| Lago di Garda
In case you've been wondering where I've been the last few days, I've been on vacation in Italy. More specifically, I was at the Lago di Garda. Very nice. Lago di Garda is a lake in northern Italy nestled in the mountains. It's a very popular tourist attraction for German, Dutch, and and Swedish sun seekers. The lake is crystal clear and surrounded by adorable, little towns. We stayed in Torbole sul Garda at the Casa Morandi, a nice hotel, considering it only got two stars. Given the usual price of lodgings around the lake, Casa Morandi is a real bargain at just over 30 EUROs per person per night. One of the most interesting things about Lago di Garda is that we didn't meet any other Americans there. At all. For a major tourist destination, that's unusual.
This vacation was also a first for me. It's the first time we've gone anywhere in Europe to relax. Normally, anywhere we go, we are in tourist mode, zooming from city to city, site to site. This time, we did almost no site seeing. We spent the majority of the vacation sitting in cafes by the lake sipping capuccini (the plural of capuccino) and limoncello. It was nice just to be in a beautiful place with no agenda and no schedule.
One of the more notable things about Lago di Garda is the wind that blows all afternoon. Windsurfing is by far the dominant activity on the north end of the lake. Always one to try new things, I gave windsurfing a shot. I fell down a lot. In total, I managed about 15 seconds of being up on the board. It seems like it could be a fun sport, but I either need some serious practice or some professional instruction.
On the way home, we took at side trip to Cinque Terra, a cluster of small villages on the Italian Riviera. The villages are extremely quaint and very Italian and are perched on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. The seafood is insanely fresh and the views are breathtaking. If it weren't for all the American tourists, it would be the perfect vacation getaway. Thank you, Rick Steves.
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Posted by Sirmione on August 23, 2005 at 03:16 AM PDT #