Breakfast on the edge of the cliff watching the cloud shadows drift across the surface of the lake. We make plans to circumnavigate the lake. It’s about 160 km but it is likely to take us all day as there is lots of traffic and winding roads and we want to do some stops on the way.
First we have to go back down the serpentine road to Limone Sul Garda and turn right. It’s a steep downhill run for the most part and it charges batteries so that we have used 0 KWh/ 100 km when we get to the bottom. It’s tunnels for the most part to begin with. Traffic is pretty intense. We heard from friends that Salo would be a nice place to stop so we turn off, find a place to park, and walk down through the old town center and the lake promenade, full of restaurant and cafés. It’s pretty warm so we sit down in the shade and have a beer and watch people pass by. Tourists mainly. Flashy speed boats come and go. Wealthy people on holidays.
We walk back to the car and head for Sirmione, the narrow finger that protrudes into the lake from its southern end. Sirmione feels like it’s all tourism. It’s very beautiful but lacks the charm we had expected. Again, lots of traffic. We spot a place to park the car and take a walk along the shore line. The turquoise water, the green plants, and the hazy blue mountains in the background are almost to beautiful to be true. Lots of people wandering around. Can’t find a place to sit down and have a drink or a meal so we get back in the car and drive out to the end. Too many cars and too many people to really see anything.
Our journey around the lake continues but we need to charge the car so we stop in Affi. The charging station access is puzzle and we circle it three or four times before figuring out how to get in. Like most stops it is full of Danes charging their cars. They must be the most prolific electric car owners in all of Europe.
The eastern shoreline of Lago di Garda has a more gentle slope and there are not so many tunnels. By now we are getting very hungry. We are looking to see if we can see our hotel on the other side but the distance and the haze makes it difficult. We give in to the hunger and take a turn off the winds up the slope to a small square surrounded by a hotels and two restaurants. We want pizza but it’s only 5 pm so we have a beer and wait for the pizzeria to open at 6 pm. The pizza is pretty ordinary but the setting is nice and it’s very quiet.
We enjoy the scenery but we don’t make anymore stops. Back in Pieve we celebrate with a Limoncello Spritz at the bar close to hotel. It’s late, we are tired, we had back to the hotel and call it a night.
