Udine, Maniago, & Barcis

We spent another Saturday afternoon exploring places that are close to us. First stop was Udine, a town about 31 miles east of Pordenone. It was beautiful and had a nice plaza with lots of fancy shops. We also got there in time to go to the market as well. I was most excited about finding clip-on earrings there. My grandma wears clip-ons (which can be impossible to find) so I was excited to find a good selection for Christmas shopping purposes. Okay, maybe that wasn't the most exciting thing at the market but it was a perk. Udine has an awesome city hall, the Loggia del Lionello, and a huge castle as well.

Next, we went to Maniago, a town about 12 miles northeast of the base in Aviano. It was up in the mountains and had a huge center square. People were setting up for a weekend festival so we got to look at booths selling everything from vats of marinated olives to those t-shirts you can find in the northwest of the wolf howling at the moon (yes, I was shocked to see those there as well).

Finally, we traveled further up the mountain to Barcis. The trip included a 3500 meter tunnel through a mountain! Barcis is somewhat of a remote resort town highlighted by a huge lake. I can't wait to spend an afternoon up there. It looks so relaxing! I would love to spend the weekend up there at one of the cute hotels but that probably won't happen since we only live about 25 minutes from the lake.

We thoroughly enjoyed the day. One of the best parts is that we finally have a car so we were able to go around at our own pace! Stay tuned for next weekend's adventures.



Loggia di San Giovanni (16th century) - You can seen part of the castle to the left of the tower



On our way up to the castle (a very long and windy walk!)



View of Udine from the castle grounds. A storm is coming in over the mountains.



Lake Barcis - this picture does not do it justice. Come visit and you can see it for yourself!