And the sun sets on my adventures in Lago Gardo, so how best to capture the past two weeks – I could fill the pages with “information’ on the area so lets cover that off with wiki, also the background to the blogs title is here at Abbiocco and rocambolesco
Or I could once again wax lyrically appropro Peter Pan on the buzz of flying successfully
What if I fall?” Oh, but what if you fly?
We fall so we can fly and all the falls make flying so much more magical.
What good are wings without the courage to fly
But it is far more interesting to talk about the people who are created by their history even in this modern day of international communities and technology, being part of a tribe forms a key part of our lives
When asking locals what is their favourite town on the lake – the answers underpin this legacy of history – “anywhere on the east” or “anywhere on the west” or “anywhere in the north” depending on who you were talking to – from a Gardian’s perspective “our own town is the best because we always see the sunrise first!! – now who can argue with that….
This thought process is running through all generations and is driven by their local history, this area has been owned by various Italian kingdoms as well as the Austro-Hungarian empire, Riva and the rest of Trentino only became part of Italy post WW1
It has been an interesting and violent history
Battle of Lake Benacus, in which Roman forces defeated the Alamanni on the shores of Lake Garda, in the year 268.
Battle between Milan and Venice in 1438 following the military engineering feat of galeas per montes.
Battle of Rivoli, in 1797 during the French campaign of Napoleon I in Italy against Austria.
Battle of Solferino in 1859, during the Italian Risorgimento. The terrible aftermath of this battle led to the Geneva Convention and the formation of the Red Cross. The lake was the site of naval battles in 1866 between Italy and Austria.
Benito Mussolini established the capital of his Italian Social Republic in late 1943 in a villa in the town of Salò on its shores.
But so much of the local tribes, then there are the visiting tribes in general, mainly from Germanica and then the guests at the wonderful hospitable Hotel Villa Anthea, whilst staying in this fantastic hotel I was continually drawn to the visuals of M. Hulot’s holiday in a coastal hotel
However as you have noted, to date I have been muse less looking for an inspirational figure(s) and lo and behold they appear like magic from the mist – not a single inspiration like DH Lawrence but a collective in sync – yes “the English aboard”
The first was a light touch, whilst mountain bike riding with my new English friends a conversation was started to engage our guide/ leader vis-a-vis the “World Cup’ – not smart as this is the guy that picks our route and provides us with direction and support
The second wave of commentary related to Chris Froome and how good he was, comparing him to other European riders, a mmm and silence ensued
But this was just a minor contretemps compared to the meeting of the minds poolside as follows
The first question is easy – where are you from?… directed to 2 English ladies [this with a strong Germanic accent] it would be fair to say that the responses would normally follow a standard hierarchy to allow easy conversation and communication of information and mutual engagement
Firstly, confirm your country of residence, then the general region and then identify your geography with large local conurbation and then present the actual location of the township in which you reside
For example – I know where Germany is [tick] Munich [tick] but I have no idea where Geltindorf, Germering or Kissing are located so it opens the opportunity for a discussion on the uniqueness and wonderfulness of each home town
So I was very surprised to hear in response to where are you from? the responses from the English ladies was Solihull, no warm up with England or in the north or maybe ‘a north of London’ or maybe even a near Birmingham – no straight to Solihull
The features and 10 best things to do are on the link, I know personally that a visit to the Malvern and Brueton Park will be a must for everyone and who wouldn’t have Hobs Moat Ancient Monument up on the global bucket list with Greenland and Easter Island
So, the new German friends were perplexed and he conversed with his partner in German where the F is Soolhoole – but it gets better, no allowance to bed down the general conversation to get a tone of acceptance and flow or mabe revert back a little
The next question arrives out of the blue from one of the English ladies and unexpected by all “has Angela Merkel only got one style of jacket, you know the blokes one with 3 buttons”
There was no coming back from that, I put my headphones back on, the Germans moved to a shadier corner – and the English ladies went off to annoy an Irish guy with a limp and enhance his knowledge of the greatness of Solihull
My outing
s
Lake Garda ferries
I had already visited the towns on the east side of Lake Garda, Torri, Malcesine, Riva and Torbole so the fer
ry trip provided the opportunity to have a quick look to explore the west coast including Gargone, Maderno and Salo, one visit is not going to be enough to explore all the beauties of the region
It was amusing to watch the English gents get perplexed when the ferries didn’t arrive on time – seeking out the appropriate attendant – the best response was – “it is very good news it is only a little behind it hasn’t been cancelled!!!” The English enquirer was left bemused not sure what to expect and when
Mountain Bike Riding
After conquering the La Rocca by foot, what better way than to take an easy Mountain Bike ride up to the top through vineyards and olive groves, hired the bikes from Bella Bici in Garda, and had the big monster fat wheels Oh yeh… I’m the dude
As always an eclectic group has gathered on the adventure, ably lead by Silvano a part time model from Vogue he flowed from English to German to Italian with the route, the history and off we went – lost a German lady on the first big hill – it was supposed to be easy!!!!
