European Grand Tour 2007 Day 6

Day 6

Back in the car again today. We headed off quite early and drove down the side of the lake to Tremezzo. We stopped and had our breakfast on a bench right on the lake front. There was a fabulous view over the lake towards Bellagio:

Bellagio from Tremezzo, originally uploaded by xrrr.

We went to Tremezzo specifically to go to Villa Carlotta. The world famous (aparently) villa and gardens.

Villa Carlotta, originally uploaded by xrrr.

This turned out to be a great move. We had the entire gardens to ourselves (aside from the gardeners) and as it was early it was still relatively cool so it was a great time to stroll round the magnificent gardens. Every now and again you would walk round a corner and glimpse a picture postcard view of the lake and mountains.

Villa Carlotta, originally uploaded by xrrr.

There was this strange huddle of turtles in a fountain that I thought was a statue until their heads moved every now and again:

Turtle Pile, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Right next door to the Villa Carlotta is the Tremezzo Grand Hotel. It looked like a great place to stay. We walked past the garage and it had a Ferrari and Porsche 911 (both British) parked up with a bunch of German Mercedes. Valet parking. Private lake front. Fantastic views. Needless to say, not cheap. Maybe one day.

Back in the car we decided to break up the journey to our next hotel on the west coast of Lake Garda by visiting Sirmione at the southern tip of the lake. Satnav set so away we go. For some reason that I can't remember we (I) decided to take the scenic route avoiding the motorway. Not a good move. We took the SP342 between Como and Bergamo. Not at all picturesque and full of lorries avoiding the motorway tolls. We got stuck in a few jams and I was getting a bit grumpy. We stopped for petrol, the man behind the till could not speak English (not a problem with my "numero tre per favore" of course :-) and asked me in Italian if I was German. When I said I was English he started jabbering something about Liverpool. I told him London as I assumed he would not know Guildford - despite the 65 Italian restaurants in Guildford.

Petrol and Pringles purchased it was off to find the autostrada to try and speed up the journey a bit. Eventually we got to the motorway, and we were off to Sirmione.

Sirmione, originally uploaded by xrrr.

The (rubbish) guide book described Sirmione as a beautiful medieval fortress village on a vehicle free peninsular of Lake Garda. "Like the dot above an 'i'". We parked up in the car park and walked the 5 minutes or so to the drawbridge.

Sirmione was horrible. It was really busy, full of tourists and full of annoying tourist shops that sell lace bibs with names embroidered on and snow globes and the like. Not sure they actually had any snow globes but there was lots of souvenir places. We stopped for lunch and I got a bit grumpy (again) because I had a grim ham and cheese foccacia (that was not actually foccacia) and Alison had a burnt pizza.

After lunch we started on the panoramic walk round the town walls but after about 5 minutes decided that we were not having fun so left!

Lake Garda, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Back at the car park I got the photo that I had promised my physiotherapist (who fixed my dodgy knee) of me, my car and an Italian lake. Well Dianne, here it is:

Me, my car and Lake Garda, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Alison was slightly worried that the accommodation I had booked for that night was going to be like Sirmione. I must admit that I was getting a bit concerned as we drove down the road by the lake. Fortunately things got better as we went further north. We were staying in a place called Gardone Riviera that turned out to be very nice indeed. We found our hotel, the Hotel Villa Sofia and parked up for the day.

Hotel Villa Sofia, originally uploaded by xrrr.

The hotel was pretty good, it had a slightly unhelpful desk person and the bathroom window was strangely not frosted so the road junction up the hill could see into our bathroom. The best thing about the hotel was that it was only 5 minutes walk from the historic part of the town. Quiet streets and no tourists (apart from us).

Gardone Riviera, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Gardone Riviera, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Before dinner I decided to leave Alison sitting by the pool and hike up the hill to take some photos of the view. Whilst I was stood by a gate to a house the only car to come along was a clapped out old Ford Fiesta with two old ladies in it. It turned out to be their house I was loitering outside. They started talking to me and I said "sono inglese". They saw the camera and muttered something about "uno photo" and started smiling. I responded with "bella vista, bella vista" waving my camera and they seemed happy that I was not paparazzi or a burglar. I wish I had asked if I could have taken their photo but I am always a bit embarrassed to ask total strangers if they would not mind me taking their photo - i.e. I have never asked anyone I don't know for their photo. Never mind. This is the best photo I took that involved me climbing up a 5 foot wall to stand on to get a good view when the coast was clear:

Lake Garda, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Shame I could not get another 5 feet higher so I could chop out that roof.

Back to the hotel and a quick shower flashing my bits to passing cars - no accidents caused - then dinner. We found a fantastic restaurant in the old town that served up the best meal we had all holiday. Off to bed as the next day it was the bit I was looking forward to all holiday. The mountains.

[All Photos][Next Day]

European Grand Tour 2007 Day 5

Day 5

Today we decided to buy breakfast from the little shop underneath the apartment. All went well except the shop keeper told me off for handling his bananas. Apparently I should have just pointed at them even though they were in the middle of the shop. Oh well, he was a nice chap but had probably gone a bit loopy having had to have listen to the clock tower chiming every 15 minutes of his working day.

