Lago di Garda
Today we had a day away from Verona, driving to Lago di Garda. It was wonderful! We had read a few articles that Cathy had from a friend of hers who lives in Lucca – mykindofitaly.com. He wrote 2 posts about Lago di Garda that were informative and a treat to read. So – that’s what we used to explore the lake.
We started to go into the town at the bottom of the lake, Sirmione, but as we got close, everything in the article indicated better to go up along the lake if we didn’t mind missing Roman ruins. We didn’t.
Our Sirmione detour added at least 30 min to the drive, but Leaf took it in stride, Rick made a few jokes about our planning, and we drove up a lot of the east side of the lake, finally stopping at Malcesine. It was a 2-lane road and the ride was hairy a lot of the way because there were multiple bikers, of all varieties, scooters, motorcyclists who wove between the lines, and no shoulder. Oh, and cars and trucks and people walking across the streets at all of the little towns. And it’s not even high season! You had to be calm and very alert. Leaf, of course, was both.
We knew there was a ferry at Malcesine that crossed over to Limone. We’d been in the car for more than an hour and were ready to move when we got to Malcesine. We parked, found a restroom, then bought ferry tickets at the information office (really conveniently located in the middle of town, next to parking and a grocery store). We caught a ferry just as it was loading up. And we got seats on top!
It was beautiful. Spectacularly beautiful. Bewildering because all the messages on the ferry were in German. Wait, what? And they continued – only in German. Once back on land, we heard German, most of the tourists seemed to be German (Swiss German?), written signs were in German first, then Italian – but the food was all Italian. Confusing, but interesting.
We enjoyed the ride over, cool breeze, beautiful on both sides of the lake with dramatic mountains on both sides as well. We landed in Limone and caught a quick lunch of paninis that were seriously good. Then – off and walking. This would have been a terrible day for our Eli – castles on both sides of the lake in each town, and we missed both and instead took a trail that the blog said was fantastic. And it was! Short, only 2.8 miles each way, but the walkway was built into the mountain and hung out over the lake and was quite dramatic. Happily, it was pretty wide and had a solid feel to it – no surprise views below my feet – so I was able to walk the whole thing without issue.
We strolled along, watching paragliders up high and an incredible variety of water activity below, wind surfers, parasail surfing, foils, sunfish, really colorful and fun to watch.
Hmm, guess I was watching, I don’t have photos of the actual walk hanging over the lake or the water activity!
When we got back to Limone, we were SO hot. We got lemon freeze drinks and again – caught the ferry just as it was leaving and hopped on. Our timing was lucky both ways.
We decided to drive the rest of the way up to the top of the lake, not far, and then take a more major road home, away from the lake. I was driving now and had it easy. The traffic and bikes had decreased a bit so it wasn’t quite as nerve racking negotiating the road.
We got to Riva del Gardia at the very top of the lake and suddenly, we felt like we were in a different country. Maybe Switzerland? The buildings were so different from what we’d seen in every other Italian town. It was beautiful in a very different way. We walked around town and then sat down for a snack next to the water. The town really was a pleasure to walk around. It had cooled down, the streets were wide and almost the whole town was pedestrian and bike only.
When I read a bit of history, as well as looking at the signs around town, we realized that Austria had occupied this area quite a bit. The constant push and pull between the church and the German/Austrian powers over the years had left their influence.
I drove home on the Autostrada and it was easy. I love having the road clear of all but a few entrances and exits, it feels much safer. People don’t usually go the speed limit, makes sense since it’s close to 80, but in general, it feels really safe and there are rarely crazy drivers. In addition, Rick noted that the vineyards were planted very differently – so we had interesting views on a lot of the ride home. This is one beautiful country!
Reb's Walks! 