Pasta, Pizza, Pizzoccheri and Polenta

Deciding we needed a holiday within our holiday we headed towards Ispra in Italy, town where some of Craig's relatives live. After a marathon 10 hour – 3 different trains – journey we got picked up at a train station by Giambi and Luca, some of Craig's Italian cugini (cousins). After the formalities of the hugging and kisses on the cheek (3 in Italy) we headed off to Ispra. 'Casa di Mario e Liboria' was our accomodation for the three nights over the weekend. We got a great feed that night of pasta, schnitzels and potatoes, and as always we finished with some good chunks of cheese. We also got a quick refresher course in Italian with Luca and Robi (Giambi's wife) doing a bit of translating and teaching...

After a nice sleep in, and waking up to temperatures above zero whilst being in mainlaind Europe, it was time for some more of Liboria's wonderful cooking, Pizzoccheri. Strange sounding name, strange looking pasta but lots of potatoes, pasta and plenty of cheese make up this pasta dish.

We stuffed ourselves to the brim and decided we needed to walk some of it off so we headed into Varese, the local city. Giambi, Robi and Luca showed us the sights of the city, some shops and we stopped by a local cafe for some hot chocolate. For those that have not tasted European hot chocolate, imagine melting a block of Cadbury chocolate, pouring it into some mugs and serving with a hefty blob of whipped cream on top. Very rich but also very nice.

That night involved going out at a local restaurant with some of Giambi and Robi's friends and having some more traditional Italian food, rissotto and pizza with sausage and potato chips on it.

Our final day in Ispra involved a healthy serving of Polenta (mmm, more cheese) for lunch, a nice walk near the lake, saying hello to more of Craig's family, eating some freshly made pastries by Giambi and finally watching a game of football with a drink in hand. Juventus ended up drew 1 all but a great day to end our trip to Ispra.

Next stop Lichtenstein, the 6th smallest, country in the world. We will actually be staying in Austria, near the border as there are not many hotels in Lichtenstein, can't blame them really, as the country is only 6km wide!

Blog you later

written by  craigandcorrine on January 31, 2010 from Ispra, Italy
from the travel blog: World Tour
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