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The Dolomites and Lombardi Lakes - Italy
Sam's & Libby's Highlights & Impressions
• Swimming in the lakes of Molveno, Levico & Como
• The Dolomitie mountains
• The boat trips on Lake Como and 'returning to' Bellagio
• Watching the soccer final - unfortunately Holland lost
• Our 'finale' Italian dinner out
$$$$ Comparisons
• Camping grounds generally Euro 30 - 50 per night (NZ$60 - 100)
• Diesel - Euro 1.20/litre (NZ$2.40)
• Petrol - Euro 1.50/litre (NZ$3.00)
• 1 litre milk - Euro 1.30 (NZ$2.60) - They drink more UHT.
• Bread - Euro1.25/small loaf (NZ$2.50)
• Small chicken(Raw) - Euro 5 (NZ$10)
• Beef mince - Euro 9/kilo (NZ$18)
• Margareta Pizza - Euro 4.50 (NZ$9)
• Gelato Ice cream - Euro2.50 for 2 scoops, (NZ$5) - this is costing us heaps!!!!
• Wine - Supermarket 1litre carton - Euro 1.25 (NZ$2.50)
• Beer - Cafe 400ml handle - Euro 3.50 (NZ$7)
• Beer - Supermarket 660ml bottle - Euro 0.85cents (equivalent to NZ$10/doz 330ml Heineken - clearly the more supermarket beer and wine we drink here, the more money we make … er save!!!)
Bonjourno from The Dolomites and Lombardi Lakes - Italy
We reluctantly left Venice Monday and headed for the Dolomiti mountains stopping 20km out of Trento at Lake Levico - Lakeside position the kids were in the water and with 2 pontoons a short distance from the shore it was a fun time. Sam took himself off to soccer and Lib joined in with the disco in the evening. The lake was lovely and clean surrounded by mountains. At 9pm the only 2 kids swimming were Sam and Libby - in fact they were the only people swimming!
Tuesday we trained into Trento - a pleasant town with an open market, aged architecture and an all importantly relaxed feel. Back to Levico for more swimming and kids holiday camp activities.
Wednesday we took the scenic route from Levico to Molveno - our camping locations are largely dictated by having either a pool or CLEAN lake. On route we went to see the brown bears - some of us were quite excited about seeing real bears, and it took quite an effort to find them - which in itself should have rung warning bells! Two rather mottly brown bears lying down in a fenced confine was the 14 Euro family experience … rather disappointing! From here we headed to Lago di Molveno - an aqua green glacial lake and a temperature that reflected the source. A quick dip!!! From our campsite we had our first view of the Dolomites - huge rocky peaks, bluish grey hues with pockets of snow - spectacular!
We all dipped again the next morning before moving on and circumnavigating both the lake and Brenta Dolomite mountain range, stopping at Madonna where we found a fantastic outlook on the mountains and spot for lunch. Our continued cross country route took us along some scenic back roads some of which proved a little tight to navigate in places but generally with some give and take (and some reversing in places) we largely made it through unscathed … that is until we met up with 'the blue van', registration unknown, driver origin verified by us all as 'foreign', who raced toward us cutting the corner and clashed wing mirrors at collective high speed impact … they drove on while our mirror hung down injured … a little TLC got it back together for our onward journey, one side mirror will however require replacement. We headed for Como and searched for a camp ground and with one option only we stayed for the night, in no way inclined to stay any longer.
We were on the road by 8.30 our earliest start to date, heading up the western shores again through narrowing winding streets not really made for 20ft camper vans and found a camp ground in the grounds of Hotel Sole at Santa Maria just past Menaggio. The owner was very welcoming and quite delightful - Mr Sala made a real fuss. We had the sole campervan pitch with views over Lake Como - the intervening road was a little noisy at times but the general atmosphere of the place and bonus of tunnel access leading to the lake and beach was to make it a perfect lakeside and departure location for us from Italy. Settled in we ventured into the quaint neighbouring village for a delightful lakeside lunch of pizza and later into the Hotel Sole bar for a few drinks with the locals and guests to take in the world cup football final … Go Holland! The atmosphere was a perfect environment to share with our kids, the result was not and theatrics just seem a big part of the game today but that's sport and we move on … next the rugby world cup and 'Go the AB's!!!".
Monday we boarded ferries and explored the centrally located villages bordering Lake Como … from Menaggio … to Varenna … to Bellagio (which brought back fond memories of our acquaintance with the Las Vegas take off) … to Tremezzo … to Lenno (where we swam whilst the ferries slept out the siesta) … and return … a delightfully pleasant day on and in the water. A Gelato to conclude the day and compulsory swim in the lake following and an evening spent in the hotel restaurant to mark our last day in Italy … a fitting finale for Italy. We sat outside on the balcony overlooking the lake, enjoyed a delicious dinner of local dishes and red wine, and were later joined by the neighbouring tables of Anne (English) and Mark (the Ozzie now living in England) touring by motorcycle and Arndrea and Stephen (French) cruising in their Lotus 7 … it was a night to be remembered not least for the genuine compliments made of our kids and their mature behaviour and good humour.
So it's farewell Italy … this week's destination Switzerland - Interlaken, Lucern and Zurich.
Thanks again for all your return messages which are always appreciated by us all ...
Till our next blog ... it's again ariva derci (over & out from Italy) from this Family on OE!
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