September 11-26, 2024
We were up early on our departure day. After a nice free breakfast at the hotel we browsed through some side street shops before most of the weekend day trippers arrived. Nothing says you're on vacation more than a Limoncello tasting at 0900! Wish I could remember the small producers name, but we bought a bottle as a gift for later in our trip. We also bought some ravioli cutters for a Christmas gift, later I realized they were made in Germany...it's the thought that counts right?! ;-)
It was hard to leave Limone on such a beautiful day, it really is a wonderful little village! But we had to head south and would you believe we hadn't booked our next lodging? or even picked a town yet?! This is often our style of travel.
This was a Saturday and one thing that we noticed is that the north bound traffic on the western shore is extremely heavy, I mean traffic jam type heavy in several areas. Our south bound lane was flowing nicely though, even with the heavy presence of cyclists. Thankfully my wife is excellent at searching out destinations and accommodations. She first found Gardone Riviera, it looked very nice but seemed too early in our travels. Anybody have experience with Gardone? The coastal lake drive was really enjoyable.
In 2 days we needed to be in the Roero region, I was thinking we would find a small hill town somewhere in that direction, but my wife says how about Desenzano? The warm weather and the water views were really feeling good, so OK! Several years ago we hopped off of a train here with backpacks on. We didn't experience much of the town then, we simply hiked down to the ferry and found our way to Sirmione, also a very last minute booking. As I found parking in the center of Desenzano my wife pinned a few available lodgings, there really weren't many to consider on such a beautiful weekend. One we walked to was in a non descript apartment building couple blocks out of town....keep going...we found one on the other side of town in the perfect setting, BOOK IT! The host immediately responded and asked when would we arrive, we replied we were at the door hahaha! She needed an hour to meet us and that was cool, I was just happy we weren't sleeping in the car! Funny thing, at least for us, when the host walked us to the flat another host was going to show it to another person, makes you wonder why people wait until the last minute to book huh hahaha!
As we normally do, we dropped our bags and hit the ground running. Our apartment overlooked Palazzo Todeschini at the Old Port, building dates around 1500's. What a quiet peaceful area, just 2 blocks off of the more bustling city center. The tiny Old Port is surrounded by wonderful restaurants/cafes and I think Palazzo Todeschini houses the tourism offices? we didn't go in.
The area just north of us seemed to be more residential, nice area to walk around with local rocky beaches. Many people were soaking up the rays. The amazing warm weather made for an enjoyable walk around the marinas and through town, lots of shops and restaurants! We happened upon a vintage car rally exiting town, cool. Later during our stroll we stumbled upon a Fiat 850 car show, what a great start to our visit!
On Sunday we caught the early ferry to Sirmione. I mentioned we stayed a couple nights here years ago, it is worth a return trip! Near the ferry dock we had a full breakfast, eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast, nice combo for me! We then walked to the 13/14th century Scaligero Castle aka Sinking Castle. I might be wrong, but the castle isn't sinking I believe the lakes water levels have risen through the centuries.
We had already toured the inside of the castle (we recommend going in) so we kept walking. We headed along the shoreline wanting to walk around the peninsula as we did a few years ago. Walking beyond the warm sulfur springs at the edge of lake (we soaked in those years ago as well, nice!) we took the small trail to the point and realized we couldn't go as far as last time because the water levels were up,
oh well...up the hill trail to the Grottoes of Catullus, Roman ruins from 1AD! We had already paid to see these wonderful ruins so we branched off down the lower trail to have a beer at the bar at Jamaica Beach, cool spot! They have bathroom facilities!
After a couple drinks we walked up and over to town, did a little afternoon shopping at the many nice shops on the side streets. We wanted to have lunch before catching the ferry, so we walked back to the Ristorante II Grifone, they offer waterfront terrace seating behind the castle. Great restaurant, their food, service and atmosphere is outstanding!
Earlier this morning we saw that Desenzano was having a large weekend market, so we hopped back on the ferry mid afternoon. I'll attach a pic of the ferry lines...looks rough, but it was organized and actually the lines included 3 separate ferry destinations. Sirmione is truly a must see destination in our opinion, great day!
The market was several blocks long and had a variety of merchandise. We had packed extremely light this trip and were tired of wearing the same ole things over and over, so my wife bought a new outfit and I grabbed a new shirt ;-) Dinner would be enjoyed at the Old Port area again, it was our favorite area around Desenzano.
