Oldies On Tour

View from the Ferry

Saturday 25^th August, a day I shall always remember! We had arranged for the dogs to go into kennels overnight, so the lady picked them up from the campsite at 10.00am, off they trotted with not a glance backwards; they obviously enjoyed their stay on Thursday

We did our 25km bike ride to the ferry again, parked, and just

Basillica

made the next boat, so we were in Venice by 11.00am, it was still very crowded, but we decided to do the Basillica di San Marco first. I queued whilst Geoff went and left his bag at left luggage.  I was still queuing when he returned, but apparently he had a ticket which allows us to enter without waiting, so we went to the front, straight in, and well the WOW Factor! Was just amazing, gold domes everywhere, the ceilings were covered with paintings, and surrounded with gold, you have to see it, to believe it.  We took photos (No photos allowed) but they do not really do the place justice.  We slowly walked around, but no amount of words could really describe the place, it was just sheer decadents.

Coffee time, and decide what was next, so we sat down in the square (St.Mark’s) we had been told that coffee was expensive here, but Geoff said it had to be done! One Tea, one coffee, and two pastries 26 Euros, the waiters had white jackets, black waistcoats, black trousers; they must have been sweltering in this heat. We watched the hordes of tourists, taking photos, and just milling around, another first.

Next stop was the Palazzo Ducale, I don’t do history, so needed to get this one out of the way, we queued but not for long, then paid, we asked for concession tickets, she looked at me and said two, which made my day!

Entering through the colonnaded court-yard you will see statues of Mars and Neptune, flanking the giant staircase, built for the dignitaries, climb the golden staircase, where gold leaf is everywhere, the ceilings are decorated with carved picture frames painted with gold, with so many different pictures, depicting different eras of history. They had a room with two huge globes, and maps on the walls showing what the empire used to look like, the accuracy of the maps and charts dated back to the 15^th century, was quite remarkable. We went down into the prison, where the condemned prisoners walked over the covered Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs).  Neither of us is into art, but we were both taken back by the place, difficult to describe, but it is a definite must if you go to Venice.

We were both starving by this point 3pm, so we found a place on one of the little back streets, and had a pleasant glass of wine, and shared one of the best pizzas we have ever had.  We sat next to another couple, (who came from Scotland) who had just done the gondola run, and they had been advised to go to Rialta to get one, so after lunch and an interesting discussion on whether Scotland should leave UK or not, we caught the water bus.

Geoff negotiated with the gondolier, and we stepped aboard, I was sitting in the wrong place, for the balance, so had to change, and once we got comfortable we were off, well it was amazing. We went under Rialta famous bridge, where we were told you kiss, and everything you wish for comes true, at this point Geoff proposed to me, I was just so surprised, he even had a ring, now how romantic is that, he said he would have gone onto his knees, but he had already been told to keep still, so will forgive him for that.  I was speechless, but I did manage to say YES, so party time soon.  We meandered through the waterways, going under tiny bridges, and having to stop when someone wanted to go by, a truly magical experience.

We made several calls to the family, only to find that Andrew already knew, as Geoff had asked him for his approval, (as my Dad was no longer with us). (Old fashioned bugger) whilst having a drink to toast the occasion, when ever that might be, not sure how we are going to fit everything into our busy schedule, but sure we will manage somehow.

We bought two pictures one of the bridges, and one of the routes, just as a reminder of our special day.

Back to Piazza San Marco, where we found a lovely restaurant to finish of the day, we both had fish, and to watch the waiter fillet them was skilful.

St.Mark’s Square at night

We then wondered around the square, by which time it was dark, and it was such a magical place to be, there were three different orchestra’s playing, one would stop another would start, street sellers, and hundreds of people just

Magical Venice

looking around.  I cannot really describe the day, but take it from me; it was one of the best days of my life. We meandered through the streets, found the ferry, and back on the bikes and home, it is funny not having the dogs with us.

Move day, so we left before breakfast, we are heading for Lido di Jesolo, which is a strip of land, with the Adriatic one side, and the Venice Lagoon the other; strangely enough there are no sites in Venice!

