Monday, April 21

Riva Del Garda, Italy

mike: After Venice we rented a car and headed west to a lake resort town called Riva Del Garda on the north shore of Lake Garda. This long narrow lake is scenically located between huge mountains on either side and is a popular short getaway for Italians. Since it was still early in their tourist season, we had the place nearly to ourselves.


We worked off some of the pizza calories by hiking up to this high mountain church passed a old turret that Napoleon blasted with cannons for a great view down to the lake.



Back in the square recovering with a cappuccino. You may be able to just make out the church we hiked up to directly up from the left corner of the blue Hotel Europa.


On a day trip north the following day, we explored this cave where a waterfall (Cascata del Varone ) had carved out a vertical canyon in the mountain.



Next we hiked around this trout filled lake called Lago di Tenno. After nearly back to the car we came across a stream about two foot too wide to cross, gushing with cooold water. Determined not to walk back the long way, we found a long thin branch and attempted to pole vault across. After some tense moments, we gave a half cheer, half sigh of relief when we both landed on the other side, mostly dry.


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