Our last day of the tour today! On the bus and leaving Riva Del Garda by 9am - would have liked to have spent a couple of days just relaxing here! Such a pretty spot and with quite a few towns further down the lake easily accessible by ferry it would have nice to explore a bit! It took about 2.5 hours to reach Milan, passing through some great farming country, with cereals, rice and corn being the major crops! Also saw several piggeries and some light industry! H...

Set off for Modena this morning - Ferrari country!!!! Actually, the region is home to Lamborghini, Maserati, Bugatti and Ducatti as well, and so I was hoping that our visit to the Enzo Ferrari Museum would give me enough time for a decent look around! We have spent eons looking at ancient churches, castles and buildings etc. and as lovely as they are, I am totally over them!!!! So I endured an hour of central Modena with its large Cathedral and cobblestones, befo...

Today's tour was to Bolzano, close to the Austrian border. We arrived there late in the morning, stopping for a quick espresso at a truck stop - it's hard to get used to doing things the Italian Way when you have to pay for what you want first, then go and join the queue to get served! So simply getting a coffee takes quite a while, especially when the Italians are prone to barging in front of anyone! Bolzano is nestled in a deep valley between mountains ...

This morning we headed back down the freeway towards Verona and then turned east to Bassano Del Grappa a little town on the banks of the Brenta River. Mostly an agricultural place but with a strong link to the war through the "Alpina", a group of extremely tough soldiers who fought for many years in the mountains. They endured horrific conditions, fought savagely and are revered by all Italians! We stopped at a covered wooden bridge that had been destroyed severa...

Decided to give the trip back down to Verona a miss today! It was a toss up as to whether we spent the day doing historical stuff or have a good look around this lovely little town of Riva Del Garda! Pretty easy choice for me and Mumsie is a bit over the "old town" tours as well! So we had a leisurely breakfast and then walked around the lake towards Torbone - dodging the thousands of cyclists who frequent the area - and watching all the locals and tourists sunni...