Another day another country

We had a very nice week at Aquileia. The site was very nice and mostly
quiet, although we did have a family with a very grizzly 1-year-old opposite
us for a few days and also a small school party who were not exactly quiet
whilst enjoying the swimming pool. But apart from that it was very nice and
relaxing. I did a few cycle rides, and we both cycled out to Grado one day,
a nice and relaxing 25 miler (temp must have been +30c ). Grado is on the
coast and seems to be a major German tourist spot. It was quite a nice town
with a very pretty Centro Storico and also many a yacht in the canals and
marinas. It also has a fairly large and typically Italian organised beach
area with rows and rows of colour coded umbrellas and sunloungers, not quite
our scene. We had a stroll around and a very tasty slice of pizza, and then
made the trek back to site via an alternative route suggested to us by the
English couple from site that we had bumped into in town. The route was very
pleasant although longer than the direct way back that we had used going to
Grado, but the roads were good, quiet and flat, and we needed the exercise!
Aquileia was once an important Roman colony in 181BC and the basilica has
some amazing mosaics on the floors that are in very good condition. There
are also several other Roman sites in the town, some of which are still
being excavated. They were also staging a string of 'Mozart' concerts in the
Basilica throughout the summer, but unfortunately we had just missed one
before we arrived and the next was not for another week or so.
After our week of relaxation we chose to move on and head north across the
border into Austria. Our initial destination is Hermagor in Carinthia. The
site we have chosen to stay at is on our cheap ACSI rate until the end of
the 1st week in July, which helps us keep the cost down a bit before peak
season arrives and costs start to jump. However since being here we have
discovered that you also pay a 1.25€ tourist tax per person each night in
Austria and some sites charge an environmental charge, 1.65€, to cover
rubbish disposal. I think German sites and perhaps some in Switzerland also
charge a 'rubbish' fee. It all soon adds up and the cheap rate becomes a bit
more expensive. Oh well I guess it is a gentle introduction into the higher
prices we will pay in the middle of summer. On the plus side, the site we
are at now has a small cinema where they are showing all the World Cup
games!
Our biggest challenge now will be the language barrier as we know no German
and we don't even have a phrasebook or dictionary. Neither do we have a
guidebook for Austria, Switzerland or Germany. So we will have to hunt down
a good bookshop somewhere and tool up!

Apfel Strudel

M&S