Lake Garda, Italy

 

Lake Garda, Italy Sunday, April 27, 2013

Maderno, Italy

Larry and I had a great night in Gianpietro's villa...peaceful and quiet. We got up this morning to a cloudy day, but we were ready for a cloudy day....just a day to relax and regroup after our full day of travel to get here.

Looking from the lake up the hill to where we are staying in Maderno

Church across from our villa

First we went to the local grocery to get some supplies. Wow...two plus aisles of pasta...Kathy would love this place. Two plus aisles of vino....Eggs are sold in sixes only. No cereal to be found....Great looking fresh fruits and vegetables...Had to get strawberries. They are in season here. Larry waited patiently to buy a roasted chicken for--- ever....Anyway we paid for everything with our credit card and there was no questions about it....We thought there would be a lot of ID requirements. Must be because this is a well traveled tourist area for Europeans.

We enjoyed most of the day just catching up on the internet and reading. What a great relaxing day!

The next morning it was raining....we decided to go for a ride to the village of Salo. It turned out to be only  a car ride because the rain was very heavy.

                                                             Red roofs of Salo

                                                              Hillside view of Salo

It was a joy to return and just relax at the villa. All this traveling has caused us to just want to download our brains and think about the places that we have been to. It is mind boggling to comprehend all the places that we have been in the past five weeks.

Trip Around Lake Garda Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Happy Birthday Kristy!!!!! We got up to a beautiful sunny day and headed north along Lake Garda, Italy's largest lake. Gianpietro loaned us a Ford Fiesta to use for the two weeks of our stay saying, "Italians love small roads and small cars". He is so right on that!!! My gosh the roads are tiny and narrow.... heart attack scary at times. The Italian are very emotional drivers...beeping their horns, waving their arms, passing when it is down right dangerous, shaking their hands out their windows, and splitlaning down a crazy curvy road. It has caused me to not want to drive. The combination of small roads, small cars, and emotional drivers can be quite exillerating.

Fig trees along the road are already forming their fruit

Anyway...north we head going through some of the most beautiful country that we have ever laid eyes on. The lake was to the right the whole way and the snow capped mountains laid just beyond the lake. What magnificent beauty! To the left of the road we saw straight up hill sides of mountains that were reinforced long ago with old, old stone and brick walls with Roman arch designs set into the wall.

                        These walls can be seen throughout every town along the west side of the lake

Above these layered reinforcements were lemon and olive groves.   It was really an incredible drive going through small towns of Toscolano, Gargnano, Tignale. We went through over 30 tunnels that cut through the mountain side....some were very old with the rock from the mountain being the tunnel structure and others were very modern with concrete.

We went through the small town of Tremosine. Here the modern tunnel had the lake water views exposed. This particular tunnel was used in the 2008 James Bond Movie, ......Quantum of Solace. Double O7 drove his Aston Martin in a high speed car chase through this tunnel. We had missed seeing this movie while we were in East Timor so we rented it one night to enjoy in Maderno.

                                                           Hydro-Water Boat

We stopped many times to take pictures. The lake had ferry boats, fishing boats, and sail boats all about in small numbers. We enjoyed watching a large group of wind surfers and parasail surfers. We have noticed a lot of extreme sport enthusiasts....bicycle riders (yes, these bike riders were extreme because you would be taking your life in your hands riding a bicycle on these narrow curvy roads), mountain climbers, and parachute gliders up in the high mountains. We also saw a downhill skate board tournament. There were loads of motorcycle enthusiasts. Bikers are everywhere because this is a bikers kind of ride...curvy road with gorgeous scenery.

                                                      One of the many wind surfers

We drove on to Limone, then Riva, (what a quaint little town)

                                                     Riva, northern most town on the lake

and stopped in Torbole (another picturesque mountain viewed town).

                                                                      Torbole
We ate a picnic lunch on the lake and just enjoyed the drop dead gorgeous scenery all around. It took us about three hours to get about third of the way around the lake...but we did stop a lot along the way.

              Walking the waterside after lunch...gosh this lake has some gorgeous walkways!

