Aquileia, Italy and Lake Barcis

Saturday, June 20

Today Preston and I had originally planned on going to the beach but as usual it was overcast and rainy. So we decided to go to Aquileia which is about an hour and half from our house. Preston had heard people talking about Roman ruins close to Aviano that we should go see eventually. So why not! Aquileia was a colony founded by the Romans in 180/181 BC

We left mid morning and got down there around 10:30ish. We ended up parking by the Tourist Information Booth where you could receive a map of the area (in English as well as other languages) and all the different ruins/sites you could visit. Which ended up being very helpful.

The town is not that big at all so it is easy to walk everywhere and see everything.

First site we walked to was the Forum.

Then we started walking towards the cathedral. Along the way we stopped and saw a few more ruins off the side of the road.

Across the street was the bell tower and cathedral. The church was built 1031 and rebuilt in 1379.

The floors were really pretty, as they were mosaic tiles hand placed throughout.

We wandered the courtyard and then wandered down a path that had more Roman ruins around the canal. Now its so overgrown and full of algae that you can barely imagine having boats and ships come in here.

After seeing all the sites, we decided to stop and eat lunch at the restaurant by where we parked our car. The ristorante-pizzeria was called Alla Basilica. Small place, but the delcious smells were intriguing.

We asked to sit outside since it was still sunny out, but you could definitely see the clouds rolling in. We got two meals but split them with each other. We ordered gnocchi with a seafood sauce and a pizza with porcini mushrooms and prosciutto. The gnocchi was delicious! I'm glad we decided to go with a seafood sauce since we had never tried that before. And pizza is always delicious in Italy.

Pizza with porcini mushrooms and prosciutto

Gnocchi with seafood sauce

After eating lunch we started to make our journey home.

When we got closer to home we decided we wanted to continue on to Lake Barcis to do a little off-roading.

I always love going to Lake Barcis because of the amazing views! And the water is a beautiful bluish-green.

We went to one of our usual spots we have been to before in our old car. It always has really pretty views!

Our baby!

While starting to head back, Preston decided to go down this super narrow bridge, that did not look like we would fit, so we could go on the other side of the lake to see some different views.

Looks more like a walkway than road...

Always an adventure with us two! :)

Collio Region Wine Tour

Saturday, June 6

This weekend my friend, Tori and I went on a wine tour of the Collio region. I have been wanting to go to this area ever since my coworkers told me about it. The pictures make it look so beautiful!

When I saw Nikki Travels post she was doing an all day tour there, I had to go!!

We had to meet at 6:30 in the morning so we had enough time for go to all the wineries.

It took about 2 hours to get to the Collio Region, which is on the boarder of Italy and Slovenia.

We arrived around 9am to the first stop, Angoris.

It was isolated off the road a little on a nice vineyard with beautiful grounds. They have a house that was built in the 1600's where they host weddings and other events.

We had a nice wine tasting inside one of the rooms. We could taste any wine we wanted (gotta love Italy).

On to the next vineyard.

The next winery is a little different than most ones I've been to in Italy. The name is Cormons. They have over a hundred different vineyards bringing them their grapes to ferment and bottle wine. Very delicious and pretty cheap wine too!

(Bottle the Pope used that was served at the Vatican)

(My birthday year wine)

We were able to taste a few of them.

(Smile)

(Cheers)

I definitely took advantage of how cheap the wine was, I bought like 8 bottles!!

Next we stopped at a little Italian restaurant for lunch. We were told it was going to be a light lunch but it definitely was not light! Which was perfect since we had a whole day of wine tasting. Everyone had their own cheese, frico and prosciutto plate, unlimited wine or water, salad and bread.

We had time to spare after lunch until we could head to the next winery, so why not open one of the big complementary bottles of wine we received from the first winery.

Cheers!!

It was empty by then

On to the next!

Most amazing wine tour group ever!!

The next winery was Canus. The views and vineyards were breathtaking! These were the views you always see in the Italian movies and wish you were there.

Last stop Magredi.

By this time I think I was having too much fun and forgot to take anymore photos. But I would like to go back again.

Time to head home.

Super long, fun filled day of wine hoping through the Collio region. I would definitely go back!
(Plus if you've never been on a Nikki Travels tour, I would highly recommend it! Tons of fun with awesome people!)

(Wine I purchased)