The Dolomites and Via Ferrata 2007

Return to alavigne.net home

NOTE: You have javascript disabled in your browser. This presentation will continue to function, but with only basic capabilities. In order to view this presentation will full capabilities, please enable javascript in your browser, then refresh this page.

[< Previous Day]

[page 1] [page 2]

[Next Page >]

Sunday, July 15

Beaches & Operas

The next morning, our lost bag situation forced us to have a relaxed day. This was probably a good thing. A hot, lazy summer day and a beautiful lakeside Italian town are not things that one should miss experiencing.

An oval on the world

Sleepy-heads

Starting our day

We took the day easy, heading down to the supermarket to get groceries for our little apartment and for our upcoming mountain outings. Then, we headed down to the lakefront beaches for a refreshing swim in the lake.

courtesy PChen

The cliffs loom high!

Exploring the town

A Baroque Church

The views south onto the lake were stunning, with a panoply of windsurfers flitting to and fro like so many insects on the surface of a pond, and framed on either side by blue skies and steep, jagged cliffs.

A stonewalk

Capturing the 3rd of November

Elegant Lakeshore

Although the day was very hot (at 38C), the water was not as warm as we would have expected, attesting to Lake Garda's great depth. The beach, too, was a little less than desirable, being less than smooth fine sand and more like rounded white marbles with some rocky outcrops. It was pretty packed with people, though, and we had to search a bit for a smidgen of beachfront to call our own.

courtesy PChen

A bit like amalfi?

Hot and Cold

Lakeside walk

We had a bit of Italian fine arts on order for the evening: reservations at the famous outdoor opera in Verona. The opera runs throughout the summer on most nights of the week, and is held in the most wonderful and atmospheric of places: the 2,000 year old roman amphitheatre in the heart of Verona.

After our swim and relaxing afternoon on the lakeshore, we returned to our hotel to learn that Pu's lost bag was making its way towards us. It had apparently arrived at the Verona airport, where it was awaiting courier service to us here at the hotel. Given that it was already late afternoon, it seemed increasingly possible that the bag might not get into our hands before the next morning, which would again nix our chances of doing a ferrata. I suggested that it made much more sense for us to head to the Verona airport ourselves and pick up the bag from there. This fit in well with our plans, since we were going into Verona for the opera anyway.

courtesy PChen

Back in Business

We all piled into a single vehicle and drove the one hour to the Verona airport. The airport is regional, so it was modest in size, but nevertheless it was packed with travellers. We located the service counter and, after some comments from our agent about excessive Italian paperwork, we waited around as Pu's bag was brought out. We were now ready to hit the wires!

From the airport we drove the short distance into the city. Verona is known as the 'Florence of the north', and has much in the way of beautiful architecture and art. It is also the home of Shakespeare's famous Romeo and Juliet, complete with a tourist-y setup at what was supposed to be Juliet's house, complete with the famous balcony.

courtesy PChen

Down to the Porta Nuova

La Porta Nuova

Anfiteatro di Verona

We parked close to the old amphitheatre and strolled into town, stopping by to pick up our opera tickets (which I'd reserved in advance on the internet). From there we walked down towards one of the more scenic piazzas - the long and narrow Piazza Erbe. Along the way we stopped by at a phone store to pick up a cheap SIM card, which we'd use during our travels to make local phone calls with Darryl's cellphone. The cost for the card was 30 Euros, and this covered us for our whole trip.