To be continued.......
We were up early on our departure day. After a nice free breakfast at the hotel we browsed through some side street shops before most of the weekend day trippers arrived. Nothing says you're on vacation more than a Limoncello tasting at 0900! Wish I could remember the small producers name, but we bought a bottle as a gift for later in our trip. We also bought some ravioli cutters for a Christmas gift, later I realized they were made in Germany...it's the thought that counts right?! ;-)
It was hard to leave Limone on such a beautiful day, it really is a wonderful little village! But we had to head south and would you believe we hadn't booked our next lodging? or even picked a town yet?! This is often our style of travel.
This was a Saturday and one thing that we noticed is that the north bound traffic on the western shore is extremely heavy, I mean traffic jam type heavy in several areas. Our south bound lane was flowing nicely though, even with the heavy presence of cyclists. Thankfully my wife is excellent at searching out destinations and accommodations. She first found Gardone Riviera, it looked very nice but seemed too early in our travels. Anybody have experience with Gardone? The coastal lake drive was really enjoyable.
In 2 days we needed to be in the Roero region, I was thinking we would find a small hill town somewhere in that direction, but my wife says how about Desenzano? The warm weather and the water views were really feeling good, so OK! Several years ago we hopped off of a train here with backpacks on. We didn't experience much of the town then, we simply hiked down to the ferry and found our way to Sirmione, also a very last minute booking. As I found parking in the center of Desenzano my wife pinned a few available lodgings, there really weren't many to consider on such a beautiful weekend. One we walked to was in a non descript apartment building couple blocks out of town....keep going...we found one on the other side of town in the perfect setting, BOOK IT! The host immediately responded and asked when would we arrive, we replied we were at the door hahaha! She needed an hour to meet us and that was cool, I was just happy we weren't sleeping in the car! Funny thing, at least for us, when the host walked us to the flat another host was going to show it to another person, makes you wonder why people wait until the last minute to book huh hahaha!
As we normally do, we dropped our bags and hit the ground running. Our apartment overlooked Palazzo Todeschini at the Old Port, building dates around 1500's. What a quiet peaceful area, just 2 blocks off of the more bustling city center. The tiny Old Port is surrounded by wonderful restaurants/cafes and I think Palazzo Todeschini houses the tourism offices? we didn't go in.
The area just north of us seemed to be more residential, nice area to walk around with local rocky beaches. Many people were soaking up the rays. The amazing warm weather made for an enjoyable walk around the marinas and through town, lots of shops and restaurants! We happened upon a vintage car rally exiting town, cool. Later during our stroll we stumbled upon a Fiat 850 car show, what a great start to our visit!
On Sunday we caught the early ferry to Sirmione. I mentioned we stayed a couple nights here years ago, it is worth a return trip! Near the ferry dock we had a full breakfast, eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast, nice combo for me! We then walked to the 13/14th century Scaligero Castle aka Sinking Castle. I might be wrong, but the castle isn't sinking I believe the lakes water levels have risen through the centuries.
We had already toured the inside of the castle (we recommend going in) so we kept walking. We headed along the shoreline wanting to walk around the peninsula as we did a few years ago. Walking beyond the warm sulfur springs at the edge of lake (we soaked in those years ago as well, nice!) we took the small trail to the point and realized we couldn't go as far as last time because the water levels were up,
oh well...up the hill trail to the Grottoes of Catullus, Roman ruins from 1AD! We had already paid to see these wonderful ruins so we branched off down the lower trail to have a beer at the bar at Jamaica Beach, cool spot! They have bathroom facilities!
After a couple drinks we walked up and over to town, did a little afternoon shopping at the many nice shops on the side streets. We wanted to have lunch before catching the ferry, so we walked back to the Ristorante II Grifone, they offer waterfront terrace seating behind the castle. Great restaurant, their food, service and atmosphere is outstanding!
Earlier this morning we saw that Desenzano was having a large weekend market, so we hopped back on the ferry mid afternoon. I'll attach a pic of the ferry lines...looks rough, but it was organized and actually the lines included 3 separate ferry destinations. Sirmione is truly a must see destination in our opinion, great day!
The market was several blocks long and had a variety of merchandise. We had packed extremely light this trip and were tired of wearing the same ole things over and over, so my wife bought a new outfit and I grabbed a new shirt ;-) Dinner would be enjoyed at the Old Port area again, it was our favorite area around Desenzano.
To be continued.......