Northern Italy 2015
June 28 - July 15
Introduction:
We had visited Rome years back and knew that Italy had a lot to offer as a vacation destination. This time we turned to the north, settling on spending some time in Milan, Florence, Venice and the Alps. The later was motivated by the desire to do some birding as well as take in the spectacular scenery.
Milan would serve as a break-in destination, with a less hectic schedule than the remaining sites. We would next travel to Florence to soak in the architecture and art and then on to the other-worldly Venice. All three of these cities grew more appealing as we studied up on them in various travel books. As for the Alps, I had looked around a little on the web to see where, given the cities we were visiting, we could take in some nature and birding and the Alps seemed best. We would spend a couple days on the Italy side and then a couple on the French side.
Overall, the trip ranks as one of the most fascinating, if not the most, I have taken. Milan was very good, Florence fabulous and Venice out of this world. The Alps were breath-taking. While the species of birds were perhaps not great in number, we saw some wonderful birds, all in beautiful backdrops. With regards to hotels, they all met or exceeded our expectations, and each room was very well situated in the hotel: the two rooms in the Alps both had snow and waterfall views.
We headed out from Boston on June 28 and got back on July 15. Given our schedule the trip took a lot of energy, yet while we wanted to get back home it was hard leaving.
Primary Areas Visited:
Milan
Florence
Venice
Valnontey -- the Italian Alps
Termignon -- the French Alps
Lodging:
Milan
Hotel Ariosto Via Lodovico Ariosto 22. Stayed here 2 nights, July 8 - July 9, and 1 night, June 29 - July 1. Hotel worked good for us. Located near a metro station, one stop away from Cadorna train station and a few stops from the Duomo and walking distance to the large park in Milan. Breakfast was very good.
Milan Duomo The Square Via Alberico Albricci 2-4. Stayed here our last night, July 13 - July 14. Hotel is nearby the Duomo. It has modern furnishing which appeals to everyone in my family but me. We got a big room with a balcony several floors up: two large beds and plenty or room. There was a problem with some noise in the room above but after calling it was taken care of. Breakfast was very good.
Florence
Boscolo Hotel Asoria Via Del Giglio 9. Though it seemed like a long walk to the hotel when we first arrived in Florence, it was actually very well situated: close to the train station and restaurants and all places visited were walkable. Stayed here 4 nights: July 1-July 5. Room could have been a little cooler, but was perfectly fine. A very nice hotel overall. You can go up on the roof of the hotel and get great views over the city. Breakfast was good, served in a very nice large room. Though we had indicated to the hotel that there were four of us and a triple room, which we booked, would be fine, we were surprised that upon arrival they insisted on charging us an additional rate for the kids, which they had not informed us about while on the telephone.
Venice
Hotel Becher Stayed here 3 nights: July 5-July 8. Conveniently located a short walk from a number of sights, this little hotel had friendly and informative staff and a very good breakfast.
Valnontey
Hotel Herbert Stayed here 2 nights: July 9-July 11. Last hotel in the valley, just before a campground. Had a room with a balcony and great views. Excellent location to hike along the river and Cogne is a walkable distance down the road. Breakfast was included and there was 'squeeze it yourself' orange juice.
Termignon
Hotel La Tura Stayed here 2 nights: July 11-July 13. When you take the main road through Termignon there is a tight corner just as you pass through the center of town. The Hotel is just in that bend. Worked out good. We had breakfast and dinner at the hotel one day, but they were not included with the room.
Money exchange:
We changed money three times:\par
Boston Airport with a rate of .7842675, Florence in one of the 'Change' branches with a rate of .7605, Milan Train Station at one of the 'forexchange' branches with a rate of .8005. So Milan was the best rate.
