Lago di Garda

Last Tuesday, the 21st, most of the class went to Lago di Garda for the day. Lago di Garda is the cleanest lake in Europe and one of the largest and deepest in Italy. It has a very nice Mediterranean atmosphere to it and has long been an area of resorts. Even the Romans came here and made villas to enjoy the beautiful scenery and escape the pressures of city life. Our first stop of the day was in Desenzano di Garda on the south western side of the lake. The train took about an hour and 20 minutes to get there from Padova and cost 6.20 Euros. Right after exiting the train and heading for the town we were joined by a couple from the US who was also visiting Lago di Garda that day. They were actually from Minnesota! It was fun to talk about Minnesota a little bit before we parted ways. We saw them once more later in the day too.






We all walked down to the water first and took some pictures of the beautiful lake and town. Then we split up for a while to climb up to the castle on the hill and visit the Villa Romana on our own. The Villa Romana has some of the most extensive mosaics in Northern Italy. After visiting these sites and grabbing a bite to eat we took the ferry over to Sirmione.





Sirmione is a beautiful little town on a penninsula that juts out from the center of the southern side of the lake. The number one site in Sirmione is the castle. Once we got into town we looked for where we could get bus tickets for our ride later to Peschiera di Garda. We wanted to make sure we got them before the ticket stand was closed and we would have to pay more for them on the bus. While looking for the ticket office some of us enjoyed delicious gelatos. Next we visited the castle and took lots of pictures of the town and beautiful surroundings. It was interesting to read the descriptions about the castle too because I knew that I would be learning about these things in my classes to come.




From the castle we were able to see a path along the eastern side of the penninsula that lead to the tip along the beach. We decided to walk along this path next. Along the way we took some time to walk a little in the clear clean waters. Afterward, I felt my feet were so clean. A swan and some ducks joined us on the beach too.




We continued down the path and up a little hill with olive trees on it. Antigoni told us about how her Grandfather in Greece grows olives and takes them to a place to make them into olive oil so they never have to pay for their olive oil. At the end of the peninsula there is a beautiful lookout where we took pictures of the setting sun. There are also the Grottos. We had to make our bus to Peschiera so we didn't have time to visit them but we did have a few minutes to talk with one of the guys at the gate. He was a very entertaining guy who took a liking to Naida. Unfortunately we forgot to get a picture with him.



On the way back to the bus we took a few more pictures of Sirmione in the setting sun.




In Peschiera we walked through the town to where some Roman ruins were but not much else was open anymore because it was getting late. Some of us found a restaurant to sit down and eat a nice dinner at before leaving on the 10pm train. Since the area was known for its olive groves I had a pizza with olives on it. The olives were good but the pitts are a little annoying. All in all, a very nice day at Lake Garda!