We made it to the coast

We have spent the last couple of days road tripping through quaint Italian villages and towns in the Piedmont region, known for its numerous wineries and vineyards - seriously, there are wineries for Africa. We stopped at a rest area for a break and happened to notice a rather large castle on the hill in the distance so went on a mission to find it. Well what a find that was. The castle was in the town of Costigliole d'Asti, also known for its many vineyards. First impressions were that it seemed like quite an affluent town. We drove up to the castle looking for a place to have our lunch but what we came across was the most magnificent view across the valley and beyond (see video). Next stop was Alba (where we spent the night), the home of Ferrero Rocher chocolates. We stopped by the factory hoping to go on a tour but were disappointed to be told that they don't run tours. The guy at reception told us "only police and employees are allowed in" 😂. Strangely enough, they didn't even have a seconds shop on site. Oh well, maybe another time. We set off the next morning at a reasonable hour in the hope of finding a couple of wineries where we could do some wine tasting but alas, it appeared that nothing was open. We settled for a tiny cafe/wine bar and had a glass of wine at 10.30 in the morning - yikes!). But it would have been 8.30 at night in NZ so we're all good, right???. The rest of the day was spent making our way to the coast and stopping at little villages or places of interest. The architecture in all these places is quite mind-blowing.Read more