My record of a week's holiday at Lake Garda in northern Italy, staying at the Hotel Sole in Riva del Garda at the top of the lake.
Each place of interest is shown on its own separate article, reached by clicking/tapping the eleven photos below. A link on each page will bring you back here.
Friday 17 August. We were on the return leg of our trip to the Italian Dolomites and made a stop at the town of Ortisei.
This was a beautiful Tyrolean town, full of painted murals on the sides of hotels, flower boxes and sunshine. We parked in a large coach and car park next to a cable car that headed off up a mountain.
We had to cross the river to walk into the town, which we did by means of a foot bridge. The huge spa in he background is the Cavallino Bianco, it prides itself on its facilities for children and in fact at certain times you cannot book into the hotel unless there are children in your party.
We have around three quarters of an hour free time here - sounds a lot but it's not that much really! There's lots to see and many cafes to tempt you. One with a loo would be quite good actually... ahem... excuse me...
And then, just drink in that scenery. Absolutely gorgeous! Leaving the mirror behind, we venture down the hill into the town itself.
There's not as much wood in evidence as there would be in the Austrian Tirol, but apart from that the style is very similar.
It has large wood carvings, all dried and cracked and gnarly (was he one of the seven dwarfs...? Or "dwarves" as Disney thought it should be...)
And this gorgeous and very quaint small clock tower made of blocks of wood and roofed with a steep slated roof a little like a steeple. There were too many people about to stand back and get a decent picture of it.
Fran optimistically buys a fridge magnet. I'm not sure there actually is any space on the fridge to put any more magnets. I reckon the weight of the fridge with all its decoration make it a good job we have solid floors on our ground floor... The 45 minutes is up. We return to stand by the coach, reluctant to board it until the last minute so that the air-con can cool it down a few hundred degrees to a level of merely sweltering...
A final photo from the coach as we cross over the river. I'm a Pisces... we just like water!
21 August 2012. We take a last look round Riva on Tuesday night before we are picked up first thing in the morning for our transfer to Verona Airport.
We walked around the front of our hotel, Hotel Sole, and past the entrance to La Rocca, the castle and museum. This brings you to a small piazza.
In the building on the left was Reptiland - a zoological presentation of reptiles and snakes. For some reason Fran didn't want to go in...
Carrying on round the moat of La Rocca, the moored boats and view down to the lake is very pleasing. There is a camp site behind the lights to the left and the thump thump thump of loud music came from that direction. We weren't tempted to go closer to hear it properly...
We made our way back through the back streets and past pavement cafes. We weren't particularly wanting a late night as we had to be at the pickup point near the ferry ticket office by 7:00am.
So we arrived back at the main piazza and Hotel Portici, seen above and then skirted round to spend a last hour or so with a drink or two at the Cristallo bar and gelaterie. We would have quite liked a last ice cream too, but after our excellent dinner at the hotel, I'm not sure we would have been wise to have done so!
A last look at G.Zanardelli, the paddle steamer, all tied up and secure for the night at her berth.
I have to say that spending a week at Riva is very relaxing. There's no rush to get anywhere. If you miss a ferry there'll be another one sooner or later and there's enough bars to be able to sit and wait in comfort and with your favourite drink to hand.
So that's our holiday over. In the morning we get up bleary eyed and knowing the breakfast room will not yet be open. However the night porter at Hotel Sole makes us a cappuchino and brings a selection of breakfast bars (some nice and some like nothing I have ever tasted before or wish to again...!)
The coach turns up on time and Verona airport is small but ok. There's not a lot of food available there though - a tip for anyone who might be going there!
Tuesday 21 August 2012. It's our last day in Italy and we decide to take the ferry back to Malcesine for the morning.
It's a last trip on G.Zanardelli, the paddle ferry, which drops us off on time just over an hour after leaving Riva.
We follow our footsteps of earlier in the week and arrive at the castle, having pressed ourselves to one side to allow a little blue golf buggy bearing yet another bride and groom come past on their way up to the castle for their wedding. I'm not sure where these came from, but we were spared having to listen to the speeches for this one over our evening dinner!
An art gallery near the castle. Not having a window turned out to be no problem at all... I was surprised really at the scarcity of art galleries and artists. The place is really made for painters. In Cornwall in England you trip over their easels all the time and every second shop is an art gallery, yet here, with all the lovely scenery and all the good weather, I don't think I saw anyone other than myself sketching or painting all week! Very strange!
