Annecy, the alps & into Italyyyyyyyy, from the mountains to the sea...

After a slight debacle at Lyon airport with our car parking company we were on the road north east to Annecy. When we arrived, we wandered into the centre for dinner to find it absolutely buzzing on a Sunday night. The Xmas markets had just opened the night before and there were people everywhere rugged up at the market village drinking beers and vin chaud. After dinner, Amelia and Bill also found the sound & light show projected onto the Hotel de Ville after the rest of us had given up and gone home for an early night.

The next morning we explored the town - in many ways a very similar vibe to Queenstown as a ski and lake resort town but all against the background of an awesome old french town. We wandered the markets and sampled some of the delicacies - tartiflette with sausages was a hit and Zoe found the giant pretzels..

  

 

 

  

  

  

 Then it was on the road again and before long we were weaving up into the alps towards the Mont Blanc tunnel. It was huge excitement to come out the other side of the tunnel and be in Italy....spontaneous cheers all round.

Even the weather had changed on the other side - we were just in time to catch the last of the light and the dramatic scenery on the Italian side - huge mountains rising up steeply from alpine villages with gondolas for access. We stayed in Aosta at a great apartment which was part of a  hotel run by a family who also had a dairy farm right beside it. We were staying by the milking shed and the next morning the kids loved hanging out with the farm animals and Harv bought a bottle and some fresh milk straight from the milk vending machine next door.

 

  

 Then we enjoyed a coffee from our host before we hit the road....ciao ragazzi!!  It's great to be back in Italy!  

First stop was Camigli on the Ligurian coast where we had lunch on the way to Portofino. It was an absolutely stunning day and much warmer than it had been in the mountains - the sunlight and colours were surreal and the kids loved collecting stones and other bits and pieces from the beach. Stop it Italy... behave!

 

  

 

Then we arrived at the Piccolo hotel at Portofino with unexpectedly spacious rooms and a gorgeous balcony & view. Portofino really is postage stamp tiny and when we wandered along the path from the hotel and dropped down into the port we discovered there was not a lot open at that early hour, so we went to Santa Margherita for dinner which is a bit further along the coast - good chats all round and even a bit of family tiramisu for dessert.

 

The next day was spent chilling out - another beautiful day so after the breakfast buffet, we hung out on deckchairs at the hotel's private beach and sunning area - deserted of course except for us - and the girls even got into their bikinis. Time for a bit of reading and even some sketching by the artists in the family...
 

 
   

 

Then we had lunch in Portofino and wandered up to the church and around to the Castello Brown and the lighthouse, looking all the way out towards Corsica.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 After a drink on the balcony, we went back to Santa Margherita for dinner at Antonio's - a classic italian restaurant experience with a family-owned restaurant and much attention and care with every detail of our meals. The walnut pasta was delicious...

Harvey says: Italy is so great - even though most restaurant menus don't have carbonara, I have taken to asking for it because dad says any Italian restaurant can easily whip up a carbonara. Italy is very good for photographing and I have got many great pictures of it. We entered in an amazing way going through the alps in a tunnel and coming out in Italia. Everyone was speaking such a different language and all I know so far is how to say "do you speak english?".



Amelia says: Annecy was a great place to spend our last night in France because me and dad went to see such a cool light projection on the town hall. It was also colourful and amazing - it looked like a movie being projected onto the building. The Christmas markets at Annecy were awesome - I was tempted to buy some souvenirs for my friends. Aosta was the best place to spend our first night in Italy. We stayed in a little farm place and our house was really cool - there were cute baby cows that we played with. When we were about to leave Harvey bought a bottle of fresh cow's milk from the vending machine by our house. Then we drove all the way to the seaside to Portofino - by our hotel there was a little beach that we went down to every day and played on the rocks. Me and Harvey climbed to the top of the rocks. We were about to swim but then it got too cold. When we looked for a place to have dinner, we had to drive to the next town which was only 5 minutes drive.

Zoe says: I loved Annecy because for lunch one day I got a giant pretzel and a croissant. I only had bread for lunch! That day I saw a polar bear who had a radio inside it and it was playing music and turning its head. I went right in between its arms. In Aosta the cows were so cute, I got to pat one. One was really shy, one wants to lick you and one got scared. In Portofino we collected family rocks - I did Amelia's and we did each others.