Auto rental:
Sixt The last thing we booked for our trip was the car rental. And it was perhaps the biggest surprise: renting a car in Italy is expensive, very much compared to some other European countries. We finally booked with Sixt, a car rental company that we were familiar with seeing but had never rented from. It worked out quite good, though as mentioned it was pricey. We got a Renault Megane wagon six-speed stick diesel. It came with GPS which I typically do not get and do not have in my own vehicles, but there was no choice. It turned out to be a life saver. Sure, I would have bought some detailed maps and map the trip one way or another, but I believe it would have been tough in Milan and on the Alps roads we drove on.
Flight information:
We booked with United Arab Emirates, coming in not only as the cheapest flight option but, in addition to be a relatively new airline, a very good service provider. We would first fly to New York's JFK airport with Jet Blue and then on to Milan with UAE. The flight to Milan would use the new double-decker Airbus plane. We booked via Expedia.
While at the Logan Airport in Boston it became clear that the flight heading to JFK would almost certainly be delayed and we would miss our flight to Milan. The Jet Blue person made a suggestion to go to the Jet Blue information desk to see if we could do some switching around to get to Milan otherwise. There was a short line and after some time we decided to switch to Lufthansa and go through Frankfurt to Milan, with no switch fee. Thought the flight left about 2 hours later out of Boston, it arrived 1 hour later in Milan than our original flight. While being served by the Jet Blue employee at the information desk, the line grew very long and we could hear people saying that they would miss their flight while waiting in line: we were grateful to have made such an relatively effortless switch, but felt for these folks. The flight with Lufthansa was very nice, as we've experienced before, and was with a large 747. On the way home, we found out at the Milan airport that when they switched us to Lufthansa, they also, incorrectly, canceled our return trip. The UAE Airline folks didn't hesitate to get us back on the flight and we made it back home on the big Airbus plane.
Books:
1) Birds of Europe, 2nd Edition. Princeton Field Guides. Seems to be complete and the small format makes it handy.
2) Rick Steves Italy, 2015. Great book. Nobody knows Italy like Rick. Some very detailed and useful tips.
3) Lonely Planet Italy, 11th Edition, February 2014. Excellent book to have used. Covered some areas Rick Steves did not cover. Disappointed to see it is printed in China.
Web-based trip reports, etc.:
I wouldn't have even thought about doing a trip to the alps and focusing on birds if it weren't for the extremely useful reports I found on the web.
1) Ornitholidays' Tour to Italy at Leisure, 05-12 June, 2013, Leaders: M. Witherick and N. Scatassi. Very useful for planning.\par
2) Northern Italy, 17th - 19th June, 2009, by John Rayner, a trip report from the Manchester Birding site. Good read, but except for the info on the Sacred Ibis, not exactly where we went; they were more focused on the Lake Como area.
3) Ornitholidays' Tour to Italy at Leisure, 13-20 June, 2012, Leader: M. Witherick. Very useful for planning.
4) The Italian & French Alps, Naturetrek Tour Itinerary, Very useful for planning; mention Cretaz.
5) French Alps - Birds and Wild Flowers, 11-18 June 2011, from Real Birder. Useful.
6) Northern Italy, 16-17 May, 2006, Surfbirds.com, published by Richard Bonser. Useful.
7) The Italian & French Alps, Naturetrek Tour Report, September 2007, Very useful for planning; mention Cretaz.
Not so pleasant surprises:
I've been to Italy before and love the culture and various sub-cultures there. Things seem to be becoming less Italian people-wise. One Italian in Florence pointed out how the main Florence market looks nothing like it did only a couple decades ago: many regulars there don't speak the language, make no attempt to assimilate and the overall feel is gone.
The surprise act of the trip by a native Italian was by a man and his dog who were walking through a piazza in Venice. Near the center of the piazza is a water fountain from which you can fill your water bottle, wash your hands or take a drink. On the bottom portion is a sort of plate which accumulates water and which I imagine could be a source of water for a dog or cat. The man walked up to the fountain, not to get any water, but to let his dog take a nice long leak right into the plate of water.
