Messing around in boats

We decided to make today the day we bought an upper lake pass on the lake ferry service. Messing about in boats seemed like a nice slow way to spend a day which was forecast to have warm but dodgy weather. As it turned out the thunderstorms didn’t happen but the heat from early morning on made the whole lake hazy while clouds covered the mountains around. I congratulated myself on choosing yesterday for my Monte Baldo adventure because today would have been pointless.

Over an hour of cruising brought us to Riva del Garda at the head of the lake. It has taller buildings and larger piazzas than Malcesine. It has a distinctive clock tower, old gates, endless restaurants and bars and the museum is in the local castle, Rocca.  

It also has the same shameless ducks as elsewhere on the lake. Darwin noticed long ago that species adapt to their environment. That goes for tourist environments. Manly has its fearless chip-snatching seagulls. Sydney has ibis, (“Bin Chickens”). Venice has pigeons. Well, Lake Garda has ducks. They are fearless and the character pictured below was very keen that we should share our gelato cone. Of course ducks are Lyn’s favourite animal so she is delighted.

The museum and art gallery inside Rocca was rather good. The archaeology section was most impressive and included things like the in situ fresco shown below and some remarkable Bronze Age stelae. (OK, I’ll stop now.)

The view from the top of the tower was good, if not as spectacular as that at Malcesine. The haze diminished the effect too.

Once we caught the next ferry the wind was up and the lake’s sporting community was out in force. First obstacles for our Captain were the literally hundreds of windsurfers all around us. He blasted the horn regularly but they swooped all around. It was like an Airbus flying through a huge flock of rainbow lorikeets. Further down the lake was a very serious regatta for grey-sailed catamarans. Then came a hundred plus kite boarders. In the distance was another race of small white-sailed skiffs. And interspersed among them all were yachts and a sole carabinieri patrol boat.

Next stop was Limone, a town whose claim to fame seems to be that it is all about lemons. Everything lemony is sold here. We bought ourselves a picnic and then finished our voyage back to Malcesine.




All of these towns are pretty, and not the least of this attractiveness is that there are flowers everywhere, particularly in the streets and squares. I even found a callistemon!

Back at base we went straight down for a swim. Once again the sun-bathers were out in force. Lyn took straight to the water and I was close behind. This time, however, we started a trend. Soon the kids were in the water and even a few adults took courage. I must say, apart from the cold, the swimming was a bit dodgy but at least everybody was a bit more active.

At the hotel I crashed and Lyn went to church. (Santo Stefano is quite beautiful. We found it open last night so Lyn was determined to attend Saturday night mass before our departure tomorrow.)

We had a great dinner of antipasto and pasta at a local restaurant. Tonight our travel money card stopped working. I waited 30 minutes on Skype for the bank to tell me they were doing “maintenance”. I pointed out that this was not what anybody needed when in a foreign country. Surprise! Your card doesn’t work! Call this emergency number and wait 30 #@$*&(% minutes! Anyway, all is well and we move on tomorrow.