The beginning of the Dolomites  are in the background

After lunch our car started south on the other side of Lake Garda. There were not as many tunnels and fewer views of the lake from the highway, but it was still a nice ride. We passed through Malcesine and Brenzone seeing an old castle...

 and stopped in Torri to catch a car ferry back home.

                                            Larry made friends with El Cappytan...HA!
We paid 19 Euros to board the ferry boat and took a half an hour trip right across the skinny part of the lake back to our villa arriving back around 5:00pm. We had traveled about half way around the lake. Days just don't get any better than this!

                                                        Maderno from the ferryboat

Sirmione, Italy May 1, 2013

Larry and I got up today to go to Venice....yes to Venice. We didn't leave the villa until around 8:30 and drove around the south end of the lake to the town of Desenzano. After a few stops to get directions...with no English speaking Italians....we finally found the train station and parked the car. We got to the train station at exactly 10:07....The train to Venice was pulling out. We had been told that the trains leave for Venice every hour so we thought, let's just catch the next one....WRONG! The next train left at 12:07 so we decided that we were not going to Venice today. It is a two hour train ride to get there and arriving at 2:00 in the afternoon was a little late to enjoy the whole city for our planned one day visit.

Plan B...We drove on to Verona...another hour down the highway...What a massive city of traffic, congestion, and Italian drivers. Just getting on the turnpike was like taking the German Autobon....cars were flying past us when we were going 70. After about an hour of Verona traffic, we decided to go to....

Plan C...Driving to Sirmione, a little village on a tiny peninsula on Lake Garda. After finding our way back to the lake (thank goodness we had bought a European Garman) we made it to Sirmione. There were loads of tourist buses in the parking lot. Having not read a thing about the town, we had wanted to come because it was just a remarkable little strip of land jetting out into the lake. We wondered, "What is the attraction?" We soon found out! There was a terrific medieval castle with a moat here on the end of the strip of land.

 

 

 

Once you crossed over the moat, inside the castle walls were quaint little shops and cafes to enjoy. After passing through one road of shops, we walked the outside of the castle area. Gorgeous walkways with some fantastic water views lead us away from all the people. We soon found out that this was a wonderful place to spend the day.

The scenery was awesome and we wondered where all the people were that had come on the mountain of buses. We never found out because we enjoyed walking around most of the peninsula and enjoying the parts of the islands away from all the shops and tourist traps.

 

The day turned out to be another fantastic day in Italy...with Venice still in our future. After driving back to the villa, we fixed a couple of glasses of ice tea and just relaxed on the deck admiring our million dollar view of Lake Garda. Are we two lucky ducks or what?

Maderno, Italy       Thursday, May 2, 2013

It is cloudy today...and we had planned to go to Venice...again. Because the weather was not looking at its best we decided to just enjoy the town of Mederno...where were are staying. Larry and I parked the car after paying the Euro for parking for an hour and took off walking along the waterfront. It had a beautiful paved walkway as well as another paved bike path.

                                         We have been taking this walk just about everyday.
Outside cafes, restaurants, and gelato stands dotted the pathway along our walk. We passed a camper's paradise with nice looking camping trailers parked having fabulous views. Locals strolled the waterside, many pushing strollers. Many were eating gelato and sitting on the benches along the path. One older gentleman gave Larry the thumbs down for not having caught any fish today. We walked for a half an hour along the paved path and did not come to the end. We decided to turn back so that our car would not have a traffic ticket waiting for us when we got back.

 

                                                         Magnifico  wisteria

                                               One of the lake's gorgeous hotel's courtyard

                                              The old walls in this area are endless

The lake is misty at times....cloudy at others. One morning it was so foggy that we could not see the lake or the mountain. Often you see the snowcapped mountains covered with clouds and other times it is clear as a bell. One evening the snowcaps looked pink due to the sun setting on them around 9:00pm. Isn't it amazing how the view can be so different each day?

Friday, May 3, 2013

Happy Birthday to Linda, Larry's sister!

Hooray, we made it to Venice!

Saturday, May 4, 2013 and Sunday, May 5, 2013

We went for a walk....and just relaxed the rest of both days. It was nice to just enjoy the villa!