On our trip it seemed there were more tourists from China than possibly any other country. We had encountered some Chinese tourists in the Sistine Chapel in our previous trip and were dismayed by their continued taking of pictures when multiple signs were present and docents were verbally telling them not to do so. On this trip, prior to entering to see The Last Supper, I indicated to a Chinese tourist that he shouldn't be taking pictures or filming. He had a small camera hanging off his belt and he would, without removing it from his belt, push it around with his hand in order to film the various walls in the waiting area. He understood what I told him, but while in the room in which The Last Supper resides he started filming again and they had to ask him to stop. I looked at him and, like those in the Sistine Chapel, he seemed to have no respect for simple rules that tourists are asked to follow. We saw this again in Milan when a large group of Chinese simply pushed aside others as they made there way into the Duomo.
We were also surprised by the number of Africans and 'Indians' just standing around in large public places. What they are doing is a mystery.
Day by Day Accounts:
June 29: We arrived in Milan at a little after 1pm. We took the train from Malpensa airport into Cadorna train station in Milan. We wanted to walk out the back of the station but someone indicated it wasn't possible, so we headed out the front and walked to our hotel. We later saw it was possible to walk out the back and would have saved us a few blocks of walking.
Settled into the hotel we took the metro to the Duomo and spent some time in the plaza, latter heading into the Galleria were we had dinner. We relaxed a little in a small plaza on the back side of the Galleria, which turned out to be the Piazza della Scala. We got some gelato and walked up via Dante to the front of the Sforza Castle and then took the metro back to the hotel. Great start to our trip.
June 30: Woke up and had a great breakfast. The person in the hotel lobby recommended a travel agency very near by and we bought train tickets there for our trip to Florence on the first of July; tomorrow. They charge 1 euro per ticket which is very reasonable given the convenience. We then headed out to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana where we enjoyed our visit to this fine museum. After a nice lunch at a Princi bakery we headed to the Duomo. We toured inside the Duomo and then climbed to the roof. We spent a while enjoying the various views available from the roof. We headed back to the hotel and went to a restaurant on a street filled with restaurants that we had noticed when we first went from the Cadorna train station to our hotel. A very tasty meal and a great end to our first full day in Italy.
July 1: Had breakfast and headed out to Pinacoteca Brera, the nearest metro to this museum being the one in front of the Sforza Castle. Had a great visit and headed back to the hotel, stopping at the Perugina candy store near the Sforza Castle metro stop. Picked up our bags and went to the Garibaldi Station to catch our train to Florence.
While in Milan the birds we saw included: blackbird, swifts, Italian sparrow, rock doves, hooded crow (in front of the Sforza Castle) and black redstart (in the inner court of our hotel).
We took Italo Tren to Florence and the journey was great: reasonable price, smooth and quiet ride. Given that we hit speeds up to 300 km/hr, the trip was quite short time wise.
Checked into Hotel Boscolo and cooled down. Took a walk, passing by San Lorenzo, the Duomo and then crossing the Arno and up to Piazza Michelangelo. We got gelato before and after visiting the plaza, making the trip much less grueling. The Piazza gave great views over the city and of the sunset. On the way back to the hotel we got a light meal at a convenient location and watched a little Wimbledon on tv while eating.
It became clear on our walk that Florence was, simply put, a phenomenal city!
July 2: Had a nice big breakfast and headed out. First we picked up a Firenze card at the tourist center in the Santa Maria Novella church. This would not save us money, but time in line and this was especially nice given the ever present heat. First we hit the Uffizi, or better said it hit us. We spent the entire morning there. We then made our way to the Duomo. We stopped en route at the Bragelo to see Donatello's masterpiece David as well as other art works. We ate a gelato outside the Duomo and summoned our courage to make the climb. The stair were numerous, the passageway narrow and the heat strong but it was worth it. Climbing up the inside of the wall of the Duomo and then inside the dome itself is wonderful. We had a nice dinner just outside the hotel and called it a day!
