June 9: From Verona to Lake Garda then to Florence

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June 9, 2018, and flight home June 10, 2018


Today we went to beautiful Lake Garda.

From Wikipedia:

Lake Garda (Italian: Lago di Garda or Lago Benàco, Latin: Benacus; Lombard: Lach de Garda; Venetian: Łago de Garda) is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location located in northern Italy, about halfway between Brescia and Verona, and between Venice and Milan on the edge of the Dolomites. Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end of the last Ice Age. The lake and its shoreline are divided between the provinces of Verona (to the south-east), Brescia (south-west), and Trentino (north). The name Garda, which the lake has been seen referred to in documents dating to the eighth century, comes from the town of the same name. It is the evolution of the Germanic word warda, meaning "place of guard" or "place of observation."




There are many towns and villages surrounding the lake, and we went to Sirmione.

From Wikipedia:

The ancient fortified town of Sirmione, located on the south of the lake, is one particularly popular destination, home to the Virgilio & Catullo Spa Complexes, as well as numerous restaurants, bars, hotels, fashion stores and a market. The picturesque Scaliger castle dates from the 13th century. The Roman poet Catullus had a villa here, and visitors can see a ruined Roman spa named the Grotte di Catullo (Grottoes of Catullus) although there is no evidence linking him to this particular building. The sulfur springs at the tip of the peninsula have a reputation for healing catarrhal conditions, particularly those involving the ear.



All of the buses with all of the choirs were now together (In Verona we were at 3 hotels so we only saw the Florida group because they were on our bus and at our hotel). We got on boats and they took us out to the islands to see one island in particular: Isola del Garda. Touring the estate was not part of our agenda so we went back to Sirmione.

From Wikipedia:

Isola del Garda or Isola di Garda or Isola Borghese is the biggest island on Lake Garda. It is part of the comune of San Felice del Benaco, in the Province of Brescia, Lombardy, Italy. The island has a long and varied history, having been used as a Roman burial ground, pirate lair, a site for a Franciscan monastery, border fortification and as a residential villa. The island has been visited by numerous famous people over the centuries, reportedly including Francis of Assissi, Anthony of Padua and Dante Alighieri. Today, it is covered by a park and is dominated by the Venetian neogothic Villa Borghese Cavazza. Although privately owned by the Cavazza family, Isola del Garda has been open to visitors since 2001.



We had free time to wander around Sirmione, a delightful place. I found a lemon shop and bought lemon soap. Then I found a lavender shop and bought lavender pumice. I had ice cream, of course, and wandered around. I loved this place and could spend several days here instead of just a few hours. I could spend a week at Lake Garda and move from village to village, go up the mountains, hike, bike, paddle on the lake. This is my kind of place and it's just south of the Dolomite Mountains.

We went as a group to a restaurant on the lake, around 14:00 hours. It's been quite warm with some interesting thunderstorms. The clouds were building up over the mountains and one mountain looked like a volcano. After lunch the buses took us all back to Florence and, wouldn't you know it, there was a car fire on the way. Traffic stopped for awhile but not as long as the previous stop when a truck burned up. We stopped at the truckers stop and I bought a sandwich for later since I just had lunch. We got to our hotel about 20:00 hours and we took our sandwiches down to the bar and had farewell drinks with our dinner.

Sunday I got up at 0300 to catch the 0330 bus to the airport. They arranged transport for us earlybird flyers at that time, and another transport at 0800 for people that had later flights. The airport opened at 0400 and we all sleepily lined up to check in. Luckily the Florence airport is not that big so it's easy to get around. I bought Limoncello at the duty free shop and got on my 0640 flight to Frankfurt, and eventually to San Diego.

Some final thoughts: I'm really glad I went to Croatia, Montengro, and Slovenia before I joined the choir tour. Those countries are beautiful and the people are wonderful. I loved Plitvice National Park in Croatia, and Lake Bled in Slovenia.

The choir tour was good, but MidAm International did not manage the trip well. There were many changes of the itinerary, and instructions were not always clear about where to be and what time to be there. Our 2 performances went well as far as I can tell, and we did have some great sightseeing factored into the trip.

Chow!

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Photos

Map of Lake Garda.
Sirmione the peninsula that is on the south of the lake.

Isola del Garda
The island has a long and varied history, having been used as a Roman burial ground, pirate lair, a site for a Franciscan monastery, border fortification and as a residential villa.

Isola del Garda
Today, it is covered by a park and is dominated by the Venetian neogothic Villa Borghese Cavazza.

Grottoes of Catullus
Grottoes of Catullus is the name given to the ruins of a Roman villa which was built at the end of the 1st century B.C. and the beginning of the 1st century A.D. at the northernmost end of the peninsula of Sirmione on the southern shore of Lake Garda.