Italy - Lake Garda. My First ever flight!

So this post is going back to the beginning of the year. On the 28th February to the 4th March I went to Italy, my first holiday aboard on a plane. This was the first main adventure of the year and it was an amazing experience, I loved every minute of it.

Me and my boyfriend flew from London Stansted airport on Ryanair, I was really excited about going on a plane, I had wanted to travel on one for such a long time, It had finally come. We landed at Bergamo airport then caught a coach to Milan.

We walked around Milan for a bit doing a bit of sightseeing we didn't go too far, just around by the station. Then we took the train to Desenzano del Garda, and then walked to Sirmione, where our hotel was. This took around a good hour or so, but it was a enjoyable walk along the lakeside.

on the way to Italy travelling over the mountains.

Milan train station

Tram in Milan

In Desenzano del Garda.

Our hotel was lovely, it was called Albergo Maruo. The hotel looked like a big house, we got breakfast each morning, which was a lovely continental breakfast. We tried to speak some Italian but we weren't very good, and the man started talking in English to us. The room was also really nice.

Albergo Maruo, our hotel

Later that evening we went and visited the Castello scaligero which was a bit of a walk from where we were staying but we got to see up the other end of Sirmione. We had dinner up there in one of the restaurants (pizza).

Round abouts in Sirmione are nicely lit up at night.

Castello scaligero

Castello scaligero

Pizza for dinner

 The next day we went on the bus to visit Garda.

At Garda.

Narrow street in Garda

Sparrows in Garda, Italy

Garda is a very pretty town, with lots of little narrow streets, which we had a walk around, then decided to go up a big hill. The old rock of Garda was a fairly pleasant short climb, apart from the rain and getting wet. There are some dug out caves on the way up to the top, but don't look in them, because a sign says not to, I only had a quick look.

The cave climbing up to the top of the hill in Garda.

View from the top of the hill.

View from top of hill, at Garda.

Later in the day we got back on the bus to Verona. 

The Verona Arena (Arena di Verona) is a Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra. It was interesting walking around this large historical site. I for one enjoyed pondering what it would have been like all those years ago to be in the middle of the Roman crowd.   

In the city I found a Disney store and bought a Stitch mug which I was happy about.

Verona Arena.

The walls

Another day and another part of the lake to explore - Malcesine, at the base of Monte Baldo. We got the cable car to the top of the mountain, and after travelling through the cloud base, found the top covered in snow. We played around in the snow a bit, it was really cold and windy up the top, so wrap up warm if you go up there. The view you could see was stunning (once the cloud cleared). 

There is a lovely little cafe up there with a view all the way down the bottom. You can also do skiing up the top, which we saw only a few people doing. Back down in the village of Malcesine, there was some kind of carnival on, I believe it was the Gran Carnevale 2014 which was on the 2nd March there was some parade wagon with people dressed up as native Americans. There was confetti all over the floor. There must have been celebrations all around the lake and maybe Italy cause there was confetti in other towns too, which brings me to the next place.

More views, was cloudy.

View of where the cable cars come up.

Cold

Venice. Had to get the train there from Peschiera del Garda which cost around 45 euros return and took around one hour and a half to get there, on a high speed train. The place was completely patched with tourists, it was strange cause all the other places seemed quite for this time of year but Venice was packed. Some kind of festival was happening in St Mark Square I believe it was the Carnival of Venice which is once a year festival, ending on Shrove Tuesday (Pancake day) the Christian celebration of Lent. Lots of people were dressed up in elaborate costumes, and masks.

Italian train at station.

In Venice

We bought some masks to join in.

St Mark Square

Lots of different costumes.

Venice bridge.

View from the bridge

So there we go that was the main places visited while staying at Lake Garda, I know Venice isn't part of that area, but It's a must see place to visit. I'd definitely go back there to see more of the areas. I hope you found this helpful and enjoyable.

Thanks Aimee

Read More

The Lake District, Cumbria 2nd Time

So I decided to start up a travelling blog. I've been travelling around quiet a lot lately. I'm going start with what's become my most favourite place in England, The Lake District, in Cumbria.

