Cruising Lago Di Garda
By Lothar. Filed in Italy |
Via Brusada 32, Gardone Riviera, Italia: this is our home for six days, thanks to the foresight and hospitality of our friends Maria and Joachim, who rent the vacation condo year-round.
It is Monday, July 27, another hot and sunny day. At breakfast, we have a birds-eye view of Lake Garda from the apartment’s roof-top terrace. I navigate our Mercedes A180 rental car down the narrow streets to the marina. The streets are so small that the cars, parked along the curb, have to fold in their outside mirrors!
The marina staff has already retrieved Joachim’s fancy Mahogany Riva boat from the storage building and lowered it by crane on the lake. We are off and hit a perfect day for cruising: no whitecaps on the lake, great weather and little boat traffic on a weekday. There is no need to blast the boat’s horn : an old American police cruiser’s whining siren.
First we cruise south-east to visit Sirmione and see great castles, church towers and the ruins of a Roman Spa. The sulfur smell of the modern thermal baths is not to be missed!
For the afternoon we hang out in the bay in front of Garda, anchoring in shallow water. It is hot, and cooling off in the lake is the thing to do.
We are getting hungry, but there is no marina or restaurant in sight.
Nessun problema: a bright yellow “meals-on-water” boat ties up to our boat:
the menu offers warm and cold dishes. We decide to have crudo panini,
Joachim orders local white wine. Everything is prepared right on the kitchen boat, and the meat slicer is put into action. While lunch is being prepared, we are served great tasting ice cream samples. Later on, Gabi and I take a long swim to visit the neighboring boats, while Joachim gets a nice sunburn, walking along the shore to Garda.
In the late afternoon, Maria is driving our boat back to Gardone. Gabi and I sit on the rear bench and enjoy the scenery. Looking north, the mountains close in on the lake, the scenery very similar to our Lake George at home. The only thing Lake George is missing are the palm trees and the huge candle-shaped cypress trees along the shores. On the way back, we pass Isola Del Garda, with a huge private castle, owned by the Borghese Cavazza family.
We return to our mountain-top condo above Gardone and gaze at the lake and surrounding mountains from our balcony, reflecting upon a perfect boating day on the lake.
Mille Grazie, Maria and Joachim!!