Wednesday, 29 May 2013

Sirmione, Italy

Sirmione, Italy


We travelled for 3.5 hours from Venice to Sirmione a lovely town on a peninsular jutting out into Lake Garda. The site is not one of the best, but for 16 euros a night you cannot complain, after all we did come here for the location.

Views from the campsite to Lake Garda




Verona


On our first day here, which again was blessed with glorious sunshine we took a day trip into Verona.

We did the normal tourist route, looking at the Arena, used originally for gladiators but now used for shows, such as Operas and concerts. We also visited the Piazza Erbe, a lovely piazza full with market stalls and surrounded by amazing architecture, statues and fountains where you can also find the statue of Dante. Following on from lunch in the Piazza we visited the Casa Di Giulietta, the balcony which was supposedly the foundation for Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare.

Here are some pictures.


Piazza Erbe

Piazza Erbe

Piazza Erbe

Piazza Erbe

Piazza Erbe

Dante's statue

Piazza Erbe

Casa Di Ciulietta - Juliets Balcony
Statue of Juliet



Piazza Bra
Roman Arena

Roman Arena


Sirmione

Yesterday we visited Sirmione, a real tourist spot for everyone. A pleasant couple of hours was spent exploring the town, castle and shops.




Bardolino 

In the afternoon we went exploring and came across a town called Bardolino which is really quaint with a very scenic port, cobbled streets and plenty of restaurants, one of which we enjoyed a lovely lunch.








1 standard  sized bottle of wine, the other a me sized bottle of wine.




Saturday, 25 May 2013

From Austria to Italy

From Austria to Italy

Villach Austria campsite

Villach Austria campsite

 



We left Villach, Austria (which is on the Slovinia/Italy boarder) on Wednesday morning for a 3.5 hour drive to www.marinadivenezia.it in Punta Sabbioni, Italy, which is 2 km from the port where you catch the public ferry to Venice, a mere 25 minute boat ride away.  Not many campsites in these parts take dogs, fortunately this one does. Brian certainly did his home work on the camp site location and facilities, it is really good.
When we arrived here, we were taken aback by the size and how busy the site is.  They have stewards who attend every vehicle arriving and sort out all your paperwork, you don’t even leave your car.  Then they send you on your way, we were told to pitch in section Marina 8000 which is just for campers with dogs, this section alone must have at least 200 – 300 pitches. There must be around 2000 pitches in all, a massive camp site, saying that they do have all the facilities you could ever need, restaurants, take away, supermarket and a fantastic swimming pool complex and the beach is to die for, miles and miles of golden sand.  The only drawback is that it is school holiday for Germany and the site is packed with them all holidaying. Not a problem, it’s just not like our usual choice of campsite. This one was chosen for its location.
A few pictures of the campsite, swimming pool complex and beach.

www.marinadivenezia.it
large dog walking park on campsite


Pool complex


Outside restaurants






The beach







 Venice




On Thursday with the weather being absolutely fantastic, beautiful sunshine and clear skies we decided to brave a trip to Venice, which turned out to be a lovely experience.
First we arrived at the Ferry port and purchased our tickets, 14 Euros each return for the public ferry, Bailey went free, he just had to wear a muzzle which he is not keen on.  After a pleasant 25 minute boat trip we disembarked in Venice.  This city must be one of the most beautiful cities we have ever visited, it was teaming with people, totally crowded but the architecture and ambience of Venice just sinks into you and obviously no cars makes it even better.
We started off from the port and headed to Piazza S. Marco, the main square, as usual the Basilica di San Marco is partly under scaffolding  it’s now a standing joke between Brian and myself as every time we visit a cathedral or major building it is always under scaffolding of some sort), however the scaffolding did not detract from the building, this church like every other building , waterway and Piazza in Venice is awe inspiring and on such a perfect day a dream to behold.
We had no set plan and just decided to wander around the city, I think Bailey had more photos taken of him than I took of Venice, and I took a lot. He was quite the star attraction.
We had a very pleasant lunch in one of the hundreds of restaurants and obviously it had to be Pizza.
Here are a few pictures of Venice, in no particular order.



























Val's first attempt at nude modelling.