Ciao, Bella Italia

In April we thought it was about time we did something more than a quick weekend break. Add to that great flight deals, and a few of our friends from The Banjul Rally going to Milan, we settled on Italy for our big break. And what a break it was... Italy is a big country so we settled on the Lake region North and East of Milan. We spent most of our time on Lake Garda in the East, then Lakes Maggiore and Orta in the North. We also squeezed in 2 full days in Milan, which is where we met the rally boys. The weather was a bit mixed but, for the most part, warm and, for the second half of the holiday, gorgeously sunny. It was just as well as we had decided to get out and about (and reduce our budget!) by camping. Lake Garda is known for its lemons and we visited an old Lemon house in the gardens of a Palazzo in Gargnano, where we were camping on the West Coast of Lake Garda. We also did the famous “Four lakes drive” while we stayed here. This involved driving up the hill above the Lake and winding our way down the other side, round 3 other lakes before meandering back to Lake Garda. This drive also included one of the many highlights of our trip in the wee town of Bagolino where we had espresso and dulcetti in a wee Pasticceria cafe and listened to the local church bells ring. After Lake Garda, we headed back to Milan and, we confess, did not camp but rented a “bungalow” at the campsite with the rally boys as it was VERY wet! Milan is, in many ways, just another city but the Duomo is absolutely amazing and the weather cleared enough that we really enjoyed clambering over the roof and taking in the views over the city. We also hit the Monza race track on the outskirts of Milan while we were there. Then, it was North from Milan to Lake Orta and the gorgeous historic town of Orta San Giulio. We camped at a family run place on the edge of the wee town and used this as a base to explore the local area. This meant several trips to Stresa, on the western coast of Lake Maggiore, from where we explored the Borromeo Islands, and ventured round the Lake and up to Locarno in Switzerland by taking the Lake Maggiore Express – a train and ferry ride that takes a full day. It is very hard to say which lake we liked the best as each one had different attractions and were all very special in their own way. Some of the highlights though, other than the great weather, were the Sirmione peninsula in southern Lake Garda, and the Borromeo Islands in Lake Maggiore. We also really enjoyed the Sacre Monte de San Francesca in Orta San Giulio. Check out the pics for a taste of some of the things we saw.