In Pisa, there’s this tower……

Breakfast at the tower

 On our way home we passed the town of Pisa.  Maciek had visited yonks ago when he was young, free and drunk all the time and his name was mostly Barry.  But not I.  So we stopped off for a look and to get one of those naff photos that everyone gets when they visit Pisa that looks like you’re holding up the tower.  We arrived just before 8am.  Found a parking spot right near the square, paid for a parking ticket and off we went, stopping to buy a couple of cappuccinos and pastries and doughnuts for breakfast.  It was lovely as it was so early and the only tour group were a bunch of Japanese, not doing the silly leaning thing that everyone does but instead the standard Japanese Tourist peace sign and silly grin pic.  The souvineer stalls were only just beginning to start the day, and we sat on the steps of the museum opposite the tower to drink our cinos and eat our pastries while the kids declared their doughnuts to be the best they’ve ever tasted, and ran around squealing and ruining the peace and tranquility for everyone, apart from the Japanese tourists, who are constantly smiling and nodding, and taking pictures of everything from the Leaning Tower of Pisa itself to the Keep off the Grass signs, and the policeman trying to tell them to Keep off the Grass!


Don’t know anything at all about the why’s and the what’s of the Leaning Tower, or if in fact the steps we sat on were the steps of a museum or a church, but I didn’t have time to find out or even go to the toilet as we only had one hour, as per our parking ticket.  It was a bit of a race against time, and we arrived at our car only to find the parking inspector rounding the corner chatting on his mobile phone, and a ticket on our windscreen!  Apparently we’d parked in a 30 minute zone, which was only one space, the space we’d parked in, and even though we’d paid enough for one hour, we still have a fine.  An Italian passerby noticed our confusion and explained that we received the ticket due to the fact that that side of the street gets cleaned on the morning of the first Friday of the month, which was today, and that we weren’t to know, so we shouldn’t pay it.  The topic is still in discussion and a decision on what to do has yet been made!

Playground boat

Maciek didn’t feel like doing the whole drive home in one day, and I don’t blame him, so we decided to stop a night at Lake Garda to break it up.  A few facts about Lake Garda - it’s the largest lake in Italy being 370km2 in area, 50km in length and 20km in width, and its deepest point is 350m.  The northern part belonged to Austria until the end of WW1.  Earliest settlement of the lake dates back to 2000BC.  We picked a random campsite and luckily for us, in the middle of peak season, they could offer us a mobile home within our budget so we grabbed it.  It had three bedrooms including a double and was quite spacious with decking at the front and a table perfect for our planned pizza and wine evening.  The campsite is called Bella Italia, and it’s massive.  Access to the lake beach with paddle boat hire (Noah called these ‘playground boats’ due to the slide, and would you believe, I actually threw myself down that slide and plunged into the merky depths of the lake, amongst all the ‘tentacles’ of creepy plants reaching for the sunlight!!!), about 6 swimming pools with loads of slides for the kids, a number of restaurants and cafes and shops, kids playground, an evening kids disco, an evening bouncy castle world.  No wonder the Italian kids’ siesta every afternoon as they’re up till after 10pm! 



Brilliant water park at Bella Italia

Playing on the lake beach

We spent the afternoon swimming, and in the evening after our pizza wandered the campsite visiting all the attractions.  Next day was Saturday, ‘change over day’, which is always very busy so we had to check out at 10am but could stay and enjoy the campsite facilities for the rest of the day, before taking our time travelling home along the eastern coast of the lake, which, when it reaches the mountainous area, is stunning.  We passed village after village, some of which home to cool castle ruins or old walled towns.  Along some length of the coast were restaurants on one side of the road with their outdoor seating on the other, on the bank of the lake, which meant the waiters had to cross the road using zebra crossings outside the door to the restaurant, laden with trays and plates, to serve the customers dining outside!  We had a discussion as to whether they got danger money included in their tips, as it was a very busy road!



View of Lake Garda from the north end

We were very impressed and will be making plans to visit again and stay for a week’s holiday in the future, on one of our European Expeditions!  And what a perfect place for kite surfing, thinks Maciek.  No sharks!



These are our ‘holding up the tower’ pics!  I tried to appear cool and uninterested as if it was a piece of cake for me, but actually I look like I’m trying to hold in a wee!  It’s like those facebook posters that keep cropping up – what you think you look like, and what you actually look like!  I took about 6 shots of Maciek, but couldn’t get the right angle/lighting, so this one of him looking like The Giant of Pisa will have to do!