Maybe the artists were all indoors, painting ceilings? We walked past this beautiful hall on our way back down the hill. At the far end was a glorious view of the lake, but the difference in lighting levels outdid the camera's best efforts! I'm not sure what this place was, but the door was open and inviting and I allowed myself to be invited!
A Kodak sign! Snap them while you can... Technology is wonderful - but it has consequences for anyone who worked in areas being obliterated either through alternative digital ways of working or through automation.
We spend the morning and have our lunch in Malcesine at the rear of the little square harbour.
Sitting to dine al-fresco with a pizza followed by a fruit-laden ice cream dish, being entertained all the time by the arrival and departure of ferries and the goings on in the little harbour is a lovely way to spend an hour or so!
Then we catch the ferry back to Riva via Limone and Torbole, passing by our hotel, the Hotel Sole.
We arrive back to dock next to the Brescia. We spend the rest of the afternoon lazing and reading, drinking Aperol Spritzes and then heading back to the hotel to pack for tomorrow's very early start.
Monday 20 August. Once again we are up to catch the 9:00am ferry from Riva, sailing down Lake Garda to Limone.
It's the first stop on the ferry's way to Malcesine. We arrive at Limone after 40 minutes of pleasant cruising down the lake and arrive to an almost deserted landing stage. Once the ferry is tied up to the jetty though, people start to appear from where they have been hiding from the sun!
Limone is spectacular in that the sheer cliffs fall almost vertically into the lake. Here tunnels have been blasted through one section of cliff to make a throughway from one side of Limone to the other. Shops occupy caverns within the tunnel.
We make our way through the shops with only a few near monetary losses and have our morning intake of latte machiatto at this cafe bar.
It had some wonderful small octagonal lamps that I had to work into a photograph.
From where we are we have a good view of the lake and watch the ferries come and go whilst we have our drink. The small piazza where we are has a fountain and a small viewpoint with benches.
Then it's back into another row of shops. Fran's purse is jumping in her pocket, desperate to get out and fling money around... She stops to touch a leather jacket - as an ex-leather worker she can't walk past a leather shop without both breathing in deeply and casting a critical eye over every piece. Luckily this time it is just touch and go...
We pass a museum of tourism that looks as though it might be diverting for a few minutes but as I've rushed Miss Franny past the shops, she is not going to be tempted by a museum...
We come to a wide promenade and stroll along enjoying the sunshine that is cranking up the heat and encouraging tiny beads of perspiration to form and roll down my back. I hate it when my hair gets all flat and plastered to my head... well... I seem to remember that I do...
It really is hot. We sit down for a moment with a limonate - a lemonade. Very refreshing. It is decided that I can go in the museum on my own, leaving Fran free to go looking at the shops.
"Take your time..." says Miss Franny, "no need to rush in this heat..." Oh dear... this sounds expensive...
The locally produced drink is limoncello, sometimes called limoncina, a lemon based liqueur packaged in a range of bottles some of which are shaped like the lake as seen from above or on a map.
I go into the museum. It has a few 3D exhibits and a whole host of old photographs, tourism adverts and posters and snippets of history about the lake's past including industries and the ferries. The exhibits include old cash tills, marked in Lira and quite nostalgic for anyone who, like me, has spent part of their working life in a shop. There is a jug and ewer set on a stand, a reminder of hotel rooms (or any bedroom) in the days before running water.
There's a huge book of clippings from when the James Bond film crew descended to film the car chase from Quantum of Solace that opens the film. A few show a crane fishing a rather banged up Aston Martin out of the lake near Torbole… Whoops!
We head back to the landing stage to check on times. The Brescia is approaching. As the engines rev a thick plume of smoke comes from her and we can see that it is passing through the space occupied by passengers. We decide to have lunch and then go back...
The ferry turns to go. You can see the haze of black smoke on her left hand side. Standing in the sun, reading the timetables, we realise why everyone chooses to find some shade rather than queue for the ferries!
And on the way back to Riva, there's a good view of the road tunnels, right at the bottom of the photo. It is through these that Daniel Craig as 007 James Bond, throws his Aston Martin about in a desperate chase and gun battle with the baddies! The tunnels and roads were made by Mussolini's army during the 1930s.
When we get back to Riva, we see that a stage is being set up for a concert. We hear the orchestra whilst we are eating our evening meal in the hotel and as we eagerly arrive at the piazza to catch the end of the concert - they reach it...
We hang about in hope that the orchestra might come back - as no one was starting moving equipment or instruments away. However when they did come back they played the quieter bits of Scheherezade that you just couldn't hear at the back of the square with everyone talking and Italian mothers screaming at children. Ho hum!