Venice

We arrived with minutes to spare to get booked in, before the office closed for two hours, so we were pleased about that, we sorted ourselves out, had some lunch, then went to check where the ferries go from, ready for the morning.  Good job we did as it is a 25km journey, to the end of the peninsular, thought we were never going to get there, anyway we timed it, and so we have a rough idea when to leave tomorrow.

Up early, we are both excited, I had this idea to see if we could find a dog sitter, so

Venice

tongue in cheek went to the office to ask, and to our amazement they do, so we arranged for them to be collected at 10am, the only problem was she had to drop them back at 6pm, so cheekily I asked if they could just put them in our motor-home, and the site owner said he would do it! So we were really chuffed, we were free for the day.

Gondolers on Grand Canal

On to the bikes, straight onto a ferry, and we have finally arrived in Venice, another place well worth the visit, I am pinching myself again, we are so lucky to be doing this.

We walked along the streets towards the Piazza San Marco,(St. Mark’s Square) then we heard that Mark, Paula and

Grand Canal

the girls were delayed, so we decided to catch the water bus, up the Grand Canal to the station, which is about a forty minute ride away, it was amazing, the sites.  Impossible though it seems, Venice is built on 117 small islands connected by 400 bridges over 150 canals, so plenty to see and enjoy.

Ashleigh and Tyla

We met at the station, and they only have two hours with us, so we were trying to decide what was best to do, so we caught another water bus to Piazza San Marco, this time it continued in a big circle, coming down the Canal Della Giudecca, so we saw yet more places. We had prime position at the bow, enough seats to be comfortable, so luck was on our side.

We walked into the Piazza, where you have the Basilica di San Marco, an amazing

St.Mark’s Square

building, we are going back on Saturday, and hopefully we will go inside then, the queues were vast, and we just did not have time. Next door to this is the Palazzo Ducale, we meandered around, down the little side streets, and back into the square, sadly we had to catch the water bus back

St.Mark’s Square

to the train station.  This time it was packed, but we found an ideal spot, to enable Tyla to take the photos, and everyone had a good view of the Grand Canal.

Sadly we said our farewells; we have had such a lovely time with them all, hopefully we will catch up again soon.  The train left and we went to catch the water bus again.  We wondered through the little streets, which was fascinating, we stopped for a drink in one of the squares, and watched everyone going by. We then continued, trying to find where the water bus left from, we saw the gondoliers winding around the tiny canals, with lots of little shops, mainly selling the Venetian glass, ice creams, and tiny restaurants.

To our surprise, we ended up in Piazza San Marco, so we were pleased that we had meandered so far, think we have seen most of the things to be seen, but we will still come back on Saturday for the cultural day, and for a ride on the gondoliers, it is such a lovely place, well worth the second visit.  We have arranged for the dogs to go into overnight kennels, so we can have a leisurely day and evening.

Lovely quiet night and we were up and out by 9.15am, we have a ferry to catch, walked down to the town, along the lakeside, and arrived at the dock side, bought our tickets, they checked we had muzzles before they would let the dogs go on board, and we were off.

The scenery is fantastic, not quite as stunning as the north, as there are not the big mountains, but still very pretty, definitely a place to visit.  Our first stop was Desenzano , a town right on the south end of the lake,  not the prettiest of places, plus they had a huge market on the waterfront, so it was quite difficult to negotiate with the dogs, and it was very hot, we reckon it was 40 degrees, not a good day to sight see.  We did find some shirts for Geoff which were nice, and fitted him perfectly, so he bought two, now I can throw some of the old ones away!  We wondered around but this town does not do anything for us.  Our ferry was due in at 12.15pm, so we wondered back to the docks, sat on a seat and waited, we then watched our ferry leave from a different Pier, what idiots we were, we were both cross, we went for a walk, and ended up having a drink, and waiting for the next one, which was one hour later.

