Day 2 - Garda Lake
Morning in Desenzano
Garda Lake is the largest and most popular in north Italy. For our convenience several villages and small towns have settled around the lake. Desenzano is considered one of the larger towns (it isn't very large really - just larger). It is also less touristic - and it may have worked better for the trip's atmosphere .
Strolling Desenzano in the morning is way different from the night. With the morning all the shops and coffee shops open up and all. Ducks and swans swim near the edge of the port. You can see clearly the marine and luckily for us it was "market day" (which according to the locals takes place twice a week). After the short stroll, swans photographing and clothing search which were cheap and pretty in contradiction to Italy's tradition, rain started to drop. We got wet, we laughed and when the rain stopped near noon we went on a medium ship with Sirmione as our new target. I must mention that the sailing was fun by itself .
Desenzano's Marine
Sirmione
Small town positioned on a narrow peninsula which burst into Garda's lake. If the arrival on ship isn't dramatic enough Sirmione will surely leave a good impression. Sirmione is a colorful and ancient town (at least the touristic part of it). The buildings are painted with pastel colors and a unique fortress stands tall on the edge of the peninsula. Sirmione is the most touristic town around Garda Lake and boy is she crowded - and I repeat, she is crowded. Junk food shops, mostly pizzas and ice creams, are displayed in such a manner that I would shake the hand of the man that won't eat at least one of the two. (Don't worry, it's tasty just as much as it's pretty)
Sirmione's nurtured Ices. Wait till you see the pizzas...
The center of attention is the fortress "Castello Scaligero". The fortress is small in European measures but has a distinct look and the view from the top over the city and the lake is beautiful. We spend there about 30-40 minutes even though his size wasn't justifying it. Twenty minutes away from the central place a roman villa can be found, or at least what's left from the once so called villa. The villa was composed of uninteresting remnants and the weird beach that was viewed from there was sadly more interesting. Quite exhausted we returned to the Sirmione's center with a mini train (1 Euro per person). There are more interesting attractions over Sirmione we didn't have time to visit such as the water attractions or the bath house where you can get a massage and quite obviously bath.
Sirmione's fotress - "Castello Scaligero"
Knights' meal
Our next target was the "Knights' meal" which I called them from Israel for a good place reservation (But you can ask the same thing if you get early to the place). To reach there we took a boat to Garda city which is in the north of the lake. The sailing crossed Garda Lake so it was beautiful on its own. In Garda city we didn't have too much time to dwindle and we went straight to the bus station - nevertheless the city didn't seem a place of interest for tourists. The free bus brought us to Canevaworld site ( a gathering of several children attractions) and from there the magic began
Beautiful mini fortress and people dressed authentically to knights and aristocrats will invite you into a broad arena with
seating in the balcony. The seating are divided to four colors and when the show starts it becomes clear that there are four knights competing over the heart of a princess and each side in the arena cheers for his colored knight (Half of the show isn't in English but you can get the gist of it )
The knights' show
Each knight honors one lady of his audience with beautiful rose. Of course the knight chose my happy girlfriend. Afterwards the knights clash in several ordinary competitions and combats for knights. While the show continues you receive authentic food and drinks, just don't expect to get forks and knives too.
Our knight honor Dafna with a rose
The activity will the leave a mark on any child for months but it is fascinating for every age. for the sake of an illustration in out show there were only 3 children and the audience still rampaged, cheered, and made noise with every metal object in hand's reach ( usually the food's plate) just cheer stronger than the other groups .
In the end of the day we returned to Desenzano for another pleasant night .
Day summary
Morning in Desenzano - Fun and soothing.
Sirmione - A must experience yet a short visit suffice.
Knights' meal - An experience for all the family - not to miss.
* Garda's lake summary in the third day.