Camping Village San Francesco (Lake Garda)  ACSI

Sirmione, Lake Garda

The next morning, we had a shorter 3-hour drive to Sirmione on Lake Garda.  The campsite was lovely and situated right on the lake. There was a path running along the waterside for some of the way into Sirmione.  Unfortunately, we walked about 3 km out of our way in the entirely wrong direction from the town, and by the time we got back to the crossroads, we decided to return to the motorhome because I had the wrong shoes on and my feet were killing me.  Oh well, we felt we had plenty of time, so we tried again the next day.

We were looking forward to visiting Sirmione as we had read good things about it.  We could see the town of Sirmione from the campsite as it is perched on a narrow strip of land two miles long, reaching into the lake from the southern shore.  Just before we got into town, we stopped off for coffee at a hotel restaurant garden overlooking the lake.  We only wanted coffee and a little something for my blood sugar levels, as I was feeling a bit shaky. I was so concerned that, as it was lunchtime, they might not be serving anything other than coffee that I forgot to order cappuccinos.  When they served up the coffee, it was tiny espressos, which were gone in two sips.  We also had a sweet croissant dusted with icing sugar, which helped regulate my sugar levels.  When we came to pay the bill, which we thought would be expensive, being a restaurant on the lake, we were pleasantly surprised to find it was only 2.20 euros.

A little further on, we spotted a nice restaurant where we stopped for pasta, a glass of wine, and a spot of people-watching.

Entrance to Sirmione Town

Entrance to Sirmione Town

Sirmione is beautiful, with its narrow, cobbled streets, its 13th-century castle, and the ruined Roman villa – The Grotte di Catullo.  The early Venetian explorers called it a grotto, as they believed they had discovered caves, but in fact, it turned out to be the ruins of a villa, which is one of the most important Roman sites in Northern Italy.

The town was much busier than we expected for early April, but the sun was shining, and it was a Sunday, so it had brought many Italian families out.  I had read that it is crowded during the busy holiday season, especially when holidaymakers swarm off the ferries, and I couldn’t imagine how much more packed it could be.

Everywhere we looked, people were eating the massive cones of ice cream.  We are not big ice cream eaters, but we thought we should give it a try.  I asked for a small cone, but it was too much for me.  We saw a few people walking along, eating massive ice creams with six scoops in a large cone.  Yuk! I think I would be sick eating that much ice cream.

One annoying thing was when a car would drive through the tiny, narrow, winding streets to try to get to one of the hotels.  Everyone had to step over to the side and flatten themselves against the buildings.  The road is closed to all other traffic; only people staying at the hotels are allowed access.  I wouldn’t have liked to have been one of the drivers either, as they were having to move at a snail’s pace to avoid knocking one of the tourists.

We wandered around looking in the shops and photographing the impressive buildings.  At the far end of town is a park area featuring thermal baths and a health centre with hot springs and various treatments.  We went to take a peek over the bushes and could see all the people standing in the hot tubs and pools, wearing their bathing caps.  It seems to be a rule here in Italy.  Even at our campsite, you are not allowed into the pool without wearing a bathing cap.  In that case, I don’t think I will be going in.  I recall trying to get one of those when I went swimming with the school.

From here, you can walk or take the little tourist “train” up the gently sloping road until you reach the headland and the entrance to the Catullus family villa.  Around here lie the ruins.  By now, we had been walking for quite a while, and it was feeling hot, so we decided to head back to the campsite, as it was at least a 4 km walk back.

(Click any of the photos below to see larger images)