UPCOMING FESTIVALS: JUNE 2012

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3 4 5 6 7 8 9 International Sand Sculpture Festival

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 International Sand Sculpture Festival

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 International Sand Sculpture Festival Aria di Festa

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 International Sand Sculpture Festival Aria di Festa

Fireworks UPCOMING FESTIVALS: JULY 2012

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 International Sand Sculpture Festival

Vintage Umbria Jazz Festival Automobile Roadshow 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 International Sand Sculpture Festival Umbria Jazz Festival Festa del Redentore 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Fireworks Festa del Bled Days & Bled Night Redentore 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Bled Days

29 30 31 FESTIVALS: ARIA DI FESTA

The most famous event in San Daniele is its annual prosciutto festival. Every year in June, visitors from all corners of the world come to this town to tour around its numerous prosciutto factories. It is in these factories that they can admire thousands and thousands of legs of ham, and to search for and taste the best among them. The prosciutto festival runs for four days. The whole town of San Daniele turns into a giant canteen with long tables and seats in every piazza. It is recommended that the best way to enjoy this festival is to get your prosciutto, grissino (a long, slender crusty breadstick) from the dozens of counters and then sit and eat all day or all evening.

2012 Program of Events FESTIVALS: SCULTURE DI SABBIA

Each year the city of Jesolo hosts an International Sand Sculpture contest. The annual contest has a different theme each year and this year’s theme is Venice and the splendours of the Most Serene Republic.

This year’s festival runs from June 7 – July 14 directly in front of Piazza Brescia on the beach. €2 per person. Children under 1m are free.

http://jdombstravels.com/sculture- di-sabbia/ FESTIVALS: VERONA OPERA FESTIVAL

In the most famous open theater in the world, the magic of the opera returns: Friday, June 22nd kicks off the opera season in the Verona Arena. Don’t miss great classics such as Aida by Giuseppe Verdi, Carmen by Georges Bizet, Charles Gounod’s Romeo and Juliette and Turandot and Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, to which will be added the new production of Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The 90th Opera Festival of the Verona Area Foundation will take place until September 2nd offering 6 titles for a total of 50 performances, which will showcase the talent of the biggest names in the opera world. Tickets and schedule.

http://jdombstravels.com/verona- opera-festival/

FESTIVALS: BIBIONE FIREWORKS

Fireworks display at the beachfront opposite Piazzale Zenith beginning at 11pm on June 24th and July 15th

*In case of inclement weather, the display will take place the following day FESTIVALS: VINTAGE AUTOMOBILE ROAD SHOW

Vintage cars and Vespas will take to the streets on July 1st in Bibione.

See the vintage automobiles at Viale Aurora beginning at 2:30pm. A parade through the central streets of Bibione Beach, Lido del Sole, and Bibione Pineda begins at 6pm. http://www.latisanaveicolistorici .it/ FESTIVALS: UMBRIA JAZZ

Are you a jazz lover? From early afternoon you can enjoy free concerts while relaxing with a beer and something to eat in the gardens at the end of Corso Vannucci which look out across the plain towards Assisi. In the new Arena, which sits against a background dominated by the Convent of Santa Giuliana, you can hear the Festival’s major groups perform. However, the spirit of Umbria Jazz doesn’t stop here. The concerts and jam sessions go on until dawn all around Perugia. If you are lucky, you might arrive when a gospel choir is performing in the Cathedral or in the square in front of it, next to Perugia’s famous thirteenth-century fountain. Each year Umbria Jazz features gospel choirs from Chicago and New Orleans, a homage to the profoundly religious identity of Umbria.

2012 Program and Tickets

FESTIVALS: FESTA DEL REDENTORE

The festival is the third Saturday and Sunday of every July. For this weekend only each year, a bridge of barges is built connecting Giudecca to the rest of Venice. On Saturday evening at 7pm the 333m- long bridge, called the Ponte Votivo (votive bridge) is opened and there is a special religious ceremony at the Il Redentore. Beginning at 11:30pm, a 45 minute firework display is lit over the Il Redentore and the lagoon, which is filled with boats decorated with lights and http://jdombstravels.com/festa-del-redentore/ garlands. FESTIVALS: BLED DAYS & BLED NIGHT

The most famous of Bled´s events is the "Bled Days". This happens on the 4th weekend of July each year. It is a beautiful sight with floating lights on the lake and fireworks to set the scene, as well as the Home and Art Craft Fair and various concerts on the Bled promenade to enjoy.

2012 Program of Events FESTIVALS: GARLIC FESTIVAL

The Fiera dell’Aglio di Voghiera, or Garlic Festival, is held every August when the year’s crop is harvested. Set at the Castello del Belriguardo, fair goers can sample garlic gelato (yes, I tried it), garlic bread, typical Ferrarese raviolis with cheese and garlic, and grilled meats with garlic of course!