Today's boat trip was the Servizo Rapido down to Como. About a 60 minute trip to the bottom end of the lake on a catamaran or hydrofoil.

Servizo Rapido, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Ticket lady was warming to me by now but she was not to know that this would be the last time she would have to decipher my Italian. Off to Como.

When we got there we decided to go straight up the funicular railway up to Brunate.

Como-Brunate Funicular, originally uploaded by xrrr.

We did not manage to find Brunate itself, once we had looked at the view we decided it was time to eat :-)

Como from Brunate, originally uploaded by xrrr.

We stopped at a cafe right by the train station and had a great meal served by a jolly chap. One highlight was the beer. It was a local brew called Wismar Como and was so nice I had to have two. I have been trying to find out where to buy it but have not had any luck on Google so far.

Wismar Como - very nice, originally uploaded by xrrr.

After 5 days I felt more and more confident about my Italian. I noticed that you needed a borrow a key to get to the toilet. So I strode into the cafe confidently asking: "Dove e la chiesa per la toiletta?". It was not until a few days later that I remembered that key is chiava and I had asked for the church for the toilet. Oh well, my international language of gesture backup obviously overrode my speaking as I got the key ok. This reminds me of the undercover Englishman Officer Crabtree from Allo Allo: "I was pissing by the door, when I heard two shats. You are holding in your hand a smoking goon; you are clearly the guilty potty.". Doh!

After lunch we decided to follow a guided walk round Como in our (as previously mentioned the other day) rubbish guidebook.

Original Gatehouse to Como, originally uploaded by xrrr.

After we got lost trying to find the start of the walk we were off to a good start. After Menaggio, Bellagio and Varenna, Como was a bit of a disappointment. It was a bit scummy if you lost sight of the lake. We walked for about an hour and a half in approx 32 degree full sun and very quickly got lost again (I blame the book). Alison got a bit grumpy from the heat and the fact that we were walking down a road with a picturesque sewage treatment works and a closed down hotel that could have come straight out of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Eventually we found the lake again and the scenery took an upward turn.

Como, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Aero Club Como, originally uploaded by xrrr.

We got back to the pier got the next fast boat back to Mennagio. Time for an ice cream and a sit by the lake to have a read in the evening sunshine.

[All Photos][Next Day]

European Grand Tour 2007 Day 4

Day 4

Somehow, despite the bells, we managed to oversleep a little on this day. So we skipped breakfast and headed straight for Varenna.

Varenna is pretty much directly opposite Menaggio and a short boat ride away. After impressing my friend the ticket lady ("due billietti a Varenna retorno per favore") we were on our way.

Varenna, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Varenna is quite small and mostly split into 2 main parts: The lake front and the town square by the church. We normally travel with the DK Eye Witness Travel books as we find them great at pointing out the best things to do in an honest style. On this trip we did not have one so had been relying on some substandard guide books and the tourist information booths. After hunting around for a while we eventually found the Varenna tourist info place. It was closed.

Varenna, originally uploaded by xrrr.

By this time we were starving so decided to go for breakfast somewhere. Whilst eating breakfast by the lake we came across a mention in our (not very good) guide book of the Villa Monastero botanical gardens so we thought we would head over there.

Villa Monastero Gardens, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Good choice! The villa itself is a conference centre (god I wish that our annual work conference was there rather than the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham with its, what I call, Camp Colditz style accommodation!) so the villa was out of bounds but the gardens and the views from the gardens were awesome:

View from the Villa Monastero Gardens, originally uploaded by xrrr.

View from the Villa Monastero Gardens, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Villa Monastero Gardens, originally uploaded by xrrr.

The scenery was a picture and one that a number of people were taking advantage of:

Capturing the scene the classical way, originally uploaded by xrrr.

After the villa we had a pizza and a beer in a great location right by the waterfront. A great place to spend a couple of hours and bask in the sunshine drinking beer.

Lunch by the lake, originally uploaded by xrrr.

After sitting for a while it was time to head back to Menaggio, where we had an[other] ice cream and a stroll along the lake front. It was so nice we just sat by the lake and read a book for a few hours in the sunshine with this view from our bench:

An evening sitting by the lake, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Very relaxing.

[All Photos][Next Day]

European Grand Tour 2007 Day 3

Day 3

We woke up in the morning (at 07:30 thanks to the bell man at the clock tower) and we had the most glorious blue sky morning. But first, I had to check my car was ok! As you are well aware I am slightly precious about my cars. The apartment was advertised as having parking which made me think that there was a dedicated space. Oh no. There are parking spaces on the street outside the apartment but nothing dedicated. Fortunately Freddy had managed to create a space by moving a couple of scooters. After some careful manoeuvring we got the car as close to the wall as possible. Now here is the thing. I could not work out how to fold in the wing mirrors on the car. My old E46 saloon they used to fold in. On this one there did not seem to be any movement at all. I have seen other E46 coupes out there with the mirrors folded up but they did not seem to want to move in any direction. So I left them. Given I had a space in a quiet side street ten seconds from the door of the apartment we (I) decided that we were not going to be doing any more driving whilst we were in Menaggio :-)

Safely tucked away in a side street, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Anyway the car was fine (and was all holiday).

