Destination: Lake Garda
My original plan for today had been to head back over to Venezia for the morning, but I really wasn’t feeling it. So I decided to chill at the campsite for a while and check out the details for my first stop in Verona.
My main reason for visiting the city was to visit ‘Casa Giulietta‘ which is reportedly the location of the balcony made famous in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. I had studied the play at school and seen both the play and film adaptation several times. So I was quite disappointed with my poor preparation when I realised that it wasn’t open today, as it is closed on Mondays.
As ever though, I wasn’t going to let that get me down. I would just head on to my destination for today, Lake Garda, and enjoy some peaceful time on the lake. I could always visit Juliet’s balcony another time, now that I know when it’s open.
Stop 1: Desenzano del Garda
It had been a while since I’d refuelled or picked up any provisions, so I decided to to that now while I had time. The very changeable weather had become quite miserable and it was raining again so a warm dry supermarket didn’t seem like a bad choice. While travelling up to my overnight camping, I came across a great little commercial area on the outskirts of Desenzano del Garda which had everything you could need.
I got some fuel and popped into the ‘Eurospin’ supermarket to stock up on beers and snacks and pick up some bits to take home.
For anyone looking for a longer break, Desanzano is a cute partially pedestrianised little town with a nice promenade and some great artwork.
Overnight: Silvinos Camping Boutique
It wasn’t much further to my campsite and I was there before I knew it. The campsite was absolutely awesome, literally right on the lake and I had a lakeside pitch which was very cool.
The campsite staff were super helpful and the facilities were the best I’ve ever seen on a campsite. The loos and showers were very modern, spacious and spotless and there were plenty of them. There were lots of washing facilities including washing machines and laundry areas. And I was happy to see they actively encouraged recycling and provided penty of facilities for that too.
The site had a small amount of rental accommodation as well as touring facilities. I particularly liked the ‘tiny houses’ and ‘treehouse tents’. All in all it had a lovely vibe and I felt instantly at home.
The lake itself was stunning. If I had ever wondered what all the fuss was about a lake, now I knew. The water was mesmerising, so clear and the colours were ever changing. Even in the dull and overcast day, it was very very beautiful.
My drive northward up the Adriatic coast had been significantly quicker than the drive south. So I hadn’t really had chance to acclimatise to the drop in temperature. Instead of the balmy 30C plus I had been used to, today was 21C and I was freezing.
So I quickly put up the TentBox, zipped down the mesh window to act as a windbreak, and snuggled up on my beachchair under my cosy duvet. I sat for ages watching and listening to the waves crash onto the pebbled shore … I could definitely get used to this!
It looked like the clouds rolling in from the south were bringing some stormy weather, so I put the raincovers on the TentBox just in case. This turned out to be a very good decision as it wasn’t long before the wind picked up.
I spent the rest of the stormy evening cosied up in my duvet and watching the sparkling lights of Bardolino on the eastern shore of the lake.
It was a very rough night, and at times it seemed at times as if the waves crashing onto the shoreline might come crashing into my TentBox at any moment. But thankfully they never and the TentBox stood up magnificently to the thundering wind.
