29th August 2019 spent the night in Ampezzo. Aire with services, included was electricity and a toilet very close by at the sports field. Free

We are leaving the fair country of Austria and heading into Italy. But before we leave we still have some exploring and driving.

 

Gmund

We left our nice overnight spot by the river and headed 60kms down the A10 to a small Austrian town called Gmund. It’s not famous for anything but it does have a Porsche museum, and no we didn’t have a look. Instead the strolled the streets and found it to be a pleasant town.

9853 Gmünd, Austria

On the outskirts was a sign to a national park area which we proceeded to drive to, along a pretty road following a river until the park entrance came up and a sign for €20 entrance fee. We thought it a bit steep to enter the park so we turned back found a nice parking off the road and had lunch.

Drive through the mountains.

The A10 is a very nice motorway, but that’s what it is just a motorway. So we decided to leave it and go cross country through the mountains. We did see some squiggly bits on our maps, which meant some climbs and decents, but we had the whole day ahead to make the journey. The first section was flat and it was only the last 80kms that had the steep parts. The old Bunyip did well although it was slow going in some parts. We arrived at the Aire in Ampezzo (saw this aire in Micheal and Pam’s blog) late in the afternoon. A quiet place that even had free electricity. Not sure why we get excited about having power as we really don’t need it, we haven’t even used our solar panel yet.

During our drive we crossed over the border from Austria into Italy.

30th August 2019 Stayed next to a river. No services. Free

A hot day in Italy

Well it wasn’t really that hot but we had come down from the cooler mountains and into temperatures in the low 30’s. When looking up some places to stay and visit the town of Palmanova looked interesting, especially on the map as it is a 9 pointed star shaped fortress town. I have googled a couple of photos so you can understand what I mean.

We arrived and found a tree to park under and headed off. There are three entry gates and at the top of one there is a free, yes free, military museum. Very interesting and also cooler inside.

33057 Palmanova, Province of Udine, Italy

The town itself was nothing special, we did have a drink in the square and later very nice pizza. On our first trip to Italy with the Bunyip in 2009 we forgot to have pizza until the last day, we won’t make the same mistake again.

Cool by the river.

After consulting the Oracle (park4night) a place came up nearby that said next to the river. We needed to cool down and spend an afternoon relaxing. After finding a suitable spot we put our chairs and tables in the water and spent the afternoon relaxing. Another quiet evening and an early night.