We had planned it for quite a while, and now we finally were ready for our Vespa-Tour to the land of sun and good food, and of course the birthplace of our two donkeys, Bella and Alonzo. Obviously this was quite some undertaking, not so much for us, but for our scooters who dutifully moved us through Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia and Austria for a total distance of 3.300 kilometers without even complaining once (okay, there was the occasional slight hint of a grumbling, but that was soon forgotten).
The 13 days went by much too fast, and we could easily start the whole tour again right away, but I guess the sorrow at the end of a fantastic trip is as much part of it as the joy of planning the next one.
As Sonja will tell all the stories in detail on her motorcycle blog, here are some of the less scooter-related pictures (although they will make their appearances, of course). This time we will focus on the landscapes we rode through…
Switzerland: Lake Lucerne
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Cannero Riviera at Lago Maggiore
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Lago Maggiore at Sunset
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In the rice fields of the Novara area
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Lucca
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Northern Tuscany
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Colle di Val d'Elsa
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Southern Tuscany
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More Southern Tuscany
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Volterra (with David and Sonja on the right)
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View from San Gimignano
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Pisa (quite obviously...)
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A typical Italian cemetery (in the Po Valley)
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Po Valley
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San Benedetto
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Concordia Sagittaria (Venetia)
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Pordenone
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Slovenia: Triglav National Park
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Slovenia: Vršič-Pass
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Austria: Attersee
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Germany: Neuburg an der Donau
oh wow, what an amazing tour and all these beautiful pictures. and your new profile picture looks really good. :-) that's europe!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Yvonne! We did the profile with an iPhone, but I think it worked out nice!
DeleteI like the new profile picture as well but all of the scenic panoramas are wonderful! What a great trip!
ReplyDeleteYes it was, until the weather started to get quite bad, which made us cut our trip a few days short. But it was fantastic anyway!
DeleteRoland, here I was thinking that Tuscany was the jewel of the trip. Wow you two collected a whole necklace of gems. Beautiful photography too. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteWe were really surprised by the beauty of Venetia and Friaul, and we were just amazed by Slovenia. Europe really has a lot to offer, you should come back soon!
DeleteI am sitting here with my mouth open. 3,300 kms on your Vespa's in one trip - that is really something and I bow my head in total respect! I LOVE the pictures and I want to know more about what sort of roads you used, speed you did and everything else about the trip. Also how did you take such fantastic photos - with what camera? Wow!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGary on a Vespa, I would love seeing that! I am sure that a customized Vespa would turn some heads (lots of space for more leading ladies)! The camera is a Fuji X-E1, and I can really recommend it (or even better the successor X-E2).
DeleteYes, unfortunately we have to make a living... But we are grateful for having opportunities like that, and this was not our last epic Vespa tour for sure!
ReplyDeleteAnd all on one tank of fuel!
ReplyDeleteYes, and when we got back home we returned the rest of the fuel to our local gas station where we originally purchased it from. As the gas price had increased in the meantime we were able to actually make some money on the trip!
DeleteBeautiful panos Roland! Sehr Schone!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot, although it is very difficult to make these landscapes NOT look good!
DeleteHi Roland,
ReplyDeleteWow! First I was all in awe that you did over 3000 km's on Vespas! Then I was all in awe of the beautiful places that you visited! Ok sorry for all the exclamation marks but really I just dont know how else to say how impressed I with everything about your trip.
I've never seen a photo of the tower at pisa from that angle, and it looks great, I dont know why there aren't more like that.
Also love the new profile pic :)
Thanks a lot, Brenda! We were also at awe that our Vespas did the long trip almost without any complaint. We had both been to Italy before, but we enjoy our stay every time as if it is the first time. The tower of Pisa is usually photographed all by itself as if there was no other building close to it. But in fact there is the whole Piazza del Duomo there, and it would be very beautiful even if the tower was straight!
DeleteBeautiful scenery. I am looking forward to the trip reports. I am a little behind with my reading.
ReplyDeleteGlad the Vespas didn't give you any trouble.
How did you manage the panoramics? A setting on your camera or a special program? They really are beautiful.
Indeed there is a setting on the camera, as seems to be with many of the newer cameras. Nowadays you can shoot quite nice panoramas even with an iPhone! But there seems to be a slight difference with the Fuji that I am using now in comparison to previous cameras: while with Sonja's Sony it feels like your 'filming' the scenery, with the Fuji it feels like a sequence of shots are made and then combined into one picture. I always wonder though how the cameras manage to have moving objects on there only once?!
DeleteAmazing. I have to revisit this post when I'm in front of a bigger screen. It looks like an epic vacation. That's a lot of road covered on scooters.
ReplyDeleteA lot of roads, and still we could start it all again immediately! And the scooters would not hesitate for a second, either. We were very impressed by their reliability on this tour. Well, but unfortunately it's back to work now...
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