During our drive, we passed through some large agricultural areas, grapes, apples and plantations of kiwi fruit. Who would have thought that Italy is one of the largest producers of kiwi fruit in the world?
Entering the old building, we were taken to an old cellar where we watched a video explaining the production of Grappa (the boys in the group reckon they will give it a go at home!!) and then we wandered the museum, filled with old equipment, bottles and stories, then on to the all important Grappa tasting.
Here were had the opportunity to taste 5 grappa, the clear new vintage (hmm) the 2 year old vintage (yummo) the honey infused (hmmm) the blueberry flavoured (nope) and the chocolate flavoured (not for me, but some of the girls enjoyed it). After making our purchases (there goes the duty free!) It was time to head to Asolo.
The drive was lovely, small towns and lots to see. As we approached the Asolani hills, the countyside became green and lush with spectacular buildings on the hilltops and the occasional, incredible castle. As we approached Asolo, even our guide Allessandro became excited with anticipation because as he explained, Asolo is one of, if not the best preserved Medieval town in all of Italy. Parts of the town date back to the 1100's and it is truly beautiful.
Very narrow streets and ancient porticos describe the main piazza and our quaint Hotel Duse was right in the middle. From here, we could watch the piazza and the people, locals and the odd tourist, going about their everday business....a great way to while away some time, but not for us, because it was Family dinner night and we were off to a local restaurant for some traditional food of Veneto.
The small family run restaaurant was delightful, great service and wonderfully typical meals featuring polenta, radicchio, rabbit, home made gnocchi and more. It was a great night with lots of wine and great conversation to compliment the food. Back to Asolo for a good nights rest.
Next day, the antiques fair was in town so we spent a lazy morning wandering the market stalls, drinking coffee and for the fit ones in the group, it was a great time to head to the Rocca, the highest point in Asolo to drink in the magnificent views. Being a hilltop town, there are many vantage points, but the Rocca is spectacular.
After lunch, we had organised a trip to Treviso (the other Venice) a lovely canal town with many attractions, but a town that suffers the poor cousin syndrome from Venice. On the way, Julila organised a "short" visit with our actual cousins in the family home town of Mussano...as you can imagine it was not short!!
Cousin Irene met our bus and we were heading off for a coffee but she just wanted to check if a "Festa" was going to get in our way, she came back with the local priest who insisted we join the party, so we did. What a welcome, a few more cousins were at the party and our group was welcomed wiith home made wine, coffees and sweets and our host - the grappa wielding priest, made us sit down and tell him about our adventure so far.
For Julia and I, it was a great opportunity to catch up and more cousins arrived to say hello as word spread that we were in town for a short while, it was loud and about 100 conversations were happening at once, but hey, that's what being Italian is all about. Our short stop in Mussano has definately been a highlight of our "Italian Cousins Tour" and as one of our group said "You wouldn't do this on a Trafalgar tour!!"
After a few more glasses of grappa from Padre, a prayer and a teary goodbye, we set off for Treviso.
Another spectacular city that melds modern with ancient and results in a vibrant city that should be included on any tour of theVeneto region. Wandering through the streets, the street vendors were selling hot chestnuts as it is the start of the winter season here and also the delicious but indulgent Fritelle. Pizza dough cooked in oil and then spread with Nutella oh so naughty but nice!!
Back to Asolo for a good nights rest as it was on to Venice tomorrow.
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