Along the Adriatic

The northeastern part of Italy is totally different to where we’ve been the last few days. There is a distinct lack of a medieval vibe along the Adriatic coast. Most of the towns we’ve been through are relatively modern, that is apart from Loreto. Its Black Madonna (who is the patron saint of pilots due to the fact that the Virgin Mary’s house was flown there from Nazareth by angels) is pretty impressive and I’m loving her ruby encrusted dress.

The weather is fabulous and I was tempted to pop in for a swim at the beach in Fano where we stayed last night but the stony beach was a bit too much for my feet to handle. We had to put up with staring out at the bright blue sea instead.

We were toying with the idea of heading down to Greece but the roads in Italy are horrendous and the weather has been pretty bad down south so we’ve stuck to the sunshine and will go to Greece next year via any route that doesn’t include Italy. Don’t get me wrong, Italy is a beautiful place with lovely people and great food and wine but the tunnels, mountains and bumpy road surfaces are too much to handle. Dickie is coping well.

Tonight we’re staying in Comachio, which is known as little Venice. The canals here are lovely but I think the town itself has seen better days. It’s famous for its eels and we were amused to see plastics eels in every shop window, even one poking out of the neck of a little girl’s dress in a children’s clothing shop. Terrifying.

Tomorrow we’ll make our way back across to France and hope to stop in at Triora, a witchy village near the french border. We hear there is a small witchcraft museum there. It’s at the top of a hill so more twiddly roads - sigh.