We had prima colazione (breakfast) outside on the main square. Coffee, croissant and a ham and cheese toasted sandwich (I had two toasted sarnies as we did not realised that "tosta mista" was not veggie for Alison). A fantastic view out over Lake Como that allayed all fears about the weather from the day before.

Lake Como at Breakfast, originally uploaded by xrrr.

We had decided that once in Menaggio we would use the frequent boat service to explore the local area partially because of the parking but mainly because it is much quicker and easier to get on a boat rather than drive. I purchased the ticket from the rather scary ticket booth lady - not sure why I found her scary, I think it was because she was rather severe and did not take to my request for "due billietti per uno giorno centro" (2 day tickets for the central lake) in stumbling Italian with a heavy English accent. Personally I think she was secretly impressed with my insistence to speak Italian to everyone. Anyway, today's destination was Bellagio.

Belaggio from the Lake, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Bellagio was great. More touristy than Menaggio but not in a particularly bad way. Menaggio had more Italian tourists (plus Alison was on constant "George Watch" after she read the Mr Clooney was a frequent visitor to the Menaggio gold club) whereas Bellagio had more British and American people. As soon as we got off the boat we picked up a walking guide from the tourist office at the boat pier. That walked turned out to be excellent. It took us on a 2 hour walk around the villages around Bellagio.
Rather than going into the details, here are some photo highlights:

The view at the end of the Salita Cappuccini in Pescallo, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Villa Giulia, originally uploaded by xrrr.

19th Century Mausoleum, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Church near Bellagio, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Bellagio, originally uploaded by xrrr.

A lot of the street names in Bellagio start with the word "Salita". This means climb so you can get an idea of the terrain :-)

After a recovery beer, a visit to Villa Melzi gardens and a walk round the shops we took the car ferry back to Menaggio via Varenna.

Menaggio is great to sit by the lake eating an ice cream watching the boats and the people wander past. Very relaxing.

[All Photos][Next Day]

European Grand Tour 2007 Day 2

Day 2

Day 2 started well. Lovely breakfast in the courtyard of the hotel and then off. We had a 236 mile journey ahead of us mostly through Switzerland. We got fleeced by the Swiss as we got to Switzerland as we had to buy a one year "vignette" toll sticker for €30 and then it started raining. And boy did it rain.

It did not really have any impact other than slow us down a bit and cover up the Alpine scenery. We took the A2 pretty much all the way through Switzerland had a good run until we got to the St Gotthard Tunnel where we had to queue for around 90 minutes. We were totally stationary for over 30 minutes and were getting worried on how long we were stuck there.

Waiting, originally uploaded by xrrr.

The St Gotthard tunnel is pretty impressive. It is the 3rd longest in the world and is 10.5 miles long. It is all single carriageway and fairly straight! Going into the tunnel all the signs are in German but on the other side everything is in Italian even though you are still in Switzerland. Fortunately after queuing for almost 90 minutes there was a service station just after the tunnel. Seeing as it had stopped raining for a bit, Alison and I had a nice picnic of bread and cheese outside in the mountain scenery.

A break in the clouds, originally uploaded by xrrr.

From there it was a straight forward run to Lake Lugano. It looked like it might have been very picturesque but unfortunately the rain had come back again and pretty much everything was grey.
Half way round the lake on the SS340 we pass over the Swizz/Italian border. A new record for me. Three countries in one day: France, Switzerland & Italy all in one day.
The SS340 is a bit hairy, lots of narrow roads, blind bends and flipping buses coming the other way! We only had to reverse out of the way once but it was a bit of a palarva as about 5 cars behind me also had to back up and shift for the bus. Eventually we made it to Menaggio, time to call Alfredo (Freddy) the man with the keys for the apartment. After us getting lost (blame the sat nav getting lost) and Freddy not knowing where we were parked we eventually managed to meet up with Freddy on his Vespa. Nice chap. Nice apartment.

The Apartment, originally uploaded by xrrr.

The Apartment, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Given that it started raining and thundering as soon as we got to the apartment and it was about 5pm by the time we got settled there was not much to see and do.

Bloody Rain, originally uploaded by xrrr.

A break in the rain did let me get this shot of the town clock tower bathed in light:

Time for a Storm, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Talking of that clock tower. It chimed every 15 minutes between 7am and 10pm doing the full hour bell "dong" every 30 minutes. As the clock tower has to be heard over the entire town and we were right next to it it was very loud! Some helpful individual also rang the bell at 7.30 every morning for about 10 minutes presumably to get the village up and at em. Very helpful.

[All Photos][Next Day]