3rd April 2013
We thought we had done all the major Italian lakes but we
found another one! Lake Lugano lies half in Italy and half in Switzerland so we
skirted around that on our way back towards Lake Como. For once we had a
deadline to meet – getting to the free
Moto Guzzi Motorbike Museum in Mandello del Lario for its limited opening times
of 3pm – 4pm daily. Forgetting how windy, narrow and slow the lakeside roads
are we made it with only ½ hour to spare before the large gates of the factory opened
for visitors. We weren’t expecting a guided tour but an elderly gentleman
discussed, at length in Italian, the history and finer points of each of the
200 bikes on display. We, along with most of the other multinational group of 30,
managed to slope off and do our own thing.
We re-visited Lake D’Iseo and Lake Garda, stopping at places
we hadn’t seen on way up before finally heading
east and leaving the lakes behind us. The rain had been pretty constant for a few
days and we weren’t sure what to expect as we parked up in amongst about 80
other campervans in a free car park on the outskirts of Verona. To date we have
normally been on our own or with a couple of other vans at most.
A quick ¼ hour walk and we were in the city centre marvelling
at the sights, Verona had everything we expected from Florence and Venice and
MORE. Like Shrewsbury it is nestled in a tight bend in the river and a large
part of the city is traffic free with subtle street lighting and signage. The historical
buildings are bright and clean (the ones in Venice are black from pollution),
the Piazzas are open and buzzing with people and with an easy climb up to
Castel San Petro we were rewarded with fantastic views without having to pay
through the nose for them. We spent 2 days walking around the attractions,
across bridges, ambling along streets and soaking up the atmosphere in the squares,
before setting off again.
Juliet's balcony (of Romeo & Juliet!) |
The tourist season has moved on from our day. We used to be raring to go by mid April at the latest, now it's the last week of May.
ReplyDeleteKath, you are looking very good - life on the road obviously agrees with you.