We spotted on pink blooming Dogwood while walking in Maderno

 

Salo, Italy Monday, May 6, 2013
It was a rainy day and we decided to do some errands. Go to the library. Went to the bank to get more euros (US dollars don't go too far here)...that was interesting. The teller had to punch a button to allow you to enter two times threw two different doors. Went to the grocery store....then we drove to Salo...a half an hour south on the lake.

We had been through Salo a couple of times on the way to the train station but had never stopped to enjoy this scenic Italian town with red roof buildings. We parked the car...paying for 1.5 Euros for parking....and headed for the lake. Unbelievably the sun came out in full force! Oh my gosh....it was just a fabulous picture.

Church steeples and sidewalk cafes all along the way. We walked about an hour and half and still did not reach the end of the walkway. We passed a statue of a gentleman named Gasparo da Salo (who the town was named for)who invented the the violin. How cool is that?

We spotted fish in the lake and fishermen catching them. Nice! We saw unusual ducks and the regular mallards and swans. The scene toward the mountains across the lake was so awesome that Larry kept snapping pictures from different angles as we reached different view points. Fabulous clouds in the blue sky, flat lake, and snowcapped mountains...what a feast for the eyes!

Upon returning home, we enjoyed sitting on the deck and watching the ferry boats go back and forth across the lake. That evening the lake was unusually clear and the lights twinkled along the shore on the opposite side of the lake! How romantic is that?

Journey to the Dolimites Thursday, May 9, 2013
Larry and I were out the door and heading north along the lake side drive around 8:30. Traffic was heavy but we enjoyed the drive with the sun shining and the lake just sparkling. Splendido! We passed the northern most town on the lake, Riva at 9:30 and started heading toward Trento another 40 kilometers north. The scenery was just spectacular with mountains all around us and a glacier fed river, the most beautiful green color, roaring south. Acres of vineyards were on both sides of the road as we traveled this two lane highway. Loads of motorcyclist and bicyclist were heading up and down the highway! Tunnels galore. By the time we arrived back at our villa in Maderno we had gone through 77 tunnels total.

 

As we traveled north we passed a tremendous amount of orchards with blooming trees that were trellised. Apparently the fruit trees produce sooner and with more fruit when they are raised closer together and trellised up.

We thought the trees that were blooming were apple trees. We found out that this can be done with cherry trees as well but not with peach. Anyway, there were lots of trellised fruit trees in this region. We enjoyed the gorgeous snow capped mountian views (Alps to the west and Dolomites to the east) as we drove on past Trento into a little village where Larry was able to purchase a new micophone/video camera for our computer. Our had gone caput a few nights before.

 

 

 

Here we turned around and headed down some small country roads following some motorycyle groups who were touring the Dolomites. Along the way we had stupendous views of the vally that show cases all the little farm villages dotting the mountainsides with the most awesome mountain views all around us.

After a picnic lunch at a gorgeous little park, we headed south and arrived back in Riva around 3:00pm. We had decided to stop and enjoy a little sidewalk cafe, but could not find a parking place anywhere. So after looking passed up Reva and drove further south on the lake to Lemone and stopped at a hotel/cafe right on the lake and had a refreshing glass of ice tea.

 

 

 

The lake was dotted with about 40-50 small sailboats that were racing around the point and back several times. We skyped Kristy here to try out our new mic/camera attachment and had a great chat! It was a simply gorgeous view and so much fun to have a conversation with our oldest daughter.

 

We arrived back home around 6:00pm. After warming up some dinner we enjoyed watching the movie, "Millinium"....based on the book called The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. The movie followed the book very well and we enjoyed watching it.

What a great day in Italy!



　

　

　

　

                                             Arrivaderci to our sweet little villa in Maderno

Venice, Italy

Venice, Italy Friday, May 3, 2013

Larry and I got up to a gorgeous sunrise this morning. The birds woke us up before sunrise around 5:00 am. The birds are remarkable here with their music, especially first thing in the morning. We have been enjoying the sounds of the birds during the week...they make very happy sounds. By 7:30am we were driving down the two lane curvy road from Maderno through Salo onto Desenzano where we caught a train to Venice.

