Grand Tour of Italy: Lake Garda (Sirmione and Desenzano)

So, back to our Italy trip in April!

We were at the end of our trip and had just visited Verona the day before, with Venice the day after (for everyone else except the 4 of us who stayed behind).

That in-between day, day 16 (of 19 total), was our Lake Garda day.  Our bus driver had an obligatory day off, so it meant an Italian bus driver, with his own bus, was brought in for the day.  And because he knew the territory, he determined where we should go to get the most bang for the buck.

And boy, are we glad he did!

About 25 km from our first destination that day, he stopped at Borghetto on the Mincio river.

He gave us only 5 minutes to stop and take photos (tho' I'm sure we took at least 10 minutes!)

You can see why he did!

At that point, even before reaching Lake Garda, I felt the day was worth it.

We approached Lake Garda from the south and visited only Sirmione and Desenzano.

Our driver believed that, for the time we had, these were the best two choices.

After parking, we walked straight to the lake and took a 30-minute boat ride.

It was a good way to get the lay of the land...

and see sites we wouldn't have seen while on shore (except for the castle).

One of the first sites was the Maria Callas house, where the opera singer lived from 1952-58.

"In that period Callas considered this place an oasis of peace where she could take refuge,

far from the chaos that surrounded her."

As we rounded the tip of the peninsula, we saw the Grottoes of Catullus,

built at the end of the 1st century BC.

Grottoes of Catullus was the name given to this Roman villa.

If we had had the chance, it's the place I would have most wanted to visit on our own.

Then it was the Scaligero Castle, built in the 13th century.

"It's one of the most complete and well-conserved of Italy's castles."

Because we saw it later on shore, it was nice to see it from the lake.

Speaking of which!  

All these next photos were taken on shore.

Again, if we had had the time, the inside would have been the second place I would have visited.

What we DID see from the lake and pursued...

was the Santa Maria Maggiore church behind the castle.

It dates from the 15th century.

And of course, Santa Maria is visible throughout.

It's frescoes, from the 15-16th centuries, were totally worth the visit.

While walking through town to the church, I "collected" these doorpost tiles.

Don't you love them!

Impressions.  Impressions.  Impressions.

All from a total of 3 hours...before getting back on the bus to Desenzano.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The distance from Sirmione to Desenzano is 11 km.

The first thing I took photos of was the lighthouse.

You know me.  Sometimes I just have to play around.

As you can see from the original images above, it was not this dark or dramatic!

But it was definitely the highlight of our short time there...

peering down from the breakwall to the harbor below.

We also walked along the shore...

before heading into town past this monument to the Italian resistance in WWII. 

Later we passed this monument to aviators.

We particularly wanted to see the Cathedral of Santa Maria Maddalena,

dedicated to Mary Magdalene in 1586.

Too bad it wasn't open while we were there.

Impressions.  Impressions.  Impressions.

After 1.5 hours, we sat and enjoyed the view before our bus driver arrived

to take us back to our hotel.

Memories of Lake Garda I will never forget!