July 3: Big breakfast and headed down the street to the San Lorenzo church and museums and spent the morning there. Incredible Medici tombs. After lunch went to the Accademia to see Michelangelo's wonderful David and many other artworks. We took a little stroll back to the hotel and had dinner just a few shops down from the hotel. We went up to the terrace of the hotel as the sun was setting and had great views of the Duomo and the hills behind. We were close to calling it a night but shortly after 10pm the moon came over those hills and was huge. It was a spectacular finish to another unforgettable day in Florence.
July 4: Had breakfast and headed first to the train station to get our tickets at the Italo Tren office. It was still quite hot and by asking we learned that a bus could take us very close to Santa Croce, our first destination of the day. Santa Croce houses the tombs of, among others, Michelangelo, Galilieo, Machiavelli and includes a monument to Enrico Fermi. Our visit was topped off by a 'family' of kestrels flying around over the garden portion of the church. We then walked over to the Pitti Palace. We saw the wonderful museums and rooms in the palace, but could not take in much of the gardens as the heat was very strong. We were by no means the only ones who did not explore the gardens but merely took a brief look. We walked back over to near Santa Croce and took the bus back to near our hotel. We wound up for dinner back near the Bargelo at a small cafe/restaurant. Back to the hotel, a few minutes on the terrace on our last night in Florence and then sleep.
July 5: We got up a little later than usual and after breakfast it was already toasty outside. We left the kids in the hotel and popped over to Santa Maria Novella, just a short walk from the hotel. Afterwards we got our luggage together and headed over to the train station to take the train to Venice.
While in Florence the birds we saw included: mallard, house martin, robin, rock dove, Italian sparrow, kestrel, blackbird, little egret.
The train ride with Italo Tren to Venice went smoothly. They get up to 250 km/hr rather than 300 km/hr on this route. Excitement grew as we saw the sea and began crossing the causeway to the main island. Exiting the train station present a view that is thoroughly unique: the canals, buildings, boats of various types are breathtaking. We took a vaporetto to the appropriate stop, exited and walked to our hotel, Hotel Becher. We got a room with a canal view, if you looked down through the window, and were quite pleased. We walked over to Saint Mark's Square and took in the sights in this grand plaza, accompanied by a gelato. We ate at Vinovino, a restaurant en route back to the hotel which the person working the desk at the hotel had recommended and it turned out to be quite good.
July 6: Excited to be in Venice, had our breakfast and headed over to Saint Mark's Plaza and got in line for the Basillica, about 1/2 hour before their opening time. This amazing basilica is the western most example of eastern style churches, and was very different from those we have seen elsewhere on our trip. While entry is free, there are 3 museums inside the church and we went through these. The church is filled with mosaics and is filled with a golden color. We next went to the Correr Museum, still in the Plaza, and bought a joint ticket for the Correr Museum and the Doge's Palace. After enjoying the Correr Museum we headed to the Doge's Palace and entered with our pre-purchased ticket. We visited the palace, bridge of sighs and prison.
After the Doge's palace we strolled along the edge of the plaza looking out over the lagoon and the gondolas. Though we were spending a good deal of money on this trip, it was at a rate less than we anticipated and we decided to take a gondola ride. It was a great experience. The highlights were cruising by Marco Polo's home, Casanova's home and the residence of Vivaldi. We had mediocre pizza from a place near the hotel and called it a night.
July 7: We had seen a travel place and after breakfast, en route to the Rialto Bridge we bought our train tickets back to Milan for the next day. We then crossed over on the Rialto bridge and spent some time on the other side of the Grand Canal.
First stop was the Basillica Frari. We then headed, with the help of a gelato, to the Accademia. We had read that they are also closing one or another section of the Accademia off, but a significant part was closed off today. Together with the fact that the museum was one of the most costly, it won as our least favorite museum of the trip. We crossed the Grand Canal on the Accademia bridge and took a break at our hotel.
We then took a vaporetto over to San Giorgio Maggiore. A spectacular church and wonderful views of the main island of Venice. Another great day. As Vinovino was en route to our hotel and proved to be good our first visit, we ate there again. We noticed some grapes growing above us in the outdoor seating area and the waiter told us that when they are ripe, the waiters stomp the grapes and make wine! Off to bed for our last night in Venice.
