from Garda to...
As usual, I planned my summer trip carefully and for a long time. visas were opened in advance
... and untied their hands in any Schengen direction. For a long time, being an adherent of France, I chose Nice or Cannes for holidays, but successful trips to Venice and the New Year's Eve in Tuscany planted seeds of doubt in my soul. I wanted to go to Italy again. And to all my husband’s objections that we had already been there, I promised to make a route in such a way as to go where I had not been and see what I had not seen before.
Let's summarize what we have already seen in Italy: 2008 Milan, Como on the lake of the same name, Genoa; 2010 Sanremo; 2011 Venice; 2012-2013 Pisa, Florence, Rome.
Given the above and the possibilities, the following picture emerged.
Arrival in Bergamo with transfer to Lake Garda, city of Salo, Commercio hotel 98 € per night 08-09.06. 13. Further hotel Cristina in Limone sul Garda for 282€ for 3 nights 09-12.06. 13.
After a holiday on the lake - a week at the sea in Sicily in the town of Trapani in Trabinus apartments for 390 € for 6 nights 12-18.06. 2013. The Egadi Islands turned their heads in earnest, no less than I wanted to take a funicular ride from Trapani to the village of Erice in the evening. And the Greek motifs of salt mills haunted the wild imagination.
Well, in order to capture not only Italy, but also look into neighboring Slovenia, once again wash your feet in the Adriatic, on June 18 a flight to the small town of Monfalcone near Trieste is planned and paid for, followed by accommodation in Grado Town in apartments 173 €. The option to stop in the Austrian Klagenfurt on the lakes of Carinthia was dropped due to the high cost of the project and the modest budget of the planned trip.
The final chord of the summer voyage was supposed to be put in Treviso, but due to the not too early departure from the airport and the need to follow from Trieste to Venice in any case, and only then moving to the place of departure, the plan was adjusted in favor of Venice. The cost of living in hotels in Trieste and Venice is the same, and once again look into the pearl of the Adriatic, I can not miss this chance. According to this, the eye fell on a room in the ** hotel Mart, located next to the railway station. 120€ per night with breakfast is a little expensive, but for the sake of this city I am ready to make such sacrifices.
On the first day of the trip, everything went like in a nursery rhyme about a horseshoe, remember? "There was no nail - the horseshoe was gone, the horseshoe was gone - the horse was lame... " And so on, little pleasant events took place on the rise. It would seem that the sun was shining over the city of Kiev, everything favored a pleasant flight, but no. A thunderstorm came from somewhere and the flight to Bergamo was delayed for an hour. It was still somehow possible to come to terms with this, but then we were expected by a demonstration in Bergamo and the impossibility of getting by bus to the railway station. Walking with suitcases from the center of Bergamo added another hour to our schedule. Everything would be fine, even the tickets for the train to Brescia bought in advance with a delay of 2 hours did not disappear (according to the terms of the tariff, it is possible to travel within the next 2 hours), in Brescia we were confused by the carabinieri's wrong advice about the location of the bus station. Another half an hour + in the schedule. The turmoil with the movement ended only at 19:10, when we got on the bus going to Gargnano, through Salo, which in fact was the object of desire of our first day in Italy. But, even when we got to the hotel at such a late time, we managed to make the Promenade through the evening city. In the morning, standing on the balcony and whetting the appetite with the smell of vanilla emanating from the neighboring restaurant, for some reason I thought that everything was not so bad, and it would be better further.
It did get better, but not by much. Salo turned out to be a pretty little town, there were not many tourists in it, mostly local dogs were walking. The day was sunny and Sunday. The last circumstance was frightening. In small towns nothing works on Sunday. As it turns out, this is not what you need to be afraid of. Grocery and gelateria worked properly, the snag came out with the bus. Pressing the next haven was the Hotel Cristina in the town of Limone sul Garda. The first bus that came up went to Gargnano, we went there, because we had not yet been to Gargnano, and it was not comfortable to hang around on a narrow path with suitcases and a small child. In Gargnano, the final stop was with a canopy, benches and a gorgeous panoramic view of Garda. We walked for an hour, two, three, but there are still no buses. Clouds have already begun to thicken in the sky, the time of settling is approaching, and the option to wait for the bus has begun to tend to zero. Upon careful examination of the schedule, I found out that it was from Monday to Saturday... I didn’t have to count on a taxi either, they didn’t catch my eye, but after grabbing our luggage, we still went in search of a cab. The rain intensified, which required urgent action. The first thing that came to mind: call a taxi to the hotel, the benefit of them in the resort towns on the lake is darkness. We came to the first one that came across, the owner, having entered our position for 20 €, drove us right under the hotel. A dense rain curtain stood over Limone, if we presented it on the bus, we would get wet to the skin, so everything worked out, albeit not immediately. At the reception, we received the keys to 504 rooms, a detailed plan for moving around the hotel and the city, and went to rest. The room was clean and quite spacious with a huge bathroom, balcony overlooking the lake.
Day three started with breakfast and a trip to the beach. A rather steep road leads to the lake from the hotel along the bed of a small mountain river, sometimes falling with roaring waterfalls.
Going down, drove the thought of a steep climb on the way back, so as not to spoil the impression of the breathtaking mountain scenery. The water in the lake was cold, if not icy, but in contrast to the hot day it was quite acceptable for dipping. Since bathing does not add up, the child began to throw stones into the water and feed the swan and rather unceremonious ducks with the remnants of ice cream. Slowly strolling along the coast, we quickly reached a small pier, where tourists were already actively inviting for boat trips to the opposite shore to Malcesine. The round trip was offered for 9€, for children - a reduced rate. We carried her over to the next day and continued our leisurely examination of Limone. The second half of the day was spent by the pool in the company of numerous German and English pensioners. Nastenka swam with pleasure, and having dealt with the hydromassage button, she had fun on powerful water jets.
The planned boat trip in Malcesine the next day pleasantly diversified the rest on the lake. The atmosphere of the town of Malcesine was more democratic than in Limone. And here and there came across cafes, pizzerias, souvenir shops. We tasted delicious pizza and squid in batter and, of course, ice cream. After a holiday on the Garda, sunny Sicily was waiting for us, but the sudden need to return to work cut off all our bright plans. But everything that is not done is all for the better! And we will definitely go to Sicily!
