Trip to Italy, March 11 to 27, 2016

The idea of a trip to Italy started with an invitation to join a group that was going to ski in Cortina d'Ampezzo at the end of March. My girlfriend Marie and I had previously done three ski trips in France with some of the people in this group. So we decided that this was the year we were doing another one. And we decided to leave a week early and visit Rome, Florence and Venice. So the preparations began... plane tickets, hotels, trains, tours in Rome, etc. Then in January, my friend tells me that she won't be able to go on the trip because she was now on sick leave from work. I had to make a quick decision: cancel the trip, go only on the ski week or find someone else to join me. In the end, I joined Pierre and Denise, a couple that we had met on the other ski trips and that were also going for two weeks. I changed my plane ticket in order to fly out with them to Venice and off we went!

The first week started in Venice for one night. We arrived in the morning so we had the afternoon and evening to explore the area around Piazza San Marco where our hotel was located. The next day, Sunday, we walked through the narrow streets with our big luggage and took a boat towards the train station where we were supposed to take our rented car. (Tip: if you go to Venice try to have only a small suitcase to carry around!) Our car was a nice Volkswagon Passat station wagon so we had enough space for all our suitcases.

We had not planned the first week but we had an idea that we wanted to go see Lago di Garda and take it from there. So our first destination was Lago di Garda to the west of Venice. We drove on the highway A4 that runs between Venice and Milan. Pierre always drove and I was the navigator and Denise was the back seat driver!! We stopped in Verona for lunch and a quick visit of the main site, which was an ancient arena.

When we reached the lake, we started by driving on the east coast through villages like Lazise, Garda and Brenzone where we found a room for the night. This was our biggest and cheapest room of the trip - 70 Euros for the three of us! And the views from our large balcony were beautiful!

On Monday, we continued towards the north and stopped in Malcesine. It's a beautiful old town with narrow streets and a castle (Castello Scaligero) along the shore of the lake. We visited the castle and walked around for about two hours. From the castle, we had superb views of the lake.

 

Lago di Garda is the largest lake in Italy. It gets pretty windy and in season, is hosts to many sailing regattas. In fact, just after our visit, there was an Optimist regatta with about 900 children participating. The day those pictures were taken, I saw a few of them practising on the other side of the lake and it looked cold!

That's wind doing a trick on my hair!

Did I mention sailboats? :)

From Malcesine, we continued north to Riva del Garda, located at the northern tip of the lake, where we stopped for lunch and a stroll along the shore.

View from Riva del Garda.

At that point, we had decided to drive around the whole lake and find a hotel somewhere at the end of the afternoon. The drive along the west coast is more mountainous and has lots of tunnels. It got pretty scary when we encountered a big bus and a truck in one tunnel. We were inches from the wall and the bus but we made it without a scratch!

We landed in Desenzano where we found a nice hotel (Hotel Bonotto) just off the main street along the shore. The breakfast room was on the top floor and again, with superb views. It turns out the guy that welcomed us when we arrived was the owner (Emanuele Bonotto) and he was very helpful in telling us what to visit, etc. So we decided to stay there for two nights and take a day to visit Desenzano and two other villages in the area worth the drive.

View from the breakfast room in Desenzano.

More sailboats in Desenzano!

From Desenzano, we drove into the country side to find Borghetto, a visit recommended by Emanuele. It was worth the drive! Beautiful country scenery along the way and pretty village.

We had lunch in Borghetto and walked around then drove back to the lake to visit Sirmione. Another beautiful town on a peninsula with a castle. Almost everywhere we went there was a castle!

Castello Scaliger, built near the end of the 12th century.

On Wesnesday, we hit the road again towards Negrar in the Valpolicella region. We were hoping to find a B&B for one night but ended up just having lunch in Negrar before continuing to Bassano del Grappa. Since we were early in the season most vineyards were not really open for business.

Bassano del Grappa is known for its covered bridge and the grappa liqueur produced in the area. The owner of Hotel Bonotto had told us that he also owned two hotels in Bassano so we drove in search of Hotel Belvedere. Once we found it, it was full for the night but the other hotel, a Best Western just behind the Belvedere, had space for two nights. This is another great small town to walk leisurely around.

From Bassano, we set off for a day trip to Asolo, a place recommended by the hotel reception staff. Another castle in Asolo! But to get to it you had to climb a few hundred stairs! The view from the top was magnificent.

My traveling companions on those steps.

The top of the castle.

On Friday, we needed to return to Venice to meet up with the ski group and to return the rental car. My last navigating job and I got us there without getting lost!

This time we are staying at the Courtyard by Marriott close to the airport. After settling in, we left by car towards Piazza Roma to return the car then we stroll through Venice again but a different area. We returned to the hotel by bus at the end of the afternoon. The bus (#5 aeropuerto) is much cheaper than a boat ride and faster.

Saturday, we met up with the rest of the group and went to the airport to find our private bus to Cortina d'Ampezzo. We arrived in Cortina around noon. Time to settle in for the week, have lunch and get our rental skis. Cortina is a posh town with very expensive stores.

Our hotel!

During the week, we skied hard, ate well, drank some good wines and had some good laughs! Here are a few of my favorite pictures. And check out this video of our week.

Beer time after a good day on the slopes!

Marie, one day we will go back to Italy and visit! Denise and Pierre, thank you again for accepting me as the third wheel during the first week!