The youngsters charged ahead and I just timed myself – only had to get off once the GPS was showing 17% so commonsense prevailed for the 200 metres couldn’t wind the hill setting back to 80% like I was doing with the FulGaz APP
Beer and cheese
Italians aren’t normally recognised for craft beer but with the strong Austrian influence beer it is very popular the Monte Baldo and Benaco70 are two excellent beers
In addition to the wine making which has been financially supported by the EU olive oil processing as well as chess making are magnificent
Para gliding
Flying …now back to Peter Pan
I love that idea of the feeling of run run and jump off a cliff……….. and you hope you don’t keep going down
The first tandem para gliders had to stop 10 metres from the edge of the precipe as a wind gust had tangled the “strings” – that word isn’t very comforting – so I waited for their second attempt
and then we flew……
Insta has covered most of the highlights
Now back to far more interesting observations of the cultural differences, which make our world very interesting
#1 Sandals -I’ve never been a great fan of sandals but what is it with brown woollen socks and brown sandals this is really on my list of WTF as well as
#2 Tattoos – I know they have become de rigueur but the tattoo artists in Germany need to take a good hard look at themselves – snakes around ankles and large roman vases, Egyptian symbols all mixed with asian letters intertwined and everywhere, roses and thistles on the thighs, ankles and shoulders they are all pretty boring and average and nothing like the one I had planned in Rimini where are the dolphins and the eagles
#3 Beards – now I am a bit of an expert on a beard – it should cover the face entirely
But what is this dabbling with the structure of the beard by middle aged Germanic men
- taking off the sideburns, yes it will give you goatee but do you want to look like Rolf Harris,
- also growing it long with a pony tail and a wanker wizard appears by magic
- But what is this taking off of the lip whiskers – are we all Amish ??
- and furthermore removing the side burns and moustache resulting in a chunk of allocated whiskers hanging off the chin like on old book??
My final thoughts are…
#4 Smoking – it seems quite normal to smoke inside restaurants, outside restaurants, in front of children, in the pool and on the boat – just about everywhere especially in front of young people – folks it gives you cancer and you die and its not good for kiddies
#6 Eating pizza -According to the book, “Common-sense Etiquette:A Guide to Gracious, Simple Manners for the 21st Century,” pizza should be “eaten as a finger food unless the consistency is so soft or spongy that it would be difficult to hold”. Why do Germans always use a knife and fork?
And a final observation – Italian television I love your game shows – two in particular
Firstly ‘Guess my age’ yes, people strut out “mutton dressed as lamb” and people have to guess their age – real simple – but it did go slightly awry when a well groomed lady in a slinky mini was trying to look 25, the guess was 58 she was only 53 ooops ….. that didn’t end well
… and the other one where it’s a bit broader age/job/other demographics but you have a choice – there is no conversation in this one, in Guess Your Age they asked an old bloke to do push ups and off he went and went and went – they still got his age wrong
Now the dad and his son [not sure if this is marriage at first date] had picked the young ladies age but the next question was interesting – is the slinky young girl with the red mini shirt and the sparkling red stilettos working as an engineer or in banking or mathematics – looks to me it was a no brainer the sparkling stilettos and red matching lipstick gave her away as a mathematician every day
Best eats for the last week
- Pegaso Garda
- Floriano Salo
- Molini Costermano
And my final comment on influencers – my followers have grow but I am currently being stalked by a couple of serious nut jobs, I can say that without reservation because they Like everything I do, even the rubbish
so now …its packing time and off to Spain