Viva Italia - Part 3 - Lake Garda

Our final stop on our trip was Lake Garda.  We stayed in Macescine on the north east side of the lake.  It was a fantastic little town built around a castle on the edge of the lake.

When we set out on foot after checking into our hotel our first stop was to visit and climb the castle and tour the old part of the town.

 Typical of everywhere we have been in Italy, around each corner is a scene worthy of a postcard.

 One evening we ventured out after dinner and with tripod in hand I was able to grab the shot above.

 One of the main attractions to Lake Garda is the sailing.  The incredible scenery and reliable winds make this a destination for one design world championships, olympic training, and a favorite of the Europeans on vacation.  We planned to get a couple days of sailing in but due to the cool and rainy weather we cut it short to one day - but we sure had a great time!  We chartered a Benneteau 31.7 and went out for a very memorable sail.  I don't suspect that that there will be too many more times that we will have the opportunity to sail past a real castle.

The winds were perfect when we started out and had a great sail for about an hour or so before the winds fizzled out.  Later the wind came back on like a freight train which really got the boat moving but it was quite a handful in heavy winds for just the two of us.

 One afternoon we set out to visit another town on the lake, Riva del Garda which is just a few miles up the lake from where we were staying.  Riva del Garda hosts to many of the big regattas on the lake and has a wonderful waterfront city center.

On our last full day day in Italy we drove around the lake and visited some of the towns along the way.  Our favorite was Sirmione, a little town at the end of a long skinny peninsula on Lake Garda.  Sirmione has a beautiful castle and old town as well as some spectacular Roman ruins that we explored.