Thursday 12^th April 2018

Cathy posting,

Juliet’s house, well we can’t come to Verona without going to look at Shakespeare’s mythical story of both love and tragedy and so we go to Romeo & Juliet’s balcony, it was a little cobbled square and you could also go inside the house, included in our Verona card (€18), it was packed with school children but we’re glad we went to see it.

Next we climbed 384 steps up the Lamberti tower, it’s 84m high constructed started in 1172, it was intended for defence but also housed a jail, we could have paid €1 to go up in the lift but no! I want to get fitter! (ps my legs hurt the next day!)

Looking at St Peter’s hill from Lamberti Tower

The views from the top of the tower are very good as you look towards St. Peter’s hill.

We have to leave the Sosta by 1.30pm to keep within 24 hours, so off we go in the direction of Lago Di Garda, bring it on. It’s only 40 kms to Garda south at Sirmione and after shopping at LIDL for supplies we arrive at a very pleasant campsite Camping Sirmione where we plan to chill out for a few days, it’s not cheap, but we did pick a superior pitch with lake views personal drinking water tap & hook up! We are having a holiday within a holiday! There is a restaurant and bar on site overlooking the lake and very hot showers! Lovely! €31 per 24 hours. As soon as we arrive the sun is shining and we get straight onto the lakeshore path and walk to Sirmione old town, it’s 4 km each way and the views are breathtaking and beautiful, there are beds of tulips and little marinas along the way which made for a very pleasant afternoon stroll.

Close up of the view from the campsite

The 13^th Century Castello Di Sirmione played a crucial role in the defence of Lake Garda, we decided to save the castle for another day and headed towards a square with lots of restaurants and bars, it was called Palazzo Callas, named possibly after the late and well renowned opera singer Maria Callas who house is a house on the hill in Sirmione.

View from Camping Sirmione

Pogo’s hiding behind the hedge, he likes his view!

We ordered two beers and it comes with the usual little bowl of olives, crisps and this time some little cooked tuna pieces rolled in black poppy and sesame seeds, we love it! We sat people watching for an hour, then decided to have what all the Italians were having Aperol Spritz in wine glasses with ice, we’re not moving from this spot, best table in the square, we can be nosey from here and the sun is shining! Oh and they brought more olives and mini baked breads, yummy.

Too late we’ve eaten the snacks,yum!

It’s time to head back, the 4 kms walk back was as pleasant as before and we go and have hot showers and I make a triple tomato risotto which is a staple in our house,  in LIDL we purchased a wine “brick”, it’s 1 litre of wine, we’ve read about these from other bloggers and had to try some, we bought one white wine €0.65 and one red at €0.95. The review from myself is that it was drinkable at 10% volume & I thought it would be too sweet but it was very dry, maybe I could get used to it when the budget gets off track! possibly the red one will be better.

Dave in the office

Dave writes some blog as we are 3 days behind! And I read my book for a while. Off to bed early as we really want to explore more tomorrow and the forecast for the weather looks great!

Cathy