Eventually we arrived at Sirmione, which was such a pretty place, it is a peninsular, with an old castle on, lots of ruins, some lovely restaurants and shops, we walked all around, gave the dogs a swim in a fountain, as we could not get down to the beach with them, that cooled them down a bit, Sooty kept holding his paws up, as the pavement must be very hot, so we kept walking in the shaded bits, to help him.

We stopped for some lunch, we shared a pizza, glass of wine, and plenty of water, and they bought two bowls of iced water for the dogs as well, which was very kind. Refreshed and nourished, we walked back to the ferry, and decided to go to Lazise, a walled city, another pretty place, we wondered around; bought an ice-cream to cool us off, then back to the ferry, and back to Garda.

The ferry ride was lovely and relaxing, and you could take in all the sites, you could have got off every stop, but we only chose the ones we had been recommended, it is a lovely way to see the Lake and its various towns, but it was the hottest day of the year apparently, so we were exhausted.

As soon as we reached the area where we could swim, we quickly changed and into the water, we were all glad to cool off, especially the dogs.  Sooty kept a couple amused on the beach; they ended up throwing stones for him, whilst we were swimming.

Now cool and relaxed, we got dressed and went into one of the restaurants on the lakeside for a lovely meal, and a couple of drinks, a lovely end to another nice day.

Tyla

Sunday morning and I have decided to change the sheets, not sure when we will have these facilities again, they have lots of washing machines, and Geoff has rigged me up a good washing line, it will be strange going home, and not having to worry about such things.

We had an early lunch, then went to see Mark and Tyla windsurf,

Tyla is off

Tyla is so good at it now, straight in, on the board and away, Mark took a bit longer, but he was away as well, we went in for a swim with Ashleigh, so many windsurfers around, you have to watch that they don’t run you over.  The whole place was choc a block, with surfers, and sailors, a lovely array of colours.

Mark preparing to launch himself

Mark heading for a collision

Back on our bikes, and back home, where Geoff started loading them up, we are off to the South of the Lake tomorrow, to see what it is like down there, haven’t booked anything just going..  I helped put some of the stuff away, finished the ironing and we generally cleared up.

Later we walked down to meet Mark, Paula, Gary and Alison, and the children, there were ten of us altogether, to try another meal out, and very nice it was too.  We will miss them, as we have had such a laugh this week, but hopefully we will catch up on Thursday in Venice.

I was awake early took the doggies out, had breakfast, then away, we only have forty miles to go, so no real rush, we headed for Garda, so that we can go on a ferry to see some of the other places. We found an Italian Aries, which is good, 12 Euros a night, lots of room, ideal for what we want, very clean and tidy.

We walked down to the Lake, and Bella was first in as usual, we all went in for a swim, it was lovely, so much warmer then the North, had a lovely time.  We checked the ferry times, so we know what we are doing tomorrow, then had an ice-cream, they are so lovely, has to be done.

At this point I would like to thank Jill, for giving us the portable doggie bowls, they have been so useful on our trips, and they are certainly being well used.

A stunning young lady!

We are having a ball, which is why no log, we met Mark Paula, Tyla and Ashleigh, and we spent the evening catching up over another lovely meal, how I drove home

Just wait until I am older!

that night, I will not know, in fact I don’t remember a lot except losing the door keys, and having to climb in through the back window, fortunately we left it open, but the bad news was everything was wet, as it had poured with rain. I was out for the count, so not worried that the bed was wet; apparently it wasn’t my side anyway!

Ashleigh and Bella

Next morning, I sorted the wet covers out, with a very heavy head, self inflicted, but we had a fun evening. Whilst I was pottering, Geoff found the keys in my bag, must stop this drinking lark! The day was a bit of a slow one, but I managed to prepare a bbq for Geoff to cook, the family were coming over in the evening, (so no driving for me) we had a lovely evening, and the bbq was perfect, well done the chef.

We moved house on Tuesday, instead of loading the bikes on the trailer, Geoff rode to

Naughty but nice!

