The Monday night disco next door must have kept awake every camper at our end of the campsite, it was so loud, but ‘rentacrowd’ would have loved it as it was a cover band playing seventies hits……though not too well. I’ll bet there were a lot of grumpy Germans trying to sleep, or resorting to earplugs, like I did. It was definitely time to leave mini Germany on Tuesday morning and get back to the real Italy, so we set off before 9:30am and drove back past Venice, then past Padova, past Vicenza, and when we passed Soave it was gratifying to see a famous wine area that was actually surrounded by vineyards and after the flatness of the Venice area, it was lovely to see rolling hills again. We kept following the autostrada signs to Milano, past Verona (we’ll come back there later) and finally stopped at Peschiera del Garda.
Unfortunately, Camping Butterfly on the north side of town was “very full”, so we drove round to the only other campsite that seemed to be within walking distance of the bus or train to Verona. Unfortunately Camping Bella Italia did have vacancies……! We thought we had just left Butlins behind in Cavallino, but now we were in ‘Mega Butlins Kiddie Camp’. Our passports were confiscated, we were tagged with permanent wristbands, provided with personal passes, plus we had to deny having any children hidden in the back and then we found out why. This place is a land full of young families, it is mainly comprised of fixed cabins, all set along roads named after cities like Liverpool, Berlin, Amsterdam, Rimini, Newcastle, Alicante, Swansea, Lisbon and Manchester, to name only a very few. You can ride around the place in an old-fashioned horse and carriage and there are eight swimming pools, pizzerias, numerous playgrounds, shops, etc. The whole place is a fantastical land for children and their tired parents. It’s a city in its own right and, somehow, we ended up in a ‘lay-by’ between Corso Copenhagen and Corso Cork !!!
After managing to squeeze in to the ‘lay-by’, we decided to go for a stroll, all the while feeling a bit guilty that we didn’t have a push chair or pram in front of us. We looked in on one area of four swimming pools and actually couldn’t see any water or concrete, there were sun-loungers and bodies, inflatable animals and towels covering every surface…… we continued to stroll. We found a lot of nicer touring pitches away from the cabins, but even with 400 pitches we didn’t spot an empty one, the place was full to capacity and they were all packed in, really tightly. We decided to stick with our ‘lay by’ and only stay two nights. Down by Lake Garda we found the promenade that led back in to Peschiera so we promenaded in to town, walked up on to the old city walls for a different view and then strolled back along the promenade. We stopped for cocktails halfway back; I think we were prolonging being back in kiddyland, but when we got back to Eileen and shut the door, we whipped up some steak and salad and settled in to watch an episode of ‘Mad Men’ before bedtime.
On Wednesday morning, day one of week ten in Eileen, we were woken early by unhappy toddlers and babies on all four sides of us; ah well it got us up good and early for breakfast and out to the bus stop on the main road. The 9:45am bus, complete with blue curtains and delightfully comfy seats, whisked us in to the centre of Verona in less than an hour. We strolled down to the Piazza Brà and sat down outside the Bar Emmanuel for our morning cappuccino (okay, but still no chocolate sprinkles on top) and a really good, very thick, hot chocolate. Having gazed at the Arena for long enough we crossed the piazza and joined the queue to roam inside.
The Arena is the third largest amphitheatre (after the Colosseum in Rome and the amphitheatre in Capua) and it is wonderful that, after being built in the 1st century AD, so much of it is still intact. The whole of the inner circuit of 74 double arcades is still being used, with seating for 22,000 spectators. It is a shame that only four arches remain of the outer circuit, most of the stones were recycled for many of the surrounding buildings, but those remaining four arches are dramatic in the way that they seem to look down, in to the centre of the arena.
Huge stage sets were being put in to place for the opera ‘Aida’ on Friday and we sat watching the activity and chatted to a Scottish couple who told us that the tickets were all sold out six months ago! So we didn’t bother going to the ticket office….. From there, we dawdled along the Via Mazzini to the Casa di Giulietta. It is such a pretty courtyard and house and as balconies go, it’s a lovely structure, but the whole place is completely ruined by graffiti and chewing gum stuck all over the walls. I think if Romeo turned up now, he would be very put off by the sad side of tourism.
We stopped for lunch outside a restaurant in the Piazza della Erbe and to burn off the calories, we decided to go up the Torre dei Lamberti. It turned out an elevator will get you up the majority of the tower, but there were still 46 steps to get you up to the bells and the viewing platform. You can then walk up another 81 steps to the top bell and another viewing platform, which of course we did. They do, thoughtfully, warn you that the bells will toll every quarter of an hour, but when they rang for 3:15pm, it still made me jump out of my skin. Then as a queue was forming for the lift back down, we opted to walk the 368 steps to the base of the tower and at a fairly good speed to avoid ringing ears at 3:30pm.
From the Piazza dei Signori we took to our usual meandering; the Basilica Sant’ Anastasia, the Duomo di Santa Maria Matricolare, the Adige riverfront and along to the Castelvecchio, down the Via Roma and back to the Piazza Brà. It was a hot, sticky day, so we stopped in the Piazza again for cold drinks before heading down the Corso Porta Nuova for the 6:45pm bus back to Peschiera.
We had furtively cut off our bright turquoise wristbands in the morning, so we quickly selotaped them back on and walked back through security feeling like a couple of escaped criminals. Not feeling hungry enough for dinner, after the big lunch, we strolled down to a pizzeria near the lake for a drink amongst all the tired children. Unfortunately, one bag of crisps between us was not enough to soak up the Bacardi (I’m sure she poured a triple) and the rest of the evening was a complete write off for me. But before completely flaking out, we decided we needed to find a smaller, cosier campsite and get back to the real Italy.
