My Holidays Photoblog

admin June 20th, 2007

The area around the town of “Rimini” is rich of medieval villages, located on hills full of vineyards and fruit trees that during the spring are decorated with wonderful white and rose flowers. So in the month of April of a couple of years ago we decided to take the car and do a short trip there.

Near the border of the region “Romagna” and “Marche” you can find th town of Montegridolfo, a nice town surrounded by ancient walls that once were the defense of the local lords, the Malatesta, in their war against the Montefeltro of the town of Urbino.

As I said the village, completely renovated, is completely surrounded by walls and you can enter only from a single gate that still has an original massive wooden door. In the small town center you can find all sort of little shops that sells local products, like honeys or wines. In some restaurants you can eat on open terraces and admire the surrounding landscape, which is very romantic.

A few km away lies Saludecio, famous for his churchtowers, the towers and walls. Even here, you can find lot of local shops and seasonal markets, full of local specialities. A particular event that takes place here every year is called SalusErbe, and focuses on natural products, from herbs to plants, and local artisans.

Another great place to visit is Verucchio. Located on a top of a hill, it was once a very important strategic location for the Malatesta family.

Walking around the town you can still feel the atmosphere of those times, and the churches still keep precious treasures.

It was originally an Etruscan possession, and you can find tangible traces of its origins in the local museums.
If we can suggest you one of the best restaurants to taste the local dishes, we recommend “ Al Mastin Vecchio” which is located in the town center (you can’t miss it) and was really great!

• castles photos , cultural photos , nature photos , tips and tricks , village photos
• Comments(0)

admin June 17th, 2007

Another interesting place we had the pleasure to visit nearby Bizau is a very high and spectacular waterfall near the town of Mellau. Funny thing is, we spotted it by pure chance while we were driving in the road that passes nearby (picture below).

So we decided to park the car in a small side-road, nearby a group of houses that are just in front of the waterfall. It isn’t a big one (or to say it more correctly, doesn’t have a high water flux) but is very tall as you can see from the pictures.

In the picture below you can spot the small head of my dog Artù that, as always, went forward us to explore the place first. Of course it is just a small place, not crowded or famous at all, but was a pleasant discovery nonetheless. Instead I could appreciate it even more, it was like we were the first men to explore that place, to discover a small, hidden gem in the deep of the wonderful and green austrian woods

• animal photos , cultural photos , mountain photos , nature photos , river photos , waterfall photos , woods photos
• Comments(0)

admin June 9th, 2007

In the summer 2004 I was guest in a very friendly austrian family nearby Bizau. We found that place in a internet site which unfortunately don’t remember the name. The place is truly wonderful, on a “plateau” in the middle of mountains (typical austrian landscape). I remember tough, that trying to find the specific house was an odyssey: the village is very small and in middle of nowhere, it was feeling almost you were in medieval Germany, with very few indications and houses!

Luckily we found a polite barman who was also speaking english a bit, who was able to give us some directions. In practice we had to go through the village until we found a wooden bridge, passed it we were in front of the house that was on the border of a deep wood that was climbing up on the mountains nearby.

Words aren’t enough to explain the feelings and sensations you could experience if you spent one week on “Family Huber” house!

If you like to spend quiet summer holidays, this is the place for you. Because this place is much more popular during winter, since it is located close to some good ski tracks. So in that month (July) we really had a good time, total relax with no noises or annoyances of any kind.

The farmhouse was also giving hospitality to a few chicken, 2 funny rabbits who were running like mad in the nearby fields, a few cows and a very nice black dog named “Tina”.

The property was really amazing: it wasn’t just a room, or a flat. It was a whole house for rent! Two floors with 2 bathrooms, 2 huge bedrooms, 1 dinner room, 1 kitchen and a big room that was a sort of recreation/gym place, with a ping pong table and some gymnastic apparatus.

Nearby the house, a small fountain of pure water was available for everyone to drink. Ah, the house was totally ecologic, almost entirely made of wood.

Everything for a good price of 280 euro/week. Definitely worth it!

The small village of Bizau is situated nearby a bigger one named Bezau (so it’s easy to get lost!) and they’re in the Voralberg, a region of Austria that includes a part of Constance’s Lake. The nearest biggest towns are Bregenz and Dornbirn, where you can find all the commodities, like big malls where you can find everything you need.

Of course all around the zone there are several touristic itineraries, both by feet or bycicle, that lets you explore those wonderful places.

• cultural photos , house photos , mountain photos , nature photos , tips and tricks , village photos
• Comments(0)