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Taking the Fiat for a Spin

The Fiat rental and its able driver.
It is a good thing my friend April can drive a stick shift. With her at the wheel equipped with her brave driving skills, we have the freedom to drive to the many small towns of Italy. With this little silver Fiat, we can blend in with the hundreds of Fiats on the road here. This one has a sun roof and is actually a pretty smooth ride -- just don't sit in the backseat where you'll be crammed in like a sardine.

Downtown Pordenone has cobbled streets.
Driving the country roads of Italy is like a game of guess and check with semi-helpful signs along the way. When driving into town, the strategy is to follow the blue signs with the town's name. Blue arrows also point you in the right direction. If you make it to the next town, you can have a small celebration ... but don't call it a complete victory yet.

Getting into the center of town where no cars are allowed and pedestrians walk freely is a whole different story. The "centro" is marked  with white signs with a sort-of bull's eye symbol. While it might seem straightforward to just follow signs, it's not. Roads are windy and some are one-way. Some roads in town just plain don't make sense. When the road ends, you basically guess whether to go left or right. This time the guessing paid off. We finally took a road that lead through what seemed to be a parking garage, but it ended on a place where we could park on the street next to the center of town. Chalk it up to luck!

Great old churches are everywhere.
Today we visited nearby Pordenone and did a little shopping. Pordenone is about an hour northeast of Venice. Like all Italian towns, it has a cute central square, old churches and lots of shops. It was nice just to stroll down the cobblestone streets and do a little window shopping. We even saw an older nun on a bicycle doing her shopping.

The bell tower and churches in Pordenone are beautiful. Really every old church is beautiful in Italy, but it isn't getting old to me yet.

Dinner with friends tonight in another small town was fun. The pizza here also never gets old. This time I ordered one with artichokes. The house wine is great and the atmosphere is laid back. The only thing missing is my husband and his love of great food. Don't worry, I'm taking notes on where to go and where to eat so we can come back and do it together.

Tomorrow is market day in Sacile -- the town some refer to as "Little Venice." We'll be waking up bright and early to hit the streets with the locals. Later in the week we'll hopefully make it to Florence and some castles of Northern Italy. I'm still crossing my fingers for Siena, but we'll see!
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