When I decided to drive to Germany I had no idea how much time I wanted to spend there. In the end I stayed for two weeks before I felt like hitting the road again. It was nice to spend some time with my family, catch up with friends and even have a chat with my former colleagues when I stayed in Garmisch for a few days. I also got some lovely winter weather and went on one of my favourite walks :)
At this time I was (again) a bit lost and didn't really know where to go. I only knew that I wanted to escape winter and spend some time in warm and sunny areas. Although I really like Spain and had great times there, I felt like I wanted to see and experience something different. I thought about Slovenia or Croatia? Maybe Greece? I checked the weather forecast and was a bit disappointed. It was still quite cold there... Hmm what other options did I have? Since I already was in Garmisch it seemed likely just to drive to Italy and then decide what to do. And that's what I did. The day before I wanted to start my trip there was a big snow chaos on the Brenner pass and I was a bit worried. In the end I decided to drive to Italy via the Reschenpass because I just like this route more and I hoped for cleared roads.
The trip went smoothly and so I went all the way to the Lago di Garda hoping to get a quiet and not too cold night there. Sue saw snow for the first time (at least with me), I stopped at the Lago di Toblino (where I've been before and which is just beautiful) and I was welcomed in Sirmione with a tiny bit of sunset. So quite a good start of my Italian roadtrip!
At this point I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. Maybe going to Sardinia again? Maybe taking a ferry to Greece from the east coast? So many options... Since it was still quite cold in northern Italy I just started driving south and hoped for some inspiration on the way. I passed the Delta del Po and ended up at the east coast. At this point I was really struggling. The nights were pretty cold. Waking up in the morning and having less than 10 degree in the campervan is uncomfortable. The sun only showed up once in a while and I was cold almost all the time. Not how I imagined being in Bella Italia :) Finding places for the night was quite easy but since there were virtually no other campervans I felt quite lonely and a few times even scared at night. Not the best condition to get some good night sleep. There were no unsafe or dangerous situations - except maybe the wild pig walking across the parking during day time :) - it was just my gut feeling telling me that this was not the right place for me. Furthermore driving in (southern) Italy was really stressful for me. It felt like I was the only one following the speed limit and I was passed all the time in the craziest situations! Luckily there were no accidents but seriously, that kind of driving is not fun!
In the end I drove to Vasto (south of Pescara) when I decided to leave the east coast.
Driving into the interior of Italy definitely was the right decision for me. The weather was the same but at least there was less traffic and I felt more comfortable during the nights, although I didn't see any other campervans. Welcome to off-season :)
Because I was cold all the time anyway I thought it would be a good idea to spend one night on 1313 metre to get really cold :) Just kidding! I saw Lago di Campotosto on Google Maps and it just looked so beautiful that I wanted to go there. And yes, this was the coldest night so far! At night -1 degree outside, 5 degree in the morning INSIDE Sue when I woke up. Definitely not the best sleep I ever got in the campervan but I still had a great time at the lake. It was so peaceful and the views were amazing!
From there I kept driving to the west coast having stops in Rieti (getting some spring vibes there) and in Castigliano del Lago (Trasimeno).
At this point I've been in Italy for almost two weeks and the feeling of being lost faded away a little bit. I was looking forward to exploring the west coast! And yes, I was still hoping for some summer weather :)
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