Mediterranean climate, Italian food, the home of prosecco… what’s not to like?
We flew to Verona and straight into a drama at the car hire place. The chap was not impressed and an hour later we drove off in Terry the tank, anyway after some fun in the traffic and no real idea where we were going, we arrived!
Our hotel Hotel Marco Polo Verona was a cute little place down a side street near the main square. Its only a small city so after a short stroll to get the lay of the land we found a nice little restaurant for dinner near the castle with a small fairy lit outdoor courtyard and enjoyed a bottle of wine. The next day we explored more of Verona, ticking off the iconic Romeo and Juliet balcony of course, but keen to get away from the throngs of tourists we headed up the hill through some beautiful gardens for a lovely view over the city, on the way back down we found a super nice bar overhanging the river and had a very welcome beer. That evening we dined on classic Neapolitan pizza and headed to the Opera in the local Colosseum which was really special in open air venue. A couple of days were enough to explore but its a really cute little stop.
The next day we drove to Lake Garda and our hotel Le Ali del Frassino. We absolutely LOVED this place, the décor was right up our street, exposed brick walls and wooden beams mixed with modern luxury and we wasted no time in getting by the pool for our first bottle of very reasonable priced fizz. Several of our days here were spent lazily around the pool and the hotels restaurant was set on a small private lake so a lovely rural setting.
We did manage to venture out a few times and one evening headed to the nearest town Peschiera del Garda for dinner by river, although I ordered a white pizza by mistake, rookie error! Another afternoon we headed to Sirmione which has a mini castle/moat at the entrance of the town, cobbled streets galore we wondered around with some gelato, stopping at the local thermal baths for the sunset. We also planned to visit the Grotte di Catullo ruins at the northern tip of the town but managed to visit on the day it was closed, there’s a lesson in there somewhere.
Our biggest daytrip was up to Riva del Garda right at the north of the lake, it’s a beautiful drive as you see the flat Mediterranean landscape give way to rolling green hills. The scenery up here is really epic and we stopped for a while on the edge of the lake with a coffee to take it all in. Second stop was Malcesine where we jumped on the cable car up a fairly big mountain for a view over the lake, getting quite a shock when we realised it was freezing up there, it was also misty so we soon headed back down back to the lake for a pizza. As the evening was drawing in out last stop was Bardolino where Dan had his first dive into the lake and we enjoyed a classic Italian cocktail. A lovely day!
The final part of our trip was a night in Venice which of course meant more pizza as we spent the day pottering around the streets admiring the architecture of the building, bridges and squares, yes there are a lot of people and some overpriced bars but it’s a unique and beautiful place.
Italy, we will be back…
If you like Piña Coladas... 