Adventures With Harvey

Trains, boats and (very fast) automobiles

Today’s story starts with some very fast cars! Italy is well known for its luxury vehicle manufacturers ending in ‘i’, the towns of Maranello & Modena being home to several of these marques, the most famous of them being the prancing horse of Ferrari! Your author thought that the highlight of this region would be a visit to their museum, however, and this may surprise some of you, something else was found to trump even Ferrari!

Lesser known to most people (perhaps those who haven’t watched Top Gear over the years) is the supercar maker Pagani. This company only started in 1998, their founder is still alive and actively involved in the business, which hand-makes only around 40 supercars per year…. and they offer factory tours!!! Not for the first time on this trip there was initial disappointment as all tours were booked out for several days in advance (maximum for tours being 25), however it never hurts to make friends with those on the reception desk 😊.

“Perhaps if someone doesn’t show up I could take their place?” your author politely enquired. And sure enough, one group didn't pitch and next thing I’m in the Pagani factory! Given the wide demographic of my audience, I won’t give too much more detail about the cars or their manufacture here, those who are interested can check out the appendix at the end of this edition. But suffice to say our visits to the Ferrari museum (pink and blue team members) and the Pagani museum/factory (blue only) were little boy heaven!

Probably Northern Italy’s most famous geographic feature is the lakes which border the alps leading over to Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe. We travelling Woodies were lucky enough to visit 3 of these beautiful bodies of water – please allow me to share. From Modena we headed north-west and arrived at the little town of Orta San Giulio, on the banks of Lake Orta. The most striking feature of this town is the little island a short boat ride from the downtown waterfront – fully built up in medieval times, there is a magnificent church with the remainder of the island covered with ancient dwellings and other structures. It only takes around 20 minutes to circumnavigate by foot with extra time needed to check out the church and crypt. Summer has well and truly arrived so this entire edition comes to you with temperatures in the low 30’s – the boat ride and island explore were done late in the afternoon and we almost had the place to ourselves. What a treat! The little town is also quaint with the usual streets of cobbles and your intrepid explorers ended the day, as is our usual routine, with a chilled beverage on the waterfront. The next day I headed off on my bike to a small town nearby while Anita walked around the edge of the lake back to the village, both of us admiring the homes of the wealthy on the lakeside, ranging from beautiful 200 year old villas to modern monstrosities, and wondering at the Italian attitudes which left many of the gardens unkempt.

That afternoon we drove Harvey the short distance to the town of Arona on the shores of Lake Maggiore in preparation for an early start the following day. The 7.20am train from Arona took us up the lakeshore to the much larger municipality of Stresa. It was still too early for the cafes to be open as we strolled the waterfront taking in the early morning rays – there were a couple of huge, old, magnificent hotels, each balcony resplendent with a planter box overflowing with red and pink flowers. Just opening for the day was a waterfront flea market to peruse before a visit to the ticket office along with a coffee and a croissant. You see, the day was just getting started. Our next train took us inland from the lake and through many tunnels before arriving at Domodossola where the 90-minute stopover was supposed to be spent looking around the town but again we Woodies were distracted by a Saturday market… the perusal of which was equally enjoyable 😊. The next leg was another new experience for your author – an alpine train trip. The engineering needed to build these railways so long ago is mind-boggling, there were so many viaducts, all built out of stone with multiple archways. And even when you aren’t passing through a tunnel or viaduct, the train is winding its way left and right as it crawls up the alpine pass, through many tiny villages and hamlets – often the track seems to be protruding from the side of the mountain with a sheer drop to one side and solid rock on the other as far up as you can see. Both our cellphones did their obligatory beeping and squeaking to let us know we were in a new country… yes, the train journey concluded in the Swiss town of Locarno at the very northern end of the same lake from whence our day had started. We had around 3 hours to wander the beautifully picturesque waterfront and old town before boarding a ferry for the 4 hour ride back down the lake all the way back to Arona. En route the ferry made a dozen or so stops at various little lakeside towns for passengers to embark and alight as needed. Again the weather was stunning and we made friends up on the deck with a couple of ladies from Holland on a girls weekend (in fact from Hoorn which we had visited earlier in our travels) and a German couple – it was a lengthy but absolutely spectacular day which will live long in our memories.

The Italian lake with the highest name recognition is probably Lake Como and it wasn’t much of a detour so we decided to visit and spend the night there. The whole of northern Italy has a very affluent feel to it and Como is certainly the playground of the rich and famous. The waterfront is littered with mansions, many of which are a few hundred years old and the Travelling Woodies had a lovely stooge around the lakefront to check out all the goings on. There is also a funicular which we rode up the hill for a look at the view and late afternoon refreshment.