July 8: Having managed to see just about all we wanted to see in so short a time, we ate our last breakfast in Venice and slowly got ready with our luggage. We walked over to the Rialto Bridge stop for the vaporetto and took it to the train station. Taking our last looks at the Grand Canal, we entered the station and the our train.
While in Venice the birds we saw included: cormorant, yellow-legged gull and black-headed gull.
This time we took the state run train, using 2nd class as the tourist agency claimed it was comparable to 1st class. In fact, the trip went great as did the other two train trips. This time it was the Central Station in Milan where we stopped. We then took the metro to the same hotel as before and relaxed briefly. It was then off to the Cenacolo Vinciano, the site of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper; a brief walk from the hotel. We passed back by the hotel and then walked the few blocks to the vast Parco Sempione. We spent some time meandering in the park, got some snacks and then exited by the massive arch.
Got great looks at wood pigeons and hooded crows in the park. On the street that runs into the arch we had a fine dinner, walked back to the hotel and hit the sack.
July 9: Had breakfast, checked out and made our way over to the Sixt car rental agency near the Central Station. Got the car and we were rolling, heading to the Alps. We made, however, a stop in Casalbeltrame, a small town en route which lies in a rice growing region and which is know to have breeding sacred ibis in the surrounding areas. There are indeed two nature reserves on either side of the town, and in the town center are signs pointing you to these. We exited the toll highway and drove towards town. Just before entering the town is a large stand of trees and sure enough some sacred ibis were flying into the stand where they were breeding with other species of waders. We were fortunate to find a very good restaurant which kept its doors open for us as it was just the time to close for lunch. We ate good and went to the Reserva Natural Especial y Orientada de la Palude di Casalbeltrame looking over the fields as we left. It was a hot day and the reserve itself was also, with a good deal of insects buzzing around. After visiting the reserve we stopped by the rookery on the edge of town once again to enjoy the sacred ibis.
On the drive to Casalbeltrame we saw hooded crow, blackbirds and rock dove. The sacred ibis were not seen at the reserve but only near the rookery. At the reserve, in addition to some rabbits and I believe lizards, we saw great egret, grey heron, little egret, purple heron, black-crowned night-heron, little grebe, moorhen, mallard, hooded crows, starling, barn swallow, house martin and cormorant.
We got back on the road and headed to the Aosta Valley and to our hotel, Hotel Herbetet, in Valnontey just up the road from Cogne. It was refreshing and awesome to get into the alps with the cooler weather and spectacular views. We arrived to the hotel at the end of the day and settled into a room with a great view. Near the parking lot I followed a bird a little ways, unable to id him but looking a bit like a stonechat. I was distracted by a mammal in the tall grass that seemed to be a very young ibex but could possibly have been a young chamois. We had dinner and called it a night.
July 10: Got in some pre-breakfast birding from the 3rd floor balcony which overlooks the parking lot and has views of nearby treetops. Saw common crossbill, chaffinch, goldfinch, coal tit, siskin, robin, redpoll and short-toed creeper.
Had breakfast and headed out for a walk up the valley along the river just in front of the hotel. Saw crag martin, white wagtail, grey wagtail, black redstart, fieldfare, coal tit, crested tit, jay, blackbird and chaffinch. Thought we saw black cap, garden warbler, gold/firecrest, chough but were not certain.
After lunch headed out to La Thuile, having read of some good birding being possible here. We arrived at the city and it was not clear where to bird so we followed some signs to a nice hiking area centered around a large waterfall. Birds we saw here included: blackcap, chaffinch, collared dove, song thrush, gray wagtail. We had seen tits, either marsh and/or willow, both in the morning and in La Thuile, but it was not possible to distinguish which we saw.
Stopped on the way back in Cretaz where I had read dippers could be seen from the bridge. From the highway bridge we saw a number of wagtails but no dipper. Moving to the pedestrian bridge we did see at least three dippers. A great bird for us. Back at the hotel we saw the short-toed treecreeper doing his rounds of the trees again and went to dinner and then hit the sack.
