Torri del Benaco

Torri del Benaco

The first thing that struck us when we arrived at Torri del Benaco was the great stone wall by the car park. It was part of the castle. We soon found our way around & found ourselves on the waterfront.

Torri is just a village & yet it seems full of life without being overcrowded. Some bars were clearly haunts for the locals as animated Italian issued from them. People warmly welcoming one another as they passed by.

We visited the Holy Trinity Church. The first day we went to Torri, a Sunday, a new priest was being welcomed, with children playing music & singing outside.  We did not go in that day. We visited again later in the holiday & enjoyed our look around the church.

The cross outside Holy Trinity Church

You can tell how much we enjoyed Torri from the fact that we went a third time, only this was primarily to catch the car ferry across Lake Garda to Salo on the western shore. Each time we found new things to see & enjoy. We were never disappointed. 

Along the shoreline with all the bars & eateries beyond

The castle from village side

Typical village street

Looking along one of hte terrace bars

Towards the church

An art class on the shoreline, looking across Lake Garda

The art class with the castle behind

Sirmione

Acroos the only bridge into Sirmione

Undoubtedly the busiest place on Lake Garda we visited was Sirmione. This small town, originally held within the town walls at the end of a long finger of land sticking out into the lake. These days it’s sprawled along the thin isthmus to the old town.

The only vehicles allowed through the walls are taxis, hotel residents & locals who live there. Nonetheless it’s heaving with vehicles & people. We couldn’t help wondering why Sirmione didn’t do as so many other villages around Lake Garda did. They have plenty of unloading bays around the outside of the town/village. Deliveries are then transferred from vans onto trolleys & walked in. The local hotels clearly had electric vehicles that could transport guests & their luggage to & from the parking area outside the castle gateway & then they could transfer to taxis there. Surely local residents could park in the car parks & walk in. It would certainly reduce the traffic considerably.

We had been warned, both by another English couple we had met at our hotel & our rep, that Sirmione would be busy. It was wise to get there before the first ferries start to arrive. We were very glad we followed the advice.

The guidebooks recommend going by boat. Certainly I can see the castle would have looked impressive arriving that way. However, the ferry company could not guarantee wheelchair access both ways, & the ferries were widely set apart & we weren’t sure how long we would want to stay. 

Going around Sirmione by boat

The village abounds with gelaterias (ice-cream shops), some selling a hundred different flavours. However, when we arrived it was too early for an ice-cream & by the time we left we were too desperate to get away from the crowds.

It is a pretty village. At one end there is the Grotte di Catullo. I would have liked to have gone. I remember reading a lot of Catullus in my school days but the slope up was too much & from the pictures the ground would have been too uneven when we got there anyhow.

We had a look around the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Neve church. The more famed church, San Pietro, was too far up that hill again. Nonetheless we saw some interesting frescoes. We also walked part of the way along the lakeside path until we got to some steps.

 

The entrance to the Chiesa di Santa Maria dell Neve

It was a very pleasing village, spoilt only by the sheer number of people & vehicles. I hate to think what it must be like in high summer!

 

Within the town walls across fromt the car park

Holiday thoughts

Looking up the main square of Bardolino

 

Barfdolino harbour

While we were in Italy we found ourselves contemplating our ideal holiday. Since the Fox’s stroke in 2011, I’ve concluded that we needed to go somewhere no further than an hour’s journey from the airport. No matter what time the flight going is, we inevitably seem to be so tired when we get there, the thought of a long drive is too much. We have to hire a car as most holiday companies do not include wheelchair accessible transport to the hotel. We also feel a holiday really needs to be a minimum of 10 days these days as we need to unwind a bit before we can start to enjoy wherever we are.

On this occasion our hotel was in many ways ideal. It was an apartment hotel which meant we had a separate lounge area as well as the usual bedroom & bathroom. We also had a fairly private sitting area outside, with table & chairs & sun-loungers. The extra space meant if one of us was up when the other was in bed, we could sit & read, play games on our tablet or watch television without disturbing the other.

 

One area of the living room of the apartment

We did take our tablet in anticipation of being able to write my blog while we were there. However, the wifi was so poor I couldn’t. It regarded this blogsite as too dangerous to be allowed to be opened.

The hotel was on the outskirts of Bardolino, which was a mixed blessing. On the good side it meant it was very peaceful, with extensive grounds. Access to the flat(tish) prom to the town centre was nearby for easy walking. However, the drive down to the prom from the hotel was so steep with a wheelchair that we had to move our car from the hotel car park to the public one across the street before we could start the walk. After our first visit to Bardolino we found the way into disabled parking in the town centre. However, this distance from the town precluded our usual after dinner stroll which we appreciate on holiday.

Sunset over Lake Garda seen from bar terrace

Another suset

The views form the hotel across Lake Garda were spectacular, the sunsets magnificent. Most days we had an aperitif at the roof terrace bar. The view was enhanced by the fact that most of the buildings in the overlooked grounds had rooftop gardens, so you saw the greenness, the roses & shrubs, rather than roofs – a beautiful idea.

 

Looking from the bar terrace to Lake Garda

Looking across the roof gardens from the bar to Lake Garda

Most of our fellow guests seemed to be German or Dutch, though one particularly nice family group were Belgian Flemish speakers. Fortunately for us, the latter spoke excellent English.

One day while we were sitting in a bar in Bardolino, an Englishman at a nearby table, asked if we were staying in Bardolino. I said sort of, in that the hotel was very much on the outskirts. He was staying in Garda, further up the lakeside. He reckoned it was dead, so quiet. He much preferred the bustle of Bardolino. We couldn’t help thinking Garda, which we had tried to visit the day before, seemed far from dead to us. Clearly it’s a case of what suits one person doesn’t suit another. We found Bardolino too busy.

Our favourite place to stop if ever we go again is Torri del Benaco, though we would be tempted back to the particular hotel we’d stayed in. Torri is not only a small place, with plenty of history, it is also the place to get a car ferry over to the other side of the lake, which we did do one day, as well as the round the lake ferries. We’d met some people on the plane going, who were staying in Torri as they regularly do, & they recommended Fabio’s bar. Fabio indeed turned out to be an excellent English speaker who frequently broke into song. There seems to be various evening activities in Torri, with various shows, & different bars with different styles of music, something to suit everyone. They even have fireworks some evenings.

We do find, however, we’re beginning to question how much longer we can continue to cope with this type of holiday. The Fox is now 68, going on 69. Many companies won’t hire out cars to over 70s. And regardless the Fox is finding driving abroad, coping with strange signs & aggressive foreign drivers more of a strain these days. On top of which, this time for the first time, he had an outburst of subcutaneous bruising on his arm. As far as we can see it is related to dragging & lifting the heavy suitcase around. It is on wheels but it is heavy as we can only cope with one bag at a time as well as helping push me.    

Our thoughts are again wondering about cruising. Maybe our friends at the gold club have the right idea. At least then we would only need to get a taxi to Lancaster to get a coach to the south coast. They would look after the luggage from then onwards. Most days you are in a different port, with different things to explore. It may be good, especially if the cabin had a sitting area and/or balcony. We’re thinking about it. We just have to find the right cruise company. Still no holidays are going to be booked until the Fox has got his eczema under control, in other words, next year at the earliest.