 

We boarded the 9:07 train that passed through Verona on the way to Venice. We passed through loads of well established vineyards with the vines just budding out. This reminds us of our ride through Florence. We made friends with two families on the train during our ride...one from Milan and the other from Paris. Larry broke out his IPOD to carry on a French conversation and then an Italian conversation. It was entertaining for the two hour train ride.

We got off the train and headed out of the station to be right at the Grand Canal of Venice. What a sight! Ferryboats were over loaded with tourist floating by as well gandolas and boat taxis. We went over and sat on the steps next to the waterwall and just watched...in our mind..stopping to smell the roses so to speak. The scenery was velisimo. Larry immediately began snapping pictures. What a unique city!

The Grand Canal

 

Venice was built on 118 small islands. The waters were dredged of soils to raise the marshy ground above the tides. The city is separated by 177 canals and linked by 408 bridges. The buildings are constructed on closely layered wooden piles that are still intact after centuries of submersion. The wood come from Croatian tree trunks that are noted for water resistance. Being submerged in water, the wood does not decay as rapidly as it would on the surface. The piles of wood penetrate a softer layer of sand and mud until they reach a layer of compressed clay. The foundations rest on these wooden piles with the buildings being mostly brick and stone covered with cement. It is simply amazing that it still exists. Venice, in its entirety, is listed as a World Heritage Site and is known as Europe's most romantic city.

Venice was a maritime power during the Middle Ages and an importance commerce center for silk, grain, and spices. It has also been known for the arts with its 13th-17th century painters as well as symphonic sounds and operatic music. We were lucky to hear a little man singing opera in one of the small plazas and a small symphonic band playing in San Marcos Plaza.

After studying the city map and taking in all the activities, we got ourselves moving to cross the Grand Canal going over a facinating bridge called Ponte Scaizi....one of the many that we crossed over all day. The map revealed a mixture of many alleys and waterways that were a maze to go through. Our goal was to make it through the maze to San Marcos Piazzetta...or Plaza to have lunch. We wondered down the walkway by the Grand Canal and then turned into the mass of old European buildings. It was a site to see.

 The walkways were narrow....sometimes only allowing two people to walk through side by side, so there were two single file lines, one going one way and one going the other....very, very tight. We felt so fortunate to have come on a sunny day. We had heard that the walkways were standing with water on rainy days and Venitians just put on their rubber boots and kept business going as normal. Drains for these walkways were no where to be found. We could only imagine sloshing around on a rainy day!

Venice has to be a shoppers paradise. All of the first floor buildings along the pathways were shops.....some with great little window displays and others with just a door to enter. Restaurants, bars, and little businesses lined the walkways with apartments all above them. Sidewalk cafes were scattered through the city. Everything was clean and old, old, old. We saw very little trash anywhere. What we did see were people! The place was packed. We had noticed on the way into Venice that three cruise ships were docked in the harbor......so we knew where their passengers were. There were lots of school children touring as well....large groups of people and kids following a guide with a flag or something to keep them gathered up. Many times during our walk through the maze, we would chose to go a path that had very few people. At times it was impossible to avoid the large congested areas due to it being the main bridge crossing. Venice averages 50, 000 tourist daily.

We found our way to the Rialto Bridge and after about an hour and a half of seeing loads of shops and churches, we made it to San Marco's Plaza....What a grand sight! Very old architecture with St. Mark's Basilica at one end. Little cafes scattered around the edges with a seven piece symphonic orchestra playing in two places....classical music....so European. We ate lunch with a couple from Scotland, they seemed to be enjoying the gorgeous day as well. We walked around the Plaza and then out to the Grand Canal. The entrance line going up into the tower called the Campanile and into St.Mark's Basilica were way too long to even consider. By this time it was 2:30 so we started heading back to the train station.

