The second stage of the journey eventually brought us to Desenzano after a long (7 hours) but absolutely wonderful train ride from Gare de Lyon, Paris to Milan & then a bus ride. Have to say I love this place!
Interesting old buildings
Lovely rooftops & vistas
Pretty little harbour.
A Castle
Wonderful views of Lake Garda
Interesting little streets & shops
A lovely promenade
The lavender shop on the seafront!
Lavender everywhere!
I thought I had taken lots of photos of Desenzano but I hadn't taken enough. No ice cream shops or restaurants, no ferry pictures & none of the churches. What was I thinking about! Well work problems really, I didn't have much free time & we're not supposed to take photos whilst we're working. Makes it seem too much like a holiday!
One passenger who was travelling alone got lost & ended up having horrendous blisters on both his feet the like of which I've never seen before. Sorting him out meant trips to the chemist for plasters & painkillers, getting him food & drink for when we were away from the hotel on trips & keeping him company some of the time as he couldn't leave his room for a couple of days.
I have no idea why I've never been to Lake Garda before. Maybe because it's not an easy place to get to from the North East. Most holidays & flights are to Rome or the Venetian Riviera. There's only one company with flights & you have to do the full holiday package with them. No direct flights to Venice or Verona & to get to there via train took me three days on the tour. You could probably do it in two but it's still quite expensive by the time you add on hotels.
I loved everything about Desenzano, people had told me I would but I was surprised at how much I loved it. The people, the hotel, the food, the little streets & piazzas, the old buildings, the range of lovely shops (no tat & no chains in the older part), restaurants & ice cream shops, easy transport to other places via the lake or the train but best of all was the lake itself & the gorgeous scenery.
This is one place I have to go back to. Hopefully next year & I won't be working, a real holiday next time.
Our first trip from Desenzano was on the ferry to Sirmione. So that's the next post!
