Lake Garda

Today's aim was to see the furthest sights first and work our back. With the fog cleared today we could actually see the other side of the lake! We took the scenic lakeside route all the way to Riva del Garda on the northern shore. We had a FedEx stop to make to try and recover our Gopro. The helpful local gave us a better option of using a broker which more than halved our cost so that was definitely a worthwhile stop! From there we continued north to Lake Tenno. We could see how this would be a fantastic swimming spot in summer. The water was so clear and a lovely hue of blue. From there we continued on to the medieval village of Canale di Tenno. The original layout of this 1200s village remains. The village was abandoned after the war but was restored in the 60s due to artists. Parking was a challenge. We only just found a spot on the narrow mountain roads, and this was low season with hardly anyone around. Not sure how people visit in the summer months with some major mountain walking!!

Our beloved Ford "Pocus". Yup that seats 7, or 5 people + 4 big suitcases

Mountainside villages enroute

Lake Tenno

Canale di Tenno

Much of the original village has been preserved

Turin painter Giacomo Vittone after whom this house is named

Views down to Lake Garda 

We had two more mountain side perched buildings to visit, the first was the castle of Arco. We could NOT find a parking spot that didn't require a walk of less than 1km UPHILL. Somehow, we had also lost a lot of time with sunlight fading. We cut our losses, took some photos, grabbed a quick lunch and made our way to the next stop.

By the time we arrived at the carpark of the Sanctuary of Madonna della Corona, it was already 1630. There was a decent downhill walk finishing with a long flight of stairs before reaching the cave entrance. In the summer months, there was a shuttle bus. We had to use our legs. We're still not sure how our timing for the day was so off, but to view the sanctuary from afar was the best we could do if we wanted to avoid walking back in the dark. We also wanted to minimise our time driving down narrow windy roads with mad Italian drivers at night. It was a somewhat disappointing to only scratch the surface but perhaps this was an opportunity to return in the warmer months. Lake Garda has certainly been enjoyable even in winter so far. On the upside, the rapid downhill and uphill hike counted as my aerobic exercise for the day!

Arco

Sanctuary of Madonna della Corona

Consoling ourselves with what has become a lovely ritual. Pre-dinner drinks!