From Munich to Lake Garda

Michael enjoing a large pizza at Pizzeria al Porto in Torbole

We got off to a slow start, leaving Munich at 10.30. Traffic was flowing nicely on the A8, only when we got into Italy, there was a bit of a delay in Italy because of road construction work. Around three o'clock we were in Torbole on the north shore of Lake Garda. Parking was easy and we walked around town to find a nice restaurant. We found the pizzeria, "Pizzeria al Porto" adjacent to the Hotel Centrale, which served big and tasty pizzas (four stars).

Close to the middle station of the lift to Monte Baldo

After the meal we drove down south along the east coast of Lake Garda. Weather was very nice and sunny but the air was not clear, so we couldn't see very far across the lake. Just before Malcesine, we went up the "Via panoramico", which connected to Via S. Michele, and led us to the middle station of the lift up to Monte Baldo. It was a very steep drive and it offered breathtaking views of the lake and the mountains. We parked at the middle station and Hiroko and I went for a little hike while Gunver and Michael stayed below. It was a very nice little walk. It seemed that the parking at the middle station would be a good starting point for longer and more demanding hikes (seemed like you could go all the way to the top of Monte Baldo), and we might do that in the future.
As it was now getting late, we needed to go to our hotel. We drove back north and around the lake to the western shore. Passing by Riva del Garda and Limone sul Garda, we took the most incredible road which led us up, through tunnels and gorges to Pieve in Tremonsino.

View from the roof terrace of our B&B Stella D'oro in Pieve 

We arrived at our B&B Stella D'oro in Pieve and settled in. The staff was very friendly and the rooms lived up to our expectations. We went down to the bar to have drinks. A girl brought complementary mini sandwiches to all the tables in the bar. They were tasty and it was a great way of showing hospitality. For us it was actually a perfect evening meal -none of us could eat any more after all the pizza we had had in the afternoon.

Wed. April 12

We got up early and went down for breakfast. The breakfast at the “Stella d’Oro” offered both German (rye bread), English (egg and bacon,) and Italian (cakes) items. Juice was terrible (concentrate dispensed from a machine), coffee was OK but not fantastic, but the freshly baked bread was excellent. There was also a very nice selection of muesli and the like. Unfortunately, there was a cold draft in the breakfast room, which really prevented you from enjoying the breakfast. I would rate the breakfast 7 on a scale to 10.

Leaving the car at the B&B, we went for a walk in Pieve. From my German guidebook, I knew about the panoramic terrace close to the village square. We marvelled at the stunning views and took photos. Then we explored an old mule track, which, starting just next to the terrace, zigzagged down the almost steep mountainside. Gunver stayed back on a bench at the village square, but the rest of us went down. Michael was very excited about the steep hike. Looking around on the surrounding vertical mountain walls, we felt very small and vulnerable on a path, which seemed to have been constructed by stapling stones and didn’t seem all that convincing in terms of maintenance and safety. On the way, we found a cave with a little statue of a saint on display at the entrance. Eventually, maybe half way down, we decided to turn around. The complete descent to the lake should, according to the signs, take forty minutes. We gathered that the ascent would take at least twice as long and be very strenuous.

Climbing back up, I had to pass somebody. Taking a second look, I discovered that it was a guy with a bike! I could hardly believe my eyes. What a loopy fellow to bring a bike down a vertical mountain climb! It was a German boy with a bike heavily packed for camping, trying to get down the trail! He looked a bit worried and inquired how much he had left of the steep trail. I estimated that he had only gone a fifth of the way, and frankly I was a bit worried for his safety, knowing that some stretches of the path were difficult enough to climb down without a bike (let alone a bike with heavy bags on it). He told us that it was his biking app that had led him to this trail, having indicated it as a biking route. I offered to help him carry his bike and baggage back up, if he wanted to abort the descent. He declined, explaining that alternative routes would be too long because he had a hundred kilometres still to bike even taking this shortcut. In the end, he decided to leave his baggage and carry the bike down first, then return to pick up the rest in turns. I wished him viel glück.

Returning to the village, we met up with Gunver and went to the local post office to get stamps, passing by a little church, that didn’t look like much from the outside, but turned out to contain treasures of art inside. Thanks to Michael, we did not fail to have a look inside (he wanted me to add this remark). Walking around the village, we found an old water station, where the town folks used to wash clothes and presumably get water.

