Lake Garda at a glance!
Saying goodbye to the Olioso hotel, we went to our next destination - the church of Santuario Madonna della Corona, which is located in the town of Spiazzi, about 40-45 minutes drive inland. It is located at an altitude of 770-800 meters, on the Monte Baldo mountain range, or rather, this church is located at this height, and the town is even higher, because you still need to go down to the church. You can’t drive to the church itself, you can walk about 1 km one way or take a special bus for 3.00 euros round trip per person. Well, we, of course, go by bus to save time, and it's cool there, only +9. This is truly a unique place, the church is carved into the rock, it's like a swallow's nest, it's like a balcony in a wall / stone, I don't even know how and with what to compare.
The road to the church is a continuous serpentine in one car, so you can’t drive up there, and so that there are no oncoming people, because there’s no way out at all, a bus runs.
All the way to the church, at every turn there are bronze figures in real size, for example, on
1 turn there are 2 figures when Jesus Christ is sentenced to death...
Turn 4 when he carries the cross and meets his mother...
7 turn, when he falls to his knees for the second time from the unbearable burden of the cross. .
10 turn, when his clothes are torn off ...
15 turn, when he resurrected ...
I didn’t describe each turn and the statues on it, you can find everything on the Internet, but I can say one thing: it’s impressive. I have never seen anything like it.
Leaving the bus, we heard a pleasant chant that was heard in the mountains, gorges, over the valleys with a rather strong echo. After all, it was Sunday, just on the Catholic Easter, so there was a service in the church. From the bus stop you need to go down a little, here we saw one begging. Everyone served, and so did we, because on such a day everyone should rejoice.
(living in Germany, we celebrate Easter 2, Christmas 2, otherwise nothing. ) The approach to the church is also carved into the rock, there is a cafe, a souvenir kiosk, then you can put candles ...on the left side - a rock, on the right side - a high grate so that no one falls into the gorge. Further on the stairs we rise higher, without ceasing to photograph everything around. We go inside, the church is full of people, you can’t take pictures there, well, that’s how the camera hung around my neck, so I quietly clicked 2 frames. There is no special decoration and wealth there, and the left wall is generally pure rock, not even polished, as they carved a place in the rock where it is even, where it is not even, where there are sharp corners ...so everything has been preserved to our times.
When we were about to leave, and the service had just ended, everyone quietly began to head towards the bus stop. The first bus left, we could not get on it - it was crowded. And it began to rain ...more and more ...
of course, we have umbrellas ...in the car, life does not teach us anything, again we did not take it with us. Hail went down with a large pea, but there is no canopy, nothing at all. Some who were with umbrellas tried to cover the elderly Italians ...these 10-15 minutes that we were waiting for the next bus seemed like an eternity to me. What is commendable, the organizers quickly got their bearings on the weather, and not one bus came, but 3 at once.
And in spite of everything, neither the cold, nor the rain, nor the hail, we were very pleased with visiting this unusual, unique place.
Then we head to the Prada place, which is located at an altitude of 1000 meters, there is a cable car on which you can climb the mountains up to and more than 2000 meters. Light rain does not stop, and the cable car there is chair-type, that is, under the open sky. Almost arrived, the rain does not stop, the attraction is canceled.
Well, now to the shore of the lake, to Brenzone, there is another cable car in reserve in another place, but while we are still climbing the mountains, higher and higher and higher ...It's already -5 overboard, and it's snowing, we are already almost at the very peak of the mountains. There is no one around, we are alone, the road is very narrow, well, very bad, apparently there is nowhere else to climb, a slow, tiring descent begins. There is no longer a thought about oncoming cars, other thoughts: how not to damage the wheels! There are knots, and sharp stones, and sometimes there is no asphalt at all ...Somewhere after the 20th serpentine, the cabin smelled of burning. I had to make a stop so that the car cooled down a little, because all the time on the brakes ...
I thought that we were alone there, but now I watched the video, and there I saw 2 cyclists who were riding towards us, fully equipped, probably athletes, training ...
But with all this, with full attention and concentration, we still did not forget to admire the surrounding landscapes.
And then the lake appeared, and the sun came out, and it became completely more cheerful in my soul. At the time when we were making a forced stop, we saw a jeep rushing from behind a turn uphill, just rushing. The Italian was talking on his cell phone and seemed to be holding on to the steering wheel. It rushed past us at 30-40 cm, and then we realized that the road was in both directions, it’s scary to think what could happen if we met it while driving ...A little lower, the first residential buildings and entire streets. But how narrow is it, how do they separate? How are the cars parked outside the houses? And down the hill, and up the hill, almost mm to mm, in a word, virtuosos. Well, finally, the descent is over, we are in Brenzone. Despite the high beautiful mountains and landscapes that enchant the eye, I do not recommend this descent to anyone, not a single sane person!
By the most beautiful road along the lake we go to Malcesine, here we have our last stop.
There is also another cable car, more modern, more advanced. It consists of 2 sections: the first section of the path you climb in the cabin to S. Michele (by the way, you can also get here by car and climb the mountains only on the 2nd section of the path), then transfer to a gondello, which can accommodate up to 60 a person spins 360 degrees during the ascent, the sensations are simply indescribable. And here we are again in the mountains of Monte Baldo, in some places there is snow, it is quite cool, but we have already experienced this recently, so we are dressed warmly. We did not see the entire beautiful panorama of the lake, mountains, on the opposite shore due to cloudy weather, but what was visible was also indescribably beautiful. But still, as "experienced" people advise, you need to climb here only in clear, sunny weather.
Next on the program is lunch, we chose a decent restaurant on the beach, yes, prices! I'll tell you, in a word, everything is designed for tourists.
Next, we examine the Skaligerburg fortress, which has been preserved since the 13th century, does not cause much enthusiasm, but since we are in this place, we see all the sights. The town itself is pretty: cafes-restaurants-souvenirs-wine shops-shops with cheese and olive oil and, and, and ...And finally, we feast, of course, on delicious Italian ice cream.
The rest of the way we drive as slowly as possible to Torbole, the last pictures from the lake, then we climb the mountains, a toll road, our next goal is Innsbruck, where we have a hotel booked. The road to the city is extraordinarily beautiful, among the rocks, mountains and gorges, on the slopes, vineyards, mountain streams, spruce forests are still covered in snow ...beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. We got to the hotel, now to rest, because today the rain was pouring on us, the hail was “thrashing”, the snow was falling on us, the strongest wind was blowing and it was not hot in Innsbruck, only +4.
