26.06.2012
Every day
was a surprise for us. We decided to visit the nearest to the Austrian border Italian
city, which is called Udine. We left in the morning and I wondered how easy was
to pass the formal border without having to stay there in the queues for hours.
But at first I would like to mention about the
marvelous breakfast we had back at the hostel . We had a smorgasbord, where the most fresh and hot bans,
sausages, cheese, jams, Nutella, honey, organic yogurts , cornflakes, feta ,
fruits, milkshakes and other drinks were served. When you start your day with
Nutella it can’t go wrong :)
After we
reached Udine and went out of the bus we bumped into…no, not Italians, and not even Austrians! We bumped into Russians. They told us about all the must-see
places and we started our journey.
At first, Udine didn’t make a big impression on me. That was because of the siesta time, that could be interpreted as “do-what-you-want, eat-what-you-find, because now it is hot and we are sleeping”. The first good thing happened when we bought an ice-cream. I have to admit that Italians make the best ice-cream I’ve ever tried!
When we came to the city centre I finally saw those narrow streets with their cozy atmosphere and unique architecture that Italy is very famous for. It is difficult to describe the beauty of this ancient city.
At first, Udine didn’t make a big impression on me. That was because of the siesta time, that could be interpreted as “do-what-you-want, eat-what-you-find, because now it is hot and we are sleeping”. The first good thing happened when we bought an ice-cream. I have to admit that Italians make the best ice-cream I’ve ever tried!
When we came to the city centre I finally saw those narrow streets with their cozy atmosphere and unique architecture that Italy is very famous for. It is difficult to describe the beauty of this ancient city.
The
contrast between the cities was vast: “cold”, clean and strict Villach and a
warm cozy ancient Udine. The other thing I’d noticed then was that very few
Italians were speaking English. Most of the shop assistants or average
pedestrians couldn’t speak even the basic phrases in English, so when I got a
bit lost I had to use sign language and luckily I just bumped into my group.
In the
evening siesta was over and the city woke up. On the one of the streets a guy
from Kenia approached me and gave a handmade bracelet. It was unexpected, but a
very pleasant surprise.
We gathered
all together on the street where two talented violinists (most probably from
Ukraine or Russia, since they were counting “Raz, dva, tri”) were playing
amazing covers on famous songs. They played different mixes of classical and
modern music. They even induced us to come closer when they played their theme
from Titanic movie and they played it especially for us.
In Udine I
tried Italian cantuccini , which became my favourite desert.
Very tired
but satisfied we were returning to our “Forellenhof”. I was looking from the
window of the bus and when I looked at the Alps the brothers Grimm (though they
are not Austrians) came to my mind. Watching that nature you start to believe
in all the fairytales they wrote about, you can easily imagine that Hänsel and
Gretel are living there somewhere in the deep forest and on the next mountain the
evil queen is giving a poisonous apple to the Snowwhite, while the dwarves are
away. It seems to be that unique atmosphere you can feel all around in this
place. The beginning of our adventure is in Ledenitzen and the next stop is Villach
