Silver Week in Northern Italy, Dolomites and beautiful cities in the North

I just finished writing the travelogue of Israel and Morocco in May at last, and I am getting ready to go to the next trip as soon as possible. Northern Italy.

I’ve been trying to get to Silver Week for a long time.

This year, Respect for the Aged Day is on the 21st, which is the so-called Happy Monday. In addition, the 23rd is the day of the autumn equinox, and the 22nd is a « national holiday ». So, by default, you can have 5 days off on Saturday and Sunday. In addition, if you take two days off on Thursday and Friday, you can have a whole week off, including the next Saturday and Sunday, for a total of nine days. There’s no way not to take advantage of this.

Originally it would have been nice to have another week off, but due to work commitments I’ll only be able to take two paid days. Still, it should be enough to enjoy. Various arrangements are almost completed. I kept the hotel about half of the schedule. Of course, I moved by car.

Why choose Northern Italy: to support a friend in the Tor Des geants

This time I chose Europe again, Italy. The area is in the north as opposed to the south in 2014. This will be my third real trip to Italy.

北イタリアを選んだ理由は、「トル・デ・ジアン（Tor Des geants）」というトレイルランに出場する友人の応援のためです。応援といっても、私の休暇の都合で、最終日にちょっと会うだけです。ちなみに、ちょうど去年の今頃に開催されたメドックマラソンには、私とその友人を含め総勢7名で出場しました。

それにしてもすごいレースなんですよね、これ…。「コース全長330km、挑みかかる累積標高差24.000m、ヴァッレ・ダオスタ州を150時間で完走しなければならない」、クレイジー過ぎます。

Of course I can’t and don’t feel like getting out. I just want to drive around here (laughs). So, I’m going to meet my friend at Courmeyuer, which is the starting and finishing point of the tour. I’ve booked a restaurant just in case. I wish you good luck!

Hiking in the Dolomites

そして一番の目的はこちら[highlight]「ドロミテ渓谷ドライブ＆ハイキング」[/highlight]です。時間は2日間と限られれますが、半日は「トレ・チーメ・ディ・ラヴァレード」でハイキング、残りはドライブをしながら素敵な景色を眺め、時折クルマを降りて写真を撮ろうと思います。

I’m not used to this kind of hiking, so I bought some shoes for this occasion.

I went to a specialty store and talked with the shopkeeper about my choice. It was a good price, but it should have been able to buy a good thing. From the person of the shop, it was said that it was better to test putting it on in the neighborhood once, but whether the time is really there or not.

Northern Italy is a treasure trove of beautiful cities

Also, Northern Italy has a lot of old towns that are worth seeing due to their old history. So far I am planning to visit Brescia, Bergamo, Mantova, Verona, Vicenza, although I may not be able to visit all of them. I would like to visit Verona because I have a regretful memory that I gave up sightseeing in Italy in 2008 because of heavy rain. I have booked a hotel here.

中でもルネサンス時代の美しい建築が多いという「ヴィツェンツァ」が楽しみです。世界遺産にも選ばれているんですね。でもFlickrには掲載可能という条件に限られますが、あまり良さげな写真はなかったのが気にはなるところ…。

And I thought it would be a good idea to do the « Tour of Italy’s Most Beautiful Villages » which we did in 2014. However, I’m a little worried because I was disappointed with many places in the southern area last year. But I don’t think I have time for that. I’ll think about the visit according to the situation.

What a surprise, I just looked it up and found that a photographer named Yoshimura-san had completed it! I’m impressed!

「イタリアの最も美しい村」全踏破の旅

Kazutoshi Yoshimura

講談社 2015–03–20

Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

And of course, local research on food and wine.

I have always had my doubts about the Italian food that is so popular in Japan. Last year in the south, I found that the local cuisine was more rustic as I imagined. I imagine that the northern part of the country, which is richer in food culture, is also more rustic.

(*The photo is just an image.)

Then there’s the wine. The last time I was in Italy, I limited myself to white wine, but I guess red is the best in the north.

限られた時間ではありませんが、いつもどおり強行移動による旅を満喫したいと思います。