Lago di Garda, Italy

Sep 30

Sep 30 Lago di Garda, Italy

italy, Residence Bellavista, lake, italia, mountains, pasta, lake garda, lago di garda, food, travel

Where we stayed, Residence Bellavista in Manerba, was beautiful. It truly is a "Beuatiful View". Our little appartment was on the thrid floor and really, you could enjoy Lake Garda without ever leaving our balcony.

I had imagined these days to be more relaxing by the beach or pool however, it was quite cold for swimming. The high was almost 70 but that was only for a few hours in the afternoon if it reached it.

We realized quickly that we would need to rent a car so Adam set it up and we found a bus to take us into the main town to get the car (and my phone!). We walked around the lake front town looking into little shops before picking up our new little Ford Fiesta. I did not drive at all but I was impressed with Adam's driving! Italy is a scary place to drive--if you havent been there, people drive fast and crazy and there are no laws, at least nothing enforced. The police will tailgate you if you go too slow. :)

We drove around all morning, stopped in an olive oil and wine shop, got a bottle of wine and I decided we should cook some fresh pasta and eat on our beautiful deck. So we went to the supermarket and bought the supplies and made an AMAZING lunch. Seriously one of the best meals and it was so simple. Pancetta and tomatoes and olive oil all sizzled up and put on top of our pasta.

Doesn't get much better than this.

After lunch we hiked to the top of a nearby hill. It was steep and buggy at the top. We took a few photos as I swatted at these little gnats flying into my face and hair. I didn't smile in pictures because I was afraid one would fly in my mouth. As we were looking out, Adam noticed that little island out there, and he said "Look, its shallow, I bet we can walk across." So we set out to find this shallow island.

The only problem, was that the area leading up to this island, was a private mobile home/camp site. There were a lot of those out there. But we walked right in, pretending we belonged. I used the bathroom at the camp site and they were pretty acceptable! It made me think "camping" might not be too bad. As long as there are nice bathrooms...

So we walked out to the edge, Adam went right into the water, I hesitated because it was cold. He got almost to the other side when I went in after him. I couldnt move too fast because of my flip flops in the rocky water. It really wasn't that cold though. I wouldn't want to get my entire body wet, but the feet were okay.

The island was private property and asked for a fee. I got nervous while we were approaching that it might be an island run by cannibals and we were about to be trapped for the most dangerous game. Luckily, we survived.

After the island we found gelato in a hilltop town and skipped stones and enjoyed the last hours of sunlight. (Flavors: Espresso and Straciatella with whipped cream of course...yummmmmm) It was nice to relax, not have anywhere to run to.

We rested up before dinner but got out late and ended up at the only place open. We originally tried to eat something other than pasta. There were many sushi places in the area but the one we stopped into didn't have any options for Adam. There was a Rodizio place next to it but we felt that it couldnt be too good so we should find somewhere else. We drove around and ended up eating the same food as usual. Cheese and pasta.

We both got shrimp in the pasta, I guess to have some seafood near the sea butttt we were full from cheese and bread and barely ate the pastas. Mine had a pumpkin sauce that was actually quite good but at this point, a week of heavy Italian food, my body was starting to give up. Let the food stop!