Picking up the car from the parking lot by the B&B, we now drove towards Gardola in the Tignale region, which is the next high plateau just south of Tremosine, where we were. The two plateaus are however separated by a deep gorge, making the drive very long and mountainous. In Gardola, we parked the car and went on a hike up to the monastery “Satuario di Montecastello”. There is a very steep road leading up there (it is actually possible to drive up to the monastery, although the road is at places very narrow and steep) and we walked on the pedestrian path and stairs along the road. It was a tough walk, but we were rewarded with a spectacular view of the lake and mountains, when we reached the monastery.

We had lunch on the terrace by the church and recovered after the walk. Then Hiroko, Michael and I decided to climb up to the summit of the mountain behind the monastery, where there is a great cross. It turned out to be yet another challenging but very interesting hike with increasingly spectacular viewpoints along the way. The route was also dotted with man-made caves, which supposedly had been used to shelter photo-electric projectors which had been able to illuminate very distant locations.

We walked back down and got the car. Being rather exhausted, we decided to go straight to our cottage at the “Le palme camping” close to Gardaland (Lazise) and skipping a visit to Sirmione. The drive down and around the south part of Lake Garda was rather dull and tedious.

We arrived at the camping in very nice weather, making the campsite look like a holiday paradise. It had a large pool area and it looked very attractive, fluorescently blue in the sunlight. Michael and I went there while the ladies made our beds ready in the cottage. We hadn’t brought any swimwear, so Michael used a pair of convincing, mint coloured undies. It was a very tranquil late afternoon with few people by the pools. One of the pools must have been heated, because it was actually rather warm. Michael swam several laps and played around in the water without getting cold while I relaxed on a sunbed.

We had some very late afternoon tea and later went to get bread, ham, cheese, and red wine in the camping supermarket for our evening meal. It was very good.

Thu. 13.04.2017

We got up early, and I went to fetch breakfast at the supermarket. They had some good German style bread rolls and croissants.

It was a short drive to Gardaland and we quickly found a place to park on their immense parking lot. There was quite a lot of people queuing up to get tickets at the entrance, but we got ours without too much trouble. And we did get the 50% discount with our tatty Kellog’s cereal box cut-out voucher, which was quite amazing (good job, Michael, who insisted on cutting out the offer) as it saved us almost 80 euros.

It was a glorious day with sunshine from an almost clear sky and temperatures which rose to about 24 degrees at the end of the day. Once inside the huge park, there was a lot of space and it didn’t feel crowded at all. We tried many different rides and for only one of them we had to spend a long time in a queue. At around half past five we decided to leave the park and drove back to the camping. We had a beer and some snacks on the porch in front of the cottage at the camping. At half past seven, we finally went down to the restaurant at the camping, hoping to dine with a view to the sunset over the lake. The sunset was very intense this evening and so was the business at the restaurant. It was small and packed. We waited for a table for ten minutes and then sat down. After half an hour, no one had taken our orders. Hiroko waived her hand in the air to get service and was reprimanded for doing so by a bossy pigtailed burly old waiter. Next to us sat an old couple looking wary, being in the final phase of waiting to pay the bill after an endlessly protracted dinner full of waiting, but not the kind of waiting you pay tips for… We decided it was time to leave the restaurant…

Hiroko and I went out to get mainly red wine, auxiliarily food. We found a nearby pizzeria and brought back two pizzas and a bottle of red wine.

Friday 14.04

We got up before seven and had an early breakfast before we packed our things. Working together, we managed to efficiently get out of the campinghut. At a quarter to nine, we were on our way south with a full tank of diesel and lovely cappuccinos in the cup holders.

At one o‘clock we were in Orvieto hunting for a restaurant to have lunch. We found a restaurant which turned out to be right next to the funiculare up to the old town on top of the rock. So we couldn’t resist the temptation and went up for a stroll and an ice cream. We saw the cathedral from the outside, which was quite impressive. The church is striped in the same fashion as the cathedral in Sienna, but the front facade is quite unique, packed full of colourful decorations and carrying four bronze statues of fantasy animals.