Pontremoli to Pavia

The autostrada toll roads that we have driven on in Italy have been excellent roads. The exits are usually many miles apart. Wednesday we mainly drove on the autostrada since the route was about the same as if we had driven the non toll roads and the driving time was about an hour less. So when we started out, instead of going back about five miles to the autostrada entrance, we drove the mountain roads about 25 miles to get to the next entrance. As the days have gone by and we have gotten farther north the leaf colors have gotten better and better. It rained almost all day but especially in the mountains it was a beautiful drive.

When we arrived in Pavia we had some time before we could check in to our B&B. We parked next to the river on the edge of the old town and walked to the basilica.

The bridge we walked over was built in 1951 so it’s older than us!!

We stopped at a coffee shop next to the basilica and had chocolate coffees. Oh my!! The inside of the little glass was coated with melted chocolate and then an espresso was added. It was devine!

We usually eat dinner here about 8pm. Wednesday night we ate at a really nice restaurant near our B&B, Alloro. Perhaps we were the only people eating there because it is midweek and it was a cold and wet outside. The waiter and the sommelier were both very helpful and interesting even though we didn’t have much language in common. Did you know that the Primitivo grape in Italy is what we call Zinfandel. The food was fantastic too.