This year’s festival takes place August 3 – 5. Free entry.

http://jdombstravels.com/fiera- dellaglio-di-voghiera/ ITALY CASERA CASAVENTO

On the morning of September 30, 1994, a group of students visiting the Parco Naturale Regionale delle Dolomiti Friulane discovered by chance the first fossil footprints of the “Dinosaur of the Park.” They were imprinted on a Dolomitic boulder dating back to the Triassic period, that is more than 200 million years ago.

Pack a picnic and hike to the waterfall and dinosaur footprints. Download the trekking guide for the Parco Naturale Regionale delle Doloniti Friulane.

http://jdombstravels.com/dinosaur-footprints-in-casera-casavento/ LESSINIA NATURE PARK

Highlights Stop by the Trattoria Ponte di Veja after exploring the bridge and surrounding area. The menu •Ponte di Veja includes several specialties with tartufo nero (black •Museo Paleontoglogico e Preistorio truffles) from the park. •Parco delle Cascate Visit the nearby village of Molina and its Parco delle Cascate (waterfalls park) where you can swing right into a waterfall or zip across one!

A drive up the steep slopes of the pre-Alps, will bring you to Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo, where the Museo Paleontoglogico e Preistorio will help you to discover how 50 million years ago this area was covered a big sea rich in many fish and plants.

Nearby is the Ponte di Veja, the largest natural bridge in Europe at 50 meters high.

http://jdombstravels.com/lessinia-regional-nature-park/ LAGO MAGGIORE

The Borromeo family home is open to visitors on Highlights Isola Bella to marvel as its sumptuous extravagances. Of particular interest is the grotto •Isola Madre with its intricate stuccoes and mosaics. •Isola Bella On Isola Pescatori you’ll find shops selling •Isola Pescatore ceramics, local candies, spices, and dried pasta. The traditional occupation of fishing still exists and there are a number of restaurants serving the daily fresh catch such as lake trout.

Isola Madre, the largest of the three islands, is home to an English style botanical garden where peacocks, game fowl, exotic birds, funky chickens, and other avian strut, flit, and roost freely amid the gardens. The botanical gardens themselves are renowned for the collection of camellias and rhododendrons.

http://jdombstravels.com/the-borromean-islands-where-nature-and-art-meet/ STADA DEL VINO FRIULI

Pick up a Guida ai del Vini at many wine shops or at Highlights Emisfero for €10. Wineries of the Fruili area are all •Wine Guide listed with hours and notable wines. •Wine Traveller App •Collio Or download the Wine Traveller iPhone app for over 1400 of Italy’s best wineries with hours, location, and notable wines. The green and sunny hillside of Collio is famous for the production of Pinot Grigio, Tocai Friulano, Ribolla Gialla, and Collio Bianco. Established approximately 40 years ago, Collio’s “wine and cherry road” was the very first Italian wine road. The road snakes its way among the vineyards, passing through the little towns of San Floriano, Capriva del Friuli, Cormons and Dolegna del Collio.

http://jdombstravels.com/la-strada-del-vino-friuli-the-friuli-wine-road/ FERRARA

Highlights The most iconic building of the town is the imponent Castello Estense, which is situated in •Ancient Walls the very center of the city. Surrounded by a •Castello Estense moat, it has three entrances with drawbridges and dungeons.

Ferrara is still surrounded by more than 9 kilometers of ancient walls, mainly built in the 15th and 16th centuries. Together with those of Lucca, they are the best preserved Renaissance walls in Italy. Today, you can walk or even take a bicycle ride along the top of the walls.

http://jdombstravels.com/ferrara-italy/ MODENA

Highlights Nearby is the Ferrari Museum, which houses cars and trophies. You can test drive a Ferrari •Modena with Motor Stars Driving Experience, located just •Acetaia di Giorgio outside the museum, beginning at €100. •Galleria Ferrari

Modena is well known in culinary circles for its production of balsamic vinegar and also for its Military Academy, Italy's "Westpoint", which is housed in the Ducal Palace.

Visit Acetaia di Giorgio to see how traditional balsamic is made and have a tasting. BEACHES

Pluto’s Beach: There are two hundred places Highlights available, all with beach umbrella, deckchair •Caorle and sun lounger with lead holder for your dog •Jesolo too, as well as poop bags, bowl and running •Pluto’s Beach (Bibione) water.

Caorle is the closest and most picturesque beach with a stretch of sand running from the seaside church.

