Our European Tour
<p>Public cemetery in Alessandria</p>
Italy – silly observations (pt 2)
(By Tracey- July 2, 2019)

Birds – as well as the normal birds I have spotted hooded crows (everywhere), great egrets, bee eaters and hoopoe. One observation is that when you get to water there are not many mallards compared to Earith. The other observation is that sea gulls do not beg for food.

Wild life – I can add wolves, boars and mink to my listed of spotted animals.

Hedgerows are alive with flowers inspring a patchwork of stunning colours.

Flower shops are everywhere and sometimes open past midnight. I have to wonder why you need flowers so late at night, are there a lot of guilty people needing a peace offering?

Parks and gardens can look quite nice but Italians never cut the grass, cost saving I’m told, but how keen are you on walking through rubbish strewn long grass where people walk their dogs.

Traffic , the further south we go the worse the traffic and driving gets. I have never had to push my way off a roundabout quite like you do in Naples, the cars are double parked on both sides, it’s push push push. That is probably why 9 out of 10 cars have dents or scratches on them.

Lots of Italian roads do not have pavements, walking is a risky business as well.

Cemeteries – these are normally racks of cuboid holes with each hole taking one (sometimes more bodies). You rent them for 10 or 50 years and then the bones are removed. Always on the edge of town, but look at my post on Alessandria to see the largest and ugliest we have seen so far. However having done the catacombs in Rome the Alessandria one looked very similar.

Funeral notices, not something you get in the UK. Every notice board is covered in notices for the upcoming funerals.

Apartments – most people live in apartments, not only in cities but out in country villages as well.

Rome – no high rises, it must make it a unique city, and there are ruins everywhere. No high rise makes a nice change from London and Benidorm.

Campsites toilets always have “squat” toilets as well as the sit on sort. I rather like squat toilets as you don’t have to touch anything.

Bread is sold by weight, you buy part of a loaf. Eggs are sold in packets of 4.

Pasta – there will be at least 2 aisles of pasta in a supermarket and often more, fresh, dried, different brands, you’re totally blown away for choice.

Noisy – if you’re averse to noise don’t come. Roads are often blocks or cobbles which make for a noisy surface, motorcycles are everywhere and don’t have silencers, often backfiring. Cars go down roads that are only just wide enough and heaving with tourists. Lots of our stops have been next to train tracks. Italy seems to have extensive train network and moves a lot of freight.

Water taps – are everywhere which given that it’s often around 30C is very useful. We take 2 bottles of water with us when we cycle, but knowing we will be able to fill them regularly makes life so much easier. Working out how much water you will need on a day out is difficult. It saves that issue.