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Sadly, we are about to leave Torri Del Benaco this morning. This is our second visit here after dropping in with the kids when we travelled around Europe for 3 months in 2002.
It really is a beautiful place. For any of my mountain biking friends there seems to be some serious trails in the mountains around here - so perhaps another reason to return. The last couple of days have been great. On Monday it was very wet. The kind of rain you forget happens when you live in Perth. Constant drenching rain. It made us go slow for the day which was not a bad thing as both of us were still adjusting to Italian time. We drove to Limone Sul Garda on the other side of the lake to Torri. It was quite a drive. Solid rain, narrow road and lots of tunnels. The road to Limone was only constructed in the 1930s, before that it was isolalated and only accessible by boat. We are driving a tiny car and I was feeling it ws hard not to hit the oncoming vehicles. But b***** me there were heaps of huge buses using the road and clearing the rock walls and oncoming traffic by millimeters. Limone ws he rest day town for the Giro and I ws hoping we might bump into a few cyclists but I suspect the rain kept them all indoors. Limone was steep. Ridiculously steep and whoever thought it was a good place for a town has probably been cursed by generations of builders. While there we came across a curious "ramp" obviously some way of getting vehicles down to lower levels. It was amazing but we still haven't worked out what the hell it was for. See pics in the albums area! While in Limone (and yes it's named for its former lemon growing) i purchased my first bottle of Limoncello - which is in a bottle in the shape of lake Garda. On reflection its also distinctly phallic!
We also stopped at Riva Del Garda at the pointy end of lake Garda. Another ridiculously pretty town, but far more touristy than Torri. Sharon's shopping genes kicked in and she bought a handbag which looks very similar to a few others she has. Not sure what extra features it has that prompted the purchase but then again I was eyeing off some more cycling gear that I didn't need too.
Tuesday was a glorious day after the rain had cleared overnight and the sky was blue and sun out. I broke out the bikes and we did a great ride up away from the lake and into the hinterland. Take a mental snapshot of what you would imagine the Italian countryside to look like - that's what it was like. The good weather bought out many many cyclists and there was much ciaoing (and puffing) as we passed. We lunched at Albisano, a very small village above Torri that has had a major upgrade since we were last here. In fact there seems to be lots more villas and lots of building going on. Perhaps it's affordable? From the few prices we have seen it looks like you could pick up a villa overlooking the lake for the same price as a duplex in Girrawheen.
Today we head off to intercept the Giro again. This time in the mountains near Cortina d'ampezzo. We are staying at Livinalongo de Col De Lana, onroute of the Giro. We're are hopeful that we can catch them a couple of times as there is a connecting road between two mountain passes that they have to climb.
OK, have to go now see you soon.
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