Jesolo is the most family friendly beach with a plethora of activities like Aqualandia, mini golf, Sea Life Aqaurium , and long stretches of sandy beach.

http://jdombstravels.com/seaside-in-caorle/ LAKE BLED

Be sure to take a pletna (wooden row boat) over to Bled Highlights Island. Pletnas cost €12 per person round trip and the •Bled Castle rowers will typically wait to get a minimum of ten people on the boat before departing. The entire trip takes 90 •Pletna minutes, including 60 minutes of rowing and 30 •Bled Island minutes on the island. The pletnas depart from various •Iglica Waterfall locations around the lake.

•Hag’s Tooth Caves Also visit the Lectar Inn •Panorama Restaurant Museum which makes •Lectar Inn Museum traditional Slovene gingerbread. Visit the Iglica Waterfall located 4km southwest of Bled, in the caves of Iglica, near the village of One other treat to try is Bohinjska Bela. If you go up the stairs you have a the Kremsnita (cream beautiful view over the whole area. cake).

Also in the village, Babji Zob (Hag's Tooth) Caves includes rare helictites (calcium deposits) and a tooth-shaped pillar atop a 1128m peak. Three-hour tours take place Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays in the summer. Meet at Bohinjska Bela 34.

http://jdombstravels.com/lake-bled-slovenia/ SOCA RIVER

In winter time the Highlights main attraction is •Kobarid the Kanin – Canin ski center, but •Bovec arround Bovec there are pistes for cross country skiing, and different sports agencies can take you on snow-shoe trips and sledding. From spring time to autumn there are several biking, You’ll find an excellent museum in Kobarid reflecting hiking and the region's importance as one of the main 'fronts' mountaineering during WW1 (graphically described by Ernest trails to be explored, Hemingway in A Farewell to Arms ). horseback trips to be taken, golf games to be played and a Access the source from the lodge Koča pri Izviru Soče wide array of along a protected path. It is one of the most beautiful different white-water springs in the Alps. Around the source grow beautiful sports on the Soča mountain flowers and you can also find Trentarski river to choose from. rjavček (Trenta Brown) and Mountain Apollo butterflies. PIRAN

Visit the Tourist Information Office in Tartinijev Trg to Highlights pick up hiking maps of the entire area. •Tartinijev Trg •Minorite Convent Rocky beaches run between Piran and Fiesa. These •St. George’s Church beaches are dog friendly. •City Walls •Beaches •Hiking

Visit the beautiful buildings around Piran, starting with the main square Tartinijev Trg. In summer, you can glimpse the monks chanting and singing at the Minorite Convent. St. George’s Church has a bell tower modeled after the St. Mark’s Campanile in Venice.

After, climb the city walls for views over the entire peninsula.

http://jdombstravels.com/piran-slovenia/ PORTOROZ AND STRUJAN

The Strunjan Tunnel path (8km) transports you from Highlights the bustle of Portorož to salt pans of Strunjan via •Portoroz the tunnel of the former narrow-gauge Trst-Poreč •Strujan railway line. The tunnel, built between 1900 – 1902, is 544 meters long and is the longest of the •Salt Flower railway line. It is no longer used as a railway; today it is a popular bike and footpath known as the Route of Health and Friendship.

Portorož is a modern tourist resort with numerous hotels, its own marina, airport, casino, congress and wellness centers, and excellent culinary offerings of the region.

Sample the unique salt of the salt pans of Strujan in chocolate sprinkled with salt flower or one of the specially created desserts from Cafe Central in Portorož.

http://jdombstravels.com/portoroz-and-strunjan-slovenia/

Visit Ljubljana’s famous Dragon and Triple Bridges and Highlights consider a cruise down the river to admire the beautiful buildings along it. • •Dragon Bridge Be sure to stop at Cacao on Petkovškovo Nabrežje, famous for their desserts! The menu features no less • than 50 ice-cream concoctions and ice-cream based •Prešeren Square cocktails. •St. Nicholas’ Cathedral •Vodnik Square

The castle dominates the hill above Ljubljana and is reached by an all glass funicular, which is included in the entry ticket for the castle.

Prešeren Square is the main square and concerts are often held here throughout the summer.

A daily market is held at Vodnik Square below the castle with everything from handcrafted wooden toys to produce to clothing.

http://jdombstravels.com/ljubljana-slovenia/ SPECIAL OFFERS FROM OUR SPONSORS

Principi di Porcia Tasting Cook in Venice Cooking and Tour Class

Tour the Principi di Porcia farm in Azzano 3 hour cooking course at my home in Prata Decimo with wine tasting . Have time to di Pordenone. The chefs from Cook in shop at their brand new shop for top Venice will teach you how to make quality wine and local products. tagliatelle, chicken Burano style with potatoes, & tiramisu. Enjoy your meal with €10 per person wine after as Monica gives you insider tips to visiting Venice.

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*Wine tasting tour and cooking less must be arranged through Jdomb’s Travels