Lake Garda - another story

Lake Garda (on our way home)

This story follows on from our “Second trip to Cres” where you may recall, I enticed my OH (Mrs Miggins) into a second holiday in Cres with a promise of a few nights at Lake Garda on our way back to Blighty.

So, after spending 8 nights on the idyllic island of Cres, it’s time for pastures new and a stay at Camping Fornella on the western shores of Lake Garda, in the deliciously sounding area of San Felice del Benaco, all booked through the Club.
We said goodbye to our new friends and neighbours the previous evening and left Camping Slatina like Steve McQueen and ‘that’ tunnel. So silent was our departure that we even disturbed the still-sleeping guard at the barrier, who, remembered where he was and cheerily waved us on our way, whilst checking his watch to see we were one minute after the legal departure time!

We didn't encounter another vehicle on our 25 mile journey to the port of Merag, not one! We were also treated to a spectacular sunrise as we descended towards the ferry. We watched as our ferry approached and wondered where and how all the waiting traffic had come from. Would it all fit on the ferry? Miraculously we were all loaded in order with some cars being told to hang fire. “What a shame they won't fit on” said Miggs, at which point the floor was raised and the waiting cars gobbled up into the bowels.

After a brief and calm crossing, our journey was some 280 miles and I had reckoned on 7 or so hours. Sadly, this was increased immediately we reached the Croatia/Slovina border by an hour, due to the amount of people wishing to enter/exit and only two officials on duty!

The in-car sat-nav was proving very good indeed, so much so the maps had now taken a back seat. The next hurdle was dealing with the tolls. Because Europe drive on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, it means their toll booths are also inappropriately situated! This meant Miggins had to climb down from the car and manually insert the card in order for us to progress. We noticed even folk with left-hand drive cars had the same problem. Like us, even though they were not towing, their arms didn’t extend to 2.89 metres either. Thankfully, Miggs had pressed the right buttons, the barrier went up and she jumped back in the car. Payment was taken without the need for PIN, which made me think about how diligent I needed to be when the next statement arrived. (I needn’t have worried).

The roads were good, temperatures in the mid thirties and more traffic than in Germany or Austria. Having never been to Italy and from a rural area myself, I was amazed at just how much acreage is dedicated to the grape, fields upon fields, mile after mile. “There has to be a wine mountain somewhere,” I concluded.

After an hour or so we stopped for coffee at a place with a big yellow ‘M’ It’s not a place I use that much nowadays, but have always enjoyed their hot coffee. What an eye-opener! Totally different, to UK, similar food but with much more choice, freshly cooked, croissants on offer and a cafe attached to it with a vast array of cakes and chocolate things, which looked delicious. A much better experience than at home.

Eventually our turn off arrives and now we head in a northerly direction up the west side of Lake Garda. “At the roundabout, take the second exit” is indelibly printed on my brain after negotiating more roundabouts than in Milton Keynes or Telford. At least the views are nice, bordering on spectacular, if only the traffic wasn’t quite so heavy! After what seemed like an eternity (about 40 mins) “At the next roundabout, take first exit’ Hurrah! Soon we were at the entrance to Camping Fornella, along with half a dozen ‘eagerly-wanting-to-get-to-my-pitch-and-I’ll-forget-my-manners-until-I-get-there’ customers. Calm is immediately restored when we’re given directions to our allocated super pitch (only because we’re over 7 metres) and the super-slick barrier/gate slides back to let us in, whilst the ‘throng’ at reception were herded in a different direction.

This is another big site, with big quality facilities, swimming pools, restaurant, cafe and bar, sports facilities, a shop AND an automatic toilet cassette cleaning contraption, or so I thought! (This was the second such device I’d encountered on this trip) Turned out to just be a very modern emptying point, which was adjacent to a motorhome waste station. On pressing the button to clean, what I thought was the cassette, ended up me being drenched! Water squirting out of the ground from all directions! It was an upside-down-shower! Bl**dy motorhomers I thought, turning round to see Miggins in fits of laughter!!
I love motorhomes, my sister has one, but just for a brief moment, I had my doubts.

Back to our now set-up ‘van in a leafy, ‘sheltered from the hot sun’, pitch, surrounded by hedges and bushes, flowers and fauna. Very nice indeed. For the first time in nearly two weeks, we encountered some fellow British campers and it was nice to ‘exchange notes.’
A dip in the ‘adult’ pool was more than welcome as the temperatures climbed to 37c. Sadly, the pool closed at 7pm and between the 12-2pm (quiet time) We ate at the site restaurant, but were not overly impressed. However what was impressive was the quietness of the site after curfew! This was shattered in the middle of the night by the loudest, noisiest, thunderstorm ever encountered! It was directly over our caravan and the lightening was truly spectacular. Weirdly, the temperature only dropped a couple of degrees, but outside, the freshness of the air was so sweet.

Garda is a big lake and we were able to see a very small part of it, but what we saw we liked very much. We took a ferry to Sirmione which took 2.5 hours and stopped at 5 or 6 towns along the way and took the fast catamaran back, which was direct and took 40 mins.

Visiting Venice for a day, using the train, turned out be a very long and tiring day and pretty expensive too. If you’re able to book in advance, it will be much lighter on your pocket.
Venice was a revelation. It is quite simply stunning. However, if you’re a bit like me and don’t like crowds Venice may not be for you and I definitely didn't like to see street vendors in all the popular tourist spots. What would I do with a ’selfie’ stick?!
Away from the crowds it was majestic. We saw all the ‘touristy’ bits by using the Vaporettos and then meandering through the deserted back streets, but I was glad to get back on the train for two reasons: One, I was knackered and two, I found the whole experience was a bit too “Disney-like.” In fairness, we needed more time to be devote to Venice, which we simply didn’t have, but I’m busy researching sites nearby for a future instalment.

Another day we spent meandering around the lesser known Lake Iseo, which is to the west of Garda and is some 25kms long. It too has stunning scenery and is much quieter than its illustrious neighbour.

We loved the tranquility, serenity and beauty of Sirmione early in the morning. We got there well before the ‘Tifosi’ and wandered around empty streets and alleyways, exploring to our hearts content. Later, we watched as the shop-keepers opened their shutters, cleaning with pride the respective marble or stone frontages, ready to impress whatever ‘prey’ they could entice. The ice-cream sellers, the cafes, the chemist, butchers, bakers and candlestick makers all came alive as we watched from our lake-side coffee table. Even the ‘Tatt’ sellers seemed to sell a better quality ‘Tatt’! We hopped on a boat which guided us around this spectacular peninsular, past the ancient Roman fortress and back through the castle moat. We saw the house where Maria Callas once lived and we marvelled at a little church we found tucked away in a back street and at the stone-clad buildings covered in vivid pink Bougainvillea. This is a gem of a place and by midday, it’s busy, so time for lunch and then a swift exit and back to the caravan for schiacciare un pisolino - to have a siesta.

There are hundreds of cafes, restaurants and bars along the lake and it would be a sin not to try the pasta or pizza when in Italy. We dined in the little picturesque port of Portese, just a few minutes from the campsite. We also ate in the gorgeous little market square of San Felice del Benaco, again almost on the doorstep. We found the food to be of good quality. We tried to absorb as much of Italy as we could, after all, it was our first time, but hopefully, wont be the last.

It was all too quickly time to leave, but Garda and Italy had worked its’ magic on us. We headed round the south of the lake heading north through the Dolomites, the Brenner Pass, into Austria, over the Fern Pass, and back into Germany - another staggeringly beautiful, easy 250 mile drive with a couple of stops, arriving at Camping Hopfensee, near Fussen, our next destination

Arrivederci