July 11: We talked with the owners of the Hotel Herbetet about whether it was worth it to take the gondola on Mount Blanc as we made our way to France. They said it was worth while and it fact it was. We had our last breakfast in the Aosta Valley and headed out to Termignon, France, crossing the Alps. First stop was Mount Blanc and we took the gondola up to the second station. It was simply fantastic. The Alps are vast and majestic and simply awesome. We enjoyed this ride up and down and spent some time at the first and second stations, getting some snacks and knick-knacks. Saw a number of alpine choughs on the mountain. We got down and went to the restaurant in the large parking lot across the street from the small parking lot near the gondola entrance and had a good lunch.
We were going to cross the Col Petit Saint Bernard to enter France. We had to go through La Thuile again, but after exiting La Thuile and continuing on we got a real taste of Alps roads driving. It was wonderful. We began to see snow, sometimes just on the side of the road, and the majestic views were 360 degrees. The Col itself was neat with some buildings, one or two shops and restaurants. We stopped here and seeped in some of the ambience for a while. We saw our first white-winged snow finches here.
Next segment to drive was to the Col de l'Iseran in France. This is the highest road in Europe and had only a parking lot, a church and a number of cars taking in the views. A little windy but we walked around the area a little, seeing more white-winged snow finches. Also were seeing some white wagtails at some places. May have seen a black redstart here also but not sure.
Continued our drive to Termignon. Got good looks at a few marmots. May have seen a rock thrush but not sure. Checked in to Hotel La Turra, had dinner at a restaurant a short walk from the hotel and relaxed some before going to bed.
July 12: After breakfast we headed toward the mountains outside the hotel. Instead of turning right as we headed towards the mountains, which would point us along the main highway, we went up the valley in front of us. The area at the top is referred to as Bellecombe and I had read there can be good birding here. Purportedly it was possible to see lammergeier here. We parked at a large parking lot near where the road ends and made our way with other folks along a well marked hiking trail. There were little or no trees here and the views were great. We eventually came to a large pond/small lake. It held at least two species of frogs and their tadpoles, which delighted our girls. As for birds we thought we saw snowfinches up here but were certain we got good looks at northern wheatears. We wondered if what were thought were snowfinches at a distance were actually also wheatears. We continued along the trail to a nice stone building where food could be obtained and rooms were available for staying overnight. We had some delicious crepes and some baked goods that we ate at the outside tables.
We stopped again at the pond on the way back down the trail. We were tired and while the girls played around my wife and I were relaxing, sometimes closing our eyes, sometimes reviewing photos or taking in the scenery. At one point I noticed a very large shadow slowly moving past me. I looked up and saw a lammergeier vulture cruising just above us. We were at the point of the pond nearest the parking area and he was flying towards some hills just across the pond. I alerted my wife and we were able to get some binoculars on him briefly. He was carrying something large, almost certainly a marmot. We were relishing the fact that we saw this beautiful, odd and scarce bird about five minutes after he had flown over and he suddenly made a second appearance. He came from behind the low hills at the far end of the pond and glided in our direction along the hills, giving us great views through the binoculars but still too far to get any good pictures. He was carrying something again but it was smaller than the first time we saw him. He was enormous! As indicated in my bird book, he seems to fly very slow due to his large size and he casts an impressively large shadow. This was a great experience watching this bird two times fly so near us. While not many others were around, those that were got good looks the second time.
We went down the road to our hotel and relaxed before getting some fuel for the car and heading to the Col du Mont Cenis. I had read that there was good birding to be had hear, but, as with La Thuile, did not know exactly where to go. We went past the lake at the pass and started to head down into Italy on the back side just past the dam. We decided to turn around and head back, but to make the trip worthwhile we stopped for some cheese. The fromage cave was just before one starts heading up the final step climb to the dam on the Italy side of the pass. The young people running the farm were very gracious and we took a walk on some trails on the farm and got to spend some time around the sheep from whom the cheese came. The cheese was great, and we even took some back to the states.
