Thursday, August 15, 2013

Holiday trip Italy/France. Part I – Preparation


It was my next trip to the Italy (Dolomites) and the France (Cote d’Azur). We travelled by car. 

Some numbers and information:
  •           we travelled 4300 km ([G] Warsaw – [F] Gliwice- [C] Moena – [D] Port Grimaud – [E] Graz – [F] Gliwice – [G] Warsaw) + trips around Moena and Grimaud.



  • first stage of our trip was Warsaw-Gliwice (one stop) – Moena (Italy)
  • second stage was Moena – Port Grimaud (France)
  • third stage was Port Grimaud – Graz (one stop) – Gliwice (one stop)- Warsaw
  • costs of fuel (diesel) abroad:

o   Czech Republic – 41.6 CZK
o   Austria – 1.579 Euro (near highway)
o   Italy – 1.736 Euro (near highway)
o   France – 1.414 Euro (far from highway)
           Other costs:
o   Brenner Pass – 8.50 Euro
o   Cost of highway from Bolzano to Ventimiglia (France border) – 46 Euro
o   Cost of highway from Ventimiglia to exit to Port Grimound – 12 Euro
o   Cost of highway from Ventigmilia to Travisio (Austria border) – 62 Euro
  • travel time from Gliwice to Moena – 11 hours
  • travel time from Moena to Port Grimaud – 10 hours (mainly to due traffic jam in front of Ventigmilia toll)
  • travel time from Port Grimaud to Graz – 11 hours
  • travel time from Graz to Gliwice – 6 hours

I booked the hotels and mobile-home before trip, so we travelled from point to point without necessity of looking for places to stay.




ITALY.

First view of Dolomites after we left highway

Our first place of stay was very nice hotel - Hotel ai Zirmes - in Moena:
          Hotel ai Zirmes
I fully recommend this pleasant hotel. Very nice and useful staff, cleanliness , good food, very good location and beautiful view around. Only 5-minute walk from Moena centre.

Moena is located in Val di Fassa (eng. Fassa Valley) – the region very popular in winter, but in my opinion very attractive in summer, too. Especially for people who are interested in walking in the mountains or biking.  There are a lot of beautiful routes with different level of difficulty, not only for very experienced mountaineer.

Moena by night

          Val di Fassa



We spent 4 days there – every day walking in the mountains.



FRANCE.
Our second place was Port Grimaud. It is located seven kilometers west of Saint-Tropez and seven kilometers south-east of Sainte Maxime. This seaside town was created by architect François Spoerry in the 1960s based around the marshes of the river Giscle on the bay of Saint Tropez. Built with channels in a Venetian manner, but with French "Fishermans" style houses resembling those in Saint Tropez.






I booked nice mobile-home on Camping Les Prairies de la mer:



We spent one week living in comfortable mobile-home.

Lavender fields in Provance


RETURN TRIP.
From Port Grimaud to Gliwice is about 1700km, so we decided to make one spot during return trip. I booked rooms in Graz, in hotel JUFA Graz-City: 
          Hotel JUFA on Booking.com


It is popular hotel, but nothing special. Sometimes could be useful.



INTERESTING FACTS.

Fiorentina
During our stay in Moena we had an opportunity to see Fiorentina football team. The Dolomites are very popular place for summer trainings among football teams, and this year Fiorentina was in Moena (Roma Football Club was in Brunico, Bayern Munich had training camp in Riva del Garda)



ACF Fiorentina, is a professional Italian football club from Florence, Tuscany. 



70.Tour de Pologne
It was surprise, when I saw in Italy posters with information about Tour de Pologne. It proved two first stages will be in Italy, one will end on Passo Pordoi where we will be. Unfortunately we were in this place ne week before Tour de Pologne.



Films.
As always I tried to connect visited places with films. With St Tropez I have no problem – the most famous is “Le gendarme de Saint-Tropez” (eng. The Policeman from Saint-Tropez):


Second, I think famous, too – “Et Dieu... créa la femme” (eng. And God Created Woman) with Brigitte Bardot.

Useful guides and webpages.

Provence & the Cote d'Azur travel guide (Lonely Planet):


Prowansja i Lazurowe Wybrzeże. Przewodnik National Geografic:



Moje Dolomity!:




We bought special pass that allowed us to use all lifts in Fassa Valley. It is little bit the same like ski pass in the winter. It proved very useful for us and cheaper than buying separate tickets.