Having cut the summer cruise short by a month, we decided to take a road trip and see more of Italy, particularly in the North.
From Vibo we headed up the coast to Naples. While we had seen the city by water, it was time to explore on land. What a difference from the Naples of 25 years ago when Dan last visited. The highlight was clearly the Museum dedicated to the works from Pompii….what magnificent artistry.
Crossing Italy, we moved up the east coast starting to Torano. Next stop was San Marino, a country within a country and still thriving. On to Bologna and Parma with a few day wandering around each of the delightful places.
Brescia in the heart of gun manufacturing country was a pleasant surprise and worth the visit. Skirting north of Milan we started into the lakes region. Isola Bella on Lake Maggiore is an absolute gem. We drove up the east side of Maggiore then cut across the west side of Lake Como on route to St Moritz. St. Moritz turned out to be a disappointment in the off season with little open for business.
On to Liechtenstein, a country of only 40,000 people, we stayed in the lovely capital of Vaduz. Liechtenstein has more companies registered there than there are people. With it’s international business and free trade zone, it is quite prosperous.
We bypassed both Zurich and Bern having visited them on a prior road trip from Basel where we visited on True East in 2018. Our next stop was Grindelwald after traveling thru the Alps. Moving on to Great Saint Bernard Pass, we traced the steps of Hannibal and Napoleon on this route thru the Alps.
Out of the Alps we passed thru the Aosta valley on route to Turin. While Turin is known as a car city, we found the Egyptian Museum to be the highlight. Our final stop on this 1,500 mile trek as Milan. This city is always a pleasure to visit for its culture, food and shopping.
Once again it was back to Barcelona before heading home.
Click on the picture to see the album of this trip.