Largo di Garda

Robert and his castle and armarda

We drove from Vicopisano to the North going via the outskirts of La Spezia. It was very tempting to detour to one of the towns on the Cinque Terre but we drove on eventually to Lake Garda. We stopped at Sirmione for an hour and are still here 2 days later.
This is where many Northern Italians go for holidays so we decided to have a holiday from our hectic pace of travel.              
                                             

Sirmone is located on a peninsula of land the juts out into the lake at the southern end. We had planned to drive up halfway but after paying for 1 hour of parking we booked a great hotel and decided to stay overnight. By the end of the afternoon we added an extra night. As you approach the historic centre of the town you come to a bridge and the castle.

To get to our hotel we had to get a certificate for the police the drive over the bridge , past the castle and through the labyrinth of narrow lanes and tunnels . The green light simply means cars not coming the other way but thousands of people were. It was simply a matter of taking it slowly and we found our hotel. There were close encounters!

We went out to the end of the peninsula where there was a great swimming beach. The best we have seen on this trip along with a bar. We went to the museum and archaeological ruins of an old Roman villa called Grotte di Catullo. It was named after the home of the poet Catullo who had a home here and you entered it via a cave.
We also had a late afternoon swim in front of the hotel, drinks on our balcony and a walk around the narrow streets

A photo of an aerial photo of the ruins.

Gail with Largo di Garda in background

We had dinner at a restaurant next to the Castle. A white swan was swimming in the moat that is open to the lake