Romeo, Romeo.......

Verona

Today we are in Verona, arrived last night and are staying for two days in an official Ariee di Sosta close to the city centre.

A beautiful sunny day so Em puts on a nice dress

Legend holds that the whale bone will fall upon the first honest person to pass underneath......

Steve practicing to be a museum curator

The bell tower - tomorrow we'll go up

Malcesine, Lago di Garda

Today we decided to take a boat trip across lake Garda. We went to Limone on the West shore and took the ferry to Malcesine on the East shore. When we got on the boat, the best seating area at front was nearly full with tourists who had got on at the previous stop - they were all sitting happily and not budging as we boarded - fortunately but we managed to squeeze in a seat. As the boat pulled away the boat crew yelled "aqua", "aqua", "navigation" - I understood what they meant but the tourists didn't - it was very windy and as the boat turned across the wind lots of spray came aboard soaking those at the front. We had quite a laugh as the seats were suddenly vacated and the raincoats came out......

On the way down to Garda we took detour ("Steve's Scenic Route") which led up a mountain gave us some fabulous views across the lake. Unfortunatley after a few miles the road ran out so we had to go on the main road. This is quite something - there are three tunnels through the mountain from the Ledro valley to Riva del Garda which is at the top of the lake - the longest is 3.5km follwed by two more over 1km long. These together with the dozens of tunnels and galleries along the lakeside made us wonder if the Italians are related to moles :-)

The pretty harbourside at Malcesine

Lunch and time to study the guidebook at a lakeside restaurant.

Em enjoying the sun..... by now the waiter had cleared the table and was hoping we'd stop taking photo's and bugger off!

Sunrise

The rain has stopped at last and its looking like a beauthiful day for our 12 month anniversary!!

Lago di Ledro

Having spent five days relaxing in the sunshine in the South of Lake Garda, today we decided to move to the North end of the lake to see the sights of this area. One reason for the move is that heavy rain was forecast - actually it rained hard ALL DAY AND NIGHT!!!
We are now staying on a small campsite on Lago di Ledro which is another very small lake just to the West of Garda.

The rain stopped briefly - just long enough for Em to snap a few pics of the lake from where Kiki is parked. Hopefully the rain will stop by the morning......

Testing the water temperature

Em checking the temperature of Lake Garda - later we swam here - it was surprisingly warm!!

Man make fire

Move over Ray Mears, Steve has his firestick out - our 2nd Braai (BBQ)

Il Vittoriale degli Italiani - part 3

What's that poking up between the trees?

Yes it's a full size boat poking out of the hillside.....

Apparently the guy who owned the garden asked the Italian navy for an old ship - they liked him so they gave him one and he "planted" it in his garden.

What does this button do? ........ Opps - there goes the greenhouse windows again!

Il Vittoriale degli Italiani - part 2

The Italian Garden

Steve sporting a new line in designer headgear

Roman columns and large caliber shells - this place is getting more and more bizzare

The dolphin fountain

Il Vittoriale degli Italiani - part 1

Today we visited Il Vittoriale degli Italiani which is in Gardonne. This is one of the top ten gardens in Italy and is apparently one of the most popular with the Italians.

The one at the front is Em :-)

Beautiful Italian gardens with lots of quirky bits of architecture

Grotte de Catullo

At the Northern end of the Simione penninsula lies the Grotte de Catullo, a Roman Villa which was used as a staging post for travellers en route from the North.

Two faced

Art in Simione - the left hand face is actually concave....

Sirmione

Today we've come to Sirmione which lies at the end of a 2.5 mile pennisula sticking out from lake Garda's southern shore. Obviously a major tourist destination - the old town was heaving despite it being mid September.

The castle, with it's unique "fishtail" battlements blocks of the end of the penninsula - the only way in or out is via the gateway in this picture.

The castle is surrounded by a "fish filled moat" - well lake Garda actually!

Away from the tourist tat (and ice cream shops) we found some beautiful quiet stretches of shoreline.

Manerva, Lago di Garda

We have decided to spend a few days on a campsite next to Lake Garda. We need a little down time to chill for a while - all this travelling is surprisingly hard work so we've chosen a nice site which has direct access to a beach on the lake and a swimming pool. Unfortunately it's overcast and really windy so no swimming today :-(

This evening we walked to Manerva which is our nearest town - stunning "red sky at night" so we're hoping for better (ie: sunny) weather tomorrow.....

Evening in Iseo

This was one of the liveliest places we have found so far - there were people about and several bars playing loud music. It made a nice change to stroll around somewhere with a "bit of life". I expect things will become quiter still now that the Italian Summer is over.

Ahhhh....

Another sunset over the Italian Lakes

Mount Isola, Lake Iseo

Today we drove to Iseo and found a perfect parking place in a large carpark on the outskirts of the town - we were sharing it with 10 or more motorhomes and what seemed like *all* of the tourist coaches - it was rather tight but we managed to squeeze Kiki in between a motorhome and a coach! When we returned that evening all the coaches and half of the motorhomes had left so we decided to stay the night here.

We took the ferry to the island, Mount Isola in the lake and managed to walk all the way round its perimeter in 3-4hrs.

One of the villages we passed was setting up for some kind of festival - the streets were covered in evergreens and loud (tinny) music was blaring out.

Views from the island to another (smaller) island - can't remember it's name....

Looking South towards the town of Iseo

Lake Iseo

Tonight, after driving for miles along lake Iseo (the Ariee di Sosta we had intended to stay in was closed - permanently, and everywhere had sign's prohibiting overnight parking) we found a parking space with lovely views of the lake.

The village of Riva del Sotto - benefitting from a new promenade and carpark (thank you!)

Bergamo

Today we went to Bergamo - I asked Jane (the satnav) to take us to the old town and so she did - up a very steep cobbled road, round a couple of hairpins and through the archway of the old town wall (bit of a squeeze than one!). We found a space in a carpark and with the back of Kiki in the trees managed to get into the space - it was so tight that when we came to leave I had to drive forward further into the carpark and then reverse out, round a corner and onto the road.

Driving from the city, up the hill and through the old wall you are taken back 500 years to the medieval city. We came the other way in - this bridge would've been too narrow for Kiki.

Exterior staircase leading up to the Palazzo Ragione - the oldest communal palace in Italy

Capella Colleoni - a very ornate mausoleum