Around Lake Garda, Sirmione

Sirmione was a resort included in our “Grand Tour of the Lake” with Newmarket Holidays. It’s a picturesque town situated on a  long peninsula at the south of the lake.  Once off the coach we followed the brolly to reach our meeting point in the centre of town.

The town centre was congested with tourists and ice cream parlours!  A short walk from here was the thirteenth century castle, Rocca Scaligera and harbour.  A lovely area for a breather!

      After strolling through busy pedestrianised streets and alleyways we found the tourist train which was parked outside a thermal spring, and rode out to the ruins of the roman villa.  We had lunch in a cafe near the villa, the best thing about which were the hummingbird hawk moths flying in and out of the flowers and the friendly sparrows – who were happy to be fed crumbs by hand.  We wouldn’t really recommend the food here, there were plenty of cafes in town and we wished we had chosen one of them!

I would recommend the views though!

Around Lake Garda, Gardone Riviera

A visit to Gardone on the West side of the lake was included in our “Grand Circular Tour” with Newmarket holidays.  As reflected in the number of photos and the fact that we only had an hour here, it’s a fairly small resort.

Gardone boasts the highest winter temperatures in Northern Italy apparently!

There is an elegant stretch of cafes and restaurants along the lake front and after arriving by ferry, an hour was  just enough time for a short stroll, a cappuccino and some photos.

Beautiful Bougainvillea and a Hummingbird Hawk Moth at Gardone Riviera