Crete to Ireland, part 2: Italy
It’s really time to put the pedal to the floor now, with over 1,600km ahead of us from Ancona, Italy to Cherbourg, France.
After a quick pit stop in McDonald’s in Ancona (in order for the children to have more material for their international comparison!) we hit the road north, as we have only 36 hours to transit through Italy due to Covid restrictions, and it’s 650km from here to the French border.
Caitríona thinking: we arrive in Italy and go HERE for our lunch?? 
We were literally the only customers inside 
Olwen trying to move the macaroons towards her by the power of her mind (also: have you ever seen such a range of deserts in McDonald’s?)
We then carried on northwards, stopping at a Truck Stop Europe recommended spot off the motorway for the night.
The motorways in Italy are, in our opinion, well worth the money. They’re good value, costing as little as €2.50 per stretch.
The bottom line was that we didn’t have time on our side so there wasn’t much to think about, and we’re glad we took the faster route. We passed by San Marino, Imola, Bologna, Modena, Parma, Milan, all on our trip but, of course, saw none of them!
We were surprised to spot rice fields, but we then discovered that rice is widely cultivated in northern Italy as the region is served by the River Po and its base.
The Alps were getting closer! We were all very excited for our drive through this region, and for seeing snow-topped mountains.
The road we were on climbed gradually higher and higher – we downloaded an app to give us readings, when our ears started popping!
Many tunnels to travel through (and lots of roadworks).
Snow-capped mountains coming into view.
The nearest town to the border with France is Aosta (583m elevation), so we decided to stop here for the night and found ourselves a decent spot thanks to Park4Night. Then we took a walk into the town to see what treasures we might find:
We made it back to the van, got dried and into PJ’s and cuddled up together to watch our latest family favourite show, Superstore. We received our PCR results by email (negative) and this meant we were full steam ahead for the trip over the border into France the following morning.
And so on Tuesday morning, it was bright and dry once more, but more rain was forecast for later in the day. It was also forecast to last for the rest of the week, so we decided that we had better move on quickly and enjoy what we could of the Alps before the clouds descended. Here we are at our parking spot in Aosta, before heading up towards Mont Blanc:
And then we were off again, climbing higher up the Alps til we reached the Mont Blanc tunnel. The houses and villages got ever prettier and the mountain waterfalls, streams and rivers were breathtakingly beautiful!
We stopped for a break before the border:
Last stop in Italy, the Mont Blanc tunnel! 1,381km above sea level!
Check out the glacier! 
A view up the valley on the Italian side of the border 
Next stop, France!