Mark’s and left the bike there, and Mark bought him back, we then put everything away, had a swim, and left about 2.30pm, we couldn’t get into the other site until 3pm, even when we did arrive we were left outside the gate blocking the road, as they wouldn’t let us in, I drove down on my bike, which was funny following Rosie.  We sorted ourselves out, then went over to Mark and Paula’s for dinner, spaghetti Bolognese, very good, this time we walked. We played Uno, where I was winning up until the last round, and then they all stitched me up, Geoff then won. We then went to an amazing ice cream parlour, where I had the biggest ice-cream ever, with fresh fruit, ice cream, and the dreaded squirty cream, besides the cream it was lovely, we all had different ones, and very good they were

Arco castle

Another lazy day, spent by the pool, in the evening  Mark and Co., cycled around and we enjoyed another bbq cooked by Geoff, a lovely evening. Paula was seen to be wobbling on her bike as she left the site, but Mark texted to say they were all home safely.  We have arranged to walk up to the castle in Arco, will they turn up.

9.30am, everyone was ready for the climb, twenty minutes from the bottom, and uphill all the way, needless to say

View from the very top, stunning!

Geoff did not do it, he stayed with Mark having a bonding time, with coffee’s, and a trip to the supermarket.  There were spectacular views at the top, the climb, was some steps and some slopes, but it was not as hard as I thought it would be, glad I made the effort.

The Grand Tower

The way it was organised you went up one way, and came back another, a good system accept it was through woods, and you had to be careful not to slip, but we eventually made it down, my legs were wobbling when we were at the bottom, I thought I would suffer, but no after effects.  We met up in the cafe, had a drink, and then we went our separate ways.

We had planned to go on a boat trip today, with the dogs, so having bought muzzles for them, (they are not allowed on the ferries without them) Mark picked us up early 8.30am, he then went home to get the girls, and they cycled down to the ferry. We all got on, and we enjoyed the trip around the lake, the views are amazing, it is

Lake Garda

such a stunning area, we decided to get off at Assenza to have a look, nothing much there, so we sat and had aperitifs, waiting for the ferry to pick us up again, back to Malcesine, a much bigger town, we were going to go on

Malcine

cable car, but there was a couple of hour wait, so we gave that a miss, the town is very pretty, with lots of little shops and cobbled stone paths.  We had a lovely lunch, and then we just managed to get the ferry back to Limone.

Limone is a bustling little place, cobbled stones again, with lots of shops, Geoff bought me a skirt, which is really

Limone

unusual, and very expensive, Tyla managed to get a dress as well, but Ashleigh couldn’t find anything she wanted, another day perhaps, I think Paula is having a girly day there with her friend Alison later in the week.

Mark lumbered with dogs and bags, but still smiling.

We left Limone about 5pm and caught the ferry to Riva Del Garda, what a lovely day, we had ice creams at the ferry port, and Italy is certainly a very scenic place.

Saturday was catch up day, with the washing and ironing, we went swimming in the pool,  and took the bikes to Limone, more stunning views, and we then had a relaxing evening, playing dominoes, and I actually won!!

Lovely sunny day, so we thought we would make the most of it by going to look at Arco, a medieval village, where we are staying.  We are on the outskirts of the village, so we took the bikes, parked them, and walked into the village. No traffic allowed

Such a big church for a small village

except push bikes, and there were loads of them around.

Arco

We entered the big square, with cafés on three sides, and the other one was taken up with the church, which was huge.  We wondered around the little alleyways, which is where the shops were, mostly had climbing gear in, it is one of the main activities away from the Lake.

Arco

The tiny streets were fascinating, we found one that had a sign saying ‘ twenty minutes of step climbing to get to the castle’ at the top, we decided to give that a miss, they looked straight up, not sure that I would have made it, let alone Geoff.

It is difficult to describe, and the photos do not do it justice, but it is a very pretty village.

Back to the campsite, we had lunch, and then went for a swim in the lovely sized pool here, very deep, and not too crowded.

We took the dogs for a walk, and they enjoyed being back in the river, where do the days go too, they are just whizzing by.