With the lakes all done we drove the 100 or so km back to Italy’s second largest city; Milan. A chance meeting with an English traveller a couple of weeks back (at the pub while watching the Champions League final) had given us an excellent piece of advice. Undoubtedly the most famous of Milan’s many attractions is Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of The Last Supper, and my pommy friend mentioned that it often books out weeks in advance during the busy season. The next morning we had jumped onto the various booking sites and found just one with tickets available – a 3 hour walking tour which included entry so we grabbed them without delay. Painted directly onto the wall of a chapel in the 1490’s, it took Mr da Vinci 3 years to complete and is regarded as the world’s second most famous masterpiece behind the Mona Lisa (by the same artist incidentally). Like many of these top attractions they are very efficient at getting punters through, you pass through a temperature controlled entry and have only 15 minutes in the chapel… which is actually plenty of time. The guide gives a full explanation of the history, restoration work over the centuries, as well as all the many layers and nuances contained in this most amazing masterpiece. Thanks Mr Pommy Football fan, without your advice we would have missed out.

The other Milan attraction we chose was the Van Gogh Immersive Experience and again, it was well worth the effort. As well as the tragic story of his life (the man was the true definition of a tortured genius, having mental health issues throughout his life and committing suicide at the age of 37) there are a number of his paintings that have been brought to life either through animation, 3D modelling, or other audio-visual effects. The experience ends in a large room about the size of a basketball court, you are seated in the middle, with ever-changing versions of his paintings illuminating all walls and the floor. Genius!

Central Milan is dominated by the pink marble clad Duomo with its enormous square out the front. Immediately adjacent is what could loosely be described as a shopping mall however it’s essentially an enormous indoor boulevard with very high curved glass ceilings. The retailers contained therein are a who’s who of high end Italian design – your author couldn’t resist popping into the Prada store in his scruffy jandals and t-shirt for a look. Unsurprisingly he wasn’t approached by any of the army of dapper sales assistants – their assessment was correct, he wasn’t exactly in the market for a €2000 pair of sandals!

With an easterly direction of travel and daily temperatures in the low 30’s, the following day was spent at a waterpark just south of Brescia and overnighted in their enormous carpark that, when empty, resembled huge rows of tree-lined boulevards – it must be able to hold more than 1000 cars when full! It was wonderful to cool down and enjoy the hydroslides – we may have been the oldest people on them but it didn’t stop us having a blast!

Our last 2 stops for this report were Verona and Padua in the north-eastern corner of Italy. Verona is famous for its Roman amphitheatre which is in remarkably good condition and still used for opera and concerts during the summer. Also famous is the Juliet House… which is actually a load of nonsense! As the setting for Shakespeare’s famous work of fiction, Romeo and Juliet, Verona was oft visited by interested tourists so around 100 years ago some bright spark city councillor decided Juliet needed a house and one was duly procured. So each day hundreds of people (including your easily-conned author) trapse past to see the house of a fictional character.

Our day at Padua was mainly visiting the markets although being in the central city, you got a nice look around the town at the same time. Clothes, shoes etc are less than half the price of NZ so we Travelling Woodies have done some stocking up on summer clothes, some of which won’t be worn on this trip but will be put away in the suitcase to be used on our return home. Markets are fun and we Woodies are in our happy place foraging for fresh seasonal produce and checking out whatever delights are for sale at each market we stumble across.

Finally a few impressions of Italy in no particular order:

1. Residents of every town/city/country in the world think that their drivers are the worst. I have bad news for you – if you live anywhere other than Italy you are wrong. The drivers here are atrocious, I swear their indicators are painted on!

2. As above, the same applies to roads but only in southern Italy. I used to think that Northland roads were bad… and they are… but not as bad as Italy.

3. It’s a country of massive disproportionate wealth and infrastructure. The North seems to have all the industry and affluence whereas the average age of cars on the roads in the south must be 20 years older (about half of which are Fiat Pandas)

4. Italian food is exquisite, the pizza and pasta are nothing like you get back home and are something we will miss when we leave Italy tomorrow. The regional specialties such as buffalo mozzarella, the tastiest tomatoes you’ve ever eaten, pesto, truffles, tiramisu, lemoncello, pizza fritto (fried folded-over pizza) and too many more to list.

We travelling Woodies couldn’t be more excited because today our daughter Deanna arrives from New Zealand for a visit. We will be in northern Croatia by tomorrow and working our way down the coast to Dubrovnik over 2 weeks or so. Thanks again for keeping us company, as always it’s our pleasure to bring these stories to you.

Pagani factory visit.

These cars are astonishing! Starting at around €800,000 and topping out at over double that, you’ll need pretty deep pockets and join the end of the waiting list which is several years long! The body of each car is made entirely from composites such as carbon-fibre, titanium etc, all of which is made on-site at Modena. The engines are made by AMG Mercedes and are V12 twin-turbo, brakes are Brembo etc. Each car is made entirely by hand and we were able to view the process on our tour. Sadly no cameras allowed however you have no idea how exciting it was to see supercars actually being made up close and personal!