Postcards from Sirmione

May 29, 2024 / 9 Comments

We have observed over the years that our best holidays are those where we have to ‘do a bit of work’ to engage with the destination landscape.

(Joyful, classy and fun, Sirmione is a great base for a few days)

Just getting on a cheap flight and staying in a sanitised resort is no longer satisfying, though a few days of sun at the end of a Cumbrian winter is much needed!

Our best ever trip was to cycle the Canal Du Midi from Carcassonne, in southwestern France, to Sête, on the Mediterranean coast. The journey and local hotels were organised for us by Headwater Holidays, but we had to do the cycling – and in considerable heat, requiring the carrying and drinking of three litres of water each day.

This spring, with a big birthday coming up, my wife, Bernie, offered to arrange us a touring holiday based around the Italian Lakes … but without the car. We would be essentially backpacking, but using rail, local buses and foot travel.

We would fly to Venice – covered in the last post – and then use the train and buses to navigate an inclusive arc around the best bits of Lake Como and Lake Garda. We would finish back in Venice, 19 days later, to get our return flight to Manchester.

We carefully practised our packing – hoping to reduce it down to two, small roller-cases that had backpack straps and qualified for cabin bags on the plane – but in the end surrendered to the need for a few luxuries and included a third, larger case that had to be checked onto the flight.

(Lake Garda’s location. Close to Verona. Map images from Apple Maps, edited by the author)

We’re now in Sirmione, on the southern tip of Lake Garda; and we’re experiencing our first sunshine of the trip, which is very welcome…

(Sirmione is a ‘spit’ of land jutting out several miles into Lake Garda)

Situated on the southern tip of Lake Garda, the small town of Sirmione reminds me of Carcassonne, in south-eastern France.

Similar to its French counterpart, it is built around a medieval castle, which is carefully maintained as the centrepiece of this historic and attractive place. Unlike Carcassonne (which is spectacular but recent) this castello has a real history.

(A literally ‘shimmering’ electric Lamborghini)

But the town has more to offer than history. It’s a magnet for well-heeled tourism due to its stylish shops, cafes and restaurants, as well as a place (on Sundays) for well-off locals to show off their top-of-the-range motors: of either two or four-wheel varieties.

It’s Sunday, so they’re all posing along the promenade. Everything is gentle and civilised. No one’s objecting to the ostentatious chrome displays.

(Two of the largest-engined Triumph motorcycles I’ve ever seen!)

It’s all delightfully Italian…

(The expanse of Lake Garda surrounds Sirmione. It looks and feels like the sea)

We’re feeling human, again. We’ve slept and had breakfast before our walk. But we didn’t look or feel relaxed the day before – when we arrived, weary after a seven- hour journey from Venice by train, bus and foot.

(At the time of writing, it’s not raining – unlike most of the trip so far… photo of an earlier train to Como)

The delayed arrival was due to the ‘scheduled closure’ of the main line from Milan to Verona. The train would have dropped us off in the early afternoon within a short taxi ride of our destination.

Generally, like most of Europe, Italian trains are modern, spacious and wonderful. They make British trains look and feel like antiques.

(‘Joining the coaches’. Some very unhappy travellers!)

Sadly, our rail systems, under the lies of efficiency and investment are neither, but like the efficient water companies, have generated billions for often overseas investors in what should be treated as fraud on an industrial scale.

The scheduled engineering works meant we had to leave the train at Brescia and ‘join the coaches’ waiting to take us to each of the stops the train would have made.

(“I’d had enough of IT,” said Paulo, who lures
passengers onto his immaculate tour boat with teasing jazz)

In fairness, the buses/coaches were modern and swift – yet calmly driven. Soon, we were dropped off near Sirmione to be take a taxi to the resort. Later, we learned he had charged us three times the going rate…

(Lots of style in Sirmione … and occasional daring)

But such dishonesty has not been a general part of our Italian experience. Quite the opposite.

And, finally, we had arrived at our new home for the next five days.

So, I’ll let the photos of Sirmione do the rest of the talking….

All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12 ProMax or created using NightCafe Studio AI.

Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one on their own, unique journey to the deeper states of them-selves.

There is no charge to attend these meetings.

There are two blog streams:

http://www.thesilenteye.co.uk

(mystically-oriented writing)

and

http://www.suningemini.blog

(general interest, poetry, humour and travel)

Contact: STEVETEMEQ@gmail.com