Snowed in at Mondavio, Italy

This morning we woke up, looked out the window and was faced with snow!

Mondavio Sosta - view from our bedroom window!

About 8 inches of snow had fallen throughout the night!  Yesterday was sunny, and a bit cold but we did not expect snow.  Over the last few months we have been enjoying hot climates but today it is struggling getting above 0°C.

We left the Peloponnese 3 days ago via the Patras to Ancona ferry. The ship is humongous, it has a gymnasium, spa, massage and beauty parlour, casino and games room, 2 bars and lounge areas (one with a disco), 2 restaurants, a shop with the usual duty free stuff, and an outdoor pool and bar on the top deck.  We were the only motorhome boarding at Patras and were manoeuvred into a tight spot, packed in among some very big trucks - mostly Greek and Italian.

Cruise Olympia Ferry

The long corridor of cabins - Mel standing halfway down. The en-suite cabins are teeny though - we have more space in our motorhome!

The crossing took just over 21 hours, which included an hour stop off at Igoumenitsa to load on more trucks.  Although the ship’s big we could still feel the movement of it through the waves and we didn’t have the best of sleeps, the beds weren’t particularly comfortable either and the vibrating of the ship’s engines didn’t help.  It’s official – we are never going on a cruise!

Getting off the ferry was a shock to the system. Leaving Greece, the temperature was 18°C and sunny, arriving in Italy it was 5°C and grey!  There’s not much to see in Ancona, so once off the ferry it was a quick shop at Lidl to stock up the fridge and cupboards and then we headed north 43 miles (69 kms) through the Le Marche region of Italy to the little town of Mondavio.  It sits 280 metres up on top of a hill and is classed amongst the most beautiful villages of Italy.  The town has kindly provided a Sosta (official parking area for motorhomes) just outside the walled town with free electric, water and waste dumping area (N43.67733 E12.96165).

A 5 minute walk and you are in the walled town, we could tell by the houses and shops that it is a very affluent area of Italy.  Last year we spent a lot of time in Italy and on Sicily and noticed a clear divide between the north and south.  The south is very much controlled by the mafia and as a result is very run down, with poor road surfaces and rubbish everywhere.  Mondavio is dominated by its fortress.

Entrance across the moat into the walled town

The fortress Rocca Roveresca Fortress, built between 1482-1492

They had a little Christmas fayre going on, with Michael Bublé’s Christmas album blasting out through speakers and Father Christmas walking around on stilts!

It was Mel’s birthday, so that meant having a few cheeky wines in the local bar!

We loved this Christmas tree of bottles outside the bar

There is a lovely art nouveau style theatre in the town - the Apollo Theatre, which was once a 15^th century church.  It so cute inside, with its small stalls area and box areas

In the evening we headed back into the town for a meal. Christmas celebrations were still going on, this time with a live band dressed up in Father Christmas outfits belting out some very old 'out of tune' American/English songs.  It was all good fun though and a great atmosphere.

Birthday meal for Mel. These have got to be the biggest pizzas we have ever had!

We had planned to set off this morning towards Milan but as we are snowed in (and it continues to fall as I write this) we may be here a while.  It is a lovely friendly place to be so we are not complaining!

Sally x