Hapsburg - Renaissance Trip - Day 26 - Walls, Trucks, and Factories

After walking like maniacs the last two days in Verona and Venice we decided that I driving day would be in order. I'd like to dispel the nasty rumor that has been going around that all de-I does is go look at churches (or if in a Muslim country, mosques). That is totally false! I look at castles and walls too! Lots of castles and walls. So that's what you're getting today, castles and walls and you'll be happy about it!

We also intended to be doing a lot of puttering around in the Veneto countryside. Evidently the guidebooks fail to mention that the Veneto is a highly industrialized area. So most our driving took us through areas with lots of factories and on roads with lots of trucks.  But in spite of that we had a few lovely gems during the day.

Let's start with the lovely walled city of Soave

Famous for its light white wine (Soave Bolla? Big ass factory right as you get off the autostrada), it like so many places in Italy had its day in the Medieval sun.

The Soave overview

And castle and city details

A Difference of Opinion on the Word 'Scenic'

Next we headed for the city of:

According to our guide book this was a lovely 20 kilometer 'scenic' drive.

It was very scenic if factory after factor and lines of tractor trailer trucks is your idea of scenic.

We were starved when we got there and as with a lot of small towns we've found, most restaurants are closed on Monday.  But we were lucky to find a place open. And so on to our gastronomic experience of the day.

When a Pasta is Not a Pasta

We had a hankering for pasta this being our last day in Italy. We had a lovely waitress who was trying very hard to help us but there was a bit of a translation disconnect. Wife saw 'orzo' on the list of pasta and assumed it was a dish of orzo pasta. Wrong. Orzo is the world for barley in Italian.

Behold a lovely dish of barley with zucchini, shrimp and mozzarella.

I had a nice pasta with ragout (the same Bigoli with ragout we had on our first night with the #2's evidently a local favorite). Wife was devastated as she does not like barley at all. Fortunately I do like barley so we traded and I got lots of brownie points. It actually was some of the best barley I've had in Italy. 

Actually it is the only barley, not in a soup, that I've had in Italy.

But it was good :)

 

In the meantime the town of Valdagno while no super star was certainly pleasant.

 

We ate outside overlooking this quiet piazza

 

 

The restaurant

 

Some of the town and the nice garden we found

We are always amazed at the lovely things we found hidden away as we travel

But I digress.

On to more walled cities!

Montagnana

The Wall Overview

The Piazza Overview

And some detail