bit of it. Seems that dreamers and realists make a great trip!

Thanks

Originally Posted by sukhbirST

Great travelogue with lovely photos all along the drive through Italy. The trip is old but very relevant for future planners after covid. Want to thank you for bringing details in the trip. Though Italy is famous for the historical part but the country side you brought out in photos was really good. Wishing you and your small group more such drives.

Thanks! Glad you found it useful.