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 sunning themselves on the grey pebble beaches! It's apparently school holidays in Germany at the moment and being so close, Lake Garda is a very popular destination! The place was packed with children and the camping areas were full up! Nobody was swimming though as the water is way too cold at present.
This area is also very popular with hikers, mountain bikers and rock climbers - all popular German pastimes so it was little wonder we could hear so many German accents! In peak season the population of about 15,000 doubles and it would be a good place to avoid I reckon!
We finished up walking the entire 6kms to Torbone, stopping for a coffee at one of the many hotels on the lake shore, had a look around and then caught a ferry back across the lake to Riva Del Garda.
Mumsie wanted to do some some shopping and headed off up the myriads of narrow streets in search of a bargain, while I caught up with a couple of days of blogging and had a nap! Later we had a look around the newer part of the town which was only a kilometre or so away from our hotel! There seemed to be most facilities, although we struggled to find a major shopping centre to get a few things. After asking at the tourist centre we were told that the main retail hub was actually a few kms to the north along the main road, and the only way to get there was by bus! The bits and pieces we wanted weren't worth the hassle so we continued to explore the local area.
Den and Suze did the optional evening cruise down the lake to visit the towns of Limone and Malcesine, but we stayed in town and had some excellent pasta and a bottle of local Lambrusco at a tiny little place in one of the many narrow streets nearby.
It was a very pleasant day, and we all enjoyed some peace and quiet away from the tour!