 

                                                     In front of St. Mark's Basilica

San Marco's Plaza

 

Along the way we enjoyed the Fish Market and a couple of other plazas that we had not walked through previously, taking lots of pictures. Everyone always asks, "Did you take a gandola ride?" How could we pass that up? Going to Venice and not riding in a gondola is like going to Disney World and not going on the Dumbo or Flying Tea Cups Ride.We saw all kind of gandolas....some were a taxi ride to just get across the Canal, others were fancy with pillowed crushed red velvet seats and Persian rugs...supposedly a romantic ride with the Gondola Driver paddling...not so romantic today because they were tons of them bumping into each other in the canals, while other slightly larger gondolas had several passengers with a musician playing an accordian.

 

An interesting sight to see...how the first floors of the older homes were flooded and no longer being used. Venice began to sink back in the 60's due to the over use of artesian wells. Since then artesian wells have been banned; however, many homes former ground floors are uninhabitable.

 

Another interesting tidbit....Venice is the only carfree city in Europe. The only form of tranportation is on the water or on foot. Venice is unique for remaining a sizable functioning city withoutd motorcars or trucks.

We managed to find our way back to the very start of our day and with about a half an hour, we decided to sit down at one of the cafes and have a glass of ice tea. It was great to watch the boats go by and the tired tourists finding their way out of the city. We found our train at 4:50 pm and it pulled out at 5:07pm. We arrived back in Desenzano at 7:07. Stopped to have a quick dinner and arrived home before dark around 9:00pm.

 

What a great day! We enjoyed the relaxing train ride, the stroll through the city, and the fantasitic views of the canals. We were able to take lots of pictures to revisit all the day's memories. Venice was a charming place to spend a day while visiting Italy.

Capri, Italy

 

 

 Island of Capri, Italy      Friday, April 26, 2013

After a great breakfast, Larry and I left the boat to take a ferry to the Island of Capri. The ferry terminal was a short walk from our ship's port . We found a long line of people buying tickets to the three islands off of Naples. It was a beautiful sunny day and we thought, "There are a lot of people who are taking a three day weekend." Little did we know that it was a National Holiday in Italy and people were planning a long weekend away from their home. We found this out after we arrived in Capri seeing a ton of people on the street. Anyway, Larry bought two tickets to Capri paying 40 Euros each for tickets both ways.

                                                     Waiting for the ferry to Capri

Love watching this guy sweep up the cigarette butts....love his broom.

We had a great smooth ride on a two decker boat across the bay talking with a French lady. Larry enjoyed using his IPOD to have a conversation with her since he did not speak French and she did not speak English.

 

 

 

We enjoyed taking pictures of the beach and high rock walls that tower to the sky. The small marina has boats docked side by side.

The line on the funicular to the top was so long that we decided to walk the 2.5 kilometers to the top. It was an fantastic stroll with the views getting better at each turn on the narrow road. Taxis and minibuses passed by us as we journeyed up, up, up.

 

The road seemed to get narrower as we followed. We came to a set of stairs leading straight up the hillside. We followed several couples who were heading that way....sort of a short cut and a lot steeper than the road we had followed.

 

When we arrived at the top....City Center of Capri..... we saw many sidewalk cafes, a beautiful church and a fabulous view of the sea and the rocks that went high into the sky.

                                                                    What a view!

 

It was a gorgeous view and we found a park bench to just sit and enjoy it ....as well as recoup from the trip up.

We decided to call Kristy because she was here on her fifth anniversary....unfortunately, the call would go through for only a few seconds and then it would cut off. After a few short conversations, we said, "Heck!" and gave up. Internet in this part of the world has been a mixed bag. Oh well, we decided to have a little lunch and then headed back down the mountain after exploring the top of this hillside of shops, cafes and more marvelous views.

We followed the curvy walkway down the hillside enjoying the flowers, lemon and orange trees and the unique doors to the homes. We passed a little lady who was carting her groceries up the hill....Boy! That would keep the ticker going! At the bottom of the hill, we sampled some Lemon Liquor. Bitter sweet and strong lemon flavor....not something that I enjoyed in the least.

We sat on the benches near the waterfront, did some shopping in the little shops that were scattered the waterfront area and then headed for our 2:40 ferry boat ride home. We enjoyed the view of Sorrento, Mount Vesuvius, and Naples on the way back! We had a fabulous day of seeing the Island of Capri and wondered if we would ever be back to this corner of the world again.