We took dinner at the hotel and took a leisurely walk around the small center of Termignon. Some magpies were playing around in the center. As often the case in towns and cities, swifts were zipping about. Above the hills we saw a couple of ravens cruising through the sky and got wonderful views, perhaps justifying our lugging our spotting scope on this trip, of a short-toed eagle hovering above one of the plateaus in the hills.
July 13: We breakfasted on our bread and cheese from the day before and slowly packed up. We were going to take the tunnel to Italy, pass by Turin and then on to Milan to return the car. The other option would have been to drive over Col du Mont Cenis again. While we had driven through some long tunnels this was a very long one, at 12.6 kilometers. We arrived at the entrance to the tunnel and were told there was an accident in the tunnel and we would either have to wait or take another route. I had read on the web that tunnels sometimes have accidents in them but thought this must be very rare. Estimated wait was one hour. While waiting it was clear that work was being done to clear the accident. Also, we were all given as much bottled water as we wanted while waiting. We borrowed a phone from a kind Belgian and gave a call to Sixt car rental and told them our situation: they said not to worry but to arrive back safely. After two hours we got into the tunnel and started through. At almost the mid point of the two lane tunnel we saw a large truck which was smashed in the front in the opposite lane. My wife says it appeared there were pieces from another vehicle under the truck. It was a long drive and when we finally popped out the line in Italy was very long compared to what our line had been.
We headed onwards towards Milan, getting some gas just before entering the city. Grateful for the GPS we made it to the Sixt rental center and returned the car. We then walked to the nearby central station and took the metro to the Duomo and walked to our last hotel, for our final night in Europe. We decided to walk to the nearby 'canal area', where there are some canals and a lot of places to eat and drink. It turned out to be more places to drink than eat. This was the first time we saw drunken folk on our trip; some were staggering around with a bottle in one hand and a cigarette or 'smart' phone in the other. We decided to eat at a place closer to the hotel that we had seen en route to this area.
July 14: Had a great breakfast, slowly made our way to the Malpensa airport. In the airport a local music school provides musicians to entertain the passengers as they wait for their flights; a very nice touch. Got our flight on Emirates and flew off to JFK airport in New York where, after a few hours layover, we headed back to Boston via Jet Blue, arriving just after midnight.
So ended a phenomenal and unforgettable trip to Italy and France.
Summary:
We have seen a number of species in Europe in previous trips. There were about 15 new birds we had a chance of seeing. We had a total of 48 species. Four were new, or lifers: each one a great bird and the lammergeier in particular was wonderful. We had not done much birding in Italy before and even less in France: 21 of the species were new for Italy, while 6 of the 8 species in France were new for France.
Italy:
| mallard |
|
| little grebe |
|
| cormorant |
|
| night-heron |
|
| little egret |
|
| great egret |
|
| grey heron |
|
| purple heron |
|
| sacred ibis |
|
| kestrel |
|
| moorhen |
|
| black-headed gull |
|
| yellow-legged gull |
|
| rock dove |
|
| wood pigeon |
|
| collared dove |
|
| swift |
|
| crag martin |
|
| swallow |
|
| house martin |
|
| white wagtail |
|
| grey wagtail |
|
| dipper |
|
| robin |
|
| black redstart |
|
| song thrush |
|
| fieldfare |
|
| blackbird |
|
| blackcap |
|
| coal tit |
|
| crested tit |
|
| short-toed creeper |
|
| jay |
|
| alpine chough |
|
| hooded crow |
|
| starling |
|
| italian sparrow |
|
| snowfinch |
|
| chaffinch |
|
| redpoll |
|
| goldfinch |
|
| siskin |
|
| crossbill |
|
mammals:
France:
| lammergeier |
|
| short-toed eagle |
|
| swift |
|
| white wagtail |
|
| wheatear |
|
| magpie |
|
| raven |
|
| snowfinch |
|
mammals:
}