I have visited here three times, once last year 2013 in November and twice this year so far. So I went up there on 23rd - 25th August 2014 (Bank Holiday Weekend), I travelled up on the train on Saturday afternoon and arrived at Windermere at around 5.30pm, where I went to find my bnb that I had booked up which was called Brendan Chase, it was a lovely cosy room with breakfast included. I only stayed there one night, as I was camping the next night at another place.
After I had checked in, I went on a little walk to a place called Orrest Head which was just up the road by Winderwere train station, it was a very enjoyable walk and once you get to the top of the hills you get the most beautiful view of Lake Winderwere.

Some photos I took while I was there. Such a wonderful view.

After coming back down I went on to Ambleside where I went for a lovely Indian meal, and took a few more photos. This one below is one of my favourites. Ambleside lakeside.

The next day I visited a place called Striding Edge, Helvellyn which is a really amazing mountain which involves some scrambling, I really wanted to do it but I wasn't wearing the correct shoes. If I ever go back there I will do it, it looks like such an amazing experience. There was many people doing it, men and women. I did however walk to it and sat by a nice lake and watched people climb. I did get to take a lot of very nice photos and here are some of my favourites.

Looking up at Striding Edge.

There is so many wonderful things to see and explore in the Lake District I would really love to spend a week up there and explore more.
So I'll go on to my next visit which was around 3 weeks after on the 12th - 14th September. I met up with my best friend at Manchester Piccadilly station we had a bit of trouble getting to Winderwere this time, as the trains were delayed quite a bit, though the train company gladly got everyone who was going to Windermere a taxi from Oxenholme to Windermere. We arrived about 11.30pm Friday evening. This time I was staying in Windermere-on-Bowness in a bnb pub, called Ruskin's, again this came with breakfast and room was very nice, it had 2 singles and a double.
This was the first time my friend Rebecca had visited the Lakes so lots for her to see. Next day we checked the local shops out in Windermere-on-Bowness, there are some lovely little shops. We then went down to the Lakeside and hired out a motor boat for an hour which was only £11.50 each. I got to drive it about half way up Lake Windermere, it was really fun I would definitely do it again. After that we got one of the tour buses and went to Grasmere which I hadn't been to before so this was a new place to see. I didn't really know what was there but I did notice hikers going up this road, so while we was in coop stocking up on water I asked what was up there and they told me it was a tarn. It was Easedale Tarn in the centre of the Lake District, about two miles west of the village of Grasmere. So we decided to have a walk there. Little did I know that this Tarn was a little further than I had expected and since it was gone past 5.00pm we sadly didn't get to reach the tarn, but I think we made it half way along the walk, which was still fun. I got to see a really cute cat and a nice waterfall in the distance, we got back to Grasmere just in time before it got Dark. Then we had to wait around for about 40 mins for the bus back to Windermere.

The next day we again got the bus, but this time to Ambleside and we went to the visit this really beautiful waterfall which was called, Stock Ghyll Force. It is a short walk from the centre of Ambleside, which can be found behind the Salutation Hotel. This is a spectacular 70 foot waterfall, which can easily viewed from a safe rail view point. I got some really good shots of this. I really enjoy seeing things like this they are so beautiful. There is a bridge that goes right over the top of it. What was also cool up there was there money trees or branches that had all these coins put into them. Me and Rebecca decided to put 2ps into one of them.

After we came back down to the town centre we had a look around the shops, bought some postcards then had a bit of trouble finding where the bus left from to go back to Windermere. After we found it we got the bus back, but I didn't realise after the bus came back to Windermere-on-Bowness lakeside it was going to carry onto the next town. I thought it was going to turn around and go back up to the station. So we was going on a bus tour and didn't know where we was going. We did get to see a bit more of the lakes and countryside though, even though we missed the train we was planning on getting back. But never mind once we did eventually get back to Windermere again after about another 40 odd minutes. We got the next train.

It was a really fun trip and I do really want to go back again. So that's it for my first travelling post! There will be more soon. Hope you enjoyed reading about it.

-- Thanks Aimee --

Read More